Icarium

What's your experience with them? You've heard the double crown in action? I mean even Filburt hasn't heard it himself, though he theorizes quite logically that it shouldn't sound that much different since he's heard other hyped/normal variations of other chips and noted there to be very little difference. So while I find it totally believable that it may not sound all that different... but have you actually heard it? I haven't so I'm investing. Might be a waste of money but it wouldn't be the first or last time.

I have a Wavelength Audio Cosine dac right now. i forget which chip it is but Filburt might remember he took a look inside. It's a great sounding DAC owns the FUCK out of the Monarchy M24 I used to have. The improvements on detail/tone are subtle and slight, but the very fact that it has like 3x the soundstage was a big deal to me. the Monarchy was remably narrow.

I actually like the AK4396 quite a lot and probably the upcoming AK4397. I am definitely going to get them in my other source when I have the money for an APL mod. Still I am very curious to see if the retarded premium I'm paying on the double crown can equal or beat the AKM chips in redbook.

Yeah I think the PCM63 is the one that Filburt likes best. It's cool. Will still sound good. Now I just have to get the deal worked out for wood puck feet for the DAC made from a mix of Noah's Ark and the True Cross. Ah, sonic bliss.

What can I say I hate money. If you want some from me you just have to slap the words "Rare"/"Best" whatever on it and I'll cough up the bank.

Yeah I don't doubt that they are vastly over priced and aren't the best possible chip. In fact Filburt told me he prefers some other R2R chip that I can't remember off the top of my head. Still, I seem to go for the overrated products and I kind of wanted to hear for myself how it sounds.

http://picasaweb.google.com/asebastian2/DoubleCrown/photo#5107114672554852322 So pretty! These are the ultra rare and highly acclaimed double crown version of the 20 year old R2R non-OS Phillips TDA1541A chip. Haven't been tested by my DAC builder to see if they are legit ;p But hopefully they are! They use this chip (only 1 or 2 though) in the highest end Zanden dac and various old school players like the Marantz CD-7. Apparently crazies in Japan build dacs with 32-64 of these chips per channel. Very pricey at $100-$150 if you can find them ;p Asebastian sourced them for me and is planning on sticking them in a modified version of this dac: http://www.ecdesigns.nl/dacs/di8m/di8m.html http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=79452 in a custom chassis ;p Excited! But sadly this project will have to be sidelined with the purchase of my transport and lack of funds Ohwell at least I have the pretty chips... been wanting something with them in it forever. But finding a Marantz cd-7 is tough (It even has a digital input!).

The whole process sounds filthy! This weekend I'll see if Alex Peychev's dream of defeating the finest vinyl rigs (He feels he's already crushed all digital out there) has come true or not ;p

Yeah that's true, but chances of someone trying a better one and being near enough for me to hear it are kinda slim! But still that just means the K1000 has even more potential to go. If the headphone is badass enough to be in its own tier then its still the most cost effective set up in its tier ;p Sidenote Neilvg had tried his K1000 with his MBL monoblocks and they were good but Zanden smoked it.

Well I mean its all up to tastes. I bet that MBL player sounds great with mbl stuff. I really like the Esoteric stuff I've heard but I haven't heard that much and I can recognize the sound might not be for all people. I liked the P03/D03 that I heard that's the most expensive player I've heard though MSRP is about on par with EMM labs. I bet the P01/D01 (Dual Mono Dacs) is even better. I've heard the top dCs stacks are quite good. Supposedly the hands down best in cd is APL hifi's modded UX-1 which well they just released the 3.0 though its not in official production yet there are a few units (Neilvg is getting one at some point he's been waiting 6 months for the 2.5t which is what he ordered already). Whether this is true or not. I am not sure, I might hear it this weekend or when Neil gets it. Even when I do hear it... there isn't much to compare it to. Supposedly Alex Peychev of APL might do a mod on the P01/D01s which already retail for something like 50k+ and sell it for 100k but that is pretty nuts. As for digital versus vinyl? Well I hear how vinyl works is on a disc they strip out a lot of the highs/lows and it gets re-added in at some level was it by the cartridge or the phonostage? I have no idea (Don't know shit about vinyl). That really clinched it for me. Sure vinyl has more info but if only in the mid range... that doesnt seem good enough to justify it for me. Not to mention taking care of and dealing with vinyl. Sure there is a lot of great vinyl out there and the selection owns sacd/dvd-a in the face... but meh. The one impression I do have from a guy who has heard an APL product (The modded Denon 3910 which maxed out was ~9-10k Alex Peychev is selling a new one for 5.5k though now and it routinely shows up on audiogon for ~4k. I would have gotten one since it has a digital input and all the other feature I'd like except that though it has XLR outs its not truely balanced output grrr) said basically that it sounds really good with decent tone/large soundstage but the resolution was so much that the music almost felt grainy to him. He hasn't heard the top of the line though. I have no idea what grainy really means, but apparently he associated with it being TOO resolving which seems to fit my tastes ;p

Yeah i still doubt that it beats out the best possible cd player but who knows

I wish I did. He let it go at a really good price, but no I got the UX-1 since the end goal is probably Alex Peychev's APL modded NWO 3.0 GO. Which I may take a few head-fiers to go audition this coming weekend.

I got an esoteric player. I actually don't like the EMM labs stack that much at all. I liked an Esoteric dv50s more than it... though it wasnt a side by side. That VRS player is mad pricey. Was it the best possible source you've ever heard? That's what Mikhail said but I don't know what he's heard. I'd like to hear it and see if its really the best.

Yeah. I agree. Sometimes I definitely wonder if its all just some hardcore rationalization on my part. But eh. it does sound good ;p And if someone will pay me 80-100 percent of what I paid for it. Then I'm cool.

You are absolutely right. Maybe the time frame I listed is kinda off. When one head-fier first heard my amp he thought it didn't sound thattt much better than an extreme. But the second time he heard it the difference between a lot more clear, but probably still not enough in his mind to justify the price ;p I think the main issue with double blind testing is that its very very difficult to conduct one in the time frames one needs to fully grasp and digest an amp. Yeah I question his markup sometimes too. But shrug I like the guy ;p Man, I just went into slight debt buying a source. Life sucks, but my rig is essentially complete.

I wonder if they will have any of their albums for sale there. I don't evenl ike them thattt much they are just on the edge of yeah I listen to them from time to time. But their low pressing #'s makes me want to buy some when I get the chance.

Yeah what the fuck is Boris? I kinda described it as Psychadelic Hard Rock. I bought 3 tickets to the SF show though. You going to see them ? ;p

I suppose that's true. There isn't one perfect headphone or set up. Metal is filthy though thankfully so its low on my priorities ;p

You'd be surprised. People threw all sorts of music at it at the most recent NorCal meet. I heard rock/jazz/classical/female vocalists of various genres. I didn't hear metal, but I think someone tried it (There are a lot of metal digging head-fiers). If not we can run it through it next mini meet. Maybe even have Granodemostasa a foo_me rig dissenter on hand to gauge how well it does metal (Though I guess he might not like the genre, Iron_dreamer perhaps I know he likes metal ;p).

Yeah I have a wavelength dac. The cosine. It sounds seriously good. So that other speaker power amps can crush the Zanden... I'm not super surprised. But at the 6-7.5k street value used price its not a totally shitty value. Esp. given the margin it destroys the Moth 300B which slightly edges out the woo5 and they both have somewhat of a margin on the F1/Aleph 30. I guess maybe I shouldn't just say Zanden. Any 300B or on par with tube amp from a highly respected by various trustworthy communities audio builder in the 10-30k MSRP range. Also as someone brought up the word synergy... it's also possible the Zanden in particular has amazing synergy with the K1K. Which from what I've heard it does... it isn't just an expensive amp. It has more synergy than the Aleph 30 ;p Though given what foo_me said regarding his audition with the Airtight. The synergy may not be exclusive to the Zanden name but more to 300B set designs in general. I buy into that.

I dunno. Regular dynamics being basically non-k1k dynamics? Including top tier headphones? So you are saying after a certain point of spending there is no improvement whatsoever? Because if that's what you mean... I mean sure you possibly could be right it could be some sort of rationalizing on the part of my brain to justify the money spent (Also on the part of everyone else spending that much). But if otherwise you are saying that there may be some minute amount of improvement that is almost unmeasureable that its simply just not worth it. That's different. Because while being a far better value the cheaper solution is not the actual best. Of course no real best best exists. Just consider that extra wasted money as payment for as much peace of mind is possible. I mean what are really high quality amps that are still a good value? Zana Deux? Dynafet/Beta22/Gilmore stat designs? I like all of these amps and think they are really great. But do I think if I spent 5x as much with Singlepower I will get something that is at least 5 percent better? I think so and I believe I've hard so, but yeah I could be wrong. I'd like to see some decently run multiple person comparisons disproving me though

Yeah it's pretty tough to say since personal preference obviously comes into play. Like again I thought the KGSS DX with O2 sounded incredibly okay-good. Just sounding good to me personally isn't really enough for me ;p As elitist and willing to throw money at things I am, I have actually never heard a headphone/amp that I actually hated. I can find something to like in everything. I think me and others in our community can be objective enough to listen to something that we personally like or don't like but recognize that a great deal of people might like it and what in the sound they might like (And if we consider those reasons valid measures of quality or not). Like some components might have a lot of "Wow" factor and we can recognize that a lot of people will dig it because of that, but really its not transparent, its not any sort of neutral and really is kinda crap. There's definitely the case where you can have a qualified builder really tune up one amp to meet your tastes exactly for relatively cheap but it could also sound like crap to everyone else (Not saying anyone here has tastes that skewed, but yeah). So I guess even though I like everything to some degree, it isn't enough for me to just like it. Lots other people have to like it as well and agree that its awesome ;p Maybe not everybody, but people who's opinions I respect at the very least ;p Sign of a low self-esteem? Maybe ;p Anyway, as far as foo_me's rig goes, I really think anyone who listens to it will be damned impressed and feel that it's validly one of the best possible rigs and that its worth the money spent on it. The only person who I've heard think its only decent is maybe granodemostasa... I think. Of course he has yet to hear it in its mostly complete form and then if he still thinks its only meh ;p Well that's fine As for Zanden Monoblocks ? ;p Maybe, maybe. As it is his rig makes music sound real. I know that gets used a lot but its really the only appropriate descriptor. So I guess its all a question of if more money (Whether that translates to better parts/better build quality or a better design) can make it sound more real. Definitely maybe ;p

You might be right. But someone would have to actually have one of these amps and I'd have to hear it or have people that I trust hear it to really buy that. I don't doubt that its doable. But no one I know has one of those amps + the headphones we are talking about. I don't doubt there is a very very sizeable markup to Singlepower amps versus a DIY build or even the right trustworthy builder who is willing to take a custom job. But besides that Duality amp that Tjurikta has... I haven't heard a lot about anything that is really that maxed out. And I'm not even sure that duality is all that great. Philodox's amp is interesting as well, but again I'd have to hear more impressions versus high end (And possibility over priced but maybe not) Singlepowers. Anyway, my argument is simple and not related to value so much as anything else. Basically Im saying if you consider to max a rig for any sort of headphone you have to spend about an equal amount on the amp regardless of headphone type. K1000 rig will be cheaper (Maybe slightly in relation to whatever else you are buying) because it is inherently much less expensive than the other same tier headphones.

I've heard the O2 out of a KGSS DX. It's not even remotely comparable. Spritzer who even feels the O2 is the best headphone out there beating out the O1 and destroying the HE90 doesn't even think the KGSS DX is the optimal amp for the O2. Even though he has the superior Blue Hawaii he is building not 1.. not 2, but 4 custom amps with bizarre tube complements to drive the O2 to what he feels is its full potential. Moreover yeah I've heard the O2 out of a KGSS DX and its can't even dream of touching the Zanden rig. I didn't even think it sounded that good. But to a person who digs that sound.. i bet he/she would find a first watt f1/pass aleph 30 / k1000 rig comparable in level. As for the L3000/Earmax Pro? I'm sure it sounds good. But again I am reasonably sure my SDS/L3k (Combo which I used to own) sounded better and again, not even remotely at the same overall level though it did some things better like bass. I'm sure the rigs you listed Dusty Chalk are 1. Great Values 2. 90-95 percent whatever.. really close to being the top of the line rigs. But I'm not talking about just a great rig... but one where you have a room of 20 of quiet audiophiles listening to it in silence for 30 minutes each none of them will have complaints or can offer up a component area that can be upgraded or improved upon. I.e. end game. Even if you want to throw more money at it you can't... type rigs.

Well I took the source out of the equation since the source can be used with any rig and is not really specific to the K1000. Amp/headphone pairing is a bit more unique of a footprint. What's 14k? The source is 10k and the Zanden was 6k. The amount you spend on a source is not dependent on which headphone you chose to go with. Hence why I didn't factor source into the cost. I heard the rig with his audio aero capitole which he had before the EMM labs... I actually liked it a little bit better with that and it was a much cheaper source. Slightly better decay but less body. So he spent about 8k for Oritek x-2 cables/Recabled K1000s + cage mod and amp. The airtight 300B set amp is supposed to come pretty close and retail for a bit over 6k new. Nik was selling his for something like 3.5k or something. I would have probably bought that and been satisfied for a k1k rig ;p Regardless of topology I think more went into the amp then just that. Craig was especially impressed/curious about the transformers used. For the amp I don't think it was just a matter of only the best parts were used, but within the strata of top notch parts different ones were tested against each other to find the most synergistic selection of those parts. Obviously its a lot of money. I'm not disputing that. I'm talking about if you want to shoot for owning one of the best possible rigs out there without an area which you can still upgrade from and be basically done... the k1k route is probably the cheapest way to go about that. We are still talking about a complete rig that will cost 5 figures... just the lower end of 5 figures.