Recent content by phthora

A excellent buyer! Decisive, prompt, friendly, and communicative. A++!

I mean, if you're dedicated enough it's ready now. Just hold 'em in place.

B&H has some RME gear on sale, including: RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE DAC/amp for $2000, down from $2500. This is the most cost-effective, feature-rich, quality-sounding gear I've ever seen, and sales on it are not frequent. RME ADI-2 DAC FS for $1000, down from $1300. And RME ADI-2 Pro FSR BE for...

I had the LCD-X and the LCD-2, but I sold the X to to buy an LCD-4, which has a very similar sound signature to the LCD-2. Then I bought the LCD-2F, which has a sound in-between the 2 and the 4. And, I'm never selling any of them. :sunglasses:

I took a pretty similar upgrade path, passing through the RCA 6AS7s on my way to my current set-up of 5998s, Sylvania Bad Boy 6SN7s, and the 596. The array you're running is very decent, but I bet you'll love having that 596 front and center even more. With tube-rolling, the biggest impact I...

I was the same way. Until I heard the right tubes. Now my ZMFs are run exclusively on a tube amp. I can't say that there isn't a lot of speed and detail lost switching from my Benchmark stack, but the added richness of the sound more than makes up for it most of the time.

Spot on. I feel the HEKSE is a very resolving headphone that has a frequency response that artificially accentuates detail, while the LCD-5 is incredible resolving, but has a stock frequency response that obscures some of that resolution. For me, the biggest difference is that the LCD-5 is far...

Difficult to improve on without spending a lot more, at least. The ERA-1 don't really have a noticeable flaw to address, and finding 'more of the same, but better' is always tricky without tradeoffs. This is why the quest for a high-end HD600 has endured for 25+ years. The Diana MR may worth...

Possibly another factor is the prices and quality of the b-stock that ZMF offers. I bought my VO b-stock direct and the price was only slightly more than what I had seen in the used market. At the time, I was open to either option, but getting the driver warranty on the b-stock pushed me towards...

As an owner of both, I can confirm that this is absolutely correct. But I want to add one thing... The LCD-4 is a great upgrade path not simply because of the frequency response. While EQ can cover a lot of ground in getting one headphone to sound similar to another, both the LCD-4 and the...

The biggest difference is that the Tres SE has substantially more impact and fullness to the bass. This gives the bass much more presence than the graph would seem to indicate. Extension is the same really, but I find that I can listen to the Tres at higher overall volumes (and thus get a...

I own the Arya V2 and the HEKSE. The Tres SE is easily on par with the Arya. Coin flip on that one depending on one's taste. The HEKSE beats it on resolution and the technicals, but I like the Tres SE more subjectively.

The Tres SE is decidedly better. More resolution, more natural sounding, better bass, more heft to the sound.

I understand the concern, but honestly, to civilians any headphone larger than an on-ear is going to look silly. I've had normies tell me the HD600 is enormous and looks stupid. Might as well just lean into it and wear the phones you like. EDIT: I've literally had a Zoom meeting come to a...