HiWire

This might be old news for most people, but there's a great interview with the guys at Analogue Productions about SACD and Pink Floyd's master tapes of Wish You Were Here: http://www.brain-dam...g-james-gu.html There's a bit of a sell-job in the piece, but I had no idea that Music Direct owned Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab or that Acoustic Sounds owned Analogue Productions, although it makes a lot of sense, in retrospect.

Gorgeous. Congrats!

Solid Gold. The hits keep coming.

I was going to rant about vinyl but then I thought I might hurt someone's feelings.

Ars Technica just published a salutary article on studio efforts to improve the sound quality of iTunes and other digital tracks. http://arstechnica.c...he-ipod-age.ars I'm glad there's good news about digital, for once. There are still many technical limitations, e.g., the iPhone still has much less storage space at 64GB than the iPod Classic at 160GB. Each portable can only hold a small slice of a decent music library encoded at low compression or in lossless format – never mind high-resolution files. There's also the tradeoff between battery life, device size and price. The HiFiMAN HM-602, for example, only has 8GB. You're really sacrificing capacity for quality there (and I don't particularly want to pick on HiFiMAN, because they sell to the audiophile community). I'm still using a Sony Discman because it has the mix of battery life, portability, and sound quality that I'm looking for. I've got an iPod Shuffle 4G hooked up to Klipsch S4i to take everywhere, but there's always a compromise. I can't afford and dislike digital music library software and hardware. It is rarely as convenient as promised and that is one of the reasons why people are returning to vinyl (beyond its realization as a hipster fad).

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

I'd like to see a comparison between the Grado PS-1, the PS-500, and the Symphones Magnum (whichever version is current). The HP-1000 is very neutral in absolute terms, but people accustomed to other cans' characteristic sounds may think differently.

The Grado SR-60 / Alessandro MS-1 would also be a giant leap for studentkind.

That's a fantastic collection, Tyll. Enjoy the music.

Girl Talk - All Day St. Vincent - Strange Mercy Ultimate Hall & Oates

The Symphones Magnums are also competitors at this price point.

Didn't John mention hating the manufacture of the HP-1000 (in the long Head-Fi interview)? If the PS500 sounds anything like the PS-1 or the HP-1000, I might be interested... I need a backup for my HP-2. The Alessandro MS-Pro is also in the running, especially because of its light weight.

I guess they'll weigh about the same as a pair of SR325i, which makes them less attractive to me... unless they sound like the PS-1. Early review here: http://www.positive-...sue57/grado.htm It took Grado a while, but they've learned something from their HF-1 and HF-2 sales... comparing them to Ultrasones and using the Grado amp is kind of a joke, though.

I was hoping for fake boobs, or toobs, at least.

Toobs are magic, like the Virginity Fairy. I am the Re-Animator of headphones.

Yes, you forgot the Underpants Gnomes, but everything else is correct. The pristine Antarctic sound (like virgin snow, but more so) is then beamed instantaneously through the Mirror Universe, warped through flatwire spacetime and unfolded to erupt in glorious goatee musical 3D-form vision for our listening enjoyment. Toobs can only make this better.

I've heard the K701 and the GS-1, but not together. People have implied that it would be a clinical experience, kind of like a prostate exam. Are you guys saying a euphonic (not Ebonics) source would elevate the K702 to a decent level of warm fuzziness, like a Furry convention? A decent set of NADs, Wadia or Naim could do the trick... maybe even a Meridian.

That's what she said.

Dual entry sounds like something professionals and talented amateurs would try after a few drinks or a lot of cash. The GS-X probably would sound good with K702s. It's easy that way, like my sister, but not cheap.

True - why won't anyone make an amp with a flux capacitor for the AKG K700-series? The only other option is to go nuclear - Mr. Fusion can't come soon enough. Also, I enjoyed a toob job from an Audio Research CD5. Once.

For the purposes of scientific discovery, I am tempted to acquire a set of K702 to hear if you can get blood from a stone. The K701 that I have heard at meets are strangely resistant to presenting a lifelike sound. I know that these cans have many (deluded) proponents, but, like Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, I trust my feelings. Is anyone running a K701 or K702 out of a beating valve-based system? I wonder if the only way to get a lame duck to fly is to feed it sweet, sweet harmonic distortion. TL;DR - curious headphone cat is curious

Great review of these closed headphones, Tyll. I was looking for exactly this kind of can for years, but I ended up with the Alessandro MS-1 (no regrets) because of the compromises in various products. There are so many posts asking (with different wordings): "what is the best closed portable headphone for me?" online, including this forum. Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, AKG, Beyerdynamic, etc. (this is before Shure and Denon came out with their new cans) all failed to meet my standards when I was shopping around. I wasn't a fan of IEMs (many people have an aversion to this style of headphone), although I did get a pair of Klipsch S4i for my iPod Shuffle 3G this Spring. They don't have the kind of isolation that IEMs or this set of Beyerdynamics provide, though. One small thing I would like to mention: please put the headphones on your head on all your video reviews (e.g. your excellent AKG Q701 review). It's important to know what the cans look like on the noggin - we're all familiar with them "off-head" from various website photos. You did a fantastic job of modelling the DT 1350 this way. I wouldn't be a Head-Caser if I didn't ask this: does the character of the DT 1350 change with amplification at all? I find most portable-style headphones are amplifier-agnostic (as long as gain is set at reasonable levels), but somebody is guaranteed to plug this into one of those portable headphone amplifiers...

At $1,250 plus shipping, I think I'll stick with the original drivers.

I am interested in the HP1000 UpGrado.