[Ciggavelli]

I was thinking about the biggest wow moments I’ve had in Summit-Fi. I’m curious what other people’s biggest wow moments were as well

Mine are as follows:

• Chord Hugo 2 made me realize dacs matter
• Lazuli Reference headphone cable for my old Utopias made me realize cables matter
• Uptone Audio USB ISO REGEN made me realize reclockers make a big difference
• Uptone Audio LPS with the USB reclocker (compared to the regular power supply) opened my eyes to the benefits of linear power supplies
• Isotek Evo3 Sigmas allowed me to understand clean power makes a big difference
• The Woo Audio WA33 standard edition made me a tube amp convert. The soundstage, dynamics and instrument separation were crazy the first time
• Abyss AB 1266 TC expanded my understanding of the bass and weight that can be achieved with headphones
• Raal/Requisite SR1as blew my mind with the type of clarity and resolution one can reach with headphones

What are your’s?

 

[Tachyon88]

I can't remember the song, but when I was listening to my HD800s the music was playing and its as if part of the music manifested itself between the driver and my ear. Its as if while the music was playing on the actual transducer, another one started playing in front of it and I went WHOA !

 

[rangerid]

I started building my desktop setup almost exactly 1 year ago (man time flies!), I wasn't even sure I wanted to get a proper DAC at the time: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/how-much-difference-will-a-high-end-dac-make.951021/

I only really used portable sources/daps with IEMs and had been away from the hobby since about 2013 so was really shocked how much better gear nowadays are and how big of a difference sources and full sized Dac/amps can make.

However, I gotta say the biggest wow moment for me was discovering preamps and how amazing a tube preamp into a solid state is, with the right pairing/synergy it really is like the best of both worlds though it does take more effort & time, ended up selling all my tube amps and bought tube preamps instead.

 

[miko64]

0) Apogee Scintilla: How good a loudspeaker can sound - 1990‘

1) Jecklin Float- how well an electrostatic Headphone can sound.

2) B&O Beolab 9: How well a fully digital designer LS can sound - very near to 0) but no hastle

3) Pass xa30-8: how impressive a „meagre“ class A can sound: for example with Wilson Audio LS

4) DCS Rossini - learning that some DAC are much better than orthers. Together with 3) how well sound can be (2019)

5) Final Audio d8000 - hustle free Dream on the head. Almost as good with sp1000m as 4)

6) Obravo eamt1c - 4&5 in a pocket. A dream

Ps: many more on the way to zen - in some sense all the tools I still own: nagar 300i; FW 2J; stay sr009s; lcd4i

 

[bfin3]

For me it was switching from the stax 007 mk1 to the Meze Empyrean. I had come from speakers and was always disappointed by headphones and so made the downgrade to free up cash. The empyrean blew me away and I actually enjoyed listening to headphones for the first time. I've since moved to the Phi TC which keeps the proficiency of the e stats while having enough bass weight and dynamic slam to be enjoyable.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I was thinking about the biggest wow moments I’ve had in Summit-Fi. I’m curious what other people’s biggest wow moments were as well

Mine are as follows:

• Chord Hugo 2 made me realize dacs matter
• Lazuli Reference headphone cable for my old Utopias made me realize cables matter
• Uptone Audio USB ISO REGEN made me realize reclockers make a big difference
• Uptone Audio LPS with the USB reclocker (compared to the regular power supply) opened my eyes to the benefits of linear power supplies
• Isotek Evo3 Sigmas allowed me to understand clean power makes a big difference
• The Woo Audio WA33 standard edition made me a tube amp convert. The soundstage, dynamics and instrument separation were crazy the first time
• Abyss AB 1266 TC expanded my understanding of the bass and weight that can be achieved with headphones
• Raal/Requisite SR1as blew my mind with the type of clarity and resolution one can reach with headphones

What are your’s?

Three moments come to mind.

1. When I first heard the top 2 channel listening room at Hifi Buys in Buckhead, GA, I could not believe my ears. Normally, people will say that you know when a hifi system is good when you can close your eyes and you can actually convince yourself that the artist is there playing and singing for you. This $400,000 system made me believe the artist was singing to me and I had my eyes open. All I can say is "someday."

2. Same place in Buckhead, I paired my ZMF Verite Closed with a PrimaLuna EVO 400 tube amp and EVO 100 tube DAC. I still think that was the most unbelievable headphone experience I've ever had. Holographic and out of head experience. After that experience, I ended up going on a research effort and ended up buying my current tube amp.

3. First time I heard the Empire Ears Legend EVO, I couldn't believe that In Ear Monitors could deliver that bass response. I was blown away and it only took about 3 seconds to do it.

 

[BassicScience]

Revelatory speaker setup upgrades:

Vandersteen 3A Signature ==> Vandersteen Treo CT
Bryston 7B-ST monoblocks ==> Hypex NC1200-based monoblocks
Target rack ==> HRS SXR stand

Revelatory speaker/headphone setup upgrades:

ARC Reference 5SE ==> ARC Reference 6SE
Questyle CAS192D Gold ==> EMM Labs DA2 V2
Linn LP12 ==> Basis 2500

Revelatory headphones:

Focal Utopia (2017)
Hifiman Susvara (2019)
Hifiman Shangri-la Junior (2021)

Most Memorable Auditions at an Audio Salon/Show:

Massive Attack Mezzanine through ARC Reference stack driving Vandersteen Model 7 speakers
MBL 101e Radialstrahler speakers
Apogee Duetta II speakers
Basis Inspiration turntable

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Tia Fourte, back at 2016, the sound tuning of this IEM surprised me by much, that I decided to purchase it right away. At that time my most expensive iem/headphone was something under $1000, and i never imagined myself spending this much in audio set up, let alone just "a mere" IEM.

Abyss Diana V2, back at early 2020, I think the only worthy headphone from Abyss was AB1266 series. What a big mistake, when I listened to Diana V2 for the first time, compared side by side with combo Stax 007MK2 + Stax T8000, and I prefer Diana V2 easily.

 

[HBen]

HD580 over 2 decades ago gave me sleepless nights (and is still among my favorite headphones today)

Stax 007 on Carla Bruni (and other) songs made me being in heaven

Woo Tube Amps let me rediscover what dynamic headphones can do on the right amps

Stax 009 leaves me in awe still today

Susvara lets me rediscover my music collection once again

 

[Sandro Sena]

From a (for lack of a better word) "psychological" perspective, I think that basically all our efforts and upgrades aim at repeating that old "WOW", when for the first time we heard a system capable of reproducing music in high definition, for me it was one whose final link was the Sennheiser HD600. Since then, small "wows", no doubt, Stax, BHSE, etc., but that first experience remained unrepeatable over the next ten years, until one day in 2020: Raal SR1a... wow... WOW! And my enthusiasm for audiophilia was renewed.

WOW!

 

[Deolum]

Biggest wow in non electrostatic headphones was the Utopia by far for me. Apart from that i was wowed by every e-stat i heard (SR009S, SR007 Mk1, Jade II) except for the SR009. I'm also regulary wowed by my HE560 V1 and the HD25.

Considering cables dacs and amps my biggest wows in these things were downgrading stuff and noticing there is no decline in sound quality. This doesn't apply to streamers/power/network solution and tweaks these are still impactful for me.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Really cool thread.. and so many moments over the years.

I think the first wow was with the Grado HP1/PS1 and AKG K1000. Those were my first truly high end headphones and they just sounded insanely good. Never thought I’d hear better. The Grados has a really natural tone to them, and the K1000 had insane detail, speed and openness.


The next huge wow moment was with the Audio Technica L3000. To this day, it is a top 3 favorite headphone of mine. There is simply nothing like it. Best vocals ever, greatest bass by a large margin (even compared to the TC). Definitely a bit closed in and a bit less detail than the TOTL cans now, but my foot simply can’t stop tapping when listening. It’s so good that I just bought a third pair to replace my second after a broken voice coil.


The Sennhesier HE60 “Baby Orpheus” was my first stat and it absolutely blew my mind. I didn’t think I’d ever need another pair of headphones again lol. Beautiful timbre, crazy speed and details. Amazing vocals. On my fourth pair now and I’ll never give them up.. even though it’s lighter bass makes it more of an every now and then listen.


In comes the 009, just an absolute revelation. One of the most technically proficient headphones I’ve ever heard. I’m still wow’ed by it til this day. It sounds like a veil is removed from nearly every other headphone.


With the TC, I was mainly most impressed with it having the clarity and detail that a lot of bass light headphones (i.e. HD800, SR1a, HE60, etc.) are more known for, while also having amazing bass impact and presence.



The Sr1a’s wow factor was huge. Especially in the first month of owning. Best in class soundstage and clarity. Easily improves upon just about everything that the K1000 did.



Lastly, the Shangri-la Senior. The absolute best headphone I have ever heard for my preferences. It is more complete than any other. Technical proficiency of the 009/TC/Sr1a, with more realism and weight to the music. I cannot stop smiling every time I hear them, and they get about 90% of my listening time. It is truly just unreal.

edit* - how could I forget. The jump from the Hugo 2 to the Dave/Mscaler combo was tremendous. Made a huge difference in my system. So much that I now understand why people pay insane $$$ for Dacs. I'm not sure that I'll ever upgrade, but if I knew better I would've upgraded much earlier than just a year or so ago.

 

[orientexpedite]

Excellent thread.

1. Vintage tubes - 50’s and 60’s Amperex Holland and USA in particular - 6922’s and pinched waist E180CC’s still cause me to fall out of my chair: they bridge the gap between a live performance and a reproduction. There is nothing quite like lifelike harmonic distortion, such as you’d naturally hear at a good venue, without losing out on detail and dynamics.

2. SR-007 MK1 - I listened to these headphones nearly to the exclusion of all others for a couple of years; they have a holographic presentation and bass response that elicits smiles simply based on the memories. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Darth Nut’s review and comparison to the hallowed mesh stator SR-Omega, along with the follow-up, comprise what is likely the most epic headphone review that will ever be written!

3. Power regeneration - going from a slight haze that can be perceived after powering on amplification, to absolute, complete silence, even on several different tube amps, was quite a revelation.

4. USB galvanic isolation and reclocking - I always thought this was gimmicky, but the Berkeley Alpha USB, with some Wireworld Platinum 8 digital cabling, made every track settled, detailed, quiet, and quite simply actually analog in a way I didn’t believe possible with digital. Along with Berkeley’s Reference Series DAC, Tidal and MQA tracks regularly match, and in some cases surpass redbook and DSD content that I own - never thought I would say that! Of course, there are some dud recordings on Tidal, just as in every library. This alone has saved me a lot of money that would have been spent on vinyl!

5. SR-009 and SR-009S - hearing them both for the first time convinced me and reassured me that electrostatic headphones could be an end-game proposition one day, at least in the context of an office setup. It was like running an electron microscope for the first time! Too bad for the timbre, I could never enjoy these quite as much as the SR-007 MK1.

6. Interconnects are a form of tone control - just like the wiring under electric guitar pots change the output of the pot, interconnects shape the tone coming out of your DAC. DAC revisions are usually initially analog output section revisions. Why? Because analog output is subject to the effect of impedances downstream, and these effects are difficult to overcome. Cardas and Wireworld are an easy A-B comparison; I suspect that most folks actually want the Cardas sound, as opposed to the close-to-actually-neutral Wireworld sound, short of playing with impedances at the cable, MIT-style.

7. Shangri-La - not simply because they’re too expensive, or that they’re the largest production mesh stator in a headphone, which they are, but simply because they do everything right in a way that nothing else does. They are incredibly difficult to drive to their full potential, however. The detail, depth, dynamics, and lifelike transparency and timbre they are capable of simply don’t exist outside of the context of summit-fi amplification. Sadly, by comparison, the printed ceramic stator HE-1 also seems to bear out the limitations of its amplifier, but the design doesn’t afford the option of using another amplifier or bigger tubes. Which leads to…

8. Electrostatic amplifiers - to be continued…

 

[chesebert]

Wowed at Klimax DS and it was all downhill from that.

 

[eskamobob1]

7. Shangri-La - not simply because they’re too expensive, or that they’re the largest production mesh stator in a headphone, which they are, but simply because they do everything right in a way that nothing else does. They are incredibly difficult to drive to their full potential, however. The detail, depth, dynamics, and lifelike transparency and timbre they are capable of simply don’t exist outside of the context of summit-fi amplification. Sadly, by comparison, the printed ceramic stator HE-1 also seems to bear out the limitations of its amplifier, but the design doesn’t afford the option of using another amplifier or bigger tubes. Which leads to…

Is there no way to use the HE1 with a different amp at all? TBH I was under the impression that while it took some trickery it was at least possible (basically same idea as the he90)