Initial impressions with stock tubes are that the Electra has more dynamics and better bass reproduction than the Transistor amp which sounds slightly flat and un-engaging in comparison - something I've never experienced when listening to the amp alone. With the transistor amp the sound stage is...

Aww yea, just received the 2nd electra parcel after receiving the first one yesterday. Listening for the first time with stock tubes, not too shabby .

I just got my notification as well. Pity I can't pick it up, instead I have to pay a hefty shipping fee.

Craig said he'd be shipping the amps out soon. That was 3 weeks ago...

I had a very similar setup to you a few months back and ended up keeping my Audio GD Reference 7.1 after having both dacs sitting next to each other for a couple of months. I found the W4S sounded closed in and congested compared to the ref 7.1. 

  This happens when I A/B the cables too. So I'm not sure if we can blame fatigue. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks, I guess a DBT is the only way to find out.

Quote:   Sending the cable over shouldn't be too much, and I'm more than willing to donate for science  and the community . I'd be very interested to see what the skeptics say having been one my self.   It's very interesting with these cables, some are immediately noticeable (ouch the...

Fair enough, perhaps my explanation was lacking. How about I send one of you one of my USB cables for you guys to decide? Send me a PM if you are interested.

Quote:   Yes I completely agree with double blind testing, and will do this in the future.   However a couple of points as mentioned in my previous post, one of my cables is actually pretty painful to listen to (physically), I'm not sure if auto suggestion can be huge enough to...

Quote:   Um, not sure how you can compare what I said with religion and science... They are on 2 different scales, but obviously the answer to your question is science.         I'm also a scientific believer and was a sceptic of USB cables, however my "real world"...

Heh, like I said earlier, these threads always end up in a pointless war between 2 sides that have strong opinions. People who have tried and can hear a difference, and people who haven't tried due to their confidence in infallible theoretical knowledge that always hold true in the real world...

Quote:   Sorry... But have you looked at how USB audio is transferred? Transferring data from a HDD and transferring audio over USB use 2 completely different transfer protocols. One has error correction, the other doesn't, one is time sensitive, one is time insensitive, one has...

Quote:   Okay so the answer is no, you haven't tried... Which makes your comment invalid.   There are so many of these USB Cable threads on here and other forums, and what I've noticed is that the people who claim USB cables make no difference are usually people who haven't really...

I'd be interested to see how many people here who claim USB cables don't make a difference have actually tried a variety of cables from different price ranges in a revealing system. I doubt many...

Quote:   Good to see some CD3000 love. They are an awesome headphone that have fallen off the radar in recent years. Too bad it's near impossible to find replacement parts. I took a pair to a meet in Sydney a few months back, but no one touched them :(

Lookie at what arrived in the mail today.     Will be posting impressions after a week or two of a/bing.

Has Craig said anything about lead times? I've emailed twice with no answer..

Well... I've just put my order in with the upgraded caps :)

Quote:   Good old Fostex ;) They haven't learnt have they....

There is nothing high end about the Edition 8s, don't let the price fool you. Haven't heard the T5ps so can't comment there.

I've been eyeing this for a while now. Do you know if the early bird price been revised since a few months back?

Hey Hpz, try a trial version of Jriver Media Center (Not to be confused with Jriver Media Player - this one doesn't have bit perfect output options iirc) see if that fixes the problem. 

Quote:   Yep! Also my laptop doesn't have this problem, I can use any port. 

hpz, just as an FYI I have the same problem depending on what USB port I use, even if I turn off USB power saving mode via windows and my motherboard BIOS. Have you tried different ports or a different computer? I found the Foobar2000 is more susceptible to this issue over J river Media Center.

I will try to run this cable in for a couple of days on a different dac (Ref 7.1). I'm also picking up a Wireworld starlight this week and will see how it compares.