[gepardcv]

Hifiman will release a stat and amp too.

Wait. What?!

 

[roskodan]

source?

 

[davidsh]

Hifiman will release a stat and amp too.

Wait. What?!

Yep. A successor to the Jade, though not a Jade 2, as they don't like us calling it that. There will be an amp too. I think the Jade successor will feature veneer like the 560. After that they will release the he-6 successor.

 

[gepardcv]

Yep. A successor to the Jade, though not a Jade 2, as they don't like us calling it that. There will be an amp too. I think the Jade successor will feature veneer like the 560. After that they will release the he-6 successor.

Thanks.
 
My humble wish list for an electrostatic flagship from Hifiman: improve the headband (something more like Sennheiser, please!), and Stax pro plugs and bias for compatibility with existing amplifiers.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

That is very interesting  news. I really hope that dynamics will evolve too, as I think they also have potential. 

 

[Acapella11]

Hi Dan, I enjoyed reading your reviews here and on headmania.org. They sound honest and are fun to read. Keep the good work up and I am glad you recognised the HD800 after your initially not so good experiences.

I got curious about Hifi, when, long time back, I naively explored a local Hifi event. It was arranged by a local high end Hifi shop. Then I sat there in the auditioning room, closed my eyes and waited for the session to start. I heard a gong, thought that was the announcement of the beginning. Was quite a big gong. Opened my eyes, but there was no gong. Just that set of big horn speakers. I was blown away. The speakers were manufactured by Acapella. Hence my profile name.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

Hi Dan, I enjoyed reading your reviews here and on headmania.org. They sound honest and are fun to read. Keep the good work up and I am glad you recognised the HD800 after your initially not so good experiences.

I got curious about Hifi, when, long time back, I naively explored a local Hifi event. It was arranged by a local high end Hifi shop. Then I sat there in the auditioning room, closed my eyes and waited for the session to start. I heard a gong, thought that was the announcement of the beginning. Was quite a big gong. Opened my eyes, but there was no gong. Just that set of big horn speakers. I was blown away. The speakers were manufactured by Acapella. Hence my profile name.

Thank you, Acapella. 
 
When I first heard HD800, it was from a setup that wasn't capable of doing justice to HD800. In time, with better gear and experience, I came to the conclusion that right now, technically, they are the best dynamic headphones on the market, that I have heard until now. 
 
Never, heard any Acapella speakers, hope I get the chance to hear some

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I've stumbled upon an excellent network streamer, and a budget one too. 
 

 
It's called  SOtM sMS-100. I don't think it has a competition at that price. You can call it a lan to usb converter if you wish. 
 
It really improved the sound in a lot of ways from resolution, transparency to soundstage and imaging. The sound becomes more alive, better contoured and it also adds a very nice natural fluency that makes the sound flow effortless. 
 
It can solve the noisy computer problem too, as it has the possibility of running of a linear power supply. This will get you clean USB in both signal and 5v. 
 
Besides this, it is a very useful little gadget, especially if you have speakers. You just insert it in your network and you can play music off your mobile phone/tablet. 
 
I've written a full review about it here.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

Besides the sMS-100, I've also had the pleasure to hear the new sHP-100, and I must say that it is a product worthy of my recommandation. 
 
You can the full review here.
 

 

[BirdManOfCT]

  Thank you very much for a nice review!

Even after LCD3 when you put HD800 on your head, the sound opens a lot. HD800 is still more detailed, has a wider soundstage , better positioning and instrument separation.

That's exactly why I chose HD800 and never looked back! Exactly this.

However, LCD3 has a fuller sound with the best bass I have ever heard,  a creamy, tactile sound and great musicality.

I've seen many people on head-fi prefering "creamy" and "musical" presentation... To that extent that I purchased a tube amplifier for my HD800 with different tubes to find out what's all the talk about. In the end, I must say that I am going back to the transparency, blackness, neutrality and technical ability of a quality solid-state amplifier and have no intensions for tubes anymore (especially since they are not suitable for powering IEMs/earbuds). I can certainly understand that they offer a very natural kind of presentation but I definitely want to engage HD800's technical abilities to the max. That's the way I prefer it.

As for the bass, I must say that HD800 pretty much beat LCD-2 here because of the awesome separation from the rest of the spectrum and because I find it to be surprisingly more visceral (this is most probably connected to MUCH better and accurate soundstaging). LCD-2's bass has more punch but HD800 are much more accurate, much more "life-like" - you hear and visually see the band in front of you... This is not possible with LCD-2 at all, their bass leaks too much to places where other instruments should have their space. Not very accurate imaging and too stereoish kind of presentation definitely do not help here.

What setup (DAC/amp) did you end up using to drive the HD800s?

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I for example use Audio GD M9 and I couldn't be more happy with it

 

[dan.gheorghe]

Audio GD really impressed me with Master 9 and its capabilities, so I bought a speaker amplifier from them, the Precision 2. After using it as a speaker amp and loving it, I was really surprised by the headphone output, as it is one of the best I've ever heard. I've written all about it here.

 

[BirdManOfCT]

  Audio GD really impressed me with Master 9 and its capabilities, so I bought a speaker amplifier from them, the Precision 2. After using it as a speaker amp and loving it, I was really surprised by the headphone output, as it is one of the best I've ever heard. I've written all about it here.

Nice write-up. Great photos. Thanks!

 

[NinjaHamster]

When is it anticipated for the Jade 2 to be released ?

I must admit, I am excited to see what the successor to the HE-6 brings to the table ... I'm predicting greater sensitivity for a start ...

 

[dan.gheorghe]

 
Nice write-up. Great photos. Thanks!

Thank you, BirdManOfCT.
 

When is it anticipated for the Jade 2 to be released ?

I must admit, I am excited to see what the successor to the HE-6 brings to the table ... I'm predicting greater sensitivity for a start ...

I have no idea, I suspect that in 2015 a lot of new headphones will be realesed, including the suspected orpheus successor from Sennheiser, a new headphone from audeze.
 
The problem with Jade is  that it would be electrostatic . I would love a good dynamic headphone so I wouldn't have to get another amplifier.