Hifiman did no justice to their setups at RMAF, they sounded like rubbish running low quality files off those portable players

  I actually liked the Ether C more than the open back Ether.   Both were phenomenal, it was just a little different presentation.  The vocals were a bit more forward on the open backs, while the bass was a little fuller on the C's.

The Ether C was one of my favorite cans of the show, I love everything Dan has done with this one. I cannot believe how well it isolates and the comfort is exceptional, this one is definitely on my short list of new cans to get.

I'd probably still own a set of audeze's if I had known about this headband retrofit!  I've bought and sold about 3 pairs thinking I could just deal with it.

The guy in the labcoat told me they would be offering the carbon headbands as a retrofit to any of the existing LCD series, somewhere in the $150 range in the next month.  

  I'm a cheesehead who now lives in Denver, will be nice to see some fellow Wisconsonites!

Can't wait to attend my first since re-locating to Denver.

A Valhalla 2 would be a good option for a factory built OTL amp.  It's in the $350 range and perhaps cheaper if you can find a used one.

I bought a pair of the 840s to be a portable, closed solution and they fit the bill.  My only complaint is my ears actually touch inner baffle and I don't have large or protruding ears, it may bother some but I don't really notice it.  I find the 840s to be bass-heavy but that's perfectly fine...

Loud and sounding correct under tight control are not the same thing.  A 300 ohm headphone needs to have ultra high sensitivity, this is similar to a 92db headphone at 50 ohms.

Re-joined the HD650 club, too hard to pass up at $313!  Can't wait to hear them on much better equipment this time.

Has anyone with the 880 tried the velour pads vs the stock pleather and it's sonic differences?

  They were $2k when they first came out, retail is now $1500 but you can get them for a bit less than that.

  TH900s are my closed bass cans, very happy with them!  Super comfortable and easy to drive.

  +1 love my synology server

  I've never run into that on a lyr and LCD2s when I had them, but it happens on the HE560.  On a stronger amp, they respond fine to it.   

      ^ this   I can tell you the lyr 1 goes into clipping when running heavy low end material, the GS-X has the headroom and does not.  At lower to normal listening volumes if you play around with an EQ to raise up the low end even by as little as 3db it craps out while the GS-X can...

  I've had them on my lyr 1 and GS-X Mk2.  The GS-X Mk2 can drive the HE-6 ok, but its definitely not ideal.  The HE560 are one of the hardest to drive headphones out there, someone earlier mentioned HE560>HE500>LCD2 in order of difficulty to drive and that sounds right on.

  I think a fairer comparison would be a TH600 vs. Z7 since they more similar in price and being closed.

  That's about what the master-9 and ragnarok output, which is right in the sweet spot of what I think the HE560 needs.   On the Lyr 1, it needed to get to about 1-2 pm on the volume to make the low end dynamic but it was at ear bleeding levels.  At lower listening levels, they were thin and...

Planars can handle a ton of power compared to dynamics, I'm not sure how much exactly the HE560 can handle but I remember the LCD line from audeze was capable of taking around 15 watts.  If I were to keep my HS560s I would be looking at something like the master-9 or maybe ragnarok levels of power.

You see a lot of the same things in the HE-6 threads, people say "it gets plenty loud" on amp X but being loud and properly driven are two different things.  The HE-560 is a lot like the HE-6 in that it does require a LOT of power to sound good.  On an underpowered amp, the HE560 and HE-6 sound...

I was a bit surprised how quick these last couple batches have been, keep up the good work!

Weight never bothered me, it was the crappy headband with the 'hot spot' on the top of the head.  The suspension band alone would bring me back to audeze.

  Very true, the flexibility makes it a very attractive option!