This is mostly opinion and highly subjective.    For amps I use a Scarlett 2i2, which isn't an amp but is really quite a competent piece of equipment overall, a Headroom portable desktop amp (which I dislike because it tends to pick up AM radio), a Fiio E10K that I just recently acquired...

  The logic I was responding to was 'Neil Young has GREAT ears--- the proof is his amazing music'   So Beethoven must have had great ears when he wrote his most famous works, except he didn't. He was deaf.  The assertion that Neil Young has great ears today because he wrote great music...

  I already said I did not (and have asked here and other places if someone was willing to lend me one for testing).  I'd love to know how it does on my intermodulation test samples.    I have never written anything specifically about the Pono, aside to say that there was a brief consultation...

Ha, there have been many jokes about that yes :-)  An ethnomusicologist once told me that even in Beethoven's time there were detractors of the newfangled 'pianoforte' that blamed the instrument for his deafness.  Many at the time saw the mechanization and rationalization of musical instruments...

  Beethoven was completely deaf. 

  I said elsewhere there's no point to high res formats and it's possible to prove it.  Stating an opposing position is calling you a fool?  You're making it personal when it's not.

  You didn't ask. FFBookman did. I was responding to his question.   Quote:   Quite right.  Professionals are wrong all the time.  That's what makes science so useful-- basing your beliefs on repeatable testing and evidence (rather than 'some impressive dude' who may or may not be...

  I read Head-Fi, especially as I'm shopping right now :-)  I don't post that much, as I don't own and haven't heard or tested most of the equipment people are discussing (I'm mostly into vintage cans).  But then, I don't even post much over at HA.   I have a bug for debunking silly claims in...

  May I ask for an example of such a 'slam'?  Responding with facts and evidence isn't a slam, and I keep things strictly non-personal.   I'm not trying to kill Pono.  I'm responding to some of the demonstrably incorrect assertions in its marketing, things that anyone with a modest home lab...

  Well then, don't let me to try to dissuade you! Yes, silicone grease is 100% safe for plastics.  I'll give it a try.  An HP-50 wasn't on my list, but then, I don't actually have a list so maybe.  These are actually pretty worthy.

"KH-85 seems very rare was sold for ~ $250"   Yeah, that was me... my first 'what the heck am I doing?!' splurge in a while.  Let me know if there are specific pics you want of them...   As for them being cool looking, they're rather 'beige plastic' in person.  Very very beige.  They...

I bought a pair new (open box) on that theory.  They squealed.  They've been back to Koss five, count 'em, five times.  Every return pair squealed.  I even took to marking the insides to see if they were really swapping drivers (they were).  I gave up.  I have a pair of ESP/950s in a box waiting...

  All true.  The transducer behavior is also a function of excursion decreasing with frequency.   That said, its still necessary to characterize individual systems by their actual behavior to know how they behave for sure.  Tweeter diaphragms may have to move by only a microscopic amount...

  Oh, I've been on the dark side for a long time.  People see the things I write and for some reason think I'm some kind of high-end audio hater.  I love [especially] vintage equipment and headphones, I just try to avoid delusions.   If we're being pedantic, headphones will all introduce IM...

  It is indeed an extreme example. The idea behind those samples was 'if your DAC/system can handle this, then you can be pretty sure your system is clean enough to do any listening tests you want without intermodulation being a concern.'   It's not a foolproof test, but it should be pretty good.