Well since you said that portability isn't really a factor, and since you state you are curious about tubes. I would suggest that if you can, save some extra money and invest in a Dared MP5. It plays extremely well the 701's and can double as a great speaker amp. It can be had for a little over...

K701 or W5000, both good cans for rock.

I usually give the tubes on my MP5 a good fifteen minutes of warmup before listening. However I've noticed that even as little as five minutes makes makes a distinct difference.

While I like my PA2V2 and did run my 701's off it for a few minutes just for grins and giggles I have to agree that it just can't do justice to the 701's. You owe it to those sweet cans to plug 'em into good desktop amp or higher end "portable" amp so they can really shine.

Well I can't speak for anything lower impedance than my 701s, but I can say it works wonderfully with them. The sound stage is wide, the bass gets tighter and better defined with every hour of burn in. Highs are crisp but not harshly so. Quote: Originally Posted by Audiofiler wow...

Having this amp sitting in my room right now I'll have to second the vote for the MP5 as quite a good looking amp. The best part is it sounds better than it looks . Quote: Originally Posted by cvince If you are on a budget (and even if you aren't) I would feast your eyes on the...

Well given what I assume is the condensed version of your work log in this thread, I wouldn't imagine you'd be at all eager to dive into the same briar patch again . You're very welcome, it's excellent work. And so it was written "... lead me not into temptation for I am immune. Alas I am a...

I have to second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. the excellent customer service that Gary provides. I have been exchanging e-mails with him for a few days now regarding the volume imbalance with my amp. We settled on what I think will be an appropriate gain setting. However, I'm not just getting the...

That's what comes instantly to mind. The next thing that comes to mind is "must have", but admittedly that's the greed in me coming out. That is some seriously nice work you've done there. I seriously wish I had the space and skills to make those kinds of changes to an amp. But alas it's a stock...

Yeah I mentioned to him the fact that I'm not using the mini to mini so that particular adjustment isn't feasible. What I am going to do is send mine back and have the gain adjusted down and see if that corrects the imbalance. If all else fails I guess I'll be looking for a new portable amp at...

I don't want to hijack this thread but since it's near the top of the list right now I thought I would provide some useful information from the man himself about one issue. So I wrote Gary this afternoon about the imbalance at lower to (and what I consider) normal volume levels. I'll digress...

Very cool, thank you . Yeah I noticed not much difference in experiences. I suspect that the almost non existent hum that I can discern now will be eliminated in the future with even better tubes. Quote: Originally Posted by vorlon1 Very nice write up. The only real differences in...

I noticed the same thing when I bought my PA2V2. It took about 12 business days to get to me. Also I've read this whole thread and peeked at Norm's site and I am now very tempted to pull the trigger on this amp when funds permit. Curse you Head-Fi . Quote: Originally Posted by Nospam...

Well I thought I'd chime in on this thread. My MP5 and cables arrived from Ken, Tuesday this week. I've been burning it in and listening periodically since then. It gets about four hours on time per night and had about 17 hours on yesterday, so bear in mind these are impressions with about 30...

As do I, I specifically got NiMH batteries and have never tried alkaline batteries. I might have to do a quick swap out just to see if that's the case. Quote: Originally Posted by c0mfortably_numb An issue of great debate, or so it seems, I have seen allot people experience it and...