[pearljam50000]

lol, that does look weird

 

[icebear]

That's the 12khz devils mod

version.

 

[knowhatimean]

That Emia" Headphone Amplifier"( I believe its actually just an" Impedence matching Transformer") that Stereodesk is carrying
is something that has really been drawing my interest . The explanation of how you may not actually need the additional gain provided
by  an amplifier if the source that the signal is coming from is already  capable of providing a few volts (in this case my
Hex DAC is outputting 2V) of output as much as you simply need to match the headphone's impedence. & what could be more
transparent then a properly wound transformer. I thought about how very little gain that I ordinarily set my volume attentuator at & for myself this this approach could definitely work. The only drawback for me is that it's price starts a bit higher than some of the other options I've been considering !
 
The Pass amps are another appealing option to me, but I'd have to find some passive attentuators for this to be workable for my setup (I can recall being very impressed with the sound of one of the low power Aleph amps sometime ago: I'm guessing the First Watt line is an advancement of how the Alephs sounded so I have little doubt these amps are "special")
 
"Too much nice stuff out there; Too little money" (No, I'm not going to start about riding a shovel because I can't afford a bicycle)
 
(This not the thread I thought I was on but it will do !)

 

[icebear]

....  
The Pass amps are another appealing option to me, but I'd have to find some passive attentuators for this to be workable for my setup (I can recall being very impressed with the sound of one of the low power Aleph amps sometime ago: I'm guessing the First Watt line is an advancement of how the Alephs sounded so I have little doubt these amps are "special")
....

 
There are possibly cheaper options around but at the time I needed a volume adjustment option I just by chance stumbled over Luminous Audio Axiom II. It's a shunt regulator i.e. what's not needed is shunt to ground and the signal itself is not forced through the pot itself - at least that's how I understood it. I got the most basic version for less than $200 and to my ears it sounds absolutely neutral. At any level adjustment gives you just that up or down in volume but no change in "sound flavor". Wire with NO gain

 

[knowhatimean]

"Wire with no gain" I've heard this before....I just thought they were being overly personal & talking about ME !!! 

 
(thanks great suggestions for a new project !!!)

 

[preproman]

   
There are possibly cheaper options around but at the time I needed a volume adjustment option I just by chance stumbled over Luminous Audio Axiom II. It's a shunt regulator i.e. what's not needed is shunt to ground and the signal itself is not forced through the pot itself - at least that's how I understood it. I got the most basic version for less than $200 and to my ears it sounds absolutely neutral. At any level adjustment gives you just that up or down in volume but no change in "sound flavor". Wire with NO gain

Good move on the passive pre..
 

 

[nephilim32]

I just want to give a different opinion about pairing the Soloist with the HD800.


To my ears, the Soloist still has too much of the typical "transistor sound" left for me to enjoy it with the HD800, which reproduces everything faithfully, warts and all. There is a remnant of hardness/edginess in the sound of the soloist--from overshots during attacks--and missing richness in the overtones that are not a problem with the LCD3 for example but quite noticeable with the higher-resolution of the HD-800. This problem was there even when I switched from a bright SABRE DAC to a smoother Burr-Brown DAC.

These small but irritating flaws went away when I switched to the HeadAmp GS-X Mk2, Bakoon HPA-21 or any of Nelson Pass' s superb Class-A speaker amps like the First Watt M2 or the Pass Aleph 0s or 3, all moderately rated around 25-35 watts into 8 ohms. It may not be fair to compare the more moderately priced Soloists to these amps but my point is to simply put forth that the pairing of the HD-800 with the Soloist is far from optimal and definitely not perfect to my ears. This does not make the Soloist a bad amp, just not my choice for pairing with the HD-800. If you find the prices of these superb Class A SS amps less than palatable, I believe that moderately priced tube amps or hybrid amps are a safer way to squeeze the best sound out of the HD-800.

As usual thank you Justin for your thoughtful and meaningful opinions. I've had my eye on that Bakoon hpa-21. The use of a current driving system rather than pure voltage is interesting to me for an amp; however that is not my main curiosity because the soloist supplies ample power for the 800's. I never use the 2nd gain setting on it. Anyway that 'hardness' you speak of I just don't hear that because maybe the DAC I have remedies that possibly. It has a burr brown chip, so maybe it gives me that added smoothness cause I find no harshness or grain. I Also have great cables and that may help as well.

Anyway. I appreciate your opinions, but my god to my ears the soloist absolutely rocks with the 800's. it's ethereal for me but I know I may have my other system components to thank for that.

Happy listening to you, and I will try to test out that lovely bakoon.

 

[nephilim32]

Last May, I went through a year's worth of the thread "How We Rank The Headphones That We Own," compiling statistics on how folks, well, ranked the headphones that they owned.  Here is the thread, for reference:  http://www.head-fi.org/t/721406/how-we-rank-our-own-headphones-statistics-of-2-000-owner-rankings-compiled#post_10597847

In addition to the big table of rankings of "commonly-owned" headphones (ones that at least 10 of the 2,000 rankings included), I have a spreadsheet tool that describes how any headphone that was ranked, was ranked.

Here are the results of the STAX SR-009, which shows that for the people who ranked it, they ALWAYS ranked it first, including above the HD 800 (each column is one person's set of headphones, in the order that he ranked them).

(click table to make legible)



For the SR-007, one person ranked it above the HD 800 and one ranked it below:




For the MkI and MkII variants, we have this ranking:




So the Stax SR-009 is ALWAYS preferred to the HD800, and the SR-007 is 50-50, and the SR-007 Mk1 is above, while the SR-007 MkII is below the HD 800, at least by those reporting rankings owning them all.

Hey. This is amazing. Thank you so much and I will definitely sift through the data cause testimonials and cranking systems are always a help. This is an impressive body of work, and I hope that at a $4500 price tag those 009's better have a leg up on the Sen-800's.
I hope I one day get to hear them with a high end electrostatic amp.

 

[nephilim32]

I recall brief impression was that imaging was really nice with that amp, short signal path and single ended probably helps.  I might have to look into trying one out as the price is much lower than other amplifiers I am looking at.

Oh man it uses only 23 components or somewhere around there. Yes. The signal pathway is very short. Put it to ya this way, the average OP AMP uses above 50, so you know that the design and amp style of the Burson is first class. In my opinion the soloist performs like a 2500$+ amp. I can't believe that thing is below 2'gs.

 

[nephilim32]

To my ears, a well driven + modded HD800 beats LCD-X/3C/3F - that's just my preference. I am not a big fan of the Audeze house sound.

The only headphone I have heard that beats it is a well driven + modded HE6. That is the best HeadFi experience I have had so far.

(I have not heard any electrostatics, or the HE1000 or Abyss).

Me as well. No electrostatics to my ears...yet.
Also when you say 'modded 800' do you mean the anaxilus mod where you replace the inner foam pad to supposedly give the treble extension less bite or hardness as some of you fellow head fi'rs have spoken about?

Cheers.

 

[nephilim32]

I really like the Soloist with the HD800, I also prefer the LCD-2 on the Soloist over the Mjolnir.  Both matched to 78 dB the Soloist sounds more dynamic to me which goes against what I've always read about the Mjolnir vs Soloist.

I've also got a Valhalla 2 coming in tomorrow to try out with the HD800.

Love to hear your "impressions" of the Valhalla 2. I adore the soloist as well. It's an excellent pairing to my ears because I really prefer very wide dynamics and sharp tonal details of the instruments I hear.
Hey. Question. Do you ever use the 2nd gain level on the soloist? I never do. The first setting is always enough and I usually hover around 75 to 80 db like you.

 

[Justin_Time]

Me as well. No electrostatics to my ears...yet.
Also when you say 'modded 800' do you mean the anaxilus mod where you replace the inner foam pad to supposedly give the treble extension less bite or hardness as some of you fellow head fi'rs have spoken about?

Cheers.

Good Morning Nephilim32

The Anaxilus initial modification entails adding a felt ring on the metal periphery of the driver. Later, some also added a foam liner on the metal surface beyond the immediate periphery of the drivers. Removing the grill cloth--may be this is the "inner foam pad" you are referring to as the HD-800 has no foam pad--is optional as it does not make a large sonic difference. I left it in as it keeps the dust out.

You can search under Anaxilus and get the templates for the felt rings and suggestions for the materials to use and where to buy them.

This is a lot cheaper than buying the Woo WA5 or Apex Teton, though you can still get those great amps...

Happy Hunting!

 

[Justin_Time]

Me as well. No electrostatics to my ears...yet.
Also when you say 'modded 800' do you mean the anaxilus mod where you replace the inner foam pad to supposedly give the treble extension less bite or hardness as some of you fellow head fi'rs have spoken about?

Cheers.

Get the Stax 007/009! If you like the HD-800, chances are you will like the Stax.

They are so good you'll feel like walking on air...actually, you are literally floating without the heavy burden of $5,000 weighting you down.

When I started to dabble in High-End Audio, the Stax were like mythical creatures that you only heard about but never saw; they were so ridiculously expensive nobody you knew owned a pair. Now, the price of everything are so inflated, the Stax have become merely expensive but almost affordable...

 

[TonyNewman]

Me as well. No electrostatics to my ears...yet.

Also when you say 'modded 800' do you mean the anaxilus mod where you replace the inner foam pad to supposedly give the treble extension less bite or hardness as some of you fellow head fi'rs have spoken about?

Cheers.

 
Yep - here's a link to an article from Inner Fidelity on the mod (in case you haven't seen it).
 
Very easy to do and reversible (but I'm keeping it).
 
LINK

 

[TonyNewman]

Get the Stax 007/009! If you like the HD-800, chances are you will like the Stax.

They are so good you'll feel like walking on air...actually, you are literally floating without the heavy burden of $5,000 weighting you down.

When I started to dabble in High-End Audio, the Stax were like mythical creatures that you only heard about but never saw; they were so ridiculously expensive nobody you knew owned a pair. Now, the price of everything are so inflated, the Stax have become merely expensive but almost affordable...

 
The thing about going electrostatics is that it isn't just the headphone - it's the amp also - and the good ones are pricey. It's a big financial commitment for what is likely to be a small improvement over the high end planar + dynamic headphones and conventional amps I already have.
 
My choice would be to take a fraction of the cost of an electrostatic rig and get a pair of Elrog 300Bs now and perhaps the HE1000 headphone next year (depending on the forum feedback), and still have spent much less than an SR-009 + BHSE setup.