[x838nwy]

   
I wonder who makes great amps... 

 
Care to share some more impressions? You have a pretty kick-ass headphone selection to compare against.

 
Careful guys, this dude has an O2.

 

[grizzlybeast]

 
Careful guys, this dude has an O2.

 and ....

 

[dweaver]

What standalone music player is powerful enough to sufficiently drive the Z7?? 

I mentioned my players in my earlier posts...

 

[longboy]

You pay the low price and they ship to you when they have it in stock pre order fashion. Like amazon "buy now and we will ship when we have it in stock"

Price makes a difference to the buyers budget. I just put it out there incase someone was willing to wait.

I, for one, appreciate your thoughtfulness.

 

[dweaver]

  Just got my Z7. After taking some time for brain burn in to settle these sound great. I am not good at descriptions so I'll just say that at times the mids do sound a bit recessed but cranking up the volume just a little alleviates that problem. Using my Fiio e17 on 12db gain average volume is always around 15-17 depending on what the song demands.
 
Over all I am quite impressed with all the genres I have thrown at it. Ambient, Folk, Rock, Prog, and Jazz all seem to do fine. The only time I can say I was disappointed with the Z7's was on Breathe from Dark Side of the Moon. I felt like the mid bass bled into the David Gilmours vocals a bit too much giving his voice a weird character. The rest of the album sounded superb though.
 
These are just some rough impressions from day one with the headphone off of cheap gear so take my impressions as you will.

I tried Breathe from my AudioEnfine D1 DAC and found it sounded OK for me. Will have to try it from some other headphones as I have some time to see how it plays from other gear. Really like how this album sounds as a whole from the Z7.

 

[x838nwy]

 

 and ....

 
Since you asked… whenever an O2 owner asks questions like "who makes great amps" it generally turns out to be a rhetorical question - at least for the enquirer. If someone is genuinely interested in learning what other members generally regard as good/great amplifiers they merely have to use the search function for the answer. There are threads and threads on headphone amplifiers of all types and price range and since the enquiry is a general one, it is even simpler to find a general/typical/nominal answer. If the thousands of threads and replies on head-fi is insufficient, there are countless other forums into which the enquirer can delve to his/her satisfaction.
 
Additionally, most O2 owners (I actually own 2 of them myself) are familiar with its creator's story and general approach to amplifier design. I admire his talents, share some of his views and do find the O2 to be very good. Many others share this view but some do imho go too far and develop a belief that there exists no better amplifier on this planet than the O2 and these tend to be the ones who challenge others about the merits or apparent qualities of other amplifiers.
 
Coming back to the question posed by Ziode "I wonder who makes great amps." This was as a reply to hifiguy's statement that the Z7 would sound better with are really great amplifier [I'm paraphrasing here]. To me Ziode's question can appear to be a baiting question, waiting for someone to claim something is a great amplifier only to be shot down by nwavguy-like statements and claims.
 
The joke I tried (and perhaps failed) to pull was that Ziode's statement, combined with his ownership of the O2 made the above likely so people should be warned before shouting out what they think is a "great amp".
 
I may be stereotyping and implying that Ziode is one of those O2 fan boys who take things a little further than one should and if I my assumptions are wrong, I unreservedly apologize to Ziode and all others for polluting this thread. I am certain he means neither harm nor malice and never do I mean him any insult or have a low opinion of him as a fellow member of the forum. My statement was made as a tongue in cheek quip that also intended no offense on a personal level.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

The Polaris is a great amp but YMMV.

 

[dweaver]

   
Since you asked… whenever an O2 owner asks questions like "who makes great amps" it generally turns out to be a rhetorical question - at least for the enquirer. If someone is genuinely interested in learning what other members generally regard as good/great amplifiers they merely have to use the search function for the answer. There are threads and threads on headphone amplifiers of all types and price range and since the enquiry is a general one, it is even simpler to find a general/typical/nominal answer. If the thousands of threads and replies on head-fi is insufficient, there are countless other forums into which the enquirer can delve to his/her satisfaction.
 
Additionally, most O2 owners (I actually own 2 of them myself) are familiar with its creator's story and general approach to amplifier design. I admire his talents, share some of his views and do find the O2 to be very good. Many others share this view but some do imho go too far and develop a belief that there exists no better amplifier on this planet than the O2 and these tend to be the ones who challenge others about the merits or apparent qualities of other amplifiers.
 
Coming back to the question posed by Ziode "I wonder who makes great amps." This was as a reply to hifiguy's statement that the Z7 would sound better with are really great amplifier [I'm paraphrasing here]. To me Ziode's question can appear to be a baiting question, waiting for someone to claim something is a great amplifier only to be shot down by nwavguy-like statements and claims.
 
The joke I tried (and perhaps failed) to pull was that Ziode's statement, combined with his ownership of the O2 made the above likely so people should be warned before shouting out what they think is a "great amp".
 
I may be stereotyping and implying that Ziode is one of those O2 fan boys who take things a little further than one should and if I my assumptions are wrong, I unreservedly apologize to Ziode and all others for polluting this thread. I am certain he means neither harm nor malice and never do I mean him any insult or have a low opinion of him as a fellow member of the forum. My statement was made as a tongue in cheek quip that also intended no offense on a personal level.

I think he was teasing hifiguy528 because hifiguy528 works for woo audio or is an insider for them... thus who has great amps...

 

[x838nwy]

I think he was teasing hifiguy528 because hifiguy528 works for woo audio or is an insider for them... thus who has great amps...

I wasn't going to go there myself. So far, hifiguy528 has been keeping his Woo interests out of threads as far as i've seen. But yes, that may be what he was poking at.

But Woo Audio do make good amps, though.

 

[dweaver]

well I finally fessed up to my wife about my latest acquisition...
 
I said honey, put these on and tell me what you think. Then put on "Walk on By" from Diana Krall. Her eyes got really big and she had a look of awe on her face... So I said I take you like it...
 
She said that is amazing.
 
I then said good, now I have something to confess...
 
LOL

 

[thatBeatsguy]

  well I finally fessed up to my wife about my latest acquisition...
 
I said honey, put these on and tell me what you think. Then put on "Walk on By" from Diana Krall. Her eyes got really big and she had a look of awe on her face... So I said I take you like it...
 
She said that is amazing.
 
I then said good, now I have something to confess...
 
LOL

Nice. I like the subtle approach. 

 

[grizzlybeast]

  well I finally fessed up to my wife about my latest acquisition...
 
I said honey, put these on and tell me what you think. Then put on "Walk on By" from Diana Krall. Her eyes got really big and she had a look of awe on her face... So I said I take you like it...
 
She said that is amazing.
 
I then said good, now I have something to confess...
 
LOL

I like this post! 
 
When wifey approves its usually a winner. My favorite headphone she likes a lot. The rest I have tried have been hard to impress her. She liked the denon d2k a lot though too compared to the stuff I had at the time which wasn't much. She doesn't like any of the hifiman stuff or a lot of other ones I have had. But she likes bass a lot.  

 

[dweaver]

I hate to say this because its a bit crazy and a bit selfish. But I am afraid to take these to work because I am hoping to sell some of my gear to some of the guys in the office and I know if I bring this in that some of them will simply just not want my other headphones after listening to the Z7...
 
This might point more to how these pander to the common man but I know consumer nirvana when I hear it...

 

[dweaver]

 
I like this post! 
 
When wifey approves its usually a winner. My favorite headphone she likes a lot. The rest I have tried have been hard to impress her. She liked the denon d2k a lot though too compared to the stuff I had at the time which wasn't much. She doesn't like any of the hifiman stuff or a lot of other ones I have had. But she likes bass a lot.  

my wife also like a bit more bass but she is hard to impress. If it's just bassy she usually turns it away pretty quickly. This headphone did not do that LOL.

 

[Zoide]

 
I think he was teasing hifiguy528 because hifiguy528 works for woo audio or is an insider for them... thus who has great amps...

 
 
That's exactly right!
 
Sometimes people read waaaay too much into things. He must have been great at analyzing poems in high school. I remember how people could make up the most elaborate interpretations about the meaning of life based on a poem about a leaf or something along those lines