[AncientWsidom]

Quote:

But the FA-011 plus HA-02 bundle is sth not to be missed. Too tempting!!

Your sound will always be as good as the weakest link, in your case definitely the DAC. It won't matter if you have the best headphone and best amp, if your source is no good, nothing would sound good. LFF said it himself in the review, crap comes in, crap goes out.
 
I reckon invest in a DAC, buy a cheap amp (e9 was said to still work decently with those phones),  and in a later stage upgrade your amp.
 

 

[matbhuvi]

Quote:

Hey FA-011 owners,
does anyone know if the Xonar STX can drive them properly?

oh yes.

 

[AncientWsidom]

Quote:

oh yes.

How would it compare with the HA-02?
I mean-
STX => HA-02 => FA-011
vs
STX => FA-011
 
Also anyone know if gdaudio got a return policy? (not talking about the 1 year warranty)
 

 

[DefQon]

Wow, received my FA-011's today, fastest time shipping ever from GD-Audiobase took only 15 days, about 2 weeks 

 
Didn't have much time listening to them, besides a 15 second preview with some Beethoven, fast drum and bass, rap, and hardcore, and man these do make me remember the time when I auditioned the HD 650 while ago in some aspects sound wise. It's hard to describe the sound on these from a few minute impressions...which I will get back to lately, and from the quick impressions I can tell you that LFF wasn't lying about the wonderful sound on these.
 
What I did notice, is that, these do require amping, at 160 ohm by Zune and E11 sound a bit compressed and soundstage quite low (hopefully burn-in cures this), so once I get the time to listen to these thoroughly with some tube amps, my portable voyager amp and couple Class A amp's currently in build, I will update my impressions.
 
Just a side note: 
Clamping force is a bit too tight, the foam inside the earpad has a uneven and uncircular hole cut out which I will fix later on, box that these came in were abused a fair bit but nothing damaged or missing inside. After some impressions after burn in time/amping I will be modding these, (detachable cable, replacing internal wires with pure silver cable) and might have to put some dampening material inside the earpad so my ear doesn't touch the driver all time.
 
What really surprised me apart from its sound performance/cost ratio is the shipping time on these, ordered on the 8th, shipped out on 10th with a tracking number and received today 25th, which is only bit over 2 weeks. My previous orders with GD, (Tau, Eterna's, DBA-002 and Omega) took more then 1 month to arrive. So its a thumbs up for me seeing that GD-Audiobase's shipping and postage service has improved quite a bit.
 
Here's a quick picture snag off my phone. 
 
Sorry you have to look sideways 

 

[AncientWsidom]

Quote:

What I did notice, is that, these do require amping, at 160 ohm by Zune and E11 sound a bit compressed and soundstage quite low (hopefully burn-in cures this), so once I get the time to listen to these thoroughly with some tube amps, my portable voyager amp and couple Class A amp's currently in build, I will update my impressions.
 

Cool keep us posted on your impressions, I wonder what sort of ~$100 amp will be able to do these justice...
 
I ordered mine the day before yesterday, hopefully I get them within a couple of weeks too

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Cool keep us posted on your impressions, I wonder what sort of ~$100 amp will be able to do these justice...
 
I ordered mine the day before yesterday, hopefully I get them within a couple of weeks too

Call me bullsh1t, but the sound is changing on these.
 
Just came back from a meeting with these playing through my E11 (high gain, no equalizer preset setting) the whole time at home.
 
Man ohh mannnn.......
 
The bass on these has tightened a bit as well as being a bit more punchy at the same time, guess burn-in are really required on these cans for it to shine and its been only what? Bit over 1 1/2 hours? Can't wait till these actually burn-in at over 200 hours (my burn-in standard) Playing "Armin Van Buuren - Fine Without You Feat Jennifer Rene (Sied Van Riel Remix)" it feels as if I'm at a club with the sound pumping nice and loud around me, also Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" series makes me kick back and relax with my eyes closed while the sweet, sweeettt Piano tunes flow through my ears and into my brain, sounds so beautiful. Can't wait till I get back at these with a bit more time in listening to more of music. 
 
What I want to see improved over break-in period, the highs sound bit too harsh at the moment, hopefully this smooths out with more burn-in time also mids are a tad tiny bit recessed, again these are just from hour and half burn-in and 10 minutes worth of listening to 3 genres from my Zune/amped. 
 

 

[jailhouselounge]

Hello, I'm wondering if this pocket amp http://www.electric-avenues.com/amplifiers.html is sufficient to run these headphones or should I just get fa 003. (sorry i'm new to all this)
Thank you.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Hello, I'm wondering if this pocket amp http://www.electric-avenues.com/amplifiers.html is sufficient to run these headphones or should I just get fa 003. (sorry i'm new to all this)
Thank you.

I don't have experience with the Pa2v2 amp, but it should be able to power it, just only thing is that it might not push the headphones to its full potential. The FA-003 is a neutral sounding headphone (lower impedence at 64ohm which is much easier to power and drive then these which are at 160ohm). Depends on what sound preference you like, you want something fun, fast, tight punchy bass with good treble and mids, you go with the FA-011, if you want something neutral (sound intended to be which maybe dull and boring to some people's taste) then you go for the FA-003 which are at a bit higher cost of $184 shipped.

 

[jailhouselounge]

oh ghee, I guess I'll just grab a tube amp D:

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

oh ghee, I guess I'll just grab a tube amp D:

Yeah that's what I have my FA-011's plugged into at the moment burning-in. The E11 needs to be charged, and can't be used whilst doing that, since I'm going to leave this sucker on for 250 hours straight of burn-in my Rockgrotto modded 12AU7 tube amp will do the job since its running off the mains.

 

[LFF]

I suggest anyone with a little DIY skill and $40.00 USD (or $150.00 USD if you buy it built) look into the Objective 2 amp.
 
I found out about that little marvel today and the measurements look VERY impressive. If anything, I can imagine the sound will be dead neutral and totally accurate while being beefy enough to handle the FA-011.
 
It is definitely on my "I NEED THIS!!!!" list.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

I suggest anyone with a little DIY skill and $40.00 USD (or $150.00 USD if you buy it built) look into the Objective 2 amp.
 
I found out about that little marvel today and the measurements look VERY impressive. If anything, I can imagine the sound will be dead neutral and totally accurate while being beefy enough to handle the FA-011.
 
It is definitely on my "I NEED THIS!!!!" list.

When I go broke, I'm blaming you LFF.

 
BTW, link to the kit? 

 

 

[greenrolaids]

so, if i was on the fence.
 
with dt990 600ohm's
 
and Pro 900 ultrasones and 
 
The Fa-011's
 
will the fa-011's compete with the other two or are the others in a much higher class.
 
I am planning on getting the little dot mkIII if i get the dt990's
 
and will get the e7/e9 combo if i get either the pro 900's or the fa-011.
 
I know its all subjective. 
 
I am a newb in the headphone world.. i only have the Ultimate ears Superfi 5pro's and Vsonic Gr07's.
 
The Gr07's kill the ultimate ears btw.
 

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 
 
The Gr07's kill the ultimate ears btw.
 

The GR07's are a very neutral pair of sounding earphones, one of the best in its price range, the super fi 5 are bit coloured.

 

[greenrolaids]

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The GR07's are a very neutral pair of sounding earphones, one of the best in its price range, the super fi 5 are bit coloured.

plus i was dumb and got the Super fi 5eb pros. 
 
The extended bass of the 5eb's is there at the expense of the mid range quality..