en480c4

I wanted the Treo but it was a little rich for my blood so I got the Motorola Q. I've been very happy with it. Not a fancy as the Touch but functionality is great, and I really like having the full keyboard for using the planner and adding contacts on the fly.

Hahahahaha! Actually, the whole "den" is red, so I don't think it qualifies

If you don't mind me asking, why did you bother doing mods to a new pair of cans which you believe will change with burn in based on initial impressions from a quick listen directly out of the box? Why not let them settle in and figure out what mods might be required next? Or am I missing something? Did you have have experience with them, knew you didn't like them but were hopeful that modding them would make them to your liking?

Crappy rainy-day picture: So far I've been very happy with it. It was great for the trip to NY for the meet, and other than driving a couple of miles each way to work and 20 miles or so roundtrip to UNH for coaching a few times a week, it's not going to get a whole lot of use. I'm still getting used to how small it is... Having driven a lifted Grand Cherokee for the last two years, and a Passat before that, this thing is tiny! And a few pics of the condo, which I should be closing on in a few weeks. It's amazing what 5 weeks worth of work can do to a space... The whole cathedral space with the loft is pretty cool. And the floor plan being broken up as much as it is actually makes it feel even bigger than the 1300 sf or so that it actually is. The only problem is it's a little tough to hang pictures up on the sloped walls, which is all that's left after putting up my bookcases. Nice! I love how "retired" Stephen King seems to be even more productive than ever!

Almost anyone's welcome until they prove otherwise. Once someone's proven themselves to be an ass, the self-policing nature of the forum takes over, and members and admins/mods alike are free to point out to said person just how much of an ass he or she is. If they can handle it, they shape up and hang around. If they can't, they turn tail and run. It's win-win, really.

Then by definition, IT'S NOT DIY!!! [/discussion]

Oh nos!!!1one Rick + Pinky FTL.

Guess what, if there's a consumer involved, it's no longer Do It Yourself, and instead just a shitty manufacturer trying to make a quick buck. DIY is about actually doing something, which means if you can't design it, at least build the damn thing. As for design, DIY designs are some of the best out there, with the Beta22, mini3 and the like as perfect examples. Just because some knucklehead throws one together, uses JBWeld to secure jacks and wood screws to secure PCBs, and then sells it doesn't mean that DIY isn't high end. It just mean someone's an idiot for thinking they should sell it, and someone else is an idiot for buying it.

Oxymoron?

I really couldn't believe the difference. I'd love a pair of the vintage ones and I find the new ones all but unlistenable. :shrug:

Isn't the biggest problem with the Apache that it's basicically 2 x HR-2, which comes out to around 2 x $875 = $1750, all for the bargin price of $3000? I'd hardly consider that good bang for the buck, especially given it's inability to play nice with low-Z phones...

Now that Dave (drp) is here, he could probably chime in. IIRC he had his Ed. 9's balanced with his Rudistor at the last Boston meet.

Sarah Carter's hot and all, but Shark is a turd of a show.

I'm guessing he was using his Apache and Meridian. I really liked the D5000 with my Millett. I was listening to Agalloch's The Mantle, which has acoustic guitar, strings, electric guitar, clean vocals, raspy vocals, drums and effects and I was pleasantly surprised by its ability to get the textures right. There was no congestion in the mids and treble, and I was able to hear each acoustic guitar string through the wall-of-sound distorted electric guitar. There wasn't a lot of bass extension, but at no point was I thinking it was distracting from the experience. The only thing I will say about the bass is that it might have lost some its coherancy a bit with faster and more complex stuff, but for slower stuff, it did will with textures and atmosphere.

I found the 600 to sound a little bit more balanced on mid to low gear, and the 650 sounds better when driven well with strong upstream gear.

Happy birthday!

Forgot to post it last week... '02 VW GTI 1.8T w/ 35k miles

I'm liking it so far. I've had a '00 Jetta with the VR6 and an '01.5 Passat with the V6. The 1.8T seems to be a fun little motor, even if it is lacking the low end grunt the VR6 had. It's a nice little compromise with the looming mortgage payments... I wanted to downgrade from my Grand Cherokee Overland, but didn't want to get something I'd tire of quickly. The GTI seemed like a good choice... Fun to drive, leather + heated seats, and low, low miles, and I'm paying considerably less for it.

Here's the thread that was split off from the planning thread with impressions: http://www.head-case.org/index.php/topic,2386.0.html

I honestly don't think the vintage RS-1s could've sounded any better. They absolutely rocked out of my little Millett, they sounded amazing single-ended out of the toaster Supra and they sounded great balanced out of Nate's rig. I'd really like to hear them out of a Beta22 at some point. They had a very well-balanced presentation with just the right balance of fun and refinement. I've heard newer RS-1s with bowls and flats before, and I didn't think care for it with either. The flats fix some of the problems I have with them, but they create others. I find them unlistenable with the bowls and just disappointingly muddy and congested with flats. My goal wasn't to get the most out of the RS-1 I didn't like... I was just looking for confirmation that my memories of newer RS-1s was correct after the vintage RS-1 love took me by complete surprise.

[me=en480c4]yawns[/me]

I did. I had spent quite a bit of time with the old RS-1 on my rig, comparing it to my HF-1. I felt I knew what the old ones did well, and where they improved on aspects of the HF-1. After tracking down the 2nd pair later in the day, I went back and forth between the two RS-1s a few times and my strong reaction towards both remained. Both were with bowls, both out of the same rig, mine, and music, which were albums I know well. I really loved the old ones... I could hear all of the things people say are great about them. I'm not sure sure it would be worth the big investment to go from the $230 I'm into my HF-1s (Original purchase price, raw materials for woody mod) to whatever it would take to track down a vintage RS-1, but for the first time I can hear the things that people have said they do well. And I really couldn't stand the new ones at all... I don't think I can state my dislike for strongly enough. They really border on unlistenable to my ears, on my setup and every other setup I've heard them with. They were grating and there didn't seem musical at all. And I want to say that it's the 3rd for 4th pair of newer ones I've tried, and until I tried the vintage ones, I was starting to think my ears were broken, though they may still be

Wuhoo, belated impressions. I hit the road around 7 AM, Nate and I were eating lunch in Babylon by noon and we were back on the road by 7:15 PM. Quite the way to get to know the car I just picked up Monday! It was a great meet, though I didn't listen to much in the way of amps or sources... Most of my time was spent listening to headphones. I was really trying to get a feel for what my HF-1s do well and what other headphones do better or worse. Unless otherwise noted, the following impressions are based on my admittedly (very) modest rig of a Denon DCD-815 CD Player -> Denon DA-500 DAC (via Outlaw Audio Pure Silver Coax) -> Millett Hybrid with diamond buffers, STEPS & Tung Sol 12FK6 tubes (via Outlaw Audio PCA Interconnects). Ari (aka Nikongod) had a great collection of vintage Grados, and this seemed like the perfect place to start my listening. A pair of original (brown headband pre-serial number) RS-1s were my first listen, and these are going to make me take back everything bad I've ever said about the RS-1. Smooth highs with great detail and resolution, great in-your-face mids that sounded excellent with cello-based music and female vocals, and bass that extends just deep enough, with great speed and impact and most importantly, great low-end detail, all with a great pair of very comfortable beat up bowls. I think my modded HF-1s go a little lower, but without the resolution. But even with the pleasant surprise that this RS-1 was, I'd have to say that the improvements are definitely in that last 5% range, and not something I feel compelled to upgrade to right away. Of course, given how hard the old RS-1s are to find, it's not like it's something I could do on a whim anyway. So at this point I definitely thought I was losing my mind, so I tracked down someone's later RS-1. I could not keep them on my head for more than 10 seconds... Everything I've ever hated about them was there. Harsh, sibilant highs, peaky mids, and an overall sound signature that, even on my warm-ish rig, sounded was so grating that I was worried I was going to break them trying to get them off my head so quickly!HP-1000 (with flats) are as good as everyone says they are. I found them to be very well balanced, a very detailed treble presentation that has great resolution but never comes across as harsh or bright, with slightly more mild mids than the usual Grados, and again, great bass that has the impact, speed and detail to convey everything you throw at it. And I was pleasantly surprised by the comfort... They just disappeared on my head, which is no small feat.Black 325 (with flats) are the best 325 in my experience, and they were the first, which makes you wonder why they were changed (twice) since. I thought these were a great headphone, and did everything I always hear people rave about the 225 doing.Headphiled SR-200 (with the 200 drivers and flats) were a fun little can. I can't say it was particularly balanced or refined, but it had a presentation, and especially a bass slam that was just grooving!I should also note that Ari's toaster Supra was amazing with my HF-1. I would've liked to have spent more time with it, but once I heard it I knew if I listened too much I would've been left wanting. I was really looking forward to some of the ATs I saw there. There were both a W5000 and an L3000, and I hate to say it, but neither really impressed me that much. I'm guessing some if it had to do with the Millett not being the best amp for them. But I definitely felt that something was just off about them. I thought the treble presentation was great on the W5000... Smooth, detailed, great air and separation. Mid-mids (is this even a term?) and lower mids were pleasant enough, but struck me as a bit recessed. Bass response was only adequate, with great low-level detail but no real impact or slam. But the real problem were the upper mids. They were very peaky and seemed almost honky, especially with female vocals. And because they are soooooo forward, the whole rest of the sound seemed pushed back. I definitely heard this out of Nate's balanced amp, too. I liked the L3000s a lot more. They didn't have any glaring faults, though I didn't come away that impressed with them, either. Even out of my modest rig, I expected a lot more given the comination of reviews and going price these have seen. These would have to sound considerably better on a higher-end system for me to really get excited about these. I finally had a chance to hear the Denon D5000 and came away pleasantly surprised. They strike me as a fairly well-balanced headphone, with a pretty even response across the board. They seem to have a little trouble with faster, more complex music, but they sounded quite good accurately reproducing texture and atmosphere in darker, moodier pieces that had lots of layers of distorted and acoustic guitars, effects, vocals and drums. I'd almost consider these a poor-man's L3000, with a similar presentation, but not as technically proficient. If I ever need closed headphones for home use I'd consider these, knowing I'd still be relying on the HF-1 for faster, more complex music. I also finally listened to the Edition 9s and that was an interesting experience. When I first put them on, I was thinking they didn't sound too bad. Of course, that was on an unfamiliar system (Boozebutton's Theta, Ack! DAC and Krell amp) with a CD I didn't know. Once I put in a CD I know and love, everything that people who don't like the E9s have said started to sound true. I found the treble to be forward and grainy, the mids to be recessed, and the bass, while kind of fun at first, to get really old, really fast. The more I listened, the more I got used to the weird voicing and soundstage, but once I went back and listened to a more traditional headphone, it was almost impossible to go back to the E9s. One other note... I was less than impressed with the build quality and aesthetic aspects of the E9, despite what I had read. I thought the headband was awkward and while not flimsy, it didn't inspire much confidence. And the chrome-plated plastic looked good from about 3 feet away, but up close it looked and felt cheap. I also got to listen to Nate's Herstens again, which is always a pleasure. The balanced mini32 is quite the little package, and it gives a good taste for what balanced can do for the HD-650s. And to think that it didn't exist this time last week. Nicely done, Nate... You're a mad man! Other than that, I did a little listening here and there. I came away from the Apache/Meridian thinking it sounded pretty good, but not necessarily $3000 good. Other than the toaster, I didn't listen to any of the Singlepower stuff. I wanted to swing by the corner with all of the Woo gear all day, but never made it. And every effort to hear the O2 or HE90 was thwarted by them both being occupied. Oh well, maybe next time. But it was an excellent opportunity to talk gear, put faces to the names and meet some great people. The drive was definitely worthwhile, and I'm glad we made the run.

Well said... Thanks for saying it more clearly than I could have!

:police: MOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOT Oh wait... Damn it!