I’ve been away from Head-Fi for too long to know what’s the new hotness or what‘s considered a fair price for gently used Sennheiser HD800S that I bought new in 2016 or 2017 and have kept stored in their original packaging for the past year. I took a look at recent For Sale listings but...

After a few years of headphone stasis I am back in the Head-fi vortex having sold off several headphones, including the HE -5LE and settling on the Oppo PM-3 as my portables after trying wireless options from Master & Dynamic, Bang & Olufsen, Sony and Bose. Now I'm thinking about returning the...

I received a 4-pin male to female XLR power cable from Markertek today that I mistakenly believed I could used as an extension cable for my HE-5LE headphones and aftermarket speaker tap. It didn't work and disassembling the Neutrik connectors showed why -- there are only two wires inside the...

One of my power tubes is failing, causing a volume mismatch between the left and right channels.   My lower impedance headphones (Denon D5000 at 25 ohms) were the first to register the loss of volume and eventually produce massive distortion in the effected channel as the problem progressed...

My LD MKIV tube amp is not playing well with my newly acquired Denon D5000 headphones. I first notice that the right channel was playing at a lower volume, wrecking the imaging. That was last night. Today I get serious distortion from the right channel. I swapped output tubes and moved the power...

Here's the deal. I've got two headphone amps and only one pair of headphones between them. As a result, I don't listen as much as a should.    My re-cabled HD650s spend most of their time downstairs paired with my PS Audio GCHA and Digital Link 3. My Little Dot MKIV and Cambridge Audio...

I'm in the process of building a headphone and speaker rig around a PS Audio Digital Link III DAC I just bought from a fellow head-fier. My main headphones are HD-650s and I'm looking for an amp that that can coax more out of them than the LD MKIV. Budget is $500 to $1000. Pre-amp outs...

Just for grins, I decided to try the DacMagic from my headphone with a two-channel speaker system I'm running from a Denon 1800 AVR I bought about 10 years ago. My source is a MacBook pumping Pandora One via optical cable to the DacMagic and the 1800 AVR. Besides the volume gain I get when I...

I'm re-doing a 13'x10' home office and naturally the audio considerations are taking the front seat. I'm undecided about whether to focus on building a near-field desktop system or a higher-quality 2-channel setup best enjoyed from a comfy chair across the room. Computer won't be used...

I'm re-doing a 13'x10' home office and naturally the audio considerations are taking the front seat. I'm undecided about whether to focus on building a near-field desktop system or a higher-quality 2-channel setup best enjoyed from a comfy chair across the room. Computer won't be used...

I'll just say it: I think the iPad could make a sweet dedicated music server. Maybe not the version announced today. But an iPad with an aftermarket kickstand would be right at home next to my headphone rig. If the iPad headphone jack doubles as a SPDIF line out, then it's ready made for...

Today's Amazon Gold Box deal on Klipsch Image X5 Noise Isolating Earphones has spawned some interesting headphone posts over on Amazon's message board: Or this one: More comments can be found here. You've been warned.

This is meant as a for-the-record post for anyone either researching a Sennheiser purchase or who finds themselves with some Senns in need of repair. I sent my HD-650s back to Sennheiser on Jan. 4 for warranty service after losing the left channel swapping between the stock and a replacement...

Anyone have a consumer-grade burr grinder they'd recommend for grinding coffee for espresso and cone filter drip? I have a Capresso espresso machine that does a pretty decent job with Illy espresso-ground coffee but not so great with what I get from the supermarket grinder. With Illy...

I recently upgraded my headphone rig to include a bunch o' silver cabling and I'm wondering if maybe I overdid it. Here's exactly what I'm running with: HD650s re-cabled with with a 10' Silver Dragon V.2 cord running out of a Little Dot MK IV amp connected to a Cambridge DACMagic via a pair...

Say you've got $300 burning a hole in your pocket and you already own a pair of broken-in HD650s, decent source, DAC and tube amp. Would you re-cable your HD650s or buy a new pair of $200-$300 'phones, like the AKG 701s?

How can you tell when a tube is going bad? I'd been noticing that my Little Dot MKIV had been making tiny little tube noises even after it was warmed up. These were little 'tings' that sounded to me ear like the glass and/or metal components inside expanding or contracting. Fast forward to...

Have had my LD MKIV since last summer and generally pleased. After powering it on this evening, I noticed a static burst coming through my speakers (I sometimes use it as a preamp paired with a Trends amp). I powered down the Trends, waited a few minutes, powered it back on and everything...

What Hi Fi?, for what it's worth, called it "one of the best we've tested" in a recently posted review. What all else they've tested, however, they don't exactly say. But they do make at least a token comparison, saying it combines the "timing, clarity and punch of Beresford's £120 TC-7510...

For me, it has to be Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat. To think that for just $8 I could have bought the Leonard Cohen tribute album I'm Your Fan instead. I'll take REM's version of "First We Take Manhattan" over Jennifer Warnes' any day. Second runner up is Dire Straits' Brothers in...

First, a disclaimer: champagne tastes on a beer (well, microbrew) budget and all that... I've been building a small footprint secondary system from budget-class, off-the-beaten path components like the Trends and Little Dot amps and am now contemplating my next upgrades. The weak links on...

The AudioMagus website shows that their long-awaited new DAC is finally in stock for $550. I've pasted part of their write-up below. Working with the manufacturer of the very popular DAC707, Michael Mardis created a new PCB design. The magiDAC™ 1.0 is built around the CS4398 A/D...

During peak passages of some music, mostly female vocals, I'm getting a slight distortion -- a little static burst, like my headphones are clipping off the higher frequencies. It's like a little sizzle or low-volume static popping up momentarily when the music peaks. I've done the obvious...

I've read through some of the Beresford TC-7150 threads here until my eyes burn, starting with this opus: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/ber...c-mkii-207560/ All the claims, counter claims, photos of disfigured chips, and what not makes the 7510 the most controversial product I've read...

Okay, here's the deal. I bought a pair of Beyer DT-880s at great price and have put nearly 60 hours on them since Wednesday. Very detailed and articulate cans but could definitely stand to be better grounded in the bass department. I'm using a Citypulse 7.2 DAC for my headphone amp and a Pioneer...