Currawong

The bass tightens up and the rough mids and treble come good after 50 or so hours of use. They are, by far, the most fun dynamic cans I've ever owned. A surprise was listening to classical music with them and finding them unexpectedly very enjoyable to listen with. The mids and treble are spot-on, neither being too much, to little or having any irritating flaws and the bass is just the right amount of strong, punchy and tight that music becomes fun. The best bit is that they sound good out of anything, even an iPod.

I'm sure if I strapped wires from a high-powered source to my head, it'd be more mind-blowing.

This reminds me of my old workplace when they moved from some ancient system to SAP, yet, because the CRM for mail/phone/fax orders was separate from the system used by the stores and delivery centres, any interaction beyond us receiving orders on our printer and processing them after they were boxed and ready to go required, you guessed it, sending a fax to the call centre. Because of audit rules, all these faxes for things such as unavailable products for orders and customer issues had to be saved. We just tossed them all in a gigantic box.

Thanks for the info mirumu, I'll add that to my store of random Mac knowledge for future use. I tended to use channel 1 most of the time, as I figured it was the least likely to be used by other people.

Carl, the explanation and story is appreciated. I recall an anecdote about people in the USA surveyed and a scary percentage of them thinking that the X Files was a documentary, not fiction.

I'd pick a mid-range amp of your choice for HD-600s + a decent DAC, which is what people are suggesting here. While the Compass wouldn't have been a bad choice (specially at the intro rate) I didn't think it was so great with my HD-600s. While a hell of a lot better than onboard sound, compared to the C2C, which I consider a "mid-range" amp, the soundstage/headstage was rather narrow on some tracks. Fair enough to start with a combo (eg: Pico, Compass) then use that as a DAC for a better amp down the track.

If you are getting wireless drop-out, change your wireless channel in the router to something different. They all default to channel 11 I've found, so you only need a couple of neighbours with wireless access points to get drop-out issues. Those of you getting beachballs, do you get them with the same software while logged in to your Mac as another user? Do you get any interesting errors in the Console?

I am hoping to go to that Headphone expo in Tokyo by the way, family permitting. Anyway...

Parasound Zamp, 4-pin XLRs, opamps, unterminated APS V3 HP cable.

Took the little one with mum to the park and had a picnic. She enjoyed watchng the pigeons and people playing and walking their dogs.

I think I'm going to have to go O2 again as well. I have to take back my borrowed 007t today but will investigate building or having built a KGSS or T3 (?). I think if I listened to classical all day long, I might just use HD-800s but so much of my music doesn't benefit from the cavernous soundstage the HD-800s give balanced. I'm suspecting that HF-2s + bagels + chax wipes mod will be a better all-round dynamic can for me for most of my music, especially if I get an O2 rig.

A 13-month old baby who constantly wants to explore and learn to a degree that rivals "Number 5 is alive!".

I used a CryoParts PCLink II for USB -> coax and it was fine. I'd go that route with the Neko or whatever the guys here recommend then later down the track, if you want to go all crazy with insanely expensive converters, you can. Either way, the only other thing you'll need is a Canare/Blue Jeans digital cable with the appropriate connections between the adaptor and DAC.

I almost sputtered food all over my keyboard, great stuff. Someone needs to rename him TshirtPJ.

HF-2 baby is my preference. I'd still like to try a Parasound 1100HD, Esoteric D-05 and a Buffalo, not that I'm unhappy with the Ref 1, but I'm curious as to the differences.

X3, or x4 wherever it is we're at for the HF-2, as they do kick-ass bass. However, they aren't the most comfortable if you like the feeling of Denons.

If you change your email address in VBulletin, you get put into the "Users awaiting Email Confirmation" group until you verify your address. That user group has crap privs, so what you experienced makes sense.

Craig at Kuboten has tried most of the AT woodies at some stage or another and might be able to help too.

I did a D-1 vs. Ref 1 today, and I thought there was slightly more air in the treble with the Ref 1, but I reckon there's almost nothing in it between them going to HD-800s via the Phoenix. I could switch cables and make more of a difference, for example. I regret I can't use O2s for comparisons at the moment, which might reveal more.

Welcome to the madhouse. Be prepared for men carrying shovels.

falkon gave me permission to hijack his Assemblage DAC 3 he scored off Yahoo Auctions for the weekend before being sent on to him from Japan. I didn't know the specs of it, just wired it up into my Phoenix and a loaner Luxman P-1 with HD-800s. I thought it sounded either tubey or OPA627-y and was right, as the latter is indeed what is in the output stage. My Ref 1 bests it for detail and refinement, in the manner of solid-state vs. opamp. I reckon with some opamp rolling (OP27GP or HDAMs if they fit come to mind, as I haven't tried the AD singles yet) it could be easily improved. Besides that, it's lovely and smooth in stock form, if a bit too smooth for my tastes. Next up is a Marantz Project D-1, a 2x TDA1541-S2 (Double Crown) beast with 7 inputs that competes with the Nakamichi Dragon for the DAC that is the most insanely heavy (I haven't come across an old Mark Levinson yet though). Vs the Assemblage, I thought there was a bit more detail and refinement, but some emphasis on sibilance on the odd Jeff Buckley track suggested it might be partly down to a slight boost in the upper mids. The overall feeling was the music was more "we aim for technical perfection"-sounding, yet quite natural in a way I usually expect from BB R2R DACs. This feeling may as much be attributed to the warmth of the DAC 3 in comparison though.

I take photos from time-to-time to fun and to stick up as desktop backgrounds (as well as bazillions of pics of my kid). Here's one from a couple of days ago. Gear is straightforward: Nikon D80 with the 18-200 lens and a 35mm fixed usually indoors. More here.

A couple of interesting DACs and Luxman P-1 have arrived at Craig's so I'm seeking permission for an listening session over the weekend. If we get the go-ahead I shall report back with findings.

I like your review, it's succinct and doesn't get caught up in the sometimes fatiguing-to-read extensive music impressions people often give.

Can I ask that the Go-to-last-post button be added into the mobile theme? If there isn't someone good at editing VB themes, I can work out how to do it on another forum I run and pass along the info.