tkam

Here's the intial thread I started regarding the amp: http://www.head-case.org/index.php/topic,1144.0.html I hadn't come up with The Dragon name by that point.

It's a pretty long story into how the amp came about so I'll give the short version. I wanted a top-flight headphone/pre-amp that would also have the ability to drive speakers at some point in the future. So the original plan was to build an amp geared toward using the 6528's as they are very netural sounding tubes and would have plenty of power to drive efficient speakers. The final design ended with an amp that has two gain stages the 1st stage is a single tube and the 2nd stage is two tubes. The 2nd stage can be turned on and off and is really only useful w/ the k1000 and speakers. I still do need to get binding posts added at some point.

Yeah I really like the SP amps with the higher output tubes, mine especially of course . I really do need to get some binding posts put on my amp one of these days. FYI at the meet my amp was running 1x 7062 -> 2x 6bx7 -> 2x - Bendix 7802 (w/ the 2nd gain stage the bx7's disabled). Speaking of Bendix 6080's one of Earl's died during the meet

I've tried the K81DJ and found them to be pretty uncomfortable for my ears. The Senn hd280 I should probably add to my list it's been a very long time since I've heard those. They would probably isolate better than my other possibilities.

It's more than a "might be" . The Raptor has a higher output impedance than the impedance of the L3000 there is no way it is driving them even close to their full potential.

I agree with Dusty and Elephas the R10's just aren't bass monsters and IMO aren't particularly good at all with rock music. They may be very good with Vocals and Jazz but I really don't like headphones that are genre-specific hence why I no longer own the RS-1.

I think this is actually a pretty good point and I share a similar opinion. Personally I think the Extreme makes pretty much all the 6sn7/5687 output SP amps completely obsolete. Those using 6bl7/6bx7's are much better off but even those still quite aren't up on the level as the Extreme and other amps using the 6as7/6080/6528/etc.

Yep and honestly he could free up a good bit of the time he spends answering questions by having a useful and informative website.

Thats the way it goes unfortunately custom stuff just takes ages. I really think any custom work he should automatically quote a 1 yr delivery date. Sure he might lose some orders because of that but at least the buyer would have a better idea of what they are getting into.

It's Mikhail he always has a ton of things in the works, though most of them don't see the light of day or take years to

Yeah you can probably count me in too. Dan I might need to crash at your place though if thats alright.

Ok time for a few impressions I suppose. MS-2/MS-2i: I did a bit of listening to the MS-2/MS-2i's as I've been thinking about grabbing a pair for use at work and I was pretty happy that at least at first listen they didn't seem nearly as bright as most Grados. Their treble is still pretty clearly bumped up but overall they had a pretty smooth sound and nice tight bass w/ good impact. SP Extreme: It was good to finally here an Extreme for a decent amount of time, it doesn't have the refinement, extension, impact or soundstage of my amp but at $1k it's a hell of a value. I'd really like to here an Extreme side-by-side w/ a Zana Deux one of these days. Audio Aero Capitole - This is a damn nice cdp, little more weight and warmth than my modded Opus 21 though the Opus might have a little more detail. Either way both very excellent cdp's. I can't forget to mention that the Capitole's balanced outs drove the Senn 650's extremely well, I really doubt you'd get much of an improvement by adding a balanced amp. As usual the best part of the meet was the people and just sitting around shooting the breeze w/ Earl, Jacob and Vern (Jacob's friend)

Thanks guys I'll look forward to your impressions on the RP-21 and RP-22 .

I'm looking to get a pair of closed phones for around $100. I prefer full-sized phones and in terms of importance I'd say sound quality #1, isolation #2 and everything else pretty much irrelevant. Two that have caught my eye so far are the Audio Technica ATH-ES7 and the Equation RP-21. Any other suggestions or thoughts on those two?

No you want my Quad 22L's

Nope nothing wrong with them, they've just been replaced by these: Selah Audio 3D

Congrats Mike the ZD is a really nice amp. It'll be interesting to see how it compares to your SDS over time.

So I get the impression, that other than the completely unbalanced sound that the Ed. 9's biggest problem lies in tonality and timbre.

Also they're great for people w/ speakers that do late night listening when speaker listening isn't very practical.

You could try building an alien dac + diy portable amp of your choice in a single case. Can't think of too many other options in that price range.

I ran into some of that nasty weather as I was leaving, really sucked but I was able to get ahead of it pretty quickly.

Air and soundstage are what speakers are for

Yesterdays meet at Earl's was a good time as usual. Here's the obligatory gear pics:

He's trying to sell some exotic woody DT770s for $750 and thats after a couple price drops I think.

Could be worse: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=255528