Fing

Perhaps after Boomana finishes disciplining you, she could pencil in a session with Mikhail.

Spot on. I had to wait 3 months for my Yamamoto HA-02 but was prepared for the wait based on forum feedback. Similarly for a pair of Darth Beyer, as Larry said as much how long it would take on his website and via email communication. These are for fairly stock items where the variables don't change much if at all. Thus my expectations were set at an appropriate level and I was happy when the items arrived roughly on schedule. Not so with SinglePower. Firstly there are the continually over-optimistic time estimates. For any given deadline, I'd say triple or quadruple it, even if you follow it up on a weekly basis. Goodness knows how long it would take if you just left it up to fate. Some indefinable time between now and never. I do agree with what others have said about the proposed ways SinglePower might be improved. The key, though, is being able to appropriately manage customer expectations. If, in addition to the pricelist, a timeframe could be attached to each option. For instance, a stock PPX, MPX3 or Extreme would take roughly 3 months. 5 months for Supra, 6-8 months for ES-1/SDS-XLR. Each option on top of stock will increase that lead time by 2 to 3 weeks, depending on complexity. Yes, more people will be ordering stock units, but at least they'd not be continually phoning up and blowing their gaskets.

I had a stock DHA3000 with L3000 and liked it fine. It was a noticeable step up from the HA5000 I used to use to drive it. More dynamics, detail, tonal balance and an altogether better match. The volume on my unit only seemed to operate in 'steps' and I found that occassionally it would either be too loud or not loud enough. Also, I still liked to dial in a bit of extra treble as I felt the L3000 was still missing a little bit in this area after hearing the Sony R10. The tone controls are quite subtle in the DHA3000 and I felt they were good for adjusting the sound to your taste without altering it too much. I've since moved on to using the SinglePower Extreme Platinum and I feel that this amp shows another aspect to the L3000. It does require more careful component matching to sound optimal, as opposed to the all-in-one the DHA3000 provides. However, for me the extra effort is worth it. Somehow the midrange/upper midrange is considerably boosted and it does sound a bit weird. But very pleasant.

SinglePower Extreme Platinum and now Yamamoto HA-02. Midrange, where art thou?

Because they were unlistenable as they were. If I could have stood waiting for "burn in" to happen, then I would have, but I wanted to at least enjoy them now rather than some unspecified time in the future. As it stood, I knew I didn't want to listen to them at all in stock form. Modified, they are not too bad. An additional reason was because I really wanted to see if these mods worked or not. To me they are a partial success. It's just tipped it the other way. I am able to reverse some of the mods. The dynamat is pretty sticky so will probably stay on. A bit of an oops on my part - I should have used blu-tack instead. However I do think that dampening resonances as generally a good thing so I'm not too concerned either way.

Music wise? A variety of music. Gomez, Zero 7, Massive Attack, Verdi's Requiem, Goldfrapp.

After 2 weeks in postal limbo, my Denon D5000 finally arrived. I wasted no time plugging them in and noticing that yes, flabby, overwhelming bass is present. Went to work putting in some Dynamat on the wooden cups, around the driver and even on the headphone frame. Also put in a small quantity of the Mountain Mist polyester fibre inside each earcup as dampening material. Finally stuffed some foam into the earpads to pad them out and provide extra soundstage. Result? Much tighter bass, not so overwhelming but still a touch too strong. The mids have become considerably recessed, though still clear. The treble is very present and slightly piercing. I think we have our classic ultrasone smile, which I personally hate. My L3000 can rest easy in their AT stand. Much more enjoyable to listen to. The D5000 have zero burn-in so the character may change (I hope). Not really enjoying listening to them through Paradisea and SP Extreme. Will see if things change when I take them home and listen to them through Wavelength Crimson -> Yamamoto HA-02. The Yamamoto is supposed to have a better synergy with the D5000 so will post when I try it through them.

You're right and I'm sorry for straying. I'd love to hear the differences between S/E vs Balanced L3000 with my imminent Supra XLR. Hmmmm.... I have a balanced R10 cable otw. I could recable the L3000 drivers first....

Lots ) I am loving having the SinglePower Extreme driving the L3000. Not even the DHA3000 could drive them this well. The sound was smoother and tonally better with the DHA3000 but lacked dynamics. Very different flavour with the Extreme, which is very vibrant and mates well with the particular characteristics of the L3000 even at low listening volume, which I prefer. The Yamamoto HA-02 doesn't do so well in my experience with the L3000.

My favourite Sony device before being seduced by the Sony R10 was the Sony WM-D6C: It was an absolutely incredible machine, if a bit of a brick even way back then. The sound quality was brilliant and I loved using it, even more so because I stole it from my big brother who got all the cool toys. Gratuitous pic of an oiled pair of R10:

I remember lusting after a TVC pre-amp from DIYHifiSupply when they made them with S&B transformers (the Django). Since all S&B TX102 transformers have since been diverted to their Music First line, I heard about the Promitheus ones from random comments on various audio forums. They rave about them quite a lot on the Audiocircle forum. I've ordered a reference 2 box one with an upgraded C-core, ebony chassis and copper plates. Accepts 2 RCA and one balanced input - $1060 Apparently the stock one for $360 sounds pretty good. I just have complete and utter willpower failure when it comes to upgrades and options.

damn,, I mean well done!

Ah ok. No worries then ) If you manage to get some inner foam rings, please let me know where you got them? Cheers!

To clarify, I should have said - "I don't get the urge to quickly flick through many different types of music when I am listening to it through either pair of my R10 headphones. This is even more pronounced when I am listening to the newer pair than the older pair". My old pair have deteriorated foam rings - the inner one surrounding the driver is almost completely gone and is just flaky red stuff, so I don't get the same kind of sound I am getting out of the new pair I recently acquired. As a result, the old pair is more unfocused and unbalanced in the treble, which can get strident/harsh. Listening to the new pair, which I don't think are broken in yet, the sound is better, more bassy and coherent with better imaging. I will hopefully get some replacement rings at some point soon and be able to make a better comparison, but I feel that once broken in, the difference between the two pairs that I have will be small. Okay?

When I get any new piece of audio equipment, I often want to play lots of different tracks / types of music to see how it sounds. I don't get that with R10's. I just end up listening to whatever is playing, moreso with my new pair than my old (deteriorated foam rings :'( )

Another vote in favour of Gordon's communication and his turn around time. All my emails to him were answered very quickly (often within minutes). When I asked for a balanced output for his Crimson, he figured out how to do it and got back to me with the results within a day (the Crimson uses Autoformers for the output, so switching to balanced out via transformers would have necessitated a change in the output tubes and a change to the connectors in the chassis). I declined the mod in the end since Mikhail offered me a maxed out demo Supra XLR which will accept single-ended and convert the signal to balanced, using transformers funnily enough Ordering it from Gordon direct also meant he threw in about $1000 worth of extras (a spare set of tubes, Ebony wood finish and an upgraded module board when one became available). He shipped my unit with a week of receiving the money. I've not had a chance to compare the Crimson to other high end units. I wouldn't say it's vinyl, though perhaps I need to set up some speakers and a turntable to really make a correct comparison. I will say that it has very pure treble, authoritative bass, and extremely good spatial imaging. Dynamics are pretty good - I will have to play with equipment to really check, as it's not quite jump (around) in your seat stuff, though its nearly there. Tone is spot on. Some pix: http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d6/firmfroggy/Crimson/

Icarium, Congrats on the R10. Sorry about your account. Once you start the inexorable slide, it's difficult to stop....I hope you can somehow replenish it without your family finding out about it. I was just thinking how much MS engineers must be getting paid to afford your rig(s) and how unfair it is My Yamamoto had hum issues. I ordered some sets of WE 408a tubes from Sphere research, stuck in a matched pair and it sounds noticeably better. No hum at all since I did the change. I'll hopefully be comparing it to an upgraded Extreme Platinum soon which retails about 2x the price. I don't think it'll survive, but somehow I find the thought of getting rid of it very hard. It's the most perfectly finished piece of audio equipment I've ever owned (other than the Pilot Lump).

Why do you feel you need to get a tube amp over solid state? You're probably better off asking this on head-fi. Before you do, it would be helpful for you to state your budget, the headphones you'll be using with it and even though it's rarely mentioned, your source / type of music you like to listen to. Try and buy used. A good bargain at the moment in the Head-fi for sale section is a SinglePower Extreme Platinum with upgraded power supply - going for $1500. Probably $1k off list. There are lots of budget alternatives - go through the Headphone amp forum in Head-fi for info about them and try and audition if you can.

nt

I'll sell my AT-DHA3000 to you ) Even though it's solid state it has a very liquid and refined sound due in part to being made for the L3000. PM me if interested - I'm currently looking for around $1600 for it. Cheers!

Thank you again for the replies - all very helpful information ) Cheers!

I chose this amp because the design was resurrected / championed by Thorsten Loesch, whose work I've been following for a while. Long review here: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1006/di_hifi_ladyday_91.htm

I just bought an AKG K1000 and realise that this phone is a bit 'special' in a number of ways. Listening to it out of a fairly modest headphone amp (Yamamoto HA-02 - pushing out around 300mW) I was quite impressed. Very nice musical sound, but lacking refinement. I decided to hook it up to my 300B monoblocks that put out 8 Watts and yup - huge improvement. I was wondering whether the 'higher voltage' Supra would be able to match this level of performance on K1000's? Would getting the Supra balanced make any difference? I talked to Mikhail about using a Supra XLR to drive a pair of K1000 and he mentioned adding another transformer and valve stage.... I'm wondering whether it'd be worth it.

Currently using a pair of 300B monoblocks to drive my AKG K1000 (out of a 1212m acting as pre / source \ ) Maxed out version costs $2790 and to my ears, is pretty good value. http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_Le_Club_Hifi.htm - scroll down to LD3++ Sounds very good!

Interesting thread especially as I'd just plunked down a large deposit on a supra. I just bought a house last year and I guess hearing 'optimistic' estimates and having to wait longer for something you want is just a fact of life. I do however feel that any amp that is sold new in excess of $1k, let alone $5k+ should be tested to within an inch of it's life as part of justifying the hefty price tag. If it's not functioning perfectly, then I'm afraid that's just unacceptable and at the very least I'd want the shipping and customs taken care of from his end.