without a doubt the 701s. If you have the proper source and amp, almost nothing sounds better or as well balanced in its price class.

I just bought a pair of Shure e500s. I'm not convinced they're my cup of tea just yet, although they are better than my UM2s. I have noticed that the two ear pieces are wired completely independently. Has anyone done the obvious (although insane in this case) and set them up for balanced drive?

As long as you run the Airport Express digitally into a DAC with reclocking, it is an awesome solution. I use it with better results than a CD transport with my Apogee DAC.

All of my headphones fit in tightly.

Rubber feet. The silver feet do look pretty cool, but I have a feeling the rubber ones provide better isolation. I might get some Sorbothane feet for mine, but I don't expect much of a difference.

Yeah, I was wrong about burn in too. This amp can definitely use it. I had a bit of sibilance initially out of the box. Now I can't find it at all. It's also lost a bit of the harder edginess it had initially. I have to say the control it has over every pair of cans I throw at it is pretty...

I'm curious as to whether or not placing the power supply in a separate chassis would be beneficial. I'd agree with you that $2000 power cords aren't necessarily worth the money; although I have witnessed some pretty amazing things with the usage of power cords by Siltech. Really, power delivery...

Quote: Originally Posted by Stoney Tough to do as a mod, because parts for the balancing stages need to be matched. PCBs would have to have virtually identical parasitics. I'd leave adding balanced circuits to the manufacturer. That's pretty much what I thought. Here's hoping we...

3593 here.

Quote: Originally Posted by NoPants Are there any mods people have looked into for this amp? Or is the price tag too much of a turnoff? Reference audio mods has a modification package available, although I haven't tried it. My understanding is that Cullen Circuits also has a...

The GCHA does a great job with my Grado RS2s.

Bootlet, I know it's not your final system setup, but plug in your DAC1 into your GCHA and unplug the usb from your GCHA for a comparison of just the amp section. Keep in mind that the GCHA is a headphone amp first. The DAC1 is definitely a DAC first, but they spent more attention to the amp...

music_man, I agree with you that they should have said something about the power cord. You're right, they did include an excellent 10 gauge shielded cord. In any case, being a business owner myself, I really can't fault someone for a little self promotion. It is worth mentioning though that on...

music_man, the manual says that the unit will perform very well out of the box, but will perform better with a better power cord and interconnects. They say that PS Audio builds both, but it does not say it is required. I'm running mine with the stock power cord and Siltech interconnects right...

I really wish AKG would ship them with 500 hours of burn-in on them. It really takes an amazing amount of time for burn-in.

Burn / listen / burn / listen / burn So yeah, I burn them in.

Quote: Originally Posted by music_man could someone please describe in what ways it sounds different than the dac1? (without using the customary dac1 insults.) music_man In my opinion comparing the DAC1 against the GCHA is a difficult task. The DAC1 is meant to be a DAC, with...

Quote: Originally Posted by Bootleg I'm looking forward to it...the DAC being the same as the Total Bithead scares me a bit, but in all honesty, I might have bought it for its amp section only. Skip the built in DAC. Plug your DAC1 into it and you should have a pretty nice...

Quote: Originally Posted by Bootleg Just ordered mine from PS Audio. LET THE BLISS BEGIN! Good god Bootleg, you're just on a buying spree, aren't you?

Quote: Originally Posted by Bootleg Also, how good is the DAC in the psaudio? If its the same as the Total Bithead, that doesn't sound overly inspiring? I think I read somewhere that it is the same DAC chip that is in the total bithead. Honestly, it's ok, but nothing special. I...

Quote: Originally Posted by islewind I've listened to the Gaincell integrateds, and they belw me away. I'd expect the HA to be pretty stellar as well. Rick Cullen, who's company manufactures the Gain Cell, has a souped up version of them available. I've been tempted to send my...

So I've received my PS Audio GCHA. All I can say is wow. I've been playing with it for a few days now. My only problem right now is a slight amount of sibilance with my k701s; although this seems to be diminishing. Thus far this amp works incredibly well with any of my cans at any volume. There...

I've been using an Elpac supply. Right now I don't have any significant power conditioning on the device. I'm probably going to put something in though, because there is a very small amount of noise present.

Mine has been ordered. I want to listen to it stock, if I feel there is room for improvement, I might have it modded. Rick Cullen of Cullen circuits apparently has some drastically improved gain cells (his company manufactures them) which are apparently worth hearing. Supposedly it can benefit...

Realistically the sheer length of the cables is more likely to cause a loss than adapters. I wouldn't worry about the adapters.