mulveling

Congrats, you have chosen wisely. Having owned a Melos Gold Reference in the past (which I did like), I think you will find the Zana the better amp with both low & high impedance cans.

I've got a Zana from the older runs with the first type of rectifier. Works great with all the headphones I've used on it: 600/650 and L3000, Qualia, HP-2. I've been using mostly that Tung-Sol 6su7; it's a fine tube. Keep a spare set of power tubes on hand. Last few months my amp seemed like it started to lose its edge from the high level it should be at. Finally replaced those tubes with new 6C18Cs. The old ones very likely had >= 3000 hours on them - they did last a while. Much better now!

I've always liked the HD650/600 with a cheap-ish dynalo for its performance-to-price ratio. Though, you could probably sub a good PPA or M^3 build and also get great sound for similar money. 600 if you need a slightly bright sound, 650 otherwise. By cheap dynalo I mean a V1/V2/Lite, or a good DIY build. I've personally had experience with the V2, though from the looks of it, I'm the only person who still likes this amp I just love the Senns - superb cans for the money. For source, that could be tricky. I can vouch for the awesomeness of the Apogee Duet if you've got a Mac+Firewire available. That would total ~$200-$250 + ~$200 + ~$400 = ~$800-$850 for the whole system, used prices. Other than the Duet I haven't heard any DACs in that price range I could seriously vouch for, though I did like the Pico DAC for the short time I had it. Perhaps the upcoming dedicated Pico DAC could be the ticket... I had a Total Airhead back in 2002, and that piece of crap sounded worse than my PCDP's headphone jack. Would toss that. I also would toss any of that Chinese garbage in the trash, but that's just me.

You clearly haven't been following the Singlepower/Icarium threads

Yep, the dynalo makes a great pre. Unless you need more in/out/remote features (or a specific coloration ) it can stick around comfortably for your subsequent speaker/room/source/amp upgrades.

5 scrambled eggs w/ salt and pepper. I've added a slice of melted american cheese to a portion of the eggs that I call the "fun" section. The other portion is my "reference" section so I don't forget what eggs are supposed to taste like when comparing to different foods.

Well, nevermind on this. No reply email, the "JB Audio Pimp" just updates the ad for double the price - now it's listed at $350/$600, nice I knew the original $175/300 was low on the MSRP side, but figured the $175 was a good deal considering it's old (2000-ish) and there's a newer version out. For 350 I'd want the newer one.

I've come to a similar conclusion. I don't buy into the expensive cables thing anymore, but would like stuff that looks nice with a solid build and reasonable design. The Diamondback looks great and makes sense, no wacky tweaky stuff, nice connectors, and reasonable prices on the used market. I've been tempted by the King Cobra once or twice but honestly I like the blue cover on the Diamondback I've already got a pair here and I'd be very happy with a few sets to hook up my major components. Can't wait to get rid of my old HGA silver laces, those are absolute rubbish in build quality (they're not even the DIY kind), been an eyesore and a headache with those horrible locking jacks that don't even make a connection on some gear.

Hmm, I'm actively buying audio stuff again...ugh/yay? Bought some Vishay 1/4 Watt metal film resistors from Mouser last night, for changing the gain on a freshly arrived Gilmore Reference. Waiting on Audiogon sellers to maybe buy AQ Diamondback cables (they seem very well built and I really like how they look, it's good enough for me ) and an older Musical Surroundings Phonomena MC phono stage (for cheap-ish $175, and I like all the loading options).

Well, the GS-X is one hell of an amp at driving damn near anything, and like laxx said the position of the volume knob doesn't always tell you how hard the amp is working (no problem in the GS-X's case). The R10 and HP2 both really thrashed the toaster SDS w/ 6SN7 output tubes - readily apparent distortion in the bass, increasing rapidly as you push the volume. For some reason the (also low impedance) L3000 fared better, maybe helped by its high sensitivity. It can be tough for an OTL tube amp to handle low impedance well. The Zana Deux of course does well, also the Supra/SDS with 6BL7/6BX7 output tubes.

Yeah, and the BS about the HD650 being "one of the most difficult to drive headphones on the planet"? Since when has high sensitivity (103db/mW), moderately high impedance been hard to drive for a dedicated amp? HP1000, R10, K1000, K340 - all much much harder to drive than the Senns.

Kiss, on vinyl - mmmm....Strutter!

Get a Mac & an Apogee Duet

Ok, I kind of get that - thanks for the explanation! So would I be correct to assume that my amps that have their inputs hooked up to a high-impedance pot (schematics are in the manuals), would not have this issue?

Hey, I really liked the Dx1000. Ok, maybe not a great value when compared to the much-more-accurate HD650 available for way less. Still a very enjoyable listen, more my style of "fun" than say the RS1 or Ed 9, and maybe helps mask some of the sonic issues I have with most redbook sources. I didn't notice anything particularly weird about their sound, at least not relative to other colored cans.

The recent cold and general laziness have been factors in skipping the gym/pool for a couple weeks now In the meantime I've been doing stuff around the apartment, like reps up/down the 15ft staircase, pushups, etc. Would love a pull-up bar, then I'd be set. Will be interesting to see if I notice much of a difference between this an weights/swimming - it's gotta be better than nothing! Still vigilantly keeping junk out of the diet, other than some light beer & vodka shots Congrats on the progress/determination, guys!

I would be fine using it as just a headphone amp, but curious how it compares to the Zana Deux as a preamp. If it's better than other large, expensive volume controls, then it would be worthwhile to get an input switchbox The Zana is going to be hard to beat, but I wonder at this level whether most sonic differences might just stem from differences in output impedance. The Zana lists an output impedance of 16 ohms, not 100% sure if that applies to the preamp out. The Gilmores I've heard are certainly not warm, but not the least bit cold either. I think it would take an amp with a very peculiar coloration to make me love the RS1 long term - haven't determined what that specific coloration is yet That particular Gilmore Ref has been modded to a gain of 1, which could definitely limit the upper-end of the volume with high impedance headphones and low-output sources. Not an issue with lack of power, so much as getting the input signal high enough. I'm wondering if it will be an issue for me with my TT and HD650, but at least I have the L3000 and Qualia on hand

Well, it's hard to argue with Justin on this Many thanks, I'll try 100ohms first since it turns out my amps are on the rather high side for input impedance (200K McIntosh and 500K Eico).

Cool, thanks for the info. It would be easy enough, even for me, to hack a lil RCA->RCA box that has a 10ohm resistor in series, if in fact that is necessary. What I wonder is whether 10ohms was chosen to work well over common load impedances, and whether there might be a more optimal value choice if you know your power amp's specific value. Is there any conventional wisdom on a best ratio of input impedance/output impedance for a preamp out? I don't have any clue when it comes to impedance matching bewteen pre/power, other than that the ratio should be high.

I've got an old Headamp Gilmore Reference (single-ended) on the way. I believe this unit was later modified to a gain of 1, which should be a good preamp gain. But, it doesn't have pre outs, just a 2nd headphone out. In these older Headamps, is there any circuitry difference between the pre out and headphone out, or does it merely boil down to the physical differences in connectors? Any other reason why I shouldn't try this as a preamp with a Y cable/adaptor? The V2 I recently picked up is a real performance killer, as both preamp and headphone amp, for the $200 I paid. Super-nice match to the L3000 w/ Duet, and to the HD650 or L3000 with vinyl

Just mailed a money order for a Gilmore Reference. The single ended, one box kind. Would have preferred a good pot over the stepped attenuator, extra inputs, and some preamp outputs, but I'll live

I thought the HP1000 dropped in price (early-ish 2004 IIRC) because the PS1 was new and being touted as the "best grado ever". That took pressure directly off of what was a small demand/supply for the HP1000 (until the HP1000 got a new injection of enthusiasm on head-fi, and then the PS1 production ran dry). Though that did kind of all happen around the same time...my memory is a bit hazy there.

I thought the Pico sounded pretty good with the HD650, though it's a better match with the L3000 (super, really). If you can do without the DAC, a Gilmore Lite should be a excellent amp for any headphone (based on my experience with the Gilmore V2), though I do prefer the 650 to the 600. Why not just splurge for the GS-1 and use that as your 2ch preamp as well. You really shouldn't need to upgrade from that for either purpose; you'd likely always be better off upgrading source or headphones/speakers unless your system NEEDS a particular coloration (at which point you might want to re-examine things). I'd also stay away from any commercial amps other than the Headamps or Eddie Currents. The DIY builders can offer a great value. Tube amps like the Eddie Currents and certain Singlepowers (beware Mikhail) can sound superb, but the good ones cost a lot.

That's a nicer gift than anything in the catalog-of-crap my previous employer (Aon eSolutions) offered. I didn't even bother to send in for my 5 year anniversary prize. Props to your wife

An Apple TV, the cheaper 40GB version. It's pretty a cool toy for the price, especially considering that my 100+ year-old apartment gets free broadband wifi but doesn't have a cable/dish hookup for TV I WISH there were a way to hook up my Apogee Duet to the thing for audio, while using the Apple TV HDMI for video. Still, it's a pretty nice gadget. Also bought Aqua Teen Hunger Force season 6 on DVD, and Rock of Love season 3 episode 1 on iTunes