Leaderboard

It's been a long week so not a lot of time to sit down and listen to the CRBN but when I've done so, they always deliver. No issues at all like the first set had and they are very comfy for a couple of hours or so. I'll try to sit down for a few hours straight but they are so light and the earpads so supple that I don't foresee any issues. It did take me a while to get used to the more diffused sound stage as I thought they were off balance a few times. Just the different presentation playing with my head... I'll take some more time until my final impressions but how about some teardown pics instead. Now do remember that this set was headed my way and Audeze knew I would tear it apart... so they were nice enough to not fully adhere the earpads. That's why they have the paper backing on them. First shot showing the gorgeous carbon shells. Earpads off showing the baffle and the nylon screws which secure the baffle to the back. The 3M adhesive they are using for the earpads is very strong so these are no easy headphones to get into. The earpads are very thick and some of the nicest I've ever seen so I don't foresee having to replace them anytime soon. Another shot showing the (phenolic?) baffle. Now remove the screws and the set comes apart, the baffle screws through the earcups and into the back piece. There is quite a bit of foam behind the drivers but it is very open. Audeze were shooting for a fairly high damping design so this makes sense. Here is the frame with the foam in place. That small dot falls off easily which is good, that means no adhesive in place to make a reflective surface inside the foam. The back cover is a very nice piece and I like the use of fine mesh to keep most things out of the cups Now remove the foam from the picture above and we have the back of the driver. They have gone for connections through the structure to the different elements unlike say Stax who take it all to one point. Nothing wrong with either way of doing things. Here you can also see the construction of the cable which is woven and it feel like it's two triple strands from the Stax plug, up through the cable split and into each cup. I do wonder how much capacitance braiding the cables like this does add to the system (a flat cable always be superior in that regard) but its similar to what Sennheiser do on the HE-1 and Mr. Speakers on the Voce. Far cry better than the crap Hifiman call a cable... on a 18k$ set of headphones though. Another shot the driver free of the earcup. Same thick woven material used for the dust covers front and back. Side profile showing just how thin the driver sandwich is and also its MRI safe roots are evident. Not a whole lot of metal in that, similar to what Sennheiser did with the HE series back in the day. The HE60 was just two pieces of extruded plastic, painted gold and then the mylar stretched onto the frame. Kinda funny to see this approach compared to what Stax are doing with the SR-X, ever more complicated stator designs whose benefits are not quite clear. Last but not least, the very nice plug on these. That is aluminum and then molded plastic... very nice indeed.

and

In her day she was an incredible ratter. We had a rats nest under the shed. They set up home because our neighbour had an aviary, and the rats were after the roosting birds. I bought a rat trap - a huge back breaking sort. Baited it with chocolate and waited. Next morning, trap tripped, chocolate gone, no rat. I eventually bent the mechanism to operate on a hair trigger, if you sneezed it would trip. Next morning bait gone, trap tripped, no rat. Those buggers are clever - they must have used a stick to trip the trap. I had no idea that rats were tool users. The guy next door tried a humane trap; all he caught was a hedgehog. Then Cleo got on the case. Worked her way through the lot of them. Of course they fight back, so she'd come in really proud with tail high looking a bit battered, and outside a half eaten rat. She got all five of them. She was a quite small cat, but a scourge of rats! And voles, and mice, and birds etc etc. Many brought back alive as a trophy to try to teach the higher primate chimp owner how to kill a small animal.

I'm sure we could do a comparison like that.

Epic work, man!

Anybody notice the Latin name for the fish? Microbrachius dicki .

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29661446.amp Thank you, Scotland.

the input wiring is monster cable magnetically shielded cable. Says so right on the cable. And it was a quad balanced pot wired as unbalanced.

Thanks so much (as always) for your help!

"The very first act of copulation was done sideways, square-dance style." Evolution may not have played out correctly since.

Even in Asia, the price will be higher than the US price. Last I checked it will be around US$6700. The mark up can’t be for added logistics cost. 😂 Look forward to that, Birgir! Before we all do anything irrationally exuberant 😇

because they know you are working on the carbon 9k!!

Thanks gents!

I'm sure if you're patient, Birgir will buy an X9000 and tell us all how good or shit it is, maybe even pull it apart. Birgir still got a few SR-Ω lying around to compared?

I have one of Birgir's Omegas, I'm mildly curious to compare the O1 O2 and X That price tag is brutal though

If you’re on a one-percenters kick, don’t miss New Order. 🤑

its here filament transformer for sure smoked. as in hole in the potting likely where the flames were shooting out. has that wonderful singlepower extreme smell. If anyone knows where to get transformers like this made, let me know. specs are as follows. Filament transformer, mounting holes 85mm square threaded with 4.5mm bolts 4 x 6.3 volt at 2 amp 2 x 6.3 volt at 4 amp 1 x 12.6 volt at 1 amp 18 volts @ 1 amp Primary 2 x 115vac High voltage transformer, mounting holes 100mm square threaded with 4.5mm bolts Primary 2 x 115vac 2 x 5 volt at 2 amp 2 x 630volt center tapped at 200ma 510 volt center tapped at 130ma 6.3 volt at 1 amp So many bad solder joints. grounding shields on the small tube sockets essentially force removed with a side cutter. Yikes. Notice the required missing corner out of the new board. Fucking idiot made the case first then found a way to cram everything inside.

Happy Birthday, Andrew! Time for a new business card to pair with with that birth year wine?

I think the best of the phones they just introduced is iPad mini.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r3g2TAtBUaBdiMorTWX7yYgeJ7maQbYW?usp=sharing new link, files uploading includes all new zip files published since the first upload.

No damage thankfully. It was funny though, Mary was on the phone talking to a friend who lives 24 miles away and announces the earthquake. The friend says "I don't feel anything" and three seconds later she feels her house shake.

Should've been more, but even with only a single championship he can still happily lay claim to being one of the cleanest drivers on the grid. I'll always prefer that over someone who races dirty to get more wins.

Finally done! I regrettably sold my previous KGSSHV Carbon a while ago, this one’s not going anywhere soon. This is a 400V, 19mA version, using the ground plane amp board, Sumr transformer and Goldpoint V47 attenuator. I bought the heatsinks from China and had all the drilling and panels done at Front Panel Express. I pulled out the Canon 5D from the cupboard for some tasty shots.

You're a beast! Also, love at the efforts were on two different bikes. I have something in the works where I may be working on catching up to those numbers, though!

There is a good point of view to have in life, never buy anything from Hifiman!

So i figured that i would test the 300v supply to see if its worth saving. But no, BOTH transformers are < 1 ohm on the primary. But no way was i expecting this. And the bias resistor for the headphones really is 100k. Very bad for the headphones. A voltage multiplier *7 from 90v. unregulated, no zeners, no protection, no anything. But wait there is more, hand made circuit boards with a dremel tool. This all has to go. But wait, the first picture is a regulated power suppy whose sole job is to drive the power led in the switch.

Nice earthquake here, checking for damage.