purk

Thanks Mike..... BTW, I yet to fix my damn IM.

Yes...get the one with less bass recabled. Mikhail told me that a highend SP amps can really bring out the best in R10s. IMO, Mikhails slightly prefer the R10 with less bass than the one with more bass, b/c the less bass pair is more accurate sounding. It also has better seperation instrument, midrange, and air surronding recording. Mike, why don't you join in a bit and answer some doubters here? Mike stopped by yesterday to listen to my setup HEV-90+HE90, SDS-SE w/ Both versions of R10s, and L3000. C'mon Mr. Ulveling.

Can you elaborate why you were not impressed by the Ed.9?

riceboy, Thanks for reporting back on the Ed.9. I recently talked to Akzip and his opinion on the Ed.9 and mine are identical.

I agree with what your are saying. For instance, what is the crazed about the imod and V-dock combo anyway? For the price (550 for iMod and another 550 for V-dock), you can get an Ihp-120 + Benhmark DAC for much better sound quality. Also..headfi has way too many fanboy. You can't comment negatively on a product any more. I was only beg to differ on the whole V-dock thing but the mod came in and comment that it is nice to have a new product.

The W2002, L3000, and R10 get my vote. The best craftmanship is definitely goes to the R10 and L3000. The L3000 looks a lot nicer in person. The W11JPN is o.k. but not as well build or as nice as the W2002.

That amp should not be an upgrade to the HA5000 according to Agile_one. It might be slightly difference but not that much better.

Elephas...I envy of your welcome thread. See...I'm a newbie here as well. Joined 1.5 month ago. Plase do a search on "raptor" or find post posted by Kevin Gilmore to learn more about the Raptor.

Well....I've been talking to Elephas and he was one of the first adopter of the Apache (he yet to receive the amp though), so we need to pursuade him to get rid of that amp and buy something else that can really give his R10s and L3000 a good amplification. Elephas, don't get me wrong...but for the price you paid for that amp...you could have purchased a Single Power Supra or Extreme Platinum. Those amps can be configured to drive any headphone out there.

Do we have a link to why the Raptor is overpriced? Might need to do the search myself.

KenW, Great advice. Pick the one that approve of your audio hobby.

Hirsch, Where is the manual that you promised me? (j/k) Well...I will save up a little bit and might get the ES-1 next year.

Yep...electro stat headphones are worth it if you want to build a system around them. I recently just got the HEV90+HE90 and the combo really impress the heck out of me. I think I'm done with this headphone thing.

Iron_dreamer, I don't think you will miss the Ed.9 as I think the L3000 is a better headphone all around especially in term of textured and tonality. The bass is the Ed.9 main strenght. I could see all the bass head really diging that headphones. I however, can't seem to get pass the midrange. It isn't that bad but the midrange is lacking the details and textured of the HD-650 when properly amped.

Yeah...the Ed.9 place way too much emphasis on the bass which to me....too much. It's kindda interfere with the rest of the spectrum too. I also never get used to that S-Logic stuff. I wish I get to hear the GS-1000 but I don't think I'm missing out. IMO, the L3000's bass has much more of an organic feel with much better textured than the Ed.9's bass.

Yeah...I see what you mean...but then again I don't really listen to a lot of rock; therefore, you have a better judgement. The thing is the UE9 just sound very weird on everything else in exception to rock. For example, I was enjoying their thumping bass but what else is to love? I mean seriously.....and now the whole headfi are in FOTM mode on the Ed.9 again. All you those Ed.9 has to do is to compare their beloved Ed.9 next to the a properly amped HD-650 or HP1000, PS-1, and L3000. Seriously, for what you paid for the Ed.9...you can buy the HP1000 for around that price and the HP1000 is a much more refined. (BTW, I really want to trash talk them...but I have to be polite on headfi.)

Damn...I feel right at home. I've been waiting for some bashing thread of the UE9 for awhile. They sound good for rock but nothing else really for me. Too much raving of the UE9 on headfi right now and this really make me sick. I agree complete with timbre and their strange's presentation as well as recessed midrange.

Just in the past week, there got to be more than seven or eight thread devoted to the Ed.9 and how special they are. When I had Mulveling's Ed. 9 (he now sold them) for three week they sounded very good over all for rocks but I found them unnatural due to their recessed midrange and the whole "S-Logic" presentation for other genres. If you are a rock and heavy metals fan, they are quite good, but for everything else they are not even as good as the Senn HD-650 w/ my Zu cable. I found the Ed.9's to be way over emphasis on bass and lack refinement in many areas in comparison to the L3000 and W2002 that I have on hand. What's your take on them? I'm quite curious. My impression of the Ed.9 was very similar to Mike but they seem to do no wrong on headfi right now. Again, they sound very good for rocks...but still rank behind the L3000, PS-1, HP-1000, HE90, and R10 and probably slightly better than the RS-1 for rock. I yet to see any L3000, PS-1, and HP-1000 owners are raving about them. What do you guys think?

Yes...the image on the L3000 is definitely one of their best quality as well as their ability to be very forgiving and remain very musical in entry level gear.

Mike, I believe the W2002 and W5000 have slightly bigger soundstage than the L3000, W11JPN, and W10vtg.

Yeah...Mike has two pairs of L3000 and spare drivers. Damn you Mike!

Justin, The W11JPN is the predecessor of the W2002 and L3000. It was released in 1998 as a limited run of 800. The lacquer finished is the same as the W2002's but darker. The size of earcups are also smaller than the W2002, W5000, L3000, and W1000. They sounds great and are very difficult to come by. Here is the pic of my old W11JPN, which is now belong to Agile_one.

nice..... Get yourself the W11JPN and W2002 man. Those wood finished are the best looking in the biz. The lacquer finished on the W11JPN is darker than the W2002 though.

R10 and L3000 for all types of music for me. Couldn't be happier really. I get amazing bass response from my SDS-SE and my upgrade source really....so no complain here.

The thing is...you can keep pushing it off and you will never get anything done. Remember, the upgrade I got really maxed out my SDS. The only option I didn't do is the audionote caps. Although, it took awhile to get the work perfomred but I'm much more happy in the end. Your SDS and my SDS are almost identical, therefore one listen should tell you everything you want to know about SDS as a preamp. I have sent my SDS to Mikhail twice in the last 6 months, one for repair an another is for the upgrade....so bite the bullet and send it in. If you really curious, why don't just drop by and borrow my SDS for 2 or 3 days and check it out for yourself.