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Originally Posted by Karo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The original Ninfa's , wow. So let's hear the rundown of your phones. I was looking at the Beyers back in 2000, never could afford them. Not really interested in Balanced as much as developing the potential of single-ended as well as the speakers. Wonder if anyone has run the NuForce w/ the Zana.
My friend here has re-cabled some 650's. I've been wanting to work with him for quite awhile on this, glad we got the ball rolling. I'm trying to tell you that his extension literally overpowered the A900's. When I plug it into the Zana, the sound drops (without the phones attached). The AT's don't do that by themselves.
You're right about the BBQ, we've been wanting to goto Coops, Blacks, that whole circuit for sometime.
Just got Dylan @ Royal Albert Hall (66), and the Powerstation cd, which I've got on vinyl somewhere. Also went thru my gf's cd's this weekend, for being electronic ... the Depeche Mode sounded surprisingly good, especially the voice. It was stunning actually. So is the Dylan.
Without a doubt ..... Craig is the Cy Twombly of amplification. I can wait on the Menil.
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I get bored very easily, but I also tend to replay the same content, so I occasionally switch out cans and sources. I have multiple copies of many CDs and disks, various pressings, issues, imports, etc. Need to whack the sound sometimes to remind my tiny brain to actually LISTEN.
Still enamored of the HD650 with the ZD. I've never been able to go this long before without getting bored (and I'm not even remotely bored with this rig). At first, I couldn't stand the GS1000s with the ZD compared to the 650s. Now I can tolerate them but I still prefer the Senns. I do find that I prefer them at mid-to-higher volumes, where the ZD cracks through the Sennheiser veil while maintaining extremely tight bass.
I like the Grados with the DECCO, where they sound very tubey. The GS1000s can be flabby but this is my falling asleep/low-volume rig, so it's not a problem. I also use them (or the 880s) with the RA-1 plugged into the G5 when working at home. I set up different EQ curves in iTunes for various sets of cans. That's usually not critical listening though, so it's pretty much academic. I have everything encoded Apple Lossless but at the desktop I've no DAC.
In my listening room, I feed the iTunes library on the G5 to a G4 PowerBook, and then go via fiber to a Headroom Balanced Max, Home version (with the DAC, obviously). I can feed this to the Gallos via the NAD M3 (using the Headroom as a preamp) or plug multiple cans to the front panel outputs. This is generally where I listen to the K701s. I also feed the balanced outputs of the M5 to the HR box, and use the K701s, 880s, Senns (balanced) and GS1000s (SE) here. This was my usual mode before the ZD arrived. Now, I never use it. I'm considering getting rid of it, but that would leave me with no DAC and only an RCA out from the PowerBook to access my digital library (about 10,000 titles), so I'm paralyzed. It's a great unit, but about the same investment as a semester's tuition for my eldest or an old Subaru for skiing the high country, so ....
I generally use the Stax now exclusively with the vinyl rig. I switch back and forth between it and the ZD. I will often replay stuff and switch between them. I thought I was going to dump all my dynamic stuff and go completely electrostatic but I am amazed at how the Zana Deux is essentially as fast as the Stax and gives up little on the leading edges of notes. As to the differences, I am beginning to wonder whether some of the things I hear, and liked, with the Stax are actually on the recording, now that I have a few hundred hours in on both sets of cans.
One thing I do know with certainty, one must have various sets of cans; there is probably no ultimate set of headphones. Some do certain things better'n others, you appreciate different parts of the same music differently with different cans, and the greater the variety of cans used to listen, the more you will hear and appreciate. Like speakers, except that the various gradations of world-class sonic reproduction can be more-affordably appreciated. I'm not much for reviews of cans (or speakers), as they tend to be like wine reviews. In the end, they're utterly subjective, and you just have to live with the thing and listen to it for a long time to determine how you really feel. So my view is that you might as well just go out and order one of each of the top cans you have an interest in, play with them for a while, plug them in to whatever you have, and listen. If you find after a year that you're not using something, sell it. (Ain't it great that this is so much easier to do w/ cans than speakers!) Chances are though, you'll have found at least something that each of those cans does best - and you'll want them all!
Sorry for the babble and the bandwidth. Hope all's well up there! -Tim
Thanks man.
