No, I'll have to check that out.  Thanks.

Melody Gardot, The Absence, on Verve is really beautifully recorded.  

That's what I'm doing right now.  I've been toslink-only in my home rig for some time, "and loving every minute of it."  (any Maxwell Smart fans?)

Yeah, the bass is really nice on this.  Really deep, full, and tight.  I quite like fusions.  I used to play all kinds of stuff myself.  I don't care for it when Victor does the slap bass thing.  I never liked bass played as a percussion instrument.  But aside from that, nice album, and very...

  If I have problems with my USB, I may try my FW drive.  I think you can use a FW to Thunderbolt adapter or a FW to USB 3.0 adapter when you get a new Mac with no more FW.     My present DAC only has s/pdif (coax & toslink).  I don't remember if asynchronous USB had come along when I got...

I lied.  Future Man is is on both CDs that I have.  I can't remember if I've listened to these with my HD800s since seeing them perform.    Listening to Outbound now.  Very nice on the 800s.  I never bothered to look at the liner notes before.  I always assumed the drums were real drums.  They...

I didn't think much of the drumitar thing when I heard them play live.  It probably sounds better recorded, though I don't think either of my Flectone CD's has it on it.  I'll have to check.  I've usually found it to be the case with synthesizers, that they sound much more impressive on...

I've been using optical out for my Channel Islands DAC but I've ordered a USB DAC and it may be a bit of a problem. My late 2008 MBP only has 2 USB 2.0 ports. I'll put the DAC on the clean USB port. But my music library on an external Seagate Slim 2T hard drive will have to be on a USB hub, and...

My MBP is a late 2008 with (USB 2.0 & FW).  I wasn't sure that your 2011 MBP had USB 3.0 yet.   I found on my own to make sure to connect my USB Headamp Pico DAC/Amp to the second USB port, the one with the fewest services running, and I rarely have glitches, even though my machine is getting...

It may be that Krutsch's observations are specific to USB 2 whereas Zorrofox is plugged in to USB 3 which has ~ 10 times the bandwidth, so sharing services are not as big a deal.

That's good to know.  I am about to start experimenting with Audirvana and Amarra to see if either or both are a significant improvement over Fidelia, which I started using several years ago soon after it came out, but then stopped following the developments in players.

Not ideal for hard rock with the big soundstage and not in your face-ness.  But they still sound mighty good.    Not tops with Led Zeppelin (I need to get RS1s for that).  They are great for less-hard rock like Doobie Brothers, which are also nicely-recorded - I love that Warner Brothers sound.

Woohoo!  Time for Zeppelin - crank up those 800s.  I just ordered a PWD MkII (bought from Underwood Hifi; refurbished by PS Audio from trade-ins; $1500 with 1 yr manufacturer warranty).  Time to get some more high-res music, like the Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin remasters.

If there is an improved HD800 or new flagship, it may well be more expensive.  But then remaining stock of the current HD800 could be discounted and or there may be a number of used ones come up for sale by those who want the newest/bestest Sennheiser.

Hey Rage 3324, thanks for the SR225-RS1 comparison.  I usually prefer to buy new so as to avoid issues that somebody wants to pass on.  But given the fact that I can't buy them new anymore (unless Grado "fixes" them) I will probably pick up a used RS1i sometime, but not until after upgrading my...

Listening to my HD800s.  The 2L Mozart Violin Concertos, Thorsen/Trondheim (24/96) is fantastic this morning - excellent clarity, beautiful tonality, even with my less-than-perfect source.  Soon will be upgrading that (Metrum Octave, NAD M51, PWD MkII...).   I also got out the K701 and SR225i...

Nice essay johnjen.  I'm impressed with the need to evaluate all of the pieces in the chain from the files on disk to the HD800s as I try to upgrade my system from "decently good" to "really great."  And not just how good each part is, but how each works together, including some of the less...

Today it was back to the office rig.  But yesterday I got to spend time with my HD800s yesterday wandering through my music from Brahms & Dvorak to Diana Krall and Nora Jones to Gary Burton and Dominick Farinacci, to Doobie Brothers and Led Zeppelin.  Happy!   Getting more amped to plunk down...

  Did Jimmy P. leave the volume levels similar to the originals or did he compress it all to max out the volume and kill the dynamics?

You are referring to rock & pop concerts. Jazz & classical concerts are not so loud, although even an un-amplified orchestra can get quite loud in loud passages. Older rock & pop recordings had dynamic range. They went back and forth between loud and not so loud. Now everything on CD is...

I'll definitely give it a try.  Have you compared it to Amarra?

  If I end up with the Octave, I will definitely give the Aurix serious consideration.  Sounds like a great pair.  I'm drawn to this company designing its rather unique circuits.       The DAC1 deal is definitely tempting even though I am more drawn to non-Sabre DACs.  But it's also DSD...

Been enjoying listening to my SR225i all day in honor. He made an impact on a lot of people.

This begs the question, does a DAC such as Octave or M51 leave one wanting a better front end for the HD800 or will it satisfy so that one can spend one's time/money pursuing great music?  And if this level DAC is not an end point, is a PWD or Yggdrasil or Hex, or BADA or QB-9 an end point, or...

  That's another possibility, to save my money for the moment until I can rationalize paying for an amp in the next price level up.  By that time there would be a lot of opinions on the Yggdrasil with the HD800.  I think my Channel Island Audio VDA-2 DAC is ok for now if I improve the data link...