Currawong

Mucking around with the iTunes EQ, 4k seems to be more upper-mids/lower-treble. It seems to be a point that, boosted, contributes to the impression of being both bright and forward. Listening at around 85dB it pushes trumpets and sax's forward in jazz and brings out any harshness aggressively. I suppose one could say it does for bad jazz recordings what the HD-800s did for sibilant ones - piss you off. I have no issues with the bass out of the 007t, but I didn't with the HD-800s either.

I figured out what is going on with Safari. I just sold off my MacBook Pro and was temporarily using my old one, which has only 3GB of RAM (compared to 8GB I had before). Safari wasn't being a memory hog on that computer. It seems that Apple is, presumably for speed, allowing their apps to go crazy in taking up a lot of RAM, just as the OS will keep things in RAM but flagged as "inactive". Now instead of paging out apps (into virtual memory) that aren't used, and having them painfully page back into physical memory when you try and run on them, Lion will just, iOS-style, kill the apps that aren't in use. Once all apps learn to resume upon launch as the Apple ones do, it will be more efficient and faster and new users that don't have the indicators on in the dock that show what apps are open will be none-the-wiser. Edit: I might be somewhat off the mark with this, going by this article: http://tidbits.com/e/12398

I tried the older version of the 550 when I was checking out Harbeths here. It was quite a sharp amp. I regret not trying the DA-200 with it, as "slightly warm" would have possibly mated better than the Esoteric I was using which was anything but.

Inactive RAM can be ignored and even considered as free memory. This is what makes Mac OS X quick: It keeps recently used data in memory (but flagged as purge-able for other stuff). If you ran one of those programs to purge all the inactive memory, you'd notice a huge slow-down. That being said, Safari/Web Process is a huge memory hog and I've been getting spinning beachballs lately with it too. I'm going to run DiskWarrior over my disk, as that should speed things up somewhat.

The Gator is definitely one of the best purchases I've ever made, thanks to you lot. Danner Hood River shoes (possibly only available in Japan) are the best shoes I've ever purchased. Putting them on the first time I knew that I was going to be reluctant to wear any other shoes ever again. The only problem is that they are no match with shorts so I can't wear them all the time. An iPad. Actually, two. They are in such demand in my classes and at home I think I really need three. I can't begin to list how useful they have been.

Point Paypal to this thread. If it isn't evidence enough, I don't know wtf is.

x1000

I missed that in your sig, thanks. I was running off of KG's BOM. I'll use yours.

I found these new heatsinks on Mouser which are almost identical to the Aavid ones listed in the BOM: 588-FA-T220-64E The pin size is 0.091" compared to 0.093 for the Aavid and the other measurements are almost the same. Also, I hate asking for favours, but a couple of the components are "restricted availability" and I can't order them online from Mouser: DSEP12-12A (1200V Rectifier) x32 IXCP10M90S x12 If someone could help me out with these (the listed figure is enough for 4 amps) I'd be very grateful. Edit: My BOM and board info was out of date and I didn't know about Future Electronics.

Ha! Seconded, very much so. It looks as if the low-end cans that have been coming out recently are measuring up much better than in the past.

I didn't realise there were different ratings for AC and DC. Checking the packet of what I got, it says 600VDC and 750VAC. I can get, locally, just about any spec power wire (maybe not overhead power line spec, but not far off it) and I'm certainly not interested in stopping my heart through an accident the result of bad wiring. I was thinking aloud about the braiding as I'm pondering whether I'll try bothering with the hassle of a two-case build.

Now if they'd sell the braided stuff using a couple of different colours instead of the same colour, it'd be perfect. I already bought a bag of 2m lengths in mixed colours of 600V generic "Kyouwa" wire anyway.

Ok, with Nattonrice's help, I've made some progress, if only a year late . With Justin's KGSS boards from Headamp.com, I'm stuck on the transistors. I was lucky to pick up a BH in pieces with a heap of spares which has helped, but there are still gaps, and do they all need to be matched? I'm posting where I'm at here as I haven't investigated outside of Mouser yet and I thought it might end up helping someone else in the future if I post stuff here. Small transistors: 2SK389 x4: As per the first post, I'll get 2SK170s matched from AMB. 2SA1970 x4, 2SC1815 x2, 2SC2240 x4: Enough came with the BH, but it'd be handy to know where to get them or alternatives in the future in case other people ask. 2SC2705 x4: EOL but in stock in Mouser. Big transistors: 2SC3675 x12: Subtituted with 2SC4686A in the KGSSHV (thanks Yun). 2SA1156 x4: Can use the higher-voltage 2SA1486, but have to get them from bdent. Thanks Stax Mafia. 2SA1968 x2: I have plenty spare from the BH, but I gather the alternative is 2SA1486. 800V Mosfet: The BH PSU has something with "4N60" on it. Alternative is FQP8N80C (thanks Tom). Other stuff: RLED: LED lamp. Was a weird shape so thought I should check. 1N914: I picked the first on the list. Big PSU caps: I bought some expensive Nichicons because I figured, why not?

Is this the point I start investigating how cheap I can get RK-50s here?

The Oscium isn't resolving enough to show the ringing using the analogue probe (rather than the digital one which only shows a 1 or 0) I think, and there was interference too. It could show, just, the difference between the direct output of the Audiophilleo and when I was using a Canare RCA cable -- a slight rounding on the shoulder of the waveform.

What kind of quantities do they consider worth it to bother? 1000? 10,000?

Post cord-entry-angle change and pre-new cable and thicker pads.

Despite the 009s being here now, I'm still liking the LCD-2s for pop and the like where impact is more important than delicacy. The 009s can be a bit too airy and delicate in their presentation with some types of music.

Happy Birthday Birgir.

The only AKM-based gear I have heard was Yamaha or Esoteric and the Japanese "sound" is more towards clinical accuracy, so I can't say I liked the result. May as much have been a shit choice of gear to try them with at the time as anything. I'm definitely curious as to what their more expensive DACs will be like with the 009s here.

Considering the very crappy lighting, I'm surprised these came out ok. DSC_1045 by Currawong1, on Flickr DSC_1042 by Currawong1, on Flickr

I did manage to extract a pretty spiffy-looking square wave from it using the iMSO-104 iPad oscilloscope attachment in test-wave mode. The only problem I have no is that Pure Music and other software seems to be putting the output into mute (in Mac OS X) and refusing to un-mute, which you can't do manually when the device is in hog mode.

I'm up for 2 complete sets of everything as well. Thanks LN for doing this. Now to sort out a drill press...

This makes me wonder how the AT ES10s or ESW10JPNs measure in comparison. I've been pondering for a year or more getting a pair for travel, but while they are quite good, I've long suspected they would make me miss the detail of my other headphones. I would never have imagined that a pair of Beyers would be something I'd consider instead.

Some guy with very serious hardware measured the Audiophilleo 1 at 160 femtoseconds, so that backs up their claim of it being ultra-low jitter. I'm trying to encourage him to measure more of these devices.