Any old fart head-fi'ers still around?
Jul 13, 2014 at 6:35 AM Post #256 of 825
  SP amps were the holy grail to me and unfortunately I never did get the funds together before SP imploded.  You guys were lucky to get your hands on good versions of Mikhail's amps and that they're still in good working condition.  It's the same with the R10 for me.  A holy grail headphone that I wasn't able to afford.  I was also into PCDP's for a while with my favorite being the Sony D66.  That and the CD3k were two of my biggest regrets for selling.  That and far too many other cans that I regret selling as well but it was all for the sake of trying something else. 
 
I'd have to agree with the both of you Purk and Warubozu, Beats pretty much caused everything to get more expensive and superficial and in effect also causing audiophile headphones to skyrocket.  That probably also drove membership here as headphones became more popular for the mainstream user.  Not that it's a bad thing but suddenly the voices of those with more experience were downed out by an influx of newer inexperienced members. 

Yes, I was quite lucky to get my hand on the first SDS-XLR ever made.  This amp used to belong to Tom Hankins and Hirsch.  Hirsch sold it to me for a good price when he ran out of space to store the SDS-XLR.  I fell victim to Mikhail as well so didn't quite willing to enjoy this amp and has left it unused for nearly a year.  Now I feel incredibly lucky to own this amp b/c it propels my R10 to Stax SR009+BHSE level.
 
MDR-CD3000 - the one headphone that I truly wanted, that always eluded me...

That being said, had two pairs of CD1700s, loved them, sold them, regretted it - Old school Sony is definitely better than new school
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You should have jumped in on the CD3000 Duncan.  I tried to convince you many many times and you were just too in love with your RS1.  I still have the CD1700 and I completely agree with you that the old school Sony were way better than new ones.  Can you believe that folks were unloading the CD3000 on the FS forum to get their hand on the SA5000 for around $300 many years ago?  Heck, the CD3000 price has now skyrocketed to nearly $800 a pair while the SA5000 still only worth about $350 in a used market.  I should have kept a pair of the CD3k as well.  Man the two of us were super crazy with our legendary discmen though.
 
  I've been reeled back in to headphones again, this time by my longtime buddy Purk and his love for the SR-009, which I now share. We both kicked off "for serious" into this hobby back in 2004 when we first met up and decided that my L3000 plus Purk's Singlepower SDS was way-seriously big-time sound that we each couldn't live without. At the time I was running a '97 vintage Headroom Max that was no match for the SDS, and Purk had a nice HD650/Zu that was no match for the L3000. It progressed from there. Purk got an L3000 from Japan when they were still in-stock and "cheap"; I lucked out with a snag of Wayne's toaster SDS (the only other of that kind). I still love the L3000, but sold off my collection and left headphones for Tannoy speakers.
 
Hearing Purk's SR-009 w/ BHSE this past month was the first time I've heard a headphone setup that's competitive with (and even exceeds, in many ways) the resolution and refinement of the best speaker setups I've heard. So now I'm building back up, with an SR-009, Mjolnir KGSShv, L3000, SDS (wait, how did I end up with those again?), etc. Strangely, I have a hard time adapting to digital sources with my Tannoys, but I'm kinda liking digital with headphones -- so now I'll need a good high-res capable DAC. The "sorry about your wallet" thing is 12 years running, ugh...
 
Yeah, I remember Eggos; I joined when those were hot portables and an HD600+Cardas was the big deal (especially with an HR Max or Blockhead), and there were "Team <anything>" signatures everywhere. Then came the Headamp Gilmore V2, PPA, "amp wars" etc. I got into the vintage Sony PCDP thing only a little (fortunately not too crazy); this was driven by the realization that their built-in amps sounded better than the Headroom Total Airhead & Little (which, as it turns out, is more a knock on the old lower-end HR amps than a praise of the old PCDP's). I still think of the M^3 and Dynahi as "new" amps, haha. And what the hell ever happened to Xin and those bazillion versions of his portable amps? Thankfully I never went portable crazy, at least.
 
Edit: I see I have a custom title now. very nice, thank you! :)

Mike and I are great great friends and we are a very bad influence to each others wallets.  Recently, I invited him over to listen to my system after not able to get together for over 18 months...and Mike came away really really impressed with both the SDS-XLR & the SR009.  It is not fair for him to get a custom title!  I deserve one too for dragging him back in!  
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Jul 13, 2014 at 9:42 AM Post #257 of 825
 
Mike and I are great great friends and we are a very bad influence to each others wallets.  Recently, I invited him over to listen to my system after not able to get together for over 18 months...and Mike came away really really impressed with both the SDS-XLR & the SR009.  It is not fair for him to get a custom title!  I deserve one too for dragging him back in!  
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How about instigator? 
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Jul 14, 2014 at 12:12 AM Post #258 of 825
  Yes, I was quite lucky to get my hand on the first SDS-XLR ever made.  This amp used to belong to Tom Hankins and Hirsch.  Hirsch sold it to me for a good price when he ran out of space to store the SDS-XLR.  I fell victim to Mikhail as well so didn't quite willing to enjoy this amp and has left it unused for nearly a year.  Now I feel incredibly lucky to own this amp b/c it propels my R10 to Stax SR009+BHSE level.

Tom Hankins and Hirsch are two names I haven't heard in a very long time. I recall Hirsch has a collection of vintage nos tubes so vast it was approaching warehouse size proportions. Didn't one of them own a maxxed Supra with caps about the size of a large soup can? I remember seeing pics of that amp posted in a very old thread but don't remember who owned it.
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 12:28 AM Post #259 of 825
  Tom Hankins and Hirsch are two names I haven't heard in a very long time. I recall Hirsch has a collection of vintage nos tubes so vast it was approaching warehouse size proportions. Didn't one of them own a maxxed Supra with caps about the size of a large soup can? I remember seeing pics of that amp posted in a very old thread but don't remember who owned it.

Hirsch owns plenty of tubes but Mikhail was the one who has gigantic collection.  Mikhail is still selling his tube stash under "Suprabuyer" on ebay, shamefully of course.  He has enough tubes that can sell and return the money to those who were effected by him.  That maxed out Supra/SDS (Singled End) is now his (Hirsch) main amp with the R10.  He just ran out of space and decided to sell me his SDS-XLR amp.  I wish the SDS-XLR is half the size myself. Tom and Mike (Mulveling) are my great pals.  I used to live 3 mins from him but now about half hour.  Just coupled of week ago I helped him unpacked his Macintosh integrate amp.  Both Tom & Mike have very highend speaker setups.
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 2:02 PM Post #260 of 825
 
Tom Hankins and Hirsch are two names I haven't heard in a very long time. I recall Hirsch has a collection of vintage nos tubes so vast it was approaching warehouse size proportions. Didn't one of them own a maxxed Supra with caps about the size of a large soup can? I remember seeing pics of that amp posted in a very old thread but don't remember who owned it.

Hirsch owns plenty of tubes but Mikhail was the one who has gigantic collection.  Mikhail is still selling his tube stash under "Suprabuyer" on ebay, shamefully of course.  He has enough tubes that can sell and return the money to those who were effected by him.  That maxed out Supra/SDS (Singled End) is now his (Hirsch) main amp with the R10.  He just ran out of space and decided to sell me his SDS-XLR amp.  I wish the SDS-XLR is half the size myself. Tom and Mike (Mulveling) are my great pals.  I used to live 3 mins from him but now about half hour.  Just coupled of week ago I helped him unpacked his Macintosh integrate amp.  Both Tom & Mike have very highend speaker setups.


Does Hirsch still post here? :smile:
 
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Jul 14, 2014 at 4:11 PM Post #261 of 825
  Hirsch owns plenty of tubes but Mikhail was the one who has gigantic collection.  Mikhail is still selling his tube stash under "Suprabuyer" on ebay, shamefully of course.  He has enough tubes that can sell and return the money to those who were effected by him.  That maxed out Supra/SDS (Singled End) is now his (Hirsch) main amp with the R10.  He just ran out of space and decided to sell me his SDS-XLR amp.  I wish the SDS-XLR is half the size myself. Tom and Mike (Mulveling) are my great pals.  I used to live 3 mins from him but now about half hour.  Just coupled of week ago I helped him unpacked his Macintosh integrate amp.  Both Tom & Mike have very highend speaker setups.

 
And those "Suprabuyer" tubes are suspect, for more reasons than one. Even when Mikhail was still delivering amps, you stood a good chance of getting ripped off on tubes. E.g. pairs might not be construction matched, might be different from what you ordered, or might not work at all. I don't think he ever earnestly and consistently tested his tubes. On top of it all, most of them were gratuitously overpriced (e.g. look at some of the prices charged for very mediocre 6SN7 tubes). I let things like this go because 99% of my concern was with the amp itself, but as turns out this kinda of leeway was a disservice to the community :frowning2:
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 4:17 PM Post #262 of 825
 
How about instigator? 
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Purk is certainly way ahead of me in the "instigator" scorecard for the past month...then again, a guy like him has literally NOTHING left to buy in the headphone world! And try as I might, he's been immutably impervious to persuasions towards vinyl and high-end 2ch speakers. I think if he's going to crack, our best bet is some kind of high-end DAC. His NAD M51 is excellent, but a T2/BHSE/007/009 can go further 
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Jul 14, 2014 at 5:22 PM Post #263 of 825
Does Hirsch still post here?
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Not really.  He is now into fountain pen collection but still swear by his R10 and one of a kind upgraded-to-the-max Supra.  I do talk to him couple times a year whenever he is in town for his convention.  Hirsch should return and post more as we can learn so much from him and will be forever thankful for his SDS-XLR.  Speaking of it, can the old-fart-headfiers get any special discount toward FiiO gears?  
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  I hope FiiO continue to spank AK in the butt!
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 5:25 PM Post #264 of 825
   
Purk is certainly way ahead of me in the "instigator" scorecard for the past month...then again, a guy like him has literally NOTHING left to buy in the headphone world! And try as I might, he's been immutably impervious to persuasions towards vinyl and high-end 2ch speakers. I think if he's going to crack, our best bet is some kind of high-end DAC. His NAD M51 is excellent, but a T2/BHSE/007/009 can go further 
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Sorry Mike, your are way ahead.  I just brought you down back to earth really.  No sane person should have more than 5 highend Koetsu cartridge for his table.  
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Jul 14, 2014 at 5:47 PM Post #265 of 825
Wow, LOTS of old names here. "Tom Hankins"? I haven't heard that name in eons! I'm an old fart, for sure. Just checked my profile and I came aboard 08/02.01. 13 years. I've decided to swing back here for awhile from the Steve Hoffman forum. So I guess I'll be meeting some new folks.
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 5:52 PM Post #266 of 825
  Wow, LOTS of old names here. "Tom Hankins"? I haven't heard that name in eons! I'm an old fart, for sure. Just checked my profile and I came aboard 08/02.01. 13 years. I've decided to swing back here for awhile from the Steve Hoffman forum. So I guess I'll be meeting some new folks.

Hey Brad!!  Hope you and your family are well.  New folks?  Well....I think headfi now has more than 300,000 members?
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 5:55 PM Post #267 of 825
You're kidding! 300,000? That's amazing. Glad to see you are still here, Purk! That's for sure. The first Headfier I ever met. Back in the days when cheap earbuds were all we could afford!
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 6:09 PM Post #268 of 825
  You're kidding! 300,000? That's amazing. Glad to see you are still here, Purk! That's for sure. The first Headfier I ever met. Back in the days when cheap earbuds were all we could afford!

Yup...  I still have the Sony MDR-E888 that you helped purchase for me.  
 
Jul 14, 2014 at 8:49 PM Post #270 of 825
Tried dredging up where we had posts in common, chadbang, and a happy birthday thread for me was one of them. Thanks chadbang! Said search for Joe Bloggs also dredged up all the old happy birthday threads. The one in 2002 ran 3 pages long for me and ai0tron together--those were the days! :eek:

Then again the happy birthday posts in the AAMML thread has been something to behold recently too :) http://www.head-fi.org/t/586040/official-asian-anime-manga-and-music-lounge
 
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