boomana

I love the Burrito Bols at Chipotle

golly gee, thanks. Uh....I ain't got nothing to do with that

I originally bought the ESW9s for work as they are closed, portable, and can be used with or without an amp. The isolation isn't the best, but I wanted to be able to hear phones ring and co-workers calling my name, and no one can hear what I'm listening to when sitting next to me. I'd rank all my home headphones over them for sq, but I'm still loving these little headphones. I wouldn't call them airy at all, which is what you said you wanted, but they have good extension in both highs and lows, decent detail and separation, decent soundstage, and are extremely enjoyable for most music I listen to, and from what I've learned of your tastes, would do pretty well with what you like. The only other closed headphones I've owned are Darth Beyers, K340s, and R10s, none of which I'd recommend or at least not for work. Yup.

Have a great birthday!

I thought there was enough alcohol present to kill all the germs in Fairfax.

I'm going with ear infection, especially considering I talked to John last night and he and Mike are both sick and I've got a sore throat. Hopefully, your ears will clear up in a couple days.

Very nice!

Welcome to head-case, gtp!

If it starts up again, I'll check, but as of last listen, all's well. It's evil elves, I'm sure of it. I'm more worried about the buzzing, since my amp's already had two rounds of fix-ups for this problem, but hopefully, it was just the tubes. When I think of hi-fi, mid-fi, etc., I'm using my own subjective scale, based on what I've heard and not what something costs, though there's often that very real connection. My amp would run someone about $2500. I consider that mid-fi money-wise, and when I compare the sound to Al's SDS-XLR, I still consider it mid-fi, but on the high end of that range. I don't know how much HD650s cost new, but in headphoneland, I consider them hi-fi. I believe the Denon D2000s cost in the same range, but I'd definitely put them at mid-fi based on their sound and their inability to scale well (in my experience). My modded Denon runs $3500 new, which I again consider mid-fi, but I, along with others, have done some pretty careful comparisons with with players costing in the $6000 range, and it holds its own. My brain puts it at the low-end of hi-fi, especially once you've heard the emm labs or Neil's NWO. The differences are pretty remarkable, but that doesn't stop mine from sounding damn good. Blah blah etc. I don't expect anyone to share my views on this, especially because it seems people like to think of their gear as hi-fi, and get disturbed when some fool like me believes other. I just can't think of much of mine as hi-fi, simply because I've heard sooo much better. None of it matters. I still like my stuff as much as I always have, and when I'm listening I don't worry about anything better, I'm just enjoying the music.

Checked that out and with two different headphones. I really don't get it at all.

I suggest giving it a go just to find out.

Just about says it all.

I already have his speakers, his F1, his ics, and his HD600s. Gear-whore friends are good friends indeed.

Maybe, but I'm seriously stuck on the tube goodness of what I heard on Saturday. Gee, and only $4000ish for parts and build, and a three-to-four-month wait (per Frank). btw, to those wanting to know the three best rigs, with the level of gear on every table, I can honestly say, there was no such thing. When Mikeymad's Marantz hasn't even been mentioned in any impression so far, that's just goes to show that too many good things can simply be too much.

Exactly. I thought I was going nuts, but there is was, faint, but very present, and then back to normal. Maybe CanJam is the place for peeking. Who knows. I may not even have it by then. I'm seriously entertaining the idea of having Frank and/or Thrice build me that beasty amp, but I'm hoping the spell wears off soon.

Just bought an Equinox Senn cable off ast. I've really liked it each time I've heard it, but was never going to buy one new. I have the G52, which I'm quite fond of for the 650s, but like the Cardas best so far with the 600s. I hate the Zu. I've only heard the Equinox at meets, so it will be nice to have it at home for awhile and make a final decision. Mike's having a mini-meet in a couple weeks, and since he's got the new Grand Enigma cable, it will be nice to hear that too.

It sounds fine with zero problems. Go figure. Two weird things happened. First the gawd-awful buzzing that would start 20-30 minutes (with speakers and/or headphones) into listening. I switched out tubes and that helped some, but didn't completely get rid of it. I cleaned the old ones, and that seemed to do the trick, and now all sound fine, except weird problem #2 started in: I used to plug in headphones and that would cut off all sound to the speakers, but after my buzzing problem ended, I could suddenly hear music through the speakers with the headphones on. It then just stopped. I sure don't understand it, but it's been fine for awhile now. I think I passed the ghost in the machine on to Reks.

I would say, yes, but that's not a negative. I consider my own gear mid-fi in comparison to the big boys, but my gear still sounds wonderful.

I look like I just got out of bed for those coronation shots. Maybe I should comb my hair and wear my crown into work today.

Quick hits (as in I just got up, have things to do, but want to drop a couple impressions in before I forget them): Overall: There was such a glut of over-the-top gear available, after a couple hours, I lost interest in evaluating, weighing anything, but just enjoyed. Headphones: Disappointments: HF1s, MS1s (again), Sextetts. I'd never heard the HF-1s and was looking forward to checking them out. Bah. Same with MS1s. Nice headphones, but when compared to most anything else, they lacked more than offered. I'd never heard the Sextetts, and tried them out with the Cooter amp. I understand why people like them, but the K340s do the same, but better. I didn't find them much different than the plain ole 240s they have in Barnes and Noble (at least in my area). Good, but there's much better out there. Surprises: ATH-AD2000. I'd heard these before, liked them, but thought nothing special and a bit too airy and thin. Wrongo. Of course, having Ironbut's R2R and the ZanaDeux feeding them didn't hurt. I wish I'd brought these around to other setups just to hear how they responded to the different sources/amps. L3000s. I've enjoyed these every time I've heard them, but not to the point of wanting them. Listening to them out of Frank's beasty amp was one of my aha moments. Just wow. Edition 9s. Okay, I was listening to them balanced with Al's rig, but I can no longer say they totally suck. They're still a bit too thick and funny sounding in the midrange, and have too much bass for my tastes, but I'll admit to enjoying them, even if I wouldn't want to own them. K340s. I own them, but don't really listen to them much, and have been planning on selling them. Guzziguy has nearly my identical rig, but sitting down with them on his reminded me why I got them and kept them in the first place. They were even better balanced on Al's rig. Not sure why this surprised me, but it did. I really like these headphones, especially for the midrange and presentation of vocals. Meets are great for reminding you that headphones, if they're any good to begin with, are so system dependent, it's almost impossible to judge what others are saying about them unless you know their rigs. No suprises there, but with the level of sources and amps at this meet, it's got me reconsidering my own opinions about this and that, and my respect for others' opinions, which is never a bad thing. Toss off stats comments: Neil's rig with the HE90s rules. I've heard the HE90s out of some damn good rigs, but with the NWO, and at one point, the R2R sourcing the ES2, there was nothing I didn't like. Nothing. HE60s out of the same didn't do much for me. With Neil's rig again, I liked the he 1.2s better than the Senn HE60s, and I really liked the O2 MKIIs on every rig I tried. I'm one of those that really really like the O2MKII presentation, but it won't grab you like other stats, and probably, due to meet conditions, didn't impress folks as much as the Chinese stats. If you put on the 1.2s (I didn't listen to the 1.3s), you think wowza right off the bat: clean, clear, forward (almost punchy), and fun. If you give the O2s the same one or two song, they'll seem too gentle and muted in comparison, but sit back for a time with no group of loud gabbers near you, and they're so gorgeous, giving tremendous depth and texture to the music that I found missing in the Lambdas, HE60s, and definitely in the he 1.2s. Why why why didn't I spend time with the 4070s :'( . I had them on for a minute, but there were too many people gabbing nearby, and I never got back with them. I have no interest in going stats right now, but if I could, I'd get the O2s, based on the little that I've heard so far. Fav moments: Al's SDS-XLR (sourced by his emm labs, Neil's NWO, and Nate's Hersten's dac). Best 650 moments I've every heard (emm and Hersten's), and best 600 moment (NWO). Foo_me's emm labs/Zanden/cage mod K1000s (I found the jp blossom's naked K1000s too harsh). Frank Cooter's rig with Hp1s, K1000s, L3000s. I spent the majority of the meet attached to this system. Ironbut's R2R/Zana Deux/AD2000s. Gorgeous. Neil's ES2/HE90s (sourced by his NWO and the R2R). And funny how in the middle of all this ultra high-end gluttony, a little moment with Bigguy's mini3 and my Yuin Pk1s made me perfectly happy, and Fallenangel's little PPAS with the ESW9s did the same. That's it for now. I'd add some detail to some of these impressions and drop in some more later on.

I have no idea what a V-cap imod sounds like, but it considering the other limitations of an ipod source (storage being one), I wouldn't drop big bucks on it when there are more affordable options that sound excellent and offer more. I have two imods (one on purpose, one accidental). They do sound better than regular ipods, and when I could bring music to work, it was a nice little set up. Also a great travel or bedroom rig. I now plan on selling both, or at least one, as it makes no sense to have them.

And they all have better gear than you

Just got home, and am happily exhausted. I'll try and get impressions up tomorrow, but I spent most of my time on five rigs, and kept coming back to this one. I have the F1, which was the best K1000 amp I'd heard until the Zanden and this amp. The Cooter amp brings a natural sound to the high end that even the Zanden (foo_me has an freaken amazing rig) didn't pull off. I'm real curious what this could do with a four-pin (the K1000s were used single-ended). I'd also like to hear it with a different source. I'm trying to convince myself I don't need this amp, which I don't, but damn, I want it. I'd want L3000s for it, though. That was a magical combo I can't seem to get out of my mind.

like an arrogant jackass?

Yep. There was actually a third power supply under the table that was for the GM70 filaments. The two on top were for the drivers and the outputs as Voltron said. This amp was also the best L3000 amp I've heard to date. Frank said that he hadn't yet gotten the amp sound "right" yet and considered it to be about 80% of what he wanted. I know Thrice got the details of what's what. More impressions to follow, but there was an astounding amount of great gear, and I'm wiped out and hurt from too much laughing. Volton pulled off the best party I've been to in years, which just happened to have a lot of good gear/music around. The Caifornia crew is a wonderful bunch, and I'm hoping to see many of them again at CanJam. Iron Dreamer wins points for actually lasting until late tonight when sanity struck and he decided to drive on home rather than stay one more night.