[steve468]

Since there is already a thread where people are invited to air their grievances with TOTL equipment, I thought it would be a good idea to have a counterpoint. While I do appreciate that there's a place where people can post their bad experiences - this is important data for people looking to spend significant amounts of money, or just interesting to cut through the marketing hype - surely it can't be all bad?

Personally, I love this hobby. I love music, and every piece of equipment that gets slotted in to my system allows me to hear my music in a new, different, and most of the times exciting way. So I want this to be a place where people can post their revelatory experiences in the TOTL realm; equipment, tweaks, masterings/pressings, or anything that really changed what you thought was possible in sound reproduction. Something that really gets you excited to put on your favourite albums.

For me:
- Sennheiser HD800S: When I first heard these, I had been stuck in a rut with Grado RS-1s and a cheap little amp from a defunct company. The clarity and detail completely changed how I listened to music. It's what set me on the path to Summit-Fi. Once I got these, I had to upgrade my other equipment to match, and on and on it went.

- ZMF Pendant: This was my first tube amp, leading (pushing, forcing) me down the tube rabbit hole. Something about the sound of tubes just took my listening to the next level. There's just something addictive about my music through tubes, like, actually addictive. Tubes, to me, make music sound more real.

The DCA Expanse might have earned a spot here, but I want to give it more time.

I hope positivity isn't too out of style...

 

[TheMiddleSky]

It was Abyss Diana V2, that pulled me to "rabbit hole" of high end headphones and leaved the IEMs realm. I still own IEM to these days when travel, but I'm much less serious about them (in term of make building specific set up around them).

The clarity, transparency, speed, fluidity and realism in tonal of Diana V2 were simply outclassed my IEMs that time (around 2019-2020), included my beloved Tia Fourte.

 

[iamoneagain]

I like the idea of this thread especially since the other has taken a turn by attacking headphone manufacturers.

For me, the Grado RS-1 started my path and have fond memories. I actually haven’t listened it since I sold it more than 15 years ago. I have no idea how it compares. I moved on to the limited edition Grado PS-1, which was a step up in soundstage, tightness, punch, and clarity. But even so, I missed the RS1’s light wooden cups.

When I needed a closed headphone, I found the limited edition AT-L3000 and the realism of the bass was something I never heard before. Kept them for about 12 years. Got worried they’d fail and couldn’t replace them, so sold them. The Utopia was all the hype at the time and it lived up to it. Reminded me a lot of the PS-1.

And that takes me to present day. I could have happily stuck with the Utopia but was curious about other types of headphones, especially planar. I had my eye on the Meze Elite but the Expanse was just announced, so got those right away. Over time, I felt I liked the Utopia better. Sold the Expanse and was ready to pull the trigger on the Elite but ZMF was having November sale and Caldera was just release. I couldn’t be happier. It like a combo of all my past headphones. I’ve got the wooden cups back, the bass is closest to L3000 I’ve heard, and has some of the PS-1 qualities with its quick, detailed sound.

 

[catscratch]

I remember going to my first ever headphone meet, sometime around 2004? Anyway the first headphone I listened to while there was something called a Sennheiser HE90. You may have heard of it.

That might have set expectations a little high for the next couple of decades.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I like the idea of this thread especially since the other has taken a turn by attacking headphone manufacturers.

For me, the Grado RS-1 started my path and have fond memories. I actually haven’t listened it since I sold it more than 15 years ago. I have no idea how it compares. I moved on to the limited edition Grado PS-1, which was a step up in soundstage, tightness, punch, and clarity. But even so, I missed the RS1’s light wooden cups.

When I needed a closed headphone, I found the limited edition AT-L3000 and the realism of the bass was something I never heard before. Kept them for about 12 years. Got worried they’d fail and couldn’t replace them, so sold them. The Utopia was all the hype at the time and it lived up to it. Reminded me a lot of the PS-1.

And that takes me to present day. I could have happily stuck with the Utopia but was curious about other types of headphones, especially planar. I had my eye on the Meze Elite but the Expanse was just announced, so got those right away. Over time, I felt I liked the Utopia better. Sold the Expanse and was ready to pull the trigger on the Elite but ZMF was having November sale and Caldera was just release. I couldn’t be happier. It like a combo of all my past headphones. I’ve got the wooden cups back, the bass is closest to L3000 I’ve heard, and has some of the PS-1 qualities with its quick, detailed sound.

if you can start all over again, between PS-1, L3000 and Caldera, which one will you keep? (in case you can only keep one headphone).

 

[iamoneagain]

I remember going to my first ever headphone meet, sometime around 2004? Anyway the first headphone I listened to while there was something called a Sennheiser HE90. You may have heard of it.

That might have set expectations a little high for the next couple of decades.

You not taking about the one in San Jose? Head-fi fest or whatever it was called? That’s my first and where I got hear the L3000, Sony R10, and a few others. I already had my PS-1 at the time.

 

[iamoneagain]

if you can start all over again, between PS-1, L3000 and Caldera, which one will you keep? (in case you can only keep one headphone).

The L3000 was more special. The texture and impact of the bass was just something no other headphone had. Think even Caldera is close but falls short. It was also a closed headphone, so no bother with external noises.

The PS-1 had the same cord, headband, and pads as the RS-1. It wasn’t a luxury item more than a rare item that was only sold to German market. The L3000 felt expensive in your hands and wonderful on your ears. I had the matching wooden amp too. When that started having issues, I got worried about the headphones themselves. I still hung on to them for another 3 years. And when I think of headphones I miss, only the L3000 comes to mind.

Think the Caldera just loses points since it isn’t limited edition. Maybe if I could have waited and got the one of the stabilized and then it would be even. The Caldera is very comfortable but think the L3000 was a little better since it was lighter but then because it was closed, your ears could sweat on warm days. The Caldera also has lifetime warranty on driver and the rest of parts are interchangeable. So that’s a big plus.

 

[obstacleofaffliction]

It was Abyss Diana V2, that pulled me to "rabbit hole" of high end headphones and leaved the IEMs realm. I still own IEM to these days when travel, but I'm much less serious about them (in term of make building specific set up around them).

The clarity, transparency, speed, fluidity and realism in tonal of Diana V2 were simply outclassed my IEMs that time (around 2019-2020), included my beloved Tia Fourte.

While i have no experience with IEMs, I wholeheartedly agree regarding the Diana V2.
Abyss Diana seems to be polarizing to audiophiles but I am very impressed and continously amazed each time I listen to them. To my ears, the Diana is damn sweet.
I had trepidation because of some of the negative reviews but ultimately the positive reviews helped guide me to making the purchase.

 

[steve468]

The L3000 was more special. The texture and impact of the bass was just something no other headphone had. Think even Caldera is close but falls short. It was also a close headphone, so not bother with external noises.

The PS-1 had the same cord, headband, and pads as the RS-1. It wasn’t a luxury item more than a rare item that was only sold to German market. The L3000 felt expensive in your hands and wonderful on your ears. I had the matching wooden amp too. When that started having issues, I got worried about the headphones themselves. I still hung on to them for another 3 years. And when I think if headphone I miss, only the L3000 comes to mind.

Think the Caldera just loses points since it isn’t limited edition. Maybe if I could have waited and got the one of the stabilized and then it would be even. The Caldera is very comfortable but think the L3000 was a little better since it was lighter but then because it was closed, your ears could sweat on warm days. The Caldera also has lifetime warranty on driver and the rest of past interchangeable. So that’s a big plus.

It's great to hear about all the old stuff, since, though I am old, I've only recently reached summit-fi. I remember drooling over the green L3000s back in the day.

Sound reproduction may not have come very far, and yeah, everything's expensive, but it sure seems like we have way more options today. Especially amps.

 

[iamoneagain]

It's great to hear about all the old stuff, since, though I am old, I've only recently reached summit-fi. I remember drooling over the green L3000s back in the day.

Sound reproduction may not have come very far, and yeah, everything's expensive, but it sure seems like we have way more options today. Especially amps.

Did you see green one in person?

Best thing since I started this hobby is hires streaming. Getting to listen to almost any album I want at cd or better quality is something back in the day I never pictured. Was just happy loading a couple dozen lossless albums on an iPod. I sort of miss going to the record stores and buying CDs but prefer endless exploration with streaming services. I was never a record guy luckily. Also never really got into tube amps except for a bottle creak amp years ago.

 

[steve468]

Did you see green one in person?

Best thing since I started this hobby is hires streaming. Getting to listen to almost any album I want at cd or better quality is something back in the day I never pictured. Was just happy loading a couple dozen lossless albums on an iPod. I sort of miss going to the record stores and buying CDs but prefer endless exploration with streaming services. I was never a record guy luckily. Also never really got into tube amps except for a bottle creak amp years ago.

Never saw green or brown. I don’t even know if they were ever sold in my extremely foreign and distant county (Canada).

Great point about streaming. I never hear people say there’s no good new music these days. New music is so easily accessible to everyone I can’t even keep up with recommendations. I used to be the one making recommendations!

 

[draytonklammer]

It was Abyss Diana V2, that pulled me to "rabbit hole" of high end headphones and leaved the IEMs realm. I still own IEM to these days when travel, but I'm much less serious about them (in term of make building specific set up around them).

The clarity, transparency, speed, fluidity and realism in tonal of Diana V2 were simply outclassed my IEMs that time (around 2019-2020), included my beloved Tia Fourte.

Any thoughts on the Diana V2 versus your Caldera and Elite?

 

[iamoneagain]

Never saw green or brown. I don’t even know if they were ever sold in my extremely foreign and distant county (Canada).

Great point about streaming. I never hear people say there’s no good new music these days. New music is so easily accessible to everyone I can’t even keep up with recommendations. I used to be the one making recommendations!

The L3000 were only sold in Japan as far as know. Without researching, I believe there were 250 brown and 50 green ones made. I got my brown pair second hand on head-fi. I sold my PS-1 for exact amount to buy the L3000, so even trade. Found the matching amp within a year or two. That was probably even rarer than the headphones.

The PS-1 were made in Brooklyn but only sold in German. They were special commissioned for some studio, so considered pro quality. Think there were only 50 units made. They were sold for around $1200-1400 but then started to jump up on used market. Not sure what the L3000 original selling price was. I got it for $2100 at the time back in 2005. When I sold them I included the amp and was enough to cover the Utopia and after market cable. They sold within 30 minutes.

The nice thing about limited editions is they only went up in value over time. So as long as you had the money up front, you got to listen to them for free and even made some money in the end. Which was good because today’s TOTL cost even more and lose their value.

 

[bagwell359]

After a long time in the speaker world I decided to downsize into smaller speakers and headphones. I had been impressed by some Stax earlier in the 90's and early 00's, but decided that they were not a match for my speaker set-up at that time.

The HE-500 was the first can that made me get excited, followed by the HE-6, LCD-4 OG, Susvara, HEK v2, Phi, and the HD-600 and 800 on OTL amps.

But the first totally open jaw experience was the DCA Voce on the HFM Jr., recently exceeded by the Rall CA-1a w/ the filter on a DAVE and Pass Int-25 playing DSD, which I have to say outside of the obvious scale/volume/physicality of full range room speakers in rooms built for them ranks up there with gear like the MBL speakers ($100-350k). Which is extraordinary. No more $ will be spent on audio until I get those Ralls.

 

[steve468]

Oh man, maybe this thread was a bad idea. So many great headphones that I hadn't really thought about. Now I need to try a Diana, a CA-1a, and somehow track down a L3000.

The Raals do seem to be getting lots of positive attention, even though they look uncomfortable as heck. Not too expensive too. I guess I'm a sucker for an enthusiastic opinion.