Dusty Chalk

Why? Your ears are different distances from the drivers. Shouldn't the condition be: "...a way so that the SPL meter is the same distance from the drivers as your ears are (or rather, eardrums are) for accurate results..."?

Yeah, that's what I was going to say -- it's not so much that they fall off, they're just more laid back, which would imply to me a gradual roll-off in the highs. The L3000's just plain have more high-frequency extension, and therefore more air there. It's like the difference between tight accurate yet overblown bass and tight accurate yet understated bass. In both cases, the bass is there, and good. (As opposed to some headphones where they're just completely missing, or where it's there but not tight and accurate.) Oh, and: the formats (I presume you mean DVD and SACD) are not dead, they've just fallen back to a niche market, where they should have been from the beginning.

Are you sure about this? I don't find the high frequency extension of the headphones similar at all -- the L3000 just trounced the Senns. What amp are you using? What source? You should definitely compare them with a high-res source (high-rate PCM, DSD, or analog), and with an amp capable of reproducing those frequencies. I'm not saying you're not, but it would explain why we hear things differently, so I'm just grasping for an explanation.

Are you asking for volunteers? I'll be happy to, if there are still spots open.

On the other hand, I'd have to sell my car for the down payment on it. I would really like to win the lottery. Thanks for shooting out ideas.

Aw, hell yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!

Tag Heuer? Those are nice. A bit out of my league. I'll look at the Tissots, but on first glance, I only found two that were even remotely black, and most were too conservative looking. Look at this watch again: See how black it is? Just a hint on the hands and logo, the rest is varying shades of black. That's the direction I want to head. Some of these Nixons are really nice: Yeah, I know, it's not black...but it's gold and black, which might be a nice compromise if I can't get what I want, in terms of blackness. I also like some of the distressed leathers in there. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, keep 'em coming, I'm not going to be impatient and buy something right away, I'm going to wait until I see something that I have to have, because for now, I'm happy with my Guess watch. It has to be nicer than the Guess watch. And no, I can't find a picture of it right now. And yes, I'm looking at everyone's suggestions, I'll look more at the ones I mentioned and the geneves and invictas and...everything...

Yeah, after looking at those Nixons, I can see why you'd perceive the Fossils as "screaming 'cheap'", but I like the understatedness of the woodface one. I need someone to design me the ultimate black watch -- black chrome hands, no points whatsoever, black embellishments, black blacker blackest...none more black.

And banned Head-Fiers, too.

Yeah, I've got the same problem, only in my case, it's because of allergies. I'm seeing an allergist. You may want to also, as even if you don't have bad allergies, they may be exacerbating the problem, and if you treat it, it may go down to below the level of annoyance. Other than that, I have no advice -- don't clean your ears so violently, use the Murine system or something (liquid earwax cleaner). And yes, it does suck -- my sympathies.

Hey, Purk, when did you join? Welcome, sorry about your thin skin, 'n'all that... And yet another L3000 owner joins Head-Case...

Yeah, that sort of thing. Yeah, that's my price range. And yeah, one of the Fossils I was looking at was all analog (the wood one), though not because it's higher-tech...it's just more elegant-looking (to me). I guess when I said "high-tech", I meant "flashy high-tech". My dad used to have a watch that was digital, but emulated an analog hand movement -- now that was cool. And yet it still looked like a normal professional watch. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'll probably get one of each (the mostly-black goth flashy high-tech one, and the woodface one), but Biggie's comment about his breaking all the time scares me. Does anyone know what sort of quality reputation Fossil has? I'll look at amazon for reviews -- thanks for the heads-up, Biggie. I don't know if I agree in general, but yeah, the one with the flaming skull or the one with the eight-ball, or the women's one with the hearts -- they don't strike me as appealing to anyone but bikers and pre-adolescents. I like the idea of the Citizen Eco-Drive -- I'll definitely look into them.

Anyone know anything about Fossil Watches? Good/bad/indifferent? Relic? I was initially looking for an LCD/analog watch of the likes of this, but ended up falling in love with the looks of this one, due to (a) its almost all-blackness, and ( the cool use of the wood, and the way the numbers drift outside of the face. Who knows, maybe I'll get more than one. I'm thinking of getting this one, too (again, due to its almost all-blackness), but I'm worried that the red "throb" might be visually distracting. Thoughts? Anyone know of any other companies that make that analog watch on an LCD face with the "throb"? I'm a high-tech guy, so I should have a high-tech watch. I'm happy with my Guess watch for every day use, but I want a nice one for meetings and dressing up and such.

Tube amp.

Thanks. I know two people with Meloses, I'll make sure that happens.

Unless something comes up, yes.

Happy Birthday to you and the USofA.

No, but if you do figure it out, please let me know, as I have yet to figure out a good amp to combine with it. The best I've found so far is the Creek OBH-11SE. If I can't wrap my head around this weird sonic signature, it's going. I need to find another headphone with similar prat, though, so that may be a tall order.

Nice! I like your yard, as well. Friggin' golf course!

I've heard it out of the HEV90 and the ES-1 as well, and I want to say I've heard it out of a KGSS, which is still one of the best electrostatic headphone amps I've ever heard. I also imagine it'd be good out of the Blue Hawaii, though I've never heard that particular combination. And because I have a lot of white noise in my environment -- air filter and fans at home, probably getting an air filter for work, in addition to computer and well -- lots of work environment type background noise. So I'm going for the 4070's eventually. Also, my criteria for "handling" hard rock might be different than everyone else's. My most primary two criteria are lack of congestion (which seems to be a real problem with most equipment) and lack of long-term listening fatigue (which is just plain practical -- I tend to do a lot of long-term listening). Prat, although important, is not as important as those two. Detail is way down there, but tends to be at least 'good' in cans that don't congest upon being thrown ridiculously "busy" music. Remember -- this coming from a guy who used to do all his heavy listening on an RKV.

Cheer Dark

It depends on the amp. I've heard it slay with rock. Alas, I can't use open cans.

Almost finished with Night Watch, volume 1 of that trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko: ...is excellent. I was going to read them in synch (both the Russian version and the English version), but I'm already almost done with the first book.

Going back to your original post: Sounds like you just need the drivers. Here's what I'd do: if I was hell bent on running XP, and I had no-one to help me (in my case, I'm fortunate enough to have an intarwebz-savvy housemate, or I could go to Hirsch for help), I'd get one of those Linux try-before-you-install disks, and use that to download the drivers. Or just install linux and say fuck it to Microsoft. But I guess that depends on what you're going to use the computer for.