morphsci

Wow what a thoroughly great and exhausting weekend. This was a superbly organized event and the California crew (jpnums, 909, Iron_dreamer, LFF, augsburger, Jasper994 and Edwood) did a great job and always went the extra mile to make sure everyone had a great time. Still, the best thing was meeting everyone. It was truly amazing but all the HCers that I met for the first time were exactly like their online persona's, goes to show you the value of open discussion. I apologize for not saying so long to everyone on Sunday evening. But in my defense, it was 2:30 AM, I was a slow walking zombie, I did have to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM. I'll buy you all a round next year (or sooner) to make up for it. I think these have now been retitled, "The Basement Talks".

Not gonna happen with those mercury vapor tubes for many, many reasons.

Audeze Planars Also listened to the Head-direct planars side-by-side using the Headamp GS-X and Neko Audio DAC. I slightly prefered the Audeze on sound alone and with price factored in (Audeze: $350-$4000; Head-Direct: $700-1000). Remember, however, that both of these are prototypes. The first 25 Audeze units will look like the above, using the off-the-shelf housing. The housing limits the driver and I was told they will also sell the drivers, but pricing was indeterminate. If you angle the drivers so the front is closer to the skull than the back (Hopefully not using a ) the sound improves and IMO that is the direction they need to go with these. I listened to Frank's electrostatic amp with my O2's and it handled them like a champ, plus the Mercury vapor tube glow is just cool as shit.

Wow, great impressions already, so will just add a little. First off, the biggest surprise for me has been the hf-2's and the Audeze planar (I will attempt to get pictures today). The hf-2 is remarkably good, as long as you like the Grado sound. Sounds to me most like a mini PS-1, with reduced bass. That is a plus in my book as the PS-1 has always been too bass heavy for my tastes. The real shocker has been the Audeze planars. These are very fast, clear phones with a great frequency balance. They may lack a little low-end weight but that is definitely IMO. A big chunk of that comparison was using them on a Gilmore lite fed from the Spectral 2000 DAC and a PCDP transport. I compared them to an O2/BHSE using the same source, so not a liteweight comparison. The Audeze kept up in clarity and speed, but not in midrange smoothness or bass extension (WooHoo big surprise with the price differential). At $350 - $400 dollars, this phone is a steal. I will try to get a listen to it on the GS-X/Neko Audio D100 rig today. Which brings me to the Neko Audio D100. This is the real deal. Listened out of the GS-x on my K340's with a Macbook feeding it via optical output. Very smooth and clear with a variety of genres (rock, classical, jazz). Definitely to my tastes as it, like the GS-x simply gets out of the way so you can hear the recording in all its glory or with all of its faults, but the it does not accentuate the faults in the recordings. It lets you hear them but doesn't throw them in your face. I want to go back and listen to the Audeze planars on this rig. The HD-800's were awesome on both Al's Luxman and the Headroom BUDA. Others have given good impressions. IMO the impressions vary because this phone lets you hear the upstream components in all their glory (or not). Very electrostatic like speed but you have the advantage of dynamics of dynamics. Can't really say much more without more listening time to see how the electronics are influencing any other specifics. It looks like I will own this but I'm definitely going to let the dust settle first. OK I need to go eat something and drink at least a gallon of coffee ... I guess I need to look for Billy.

Excellent, an ugly car that's always in the shop.

I have to agree with Nate, I have put in about $700+ in parts and I do not have any casework, USB input or controller/display pieces/parts yet. Unless someone grossly undervalues their labor it may be hard to find someone to build one for you for that price. That being said, this thing has an astounding level of flexibility and potential from my rather simplistic viewpoint.

Old news. The actual story is from last August. It was rumored after the Sabre32 was announced that the MCD500 may be updated with the new chip and supporting silicon. It is still unclear, at least to me, if the current MCD500's are using the new or old ESS chips.

This is a great CD, but to me sounds much better on speakers than through headphones, due to the fairly extreme horizontal separation of Cooder - Percussion - Bhatt.

Happy Brent Birthday

It works with a space between them. The direction a thread will take on Head-Case is definitely an example of chaotic dynamics.

The very one. Hence why I was asking for other opinions. I simply make little, matching coats for all my equipment.

Yep, me too. That's why I asked, you know, hope springs eternal, yada yada yada ... Not sure if it is using the es9008 or es9018. I did send them an email asking but I doubt they will respond. Yep, but it is in Sam's column so no measurements.

Picture Porn

Has anyone had a chance to hear the new McIntosh SACD/CD beast yet. I'm pretty sure this uses the new ESS ES9018 chip. It also has SPDIF in so this is certainly a contender for the 2-channel system. Well except for the fact it has a $6500 MSRP and at that price point it better be pretty special.

x2 on The Fairfield Four. Both The Trinity Sessions and Trinity Revisited (Cowboy Junkies) are great live recordings.

I'm afraid it may be even bigger than that.

$98.99 DSD transport from sleasy-bay

Happy DIY Birthday

Sorry for your loss Chris.

Sure, why not. You can never have too many transformers and I love symmetry.

Nice, that looks like a better USB solution. Yep, if I don't just jump right in it usually doesn't happen.