You certainly are grumpy, just put in some black laquer or cut the leads ;)

Even if they never had any issues, at least I did any Shaffer too probably. Not trying to bash Hypnos1 or his adapters but this is what happened. I just never felt the need to mention it until now. You can ask Hypnos1 about it, he can attest to this.   Don't worry I stand behind the adapters...

Fact is I had some trouble with those adapters as well. So why couldn't Shaffer have experienced some too? And if he did isn't he allowed to report this on the thread or, anywhere else for that matter?

I think I might have been unclear, the Elise amplifier does not have any noise or hum. I can understand you do not want to spend 650 dollars on an amplifier.   If you are looking for a solid state amplifier there is at least a few recommendations I can give you, no need to build them yourself :)

Wow! Great to hear you received your Elise! Congratz.   I also own a T1 and would be very interested in your impressions. Yes there is a euphonic type of warmth but I think the Elise is still a very neutral amplifier.   Enjoy listening! :)

I can understand your hesitance towards tube amplifiers. Up until January of this year I was exclusively a solid state user. Just for fun I decided to try a tube headphone amplifier that I was able to get very cheap. Surely this simple amplifier was not perfect but, I did hear that their was...

Anyone still here?

Nice! Which AKGs will you be receiving? I can personally attest that AKGs sound awesome on my Feliks Audio Elise tube amplifier. A friend of mine also loved my amplifier in combination with his HD518s. So much so he bought the exact same amplifier :)   Too bad it is just out of your range, It...

There are actually a lot of options out there, even within your budget.   It would be nice to have a better picture of what you are looking for, do you want a Solid State or Tube amplifier for instance?

Interesting read indeed! Gobbled it all up over breakfast :D   The more I think about it, the more I want to know what the Elise would perform like driving my speakers. Their efficiency should be high enough that I can get away with about half a Watt for reasonable listening levels.   I...

I love little mods like those! I have replaced many a knob, pot, switch and feet... very little effort and a lot of satisfaction! :)   Patience is truly a virtue :) You will find out soon enough and, I'm almost as curious as you to find out what you think of them. ;)   Less severe...

Wow that's a very nice deal on those rectifiers! That being said... I'm trying to help you (at least a little), I'll be sending you a package with several tubes and other components to play with, within a few days. I think they will keep you busy for a while! :)   Any plans on when you will be...

I hear you! I've been looking up and down the internet for solid information on the performance of different tubes. There is surprisingly little reliable information out there! One of the reasons I wanted to start this thread.   Strange thing about TV oscillator tubes; my monoblocks use the...

To be brief, I never heard any Grado that I liked.

  I agree on the HD600 and HD650, they are quite good headphones but I also prefer X2 and T1 to those, the AKG K7XX have a slight edge over them I think.   Would be curious why you dislike the T1, modified mine slightly to tame the highs and get the bass at nominal level (the T1s bass does go...

I have spent a lot of time listening to and comparing the T1/K702/K7XX and X2 and I will say this. I fully disagree that the X2 are less resolving than the K702. The K702 are very nice headphones but the X2 have better tonal balance, extension on both ends and resolution. No need to take my word...

Yes! Lots of those actualy! :)   First of all I really think you would enjoy listening to the Philips Fidelio X2, it is like nothing Philips has ever made, Similar in character to the K701/K7XX but with more resolution. It also extends deeper, mainly down low but also at the top. You might...

Hey Shaffer! Looks like you're still having fun with the amps!    I wondered about the 6BQ7A, never tried them myself however. It is not easy to make the Elise sound bad! I've tried with a pair of Chinese 6N5 (My worst sounding power tubes!) and 6N8S drivers... and she will squeeze every bit...

Indeed! I had a similar experience running 6BL7s as driver in the Elise, she is pretty resilient but started to get hotter the longer these tubes were in there. Sounded quite good and I can understand Shaffer for wanting to try these tubes. I don't expect the transformer would get fried right...

Great! Even if I don't own a HD700 I'm reading this! Maybe there is a way to easily tame the T1's as well! Thanks.

Thank you for confirming this gibosi! I'm glad others hear this as well and it's not just me being unable to hear more of a difference. I like both the NU 6SN7GT Black Glass and CNU 6SN7 Grey Glass, they sound similar to me.   Which mod did you perform on your HD700? I'm still contemplating...

Thats a nice, concise summary of your three amps :) This is the kind of information we need, thank you for putting in the effort!   Read quite a few Impressions similar to these and it makes me just that more comfortable in choosing Elise. I makes me think I really lucked out without spending...

  Looking forward to those pics, I can see through the remodeling :)   Hey thanks! Did my best to make the monoblocks look in style with the Elise.   Would you say that, in general, the WA6 is now on par with the 336SE? Do you have a preference between the two?

Hi Mordy,   Thanks! Not all isolation transformers are created equal. This one was specifically designed and built to reject noise. The shielding rejects noise that would normally be capacitively coupled to the secondary windings. This way (mostly common mode) noise is rejected. I also wired...

I think I can visualize that, would be very interested to see a picture though!    I had some time and decided to re-do my isolation transformer/noise suppression, took a picture of the isolation transformer with a 6SN7 next to it for scale ;)   While at it, also took a picture of my...