Icarium

Eh I don't see how you could do much better than an used Zanden amp which can be had for a lot cheaper. Or get a custom amp for comparable price (Or get an Airtight). I guess if you are maximizing the amp for speakers as well but then the money isn't going for the K1000. I mean I suppose if you throw that much into it, it might be doable though the Zanden is more than just good parts... Craig of Eddie Current was extremely impressed by the sound and wanted to open it up and look inside ;p I mean look at it this way. If you put the K1000 in the same tier as O1/O2/HE90/L3000/R10/Qualias... consider all these headphones require equally expensive amps to fully max out the sound. Then by the sheer cost of the K1000 it's going to win in affordability. While you might argue that other top tier headphones have a softer amplification cost requirement to sound awesome... I'll suggest you tell that to people spending upwards of 20 grand on elaborate custom Singlepower amps (Apparently there's some guy ordering a 28 tube 0 or very few transistor variant of Neil's ES-2 for upwards of 40k and lots of other crazy ass amps that he was telling me about at the meet). Though the rigs were in separate rooms I can tell you honestly that my 5.2k SDS with an excellent tube complement + bass heavy r10 and sourced by EMM labs SE got smoked by foo_me's. The SS-1/Qualias/Emm labs came a lot closer (With P03/D03 it was almostttt equal basically better bass versus wider sound stage and slightly more perfect decay) but still got crushed. Anyway, I'm obviously a believer in how good it sounds. It doesn't make me exactly happy since I have about 35k sunk into other gear that sounds different but undeniably inferior. But eh, I'm sure I'll have a similar rig by the end of next year ;p Source first right now. Source first. Well and paying off my r10.

Too bad Rega sucks.

It's definitely up there for best sound possible ever. If you don't mind having a power amp for them... I think they are probably also the cheapest rig to max the fuck out of.

Oh man :/

I'm still profoundly skeptical of the benefits of the whole headphile process and the accompanying pricetag. What's it really do? I mean I guess I can see what it does for open phones (Makes them closed). Also how's his cable? I'd be surprised if it stacks favorably against say [AK]Zip's cable.

Well es-1 is balanced and your source is already balanced! I think right? Just amp and some cables!

Adrenochrome

My parents conditioned me and my brother to believe that AC is for pussies. Unless we aren't paying for it ourselves.

Yeah I can't even imagine using a ZD in a Cali summer. Let alone a florida summer. That is just... geh :/ I wish I had bought your ZD though Tyrion !

Haha purk refuses to go balanced. I'm telling him he doesnt NEED an sds-xlr. A balanced zana deux (None created so far but shouldn't be too much I asked Craig but will be hot as hell) should work just fine! I think he's done with spending anyways since he's concluded that without sds-xlr HE90 wins enough for him not to need more r10s.

There's a fan in the chassis?? I wonder if there's one in mine. I dunno my SDS with the tube complement i have now is really kickass. I've heard the Qualias out of a properly tube tuned Zana Deux and it was pretty damn good as well. I can't really cede a victory to it ;p The Zana Deux definitely sounds better with w5000s so far but I haven't really looked for tubes to optimize that sound on the SDS ;p But the SDS definitely sounds better for me with L3Ks (Though this was with the kenrad/sylvania 6SN7 tube complement which isn't super duper optimal for anything).

Yeah I am very interested in that too. The only 3 options my SDS doesnt have is besides crazy one off stuff. (1. Texture control. 2. bias control (Mine is also high bias since its tuned for r10) 3. the 12 volt in driver option.

I think its interesting that SDS/Maestro (And SDS-XLR/Maestro-XLR) are two different circuits entirely. I still can't get that out of my mind! If I go the XLR route with one of his tube amps I'd probably do the two stage dealio like tkam's or go maestro. SDS is nice, but meh. Or all 3! In one uber amp!

It's pretty ridiculous how much my Tungsol 2C51/Sylvania 6BL7 GT has changed the Qualia sound. I wouldn't say it is necessarily better than the solid state/balanced qualia sound (SS-1)... since I believe the SS sound to be the Qualias natural environ. But it definitely adds weight/tone/body to the sometimes thin sounding Qualia sound though at the intense sacrifice of soundstage and changes the headphone into a much more upfront sound. It is like a completely different but equally high end headphone. Ridiculous.

Yeah HD6X0 or w5000 + zana deux is a rig that is hard to match esp at the price. It can be better but not with that level value. Interesting findings on your SDS. My noise floor on mine is dead silent though the amp is microphonic but that doesn't enter into the sound unless i ping it with my fingers. As far as hiss there is none. And the gain, well that can change a lot with the driver tube i've noticed. When I brought it over for the last norcal mini meet people were pushing it to like 3 o clock to get acceptable levels of sound from it and it was clipping like mad. With the 12AV7 and even better the 2C51 I don't have to turn the dial past 8 to 9 o clock to get a level of sound that might even be too loud ;p

Oh yeah and Mike, consider the 45 stepper stepped attenuator that thing is fucking awesome. I have the 24 on my ES-1 and SS-1 and I don't think they give the granularity I need.... the 45 step one almost gives me more than I need.

Good caps anywhere is something that I am all for. But from what I understand there is a difference between caps that test well and "audiophile" caps. I've heard people say black gates test poorly and others say black gates test very well. I tenddd to think that blackgates probably do not test well and instead do something to color the sound in a pleasing way... this isn't really based on any research of my own. But I kind of equate them (Based on what others have said who I trust to a certain degree) to things like carbon/tantalum resistors which will not be as clean as a good metal film resistor or even better a bulk foil resistor... yet many swear by the warm and delightful sound produced by those. So what kind of makes sense in my mind is having clean/well testing resistors/caps what have you in the power section and a few "audiophile" caps/resistors in the audio section for flavor.... maybe? Shrug. I don't know I'm certainly not an EE or a designer, but that's kind of what has made sense to me based on what I've read. Anyway, a lot of DIYers that I've read posts from say things like it is silly to put black gates in the power section and instead some cheaper but better testing capacitor will perform better. If someone who has done tests (Rolled in blackgates versus something less esoteric I'd like to hear results."

Yeah I've heard enough dissenting views of blackgates in the power supply to really totally buy into it... but meh who knows.

I'd rank the upgrades like this personally. Transformer upgrade -> silver wiring in audio path -> audio note (or lesser I suppose like mere v-cap) coupling caps -> stage 2 or 1 black gates -> black gates in power section and other things. Definitely get the 400 volt high voltage setting and maybe the bias selector dial.

He didn't mention if the R10 you heard was bass light or not though bah ;p

Man the tubes I have in the ES-1 are kicking ass right now. I think I've finally found a rig to equal the Zanden rig. Mmm HE-90 with perfect tone.

I'm rolling with a tungsol 2c51 and sylvania 6bl7 gts.. i have sylvania and hytron 6bl7 gtas and sylvania 6bx7s and a ton of other 2c51s/5670s.

You gotta have Mikhail whip you up a balanced amp Earl ;p

Oh yeah? Didn't realize. Which one brings out the most details?

6BX7s are alright. 6BL7s are better imo though ;p