Icarium

Uh... your analogy re: karting is totally flawed. Commercial makers have the edge there because they have R&D and better fab and R&D matters a lot. But the difference in amp making between a 1 man commercial amp operation and a skilled/experienced DIYer is very, very slim (Non existent practically). Moreover besides mainly chassis they are all drawing from the same pool as far as parts go and DIYers can afford to go much, much more extravagant in parts quality because they are saving by not having to pay only cost for parts and not mark up for a finished product. Yes some companies do their own machining and some even add some innovation to design (Or use completely new designs).. but those are the edge cases most are not putting as much percentage wise into r&d as any go kart maker even if you scale the industries to match each other. Some amp makers are using really old designs with 0 innovation and some are using open source DIY designs that have been floating on the DIY community for YEARS. This is hardly to say that there aren't advantages to going with an established amp manufacturer (Lack of DIY skills/Warranty/Potentially better looking/better build quality product/Time-saving except for wait time)... but to rule out a DIY amp from being classified as high end... that honestly would have anywhere from 2-10x markup in price if it came from a commercial builder is an astonishing display of ignorance.

Stock extreme is a really good value imo as well.

Excellent KG, most excellent.

I was planning on carpooling with michael (girardian) though I hadn't confirmed with him yet. We were going to stop in San Mateo to pick up some Chinese at my favorite chinese restaurant in norcal (Little Sichuan) or hit up the best ramen in the bay area also in San Mateo (Santa Ramen) since it was on the way. Might be able to bring take out chinese to you but we'd have to see how Girardian is with fragrant food in his brand new BMW 625 or whatever it is.

Looking forward to someday having one of these built.

At least it looks cute. If only I could mount my rig on the hood of my car (Balances out my fat spoiler, tailpipe and Type R stickers) or wear it around my neck in a pimp-ass chain that Mr. T would be jealous of.... It is damn cute but I just feel the sweet looks would be wasted in my hovel-like room for only me to see.

Yeah f bling'd out gear and high post counts. I choose to place my stock in those veteran writers of those 50 portable amps reviewed!! threads. Have you SEEN the sweet A-F grading systems some of those reviewers use? Veritable street cred factories. I only wait breathlessly for the day when I amass a throne made out of darth beyers made with deep, full breasted cups sculpted from extinct woods and have my own sweet portable amps review thread going so I can command the respect that will inevitably follow. *Okay yeah that was kind of a non-sequitor mini-rant*

Isn't the MSRP on one of those suckers $3000? My impression was that the $2500 dollar price was an introductory offering.

His is from the Jan Meier buys.

Hrm I may think about buying my ES-1 back in that case ;p But I wouldn't put money down til it is physically in my presence and working Not sure... I may be going speaker rig rather then another headphone rig. Qualias are suiting me pretty well but not having a tubed electrostatic headphone amp makes me sad panda.

wow talk about something i'd never want to happen to me.

Can always try and start up a second group buy. I am sure there were at least a few people that feel like they missed out.... though to find 9 other people might be hard.

Yeah I've been thinking about having it modded for some time. Considering it uses the 24 bit version of the DAC chip Alex Peychev likes so much I was going to buy one and have it shipped to him to look at for mods, but I've been lazy about it.

Nice I love the Enigma's look and tubes.

I was just at my buddy's listening to his GMA calypsos? I think the 10k floor standers with YBL monoblocks and per amp doing some cable shootouts with [AK]Zips high end power cord prototype/VD Genesis and other VD power cords. Honestly can't imagine a better sounding speaker set up though I'm sure there is a whole level or two beyond this set up. Was pretty damn good though.

Kind of thinking about Electrostatic speakers now... my maker says that's what he personally goes for.

No I can afford 10-20k on speakers but I'm not sure how my space is accoustically yet. I am moving in Dec. 15. I'm going to feel it out with lower end speakers at first and then scale up a few notches and then move the monitors into my bedroom. I realize that speakers are the most important part of the equation but they are also dependent on things more than the size of my budget.. i.e. my room and what it takes to work with whatever speakers plus I haven't heard all that many speakers. I realize that you can probably match speakers and amps pretty closely but I sort of question how many amps people actually hear with their speakers before choosing one that has optimal synergy. Like maybe I can find a particular amp that will work with a particular speaker and maximize the cost/synergy ratio... or I am thinking I can get a solidly designed/built amp from a maker I have experience with and though it may not be the single best matched amp... it will work out pretty well with whatever i get. Then the only question for me is how many watts i want it to push. And yeah I have a bit of an amp fetish.

I didn't really mean to imply that someone should make a decision based on that sentence as it is completely illogical. I was just trying to flippantly say that I had a completely baseless preference for the HD2 based on random shit as I explicitly stated that I have heard neither amp. Moreover, I really haven't heard anything about either design. Though I think if it ends up being between those two particular amps there probably are exactly 0 people who have heard both.

Is that a pro or a con?

Looks like the EL84 amp from Eddie Current turned into an EL509? I think amp and became a one off and was solid. The redtop solid fully discrete solid state is still in development. The HD2 is going into production early next year under a different name. Might be able to get him to turn it into a one off. Current incarnation uses 6c33 as output and is transformer coupled so it also fits under the tubes/transformers philosophy. I personally would go with it over Moon Audio's amp but I haven't heard either, but I do dislike Moon Audio cables a lot and I've been really into EC's products except for the EC/SS.

Meh who am I kidding. You guys are right there's no way I'll get an amp that will work with whatever components I buy for the rest of my life esp. speakers. I am definitely getting the green mountain audio monitors. I think after talking/hearing from a lot of people I will be more into efficient speakers. So maybe 500 wpc is vastly overkill. Still I haven't exactly been converted to speakers yet. I am getting some just because it makes sense in my living room and I'm going monoblocks since monoblocks are exciting to me.

Basically I simply don't have the cash to go really full bore with the speakers I would want plus I haven't heard enough/read enough to know what i do want. I do like the 10k upper tier Green Mountain Audio speakers but again I haven't heard a lot. I've also had the Omega Super Hemps recommended to me by several parties. Plus I am not even really sure the space I have justifies really badass speakers. But I will have the space eventually and the desire to upgrade.

Well I'm getting Green Mountain Audio Europa monitors to start. They are pretty efficient. We were powering them with a 25 year old 500 wpc Onkyo amp with matching preamp and it was drawing like a watt at the volume we were listening at. Though we didnt look closely at fluctuations...

Not entirely true. Immtbiker has a Stax SM-001 MKII/HE-60/O2 (I think too maybe he sold it) and I think an HE90 that I want to say he is borrowing from GoRedWings? Maybe someone else. And i think he is rocking the woo electrostatic amp. Yeah I think he sold his O2/stax amp combo.

Oh yeah I forgot to say these are definitely going monoblocks. Yeah I wanted to get something with bizarre/ridiculous tubes. The opening talks with the people I might be having build my amp are talking about these Eimac tubes that in a push pull design can do like 500+ watts per channel.