HeadphoneAddict

Why have I not seen anyone comment on the spelling of mistake as misteak. I keep waiting, but... Was that spelling intentional?

Yeah, I only heard those slight differences in bass and soundstage between a stock pair and the Lambdas that you have now. They certainly didn't sound bad when I had them.

We have three of the unfiltered bottles like those, and like them, so I ordered two of these. Thanks!

When I compared the SR-Lambda that you have to my current pair which retains the mineral wool, yours had a slightly looser bass (less control) and a slightly more open or spacious sound at the expense of less imaging focus.

Okay, that's what I thought. Thanks. So, like I said, "Even un-modded I thought the HD800 played well with TTVJ's Luxman P-1u loaner."

Youtube says a Copyright block in our country. Thanks anyway.

I can't narrow it down to just two cans but those would be in my top 3 list, along with the SR-009. My issue with the HD800 is that while I really enjoy them the most with my ZDT amp, any other amp in the house is more of a let down with them. I have the tubes in the WA6 matched better to the LCD-2 and HE-500, which sound too aggressive with the HD800. If I change the tubes in it to play well with HD800 then the sound is thicker and more closed in than I like with everything else (relatively speaking). The HD800 sound a bit too clinical or dry with my DACmini, too aggressive with my HDP, and too grainy with my EF5 amp. While my HE-500 play well with a wider variety of amps, I don't get the same level of enjoyment out of them as I do with the HD800/ZDT combo.

Even un-modded I thought the HD800 played well with TTVJ's Luxman P-1u loaner. Well, does cable count as a mod, if they didn't have the Tyll-Foam?

Went with my son's junior high school science olympiad team to the state competition in Golden CO, since I'm a volunteer advisor/teacher in several subjects. It was fun, and the weather was beautiful. Our kids placed 15th, while last years team only placed 17th in state. In regional competition we were 7th out of 33 teams, with 66 total teams in the state, so our 15th place sounds about right. It took a lot of hard work to get where they did, and I can't imagine how much work it would take to reach 1st place in state. At least our kids still have a life outside of school.

Loofa sponge?

Man, I'm sorry you're having such bad luck with your car.

Last I heard it was a Ducati Monster, or something like that.

I read the NwAvGuy blog response before I read the review afterwards, and I came away pretty irritated with NwAvGuy who seems to think his amp can drive anything and pair well with everything. Without having heard the O2 amp I'm hoping that I would side with Mike on this one after I do hear it. I don't mind being biased in this case.

The Gods of Mars

Glad you're okay. My aura before migraine is usually just some sparklers in my peripheral vision, and some tingling in my lips. A couple of times I also felt like i was walking on air a few inches above the ground.

ISFJ on my first try * slightly expressed introvert * slightly expressed sensing personality * distinctively expressed feeling personality * slightly expressed judging personality I re-took the test later and maybe 5 answers changed, so I ended up slightly less introverted with ESFJ slightly expressed extravert slightly expressed sensing personality distinctively expressed feeling personality moderately expressed judging personality

I know, sorry. I only wrote one paragraph about the volume comparisons, but I put it up near the top. I think people stopped reading at that point. PS: Marc agreed with my basic impressions comparing the two amps, saying he'd like an amp with the increased highs of the KGSS and the increased bass of the KGBH.

I didn't think it was that important, but it's the part that I had to answer the most questions about. Did people not read my whole post, or just the parts they didn't like? I also wrote about the sound.

I know what gain is - I'm talking about maximum perceived volume levels before the music starts to sound distorted. I'm just saying that the KGBH can play slightly louder before the music sounds distorted than the KGSS can, which itself plays a bit louder than the WES before the sound starts to break up. I was simply trying to use terms other than "slightly louder" and "a bit louder". If the difference in perceived volume was barely noticeable then I estimated there was about a 1dB difference. And if the volume felt twice as loud to me then I estimated the difference to be about 3dB. All of these stat amps have plenty of gain, and I can only use about 70-75% of their volume knob's full range before the music starts to break up and become unlistenable. It's not all about max listening levels, since I don't normally listen to music while pushing my amps to the max. But when listening to a live recording I will occasionally turn it up closer to nightclub levels for brief periods, and I don't like hearing the bass drum fall apart when it's struck. The Sony speakers are crap, but the kids use them to listen to the radio while they use the pool table. I bought PSB Imagine Mini speakers for the basement rig, but liked them so much that I'm using them in my bedroom instead.

Great photo Peter! I love all of your shots.

Why did I think that was Shelly posting? Hmmmm...

The other reason I have stuck with a 750GB internal hybrid drive is so that I can keep a 350-400GB subset of my larger iTunes library on the internal drive of my Macbook Pro, without replacing the optical drive with a second HD or having to use an external that can be more easily lost or stolen (like at meets). I have just about every file I ever wrote or downloaded on my drive from the past 15 years, and with all those plus all my apps it takes up 250GB before I add my iTunes library. If I just add my favorite music with no videos or iPhone apps I'm up to 410GB. So, while I could live with a 512GB SSD, right now I have about 650GB used up on my hybrid HD. My main iTunes library barely fits on a 1.5TB external portable drive, but I only keep that as a backup.

Would you recommend anything for anti-virus? I've been using Mac since 1986 and never bought an anti-virus app in all these years. It just seems that in the past year there have been 3 different outbreaks (one was from a security flaw in MS word, and this newest one due to Java, plus Macdefender that required you to allow the trojan to install).

I know, tl;dr

It Lives !! Just got the KGBH back Thursday after having the volume control replaced. None of the cosmetic damage has been fixed until the UPS claim is paid. As for impressions, unfortunately I have a serious sinus infection that went into my chest, and then my ears which are all plugged up as well. But I got to listen for a couple of days before my ears got worse this weekend. Here's what I think, please be gentle with me. I've got the KGBH hooked up to the balanced buffered output of the KGSS, so I can compare both amps running from the same source at the same time. So far my Hotrodded DIY KGSS is holding up very well vs the Supercharged DIY KGBH. If you recall from previous posts, neither of these amps are bone stock or standard in all areas. The KGSS is biased higher than normal and runs hotter than others, and the KGBH uses a higher voltage rail, custom Electra Print transformers, and a current source designed by luvdunhill. It's using Mullard XF2 EL34 tubes, and is designed to heat up quickly and runs very hot. Marc says this particular KGBH is designed to warm up in only 5 minutes, but I thought it still sounded better after it was fairly hot to the touch at 20-30 minutes. One thing I was looking for in an upgraded amp was being able to drive the O2 Mk1 more authoritatively. This modified KGBH has maybe an extra 1-2 dB of headroom/volume over my KGSS, which itself has about 2-3 dB more headroom/volume than my WES. I was expecting a more significant increase in headroom/volume over the KGSS, but it does stand above the WES by a larger amount. Regardless, I would do most of my O2 listening with the volume at 12 o'clock and well below its max "clean" output, which is about 3 o'clock with the PWD as balanced source. It does play louder than I can stand, but the O2 Mk1 bass still doesn't hit as hard as the LCD-2 rev1 on my ZDT amp. On the other hand, any of these amps can drive the O2 Mk1 louder than my ZDT pushing the power hungry HE-6 in the photo. I was also looking for an amp with stronger bass with any of my stats, and something that would very slightly tame the 009 or HE-60 mids and highs at higher volumes. The KGBH seems to do that. The differences are not huge, but they are noticeable. The KGSS has a similar warmth to the WES, but with a little better bass control and impact, highs, and imaging; while the KGBH adds to that even better bass impact and depth, along with slightly more laid back/smoother and more refined sounding upper mids and highs. The KGBH soundstage also seems a little bigger or more spacious, and I also think it sounds a little less colored and more transparent than the other amps. For example, after listening to the KGBH for a while, switching to the KGSS makes things sound slightly splashy or etched in the lower treble. But if I listen to the KGSS for a while first, switching to the KGBH makes me notice the improved bass impact at the expense of slightly recessed mids when using the O2 Mk1, although that made it a perfect match for the 009. In contrast, switching from KGBH to the WES makes the O2 and 009 sound a little thinner and slightly darker in direct comparison. (I haven't tried the HE-60 or LNS with KGBH yet). I think both KG/luvdunhill-built amps have excellent micro-detail, ambience and air, while retaining a sense of richness and presence. In comparison my WES is more forward and present in the mids (more lush?), with slightly blunted micro-detail, and slightly rolled off frequency response in the highs. My KGSS is slightly brighter than the KGBH, yet the O2 Mk1 really don't sound dark with the KGBH. Both amps work great with the O2 Mk1 and SR-009, and although I enjoy the SR-009 with all three amps I find that the KGSS and KGBH give everything better bass presence and impact. The extra bass impact and smoother highs make the KGBH a little better match for my SR-009, and I'm betting the HE-60 will be improved with it as well. I wasn't expecting it to sound great with both the O2 Mk1 and the SR-009, since these are very different sounding headphones, but it does. Any of the three amps drive the O2 Mk1 well enough to beat my dynamic headphones, but I don't need all three of these amps. I think the WES is the best looking or most impressive looking of the amps, but I'm afraid that it's probably the one that will have to go. I absolutely love the aesthetics of the WES, but in the end the sound has to take a higher priority. My WES is the pre-production demo without the single ended inputs and phase splitters, and has the RCA jacks wired as excellent sounding SE loop-outs; and I often wonder if it sounds better than some production models because it's not nearly as bad sounding as Spritzer describes from his experience. I'm slightly OCD in thinking that I need a pretty looking amp, and that's why this is a harder decision for me. I'll deal with it. Still, I only got in about 4-5 hours of listening before my ears became plugged up, and I really want to spend more time listening to the amps and comparing them after my antibiotics have cleared things up. I'm not sure if my impressions will change or not, but I have to make sure. In the end, if I must have a fancy looking amp to satisfy my OCD tendencies, I can sell a couple of amps for enough dough to buy one BHSE if I can wait 9-12 months. But with these two KG amps I can have one in my main basement rig and one in my bedroom rig - and the KGSS pairs very well with my Stello DA100 DAC in the bedroom.