I've been out of the higher-end headphone game for a while, having sold my last full-size rig sometime in 2012. But I'm thinking hard about getting back in. I guess you never can fully escape the siren's song... Here's my situation. I have a pretty decent source in my main speaker system, with...

It's been a while since I posted here. I sold off most of my headphones about 6-7 years ago as I focused on speakers, and haven't really kept up with new developments in the field since then. Anyway, my wife started running a week ago, and wears headphones when she's out. She cannot stand IEMs...

I tried doing a couple searches to see if this has already been discussed here, but I didn't find anything. I have a CD player with a standard 3-pin XLR output (pin 1 = ground, pin 2 = hot, pin 3 = cold). I also just got a Stax amp, and it looks like the XLR inputs have a different...

Thanks to everyone that responded to my interest check thread here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f24/ic...s-meet-422077/ It looks like we have a general consensus for the date, so I think we're good to go. Here are the details: Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009 (yes, the same date as the...

It looks like it's been a while since the last meet here in the Twin Cities, so I was checking to see if there would be any interest in getting a meet set up here sometime during the summer (say, late June to mid-July). Here's what I was thinking. I spoke to someone at one of the local...

Well, I've reached the capacity of my old A/V stand. I'm expecting delivery of a larger amplifier within the next week or so, and it will not fit in my current stand. I need a new rack, and I have been tearing my hair out trying to find something that will meet all of my particular needs. Here's...

Six months ago (strangely enough, exactly six months ago), I tried comparing my two DACs (a Channel Islands VDA-2 and an Electrocompaniet ECD-1) in a head-to-head competition. The results of this fracas can be found here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/dac...cd-1-a-299431/ About three...

I'm currently awaiting the arrival of a Wadia 581i SE CD player. This particular player has an array of digital inputs and outputs, but they are a little different from what I'm used to seeing: - Glass optical (I think this is the AT&T ST type of optical input) - Coaxial, with a BNC...

If an external clock is hooked up to a transport + DAC system, how much lag is introduced by the external clock reclocking the data? In other words, if an external clock is in place, and there is a disc is playing in the transport with the display showing 04:30 (exactly), is the music that comes...

About a year and a half ago, I purchased a Channel Islands VDA-2 DAC. Then, about six months ago, I bought an Electrocompaniet ECD-1 DAC. I did not do a meaningful comparison at the time; I just unplugged the VDA-2 from my system and put the ECD-1 in its place. The music sounded pretty much the...

Last night, there was a brownout in my area. I had pretty much every piece of equipment on in my room when the lights got dim. The lights on my DAC and amplifier were barely lit (and seemed non-functional); everything else shut off completely. It took me a moment to realize what was happening (I...

I currently have a Channel Islands VHP-2 headphone amp (without the separate VAC-1 power supply), hooked up with pair of Audio-Technica W1000s, and I find myself getting headaches after listening for extended periods of time, even at moderate volume levels. I presume this is the dreaded...

I'm in the process of completely redoing my game room stereo system, and need some advice on a few components. Here is my current setup, which is an absolute mess: US Playstation 2 Japanese Playstation 2 Gamecube Pioneer Elite DV05 DVD player (which no longer outputs video) The PS2s and...