[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, the noise floor was a little raised on some of the more sensitive headphones, but not near as bad as my experience with the Sony V6/7506's. Bleargch! It's funny, it's a noise floor that you can hear through, if that makes any sense. I would compare it to surface noise of vinyl -- you end up really not minding it. But I still try to stay towards the higher impedance phones, just for that reason (Senn HD600 and Beyer DT770).

As for character...meh, these things are so hard to describe...I really would liken the RKV to Cameron Diaz...just straight-up makes anything she does look good, but then surprises you in that she can perform as well. Adds that tube "euphony".

The MicroZOTL is more of a Milla Jovovich -- very good for very particular parts (types of music and types of listening, as well as which headphones with which it matches), but you have a hard time figuring out which ones -- I'll let Hirsch exlpain that more.

Trying to think of a good actress for the Melos -- I really didn't spend enough time with this one, but can only say it's pretty good, and very similar in character to the RKV.

Yeah, thanks again, Carl, for that Kraftwerk -- I was almost lost without some familiar material...