Hopstretch

Prince -- Purple Rain 24/96 rip of the Kevin Gray vinyl. Sounds absolutely epic.

Looking at the considerate way they've upholstered those rear ports, you could probably even consummate your love if you chose to.

No worries. I'm not emotionally invested in it and don't own one. I have no idea at this point what the fact of the matter is. It would be pretty strange, though, for them to so explicitly state things that simply weren't true, would it not?

Azazel, I'm sorry but I think you are incorrect in this case. The 1796 is, I believe, employed only in the transmission of DSD over HDMI. When the player's analog outputs are used, the converters are Sony's own SA-DAC chips, according to some product literature I was able to dig up.

What have I got? Some crappy iPhone pix and some first-class memories. Krell, Headroom, balanced HD800s and Dreadhead's sipping pounding rum. Good combo. Audez'e ortho waterfall plot. Dan's version of the Shakti -- the Plini. I thought it added a noticeable hoppiness to the musical presentation. Mike finds his bliss and gets his ears molded. Great meeting everyone. Thanks for being so welcoming. It was a blast and the organization was superb. Well done Cali!

My understanding is that the custom Sony part is the DSD DAC and that the 1796 would be there for CD playback, if that makes sense?

I has about a half hour with it and a pair of HF-2s. Would have happily sat there listening for much longer, but JP came by and took the transport for use at one of the seminars. I think it sounds as good as it looks. Great job!

Just bumped into Brooke Shields at LAX.* She said she was mad that she missed CanJam.** * Really. ** Not really.

Sorry, I don't know. It was a very complicated set-up with an Amarra and two Transporters and though I made sure it was the Alpha switched in, I did not take note of which connection was in use. I'd also broaden my previous impression to include trafo-coupled tube amps doing well with the 800s. The 307A, obviously, but the Woo 6 SE did great too. I don't think I'm alone in feeling that OTL is not necessarily the way to go with these particular Senns.

I thought it was excellent.

The HF-2s are very comfortable. The headband is much better than the HF-1 and the weight isn't an issue (for me). They do share (again for me) the HF-1 characteristic of being easy and pleasant to listen to as opposed to overly analytical. I'm listening to Naaman's right now off JPs Stacker and the Audio-gd Ref 1 and the Eagles are soothing my tortured soul and settling my Denny's-ravaged stomach.

Ugh, that thread. Too much moronity for one Sunday morning. Who wants to go to Dennys for biscuits? I'm gonna shove 'em in my ears then come back and post about the 800s suddenly sounding muffled. Monkey, I think the Beta will rawk you. So far, very much against my own expectations, I've generally liked the 800s best off the solid state setups here. Naaman's rig sounds wicked and Berkeley Alpha DAC -> Luxman P1 -> HD800 was just an eargasm.

Well, they are absolutely not bass-shy, that's for sure. Have listened to them today both balanced and single-ended on the 307A, Balancing Act, BUDA, Zana, B22, HD2, Luxman, SDS-XLR, Woo 22 and some others -- and my ears are profoundly content. My only caveat: some songs on some sources suggest the slightest shade of sibilance.

The Audeze planars are going to be interesting. The enclosures they are using are nothing to write home about but they still sound good, are easy to drive (we listened out of a Gilmore Lite) and will probably be < $400. The engineer developing the drivers said he'd be very happy to have a dialogue with the enthusiast community -- pm me if you want his email.

Know what flat out rocks? Buffalo 32 -> B22 -> HF2. Ari reckons these are most akin to the brown-headband RS1s.

Too late, we ate it. Also all the breakfast sausage. Mama cooked breakfast with mo' hog today!

Hey Dinny. I'm actually going downstairs right now to find bacon and then go listen again to the HR stuff with my HF-1s. That'll give me a better idea what was source and what was phones (and what was whisky). And I'm still definitely getting the 800s. They're really, really good.

Thirded. Got to listen to the 800s off a bunch of exotic rigs last night and the Ultra/BUDA combo was as good as any of them, IMEHHO.

Oh, my head.

The HD800s are wicked. Sitting here sculling whisky and listening to them off the various SE and balanced Ultra stacks in the Headroom room. I'm definitely balancing mine. Cheers!

Plane broken. Hopefully airport brew pub opens at 12:00. Cock warts!

See the backlash is getting going already over there. HD800s now being dismissed as "gimmicky shyte" by people who have yet to hear them. Also, let the word go forth, they are bass-light (compared to Denons).

Got to airport to find my lovely wife the road warrior had used some of her millions of airmiles to upgrade me to 1st Class. Believe this obliges me to drink on the plane. Delayed a half hour, shoveling down egg mcmuffins to pass time.

Crappy weather here. Predict delays.

Indeed I did! Would only have squandered it on whisky or child support, anyway.