hirsch

Headroom was blowing them out the doors at $379. I remember buying pairs for people outside of the US at that price. Then AKG changed its mind, and the K-1000 stayed in production, but at a higher price everywhere. The final shutdown was a couple of years later, but those low "false alarm closeout" prices were never seen again.

I might have said CD3K > W2002, but it's not better than the L3000, in any form. OTOH, the CD3K represented decent value at its price point. I'm not sure that's true of the L3000 at its current price point. For that kind of money, you can get an Omega II and amp and still have change (if you look hard)

Nah, I think it took about 2 hours.

I can't tell if this is good, or if everyone's been sitting around the campfire eating beans The CD3000 I've got is a significant improvement over the stock one. I've considered selling it before, but made the mistake of listening to it before posting the ad. Consequently, the ad never got posted.

I've been steadily moving toward vintage pens of the '20s and '30s. Of the big companies I've been leaning towards Waterman, as they've had consistently great nibs for me, and of the smaller ones, I'm really gravitating towards Chilton. Possibly the most elegant engineering of any pen, vintage or modern, but gone by the end of the '30s.

Sale is already pending on that (waiting for cashier's check). The move wasn't really motivated by the MkII appearing. I've simply got too many headphones and amps, and some have to go. Since I've got the Sennheiser electrostatic headphones, the OII was expendable. More will be appearing shortly (anybody interested in a Headphile-modded CD3000?). Besides, I've got other hobbies to feed. That amp and headphone will buy me a really nice Waterman Patrician.

It happened long ago. The RS-1 used to be routinely found used for under $400 (over the years I bought four at that pricing, some for friends). Try finding that deal now.

Hey Tom, Good to "see" you! I have done some mods to the power supply, and replaced the output caps with BlackGates. Those mods do bring up the punchiness (and drop the low end to where it belongs). I'm still running the amp at its original voltage, but Mikhail has designed a way to implement a lot of switchable voltage/bias features that I'm interested in. Now I've just got to get that circuit into the amp.

A lot of the people dealing tubes are HAM radio types. To them, a tube is a tube. If it's a given type, and works, they don't really care what brand it is. Then you get the guys who sell to musicians. They deal a lot of new stock, and are experts at what a tube sounds like when driven into distortion. Finally, there are the actual audiophile tube dealers. They know how the different brands sound in audio systems. They also know how much an audiophile will pay for a given tube, and are not afraid to charge it. Me, for the most part when I'm digging up tubes, I like eBay. Find a nice lot of tubes where the seller doesn't recognize what's sitting in front of him, or has mislabeled the lot so nobody else sees it...

My amps are still tuning for the 6SN7, which means that the B+ voltage is around 300v. I can (and am) using the 6BL7GTA in those amps, wihich is possible by playing with the bias resistors. However, to get maximum power out of the BL7, I'm eventually going to have to increase the B+ to the output tubes to about 400v. The good news is that it's not hard to do, as long as I don't mind unregulated power to the outputs (which I don't). However, I need to get the right caps to preserve the sound I've got, and am going to likely need another big Solen and a bypass cap at the minimum. I'm also going to have to find a spot in the amp to put it. All of the R10's you've heard at my place were powered by underdriven 6BL7's, and have not shown what that tube can deliver by way of power. And that's the key to driving an R10. Unlike many headphones, it likes amperage rather than voltage. The bad news is that I'm lazy, and don't particularly feel like messing around with a sound that I like, even I haven't maxed out the low end yet. Tweaking the low end is not an urgent priority for me (remember, I still like the Celestion SL600), and I'm not willing to compromise any other area of performance unless I'm dissatisfied with the bass (I don't really care if anyone else likes it or not, since I'd be the one paying for the upgrades).

I tried this, and is almost indistinguishable in A/B testing from the Wadia 301. Very good CPD indeed, although not in the top rank. The Transporter has slightly better low level detail, but it's very difficult to tell the difference at all (one person present couldn't, I think). Incidentally, when we performed a similar test with the Benchmark DAC1, the Wadia kicked Benchmark ass in terms of detail and impact, just since more people have heard the Benchmark as a reference point. By commutative logic, the Transporter DAC should kick Benchmark butt also, but that particular comparison wasn't done directly. Since the list price on the Wadia was twice the price of the Transporter, I was pleased at that level of performance. The top level of DAC's and players are still going outperform the Transporter. However, you're also going to pay four or five times the $$$. I'm starting to think about using the Transporter as a...well...transport...and hang a serious DAC on it (Meitner keeps coming to mind). Should sound sweet.

http://www.firestone-audio.com/cgi-bin/productsearch.asp?catseqnm=4 Here you go. That little thing far outperforms its price tag. I can't say whether it outperforms an XR-2 sonically, since the XR-2 did not have the gain to run a Dynavector Gold low output MC cartridge in my rig (and therefore I didn't actually hear it), while the Firestone handles very low voltage with ease.

At least two more weeks...

If you've got an HE90 and don't have an ES1, you're not done.

These can occasionally be found, at a fraction of their original price: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/sony-qualia-007-036368.php

Thrice's amp is one of the best solid state amps I've ever heard. If I wanted a high-end SS amp, this would be likely be it. I've never really been impressed with the Dynahi's or Dynalo's that I've heard. Then again, every single one of them had some issue that the owner was just on the verge of fixing. I'm starting to think of that as a feature

Duh. I really should read more closely. If you're looking to buy, check out recent Head-Fi discussions and the sale forums. That should give you some idea of whether you're facing FOTM status. If you're lucky, the Melos will be having an off-month, and you can pick one up really cheap. If Melos is having an "on" month, I'd consider selling mine (at the price I'd want, it would simply sit unless it's going through an FOTM phase).

The going rate is whatever a buyer will pay for it. For the stock SHA-1, it really depends on FOTM status. If not FOTM, you'd be lucky to get $400. If FOTM, you could get $500 or more. Every now and then I contemplate selling my SHA-1, which has a nice set of Carlo mods. For that amp, I'd be looking for $800-$900, but have no idea if the market is there (for less, it's not worth selling the amp). I keep putting off selling things, anyway

I haven't heard the Tesla tubes. The Melos amps seem to eat 6DJ8's like popcorn. You're better off with a higher rated tube, such as 6922 or 7308 which have the endurance, or the 7DJ8 (PCC88), which would be running cool.

In the G4 iPod, the iMod replaces the headphone jack, so the only initial comparison available was to the line out (iMod was better). All of my comparisons were done between line outs. And no, I don't think the iMod comes anywhere near a top CDP. But I do think it can challenge just about anything under $1K. However, I also know someone who ordered an SDS-XLR/balanced Qualia to use with an iPod source. If it's what he wanted, and he had the money, why not?

I have three iPods, one of which has been iModded. The lineout is clearly superior to my other iPods. It's also not noisy. Essentially, it capacitor couples the DAC to the headphone out, which becomes a line-out. The ALO thing allows a later generation iPod to retain its headphone amp. Ah well. If everyone who posted on a product had actually heard it, the discussion might be a bit more focussed. However, we'd never be able to generate decent post counts with the bullshit subtracted.

I just found a quad of TSRP's that I don't remember buying. This does give a whole new meaning to when I say a tube stinks.

That's not a bad price for Amperex 7308's, even if they are a later vintage. As long as they're real Amperex, you may have gotten a true bargain. It's all in the sound. That large box of JAN Phillips 6922's posted earlier made me nauseous. One of the worst sounding tubes I've heard. If you're going to shit tubes, don't squeeze too hard on the way out. If the glass breaks, you're going to be in serious pain.

If you make a contribution to the Red Cross, do you get a say in how the Red Cross is run? Nope. It's a gift. Your only options are to give or not. Different situation with the sponsors. They are paying for a service. Jude has obligations to them. However, contributing members get nothing but the knowledge that they have helped line Jude's pockets (and I think that we can bury the idea that Head-Fi is running a deficit these days).

Never mind, I saw your previous post. A lot of audiphiles tend to stockpile tubes. They also will let some go when money issues so demand. A retired person reducing a tube stash is not unusual, and probably one of the better ways to get NOS tubes these days.