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Umm, you strategically cut out the "and the WES or A10 with the 009." from my quote. This changes the meaning and context of what I was ultimately trying to hint at (see below), but didn't want to say directly. Nice try, but you can't pull that kind of crap off with me so easily.
Then again, you are probably try to squeeze certain things out of me that may piss off other people.
In contrast to the "007+BHSE" and "009+WES/A10" which been so often quoted that it's starting to be ingrained as "the way to go" into everyone's head, I wanted to throw in a different approach: a DAC change instead of an amp change. I am not yet totally convinced that the BHSE + 009 always equates with a lean or bass-lite sound simply because I do not have enough experience. Yes, we've heard n3rdling's setup a few times, and his DAC is on the warm side of things, but we haven't lived with it, nor have we tried other DACs with his BH. As you know, even the ultimate STAX amp sounded lean with the SR009 until we found a certain data transport/DAC combination.
I'm not necessarily a huge advocate of the BHSE from an absolute point of view, but it does a more than a few things very well. It sounds clear, it's transparent, and it has a very good control over the driver. No boomy bass, no out of control midrange. And the BHSE does these do things much better than most other 'stat amps. And you know from our tinkering around, experiments, and exposure to various types of amps what lots of capacitors or other reactive components in the signal path will do to the sound. It kills transparency and makes things veiled if not all fuzzy.
What I am getting at it is that it would be shame to restrict what the 009 can do by going with a less transparent amp for the sake of better tonal balance. So perhaps we should consider "the change the source approach" instead of the "change the amp approach" - at least try this approach a little bit more before we finally give up and make the "009+BHSE = lean" assumption. The 009 is all about hyper-transparency, clarity, articulation. Perhaps not the a perfect analogy, but I feel that matching the 009 with the WES or A10 is the 'stat equivalent of matching the HD800 with the Leben to cure the HD800's ills. And I know exactly how you feel about that combo (that the cure also kills what the HD800 does best.)
Finally in closing, perhaps those who do not agree with the 009's tonality should simply stick with the 007. Unless it's a matter of prestige or "whatever costs the most" must be the best. Heck, I'm still on the fence about the 009s.
P.S. We'll get the chance to mix and match my stuff with n3rdling's stuff and figure it out in a few weeks.
