HeadphoneAddict

Your sig is enlightening, so I'll have to do a search for posts by you about it.

Actually, it was Achristilaw who had his PSA mods done by RAM and recommended them in a PM to me, after I mentioned the Cullen mods. Achristilaw seems like a nice guy when I met him at CanJam. I've read a few of positive Cullen reviews outside of head-fi on - one at 6moons and another at PS Audio Digital Link 3 D/A Converter with Cullen Circuits Stage 4 Modification on 10 Audio and PS Audio DLIII DAC with Cullen Circuits Stage III Modifications plus The Cullen Circuits mod of the PS Audio DLIII, Part 2 I like the PS Audio slightly more than my Apogee mini-DAC or a borrowed Stello DA100 Signature that I compared it with, and I put it above my Headroom Mini DAC as well. In 96K upsampling mode the PSA sounded very similar to the Stello and less rounded in the midrange than the APogee, while for darker headphones the 192K mode became a little brighter and more spacious (although with some music and some headphones sounding a little edgier too). I'd like to see if the mods take the edge off in 192K mode, for enjoying the bigger soundstage more, or if they make the 96K upsampling mode stand out more.

WANT.

Try an SR5-NB (gold edition).

I am very happy with my PS Audio DLIII, but I was thinking about someday doing the stage 3 or 4 Cullen mods to my PS Audio DLIII - PS Audio DAC, GCHA, GCPH modifications - Cullen Circuits It wont void the warranty and reviews have been very positive. But someone else recommended another company that did his PSA DLIII mods: Reference Audio Mods, cd player mods,audio mods, audio modifications Do any of you guys have any experience with either company and have any opinions you could share? I'm posting here because at the other forum I expect to get too many conflicting thoughts and opinions from people who have never even heard the mods. Like I said, I am very happy with it stock, but wonder what I could be missing. If I had to get rid of all the DACs in the house but one, the PSA is the one I'd keep. Thanks!

Based on what you've said, and what I hear, I think you would like the ES3X over the UE11Pro. Can't comment on the JH13Pro yet, but I'm optimistic about them. Will know next week...

I bet he's wishing he'd never written that. His predictions have been better, but he missed the mark with this one back then.

FIFM

Wow. I've had a change of heart before, but this...

Okay, I can understand that comparison - in my ES3X review I mentioned that they can't achieve the soundstage of a full size can, in a similar way that full size cans can't soundstage like speakers. I just don't have the two blobs, but I do have the miniature stage thing going, which does sometimes extend out of head.

I thought sunspot activity was still now right now, so you mean lack of sunspots? I think ATT should be adding more cells or upping the power or something, because they suck compared to Verizon's network. Instead, they count on low sunspot activity for better service.

I fond memories of "Sponge Worthy", "Don't let Elaine Dance", " But I don't wanna be a Pirate!", "The Pool was Cold, there was Shrinkage!" and "No Soup for You"...

Very good reason to not want to ever move the amp again once you get it working again. Maybe private single power amps should stay away from meets too, so they don't get jinxed and break. For a while I had avoided saying anything about SP, in case my Sq Wave XL needed service; but now Mikhail seems to be stealing/keeping amps from nice guys that send them in for repairs, so staying on his good side doesn't seem like it will help. I vote we take up a collection every time an SP amp breaks, to replace it and be done with it. Sell the parts as scrap. Eventually we can get all the SP amps off the streets, like Obama is doing with "gas-guzzler"cars.

Sweet looking, but how does it sound? How does it do with the K1000?

Hmmm, no two blobs here.

Under those circumstances You mention, I would be more reluctant to recommend that one if it were me.

I asked them and they said the phone number is tied to the contract. The rollover are not a priority.

Do you mean imaging? Instrument placement? Distance from the stage? Size in all directions? All of the above? The ES3X seems a little more vivid and transparent with a front row seat - the UE11Pro seems a little more distant and spread out. Yet, the ES3X never sound like space is cramped or shallow at all, just that you are closer to the action. Whereas with something like the Grado RS-1, I feel closer to the action but the stage depth is also shallower. I think it may be the UE11Pro's frequency response (smiley face shape) that is responsible for some of the listener's increased distance or position away from the stage. I want to see if this is of any benefit with classical music or not. What part of the frequency response are you not so happy with? For me the extra bass is nice at times, but sometimes with some music there is a less-detailed bass cloud that rears it's head, while at other times the bass is clear and detailed and fast (really depending on the recording). Infected Mushroom benefits a lot with the throbbing deep powerful bass - you can feel it in your teeth (and almost in your chest - psychoacoustics or something). I really wish I had been able to get a good seal with the JH demos to have a better idea of what the bass would be like, but I enjoyed the rest of the sound and look forward to seeing how the sound turns out as a whole. I suspect it will be different from the ES3X and the UE11Pro, but maybe a mix of the two sounds.

Back in September 08 I canceled my PDA data plan with Verizon (family plan/better service = keeping them) and got a "normal" phone for VZW. I took the money I saved from the $60/mo data plan (PDA and tethering) to get an iPhone 3G. I use it as my PDA/iPod and dumped the iPod Touch, so I still have to carry 2 devices - Moto KRZR and iPhone, instead of Moto Q/Touch. I rarely use the iPhone for phone calls and have 3,042 minutes rolled over with my 450 min/mo plan! Only about 10-15 people know my 3G phone number and call or text me. So, I figure I'm not that attached to the old phone number, and can buy a 3GS for $299, notify those 15 people of the new number, and cancel the old one. I'll save $400 on the new phone (-) the $130 termination fee, since I can't upgrade the old 3G till 2/13/10. So, I bought a new 3GS and added a line, but will cancel my old line in a few days and pay the early termination fee. And, since I switched to a family plan for a few days while the two phone numbers are running at the same time, ATT agreed to roll over my 3,042 minutes to that plan and to not change my contract date on the old 3G. Then I can give the 9 month old 3G to my wife who needs to buy her own phone for work but they will provide the SIM card - she says she has a choice of a Blackberry or iPhone which can work with their mail/contacts/calendar server. Here's my questions - stuff I can't really ask the ATT people or they would get a clue about what I am doing. 1. (Assuming I want to keep my old phone number instead of the new one) Can I just cancel the new number once I am past the 30 days "buyer's remorse" guarantee, then pay the $170 termination fee, and keep the 3GS and my roll-over minutes, without having to pay the extra $400 that an un-subsidized phone would have cost? 2. On the other hand, if I stick with the original idea to cancel the old number, I could save $40 on the termination fee (fee drops by $5/month over the contract period) plus I could cut my monthly bill by $50-60 over the next 30 days if I cancel the original phone number sooner than later. They said it could take up to 72 hours for the roll over minutes to be credited to my family plan, so I have to wait at least that long. I assume that once the roll-over is credited back to my account that I can get them moved again later with a new plan? Is this what you guys would do?

I am always amazed at how well my 1000 watt Velodyne 8" subwoofer performs - it indeed goes deep and loud enough for movies. It came with 5 Velodyne 2-way satellites as a $1,500 5.1 system, although I switched to in-the-wall Jamo 2-way speakers and moved the satellites into my bedroom. I have the sub corner loaded in a very large room, and the bass detail still does not get muddled with music. In the five years I have had it I have not thought about replacing it with a bigger unit. Now, with the crappy sharper image sub I got for Xmas a few years ago for the bedroom, I do think about replacing all the time.

This is what I wrote in my notes about 2PM Thursday about the UE 11Pro, which I received on Wednesday. This is in no way a full review, but just my notes as I get used to them with my first impressions, to be used in my review later: So, I think the ES3X are still an excellent IEM, and at this point I cannot pick one ahead of the other as being "better" than the other. I have spent 4 months with the ES3X and one day with the UE 11Pro, so I lean a little towards the fresh clean open vocals and mids of the ES3X right now. From what I recall, the vocals in the JH13Pro demos were much more present than in the UE11Pro, and closer to the ES3X. We'll see when the finished product arrives if that holds true. I plan to do a review with all three customs after I have spent a bit of time with all of them.

I'm gonna buy a Pico slim, but I'll take a iPhone 3G or 3GS any day over that. My upgrade date is 2/13/10 so I have to pay full price to upgrade now. I'll wait and enjoy 3.0 on my 3G basic.

Radio Shack SPL meter, poked through a hole in a piece of cardboard, which covers the headphone earcup, and pink noise from "Bink Audio Test CD" is played and volumes levels are adjusted - often starting at 80 dB and going up or down from there depending on how the music sounds at those levels.

I wouldn't worry. Saying it is as good as a Stello DA100 isn't such a bad thing, since that is actually a pretty nice DAC in my opinion. It sounds pretty much like my stock PS Audio Digital Link III (at 96Khz upsampling), and maybe a little more refined than my Apogee mini-DAC. I understand it can be disappointing because those are all in the under $1000 category, and below the Neko's price point. But my PS Audio will cost another $700 to get the Cullen mods done, and so far nobody has suggested the Neko D100 needs to be modded. When it becomes difficult for the reviewer to hear the differences, I think it sometimes helps to spend more time listening to the one piece of gear over a few days period of time, without switching out for an A/B. There have been many times when I listen to several items all at one time, where fatigue sets in and makes it more difficult to pick out the differences. And, differences in transparency and detail are often more difficult to pick up when the timbre and tone or frequency response is similar. Those are easier to pick up when listening to an entire performance as a whole, without switching between two pieces of gear. I think he acknowledged some of that in response to questions about his review.

You might want to check into the new Eddie Current phono stage - it sounded pretty sweet at CanJam on the Zana Deux, for under $1000. I neglected to get details because I don't do vinyl anymore, although I am open to the idea again. I just hated the cracks and pops and cleaning, and warpage, etc. I gave up my Harman Kardon linear tracking turntable around 1989, about 5 years after I got into CD's (I think that was the brand). My first turntable was around 1972 and I'd just had enough of them by the time I sold my last one.