nnotis

You need to do small runs of these Spritzer. Who wouldn't want a compact, but high end stat amp made by the don himself? I'd certainly be interested.

Spritzer, maybe working on amps after bedtime isn't such a bad idea. It looks brilliant to my amp engineering ign'ant eyes.

Congrats on the new acquisition. It looks like they did a much better job of finishing your case. Mine is comically sloppy, with glue drops where they shouldn't be. I guess it's an early adopter price. I trust that Abrahamsen DAC is very good? The Roxannes really expose the limitations of my portable sources. I suspect that even the Lavry DA10 is holding them back. Too bad I don't have $8500 for Lavry's new Quintessence. How's the noise floor with the GS-X? I've found the Roxannes are considerably more sensitive than the JH13s, making noise floors a real hassle. And I can't use resistors with them, as the treble falls off dramatically.

The thicker cable does allow for easier transfer of the audio signal, while reducing the frequency of distortion causing vibrations. I'm currently designing an HD800 giga cable with a 4 inch diameter silver core, surounded by a mantle of copper. The two metals cancel all remaining distortion. This cable will open the HD800 to their true potential, allowing them to, for lack of a better term, sextuple the performance of the SR-009s. And for an additional $1500, I'll sell a stand to help support the cable's weight. This also opens up the soundstage by an astonishing 76% by using my new proprietary technique.

That distortion is, for lack of a better term, magical.

Here's the response I sent to Stefan AudioArt James. I tried to be nice, but I have yet to hear back from him. Perhaps at some level, he knows that this mod is, for lack of a better term, not helpful. "Thank you for the thorough reply James. It looks like one of the primary benefits of this mod is a reduction in distortion, which is actually quite measurable. But even if it didn't show up for some reason, Tyll has more experience listening to different HD800s than anyone else. That includes just about every other mod of them. If there's a change to the sound, he's more likely than anyone to hear it. If you really are confident that the Ultra mod improves performance, why not send one to him for review? The worst that could happen would be no measurable difference vs the stock HD800s. But if the mod get's remotely close to "tripling" performance, then the improvement should be obvious when listening. You'd then have quite a case to make against the value of measurements. Please consider sending a loaner to Tyll for review. Allowing this product to hold up to close scrutiny will open your business up to lot of new potential customers, myself included."

I continue to be impressed by the Roxannes. They're definitely giving me that "heard things in old recordings I've never heard before" thing. I also found some things in my own songs that I hadn't heard since mixing. It's a nice reminder not to perfectly carve out every sound in the production. Eventually, I want to compare their bass performance to that of the LCD2s, but I'm too into the honeymoon phase now. I would really like to see a frequency response chart for these. Does Tyll have a way to measure IEMs?

I may decide to press the issue further. If these mods do nothing but reduce distortion as claimed, there's no way they could measure any worse. And even if the measurements don't pick up a difference, Tyll listens a lot too. And I doubt there's anyone who's heard more attempts to mod the HD800s.

Well, it didn't take long to get shot down. Here's the first part of his rather lengthy reply: "Hello Nick, Thank you for your email. We do all our testing with our ears. I've been in this business for over 30 years and with all due respect to Tyll there is no instrument I'm aware of that can measure how good a certain headphone or component will sound. Measurements do not and can not reveal the quality of the performance of a headphone/component and what the final outcome of the music sound like. All that is necessary is to setup a headphone system with properly designed cables and vibration control and you will hear how a headphone or component truely sounds. I've been educating users for over 10 years on how to for a lack of a better term "triple" the performance of their systems(s) via two extremely important variables in an audio/video system - properly designed cables and vibration control."

Has any one heard this HD800 "ultra" mod? http://www.stefanaudioart.com/shop/stefan-audioart-hd800-ultra-mod/ I just emailed them and asked them to send a loaner to Tyll for measurements. If they're really confident in what they're doing, they should be thrilled to have the evidence documented for all to see.

I think you figured it out. I got a lighter color acrylic shell.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a package from JH Audio on my doorstep today. So far I'm impressed with the Roxannes. The thread on Head-Fi has blown up in a predictable manner, with a few people claiming they have a dark signature. I haven't found this to be the case at all so far. If anything, they seem quick to expose anything shrill in the treble region. Detail retrieval is definitely a step up from my 2009 JH13s. I haven't heard any other freq phase offerings though, so I can't say what I hear isn't just due to improved driver phase alignment.

Schiit amps have been given universal approval from those in the know. What about their DACs? Should Spychedelic Whale consider them too? The Modi's only a $100.

Isn't this site a fix for the "Head-Fi Gone Wild" problem? I think a lot of people come here to search for info on headphone X or amp Y. Even if Jude deletes posts that mention it directly, Googling "Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning" brings up this thread 6 spots down.

Can you please elaborate? Was someone trying to scam Head-Amp?

HPA, I do recall you being disappointed with sound of all previous JH Audio demos. So this favorable impression bodes well. I guess at this point, I'm inclined to trust in Jerry H to deliver. I jumped on the original JH13s in 09, and consider it the best grand I've ever spent. Just about everyone on this site also has and loves their FP 13s or 16s. I think of JH Audio as being part of the Head-Case headphone trifecta also including Stax and the HD800s.

Does anyone else have anything to add about how the Roxanne sounded? Superficially, it seems like the biggest jump since the 13s came out in 09. I wonder how they'll compare to the 3A? The bass boost seems a little silly though. I suppose they can sell one model to both bassheads & people like me looking for accurate monitoring.

Tyll, thanks for another great review. Did this listening session change your mind about how well the HD800s stack up to the SR-009s? In an earlier comparison, you found the SR-009s to be in another league with all attributes but imaging. Do you still feel this way, or have the HD800 mods plus L-2 changed the equation?

Wow, 6 to 8 hours is pathetic. That's also too bad it doesn't work with the camera connection kit. It has been confirmed to work on Samsung phones though. I presume it would work on new HTC phones too. They need to engineer better battery life. I also recall seeing that the USB DAC is limited to 16 bit. That makes listening to 24 bit files a bit of a hassle. If they can sort those two things out I'm on board. I already carry DAC/amp combos around with me every day for use on my GS3.

Is the 3A really any less convenient than lugging a DAC/Amp combo around? How bad is the battery life?

That's encouraging regarding the 3A/16 combo. Does anyone have a guess as to what's going on technically with the 3A/16s to improve upon the sound from the FP 13s? Could it be just a more neutral frequency response? Perhaps the 3A DAC was superior to whatever the 13s were hooked up to? Could the 3A manage to make the driver phase alignment better yet?

It's been suggested that the Freqphased JH13s and 16s might eliminate the sonic gains of the JH-3A. Has anyone actually compared them? Are 3As now just 13s without the 50 Hz hump?

Have any of you yet listened to the SR-002? If so, any thoughts on how it compares to the big boys, or maybe the JH13s?

Can you say a little more about the ES5s HeadphoneAddict? How do they stack up to the JH13s?

I'll second the Headstreamer recommendation. I'm amazed by how well it separates sounds in a mix. I've not heard a larger soundstage from a portable, so it works well with the LCD-2s. Just make sure to get a resistor adapter if you ever plan on using it with IEMs. The noise floor is the Headstreamer's only weakness. And as a bonus, you can use it with a Galaxy S3 or Note 2 for insanely good portable sound.