Dusty Chalk

You could just buy an isolation booth.

No, the sweet spot on the Sennheisers is just a bit too loud for my tastes -- that's why I don't like them. Supposedly the GS1000 sound good low, but I don't like them. You may want to just try a few different phones.

Yes, I used to be able to enjoy music without even thinking about the veil. But the bell cannot be unrung. And I have to admit to feeling a certain thrill when I hear something reproduced particularly well. I remember two such incidents -- one was at Hirsch's place, he played me that Weavers Live at Carnegie Hall, and that was the first time I heard "you are there" imaging. The second was prior to that, when I thought they had a live musician playing in the next room at Deja Vu Audio (in their old location). It was a recording. Every time I break through a wall, I get a similar kind of thrill. So no, not entirely do I wish that.

Although this isn't exactly wrong, it takes a trained ear to be able to imagine what's wrong with a system and be able to imagine what cables it would take to fix it. For example, I've seen Hirsch be completely unhappy with the Meridian source until he used a very specific pair of interconnects and power cord (and headphone amp and headphones). It's really hard not to be able to determine what a source (for example) is capable of without a lot of trial and error, when it comes to cables. So although I fundamentally agree with this suggestion, I would amend it as follows: try a lot of different cables, expect a lot of trial and error.

I've heard good things about White Zombie Audio, but I haven't tried them myself yet. Me, personally, I use Pure Silver Sound and may have to get more from them.

The amp is enough.

Thanks, got it this time.

WTL, dude, I just saw all of these messages. Give us a couple of hours. Jeez. Days even maybe.

The entirety of what follows is MHO: There's balanced, and there's balanced. Personally, I think the bigger leap is to just separate the channels. I never understood why so many headphones share the return (3 wires instead of 4) -- it's probably the main reason that electrostatics and the K1000's are so clearly superior, they have separated channels from the get-go. So doing that alone (recabling dynamic headphones with separate returns and amplifying them that way) would be A Good Thing. But in today's market, it's almost the same as going all the way and doing fully balanced, in which case I'd highly recommend going the full balanced route (source -> amp -> headphones [with admittedly faux-balanced cabling]).

The random talking. Save it for the extended edition. It didn't work for Meat Beat Manifesto, it won't work for you.

Agreed, I forgot about budget when I wrote that. And since both the Orpheus and Baby Orpheus are both "out of print", I'd second the Omega II or 4070 (depending whether or not you want open or closed), or the Koss ESP950 (with a new amp), which at least one person here likened to the Baby O as being on the order of as good ("...as long as you replace the amp"). I haven't heard it myself, but most of these things are the sort of thing you'll have to hear for yourself anyway, I'm just suggesting things to put on your short list.

Low Batteries is probably my favourite track of the ones I've auditioned -- it has that punky vibe on acoustic thing going on. Wombats from Hell is also surprisingly good, what with its Bauhaus tinged production. You guys could use an editor, though. And it's fairly painful to listen to on headphones, the guitar primarily in one earpiece and the voice primarily in the other. It'd probably be a lot less painful to listen to on speakers, so I'll do that later. And a producer. And some synthesizers. And some beats. And a better microphone (the one you used makes you sound congested).

I'm a big believer in a one-box source for redbook, especially starting from the ground up -- an external DAC can be a good cost-effective upgrade, but if I were starting over, I'd buy a one-box unit. I don't think headphone amps come in pre/power -- they're basically integrated amps. Many also perform preamp duties, in which case if you're eventually getting a speaker rig, I'd get a separate power amp for that. Some that would be on my personal short list: Rega Saturn Ayre CX-7e or C-5xe dCS P8i Meridian G08 or 808 EMM Labs CDSA A modded something (modded by RAM, SACDmods, modwright, vacuumstate.com, et al) Esoteric something Musical Fidelity something -- A308 CD player A5 Cd player kW SACD player, whatever

Well, I originally suggested it based on the incorrect presumption that he'd have a solid-state source (CD player) and a solid-state amp (Headroom Balanced). So yeah, I concur, buy a tube amp, then you won't need the tube buffer.

I realized after I posted that I answered a different question than was originally asked. You are happy with your Balanced/HD650 setup, and you want to get another setup for a different location, namely your bedroom. Correct? I agree with the advice of doing it in stages, because you actually increase your possibilities of getting the synergy exactly right in both systems if you have the ability to move stuff around. Oh, and definitely get a Singlepower SDS XLR if you're going to stick with dynamic headphones, that's just a killer amp. It adds tube magic. No, seriously, its intent is to do impedance matching. You can actually have a solid-state buffer as well. I won't make up numbers, since I'm not qualified to, but let's say that your source has too low an output impedance, and your amp is too sensitive to variations on its input impedance. That's when you'd want a buffer.

Sounds like fun: first of all, be prepared to stick with what you got. I've heard the Balanced/HD650 combo, and it's in my top 10 list of best headphone setups ever, anywhere. The only thing it's missing is that tube magic, but if you have the diamond buffers, you'll be compromising in other areas to get that tube magic. You might want to try other of the balanced headphones -- I am partial to the Beyer DT880 on that setup, others are partial to Grados. So I'd concentrate on the source. Get the best source you can afford. dCS recently came out with a single-box player, as did EMM Labs, at that price point, I would check out both of those. And then get some pretty damn decent cables -- I recommend silver, but let them burn in for a couple weeks. If you want to really slay, put a tube buffer between your source and your amp. I'm not really fond of the MF X10, but something like that. You may also want to go electrostatic. The Orpheus headphones with something like a KGSS or a Blue Hawaii (as built by Justin) should be pretty good.

What do you mean, "true"? Teletubbies is obviously a brilliant portrayal of the dying hallucinations of someone in an LSD induced coma. So inasmuch as there is any homophobic/pro-homoerotic content, it's just the insane ramblings of a destroyed mind.

According to this page, they're shooting for a June timeframe.

Yeah, I should really revisit that forum, that is the sort of thing they're good for. I've got another one for you: "Cornpone Brunch Watt Remix" by Tortoise, off of A Lazarus Taxon (and I don't know what else). Three basses -- it takes the most discerning systems to make sense of this track. It basically does for the bass/woofer region what I was saying above about Garden of Shadows, what their recordings do for the midrange. It's not so much a lot of bass as complicated bass, with multiple basslines weaving in and out of each other. The L3000 does it.

You know, I never really got that before.

Everything either sounds like shit to you, or is good. Can't you just describe a pair of headphones' weaknesses and strengths? It's like everything's either a 10 or a 1.

This is probably closest to my memory of them. Although I didn't find the funk unpleasant at all. Stupid question -- when the fuck did they get discontinued? I was going to get a pair...

Probably because it's a bootleg. "Sugar" is a B-side from one of her a single from her first album, "Flying Dutchman" came later. And yeah, it's easily one of her best songs. I want to do a remix of it (I can hear it in my head).

Aerius -- great thread. I completely agree with your premise, and I've heard it said before: the trick behind "audiophile music" is that it makes every system sound good. Allow me to add a few suggestions, and query for a few: Stabbing Westward, Darkest Days -- not only are their crazy dynamic changes, from busy to spare and vice versa, but the whole thing is HDCD-encoded, so it's a good test for a system which decodes HDCD as well. Also, I should mention, that this disk is compressed. It's not crazy compressed like most contemporary hard-rock recordings, but just enough that the delicate Pink Floyd -like sections, like "Drowning", aren't quite as subdued as they should be. This is by no means a perfect recording, but it's so reflective of most of the music I listen to, that it's an excellent test. Some systems will display the fallacies of this recording in the harsh light of day, reminding me of coming out of a matinee movie in the middle of summer, and wishing for a pair of sunglasses and a Slurpee, and some will euphonize it just right, making me still hear what little dynamics are left on the recording and be glad that I don't have to turn the volume up to hear it. Garbage's first two records -- especially the Japanese import of the first one -- will also test whether or not your system will "get" the contemporary mastering. And I don't mean "particularly good" or "particularly bad", I mean exactly "compressed without being too compressed". That's hard for systems to "get", although it's more subtle than I would call a "torture" disk. The new Rush (Snakes and Ladders) also does this. Costanza Festa, La Spagna -- SACD. Lots of very pure tones from brass and woodwinds, sometimes hitting very proximal notes. Will test the Inter-harmonic distortion of just about any system. Unfortunately, the music is very monotonous -- it's 32 variations on a theme, after all, and you won't be able to tell some variations from others. But I love the essence-tial theme, so that makes it a lot more easy to tolerate. I recommend finding something similar -- either with similar qualities (there's a lot going on on Philip Glass' Glassworks that's similar), or with lots of very clearly recorded bells. I think what with it being SACD and all that ultrasonic hash, it's very hard on most tweeters. Garden of Shadows, either Oracle Moon or Heart of the Corona are some of the most meticulously recorded extreme metal. I've seen these guys live, and they have like 3 guitarists in addition to the bassist and synthesizers. You can hear every single layer, even on CD, and only the most discerning of systems will convince you that it wasn't recorded with George Martin's "Wall of Noise" style of production (where every channel is deliberately allowed to bleed into every other channel). And unlike most busy music, it's all in that same midrange. Bass, crazy bass -- you should have at least one, really good bass recording. Stereonerds, "F.U.N.K. (Is What You Don't Play)" is mine. I have a friend who really likes Chemical Brothers' I think it's the instrumental remix of Spiritualized, "I Think I'm In Love". There are others who swear by Victor Wooten. And yet others who swear by organ music. I'd really like some recommendations on some exemplary recordings of: - no-noised? I've heard this sounds bad, but what's a really good audible example of this? - PCM master on SACD? Most of my SACD's sound great, but I think I'm listening for something else than what people are saying is bad about this particular combination. Perhaps a nice contrast would be a DSD-mastered SACD that sounds comparatively great. - watermarked DVD-A -- I still don't know what this is -- back when DVD-A first came out, I was told it was audible, but since then they stopped complaining. I want to know what to listen for. I have several of those recordings that you mentioned aerius, so as I go through my CD collection, I'll have to remember to pull them out and listen to them again.

Unholy carp! I can't wait for this. I sure wish myspace worked for me. (Just Dean, no Toni, but I'm still excited.)