elnero

I must admit the ESW9's are very intriguing. I've had a hankering for something other than IEM's lately but considering at this point the E500's are still my main headphone I don't want to go spending too much on something else. I tend to prefer an amount of isolation so I gravitate to closed headphones and also considering my amp and DAC will be a Pico I want something that's relatively easy to drive. From the cheaper end of the spectrum I tried the K81DJ's, I got a recabled pair with velor pads, but they really didn't seem to be my cup of tea. I've had my eye on the Denon D2000's, they're at the upper end of what I might be able to swing at this point but even after all that's been said about them I'm still unsure if they would be for me or if they would even fit my rather small head. Now I see these ESW9's and my woodie fetish has me all worked up. From the initial reports I didn't think they'd suit my tastes but after reading more I'm not so sure. I've got a really varied palette when it comes to headphones, my favorites thus far have been the E500's, RS-1's (with flats) and W100's. The HD580, 600 and 650's I've ever only been lukewarm on, the W1000's I didn't care for too much, too cold and sterile for my liking. K701's I've only heard at a meet and again was just lukewarm on them. Ditto for GS1000's, I only heard those briefly at a meet but instead of being lukewarm it was more of a WTF was that supposed to be impression. I find I'm particular sensitive to sibilance and treble so I've always really liked a warm, full-bodied, tonally rich sound. I'm a bit of a bass head, but prefer it to have decent weight and speed. PRaT is important but sometimes it doesn't go hand in hand with my other preferences. Back to the ESW9's. From the pics these things just scream comfort, as I mentioned I've got a small head, one of the issues I had with the W100's was they always seemed too big and I ended up fiddling with them all the time trying to get them to fit right but the ESW9's look not only like that wouldn't be a problem but they look luxurious. For those of you that have heard them can you say which end of the AT spectrum they lie in? Do they lean more towards the warmer W100's or colder W1000's? So far from the descriptions it seems like they're more towards the W100's but I'd just like to be sure. If that's the case can anyone give a comparison? They've been getting high praise for a portable headphone but the begs the question, how far off are they from being in the league of other full-sized headphones that are considered home based headphones?

I've been really impressed with what I've heard from the Oppo I just got out of my modest speaker setup, I can't want to get an amp again so I can hear how it holds up with headphones.

What about modded? There are quite a few variations of fairly inexpensive mods for the DAC-AH that from reports I've read say they do nice things.

It's the use of the double negative that's confusing, it makes it sound like you believe he was there. I'm sure that's not how you meant it to sound though, but you never know, you are a lawyer after all. J/K

Dusty, that was genius, one of the best posts I've read in a long time.

What are you talking about, nate clearly has the advantage in this one.

nate vs. nate the ultimate cage match!

I don't think they were even selling for that much, if I remember correctly I paid under $100 CND after shipping, taxes, etc.

I think what some consider portable is what they take to work with them, it's not so much about the travel time but about what they use in the work rig. Most work environments aren't conducive to leaving your gear there all the time therefore it must be transported back and forth, hence portable.

I think that's totally subjective, I'd agree, I wouldn't add an amp for portable (walking around) but the E500's are my main headphone and they do get significantly better when used with high quality associated equipment. Adding a decent source and/or decent amp can have very beneficial effects on the E500's IMO of course.

Well, looks like I get a fresh start with my PM's, it appears they're all gone. Luckily I still probably have most of them in my email.

Yeah, sold the AE-2 awhile back but I haven't got my Pico as yet. I haven't seen any updates so I'm not sure how they're coming along, I'm hoping soon as I only have the iPod.

I think what you're experiencing is the high sensitivity of the Shures, they can pick up a lot of hiss from amps that aren't designed to be extremely quiet. Finding a good amp can pretty much eliminate hiss though, the AE-2 I owned previously was extremely quiet.

Yeah I know, I've got a new iMac at work. We just picked up a refurbished HP for home use recently though so we won't be buying a whole new machine for awhile which is why I'm hoping I can add something on. I'm kicking myself in the ass now for not spending a bit more and buying a laptop like I originally intended, at the time though the HP seemed the more logical solution.

sport stax jack, heh, maybe it's cause I'm tired but that sounds funny. Now, say it fast ten times.

I'm an IEM guy so the isolation wasn't what I'm used. To be honest I only played with them for a couple hours one evening right after I got them, they've been boxed up awaiting a new owner ever since. From what I remember isolation wouldn't be at the level of something like the Senn HD280's but still far better than an open phone. If you do change your mind and think you'd be interested I have a friend that I could send them to first that should be able to fix the cable and then send it on.

Not me, after doing that with Storm I'm a bit gun shy with unproven manufacturers.

Even if he didn't want the DAC he could still get a Pico and he would be within his budget.

Jeremy, I have a pair of Warrior05 recabled K81dj's with both velour and stock pads that I'll let go for a good price. The only problem with them is the heatshrink at the cup end of the cables let go when I was trying to swap pads. I've fixed it with black electrical tape which may be sufficient but it shouldn't be a hard fix for either Warrior05 or someone else who has a bit of experience with cables. Let me know if you're interested.

Hope you don't mind a bit of a hijack but I've got a somewhat related question. With my Pico coming soon I'm going to be using my computer as a source much more than it has been. One thing that I've been wondering about is if there is a way to add a remote so I can skip tracks without having to get up and go over to the computer? I've poked around a bit but other than computers that come with a remote of some sort I've not found a solution to add one on.

http://www.6moons.com/news/news.html About a third of the way down the page, an October 7th entry, any notice this or know anything about it? Sure looks puuurty Unfortunately the websites product pages links don't seem to be working http://www.trafomaticaudio.com/products.php

I actually quite like the banner, logo and favicon. I like the fact that the logo is something we can just type as well.

I haven't noticed anything in the manual, but I haven't really looked, I'm not even sure if the player itself will recognize FLAC or Lossless, if it does then I don't see why it wouldn't be able to off the thumb drive.

I feel bad for my part in the whole thing. No matter what I did or how I handled it though someone's going to have a problem with it. I've had people ask why I didn't post about the problems I was having with Ken earlier and then I've had others lay at least part of the blame for the whole situation on me for posting anything at all.

I think that whole thing left a bad taste in quite few peoples mouths, it's too bad that it drove some out of the hobby altogether.