n_maher

Very cool sounding design, Justin! Wish I was going to be able to attend the meet as originally planned, I would have loved to give it a listen.

Here's a serious point of discussion for you. From what I can see Grado isn't exactly known for rolling out new models very often (the SR80 has been around for what, 20 years or so) so how long do you think it'll be before they replace their flagship can? I can't imagine seeing another high-end headphone from them for a decade or so.

On the advice of another experienced K701 user I did play around quite a bit with position/fit. This was actually another one of my major gripes with them, the sound could be changed significantly by relatively small changes in position. And find the right spot was fussy business whereas my HD650s just get put on and stay there.

I had a balanced pair for about a month (maybe a bit longer) and I can see why some people would like them, they sounded pretty good until I put my 650s back on (also balanced at the time). To me they reminded me quite a bit of the K501s that I had early in my journey, sort of like full sized Etymotics. Being slightly thin is something that I can forgive with IEMs since most of the time (for me) they're not used for super critical listening, but when I sit down at the big rig with big cans I expect more than the 701s could offer.

Happy b-day, Mike!

It's not a handout, it's helping me clear up some freakin' space! Seriously, I'll poke around in the next couple nights and see what I can find. You never know what lurks in the depths of the old projects region until you look.

What parts do you need for the M?? I might have some stuff kicking around my parts box that I'll never use.

Happy Birthday Marshall!

There is some truth in "you get what you pay for."

You ain't kiddin, front to back my yard is approximately 1100 feet long. Last thing I bought, ice cream for me and the missus to celebrate a day of hard work.

Another run to the lumber yard today and my wallet is $200 lighter, decks are almost as bad as audio... Just need to get the railing done some time later this week, for now I'm spent!

Got one of the four power supplies I'm working on done last night... It's a sigma11 in a Hammond box but has a custom paint job. I'd never tried that before and decided I was sick of anodized finishes so I gave it a whirl. Came out more than decent, I think. More pics and info to come in the other DIY build thread.

Let me know if you want a couple of back up batteries, I've got some other stuff from when my D70 went tits up that wont work with my D80. Oh and the last thing that I bought was a bunch of lumber (2x8s, 1x6 decking, 4x4 posts, associated hardware) to put an addition onto my back deck. Been working on it the past two days with pops, should be able to finish it up today.

I feel like I have to put this out there, if you're going to buy a DIY amp that you didn't build yourself be careful who you buy from. Make sure they have at least some established record of building gear (not necessarily for sale) so that you get something that's going to last. Both amps in question are relatively complicated (although the M? is a bit easier) so be sure to know what you're getting before you agree to buy. Last comment, at $200 you're going to have a tough time finding what you're looking for, especially a good M? which is slightly more expensive to build than a PPA. Feel free to post examples of what you're looking at, between a few of us around here we should be able to offer a fairly complete critique. [edit]Mods/Admin - any idea why the superscript text (the 3) doesn't show up here? It shows up when I type the post but turns into a '?' when I submit the post.

Seems like a decent price to me considering the extra pads and all.

Do my HD580s count? \

Happy Birthday!

Large Coffee from my local Turkish Coffee shop along with a Cinnamon Coffeecake muffin. Although newegg does have a ripping HTPC setup sitting in my shopping cart...

Heh, if I could just get a couple things wrapped up I'd be on a selling spree.

Yeah, for the DIY crowd we can save quite a bit on portables. I see a singlebox mini3/Alien combo in my future for the office. I miss the PIMETA that I had built like that.

I'm with you. Whenever I'm on the move listening it's hardly focused or concentrated enough to be worthy of some $400 portable amp. Don't get me wrong, I can see the point for having a small, easily transportable amp but I think my budget would be under $200 for something like that.

Happy Birthday!

I know, I know, ancient topic but I've got news... I decided to take one for the team and order some of the bulk anticables speaker wire. At $1.25/ft it's pretty impossible to beat for high quality 12ga copper and he'll also sell you the spades and heatshrink to go with them. Based on my emails with him Paul seems like a genuinely decent guy and is actually quite the DIY electronics enthusiast. Color me gullible but most DIY guys I know are more skeptical than your average "audiophile" when it comes to the typical snake-oil type stuff. Heck at $100 for a 10' pair of speaker cables he's probably not charging enough.

Here's another deal that someone might be interested in and strikes me as one of those opportunities that might not present itself again for a long time. Mark levinson MODEl 36 dac For the banned among us here's the Agon link.

The DAC is nearly done, and I'm taking a bit of a gamble selling the SE beta this early but the opportunity to sell the amp presented itself in my favorite way, that being that someone I'm friendly with was looking for one and the deal worked well for both of us. It won't be leaving the Headcase family. And until the DAC is up and running I'm going to keep mum on the source. By all reports it should be friggen killer. Six, since I'm clearly unbalanced as well. Yeah, my first beta was my quickest build ever from start to at least sort of completed. I'm hoping the same holds true for the balanced version but holy mother of pearl there are a lot of parts to solder...