'End-game' headphone rigs, unicorns and other myths - Page 9

I am siriously believe that our minds are fully manipulated by ourselfs and when we trying to find an excuse to justify our decision of next upgrade again, we simply ignore every possible impulse been send it out, which translates in: "do you really need this?" I simply wish that I could understand all those people who dont understand when I pay like USD800 for a pair of tubes, because when I do and my fully ignorant exsistance makes me feel like I am on top, where all others are been left it then?

All I am trying to say is, when you get philosophical about the gear you own, you just done. One of the examples is when you catch yourself on thought about that you enjoy as much the same piece of music from out of your home rig as from your portable. It is like finding a peace of mind, where no matter what others own, you just still happy with your own and thats, at least to me, is the most important thing.

p.s. Anyone tried Koss KSC75 from out of Cary CAD 300 sei? 
 

This is probably going to be an incoherent post, but hey, it's been a few beers down. More than a few...

When I got into this hobby, I was obsessed over finding the newer and better stuff. Music simply didn't have the same meaning when listened to on something mediocre as opposed to the best that I had at the time - on a good rig, there simply was so much more emotional content and detail in everything that I thought I knew well. All of my recordings suddenly came to new life which I couldn't even dream they had. But over time, that something new became something ordinary, and good sound eventually turned into just that - good sound. Now, a good system is simply a good system, and a bad one is simply a bad system, and when I listen to music I like on a bad system, my mind will fill in where the system lacks, and I will basically imagine what it sounds like on a proper system, and get (almost) full enjoyment out of it that way. In a sense, I've come full circle - I can enjoy music on bad systems again, but I've kept my appreciation for the good stuff - at least enough to hold onto the good stuff in the first place!

The desire to upgrade had a strange motivation. The first really good system I've listened to was, believe it or not, the Orpheus. Ever since then, I've been subconsciously trying to replicate that sound - or at least I was until I stumbled onto something just as good, which was the O2. The O2 is a very different flavor from the HE90, and if the HE90 is a bit like listening to an opera when you've had a few glasses of fine wine, the O2 is a bit like sticking your head under cold water after you've ran a marathon. It's stark honesty compared to the HE90's musicality, but in its own right it's every bit as powerful a presentation. But going deeper than that, every upgrade was simply coming from a fundamental question: are you happy with what you've got? Every time the answer was "no," I moved onto something else. I've cycled through more headphones than I care to remember. I've kept the O2 for 3 years now, maybe more. I lost count. I don't care to count. So you can figure that one out.

In the end, arriving at the summit (and I'm not quite there, as the source could use some work) I regained what I lost - the ability to enjoy music on anything and everything whatsoever. And that's not something I could have appreciated without having gone through this wonderful crazy upgraditis path in the first place.

 

 

 Speaking of the ludicrous depths of a 'no expense' source - anyone heard of this?

 

 http://www.msbtech.com/products/dac4diamond.php?Page=platinumHome

 

 The USB input alone appears to make most USB to SPDIF converters blush, or so you'd think anyway

 for the cash they want - $21,995USD

 

 

 MSB DAC IV

 

 

Looks like a Proctor-Silex toaster oven. :O

A tech sheet with comic sans font?  That's an instant buy for me.

I'm listening to a MSB DAC3 right now with the rather expensive USB input... 

There's a fully loaded MSB DAC3 on Audiogon for around 7K...

Hmm, who makes some of the better 1dB stepped attenuators?

 Good ol' Lenny up north truly deserves the title of Australia's Audio Aladdin's Cave - not to mention, I believe he is the only man at present to have a

 small selection of STAX units out on demo.

http://www.higherfi.com/spkrlist/speakerlist.htm

I have got these the westlake audio tower sm1 speakers and i can't see how anything can sound any better..but some one with a bugatti veyron would think that you couldn't get anything any faster than that car and get in a f1 car and be proven wrong..but with my krell cypher sacd player two krell evolution one amps and evolution 2 preamp i haven't heard anything better..so i still need to be proven wrong..

 

Edited by our martin - 4/12/12 at 4:43pm

A local attorney has a Genesis 1.2 system. It is very impressive, with Constellation Reference amps, preamps, and source. Then I think, "that's a half million bucks". More power to him, though. It's just magnificent.