forbigger

Ok folks......just got back from HK. Didnt get a chance to audience the Luxman since the sellers wont allow besides its a 110V current version so not interested. Tried out Lavry DA11 tough and I dont like it. Sounded very neutral and bright to my opinion. Not to mention some audible hiss too on some recording. Ended up buying a 701 Initial impression is I love love love it......Even though at the moment I drive it using a Headsix but the sound signature closer to my taste than my MS-1. I was told that if I dont mind playing the song from my Zune, then just buy a stand alone headphone amp and connect it using RCA --> mini plug. I actually have no problems since I rarely listen to music when I'm out everyday. I only listen to music when I'm at home or traveling out of town. My question now is would RCA --> mini plug degrade the sound quality ? If not, that would be quite a significant savings for me by skipping the DAC part. Thank you all in advance for all the input so far. Looking forward for the guidance again......

Its going to be a very good headphones, no doubt about it. Its just the amount of the publicity its getting is way too much. At least there are 4 different threads talking about this. I just feel that it is too much and getting to level of hysteria. I maybe new to this but in my course of being a head-fier, never seen such a hysteria like this. Not even HD-800 (pre delivery). I have no problems if everyone receive their phone and commenting the performance but as of now ? Once again, I believe is way out of proportion....... enough ranting.........

I dont get it folks......I just feel the needs to rant here. HF-2 seems to get a celebrity like status at HF, now there's a thread there where people are trying to guess how many pieces the runs going to be. For God sake, its just a farkin phone, not another birth of Messiah.......Wonder what are they going to discuss next......Nick Name for their HF-2? I guess I'll name mine DICK

No idea really.....but from all that i can dig from the net, all says that its a killer for the price. No nonsense DAC that does exactly what it supposed to do and does it pretty well

Gotcha Jones.......enjoy the rest of your weekends;)

Just found this amps CEC HD53R and cost only like 500 in HK. Since I will be in HK on Tuesday next week, might want to pop in and audience it and Luxman P200 (round 1000)......Will bring my only one and ole but reliable MS1, doubt it'll do any justice, a beginner can VS high end amps......but what a heck...... But the whole set up for Gilmore + Pico DAC only exceeds my budget about 200......very tempting indeed......too bad I cant audience it. If I didn't pull any trigger on my audience in HK, then most likely it'll be the headamp combo......In the meantime, appreciate some more input......It's a relatively big investment for me and not to mention a few brawls with my wife as soon as she found out about this........

The 110V version is 50 less than 220V. Current where I live is 220. But to get a step up cost me around 20-30 only. Will using a step up transformer affect the SQ ? Thanks

LOL, this is what I'm trying very very hard to avoid. Satisfaction in audio is like taking drugs......never enough.

Thanks for the input so far......Say if I wanted to have a better config than all thats been suggested before, how much more I have to stretch? And what would be the preferable configuration ? Sorry for being an ass but I just want to weigh my option. Should I be contended for the time being and save money for what supposedly to be a better setup ?? But I absolutely not going to spend more than 2k for whatever setup it might be......

You mean the portable PICO with USB DAC ?

Thanks for all the reply...... @jbl : no, dont have mac @crappyjones: hf2+devilsound dac+either luxman P200 or sonett or hf-2+headroom desktop amp w/DAC built in. And dont you think DAC is necessary if my source is from computer (USB)? @oranges: I might......but my problem is where I come from, there are not that many good headphone amp available. I may be able to audience Luxman P-200 in one of the store in HK in which I visited quite frequently (like once in 5-6 weeks) but I need to have the HF-2 ready first.......but this upgradeitis virus is getting pretty advanced and my hand is already itchy......the wait is killing.......u know

Folks, nubie here.......Been browsing the whole 20 over pages of portable amps in search of desktop amps for my future desktop rig. Have ordered HF-2 and looking to pair it with desktop amps. I listened mainly to pop (air supply, kylie, air supply, any stock, aitken, waterman arrangement), jazz (shakatak), adult contemporary(george benson, gloria estefan, everything but the girl, etc), smooth jazz (acoustic alchemy, peter white, jim brickman, etc), easy listening, slow rock (toto, journey), rock (poison). My collection is some 30% 320kbps, 25% lossless WMA and the rest 192 to 128 kbps (slowly will upgrade to lossless WMA by re-ripping my CD collection). I plan to listen from my notebook. I have seen some of my shortlisted amps got "shot down" in this forum like Cantate ,Gilmore Lite. My other shortlist are as follows: Luxman P-200, Headroom Desktop Amp w/DAC or Donald North Sonett. For non-DAC amps, I plan to use Devilsound DAC as this got lots of rave reviews outside and affordable. One of my problems with these amps is that it will cost at least $600-800 more from my original budget. My buget is 1k incl the can (HF-2 already cost me $400) and I seems to overstretch already by not factoring DAC on my original budget....... Should I bite the bullet and stretch the budget or anyone here can give me a sensible solution ? Thanking all of you in advance for any input/feedback........