granodemostasa

yea, i know that NWO is great, but at least put the Emm labs in a set up where it will get some love (work rig, tv rig, anything but idleness!)

Happy Birthday! Thanks for all the help on Saturday.

speaking of black friday and end of year stuff... does anyone know of any new audio-products not named zune? and where can one get information about such releases?

apparently there was alot more to that modded UX-1 than I previously thought... I went home and read a few hours on it and realized that at the time I had no idea what I was hearing.

1. the apogee mini 2. cosecant, ZD 3. ipod you guys have to realize that my writing was a purposeful exaggeration to make the point of how surprized i was that the ED9 sounded good out of the ipod. I don't mean it blows as in ibud or bose... but at a meet like this, among these cans, shortcomings become obvious.

Favorite quote: ?well, I it needs burn in.? Great meet all around. I?d really like to thank all of those people who helped me throughout the day; John, first of all, for hosting the meet & for driving me to and from the BART station. That was a great help and made things far smoother for me. Then there was Neil, who powered up his rig just so I could take a listen to it (that?s awesome). There was AL, who let me piggy back off the EMM Labs and do a large number of tests. And there are all those little things I just forget and all that, Thank you all. Now to the reason why you are all reading this post: comparisons. GRADO, yea I know that headphone reviews themselves are usually useless on headcase, where most of you all have heard this stuff and have owned it, but there are a few things that you don?t get from hearing the forum. 1. The HP1000 doesn?t necessarily have the highest highs, the lowest lows, or the most engaging midrange, but it does everything right. It?s about as balanced, clear, fast, and upfront as you can possibly want an ?exciting? headphone to be. Moreover, the can does an amazing job at portraying the small nuances, the ambience cues, the soundstage, and directionality. It?s so good, that I?m venturing to say that it?s basically the best soundstage from ANY grado, including the GS1000 (the gs1000?s FR is the primary reason why the soundstage has issues). 2. 2. The PS 1000 is the most ?electric? can out there that isn?t called the K1000. it gets about as close to a guitar and drum sound that I have ever heard any can, including the ED9. The basic thing I didn?t like was actually the overblown bass and the lack of spectacular soundstage compared to the HP1000. 3. The vintage RS-1 has a great grainy, ?tweeked? type of sound that makes it sound very refined. The can does some things very well and frankly sounds better than the modern RS-1. 4. Modern RS-1, its okay I guess. I?d pay 500 dollars for it, but I?d much rather hold out to find a vintage one. IPOD cans. 1. The ED9 is a piece of shit, it really is. The midrange is crap, the bass is overblown and doesn?t act like bass is suppose to. Put it this way, if you want to embarrass a 1500 dollar headphone, make it play one of Beethoven?s piano concertos. 2. the ED9 is also the best ipod headphone I have ever heard straight out of the jack. I don?t? understand it, I don?t get it, it just is. The RS-1, the triple fi, the E500, the GS1000, the HP1000, the PS-1, the HD595, not this good. It actually sounds like it has a reasonable frequency response, the micro dynamics are all there?. Maybe this is what it was suppose to sound like? Portable 1. Xin reference. Okay, it was the only portable thing there and frankly I expected it to suck. I expected the ?RS-1 out of ipod jack? type of sound from my HD650, in other words, dead to details and dynamics/excitement. I was way wrong. Let me put this straight: this is not a home amp. This amp delivers nothing that could be considered a good soundstage, it doesn?t deliver cues, it doesn?t give you 3-d head-stage, it does not give you soft instruments, surprises and it is rolled off at the top and the bottom. Fine. BUT, it made music exciting. The HD650 was not underpowered; it was getting all that it needed to do the micro dynamics, and the real dynamics, the instruments and all that other stuff. It sounded better than the best IEM I?ve ever heard straight from my ipod, and that?s more than I could ask for. 2. This brings up another strange question: what is an amp for? The Marantaz/ ES-1/ OII rig 1. The rig was great. I could hear it be great. I could hear the stage, the details, the punch at the bottom, the beautiful highs, and the rock solid middle. It just wasn?t grabbing me off my seat, I didn?t know why. 2. With the HE90 as the headphone, this rig stole my heart. This is what was missing; that missing euphony that the HE90 provides. For the first time of the night, I stopped listening to a rig and started enjoying, taking in, and loving the music. 3. Put on rock (The Crain Wife)- okay, I get it. The HE90 doesn?t do rock. Modded Denon/ Extreme Platinum/ Darth Bayer and modded K340. 1. The Darth Bayer is a can manufactured for the sole purpose of enjoyment. Wow, the bass was mean, like, it was just power. Wow. That thing rattled my head literally. It almost seemed dangerous to me to wear such a thing. 2. K340, now this is a good can. Okay, she doesn?t have the best treble, the best bass, or a great soundstage. So what? This thing has the cleanest, most beautiful, most accurate midrange of any dynamic headphone not named the K1000? and that includes the headphone I have a crush on: the qualia. Freaking crazy modded UX-1/ SS-1/ Qualia. 1. damn, that?s an incredible source. The SS-1, that was good too. The treble and bass were both the most defined and detailed I heard all day. 2. I put on the HD650 on this rig, and I have to admit, I was less impressed, part of me is thinking that the Dynamight would give the SS-1 a good challenge. 3. The qualia wasn?t the same since I left her, she changed. She got a new hair cut (headband), she got a nicer car (amp), and she totally changed her attitude (cable). I don?t know if I love her anymore the way I once did, I keep telling myself that she?s the same, but every time I listen, I think that we just don?t have anything in common. Crazy modded UX-1/ ES-2/ HE90 1. Behold the new king. Digital has never sounded that good, ever. I mean, it was as effortless as the HE90, the instruments were so perfect, the detail was right on the mark, and the dynamics were hot. It didn?t slam like a normal teac, but I?d gladly make that trade for what neil just got himself. 2. The cables, power cord, and other stuff Neils? got connected to that thing make it very intimidating. Okay, the reason why I was there. Wavelength Cosecant/ HD2 and Zana Deux. 1. I was a little disturbed at first. The music, the dac, and the headphones on the table were not about what the ZD does well (soundstage, detail and ability to pick up the soft/harshness of particular instruments). So for a while, the ZD sat nervously there while being compared. Then I decided to just play the game and rolled the ZD until I came upon a combo that sounded more like what the ?set up? was suppose to accentuate. (GE rectifier tubes, National Union input tube). The first comparison I did between the HD2 and the ZD was a knock out? forget the detail and soundstage, the HD2 was slamming, dynamic, powerful, tight, and murdering the ZD. After the tube roll, the dynamics between the two narrowed down, so did the differences in soundstage. 2. Basically, this became a good comparison between the differences of OTL and Transformer coupled amps. The RS-1 exhibited the biggest difference between the two, it was just far better on the HD2 than on the ZD. But not the HP1000, for some reason the HP1000, at the meet, had higher impedance or was just plain harder to drive. Whatever it was, the HP1000 responded better to the ZD. That entire thing about the detail, the ability to cue instruments, the portrayal of a good soundstage that I talked about earlier in the HP1000, was all there in the ZD, but not so much in the HD2, in fact it resembled the PS-1 far more out of the HD2. 3. The K1000 from the HD2? it was the hardest hitting, most ?electric guitar? type of sound I have ever heard. Not so much a K1000 about soundstage and expansion, as it was an K1000 about exhilaration. 4. by comparison to the ZD-F1, the K1000 wasn?t as fast, or as electric sounding, but much more ?in your face? and ?welcome to the front stage? than the F1. Okay, a treat for all time. Why? Because both amps excel in the exact same things. EMM labs signature edition/ SDS-XLR and Zana Deux, Equinox XLR/ Equinox SE. 1. The SDS-XLR outdoes the ZD in transparency. The SDS-XLR simply sounds like and feels as if you are looking right through to the source. It?s also a brighter amp. 2. The Soundstage wasn?t all that different, that?s the thing that stuck to me. from the same source, the difference in soundstage performance was less than 3 percent, even if one was balanced and the other SE. 3. I think that this stems from the SDS-XLR?s SE performance, which wasn?t all that impressive. 4. The SDS-XLR can reach higher and go lower, they equal on impact and dynamics. 5. the ZD is certainly more ?meat? in the middle and has it?s own Sound sig, while the SDS-XLR doesn?t have any sig in particular that I could track down. Thoughts 1. I have a new love, the grado HP1000 2. Mexican glass bottle coke is sooo much better than the American type 3. I have more respect for the Dynamight. 4. USC will beat the Buckeyes. 5. I should hear the AWO straight to HD650, that would be very interesting.

Hi. just got back, is this where I post impressions?

hey, my PC is 4 feet long, or should i bring a volex?

you deserve a take over the world princess kit.

seriously, i almost fell over laughing when I went through it.

Hey, is anyone brining a tube tester? inquiring minds would like to know, btw, the K1k is pretty cool, but yea, not that good on the ZD, hopefully i'll see what the HD2 can do with it. also, here's a option question: would anyone be available to pick me up from the bart station? (or is it that close to the bart?).

take a picture of the poster and posted on the forum.

take a picture of it and sent it. 39.99 for any mp3 player is a rather decent deal, even if it's a knockoff.

my bad. what is it? it's something you'll have to do a search for.

lol

that's pretty much what I heard, slightly better than the DA10, but not something that justifies it's hype or price. personally the Stello MKII would be far more likable, same thing with a DP200 if you need a pre.

dude, just because you like those cans doesn't mean they're any good, just like when there are voices inside your head, or you think you won the lottery, it's all an illusion. :police: :police:

psst. your tastes in music is not worth praising, it certainly ain't worth being neutral over, what choice had she?

Hey, Jocelyn is letting me borrow the K1k for the meet.

Why not start a blank head-fi right now, over again, and then add that to whatever version they'll have up later?

now that's cool. hey justin (if you're around), will that pico thing be anywhere near here?

um...last i thought the cosecant isn't balanced so you won't get the most out of the HD2. your best chance is to pair it with a CDP or dac that has unbalanced AND balanced outputs, my dac and CDP has neither. Maybe we can try the comparison on Icarium's teac? (since it has both and i don't know the other gear that'll be there).

so who and what's the latest "gear news"? (who be there and wid what) who was that dude that offered to hook up the zd.. i think that'd be great.

He might have an older PX100, which is certainly bass and muddy sounding, compared to the AKG sound. If that's how he perceives that PX100, then i'm not sure if the HD600 would be a good recommendation. I would fly with the K701 (despite how much i don't like that can) or the HD595. for amps, I really like the GS-1 for obvious reasons, it's just good. and I can't, without malicious intent, recommend the corda opera when you can get 2 good components for nearly the same price (i'm thinking of the GS-1's used price).

find a VDA-2, a GS-1/dynamight, and an HD600.