markl

So, I guess all the folks who want the mod but don't want to do it themselves should not be served? No matter how many "attacks" or "critiques" I may get over here, you're just going to be disappointed that it doesn't upset me, there is absolutely NOTHING to bother the conscience in what I'm doing; on the contrary, I'm just meeting a demand. It turns out there's a market for me to perform mods, and people are very happy with the results so far. They win, I win, everyone is happy. Welcome to capitalism and the USA. Given my schedule, I'm limited to 2 (maybe 3) mods per week (it's a 4 hour process, not counting all the time spent dealing with customer inquiries, packaging the headphone, and going to the PO to send them back), so I'm not getting rich. My fee is reasonable given parts, time and other costs. In reality (and I know many cynical folks here will just laugh, but that's on you, not me), the truth is, the biggest reward is the feedback I'm getting back from customers who are enjoying their mod-ed phones. That is gratifying to me. So sue me.

I like Duggeh (or at least the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi). I've complimented him on private in his reviews and writing style. I do find it depressing and distressing that the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi and the one that shows up here seem to be two different guys. That's my basic beef with this site. I'm the same guy here who will say the exact same things here as I will on Head-Fi. What you see is what you get. That doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of folks here from what I can see. I will not say things to people that I wouldn't dare say to their faces, which is sort of the ruff-and-tumble stock in trade over here. Yeah, I get that this site evolved for banned Head-Fiers to yell "fuck" and all that, but i still find it disappointing that some people who seem to be decent folks on Head-Fi seem to turn into assholes over here. Just because you have a site that will let be insulting or rough, doesn't mean you should be.

I stand by my review, I wrote exactly what I wanted to say about that product. I feel great about it. Not sorry at all if it doesn't meet whatever standard you have in your mind for a review. Are there "rules" for writing a review? I must have missed that. I have, though, noted how many TakeT owners have now commented about its utter lack of low bass despite being billed by you as the ultimate bass monster headphone. But I haven't called you any names over that or criticized your abilities as a reviewer. We all have our own opinions and I'm sure you duly reported what you heard yourself (regardless if anyone else hears it that way). The PS Audio Power Plant has no real signature, so there's not much to describe, outside of it "sounds" like your system sounds late at night when the power is relatively clean, which is essentially what I said. It makes your hear shine and sound more like itself, operating at its best. Why don't you get one, and let's see how many ways and how many paragraphs you can spend describing the sound of "nothing". How many ways can you rhapsodize about the "blackness" of the background, or the "cleanliness" of the signal. I'd like to read all 10 volumes of that. Doesn't mean he's right (see above re: TakeT). You haven't read many of my reviews I take it. Take a look at the new *sshole I tore the Qualia, or how I critiqued the Ray Samuels Raptor as being lacking in power long before this site existed or anyone else noticewd that (I know you guys hate RS), or how I've critiqued many audio cables, the Singlepower little solid state amp and on and on.

I assume that like many headphone folks you must be a younger guy, probably in college. Unless you are some kind of purist communist or something (do they still make those today?), you will be shocked, shocked to learn that money makes the world go round. Maybe your parents still pay for everything for you, and you may have grown up in an era where you could steal everything for free on the internet, so you think nothing has value, but you'd best pray when you graduate (if you want a decent job) somebody somewhere is protecting intellectual property rights so you you can have a job doing something other than slinging hash in a burger joint. Sorry to rag on you, but I'm using you as an example of some of the attitude exhibited here in this thread, for all I know, if you and I met off-line we'd be buds. Next time you invest over a thousand bucks in raw materials and countless hours to develop something, and then give it away for nothing (which I have done), you let me know. Til then, quit yer bitchin'.

Dude, I GAVE AWAY THE MOD FOR FREE with detailed photos and description. The mod as-is in the Head-Fi forums will provide ANYONE (even you) with the same mod that made me sell my R10. Anyone can do it. Are you informed or just mad for the sake of being mad?

Howdy, Been a while since I've been to the dark side. Not sure what the rules are over here, what I can or can't say. I'll try to respond to a few things, and we'll see what's verboten. Interesting. Please post evidence this is a "shill" review. Man, I keep getting ripped off-- apparently there's a fortune to be made writing fake reviews for products on-line, and here I'm doing it on my own for nothing. Can some one tell me how one gets on this gravy train? Oh, and the sine vs. square was a simple mistake. My paymasters at PSAudio must have missed my type-os when I submitted it to them before I posted. They did deduct 10 bucks for each one after the fact though. Yes, anyone can do them, my original intent was just to share what I had found, simple as that. I typed it up and gave it away, now (over here at least) it seems no good deed goes unpunished, but oh well, I know there are tons of conspiracy theory types over here who will see what they want to see no matter what the facts. I got tons of PMs and e-mails from people asking me to do it for them because they didn't trust themselves to do it, or didn't want to take the time, or wanted to make sure someone who had done it numerous times and knew how much of what to put where would just do it for them. (The mods have changed slightly from what was posted, but the substance of the mod is there for anyone to try). I was approached by someone else asking me permission to start offering the mod for a fee. So, now I had a dilemma-- let someone else profit from all my hard work, expense, and time, or do it myself. What would you have done? Me, I decided to offer my services. No one has to pay me anything, I gave away the "secret formula". All I'm selling is a service. So far, feedback and response from folks who've tried it has been very positive. As I stated, I had no idea people would not simply want to do it themselves. If this had been some kind of nefarious business plan, I sure executed it pretty poorly by giving away all my mods with detailed photos and descriptions! I'll take that bet. How much did you have in mind? If i was gonna pull them, I would have done it the day I decided to become a MOT, but I didn't. The mods will stay up as is until I decide to stop doing them, at which time I will likely update the thread with the final revisions. The rules are I can no longer review headphones or cables for headphones. I am free to contribute reviews of everything else. It's a shame I no longer have the gushing PMs of praise from mister Duggeh complimenting my review skills and contributuions to head-Fi. I love how some people have one face on Head-Fi and another over here. Kind of depressing, actually. One of the chief reasons I seldom come here. KG, you really do come across as such such a bitter man. If the day came when I wrote a nice review about one of *your* products, I bet your attitude toward me would change, suddenly I'd be a sage. Of course, I haven't ever heard one, but I have been considering a GS-X as I might go balanced. For now, yeah, I like Rudi's gear, and no, amazingly, I don't care if you approve or not. Oh, it's my pal Peter again. Yeah, I've been so desperate for cash that I've spent $6K on a source, $3K on ICs and power cords, $1500 on re-cables for D500s and another $3K on amp in the last 12 months. I can have any headphone I want (short of the Orpheus) and I choose the mod-ed D5000. If it makes you feel any better, another genetleman who owns a R10 got one of my mod-ed cans, and for him, it's only his second favorite, next to the R10 (though he's still burning in the D5000 and tells me it continues to improve). Later, dark side dudes.

Do you mean a B-52? I thought you guys hate RS over here? I don't think there was anything wrong with it. He gave me two sets of tubes to play with and they had the same result. At some point, when I re-write all the instructions for how to mod the Denons, I'll have to post them here as well (unless Positive Feedback wants it). What's been captured so far is incomplete, and I would hate to have someone see this and try it without having full info on the actual final mod.

Dude, I suggest you read before you jump to conclusions. As was made clear in the ad, and in the Head-Fi thread on my mod, I bought another pair, had them re-cabled, mod-ed that. Compared the mod-ed re-cabled to the mod-ed stock cable, and preferred the re-cabled pair. So I sold my guinea pig pair and kept the new re-cabled pair. I like the mod-ed, re-cabled pair so much, I'm selling my R10. End of story/scandal. Oh, and I reserve the right to try a new headphone I've never heard before, decide I like it better than my mod-ed Denon and say so without being called a "shill" for whatever new can strikes my fancy. You mean someone will actually pay $500-$1000 for the case? Man I guess I got ripped off then, shoulda held out for more. I'm no bass-head. That's why I spent so much time and effort trying to tame the bass on the Denon. That said, the mod-ed phone still has a lot more low-bass info than the Sony, and I admit, I like that. OTOH, the Denon is missing the upper-bass warmth of the Sony and can sound more one-note at times, so there's still a trade-off. And purk should try a good solid state amp. I've owned an Earmax, Earmax Pro, MicroZOTL, Melos Maestro, and was sent a RS Stealth and Raptor for review. I was also recently sent some Singlepower amp in the old-school case that totally crapped out when trying to drive the R10 and the JVC DX1000. Maybe he's beefed up the power on those amps, but from what I can see even his most expensive two-box amp uses the same puny tubes as the unit I was sent. I would sure hate to spend $10K or whatever only to find it could only drive my headphones to about 70db before clipping like crazy.

There is a slight mid-range recession (centered around the area of male voices) inherent in the Denon, it's its major Achilles Heel. But that's a flaw the stock phone has. With the mod (from what I see here, the latest incarnation of the mod with Dynamat and Mountain Mist was not recorded, bummer, given it may be gone forever from Head-Fi \), one of the good side effects of tightening and containing the bass is that it allows the midrange to come forward a bit and keeps the bass from intruding into the lower midrange. Next week, I have a Moon Audio re-cabled D5000 coming that I also plan on mod-ing. I'm hoping the new cable can bring that slightly shy midrange forward a little more, but we'll see...