[pctazhp]

 
my pleasure, UT.   here's some canadiana that i'm sure will sound great with elise.
the beautiful & talented kendel carson sings on this one, but she is well-known for her great fiddle work.  she is seen in one of the vids doing guitar too ... not many bands have three fiddlers.
 
 

Very cool )))

 

[pctazhp]

  Got to thank Gee man for introducing me to KEXP. 

 
HE560 on Elise sounds so good with this. Get this headphone. It's so natural sounding and rhythmic.
 
 

I also appreciate him telling us about KEXP. And nice to see a band with a great name.

 

[UntilThen]

  This is my promised side-by-side comparison of the T1Gen 2 and HD800S. I have spent a lot of time listening to both headphones.
 
 

That's a great effort in describing the T1 G2 and HD800S. I agree with most of what is written except for comfort. The HD800 fits my head better. 

 
I spend a great amount of time with both versions of HD800 at the meet. I was impressed and love it and wished that I had more time with them. However as soon as I strapped on the T1 on my head again, I knew I prefer the T1's sound signature. It has the sparkle and bite. Bass is also more natural sounding and impactful. Having said that, I could live with either headphones and I think Elise pairs perfectly with them.
 
Well written pctazhp. 

 

[pctazhp]

  That's a great effort in describing the T1 G2 and HD800S. I agree with most of what is written except for comfort. The HD800 fits my head better. 

 
I spend a great amount of time with both versions of HD800 at the meet. I was impressed and love it and wished that I had more time with them. However as soon as I strapped on the T1 on my head again, I knew I prefer the T1's sound signature. It has the sparkle and bite. Bass is also more natural sounding and impactful. Having said that, I could live with either headphones and I think Elise pairs perfectly with them.
 
Well written pctazhp. 

Thanks a lot UT. I should have mentioned that I too could be happy with either one. Unfortunately, in trying to describe differences I probably sounded much more critical of the 800 than I am. Also, I should have pointed out that my volume level was never more than a hair above 9 o'clock for both headphones. The Elise is a very, very special amp.

 

[hpamdr]

Hi HPAMDR,

just the type of comparison I was going to do now that the Elise will hopefully arrive this or next week. Good to hear of the synergy with the Elise, I was looking at the X20 as well since it was compared to the Vega at 3500USD, which avoided the 9018 trebble issues very well and Yggy the Schiit TOTL R2R multibit. At only 800Euros it seems a steal if you get the advantages of Sabre without the trebble issues and diggy sound (as much) and the advantages of transparancy, soundstage and detail vs. R2R. I was going to compare it to the DAC19 SE and glad to hear that the X20 SE is good as well. Plus the REMOTE!!! That really is almost a must have for being on the couch

For those in Europe you can order the X20 from amazon.co.uk or .it form kidult without import taxes, which would be around 30% while maintaining competitive pricing, looks quite tempting. Also seems as if you can do some minor reversible tweeks very easily, e.g. replace that terrible circuitbreaker with something HIFI and some isolation, both vibration and EM.

Thanks for posting
WB

 
Hi WB,
 
I'm French and using amazon.co.uk is the cheaper way for European customer to get the X20 and have customs paid by the distributor and not the final customer. Even if you have to pay bank fee for £/€ change final price is ~750€ or 579 £ if you live in UK !
 
 
If you get the Elise, you also have to wait at least a week to 10 day before you get a burned device. EL3N also need long time before singing.
I hope you will share also your impression on DAC and X20+Elise pairing. (if you can also listen TotalDAC with heaphone this could be great
 
I should have said also that I like neutral and natural sound, and do not listen too much electronic music or even modern studio album (i cannot stand reverb, vocoder, dumkit, loops....).
The comparison with both DAC and Elise bringed me to system synergy as we have to deal with "speaker" sets. Elise pairs well with many headphone but for me the magic is with the T1 and X20 pushed details transparency and natural presentation to another level. INHO, you start to enjoy the music when you stop to listen your headphone, your DAC, your tube and this is exactly at this point that synergy is important.

 

 

[hpamdr]

  This is my promised side-by-side comparison of the T1Gen 2 and HD800S. I have spent a lot of time listening to both headphones.
 
For those that don’t want to read all the way through, I’m going to disclose up front that I have decided to keep the T1 and put my HD800S up for sale. They are both amazing headphones, and I can easily see why different people would prefer one over the other, even by wide margins. I believe in deciding between two phones, it really comes down to a gut-level decision that is difficult to describe or even understand. For me, I made my decision primarily on the basis of which phone did I usually find myself listening to longer without being tempted to change back to the other (the T1 won this one) and which phone did I usually listen to for the shortest period of time before wanting to switch back to the other (the T1 also won this one).
 
Having said that, I will now try to describe the differences I hear and experience. Of course, the amp is the Elise. I am using the same tube combination with both phones so I don’t waste a lot of time switching back and forth. I have chosen, my EL3N/ Tungsol 7236 combination, because I think it is well suited to both phones.
 
.....  
If I could describe in a few short words, the main advantage of the T1 I guess I would say that it is exceptionally well-integrated from very low bass to the high trebles – not to mention that it is a made-in-heaven match for the Elise (for which we all owe a debt of gratitude to H1 for initially discovering).
 
Please remember, everything above is just my personal experience on the system I have described. The words I have chosen to describe the differences probably impart a sense of greater difference than what I am actually hearing. They are the best words I can find, but I think as with so many reviews they probably “overstate” rather than “understate” what the reviewer is trying to describe. And finally, don’t forget I’m 71 – with all the advantages of experience that comes with that as well as the decline in my hearing that has naturally come with age.
 
For those who made it this far, thanks for reading. I spent a lot of time preparing for and writing this post, but welcome any and all critical comments.

Thank you a lot for your nice review / comparison of T1g2 and HD800S have you tested also the T1g1 ?
 
The words and all the categrories are a very well chosen specially Detail, Natural reverberation, Emotional involvement. You describe excatly what's make the difference between listening some music and being immersed in the sound szene. This is how the magic happens with Elise and what makes Elise +T1 so special...

 

[hypnos1]

Hey @pctazhp....re. your comparison of T1(g2) v HD800S, you are to be commended indeed (on many fronts) for dipping your toes in shark-infested waters, lol!.... I suspect HPs are second only to tubes concerning notoriety in the land of impressions/reviews....well done and THANK YOU - a good all round synopsis, without 'frills' but with heartfelt honesty. And certainly very helpful as a guide for those torn between these two excellent offerings....(the really lucky ones are those who can compare them side-by-side of course, as you have done).
 
Both of these are clearly top contenders for pairing with Elise, and although my own T1s are gen1, I'm so pleased that my endless plugging of them has proved not to be groundless...Elise + T1s definitely = MAGIC!.....

 

[hypnos1]

Very interesting post on the Gustard X20 @hpamdr....certainly a hot contender for me if my Audiolab 8200CD player ever gives up the ghost - I too love the ESS Sabre, lol! And that sure is a great price...

 

[UntilThen]

  Very interesting post on the Gustard X20 @hpamdr....certainly a hot contender for me if my Audiolab 8200CD player ever gives up the ghost - I too love the ESS Sabre, lol! And that sure is a great price...

2 ESS DACs in dual mono mode (8 parallel DACs per channel) 

 
Gustard X20 has my attention now but how do you sell a gift from your wife (NAD d1050) without getting chased around the block?
 
I read this post with interest. 

 
http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Gustard_X20_Mods.html

 

[WB2016]

 
Hi WB,
 
I'm French and using amazon.co.uk is the cheaper way for European customer to get the X20 and have customs paid by the distributor and not the final customer. Even if you have to pay bank fee for £/€ change final price is ~750€ or 579 £ if you live in UK !
 
 
If you get the Elise, you also have to wait at least a week to 10 day before you get a burned device. EL3N also need long time before singing.
I hope you will share also your impression on DAC and X20+Elise pairing. (if you can also listen TotalDAC with heaphone this could be great
 
I should have said also that I like neutral and natural sound, and do not listen too much electronic music or even modern studio album (i cannot stand reverb, vocoder, dumkit, loops....).
The comparison with both DAC and Elise bringed me to system synergy as we have to deal with "speaker" sets. Elise pairs well with many headphone but for me the magic is with the T1 and X20 pushed details transparency and natural presentation to another level. INHO, you start to enjoy the music when you stop to listen your headphone, your DAC, your tube and this is exactly at this point that synergy is important.

 

 


Hi HPAMDR,

I completely agree with you, there is often so much focus on some goal and the equipment you loose sight of enjoying the music. It is the way with good speakers, they should disappear then you did it right. Its harder with headphones unless they are very cumfy, T1, X2 HD800 would likely fit into that category LCDXCs not (they are damn heavy but probably among the best closed hps).

Yeah the delay with the Elise is going to make some comparisons a little tricky, because most of the gear had to go back last week. It's fine and I will likely have more time to burn in the Elise that way and the tubes. Yeah very familiar with the EL series of tubes and how long they take. Told H1 they need ca. 300 to reach the sweatspot but then keep it for close to 10K hrs. Compare that to a 300B.

Regarding the Total Dac that I would likely avoid until the Gustard X20 has had at least 300hrs of burn in as well. The trick will be going to the client, letting the Elise warm up for a few hours, it could take some time and will require a lot of Vodka drinking. He's great but no way I can go there without some "friendly" drinking. It would be fun to see how the Elise would run as a preamp on a high end system. Lets see what will happen, the Total Dacs I have access to are not all that accessible unless something goes wrong. There was a window but due to delays getting the totaldac in again will be tricky. By the way the totaldac really takes a LONGLONG time to burn in properly and there are special high res music files for burning it in, basically 24/192 and CD of very varied and extremely well recorded music especially piano. Supposedly it allows for better burn in and can affect high end. Who konws but if you spend 6K+ on a DAC then you want to get the most out of it. It becomes pretty esoteric but the esoteric guys if they are good have the best sounding systems IMO.

For me the TotalDac is currently one of the best DACs out there also much better than the Chord Dave IMO which is about twice as much. Best example of R2R IMO, just a different class and a "Bargain" at the performance and what is inside 0.01% resistors R2R!!! If you get a chance listen to it, especially the t1 tube in a good setup it can sound really close to turntables maybe even tape, its that good. It can go beyong forgetting about a system and adding that magic and ignite the music in the proper setup. I'd love to see that on some vintage 20s Western Electric speakers ala Silbatone. Always the highlight of the HighEnd in Munich IMO.

It was revealing that the x20 got compared to the Vega, so that gave me an idea that it was very well implemented sabre that allows you to forget about the music and what any normal music enthusiast will want unless he becomes a clinical audiophile Comparing that to a TotalDac would be unfair because the Vega is in another class to the TotalDAC although it is quite good implementation of a Sabre. It would be very different, especially the TotalDac t1 tube I could access is as analog as it gets. A TotalDac tube and server comes close to listening to a SME 10 turntable in the right system with a EAR/Yoshino and maybe a benz, black as the night, clean analog. To beat that with analog will require a tape or SME20+. Of course there is still a difference to analog, but you would be hard pressed to be able to recognize it. Maybe if you have super ears.

For me the other thing I like and what can be great when it is implemented well is the bass boost ala the totaldac. That would be the next wish for a DAC such as the X20 to try to implement well. Great for parties or hiphop, films or soundtracks.

It has become a bit of a ritual to inaugurate a Total Dac with Chronic from Dr. Dre. to see if a system can really feel the bass and has attitude. It makes the Vodka in the glass go Jurassic park and is such a brilliant blasphemy because it is so raw, but the totalDac will somehow magically make the recording better and can handle raw which DACs don't like. Hats off to French engineering there.

Looking forward to hearing it on the Voxativ at the HighEnd in Munich. Its funny that they usually go SE and the balance craze is less a thing in Highend. You can see the 2015 setup here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzcFjYlEJGM

It would be fun to run the Elise on the TotalDac but it would be very close to running the Elise with turntables, which I am sure is done, although I have heard little about this in the threads.
Cheers
WB

 

[geetarman49]

  I also appreciate him telling us about KEXP. And nice to see a band with a great name.

shucks 

...  but while you're handing out some hosanna's, i've been hinting about telling a couple of stories from the past, so ... how about i fill everyone in on the other side of the story.  i'll understand if it's tl;dr.
 
story 1: most, many, all?  of posters of this thread seem to be fans of loreena mckennitt.  a true talent ... with just friends, family & a few trusted associates, she did everything herself in the early days ... no riaa hacks or contracts, no big $ corp boosters ... nada  ... she didn't trust them (look at what they did to the animals) -- she had to start her own label (quinlan road) to get her music out.  hell, she wasn't even on the radio. in those days, i couldn't even find her inaugeral cd, elemental, anywhere except at sam the record man in downtown t.o. - i think she hand delivered those herself.   at vegas c.e.s. everyone was playing (apart from the usual hi-q demo tracks) pink floyd, fleetwood mac, eagles, ... & the latest breakout, enya.  but at the toronto show (or was it montreal? chicago? i forget) i was the very first exhibitor to put loreena on constant rotation -- no one, & i mean absolutely no one else was playing her.  we had reviewers from stereophile, absolute sound & the other mags enquiring about the artist & cd. by the end of the show, i had given out the details of her cd/label to other distributors & manufacturers in usa, europe, japan, se asia. by the time the next c.e.s. rolled around, everyone had her cd on rotation.  while i can't say that an immense talent like loreena wouldn't have succeeded w/o the assistance of hi-end audio, i think it really helped her out a great deal in those early years.
 
story 2: anyone who's long in the tooth in these forums or audigon will be familiar with this. let's roll back the clock some 25+yr or so to winter c.e.s. at vegas. hi-end audio at the sahara. on the one side, we had the likes of krell, rowland, audio research, wilson audio, ... ; on the other, aunt peg, seka, marilyn chambers, jamie gillis ...
seriously, high-end audio and porn in the same venue.
 
it's the debut show for mas - metaxas audio systems from melbourne, oz. kostas metaxas is in fine form - he's cornered two of the largest rooms to display his amps, preamps and large electrostatic spkrs & i'm there with my biz partner to assist bill, the canadian distributor. but kostas has a last minute update with an amp and needs a toolkit.  <now, what follows has been described by others in head-fi who either viewed proceedings from a distance or heard it from others - but i'm telling you exactly how it happened ... to me>.   i'm on my way out the door to grab a toolkit from another exhibitor way, way down the hall but before i can get away, a short, swarthy-looking, burly guy asks if we can use the washroom. i, initially say 'no' because i know that kostas, like all other exhibitors, uses the washroom for storage space for spare product inventory & the like.  but for some reason, i hesitate and say that i'll check with kostas.  he gives his assent & before i can say boo, the guy's in the washroom with his companion.  but i can't be bothered to interfere because kostas needs to urgently update one of the display amps.  15 min later, i'm back & i see a couple of guys requesting to use the washroom too -- one says to me that 'he's been in there for 10-15 min' now.  now a small crowd has gathered around; i pound away on the door for a bit, another guy also joins in on the door-pounding & finally, a couple emerge & say 'thanks' before scooting away.  someone in the crowd says 'hey, that's ron jeremy'     --- well, now you know how i did my share in helping audio get its prØn, in one of the most (in)famous stories of hi-end audio.

 

[geetarman49]

@ pctazhp   --  oops, forgot to thank you for a well-crafted comparo .... but like UT, i prefer hd800 for comfort --- probably because i wear glasses.

 

[WB2016]

 
Hi WB,
 
I'm French and using amazon.co.uk is the cheaper way for European customer to get the X20 and have customs paid by the distributor and not the final customer. Even if you have to pay bank fee for £/€ change final price is ~750€ or 579 £ if you live in UK !
 
 
If you get the Elise, you also have to wait at least a week to 10 day before you get a burned device. EL3N also need long time before singing.
I hope you will share also your impression on DAC and X20+Elise pairing. (if you can also listen TotalDAC with heaphone this could be great
 
I should have said also that I like neutral and natural sound, and do not listen too much electronic music or even modern studio album (i cannot stand reverb, vocoder, dumkit, loops....).
The comparison with both DAC and Elise bringed me to system synergy as we have to deal with "speaker" sets. Elise pairs well with many headphone but for me the magic is with the T1 and X20 pushed details transparency and natural presentation to another level. INHO, you start to enjoy the music when you stop to listen your headphone, your DAC, your tube and this is exactly at this point that synergy is important.

 

 


Hi one thing I forgot to ask you, did you replace the circuit breaker with a high end one, preferably gold instead of rhodium. Should cost 30Euros and is the first thing to do for the X20. Seems the circuit breaker is a bottle neck.

Cheers
WB

 

[Lord Raven]

Yessir, it's a Utopia system. I did not get in touch with them, I am pretty sure they would have done the same with me, make me feel guilty haha
 
I have plans to get rid of Focal from my life, there is a lot of it but I will slowly transition, this is inevitable after this 2nd time.
 
Thanks once again!!!!
 
LR
 
Quote:

   
Ah, thank god for Italian friendliness. Even in the world of Focal it exists. I guess you have a Utopia from the problems you mentioned. Nice speakers less so the customer support. Yes, we can pull out all the stereotypes of French being rude and unhelpful, especially to American or German males, but it seems to be so fitting, especially you experience with the Italians. It will be a funny story once you exchanged them and your wallet recovers believe me.

Here is where installers with connections really can help, but honestly some manufacturers have little discount and bad customer care that even installers tell their clients to order the speakers themselves or try to stear them in another direction.

All the BS about system upgrades seems like nothing if your speakers are damaged. Had a forced "mono" setup for a client hooked up while he waited for a grande utopia that got scratched someplace in transport most likely. At least you have headphones and an Elise. The customer was not happy to say the least. Great speakers a bit odd of a company and luckily the only time I ever dealt with them regarding customer support. We ended up installing my bosses personal home speakers to cover the gap, which made my boss an unhappy camper and in turn me as well. Not that they would have expidited shipping or processing or anything Cannot talk bad about the company they make good stuff but their customer service is cliche french. Strangely Naim which they own has very good service, don't understand why, don't care and will likely never have to care again. Did they make you feel like it was all your fault and subtley question your intelligence. If not you didn't get the full treatment

Cheers
WB

 

[Lord Raven]

Recently released Santana IV album in high resolution by HDTracks in 24-48, I am loving it