Leonardo Drummond

Oh, really? I saw some posts about meets that were showing the Cavalli amps as the next big thing since sliced bread, so I probably took this and some comments afterwards as the norm, but then I didn't notice who were the authors of the posts. And actually, now that you mentioned it, I can't even remember the last time I read anything about the Liquid Fire!

I guess it would also be extremely difficult to implement such a reputation system now because the bullshit has been built up to such a level that it would be nigh on impossible to get rid of it, don't you think? I mean, like this Cavalli issue... I see that his produts are actually very well regarded over there, so if, say, Birgir comes along and posts the problemas (considering it doesn't get banned) it's still a one man's opinion going against what is pretty much common knowledge nowadays, even if it's a joke. And I don't think that the average Joe there will have a clue about what's going on and would probably just vote it down.

I guess you couldn't go wrong with something like a GS-1 or even GS-Lite maybe. There were quite a few Lites at the other place not very long ago!

Good to know, Birgir, thanks. Proves my point. This isn't made because it's better, only to impress.

Exactly, yes. I wouldn't go so far as to call that Woo a piece of crap on my own because I know nothing about electronics, but the issue is that I'm convinced it was designed from scratch as a monoblock - but for the "OMFG it's a monoblock for headphones, I'll sell my car to get one" factor, and not because such a construction is a necessity at the performance levels intended, even if it ends up helping. The monoblockness should be a means, not an end, and the impression I have is that it's an end as a marketing piece to those who take it too seriously and get caught up in all the bullshit. If such a product were to be developed here, I reckon it would come after a lot of experience and collaborative learning, with a lot of fun along the way, that a monoblock is the way to go, even if it's kind of disguised (such as the Blockhead that Grawk mentioned). And Dusty, I know (well, I used to drive my JH13s with the GS-X at home ), but that's what I meant by it ˆ!

Good points… but I guess I didn't make myself that clear. I see superficially how things go in the DIY session here, with overkills such as the T2, but I'm all for it, for a simple reason: it seems that those things are done to push the envelope and see how far you can go mostly for the fun of it, and this makes all the difference. To me this is the polar opposite of the audience which something like that Woo seems to cater to. Which, I reckon, is made of people who take this hobby way too seriously in a sort of laughable way. The way it advertises and works it's "monoblockness" is completely different to that old Blockhead, to a point where it in my opinion just gets ridiculous. It's quite difficult to explain what I think about this (heck, I'm not all that clear about what I think), but I think that this is precisely where all the bullshit and snakeoils operate, you know? It's a fertile field where they just grow and grow, get together with people's ego and just keep getting worse. Like things you see in audiophile forums all the time... ludicrous claims about burn-in, 5 grand power cables, spending 500 bucks on a portable amp to use with a mediocre in-ear and so on.

Am I the only one who this that the mere idea of a monoblock amp for headphones is the very definition of unnecessary overkill?

Indeed! When Jude was talking about it in the video I was expecting a much bigger price, actually. BTW, I got in touch with JH Audio and they sent me some specs, and it seems that that price is correct, at least for now.

I'm not sure whether this hasn't been mentioned because of a lack of interest or because no one around here has seen it yet because of the apparent lack of splurge: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151616082911991 New JH Audio TOTL: 12 drivers (3 groups of quads), bass control on the cable and optional solid carbon fibre shell. Seems pretty amazing, looking forward to it.

The K1000s were the main reason I joined Head-Case a while ago, so I reckon I’d post a summed-up version of what I posted on my blog after selling mine and borrowing my cousin’s AKGs. When I sold them I was really unsatisfied with what I heard as a wrong tonal balance, with extremely harsh mids (very different from Grados), impactful but dry bass and somehow subdued treble response. But now my system has been through a complete overhaul – deepak’s old GS-X, Abrahamsen V6.0, M2Tech HiFace and some fancy power cables and interconnects (I’m not a cable guy at all, but they were just sitting in the living room, so hey...). It’s interesting to see how different it sounds from what I remember. All the aggressiveness is now gone. It’s still not what I’d consider sweet and mellow, but it’s far better now. It all seems better balanced and integrated, with mids going slightly backwards, and bass and treble a bit forward. Bass hits really hard (it’s a bass heavy version BTW), but with surprising texture. The highs, however, which were what I considered to be the Achille’s Heel of the K1000s, for sounding as if they were somehow within the mids, now have their own space in the spectrum. They have presence, extension and a very very good timbre. It really comes to life now, and these headphones finally sound right! It’s very nice to hear how the AKGs can really sing when given a proper system. Thumbs up for the GS-X and the V6.0! Here's a nice picture BTW:

That's a very good point Dusty, thanks! I actually thought about some kind of horn structure that could be attached to the drivers, but hadn't considered the bass in this thing. RudeWolf, I wasn't aware of this headphone and it's an extremely good reference for my work, thank you! Found out that they work (not that well apparently, but it's still a good reference of how it could be made) with both an internal speaker and an external speaker. chinsettawong, electrostatics unfortunately aren't an option since it's expensive and can't be plugged directly on a portable player and notebook... unfortunately for this work there's the need to completely turn off the audiophile side of us lol!

Not sure if this is the place, but I need knowleadgable people abou the subject so here we go: I study design and I'm thinking about building a hybrid headphone/computer speaker, and was thinking about the difficulties of this. I'm uncertain if it's at all possible, because I'd have to meet the sensitivity and dB output of both a regular speaker and a headphone speaker. And I can't actually design one (I'll only design the prototype around it), so I'd have to use something that's already out there. Sound quality is not really a concern, it just needs to be acceptable. One thing I considered was to have a regular driver (sort of those used in laptops) with some kind of resistor that could be activated with a switch that would put it in "headphone mode", lowering the output volume. Do you guys have any idea of what I could use and if that's in fact possible? Cheers! Leo

Guys, I'm really confused here. I just got an SR200 with the Black Star drivers from a friend in order to compare it to my HP1000, expecting that they would be the same headphone pretty much. But in actual fact, they sound nothing alike. The HP1000 has really rolled-off highs in comparison, a lot more mid-bass, which blurs the presentation a bit but makes it warmer. The SR200 sounds A LOT clearer, with better highs as well. WTH? Are there different HP1000 drivers going around? Neither is the i version, btw.

This. I think Drive channel is incredible and nowadays it stands for what Top Gear used to before. A program by true car lovers for true car lovers. The episodes where they go inside factories, such as the ones in which they've been to Morgan and Aston Martin (have you seen those?) are just unbelieavable.

+1 on the black. I used to have the silver, which is now all green, and have the black now – which is actually thinner and softer.

Initial impressions are very good. Appears to be quite impressive for what is basically a budget DAC nowadays, offering the same tonal balance as the ECD-1 (a lot smoother than my DacMagic, with much less high-mids). Pretty nice!

NOW they're back!

Well, it's hard to get past them, and although some people do manage to evade some of the income taxes (not saying this is right), the majority of people – even among the very rich – pay them, and get nothing in return.

A "little" off-top, but yes, you're absolutely right. Things here are pretty messed up. We live in a country with Norwegian taxes and Cambodian services. All due to a broken social structure from its root and corruption culture. It's not exclusive to politicians, it's everywhere, it's just how Brazilians deal with things – the infamous "Brazilian way". To top it off, we have an accommodated style of dealing with problems in the country, we just watch and complain on the internet. Happily, with the current protests, it seems that this reality may change. We'll see!

Guess I'll do it and report back to those who may still be interested in it! It'll be interesting to compare it to the living-room's ECD-1.

Thanks Ed, I became aware of it last week and became really interested. The issue is that it's a lot over my budget... I'm actually only contemplating this replacement because there's a pretty good opportunity here in Brazil in a pretty much brand-new unit!

Sorry to up the thread, but does anyone here have any experience with it? I'm interested in getting one to replace my old DacMagic.

Makes sense

So let me see if I get this straight: a guy runs a very small audio business centered on headphones and owns an Aventador (couldn't be a Gallardo, could it), a GTR and will buy an F12? Looks like I'm in the wrong country, it seems. Or business, for that matter. Joking aside though, this is just ludicrous. When Birgir spoke about the Lambo I thought the guy probably had a 2nd hand Gallardo or something. Does he sell more than 50 amps a month? His profit margins must be insane.

Holy shit