HeadphoneAddict

The stock D7000 sounded very similar to a D2000 with APS V2 cable and no other mods. We compared the two at the 11/08 Colorado meet and I think everyone was in agreement that they sounded similar and that both have somewhat recessed mids, but with better bass control than a stock D5000/D2000. We also felt the APS V2 D2000 had a little more treble extension than the D7000. So the re-cabled D2000 are not such a bad deal, but they still have the recessed mids and lower treble, and they can sound dark after listening to an HD600 or Stax and then switching over to the Denon. Both headphones improve noticeably in the mids with the addition of wood cups and stuffed ear pads. At that point my D2000 sounded good enough that I could sell my APS V3 Edition 9 to help pay for my EC ZDT amp, and still have a decent closed can for night time listening. Of course now I am selling the D2000 to help fund my new LA7000...

That is nuts - now if it were a cassette to ipod adapter for a car or something then I would be impressed.

I have now heard both the Cullen Stage IV PSA DLIII (with a headroom balanced desktop) and my stock PSA DLIII (with my ZDT and WA6), and I think both are "good enough" for me. I can't say how much better if any the modded one is because it was too much trouble to try to hook both DACs up with the same source and amp and switch between them at the recent meet 2 weekends ago, but I didn't hear anyone complain one bit about my stock one. I have to say that I am very happy with it.

Did you try mine out?

Smeggy, can you tell me what the primary differences were between your current K1000 and the ones that you sold which I now own (#1378 )? Thanks!

Of the ones you mentioned, the CTH is the only one I have heard, but it was very nice and sounding above it's price. It did well with Grado, Denon and Sennheiser, with enough power to drive my 120ohm SFI orthos as well. It seemed to be similar to my EF1 and my son's Millett SSH, depending on the tubes (I liked the Mullard). I currently have an EF2 tube hybrid which sounds very similar to the EF1 in a side by side comparison, therefore I suspect the EF2 will be similar to the CTH as well. I mention the EF2 because it also has a decent Burr Brown Japan PCM2702E USB DAC included, for under $200. The EF2 however cannot drive a 4-8 ohm Head-direct orthodynamic prototype like the EF1 could (at CanJam). Still, I am pretty sure if you go with the CTH you will not be disappointed.

You wouldn't need one of those if you would simply retract the awning before you drive away.

I'm sad that it wouldn't be for me, but I'd go along with it for him regardless. I still plan to use my BH PCB for my own someday, but I don't have the rest of the parts and have no clue how to read a schematic.

Sherwood, were you as impressed with the SR-404 limited anniversary edition with leather earpads at the recent meet as I was? They sounded quite good on the GES, with very little etch if any.

I would try the "Press and hold the home and sleep button together" without plugging it in, but holding those keys until the unit totally reboots, which is after the power-off slider comes and goes and the white apple screen comes up. Once the white apple screen comes up I would let go of the buttons and let it complete it's reboot. After that it should be back to normal, without needing the computer. (crosses fingers)

I get the same impressions as Deepak when running my K1000 off my EC ZDT and my O2 Mk1 off my GES - I think the O2 on my GES are simply better in many ways than the K1000 with my best dynamic amp. As an FYI - I traded my first pair of O2 Mk1 for my K1000, but then ended up buying Naamanf's O2 Mk1 after I discovered the K1000 are harder to match with the right amp than the O2 have been. My new ZDT does a better job driving the K1000 than any other amp I have owned, but I seem to recall Naamanf's K1000 sounded better with his Beta 22 (don't know if the difference is his K1000 or his amp). But still, I even prefer my HD800 off the ZDT more than the K1000, although I still enjoy the K1000 (they are just not as good to me). Craig did tell me to buy a Balancing Act with 300B if I wanted to drive the K1000, but I also wanted the 8-watt speaker out for a Stax SRD-7Pro so that I could listen to stats in my dynamic rig in a different room from my GES. That SRD-7 pro works much better for the Jade and HE60 than the O2 Mk1. I have a harder time picking my first and second place out of the HD800/ZDT vs O2/GES, where I like the extra dynamics and openness of the HD800/ZDT and the refinement and smoothness of the O2/GES.

My wood cups are mahogany with a disc of dynamat on the inside.

Makes me wish that I hadn't traded my SR-325i for a pair of ATH-AD2000 that I eventually sold as well. (in the end, my RS-1 and HD600 beat out those other two)

That room isn't small, it's just the speakers are so huge!

I keep my K1000 and woodied D2000 in a pair of these same cases, so earlier today I ordered two more so I would have one each for my HE60 and HD800.

I forgot to mention, mine are balanced, and they do like an amp with good current reserves.

Acknowledging the general disregard for markl mods and Lawton Audio's marketing tactics here on Head-Case (I myself am shocked by his HD800 impressions and cable comments), I will add the following info, knowing I am opening myself up to more ridicule by some here. The stock D2000/D5000 have too much bass for my tastes, and detail is a bit lacking, and the highs are not smooth - those areas improve noticeably with my APS V2 cabled D2000. The mids were a bit recessed on my re-cabled D2000, but that improved some with the mahogany wood cups that I got from Lawton Audio (and maybe from stuffing the earpads to be fuller). My D2000 have no internal mods and bass is well controlled with just the cable. At this point I like them better than the re-cabled Edition 9 that I sold, but I'd prefer to listen to my HD600 or RS-1 over the Denon. Switching from a listening session with the HD600 or RS-1 to my D2000 reveals the D2000 to still be a darker more closed sounding phone. The best "stock" Denon I have heard were the D7000 at the Nov 08 Colorado meet, but they were still a little dark with mild recessed mids, although bass was much better than the stock D5000. More recently, at the Colorado meet last weekend we passed around a pair of modded D7000 with Jenna Labs cable, Lawton wood cups, stuffed earpads and internal dampening. The modded D2000 sound a little more laid back vs the modded D7000 which sound a little more open and clear. Many people preferred these modded D7000 over my modded D2000 as they were indeed sounding like a "second cousin" to Ray's Sony R10. I still would NEVER sell an R10 for these modded D7000, but I would take them over my modded A900 or modded D2000 or any stock Denon, as well as over an Edition 8 or Edition 9. I'm a little flabbergasted that markl liked his early modded D5000 better than his R10, because while I thought his modded recabled D5000 were better than stock they were not that good. However, these particular modded re-woodied D7000 that I still have on loan for our recent meet are what I had expected from the original modded D5000, which were a little bit of a let down after all the hype. Those early modded D5000 were better than stock but not neutral/natural and rich like the R10. Nevertheless, when I need a closed can to not leak sound and bother others, I grab my custom IEM or ATH-ESW10 first, and haven't used my Denon much since February when I started playing more with my new O2 Mk1 and K1000. I consider my D2000 to be more of a fun phone than a reference phone, but these loaner LA7000 (as markl calls them) really do sound much better than you would expect. They definitely lack the "cupped hands" mids that I heard with modded D5000 last year, and are therefore more transparent sounding. I think if it weren't for mark's blatant BS marketing that the modded D7000 would be more popular, assuming they all sound this good and that this pair isn't a ringer. I hope more of you get to hear the modded D7000 and can make up your own mind about them. I still have a problem with the huge cost, and for the price of these I have the HD800 that are still better.

Well, "to my mind" there is little difference between what I said and the way you want me to say it. Anyway, my 24 hours was wrong. After your post I went to look at my actual comments about the Nuforce - burn-in only took about 3-4 hours for me, but I picked 24 hours to post here as a safe number so I wouldn't have to look it up (trying not to promote doing someone else's work when they can search just as well as I). I had posted comments about the Nuforce + D2000 with only 1 hour on the headphone section, and wasn't excited about the amp with headphones although I had been using it's speaker out with SRD-7 Pro and HE60 and liked it a lot: Nuforce Icon usb Dac, preamp, headphone amp, power amp ... Everything in one~ I said that I planned to give it 100 hours of run time and report back, and then if not satisfied I was going to do another 100 hours. I expected a long slow process with mild changes over a week or two. It turned out that it only needed 3-4 hours total on the headphone section. Nuforce Icon usb Dac, preamp, headphone amp, power amp ... Everything in one~ Nuforce Icon usb Dac, preamp, headphone amp, power amp ... Everything in one~ Nuforce Icon usb Dac, preamp, headphone amp, power amp ... Everything in one~ So, this is where you may now jump in and give me hell about my "minute-by-minute rundown" of the process. I hadn't planned to post hourly updates, but I was listening to it while I was online and it was changing quickly and settling down, so I posted what I heard as I heard it, while I was busy reading the forums.

Macbook Pro or Airport Express optical out > PS Audio Digital Link III at 96Khz up-sampling > anti-cables XLR interconnects > Jensens Transformers XLR-RCA input transformer > anti-cables RCA interconnects > ZDT. The 192Khz up-sampling mode is a little brighter, and I only use that with the Stax O2 Mk1. The volume level tolerable also depends on the music you listen to - I don't like current brick-walled rock music with them, but it gets better with jazz and classical and acoustic, electronic and new age, and such (most of what I listen to).

In your price range ($200 - $250) there are several decent amps for the AH-D2000, including the Nuforce (that particular amp sounds congested out of the box and needs 24 hours of burn-in to clear up/open up the sound). Other good inexpensive D2000 compatible amps include the head-direct.com HiFiMan EF2, and Travagans Red/White/or Green. Also, the Millett Starving Student Hybrid is nice with D2000, as is the Cavalli CTH tube hybrid. The Nuforce, EF2 and Travagans White will include decent USB DAC as well. You can improve the EF2 by tube rolling, and improve the Travagans by changing the opamps inside. If you find my public profile on head-fi forums you'll find links to my reviews of these amps in the "about me" section. Good luck!

I compared the HD800 (on maxed WA6 and ZDT amps) to my Stax O2 Mk1 with maxed Woo GES and I feel that the Stax rig is a little more detailed/refined, laid back and relaxed while the HD800 rig is a little more dynamic and energetic, and a little more forward and aggressive but in a good way. Sometimes the HD800 sound slightly edgy to me, while the O2 Mk1 are always smooth. The HD800 seem to thrive on having the volume control turned up higher to wake them up, while the O2 Mk1 present great detail and sound at low to medium volumes. The O2 Mk1 soundstage seems deeper/narrower, while the HD800 seems wider and more holographic - but they both have good imaging and positioning and definition of instruments in the soundstage. The HD800 remind me a little of my HE60 while not as detailed, but I also think the HD800 have more bass impact and a more solid and grounded image than the HE60. The HD800 do have a little more flavor of their own than the O2 Mk1, due to their midrange emphasis. The HD800, just like the O2 Mk1, are fairly sensitive to the amp you use. The 800's can sound decent with my maxed WA6 or balanced Square Wave XL (or even the Amphora), but the sound takes a big leap ahead with my EC ZDT. The ZDT amp is noticeably better and even single ended the HD800 sounds more spacious with better separation and dynamics. The ZDT is also the first amp to make my 4-pin XLR K1000 sound like they are worth keeping although it's still a little underpowered - but my HD800 still have better speed, detail, and transparency over the K1000. I don't know how much of that is the stock cable on the K1000 and how much is the amp.

I seem to recall owning a laser disc of many music videos of hers in the 80's. One of my favorites had her playing the daughter of a mad scientist who built a "rain-maker machine" - the scientist/inventor was a young Donald Sutherland.. She's 2 months older than my wife...

You should have been at the Colorado meet last weekend, you missed a good opportunity to achieve that goal. BTW, Didn't you sell me your O2 Mk2 last year?

The first stupid thing I did after unpacking my re-fitted JH13Pro was drop the case with the IEM 4 feet to the floor. The carbon fiber box took the brunt of the fall and there isn't even a mark on the case to show what happened.