Fing

Haha - nice I can only conclude I have a 'bassy' pair of R10's (Serial No. 412). Listening to Massive Attack's Mezzanine or Leftfield's Rhythm & Stealth, the bass is definitely there. Not overpowering, but certainly not (too) recessed.

I was agreeing with tkam and Humanflyz opinions and was feeling quite despondent and fustrated listening to them out of the DHA3000. However, listening to an R10 with a Yamamoto HA-02 has made me feel a lot happier! Bass, lots of it! Foot tapping music! They're like another headphone. The treble is a little more recessed and sound is a little more closed in but I suspect that's more to do with the DAC on my EMU 1212m than the amp.

5687 - this is exactly the sort of reply I was hoping for. Thank you VERY much! I have already gone for the v-cap and transformer upgrade - I was just obsessing about whether it was worth it from a bang for buck perspective to further upgrade to Audio Note / Plitrons. I have to agree with you - the plitrons are just awesome looking and have that nuclear reactor thing going with them. But in the end, I feel that the money would be better spent obtaining a better source and I've asked Mikhail to investigate how much / possible it would be to get a S&B Transformer Volume Control in there instead of a stepped attenuator. Thank you again ;-)

I had a fun 20 mins chatting with Mikhail, speccing up a high voltage Supra for my newly acquired R10's. After saying 'yes' to most of the options (mostly having Blackgates all around), two things that were sticking points for me were the Plitron transformer ($900 vs $250 for an upgraded Supra Transformer) and Audio Note coupling caps (again around $7-900 - bit hazy here, vs $360 for V-Cap Coupling Caps). My question for those who have been able to do a comparison, is what difference does a Plitron transformer or Audio Note coupling caps make and is the extra cost worth it? If you had to choose one upgrade, which would it be? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this ) Cheers, Wai

How about a Transformer Volume Control? eg. http://www.stevens-billington.co.uk/page102.htm