Heya,   In an effort to sort out the deep and dense world of tubes and the sheer magnitude of variety and type that are available for any tube or hybrid amp I was hoping the community could provide some general consensus regarding criteria that can be used to uniformly quantify tubes- in...

Quote: While it might not be 100% accurate, you can just say 'Panasonic' tubes even though that suggests they'd be fairly modern. I guess you can use 'Matsu' since I think most folks will clue in.

Quote: Could you provide some alternative tubes that you believe have better bass extension and impact (over stock JJ E88CC)? I am not too worried about budget, I'd like to stay under $150 for a matched pair but suggestions are much appreciated.   @HK_sends - thanks, I will take a...

So, I've seen some mention of these:   http://www.tubemonger.com/Mullard_MPs_MINT_NOS_1967_MIL_7308_CV4109_E188CC_p/2000m.htm   But has anyone actually pulled the trigger and rolled these into their Lyr?   As the type of tube recommendations have changed throughout the 145 pages of...

I listen almost exclusively to Trance (Vocal Trance/Uplifting Trance) with my Lyr and HE-500's. I've been very happy with the results and while the HE-500 is not as bass heavy as my old Sennheiser HD-555's- the Lyr does provide a nice clean sound, while maybe a bit lacking in bass I find that...

Quote: The Lyr is designed specifically for low-impedance, high output orthodynamic headphones. It will run everything out on the market, from low-impedance up to high-impedance headphones and considering the price ($449), I don't think there's a better option under $1500. You can roll...

"Crack is an output transformerless amp designed specifically for running higher impedance (200 ohms or higher) headphones like the many Sennheiser, AKG and Beyer designs."   Hifiman are low impedance orthos that run in the 36-60 ohm range. So I would likely say 'No'.

My library is already entirely in FLAC - there's no way I'm going to spend time transcoding it to *another* lossless format. In addition- most DAP's support FLAC natively so there is no incentive to switch. I'm not a fan of Apple's iPod Touch or iPhone, and prefer my Android phone with PowerAmp...

Heya,   I've had my Lyr for about two weeks now and I noticed two issues:   1) I will turn the unit on, let it sit for 10-15 minutes (or listen to music, both apply). At around 10 minutes it will start buzzing, VERY loudly and when I wiggle the AC power cord the buzzing stops if I push...

Quote: The Asus Xonar Essence ST/STX DAC is very hard to beat... unless you're happy spending $1000+ on a DAC alone, and still be hard pressed to find that it matches the specifics of the Texas Instruments DAC on the Asus. Don't knock sound cards just because they're held internally in...

Quote: Ah, I did explore the tube rolling thread for the Lyr a bit but it seems tastes and choice of tubes has changed fairly drastically from the beginning of the thread, to the latest posts. The Telefunken tubes were on the pricey side I believe ($50-100/pair?) But I don't see why I...

I've found the HE-500's to be heavy, but not tiresome despite listening to them up to four or five hours at a time. I do notice the weight, but as Morbid mentioned the weight is well distributed and the band can be adjusted to fit without any major issues. Personally, at this price I wouldn't...

Quote: Re 2: You will want an amp that can sustain 1 watt @ 38 ohm - 480mW @ 75 will be insufficient as orthos, particularly the HiFiMan (vs. Audueze) are less efficient. A Schiit Lyr, or HiFiMan EF-5 will be something you might want to consider at a reasonable price.   Re 3: I can't...

Well Retro Reproduction seems to be big on tubes, but their selection is fairly small and they seem to have quite a lot of second-hand gear which might mean that they could be a good source for NOS tubes and other nifty amp accessories.    But some of the other stores will be "Hi Fi" but...

Does Edinburgh even have a Hi-Fi community? I haven't been able to find any real "high end" stores except for HiFi Corner, James Morrow, Retro Reproduction, and Loud+Clear.

Hey Mark... my own thread (http://www.head-fi.org/t/576199/new-toys-arrived-hifiman-he-500-schiit-lyr-basic-review#post_7828290) got lost in the Sea of Threads on Head-Fi but I'm actually surprised that the only other recent review/listen to the HE-500's happens to be both in Edinburgh. Funny...

Heya,   After this extended thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/574123/suggestions-looking-for-new-open-back-headphones I decided to finally pull the trigger and move into planar magnetic headphones. Looking for a good long-term investment I searched around for some HiFiMan and Stax orthos that...

Well the Edifier R1600T appears to be an active speaker (requires own power supply) so there won't be any issues driving the system with any kind of sound card. From what I could see from pictures of the back of the R1600T you have standard RCA (L/R) inputs and the Xonar Essence STX has analog...

Quote: Why it's pretty much impossible to get any companies to comment on their products (versus others)- if you look at the DAC setup on the Asus Xonar Essence STX (I have the PCI-E version) - it seems to outperform (on paper) pretty much any external DAC that is out on the market...

Well, the LCD-2's are pretty easy to drive from what I've seen - if your output is 1 watt then you shouldn't have issues driving the LCD-2. But the HE-6 is a different beast. The recommendation is 6-8 watts output at 50Ω - and there are few dedicated headphone amps that can do this without...

The HiFiman distributor/dealer in the UK is Electromod- which just launched their (incomplete) website. They are owned by HighEndWorkshop and your best bet is to contact Mark and ask him for pricing and availability.

While in no real way high-end, my first real "oh my" moment was when I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD-555's about 6 years ago, and plugged them into my PC's sound card and fired up one the first FLAC tracks I ever listened to. From that point forwards I began to have a far greater interest in...

Quote:  Due to shipping costs and import duties I'm waiting on a reply from the Schiit and Hifiman UK distributor to see if the 10SE is worth it [it easily easily be $800 with shipping+VAT]. 

$500 really seems to be a sweet spot for these amps, particularly the Audio-gd and Yulong which are a DAC/Amp combination. So many choices...

Well the Audio-gd NFB-10SE is $499, the Hifiman EF5 is $499, and the Lyr is $449.    Now the Audio-gd seems to be a DAC/Amp in one box which makes it the best value (Schiit Bifrost is another $349).    Do I need a DAC in the first place? Unfortunately Schiit cannot comment on...