[Jorg]

Well yesterday my friend which is an audio dealer offered me to change my DHA3000 for Manley 300B or ASL TWIN HEAD MK III (he likes exotic audio stuff and that DHA3000 seems exotic for sure

). I visited him with my stuff today (R10, DHA3000 and PowerPlant P500). The source was Krell kps-25sc (damn it looked georgeous).

First, I tried the Twin Head. He told me that it used Sofia 2A3 (I hope the spelling is correct) tubes. Well, I don't think it's the best match for R10 - the bass was bloated. Everything else seemed to be right, especially the smooth highs, but I couldn't stand that bass. We had a pair of HD650 there and it was a much better combo. Very sweet one for the price.

Manley used some TJ 300B tubes (they're called a bit different, but I don't remember). This one was a much better pair for R10, bass was much tighter, better separation, midrange, but Twin Head had smoother highs for sure. But still it's a much better match with R10 than the Twin Head. The HD650 was like a... well it wasn't near the level of R10 in any regard... to my ears.

And then I took a listen to my DHA3000 and got a big smile on my face

The EQ does wonders and I understood that I missed something with the Manley. Sure Manley had that tube sound and I missed it a bit, but the tonal signature was much more important for me. And the bass

No way Manley and epecially Twin Head can better it in this regard (and it has only about 15 hours on it!).

I refused my friend to change the amplifiers and drove to another friend that wanted to audition my system, He wasn't familiar with headphones and was very impressed when R10 overdid by his words his 30000$ system. He was even more impressed when he found his wife crying while listening to her favorite song Bjork - All is full of love. She said that it was like she was listening to it for the first time. Well I was already going to leave him, but saw a strange funny box called HEDD192 and asked my friend what is it. He smiled and suggested me to try it. Damn, I didn't expect it to make such difference!

It was connected with coaxial cables to the DHA3000 and only did digitall distortion of the sound. But distortion in a good way, like the tubes or vinyl. I was very impressed with it and my next purschase would be it for sure! That's the last component I need in my system.

Now a few words about R10 in general. It got a lot of attention past several months and I wondered if it's really that good. I owned many good headphones, but I feel that only L3000 is a good competitor. R10's strengths are comfort, midrange and soundstage. L3000's strengths are highs, warmer sound and deeper lows. In stock form to my ears L3000 is inferior to R10, but I see how it's pads can be improved (be a bit fatter like R10's) and it will improve the sound a lot (soundstage, bass less bloated, separation) to most ears. Still it will miss R10's midrange and will be a bit colder than with stock pads. If I had only two criteria: sound and price, I would choose L3000 for sure and modd it's pads for 50-100 bucks with superb leather. This way L3000 in my opinion is in R10's league, but for me there is one very important criteria - comfort. And R10 has better comfort. L3000 should be very heavily modded to reach it's comfort level, so I chose R10. But L3000 has a much better price/performance ratio and with limited budget it's the way to go.

Now I want that crane song hedd192.

BTW here is the pic of my setup

:

 

[Wmcmanus]

Thanks, Jorg, for such an interesting post!

Have you tried the L3000's with the DHA3000. It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison with the R10's and L3000's with this amm since it has 2 headphone jacks! I've always been impressed by the handsome looks of the DHA3000, but have heard such precious little about it sonic abilities. What distinguished it from the other amps that you had on hand? How would you describe it's overall tonal qualities?

Also, have you tried the modification of the CD3000 pads to fit your L3000's as you were thinking of doing?

 

[gpalmer]

Nice post, I just officially became a member of team LeatherHead today and it's good to hear some praise for them. I've always felt that they were underappreciated around Head-Fi.

 

[Jorg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Thanks, Jorg, for such an interesting post! Have you tried the L3000's with the DHA3000. It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison with the R10's and L3000's with this amm since it has 2 headphone jacks! I've always been impressed by the handsome looks of the DHA3000, but have heard such precious little about it sonic abilities. What distinguished it from the other amps that you had on hand? How would you describe it's overall tonal qualities? Also, have you tried the modification of the CD3000 pads to fit your L3000's as you were thinking of doing?

Thanks, Wayne.

Unfortunately my friend sold them due to financial reasons and I wasn't able to try them on DHA3000 and I didn't try that CD3000 modd. I hope to visit Japan in summer and may be I'll have a chance to try it there.

At my friend's place we had only Manley 300B, Twin Head and RA-1. In fact, the comparison isn't fair, because DHA3000 is source+amp like grace m901/m902 (although at a higher level I think, due to use of very high quality internal components, like Blackgates f.e.). And I can't give the answer to your question in principal, because it's sound changes with the EQ. In general, it's a warm amp, but doesn't have that "tube lushness". I want to get it using HEDD192. I don't like tubey sound on all songs and HEDD192 offers that control - you turn the ditortion ON only when you want it. Another thing I want to say is what EQ settings I use. I've read in it's manual that EQ is +/-4 dB for both Treble and Bass. I'm a Grado guy, so here are my approximate usuall settings for R10 and RS-1

Pop/Rock:
R10: +2.5 dB Bass, +1 dB Treble
RS-1: 0 db Bass, -4 dB Treble

Classical/Female Jazz:
R10: -1 dB Bass, -1 dB Treble
RS-1: -2 dB Bass, -4 dB Treble

Electronica:
R10: +3 dB Bass, +1.5 dB Treble
RS-1: +1 dB Bass, +1 dB Treble

I also want to say that DHA3000's EQ differs a lot from other EQ's I've used. F.e. I feel that foobar EQ degrades the sound when I use it. May be it's suited for speakers? DHA3000's EQ can be used both to compliment the qualities of the headphone and to tune the music.

Gpalmer, congrats on a great choice! I promiss you that L3000 will be the flavor of the month once, like R10/Qualia 010 now. Remember the times when R10 was considered to be inferior to HP1000 by most and HP-1 was selling for 1500$?

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorg Gpalmer, congrats on a great choice! I promiss you that L3000 will be the flavor of the month once, like R10/Qualia 010 now. Remember the times when R10 was considered to be inferior to HP1000 by most and HP-1 was selling for 1500$?

Heh, I think the day of the L-3000 is over. I think they have stopped making any more and most of them are sold out so I don't think that very many folks will ever get to hear them which is a pity since I don't think they ever got a fair shake. Hey, their loss, my gain!