Interests

After spending a considerable time and lots of cash on trying to find the "right" equipment I've come to the conclusion that all you need is a half-decent set of headphones plugged right into your phone. Also, being away from Head-Fi helps.

Headphone Inventory

Currently have:
■ Sennheiser HD600 (silver screens)
■ Modded Fostex T50RP



Previous equipment:
■ Denon/Lawton Audio LA7000 - Sounds as beautiful as it looks. Wonderful allrounder that works with absolutely everything. Best bass I've ever heard, including the LCD-2 (which is cleaner, but the LA7000 has more "bite").
■ Stax Lambda Signature SR-404 - Bass can be a bit boomy, but otherwise wonderfully smooth. Near-perfect midrange and treble (For instrumental music only, sounds unnatural with voices).
■ Audeze LCD-2 "Rev. 3" Bamboo - Technically great, but doesn't sound effortless enough. Heavy.
■ Beyerdynamic T1 (120Ω adaptor for use with SS amps) - One of my favourites, but a bit too treble-happy.
■ Sony MDR-Z1000 - Good, but unnatural midrange.
■ "Mad Dog" modded T50RP by mrspeakers - very clean sounding, very neutral, lacks some excitement.
■ Beyerdynamic DT250 (basically 80 Ohm version but with 250 Ohm drivers) - nice balanced sound and comfortable to wear. Excellent allrounder that also provides good isolation.
■ Fostex T50RP (modded) - Does everything well. Primarily used for watching movies.
■ Phonak Audeo PFE 112 - One of the few IEMs I can tolerate (comfort-wise). Great value.
■ Hifiman HE-6 - Didn't like them very much. Possibly insufficient amping. Extremely uncomfortable.
■ Sennheiser IE80 - I don't like IEM's, but they're useful when travelling.
■ Kenwood KH-K1000 (modded) - Very colored, but fun sometimes. Great soundstage, excellent for movies.
■ Audeze LCD-2 Rev. 1 - Regret having sold them, better than the Rev. 2
■ Koss ESP-950 - sound-wise, close to perfection. Needs to be treated like a raw egg, unfortunately.
■ Philips L1 - Surprisingly good, but somewhat uneven sounding.
■ Sony MDR-SA3000 - Sounds very nice, like a cross between the K701 and DT880.
■ AKG K240 Sextett (LP) - Very fun sounding, but a bit muffled treble.
■ AKG K701 - Plastic enclosure, plastic sound.
■ Sennheiser HD800 - Too much treble in stock condition, but heavenly when equalized (-7db at 6.3 kHz, -4db from 8-12.5 kHz).
■ Philips Fidelio X1 - a very neat pair of headphones, great combination of sound quality, wearing comfort and build quality. Primarily for low-volume listening, as the bass tends to be overpowering and medium/high volumes.
■ Sennheiser HD580 (black screens) - Sligthly less refined than the HD600, but more forward and just as enjoyable.
■ Denon AH-D7100 - see http://www.head-fi.org/products/denon-ah-d7100-music-maniac/reviews/7388
■ Westone UM3X - Where did the treble go?
■ Sony ZX700 - Nothing special.
■ Beyerdynamic DT1350 - Portable & great isolation. Sounds good for a small on-ear phone.
■ Grado RS1 (Vintage "B") - Great, but painful to wear for more than five minutes.
■ Grado SR325is - Same as RS1 (but even less comfortable!)
■ Grado SR60 - Same as RS1 (but not as great sounding)
■ Grado PS500 - probably the best Grado I've heard, different than the RS1 but on the same level overall. More balanced sounding, which is a good thing.
■ Sennheiser HD650 (silver screens) - Great, but not as balanced as the HD600.
■ Sennheiser HD600 (black screens) - Strongly regretted selling them, bought a new one.
■ Sennheiser HD595 - Good sound when amped properly, lacking when unamped.
...

Headphone Amp Inventory

Previous equipment:
■ Mapletree Ear+HD "Special Edition" s/n #250
■ ALO "the Continental" V2
■ Mapletree Ear+HD Super II - Miss it, sold only due to heat problems.
■ Woo Audio WA6 - Very underwhelming. Not recommended.
■ Stax SRM-313
■ ALO Audio the Continental V2
■ Koss E90
■ HeadAmp Pico Power
■ Meier Audio Corda Concerto - Neutral, drives everything.
■ Meier Audio Corda Headsix - alright, nothing special.
■ iBasso PB2
■ Audiolab M-DAC
■ Decware CSP2+ - Sounds coloured, but in a very enjoyable way.
■ audio-gd ROC SA - extremely powerful, but sounded grainy.
■ Little Dot MKIII - Useless.
...

Source Inventory

Previous equipment:
■ LA Audio EQ231-G - 31-band analogue Equalizer. Essential in any audio system!
■ Rega RP3 turntable with Rega Elys 2 cartridge
■ Squeezebox Touch
■ Cypher Labs Algorythm Solo (original)
■ Apple iPod Touch, 4th gen, 32GB. I don't particularly like Apple products, but the Touch works well as a streaming device (using iPeng).
■ Yamaha CD-640 - alright
■ Cowon S9 32GB - Excellent once you get rid of the stock UI.
■ Cambridge Audio DAC Magic - Lots of features, but sounds a bit weird.
■ Marantz CD-6004 - Does exactly what a CD player is supposed to do. A bit expensive.
■ Cowon iAudio X5L 30GB - One of the best DAP's.
■ Audiotrak Dr. DAC2 DX TE
■ iPod Classic 6G - I can't stand iTunes. Otherwise a good player.
■ Smyth Realiser A8 (HDMI) - the single most impressive device in this hobby. Wish there was a portable solution for this.
■ iBasso DB2
■ Cowon J3 32+64GB - Excellent DAP, very strong battery.
■ Corda StageDAC - Great, especially the crossfeed feature.
■ Marantz CD63 MKII - Alright.

Other Audio Equipment

Previous equipment:
■ Main speaker setup: Vienna Acoustic Haydn speakers, Harman/Kardon HK680 amp, Sony CD-990 CDP
■ Desktop speaker setup: DALI Zensor 1's (EQ'd), Yamaha R-840/CD-640)

Music Preferences

Classical (anything from Baroque to Modern); Rock, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Metal, Soul, Pop... Just about anything, really.

Favourites include, in no specific order:

De Staat
Yes
Einstürzende Neubauten
Sonny Boy Williamson
Howlin' Wolf
Kyuss
Genesis
Jethro Tull
Blind Willie McTell
Ella Fitzgerald
Tom Waits
King Crimson
Kate Bush
Peter Murphy
Etta James
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Son House
Qeens of the Stone Age
Robert Johnson
Bob Dylan
Tim Buckley
PJ Harvey
Joni Mitchell
New Model Army
Queen
Johnny Cash
Miles Davis
B.B. King
Camel
Patti Smith
Led Zeppelin
Gentle Giant
Black Sabbath
Fiona Apple
Françoise Hardy
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Shirley Bassey
Neil Young
Pearl Jam

Favourite Composers:
Camille Saint-Saëns
Arcangelo Corelli
Claude Debussy
Pietro Locatelli
Felix Mendelssohn
Johann Sebastian Bach

Gender

Male