Duggeh

Just how loud is loud listening for you, I find that if you crank the volume up, to a level that i personally wouldn't listen at, the frequency response changes, the highs become too bright, probably because the tweeter driver is more sensitive. And the mid-bass does start to boom. Possibly a standing wave resonance, or a factor to do with the housing. Driver rattle is simply unacceptable, and it is an issue that I had at first with my set. I thought it was down to hairs in the housing, but my hair is long now compared to when the headphone arrived with me and the rattling has long since gone and never shown itself again. The transformer is almost certainly the weak link as regards dynamic response and tonal balance away from neutrality (at my listening volume). I have noticed improvements as I have changed my amps but other H2 listeners have noted minimal impact so long as the amp is capable of the power requirements. I think that any amp that's worthy of the K1000 ought to do just fine with the H2/TR-2, and yes, that MP-15 is seriously sexy. I want. Fit issues may be changed with the new series of pads that TakeT has been working on. However the idea of these pads doesn't fit with how I think that the drivers should be worn, which is as I say, free hanging. And yeah, the lambda housing is a pile of aids. I think though that the H2 has comparisons with Grado headphones. Disagreements over comfort, pads to use for best sound, and easily criticised build quality. There are though of course, loads of people who love Grado headphones, for how they sound. I hope that people who do take the brave step of trying an H2 do like it, and I do hope that the company makes some money and improves its product. The not finished commercial aspect is debateable, however the weaknesses for the most part, are not related to the driver (only the housing). So if TakeT does for example, design a whole new headband mechanism and pads, then it hopefully wont be a huge cost for a set of those pads.

Stax prices on ebay have soared in the last 12/24 months. I sold an SR-3N I bought for ?15 for more than ?100. I wouldn't have paid that for it myself, but I was happy to take the money. That was in January.

The walking with monsters video excerpt is awesome.

Ah, very 5th element. I was thinking more though.

Our new insect overlords?

Get that Krell plugged in and turn up that SPL!

The housing construction is on a par with the Stax Lambda series, and fit with any headphone is a subjective problem but I think that peoples problems with fit may be stemming from trying to get the H2 to fit like a normal headphone, when a k1000/Jecklin "floating" fit is what should be aimed for. The sprung headband isn't as comfy looking as the Audio Technica ones but it is comfy and it does work, at least for me. Indeed, I think that temple pads like on the K1000 might be the ultimate solution for those drivers. I might try cobbling one together in the inter-semester break in January. The weaknesses in the design are the main headband (screw together is primitive to say the least) and the cable (which insofar as I can tell, is just low gauge low quality stranded copper wire with no real insulation. I shouldn't expect any huge design revisions from TakeT for a long time. No sudden change to an all metal damped housing and self adjusting headband and low capacitance cabling for example. You have to remember its a really small company selling really small numbers of units and that their main business is almost certainly in those super tweeters. I am drawing speculation of course though. Amplification is a huge problem, and one that likely isn't to be resolved quickly. I mean how many years has it taken for the headphone community to discover the optimal K1000 amps? And there's a lot more of those about the place. Gradual experience and experimentation will build a knowledge base but I agree its frustrating not having an easy and obvious direct drive option available atm. I've had my best results, both with and without the transformer from a Pass Labs Aleph amp. The transformer is still a necessary evil though. There is one plug and go direct drive amp, made by another small Japanese company run by an ex Stax employee. It's only available for Japanese market though (100V). So getting ahold of one is tricky and then you'd have to use a voltage converter as well. From memory of things posted on head-fi, the Headamp Blue Hawaii SE will run the H2 with a Stax-XLR converter cable according to Dr Gilmore. He also mentioned that the Singlepower ES-1 would drive the H2, but it would need modifications to do so. I cannot recall comments on the standard KGBH or KGSS. In any event, the KGBHSE and ES-1 are hardly easy or cheap options. I think that Dr Gilmore might also have drawn up a separate design for an H2 amp. You say that it sounds like garbage out of your garbage gear. Its entirely possible that there's something about the sound you simply don't like. What specifically is it that sounds garbage? Until we ascertain the answer to this question I think it best that you hold off on throwing more money at them, unless you're using this as a double opportunity to upgrade your amp for your speaker rig fo course.

My NOS Surrounder just arrived. Joymachine.

Whats so good about it? Im pretty clueless as to the pot/attn/whatever.

Are there not significant sonic gains to be made from using a separate cermet stepped pot for each channel? Half the distortion, or double the transparency, or however you want to phrase it.

More time to play in your motorboat.

If PMs are lost ill be wanting my contribution back.

By the time I get to the gym I'm knackered and have to go and lie down.

Selling headphones means more money for speaker rig.

It's not about keeping the hobby alive, its about procrastination, plain and simple.

Telarc 1812. Or Night on bare mountain.

My scandanavian cellular telemessaging machine is held together with stickytape, shiny new ones just have no appeal to me. In fact with the squeezebox radio alarm clock, I barely use the thing anymore.

Just get a tin of spinach down you, youll be lifting that crate with one hand in no time.

x2, its worth having half the furniture stacked on top of each other and not being able to use your window properly.

Forum structure rebuild ongoing he says. Gonna know "later in the morning" how its going to go. No promises.

Mr Takei sent me the new headband design and a new faceplate for the TR-2 and an XLR plug. The cable on the H2 is probably the worst I've seen on any headphone, the whole thing seems to be badly oxidised copper wire, there's no insulation I can detect beyond the plastic shield either. Recabling would be an absolute whore though because of the way that the driver housings are put together. There are screws holding the earplate to the main housing, the join seems to be in the slot where the headband fits. The screws are covered up though by the grille and the tweeter is attached to both the grille and its bound by plastic weave of some kind to the main housing as well. I suspect that unless you really knew what you were doing you risk snapping something trying to dismantle the headphone. There's high volts in there though so I would advise against poking round anyway. I have a female XLR-Speaker tails adapter I made for the Ergo AMT which I used to connect the H2 directly. The Aleph is a really sturdy amp and its very good at coping with strange loads, I've even read of people who have shorted out the terminals on them with no ill effect, although of course I wouldn't want to try. The headphone will warn you when you give it too much energy you'll hear distortion creeping in despite the volume and as soon as you hear it its time to back off. The H2 sound quality is more balanced without the transformer, but it simply will not drive to a pleasing listening volume. With the transformer employed volume isn't a problem but control is. The higher you turn the volume up the more and more the low mid-bass and more acutely, the more the high end start to dominate the sound, probably because the tweeter is more sensitive than the main driver. Fit is a personal thing, the sound of the headphone does change a lot depending on how you play with the positioning on X Y or Z axis. The size of the driver though, combined with its varying frequency response over its surface makes having the driver close to the ear, to my mind, a bad idea. You want a gap so that your ear is able to pick up SPL from the whole engine. The pads for me are just there so that when the headphone does brush my face its soft. Wearing them this way was far more difficult with the leather headband. You don't need to screw the headband really tight, finger tight is more than enough, traction should hold anything beyond that anyway.

Buying and selling my man, got to crush the little man by squeezing my evil monies out of the small shareholder via the Northern Rock debacle.

I have a Rolex and while they might be drawn in comparison to Bose or B&O (although Cartier is probably a better comparison) thats a measure of a good product, with a name reputation built over decades, not bought. They are magnificent machines. Very few of the top watches are actually certified chronometers as the Oyster is. This thing has also been smacked and bashed and scraped more times than I care to think of and the glass hasnt the slightest blemish. This watch should still be ticking when I have stopped.

I find a huge correlation between bitrate and volume level. Albums with lower volumes or more dynamic masterings have lower bitrates. Thats why most pop and rock music is higher bitrate. (Just bought )