What are the opinions of this thread's inhabitants about the FA003 vs HD 600?  Is it a clear upgrade?  Specifically I would be looking for more soundstage, imaging, and technical ability without sacrificing speed.

Graphicism, take a look at the comment that you took offense with:   Quote: Really read it this time.  What Mal said was that EQ can be used to color a neutral amp to your liking.  Mid paragraph you'll notice that he also stated that this required "a really clean DAC".  No where in...

  Quote: FALSE.   THE SPEED AT WHICH HE CREATES IT IS IRRELEVANT.

Quote: When I listen to my AE1 I hear a massive mid-bass hump as compared to my FA-003.  The OP doesn't own AE's (at least not that he's discussed in this thread).  Of course all of this is relative; what headphones have you compared the AE sound to  

    Quote:   Your opinion is not negated but your ability to offer meaningful advice is certainly under question.  If I only drink box wine I wont be handing out any recommendations at fine dining establishments.   I regards to the OP:   I own both the Bose around ear and...

I'd agree.  The difference I hear between my iTouch and amped setup is minimal.

Very much looking forward to your impressions!

In my experience with modding grados adding some dynamat to the back of the driver magnet does wonders for the impact of the bass.  Has anyone experimented with the in the 003's?   Quote:  

I don't know about 'making everything more crisp' but it definitely does add to the bass.  I was very satisfied after I poked the holes.  My only advice would be to poke the holes one or two at a time.  Some find one or two holes plenty, I went with 5 and others pop all ten.   Happy modding!

The problem is very likely not the headphones, you're just pushing your amp to distortion.  Put your PC volume around the middle so you don't have to crank the amp so hard.

From the pad, or just the left side? Try plugging them into different sources to insure the problem is actually the SR80s.

I actually have the Bose AE and the FA-003.  The FA-003 are bigger and heavier.  Because of this they are ever so slightly less comfortable (to me) than the Bose.  What little you lose in comfort is made up for in much tighter bass, much less bass coloration, increased clarity, speed and...

It would be awesome to get that 4 way shootout.  You're a knight in my eyes; a college-wallet champion.

Quote: My laptop is an older model of that series (came with vista installed) and only has the one headphone jack with the lettering S/PDIF underneath it.  Just in case I tested every 3.5mm jack on the bugger; none of them make so much as a peep.  In hindsight the NFB-12 may have been a...

After some further research it seems that Realtek is the only audio driver I should need.  I suspect the problem is in the hardware, my computer shows that a signal is being output through the 'Realtek Digital Output'.