Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 783

I think DAC was remembering the Famous Orthos That Never Made It, like the Corrode-O-Phone RSTY-007 and Reactive Series' famous "Galvani" model. Many of these crumbled to, well, crumbs right on the dealers' shelves, and those crumbs go for astronomical amounts on online auctions due to their extreme rarity. They must be auditioned in pure helium atmospheres, and when skeptics complain that they sound funny, they're shouted down by what sounds like a mob of cartoon ducks claiming anyone who wants more bass is a silly Neanderthal with bad interconnects.

Isn't that right, DAC?

Yes, nice to hear good news from the heartland, BMF.


..and speaking of working on YH-100s....

I'm working on one now. Called, like a latter-day Slartibartfast, out of cryogenic suspension to do one last YH-100 mod for a very special client, I unboxed the unit in question to find an interesting and amusing thing: both earpieces spin freely on their fragile little ball joints. In other words, all the little plastic pins that normally stop this from happening have gone missing. Question: do you get the feeling, crazy as it may sound, that someone else has been inside these headphones before me? Yes, I know it's hard to imagine, but there it is.

I'll keep you posted as the adventure unfolds..

Pinwheel Disorder in the YH-100

Think they just flang it against the wall too many times, in an ecstasy of musical abandon? Would that shear the pins off? I figured the headphones would simply jam in funny positions, as some of yours did. Drop 'em enough times, and yeah, I can see that they might get Pinwheel Disorder. But in both sides? Thatsa lotta impacts.

Well, comparisons with stock YH-100s go on apace. I'm using a new toy for this, and it's a headphone amp I can heartily recommend for all you who'll someday move up to a modified Stax SRD-7 and a Lambda Nova Classic. It's from Sony's high-end ES line from the early '90s:


SONY TA-F606ES MOSFET INTEGRATED AMP CA 1993

80w/ch into 8 ohms, good though basic preamp, headphone out. Solid, understated, classy, and unlike first-gen MOSFET amps, it runs cool. Get one while it's still a sleeper (most folks go for the more famous 707 and 808).

I do that all the time. Ya won't get funny looks here, mate. Anyway, yes, it's definitely and defiantly a non-Nova 30 Pro 30. One of the easier phones to mod. As I never seem to tire of repeating, you can easily tune it to have better, tighter bass than the vaunted Fostex T50v1. Once modded it really does make a nice pro audio type 'phone, with a slightly elevated (but not rising) treble.

Just don't be discouraged by the good-but-blah sound when you first put them on. There's potential there.