Your Biggest Wow Moments In Summit-Fi
Mar 13, 2022 at 7:43 PM Post #47 of 81
There's some magic in those boxes :L3000:
 
Mar 13, 2022 at 9:20 PM Post #48 of 81
bobmysterious said:
1 - The first time I heard a tube headphone amp. An Eddie Current Zana Deux SE. I think I had to sit down so I didn't fall over.

2 - The first time I turned the Holo Audio May loose on the Eddie Current Studio B. Goosebumps.
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Zana Deux was the gold standard before the rise of planar. I think the amp fell out of favor when the amp was required to deliver current to low imp planar. If you stick with high imp dynamics I don’t think you can do better.
 
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Mar 14, 2022 at 6:14 PM Post #50 of 81
Top moments, going way way back:

Circa early-to-mid-2000s:
  • Audio Technica L3000 I bought from Yahoo Japan (used). I had previously "settled" on HD650 (I still love those headphones), and the L3000 blew my mind with its rich tone and bass impact. The L3000 delivered all of the "rock and roll" fun sound I'd hoped for from Grado, but that Grado headphones of the day completely failed to deliver. The L3000 build quality and materials were also WILD. I still keep a pair and won't let go.
  • Singlepower SDS tube amp. @purk and I first met at this "mini meet". He brought this funky OTL tube amp in a "toaster" chassis. Hearing my L3000 with this amp was mind bending to both of us. I was new to the hobby and wasn't able to realize much of this sound was the result of really, really sweet distortion and coloration. But WOW what a wonderful coloration! Still love this sound today, though I recognize it's not accurate. I've still found nothing else quite so simultaneously flawed and beautiful - though maybe that vintage Koetsu Onyx comes close. The SDS amp was improved further with tube rolls and internal upgrades over the next few years (5687, 6BL7GTA, 6BX7GT, 2c51, 396A). But, you know - standard Singlepower disclaimers apply. I still have this amp lol.
  • Tannoy dual-concentric speakers. Hearing Eyris DC3 for the first time made me wanna cry and toss my brand new Polk LSi15 (ugh) towers in the dumpster. Tannoys finally showed me the perfect coherence of headphones combined with all the other great stuff good speakers do. My main 2ch rig has run Tannoys as big as I can afford (currently Canterbury GR) for the past 15 years. At this point, it's probably gonna be Tannoys 'til the end for me.
  • My first vinyl rig. SOTA Star in beautiful Koa wood with a new Benz Micro Glider cartridge and vintage Japanese (Fidelity Research) arm. Bought on consignment. It completely trashed my Meridian G08 CD player in sound quality. I've been almost exclusively vinyl source material since that spring in 2007. Of course I've kept this first table - though I've upgraded the main rig to a very expensive Clearaudio.
Circa 2010:
  • Heard my first Koetsu - a heavily used 1980s/90s short body Onyx (samarium cobalt magnets, not platinum). Owner was selling it for his dad, and was kind enough to let me install it in my rig for a trial. My jaw didn't leave the floor all day. I couldn't throw my cash him fast enough. I remember waking up before noon on a Sunday (this NEVER happened back then) to walk over with payment lol. It replaced an Ortofon Windfeld MC - good riddance lol. You've guessed it - still have this Onyx, plus now many other Koetsu too.
Circa 2014:
  • Once again, Purk gets me by showing me his Stax 009 driven by various amazing electrostatic amps. It blew me away enough with just the KGSShv or BHSE, but was absolute next-level with the DIY T2. I'd previously heard 007 Mk I with KGSS, but that did nothing to move me. Despite having a lot invested in my 2ch speaker rig by then, I got back into headphones for a while, just for the 009. YES, I still have a 009 (two actually) lol.
Last few years:
  • Upgrading from a nice phono stage (Rogue Ares Magnum) to a SERIOUS phono stage in the form of a VAC Renaissance SE. Huge upgrade in sound. Still have the VAC, though recently I'm playing with an ARC Reference 3SE. There's no going back to budget friendly phono stages.
  • Koetsu Blue Lace w/ Diamond Cantilever upgrade. Takes the Koetsu sound even further. The best Koetsu I've heard. Sounded amazing from hour #1, no burn-in required.
Lots of smaller moments and honorable mentions too, but these are the big ones that stick out.
 
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Mar 14, 2022 at 8:49 PM Post #51 of 81
mulveling said:
Top moments, going way way back:

Circa early-to-mid-2000s:
  • Audio Technica L3000 I bought from Yahoo Japan (used). I had previously "settled" on HD650 (I still love those headphones), and the L3000 blew my mind with its rich tone and bass impact. The L3000 delivered all of the "rock and roll" fun sound I'd hoped for from Grado, but that Grado headphones of the day completely failed to deliver. The L3000 build quality and materials were also WILD. I still keep a pair and won't let go.
  • Singlepower SDS tube amp. @purk and I first met at this "mini meet". He brought this funky OTL tube amp in a "toaster" chassis. Hearing my L3000 with this amp was mind bending to both of us. I was new to the hobby and wasn't able to realize much of this sound was the result of really, really sweet distortion and coloration. But WOW what a wonderful coloration! Still love this sound today, though I recognize it's not accurate. I've still found nothing else quite so simultaneously flawed and beautiful - though maybe that vintage Koetsu Onyx comes close. The SDS amp was improved further with tube rolls and internal upgrades over the next few years (5687, 6BL7GTA, 6BX7GT, 2c51, 396A). But, you know - standard Singlepower disclaimers apply. I still have this amp lol.
  • Tannoy dual-concentric speakers. Hearing Eyris DC3 for the first time made me wanna cry and toss my brand new Polk LSi15 (ugh) towers in the dumpster. Tannoys finally showed me the perfect coherence of headphones combined with all the other great stuff good speakers do. My main 2ch rig has run Tannoys as big as I can afford (currently Canterbury GR) for the past 15 years. At this point, it's probably gonna be Tannoys 'til the end for me.
  • My first vinyl rig. SOTA Star in beautiful Koa wood with a new Benz Micro Glider cartridge and vintage Japanese (Fidelity Research) arm. Bought on consignment. It completely trashed my Meridian G08 CD player in sound quality. I've been almost exclusively vinyl source material since that spring in 2007. Of course I've kept this first table - though I've upgraded the main rig to a very expensive Clearaudio.
Circa 2010:
  • Heard my first Koetsu - a heavily used 1980s/90s short body Onyx (samarium cobalt magnets, not platinum). Owner was selling it for his dad, and was kind enough to let me install it in my rig for a trial. My jaw didn't leave the floor all day. I couldn't throw my cash him fast enough. I remember waking up before noon on a Sunday (this NEVER happened back then) to walk over with payment lol. It replaced an Ortofon Windfeld MC - good riddance lol. You've guessed it - still have this Onyx, plus now many other Koetsu too.
Circa 2014:
  • Once again, Purk gets me by showing me his Stax 009 driven by various amazing electrostatic amps. It blew me away enough with just the KGSShv or BHSE, but was absolute next-level with the DIY T2. I'd previously heard 007 Mk I with KGSS, but that did nothing to move me. Despite having a lot invested in my 2ch speaker rig by then, I got back into headphones for a while, just for the 009. YES, I still have a 009 (two actually) lol.
Last few years:
  • Upgrading from a nice phono stage (Rogue Ares Magnum) to a SERIOUS phono stage in the form of a VAC Renaissance SE. Huge upgrade in sound. Still have the VAC, though recently I'm playing with an ARC Reference 3SE. There's no going back to budget friendly phono stages.
  • Koetsu Blue Lace w/ Diamond Cantilever upgrade. Takes the Koetsu sound even further. The best Koetsu I've heard. Sounded amazing from hour #1, no burn-in required.
Lots of smaller moments and honorable mentions too, but these are the big ones that stick out.
Click to expand...
Always EPIC, Mike! Well said! The L3000 and our friendship seem to stand the test of time. Same can't be said on the Singlepower amplifiers! :D
 
Mar 15, 2022 at 11:52 PM Post #53 of 81
Recently? Getting my Aqua La Scala DAC. Among its many, many talents is the uncanny window into recordings. Where before the music was presented in a relatively uniform manner with the only demarcation being between good and bad recordings and live and in-studio. Now those in-studio recordings allow me to actually hear how the individual pieces are stitched together and which are played as a group. I've never heard such insight. This isn't about detail retrieval per se (although it is prodigious in that respect) but more about hearing the nucleus of a piece of music and drawing back the curtain on how every instrument/musician is performing relative to each other.

A genuine, appreciable leap in quality by an order of magnitude.
 
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Mar 16, 2022 at 4:16 PM Post #56 of 81
Great to see so many faces from back in the way-old days of Head-Fi conjuring up those early memories. Lots of good times there. I couldn't possibly recount all the big wow moments in my time in audio, but I'll certainly never forget the first time hearing one of @justin w. 's Blue Hawaii amps with a Stax 007, at a meetup here in LA circa 2005ish. That was probably my first true "Summit-Fi" experience. And who could ever forget a similar event in San Jose featuring at least 3x HE90 headphones, various amplifiers and company of the infamous @NeilPeart?!?

purk said:
Always EPIC, Mike! Well said! The L3000 and our friendship seem to stand the test of time. Same can't be said on the Singlepower amplifiers! :D
Click to expand...
I was just a non-audio person the Singlepower story the other day (in the context of a conversation about people seemingly dropping off the face of the earth), it's always a doozy for getting jaws to hit the floor!
 
Mar 17, 2022 at 4:18 PM Post #58 of 81
Its happened twice for me. Once in the mid/late 70's when I first listened to the Magneplanar Tympani speakers with ARC amps and the second time just recently when I heard the RAAL ribbon headphones with their just released new Tube amp.
 
Mar 17, 2022 at 6:51 PM Post #60 of 81
biggest wow moment - hearing Utopia on a tube amp for the first time. and then, WA33 + Utopia. IMO if you're running Utopia off solid state, you're definitely missing out...

Utopia was the obvious game changer for me. before that, I was running Schiit Mjolnir + HD650 off of a laptop/oppo 105d and all stock/basic cabling. the Utopia basically set me down a path my wallet utterly regrets but my heart and mind totally love.

other notable mentions:
SolP + HA200 - after this, I just knew I had to get the SolP
TC/Susvara + speaker amps
009 + EQ + bhse + mola tambaqui
adding AQ Niagara + decent power cords
Bibacord aes cable
 
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