Interests

IT, high-end audio, sport (sometimes)
informatics, electronics

Headphone Inventory

eletrostatic:
Stax Lambda Nova Classic
Stax SR-Gamma Pro - pure, great old Stax sound... I think
Stax SR-X MK3
Stax SR-5NB "Gold"
? Stax SR-5NB "Gold"
? Jecklin Float Electrostatic
Stax SR-003 (SR-005A) - less detailed than larger brothers
* Stax SR-007 MK1 - too clean, too spatial, too good,... to cold (the best?)
* Koss ESP/950 (with E/90) - darker, but more natural than Stax

electret:
Sennheiser Unipolar 2000
* Stax SR-80 (SR-84 set with SRD-4) - fast, detailed, but almost lack of low bass
* Philips N6326 - quite nice electret with a little plastic echo
* Philips N6325 - similar to N6326

electret-dynamic hybrid:
AKG K340 - great, trebles more intensive
> AKG K340 - great, very balanced
? AKG K340 (one electret weaker)
* AKG K340 - great

planar/isodynamic/orthodynamic/magnetostats:
HiFiMAN HE-6 - way cleaner than HE-500, one of the best
? Yamaha YH-100 - great
Grundig GDHS 223 - great
Grundig GDHS 223 - great
Fostex T50RP - requires a lot of modding to be really worth of using
Fostex T50RP (a spare pair)
Elektronica TDS-5 - natural, nice middle range, clear trebles, quite a lot of bass
Elektronica TDS-5M
B&O U70
B&O U70
RFT HOK 80
RFT HOK 80-2 - inefficient, but nice after a little modding
* HiFiMAN HE-500 - better than most dynamic, but somehow sounds dirty
* Elektronica TDS-5 (modded and better)
* RFT HOK 80-2 (another one)

dynamic with biocellulose drivers:
Creative Aurvana Live! - (waiting for modification) - stock are boring
Creative Aurvana Live! (for daughter Julia)
Creative Aurvana Live! (for daughter Anna)
Denon AH-D7000 - great
Denon AH-D2000 - one of my favorite for a few kind of music
Sony MDR-CD3000 - one of the greatest!
* Denon AH-D2000 (a gift to my friend)
~ Creative Aurvana Live! - broken headband

dynamic:
AKG K240 Sextett 600 ohm - a decent one
AKG K240 Sextett 600 ohm (another one)
AKG K240 Sextett 600 ohm (modded)
AKG K290 Surround 4x150 ohm -> 75 ohm - long 6m cable is an issue
AKG K401 [120 ohm] - great middle range
AKG K500 [120 ohm] - too airy
AKG K501 [120 ohm] (another one, with damaged headband)
AKG K701 [62 ohm] - long used and great, not sterile, requires perfect source and amp
AKG K701 [62 ohm] - a new spare pair, not so great and very different
Beyerdynamic DT931 250 ohm - waiting for recabling
Beyerdynamic DT831 250 ohm - waiting for recabling
Beyerdynamic DT901 250 ohm - something between DT880 and DT990
Beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohm Silver vintage - a decent one, but likes current driving
Beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohm Gold vintage (modded)
Beyerdynamic DT880 2005 Premium Audiophile 600 ohm - a decent one
Beyerdynamic DT150 250 ohm - a decent one (DT190 with DT100 earpads)
Beyerdynamic D48 [5 ohm] - great middle range - the rest not important at all
Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250 ohm - too much everything, requires proper source
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 600 ohm (waiting for modification) - super in the night
Beyerdynamic DT550 mk II [600 ohm] - quite interesting one (like DT990?)
Beyerdynamic DT550 mk II [600 ohm] (in grey)
Beyerdynamic DT860 [32 ohm] - "V" even more than DT990
Beyerdynamic DT440 [32 ohm] - less refined DT880
Beyerdynamic DT440 [32 ohm] - less refined DT880
Beyerdynamic DT660 [32 ohm] - less refined DT770
Beyerdynamic DT660 [32 ohm] - less refined DT770
SuperLux HD-660 [150 ohm] (at work) - quite good for 1/4 of the price of DT770
Sony MDR-CD850 - similar to CD3000, but not as much clean, and too bright
Sony MDR-CD750 - brightness only, modded with CAL! drivers
* Audio Technica ATH-909 [40 ohm] - a nice one
* Audio Technica ATH-909 [40 ohm] (another one)
* AKG K120 600 ohm
* AKG K141 Silver 600 ohm - a nice one
* AKG K141 Golden 600 ohm - a nice one
* AKG K272 HD [55 ohm] - a little specific, quite decent, but too sealed pads
* AKG K280 Parabolic 75 ohm - with fast bass, and "wall of sound" effect
* AKG K280 Parabolic 75 ohm - with fast bass, and "wall of sound" effect
* AKG K501 [120 ohm] (new) - great, analytical, hard to make them to sound "musical"
* AKG K501 [120 ohm] (used) - even greater, more natural
* AKG K550 - ugly sound with some resonance, too sealed (as K272)
* Beyerdynamic T70 [250 ohm] - super sensitive, little metallic, with a small treble peak
* Beyerdynamic DT330 mk II [40 ohm] - nice after recabling and with strong amp
* Beyerdynamic DT990 2005 Premium 600 ohm - balanced and refined Pro
* Beyerdynamic DT990 vintage 600 ohm - balanced and refined Pro
* Beyerdynamic DTX900 [32 ohm] - surprising after re-cabling with use of RCA sockets
* Beyerdynamic DT294 250 ohm (DT250 with a mic) - I prefer other from this brand
* Jecklin Float Model One [200 ohm] - K1000 like..., almost ;)
* Philips SHP9000 (build-in RCA sockets) - balanced and hard to make it alive
* Philips SHP9000 (a broken by friend, but repaired by me)
* Philips SHP9000 (a spare pair)
* Philips SHP8900 - lack of middle range, but very dynamic
* Philips SBC HP800 - cheap but good for a price after mounting RCA sockets
* Pioneer SE-M390 - too showy
* Sony MDR-ZX700 - too technical, too dirty, because of liquid-crystal polymer membrane
* Studer Revox Synergy [600 ohm] - between DT880 and DT990 (or DT550)
* SuperLux HD-330 [150 ohm] - quite good for 1/4 of the price of DT990
* SuperLux HD-660 [150 ohm] (a spare pair)
* SuperLux HD-668B - too aggressive, way too bassy with a long cable
~ AKG K140 600 ohm
~ Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 ohm - super in the night - driver just die with no cause!
~ Sennheiser HD-565 Ovation - completely broken, not durable at all
~ Sennheiser HD-580 Precision - not durable at all - my last Sennheiser!
~ Sennheiser HD-425

portable:
Koss PortaPro

* - not longer owned
~ - R.I.P.
> - for sell

Headphone Amp Inventory

Breeze Audio E4 (A-class, symmetrical JFET/MOSFET design) - nice, very natural, but without enough kick, control and air
Breeze Audio E5 (A-class, symmetrical JFET/MOSFET design) - maybe a better space and details, but a little sharp and less natural
Koss E/10 driver/energizer
Stax SRM-1 driver/amplifier (modded to Pro) - musical, airy with a lot of space on SR-Gamma Pro
Stax SRM-1 MK2 driver/amplifier
Stax SRM-252A driver/amplifier (in modding) - stock very disappointing
Stax SRD-7 Pro driver/energizer
Stax SRD-7/MK2
current buffers
mine old DIY devices
few awfully sounded op-amp based amps
* Koss E/90 driver/amplifier - good match for ESP/950, but too technical
* Stax SRD-X Pro driver/amplifier (modded) - design flaws make me mod it to regain the lower bass
* Stax SRD-4 driver/adapter
* Breeze Audio E3 (Beyerdynamic A1 clone) - thin without heavy modding
* FiiO E5 - bad, bad, bad
* FiiO E7 - bad, bad, bad as an amplifier

* - not longer owned

Source Inventory

CDP:
Pioneer PD-91 [2xPCM65] - unmodified and great
Akai CD-69 [2xPCM63] - - unmodified mediocre
Sherwood CD-880 [2xAD1862, SM5843] - stock quite good
Denon DCD-1520 [2xPCM64] - unmodified mediocre
Denon DCD-1520 [2xPCM64] - (different version of DCD-1520) modified and better
Denon DCD-1520 [2xPCM64] - waiting...
Denon DCD-1520 [2xPCM64] - waiting...
Harman Kardon HD740 [2xPCM1702, SM5843] - heavily modified and great
Harman Kardon HD740 [2xPCM1702, SM5843] - another for modding
Harman Kardon HD740 [2xPCM1702, SM5843] - unmodified quite OK (cheap PSU)
Harman Kardon HD7625 [4xPCM61P] - quite auditable
Harman Kardon HD7525 [4xPCM61P] - waiting for modification
Harman Kardon HD7525 [4xPCM61P] - quite auditable (cheap PSU)
Kenwood DP-8020 [2xPCM58] - in the middle of modding
Kenwood DP-8010 [2xPCM1701P] - in the middle of modding
Kenwood DP-7010 [2xPCM58] - in the middle of modding
Kenwood DP-7020 [2xPCM1701P] - in the middle of modding
Kenwood DP-7020 [2xPCM1701P] - unmodified and quite OK
Kenwood DP-5020 [2xPCM1701P] - like DP-6020, but paper PCB and no Cerafine caps
Denon DVD-5000 [4xPCM1704-J] - awful stock sound, but great potential for modding
Kenwood DP-1510 [2xPCM56P-L] - for playing with the modding
Kenwood DP-1510 [2xPCM56P-L] - (another one)
Kenwood DP-1510 [2xPCM56P-L] - (another one)
Kenwood DP-1510 [2xPCM56P-L] - (another one)
Kenwood DP-1510 [2xPCM56P-L] - (another one)
Marantz CD583 [TDA1541A] - modded
Philips CD670 [TDA1541] - nice, but without resolution
Philips CD660 [TDA1541] - nice, but without resolution
Philips CD160 [TDA1541] - too sharp
Philips CD150 [2xTDA1540] - nice
Philips CD104 [2xTDA1540] - yes, again!
* Onkyo DX-6640 R1 [2xPCM56/YM3433] - great when modded to 2xAD1860N-J/YM3434 no-op-amp and DAC
* Eltax Symphony CDP-80 - awful stock sound, modded to TDA1545A NOS/no-op-amp
* Denon DCD-685 [2xPCM1702P-L] - awful stock sound, modded to TDA1545A NOS/no-op-amp
* Kenwood DP-4020 [PCM1700U] - not bad, modded a little
* Kenwood DP-6020 [2xPCM1701P] - awful stock sound, but high-end when modded to NOS/no-op-amp
* Pioneer PD-S503 [PD2029A] - modded to S505++, very detailed
* Meridian 206 - great, but Pioneer PD-91 was better
* Marantz CD 60 [TDA1541] - too sharp, too chaotic and I had no courage to modify (fix the sound) it at that time
* NAD 5440 CD - quite nice, but very weak error correction
* Akai CD-55 - medicore, but way better than Technics
* Denon DCD-660 [2xPCM61P] - heavily modded
* Technics SL-PS50 - every CD sounds the same, the same bad
* 3 x Philips CD104 [2xTDA1540] (I have it three times: first died, second was destroy by me during modification, third was sold) - very solid sound, but way too raw

DAC:
DIY NOS DAC [AD1865N-K] - decent one
DIY NOS DAC [4xTDA1543] - decent one
Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 1 [2xTDA1305] - dynamic and detailed
DIY DAC [AD1955] - decent one
DIY DAC [WM8740] - too technical
DIY DAC [WM8741] - decent one, but too technical
DIY DAC [CS4398] - too cold, but CS4398 can drive 600/250 ohm headphones directly
DIY DAC [AK4395] - too light
DIY DAC [PCM2706 + PCM5100] - too dynamic, too artificial like OPA2134
* DIY DAC [PCM2702] (another) - quite decent, but too raw
* HA Info Coax [PCM2902E] - too large jitter without modding it
* Nostromo USB DAC [PCM2706 + PCM1781] - too analytical, too cold, too light
many other not important sigma-delta DAC's
* FiiO E7 + L7 [PCM2706, WM8740 DAC, AD8692, TPA6130A] - E7 has an awfully sounded headphone output, but L7 is a passive connector skipping volume control and headphone amp in the same way as FiiO E9 do it, which unmodified (OPA2134 should be replaced to OPA2132, OPA2107 or another) is also awfully sounded headphone amp
* Sound Blaster USB [STAC9460, TDA1308] - modded nice, but clumsy
* DIY DAC [PCM2702] - quite decent, but too raw

* - not longer owned

Cable Inventory

Kimber Silver Streak RCA
Kimber Silver Streak XLR
Kimber PBJ RCA
Kimber PBJ RCA
Kimber TC8 (bi-wiring)

Power-Related Components

the power distribution station near the house and modern, fully copper electric installation in the house ;)
oversized electrolytic capacitors in every equipment ;)

Other Audio Equipment

JPW AP3
Hafler 9270 [Excelinear JFET/MOSFET]
many others...
* mine DIY amplifiers
* Mordaunt-Short (~50 cm hight with titan tweeters)
* JPW Sonata
* Wharfedale (?)
* Infinity (?)
* Hafler 9130
* Aura 50?
* NAD 3120? (most probably, rather not NAD 320i)

* - sold

Audio-Related Tweaks

recabling
skipping of amping
removing op-amps from the path

Music Preferences

electronic/psychedelic/progressive/mathematic/acoustic rock, modern celtic, klezmer, modern jazz, classic

I frequently listen to:
Arcturus - 2005. Sideshow Symphonies
Kari Bremnes - 2000. Norwegian Mood
Alanis Morissette - 2005. Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
Jan Garbarek - 1993. Twelve Moons
Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet - 1992. The Last Concert
Henryk Miskiewicz & Simple Acoustic Trio - 2001. Lyrics
Renaud Garcia-Fons - 2006. Arcoluz
Paul Simon - 1986. Graceland
Paul Simon - 1990. The Rythm of the Sints
Primus - 1993. Pork Soda
Primus - 1999. Antipop
Roger Waters - 1992. Amused to Death
Yello - 1988. Flag
Yello - 1991. Baby
Yello - 2009. Touch Yello
Shpongle - 2009. Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland
Ozric Tentacles - 2006. The Floor's Too Far Away
Younger Brother - 2007. The Last Days of Gravity

Gender

Male

Gear-Fi

silent PC clone with GNU/Linux as a desktop
other PC clone with GNU/Linux as a server
Sharp LC-52LE830E TV set
Sony PlayStation 3
Sony PlayStation 4
few smartphones with Android and a mobile version of ES9018

Occupation

IT specialist: Software/Integration Architect