rogue

Just picked up a pair of 12l Active's. I excite! They will be paired with my Ayre QB-9, which currently serves as my KGSS/SR-007 source. Is there a noticeable difference in running these in single-ended vs. balanced? My plan is to use the SE connection on the Ayre for the 12L's while keeping the balanced for the KGSS.

I had a pair from one of the first batches, bought right after release, and found it too bright and fatiguing to comfortably live with. Ended up selling it within a few months. As such I'd be curious to hear one of the newer ones to see if they've toned this down a bit, although I seriously doubt it would supplant my O2 MK1.

So anyhow, I did end up hearing these about a week or so ago over at Fidelis. I'm also looking for some new speakers to serve as double duty in a stereo/HT system. My impressions pretty much mirror those of skullguise..a very nice sound, but not particularly musical or captivating - 'hi-fi' does seem to describe it well. I did enjoy the ribbon tweeter, although it there was a bit of stark contrast between it and the mid-range driver, perhaps just owing to the mechanical disparity between the two. As such, the mid-range was a bit lacking and dry for my tastes. Horns and male vocals in particular were not very impressive. The bass was done fairly well, although it was flabby-ish and missing something in terms of accuracy and extension, something which I've noticed before in speakers with integrated (sub) woofers like these. Overall, I liken these to some of the Def Techs that I've heard before, which makes a lot of sense given their origin and design philosophy. I had similar feelings about those - they sounded good overall, but lacked an element of refinement and musicality/engagement, something which I most definitely require. As an alternative, we listened to some Triangle Antal 30th anniversary editions (http://www.triangle-...n/esprit/30ans/). Now that's more like it! A bit more treble energy than I'm used to, but a beautiful and engrossing mid-range, and a bit more refined bass as well. About $700 more (for the pair) than the Golden Ears, but worth it, IMO. I'm still looking into possibilities but these are definitely on the list.

If anyone is still playing, I just picked up a PC copy. Fun game, although I feel like vehicles are way too nerfed from the previous games, unless you have all the damn unlocks. I play 75% assault and 25% recon. http://bf3stats.com/stats_pc/kgb3ast

Thanks for the impressions. Sounds like these share some of the same attributes as Definitive Technology speakers (less musicality and more hi-fi focus) which is not surprising, given that GoldenEar has the same co-founders. I heard Def Tech speakers a while back, and was not very impressed, especially given all the praise they had in the 'press.' These may be different, but I'll have to check them out for myself. Which dealer did you visit in NH? I'm also from MA, so just wondering

Has anyone heard of/heard these? They seem to be getting glowing reviews and look pretty interesting overall - powered sub w/ ribbon tweeter setup. Also not that expensive, at $3k for a pair of the triton two's. http://www.goldenear.com/products/triton-towers

I will be getting this. I played the crap out of BF1942/Desert Combat and BF2. Stayed away from the BC series due to (perhaps un-warranted) consolitis concerns. BF3 looks to have great gameplay, graphics, and proper PC support (64 player maps!). I'm a bit chuffed that there's no LAN support and consequently no co-op mode against bots, as this is some of the most fun my buddies and I had with the previous games. Still, I'm quite looking forward to it, and hopeful that my PC (Q9550 @ 3.6, Radeon 5870 1gb, 4gb DDR2) will be able to handle it with most of the goodies turned on @ 2560 x 1440.

So, I ended up getting the Anthem from my local dealer. While there I also heard the Arcam AVR400, NAD 757 (I think?), and some lower end Denon (3xxx). The Arcam had a nice presence and good soundstaging, but it sounded a bit colder and not as capable for HT duties. The NAD was OK, but it seemed to lack a little something in terms of warmth and refinement, reminded me too much of my current HK unit. The Denon was similar, but perhaps less refined although it certainly wasn't a fair comparison in terms of the price range. What sold me on the Anthem was it's warmth (excellent midrange!), soundstaging, and musicality/PRAT. It's remote is horrendous but I'll be using my Harmony so that's not a biggie. My decision was also swayed by the (supposed) fact that it's in room correction, ARC, is much better than what the others offer in this price range, since it's the same system as used in its many $k processors. I also got a pretty good deal - $1799 new. Should be here sometime next week hopefully, I'll post some real world impressions then.

Thanks guys. That Anthem MRX700 is tempting - that's the one I was looking at myself. Hopefully I'll be able to hear it tomorrow. I've briefly looked at the AVR400 from Arcam, but it seems a bit underpowered for its price. The shop I'm going to may have it as well, so I'll give it a listen if it's there. I've never been a big fan of the lower-end Denon gear, but the 4311 seems near the upper tier so it could be worthwhile. Spec-wise it seems very similar to the Integra stuff. The shop may have it too, so I'll give it a shot.

Not sure if this is the right forum, so I apologizes in advance if it's not. I'm in the market to upgrade my old HT receiver, a 5 year old HK something or other. It was bought for around $500 so it's quality is probably not quite up to par with some of the bigger boys. I'm also interested in some of that new fangled room correction technology, as my living room is not completely conducive to good sound quality (cathedral ceilings...). Does anyone have any opinions on Anthem, Integra, or Pioneer Elite gear? I'm looking to spend around $2k and will probably go hear a few of these this weekend. Is there anything else I should be looking at? Separates would be awesome, but I'm not so sure I can get anything reasonable in this price range. It seems that a new processor alone (I need HDMI switching and the like) would run around my entire budget. Maybe someone can prove me wrong though

Yikes, that 4K peak may just make me scratch the SR-009's off my 'want' list. I'm wicked sensitive to brightness, and while the SR-007 may be a bit dark in the grand scheme of things, it's still one of the least fatiguing and euphonic phones I've heard. Thus it's one of the few that I actually own

Most excellent review. And to think, I almost bought an Ed.9..yeesh.

I was never a big fan of the K1K's. I feel that they do a few things well (soundstage, detail), but are quite lacking in others (bass, also to me they are rather fatiguing). They also seem to require a hell of an amp to get >90% out of them. I say sell them, and get the SR-009's This coming from another Stax Mafia (_SR-007) member, fwiw.

Interesting. I wonder if there is any benefit beyond 192 support? If not, I probably won't upgrade for the time being. The 96/192 offerings currently out there are slim, especially in terms of older recordings.

Got my car tuned this week (09 WRX), picked it up today. Moar power + various upgrades (swaybars, short shifter, steering rack bushings) =

Better resolution, and a much blacker background; everything just sounds less 'grainy'. I attribute this to the inherently lower jitter of the Hiface's async implementation.

No GUI and you have to install FLAC/APE/etc. support yourself? I was curious, but not that much. I don't know what to think of this 'minimalist player' craze. As a software engineer, I'm highly dubious as to any change that could actually be audible. However, the audiofool in me won't dismiss it outright. I think to really do it right, you need to create a custom micro-kernel linux distro optimized for audio. Still, way too much work - I'll stick with foobar for the foreseeable future.

I used to have the Trends, then upgraded to the HiFace. The HiFace sounds noticeably better, but I do agree that the form factor is a bit wonky. In terms of async USB converters, it's still one the best bargains out there however.

With the proliferation of PC-based audio, I think the concept of a 'pure' CD player is dying, which is why we are seeing more and more DACs at all possible price points. Of course this means that there is a lot of crap out there, but I think it also means that there are plenty of good DACs out there, possibly more than before. The hard part, as always, is separating the wheat from the chaff.

To be fair, my source/amp was on the craptacular side when I owned them, so that probably didn't help However, I doubt I would have enjoyed them with the gear I have now. I think the main point that I was getting at is, for closed phones, the CD3k's really leak a fair amount of sound, so they may not be the best choice for someone not wanting to disturb others. I believe the Denon's are also fairly leaky, although I don't recall how much due to my brief exposure with them.

I can't believe anyone mentioned CD3000's. Horrific sibilance, I had a nasty headache after about 30 min of listening. They also leak a fair amount of sound, killing the whole premise of closedness. However, I've never liked a Sony can apart from the R10's, so I may be a bit biased

Not directly, but I used to own an 840c so I can offer some thoughts based on memory. In short, the Ayre is better in most every respect - resolution, dynamics, etc. Of particular note is the treble, which I found a bit harsh and grainy on the 840c, making certain recordings rather fatiguing; on the Ayre it is smooth and perhaps slightly rolled-off, but very, very natural. But what's most striking about going from something like the 840c to something like the Ayre is a pronounced sense of effortlessness and musicality that you get. It's one of those things thats hard to put in words, but simply put, it sounds closer to the real thing, while the 840c in contrast sounds more like a digital representation of music, albeit a good one. Nonetheless, for what I paid for my 840c ($850), the Ayre damn well better be a league above at 3x the price. However, I'm pretty sold on it, as you can probably tell =-)

I really enjoyed the JVC DX1000's when I had them. To me they seemed akin to a more refined (and closed) incarnation of the HD650's. They do have a rather wonky (boosted) mid-range that may seem out of place initially, but I got used to it and ended up enjoying it for the most part. Also, as someone very sensitive to sibilance, I greatly prefer the DX1000's to any D5000's or AT's that I've heard.

Thanks - much appreciated! I figured it would be a bit more involved than swapping out the HD650 pads I'll let you know how it goes..