This comment will probably be self-indicting, but when I tried all 3 impedance settings with my VO, I couldn't really distinguish their sound in any real way except volume. The fact that volume varied with the 3 settings may have obscured differences between their sound for me...? I just don't...

Great write-up! Welcome to the very select HP8 club (not really ... I just like typing that). Brimar CV455s are among the best 12AT7s I've tried. I have a couple of Mullards -- I've never heard a NOS Mullard input tube I couldn't like. I didn't care for any 12AX7s until a friend sent me an...

Never thought of it this way, but you're absolutely right. The Caldera lets in the sound of music (music comes first), also other components, even passive things like cables. This is not a headphone that imposes a steady-state sound profile on music or anything else.

LG C8/77" owner here. Mine is 6 years old. Newer LG OLEDS can get brighter, but I don't even use all the brightness mine has. The picture on this flatscreen is mind-blowing. Anyone who visits & watches a film on it comes away very impressed.

In my experience, the very best of inexpensive ChiFi audio are the "clones" of the original ISK MDH9000 closed back headphone. There are at least 6 clones I know of: these are identical designs that have somewhat different color schemes and branding. I owned 3 of these clones; gave away 2 and...

Very nice! What model/size of flatscreen is that? The base looks like LG....

I prefer mantle mesh + lambskin thicks

A real busman's holiday in progress!

Love the tune. This version is nice. 1st time I heard it was on this 1958 recording of Billie Holiday, just a year before she died. Her voice was ravaged, but it didn't matter. She swung like crazy at all times:

You must have the extremely rare ZMF "gene editing" AC....

$$ is a factor, no doubt. I reviewed Jupiter Lee's reimagining of the HD650 several years ago, comparing it to a stock HD650, which I hadn't heard until then. I liked the stock model a lot, but the JAR650 was on an entirely different level. The man really knows what he's doing.

I also abandoned closed backs for similar reasons (primarily, migraine; secondarily, tinnitus). That meant selling my Eikon, a sad day. That was a mind-blowing headphone. Not without its little flaws, but great sound. Anyway, I couldn't bring myself to sell the Ori. Now I'm very glad I didn't...

Effect ... and cause.

I don't much like them, either--but they don't really qualify for an exorcism.

FYI, anything dismembered can be reattached--or replaced. (don't ask me how I know)