aerius

The only difference between the two parties in the US is whether you get a reach-around when they fuck you in the ass.

I suppose I could use a few more versions of Scheherazade and Dvorak's 9th...

Cowboy Junkies' debut album from MoFi. Personally I think even the CD layer beats the hell out of every "audiophile approved" CD/SACD that I've heard.

It's not that bad. Some Lowther speakers are well over 2 Teslas. Mind you they're not an inch from your skull like a headphone driver.

I seem to recall a certain someone saying something about "no 'stats for '08!" I wonder how that one worked out...

Well, either you're buying a TTVJ Millet 307A tube amp or you're building a similar tube amp of your own.

Be sure to sample BC's #1 cash crop

In case you're not being sarcastic, "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid" are the title tracks from their respective albums.

I don't know, I initially read the thread title as "another reason for me to get the gun tonight", which makes sense and made me click on the link to find out who boomana wanted to shoot tonight. I was greatly disappointed.

Jimi Hendrix - Red House (Isle of Wight version) The Doors - When The Music's Over

It was the LL1676. K&K Audio / Lundahl Transformers: Superb results with LL1676 in 1:1 mode by Lynn Olson

I don't know, I've never heard the SE version of the Woo 6. The stock version certainly doesn't. I have played with the 6DE7 and similar tubes in a few DIY experiments of my own, I've never been able to make them sound like 2A3's so I'd say it's highly unlikely that they can be made to sound a DHT. Impossible? Who knows, but the odds are highly against it.

Pretty much. The small triode in a 6DE7 is sort of like a 6SN7, but with a lot less power. The larger triode in the tube has nothing in common with a 2A3, except for the fact that they're both triodes. The power ratings are way off, the specs aren't anywhere close, the closest thing to the large triode half of a 6DE7 is a 6BX7, and that's still not quite right since the 6BX7 can handle more power.

Yup, ML used Arlon 25N which is better than FR4 but still a ways off from the top of the line stuff that Arlon makes these days. I'd probably go for the CuClad series or the AD255A & AD260A, or if cost really is no object you can go nuts with the CLTE series.

Years ago when I worked in the electronics assembly industry, we did a small run of boards made from Arlon AD320. They have a whole bunch of fancy board materials which you find on this page. Might as well use the good stuff when you're building an all-out project.

First thing is to make sure your monitor's calibrated properly. Go here and use the links & charts to setup brightness, contrast, colour, and gamma on your monitor. Most monitors are way, way off and that will cause eye strain. At the same time, see a eye doc and ask for tips, and get your prescription checked out while you're there. Your glasses or contacts don't have to be off by much to cause problems, 0.25 diopters could be the difference between no problems and "dang, my eyes hurt!"

A total Charlie Foxtrot.

Final notes, since I have to return the HD800 to its owner today. The vinyl experience was mixed, on a good relatively neutral setup the HD800 disappoints, it sounds much like it does on my EAR Acute with some small variations in soundstaging & detail retrieval abilities. Bit more emotional involving, but not by much. The frequency balance, bass dynamics, and so forth are also fairly close. It's nice I guess, but I sure as hell wouldn't pay $10k+ for what is in my opinion a small marginal improvement in fun & goodness. But there was one setup where it kicked ass, and that's with a vintage Garrard 401 turntable and Ortofon SPU cartridge with some big curvy shiny chrome tonearm. This setup has the biggest, fattest, most dynamic bass I've ever heard, anywhere, and the HD800 finally comes alive & boogies on this rig. The Senn is finally fun & involving, it can now rock out and make me feel the Blues. I finally had a shit-eating grin. But it does come at a price, this setup is not as detailed & resolving as a modern vinyl rig, and it's not going to have the massive endless soundstage with precision imaging that a good modern setup does. A local audio dealer once described it as follows, "the Nottingham (Dais) is like an F1 car, it's super sharp & fast and absolutely precise. The Garrard is like cruisin' down the street in a '57 Chevy, it's not going to touch the F1 car in performance but it's a hell of a lot more fun & stylish. It's just damn cool & fun". So yeah, I finally know what it takes to make an HD800 work for me, so in a sense, mission accomplished.

Your room isn't nearly as big as I imagined it to be, it slipped my mind that houses & room over here in North America are generally far larger than those in the UK, so when I read "large room" I was thinking of something around twice the size of the room depicted in your photos. This opens up a lot of possibilities, the Living Voice Avatar is back in the game, to me it's a Quad ESL-57 with a slightly warmer balance which can play a fair bit louder. It's also pretty efficient & easy to drive, 30-50W is likely all you'll ever need. You could likely get away with ESL-63's as well, though volume might be a tad limited.

Yeah, I'm a hopeless Sarah Slean fan...

Now that soundstage has been mentioned again, I'd like to make a quick note. Sennheiser has finally fixed the goddamn "3-blob" soundstage problem of the HD580/600/650 series. They finally have a coherant soundstage without dead spots in it. Also like my HD580, they sound better with vinyl, even though my digital setup is worth 10X more than my vinyl rig. I don't get as much detail off the records but the overall balance is nicer, with the bass & midrange filling in a bit. Part of it is the records themselves as the LP versions of some of my albums are way better than the CDs, but that's not the whole story since a few of my CDs and LPs are effectively identical when played on high-end rigs. In general, the HD800 sounds warmer & more punchy when playing music on my vinyl rig, and with records, I think I could be pretty happy with it. Partly because my the music in my LP collection suits it better, and partly because for whatever voodoo reason, records just work better with the Senn 800. More investigation is needed, I'll need to see if these impressions hold on a high-end and more neutral vinyl setup than my own.

Actually it makes perfect sense. When you're holding the earbud with the logo and channel marking facing you, it's in the correct position for insertion into your ear.

Unfortunately I am a basshead and a fair bit of my music is improved with a slight to moderate mid-bass hump. Definitely agree that it's a 'phone in the monitor-speaker style. I think it depends on the size of the head-stage called for in the recording, for instance most fullscale symphonic works have a large soundfield since they're recorded in nice big concert halls, and this works well with the HD800's head-stage. Something with a small soundfield such as a recording made in a small jazz bar with the mic being fairly close to the musicians doesn't work that well. I find that the HD800's head-stage makes the space sound too big in such situations. ------------- Further impression. My Blues! What have you done to them? My RS-1 is the go to headphone for all my Blues music, after a good session I'm like "damn...daayaamm!!" and I feel emotionally moved and/or drained. With the HD800 my reaction following a Blues listening session is along the lines of "well, that sounded pretty good but I'm not feelin' it..." I mean, it's great that I can hear when SRV and Albert King break their guitar strings during "Blues at Sunrise" but if I'm not feeling the music then it's not much good to me. I need an emotional connection to my music and the HD800 ain't giving it to me.

Part of it is a fit issue, with the way my head & face is shaped there's a bit of a gap between the pads & the side of my head/face in some places unless the headphone is perfectly positioned, but in that "perfect" position the tips of my ears touch the 'phones or pads and that's annoying to me. It's not an issue with my HD580 since I made a set of custom pads for them, Grados sit on top the ears so it's not an issue there either. The HD800's do sound better if I push them against the side of my head a bit, but not better enough.