HeadphoneAddict

Wierd, I edited a typo and the save button said "vote now" instead of save.

I borrowed a Duet for two weeks after the Feb CO head-fi meet, and the Duet is a good match for the ESW10, better than with HD600.

So, they lied in "Meet the Parents" - can't believe everything we hear it seems.

Does it use a dual opamp or two single soic? I have two OPA627 soic I could donate.

Cats can't flush the toilet - they don't have opposable thumbs. Here's hoping you do!

Yes - that is them. I had the W11R for about a week, and traded them back to Blutarsky for an iBasso D1 with about $100 worth of opamps and $150 cash to me. Then traded the D1 and opamps for an SRD-7 Pro and kept the cash, so I think I did well on the deal. The upper mids had an echoey nasal quality that made them picky about the particular amp being used to drive them, and the bass was a little less than I preferred. I still liked them better than the W5000 Naaman brought over to play with last year (around the same time). I was planning to have APureSound re-cable the W11R but decided NOT to ruin their collector value. I also liked the W11R better than my old bloodwood Darth Beyer or Bultarsky's Rosewood Darths, which I had for a week before I traded them back to him for the W11R. That was all around the time I got my HE60 and I couldn't listen to other phones easily, as the HE60 made the others sound too colored. I do think the ESW10 have a more natural tone to them as well as good transparency for a closed can, and in some cases it makes them better than my woodied re-cabled partially markl modded D2000 or APS V3 Edition 9. The main fault is the smaller more intimate soundstage, which is more like that of a Grado. Once the new APS V3 portable cable is ready for sale, I may end up seeing how much better the ESW10 could be with a re-cable. Or, I could just keep enjoying them the way they are... (edit - the W11R were probably around March 2008, since that is when I bought my APS V3 RS-1, and put APS V3 cable on my Edition 9. I still have the RS-1 and Ed 9, but I now don't listen to them as much as my electrostatics or ATH-ESW10, or Westone ES3X.

Yes, it is a good book - and Judas Unchained is the conclusion of the first book - you can't read only Pandora's Star, you need both. I was sad when I was finished.

Yes, Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained - just finished the series last week. I have used eReader for years, and it is better on iPhone than Kindle app so far. Kindle App needs to allow inverting the text and background, for black with white letters; and should allow for other background and text colors. I read a bit in bed late at night, and will usually do black background with yellow or white letters so the backlighting doesn't bother my wife or hurt my visual acclimation to the dark. Also, if I have one device and open a book to read, it will still try to connect online and sync my page-mark with other kindle devices on my account - so when I was in an area of poor cell service the "checking for last page read screen" blocked parts of the top and bottom of the screen so I can't start reading right away but must wait until it gives up or succeeds.

Yes, I would prefer the Beta 22 for them over the Square Wave XL - I might have to get one myself to drive my K1000 and my SRD-7 Pro with Stax. The other good news is that I tried the K1000 off a Qinpu A-3 8-watt/ch tube amp from head-direct today and it sounds a little better than a Square Wave with the K1000 with some nice GE and Sylvania tubes that Skylab recommended.

I've been spending the evening listening to my K1000 (Smeggy's old #1478 ) off my balanced Square Wave XL and it's sounding pretty nice. There's plenty of power on tap, and it's not too bright or fatiguing at all. The sound is not quite as snappy and punchy as Naaman's were with his beta 22, but this is a little warmer and smoother or laid back sounding. It plays down to 31Hz with only a little roll-off at that point but a huge cliff drop at 25Hz - this is similar to a few other open air phones I have. It also sounds very good off my 5 watt/ch Travagans Red with AD743 opamps, which is normally driving an SRD-7 Mk2 and stats. I'm glad Naaman introduced me to the K1000 at the last meet. I had to give up my O2 Mk1 in trade to snag these, but now I'm considering Naaman's O2 Mk1 to replace those. If I do buy his I can always sell the O2 Mk2 or Edition 9 later.

Right. We were using USB and optical out both set for 16/44.1 since it was ripped CDs. I just don't know if he ripped at 128 or 320 Kbps or if lossless.

Thanks. I actually had more impressions as we compared the DL3 to DA100 Sig with different inputs (optical and USB) and different up-sampling rates, but I condensed it into what I thought was pertinent and not confusing.

I was just reporting on what Blutarsky and I heard on his Mac Mini > USB Stello DA100 > Melos SHA Gold > HP-1000. I neglected to ask him when we did this (last summer) what bit rate his music was that we were using - I wonder if that would make a difference in how the upsampling bypassed sounds. What do you think?

Okay, I was just going to walk away, but I'll throw out a couple of clarifications: Blutarsky came over today and he and I listened to the PS Audio DAC vs his Stello DA100 Signature vs his normal DA100, using the same interconnects (silver ones made by Pendles) to connect to my Woo GES. Over a couple of hours we tried my Stax O2 Mk2, HE60 and HE Audio Jade, and his un-dampened SR-Lambda and APS modded re-cabled Koss ESP950. We thought that the three DAC's feeding my single ended Woo GES were on basically an equivalent level. The Stello had less changes in sound with changes in up-sampling rates than the PS Audio. The PS Audio seemed to have more synergy with my GES and O2 Mk2, which is what I was looking for after trying 4 different matched quads of 12AX7 type tubes. I was given the choice of keeping the DA100 Signature or the PS Audio DL3 in exchange for my APS modded re-cabled Koss ESP950 - I picked the DL3. I have no $5000 DAC in mind, just that that was an amount floating around in another DAC thread I had been reading. I don't have $5000 to throw at a DAC, so I figure the DL3 is good enough for now. Sorry for posting something that I'm sure will be torn apart by the hyenas again.

Thanks guys. Not.

Ryan, I just want to thank you for the discount link, as I am enjoying my DL3 with 30 hours of burn-in so far. I and my friend Blutarsky (Scott) both feel it has better synergy with my Stax O2 Mk2 and Woo GES than my old Apogee mini-DAC with thousands of hours on it. I look forward to trying it in my balanced headphone rig later as well. I registered the warrantee tonight for the 3 years coverage, although it was Scott who paid for it and had it delivered to him Friday, because he was buying my Koss ESP950 headphones and I told him instead of cash I wanted the DL3. I hope that is not a problem for the warranty, since it was bought directly from your site on the 25th. I'll more post impressions later when I am sure it is fully burned-in, but for now there are no surprises. So, until I can afford to get one of those $5000 DAC, this should do just fine. Cheers!

You're right, I suppose sometimes it is worth a gamble and I wish you all the best.

Too bad about how it worked out, but it seemed like you refused good advice to not buy it and you lost. I hope you get it fixed.

x2 for not just hip hop and rap and electronic but other stuff too, but the X10 can also be found used for as low as $160 when not on sale. For his music the X10 would be a great choice. The SE310 he asked about were nice though if used with an amp, but the X10 don't need an amp. I recall my SE310 had more bass than my E4c when I compared the two long ago, and the Image X10 had more bass than the Sleek SA6 when I compared the two last August/Sept. I never liked the Super.fi 5 Pro for the smiley shaped frequency response and graininess. Not heard the EB version he asked about either. The Nuforce NE-7M would have nice bass and only cost $49 and they are pretty decent and I enjoy more than I did my old ER6i that lacked bass, despite a little less detail in the Nuforce. My RE2 are at about 70 hours of burn-in and are more forward with less bass than the NE-7M but slightly more detailed as well, I just don't think they are a hip hop IEM yet. Who knows with more burn-in they might be. JVC Marshmallows with the Kramer mod could be a decent choice if he isn't looking for hi-fi. Senn C300 suck eggs for anything. Denon C700/751 would also be a decent hip hop rap IEM, but vs the Nuforce the bass is just a little sloppier and the highs a little harsher, but the bass is over the top for his music. Some day I'll have to hear the Futuresonics Atrio M5 V2.

The ESW10JPN kill my old ATH-W11R, and I like them better than the W5000 I tried although they don't have the soundstage of the W5000. I thought the W5000 sounded a little peaky in the upper mids (strange tonality) with a lack of bass, like the CD3000. (not heard all of these together at the same time though)

I really liked the Sylvania VT-231 in my Dark Voice 336i amp, enough that I kept a couple along with a Sylvania "Bad Boy" in case I ever needed 6SN7 type tubes again. They are nice and crisp and airy and punchy at the same time. I doubt they were cause of your sound issues. In my GES the 4 early 60's GE "Wurlitzer" 12AX7 tubes I bought really work well the O2 Mk2, as do my Telefunken smooth plates, being very detailed while at the same time staying warm and rich. The GE tubes are what made me like the tonality of my GES just a little more than the KGBH at our meet 3 weeks ago. But, I did say the KGBH had more bass and impact and power, and I thought the KGBH could be tuned with the tubes to sound like whatever you want. I would feel a lot more secure with a KGBHSE than the ES-1, knowing that it could be repaired should anything go wrong. So if you can afford it I would not cancel the order if I were you.

I would go for the HD600, with an HD650 cable. I have heard everything on that list except the Beyer, and the only ones I could not live with were the W5000.

Sorry Elephas but the HE60 is a Victorias Secret model coming down the runway in a silver string bikini and angel's wings coming off the back...

Today I shipped the 1/8" Neutrik terminated Canare quad cable with matched pair of SFI 120R and two kinds of felt and fake chamois from ericj. Smeggy, I also threw in a surprise for you to keep, in appreciation of the work you donated on my Smegma Pros.

Thanks for the review - it was very well written!