Tyll Hertsens

You guys will get a kick out of this:

Thank you all so much. What a long, strange trip it's been. It always makes me smile to see your names here.

C-Ya, Wink! Always loved that avatar.

I guess you never know.

Ha! I looked for a Z1R thread here to link to at the bottom of my review....um, yeah, don't think this one is very informative. Fucking funny, in a Head-Case sort of way, but no. Love you guys!

Yup. They had to squeeze everything they could out of that thing to make it work...and they just couldn't squeeze hard enough to get it to work above a certain level. I wonder if they're going to be satisfied or go back to the drawing board, put in a front screen, and drive it like a normal electrostat. Actually I think the best move that could be made is that the Sonoma digital dudes start building a regular headphone amp with DSP and start making a library of headphones to compensate. If they didn't have such a bitch of driver they had to work with I think their digital chops would shine through. PLease don't quote this elsewhere.

Well, the problem is when I heard the 009 I hadn't heard the Utopia, so I can only go on what I've heard to date. And sure, they may be a honeymoon effect, but I've got a pretty thick skin and don't have any money invested in these things. I reckon I can be pretty objective. None the less, I am excited about what I'm hearing with these cans. That can be a factor in my tone.

Well, I didn't do a direct comparison, so I couldn't do more than a passing comment. Basically, I find e-stats have too much "air". I find there's often an added indistinct haziness around the treble sounds. The Utopia was astonishingly precise and markedly different from pretty much anything I've heard before. It's pretty rough doing a headphone review a week, doubly so when they're so new and unusual sounding. Really, all I can do is take a good first pass on the sound in general and then just wait and see what the collective community has to say over time. It's only then we'll really be able to get a handle on how well these cans perform for people.

The PR people cry when I tell them I have to keep them....and then they laugh and giggle.

So stoked to be seeing you guys next week! Really, looking forward to this. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/come-join-me-canlanta-2016-may-21st

Egg-fucking-zactly! Love to see you there!

Looking forward to it!

Hm. I'll think about it, Stretch. It's a looooooong time ago now. But I've still got a lot of photos from the early days.

Seems like it to me. Yes, looking forward to it, see you there!

Aw geez, thanks Wayne. Though I don't post here much anymore (posting just seems like work anymore) you guys have a very special place in my heart. We knew the glory days of this hobby.

*sigh* again. So I decided to call Frank Patten at the Washoe County Public Administrator office to see if he could tell me any more about Chu. He was surprisingly forth coming. He said Chu was "traveling light", and had few if any possessions. He was renting a one-room apartment week-to-week. It was almost completely empty but for an unopened Amazon box with a Bissel vacuum sweeper inside. There was no bedding. They could find no job or source of income. He did have a PayPal account but the only thing they found is a few contributions to political parties and disaster relief efforts. They found his deceased dad, and they think he had a sister but can't find her. He was born in New York. He evidently died suddenly and inexplicably. And yeah, being alone doesn't mean he was lonely...but boy, it was a little hard hearing that stuff.

Thanks Wayne. I was the first person contacted by the Washoe County Public Administrator. Here's his email to me: Mr. Hertsens, Our office is handling the final affairs of Pow Chu Moy who passed away here in Reno, Nevada, on February 12, 2016. We do not know a lot about Mr. Moy, but we have his ‘HeadWize’ business card and saw your posts on a Forum in 2002 regarding same. I would be interested in any observations you might have regarding Mr. Moy. Was he retired? Did you have a current email address for Mr. Moy? I realize you may have no personal knowledge, but it never hurts to ask. Thank you Frank Patten Office Support Specialist Washoe County Public Administrator It so saddened me to get it, it seems he left us as a lonely man. I forwarded the email to Kevin thinking he might have more info. Took me a week to realize he needed to be remembered out loud. I wrote the piece feeling mostly respect for his work. Once I posted it and a few comments were in, I re-read the memorial holding the whole of our history in mind, and started crying. I know it's the norm in the world, but it hurts so bad to feel we ended up with a broken community with such a mix of both good and bad. Fractured factions sniping at each other, and the many who've had to flee HF when it should be something much better. Chu probably hated what it had become. *sigh*

Holy crap! Never saw this thread when I was sick. Thanks for the well wishes, guys.

Well, not really crazy about the Bakoon as much as I am intrigued by current source amps and how they might provide benefits over voltage amps. Glad to see you working on it, Kevin. I'll get you those measurements you want within a day or two.

Knucks, I think you've really been outdoing yourself lately. Thanks!

My full thoughts will be up today on IF. Basically, Sennheiser did this because they could, I applaud the sentiment. The headphones will not be sold separately unless you're getting them for a second pair to the system you already have. The sound was world class for production gear...meaning it was good, but maybe not great. It was meaty and had heft, but it did sound a tad harsh to me. I only listened for about 15 minutes. The rest of the time I spent talking to Axel...mostly about other stuff off the record. Maybe the most telling comment from Axel was that the new Orpheus customer is more likely than not a soccer player.

Going to LA to see this in a couple of days. You guys got any suggestions of what questions to ask?

+1 on the Art of Electronics. It's dense, but very well structured. Read slow.

Indeed. Thanks, Knucks.