The Man Who Would Be King 7 out of 10, they really don't make these any more.

  My original 801 stopped working on battery power just after the arrival of the balanced amplifier module, so I have been in the doldrums a bit while the unit was replaced. I did however spend sufficient time with the HM-801 and my Sennheiser HD650’s before it went down to realise that ‘I was...

  I have had a pair of SR5s since I bought them new a long time ago. They aren’t the gold version so I can only assume that your pair should be better than mine - and I don’t have any of your existing phones apart from a set of Grado Sr125s. But my vintage Stax phones do sound obviously much...

  Well I would eat most things considered as food except tripe and insects. (I would not consider raw chicken as a food, just a quick way of becoming very ill.)

  I have the EW9s, well I think that’s what they are - they are made by AT, have a wood cover and clip over the ears. They are beautifully made, have a low microphonic cable and I find them quite comfortable once you have learnt to put them on. Unfortunately though they have very little bass...

  I think the worst headphones I ever heard were a pair of Telephonics TDH49’s. These were quite common as a reference phone in the world of audiology, and I think they were also used by the American military. Terrible out of a (pro) walkman.   The other very disappointing phone I borrowed...

  I know ‘They Shoot Horses Don’t They?’, I saw it at the cinema when it was first released. It is a seriously hard hitting film, Gig Young was memorable as the ringmaster: ‘yowsa, yowsa, yowsa’!   

  Hickey and Boggs - an unknown 1972 minor masterpiece.   Directed by Bob Culp (Boggs) with probably Bill Cosby’s best acting performance, this early 70’s bleak tale easily out does films such as Dirty Harry for hard realism. The shootouts are good and the machine gun in the helicopter...

  Interesting point this termination problem, is there a balanced portable standard headphone connector?    When Fang mooted a balanced amp option for the HM801 I suspect many of us wondered how he would do the connections, as on the face of it looks pretty difficult. The de facto...

The Yakuza, a 1970's Bob Mitchum film noir - excellent. 

Never mind the specs and all that as I trust Fang still knows what he's doing, so have ordered mine. I intend to use it with a pair of 650s, and will modify the cable to balanced myself.   I just hope it works properly with my early edition 801...

I never bothered much with cassettes as I hated them. I hated them because they held back sound quality for probably two decades. I hated them because they were a poor compromise from the start and needed years of development. Years of new models with new ‘improvements’, new and exotic tape...

  If you are just talking about SQ IMHO the 650’s are much better than the IE8’s. Yup, say out of an Ipod the 650’s will not go as loud as you might want in comparison to the IEM’s and an amp might be worthwhile - if you like to bang your head. But un-amped 650’s will still have a very obvious...

  I know this is an old thread, but Mr Gilmore mentioned the Crown / Amcron IC150 pre-amp at the beginning, and as this device has received a lot of negative press over the years on various forums I thought I would contribute some personal experience of this preamp.   Firstly I suppose I...

  I have the CX300’s and find that the IE8 is a very significant improvement. In fact the longer I have owned the IE8’s the more impressed I am with them, they are expensive though. I have not heard the others, so can’t comment.   It seems to me that (and this I suppose depends on audio...