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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 10, 2017 2:39:43 GMT
The 702 soundstage, while a bit unnatural, is impressive. Something about the upper midrange dip/peak and lean lower midrange just made the 702s a little fatiguing for long term listening for me. Not as bad as the 701s, 601s, 501s, oh... my long and sorted history with AKG phones....LOL!
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 9, 2017 23:01:45 GMT
Sorry to hear about your NASty firmware event. Music libraries can be rebuilt. DIY tinkering can never be replaced. You are obviously a recovering basshead since you listed the Grados. Hope your recovery continues. After 20 years in the studio with various AKG phones, I'm happy to report that my penance is over. I wouldn't buy any new AKG product without extensive audition and a small hammer - just in case. To me the AKG 702 would be a side/downgrade versus the X2. With more or similar unpleasant treble. If it were me (which I did, since it was me), I'd look for a good used pair of 650s - a much different flavour from the 702/X2. My preference is for clean, smooth midrange detail and tonal balance. It's where the music is and where the 650 excels. No treble daggers. I prefer listening into the music rather than lobbing my delicate sensitivities with an earful of fake detail. I could launch into my tirade over unnatural close micing that accentuates high and low frequencies in most modern recordings, that then requires obscene amounts of compression/EQ, but I won't just now. Does the drummer play with his ear 2" from the snare? Multi-mic'd classical orchestras? Don't get me started. LOL! Compressed V-shaped recordings playing back on V-shaped gear is for.... teenagers. I no longer qualify. By decades. It's the subtleties that engage me musically now, not the wow factor. As an acoustic musician, I've been dismayed at how different (and worse sounding) most recordings of acoustic instruments are. It's why I stopped running on the audiophile treadmill years ago. I'm willing to spend large(ish) on a custom acoustic instrument, not on trendy gear-du-jour neurosis. Been there, spent that. There is no happiness at the end of the audiophile rainbow. Because that rainbow has no end. While it's fun to read reviews and discuss preferences on the internet, headphone listening is so personal it's like having your own personal music performance in your head. If you're enjoying your current setup, then just enjoy it. If not, then consider what it is you feel is missing - then get a pawn shop guitar, learn some pentatonic scales and write tragic blues songs about the obscene cost of hifi. That and for another flavour, swap the 12AU7s with more full-bodied NOS 6CG7s. Or 5963s. Or 12BH7s from the 50s. Low cost tube rolling is my last audiophilliac vice. It's a tough addiction to kick. But, it's also one of the more pleasant defenses against the sonic crap that masquerades as professionally recorded digital music. Sorry, despite my weak-willed efforts it sorta turned into a tirade over my distaste for recording methods since the invention of digital multi-track recording and how we lost the volume wars. Everything MUST be louder than everything else!
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 9, 2017 0:47:31 GMT
Bummer about missing out on the Solstice. The lottery gods are a fickle bunch. The Solstice is so much fun on the cheap. Such a great variety of awesome sounding tubes in the 12V family - often at a tenth the cost of the more popular 6V tubes. It's the Chameleon of tube amps.
Better to watch for a used deal on Vali 2 or Solstice. What phones are you driving?
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 8, 2017 23:34:00 GMT
It's a 6V unit...so pretty much a starved plate design, unlike G1217's lean and muscular plate units. Why not get a G1217 unit? At least you know it will work, sound great and probably not kill you.
Or is your uber tube budget sub $100?
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 8, 2017 21:28:00 GMT
Good to know you can scoff at will. Or advise. What worries me about this little high voltage festival is what's going on at the rear, or as they say in Chinglish, "the fear side of the unit" So many places to not put a finger when blindly powering on/off. This won't be much of a tube rolling gem - few tetrode options available. And while I like the FU acronym in an amplifier, the stock 5532 chips should be connected to the 200V line upon delivery to eliminate the sonic sensibility hazard they represent in the 21st century. It is claimed to offer RCA inputs....but not seen in the product images - either at the fear or front side. Also has this worrying note about rca inputs: " Note: When using RCA input, please place the RCA audio cable as far away as possible from the transformer, or easily lead to noise. " And this equivocating statement: "... there was not a little hum noise when use the102DB headphones to listen" - does this mean there is a big hum noise instead? As a 40W mood lighting device it could still be fun tho.
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 8, 2017 10:54:49 GMT
I imagine if you brush the anode wires the wrong way, the noise would be horrendous. Not a fan of screaming. Especially when it's in my own voice. ;-)
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 8, 2017 9:00:38 GMT
LED-augmented FU32 Tetrode amp (just before the explosion) Here's a little image of DIY GU-32 twin tetrode amp with magic eye tubes as VU meters. From the Nobosound description: " Overall all frequency are balanced, with the full tube flavor characteristics, the full sense and intensity of low frequency, IF is warm mellow, and it has a special advantage in high-frequency. The high-frequency structured throughout, with great accuracy, but did not split at very high frequency, sound details, stretch and bright high-frequency controlled well." Good to know they didn't split any very high frequencies, so the tube environmentalists won't be upset. The stretch and bright control is intriguing, but I already have 650s to deal with any errant stretched high frequencies. Slightly bothered by the IF part tho - does that mean a warm mellow explosion or Mr T. if you want to waste time on some foolish research before making the inevitable impulse buy, there's a thread on head-fi on a Twin FU amp. Looks similar to this crazy expensive $159USD twin FU32 on eBay
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Post by lobalwarming on Nov 3, 2017 22:39:06 GMT
Thanks, Frans for the reviews on over-priced headwear. Those Grados sure look tempting as a birthday gift for bassheads. For bassheads born on Apr. 1st. ;-)
The Aeons look like a decent closed planar at an indecent price. Having used too many terrible closed phones in the studio, how bad is the midrange 'cuppiness'/resonance on the Aeons?
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Post by lobalwarming on Oct 5, 2017 1:53:39 GMT
They also answered my questions. 1. They are working on updating the rating system to better account for sharper FR peaks/dips, and in general this (rating system update) is high on their to do list. 2. The FR consistency includes human listeners only till 450Hz, with the rest of the spectrum based on the HMS alone. (I suspect the FR variation between human and HMS will likely be much more than what is seen in the charts in the treble region for all the headphones, but it is difficult to subject people to this type of test without risking their hearing playing annoying tones). They are definitely listening to feedback. They're listening to annoying tones AND feedback? That's gotta hurt.
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Post by lobalwarming on Sept 17, 2017 19:33:45 GMT
Yes, it's another software solution - as we know - software solutions create software glitches. ;-)
This is why starting today, I will be advocating a G1217 Tube multi-bit DAC with integrated Kameleon.
With an 'upgrade' to an IoT version with on-board SHARC DSP that connects to the internet every track to check for updates and snitch on you revealing at diyah your guilty-pleasure tracklist.
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Post by lobalwarming on Sept 17, 2017 9:17:27 GMT
I think, in the interests of science, Tyll needs to go Van Gogh and lop off an ear lobe and test his curves again. Would have been better for the listening arts if Tyll had connected with you, Frans and B&K long ago when the ears were fresh and the research solid rather than a corporate conglomerate with dubious 'scientific' goals, but very clear marketing ones. On another curve, have you heard the new Toneboosters HP compensation plugin? www.toneboosters.com/tb_morphit_v1.htmlGoing to try it soon. Tonebooster's Jeroen Breebaart is a no nonsense DSP developer with a great range of high value plugins. Have used Isone for phone mixing successfully - although now, with the Solstice and some vintage 12SN7 tubes the soundfield has opened up and become more natural, more engaging and spacious. Can't express how much this little amp has increased my enjoyment of HP listening. Thanks again, Frans and Jeremy!
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Post by lobalwarming on Sept 17, 2017 3:23:24 GMT
Ron: For cheap: Superlux 669 - not just headphones, also useful for sinus clearing. Or Samson SR950. Same thing. Closed and Bassified!
Used set of Fidelio X1s. Scratchy pads tho, big wide image with 'hifi' treble.
Senn HD380 can go really low and deep while crushing your skull with clamping pressure. So a great combo for headbanger music.
Some consider the Brainwavz HM5 a decent bottom option too.
Or Grados and a good imagination.
But, I'm a hypocrite. Headphones are the most personal listening experience. I can't make anything near a definitive rec for anyone but me. And even that's a little dicey. All I can say is BUY THEM ALL - and listen to them all. Then sell off all the chaff and just keep the 650s. ;-)
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Post by lobalwarming on Jul 8, 2017 6:12:47 GMT
Finally... after days of delays was able to drive into the city and buy some plugs and cables. Made TRS to rca adapters and could bathe in the sweet warm summer Solstice. So much more pleasant than my dry, sterile of my usual pro audio phone amps. Coloured? Perhaps. But what a wonderful palette of tonal colours. Even with the 6dB loss going from balanced outs to unbalanced, still plenty of gain to drive the 650s to satisfying levels.
Jeremy included a RCA cleartop 12AU7 - sounds so sweet. Haven't been driven to roll around the 9 pin socket with the roller's starter kit. Yet. This is easily the most cost effective headamp purchase I've ever made. I'd type some more, but some tracks are pulling me into the Solstice and I just want to listen, not think or type.
Huge appreciation to Frans for designing and Jeremy for building so well such sweet little amps. And preemptive thanks for making the future G1217 tube DAC. ;-)
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Post by lobalwarming on Jul 8, 2017 6:00:59 GMT
Tactile synesthesia, Frans?
You have the electronic diagnostic tools, just need to insert the cranial probes and check the neural calibration. How hard could that be? ;-)
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Post by lobalwarming on Jun 29, 2017 22:22:33 GMT
For those of you watching at home who may have stopped eating and sleeping, or at least stopped reading this thread because of the tension of my G1217 indecision will be relieved to know a summer Solstice has arrived here at the LobalWarning Lab. I know I am.
It's so small. And so beautifully made. The internet doesn't do it justice.
How does it sound? It's super quiet. Brownian noise quiet. Not sure how quiet it will be when connected. All my outboard DAC gear is XLR or TRS 1/4". You'd think I'd have some RCA adapters. That's what I thought too. Need to drive into town and find some RCA plugs and make some cables. Until then I can just stare longingly at its lovely innards. And practice tube rolling without the troublesome sonic assessment part. ;-)
Thanks everyone who waded into my shallow end of the listening pool.
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