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For those of us with multiple headphones, which ones are you listening with now?
- Thread starter timb5881
- Start date
With the possible exception of the undeniably brilliant Swordfishtrombones trilogy, the 1999 Mule Variations is far and away my favorite Tom Waits. His writing is impeccable as always, and the songs run the gamut from the beautiful and haunting āHold Onā to the hilarious and bizarre āWhatās He Building?ā to the audiophile favorite āTake It With Meā to the what-in-the-world-is-that āFilipino Box Spring Hog.ā Plus, Marc Ribotās guitar playing is consistently great and invariably spot on. Not merely recommended, Mandatory. And the original 1999 vinyl is even better than the already excellent cd. I cannot speak for the recent remaster. Enjoy!
Flatcapped naim cd3.5>Plinius Hautonga line stage>Burson HA-160>HD650 w/ Dekoni elite hybrid pads and CC copper weight mod.

Flatcapped naim cd3.5>Plinius Hautonga line stage>Burson HA-160>HD650 w/ Dekoni elite hybrid pads and CC copper weight mod.
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JAnonymous5150
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks for the shout out. I am indeed quite familiar with Back To Oakland and its swingin', funky fresh beats. I can definitely see why it would be a popular album with drummers, especially the jazz trained or crossover types, but never would have guessed that it would be popular enough amongst my stick weilding bretheren to be on that list. I might be out of touch with the drummers that make up the readership of Modern Drummer though as I have never been much for drum magazines in general.
Seriously though, just listen to the album and even non-drummers can hear why it's well regarded. Nice pick!
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mrjayviper
500+ Head-Fier
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JAnonymous5150
Headphoneus Supremus
I find the bass on the Elex to be oddly fatiguing for me. Even though I'm not a basshead, I haven never found bass heavy signatures to be fatiguing before that I can remember. For example, I have owned several Fostex TH and TR models (Lawton modded and stock) and currently own the Emu Teak and I don't find the Teaks to be at all fatiguing despite them having a very powerful low end and I don't recall finding any of the Fostex models I owned tiresome either.
Anyways, I'm gonna take a break for now and switch over to my ThieAudio Excaliburs plugged into my Cayin N8ii which will be providing all the hi-res audio goodness from locally stored files I just transferred to an SD card specifically for the occasion. These IEMs have proven to be a very fun, technically capable, and addicting listen that I keep going back to and are much more versatile than I had imagined.
After @rids57 posted his pick from The Aristocrats I just felt like I needed to pour myself a glass of Lagavulin 16 neat (keeping the bottle on standby of course
), kick back in the recliner with my feet up, and relax while getting back in touch with this awesome band.
Up first is their 2011 eponymous album which is a nine track, hour long masterclass in how to meld elite technical musicianship and skill with catchy riffs, tuneful playing, and innately listenable grooves. I could put this album on repeat for the next six hours and be perfectly happy finding a new layer to be intrigued by everytime, but I won't do that because I have a full on marathon planned with album after album lined up for listening.
To those about to rock, I salute you! Oh, and cheers!


Anyways, I'm gonna take a break for now and switch over to my ThieAudio Excaliburs plugged into my Cayin N8ii which will be providing all the hi-res audio goodness from locally stored files I just transferred to an SD card specifically for the occasion. These IEMs have proven to be a very fun, technically capable, and addicting listen that I keep going back to and are much more versatile than I had imagined.
After @rids57 posted his pick from The Aristocrats I just felt like I needed to pour myself a glass of Lagavulin 16 neat (keeping the bottle on standby of course

Up first is their 2011 eponymous album which is a nine track, hour long masterclass in how to meld elite technical musicianship and skill with catchy riffs, tuneful playing, and innately listenable grooves. I could put this album on repeat for the next six hours and be perfectly happy finding a new layer to be intrigued by everytime, but I won't do that because I have a full on marathon planned with album after album lined up for listening.
To those about to rock, I salute you! Oh, and cheers!




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JRiver Media Center (PC) > SMSL SU9 > SMSL SH9 > HiFiMAN HE400i w/ Dekoni sheepskin pads
Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold by Karcius - One of my favourite albums of 2022 and the 7th release from Karcius, a French-Canadian band (vocals are in English) that rocks a superb variety of heavy prog-rock. They started off as an instrumental fusion band but gradually got heavier and more proggy as they went along, adding vocals on their 4th album and there on. Very good musicianship throughout and vocals that range from a whisper to a full on roar from bassist Sylvain Auclair, who's vocals have catapulted them to another level. My favourite I think, is the epic (15 min+) The Needle Tree, which is a good track for showing just what they can do. Went with the HE400i's again for this one, I'm having a bit of a thing with them

Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold by Karcius - One of my favourite albums of 2022 and the 7th release from Karcius, a French-Canadian band (vocals are in English) that rocks a superb variety of heavy prog-rock. They started off as an instrumental fusion band but gradually got heavier and more proggy as they went along, adding vocals on their 4th album and there on. Very good musicianship throughout and vocals that range from a whisper to a full on roar from bassist Sylvain Auclair, who's vocals have catapulted them to another level. My favourite I think, is the epic (15 min+) The Needle Tree, which is a good track for showing just what they can do. Went with the HE400i's again for this one, I'm having a bit of a thing with them

BoyNamedSue
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Addicted to Sony Z1R, balanced, driven by WM1A firmware 3.00.
Davidzak64
Headphoneus Supremus
I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets Bass Fatigued from the Elex. This is my only complaint about them. After 20 minutes listening to them my nerves are shot.I find the bass on the Elex to be oddly fatiguing for me. Even though I'm not a basshead, I haven never found bass heavy signatures to be fatiguing before that I can remember. For example, I have owned several Fostex TH and TR models (Lawton modded and stock) and currently own the Emu Teak and I don't find the Teaks to be at all fatiguing despite them having a very powerful low end and I don't recall finding any of the Fostex models I owned tiresome either.
Anyways, I'm gonna take a break for now and switch over to my ThieAudio Excaliburs plugged into my Cayin N8ii which will be providing all the hi-res audio goodness from locally stored files I just transferred to an SD card specifically for the occasion. These IEMs have proven to be a very fun, technically capable, and addicting listen that I keep going back to and are much more versatile than I had imagined.
After @rids57 posted his pick from The Aristocrats I just felt like I needed to pour myself a glass of Lagavulin 16 neat (keeping the bottle on standby of course), kick back in the recliner with my feet up, and relax while getting back in touch with this awesome band.
Up first is their 2011 eponymous album which is a nine track, hour long masterclass in how to meld elite technical musicianship and skill with catchy riffs, tuneful playing, and innately listenable grooves. I could put this album on repeat for the next six hours and be perfectly happy finding a new layer to be intrigued by everytime, but I won't do that because I have a full on marathon planned with album after album lined up for listening.
To those about to rock, I salute you! Oh, and cheers!
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Otherwise, I couldn't live with them.
The driver excursion is just too much for me to deal with. It's kind of odd that I've read many threads and reviews about them and nobody else has mentioned this. You have some golden ears my friend!
Ninjamokama3
New Head-Fier
Currently using the beyerdynamics dt 150. have been swapping back between these and the hd25's.
Might sell both of them to get a hd600 + amp or sth
Might sell both of them to get a hd600 + amp or sth
I find the bass on the Elex to be oddly fatiguing for me. Even though I'm not a basshead, I haven never found bass heavy signatures to be fatiguing before that I can remember. For example, I have owned several Fostex TH and TR models (Lawton modded and stock) and currently own the Emu Teak and I don't find the Teaks to be at all fatiguing despite them having a very powerful low end and I don't recall finding any of the Fostex models I owned tiresome either.
Anyways, I'm gonna take a break for now and switch over to my ThieAudio Excaliburs plugged into my Cayin N8ii which will be providing all the hi-res audio goodness from locally stored files I just transferred to an SD card specifically for the occasion. These IEMs have proven to be a very fun, technically capable, and addicting listen that I keep going back to and are much more versatile than I had imagined.
After @rids57 posted his pick from The Aristocrats I just felt like I needed to pour myself a glass of Lagavulin 16 neat (keeping the bottle on standby of course), kick back in the recliner with my feet up, and relax while getting back in touch with this awesome band.
Up first is their 2011 eponymous album which is a nine track, hour long masterclass in how to meld elite technical musicianship and skill with catchy riffs, tuneful playing, and innately listenable grooves. I could put this album on repeat for the next six hours and be perfectly happy finding a new layer to be intrigued by everytime, but I won't do that because I have a full on marathon planned with album after album lined up for listening.
To those about to rock, I salute you! Oh, and cheers!
![]()
Very interesting indeed. I never had Elex, but I had Elear and I tried really hard to love them for a very long time (they were SO beautiful - sorry Jada) but I had the opposite problem. Maybe there was something wrong with my pair (and I know Elex and Elear are not equivalent), but I couldnāt even get them to put out as much bass as my HD650, which although on the warm side of neutral, is hardly a headbangersā headphone. Ultimately, I got rid of the Elear because beauty is only skin deep, and I found them unengaging. The only headphone thatās ever given me ābass fatigueā is the Grado RS-1e with Dekoni solid sheepskin pads. Literally unrelenting and overpowering BASS, but, Dekoniās own published materials show that the bass is up something like 20dB with the solid sheepskin pads so, in this case, the graph certainly correlated to what I heard and felt - actual physical discomfort. In fairness to Dekoni, neither the fenestrated sheepskin nor the all velour Grado pads exhibited this anomaly in the slightest, and indeed, the all velour ended up being my Goldilocks solution for the RS-1e - just exactly perfect.I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets Bass Fatigued from the Elex. This is my only complaint about them. After 20 minutes listening to them my nerves are shot.Thankfully, I'm not opposed to a little EQ adjustment in the 25 to 50 Hz frequencies which turns them into a Gentle Giant.
Otherwise, I couldn't live with them.
The driver excursion is just too much for me to deal with. It's kind of odd that I've read many threads and reviews about them and nobody else has mentioned this. You have some golden ears my friend!
* * *
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Edit: My son and his team (AI research) survived the massive layoffs at Meta, so today is a good day. Phew!!
My heart goes out to those that did not.
Back on topic: āmember Shakti (āmember)? I sure do. Currently listening to āNiyatiā, the 40+ minute cut on the āsecretā cd that comes packed in with the dvd that is part of the long out of print Silk Road box. All 3 of the other Remember Shakti cds are equally excellent and, I believe, available (as are the original 3 Shakti albums from the 1970ās). This is where I go when I need some introspection and decompression.
Sounding great on the CC modified HD650s. Donāt kid yourself - these things are capable of natural detail galore, you just need to feed āem right.
YMMV, just my $.03, etc., ad nauseum.

Back on topic: āmember Shakti (āmember)? I sure do. Currently listening to āNiyatiā, the 40+ minute cut on the āsecretā cd that comes packed in with the dvd that is part of the long out of print Silk Road box. All 3 of the other Remember Shakti cds are equally excellent and, I believe, available (as are the original 3 Shakti albums from the 1970ās). This is where I go when I need some introspection and decompression.

Sounding great on the CC modified HD650s. Donāt kid yourself - these things are capable of natural detail galore, you just need to feed āem right.
YMMV, just my $.03, etc., ad nauseum.
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jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
** and if your wallet needs enlightenment, there is thisāmember Shakti (āmember)? I sure do. Currently listening to āNiyatiā, the 40+ minute cut on the āsecretā cd that comes packed in with the dvd that is part of the long out of print Silk Road box. All 3 of the other Remember Shakti cds are equally excellent and, I believe, available (as are the original 3 Shakti albums from the 1970ās). This is where I go when I need some introspection and decompression.**
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Doobie Brotherās āGreatest Hitsā from Fiio X3II to Stax SRM002 portable setup
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