Umm... "off the charts" In this context would mean "exceptional" and/or "superior"... clean, crisp, transparent highs; full-bodied mids; tight, deep bass.

SQ = sound quality. Also with the 12AX7s, I could only use about the first 10-15 degrees of the volume pot before it was just too darn loud. I found that 12AT7s were a reasonable compromise with my AKGs, but still too much gain to use with the Q40s. The heatsinks do get hot! My laser...

When I put 12AX7s in my MSSH I experienced similar issues (scratchy pot, hiss) SQ was off the chart otherwise. 12AU7s eliminated the noise problems. With my 600 ohm AKG 240M cans the MSSH is dead silent. With my MAudio Q40's I can hear some hiss even with the volume at normal listening levels...

I'll be honest, I'm not comfortable ordering stuff from China/Taiwan/Etc.  Plenty of opportunity to get ripped off with a piece of junk and no recourse against a seller on the other side of the planet.  That's not to say high quality stuff can't be had from there, but I'm not one who's willing...

Quote:   1)  I ordered all my stuff from mouser (except for the tubes, tube sockets and enclosure) for $46 before shipping.  I did pick up some standoffs and terminal blocks from RadioShack. Probably spent another $8 bucks there.  I ordered 20ft of teflon coated 22 awg wire from ebay for...

Quote:   I got my 12AU7A tubes off ebay... keep your eyes open and you can score a pair for less than tube depot.   I found the Cisco PS on ebay as well.  They are readily available for about $20-25 shipped.

On my MSSH I grounded to one main ground wire with no I'll effects. I didn't worry about where I ran the sound/power wires. The only noise I've ended up with came from the cheap azz ratshack stereo pot I used.

Anything on the Chick Corea Acoustik Band CD. It's jazz trio, piano, drums, stand-up bass. Still Harry After All These Years, the Harry James Orchestra. Big Band Jazz... there's a cover of the old "Sanford and Son" theme on there that makes me smile every time I listen to it. Diane Schuur and...

Well, I picked up a new set of cans (M-Audio Q40) which run at 64ohm.  Now I'm picking up some noise in my MSSH... primarily hiss.  Definitely independent of source.  Hiss does not get louder by turning up the volume knob.  At this point I'm guessing it's the RatShack 100k stereo pot that I used...

Quote: Where did you find the 19j6's?

Quote: I've now read a fair number of opinions on both sides of the spectrum... I'm probably just going to have to pull the trigger and decide for myself.  

Quote: The color doesn't bother me if the sound is top notch.  I'm looking for solid, tight bass that doesn't smear the mids and highs.  Is the S-Logic Surround all it's cracked up to be?  From what I've read they have a much wider soundstage for closed cans.  

Agreed, 256k vbr isn't the best... lossless is. But I've found, for myself, 256k vbr AAC to be a reasonable compromise between SQ and disk space available on my portable devices. I also agree on your sensitivity comment. But IME clean bass is always going to take some additional amount of...

I'm looking for a good set of 'phones for synth & techno that has tight bass but still presents a good soundstage.  I'm thinking about the HFI-450... they are 72 bucks shipped from B&H right now.   Any opinions?  

I think the earlier comment about one of your sources, Pandora, has gone unrecognized. At 64k AAC you're missing ALOT of information cropped in the compression scheme. That's probably making a neutral headphone like the M50 (which you may not have been impressed with anyway) sound worse... They...