Perceptions in the USA are that everyone in Italy is lean, sexy, and drives an Alfa or Ferrari. The truth, however, is that they're generally rather short, prone to excessive emotional outbursts, and the roads are clogged with tiny Fiats and bicycles. Sure, you see an Alfa or Maser once in a while, and I glanced a yellow Gallardo while we were sipping coffee at a cafe, but I've yet to see a Stallion anywhere here, except in magazines. Since we purposely arrived here with not much more than the clothes on our backs, this morning I went to Sartoria Carbone and they're fixing up a summer wardrobe for me, even quick-fit some slacks, a couple shirts, and a dinner jacket to get me by until my order is ready.
Really nice people there.
Let's back up a little.... We flew into New York via Delta and everything was fine, we didn't hit a snag until we went to board our non-stop Emirates flight to Rome (a massive Airbus A380-800). We'd made special arrangements for my wife's little ankle-biter, Pablo, to fly with us in his carrier (because he'd freak out in the hold of the plane), so they had set up a semi-enclosed 4 person suite, so that he wouldn't potentially irritate the other passengers. Frankly, as long as he's with my wife he's as quiet as a mouse, she just slides the carrier under her seat and you'd never even know he was there. Well, some sheikh (or maybe he was an imam) somehow got word that a dog (unclean animal) was onboard and became offended, despite the fact the guy wasn't sitting within 100' of us. I swear, I think he was upset that, if there was a crash, some of the dog's blood would get mingled with his and he'd get denied entry into heaven, or some silly crap like that. My wife didn't make things any better by rather loudly commenting that at least the dog had had a bath the night before, so was probably more clean than the fellow who was complaining. A Turkish couple sitting near us almost fell out of their seats laughing at that one and the attendant looked like she'd swallowed a bug. This delayed the flight as they worked to sort out the seating arrangement to place the angry Arab as far away from our tiny 5lb dog as possible. Then, as we were leaving the plane later he gave us the stinkeye and made an obscene gesture at us. Good grief. :rolleyes:
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I like the Oppos a lot. Although they aren't quite up to snuff with the Audeze LCD-X; bass doesn't extend as low, more narrow and shallow soundstage, and resolution takes a small hit due to the Oppo drivers exhibiting a hint of grain in their treble (likely due to some distortion/decay issues in that range). However, that's getting a little picky, essentially you get ~90% of the performance for $600 less. Also they're a lot more portable, half the weight, very attractive (a subjective thing), with a wonderful fit and finish you'd expect from Sennheiser, AKG, or one of the major manufacturers.
Are they better than modded T50s? I'd say they're slightly better than my T50s, but still in the same ballpark. Not to mention, the Oppos are open cans, whereas the T50s are closed, though sound leakage isn't as bad with the PM-1s as it is with most others. So, if the looks and portability aren't something you care about, and you want to save a bunch of money, just mod the Fostex yourself or buy some Mad/Alphadogs. I give the Oppo PM-1s a solid 4.25/5 stars, overall. (Anything over 4 stars I consider to be excellent.)
I'll post impressions about the NADs later.