Knuckledragger

I've had the H2s on for a couple hours now, and I've begun to do some reflection. I've grown more used to their sonic signature, and uh, somewhat peculiar fit. Truth be told, they aren't that uncomfortable. I'm not going to forget the two metal loops on the top of my head any time soon. I have large and oddly-shaped ears, and the grilles press into them. The HD-650s feel like featherweights in comparison, and the 590s are all but undetectable. That said, I find the H2s less painful to wear than any Grado I've ever tried (except maybe the GS1Ks.) They are a pain in the ass to take on and put off. Again, I offer the caveat that I had to shoehorn the TakeTs into my rig, the signal path is Adcom GCD-750 -[Kimber KC-1s]-> Gilmore Lite -[Monster DJ RCA-to-1/4"s]-> Hafler -[Generic 10GA OFC]-> TR2/H2. This is a ...suboptimal setup at best. Also, none of this gear, save the Adcom and the Hafler, is remotely burned in. There are too many unknown quantities (and half-assed kludges) for me to properly evaluate the H2s. Bearing this in mind, I do have a few thoughts on how they sound. There is still something not right in the midrange. Instrument separation is lacking. This problem descends into the upper midbass a bit as well. I've been listening to Air's Moon Safari, and on "La Femme d'Argent" the bassline is massive, but lacking clarity. Conversely, the Minimoog at the end of "All I Need" sounds fan-freakin' tastic. My source does an exceptional job at expressing sonic texture, and the H2s pick right up on that. I listened to this album last night with my GLite/650s, for the first time in years (since before I had a headphone rig of any worth) and I forgot how much I liked it. Tonight I am comparing that session with the TakeTs. I am noticing different (I'm not sure I'd say more) details. In "Talisman" the Minimoog is clearly going through a phase effect, giving it an almost vocoder like warble. I never picked up on that before. The H2s do somethings really well (gritty analog synth bass, snare drums, hi-hats) and completely fail at other tasks. Most of their successes are in the (deep) bass and high end, and most of their flaws are in the midrange. I don't want to give the wrong impression on the H2's high end. It is definitely upfront and intense, but it's not overly shrill or painful. Cymbals and snares are just right there. I hesitate to offer much conjecture, but I think they will scale well with better gear upstream. They are not exactly neutral cans, but they are certainly Ming the Mericless when it comes to revealing flaws in recordings/sources/amps/cables/one's wallpaper/etc. I am not in love with these things, but I continued to be intrigued.

Clearly. I was asking what make and model it is.

What controller is that? Does it have an X/Y joystick? I have a mess of DMX gear (most flat mirror scanners, but I have a few barrel scanners, and some intelligent moonflowers) but I don't use much of it anymore.

I've had my TakeTs for not quite a month now. Truth be told, I've barely listened to them. When they arrived from the Land of the Rising Sun, I was in the middle of major house renovations, and I had a houseguest. When I finally connected them up, I found then amusing, but there was a lot lacking with the sound (like the entire midrange.) I heard potential, but mostly I heard what was wrong with the gear upstream of the H2/TR2. This afternoon, I got back my old Halfer P125 power amp. Back in the 90s, it used to drive studio monitors, but it's been a dust collector for the last five years. I haven't heard it in ages, but what I remember was that it imbued small speakers (EV Sentries, B&W 302s) with a presence that belied its meager 60WPC rating. It took me nearly an hour to integrate the Halfer into my rig. It has 1/4" balanced TRS inputs, and I had exactly zero cables handy that would work with it. After digging through four different boxes, I eventually found a pair of Monster (yuck) DJ (bigger yuck) RCA -> 1/4" cables, and kludged the Halfer into the signal path after my GLite. As a bonus, I found to lengths of Kimber speaker cable (it's 8*mumble*, not TC, but one of the other ones) that had been missing for ages. I need new termination for them, but I will be using them between the P125 (amp) and TR2 (transformer box) as soon as it is possible. I have barely begun to do proper listening with this new set up, but for the first time the TakeTs don't sound bad to me. The bass is impressive in its power, and the high end is REALLY UPFRONT. Holy crapballs. Maybe I spend too much time listening to HD-650s, but I am not used to such high end impact. Snare drums take on a whole new meaning with the TakeTs. I really can't do proper analysis of the situation until I fix a few key links in the chain (XLR -> 1/4" TRS cables and new speaker wire termination are on order.) What I can say is that these cans have a huge amount of potential, and are just beginning to reach it in my rig. Also, they have maybe 10 hours of use on them, and I'm sure the sound signature will change as they get some real play time.

A pity. Demonoid was effectively my TV tuner. \

What distillery is that? I've had Macallen 25, Highland Park 25, and I've seen Mac 50 (which sold for GBP1500 per bottle 15 years ago.) I can't say I have much interest in single malts that cost more than my car, but I do have Lagavulin 30 year on my to-do list.

Apparently my smartass sig was more apropos than I intended. I financed part of my TakeT purchase by selling my subwoofer. I had a Paradigm PW-2200, which rattled the floorboards and shook fillings loose, but it never seemed fast enough to me. Maybe I never positioned it right. As I said on [that other place], I have a pipe dream of being able to buy a Gilmore-designed TakeT amplifier (a KGTT if you will) from Headamp within the next year or so. Preferably without needing to list a kidney on eBay. I'm not sure exactly what caused me to spring for the TakeTs. Part of it was the September 26th date (oh, that crafty Mr. Takei and his Engrish translator) and part of it was Duggeh's epic review of them (I never read it in its entirety.) The single biggest deciding factor was everything I have read about the TakeTs leads me to believe their sound signature (spacious, revealing and bassy) meshes perfect with the kind of music I prefer, ambient dub, IDM and downtempo electronics.

Same rig I've been using for over a year. FLACs in foobar -> Adcom GDC-750 CDP/DAC -> Gilmore Lite + DPS -> HD-650s/Blue Dragon Mk IIs, all the electronics being feed cleaned power via a Monster HTS-5100 MK II. Total cost to me: around $1500. What makes me a true head-fi heretic is that I have resisted upgraditis and FOTM syndrome. That is, until I sent a large-ish payment to one Mr. Takei for some bleeding edge fuglyphones and accompanying boat anchor. One pair of cans doubles the cost of my rig.