I read your post earlier this morning, and made a point to go over to Audeze to check it out.
I tried the EL-8 first, and man it drives them with authority. No issues whatsoever, puts them to almost painful volume. Those things are amazing; Audeze is going to make a killing on them. I'll probably pick up a pair myself; truly impressive, if you ask me. I actually think I like the sound better than the LCD series, personally, and they are lighter and more comfortable, not to mention absurdly attractive. I'm sure even folks who have an LCD will want to at least try them.
As for the 2s and 3s...well, you might not believe me yet just yet, but I have some interesting evidence that I'd love to share, but I want to get clearance for it due to certain affiliations...anyways, it actually does the 2s justice, and it doesn't shortchange even the 3s. I know that's probably hard to believe, but Echobox will be at LA Canjam before you know it, and with the changes we're making due to popular requests, we won't be on the market until around that time; point is, I'm not saying this to try to get anyone to go out and buy one, so
doubters beware! In the meantime, anyone who lives in LA with a pair of LCD2/3s is welcome to set up an appointment with me to hear this; I barely believed it when I heard it, and had to ask a fellow audiophile to verify what I was hearing, and verify they did. Would love for some impartial parties to be able to experience this first-hand and share with everyone.
I don't have access to any PMBs, so I can't verify that one for you yet. But I think what I've heard with the HD650, T1, and LCD series is more than enough to confirm my previously cautious yet optimistic suspicions that the Explorer is going to be a real game changer on sound alone, not to mention it's features, and everything we have planned for it.
Trust me, I know this sounds like a lot of hype, but I really can't wait til I get permission to share my evidence (if I do), and even more so for review samples to start shipping out so you guys can hear just how real this is!!!!
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I find this highly tempting. Any serious listening impressions so far?
Could this device cope with some hard-to-drive planar magnetic headphones?
( for instance the LCD2, or the ancient PMB-series orthodynamics)