HeadphoneAddict

I've been spending the evening listening to my K1000 (Smeggy's old #1478 ) off my balanced Square Wave XL and it's sounding pretty nice. There's plenty of power on tap, and it's not too bright or fatiguing at all. The sound is not quite as snappy and punchy as Naaman's were with his beta 22, but this is a little warmer and smoother or laid back sounding. It plays down to 31Hz with only a little roll-off at that point but a huge cliff drop at 25Hz - this is similar to a few other open air phones I have. It also sounds very good off my 5 watt/ch Travagans Red with AD743 opamps, which is normally driving an SRD-7 Mk2 and stats. I'm glad Naaman introduced me to the K1000 at the last meet. I had to give up my O2 Mk1 in trade to snag these, but now I'm considering Naaman's O2 Mk1 to replace those. If I do buy his I can always sell the O2 Mk2 or Edition 9 later.

Right. We were using USB and optical out both set for 16/44.1 since it was ripped CDs. I just don't know if he ripped at 128 or 320 Kbps or if lossless.

Thanks. I actually had more impressions as we compared the DL3 to DA100 Sig with different inputs (optical and USB) and different up-sampling rates, but I condensed it into what I thought was pertinent and not confusing.

I was just reporting on what Blutarsky and I heard on his Mac Mini > USB Stello DA100 > Melos SHA Gold > HP-1000. I neglected to ask him when we did this (last summer) what bit rate his music was that we were using - I wonder if that would make a difference in how the upsampling bypassed sounds. What do you think?

Okay, I was just going to walk away, but I'll throw out a couple of clarifications: Blutarsky came over today and he and I listened to the PS Audio DAC vs his Stello DA100 Signature vs his normal DA100, using the same interconnects (silver ones made by Pendles) to connect to my Woo GES. Over a couple of hours we tried my Stax O2 Mk2, HE60 and HE Audio Jade, and his un-dampened SR-Lambda and APS modded re-cabled Koss ESP950. We thought that the three DAC's feeding my single ended Woo GES were on basically an equivalent level. The Stello had less changes in sound with changes in up-sampling rates than the PS Audio. The PS Audio seemed to have more synergy with my GES and O2 Mk2, which is what I was looking for after trying 4 different matched quads of 12AX7 type tubes. I was given the choice of keeping the DA100 Signature or the PS Audio DL3 in exchange for my APS modded re-cabled Koss ESP950 - I picked the DL3. I have no $5000 DAC in mind, just that that was an amount floating around in another DAC thread I had been reading. I don't have $5000 to throw at a DAC, so I figure the DL3 is good enough for now. Sorry for posting something that I'm sure will be torn apart by the hyenas again.

Thanks guys. Not.

Ryan, I just want to thank you for the discount link, as I am enjoying my DL3 with 30 hours of burn-in so far. I and my friend Blutarsky (Scott) both feel it has better synergy with my Stax O2 Mk2 and Woo GES than my old Apogee mini-DAC with thousands of hours on it. I look forward to trying it in my balanced headphone rig later as well. I registered the warrantee tonight for the 3 years coverage, although it was Scott who paid for it and had it delivered to him Friday, because he was buying my Koss ESP950 headphones and I told him instead of cash I wanted the DL3. I hope that is not a problem for the warranty, since it was bought directly from your site on the 25th. I'll more post impressions later when I am sure it is fully burned-in, but for now there are no surprises. So, until I can afford to get one of those $5000 DAC, this should do just fine. Cheers!

You're right, I suppose sometimes it is worth a gamble and I wish you all the best.

Too bad about how it worked out, but it seemed like you refused good advice to not buy it and you lost. I hope you get it fixed.

x2 for not just hip hop and rap and electronic but other stuff too, but the X10 can also be found used for as low as $160 when not on sale. For his music the X10 would be a great choice. The SE310 he asked about were nice though if used with an amp, but the X10 don't need an amp. I recall my SE310 had more bass than my E4c when I compared the two long ago, and the Image X10 had more bass than the Sleek SA6 when I compared the two last August/Sept. I never liked the Super.fi 5 Pro for the smiley shaped frequency response and graininess. Not heard the EB version he asked about either. The Nuforce NE-7M would have nice bass and only cost $49 and they are pretty decent and I enjoy more than I did my old ER6i that lacked bass, despite a little less detail in the Nuforce. My RE2 are at about 70 hours of burn-in and are more forward with less bass than the NE-7M but slightly more detailed as well, I just don't think they are a hip hop IEM yet. Who knows with more burn-in they might be. JVC Marshmallows with the Kramer mod could be a decent choice if he isn't looking for hi-fi. Senn C300 suck eggs for anything. Denon C700/751 would also be a decent hip hop rap IEM, but vs the Nuforce the bass is just a little sloppier and the highs a little harsher, but the bass is over the top for his music. Some day I'll have to hear the Futuresonics Atrio M5 V2.

The ESW10JPN kill my old ATH-W11R, and I like them better than the W5000 I tried although they don't have the soundstage of the W5000. I thought the W5000 sounded a little peaky in the upper mids (strange tonality) with a lack of bass, like the CD3000. (not heard all of these together at the same time though)

I really liked the Sylvania VT-231 in my Dark Voice 336i amp, enough that I kept a couple along with a Sylvania "Bad Boy" in case I ever needed 6SN7 type tubes again. They are nice and crisp and airy and punchy at the same time. I doubt they were cause of your sound issues. In my GES the 4 early 60's GE "Wurlitzer" 12AX7 tubes I bought really work well the O2 Mk2, as do my Telefunken smooth plates, being very detailed while at the same time staying warm and rich. The GE tubes are what made me like the tonality of my GES just a little more than the KGBH at our meet 3 weeks ago. But, I did say the KGBH had more bass and impact and power, and I thought the KGBH could be tuned with the tubes to sound like whatever you want. I would feel a lot more secure with a KGBHSE than the ES-1, knowing that it could be repaired should anything go wrong. So if you can afford it I would not cancel the order if I were you.

I would go for the HD600, with an HD650 cable. I have heard everything on that list except the Beyer, and the only ones I could not live with were the W5000.

Sorry Elephas but the HE60 is a Victorias Secret model coming down the runway in a silver string bikini and angel's wings coming off the back...

Today I shipped the 1/8" Neutrik terminated Canare quad cable with matched pair of SFI 120R and two kinds of felt and fake chamois from ericj. Smeggy, I also threw in a surprise for you to keep, in appreciation of the work you donated on my Smegma Pros.

Thanks for the review - it was very well written!

Hi Ryan! How long will the sale price be available? I have a big tax refund hitting the bank by the 12th, and I could charge it, but I am auditioning a used Stello DA100 signature on Sunday and can't make decision before Sunday (assuming the meeting goes as planned).

That's okay, I actually tend to enjoy most of what I hear as well, and although I can hear the differences between stuff it's not always a "make it or break it" difference. That's why it's so hard for me to sell off stuff that I like but don't listen to - I don't know when I'll be in the mood to listen again sometime. There is also a lot of brain adjustment that needs to happen to make certain cans sound good, and they may not actually be all that good. I can put on my Edition 9 as the first phone of the day and love them. But if I first listen for a while to my O2 or ESP950 or Jade, and then when I switch to the Edition 9 then the Ed 9 sound closed and bloated and forward and dull. I can then switch to the modded D2000 and vs the Edition 9 the D2000 are open and airy and spacious, till I grab my balanced HD600 or stats and then it's like wow, those D2000 are closed with recessed mids and shiney treble. The RS-1 and K1000 or ESW10 don't have that kind of dramatic effect after listening to stats, which makes me finally realize the edition 9 that I have loved for 15 months really aren't as good as I thought. So, it's definitely weird sometimes.

Please PM me with where to send the terminated Canare cable and SFI drivers. I already have Smeggy's address if that is where they should go, but I don't know if that is what you want me to do.

Hey, I said it first. dibs.

I didn't mean to say oversampling, I have been talking about up-sampling the whole time, as you can tell from the context of my example about Stello USB DAC with and without up-sampling. Sorry for the typo, don't know where that "over" came from. As for "improvement in quality of outputs", in response to your question to Ryan about his statement, "The Ultratlink DAC was considered to be a great DAC when it was released about 15 years ago. The reality is the DAC technology has changed dramatically in that same time period. Unless you can pick this thing up for sub $200, I woudl recommend looking elsewhere." In that regard I was just talking about the sound quality of the analog out or output stage, or what ever you would like to call it. As manufacturers and designers learn over time and experience, their designs and circuits and parts can often be improved to sound better. And, my statement was acknowledging that it isn't just the DAC chip that determines the sound, but if the output stage is improved upon that can make just as big of a difference in the sound. I think we would agree two DAC can use the same DAC chip and not sound the same, and one can sound better if the output stage is better. So, one with an older DAC chip could still sound better than one with a newer design DAC chip, etc. I understand there are many areas that determine the quality of the DAC unit as a whole - the quality of the parts used, the receiver chip, clock, DAC chip, power supply, analog output stage, how they are all wired together, etc.

I have a 6 or 7 foot section of blue Canare quad cable, just like what you used on my woodies but with no super nylon, which I'd be happy to donate along with my last matched pair of 120R SFI orthodynamic drivers, and the cable already has a Neutrik 1/8" plug installed by Blutarsky. If those are not acceptable, I could donate cash to the project.

6moons said the difference between the Cullen modded one and stock "Was not subtle", but I think we'd all agree that a person has to spend a good amount of time with both to really get an idea of how different those DAC's might be in the end. And, I agree oversampling doesn't always mean better, but when it does make an improvement it is much appreciated. It certainly makes an improvement with the Stello DA100 via USB, where the sound when up-sampling is bypassed is thinner and less spacious than with it on. But, with that same DA100 via optical input I could not reliably hear a difference between the upsampling on or bypassed.

I thought he meant the different chips available, the upsampling instead of just oversampling, or the quality of the outputs, etc...

Isn't that something a newbie would say? You have to have a better imagination, Spritzer would say.