[88Sound]

Quote:

I'm so confused. You talk about $4000 headphones then talk about the D-25S and CT570? For what it's worth, in my opinion, the CT570 sounds way way better than the D-25S using any amp/headphone. I don't think that's "audiophile nuance land", it's just a newer and vastly better DAC and drive mechanism. And the CT570, for whatever that's worth, is nowhere near any good non-portable source. Why is source such an afterthought with you guys.

For the record, I never listened to the R10 with a portable source. I did say however that my portable source and EMP sound much better to me than the SONY SACD, excellent interconnects and what I feel was a misbehaving EMP.

Also what you are saying makes perfect sense, garbage in, garbage out. It has been my experience however that outside the audiophile world most people (the vast majority of all people) are completely clueless about great sounding audio, If you ran up to them with a D-25 and W100 plugged directly into it for a listen it would be the best thing by far that they had ever heard in their life.....if they even cared.

The 570 is a newer DAC it sounds more detailed but the more powerful amp in the D-25, even with the very old DAC sounds pretty good especially with old recordings that I feel don't benefit from a more detailed or accurate DAC. The only other thing in my home that I have is a Denon DCD-1700 digital out to a ART D/IO into either the EMP or RA-1 or Morrison Pre-amp and into the phones. Is the Denon/ART DI/O combo better than the portables....you betcha...but because of the location in my home of this stuff the portable sources get about 80% of the listening time and they sound great to me.

I am either clueless and/or uneducated and happy, but happy nonetheless. My wallet can't stand anymore education right now anyway.

 

[The Quality Guru]

First of all- thanks, 88Sound, for listening to the Panasonic PCDP and the W100's; I'll have some sort of an idea of what to expect when my long sought-after ATH-W100's arrive in a few days.

Unfortunately, due to my tight budget (consdiering I'm in high school) I will not be able to be on the same level as you audiophiles, because I haven't the sort of financial resources to buy expensvie amps. Heck, I'm glad that I'm even going to have the W100. Maybe soon I'll be able to get my hands on a JMT amp, and that will be the closest I'll be getting to 'high quality audio" for a while. Soon, when everything arrives, my "reference system" (quite a subjective term as you can see) is going to be a Sony D-EJ925 PCDP, a JMT amp, and a ATH-W100.

 

[Driftwood]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by 88Sound

(On W100 and R10 sounding "woody"...)
I just held a piece of wood up to my ear and heard nothing....not even the ocean.
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hey!! put me down!

Driftwood

 

[88Sound]

Driftwood,

If I new how I would put one of those hysterically laughing emoticons with an arrow pointing up. (like RickG).

Jon,

For some reason I so far have only listened to classical on the big speakers......probably because everyone in the house finds this music acceptable....in the interest of science (again) I intend to do a classical test on the W100's this weekend.

The Quality Guru,

I would be surprized if you didn't think your W100's sound great, even directly out of a portable source. Please post and let us know how you like them.

Kelly,

Do you ever remember a time when you picked up a single piece of audio gear that sounded better than anything else you'd ever heard before (like Senn 414's in the 70's for me, even with a crappy everything up the chain). By comparison all the phones and electronics I have right now would be lightyears ahead of this. My point is the audiophile journey is a long one and depending on where you are in it many of the efficient phones will sound like a revelation directly out of a portable source. Depending on your situation, ears, finances, there is no need for many to go racing directly to the top although it's fun if you can swing it. It is also my opinion that portable sources coupled with the right equipment (like a good amp) sound way better than I would ever expect, especially considering the cost.

 

[BenG]

Wow, how did I miss this one?

Anyway, with regards to the early comments made about the Miles trumpet, I have to agree that the highs are boosted and slightly distorted on many of those old Columbia recordings, this after hearing CD versions on numerous systems over the years and most recently even some Columbia SACDs. The old Columbia classical albums with overly bright strings are even worse than the Miles albums. Still, I like the spacial aspect of those recordings, especially the classical ones, alot.

88Sound made a reference to a Dave Holland CD(Prime Directive?), which by the way is a friggin' awesome album, and I have to agree that on any other headphone I own or even my NHT speakers, the bass is somewhat of a confused mess except on the Etys. However, the recording character of that album is on the warm side of neutral and is somewhat veiling of fine detail. I also don't like the multi-micn' of the drums, nor the weird spread of the horns. The music, however, is great, and the album sounds the best on Etys than on all of my other phones: 580s, 600s, & 7506s.

You have some good taste in music 88Sound!

 

[dngl]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Quality Guru my "reference system" (quite a subjective term as you can see) is going to be a Sony D-EJ925 PCDP, a JMT amp, and a ATH-W100.

hey man, I listened to HD580s unamped out of a DEJ-616 (always compressed for anti-shock) for years before I got my current rig... you've got a nice setup there. Don't forget about the laws of diminishing returns...

 

[r3cc0s]

i'd probably say a set of monitor audio gr-20's with a very low eq'd velodyne sub
and with mf power amp
is the closest to the r10's
and probalby cheaper than vert's setup

oh
i forgot
those were speakers

 

[88Sound]

Quote:

with regards to the early comments made about the Miles trumpet, I have to agree that the highs are boosted and slightly distorted on many of those old Columbia recordings

These are exactly the recordings I'm talking about. What do you want your phones to do in this case? Perfectly (transparently) reproduce every imperfection even if it sounds like a knife in your ear? Truthfully you might, especially with speakers.....because source/preamp/amp/speaker combos that are completely faithful to the source sound breathtaking on great recordings, they also show every imperfection on poor recordings and depending on your tolerance can make some great music unlistenable.

This example is why I love headphones so much. Take the boosted and slightly distorted highs, run them through an EMP for tube warmth and thickening, into a great slightly warm 3D sounding phone like the W100, or a polite 3D sounding phone like the R10 and you have magic......sounds like you're in the studio/club where miles is playing, not a recording, the phones disappear in this case because the electronics/phone combination are pulling together with their colorations to take an otherwise harsh recording and translate it back into the musical masterpiece that it is.

Give me the great and terrible on the big stereo and let me fix things to my liking with phones, I view these options as an incredible gift.

Quote:

88Sound made a reference to a Dave Holland CD(Prime Directive?), which by the way is a friggin' awesome album

I bought Dave Holland Quintet 'Not for Nothin' just to try it and loved it, I then got 'Prime Directive' and liked it even more, then got 'Points of View' which I liked even more. The composition, performance, and recording of this material is awesome and if they had waited 4 years could have released all as a 3 CD set. These are examples of recordings with material that has depth. You could listen to them 100 times and not get tired of them.