[ruthieandjohn]

I'll be sure to let you know when the Schiit Shootout takes place.

Argghhh... a BROWNOUT is impending!  That's Offal!!

 

[zabzaf]

Fed Ex delivered my Schiit gear a day early... spent all of last night listening to a range of music; Gorillaz, Moby, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, The White Stripes (and yes, 7 nation army is FANTASTIC!!), Led Zeppelin and best of all, Norah Jones. Coming from a Asus STX (which was pretty good on it's own) the Bifrost and Valhalla 2 paired with the HD650 is just freakin fantastic! The lows fill your senses, the midst are lush and the highs are secular but not bright. I am so very happy that I took the plunge. Norah Jones's voice can cover almost any range and the combo of the Schiit stack and the Senn's just make every note better. The sound is just full and ever present compared to the STX. At low to mid volumes, the STX holds it's own, but at higher volumes they bath you in the music, there is no comparison. Extremely pleased with the results. Highly recommended.

I would love to hear that combo. Valhalla has always intrigued me. Congrats on the new gear. Nothing's bette than when FedEx shows up EARLY!

We are having a mini meet-up Sunday evening at my place...actually more like JEspina456 wants to hear Gungnir with Mjolnir and the Audeze LCD-3. You're welcome to come by.

 

[zabzaf]

Argghhh... a BROWNOUT is impending!  That's Offal!!

Nooooo!

 

[timkwhite]

We are having a mini meet-up Sunday evening at my place...actually more like JEspina456 wants to hear Gungnir with Mjolnir and the Audeze LCD-3. You're welcome to come by.

 
Sounds great but I don't think I can get out of here this week. Heading out of town on business for a few days next week so Sunday will be spent gaining brownie points with the family. Soon though!
 
Enjoy!

 

[tonykaz]

Hello Timkwhite ,
 
Well , you're a Schiit man now , like the rest of us , I suppose .   What is Asus stx ? , not that I want one .   
I think you are the person that loaned me your SE 535 to demo Abarthman's Sony Amp , at the Detroit Show , thank you again .  
I too am dazzled by the Schiit Amp ( Asgard 2 ) , I have one of their DACs and a JDS DAC , I'm waiting on the YGGY but may just go with the Antelope DAC technologies instead ( or the MSB Analog ) .
 I'm happy that you're happy , nothing like being satisfied , buyer remorse is a nightmare .   Good news is you can recover strong $$$ if you re-sell on ebay to upgrade .  ReSale Value is critical for any purchase ( to my thinking ) , it allows me to advance without worry of collecting a closet full of stuff ( as happened before ebay and the internet ) .  
  I suppose I'd like to mention that now-a-days I'm enjoying the Music Hobby much more than I ever did , over the years .   I began selling the stuff at the High Fidelty Workshop ( 1960s ) , I imported British Stuff thru the 1970s , retailed in the 1980s  and manufactured related items since then .  
 As an Importer of Superb British Audio  and Retailer of Superb USA stuff I'm quite adjusted to high performance levels and not at all accepting of lower performing pieces .  That said I'll mention that I'm discovering the Schiit Amp to equal the best sounding Amps I've ever represented and the Sennheiser easily equal the finest Loudspeakers I've ever been involved with .   So I too am a Schiit Sennheiser man .  I came to this pairing on the recomendations of our Tyll & Steve G , that was a couple of years ago , I still think the pairing is about as good as dynamic systems can get ( the SD800s are a bit nicer )  it's gonna cost major $$$$ to bump-up performance of my systems .  
 As time passes , I'll be happy to learn how your SE 535s fare when compared with you're new system .  
 A curious thing about Audio is that we seem to adjust to what we have and end up craving better .  That is what is happening to me now . I'm exploring the ProAudio Segment and feel tempted to up-grade a bit .  
  Thank you for sharing , you will love your new stuff , how could you not ? it's great stuff !  
Tony in Michigan 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

I am now the proud owner of zabzaf's Custom Cable #3.  It is a red and black balanced XLR cable that connects my red and black Sennheiser HDVD 800 DAC/amp to my red and black Sennheiser HD 800 headphones.
 

 
Not only did he provide me with a cable, he also provided me with a single-ended adapter that fits onto the XLR plug, which allows me to feed into the single ended output of the amp, and do rapid A/B comparisons of single-ended vs. balanced connection.
 
Oh, and it sounds WONDERFUL.  I compared the single ended adapter version to the stock Sennheiser and found that zabzaf's cable sounded better... faster and a bit brighter.
 
I then used the cable in its balanced mode.  The sound stage opened up, the tone became darker, and any bass which might have been light became more substantial, though never boomy or bloomy.
 
I have many more hours of comparative listening to do before I can further characterize the nature of the balanced cable.  But I can say that I am DELIGHTED with it.

 

[tonykaz]

Uuuuuuhhhhhhhaaa , very nice ,
 
Hello Mr. Abarthman ,   
  I just went to a Schoolcraft Noon Concert and heard Dave Bennett , never been before , beautiful venue , are you aware of this place ? 
I bought one of Mr.Bennett's CDs "don't be that way" which may be the best recorded CD I own .   As a musical man does any of this make sense ?  I'm feeling that I just discovered a vein of super good stuff .  
 
Tony Kaz 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Uuuuuuhhhhhhhaaa , very nice ,

Hello Mr. Abarthman ,   
  I just went to a Schoolcraft Noon Concert and heard Dave Bennett , never been before , beautiful venue , are you aware of this place ? 
I bought one of Mr.Bennett's CDs "don't be that way" which may be the best recorded CD I own .   As a musical man does any of this make sense ?  I'm feeling that I just discovered a vein of super good stuff .  

Tony Kaz 

No I don't know him. But I really am interested... Best recorded CD means a lot!

 

[krikor]

You guys are killing me - I've got to get my Schiit together!
 
Timkwhite - since the meet up I've been eyeing those same B-stock units at Amazon, and was even considering that Valhalla as it seems the best match for my HD-650s. There will definitely be some Schiit in my future.
 
The only reason I've been holding off is that I'm a backer of the LH Labs Geek Pulse X DAC/amp which should be coming my way next month (fingers crossed). Gotta say I prefer Schiit's policy of one fair price for their products, no specials/black friday deals/etc., compared to runaround of perks that the crowd-funding Geek Pulse has gone through. BUT, I'll have a hopefully killer DAC and balanced amp combo for the next meet (which may end up on the auction block for some Schitt instead).
 
The meet-up also gave me an opportunity to compare my Beyer DT990 to the DT880 (both 600 ohms) and I came away preferring the DT880. Just grabbed a Manufaktur all-black edition at great price from Massdrop.com, so I'll  have those for the next meet.
 
Now I need to get to work on some balanced mods and cables for my cans... zabzaf, what are you using for wire if you don't mind my asking?
 
I wonder how much in sales and a boost to economy our little meet-up generated?

 

[timkwhite]

tonykaz,
 
I am really, really enjoying the new gear. The high impedance headphones pair extremely well with the Valhalla 2. Extremely pleased with my purchase. And you are quite welcome for the SE535 audition... listening to them now with a little Led Zeppelin.
 
The Asus STX is a sound card for my PC. It has a DAC and headphone AMP built into it but I have now bypassed it and am just using it for the s/pdif coaxial out while bypassing all of the cards built in processing. The advantage of using the card over the built in audio is that Asus provides proper WASAPI and AISO drivers so that J.River can easily output unaltered bits to the Bifrost DAC. Very happy with the ease of getting it all setup.
 
 
kayandjohn,
 
Those are some good looking cables and compliment your affinity for all things red quite well. I would love to have an A-B comparison of the balanced vs single ended on your 800/800 combo. Congrats! I am also planning on building a set of balanced cables for my HD650's, just for something to do. The next meet I will have to see how they work in balanced mode on your Senn 800 amp and zabzaf's balanced schiit stack. Can't wait.
 
 
Krikor,
 
The V2 is a wonderful match made in heaven with the HD650's. I wholeheartedly endorse this combo. I am only a few days and hours into the pairing, but I have a hard time imagining any large improvements with other amps. Improvements to be found? To be sure yes, but nothing that would be worth the cost, at least not at this time.
 
The T1's may be my next HP but the less expensive DT series intrigues me as well. I will have to be sure to sample some other Beyer products in the near future.
 
Good luck with the Geek Pulse X and let us know your thoughts after you receive it!

 

[krikor]

Forgot to mention, I'm also finally getting around to building my Bottlehead Crack with Speedball Upgrade which is supposed to be an ideal amp for the HD-650. HOPEFULLY I will have it done for the next meet up.

 

[tonykaz]

Hello TimKWhite ,
 
I'm very happy for you , it's nice to hear about something good happening out there .  
  Personally , when I landed with my Schiit / Sennheiser stuff ( the Reviewers considered it to be entry level Audiophile Headphone level ) , I felt it to be the finest Music System I've ever owned ( I've owned superb stuff over the years ) .  
  Today , I'm still amazed at how well my little system performs so I'm in no hurry to up-grade any part of it .  
 But , I'm sneaking peeks at ….
 
Tony in Michigan  

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Speaking of Schiit, in response to my query, Grado recommends the Schitt LYR2, as well as their own RA-1, for their headphones, particularly for the top-end PS1000e to which aspire and hope to have for our next Meet.

And yes, I will also bring both balanced and single-ended cables with the Sennheiser HD 800 and HDVD 800 for comparison.

 

[tonykaz]

Grado , 
I'm amazed at how many people own these things .  It's a dynamic isn't it ?  
Lyr 2 is supposed to be for the high voltage requiring planers , hmm , very curious and interesting .   
Lyr 2 would be your first Schiit , wouldn't it ? , you get to roll tubes then , which I understand is a hobby in and of itself . So you have a number of things involved : Schiit , Cabling , a new Flagship headphone , tube rolling , four explorations at one time , what fun .  Our own Tyll has said that he's spending a couple of days tinkering with tube rolling ( a couple of months ago ) , said he had a good time with it , it's quite fun .
Tony Kaz 

 

[zabzaf]

  I am now the proud owner of zabzaf's Custom Cable #3.  It is a red and black balanced XLR cable that connects my red and black Sennheiser HDVD 800 DAC/amp to my red and black Sennheiser HD 800 headphones.
 

 
Not only did he provide me with a cable, he also provided me with a single-ended adapter that fits onto the XLR plug, which allows me to feed into the single ended output of the amp, and do rapid A/B comparisons of single-ended vs. balanced connection.
 
Oh, and it sounds WONDERFUL.  I compared the single ended adapter version to the stock Sennheiser and found that zabzaf's cable sounded better... faster and a bit brighter.
 
I then used the cable in its balanced mode.  The sound stage opened up, the tone became darker, and any bass which might have been light became more substantial, though never boomy or bloomy.
 
I have many more hours of comparative listening to do before I can further characterize the nature of the balanced cable.  But I can say that I am DELIGHTED with it.

You are too kind. It was a pleasure making this cable for you.
 
 

  You guys are killing me - I've got to get my Schiit together!
 
Timkwhite - since the meet up I've been eyeing those same B-stock units at Amazon, and was even considering that Valhalla as it seems the best match for my HD-650s. There will definitely be some Schiit in my future.
 
The only reason I've been holding off is that I'm a backer of the LH Labs Geek Pulse X DAC/amp which should be coming my way next month (fingers crossed). Gotta say I prefer Schiit's policy of one fair price for their products, no specials/black friday deals/etc., compared to runaround of perks that the crowd-funding Geek Pulse has gone through. BUT, I'll have a hopefully killer DAC and balanced amp combo for the next meet (which may end up on the auction block for some Schitt instead).
 
The meet-up also gave me an opportunity to compare my Beyer DT990 to the DT880 (both 600 ohms) and I came away preferring the DT880. Just grabbed a Manufaktur all-black edition at great price from Massdrop.com, so I'll  have those for the next meet.
 
Now I need to get to work on some balanced mods and cables for my cans... zabzaf, what are you using for wire if you don't mind my asking?
 
I wonder how much in sales and a boost to economy our little meet-up generated?

I've used both Canare and Mogami cables for my balanced cables. I find the Canare carries a much more full-bodied, heavier sound. The Mogami, on the other hand, slightly thinner, closer to neutral? I'm not to good with the audiophile buzz words...PM me and I can get you the exact cable specs if you like. I've also found success with Neutrik balanced connectors for full size connections and Redco for the mini XLRs.
 
I think our little meet has been good for the likes of Sennheiser, Schiit, Audeze, Amazon, etc.
 

Speaking of Schiit, in response to my query, Grado recommends the Schitt LYR2, as well as their own RA-1, for their headphones, particularly for the top-end PS1000e to which aspire and hope to have for our next Meet.

And yes, I will also bring both balanced and single-ended cables with the Sennheiser HD 800 and HDVD 800 for comparison.

Can't wait to hear them!
 
 

  Forgot to mention, I'm also finally getting around to building my Bottlehead Crack with Speedball Upgrade which is supposed to be an ideal amp for the HD-650. HOPEFULLY I will have it done for the next meet up.

Almost bought one this weekend but quickly realized I have no high impedance cans...