Headfier IanG visited my place yesterday evening along with his LL + SR-007mk1's to which we listened to both his 007's and my 009's driven by his LL + my BHSE. When first hearing the LL I have to say I'm quite impressed with how it made both headphones sound, but the 009's sounded better of the two. I felt the same about the BHSE, the 009's were more detailed and transparent than the 007's but like some headfiers have said volume is an issue with the 009's driven by the BHSE. About volume, when using the 009's with the BHSE my optimum level is between 11 and 12 o'clock but with the 007's I could easily go beyond 2 o'clock. The LL is a different matter, with the 009's it's around 3 o'clock but 007's is between 4 and 5 o'clock to get the same volume the BHSE gives at 2 o'clock. Build quality, I went for the $6000 version of the BHSE and it was worth that on build quality alone, I've no comment about the LL's build quality other than the fact that it's headphone sockets are extremely tight, when I tried to unplug my 009's from it I was afraid the pins were going to stay in it's socket. If it was only down to sound quality, I would have strongly considered buying the LL if I didn't have the BHSE, but other things about it would deter me.
Dave.
P.S. The 009's when at the right volume with the BHSE, meaning not too loud, for me give the best SQ I've ever heard.
From IanG:
I rarely post here (or in other fora) because, from my point of view, there is too much destructive criticism which one cannot avoid reading when one just wants to read constructive criticism and/or wholly factual posts.
But given that David1961 and I listened to BHSE and LL with 007 Mk1s and 009s last night I thought I'd give my impressions given that David has given his.
There needs to be some context here.
Material factors in listening impressions, even via headphones, include your mood, your ears(!), room comfort, tracks chosen and volume level selected. Whether one then uses 007s or 009s is of much lesser import in my opinion. And whether one then uses BHSE or LL is of even lesser import, again in my opinion.
So how was our listening?
In that context, using the LL, we appreciated the extra detail which we thought the 009s revealed, albeit a critic might say he prefers the darker frequency balance of the 007s against the brighter frequency balance of the 009s.
With the BHSE we again liked the 009s and felt it was indistinguishable from the LL with the 009s - we were not able to make rapid comparisons because it took time to switch the CD player from RCA output to XLR output.
With the BHSE coupled with the 007s we felt the sound was slightly compromised - as if the BHSE was struggling to drive the 007s.
This does not matter to us at all because David uses 009s (and I do too and will probably sell my 007s anyway).
David really likes the looks of the BHSE and will probably try valve-swapping. He is not a fan of the LL box or the blue bits!
For me, I simply would not buy a valve product so the BHSE is out and I do like the look of the LL.
The key issue for us on volume was getting the level right. I use a higher volume than David and get an entirely satisfactory volume scale with my LL. David did not like the higher volumes I listened to via his BHSE, for him making the music sound a bit "spiky" - but that is almost certainly about David's listening level choice and not any electronic limitations.
Of course, I wanted to go away from this listening session feeling reassured that I had made the right choice. So did David. And I think we both concluded that we had made the right choice for our needs and preferences.
QED
