[donunus]

fair enough. Ive always wanted to try a gilmore lite. Now I wonder if it's going to be a substantial improvement to the meier headfive.

 

[donunus]

Oh, just checked headamps site and found out that the gilmore lite runs only from 110 volt sources. I need an amp that can do 220 volts

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, just checked headamps site and found out that the gilmore lite runs only from 110 volt sources. I need an amp that can do 220 volts

The standard only goes with 110 V sources because thats the adapter he provides you with. You can purchase a 220 V adapter easily elsewhere for cheap. Any PSU that they build themselves (including upgraded GLite PSU and up from there) HeadAmp does in the voltage of your choice.

 

[nickchen]

Can go wrong.

Two folks in the german forum bought a headroom amp with its stock(!) headroom 220V adapter, and both died within a week. One also grilled a W5000 on this occasion (which was handled as the guy's problem from headroom's side). The one guy with the grilled W5K got an exchange amp which also died within a week, the other guy was totally ignored by headroom due to his shy attitude and his bad english. No headroom products in a 220V vincinity!!! (and for me, personally, no headroom products at all, you draw your own conclusions)

 

[sai-bot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen /img/forum/go_quote.gif No headroom products in a 220V vincinity!!! (and for me, personally, no headroom products at all, you draw your own conclusions)

Any yet, we should differentiate between Headroom and Headamp, shouldn't we?

Of course things can go wrong, but I never heard of a Headamp-product that didn't work properly in the EU.

 

[nickchen]

Typical case of being only half informed, I guess...

Really thought the both were similar. Nabbed!

 

[wrecked_porsche]

So the problem was with headroom or headamp now?

 

[sai-bot]

Sorry about the confusion. I know of two german headphone-addicts who had problems with the heedroom-micro-line (DAC and amp). AFAIK they both had the old versions and it seems that it's a problem for the 22V-vicinity only. Judging from what they told us in the german forum, headroom reacted quite harshly after the exchange amp/DAC-combination died and wrecked a W5000. But that's a thing those parties should clear. I do not know whether everything's fine now

Anyway, I never heard of problems with Headamp's amps in the 220V-vicinity. German member Musikaddicted owns a GS-1 for quite some time now and AFAIK he never had problems with it.

 

[donunus]

good to know, thanks

 

[MaZa]

nvm

 

[donunus]

I wonder how the ray samuels sound match with these cans. I was thinking maybe the hornet M vs the headamp pico or a good desktop alternative if these aren't competitive with the desktop alternatives of the same price range. I was thinking it would be great if I could spend around 600 or less and already get a good dac and amp combo to match with these

 

[PascalT]

Thanks for the review. do you think it's a great upgrade choice for my 595s? Better choice over say HD650s or a high-end grado? I really like the sound i get from them but when I get upgradeitis I need something to buy.

 

[donunus]

I am about to listen to the hd650 and compare them to these with my headfive amp and a ray samuels hornet M. I think the guy bringing his hd650 over will also bring a modded ipod so I'll post results when that happens this January. I really like the sennheiser 595s sound by the way and there are times I still prefer them over the ad2000. It seems that the ad2k edges over the 595s when more dynamics and transient response are called for. The 595s are still more neutral though

 

[donunus]

hehehe a lot of times, the ad2ks blow the 595s away though

 

[big-ban]

@donunus: Magandang araw!

First of all let me start by saying that it was very interesting following your decision process and reading your enthusiasm when you finally got your AD2000.

I also own the AD2000 and love them very much. I used to own the Sennheiser HD650 which I bought in 2003. While I liked them very much, the urge to try something new grew in 2006. Keep in mind that my HD650 '03 differed quite a bit from recent HD650s in a way that they were even darker and more relaxed. Sennheiser must have changed something with the production of their flagship can and several other people agree with me on this. The difference in direct comparison was blatant.
Anyway - that said, I didn't quite like the AD2000 at first since they sounded overly harsh in the upper mids. That was down to the fact that I was so used to the HD650s sound and to the fact that I used a suboptimal sound card back then (Terratec Aureon 5.1 Sky). As soon as I upgraded my source, the AD2000 transformed into a much more neutral and natural headphone. Since then the HD650 started to lose out on headtime. Their veiled signature and comparatively bloated bass started to draw me away from them and more towards the AD2000.
I just began to grow accustomed to the brighter and more forward signature which makes music so lively, immediate and transparent on the AD2000. I ended up selling my HD650. I've heard recent HD650s in comparison to the AD2000 and while the two are roughly in the same technical league, I just couldn't stand the soft and slow nature of the HD650 anymore. They do have something appealing with certain music, their warm signature can be very seductive with acoustic and jazz music. That said, the AD2000 also performs very well with these genres, but they really excel at energetic and dynamic music, like Metal or Rock.
No other headphone did for me what the AD2000 did. The DT880 and K701 had impressive soundstaging and detail, but the DT880 was too bright, fatiguing, overall thin and lifeless. It was similar with the K701, giving me the feeling of being able to observe the music in a detached way from a good distance, instead of being emotionally connected with it, as the AD2000 does for me. Overall, the K701 wasn't very well suited to energetic music to my ears. I began to notice that I just don't like analytical sound. So: Euphony for the win!

Then I recently got a used W5000 (actually F5005, it had been Fitz modded by the previous owner) for a good price and was kind of expecting them to beat the AD2000 clearly. They didn't. They are simply different. To my ears, the F5005 has wider and deeper (!) soundstaging, the bass extends a little deeper, but the mids have a bit of a dry and unnatural feeling to them with some recordings. They do layering and seperation better and provide a little more detail due to having more treble energy, BUT... they don't sound as natural as the AD2000 does. They don't have the PRAT, the drive, the immediacy, the coherence of the AD2000's presentation. It's also more of a K701-like detached way of listening to music, but not quite the same. The F5005 does a few things better but loses out on other points compared to the AD2000. Overall, I'd rank them at about the same level. The F5005 might be slightly better in a technical way, but technically better doesn't automatically equal to "more fun". To me, the ability of conveying emotion can make up for being inferior in an objective, technical way and it sums up to the two headphones being roughly "on the same level".
It's important to me that a headphone grabs me emotionally and the AD2000 still manages to do that in a special way. Other headphones do singular things better than the AD2000 but it still gets most things right and just sounds great with anything. They're certainly one of the best allround headphones if you can deal with their slight peak in the upper mids. I don't have any problems with it, to me they sound almost totally natural, but some others, like Nickchen, seem to feel very strongly about that peak. I can't really understand why he dislikes them so vehemently, but I apparently just hear differently. I still respect his opinion though. They can't be for everyone.
Then again it's a matter of HOW exactly you want to listen to music. More in a detached analytical way or rather in an immediate, energetic kind of way. For those looking primarily for impressive soundstaging and the utmost detail retieval, the AD2000 isn't their can. For those who want to be with the music, for those who love pace, drive and emotion, yet do not want to lose out on soundstage (as they would with the most Grados), the AD2000 is a very good choice.

So, I just wanted to let you know about my experience with other headphones in comparison to the AD2000 since you're at a crossing where you're already considering alternatives. There's no headphone (yet) that does what the AD2000 does for me, even though there are few shortcomings that other headphones don't have.
But I encourage you strongly to listen to other headphones as well. Give it time and maybe you're gonna realize some day just how good the AD2000 is.

Oh and for the record: I have an L3000 coming my way

I've been absolutely drooling for the past few weeks, can't wait to finally trying them. It'll be kind of interesting if they'll be able to take the AD2000's place of the most emotionally involving headphone.

Benjamin