[analog'd]

 

  Are you planning on buying another amp soon Matt? 

 
Well. yes kinda and by accident. I picked up a Fisher 500c circa 1964 to drive some speakers with. I plugged in the hd800 into this "old" amp and it is the best amp that I've ever heard the 800 with. At first I was in shock. Now...just ecstatic. 

well I'll be an (audio) monkey's uncle! 12 years ago I bought one of ray samuals amps for sammi (my daughter) to run the signal to from her fisher 500c, because her grados didn't sound that great driven by  the headphone out on the fisher. neither did my rs1's. so I never looked back and always just blew off the fisher's headphone out.

sooo. I fired up sammi's fisher an hour ago, let the tele's warm up for half an hour and plugged my cardas cord from my hd800's into that fisher. hot damn! the friggin' 800s do indeed love the fisher. it sounds great. have to leave it on for a lot longer to really check it out, but I could be happy as a clam leaving em plugged in there. now, I rolled em back to my burson soloist and still like what I'm hearing there, so I don't have to steal my kid's receiver, but shoot Matt, you stumbled on some sweet setup! at the moment I'm listening to a superb sounding The Hunter by Bjork (45 rpm vinyl needledrop at 24 96). don't think I've ever heard it sound better.

btw, do you happen to know what tubes are in your fisher? 
 

 

[lin0003]

I really don't understand the idea that getting the HD800 for MP3s is a waste because it is definitely not. The difference between MP3 and FLAC is minute and you I have to listen very closely to tell any difference. 
 
MP3s don't sound bad on the HD800 at all. 

 

[analog'd]

  I really don't understand the idea that getting the HD800 for MP3s is a waste because it is definitely not. The difference between MP3 and FLAC is minute and you I have to listen very closely to tell any difference. 
 
MP3s don't sound bad on the HD800 at all. 

yer opening a can o worms BUT: I listen to vinyl and to high resolution digital all the time. but when my daughter sends me an mp3 copy of something to hear, it often sounds quite fantastic.

without a/bing it to much higher res, a well done better mp3 can indeed sound good.

having said that, if you have the same source through very good hi res gear and compare you will most certainly hear the improvements. the trouble is most peeps get snobbish once they've heard that better sound, and they scoff at anything that's "lessor".

there is a depth of sound (dynamics) and even tonality that a killer pressing on a great vinyl rig, and likewise (or even more so if it's a digital recording) a high res copy through a great DAC can deliver that mp3 can't touch. that doesn't mean that all mp3 sounds like crap though.

blah blah blah, etc etc etc.

 

[MattTCG]

 
well I'll be an (audio) monkey's uncle! 12 years ago I bought one of ray samuals amps for sammi (my daughter) to run the signal to from her fisher 500c, because her grados didn't sound that great driven by  the headphone out on the fisher. neither did my rs1's. so I never looked back and always just blew off the fisher's headphone out.

sooo. I fired up sammi's fisher an hour ago, let the tele's warm up for half an hour and plugged my cardas cord from my hd800's into that fisher. hot damn! the friggin' 800s do indeed love the fisher. it sounds great. have to leave it on for a lot longer to really check it out, but I could be happy as a clam leaving em plugged in there. now, I rolled em back to my burson soloist and still like what I'm hearing there, so I don't have to steal my kid's receiver, but shoot Matt, you stumbled on some sweet setup! at the moment I'm listening to a superb sounding The Hunter by Bjork (45 rpm vinyl needledrop at 24 96). don't think I've ever heard it sound better.

btw, do you happen to know what tubes are in your fisher? 
 

 
Ha! At least I have one believer now.

 There is quite a bit of work that goes into getting the Fisher or any vintage receiver back up to spec. But once you get there, you can experience some real magic. The tubes in my 500c are original. I believe that they are Fisher branded telefunkens.
 
Glad to hear that you are enjoying one of the best vintage pieces out there. The 500c is truly special. Right now I'm listening to the Fisher with he560's through a speaker tap cable to the receiver...I have no words to describe just how good it is.
 

 

[analog'd]

 

 
well I'll be an (audio) monkey's uncle! 12 years ago I bought one of ray samuals amps for sammi (my daughter) to run the signal to from her fisher 500c, because her grados didn't sound that great driven by  the headphone out on the fisher. neither did my rs1's. so I never looked back and always just blew off the fisher's headphone out.

sooo. I fired up sammi's fisher an hour ago, let the tele's warm up for half an hour and plugged my cardas cord from my hd800's into that fisher. hot damn! the friggin' 800s do indeed love the fisher. it sounds great. have to leave it on for a lot longer to really check it out, but I could be happy as a clam leaving em plugged in there. now, I rolled em back to my burson soloist and still like what I'm hearing there, so I don't have to steal my kid's receiver, but shoot Matt, you stumbled on some sweet setup! at the moment I'm listening to a superb sounding The Hunter by Bjork (45 rpm vinyl needledrop at 24 96). don't think I've ever heard it sound better.

btw, do you happen to know what tubes are in your fisher? 
 

 
Ha! At least I have one believer now.

 There is quite a bit of work that goes into getting the Fisher or any vintage receiver back up to spec. But once you get there, you can experience some real magic. The tubes in my 500c are original. I believe that they are Fisher branded telefunkens.
 
Glad to hear that you are enjoying one of the best vintage pieces out there. The 500c is truly special. Right now I'm listening to the Fisher with he560's through a speaker tap cable to the receiver...I have no words to describe just how good it is.

yeah, and we also now know it works in Georgia and Massachusetts. maybe it's ok for Texas even.

 

[lin0003]

 
yer opening a can o worms BUT: I listen to vinyl and to high resolution digital all the time. but when my daughter sends me an mp3 copy of something to hear, it often sounds quite fantastic.

without a/bing it to much higher res, a well done better mp3 can indeed sound good.

having said that, if you have the same source through very good hi res gear and compare you will most certainly hear the improvements. the trouble is most peeps get snobbish once they've heard that better sound, and they scoff at anything that's "lessor".

there is a depth of sound (dynamics) and even tonality that a killer pressing on a great vinyl rig, and likewise (or even more so if it's a digital recording) a high res copy through a great DAC can deliver that mp3 can't touch. that doesn't mean that all mp3 sounds like crap though.

blah blah blah, etc etc etc.

There is indeed a difference between high res and mp3, but the differences are often very much exaggerated. I was given the impression that mp3s would be unlistenible with the HD800 before I purchased them. 

 

[analog'd]

 

 

 
well I'll be an (audio) monkey's uncle! 12 years ago I bought one of ray samuals amps for sammi (my daughter) to run the signal to from her fisher 500c, because her grados didn't sound that great driven by  the headphone out on the fisher. neither did my rs1's. so I never looked back and always just blew off the fisher's headphone out.

sooo. I fired up sammi's fisher an hour ago, let the tele's warm up for half an hour and plugged my cardas cord from my hd800's into that fisher. hot damn! the friggin' 800s do indeed love the fisher. it sounds great. have to leave it on for a lot longer to really check it out, but I could be happy as a clam leaving em plugged in there. now, I rolled em back to my burson soloist and still like what I'm hearing there, so I don't have to steal my kid's receiver, but shoot Matt, you stumbled on some sweet setup! at the moment I'm listening to a superb sounding The Hunter by Bjork (45 rpm vinyl needledrop at 24 96). don't think I've ever heard it sound better.

btw, do you happen to know what tubes are in your fisher? 
 

 
Ha! At least I have one believer now.

 There is quite a bit of work that goes into getting the Fisher or any vintage receiver back up to spec. But once you get there, you can experience some real magic. The tubes in my 500c are original. I believe that they are Fisher branded telefunkens.
 
Glad to hear that you are enjoying one of the best vintage pieces out there. The 500c is truly special. Right now I'm listening to the Fisher with he560's through a speaker tap cable to the receiver...I have no words to describe just how good it is.

yeah, and we also now know it works in Georgia and Massachusetts. maybe it's ok for Texas even.

you know that there is a huge following of the Fisher all around the globe. many know that it can't be touched for the bucks, properly running and with great tubes. we are listening to similar sounds as the teles are indeed original equipment and are amazing. I set up a few friends after they heard sammi's fisher and they still have and love theirs. it was easier and less expensive 12 years back to go that route..

 

[analog'd]

 

 
yer opening a can o worms BUT: I listen to vinyl and to high resolution digital all the time. but when my daughter sends me an mp3 copy of something to hear, it often sounds quite fantastic.

without a/bing it to much higher res, a well done better mp3 can indeed sound good.

having said that, if you have the same source through very good hi res gear and compare you will most certainly hear the improvements. the trouble is most peeps get snobbish once they've heard that better sound, and they scoff at anything that's "lessor".

there is a depth of sound (dynamics) and even tonality that a killer pressing on a great vinyl rig, and likewise (or even more so if it's a digital recording) a high res copy through a great DAC can deliver that mp3 can't touch. that doesn't mean that all mp3 sounds like crap though.

blah blah blah, etc etc etc.

There is indeed a difference between high res and mp3, but the differences are often very much exaggerated. I was given the impression that mp3s would be unlistenible with the HD800 before I purchased them. 

that's hogwash (the unlistenable thing). depends on the recording and the rig. there ARE a lotta lousy mp3 copies of things out there, but there are also a lotta lousy 24 192 copies of things  

 

[preproman]

 

[RingingEars]

   

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

Wow. The 445 looks amazing. Is your HD800 hardwired?

 

[preproman]

Thanks
Yes - by SAA..
 

 

[RingingEars]

Nice.
I think when my warranty is up I'm going to send mine to colorware for a custom paint and then have them hardwired...
I can't stand the connectors rattling all the time.

 

[lin0003]

  Thanks
Yes - by SAA..
 

Just wondering, why not go for a normal HD800 cable? This way you can still change cables? 

 

[RingingEars]

  Just wondering, why not go for a normal HD800 cable? This way you can still change cables? 

I can't speak for preproman, but for me, I love the Norne Draug2 cable. I don't see any reason to swap it out so when the time comes I'm going to have mine hardwired. 

 

[preproman]

  Just wondering, why not go for a normal HD800 cable? This way you can still change cables? 

Not into changing cables.  I like hardwiring my headphones.