neilvg
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2004
- Posts
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Wow, I'm slow to find things on this forum these days. I'll have the APL NWO 3.0 GO (what a pretentious name!) soon. We'll see just how overkill it is for headphones or not when I compare the differences I hear using my EMM with speakers/headphones and the APL with speakers/headphones.
I do have to thank Spritzer for the XF2 recommendation. These tubes sound amazing in my ES2 and everything you have mentioned in terms of their characteristics seem spot on. The Bass does indeed have less bloom, but in its place comes a cleaner, and actually more impactful bass. This is what I was looking for, as the warm fuzzy lower end of the GE Fat Bottle tubes just seems a bit sloppy to me. The upper registers and the midrange are sweet and clean, with just enough of a 'tubey' nature to round out and warm up any harshness/sibilance that the HE90 can sometimes magnify. This allows me to actually listen at a slightly louder volume level which makes the bass even more impactful, which I like. Lastly, the headstage seems to be much larger in all directions, likely in part caused by the cleaner bass since now instrument separation is more clearly delineated, but not 'artificially' so.
I will likely reactivate my old NWO thread once I get the player (which should be very shortly now). So stay posted. As always, those who are local to me, you are invited to take part in the impressions process. You'll receive a PM.
Neil
I do have to thank Spritzer for the XF2 recommendation. These tubes sound amazing in my ES2 and everything you have mentioned in terms of their characteristics seem spot on. The Bass does indeed have less bloom, but in its place comes a cleaner, and actually more impactful bass. This is what I was looking for, as the warm fuzzy lower end of the GE Fat Bottle tubes just seems a bit sloppy to me. The upper registers and the midrange are sweet and clean, with just enough of a 'tubey' nature to round out and warm up any harshness/sibilance that the HE90 can sometimes magnify. This allows me to actually listen at a slightly louder volume level which makes the bass even more impactful, which I like. Lastly, the headstage seems to be much larger in all directions, likely in part caused by the cleaner bass since now instrument separation is more clearly delineated, but not 'artificially' so.
I will likely reactivate my old NWO thread once I get the player (which should be very shortly now). So stay posted. As always, those who are local to me, you are invited to take part in the impressions process. You'll receive a PM.
Neil