So, should I not post that?  Moderator, can you please delete my helpfulness which is obviously not helpful please.

You got me wrong, I mean I read that article you post and I also want more opinion on this as I wont buy it because of 1 person opinion and IIRC many people here dont agree with the man in the article, so I need more opinion from people here, not that I dont need your help.

If the language I use make you misunderstand I apologise, its not my first language.

It's been while since I wrote anything. But, lately I been having this feeling...
Snip

This is a common enough pattern, that many go thru.
And it does work, for a while.

Until...

When you least expect it, you hear some system that just sings to you, and the embers flare up, like they just got gas dumped on them...
Try not to let this newly emblazoned passion take over.
Your wallet will thank you.   

JJ

hello,

agreed wholeheartedly. however. the politics need to be left behind. just my opinion, YMMV, yada, yada, yada...

Rex. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your posts and great sense of humor on Changstar. I have missed your presence on the site. I am a bit older than you at 59, but have been into the audio thing since about 16.

I have hit the "end game" more than once. ESS,  JBL's, Pioneer's, DBX's. If anyone remembers Drew Kaplin. Then Infinity Prelude MTS surround (stay away, the midrange drivers are defective and US division refuses to acknowledge but UK replaced the drivers out of warranty)  Quads and now Dunlavy. Amps. 1970's Marantz was the one that got me hooked on speakers. Then Carver's. And surround sound receivers. So many. Then tubes. BAT-VK60 and a BAT pre. Wadia source. It goes on.

My point is, if you have found the end game that makes you happy with your music just stop and enjoy. I'm am very happy for you. No sarcasm here. I'm still looking for the end game. Go listen to the music!

And I really hope you are on the new site. You would bring a nice positive attitude to the discussion.

Hello pirates,
I'm here again for an advice for the 650: in my previous post #1346 I asked for an amplifier and Claritas recommended me meier-audio.
I forgot to mention that I own an extra cable Zu Mobius terminated with 4 pin XLR (bought used with the sennheiser), so I'd like to know if it's worth going for a balanced setup or instead selling the cable and continue using the stock one.

Many thanks
Lorenzo

That cable is pretty nice in terms of ergonomics. Soundwise... no idea! But having a balanced cable opens up more opens, although most of the good tube amps for the hd650 will be SE anyways.

Drove 2 hours to see the Insight. Really neat car, amazing that it was possible 20 years ago (development then release). The interior was bigger than I expected, ample headroom and comfortable seats, power from a stop was perfectly fine, though accelerating from say 55 to 65 took a while. I drove about 20 miles through different speeds and liked the mechanics. It reminded me of the MR2 Spyder I test drove a year or so ago, agile, light, stiff, and loud (road noise).

I'd never driven a stop-start engine setup before and temporarily forgot as I drove away at first, then was reminded as I came to a stop. To me, the stop-start system is a little too aggressive. It stopped the engine before I actually came to a stop. If I were setting up a stop system, I'd say wait for complete stop and 1 further second. As it was, little stop sign stops that most people don't actually completely stop at cycled the engine back on a bare second after stopping it. I wonder about wear in that instance.

On to this specific car, I did a thorough inspection of the interior and exterior armed with some notes from InsightCentral forum. The interior was in excellent condition for its age (15 years), only the blown speakers would have to be replaced. There were no trouble codes from the ECU and everything worked, even the auto-down driver's window which is a common fail point. It had the right tires on it, Bridgestone RE92s which are critical for getting the most mpg from this car, though they are quite expensive at nearly $100 per tire plus fees. The exterior was quite a different story, unfortunately. In the pictures on Craigslist the paint looks great, can't see any wear really. Both skirts covering the rear tires had significant scarring, likely from tire shops unfamiliar with removing skirts since hardly any cars have them anymore. Both driver and passenger mirrors had even worse scarring on the paint side from his wife scraping them on the sides of the garage (he suggested this excuse). There were quite a few chips and dings on the front of the car and all 4 wheels had curb scraping the entire circumference of the lip.

After the test drive (solo), I walked to him and said that the mechanicals were in great shape, everything worked well. I started to talk about the exterior condition being much rougher than I had expected. As I was finishing my sentence he broke in saying I should keep shopping and that this car's exterior was in fine condition for its age. I then began to think of what I would pay for the car, still interested, if only for my mother who needs the mileage, but isn't so caught up on cosmetic appearance. I began to bargain with the guy by saying "I don't think I can pay $5500 for your car" expecting him to discuss the matter and perhaps ask for my offer. Instead he immediately stood up and very curtly thanked me for coming out and forcefully wished me a safe trip home, ushering me out of the building. I guess he's not the bargaining type. I might have paid $4000, maybe $4500 for the car, still a fair offer, based on the research I've done, but I wasn't offered the chance.

In the end, I still think it's an interesting car, but given the sports car style road roughness and noise, and the lack of a back row, and as Dave has brought up, the safety is not as good as it could be, I don't think I would get enough use/enjoyment out of it to justify its semi-premium cost for a car of that age. It's not the right tool for the job.

Riding home I noted how much quieter and smoother my Grand Prix was, and more responsive to acceleration demands, and also the 22mpg I had gotten on the 230 mile round trip. It sounds strange after the praise I just gave of the Insight, but it made me appreciate my Grand Prix a bit more.

I like the new Civic and it will probably be the best c hoice once it has aged a couple years and I can get one for $13-15k. I will have to confirm when they release of course. I did like the 2013 Accord, but I don't think it lines up enough with my wants, mostly that it's too big and while efficient for what it is, not where I want to be. The Civic should be between the Insight and Grand Prix in suspension roughness, so that it's somewhat firm, but not punishing or too sofa-like. With the right engine it should have the pull of the Grand Prix while being quite efficient for a non-hybrid. Guess I'm sticking with the ole' Pontiac a while longer. And Honda has promised the most quiet Civic ever, so maybe it will approach the Grand Prix's road noise. I test drove either a 7th or 8th gen Civic when I bought my Grand Prix and the road noise was almost as bad as the Insight.

Possibly a bit late to the Yggy party here, but I've managed to snaffle an Yggy/Rag combo for home demo for a month or so with my HE-1000s.  After having Yggy powered on for three days (it was only switched off for a few hours while I brought it home) I've tonight been doing a careful comparison against a couple of Sabre dacs I have here (DiDiT DAC212 and Pulse X Infinity). Once I figured out what to listen for, the Yggy really is on another level, particularly in terms of the tiny details it seems able to present which the other dacs just smooth over.

I hear the biggest difference in voices...the minute textures in, for example, Nick Drake's voice on "Way to Blue" are totally smoothed over on the Sabre dacs, whilst the Yggy is showing me all these little micro-sounds that make his voice so much more human.  When he holds a note, I'm hearing the slight rasp in his voice....think in terms of a slightly jaggedy horizontal line, whereas the other two dacs show a straight flat line, more of a one-note sound.  I've heard this song probably hundreds of times...never heard these little details. The Yggy also avoids that uncomfortable mid-range push you can sometimes get when a voice gets stronger/louder momentarily...on the Yggy these ebb and flows of volume sound natural, whereas the other two dacs both exhibt that annoying (to my ears) push.

I wasn't sure what to think of all the Yggy hype before hearing one outside of show conditions, but I'm now a convert for sure. So much so that I can ignore the huge ugly box of a chassis. Will be placing an order soon.

what did you think of the raggy for an amp pairing for the he-1k?

Valhalla 2 - had to say it, it's the only amp I have. But the HD800's sound damn good with it to me.

I haven't tried the Valhalla 2 yet, but I can't imagine it being as good as people say.
Just for reference, I tried:

Violetric V200
Matrix M Stage
Bottlehead Crack
Schiit Asgard 2
Headroom Desktop Amplifer
iFi Micro iDSD

Maybe a few more that I forgot.

While all of them drive the HD800 to normal listening levels, I never got a 'wow' moment with any of them.
The soundstage does not come close to living up the hype from the reviews & impressions. No any real authority/slam/kick on the low end & (more importantly) no real improvements to the midbass/midrange body.
At best they give middling improvements. 3%, 5%, maybe even up to 10% improvements from one to the other. Nothing drastic.

Valhalla 2 might give an edge over the V200 or Bottlehead Crack, but again it can't be anything drastic.


I almost gave up on the thought that the HD800 can be significantly improved with amps & dacs.

But then again, I go back to the posts I saved that shared similar views as mine on the stock HD800. Sounding thin & diffused & not being impressed with the soundstage either. Then they completely changing their tune when they go the right high end equipment.

I just don't really know where to go next.

Anax, I miss your posts

Well, we do need his ears back.

It's been while since I wrote anything. But, lately I been having this feeling after I ventured back in pro audio stuff... After making a a random purchase that I thought would be my back up amp has quickly led me to what I have now. I always been into audiophile game so to say and has the appreciation of good sound and just loved music since I was younger. Now 27 I find myself prematurely sasified cause the system I built has left me very happy to the point I don't care anymore bout other crap.

After getting my big ugly Altecs and big ugly heavy JBL 4648 bass bin I never looked or cared for anything else. Even after auditioning 100k+ speakers I was left with feeling of meh and no desire of any of that stuff and thinking to myself that my old beat up system I put together that has seen band , studio, and theater abuse sound so much better and life like and all I use is hefty crown power amps as the horsepower(crown ce2000, crown xls 2500, crown xti 4002),crappy numark mixer as my driver and, beat up echo audiofire 2 interface I used for years that saw hell and back like my other stuff as my transport/source sound so clear and perfect compared to everything else I had experience with.

Yea some people would have different opinions and look at pro audio stuff differently and see my gear as not nice and, that's fine but, me personally find it's performance exceptional to the point that nothing else matters to me. Hard to explain and express, especially trying to type this on my crappy Kyocera phone but, like I believe this is end game with audio for me.

Even headphones I stopped bothering with after all the time and experiences I had. Only last purchase I ever plan on in the future is get a hd600/650 and call it a day. Speaker wise I probably just buy back up stuff for PA use and same for amps if ever needed but, for my home/audiophile use or whatever you call it, I think, definitely and positivity it's the end for me. But, will still try to share opinions,music and all that fun stuff of course. This feeling is weird, I know, but, it feels right...

I agree with you. The thing that connects the people here is the shared love of music and the shared experience of finding bliss, however temporary that bliss may be.