[stainless824]

getting awfully close after switching out my HD800 for an LCD-2+ WA7

 

[NA Blur]

I am very close with my setup.  If the LCD-3 came in a lighter package and had the design of the STAX 009 that would be my next step.  My current rig is:
 
DAC = Grace Design m903
Amp = BUDA
Headphone = Single Ended AH-D2000
 
The Denon AH-D2000 is one of those headphones that will greatly scale with how you feed it.  First it was a Bithead, then the Grace m903, and now the combo with the BUDA.
 
The issues I find with this setup is that the AH-D2000 can be a bit fatiguing due to the seal.  I love the LCD-3 sound, especially the current batch, but the headphone is way to clunky and heavy for my taste.  The HE-500 is closer to the weight I am looking for, but it sounds more too neutral and laid back through the BUDA to be pleasing long term.

 

[Currawong]

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To be fair-- I probably would have been just fine stopping at the HD650 and the WA6.  

I just sensed that there was a little more for me if I stepped a little closer to the edge of the sonic envelope, and frankly, I was curious.

I guess $5000 dollars is the price of my curiosity...  Unless I add another headphone...

Curiosity killed the cat.

 
Curiosity killed the wallet.
 
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Here's the funny negative to this: A lot of music I used to like sounds poor through my equipment as the flaws in the recording quality is apparent. So all that music I used to like years ago has been relegated to being listened to in my car, or on public transport, on flights and the like. 

 
Some of my favorite music has the most appalling recording quality, I would never relegate it to incidental listening for that reason and if a setup could not convey its strengths then I would not call it an excellent setup regardless of its cost and resolution. To much emphasis is placed on clarity these days, it is the same with photography and film.

 
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This is an interesting topic to ponder. What I can say after going through a lot of gear and having an crazy (by normal, non-Head-Fier) standards expensive rig is that there is a lot of music I can now appreciate that I couldn't before I started. An interesting consequence has been that I now have a speaker rig that blows away what my father had for the same money as he spent a couple of decades ago. So if I were to answer the question myself right now, I'd say all I'm lacking is more interesting, well-recorded music! Here's the funny negative to this: A lot of music I used to like sounds poor through my equipment as the flaws in the recording quality is apparent. So all that music I used to like years ago has been relegated to being listened to in my car, or on public transport, on flights and the like. This has balanced things out nicely. I get to appreciate it still without any desire to hear it on higher-quality equipment and can just enjoy it whenever I'm not at home.
 
What I find sad though is that audio can be such a big quagmire for people new to it, but for headphone listening at least, you can get a lot better gear for less than was possible, say, 5 years ago.

 
I find it a sad phenomena when music lovers becomes audiophiles and instead of listening to good music mostly listen to bad well recorded music just because of how revealing their gear is. I have seen this happen again and again and I've noticed the same symptoms with me to some degree. The more gear centric people get the less music centric I've seen them become.
When I see someone listen to Diana Krall I know that person have lost all sense of what music is all about... Maybe they just had bad taste in music before but common now. There is music that have both a technical and musical quality.
If someone catch me listening to mediocre sleepy jazz nonsense please do an intervention!

 
I have a WA7 here on loan, so I can say I'm appreciating these perspectives from other than a "resolution above all else" point of view. If anything, my high-res set-up allows me to appreciate "sleepy jazz" to the point it is my favourite music. My point about listening in the car was that the stereo in it does a good job of allowing me to appreciate a wide variety of music without wanting to be analytical about it. The WA7, being "tubey"-sounding does too.
 
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getting awfully close after switching out my HD800 for an LCD-2+ WA7

 
My impressions so far of the WA7 is that the HD-800s would be a good match with it. 

 

[Redcarmoose]

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getting awfully close after switching out my HD800 for an LCD-2+ WA7

Getting awfully close only counts with horse shoes.

 
 
 
Close only counts with hand-grenades.

 

[DefQon]

You know what's funny with this thread is that as get further along the line of buying and reselling gear towards something you hear and see well regarded and costly as well, you start to get really gear-centric rather than focusing on music alone, some end up starting from scratch again.
 
The same for all those ocd nuts that think dropping an OPA627 opamp in every buffer/input/output stage that allows an opamp will give them the best sound out of that gear, investing so much time and money buying and opamp rolling and upgrading this and that, eventually they just give up and start all over again.
 
I think something is similar happening to me but not opamp rolling, just every piece of amp/dac I have/own or see I just want to pull apart and mod it, decking it out "boutique" wise and the looks, filling in every nook and cranny. Suffice to say, I enjoy modding and DIY more so than listening to the music itself. Again not a healthy habit for me nor my wallet.
 
Even if I had an SR-009 I don't think I will be satisfied at all, the same applies to all the other stuff available and the unobtaniums.

 

[librarian]

not exactly nirvana, but good enough. i'll start up a wine collection from now on. head-fi took all my money the last 3-4 years. i bought my first case of barolo yesterday. my set-up is:
 
isabellina hpa lfv-v edition (mullard cv2493)
colorfly c4
beyerdynamic t70 (custom silver cable)
ath w1000x (custom copper cable)
heir tzar350 (custom silver cable)
 
i'm happy with what i've got now

 

[korzena]

DAC = Grace Design m903
Amp = BUDA
Headphone = Single Ended AH-D2000
 
The Denon AH-D2000 is one of those headphones that will greatly scale with how you feed it.  First it was a Bithead, then the Grace m903, and now the combo with the BUDA.
 
The issues I find with this setup is that the AH-D2000 can be a bit fatiguing due to the seal.  I love the LCD-3 sound, especially the current batch, but the headphone is way to clunky and heavy for my taste.  The HE-500 is closer to the weight I am looking for, but it sounds more too neutral and laid back through the BUDA to be pleasing long term.

I think I have never had much luck with amps for my Denon D2000. I tried it on three different high-end amps and never really liked it. To my surprise however I once heard it from a small portable amp (probably some Fiio) and it really sounded great in comparison to my previous attempts. I don't know what it is about with the D2000, but now as it's sold and D7000 bought (unfortunately completely different price level) I don't have to worry any more

 

[Currawong]

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You know what's funny with this thread is that as get further along the line of buying and reselling gear towards something you hear and see well regarded and costly as well, you start to get really gear-centric rather than focusing on music alone, some end up starting from scratch again.
 
The same for all those ocd nuts that think dropping an OPA627 opamp in every buffer/input/output stage that allows an opamp will give them the best sound out of that gear, investing so much time and money buying and opamp rolling and upgrading this and that, eventually they just give up and start all over again.
 
I think something is similar happening to me but not opamp rolling, just every piece of amp/dac I have/own or see I just want to pull apart and mod it, decking it out "boutique" wise and the looks, filling in every nook and cranny. Suffice to say, I enjoy modding and DIY more so than listening to the music itself. Again not a healthy habit for me nor my wallet.
 
Even if I had an SR-009 I don't think I will be satisfied at all, the same applies to all the other stuff available and the unobtaniums.

 
I think it's pretty much the same with most hobbies: You can get caught up in the gear rather than the actual hobby itself. You tend to see a lot of discussion of that here because, well, it's a place people who like it discuss it. There is what I call a "silent majority" who post only rarely if at all and just want to find something suitable for them and that will be good enough. Those that do get caught up can indeed go a bit, or sometimes considerably overboard. Sometimes the only way to learn is to experience. 

 

[korzena]

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I think it's pretty much the same with most hobbies: You can get caught up in the gear rather than the actual hobby itself. You tend to see a lot of discussion of that here because, well, it's a place people who like it discuss it. There is what I call a "silent majority" who post only rarely if at all and just want to find something suitable for them and that will be good enough. Those that do get caught up can indeed go a bit, or sometimes considerably overboard. Sometimes the only way to learn is to experience. 

Observing myself I've noticed the more satisfied I am with something the less inclined I am to talk about it. It's not only with audio
Although I must admit it is not always the case. Sometimes I feel I want to share with others.

 

[nehcrow]

I went considerably overboard (especially for a uni student), realized I had a problem and successfully overcame it.
I'm very happy with mid-range products and sound quality
No Stax SR-009 for me. Yet.

 

[NA Blur]

The more I invest the more I realize that music and the mastering therein is more key than just about anything else.  As long as the gear is halfway decent the music will shine if it is mastered well.

 

[reddragon]

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The more I invest the more I realize that music and the mastering therein is more key than just about anything else.  As long as the gear is halfway decent the music will shine if it is mastered well.

 
 
that will be nice, meaning we spend less money

 

[longbowbbs]

The cool thing is the last few years have seen amazing quality at a much more affordable price. You can get 90%+ for under $1500 USD for a full top tier system. Maybe under $1000 (Amp, DAC, HP's...)

 

[reddragon]

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The cool thing is the last few years have seen amazing quality at a much more affordable price. You can get 90%+ for under $1500 USD for a full top tier system. Maybe under $1000 (Amp, DAC, HP's...)

 
 
really? how?

 

[SoupRKnowva]

really? how?

To anyone not already in the hobby I think a
Sennheiser HD650 ~400
Bottlehead Crack ~280
Schitt Bifrost ~350

Wouldn't be a bad system for just barely over 1000 dollars