Iron_Dreamer

I'd just consolidate and get a used Benchmark DAC1 or Lavry DA10 on audiogon.

I'm with you Ken. Right now, HD over Satellite (all that's available where I live) looks like crap, with tons of compression related distortion, I'd rather watch a DIVX file, thanks!

I can't believe people have actually voted for the Vallhalla freak.

I've used 26awg wire in the cables I've done for my W5000 and DT831. It is nicely flexible and does not get in the way. I'd also recommend re-terminating the stock HD650 cable, as it takes only a minute or two and can give you a nice improvement for very little time/money/work.

Can't wait!

I think he does that too

Looks very cool. If it cost a bit less, I might have bought if just for the hell of it. Maybe I still will someday. As it is though I've got a laptop with bit-perfect optical output, the RME, and a couple of IHP-120's, so I've got plenty of digital outputs

Well master of all things Stax, Carl, on the other site, HAD one (managed to destroy it somehow, I didn't quite follow it all). He though it sounded a lot better than the W5000. I'd be surprised if the Edition 9 sounded much different from the rest of their cans, but I guess you never know. I thought I heard it was using the same titanium drivers as the Proline 750/2500 though.

Don't forget the Stax 4070

Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly do you find so shocking?

One would hope so, otherwise "the brick" would be one heck of a bad value.

It would probably be cheaper/easier to find a soundcard with AES output, like the RME Digi 96/8 PAD, and get a CD player with coax output. In the past, I've noticed people looking for CD transports with AES on a budget don't get very far.

Well adding up things like that will have a tendency to make you second-guess, or think what else you could have bought. Which is all well and good for any critically thinking individual, but if you allow it to overrun your thinking to the point where it lessens the enjoyment of what you do have, that's a real bummer. We make the decisions we make, and have to live with them. At best you can learn from those choices so as to make better ones in the future.

Grano, did you hear my DA220 other than when we had it hooked up to the B52? I just find that you think it has no bass very curious, since it's got the best bass response of the DAC's I've owned. Also, if you're in a position to get really down about losing a few bucks here and there, you're definitely barking up the wrong tree. You can look at it as an investment in your amusement, if you actually enjoy comparing the various pieces of gear. I can see how it would be frustrating for someone on a budget really trying to get a specific sound, but (no offense) someone who can shell out for a Zana Duex doesn't exactly fit the mold of someone with major budgetary constraints. It sucks that you had to spend so much shipping that POS DAC to Ori, since he's a Bay Area guy. Very true. Although better understanding of the underlying electronics, as well as knowledge of company/designer's previous models can help guide you at least a bit.

I think it's a bit misleading to say a headphone amp can't be used as a preamp, you just need the appropriate cables and/or adapters to make the connection to the headphone ports. This is what I do with my powered speakers and Dynamid. Sure it would be nicer to have a permanent output with a cut-off switch, but the basic functionality of volume control and driving the speaker amp is still there in almost any headphone amp, let alone a nice balanced unit like the new HR. As for the headroom DAC being 99% of the Lavry (or its' brethren), I'd like to hear it, though I at least believe it could be true, based on the design.

I think that will depend on the headphones used, and how they react to balanced drive. Whether the listener prefers the changes associated with balanced drive over the benefits of a more accurate (presumably) amplifier. Of course, not having seriously auditioned the HR modules, it might come down to whether or not one likes the OPA627 sound signature, which has always been a bit dark and fuzzy in the amps I've heard it in.

I think the coolest part of it is that with an internal DAC, you've got a balanced rig from any digital output, for less than any other balanced amp. It's certainly a unique product, in both size and capability.

hehehe, isn't that bid missing a digit Actually I'm not sure which of the two will be leaving, if either, at least for a while.

I guess my first comment was a bit too ambiguous, then. As far as I can tell, it sounds identical to the DA220.

That's odd, because when I messaged the seller, there had already been 120+ views, so I figured there wasn't much of a chance I'd get it.

And it sounds nice to boot

As long as they can harass Bush like his party did Clinton in his last two years, it'll work for me. The odds of them being able to pass any substantive legislation seems pretty low to me, but at least it won't be a rubber-stamp for the executive airhead anymore.

Sheesh, you have some patience. I could swear I remember you waiting to get these headphones since they first came out.

I don't think it's a case of one over the other or vice versa. The main circuit that makes a good headphone amp should also make for a good preamp. Put in some extra inputs and outputs, a selector, and it's a preamp. Only the most insanely anal "audiophile" would think adding a few very simple parts like that would somehow make the sound quality worse. Now whether one markets it mainly as a preamp or mainly as a headphone amp is another matter (and quite irrelevant to the actual performance either way, as a bad preamp circuit will be a bad headphone amp circuit, and vice versa).

I wouldn't pay a higher amount for a headphone amp than that which ANY dynamic headphone ever made costs. Now if you have a multi-$K speaker rig, and can use the thing as an amp or preamp, then it could start to make sense. Granted, I've never heard an SDS-XLR, but count me as extremely skeptical that it could elevate a $300 headphone (HD650) to the point of justifying costing more than a new car. The B52 sounded quite OK to me, run of the mill for a balanced headphone amp, but I'd have to find another way of justifying the cost.