Elephas

I think I listen at fairly low volume. I'm usually around the 9 o'clock area of the volume knob with most amps. The BHSE volume control is a bit weird. It starts at 7 o'clock (the markings correspond exactly to the clock face), but there's no sound until after 8:30 with the headphones I've tried. So my range is usually between 9:00 and 10:00, 10:30 is quite loud for me already and there's no way I'll ever get close to 12:00. Oh, no, you don't, I mean I don't, that was in simulated "Spritzer Mode"! I say the Mk1 and Mk2 sound quite similar, they're closer to each other than any other two headphones, including the HD650 and HD600! It's not a big difference!

Drew at Moon Audio made an HE90 to Stax 5-pin adapter for me. I've never used it, I think it didn't cost very much. The HE90 does seem brightish to me driven by the BHSE. It's slight, though, and not really overly bright. But if I had to make a call, I'd say it was to the bright side of neutral. I think my source and system overall has reasonably good treble quality, smooth and sparkly without being harsh, so the brightness works well for me. Oh, and it seems to make female vocals a little bit sexier too. Tubes do seem to affect the tonal balance, and also treble extension, bass quantity, etc. I remembered that full "Blue Hawaii Spritzer Mode" requires Mullard EL34 xf2, and put in a quad of 00-getter with matching date codes. I have a lot of xf2 tubes, both the 60's 00-getter types and the 69-73 0-getter types so I can form reasonably matched quads with both date codes and test results. Yeah, it takes a lot of tubes to do this, but I had a lot of time to build up a collection while waiting for the BHSE (I'm not complaining, Justin, the wait and cost was well worth it!) and while using the ES-1 in the meantime. Oh, the HE90 with the xf2 seems slightly brighter than the DD-getter type or the metal base type. I find that I like the combination of clarity, sharpness and detail with refinement, smoothness and liquidity. The better tubes seem to do this and make the lesser tubes sound comparatively flat and lacking liveliness. I checked with the manufacturer, those caps do not short the signal to ground. I have another set of Acoustic Revive RCA outlet plugs that do short the signal to ground by design, they're larger and have a center plug and are supposed to be for preamp outputs. I'm not using these with the BHSE.

Don't worry about electrostatic headphones, all you need is an HD800! Oops, I thought this was the HD800 thread.

Hehe, but I think it's all right if a large ego is backed up by substance. What I do recall, and respect, is how Spritzer stuck to his guns about the O2mk1 versus the HE90 when a lot of people were giving him crap about it, about two or three years ago? The Philips/Mullard EL34 metal base are great. But I think the DD-getters are very close, and probably easier to find at lower prices and more are available, which should result in better matching sets. I switched to Telefunken EL34 today, the Ulm-made type with 5-crimped plates. Not the Telefunken-labeled RFT dimple tops with 4-crimped plates, it seems a lot of people are confused and pay a lot for the RFT tubes. These TF are very good too, but they're very hard to find. I only have two matched pairs and they're different construction. One type has two round holes and two small rectangular "vanes" sticking out, made in the late 60's. The other type has one slot, made in the early 60's. So with mismatched types in each pair, it's possible that the sound is compromised. I've got a lot more EL34 types to try.

Well, with the BHSE I think so. But maybe the difference isn't as large or as obvious with other amps. I was perfectly happy before listening to either one with the ES-1. <- That amp again, I don't feel like talking about SP amps anymore, I'd rather forget about the whole damn thing.

I hope fellow BHSE owners have the opportunity to hear the SR-Omega with their amps. It's quite an amazing experience. I've always preferred the larger headstage and soundstage of the SR-Omega (and HE90) over the smaller ones of the O2mk1 and O2mk2, even though the O2's have more precise imaging and sharper-focused sound images. It's still the same with the BHSE. The O2's can seem comparatively sleepy, or laid-back. Yep, even with the BHSE driving them. Hey, if you don't think so switch over to an HE90 or SR-Omega and compare. I think it's part of their refined and smooth sound, because the HD650 or HD600 can also have this laid-back tendency. It's a very pleasant sound, kind of like being enveloped by high quality down pillows. It reminds me of luxury sedan suspensions, smooth and comfortable. I tend to listen at louder volumes with the O2's than with other headphones. It's not the lack of details, far from it, it's that their volume sweetspot seems to be a little bit higher than my normal preferred volume level.

It works fine now, but it's probably going to blow sooner or later.

No, no grinning, because I need a better source and a new audio rack. OK, now I'm out of "Spritzer Mode." I switched over to the HE90. The O2mk1 and O2mk2 are slightly dark-sounding. There, I said it and I stand by that no matter what. There's a slight lack of sparkle and brightness at the upper-midrange up to the treble region. It's noticeable with some female vocals, where their voices sound slightly toned down. This was the case with the SRM-T1W, Aristaeus, ES-1 and now the BHSE. With bigger amplification it seems the O2's become less and less dark, but they're still relatively dark. Go Team HE90/SR-Omega!

Justin says: "Go build your own! Go away. Stop bothering me, I'm going on vacation indefinitely." Well, I entered "Spritzer Mode" today. I plugged in the O2mk1. Ehh, what's this? It doesn't sound dark? OK, get ahold of yourself, it could be placebo. But it's not dark, it's quite neutral actually. But it's still darker than the HE90. True, yeah, and I like the HE90. But this sounds damn good, and it's not dark. Only an idiot self-proclaimed "super cool" crybaby would call this dark. And it sounds more balanced, more neutral, and better than the O2mk2. What the hell did Stax do to the O2mk2?! What a bunch of... That annoying mid-bass hump is damn annoying. I can't say this on HF. Not that it would be a big deal, but Spritzer independently confirmed to be right about the O2mk1? That would blow up his ego to dangerous size, it seems to be quite large already. Hmm, if I say he's right, maybe he'll fix my SP ES-1? That would be good, and I wouldn't need to lie, even. The O2mk1 is definitely better than the O2mk2. Still to come, versus SR-Omega and HE90.

I have no choice, there's no more room on the rack! Oops, what am I doing back here?

Hahaha, I can't wait for the "Spritzer says the O2mk1 is the best headphone in the world experience" when I plug in the Mk1. The Stax plug outlet on the BHSE looks the same as the one on the Aristaeus, but it grips tighter. Maybe the plug outlets loosen over time. Oh, I guess it's obvious I'm still here. Apparently I said goodbye prematurely, and I was also a bit early about the EL34 DD-getter. Why silver tube rings, you ask?

I plugged in the HE90. There's something about the HE90 plug outlet on the BHSE, the plug slides in smoother and clicks in and locks more crisply than with the Aristaeus or ES-1. I'm done. Hey ho, hey ho, away the baby elephant goes, hey ho. I'm finished. There's no need to visit HF or HC anymore, I can delete the bookmarks. I can sell everything else off. Well, maybe not the ES-1, as it's liable to crapout at anytime. Maybe I'll give it to Justin, he can hang it on his wall like people used to do with the heads of conquered enemies. Goodbye! I'll check in sometimes to see if anyone has started a fund for a new audio rack for me. Goodbye, everyone!

Hey, hey, so many questions, I can't think, I'm at butt wriggle number 3426, non-stop! Discs under the cones are Isoclean. Al four components use Neotech NEP-1001 silver power cords, DIY (not by me) with Furutech plugs, plugged into an Isotek Sigmas. Power conditioning really works for me, the difference is not subtle. Crystal Cable Reference XLR interconnect (I also have RCA version). Haha, no, Justin didn't include the RCA and XLR jack covers. They're Telos Audio caps. Tubes in the photos are Shuguang Treasure 6CA7. They're OK. I don't think they're worth the high cost in N. America, I got them for a lot less. Currently using Philips EL34 DD-getter brown-base xf4, either made in Sittard or Brussels in the late 50's or early 60's, these are very good.

Hey, I'm only a baby, and babies can't type impressions all the time, we have to cry and poop too. After a couple of hours, I couldn't wait anymore and swapped out the Treasure 6CA7 for a quad of Philips DD-getter EL34. OMG, OMG, OMG!!! These DD-getter tubes sound good! I thought about keeping this secret to myself, and thereby improving my chances of snapping up more of these tubes. I couldn't deceive HC, can I? But I'll certainly not post about this on HF. I've only tried the Jade and O2mk2 so far. Both sound different and better than matched with my other amps (Aristaeus, ES-1, SRM-T1W). I thought the O2mk2 did pretty well with the ES-1 already, and wasn't expecting much difference. But it has improved in several areas, notably soundstage size and bass quality. I still think it is slightly dark-sounding, though. Isn't it about time for someone to start a "Let's buy a new audio rack for Elephas!" thread on HF? Donations gladly accepted. The BHSE made a big hole, you know.

Yes, I see Rihanna! She's smiling at me affectionately! I'm in love, la la la, la de la la, la la la, eh eh eh... The front view is nice. The top view looks good! I like the rear view too!

And the descriptive comments, too! I say we start a fund to fly Iron_Dreamer to every largish meet, maybe four a year? Those high-quality photos and comments are worth a lot. Definitely a lot more than some meet impressions, like preferring 4070 over SR-Omega, sheesh.

I agree the O2's have better pinpoint imaging than the HE90 or HE60. But they're also smaller images on a smaller virtual soundstage. The HD650 and HD600 are worse than the HE90 or HE60 in this aspect. But the HD800 is different. I think it has very clear imaging and everything is very well-localized and well-defined. The edges of each sound image are nice and clear. It might even be a bit better than the HE90 and HE60 and closing in on the O2's. Then add its large, coherent soundstage, excellent depth and layering, and the experience is superb.

DEQ is this powerful? It can really make an HD650 sound like a Qualia?

I think Head-Case members should get a little bit larger discount than Head-Fi members.

Aura Note Premier http://www.aprilmusic.com/main/sub02_01_02.html Stello Ai500 April Music

All right, it is both funny and true. I guess all SP owners should be prepared to say that phrase. I'll practice saying it every time I turn on the ES-1.

Esoteric AI-10 perhaps? AI-10 | Amplifiers / Preamps | Esoteric Company

The 4070 lets you pretend you're an Analog to Digital device receiving a monitor feed. Don't ask me where the Digital signal is output. I like this meet title. I used to own a HeadAmp KGSS and got an adapter for the HE90 to plug into the Stax port. After hearing the HE90 with an Aristaeus, I didn't want to use the adapter and KGSS anymore.

That is so not funny! I can easily imagine myself saying that. Actually, I can imagine Spritzer saying that too.

I'm interested, I can't wear the bowl pads for more than 20 minutes. I would also be interested in R10 and Qualia 010 earpads. They're probably the two most expensive replacement earpads and a third-party option would be great. Qualia pads don't even have any padding inside, they're just pieces of leather made to a shape.