[Radio_head]

Congrats on the acquisition, you were searching for this quite a long time.
 
To answer the previous poster, the spaciousness is a little better on the L-2, while the BD has less width in my experience, although the BD has better presence (by which I mean attack and immediacy) than the L-2.  On detail it would depend on the headphone, I personally enjoy the presentation of the BD and am less detail focused than in the past (same answer I would give to the MSB Analog DAC's ultimate detail compared to the most ODD (Obsessive Detail Disorder) DACs.)

 

[Audio Jester]

After months of searching in vain, I was finally able to acquire a used L-2 at the courtesy of Spritzer. While all L-2 were made for 100-120V use, this one's power supply was converted and upgraded by Spritzer and Doug so that it is compatible with 220-240V in my country. I will test it with my HD800 tomorrow and share my impressions, although I'm already excited about it.

Congrats Songmic! I look forward to your impressions.

 

[songmic]

Guys, is it just me or do your L-2's have different serial numbers for the amp and its matching power supply? I know it's nothing to nitpick about but I noticed that the S/N of the L-2 and the PSU are different.

 

[ellevoid]

  After months of searching in vain, I was finally able to acquire a used L-2 at the courtesy of Spritzer. While all L-2 were made for 100-120V use, this one's power supply was converted and upgraded by Spritzer and Doug so that it is compatible with 220-240V in my country. I will test it with my HD800 tomorrow and share my impressions, although I'm already excited about it.

 
Congrats

 

[Sherwood]

Guys, is it just me or do your L-2's have different serial numbers for the amp and its matching power supply? I know it's nothing to nitpick about but I noticed that the S/N of the L-2 and the PSU are different.

That's intentional. Mine are sequential, and they're the first two production pieces.

Some manufacturers match them, but Doug treats them as separate products with separate Serial numbers.

 

[songmic]

Now I understand what makes this amp so special with the HD800. I had really high expectations for this amp after reading rave reviews about it, but to be honest, my initial impressions were somewhat lukewarm. Sure, it was one of the best amps I've tried with the HD800, but I felt it was still in the same league with other high-end amps I've tried, slightly better in some ways maybe but not mind-blowing.
 
However, as I listen to it more and more, I realized that no other amp made the HD800 easy to listen to as this amp does. Simply put, this is the least fatiguing amp with the HD800 I've ever heard, and I can listen to music for hours and hours without getting tired at all. I admit that this amp doesn't remove all the sibilance associated with the HD800 and I do hear some sharp treble spikes every now and then, but it's perfectly manageable now. And as the ecp audio website described, there is no trade-off for this "mellow out" effect; the HD800 still retains its open, airy sound without sounding warm or lush.
 
I'm looking forward to how the EC445 and Teton would perform with the HD800, but for the time being, the L-2 is definitely a keeper. And more importantly, the HD800 has become a keeper. The HD800 I currently have is actually the 4th HD800 I've owned, you can see that I've had a love/hate relationship with this particular headphone for a long time. But now it's only love... 

 

[Failed Engineer]

I bought and sold the HD800 twice before I acquired an L-2.  I decided to buy it a 3rd time, and now it's a keeper with the L-2.  Everything you say is true.

 

[songmic]

Has any L-2 owners out there tried out the newer, Fazor-equipped LCD-3 with it? Other than being easier to drive, the LCD-3's impedance was increased from around 50 ohms to 110 ohms, making it a better match with tube amps with higher output impedance than before.
 
The L-2 has a high impedance output (around 10 ohms for lo and 50 ohms for hi), which is one of the reasons it sounds excellent with the 300 ohm HD800.

 

[songmic]

Hmm, now that Audeze announced their new 1200 ohm headphone, maybe the L-2 with its 50 ohm output impedance may have found a matching planar headphone.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/575751/new-audeze-lcd3/9675#post_10951318

 

[Radio_head]

Impedance matching is only one piece of the equation. (Even there, 50ohm output impedance falls far short of 1:10 or 1:8 suggested ratios.) Unless the sensitivity is high (like LCD-XC or higher) the L-2 will most likely be unable to drive it to its full capability with the current it puts out.
 
There is a more powerful (also more expensive) ECP amp coming that will most likely be much more well suited to the planar posse.
 
The real issue with a 1200 ohm headphone is voltage.  
 
As an example:  To get the LCD-3 to 110dB (reasonable with peaks) you would need 2.35 Volts RMS and 21.3 mA of current.
 
Assuming the same sensitivity with 1200 ohm headphone impedance, while the current needs drop tremendously (6.5 mA) the voltage requirement would be 7.76 Volts RMS to get to that same 110dB.

 

[songmic]

  Impedance matching is only one piece of the equation. (Even there, 50ohm output impedance falls far short of 1:10 or 1:8 suggested ratios.) Unless the sensitivity is high (like LCD-XC or higher) the L-2 will most likely be unable to drive it to its full capability with the current it puts out.
 
There is a more powerful (also more expensive) ECP amp coming that will most likely be much more well suited to the planar posse.
 
The real issue with a 1200 ohm headphone is voltage.  
 
As an example:  To get the LCD-3 to 110dB (reasonable with peaks) you would need 2.35 Volts RMS and 21.3 mA of current.
 
Assuming the same sensitivity with 1200 ohm headphone impedance, while the current needs drop tremendously (6.5 mA) the voltage requirement would be 7.76 Volts RMS to get to that same 110dB.

 
Yes, the new Audeze headphone needs to have a high sensitivity otherwise most amps won't be able to drive its 1200 ohm drivers.
 
A new ecp audio amp? What is it called and where can I find info on this?

 

[Radio_head]

Hopefully more info available after the NY meet in November.

 

[ZoNtO]

Bumping this to see if any more info is available after the November meet.

 

[songmic]

Just out of curiosity, do any L-2 owners have a white umbilical cable like this one?
 

 
If so, where does the red heatshrink connect to: the amp or the PSU?

 

[dsavitsk]

The cable can only go one way. The male pins connect to the PS, the female to the amp.