Tonight, I preferred the Emmeline SR-71 over the Grace m902. Was rather impressed with the Ray Samuels in comparison. It drove the 501s better than the Grace and sounded better. The Headroom Micro was good too, but not up to the level of the others. But, I'm still learning about the...

I brought my Grace m902 amp into work today to see what they do with the K501s, but I forgot to bring in a mini-RCA cable so I can't try it. I'll take it all home this weekend. But I'm leary of having a big, fancy amp at work. Everyone's pretty cool, but you just never know. Are there any...

No leakage problems whatwith constant white noise from AC vents. I don't listen loud anyway. Musically, it's classical, jazz, lots of acoustic guitar and space music with the occaissional Wilco. I've not heard of the Supermacro. I'll check it out. Thanks!

Got my hands on a pair of AKG 501s for work. I had these some years ago and liked them. At home I have HD650s. I'm looking for a good amp for use with the 501s and an iPod using a line out. So far I'm pretty happy with the Emmeline SR-71 which I prefer slightly over the Headroom Micro. But still...

Got my hands on a pair of AKG 501s for work. I had these some years ago and liked them. At home I have HD650s. I'm looking for a good amp for use with the 501s and an iPod using a line out. So far I'm pretty happy with the Emmeline SR-71 which I prefer slightly over the Headroom Micro. But still...

So, then what are some recommended 300Bs to try? I'm looking for something in my AN Meishu. Right now I have Sophia Princess 300Bs. BTW, the new AN transport is simply awesome. The bar is raised again.

I've enjoyed my Grace 901 for a while now, but I'm interested in a SET headphone amp. Of this type what brands/models are available? The Moth 2A3 appears to be loved but as far as I know they are out of business. My headphones are the HD650s with Equinox cables.

I'm a big fan of the Audio Note DACs! I have the 2.1x balanced and just had it modified to remove the filter. Ah, it's great! I recommend the AN DAC over the Wadia, but that's just me. Do a search on Audiogon for impressions of the Wadia sound. Some folks believe it's not great until you pay...

Boy Kuma, you're hooked ; ) Got that new Ensemble CDP/transport I see. That Krell has built-in volume control right, to run direct to the Gilmore?

I just saw this too and have never heard of it. Doesn't seem to be much out there on it yet.

I mostly use the high gain mode with my HD650s. It seems to help with the dynamics. I'll use the low gain if I want it more mellow. I also have the XP7. I prefer the Grace but keep the XP 7 around for other uses.

I love my Grace 901. With a top-notch source not sure how it could be beat except for personal preferences.

That's true, except that with the Cosecant you can play any of hundreds of CDs instantly. Whatever fits your mood.

Are these things easy to put together? I'm no techie.

Yes, the WA products are all expensive partly because Gordon Rankin builds all of them himself by hand. He's good but he obviously charges a premium for his work. He's working on a headphone amp that has a similar case design to the Cosecant that some months ago he quoted as priced at $5000. But...

What bothers me is the external hard drive I store the music on has a fan or something that spins when it's powered up (feeding iTunes). I need space so a small hard drive won't work. Currently I've almost filled 160 GBs.

My local Meridian dealer does not keep the G08 on hand so I can't demo it. I purchased the Cosecant USB DAC because I already the had Cosine DAC in my headphone system and so was familiar with it. With headphones the Cosine is terrific. It is incredibly smooth, has great headstage and sounds...

Thanks tk_suki! Sounds very favorable. I can appreciate your frustration in the digital quest. The tubed DACs are the best I've found so far (Audio Note, Wavelength Audio, plus others), but someday I'd like to find a single box player for my headphone system. I'm going to see if I can demo a G08...

If you can, report in on the Meridian G08. I'm very curious about it.

You must be thinking of the C2200 which is the tubed preamp. It was $4500 but recently increased in price. I have that one and love it!

Sorry, I was thinking of the Stealth at its introductory price of $1500. Still, the C200 is $7000 new (hard to find used right now). You might also consider the C46 (doesn't have phono).

The Mcintosh C200 is a world class preamp (see various threads on Audiogon, Audio Asylum and AudioKharma.org) and about 4 times the price of the Stealth. They're both 2 boxes, but the Mcintosh is much bigger. It's hardly a fair comparison if you can afford the Mcintosh (which in this price range...

I had an RCA jack come loose on the back of my 901, something I thought I could fix myself. But while trying to remove the cover I stripped one of the screws and was dead in the water. I emailed Grace and they said ship it in. No haggling over the DIY attempt or whatever. Quick turnaround...

I've been extremely pleased with the Grace 901. I really enjoy it. One thing I like about it is that it allows the source to come through, meaning I can hear all the differences in sources. I attribute this to the Grace 901 not having much of a fingerprint itself. I use tubes in one of my...

It's like the Naim forum. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Must be the weather.