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After the SR-Ω the fit is a problem for me as well. They are the only headphone you can forget you are wearing. Makes me wonder about an SR-Ω with SR-007 drivers...

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It is flawed but I'm going to buy one anyway. When I manage to find one it will be fun to see how long it will take me to start modifying it...

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I still need to get me one of those.

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Not really, there's 18 coupling caps in there and no cathode bypasses. If you swapped them out for something reasonably affordable like dynamicaps you'd be looking at around $300 which is quite a bit less than what the Aristaeus cost.

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Cheap, no, but it shouldn't cost you over $11k unless you want to max everything....wait, I forgot who I was talking too.

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I'd imagine you'd quite like it. As would I, for that matter.

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Modifying a T2 is pretty far up on the crazyness front. Naturally I think it's a wonderful idea. I'd just throw the whole EL34 stage in the bin and use whatever direct heated power triode would fit given available B+ voltages. Then again, I'm hardly an EL34 fanboy.

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Yup and I need to find out why mine leak bias like crazy. I can't find anything inside the drivers that bothers me so it is either that the coating has started to conduct or it is the cable. Both are hard to work on due to how the driver is designed.

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I was more thinking along the lines of V-Caps but the Mundorfs would be a nice upgrade. Dynamics would also do. Then there are the PSU caps...

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I'm going for a Kondo style build so cheap isn't an option. The transformers and chokes will be a fortune...

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It should be a fun mix. The SR-Ω main problem are the drivers as when they are faced with something really complex the sound gets stuck inside the drivers messing with the sound. The resonances simply can't escape into the aluminum. The housing is a work of art so the better damped SR-007 driver could be a nice upgrade while not sounding like either phone.

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It's up there for sure. The biggest problem are the transformers as they are supposed to be underrated stock so any mods will have to start there.

The EL34s sound good but you can do much better. DHTs are the only way to go

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Well, I won't argue too much for the HE-90. Like I said, I'm a big OII fan and would like to own them in the future. With Neil's system (very well tuned to the HE-90), it was the best headphone I've heard to date from a technical standpoint.

However, I prefer the K-1000 and even more so the HP-2 for it's "get out of the way of the music" and "neutralness" (my tastes as well), and in the HP-2s case on well recorded music, a flat out sublime experience where all the technical stuff becomes irrelevant. The OIIs are closer to what my taste is than the HE-90. But if they were to drag race , the HE-90 would come out on top by a decent margin from my comparably limited experience with them.

I'm feeling a bit weird that a headphone that I'm listening to is being compared to the mighty HE90. The Orpheus has always seemed to me like some kind of unreachable perfect ideal that is far above all other headphones.

I've been comparing the O2 with the HD600/Rnb G52 + Raptor. I wouldn't say the HD600 is blown away by the O2, which it presumably should be given the disparity in pricing. The HD600 matched with a decent amp must be one of the best values in headphones, along with the HD650 and K701.

I'm listening to Buddha-Bar IX. Chill out electronica is one of my favorite types of music along with jazz and female vocals. I know this isn't audiophile-type quality music like Chesky, FIM or Stockfisch, but I like it. The HD600 sounds good. I would even guess that someone unfamiliar with head-fi might even say the HD600 and O2 sound alike. I might've said this, at the point in time when I joined this site with only a Bose Triport and iPod 1st generation.

The HD600 is a bit brighter and airier than the O2. It lacks some details and sounds grainier, though. The O2 is smoother, more liquid, clearer and more vibrant, and more detailed. It has that extra amount of refinement that can mean the difference between enjoying the music and really enjoying the music a lot.

Also, I don't comment much on the K1000 because I don't have a suitable amp for it. The K1000+good amp might also be able to fight the O2.


Oooops. In my opinion not having the K1000s up to speed in the competition is a major credibility buster.

I'm not comparing the O2 with the K1000, at least not until I have a suitable power amp. I don't consider myself knowledgeable about the K1000 and actually don't post much about it. I don't even use it much, it stays in its case for months at a time.

I've tried the K1000 with an AudioValve RKV and thought it sounded good.

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The OII's are difficult to say the least while the He90 is easy to get into and they will wow you from the first listen. It takes a few weeks to fully appreciate what the SR-007 does and that is after finding the right amp, cables, ear pad position and the right angle of the metal arcs so the contact pressure is just right. You just pop the He90 (and SR-Ω as well) on you head and press play...

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I compare them often and a giant shootout has been in place ever since I got the SR-Ω. These are the best headphones available and should be compared but we shouldn't crap any more on your thread.

I find it that normal, badly recorded music is often more revealing on the whole then the audiophile editions. They will show us how the system responds to less then ideal source material and some systems just can't handle it. The SR-007 is very good at dealing with old cds and bad recordings. I don't listen to anything audiophile approved so I'm stuck with the normal editions so I guess that's why I really like the SR-007 and other 'stats.

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Yeah...the RKV with the K1000 was one very special combo. I wish there are more amps like the RKV MKII. That is a very underrated amp.

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Hi Elephas:

Your quest here to explore electrostatics is interesting, but I don't quite understand how a thread that purports to compare dynamic headphones with electrostatics can omit the K1000.

The K1000 in my opinion (and there are many others here that would agree with me) is the best dynamic headphone in the world. Leaving it out of your comparison, especially in light of your resources you bring to this thread (your photo of your amazing inventory!), is like leaving Ferrari out of a survey of the world's greatest cars. I guess one rational might be that it is no longer in production, but given the unique design of the K1000 and its assault on the "state of the art" as far as what an audio transducer can do, the omission seems unfortunate.

Maybe your "threadline" should read An electrostat noob's Stax 02 vs. dynamic headphones except the one that is the very best...

Best,
Kevin

If it's not the best it's probably one of the top dynamics IMO. I think the OP has everything he needs to explore a top K1000 amp, since he already has an excellent source in both the Accuphase and the Chord DAC64.

While the RKV sounds lush and enjoyable with the K-1000s, it is very far from what they sound like out of a well matched speaker amp.

The dynamics were squashed and the image was loose when I heard the RKV/K-1000 combo.

I'd say it's like hearing the R10 out of a gilmore lite - yeah, it would probably be enjoyable, but...

It never ends does it Elephas

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The O2 can be a pain in the butt. Every little thing you do changes the sound, including the ear pad position. I owned the Meridian G08/Headamp KGSS/O2 combo with Bogdan Gold/Silver Spirit XLR ICs for a period of time. It was one incredible system. Smooth as silk and detailed as anything. They were a strange headphone for me though. Besides the heavy bass response and dark demeanor, there wasn't much to complain about. But the more I listened to them the more unemotional I felt about the music. I sold the setup with little regret. I actually preferred the less technically proficient but airier Sennheiser HE-60. Now that headphone I do regret selling, even though it had some obvious flaws.

Even when I owned the O2, I preferred the R10 in a good system (I really regret selling the R10 now that it would cost me twice as much to buy it again). I don't think the Raptor is a bad amp, but I felt that the R10 was held back by this amp when I tried it. Like the O2 and perhaps moreso, the R10 reveals every change upstream.

Now, I am using the K1000 again after selling off the previous K1000 system last year. I love this headphone and find it to be of similar quality as the other cans listed (I do prefer the R10). It has tremendous detail, focus, and soundstage. It's also the most bang for the buck among top tier cans. Like the others, it can be picky about the system that its in.

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The K1000 and the RKV is certainly a romantic sounding combo. Very musical. But the RKV does not play to the K1000's strengths, ie its sloppy.

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If the O2's are unemotional and maybe a bit sterile and cold it is the KGSS sound signature described in full detail. Still the O2s are a bit of a hassle but I've owned them for so long their quirks are second nature to me. They have forced me to rethink a lot of things in this insane hobby and moved me further out to the edge in terms of parts quality, cable design and system design. They showed me just how much damage teflon was doing to my sound and make it easy to choose the right silver wire to use. Their resolving ability is simply unmatched.

I agree that the phones should be engaging and musical, if they aren't get rid of them. This is the reason why I own only one set of dynamics and that is for computer use only. They simply don't do it for me, any of them, musically. It's the same with speakers so I guess I'm strange like that.

The sellers remorse has only one cure... never sell anything. I have quite a few sets that I never use but I can't bring myself to sell them because I know I'll regret it later. The end result is headphones everywhere...

What a thread. One moment you think the HE60 is the ultimate for you, the next moment you start wanting an O2...