morphsci

I have already agreed to send some HiRez pics to KG when I open up my amp and PS. So I will take one picture of the whole board in each box and then four separate ones of each quadrant with some overlap. It will probably be some time next week at this point but he can probably host them and then we can certainly continue the discussion concerning this particular amp. I look forward to it. P.S. There are actually two seperate volume controls on this amp. The two stepped attenuators and then a digital volume control which is separate from that.

OK, I guess I was being too subtle (Note to self: Don't hang around Ingwe as much at meets). Look at the excerpt below, keeping in mind that English does not appear to be Shinichi's native language: While the last statement is technically true it does not really get at the OP's real question. It obfuscates the issue and makes it seem that there are no electrostatic amplifiers that also have preamplifier CIRCUITRY in the box as well. In fact you can build a box that has both preamp functionality and headphone amp functionality whether the headphone circuitry is meant for dynamic or electrostatic phones. A case in point is my ES-1 which has additional preamp circuitry. There is no such thing as a standard ES-1 so making blanket statements about the ES-1 will result in a probability of 1 that you are incorrect. Also it appears that some people are claiming that a preamp has to be active to be a preamp (but maybe the communication is just unclear). But if that is the case I completely disagree with that statement. That being said I would also add my voice to not buying a new ES-1 at this point because of business issues at Singlepower. Only buy a used one if , again at this point in time, you can fix it yourself or can get it fixed locally. As far as the sound, I like it but you may not so you have to decide that one on your own. I would suggest the same as far as the B52: Decide for yourself if you like the sound, unless you think people posting here know what you like better than you do. As far as customer service RSA has very few complaints so that is unlikely to be an issue.

Umm ... there is no high voltage output on the pre-outs of my ES-1 (measurements not suppositions) :palm: That's probably the reason it took so long for me to receive it

Now you tell me ... There is nothing inherent in the "topology" of an electrostatic amp that prevents its use as a preamp. I can certainly hook the preamp outputs of my ES-1 to the analog inputs of my TACT s2150 to route music sources to and control their volume through my speakers. @shinichi - My suggestion is to first decide what phones you like and then find sources and amps that complement and synergize with those phones. Comparing a dynamic amp to an electrostatic amp is like comparing elephants to gazelles as dynamics will give you a different presentation of the music compared to electrostatics (some will be closer and others farther apart obviously). The only real way to tell is by listening yourself and making that decision. In the end you may want both electrostats and dynamics

A Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold!

Happy Birthday. Your birthday gift should be two tickets to LA next year

Wow a headphone meet and a MacMiniBunny for your birthday, what a lucky guy. Have a great one.

But at least mine was bought by me

Well if recommending something because it a.) sounds good and b.) is a good deal, then I am an 840c shill. It is what I currently recommend a lot as a digital source. Is it better, or a better DSP/DAC implentation than the AA? I have no idea because I have never heard the AA, why would I recommend the AA? This isn't headfi. As far as Icarium goes; Dude he likes the Qualia That was a low blow with the Jamato and Trose comment, but at least he didn't say you were the HC Icarium

Got up at 6:30 am, checked turtle traps at Lake Charleston with my graduate student and undergraduate intern from 8:30 - 11:30, went back to the lab and stowed away samples. Ate lunch, answered insipid emails for a few hours while listening to Mudcrutch, went home and picked out CD's for the DC meet . Played power rangers, ate dinner, played some more power rangers, did some Super Why computer games, chilled while my son had his bath. Now have to head back upstairs for movietime.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree there. When listening in the nearfield I would rank speaker decoupling and speaker positioning (including height) ahead of room acoustics. That is exactly why I bought the headroom stands even though they cost about 50% more than my speakers. They are extremely rigid and the rubber gasket effectively decouples the speakers from the desktop. The height and angle adjustment makes them super easy to dial in. When people have commented on my desktop setup, the only thing they have ever mentioned are the stands. For far field listening, I agree 107.654%

I got purple because it's the color of royalty.

Win Win Win Just picked up a copy on educ. discount.

OK WTF is a wootoff?

They are all available on vinyl, so that may be an option. Having said that I do not recall that III and IV were recorded that hot. I'll have to go back and listen to them as its been a while.

Well I hope I did not come off as implying they are giant killers. They compete well on price since you have to factor in the price of a power amplifier (or amplifiers). They compete well on SQ with higher but comparably priced speaker amp combinations. They also do very well for nearfield listening which is what I assume for a desktop rig unless you have one big ass desk

Ah, that explains a lot. I wouldn't count on it. It depends a lot on where you go and who you want to work with in graduate school. I personally weight the verbal more than the analytical since IMO it's easier to teach the latter than the former at that stage.

You need to decide if you really need to go balanced at your desk. If so then you can't really beat the price (commercially) of the Headroom desktop balanced. I actually use the desktop portable (SE) in my home office and am quite happy. If you really need (desire) the preamp outputs then I would go with the Headamp GS-X. IMO it is the best deal in a full sized and full-featured SS balanced amp and it is dead-on neutral, so you get to hear everything upstream. As far as speakers go, active monitors are the best bet for space and cost savings and they compete well with passive speakers on SQ. One thing to do is to make sure you isolate them from the desktop. If you do not want to go the Headroom speaker stand route (which BTW work very well and are cool as hell) try looking at THESE .

I can certainly recommend the GS-X as a great and very flexible balanced amp. At $2195 however it pretty much eats-up your whole budget and you will need some room for it. As far as the speakers my suggestion is that if you like the sound of the Audiengine A2's you should try a pair of A5's. Pretty inexpensive but very good sounding, especially if you can decouple them from your desk.

Well they do not have to be that bad but ... Most of the dreck "available for download on the internet" is that bad. If the expectation is that the music should be free and quality doesn't matter then just download a CDP.

Hippity Hoppity Birfday

If you are not going to play anything better than downloaded MP3's (Almost always low bitrate) then you are wasting your money. They sound like shit so all you're going to end up with is better sounding shit.

This Looks Good

Forgot to add that I also bought two paddles This is our first family canoe but I doubt it will be our last. Almost pulled the trigger on an old town but this one just seemed perfect for our needs.