Leonardo Drummond

Aumkar, I'm late to the party but, from a fellow entrepreneur (although the headphones my startup makes are definitely not on the same level as yours and exclusive to Brazil for now), I just want to congratulate you for what can only be described as some truly inspiring work, on every level. And, as a product designer, I have to say that the way you've turned the internal wires, which could be an aesthetic challenge, into a beautiful and distinctive detail was pure genius!

Thanks, Rob!

It's been a long time, but since I posted this here (since then I've graduated and created a "startup", Kuba), I figured I'd share this with you guys - just for the sake of sharing, since it's specific for the Brazilian market for now. These are the Disco headphones, our first product! It's not related to my graduation project, but the design was inspired by it.

Not much of a participant here, but I have to join in again just to say a BIG thank you for everything and to wish you a very well deserved retirement!

Thanks, guys I ended up snatching a Musical Fidelity M6PRE at a great price. It's not as clean and as soft as the GS-X as a pre-amp, but I liked the result and for what I paid for it it was definitely worth it!

That's interesting. What I remember from it was an extremely lush and musical personality, especially compared to my GS-X and to the horrid Leben CS-300X that was in the same room. However, albeit very quiet, it was a micro-meet, so I'm not sure how much of those impressions would remain in a proper audition... Oh, and fantastic mini-meet, BTW!

I actually had a Mjolnir 1 on loan once, but as I didn't have a balanced cable at that time I couldn't test it with the HD800, which was a real shame – but given that tonality-wise I find it somewhat similar to the GS-X, I think I'd find it a bit sterile. But many people think that the GS-X makes a great combo with the Senns, so maybe it's just me that want something that they're kind of not. My HD800 has the old Anax mod, with the creatology foam. It helps, but doesn't solve the problem. I still have wet dreams from when I heard them through my friend's DNA Stratus...

Should be fine, I'll be in Spain in July and the idea would be to have it shipped there while I'm there, so I have plenty of time to wait for one of these to show up. The Earmax is already within my budget, though!

Cheers, Peter! Much appreciated

Does anyone know of any sub-$1000 amp that's decidedly musical and works well with the HD800? With the GS-X they sound too sterile for me on most cases, so I'm starting to contemplate the possibility of adding another amp to the system specifically for the Senns in order to get them on a bit of a middle ground. I don't mind trading a bit of detail retrieval and soundstage for musicality, and I'm all for getting something used. Ideas?

I had an AK100II for a while, and to me it felt just like a luxury player. I really couldn't tell the difference between it and an iPod Classic with my Roxannes. Definitely not worth the price for me. Mind you, I didn't use the balanced output. Best DAP I've ever heard sound-wise was the Lotoo PAW Gold: very smooth, organic and tridimensional and also highly transparent and detailed. The equalizer is a pain to setup but fantastic, incredibly usable, flexible and precise. However, just like the Questyle Purk mentioned the UI is a joke and it looks like something made in the 90s. My current setup, which isn't an all-in one like you need but is still reasonably compact is a FiiO X5 1st gen driving a HeadAmp pico Slim. The sound IMO is up there with the best DAPs I've ever tried, but it's much cheaper. To me it sounds better than the HA-2: more neutral, especially in the midrange, which sounds leaner and slightly clearer. However, the UI still isn't too great – better than the Lotoo though – and these days I just cannot live without Spotify. I've done some reading on this because I want something with which I can use Spotify, and like purk recommended I narrowed my choices to the ZX2, the X7 and also to the Onkyo and Pioneer new DAPs. But unlike you, I don't exactly need an all-in-one so I guess I'll go with a Mojo

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/top-gear/top-gear-presenters-confirmed/ Holy f*ck, I'm looking forward to this!!!

It's for what is to me a pretty aggressive (and slightly dirty IMO) marketing campaign. Still, are you sure it's just around $15? AFAIK a single BA can cost about 10 bucks; does the price in bulk decrease so much so as to get the price down to ∼$15 for like 6 or in this case 12 units? Your point stands, though. I'm aware that most of the cost for CIEMs goes to labor and R&D.

WTF?

Quite shocking to me that she's only 15

Simple, good and honest songwriting!

Indeed, I think most of the album is at least just as good! Repeat, Unrest and Lungful are probably my other favorites. I've been having the same experience with Erased Tapes – Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm were other artists I discovered on Spotify, really liked and later found out to be from the same label.

It looks so much sexier in black!

The ending is amazing:

Yeah, things are very tough now – nearly 10% inflation, interest is already at 14.25%, retracting GDP, gas prices have doubled and energy costs rose 60% in the last year... the whole country is suffering a lot, many companies closing their doors, massive layoffs, and the government is struggling to maintain most of the social benefits that were the mark of the Worker's Party and a symbol of a promising economy. But we're now paying the price of the unbelievable corruption and economic incompetence that came with it. The president is at the brink of an impeachment process. We're expecting some rough years ahead... I think it's quite expensive as well, but I dunno, for some reason it does look like something different altogether and as a fan of the SE846, I have high hopes for these!

Lol – yeah, I couldn't care less about sample rates and wouldn't mind at all if it was limited to 44.1/16 since I don't listen to anything beyond that. I do like that in a way it seems like a more interesting attempt at a JH-3A concept but made by a large company with "unlimited" resources and an electrostatic transducer. It seems that it's available for pre-order for 3K and MSRP will be 3.8K... ouch. Won't be getting it, apparently, especially with the current 4/1 BRL to USD ratio.

http://www.shureasia.com/go/kse1500/en/ Have you guys seen these? Didn't see that coming. Color me interested!

Enjoy your day, Dusty

Never expected to see such a post from you, Al! Apart from the good suggestions already given (X10 and MA750, although I felt the latter had a treble spike that could be annoying sometimes) I'd give the Audio-Technica IM50 some serious thought. It's very natural and musical, kind of like an HD650, though a bit dark. And it has a removable cable, which to me is a big plus at this price point. The IM70 also fits in your budget, but I haven't heard that one.

LOL – elegant and efficient way to put it