If it helps, I can tell you with mine when I get the squeal, it actually continues to squeal for a good 10-20 seconds+ after I unplug the headphones cable from the amp, slowly reducing in pitch and volume until it finally disappears -- but as soon as I put my thumb to the connector of the...

Can anyone confirm they have a set that never has the squeeling issue? I'm on my second pair from Amazon and both had the squeeling, though with this second set it is more intermittant, roughly every 30 minutes or so.  Still waaaay too frequently occuring.  I'm not sure how confident I am that...

Well I'm pretty unhappy about Amazon selling me an ancient pair, especially if it did get previously opened as I suspect (but can't prove for sure).  And I agree they should backorder me a replacement, but unfortunately they don't see it that way.  They'll happily refund and pay for return...

Quote: Wow - I guess that serial number confirms my hypothesis about these things being VERY old, thanks for the info.  My initial reaction was in fact to do as you described.  I'm still well within the return period so I can for sure still return them to Amazon, but the problem is they...

I just got a pair of these off of Amazon for around $670 plus tax.  First thing I noticed when opening them, the overwhelming smell of ancient pleather from the carrying case.  Taking out some of the components, it seemed clear this pair had already been opened (some of the plastic bags holding...

Was it staxusa.com that told you they were on backorder?  Wooaudio.com also sells them it appears.

Fantastic thanks, that was my impression, I just wanted to be sure the light bleed was minimal at most.  

Quote:   How bright is the glow from the stock WA2 tubes?  Room-brightening type glow, or just a very faint glow that doesn't really lighten up the room at all? Thanks!

Oh sorry I should've been clearer -- I plan to use these for TV AND music -- primarily classical.  Of course with movies I'm much less discerning, it's the music I'm most picky about   I actually will be using them with a Smyth Realiser, and for movie viewing I'll be adding a subwoofer for extra...

Quote: Ah that's what I was afraid of.  I guess SS it is for me too.  8k though is WAY outside my budget though unfortunately.  However, I did come across this thread where a head-fier gave a very favorable review of the Schiit Mjolnir with the HD800s...

So just to be clear, you're saying the receiver will take in a bitstreamed dolby digital or dts signal, decode it, and output it as multichannel lpcm?

Dumb question -- I've had a lot of these today -- but with a tube amp like the WA22, is it possible to hide the light from the tubes somehow?  I'm interested in using the headphones for movies as well as music, and when listening to both I like the room to be very dark.  Is it too hot to put say...

Ok dumb question, and I likely missed this in the original post -- but what headphone cables did you use with the HD800 to connect to the Mjolnir?  It's only bundled with a 1/4" terminated cable isn't it?  Thanks

Does the basic EF5 amp do the HE-6 justice?  If so, that could be another consideration, since it's a pretty cheap amp, whereas based on this thread it sounds as though the HD800s are very particular about what amp feeds them -- does that translate necessarily to needing a considerably more...

I was thinking the OP needed the optical input for some reason, as you mentioned it wasn't included with the 103.  But it seems like most applications for which you'd want to use the optical, it would likely be possible to use HDMI as well, so you're right that the 103 would probably be more...