[dano1122]

ok i have very little experience but here goes...

1) sr225 + pimeta
2) hd650 + pimeta
3) nothing

 

[UAndy]

My reference set:
Meier-Prehead and UE10Pro
Next in line:
Meier-Prehead and AKG K-1000
And:
Meier-Prehead and Grado RS1
Greeting from Germany

 

[elrod-tom]

HeadRoom Blockhead w/ Sennheiser HD600

Meier Corda PreHead w/ AKG K340

ASL TwinHead (Jude's old "ringer") w/ AKG K501

 

[Helter Skelter]

Of the stuff I've heard:

1. Sennheiser HE90/KGSS (I hope to hear the full Orpheus HE90/HEV90 combo as well, one day...)

2. Stax SR404/KGSS
3. Audio-Technica ATH-W2002/LaRocco BiCode

I have yet to hear a stock K1000, unfortunately. I have listened to Larry's woody 'K3000', which is quite a treat, though. Definately in my top 10, that one.

Realistically, I hope one day to own the ATH-W2002 and a LaRocco HeadCode, with a Benchmark DAC1 as the transport. I think I could be very happy for a long time indeed with that kind of setup.

 

[Hirsch]

Once again, restricting myself to what I own:

1. SinglePower SDS/ Sony R10 (but Qualia is on the horizon)
2. restored Fisher 400 or modded Melos SHA-1/AKG K-1000 (hardwired Equinox)
2. Stax SRM-007t/ Sennheiser HE60
3. Earmax Pro/Grado PS-1
3. SinglePower Supra/ Sennheiser HD-650 (w/Silver Dragon cable)

Phew. Didn't think I could reduce it to three. Made it somehow

 

[bozebuttons]

My Top 3 I own

1-HEV90/HE90 Big O system
2-Cary/R10
3-Headamp Blackgated KGSS/HE90/007 omegaII

1 & 2 are a toss up could go either way.

 

[Mastergill]

I own only one setup 'cause there's no ten thousand incarnation of the very best.
Drum roll please...:

1- Manley 300B preamp + HD650. This combo is unreal. Better than Orpheus according to me and a good friend AE. Throw a Cardas NR in between and talk about ultimate transparency, soundstage to die for and so on...Can be dangerous, like you almost forget to breathe, no kidding!

Two other setup i would consider if i didn't have the one above:

2- Manley integrated "Stingray" triode mode + K1000. This is maybe the best bang for buck available today. Never heard this one but according to another AE i can trust this can match $50K worth of studio monitoring setup. (Maybe i should try some K1000 one of these days

)

3- BlockHead + HD650. A classic i guess.

 

[Jahn]

1)Bozebutton's seriously modded Melos SHA-Gold with his Grado HP-2 with flats. I would have said with the PS-1 but honestly that was even too much bass for me, and that's saying something.

2)Lan's stock The Stealth with Bozebutton's late model Sony R10. That was the first combo I tried that really wowed me in an order of magnitude over...

3)MisterX "Curious George" Low-Z Cmoy with dual Plainviews and a 2227 opamp/my Alessandro MS-1 with 40+ hours played with Todd's flat pads. This was the first combo ever to open the potential of music to me after all these years of listening to dreck.

 

[agile_one]

1. SinglePower Maestro ZR or RS Stealth -> R10 or L3000
2. HeadRoom Blockhead -> balanced HD650
3. Stax 007t -> Omega II -or- Grace m902 -> Sony SA5000 (tie)

Notes:

- List is restricted to equipment I own or have owned -OR- have been so blown away by on multiple occaisions (Blockhead + 650) that it had to make the list.

- No mention is made of source in the original post, but I will state the obvious that an extremely high quality source is required for any of these combos to reach their potential.

- Sorry for the multiple selections for #1 and #3 - I just can't distinguish any more granularly.

 

[joelongwood]

1........RKV/K1000
2........EMP/CD3000
3........Sugden Headmaster/HP-1

Not necessarily in that order.

 

[Earwax]

1. HD600 + Gilmore Dynamic
2. HD555 + Pimeta
3. KSC-35 + tweaked cmoy <= #1 portable setup

 

[tom hankins]

1. Singlepower SDS > HD650/Zu
2. Singlepower SDS > Grado HP2
3. sacd lovers tube rectafied Singlepower > HD650/Zu
3. RKV > HD650/Zu

 

[Bill Ward]

1. Eddie Current HD300 --> DT880
2. JMT PPA --> AKG K501
3. Stax SRM313 --> Stax SR404

BW

 

[MichaelFranks]

K1000/Fisher 400
650/Prehead
er4p/anything

 

[philodox]

• Tuberollers Wheatfield HA-2 ··· AKG K340 [recabled and tweaked by headphile]
• Stax SRM-313 ··· Stax SR-404
• AOS Flute ··· AKG K271 Studio [with Zu Mobius AKG cable]