deepak

For what they cost the ipod is a really competitive DAP, and offers good hardrive size vs cost ratio, with good looks, slim shape, and an awesome range of accessories. Purely from a sound quality point of view I think they're pretty shitty having owned the photo and video.

For the HD650?

Who cares if it's not breaking any rules, this thread was going great, especially after Biggie added his RS-1 review

Why don't you make a thread about it in the source forum rather than derailing this thread? And why are you getting so defensive over a piece of gear?

Thanks for the tip

I managed to get a pair for pretty cheap, but I'm not really expecting much. At the very least I hope they can trump the KSC-75 for movies and laptop use.

Even the GS-1000 ?

Have you heard it with the Mapletree EAR amps?

That too I could never live with them as a primary headphone.

If there's one headphone that has stood the test of time it has to be the RS-1. No FOTM bullshit or anything like that.

Personally I think they're awesome headphones. I would have pulled the trigger on a pair ages ago if I didn't have an HF-1 http://www.head-case.org/index.php?topic=869.0 I do think they're overpriced, but theres not much you can do about that. As far as bass extension, they don't extend very low. I don't know exactly where it rolls off, but it hides it well with the midbass bump which makes it pretty fun to listen to. I don't think its bass is particularly well textured either. But it does have some headbending-awesome bass slam (with the right amp) that I've only heard with the K1000 that makes them so fun to listen to. The reason I like them so much is not as an audiophile phone, but just something thats really fun to listen to with acoustic, jazz, and classic rock. I had an SR-225 for a couple of months before getting the HF-1 and based off memory the RS-1 has a bigger soundstage. Thats the only thing I can remember, obviously it improves upon more aspects than that I just don't want to say more just off audio memory. My take on that pair is that it's not in the best condition, thats why it hasn't sold yet. Most RS-1's in 8 or 9/10 condition around $500 sell pretty quick.

Surprisingly I received the cable today I should have ordered my plugs earlier, oh well \

surfboardz I was expecting $5k

So does this have any connection with Alessandro? Or is he marketing them himself? Feel free to ignore this if you can't give out that info

Out of your league?

:o :o :o speechless Is this a limited edition?

I'm a little worried why you took the time to calculate that...

I know Harmon Kardon is a part of AKG, but they now have HKGs? Just kidding, enjoy the headphones.

Me too

Keep in mind the price on the 300SEI will depend on manuf. date, tubes included, remote, subwoofer out, etc. And tube rolling the amp isn't going to be cheap.

I had an M3 with STEPS and 627 opamps. I don't remember the exact parts list since a friend built it, but it was one hell of an amp. Parts were definitely under $400.

I'm going to take a guess and say that a mob at Headfi told you this? And they all registered in 2006...

x-posted humanflyz I can agree with most of what you said about the HD650 (I've only briefly heard the W5000 on a few occasions so no comments about that). I know when I first registered on Headfi 2 years ago the HD650 was a really popular headphone for having excellent soundstage. I heard them on and off and wasn't really "blown away", which is fine since most headphones that did that to me were usually fatiguing in the long run. I've had the HD650 for a while now (bought them after the K1000 as a bassy alternative). And the 3 biggest flaws that I see are: 1) the soundstage is much smaller than most people make it out to be (maybe they haven't heard anything better or they switched from a Grado ). Even then the Grado RS series have a very nice headstage (to me it's very close to the HD650), but a smaller soundstage. 2) if I switch from listening to the K1000 to the HD650 I immediately notice the instruments are well placed left and right but there isn't much height, or anything between the left and right and highest point; it's pretty much empty. This effect is most obvious for most music except for some studio rock music. This is fine for the "focus area" of the intended recording (usually vocals, which the artist probably wants you to focus on) which is usually placed directly in front of your ear but the rest of the imaging just isn't concise to my ears. 3) the slowness you're describing. This is probably the most difficult to describe, but more than likely I'm perceiving it as lack of PRaT (pace, rhythm and timing). One of the few pieces of audiophile jargon I feel I've come to grips with since this ultimately determines how fun something sounds to me. I've just said a lot of bad stuff about the HD650, but I haven't mentioned any of its strengths which it has plenty of. I'm going to hold onto these for a long time, and I do hope that going balanced will solve at least 1 of the 3 points I put up above. Hope this helps someone, I really shouldn't be using my break time with these lengthy replies

New Hampsha for the win

I would stay far away from the 404. It has an upper midrange spike that colors the sound, and makes a lot of vocal stuff sound really strange and unnatural. Unless all you listen to is electronic music the SR-404 is something I would never live with again. I tried it out with a few top sources and it still had its flaws. I was only using it with the SRM-313 (and I saw that you wanted to pair it with a SRM-006t), but I'm not sure how much a better amp is going to improve them. The SR-404 are very clinical and dull, whereas to me the K1000 is clinical yet at the same time fun to listen to. Did the big San Fran meet at Neil's house happen? I recall someone was bringing an SR-404, you should listen to it a lot before you make your decision. Straight out of the Lavry I can certainly live with the HD650's faults. I'm going to hear them balanced, I'll post some initial impressions here but I intend to do a lengthy review.