Icarium

There are a variety of ways to get Tango transformers. Ebay for old ones for NOS. Or you can have them custom made at exactly the same specs by people who have the specs/manuals/documentation related. There are several other very good transformer companies besides. Some italian one. Daburu (Chinese company that makes stuff similar to Tamura/Tango.. cobalt/80 percent nickel/iron), electraprint and more. There are a bunch of shootoffs out there for various types of transformers. James Transformers are also made by the old Tango engineers but also not quiteee as good. Like this: http://www.meta-gizmo.com/tri/vtv-se.html

Eh, I've heard the 3910s don't really have balanced output. They have XLR outputs but the signal is not true balanced.

Ahaha well if you end up parting ways with it look me up ;p Mmm Qualias.

Kondo is the name of the guy behind Audionote. The real Audionote aka Audionote Japan now mostly called Kondo or Kondo Audinote or vice versa or something.

It's a later model (One of the last sold in the US) bass heavy version. The honkiness was only in conjunction with my SS-1. It either doesn't take to solid state well or my amp well... or my tube complement compensates. No idea which.

Pfft season 3. Season 4 is $$. Bring on season 5 biznatches.

Got mine in yesterday. Listened to them out of the Yamamoto... okay... so-so. Definitely higher resolution than the w5000s with much better imaging/soundstage. Bass is... well interesting. More prominent than in the w5000s and comes at you from an interesting angle (Not bad, or really even good. But interesting and different. Probably due to the massive soundstage). That was sourced with the EMU 0404 usb, i.e. my work rig. Took them home and sourced it with my Wavelength DAC and my Esoteric and powered with my SS-1. Okay pretty good as well. Definitely close to or equally detailed as the qualias. Better mids. A bit honky in the upper midrange right where it stops being mid range and starts being highs. A bit slower than the Qualias. It is a very different sound. Different from anything else I've heard before and I've heard quite a bit. Sounds/instruments come at you from far away to mid-distance and at angles that no other headphone has ever presented it. Not for everyone, but definitely interesting and enjoyable from my perspective. The midrange is much stronger than the qualias and the highs I'd say about as strong but definitely very different. Bass... well definitely weaker then the Qualias but really not bad. Qualia bass I think is severely under rated. I have to say its just about my favorite bass behind the L3000s. it's not overwhelmingly present/bloated diffused like the HD650s. It is accurate with insane extension and punch and with the perfect amount. However it doesn't have that slight reverb effect that L3000s have probably as a closed headphone. R10 bass is definitely interesting. It is focused and has more punch and definition than the w5000 bass for sure. Slightly more quantity. Whether it decays as well or extends as far I can't tell yet. It has a nice thump though that is placed nicely. I like it. It really has the impact of kick drums (Not super impactful just real) down though maybe not the extension. I don't want to say the imaging is better than Qualias... my impulse is to say that it does Z axis better and does imaging in that dimension better but in the other two dimensions it might lose out. I dunno its possible it might just be better and more real like K1Ks. Can't say now. The weakest things with the SS-1 is the honkiness and it isn't really WOWing me. Then... tonight I plugged them into the SDS maxed out and specifically tuned for them. This SDS has every option possible except for adjustable bias (But it is set to high which is the R10s home territory and no 12V option... or texture control which I'm not sure SDS's can get done. Probably but it probably pollutes the circuit) including ridiculous big caps/audio note silver caps/black gates/silver wiring/plitron/45 stepper/400 V output option/everything. R10s are now amazing. The L3000 which again was a headphone which I thought was nice out of the Rudistor was also similarly transformed by this amp when I owned it. Though it was much more drastic from Rudistor -> SDS than SS-1 -> SDS, but now there is rightness. Things are organic. The soundstage is killed slightly and everything in general is shifted a little closer but things were TOO distant and relaxed with the SS-1 it was patently unnatural. The tubes (Tungsol 2C51 and Sylvania 6BL7 GTs) really fill out and add bits of extension to the sound while maintaining a clear sound. Mmm this is good. These might be a keeper. Qualias still are my beloved and K1000s are still the king in my eyes. Electrostatics are still good as well. But R10s definitely have a place in things. Oh... I just put down Massive Attack's - Angel. Lots of bass on this track and I don't want to sound ridiculous but R10s are performing about as well on this track as I remember L3000s performing. Maybe slightly less bass and slightly less extension but damn this bass is CUT and defined and certainly present. It isn't monster bass as Darth's are supposed to rep... but its presence can't be denied. Any in the Bay Area want to check it out maybe pit L3000s/Ed9s against it I'll be glad to host.

Yeah I mean I am all about the analytical sound, but I don't think his signature qualifies at all. By thin, i don't even think it is just lacking in body but there isn't much detail to compensate so there it is thin on all levels. If you want to stay away from being over-lush you gotta be doing it to reveal details that normally would be hidden by the lushness otherwise what's the point?

One of the two loves the menz more that's for sure.

Yeah most of the masses on head-fi in general gravitate towards components that are easy to listen to. Ray Samuels products.... Meridian G08... Rega Players... etc etc. Of course I do think that the HE90 is a level up on them since it does have good resolution/detail/(And frankly I like the bass). But still there is a difference between accuracy and musicality. However, I am of the belief at the peak of accuracy there is musicality and settling for musicality without accuracy is something you should only do when the budget is maxed or else you are only selling yourself short if you call yourself an audiophile. Most people on head-fi just don't care though. That's cool.

I wouldn't make too much of the fact that HE90s move more often than Omega IIs. Having sold mine and being one of those that feel it is quite good, I can attest to the fact that, well, frankly, it is easier to justify keeping a decent 2.6k headphone (Or in the case of the O2 a 1.2-1.5k headphone) than keeping a 8k headphone that to me sounds better. I mean if you have the money you have the money. In the end I personally couldn't justify keeping it and it happened to be represent money that could pay for my source. That being said, yeah the HE90 while being top tier I would say... I think for my tastes the K1K with a suitable amp edges it out conclusively. The best trait of the HE90 is that it is easy to listen to. It is non-fatiguing unlike the K1K which has the sweet, sweet razor edge of accurate highs and gobs of detail/clarity. Of course I don't own a K1000 either. I refuse to until I move into my new place and can speaker/speaker amp it up. I refuse to own an amp that can't drive at least two things or perform as a headphone amp/pre-amp or headphone amp/power amp.

Surprisingly large? I thought it was tiny when I first saw it. I was moving down from the old style Headroom Home which was significantly wider but about equally as long

Imo none of the Meier products kick anything. They at best play limp ass footsy. I am glad Jan Meier hooked up the HE90 group buy, but yeah,... I used to think the Opera was a good buy but really looking back at it... it was only because it was an amp/dac combo in one. The amp is a thin sounding beast at best. 3 channel topology does nothing for it. The DAC is completely un-noteworthy. The Corda being the other product I've heard is also profoundly mehhhh and very similar sounding but less. I can't imagine that any of his amps particularly break the mold defined by the two samples I've tried.

Yes I was one of those that was having some ass issues with hum. It would come and be very audible and only go away sometimes if I quickly switched the amp off and back on. Possibly was a ground loop. Either way when I went to a power strip with single item out of the socket + a signal cable magic reference power cord... hum = gone. Whether it was the power strip or the power cord... either way hum is gone.

Yamamoto is pretty good. I'm not 100 percent convinced its the best possible value at its price point... I think the Extreme or a 2 channel beta22/dynafet might give it a serious run for its money for that particular title.... but it may be in the running. It does things very good and synergizes pretty well with the w5000 adding warmth/body/tone to a normally thin sounding headphone. Yeah I finally paid Mikeg all the way off... its been 7 months of thousand dollar payments (R10 + Maxed SDS). I could have probably completed it a lot sooner but when I made the arrangement I was not planning on spending basically all the money in a certain account I actually wasn't supposed to touch period until I dunno I buy a house. An account that if my family ever found out I have emptied I will be disowned and then slain.

Mm 2 channel still not sure I buy into that 3 channel business.

I didn't know he was selling. I heard that his Yamamoto was in shop for repairs. I already have one myself that I use with my work rig so I'm not looking for one. And I'm not the biggest K701 fan. I just got in his R10 today. About to take it home with me from work.

Oh interesting. No I don't think wait times are better now. Definitely worse now if you take in the current page of 2.5ts (Some have been upgraded into 3.0 GOs with the onset of the new DACs). My opinion and experiences are probably a little bit out of sync (As are the Bay Area customers that I've talked to irl and on forums) since we live relatively close to him. For instance 2 weeks ago my Esoteric UX-1 (After 2 weeks of ownership) was having an issue where the tray wouldn't open up all the way when I hit open. I could manually pull the tray out and close it with the open/close button. Needless to say I freaked the hell out and emailed Alex and Esoteric. Twas a Sunday, but he was like hey drive up and I'll take a look. Drove up and he fixed it in like 10 minutes and I took the time to listen to his stuff. Other guy I am basing my info on is this local guy I've been talking to on the forums and I've heard his modified Denon. He says that he's sent it in 3-4x for upgrades and he always got it back in a 1-2 week turn around time. Was going to buy his unit... but then I found out that it's not true balanced :(

Hrm I'm not sure I understand the anti upgrade sentiment. Do you not like having the option to improve your hardware or do you feel that makers trickle out these upgrades to string you along for cash? I am always a fan of having the option to pay ~1k to make my product the equal of its successor rather than pay retail price for the new product itself (Since the new version may not be available at a good price on the used market/audiogon). As far as getting strung along... well I mean in the end its your choice. Even if its a choice I'd never make I'd rather have the option there then not. I feel his upgrades/tweaks are pertty substantial. Different tubes for the output stage. Different amount of DACs or different type of DAC chip altogether. Better upsampler. Better clocks. These aren't your average capacitor/wire/resistor/transformer/power supply upgrades (Which btw I am pro existing as well.) that Alex offers. As technology progresses so can his products. And I think his upgrade prices are pretty reasonable. The price for a new 3.0 GO is 30k. The price of the NWO 2.5T (Previous version) was 25k. It costs 4k to upgrade the NWO 2.5t to a 3.0GO. Can always not upgrade if you think its bogus for the money. Shrug. Options are good to have.

Yeah I just realized I haven't heard JP raving about his Cosecant anywhere that I can see. I called him up and asked him about that just now (Left a message).

Yeah I've talked to Gordon as well and he knows his shit. Moreover when I acquired the Cosine the upgraded power supply wasn't really working (Cracked connector Gordon diagnosed later) and he fixed it in like a day and shipped it back to me all free of charge. Great service. I got the DAC like 3rd hand too.

Hrm. I think there are fundamental differences in the operation. Is Alex hella delayed getting his shipments out the door. Yes. The fundamental reason is similar to Mikhail. He took too many orders at once. The gutting/redesign of each NWO takes 2 weeks of 12-14 hr days 7 days a week to complete. The DAC board alone takes 1 of those weeks. He can somewhat concurrently work on two at a time (Not the DAC boards though). So what makes more sense really is for him to have a waitlist and to only take people's money/units when he can actually work on them. He is going to be shifting into model with the coming year with the most high end unit. The other products will be made in a European workshop that he is getting off the ground (Highly trained etc). Communication with him is also tough. That's because he isn't supposed to be taking care of that himself. He has Brent Rainwater who runs his distribution in charge of that aspect of his operation. When he has time (Not frequently and generally a bit on weekends) he generally posts a bit on his forums and occasionally answers emails. Now I am not a fan of dealing with Brent myself cus obviously guy doesn't have final say on anything and he needs to sync with Alex when you need information that he doesn't have which takes an extra day at least generallly. But it makes sense to segregate the operation this way so Alex can work on what he needs to work on. I hope Mikhail gets someone for a similar capacity (But better at it) in the future. As for response time/slowness. There is no one waiting for something from him like there are waiting for stuff from Mikhail (Afrikane/Wmcmanus/Others). I think this current batch has been the worst but it is somewhat explainable. He had a big backlog. European factory who custom winds the transformers he uses closed up shop in some sort of weird European company summer vacation period thing. 32 bit versions of the DAC he uses got released. Blah blah. Can buy into his explanation or not. But unlike Mikhail he isn't actively working on/experimenting with a lot of new products or doing hardcore custom orders. What Alex does that is markedly different is if you send in something for a minor upgrade or fix he gets it done in an appropriate length of time. I.e. fast if its something simple. There's none of the wait 1 year for a voltage swap or capacitor swap or whatever craziness. Having met both Mikhail (Who don't get me wrong I dearly love and who's products I am very into) and Alex... Alex is much more with it and focused rather then the kind of zany absent minded genius feel you get with Mikhail.

I've heard the Capitole Mark 2. Foo_me's before he sold it. I wouldn't say that it necessarily can beat the Exemplar modded Denon by a significant margin. Also as a dac for a computer based source... I think it wouldn't take too much money in the DAC department to equal ($800 dollar Wavelength Cosine was superior to both foo_me's ears and mine). It's a good source and is indeed versatile. But I just don't think it will offer you the next level that you are looking for. If you don't need balanced the APL modded Denon 3910 is really excellent for about end of your price range and APL is continuously upgrading old units with new innovations for a reasonable charge. (Next revision will incorporate the new 32 bit AKM dacs and the ECC99 tubed output stage replacing the older 6H30 tubed output stage and I think some other stuff). The Denon has a lot of the same features but less so (Less DACs per channel, capacitor coupled rather than transformer coupled and weaker base (Denon with so so transport versus Esoteric with VRDS NEO) a few less features (Still can get digital input though not all of the ones on sale have it) with fully discrete design. I've heard his products and they really have no flaws besides price. Vinyl tone, warmth and feel with digital clarity/resolution/detail. The differences between the higher end models and lower end models in sound is is somewhat nuanced and a matter of refinement. Cost no object versus cost is an object, etc.

Dude you are tainted.

I really wanted Westone 3's or UE10/11s, but really after listening to my er6is again (I have two pairs laf) I am really more than satisfied.