elnero

Happy Birthday, hope you have a great day!

I agree the Compass has a full-bodied, easy to listen to sound which at half the price of a Pico and considering it's versatility it certainly is a good deal. I've never thought of the Pico as being bright though, I'd be more inclined to think the Compass is somewhat dark.

I got a brief listen to Biggies Compass with my ms2i's today and this pretty much mirrors my impression but I would add that I found the bass quite thick. It's actually quite a beast for size as well, at least in comparison to my Pico. For the price it's not bad considering the level of flexibility but if you don't need the flexibilty the Pico isn't that much more and IMO is a step up.

The Pico is said to be better than the Benchmark/Lavry as well. I guess from my perspective the emergence of very good USB audio and devices like the iPhone that are starting to become indispensable for their multitudes of uses have made this seem a bit antiquated not to mention expensive. I guess I can see where it will find a niche, I just think it would have had the likelihood of being more successful a few years ago when more people where crying for just this type of thing.

I don't quite get this, a few years ago when options for a work rig were fairly limited I would have been all over it (with the exception of price which seems pretty extreme) but I can't see using something like this over my Pico at work.

Beautiful work Nate!

Thanks for the feedback, that gets me one step closer to ordering. It's a bit of a concern because the RS-1's that Biggie had didn't seem to fare so well with my Pico, they were OK but seemed a bit blah, lets just say I certainly wouldn't be running out to buy another pair. The MS2i's on the other hand seem to match up very nicely with the Pico.

Anyone been using the HF-2's with a Pico DAC/amp? If so how does the pairing fare?

Sorry, can't help you there, I've never heard the MS-1's.

Thanks, it's appreciated. I'll get to hear Biggie's when he gets his but my curiosity is getting the best of me. One other question, what type of pads did you use on the MS2i's? When I got the MS2i's I swapped out the bowls for flats immediately and I've never felt the need to try the bowls. I've been over the moon with the MS2i's, smooth, detailed without sibilance issues and the overall balance seems very good to me. If I had to complain about anything it would be that they are a bit on the dry side. The HF-2 announcement has posed quite a quandary for me because I am so happy with the MS2i's but I still kick myself for not getting in on the HF-1's originally because they seem like they would be right up my alley. The impressions I've heard of the HF-2's seem like they would be as well.

Out of curiosity, you're the previous owner of my MS2i's so you may be able to answer this, how would you say the HF-2's compare to those?

I found the ESW9's far more comfy than K81DJ's. I gather I had the brighter variety which sounded a bit hard in the treble but still closer to W100's than W1000's. They have a decent amount of bass which also has decent extension. Mids on mine did have a tendency towards a honkiness similar to what the W100's I had exhibited. Overall not a bad headphone although a bit on the expensive side for what it is. My biggest problem was trying to figure out what role it would play in my setups. It's not good enough to be the at home full sized headphone with too little isolation and too expensive to play second fiddle to IEM's at work. Plus I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them at work and I wouldn't want to be carting them around with me. Ultimately I ended up swapping them with another local headphone geek.

Justin, any plans for a DAC version of the Slim? I know it probably wouldn't be Slim anymore but would still have the other advantages.

You guys are killing me. I've got a pair of MS2i's on their way to me, if I like them the ESW9's get the boot but these threads already have me thinking about tubes again.

I wasn't joking around, that's what I heard from the GS1k, I forget what the source was but I if I remember correctly a recent Headroom Max was the amplifier. If you don't like the comment too bad.

Yeah, the GS1000's I heard had a really overbearing, somewhat bloated sounding bass, so much so that it was hard to concentrate on anything else.

If you're thinking about getting rid of the MS2i's shoot me a PM, I may be interested.

Well this seems to becoming my new trait, I never thought selling our house and buying a new home would have taken so much time and effort, anyway... Happy belated birthday Nate, I hope it was a good one.

I haven't been around much in the past couple of weeks, sorry I missed it, I hope you had a good one!

So have any more people had the chance to audition these yet?

Reminds me of a somewhat watered down/over the top version of UK's Hustle. It's not a bad show but not one I'd miss if it got canceled.

I'm with you, I just didn't like her much. She almost always has this concerned, creased forehead look that just annoys me. I gave up on the show after about 5 or 6 episodes though.

I did live E500's as my only headphone for quite some time. I enjoyed that time immensely and I still have a soft spot for the E500's, they're a very easy headphone to just listen to music on. I never really got the feeling that there was treble missing, yes it was more laid back than some other headphones I've owned or used but for myself a bit of forgiveness on the top allowed them to be listened to with just about any recording without having an harsh treble issues. If you're thinking in terms of the E530's though I'd be inclined to suggest adding the Sennheiser IE8's to the list. I haven't heard them side by side so take the following with a grain of salt. My impression is the IE8's are reminiscent of the E530's in that they're very easy to listen to with just about anything partially treble is a bit laid back but based on my experiences so far I'd say the IE8's are bigger, fuller, more expansive. For me a big factor having had issues with both the E500's and the W3's stationary cords is the IE8's detachable cord offers a level of versatility and piece of mind that's nearly a must when spending that much on IEM's.

They need thicker wire for fuller sound.

I didn't directly compare but my impressions with the stock cable when I tried them on extended auditions a couple of times before was that the mids were a bit recessed and the highs a tad harsh. With the Null Audio cable I feel those areas are improved dramatically.