Tested the newish (TI-1b) Raal headphone interface with a couple of amps: Review: Low power amps with the Raal Sr1a? - the TI-1b interface Background: Traditional headphone amplifiers, and even SETs that output 2+ watts, perform poorly with several of the top planar magnetic headphones. For...

Sounds great/as new. Single owner (no smoking or pets). Pardo PSU is $300 extra with silver power connector. Actually is an 8-channel dac, but I've been using 2 channels.

Have enjoyed this dac for some time (original owner). Sonically great, and as-new 8 channel dac (just used as 2-channel). Has the upgraded "femto" clock. Also have the $600 Pardo PSU upgrade and silver cable, for +300 (minor scratches on PSU. From clean no-pet, non-smoking home.

You may find the "need" for the filters is dac dependent - at least I did. To recount: was happy with the Raal presentation on multiple ESS9018-based dacs, but tried the filters away, finding a slight2moderate improvement in detail. However, on the 9038 D90SE, there as a very strong midrange...

I'm sure the Raal cable is great, but has anyone has tried the moon cable or anything else more affordable in a direct comparison to it?

Will anyone have these at AXPONA in Chicago?

Have great respect for a designer who is willing to say "cut here" on his own work, if you want to tweak it. Can't ask for more support than that. Will these be at AXPONA? I'd go if there's a chance to hear them.

Agreed - that is the sort of fall back position. I thought there might be a way for anyone to just grab one of these and get in on the meeting, but yes, good point!

Working in a fairly noisy molecular biology lab, and looking for a way to have IEM's and mics for 2+ people hooked up to a PC. Goal is basically to shut out external noise, and for everyone to be able to talk to everyone else while looking at experiments. If this were just a 2-party call...

I was just dipping my toe into cable upgrades, when Trevor at Norne facilitated a big head to head comparison.  Props to Trevor for submitting his work to blind testing!  Was able to listen to the Noetic, Draug and a "mystery" silver cable in rapid succession on many types of music and was very...

I was lucky enough to score a free upgrade from the original HE1000 to the v2 in exchange for my thoughts on the matter.  Actually inspired me to start an audio review website - audioooh.com (audio gear that makes you say ooh).  There's a more in depth comparison on our review site.  Also talk...

If someone in Chicago wants to compare the new Hifiman He1000 v2 (which I have) vs the original on a bunch of different norne cables.... with your cavalli amp, let me know.

A glimpse of the goodies in store here, with unreleased cable from  Norne... pop on by with your high-end   4-pin output amp!

Reviewing the V1 vs V2 in Chicago - with THREE cables from Trevor at  Norne Audio, who has been great to work with on this comparison.  Gathering opinions from a group of people, and I'd like to invite someone with an amp with a direct 4-pin output, to join the comparison, just in case the...

F5 was my 2nd favorite SS amp with the HE6... beat out by a hair by a red wine. Very clean without that nasty typical SS hardness or class D sheen.

Literally 6dB louder indeed - one was from  the 3.5 output on the little Woo amp they were using vs the 1/4, so there may have been other  factors at play.

A couple observations about the HE1K and associated gear, after listening to them in a some different setups at AXPONA today.  The cable from Axios (kimber) was 6+ db louder than the stock cable, coming out of some Woo amps.  Also thought there was superior soundstaging and detail with that...

Is it generally cool if I bring my own cans to try out with amplifiers in the headphone room?  Wondered if anyone had done that in previous years.  Thanks.

A custom 2a3 SET (more than plenty loud despite 3.5w).  The red wine sig16 edged out the f5 and 2a3 narrowly by combining their virtues of smoothness and resolution (which I know sounds paradoxical.... maybe it's a balance of the two).

You can find the clones quite cheaply... on par with typical can amps

FWIW, I've been on a long audio quest, through dozens of amps, and for the first time I'd say I'm quite content with this setup. That of course doesn't prevent me from trying to be happier:)

If anyone in Chicago has a zotl2, curious how it sounds compared to my transcendent minibeast otl on my he1k.  They're about the same price.  Happy to host.

F5 did a great job with the He-6.  Tied for my third-favorite amp with them.

Indeed that is what I meant - thanks for clarifying.  Agree sophia ele can seem a little sketchy, but to my ear they were significantly better than the competition - small effect size though.

After trying numerous NOS and new production 6sn7's as preamp tubes in an integrated, I'd say the difference between the several best options was small, and ultimately I found the Sophia electric to be the most resolving.  Differences were also smaller than when rolling power tubes, though in...