[Golden Ears]

A second follow up meet would be fun. I can see if i can arrange a space in Aspen.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Ears /img/forum/go_quote.gif A second follow up meet would be fun. I can see if i can arrange a space in Aspen.

Can't deal with the higher altitude due to my lung disease, sorry.

 

[craiglester]

On a side note.. Someone left a CD on Ray Samuels' table, I have it here as no one else seemed to want to do anything with it.. It's just the CD, Richard Elliot - Chill Factor.

Anyone missing it? PM me your address and I'll pop it in the mail to you.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

We need more people to sign up to bring gear to CanJam at RMAF in Denver in 3 weeks!

CanJam @ Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Oct. 2-4, 2009! Get your tickets! Rocky Mountain Audiofest 2009

 

[richbass]

 
Quote:

Hey all!

I'm so tired that I had to rent the hotel room an extra day, so my son and I could load the car up tomorrow. I brought just about everything headphone related with me except my ATH-ANC7 noise canceling phones and my Marantz CD5001. There was very little room left in my 7 passenger Subaru.

I grabbed the wrong camera bag when I came up here so I have a bunch of good photos and no memory card reader, the wrong data cable and cannot upload photos to my computer till I get back Sunday. I'll check my iPhone and see if I have 1 or 2 teaser photos left on that to upload.

So here are my impressions:

It seems my Woo GES does drive the O2 Mk1 better than I thought, and my only complaint all along has been the power output and desire for more slam. Well, the GES is topped by the A-10 by at least an extra 2dB (maybe 3dB) of headroom (600v peak to peak both, but Ray said he is able to adjust the gain and the power output to play louder if he wishes). And maybe there was a little extra bass punch but it was hard to say when using different music and having to go back forth between the two rigs. I was still surprised at how good the GES on a $995 PS Audio DAC could sound when just a couple of tables away was the A-10 with Merridian CDP.

The A-10 does sound very nice, especially with Plaidplatypus's new SR-404 limited anniversary edition, with which I did not hear any etch in the upper mids lower treble like the the SR-Lambda Signature. So, I tried the 404 limited on my GES and they sounded good with that too. I was expecting a SR-404 to not agree with me, considering my favorite Lambda is the vintage normal bias SR-Lambda.

I still liked the O2 Mk1 on the A-10 more than a Lambda, but the margin was not as big as I thought it would be. I didn't get the time to try my HE60 with the A-10, but I did try my Smegma Pro (woodied Gamma Pro) which sound bright with the A-10 just like with my GES. It seems when you tune the amp for darker headphones the Smeggies will let you know. Anyway, I think that if my GES had that extra 2-3dB of volume like the A-10 that I would be perfectly happy with the amp for my O2 Mk1. Ray was impressed enough with the O2 Mk1 that he would like to acquire a pair, so please let him know if you want to sell yours - he might even do a cash + trade for his O2 Mk2 that have 400 hours of burn-in and little usage. You'll have to discuss details with him.

Back to the A-10 - The A-10 does an excellent job converting SE input to balanced and we did switching back and forth between the Merridian XLR balanced outputs and the RCA inputs. The soundstage and detail was pretty much identical - the only difference I detected was the SE input was slightly brighter than the balanced input. Ray agreed that was correct because the Telefunken tube in the SE phase splitter is slightly brighter than the pair of Bugle Boys in the balanced input.

I also enjoyed Plaidplatypus's new Stax Sigma/404 which are a whole new league better than the old Sigma Pro he loaned me for a month a while back. Much better detail and dynamics, but I may still prefer the 404 limited anniversary edition and definitely prefer the O2 Mk1. I tried to trade my Woo WA6 for the 404 Limited, so he'd have an amp for his RS-1, but Plaid declined (just like I turned down Rays offer to buy my O2 Mk1 - I've created a monster

). Turns out Ray is a headphone addict too!

So, I listened to the K1000 on 3-4 different amps and I kept coming back to the Eddie Current ZDT as my favorite, although in the noisy room the ZDT wasn't quite loud enough with them. I still think maybe Naamanf's Beta 22 had a little more power and control with K1000 when I heard them in February, but I could happiliy live with my current rig. We used the same ZDT a lot driving a Stax SRD-7 pro transformer off the speaker outputs, and had 4 stats running at one time between the ZDT and GES, with up to 10 stats on the table at a time - it was nuts. I still think the GES drives most stats better than the ZDT (especially the O2 Mk1), except for the HE Audio Jade which sounded great with both rigs. That was whole intention, was to have the GES and WA6 in my living room rig, and use the ZDT in my bedroom rig so I could listen to anything - dynamics, K1000 and stats.

Other tidbits:

I think I would pick my HD800 over Asr's Qualia 010.

I think I would pick my ZDT over the WA22 prototype. The WA22 is great and beats my WA6 easily in soundstage size and separation, and in power. The WA22 was similar to the ZDT with balanced HD600/800, and farther away with the D2000/7000 or K1000. WA22 also sounds great with all the Grados, but with the Denon D2000 and D7000 (both modded) the ZDT was a little better (as described before by Tyson). But, I'd be happy with the WA22 with any of my headphones, and would like to replace my WA6 with one.

The Headroom Balanced Desktop via Cullen Audio modded PS Audio DL3 and Music Hall 25.2 CDP drives balanced HD600 well enough to call that a final rig for most people.

Fidelity-Audio.com 4-pin HD600 cable is a $199 3-meter pure copper cable that keeps up with my 2-meter APS v3 cable for less money, and still includes a nylon sleeve.

I think the Shadow sounds similar to the P-51 Mustang in half the size, and I still prefer both of those with my IEM over the the SR-71. These small portables do really drive the R10 and Denons very nicely as well.

I learned not to confuse the Sony SA5000 with the Qualia 010, but I'm okay without owning either.

The Lawton Audio LA7000 (woodied recabled modded D7000) were noticeably better to my ears than last year's MD5000DE that I reviewed, and very similar to my Lawton-woodied APS V2-cabled stuffed-earpad D2000. Several people preferred the LA7000 to my modded D2000, including Blutarsky and Ray Samuels. The D2000 still had about 1/3 of the listeners choose that over the LA7000. Both of them have much improved mids over the stock models, which I would venture to say is very engaging, and much improved bass control as well. Regardless, everyone agreed we'd rather have the R-10 if price was no object. Ray felt the LA7000 needed just a little more bass, and that the D2000 were a little darker and he didn't like that as much. I agree with both assertions, but the LA7000 have more and better bass than last years Lawton Audio MD5000DE, and it is enough for me. It's not enough for Ray, but that's because he's been spoiled by his wonderful R-10 which I would love to have someday, but I wont spend that much on a single headphone.

As stated before, the LA7000 do have slightly less bass than the R10, but I thought they come close enough that people could enjoy them at 1/3 the cost of an R-10. I like both, recognizing that there is a slight increase in brightness with LA7000, and a slight increase in bass with my D2000. But the cupped hands mids of the MD5000DE are gone in the LA7000 (never there in the D2000). I knew there was a reason that I kept the modded D2000 when I sold the Edition 9, because they are still one of the best closed headphones you can still buy new today (but then need to be modded). But now that I spent more time with the LA7000 I recognize that they are a small step above what I have now (which is very close to an LA2000). I would like to own a pair of these myself someday, since the R-10 are out of my reach.

I am out of things to say right now, but I'll come back later with my photos and get those posted.

Cheers!

So the Cupped hand mids were never there in modded 2k ? which modded denon (2k or 5k) would you rate closest to stock d7k and modded 7k ?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

 

So the Cupped hand mids were never there in modded 2k ? which modded denon (2k or 5k) would you rate closest to stock d7k and modded 7k ?

Correct, no "cupped hands mids in the modded D2000 or LA7000.  The modded D2000 were closest to a stock D7000.  The LA7000 are the best of all of the Denon, stock or modded.
 
You've seen my review of modded D5000 where I compared them to modded D2000.  And my link to LA7000 review is in there, where I compared the LA7000 to modded D2000.

 

[richbass]

Quote:

Correct, no "cupped hands mids in the modded D2000 or LA7000.  The modded D2000 were closest to a stock D7000.  The LA7000 are the best of all of the Denon, stock or modded.
 
You've seen my review of modded D5000 where I compared them to modded D2000.  And my link to LA7000 review is in there, where I compared the LA7000 to modded D2000.

Yes. Thank you.

 

[richbass]

Can you tell me which can had more bass impact and quantity ? LA7k or your modded 2k or md5k ?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Can you tell me which can had more bass impact and quantity ? LA7k or your modded 2k or md5k ?

I answered that in one of the other two threads where you asked it - the modded D2K did, but they didn't have the markl mods inside and quality of the bass was not as good (less bass speed and detail).  The LA7000 were very close and have more bass impact and quantity than the MD5KDE did.

 

[richbass]

Quote:

I answered that in one of the other two threads where you asked it - the modded D2K did, but they didn't have the markl mods inside and quality of the bass was not as good (less bass speed and detail).  The LA7000 were very close and have more bass impact and quantity than the MD5KDE did.

 
Thanks for answering once again.