shellylh

I have a heck of a time deciding which ice cream to get, which bottle of wine to order, which album to listen to at the moment; my partner always gives me a hard time with this.

Well, I suppose the prices are about the same then.

Good to know.

I am trying to decide between the Headroom BUDA+DPS and GS-X to use as a "backup" balanced solid state amp to use with HD800 and ECD-1 for those times that I don't want to fire up the tube amp (Woo Audio WA5 LE). There are advantages to both of them. For instance, BUDA+DPS is maybe slightly smaller, bit cheaper (can't members of the other site get some sort of 10% discount?), will convert SE to balanced from an unbalanced source like my SA8001 that I use to listen to the few SACDs that I own, has a shorter waiting period. However, the GS-X is fully discrete while the the BUDA is chip based, the GS-X has stepped attenuators, and Justin's work is absolutely amazing. Also, I am not sure what the specs are on the BUDA like output power, etc. I would go for the GS-X but I am worried that the BUDA has some special "synergy" with the HD800's which the GS-X does not have. Has anyone heard both with the HD800? I have a GS-1 and the Woo certainly trumps the GS-1 with the HD800 but of course the GS-X will be balanced so moar power.... Edit: I admit I made a thread on the "other" site asking the same question (mostly out of habit/comfort) and didn't get very good feedback. I hope you won't hold this against me.

At least on the DX version, I have been able to browse the web for free from anywhere I have been. So I guess the answer is "yes" at least for the DX version. Oh yeah, the Kindle DX is great!

Tried to buy one but they won't ship to my work since it is not my billing address.

I have only heard a W5000 at a meet. The A2000X seem more laid back than the W5000 from what I remember. I found the W5000 to be a little too bright with some piano for my taste but perhaps it was the setup. I decided not to get the W5000 because of fit issues (the ones I tried were too large even with the pad and headband "mod"). I haven't done any direct comparisons with the AD2000 yet and haven't listened to the AD2000 in a while because of having the HD800 so this is just from memory.

Early impressions of A2000x vs K501: I finally got some time to sit down with the A2000x. I did some comparisons with K501. Disclaimer: These are just my initial impressions and are by no means meant to be any sort of review. I am not very good with words (that is why I became a mathematician) but I will do my best to describe what I am hearing. The A2000X have about 100 hours and them and are sounding much better than they were out of the box. The bass has strenthened and the brightness calmed a bit. I listened to them and the K501 out of the WA5 and GS-1 with an ECD-1 as a source (wav files from Macbook Pro). Music was mostly rock: PJ Harvey, Sarah McLachlan, Elton John, Janes Addiction, Fleetwood Mac, Tracy Chapman, Mazzy Star, Dave Matthews Band with some others like Niyaz from State of Trance 2006, Egberto Gismonti, and Miles Davis (I listened to one song from each of the above artists). First, I find the A2000X to have a similar sound signature to the AD2000 but they are somewhat brighter and not as quite as smooth in my mind yet (maybe after another 100 hours they will be better). They are fairly neutral but have slightly forward mids and have a little bit of a hot treble. They are very bright and transparent, much more than the K501 which sound slow, dark, and laid back in comparison. Putting on the A2000x after the K501 makes you think that the windshield was just cleaned with Windex (yeah, I know, a cliche). The A2000x has more bass quantity than the K501 (but is not bass heavy at all) and the bass hits harder/deeper. However, the mids on the K501 sound more real to me (the K501's strong suit). Male and females voices sound more organic on the K501. Sometimes the A2000x can seem a little metallic. I hate to describe it this way (because the cups are made of titanium) but that is what comes to my mind whereas the K501 are always very smooth (at a loss of treble and bass sparkle). Other thoughts: I haven't had any long listening sessions but I imagine that these could be fatiguing to some. If you want a lot of bass, these are not for you. They seems neutral except for the slightly hot treble. The A2000X are extremely revealing and can extremely revealing of a bad source! I haven't done much comparison with the AD2000 but the A2000x are much harder to drive. On the GS-1 (low gain), I have to turn the dial significantly farther with the A2000X than I do with the AD2000. I am hoping the show more improvement in the next 100 hours. I will do some more comparisons, this time with the AD2000.

Not as much bass impact as the AD2000. I haven't tried the YH100 unfortunately. The bass on the A2000x was very lean when I first tried them. After 50 hours, they bass seems to stronger but still not as impactful as the AD2000. I want to give it more time (both burning in and on my head) before I make a matter of fact statement about the sound though. I got the banana hanger at Bed Bath and Beyond a while ago. They may still have something like it.

They are brushed, but just don't look that nice in my opinion, so I said "scratched."

I got the A2000X a few days ago from pricejapan. I have only time to listen to them for a couple of hours. First, they look and feel very cheap. This is partly to do with the fact that they are extremely light and have cups that look like they are all scratched up (as you can see from the pictures). As for the fit, they are pretty loose on my head but I have a fairly small head (I wear a size small baseball cap). They are nowhere near as loose as the W5000 was on my head. They feel about the same as the D2000's in terms of clamp but are much much lighter. They feel loose and slip a little if I bend my head forward but don't come off. As for isolation, they are not great but are better than open headphones and better than ESW9's. They don't isolate as much as the K271's. Ok, but now for sound (using GS-1 and ECD-1). I have very little time with these so these are FIRST impressions on a can that is not burned in. They sound very open for a closed headphone. They are much more transparent than the K271, D2000, and A900LTD as well as any other closed cans that I have owned (I haven't had time to A/B yet). They are a pretty bright can and the bass is lean (perhaps too lean for me). Perhaps burn-in and/or pads stuffing and/or headband bending can help with the fit and hence the bass. I have only heard the L3000 and W5000 at a meet and I would say that the A2000X are much much closer to the W5000 than the L3000 although they seem to be less bright than W5000. I guess to be more correct, I should say that they don't really sound anything like the L3000 from my memory. As far as comparisons to some other cans, I enjoy the AD2000 more than the A2000X. The AD2000 have more body to them. However, since I was looking for a closed can, I don't feel that is a very fair comparison. Without more listening time, I cannot say much more than this.

Excellent!

Very nice Team indeed! When does the Fantasy headphone season begin?

I spent the day cleaning my bathroom with 99.99% isopropyl alcohol and garlic.

So cute! I wish I could have a cat (in fact I would get a fluffy charcoal grey kitten with big green eyes... ) but I travel too much to have a pet.

Hmmmm.... let's think for a bit.... well, yeah, I guess I that wouldn't be on my top ten list for CanJam.

Haha, I hope nobody peed (sp?) in my sink at CanJam.

Thanks. I remember reading this post and this helped pushed me more in their direction. I have been following threads about them since their announcement since I like the AD2000's. I am happy to hear about the fit problem (of lack thereof).

But of course.

Update: I ordered the A2000X so there is no going back now.

I was thinking that ("take one for the team") and may do unless someone tells me something like "they're horrible, stay away, I would rather.... " As for the fit of W5000, I would definitely have to do some bending of the wires since they were pretty loose on me when I have tried them. This is one reason that I have been avoiding them.

I'm still very curious about the A2000X (I do like my A2000). I really want to get a "better" circumaural closed can for those time the TV is on in the house (better overall than A900LTD, less boomy that Denon D2000, more body that K271). I have seen good and bad reviews on it. Does anyone here own (or has heard) one? I am thinking of this and the W5000 which are fairly close in price (was interested in the D7000 but think it will still be too boomy).

Thanks for the info on the Pre, especially about the non-sluggishness. I am on a waiting list to get one (hopefully this weekend). I tried one out in the Sprint store and was not very impressed but I figure that this was become of some "demo" mode that they may have had it on.

Well, I haven't posted here much (just on the other site) because I was a little terrified actually. But after talking to the a bunch of you at CanJam (and especially the headphone goddess Vicki), I decided that maybe it is time to start spending more time at head-case and less time at the other site. Anyway, CanJam was outstanding. The best part about it was meeting all the great East and West coasters and a few in between. I have to say that those Floridians are a crazy bunch indeed! It was fate (or was it ) that my hotel room had a sliding glass door that led straight to the pool area (aka whiskyfest). So, yes, I went out in my pjs around midnight thinking I was going to ask people to be quiet (how silly of me), then realizing the drunk and disorderly crowd was actually a drunk and disorderly crowd of CanJam-ers, and before long I was joining them and allowing my bathroom to become to local CanJam powderoom (hmmm.... not so sure that was a good idea). Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better group to hang out with. It was fantastic. The gear was also amazing. I wish I had about a week to try it all. There is always next year. The one setup that really captured my heart was blubliss's setup. The R10 really sang to me. I was thoroughly impressed!

Very nice.