[drp]

Quote:

 
Those Stats are great aren't they.  Now ......you may want to pick up the SRM-323S to go along with it.  
 

Dastardly nature exemplified!

Would you believe I was just looking at the 323 specs on Stax site. Also read Dr. Gil and Sprit's comments on the 323 from some time ago. Blast this place...

What sent me over the edge was when I replaced a long-blown fuse in the 252 and hooked up the 003s (thought of selling as well); didn't stop listening for two hours and then sent message to Stax to check stock. 407s arrived today.

Would love to carve out time to build something; not likely but looking at the various designs out these days.

 

[ls20]

when i joined i was carrying around a generic MP3-CD player , tiny JDM FM record, and plugged headphones to the back of a PC in my dorm for late night listening
 
those were the days

 

[fureshi]

Dragging this thread back from the dead.  For some reason I clicked on Kramer5150's Grado Mods thread and a few clicks later landed on this thread.  Lots of memories and people from way back when.  I remember spending hours here trying to absorb and learn as much as I could, built a few Mints and re-cabled a few cans.  The main reason that I've been spending more time here recently was to find info on portable cans, like the Momentum Over Ears and 1R.  Sadly it doesn't feel the same anymore and I'm not so interested in most of the new cans either.  Maybe it's life forcing me to move on with things like work, marriage and family or maybe it's my realization that I should just be happy with what I have and what's good enough since I'm never going to find the perfect set of cans.  Even though this thread is a few years old, it's still great seeing a lot of the old members posting here. 

 

[bubsdaddy]

I've been around a while though I am not a prolific poster. I can remember when the Senn MX500 was a hot earbud and the flavor of the month portable was the Eggo.

 

[warubozu]

Still here, mostly to lurk and read up on some of the threads when I have the time. I don't go buying nearly every new gear that appears on the market these days as I'm pretty satisfied with what I have right now, and have way too many cans in my home that I don't really have room in my house for more. I can remember when I first joined the HD 600 was Senn's top of the line cans and many raved about them and the Sony R10 were still in production.

 

[purk]

  Dragging this thread back from the dead.  For some reason I clicked on Kramer5150's Grado Mods thread and a few clicks later landed on this thread.  Lots of memories and people from way back when.  I remember spending hours here trying to absorb and learn as much as I could, built a few Mints and re-cabled a few cans.  The main reason that I've been spending more time here recently was to find info on portable cans, like the Momentum Over Ears and 1R.  Sadly it doesn't feel the same anymore and I'm not so interested in most of the new cans either.  Maybe it's life forcing me to move on with things like work, marriage and family or maybe it's my realization that I should just be happy with what I have and what's good enough since I'm never going to find the perfect set of cans.  Even though this thread is a few years old, it's still great seeing a lot of the old members posting here. 

 
Wonder what has happened to him?  He and Jon were quite a regular here with post counts to match.

  I've been around a while though I am not a prolific poster. I can remember when the Senn MX500 was a hot earbud and the flavor of the month portable was the Eggo.

 
Yup, Eggo 777 was one hit item.  All of us competed when one came up on sale.  We all thought for $199, the Eggo was extremely expensive for a portable headphones.  The Ety ER-4s was a true king of portable headhones/earphones tho.  I tried it twice and was never able to get used to them.

  Still here, mostly to lurk and read up on some of the threads when I have the time. I don't go buying nearly every new gear that appears on the market these days as I'm pretty satisfied with what I have right now, and have way too many cans in my home that I don't really have room in my house for more. I can remember when I first joined the HD 600 was Senn's top of the line cans and many raved about them and the Sony R10 were still in production.

Well, the R10 really stand the test of time.  I am still holding on to mine and it still compete with my SR009 + BHSE for a head time.  Back then you can afford to try out just about all the gears out there, it is impossible to do the same now given how pricing on head gears have really gone through the roof.  Most products are no longer good buys.  Back in 2003, we only had Headroom, Meier, RKV, Creek, MG Head, Singled Power, and headamp as amp manufacturers.  Now everyone is making headphone amps.  I took out my Maxed Out PPA recently and it still compete head-on if not better than the Violetric V200 amplifier ($1000 listed).  Sadly, it hasn't been mention in a while now.  Not sure if folks remember that a discrete buffer design was first implemented on the PPA.

 

[warubozu]

  Well, the R10 really stand the test of time.  I am still holding on to mine and it still compete with my SR009 + BHSE for a head time.  Back then you can afford to try out just about all the gears out there, it is impossible to do the same now given how pricing on head gears have really gone through the roof.  Most products are no longer good buys.  Back in 2003, we only had Headroom, Meier, RKV, Creek, MG Head, Singled Power, and headamp as amp manufacturers.  Now everyone is making headphone amps.  I took out my Maxed Out PPA recently and it still compete head-on if not better than the Violetric V200 amplifier ($1000 listed).  Sadly, it hasn't been mention in a while now.  Not sure if folks remember that a discrete buffer design was first implemented on the PPA.

 
Purk I agrre, the prices on some of the these legendary vintage gear today are way more than what I'm willing to pay. It was a lot more affordable back then and yet many of us at that time thought those prices were outrageous. For sure I'll be taking my R10 to the grave, they sound great with my Stealth II and even better with my Maestro ZR. I have a Meta 42 with swappable opamps that was built by Doobooloo along with a few pairs of Eggo D77's, D66's, and D55's somewhere in storage, gonna have to dig it out one day and blow the dust off it.

 

[fureshi]

What ever happened to Doobooloo and all the other guys that we've mentioned?  I had a few pairs of Eggo D77 and D66 in the past as well and yes, I remember when they and the Sennheiser MX500 were popular.  I should have never sold a lot of my old cans when I look back on them.  They seemed expensive at the time but compared to what I just bought (Momentum On Ear), they were generally reasonably priced. I always though that I could get them back easily but even cans like the Eggos are and HD580 are somewhat difficult to find nowadays. 

 

[purk]

   
Purk I agrre, the prices on some the these legendary vintage gear today are way more than what I'm willing to pay. It was a lot more affordable back then and yet many of us at that time thought those prices were outrageous. For sure I'll be taking my R10 to the grave, they sound great with my Stealth II and even better with my Maestro ZR. I have a Meta 42 with swappable opamps that was built by Doobooloo along with a few pairs of Eggo D77's, D66's, and D55's somewhere in storage, gonna have to dig it out one day and blow the dust off it.

It is great to hear from you again.  Despite the notorious build quality, no other dynamics amps have even approached the Single Power level to my knowledge.  Maybe the Apex Pinnacle or Eddie Current Balancing Act?  My SDS-XLR still continue to flex its power & finesse, easily surpassing even the best offering by Headamp (GS-X MKII) of today.  I had the Meta42 built by the same guy too and still have the PPA built by him.  Surprisingly I always missed out on the Eggo.  Oh, the Beats by Dre destroyed the headphones world causing everyone to jack up their pricing in the process.  I still remember the day when the Senn HD580 was considered superbly expensive and the Clou Red Japris was touted as the best upgrade cable ever for the HD580/600.  Now several upgrade cables are approaching $1000 mark .  Headroom kindda face its demise b/c of those META42s & PPAs.

 

[warubozu]

  What ever happened to Doobooloo and all the other guys that we've mentioned?  I had a few pairs of Eggo D77 and D66 in the past as well and yes, I remember when they and the Sennheiser MX500 were popular.  I should have never sold a lot of my old cans when I look back on them.  They seemed expensive at the time but compared to what I just bought (Momentum On Ear), they were generally reasonably priced. I always though that I could get them back easily but even cans like the Eggos are and HD580 are somewhat difficult to find nowadays. 

Don't know what ever happened to Doobooloo, the Meta 42 that he built which I bought was my first serious headphone amp. I spoke to him for a little a while after I bought his amp and then he just disappeared. Didn't see him post much in fhe forums there after. Before I bought that amp, I didn't see what all the hype was about them and I thought that the only reason why everyone was getting one was for bragging rights. It only took me to take one listen through my Sony CD3000 backed up by that Meta 42 did I realize how much better a set of cans can sound when you have the right amp paired with it.

 

[warubozu]

  It is great to hear from you again.  Despite the notorious build quality, no other dynamics amps have even approached the Single Power level to my knowledge.  Maybe the Apex Pinnacle or Eddie Current Balancing Act?  My SDS-XLR still continue to flex its power & finesse, easily surpassing even the best offering by Headamp (GS-X MKII) of today.  I had the Meta42 built by the same guy too and still have the PPA built by him.  Surprisingly I always missed out on the Eggo.  Oh, the Beats by Dre destroyed the headphones world causing everyone to jack up their pricing in the process.  I still remember the day when the Senn HD580 was considered superbly expensive and the Clou Red Japris was touted as the best upgrade cable ever for the HD580/600.  Now several upgrade cables are approaching $1000 mark .  Headroom kindda face its demise b/c of those META42s & PPAs.

Likewise it's great to hear from you too, I was also really concerned when things and build quality started to turn south for SP. I was worried that I was sitting on a ticking time bomb that would go off at any minute while I was enjoying a listening session. Thank goodness nothing has gone wrong with my Maestro, with nos tubes in rotation it's pure listening bliss. I also still have a mint amp in a limited edition Altoids tin that was built by Thrice before he started Rockhopper Audio and running it full time. Back then mint amps were a popular and affordable portable amp that you could also build on your own if you had the DIY skills. When I first joined this forum, vintage discmans were my main interest and there was a big following for them here. Spent tons of money acquiring all the rare and best sounding vintage PCPDs. Competed against a few members here for them on Ebay, won and loss a few of them auctions and it was all fun going on the hunt for them. I still have a lot of my vintage PCDPs up in storage which I haven't seen or powered up in years. Sadly with the introduction of Beats and other celebrity hyped cans, many started to buy and wear them around as if it was bling or just to be cool rather than buy a set of cans based on superior sound characteristics.

 

[fureshi]

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 D25.  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. 

 

[Duncan]

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

 

[mulveling]

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!

 

[donunus]

Ive been here for a while I guess. Ive been into headphones ever since the 80s though and really got addicted during the early 90s when I bought some Grados, Senns, and the Koss Stats