Icarium

Not bad... still kinda waffling on if I'm going to return to stats or not. This makes it all the more tempting but I still can't get entirely over how much I was not a fan of the sound I heard at the meet.

I like how in that document it proclaims (Real Wood!). I wonder if the lettering will fall off of this model too. For 1000 dollars I would expect that it wouldn't but who knows. I bet this will be be ~ED-9s at best. I think I'll hold out for the D10000 before giving it a shot ;p

Dunno good ole Fat Tire is my favorite summer beer. Their 1554 Black Ale edges it out during less warm climes though.

Yeah neither of those.. I only came here for the inevitable Southpark reference. Not the interesting discussion preceding it.

Yeah or even that 7s are slightly worse than 9s. 7s are pretty much the most unsought after of the multi thousand dollar headphones.

Yeah I like the tubes I like the aesthetic of the device as simple as it is. But I'm pretty skeptical of the whole thing... but... The other Dan who was there to pick up his balanced supra has that thing so does I think Rob N and Blubliss. I asked Dan what did it do for him and he basically said it made things sound better and without it things sounded worse. Sounded awfully like placebo/wishful thinking but eh... should I be more inclined to believe him if he gave a really accurate description of what it seems to do for him with the usual audiophile glossary? He invited me and Neilvg to check it out some time. I think I'd like to at least see it in action on my system.... Even if it has as much as an affect as I seemed to notice with the VD Genesis power cord I just dont see myself investing.

Bwahaha.

Oh yup I'm quite familiar with the HD2 since I live near JP. It's a fabulous amp. But given that it may take 5k to get Craig to reproduce it and he probably wouldnt even be able to source the tango transformers in JP's I have curtailed my lust for it.

If you arent using that mark 1 O2 elephas perhaps you should sell it to me

Filburt's dac was some sort of Assemblage DAC modded by himself.

Oh yeah the Nautilus is transformer coupled so there's no way it's a problem with amps of that type.

I think it sounded really good. Very balanced, incredibly accurate and very good imaging/soundstage. If I were to liken it to anything else... it sounded like my SS1-XLR. It sounded like the ideal qualia sound which I had previously thought you could obtain with high end solid state. I am positive if I had brought my amp there we could pick out some of the tube/transformer coupled sound differences but.. yeah I mean this amp is a serious testament to how accurate/neutral a transformer coupled tube amp can be. As with the best amps there was no shallow WoW factor.. no over-warmth, over liquidness, over sweetness. It is a sound with much depth that remains fine and good when examined thoroughly. The Rudistor RP010 sound was not that sound. It was a more organic sound with more punch. Part of that organicity was fuzz due to distortion.. of that I have no doubt. It is one of those more wow factor amps. It was a fun amp. I do miss it a bit. I have no need of the 307A the SS1 fulfills the need I have for an amp of that type. I could use a fun amp though. The SDS is pretty darn fun... but the Nautilus though... I mean me and Craig talked about it he agreed if you are looking for accuracy/neutrality the 307A has the Nautilus beat hands down. But the organicity/engaging/funness of the Nautilus is undeniable. May have to invest.

Oh also his unit was a mark 2 not a mark 1 O2.

I only tried the HE90 which sounded quite appealing as per usual.

Yeah i don't know if I'm an O2 guy. It sounded congested with the blue hawaii se/nwo 3.0. Is this an acquired taste thing? Will I listen to it in a quiet surrounding for a period time and the sound will decongest and become depth? Does anyone else feel me on this congestion thing? Maybe not.

Oh phew. SDS/Qualias/Esoteric UX-1 still sounds good. Do I really need a nautilus? Harder to say now.. leaning towards maybeyes still though just because I've always wanted something Eddie Current.

Dunno I am liking the Nautilus a lot. It is eddie current and balanced.

Excellent. Used O2 here I come. I will of course still insist on pictures, but maybe not a notarized pedigree dating back to Adam and Eve.

I don't think Singlepower really has a house sound like Ray or Rudistor. I think his amps cover at least some sort of range of sound. Maybe not a complete range or even a wide range... but I don't feel his amps are one trick ponies. Moreover he can tune/produce a sound signature that you request.

Cannot confirm or deny.

So how's that work. You listen to that music and if it makes you feel a certain emotion or subset of emotions clearly then you are like thumb's up. Or is it more like if you feel nothing while listening to it you are not interested. Or do you also look at like what the artist was trying to convey emotion-wise in your mind and then you see what it invokes in you to see if they achieved their goal and base your interest on that.

Oh good. Man Mikhail offered to deliver in person that ES-1, but I don't think I can do it right now money wise. Buying an amp in 2-3 months (Whenever the Blue Hawaii SE) is finished is just way more attractive for my financial situation right now.

Yeah I mean I'm not like saying jazz is crap. I was just curious as to what particular aspects of jazz do jazz fans generally like. I know its a very broad genre so I would have looked at each list of traits as potentially specific to a sector of jazz. It was kind of really even a broader question that I haven't really gotten to asking yet. My approach to musical enjoyment is very shallow in a way. If it catches my fancy then I listen to it as long as my fancy remains caught. Sometimes it is the most boiler plate piece of radio pop. Yet I have always been fascinated by people who have listened to a lot of music and can pick up two artists of totally different genres 1. Which even to a layman like me sounds technically impressive (Plays lots of notes fast) 2. Something that sounds like just droning noise... and be in complete agreement that these two bands are great. Where is the common thread that defines greatness? I don't know. Is this a basic understanding of certain music theories that I lack? I mean I'm chinese which means I had to undergo many years of forced piano training and various other instruments. Music theory was part of that training. But to be honest I didn't really give a shit so I didn't internalize any of that knowledge. I can't even really honestly tell you what the definition of a melody is these days. Maybe I just haven't listened to enough music to really recognize what has been done before and what is truly innovative and perhaps that is where greatness in music fundamentally lies (Besides all the stuff that is impressive from a technical standpoint). I don't know. WRU spritzer need to know how safe it is to buy used O2s

Dunno I've certainly sampled some jazz on various high end systems from fans but I've never had my soul stirred. Of course perhaps i have no soul.