The HF-1 are # 315. These are the ones I bought from JAG. Sorry for the confusion. What happened before with akwok bears no resemblance to this situation. I was in the hospital when his cans got out, and couldn't monitor the shipment. They arrived within a week, exactly according to his...

Depends somewhat how highly you rank Metal. If it weighs heavily towards most of your listening music, then 325i hands down. For some older metal and general rock, I'm a HF-1 guy. There is no standard accepted price for HF-1s. They at one time ran up to $500 but it is generally accepted that...

fatko, yes, the sha-1 is an excellent match for grado phones, particularly the older joe grados for which they were designed. the closest cans i used with the sha-1 to what you have in mind was a pair of ms2s, which it drove with great satisfaction. just incredible synergy with the grado...

Please count me in + 1. Many thanks for putting this together. I'm not sure I can even bear to imagine what the equipment spreadsheet will look like.

i'll echo the indigo suggestion. (pun intended). the onboard dac will make you quite happy, matched with a high end pair of portables; my preference for in-ear's being um2's or e4p's; for over-the-ear's i like sennheiser hd25-1's and audiotechnica ath-a900's. 2cents, cary

gosh, we're being a little mean. shang-ti, as has already been pointed out, it is generally a really bad move to accelerate burn-in of any device with extreme usage. if you're in such a hurry, you should probably opt for even a little less than normal listening volume, and single tone and...

i agree with you about the shures for ampless listening; as far as your other question goes, you might have a better shot getting an answer in the portable audio forum, though it is generally agreed that the older sonys have the most powerful headphone output.

i'll second the grado recommendation, though i'd recommend 325s or allesandro ms2s over 225s for metal listening. if you're more of a hardrocker than a metal man, then 225s will definitely do the job.

darren, which cans have you thrown at it so far? any favorites?

if there's still room, count me in. i'd really like to meet some of you guys and check out all the gear i have yet to budget for.

ms2s don't sound as bright to my ears as 325s, but my ears might just be compensating for the more forward midrange. overall, i think both cans are awesome for metal. the ms2s are more versatile than 325s, and 225s are better than both as overall rock cans, since so many rock albums are so badly...

allesandro grado ms2s are amazing cans for metal. would make a nice compliment to your senns also.

one of the best things about the 963sa is that it can be so easily modded to improve performance. even the video section can be tweaked to get more out of that faroudja chip. if you perform the mods yourself, you can keep the costs well below $100. i'm assuming you're not changing clocks or...

i use ms2's with my sound card/amp rig (digi96/8 pst/melos) and i can tell you they are definitely not a step down from w1000's. i do think the w1000's would be a bit more forgiving on your source, though. from what i remember, i was really disappointed with the synergy b/w ms2 and the a2 on...

I have two pairs of Ultras. I did find the highs a little harsh at first, at least on my Melos, but it mellowed (no pun intended) quite a bit after burn-in. The lower frequency and mid-range is outstanding, imho, with a real solidity that I find quite realistic. There's no doubt that they're a...