[Silent One]

Quote:

 
Yup, Rob is the MAN...

I'm fortunate he was on the boards this afternoon...

 

[Silent One]

 
It's "Shake 'em up Saturday!" Had a Mac music player shootout:
 
Before = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
  After = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
 
No change in preference, however, Audirvana Plus did close the gap on Pure Music. Also, I noticed that Audirvana (Both Plus & Free versions) tend to sound better when mated with the EML Glass, Amarra with the USAF-596. Though the '596' does sound good with Audirvana, the EML seems to play to Audi's strengths.
 
But due to cool down (waiting to change over tubes), I'd rather listen to Amarra/596 combo most of the time. I'm expecting a tube change in a couple of weeks, so let's see if anything else changes. Ran Raytheon 6SN7WGT-1949's with both Recs. Maybe Sunday I'll see if the RCA Grey Glass will upset the Peach cart. (not likely)

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
It's "Shake 'em up Saturday!" Had a Mac music player shootout:
 
Before = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
  After = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
 
No change in preference, however, Audirvana Plus did close the gap on Pure Music. Also, I noticed that Audirvana (Both Plus & Free versions) tend to sound better when mated with the EML Glass, Amarra with the USAF-596. Though the '596' does sound good with Audirvana, the EML seems to play to Audi's strengths.
 
But due to cool down, I'd rather listen to Amarra/596 combo most of the time. I'm expecting a tube change in a couple of weeks, so let's see if anything changes. 

how different is the differnce between the media players in terms of sound. like is it noticeable?
 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

how different is the differnce between the media players in terms of sound. like is it noticeable?
 

Yes, it is telling. The above comments are more of a note (a follow up) than a review. Because I addressed the players a few times the past few months. This morning I wanted to see if my preferences changed from October/November since I'm in a different place emitionally. Music is a dynamic and emotional experience (in my view).
 
To better answer your question (Hold that thought! Angela Bofill is cooing inside my ear...), software music players are a lot like tubes in what sounds are emphasized (or not), soundstage, timbre and so on. And a change somewhere in the system may affect how you hear your favorite music player - better or worse. 
 
And then there's your source, music library and headphones - all of them impact what you hear through your player. That is why I have four good players at minimum - Amarra; Pure Music; Audirvana; Audiogate (I guess the "A's" have it!!!)
 
Can't recall what music player(s) you're using... ok, just checked my notes. iTunes will do and the latest version is improved. But I think you might be able to raise your Woo if you get JRiver Media Center or something. It could be all in my head but, using Boot Camp on the Mac, iTunes sounds better native in OS X than Windows. And using both computers iTunes sounded better on the Mac than on my PC. iTunes is really a database manager, the underlying engine is QuickTime.
 
Your loving Woo deserves the extra attention, Dubstep Girl. 

 

[sillysally]

Quote:

That "Originally posted name" is weird! Although the LCD-3's are out of reach for me, what I would like to learn is your opinion about their performance to value ratio. Is it priced about right or could those same funds be better spent another way.

Yes that's a very good question, and as I have come to believe everything is relative.
For instance I was happy as a clam with my HD-650's and Little Dot IV SE and stock tubes, this was my first headphone amp and headphones. 
One thing is for sure the best headphone and value ratio for me is my HE6's at $995, so I will hear if the LCD-3 are worth $1000 dollars more. I doubt highly the same value ratio for the LCD-3's will be there compared to the value ratio of my HE6's. If I get a 20% increase in what I want from a headphone over my HE6's then yes to me the LCD-3 will be worth every penny.
Anyway I will report back on the LCD-3 using my WA5LE and Liquid Fire amp's.
 
btw, this is my first go around with any Audeze headphone..

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

 
It's "Shake 'em up Saturday!" Had a Mac music player shootout:
 
Before = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
  After = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
 
No change in preference, however, Audirvana Plus did close the gap on Pure Music. Also, I noticed that Audirvana (Both Plus & Free versions) tend to sound better when mated with the EML Glass, Amarra with the USAF-596. Though the '596' does sound good with Audirvana, the EML seems to play to Audi's strengths.
 
But due to cool down (waiting to change over tubes), I'd rather listen to Amarra/596 combo most of the time. I'm expecting a tube change in a couple of weeks, so let's see if anything else changes. Ran Raytheon 6SN7WGT-1949's with both Recs. Maybe Sunday I'll see if the RCA Grey Glass will upset the Peach cart. (not likely)

Interesting how the source has such an impact.
 
 

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

Quote:

SS, am interested in your take on the 3 as opposed to the 2.
 
 

Sorry Mike I never had the LCD2's, but I was very interested in them until the rumors about the "Big Surprise" started, I decided to what and see what the "Big Surprise" was all about. So when the announcement was made about the LCD3's my goose was cooked and I jumped on the LCD3's band wagon. The bad news is I am still looking for my wallet after buying the LCD3's.
 
Edit, that's strange the originally posted by name. It should read mikemalter.

No prob, SS.  I noticed the name change myself.  Who really knows the mysteries of our board's software.  I think they need servers with tubes in them and that would solve all of their problems.
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Two peas in a pod? 

  I wasn't even logged in when I received your PM. It was my night away from the listening room; was getting sleepy. And now? My mind is racing! If none of these WA22 owners make it easy for me, I'm gonna do my own thang and hit 'em with mono blocks!  

 (couldn't help myself)  Well, at least I can fire up some vintage Ella Fitzgerald. Just heard Bessie Smith on the internet singing "St Louis Blues" and she sounded sooooo good. Wish I had heard it on my amp.

Well now that you put that idea of turning two WA6SE's into mono blocks I can't stop thinking about it.   In fact I spent the  night dreaming about asking Jack to take two WA2's and build them without the internal preamp sections and turn them into mono blocks for me.  Mono block WA2's.  Don't even know if that is possible.  Now I have a dilemma.  Mono block WA6SE's or Mono block WA2's?   Don't even bring up black or silver...

 


 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

 
It's "Shake 'em up Saturday!" Had a Mac music player shootout:
 
Before = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
  After = 1. Amarra  2. Pure Music  3. Audirvana Plus
 
No change in preference, however, Audirvana Plus did close the gap on Pure Music. 

Been using Audirvan plus all week.  I still prefer Amarra by a larger margin but Audirvana plus is closing the gap for sure and the price ratio is crazy.  Audirvana has  much better iTunes integration than it has had in the past and it also has a lot more options for playback than previous.   I did find a bug in the integration though.  When integrating with iTunes using the "date added" feature as the dominant list factor Audirvana tends to sometimes skip past a few tracks when it control the list.  
 
I have not tried Pure Music so I cannot compare it.   There is for me a day and night difference between iTunes and Amarra and a large enough difference between Audvirana and iTunes to never use iTunes as the player again.  
 

 


 

 

[Wapiti]

Quote:

First, it's great to hear you're out and about doing what you love to do. Good music can have a positive impact on so many.... and you're a part of that. 

  Would you kindly share more about the recording - bit depth, resolution, equipment...?

Thanks!
 
The main stereo pair was a spaced omni small diaphragm condenser pair into an Avalon AD2022 mic pre (fully discrete, Class A, dual mono, selectable mic input impedance, etc.) into a Tascam DV-RA1000HD.  While the Tascam is capable of DSD and 192/24, I typically record to 96/24 or 88.2/24.  I use a Focusrite Saffire PRO 40 for outriggers, etc. into a laptop via firewire.

I have another gig this weekend recording a flute concerto and Beethoven symphony 1.

 

[Wapiti]

Quote:

Interesting how the source has such an impact.

Indeed, especially when hard drive or SSD based. 
 
I have heard differences in CD transports, but have never carefully compared computer playback sources.

 

[188479]

Hi All:
 
Quick question for the legion of Woo owners!  I'm thinking of joining your ranks...listen mostly to headphones but speakers sometimes, so the WA2 with the preamp out is looking like my choice.  I like everything I have read about it (which is a lot).  So my question, what are the best headphones for this amp?  The ones with the amazing symmetry where you just say they were made for each other.  Trying to put together a list of what phones would match well.  My musical tastes are all over the board, so that does not really help.  Thanks!

 

[landgreen]

Beyer T1 is a great match with the WA2. Get some TungSol 5998s and Amperex Gold Lions for the WA2 and it'll sound terrific with the T1.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Beyer T1 is a great match with the WA2. Get some TungSol 5998s and Amperex Gold Lions for the WA2 and it'll sound terrific with the T1.

X2.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Indeed, especially when hard drive or SSD based. 
 
I have heard differences in CD transports, but have never carefully compared computer playback sources.

When I first moved from mixing audio on analog and digital tape playbacks and record machines to hard drive based DAW's I could always tell what tracks were coming from tape based material and which were strictly hard drive content, created and mixed on hard drive based DAW's.   None of the clients could tell though and I never mentioned it to them.   Not good to rock the boat...     Source playback applications like Amarra are a long time coming for sure.