humanflyz

So I'm guessing you are not digging the 2500s Earl, judging by your F/S thread on Head-Fi

Sounds like a FOTM to me, especially since it's coming from Sovkiller...

I'm blowin' up like you thought I would Call the crib, same number same hood It's all good

I heard the GS1000s last night in my own system: it is a lot better than I remember them to be. The bass is actually controlled, the midrange, while still slightly recessed compared to the rest of the spectrum, is nowhere near as recessed as I remember, and the sibilance is controlled much better. But ironically, this is the only Grado that I've heard that sounds better out of SS equipment than tubes. All the tube amps that I've heard the GS1000s with (PPX3, MPX SLAM SE, Zana Deux) made it too boomy and harsh for me.

Yeah, probably won't do it. As for other things: I happen to like the RS-1 better than the HD650s, even 650s on some $$$ amps and sources that are supposed to cure cancer and feed all the starving babies in Africa And based on my memory, I prefer the RS-1 to the GS1000, but I'll have an extensive chance to hear the GS1000 in my own system tonight, so I can make up my mind about it.

I don't think I can get that high of a deal for selling the 650s: second-owner, no box. But that's why I ask, so I can get some different opinions.

I have a chance to trade my HD650s for a pair of RS-1s, only paying $330. You guys think I should do it?

Is the HD30 also going to use an OTL topology or is it going to be transformer-coupled? I would really like to see a good transformer-coupled tube amp that can drive Grados well.

The old website says that there's a new website coming, so for those of you in the know, is Craig going to reveal some new products?

God I can't stand that guy; I mean liking your headphone is one thing, but he's just fucking extreme about it. But Congrats on the HP-2s dude, I would love to have one someday, as I've realized that I am an AKG/Grado guy. I will get a chance to hear a GS1000 in my own system, and hopefully I'll like it this time.

When I have enough money saved up, I'm going to ditch the HD650s and get a RS-1 setup: nothing too crazy, but just a complement to my K1000 system. I made this decision when I was forced to switch to my HD650s after my roommate went to sleep, and I was listening to "Little Martha" by the Allman Brothers before that. When I switched, my first reaction was: where the fuck did the guitar go? The timbre and the tone of the acoustic guitar was terrible on the 650s, it just doesn't sound like a fucking acoustic guitar anymore. Man I was pretty bummed out for a good five minutes.

Hmm, this might be worth buying the HD-DVD player add-on for my Xbox 360.

Does the Zana use OTL or OPTs?

Based on the OP's preference for the 650s, the W5000s are NOT going to be a good option. I owned both the W5000 and the HD650 at one time, and I thought the W5000s, while it did a lot of technical things well, just sounded too hollow for my enjoyment.

No reason not to if you can afford it: you can always sell it back with no loss. Who knows, you might even like it

I guess I've been pretty lucky in my two years of being an audiophile; each upgrade I made resulted in noticeable improvements in my system. My setup went from AT-A900 out of a soundcard, then to K701 out of a PPX, and then to a Lavry-->Aleph 3-->K1000, and finally, to the setup I have now. I am lucky in that I didn't lose too much money trying to find the sound I like, and didn't need to buy a zillion things just to try it out. And somehow, during two years of Head-Fi, I managed to steer clear of its trends, like cheap Chinese gear (think the Zhaolu hype) and portable amps (RSA, line-out docks) and didn't manage to get sucked into the mania of it all. The Stello is probably one of my better buys, because I really like how it sounds, and the feature set is great as well. It is just more emotionally involving than any other source I've heard, other than the EMM Labs stuff. When I was comparing the Stello against the Lavry, I realized that the Stello is just more engaging over all. I felt more directly connected with the music, to an extent that I didn't really want to compare them anymore and just enjoy the music on the Stello. This to me speaks volumes about what the Stello does for my system. And I think on a technical level, the Stello and the Lavry are not THAT much different, and neither of them really gives up too much to the other. The headamp in the Stello is a lot better, IMO, than the Lavry's headamp: it's just more powerful period. Over all, not bad at all, considering for what I paid, I got a lot out of it.

The last two weeks: mainly SACDs 1) Aimee Mann - Lost in Space (MFSL) 2) Dvorak: New World Symphony (RCA Living Stereo) 3) Mahler's Sixth Symphony (Michael Tilton Thomas with SFSO) 4) Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (MFSL) 5) Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (DVD-A) 6) Sonny Rollins - Way Out West 7) Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home, Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (all SACDs) Chopin - Balldes and Scherzos (Rubinstein, RCA Living Stereo) 9) Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral (SACD)

LOL@Grawk's avatar. That shit is hiliarious

I thought Denon is Japanese?

Pete's SACDmodded Denon 3910 just got here, and to answer his question which he asked in PM: It sounds excellent, especially on SACDs.

For all you guys who are banned: Granodemostasa, another fellow Berkeley Head-Case'r, has graciously dropped off his Lavry DA10 for me to compare against my newly acquired Stello DP200. I think this will be a good comparison because both units are DAC/headamp combos, both can act as a pre-amp. That's where the similarities end. The Lavry is a non-upsampling DAC employing op-amps in Class-A mode in its analog output stage, while the Stello is a upsampling DAC (up to 192, with an option to bypass upsampling altogether) using fully-discrete, Class-A, balanced output stage. The Stello has a remote-control while the Lavry does not. Some pictures will better illustrate the difference: The two units on top of each other: you'll notice that the Lavry looks tiny compared to the Stello and has a lot more switches. Aesthetically, I like the Stello's minimalist looks, but there is a certain charm to the Lavry's toggles and switches that give it a retro-sci fi look. Both have very good built quality, as should be expected in units costing this much (Stello goes for $2200 new, I got it used for $1600; Lavry goes for $1000 new, around $800 used), although the Stello weighs substantially more. This is the remote: it is a very solid piece and has real weight to it when held, so it is not a flimsy piece of plastic. It has all the controls you need on a remote controlling a DAC and Pre-amp: digital inputs/outputs switching, analog input/output switching, volume, upsampling, on/off. It will also control the Stello transport if you have it. The back panel of the two units: this is where the Stello straight up beat the Lavry in terms of flexibility: the Stello has nearly every digital/analog input/output you can think of. In terms of digital: the Stello has 2 coaxial, 1 toslink, and 1 AES/EBU. It also has a digital output section that has 1 coaxial, 1 toslink, and 1 AES/EBU output, so you can use it as a digital loop-out for digital recording. In terms of analog inputs: it has 1 balanced input, two single-ended input (one of which can be converted to a phono input if the optional phono module is installed). In terms of analog outputs: it has both single-ended and balanced outputs that can either be a fixed or variable output, so you can use it either purely as a DAC, a pre-amp, or both. Finally, it has an hometheatre bypass input option. So the Stello is like a one-stop control stage for all your digital and analog needs. And finally, the amp that will be driven by the Lavry and Stello: the FirstWatt F1 Testing equipment: In this listening session, I am going to use the Lavry and the Stello as DAC/pre-amp combos. Since each of them has volume-control, they will be connected directly to my FirstWatt F1 power-amplifier, which drives my K1000s. The digital signal is fed by a USB transport into the Stello, and the digital loop-out section of the Stello is connected to the Lavry's digital input. My equipment chain is fully-balanced, and there is no single-ended comparisons in this one. My main focus will be on the K1000s, since they are revealing enough to tell me differences between upstream components. I will test out both the Lavry's and the Stello's headphone amp section using the HD650s with stock everything, but that won't be the focus of this session. I will not use the Stello's upsampling functions in order to keep the comparison fair. But if upsampling has some notable sonic effects, I will mention them. I just want to say that both units are already burnt-in, and I have had extensive experience with the Lavry previously, having owned it for about 6 months before I sold it to purchase the Stello. Songs Used The following songs were used in the course of this listening session. They are songs that I'm intimately familiar with. Their recording quality ranges from excellent to mediocre, and it is representative of my musical tastes. 1) Antony and the Johnsons - Fistful of Love (from I Am A Bird Now) 2) Bob Dylan - Meet Me In The Morning (from Blood On The Tracks) 3) Brian Wilson - Good Vibrations (from Smile, the completed version) 4) John Wiliam - Duel Of The Fates (from the Star Wars Episode I soundtrack) 5) Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl (from Mezzanine) 6) Muddy Waters - Good Morning Little School Girl (from Folksinger) 7) Neko Case - John Saw That Number (from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood) Stevie Ray Vaughn - Little Wing (from The Sky Is Crying) Listening Impressions There's a caveat to be said here: upsampling does make a difference, at least in my system. I know I said that I will not use the upsampling on my Stello to keep it fair, but it turns out that this method won't really yield anything for me. Why? Because I really couldn't tell the difference between the Stello and Lavry when upsampling is not used. I'm sure with more concentration and effort, I might have heard some difference, but then I wouldn't be very confident of making that claim. So as far as I'm concerned, I would not be reliably able to tell which is which if upsampling is not used. Now when upsampling on the Stello was engaged (up to 192), the differences became more apparent. I was more confident that I'm hearing actual differences, as I didn't have to listen hard to tell the differences. So for the rest of this thread, please assume that when I'm talking about the Stello, I'm talking about it with upsampling ON. 1) Antony and the Johnsons - Fistful of Love The differences I heard from this song, going back and forth from Stello to Lavry, are typical of the differences that I heard throughout the rest of the session. The first thing that made me take notice was that with upsampling on, voices take on more weight. Antony, the singer of the band, has a unique, vibrato voice. The Lavry articulated that voice very clearly, but when I switched to the Stello, I noticed that his voice become meatier, but without losing that vibratto which characterizes his voice. The second big thing I noticed is the gain in dimensionality. The best way I can describe it is that the Lavry paints a sonic landscape that is detailed, clear, and precise. Once I switched to the Stello, that landscape seems to take on 3-dimensional characteristics, so that I'm no longer just looking at "flat" things in the picture. Instead, each element of the sonic landscape took on its own dimension, so the soundstage gained depth and dimension. It's as if the things in the pictures stepped out of the two-dimensional plane and stood in their own space. The end result is the each instrument is projected more forwardly into the soundstage but without collapsing its size. This made following elements of the song easier, as I don't have to concentrate as hard. This dimensionality, combined with the added weight, made this song more palpable for me. 2) Bob Dylan - Meet Me In The Morning Again, similar effects are happening: Dylan's voice just seems more "real" to me on the Stello. Dynamics are also better on the Stello. 3) Brian Wilson - Good Vibrations Going back to the Lavry from the Stello made everything seems a bit flatter, so that element of palpability is lost. 4) John Williams - Duel of the Fates I love this song because of its dynamics and sheer scale: it goes from soft to loud in incredibly short amount of time, and the choral effects create a massive sense of scale. Well the Stello has got the Lavry beat on both accounts. The sense of scale is amazing on the Stello: it really shows off the size of the chorus, and as the chorus reaches its crescendo, the sense of sheer power is conveyed really well. On the Lavry, the chorus seems recessed, so that sheer sense of power is not conveyed as well. 5) Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl The differences were minor on this track. The only thing that I could tell was that I needed more juice on the Lavry to get to my satisfactory listening level. However, when I reached this point, the Lavry is slightly more sibilant on the female vocals than the Stello. 6) Muddy Waters - Good Morning Little School Girl This is where the Stello's black black background really helped. I was sitting in my comfy chair in the dark, and suddenly Muddy Water's voice literally BOOMS out of a silent background, and it really just startled me and made me sit up and open my eyes. Muddy Waters just has an incredibly booming voice, and the Stello really conveyed that. The Stello conveyed the energy of his guitar playing, but it never got to be too aggressive and harsh. And this is where the Lavry falls short just a bit: while it conveyed Muddy Water's voice fine, it had a little trouble controlling some of the more energetic guitar parts, so while it retained the energy, it didn't have the smoothness. 7) Neko Case - John Saw That Number This is not the best recording, but I happen to LOVE Neko Case, and this song always ends up being one my test tracks. There is a drum kit at the beginning, and on the Lavry, it sounded a bit thin. But on the Stello, the same drum kit had more punch. That's about all I can say for this track. My thoughts: Do I think my new purchase is worth it? First, let me say something about the upsampling issue. I attribute the differences I heard between the Stello and the Lavry to upsampling, because I honestly couldn't say, with any confidence, that I could tell the differences when both had no upsampling. But when upsampling is used, I found the Stello better, though it's not certainly not night and day. Having said that, even if the Stello had no upsampling, I still would not have regretted my purchase, since all the extra features easily made up for the fact that it sounded no better than the Lavry when upsampling is not used. For me, the extra cost is more than justified by all the features of convenience found on the Stello.

My Stello got here today: I like it alot

Ahh, the K340s, I fondly recall my pair when I still had them, but they had to go in order to fund a K1000 setup. And now, everytime I think about getting another pair, I remember that it costs just as much to build a good K340 rig as it does to build a good K1000 rig. But if I ever have enough spare change...

I already have Harnoncourt's Requiem, and I can't wait to see how it does in SACD.

I just listened to the 650s from my Lavry: not bad; not good as Dynahi obviously, but it's more than tolerable. Or maybe it's because I'm sick and my ears are stuffed.