seacard

Man, I wish I had some technical skills. Justin, you going to be making these? Naamanf?

I'm not pulling the trigger on these at least until Monkey does. And maybe not even then.

To be perfectly honest, I liked the HE60s more than the OII. The HD800 is a little brighter, a little more punchy, and sounds more like real live music. The OII always seemed a little off, and a little too smooth (not a bad thing, just not how I perceive music). I was a semi-professional trumpet player, and the tone of the trumpet is just a little more accurate with the HD800 than the OII, a little edgier, a little more dynamic. BUT . . . I've only heard the OII with the ES1, the 717, and the 727. My understanding is that the Blue Hawaii does a lot for them, so who knows.

Same here . . . just in a different order.

There isn't a hard cutoff, but I'm also not willing to spend $8K on an amp. The WA5 / ECBA are pretty much the most I'd be willing to spend. The WA22 is certainly an option, but my sense is that the WA5 would be a better choice with the K1000s. Of course, the balanced option is worth something as well. As for solid-state v. tubes -- I am not a tube-roller, and tubes seem like a bit of hassle. Also, after my experience with Singlepower (Supra, ES1) I have a (perhaps irrational) negative association with tube amps. The reason I am interested in having the speaker binding posts is if I end up with Stefan Audio hardwired K1000s that don't have the 4-pin XLR termination.

Yeah, the binding posts are only for the K1000.

At the SF meet, I heard the WA5 with a pair of K1000s and really enjoyed it. So now I'm looking for an amp to drive the K1000s and HD800s to the top of their game. The WA5 is one choice. The Balancing Act is another, but that doesn't have speaker posts, which I would like to have for additional functionality. The ZDT is a third option, but may not be as good a choice for the HD800 and may come up just a bit short on the K1000 as well (if I understand the tubes used in that amp compared to the tubes used in the BA or the WA5). But beyond that (and I would definitely welcome any comments on choosing between those three), I am a solid-state guy. Is there a solid-state amp that can do what the WA5/BA/ZDT do? The one I'm really looking at closely is the Portal Panache. I've heard great things about the pairing with the K1000 and that it has a good amplifier section for regular headphones. I also have the Phoenix right now, and will try out the K1000 with the Phoenix, but it doesn't have speaker posts either. However, I think it's quite good with the HD800 and is a pretty good bargain at $1200. What am I missing? Advice? Recommendations? Thanks all! (p.s. as much as I'd love to get a Zanden, or First Watt, or Signature, or whatever is usually recommended with the K1000, I only have room for one amp and would need the same amp to be able to drive the K1000, high impedance, and low impedance phones)

Now that you are in this thread, resistance is futile; you might as well buy them immediately rather than thinking about it and buying them in 2 months.

I was only able to make it for a couple hours so here are my limited impressions. Keep in mind that I just don't have the ears that people like iPodPJ do, and am unable to judge a component within seconds, especially when I am unfamiliar with other pieces in the chain / music playing. But here are a few thoughts. 1) JH13 is an amazing headphone. I've never had an urge to get an IEM, and have always found them uncomfortable, but I may need to buy this one. As good as pretty much anything I've ever heard, although I'm not quite ready to take the plunge yet. 2) The ZDT and the BA are two amazing tube amps. Very rich and layered sound, lots of detail, lots of power. Not sure which one I preferred more, but I definitely wouldn't say that the ZDT sounds worse than the BA. EC has a winner on its hands. 3) WES/BHSA are really beautiful amps. The WES had an unfair advantage at the meet as it was running out of the Amarra/Berkeley DAC, but both sounded good. There were a lot of electrostats, but the original Omega and the HE Jade were probably my favorites. 4) I really liked the K1000 out of the Woo WA5. I've owned this headphone twice and sold it both times because it just didn't do it for me. With this amp, I could really see its appeal. 5) Although I would never buy a SP amp, I'll admit that the HD800 sounded spectacular out of the Extreme Platinum. After spending some time with the HD800 out of a few amps, I'm truly a believer that these are the best headphones available today. 6) Still don't like the L3000 much. 7) Still don't like Grado much, although I'll admit that the HP1000 out of FallenAngel's Melos sounded great. 8 ) The Beta22 is probably the best solid state amp I've ever heard. Better than the Luxman, better than the Phoenix, etc. Although there was a Bottlehead one-off (I believe his personal amp) that was just as good. Great amp; wish I could have one built for me.

"And let's face it, at some point, even the most committed Head-Fi'er will want to expand from high-end headphones to the world of speakers." So true . . . when I grow up, I may be able to get me some speakers.

I like the HD800 more than the K1000, but I don't think they sound alike. The HD800 is "cleaner" to me. I have always had a hard time listening to dynamic headphones for long stretches of time; not so with the HD800. But take this with a grain of salt because (a) I just didn't like the K1000s like a lot of people and ( I never had one of the "approved" amps (e.g. FirstWatt, etc.).

So far, I have to agree. I've owned both versions of the Omega II and sold them (albeit I've only heard them with the 007t, the 727, and the ES1). The HD800 is a better-sounding headphone and is a keeper. The more interesting question to me is HD800 or HE60 + good amp? There is just something magical about the Baby Orpheus that I can't let go of.

See, this is why you are banished here. At many other headphone forums, people can tell what an amp sounds like just by reading other people's descriptions of it, without ever seeing or hearing it.

I have no engineering or design background, so these may be stupid questions, but that's never stopped me before. Can you tell what an amp will sound like from the amp's design? Often times, somebody says that "Amp X is poorly designed" -- does that correlate to sound? Kevin Gilmore, whose opinion and judgment I value and trust probably more than any other designer in this field, may be able to answer this question best. Sometimes you see him saying that something is a poor design, or a very simplistic design, etc. Can you assume that such an amp will not sound as good as a well-designed one? I have a feeling the answer is no, but if it is yes, what are the best-designed solid-state amps?

Actually, the meet was quite fun and the slobbering was kept to a minimum.

There is one currently in the FS forum.