wink

Senn HD280. It has around 30dB isolation and is cheap to boot.

I have to agree with grawk, SA5K's are earbleeders, The only headphones to outdo some Ultrasones for treble. And, yes, I have a pair in my collection.

There were 3 offers on these. So, Spritzer, ChrisX and someone else... Good to see someone on this forum got it. btw, I would have bought it outright except for the fact that I am now retired and the Australian dollar is sitting somewhere below 82c US. And also the postage charge was somewhat savage.

So, who scored the Koss ESP900's ? They had 12 in stock and best offer was accepted.

Happy birthday, guys....

May be a silly question, but, did you run the amp board without the heatsink connected?

http://www.lundahl.se/ http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/transformers/transformers.html http://www.sowter.co.uk/pdf/GAVS.pdf http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/KandK/messages/3413.html

http://www.hitachi-america.us/ice/transformer/

Inside the freezer would work better, and it goes a small way toward cryo treatment.........

I'm not going anywhere near that trick with my pairs....

How about a buffing wheel and some plastic buffing compound soap?

Peek screws

Go easy on that crowd. Anything above a Starving Sudent is considered real exotica. The O2 (NWAVGUY's creation) still draws hushed gasps of awe from some.

I used to calibrate electronic loads which had TO3 transistor sockets.... http://au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Keystone-Electronics/4618/?qs=%2fha2pyFaduhUxr3jTixc9EgEzr8ZrzhASMyYmCW8urNnjb4F40KMicOW4jYM9YfM In this case, only 2 screws.. Roll dem ol' 2N3055's & BUX80's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EL34 The EL34 was widely used in higher-powered audio amplifiers of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the very popular Dynaco Stereo 70 and the Leak TL25(mono) and Stereo 60, and is also widely used in high-end guitar amplifiers because it is characterized by greater distortion (considered desirable in this application) at lower power than other octal tubes[citation needed] such as 6L6, KT88 or 6550. The EL34 is found in many British guitar amps and is associated with the "British Tone" (Marshall, Hiwatt, Orange) as compared to the 6L6 which is generally associated with the "American Tone" (Fender/Mesa Boogie). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KT88 Historically, it has been far more popular with high fidelity stereo manufacturers than guitar amplifier builders, given its characteristics of high-power and low-distortion. Due to these characteristics, it is regularly used to replace 6550 tubes by end users seeking a guitar amplifier tone with less distortion. Maybe we should ask KG if he could design a BHOP (Blue Hawaii OverPower) Should set the DIYT2 on it's seat..... KT88 =100 low distortion watts EL34 = 55 higher distortion watts.

So, a Blue Carbon is on the horizon? KGBC. Are you denying me the opportunity to become a Cavalli, Woo. et. al.?

There's also the Beats problem. If a manufacturer like beats gets a significant hold of market share, it's only natural to put out some models at different price points with a similar sound to try to grab some of that market. The beats is an extreme example, but any large manufacturer really should have a finger on what the opposition is about.

Minus 24 years ago

Not true. If I had a quad of xf2's I would want a quad of xf4's then a quad of shuguang treasures, and a quad of psvanes, and also a quad of etc, etc, ad hoc, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. I would just rather not go there.

The problem here is my personality. I know that the BHSE is better than the KGSSHV. I have heard Johnwmclean's one often enough to cement that in. What John is now doing with tube rolling is what I would be doing, but with greater fervency. Being an elderly fogey, and having been around the audio traps long enough to know my proclivities and foibles, and having been retired for over a year, I find that having a set-and-forget setup is preferable to one where I am continually searching to extract the last little bit of improvement by part swapping. I used to engage in it, but now would rather leave it to the those of a more youthful and eager disposition. I also know that were I to have BHSE, there would still be the nagging desire to spend the time and money to scratch that itch. I even had the inclination for a while to pull apart my KGSSHV to bump up the bias current to 14mA. I successfully killed that idea by listening to it as it stands and being satisfied. I dare say, were I decades younger, I would be going flat out with all the builds and improvements I could reasonably/unreasonably afford. I would certainly have built a DIYT2 and a megatron if I were under a half century when they hit this forum. It took me over 2 years to build my KGSSHV only because I have too many other interests crowding my space and vying for time. Hope this helps to understand an eccentric old pensioner.

http://au.element14.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp;jsessionid=GYVFCQ4P1VSPECWNBBSRFTY?N=0&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=mpsw42&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&exposeLevel2Refinement=true&suggestions=false&ref=globalsearch&_requestid=9296 No need to buy $200 worth of parts for free shipping or $40 for under $200 to us here in Aus. RSComponents doesn't stock MPSW sand only MPSA. http://au.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=mpsw42Has 3387 and 4132 in stock.

There are some that would say that the different versions of tubes used would be part of that difference, and there are those that would say it makes no difference. The only way to be sure is to use the same tubes in each one and then come to a conclusion. Or, you could just swap the tubes over and look for differences. Being the sort of person I am, tube rolling is one of the reasons I built a KGSSHV and not a KGBH/BHSE. The only reason I'm in the process of building the KGST is because there's not the scope for tube rolling. I find life much more enjoyable turning on the amp and listening to what I've got as opposed to spending hours tube rolling looking for different species and quantities of plankton. The real anal retentives would build the KGSSHV in both Sanyo and IXYS versions and post the results over at the other site as a great service to the crowd over there. After all, David mahler did it with his headphone collection, and the thread still gets newbies wanting him to insert their flavour of the month new headphone so that they can get confirmation on their spectacular purchase

Canned air costs money, some vacuums have an air outlet where you can plug the hose into. Since the amp is low voltage, the flux isn't such a problem as in Stax driveable amps, but does show bad manufacture practice.

Carbon Tetrachloride is good if the grime is greasy. For yours, just a blow out with a reversed vacuum cleaner and a soft bristled paint brush about 2.5cm wide should get most of the dust off. Do it in the back yard.

The heat dissipation considerations alone are worthy of emulation.