Comments on Profile Post by caute

Mine is Magnavox CDT > modded MHDT Paradesia > Moth OTL > JAR600B.

But I would sub in a SFD DAC for maximum synergy here.

and ofc it’s all rare or OOP shit lol.

@animus old utopia setup and @Jh4db536 cdt setup at the first eta festivus.
I essentially quit after hearing them. The lust was gone.

Donald North's Stellaris Special, Somic Frontiers CD player, and OG Utopia.

The Flaming Lips live Champaign, IL 1988 IIRC at Tritos Uptown.

Speakers

@ChaChaRealSmooth what makes it a special besides being three magnitudes of order more expensive? The silver makes sense, silver OPT (and wiring?)

Reel to reel Jazz recordings fed through a one off 211 or 845 Bottlehead tube amp and AKG1000 at Bottlehead headquarters several years back.

Via Audition: Feliks Envy, Susvara

Senn HE-1

Gungnir Multibit A1->Ragnarok v1.5->ETA Gen G

Warwick Acoustics Aperio

Yggdrasil A2 -> Eddie Current SJR (with ElectroHarmonix 300B) -> OG Utopia. this chain I currently own, but after changing tubes, I still haven't found the same magic. The EH died out on me after 2 weeks. The Chinese tubes weren't up to par.

Yggdrasil LIM -> SW51+ -> Vérité C is quite nice to my ears.

DNA Starlett Bifrost 2 OG HD650. Starlett was loaner I still lust after it. Current Favorite setups I own, Cherry Atticus Gungnir A2 Bottlehead crack, JOT 2/ BF2 Atticus/Elex and of course my trusty HD650 and HD600 with ZMF pads out of both amps.

For headphones it’s R2R CD player -> Blue Hawaii -> Nerdling e-stats I heard at an SBAF meet. Best headphone setup I ever heard

I can think of two, and I preferred the first one by *a lot.* Gungnir A1, OG EC ZD, HD-600 and Questyle CAS192D, Stratus, HD-800S.

The Yggdrasil/ZDT I heard at the NYC SBAF meet in 2019 still haunts me. I never heard headstage to match that, and that was with the new to me Aeolus I had on hand at the time.

A ghettoblaster with weed.

My first time with my 2.1 after properly setting it up: Rotel CDT, Schiit Saga+, BK120 to Omega 3XDR, Omega Sub, and a scotch.

Not top of the line at all, but I still think about the first time I heard a Bottlehead S.E.X. with a Hifiman HE-500. It opened up my ears to what a synergistic rig could provide. I also still miss my Gungnir MB A1 + ECP L2 + HD800SDR.

Serious, that dude who is now into speakers had a HD800-system that made you look at the Orpheus and go "I can keep my money and be happy with this..." That audio system was attainable for a working person in an expensive hobby.

2012 Sennheiser HD650 > Mogami 2893 cable > Chord Mojo 1 USB Black Dragon > iFi iSilencer+.

Ditched the Senns because I thought they were broke, because they produced almost no bass all of sudden. Turned out the cable broke (while it showed it was fully working on an impedance tester, another reason you shouldn’t only trust measurements). I would not have gotten rid of them if I knew the cable was at fault

I've just had a strong Manhattan, but still:

1st favorite setup: HE1 at CanJam back when I first got into the hobby.

2nd, Yggdrasil->Bigger Ben->Vérité at CanJam again, a few years later (in a quiet, early Sunday a.m. ZMF side room).

3rd, the past couple of weeks with @rhythmdevils modded RD-4 mk ii. No kidding. Impressions to follow soon.

@Tchoupitoulas theres a mkII of the RD-4?! Dam can’t wait to hear your impressions

Yeah, quoting Whitney: "The material I found is nearly 100% acoustically transparent yet still blocks debris from getting into the drivers. I have replaced this front mesh with my material on every Audeze model as experiments, and it works wonderfully on the 4z and 4, and LCD-R they become faster, more resolving with sharper transients. I call these versions my "mk2" versions of those models ie RD-4 mk2."

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/rd-x-rhythmdevils-modded-lcd-x-reviews-and-measurements.12398/page-3#post-401760

@Tchoupitoulas great beverage choice! Also, my home rig is a Holospring 3 to Kenzie Ovation to Verite Auteur or Attrium. The 3d sense of space is really special.

At a Seattle meet about 12 yrs ago, heard a HD650 off a carefully constructed, god-level ECBA setup. I think 30K dropped in total.. reel to reel, the whole 9. Just insane. Many talk about the Koss PP or Grado can, or Sennheiser 580 off a portable amp or something that got them into the rabbit hole.. it was hearing that rig at my first meet that pulled me into the hobby. I've never heard the HD650 off a better rig.

About 12 years ago, iPod 5.5G > vintage receiver > HE500. After that it'd be vintage Stax Lambdas and vintage Grados from Bay area meets about 13 years ago.