My friends have gone to those local shops (mostly hifi.com.tw) numerous times. In all honesty, their amps were mostly mediocre. We were unimpressed by almost everything.
I just realized something funny. You would expect that in a Grado (or Ultrasone or whatever) thread, there would be Sennheiser hate. But in a Stax stat thread, there is a lack of serious Sennheiser 'stat hate. Or maybe I'm just oblivious to what is going on.
Haha I guess it's because I attended a school where "oh snap" and "oh shiiiii-" were the most common phrases for expressing realization, recognition, surprise, acknowledgment, and/or appreciation.
No, Hagerman's 1/2 kits aren't actually anything close to half of what you need. This amp is supposed to cost hundreds to build. I wouldn't be surprised if the kit only contains the boards, chassis, and manual. That is usually what his 1/2 kits entail.
A number of us have been contacting Hagerman over the past year or so regarding a SET headphone amp design.
He said he'll do something about it independently.
Oh snap. It's coming. Ultra excited.
http://www.hagtech.com/castanet.html
*Yes, insufficient amplification is exactly that. Insufficient amplification. We're looking at most likely an entire tier jump up (or maybe even more) if I had the right amplifier.
Lambda, Lambda Pro, and Sigma Pro should be at the top of B if it were not for my own lack of good amplification.
Just a rough ranking. Red represent headphones I currently own.
Two other headphones are arriving within the next month or so.
Tier A
Audio-TechnicaATH-W11JPN
SennheiserHD650massive scaling
Tier B
Audio-TechnicaATH-W10VTG
AKGK701
SonyMDR-SA5000insane separation
StaxSR-Lambda Nova Signature(average amplification)
StaxSR-Lambda Pro(insufficient amplification)
SennheiserHD600
Tier C
StaxSR-Sigma Pro(insufficient amplification)
StaxSR-Lambda(insufficient amplification)
SonyMDR-CD3000insane comfort
Audio-TechnicaATH-W2002(non-ideal amplifier)
StaxSR-X MKIII
BeyerdynamicDT880huge soundstage
Audio-TechnicaATH-W100
Tier D & E:
Audio-TechnicaATH-W1000
GradoSR-60
SonyMDR-V6
SennheiserHD555
EtymoticER-6
Audio-TechnicaATH-A500
SennheiserPX100
KossKSC-75
BoseTriport
AKGK271S
SennheiserHD497
UltrasonePROline 750
BoseQuietComfort 2
SennheiserMX500