Also, for those of you that were thinking about trying different earpads, the ATH-M50x velour pads are back up on Massdrop for $20.

To clarify, the headphone out on the Maverick Tubemagic D1 does not pass through the tube signal path, it's solid state. I simply bought an O2 headphone amplifier as the headphone stage so that I could use the tube out, because I like tube characteristics. It uses two TI OPA627 OpAmps. On the...

Another option is the JDS Labs O2+ODAC. I use the Maverick Audio Tubemagic D1 Plus (with an upgraded 1x 2C51 Tungsol black plates NOS "D" getter halo tube) as a DAC and tube preamp, and then the JDS Labs O2 as the headphone amplifier. It sounds amazing.   My portable setup is a Meridian...

Anytime sir!

Congrats, Felix!   Up until now I've tried three pads - the stock pads, the Shure Alacantra pads that you can't order, and the Brainwavz HM5 pleather pads. I think the stock pads offer the most detail, but the bass is a little much for me personally. The HM5 pads add comfort and keep the bass...

Quick update - I purchased a pair of Shure HPAEC1540 Alacantra pads and to my ears they are the best mix of comfort, clarity, and balance. They slightly reduce what was overwhelming bass for me and seem to clean it up a bit, and they are ridiculously comfortable. There may be some resonance in...

Edit - after looking at jello's measurements, I've determined that my PH6 headphones came with PH4 pads.    I wanted to post an update on my comparison of the original Brainwavz HM5 earpad versus the PH4 pads that came on my Pandoras. I measured both the VI's pads and the Brainwavz pads:  ...

Well crap, of course someone has done this already! Thanks, Mr Rick!

If some of my assumptions are incorrect, please correct me :)

Hi guys,    I'm in the process of learning to program, and I have a pet project I want to start that involves figuring out, given certain factors, what headphones + amps will work well together. Now, I realize that a large percentage of things involving sound quality are subjective, but I also...

Quote:   I found mine got less bright about 50 hours in - I'll assume you've burned yours in so on to the pad question. The non-memory-foam HM5 pads that jellofund recommended do work well, and in addition to being more comfortable I feel they cut down on the brightness some. That said, I...

I can report that the Meridian Explorer does NOT work with the Nexus 6. I'm in the same boat you are - wondering if I should sell my Meridian and get something that works with my phone, but the Meridian sounds so good from my laptop.

I'm a little late to this party but maybe my thoughts on these cans will help some people out. The only source material I use is FLAC or HIFI streaming from Tidal. My setups:    1) Desktop -> spdif -> Maverick Audio Tubemagic D1 Plus DAC w/ upgraded tube and opamp -> w/ OPA627 OpAmp & GE5670W...

Hi guys,    I have a Meridian Explorer and I can confirm that it sounds great - very accurate to my ears and it powers Grado SR-125i's well. That said, I can only seem to get it to work with my MacBook Pro, and I'm having a lot of issues getting it to work with my Nexus 6 running Android...