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Why not put it up for sale in the Amplification For Sale / Trade forum?

I'll have a McAlister EA-6, and a Woo GES in a few weeks, and then compare them carefully to my McAlister EA-4, using an HE90. I hope that the two higher cost amps (which cost approx. $1.5K) show a significant improvement versus the lower cost EA-4 (which cost approx. $850). If they do, that it'll be likely that they perform approximately as well as an HEV90, and an ES-1. My assumption is based on the fact that my EA-4 performed approx. 85% as well as an HEV90, when these two amps were compared closely by several attendees as a South Florida headfi meet.

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Let me know how it works for you - I have requested to return my EA-6 for a refund, and if not, it will go to the 'For Sale' forum with the reasons why. Basically, with acoustic / classical, it sounds wonderful. But, with complex rock (Tool, Hoobastank, and even Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers') I get clipping. This amp is not in the same class as the BH, HEV90, nor the ES-1, and I have heard them all extensively, with everything except the Omega 1.

Even without the clipping, this amp is still about 85% of the BH, with less than spectacular tubes, even after upgrading the 6CG7 in the EA-6 to the MIJ Raytheon tubes. No doubt someone can use this amp - just not me.

Now, off to buy some Mullards for the Blue Hawaii and be done with it.

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This sucks to hear. Even though I'm sure that there is no easy or cheap way to drive the SR-007 it would have been nice for the amp not to clip. Most amps just get dark and out of control when present with the load. The amp should be fine though with the easier load of the Lambdas and He90.

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I believe he's using an HE60.

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I forgot about that. Then the amp must have some serious design flaws if it is clipping into such an easy load. This goes to show that hard rock and metal should be a part of any review. If I only listened to soft music I could live with the He90 and be oblivious to it's flaws.

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The HE60s do like to be played rather loud with rock - I can hit the limiter on my ESC1001 easily enough with the stuff - but no amp worth so much money should have so little headroom.

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Even the 212 doesn't do this. This amp needs to go back to the drawing board

The He90 like to go loud up to a point where the upper midrange harshness goes out of control but they are fine until then. They still rob all hard music of its raw power though...

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That can be ameliorated with EQ to a point. Most electrostats have softer bass regions than the O2s simply as a function of FR.

I'm trying out an EQ curve with lots of bass on my 4070s right now and it sounds like a slightly more tactile, slightly grainer Omega 2.

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EQ won't cure this. Any one of my stats, SR-3 New included, does a better job with rock music then the He90 when it comes to convey the raw emotional power. The He90 just skips huge amounts of the information in the lower registers but they aren't rally lacking bass in the conventional way. The Lambdas have a similar flaw but it isn't quite as annoying. Personally I find that the Lambda bass in bloated and overblown when compared to the SR-007 and it doesn't extend nearly as far. The O2's bass is, when they are fitted and driven properly, subtle and textured but can extend further then anything I've heard.

I still think that the best rock stat' is my modded Suprex PEP-74. I coupled the drivers to the metallic substructure with enormous pressure and then used my own backwave management and the results are mind blowing when driven from a Normal Stax socket.

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My reaction to the 404 was along those lines.

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I can't claim to have gotten anywhere near 100% out of them, but I didn't find the musical extention (as opposed to frequency-sweep extention) that spectacular with them, but that may well have been a combination of lack of time to get the setup right and high expectations. The 4070 still remains as the only headphone where I've been able to define a sub-25Hz kickdrum that's low in the mix as a distinct musical event and place it within my headspace. Of course, they have other issues, so such is life.

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The older Signature is the cleanest of the lot but it brings it own set of issues to the table.

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To get 100% of the bass out of them you have to play with the arc structure to get the exact fit. Otherwise it will either be to bloated of to soft and anemic and I doubt many owner would let you do this to a loaner...

I really like how they took the SR-007 arc assembly and converted it to the 4070. I think that the O3 will be along the same lines allowing everybody to experience 95% of the phones ability and hard core users to play with the pressure to shape the sound to their liking.

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I need to compare the Sig to the SC1 someday. Might make for an interesting comparison.

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Agreed. I suspect my friend would have been somewhat displeased if his babies came back sounding entirely different.

I do plan to revisit the O2s once I sort out amplification more suited to my musical tastes (less negitive feedback for starters), but I would like to try an SR-Omega first. Musical tastes has a lot to say in all this, which is why my view of the HE60 is much more favourable than your own.

Life would be boring if we all had the same experiences, so that's a good thing from my point of view. I'd like to hear your modded Suprex someday.

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The 4070 sags too much, though (it affects comfort more than sound mercifully), so I wouldn't regard the conversion as flawless.

More horizontal pressure and softer foam would by my hopes for their next generation of designs. That and some real leather or velour pads for the Lambda series.

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I wonder if EIFL can get a SC-1 for me...

I think that it would only be wise to buy a SR-007 when your system is up to snuff and setup how they like it. If there is anything not up to snuff they will go all dark and claustrophobic and many think that's how they sound.

I like the He60 even a bit more then its bigger brother but they just don't suit me. That won't stop me from buying one though and the same goes for the O1. I know they are supposed to have an annoying midrange coloration but I don't care and the same goes for the original SR-Sigma. They aren't as good as the Pro's but I just bought a pair. Life without diversity would be very boring and thats why I'm a compulsive headphone collector...

You could probably get the 4070 to put more horizontal pressure if you bend the headband a little. I must confess though that an old Lambda with the older style of pads are probably the most comfy phones around but I'd like some leather pads, preferably in the old Signature color. That dark chocolate color is just stunning.

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I think Ippinkan do international sales, but the SC-1 isn't really worth the price they sell it for. If they dropped 10-20k yen off the price maybe. I paid less for mine than many have been paying for Lambda Pros recently.

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They started off that way. Then I fiddled with them and they went thin and bassless, which made me do a double take. Finding the golden middle is certainly a challenge with them.

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Only up to a point, at least for those of us with narrow heads. The thing is just too heavy to clamp properly. I guess there's only so much you can do when you've working with a big block of wood.