909

great score on the HD-25, but your G08 isn't chicken feed nor are your cans. I think that's where one's money is better put to use too.

Interesting?. I wonder why as usually everyone is hesitant to comment? Anyway, it?s amazing such vastly different impressions can be taken away from the Cal meets and this one NY meet. The apparent differences between the two are the source and cables. And system synergy does play an important part. When I compared my amp against the Dynamite the differences were noticeable, but IMO not substantial. And reaching firm conclusions at a meet or even within a few hours is hasty at best. On a side note, such comments pretty much mirror what Mikhail said too. But can't say I completely agree to the extend this is being described.

So true?. I?ve heard all but the 010 (but heard the R10)?. IMO, the HE90 was my favorite followed by the R10 (less bass version) and then the K-1000s. Without question, my cash would be in the HE90s. The Orpheus is the bomb.

ditto everyone's comments here... what did you name the puppy?

digipete has the K701s and did a very nice job recabling them balanced with Mogami. He might have done a comparison or two between other balanced cables as well. Send him a PM I am sure he'll share his opinion/experience with you. And it might help with your decision.

Hell thinking about it?. For $5000 One could buy a ZD ($1900), a Dynamite ($1700) and still have about $1400 for whatever else....

I used the same source when doing my comparison, either the Meridian 508.24, Moth DAC or my Apollo. I primarily used the 508.24. And also used the same cables. I did my serious listening when I spent the night at the So Cal meet guarding the equipment with my ears. Didn?t get much sleep either. I also listened with the L3000s, HD650s, and the K-701s (single ended). Didn't try any Sony cans.

I compared the B52 balanced against the single ended ZD and thought the ZD sounded better driving the HD600s and PS-1s/RS-1s. In fact, I preferred the ZD because it really drew me in and I wanted to enjoy the music and just sit back and listen to an entire CD. The ZD does double duty as a line amp too. Didn't do any direct comparisons, but the Dynamight is another great amp. And both these amps are half or more than half of the B52's price tag.

I got a free pair when I visited the UE offices a few weeks ago. I've not used them because when I listened to the sample metro I preferred my E4s. They did sound pretty good considering the price and had a fair amount of bass, but it wasn't anything more than just OK bass.

Already a positive Tomahawk impression from the NY meet.

I didn't hear a substantial difference between the headphone jack on my Karma and the Hornet with my E4s. At least for me not worth the cost of that amp and the mini cable at a $350 package. I suppose that people will love the Tomahawk without even comparing it against the headphone jack on their MP3 players. But a lot of players don't have the same SQ as the karma. The Tomahawk is all about marketing, looks, and little competition.

But wasn't that "threat" to meet face to face? I realize the connotations that go along with that and probably anyone does with half a brain. I suppose now every one needs to be careful not to make any veiled threats on Head-Case. Thanks immtbiker for ruining it for the rest of us You bastard; you killed veiled threats. Now I have this strange desire to threaten someone with physical violence because I can't do it. So is life. This sucks.

Point taken, but he only stated that he wanted to meet in person. He didn?t say I am going to kick your ass or fuck you up, etc... To a certain degree we are reading more into his comments than the plain language. I would interpret his statement as a form of intimidation with a some sort of threatening potential, yet nothing more. And it would be unlikely for this meeting to even take place.

And for what purpose to have a Dr. Phil moment with him or look deep into his eyes and say let's make love not war? If you had this confrontation and he didn't intimidate you in the heat of the moment you might take a different and more aggressive posture.

Thanks. I usually never read such agreements. But looked for it after you mentioned it and couldn't readily find it. Yet it seems like nearly every one here has been guilty at one time or another of violating something in that listing of what's prohibited. And it doesn?t seem like any one is actively enforcing and/or reprimanding violators; well that is except for this particular situation. Though, I know of no others. I missed and just read your last edit.

what user agreement? Link it if you've got it. All this girly chit-chat about physical violence or even if it's remotely implied is just silly.

I think either the K701 (recabled) burned-in or the clock took that so slight digital edge off. Or a combo of both. They player did seem a little silker smooth though. I would put my money on the clock making the difference for the better, but I don't know how many hours were on the cable when I first heard it. And in the big picture I've never heard a burned-in cable make such a noticeable difference. Here are two pics I took of our mini-meet:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.jp/mister_terch/img007.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.jp/mister_terch/sokutei01.html&h=247&w=416&sz=6&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=tXq-ZyItuHWSRM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3DATH-L3000%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1550148&postcount=262 http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1550888&postcount=283

I want to see romanee's ad (can't find it; must look harder). Do you think this product announcement was a premature calculation by Ray to put the focus back on him and his products? Because it doesn't seems like he isn't getting the same level and type of attention he's use to receiving.

I heard it at the last so cal meet. I thought it sounded OK for a small portable amp. Can someone tell me what's up with the Tomahawk's jacks? Rubber rings and weirdly bent somewhat circular brass looking things. I really don?t like the gold color of the Toma's volume knob, it looks pretty ghetto.

You wanted a ZD. If you ever want to send an amp that you think sounds better than the ZD my way for a week or two, I'll cover the cost of shipping. You may convert me because hearing is believing.

Shortly before I made my decision to purchase my EC2A3, I was upset at Ray and based on my preconceived notions about they way things were run at HF I decided to tactfully make comments. Additionally, I didn?t want my upset to cloud my judgment so I waited. In a way, I am glad I did because after incorporating different cables, listening to the G08 and Apollo I do believe my E5 and UR4s were partially responsible. If you notice, I reserved my commentary about the MPX3 too because initially I really disliked the sound with those awful new production EH 6SN7 tubes. And Mikhail had been such a gentleman and very nice person to deal with and I didn?t want to really dish out anything to slight either SP (or even RS). Fast forward, I now know my hears are sensitive to high frequencies. I?ve had certain cables, headphones, sources, and amps that were just uncomfortable and sometimes to the point of fatiguing to my ear. And I?ve been able to minimize this with selecting different components and other times I?ve not. I am getting lazy and don?t desire to work that hard to make something work in my system. After hosting two meets and talking with different people, listening to their rigs and so on I realized that some prefer a brighter, thinner sound and don?t have any issues with highs. If you read my posts, you?ll see I?ve been fairly consistent. Though as a meet host leaving impressions, I focus on the positive and I?ve possibly done so more in the past. Just recently I posted about my ear issue/Raptor experience on HF before posting it in this thread. I don?t think the Raptor is the worst amp I?ve heard and it does do some things very nicely with the HD650s. I try to exclude the person stuff and separate out the good and not so good and then give my impression. I don?t think the Raptor sucks, but IMO it isn?t my favorite type of sound and has a high cost to performance ratio.

I didn?t have a pleasant experience with the Raptor. It really didn?t do anything special. I thought it had decent separation, speed, and detail with my HD650s, but it really started to hurt my ear after about the first hour. And then the following days, I could only last 20 minutes or so without wanting to turn it down or off. I changed cables from the UR4s to M-Paths, which helped a bit. Sometime afterwards, I thought possibly my source at the time (E5) could have been partially responsible. My experience dealing with Ray was OK until I wanted to return the Raptor. At first he just ignored my emails. And then two days before my trial period ended he sent me a rather rude and abrupt email, indicating something like love or hate it and if I wanted a refund he needed the amp in two days. So I sent it back overnight because I didn?t want to deal with any headaches. With respect to my time with the Hornet and after further comparison using my E4s, I thought differences were negligible between the Hornet and my Karma?s headphone jack. So I sold it because I couldn?t justify keeping it. Though, I never found the Hornet to be fatiguing or harmful to my sensitive ears.