[tom hankins]

Congrats on a beautiful, beautiful, amp!!

To this day I believe these amps to be one of the best sounding, looking, and user friendly peices of audio gear I have ever heard or owned at any price range. The "Holy Grail" of headphone amps.

 

[rhythmdevils]

hearing the SDS balanced with the 650's was a moment i will never forget. the world will never come close to being that dynamic

 

[ken36]

Congrats. Wow. Wish I had the space and a more hefty wallet.

 

[mattigol]

It's certainly an interesting idea that certain headphones scale beyond imagination, if only enough ingenuity (and cash) is driving them. I guessed that HD650 might benefit from amps up to the 2000 US$ level, but certainly not beyond, effectively turning these 300 US$ phones into veritable giant killers. OTOH, as much as I love Singlepower amps, and accepting the fact that we all have different budgets to play with, I have a bit of a hard time with the concept of a 9-15.000 dollar headphone amp.

While the outside of the SDS-XLR certainly looks impressive in a Humvee kind of way, but I would really love to see its insides.

My congrats on your purchase, PATB. I am glad it gives you the bliss you were hoping for.

 

[purk]

Quote:

hearing the SDS balanced with the 650's was a moment i will never forget. the world will never come close to being that dynamic

Yes, the combo was very impressive. Impressive at all counts.

 

[roblo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PATB I am getting repeated PMs on this, so might as well post an answer here. Last time I checked, the stock version starts at around $9K and can go as high as your wallet allows. Each upgrade requires 2x the parts (this consists of two separate tube amplifiers), so it can get pricey real quick. There are much less expensive versions that probably get you most of the way there. I read that the balanced Supra starts at around $3800 and the balanced MPX3 is even cheaper. E-mail Mikhail at info@singlepower.com for accurate pricing info. ---Pat

Cheers, I didn't want to bug Mikhail about something im not going to be able to afford for the forseeable future. Oh well maybe one day.

Rob

 

[GoRedwings19]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol While the outside of the SDS-XLR certainly looks impressive in a Humvee kind of way, but I would really love to see its insides. My congrats on your purchase, PATB. I am glad it gives you the bliss you were hoping for.

I have seen the insides of a SDS-XLR. It's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

But is it good enough for an amp which is hev90 cost ratio, only you could determine that for yourself.

Would I get one? Well if it was smaller I would. But being the size that is I will hold out longer all thought threads like these aren't helping much

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 But is it good enough for an amp which is hev90 cost ratio, only you could determine that for yourself.

Curious minds want to know!

Quote:

Would I get one? Well if it was smaller I would. But being the size that is I will hold out longer...

No need to hold out, dude! As I understand it, Mikhail can make an SDS-XLR in 2 standard size Maestro ZR cases. No need for the 18"x18"x9" monster cases. It will even save you some money.

Quote:

...though threads like these aren't helping much

Whatever do you mean by that?

 

[GoRedwings19]

wayne>I must admit while I find it difficult to justify a headamp starting at 9k I am intrigued about hirsch's comments about it with that and the Rs-1.

It could be argued that any headphone would scale behind that kind of amplification and while most headfiers would probaly want to use a Qualia or R-10 some might prefer the combo with a Ps-1 or L3k i have no interest in doing that.

I have yet to hear a balanced rig or a SP amp and to be truthful I am not keen on the Rs-1's with SS amps. I fnd it just not suit my preferences and find the arguments against the Rs-1 sound+SS to be relatively correct.

But even as it seems total lunacy I notice most headfiers using this amp use the hd650's so it offers a glimmer of hope for the enjoyment I get from the Rs-1's. I do not want to start an argument as to which scales or sounds better or spending a large amount of money on headphones which cost less than $700. I have a set of 650's as well which I hear do very well with the SDS-xlr

There is only 1 headfier I know in the Uk which has one yet I do not know if heas had it specifically voiced for his Ps-1's as I read that Mikhail can tune it to the headphone you prefer. Maybe either Mikhail or the SDS-xlr owners could chime in.

Also on a slightly off topic note. Could the Es-1 be voiced to my specs if I decided to order that at the same time?

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 Also on a slightly off topic note. Could the Es-1 be voiced to my specs if I decided to order that at the same time?

There's a recent thread where a guy said he got the ES-1 tuned to suit the HE90s, so I would assume that to be the case.

 

[aznsensazian]

Very Nice!! I wish i could be able to listen to this amp, im sure it blows all other amps out of the water. Maybe, if i can make the national meet, i will be able to listen to this fabulous amp.

 

[Rob N]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 There is only 1 headfier I know in the Uk which has one yet I do not know if heas had it specifically voiced for his Ps-1's as I read that Mikhail can tune it to the headphone you prefer. Maybe either Mikhail or the SDS-xlr owners could chime in.

I presume you mean me.Mine is not voiced for PS-1's it's just had the operating points for the tubes set so that's it's on the warm side.With different tubes you can alter this more.

Wayne - my SDS-XLR is in the smaller Maestro cases,its still pretty big

The smaller Maestro cased SDS-XLR is the only one that can be shipped by USPS by air as the full sided one is over the size limit.I don't know whether other carriers would be able to ship by air for this size of package,if not then it would have to be shipped by sea.

 

[Dimitris]

What is the weight of that thing?It looks like you need to counter balance the stuff around your apartment!

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob N Wayne - my SDS-XLR is in the smaller Maestro cases,its still pretty big The smaller Maestro cased SDS-XLR is the only one that can be shipped by USPS by air as the full sided one is over the size limit.I don't know whether other carriers would be able to ship by air for this size of package,if not then it would have to be shipped by sea.

Thanks, Rob. This is not an issue for me. Mikhail will ship it to my freight forwarder in Miami, and it will go on a barge from there. It will actually be fairly reasonable to get it here in terms of shipping costs.

 

[ayt999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob N The smaller Maestro cased SDS-XLR is the only one that can be shipped by USPS by air as the full sided one is over the size limit.I don't know whether other carriers would be able to ship by air for this size of package,if not then it would have to be shipped by sea.

well, what's a few weeks to ship it when it's an SDS-XLR.