n_maher

Not that everyone hasn't seen them by now but Ray's got pics of the B52 up on his site now... Can someone enlighten me as to why he would have put the XLR connectors on the front panel in upside down? And sorry, but that is the weeniest power switch I've seen in a long time.

I'd throw a different, known good source on it first and see if that helps. Might as well remove as much from the chain as possible. I'd also make sure all of the tubes are properly seated and that the pins are clean.

Evidently Sears has already sold out of the T-Shirts - behold the power of Head-Fi. For those who might want one you can find them at cafepress.com in a few different styles.

As far as I see it the buying and selling of commercial gear is complelely unregulated by Head-Fi. I've been told MoT's/Sponsor's tend to keep a close watch on the FS Forums - I've been warned for selling DIY stuff at what was perceived to be a profit .

I've tried it both ways and honestly I think splicing to the existing wires (just below the connector) is the best route to go. It allows a much more reliable connection and doesn't mess with the pin position. Cutting apart the connector to get at even just the base of the pins is a serious chore and I don't think the last 1" of leftover cable is going to destroy the new cable's effect. At least that's what my ears tell me. Also, just a hint, but I use adhesive-lined heatshrink at the connection to the existing wires to provide a solid mechanical connection in addition to the solder joint. I actually try to leave the wires slightly slack inside the shrink but who knows if that really happens. Best of luck, Nate

If I were hunting Singlepower's I'd pick this one up. It could always be sent back in for further tweaking and shaves $600 off the purchase price.

I don't want it to look like the B52 or anything like that but if you're going to take the time to have a front panel made you could easily make it more appealing than that, hell even a different font might make all the difference. At some point, and I don't know where it is, part of an audio purchase becomes about the whole package and not just what's on the inside. Wouldn't you agree?

Hmmm, kinda "plain-jane" looking for a $2200 amp.

Ken, Would this work? http://mytreo.net/store/product.php?xProd=94 All I did was google "2.5 male to 3.5 female" and that was the first or second link. There seemed to be many others from reputable companies. Sorry to hear about the Ebay debacle. Nate

Simply put the only way to get them is to take them off an existing cable. If the connectors are ok on your current 600 cable I'd suggest cutting them off and using them to make something like this: That's just raw Cardas headphone cable coupled to some 650 connectors. It cost about $95 to make that cable which to me is much better than spending $200+ on getting one made. You could always try making one out of cheaper wire and seeing what your ears think about the results before spending that much. HTH, Nate

I think people need to just bear in mind that you're never going to hear Tyll's side of this, or at least not all of it. He can't explain it because he's bound by a relationship to Head-Fi whether he wants to tell Jude to piss off or not. My personal opinion is that he's bent over backwards to try and help Head-Fi and is probably about just about sick of it. He volunteered his company to underwrite the National Meet because Jude/Head-Fi couldn't, he volunteered his contacts within the industry to help make the meet a success even though it meant less exposure for his company and more competition in the room, he held the proceeds of the meet because Jude can't accept them even though it potentially could lead to tax issues for him and finally if there was a vendor in that room who made less of a big deal about being there I can't think of it. Most of them (with good reason) were hawking their goods all over the place (as expected) but Tyll and Andrew (at least I think it was Andrew) just kind of kicked back and let people come to them. While there is no doubt that Tyll has financial motives in this game his overall motivation has always been to grow the hobby and let people find Headroom as a result of that. Also, I have no idea what sort of discussion between Tyll and Jude may have gone on recently, it may be that Tyll new that Jude was going to make this post and is fine with it, then again maybe Jude decided that he didn't want to support the Hobbyist organization? Who knows? Probably only Jude and I'm guessing you wont see him posting about it any time soon. Clearly he doesn't want much discussion about the $$ since he's already locked the thread he started . In the end the Hobbyist's Association is going to move forward with or without Head-Fi for the simple reason that it has to. If it doesn't we all risk losing what little control we have over the national meet and other large regional meets. How long do you think it's going to take for some corporate entity with no interest in growing the hobby or running it as a non-profit to come along and see that there's money to be made by hosting a large Headphone event? Personally I'd rather see Head-Fi involved with this effort but if they'd rather be the enemy of it so be it.

Oh, wait till you get "casino" access, you'll learn all sorts of interesting facts about Ray...

Are they going to reimburse all the shipping costs that you've laid out?!?!? I'm glad to hear that a problem was found and looking forward to only hearing good things about this source in the future.

Didn't I sell you a couple of cases for this amp last November?

I had seen Zin's custom cable a few years back and forgot about it, thanks for reminding me. I may give this a shot as I think I have everything I would need already.

How's the isolation? The info on their website is pretty vague, "up to 25db of isolation".

I did consider this and have not ruled it out fully. I would like to hear what others think of this and it would of course be great if someone had actually done it before. My concern is that the driver housing/tube of the Ety is still pretty long even without the wired connection. For example Sensaphonics provides a "sleeve" option but it doesn't look like this would at all adress what I'm trying to do. Westone might be the answer (Headroom metions them in their Ety description) so I'll probably drop them an email to see what services they offer.

I'm finding more and more that the profile of the Etys is interfering with my enjoyment of them. Allow me to explain a bit. I primarily use these headphones for listening while I'm doing yardwork (mowing), riding the motorcycle (at low levels so I can still hear the world) and while reading. The fact that the Etys protrude quite a bit outside my actual ear when properly inserted is causing some discomfort and annoyance. So what I'm wondering is what would be the cheapest route to custom-insert IEMs? The least-expensive commercial product that I've found is the UE-5c's and at $550 they are well beyond what I'm willing to spend. Anyone have any other suggestions?

It'd be nice if they could just work USB out from it at this point. I think a Ipod/Alien DAC/Pint rig might be kinda fun. I mean it's already got the USB interface built it so how hard could it really be? Anyway, my 3G 20gig is getting long in the tooth (thrown 2 HD's already, love that BB warranty) and way short on storage space so I'm not sure how much choice I'll have when it comes to replacing it.

You going to pick up those bargin K340s for sale at *thesitethatshallnotbenamed*?? I mean come on, they've already been knocked down $150.

With an aftermarket cable (I tried the the Cardas, Oehlbach and briefly the Zu cable) I found the HD600s to be a very entertaining listen with all types of music and they don't require a mega-dollar system to sound good. Given your love of tubes I would think that they would be a nice alternative to the Grado sound without going fully into the Senn realm. The 650s are certainly more full bodied and seem to scale more with the equipment that drives them. Personally I never really like the SR225s very much. I had them for 6 months or so and tried them with mostly solid state and some hybrid gear and never found a combo that really did much for me. I'd love to woody a pair now and see if that tames/warms them up a bit but given how happy I am with the HF-1s I can't see a reason to do that at this point.

I'm working on a balanced amp project and it occurred to me that I don't have balanced "test" cans so last night I whipped these up:

I'm probably going to get torched for this but my one great audio buy in the headphone realm would be the HF-1. With a little modding to my ears they scale up near the RS-1 and may in fact be better, depending on your sonic preferences. Even stock I find them better than the 225, 325 and 325i. And that's ignoring what they're worth on the open market now.

Justin, I understand your logic but to me, and granted I've never really been a "customer" of any of the various headphone amp manufacturers, is that this practice screams cheap. When you shell out the kind of money that Ray is charging for his amps I would expect to get something that is complete and working when it arrives. It is the very fact that he wouldn't include a $1.50 part with a $1200 amp that just seems wrong. I could even see offering it as a no-cost option at checkout but at least let people know that it's not coming. I didn't see any "batteries not included" literature on Ray's website (except under the XR10B description).

I'd have a look at the Outlaw 2200 Monoblocks. It matches your 300W into 4ohm requirement exactly.