HD800 is better than K701 in almost every way.

dubstep girl said:

  HD800 is better than K701 in almost every way.

Click to expand...

 
Yes, indeed.

Photo time! My current "go to" tubes:
 
The Westinghouse 6BQ7A


RCA 5U4G + Sophia Princess 2A3

 
Paired with the HD800, I get beautiful midrange and soundstage with this set up.

More of the whole thing please!

drheadphone said:

  Photo time! My current "go to" tubes:
 
The Westinghouse 6BQ7A


RCA 5U4G + Sophia Princess 2A3

 
Paired with the HD800, I get beautiful midrange and soundstage with this set up.

Click to expand...

 
 
Using nearly the exact same setup except mine is an RCA 6BQ7A..........listening to Anathema's Universal last night was mind numbingly beautiful.

third_eye said:

   
Yes, indeed.

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That is not my experience. I don't hear any substantial differences at this point, except in the bass, but I am working on it.

For those who are eager to know about the building progress of the coming batch of Stratus, I just received a reply from Donald that he has received the first chassis this week and has begun working on the amplifiers. Exciting times ahead and we should be hearing from those who are in the front of the order list soon! Really appreciate Donald for his prompt reply and clear communication

Okay, so I promised I would post some listening impressions about my time with both the original Stratus and the newly upgraded Stratus in my studio.  This new Stratus is, of course, now stock for all new buyers - as of when exactly, I don't know.  But to give away the punch line of my small review - you are the lucky ones.  Contact Donald if you don't have the new chokes/power transformer and please seriously consider the upgrade.  Here is why.  Just when I thought I was really seeing into the music - and I don't mean this lightly - this is the ultimate goal for me of musical reproduction - seeing energy as it is transferred from an instrument to my ear drum - along comes a small enhancement like the one Donald's restless brain has come up with - and it goes further.  I don't mean it's a  different amp.  I mean that just when I thought I had arrived a level of penetration into the living details of my music, Donald has upped the score.  With the new chokes and power transformer in place, the background dropped away to the point where I can no longer perceive it, and I found myself free-falling into a kind of space I had never really traveled into before.  The noise floor dropped, the blacks got inkier, and the transients began exploding from a kind of depth that can only be associated with what astronauts must feel when they finally escape the earth's atmosphere and are thrust into the true deep blackness of space.  The rush of notes, their crackling, scintillating emergence from an otherworldly darkness - these are my primary impressions.  And since we are talking about an amp that already provided plenty of such moments, I am struggling to find words that convey that extra level of involvement in the musical event.  The wet breath traveling inside a saxophone, the shifting of a violinist in his chair slightly altering the instrument's relation to the mic, the thwack of a drumstick against the metal edge of a drum in a raucous concert hall, the shimmering crash of a cymbal as it goes from its first, shattering cut into the sound-scape, then gradually trails off into a distant echo of oscillating metal -- everything is just a little bit more alive and more real than it was.  And this goes for any tubes and any headphones I tried.  It is in the amp.  And since I know these transients and this depth are what Donald was trying to achieve, then I can only say hats off to him for a job well done.  And despite the retrofit costs, I urge him to keep refining and perfecting an already unreal amp.  We are lucky to be around a soundsmith who keeps digging, keeps searching.  I was lucky enough to have both an original and a new Stratus on my desk for a while but I realize many of you will not be able to do this, so I wanted to post this and encourage you to think about the upgrade.  This is, at least, what it did for me. 

froger said:

For those who are eager to know about the building progress of the coming batch of Stratus, I just received a reply from Donald that he has received the first chassis this week and has begun working on the amplifiers. Exciting times ahead and we should be hearing from those who are in the front of the order list soon! Really appreciate Donald for his prompt reply and clear communication

Click to expand...

 
Good times ahead!

frihed89 said:

  That is not my experience. I don't hear any substantial differences at this point, except in the bass, but I am working on it.

Click to expand...

 
To be fair, I've never heard the 701 out of a Stratus.......I'm sure it scales well. It's been a while since I owned the 701 and there are many things about it that I liked, particularly with classical music. I am surprised though as I feel the HD800 excels in most areas, especially with the Stratus, and should provide a more substantive advantage over the 701.

third_eye said:

To be fair, I've never heard the 701 out of a Stratus.......I'm sure it scales well. It's been a while since I owned the 701 and there are many things about it that I liked, particularly with classical music. I am surprised though as I feel the HD800 excels in most areas, especially with the Stratus, and should provide a more substantive advantage over the 701.

Click to expand...

I wonder if there is any adventurous Stratus owner out there who is waiting to try out the new AKG 812 with the Stratus instead? On paper, that seems like a fairer fight against the HD800.

fejnomit said:

  Okay, so I promised I would post some listening impressions about my time with both the original Stratus and the newly upgraded Stratus in my studio.  This new Stratus is, of course, now stock for all new buyers - as of when exactly, I don't know.  But to give away the punch line of my small review - you are the lucky ones.  Contact Donald if you don't have the new chokes/power transformer and please seriously consider the upgrade.  Here is why.  Just when I thought I was really seeing into the music - and I don't mean this lightly - this is the ultimate goal for me of musical reproduction - seeing energy as it is transferred from an instrument to my ear drum - along comes a small enhancement like the one Donald's restless brain has come up with - and it goes further.  I don't mean it's a  different amp.  I mean that just when I thought I had arrived a level of penetration into the living details of my music, Donald has upped the score.  With the new chokes and power transformer in place, the background dropped away to the point where I can no longer perceive it, and I found myself free-falling into a kind of space I had never really traveled into before.  The noise floor dropped, the blacks got inkier, and the transients began exploding from a kind of depth that can only be associated with what astronauts must feel when they finally escape the earth's atmosphere and are thrust into the true deep blackness of space.  The rush of notes, their crackling, scintillating emergence from an otherworldly darkness - these are my primary impressions.  And since we are talking about an amp that already provided plenty of such moments, I am struggling to find words that convey that extra level of involvement in the musical event.  The wet breath traveling inside a saxophone, the shifting of a violinist in his chair slightly altering the instrument's relation to the mic, the thwack of a drumstick against the metal edge of a drum in a raucous concert hall, the shimmering crash of a cymbal as it goes from its first, shattering cut into the sound-scape, then gradually trails off into a distant echo of oscillating metal -- everything is just a little bit more alive and more real than it was.  And this goes for any tubes and any headphones I tried.  It is in the amp.  And since I know these transients and this depth are what Donald was trying to achieve, then I can only say hats off to him for a job well done.  And despite the retrofit costs, I urge him to keep refining and perfecting an already unreal amp.  We are lucky to be around a soundsmith who keeps digging, keeps searching.  I was lucky enough to have both an original and a new Stratus on my desk for a while but I realize many of you will not be able to do this, so I wanted to post this and encourage you to think about the upgrade.  This is, at least, what it did for me. 

Click to expand...

 
wow awesome!!!!
 
i turned down the used stratus i was gonna get due to the cost after upgrades +shipping being the same as a new one basically.
 
anyways, i'm still considering the stratus, seems like its as good as it gets.
 
as to your description, sounds more like some crazy acid/dmt trip breakthrough or something 

 as to your description, sounds more like some crazy acid/dmt trip breakthrough or something 

Click to expand...

 
that's what music does to me, what can i say?
the technical stuff is all interesting to me but i respond to the emotion of it and only really feel equipped to talk about it that way...
as for drugs, i can neither confirm nor deny the theoretical possibility of their influence on my reactions...
maybe we can get donald to address what really goes on electronically with the chokes...?

budx3385 said:

  cradon, the 2A3C-T's are rather similar to the Sophia Princess in tonality. The EMLs, solid and mesh, have more firm bass.
 
You might check with drheadphone for a NOS recommendation that might be less expensive.

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Hi budx3385.
 
The EML is a little over by budget, but for a budget 2a3 Tube i really likes the Shuguang 2a3c.
Have you tried those up against the Shuguang 2a3c-t "nature sound" ??
 
How much of a Shuguang 2a3c "killer" is the Shuguang 2a3c-t ??
 
Is the Bass in the Shuguang 2a3c-t on pair with the Shuguang 2a3c, or is it way less...
 
/Thanks Michael

Hi michaelvv
 
I see that Shuguang now labels the standard as 2A3C, the Treasure version as 2A3-Z and the Natural Sound as 2A3C-T.
 
At least I think that's it. In my brief search, I couldn't find all three at one webstore.
 
If that's right, then the 2A3C comes with the stock Stratus from Donald. For me, the Natural Sound 2A3C-T surpassed that by a large margin. I don't remember the characteristics of the Treasure version, but I seem to recall that it arrived at about the same time as the Natural, and it went back right away. But that seems so long ago, I don't feel it's reliable!
 
I used the Sophia Princess for some months, and I still have the EMLs and NOS for comparisons. The Natural Sound is what I use now for listening. With the Pearl gold driver, it's just wonderful music -- best I've ever heard on the HD800.