Maybe it's a dumb questien. I always assume that etch wasn't the same as airy. Wouldn't etch was sort of very dry sound (even grating maybe) on the treble? I never heard gs-x (I wish I had). I heard auralic taurus mk2 and I felt it had that dry (etch) on the it's presentation. I have original stratus and I felt it have air, but it also have a weight on each note (with hd800).

thanks,
Jo

I just repaired a pair of Hifiman RE 262 after a year in closet drawer. Can tubes bring some of this lushness/liquidity to HD800?
These vocals.., maybe my pair is 'defective' in the right direction.

I just repaired a pair of Hifiman RE 262 after a year in closet drawer. Can tubes bring some of this lushness/liquidity to HD800?
These vocals.., maybe my pair is 'defective' in the right direction.

A crappy SS amp can make the 800 sound like a 262, no need to waste your time with tubes. At that point just use the 262 and sell the 800 imo.  Try an Eximus DAC/amp w/ the 800 to richen it up, has interesting SS synergy too kind of reminds me of my Miles Davis iems signature.  Mid forward, warm, smooth with intimate SS but still some separation.  It also has pretty leaves engraved on the case which should replace the tube glow placebo affect hyper objectivists point to.  I think it's an interesting pairing just not technically up to snuff for the price point.  Fyi, Marv hates the thing to get another perspective.

If you do feel like going down the tube rabbit hole, there are NOS tubes that can make mids sound silky and seductive while still being clear unlike the 262 which has a bit of a veil.  If you think the 262 has good mids/vocals, stay away from the ES5...

I have said this to a few people , the Liquid Glass has phenomenal synergy with the HD800 ( even unmodded) but even better when the headphones are modded. You get to experience the subtle tube induced nuances ( microdynamics / air .... ) without any of the mush and it has plenty of control to let he bass notes hit hard and deep.

..dB

It seems i spilled some oil to the fire. I think i didn't say i like RE-262 better?! Has anyone sold his/her HD800 for RE-262?
To clarify that i'm not partially deaf, i like vocals better on 262s 10% of time, after some serious eq-ing. And every other aspect of their sound is not comparable, to me too.
   Anyways i was hoping to get a perspective of what kind of mids to expect from a tube amp as i haven't heard any. And first chance comes when i buy one, because i live in the middle of nowhere.
   Amp that i use (DA8 inner) should be similar sounding to Matrix M-Stage. I've tried the Lehmann BCL as well and i didn't like it with HD800.
    It's kind of a hollow and dry sound to me, despite being the best i've heard from headphones.