Depends on what you mean by engaging/forward? I owned HE500 in past and liked it quite a bit.

Less diffuse, in effect a reduction of the width, but more precise localization. Highly recommend against this mod if you prefer the more wall-o-sound effect of the stock HD800.

You gotta stop saying stuff like that, otherwise HFM will increase the price of the HEK to $4K. :-)

Yup, it's different than anything before it so it's hard to compare. The best way to put is if if you like the HD800, get the HD800, if you like the HE6, get the HE6, if you like the Abyss, get the Abyss, if you like the SR009, get the SR009, if you like the HEK, get the HEK.

  Agreed. The Ether is an excellent headphone, on par with the HE-560 where they trade minor blows against each other. The only significant weakness of the Ether, and please take this in a relative context, is the bass. Ether's bass quality is mediocre. Not the most clear, impactful, or...

  You should follow your own suggestion of listening to both DACs.  

  On the other hand, the lack of damping without the towel might hasten the burn-in process.

  Yeah, come to think of of it, I think I heard a 1.3% reduction in the treble splashiness aspect with the betas after running them for 2 days straight. With the production units, not hearing any change. Maybe HFM burned in the production units for longer? I know they were in a rush trying to...

  That's like saying dual overhead camshafts are better than pushrods and rocker arms. It really doesn't matter by the time of final implementation.

0.0 hours on both beta and production units. They didn't get any more awesome with me over time or with burn in. I did learn to better appreciate what they did well by going through lots of different music.

  You need to be more specific on the empiricals. What studio speakers? How where they measured? At the listening position? At the "standard" 1 meter with mic leveled with the tweeter in an anechoic chamber? What is the response off-angle? How are the speakers setup / where they setup properly...

  Invicta was strange. Full bodied tone, but with a strident and sharp treble timbre.       You read wrong. Lots of non-harsh sounding gear has bandwidth that fully extends past 20kHz. Also, you also can eliminate roll-off in some DACs by using hires or upsampled source material.   O2...

Yes.

  Indeed, another sign of confirmation bias. I use the Daft Punk record a lot of for evaluating gear. The material on it is challenging for a lot of systems. Lots of bass, start-stop, low-end extension, effects, difficult waveforms, and even surprisingly good plankton.   They get 100% result...

  LOL, so true. I really like the HE-560, but compared to HEK, the 560 sounds compressed and veiled.

  Again, I wouldn't disagree with the review. The amping issue is a legitimate one. I know they were using built-in amps on the Xonar and DAC2, but that fact remains, they still are using different amps. Having owned the Xonar a while back, I know the headamp on that card sucks. The Xonar's LOs...

  LOL, that article has been mentioned several times already. I too could line up several craptastic DACs from $100 to $4000 and probably have the $100 one sound the best. Those guys were using the builtin headouts of some of those DACs too. The findings in that article aren't that much out of...

  It's funny how products from Chord are allowed hype.     True, I have not heard quad USB. Would be interesting to hear the Analog from a spinner though. TBH, I don't care for the MSB house sound at their pricing. Yes, I've heard their better stuff. The Analog is their entry level DAC.

Surprised there were not more people who sold or returned their Yggys. Not everyone is going to like any single piece of gear - and that is a good thing - makes the world more interesting.

  MSB DACs have always been easy to find used. Just a current dearth at this moment in time. It happens. Best is to not buy the Analog new, or spend a little bit more at around $15k to get a loaded $35k MSB from someone who had buyer's regret. The argument is stupid anyways because there are so...

  I paid for mine. Dunno about others.     Why? I don't care what Robert Harley or Michael Fremer think. When Stereophile says the Benchmark DAC1 is a Class "A" Digital component, I have doubts about their ears or honesty. 80% of the gear that has a TAS super award , I think is crap.  ...

    Quote:   My 8" + 15" speakers are more efficient than yours at 97db, don't have box coloration, and uses a single part x-over for the wide-banders. And my woofers and bigger than your woofers. Neener, neener, neener.

Anax mods with HD800 do a lot to reduce exaggerated with of HD800s. I forgot to mention that I do have a 2-ply cheap Kirkland TP over drives which does cut down on the diffuse stage of HEK. As others have said, there is not much depth. However the HEK is rather open sounding still, not closed...

 ^ This...   The production unit I have does seem to have a bit more heft and isn't as splashy in the treble. Don't know if this is placebo, unit to unit variation, more factory pre-burn-in, or final production tweaks. The pads seem to be the same.     Agreed. If headstage and precise...

  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to discourage you from trying Yggy. The Gen V is warmer than Yggy, but it's mostly on the account that Gen V isn't quite as clear sounding and resolving as the Yggy. Part of this could the age of the parts. The caps in these old DACs need to be replaced. In...