bifcake
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2002
- Posts
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- 763
Happy New Year! The farts salute you
Now here's someone I haven't talked to in a long time. Hope you're doing well my friend.I was never a big poster, and I check in every once in a (long) while, but have been absent for a number of years. It's quite nice to be back on HF again. Seeing old familiar names still around is awesome. Happy belated new year, all
I really love ES Lab's recent ES-R10 "clone" of Sony MDR-R10. I'm one of the few who actually prefers the clone over OG, because it has a bit more bass (still not bass monsters, by any stretch) and maintains its composure much better while playing rock & heavy metal very loud It offers about 80 - 90% of the OG's magic midrange and soundstage. Anyways - fantastic tuning, good looks, reasonable price. A real proper "homage" to the OG. Obviously not up to the build quality standard of the OG, but pretty good for what it is, and genuine Zelkova wood cups were used in the right shape (unlike Hifiman's ugly abominations). The OG R10 is still the king for classical music, soundstage, and pure midrange.iʻve been quite happy with some old, ahem, vintage gear...been listening to vinyl a bit more at home and on-the-go is via airpods pro and iphone these days. active noise cancellation and no wires is hard to beat when traveling, especially with kids.
that being said, is there any new equipment any of you old-farts have found especially special? iʻve been thinking of picking up a chord mojo2...other than that iʻm not sure.
I used to think vinyl was the holy grail. Then on a fateful day in 2009 when I heard Linn Klimax DS demoed against LP12 and it was clear to me then that Klimax DS is the future both in sound quality and quality of life improvements. Klimax series has only gotten better over the last decade. If you want to just listen to music and not dick around with “tweaks” and “ear candy” sound effects you get Linn or Playback Designs.I really love ES Lab's recent ES-R10 "clone" of Sony MDR-R10. I'm one of the few who actually prefers the clone over OG, because it has a bit more bass (still not bass monsters, by any stretch) and maintains its composure much better while playing rock & heavy metal very loud It offers about 80 - 90% of the OG's magic midrange and soundstage. Anyways - fantastic tuning, good looks, reasonable price. A real proper "homage" to the OG. Obviously not up to the build quality standard of the OG, but pretty good for what it is, and genuine Zelkova wood cups were used in the right shape (unlike Hifiman's ugly abominations). The OG R10 is still the king for classical music, soundstage, and pure midrange.
I still use and like "old" head-fi amps, like: Headroom Max Balanced, Home Balanced (there 2006 amps were MUCH better than their earlier unbalanced iterations), and Headamp Gilmore Balanced Reference. I still have an upgraded "toaster" Singlepower SDS. And of course, the OG DIY T2. My favorite headphone ever is still Stax 009 (the original, not 009S) driven by the OG T2 (and only with THAT amp!). Amp-wise not much really catches my attention today, other than some of the DIY community projects, ECP Audio, and Kerry's Eksonic.
I found the Focal headphones like Utopia & Stellia interesting, but nothing that I "had to" own in the long run. I will say that the Hifiman Susvara was surprisingly amazing - I'd own one for sure if they weren't so expensive.
I have largely neglected digital sources ever since I first delved into vinyl 15 years ago. Haven't had a digital source hooked up to my speaker rig (Tannoys) since ~ 2010. I hate digital lol.
We are in the same boat. I took ten years away from Head-fi and returned a couple of years ago to re-familiarize myself with the new gear. I am amazed at what is available nowadays. Welcome back.Found this thread while surfing around. Took a leave of ~15 years from audio. Got back into it a year ago via home theater, then 2 channel (streaming and vinyl). And just this week getting back into headphones. Not a prolific poster. Okay, a lurker, but this site has a wealth of information and great folks.