[goldwerger]

Yeah, I heard alot of complaints about their product support getting worse after the acquisition too.

yup I can confirm that. A few months ago I had a driver die on HD800s and coudln't get anyone to reply to any email or website contact form. at all. ever. luckily the deal made me whole. that was shortly after my TWS momentum buds went dead as well, and same thing.

They reps are super nice though when I meet them at CanJam. Their consumer-facing backoffice customer support function thought seems nonexistent

 

[number1sixerfan]

Have been cycling through mostly everything I have over the past few weeks. Just enjoying each set of cans for what they do best. Lot more time with the HE90 and L3000 recently, as well as the 009 and 007.

I did spend one long afternoon with the L3000 and R10 with the EC Studio B alone, EC + CFA, and also threw in the Dave headphone out as well as an update to my early impressions. For these more sensitive headphones, the differences are definitely more subtle than with the Expanse (and I'm sure headphones like the Susvara, etc.). There's still some sort of magic happening with the tonality/timbre with the combination of the EC/CFA3 combination over anything else, but the perceived improvement isn't that great. If I didn't have the passive attenuator cables, I'd be just fine using the EC Studio B alone. (this all makes sense for obvious reasons, and it's the same deal with the T2 and my stats. Although it's great with the 009/HE60 in example, I wouldn't spend money on that type of power/quality amping for a smaller, more subtle gain in improvement with easier to power stats).

Now as for straight from the Dave, I have compared stock Dave (+ and without mscaler), with the Utopia, L3000 and R10 extensively, and the results + an amp are ALWAYS the same and stand out immediately. Without an amp behind Dave, the sound is very amazing, but with a very easy, but obvious improvement in timbre and bass impact/sub-bass when used with a high quality amp behind it. The same was the case here. However, the overall subtly in the difference vs. the inconvenience of all the extra boxes, ICs, and adapter cables for the CFA3, etc is now making me think it might just be worth exploring the low cost Farad PSU upgrade, which seems to correct said issues. It would be really convenient to be satisfied plugging both the L3000 and R10 directly into the Dave and leaving it at that.

We'll see, no plans to do so soon. Anyways, just sharing some thoughts while having some holiday down time. Cheers.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention. I should have a Mod House Audio Tungsten and Bakoon AMP 13R on loan here pretty soon to review. Really interested in and excited for both. The Tungsten is getting a lot of high praise, although seemingly really hard to power (won't be an issue with what I have on hand), and I've always been interested in Bakoon because of their form factor (I am really growing tired of the millions of boxes/space setups, they look cool at first, inconvenient eventually lol), so looking forward to seeing how it sounds.

 

[goldwerger]

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention. I should have a Mod House Audio Tungsten and Bakoon AMP 13R on loan here pretty soon to review. Really interested in and excited for both. The Tungsten is getting a lot of high praise, although seemingly really hard to power (won't be an issue with what I have on hand), and I've always been interested in Bakoon because of their form factor (I am really growing tired of the millions of boxes/space setups, they look cool at first, inconvenient eventually lol), so looking forward to seeing how it sounds.

I did an extensive review of the Modhouse Tungsten:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/mod-house-tungsten.26823/reviews#review-32108

Assuming the Bakoon would be somewhat similar to the 23R, I wouldn’t pair the two. But your CFA3 would be excellent with it

 

[number1sixerfan]

I did an extensive review of the Modhouse Tungsten:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/mod-house-tungsten.26823/reviews#review-32108

Assuming the Bakoon would be somewhat similar to the 23R, I wouldn’t pair the two. But your CFA3 would be excellent with it

Yup I saw that, was an excellent write up! Part of what peaked my interest further

And yea, particularly looking for how it pairs with the CFA3 and my speaker amps, but I'll also give it a go with the Bakoon if I have them here together and report back.

 

[bozebuttons]

I just placed My sony Qualia 0 10 for sale on usaudiomart.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I just placed My sony Qualia 0 10 for sale on usaudiomart.

Oh man.. what a gem. And the look immaculate, GLWTS!

 

[number1sixerfan]

Have finally spent some time with the Bakoon AMP-13R.. and two immediate things. 1) It's a really sleek and compact amp, like really amazing in this regard...; and 2) I absolutely hate the user interface of this amp lol. Now, to be totally fair, the remote showed up with a battery DOA, which would have made things much, much more simple. But for me, I easily would prefer if a bit more real estate was added to the amp for it to have a few selectable buttons for gain, source selection, etc., as well as back panel indicators (even though this is super simple). The instructions are fine and it's not rocket science, I'm just not sure if the largely buttonless design is worth it.

If you absolutely must have an amp that lives on your actual working desk, then I get the sacrifice is likely worth it. Anyways, this won't impact my impressions and really not my POV on the amp overall, but I was annoyed as soon as it arrived lol

Sound wise, I don't want to report just yet, as it's still really early and I also haven't compared it to any of my other amps. Probably won't for at least a week.

 

[bozebuttons]

Oh man.. what a gem. And the look immaculate, GLWTS!

they are as new!

 

[Joey_V]

Regarding all this talk with the HE1.

THey still make it.
You can place an order.
There are still customizations they can do, including marble, color of brass knobs, tube case, you can paint the headphone storage box.
The pricing is north of $70,000. Plus customization. A custom marble will be atleast $10K+.
You need to put a down payment of $10K.
Your build time is between 6 months (for standard), and 12 months (for custom, depending on the sourcing of materials).

 

[number1sixerfan]

Regarding all this talk with the HE1.

THey still make it.
You can place an order.
There are still customizations they can do, including marble, color of brass knobs, tube case, you can paint the headphone storage box.
The pricing is north of $70,000. Plus customization. A custom marble will be atleast $10K+.
You need to put a down payment of $10K.
Your build time is between 6 months (for standard), and 12 months (for custom, depending on the sourcing of materials).

The base pricing now is at $70k? Originally it was at 60k, correct? I am still absolutely intrigued with them in general, and am planning around hearing them at a future CanJam if they still demo them. I totally get going for them as a statement product, but I would never be able to justify the price.

I've read through a lot of the comments and reviews, and even comparisons with the HE90 and I would anticipate that for my tastes, it's likely a somewhat similar experience that will feel upgraded in some ways and maybe not in others. The impressions around its bass presentation seem most promising. I'm also aware of two people that have compared the HE90 and HE-1 that preferred the HE90, one of which being an owner of the HE-1. Now that's a two person sample, other ppl will feel otherwise; it's more so about the fact that this tells me, in corroboration with what I've read, that they're likely somewhere around the same level overall. So that for me in my situation, just makes the value prop absolutely insane lol. That said, I do absolutely believe that I'd enjoy it.

At the same time, the cost of the vintage HE90 is also just ridiculous as well. Rarity boosted it beyond where it really should be imo, but obviously that's just how the market works (in both cases, same w/the present cost of the HE-1, is what it is). The other thing that I do see appealing for a lot of people is that there just really aren't headphones out today that have that Sennheiser sound and at such high fidelity in the TOTL space (I think the CRBN with some much needed improvements in detail and spacing could actually be that). I am now only speaking for what I know in the HE90, which to my ears has some of the strong points of the HD650's signature that everyone on this site absolutely went nuts over back in the day (lol)--body, smoothness & natural tone, completeness of sound etc., and just completely refines all of it, mainly improvements to resolution & clarity, detail and spacing. Now obviously the HE90 is not absolutely top tier in these latter categories today, but with the body, natural tone, completeness etc. I just mentioned, it still competes overall.. particularly for sheer enjoyment and desire to listen (headtime).

 

[number1sixerfan]

So I wanted to take my time before mentioning anything about the Bakoon, because I just wasn't feeling any sort of special connection or impressed feeling with the sound. After a few days I felt the sound was fine but a bit softer overall than what I get out of either the EC Studio B or the CFA3. Finally did some comparison with the Studio B before intending to move on to the CFA3, and it confirms it for me. I think overall the Bakoon is solid, but the sound feels a bit smoothed over across the low end and midrange, and comes off as not as clear, engaging and with a bit less dynamics and authority. I'll check with the CFA3 next, but I think it will only get slightly worse against it, as I think the CFA3 has a bit more authority (slightly) than the EC does. I will say though, these aren't huge differences, but enough to matter.

It does have a really smooth and easy listening sound overall though. Again just not really impressed against what I've heard at a TOTL level. Will report back after the CFA3 comparisons over the next few days.

 

[goldwerger]

sound feels a bit smoothed over across the low end and midrange, and comes of as not as clear,

I had the same impression of the Enleum (its successor)

 

[number1sixerfan]

I had the same impression of the Enleum (its successor)

It does make me feel better to hear that I'm not crazy then.

And it now totally get why you mentioned to stay clear of it and the Tungsten. The above impressions are with easier to drive headphones in the R10 and L3000.

 

[hafzz123]

So I wanted to take my time before mentioning anything about the Bakoon, because I just wasn't feeling any sort of special connection or impressed feeling with the sound. After a few days I felt the sound was fine but a bit softer overall than what I get out of either the EC Studio B or the CFA3. Finally did some comparison with the Studio B before intending to move on to the CFA3, and it confirms it for me. I think overall the Bakoon is solid, but the sound feels a bit smoothed over across the low end and midrange, and comes off as not as clear, engaging and with a bit less dynamics and authority. I'll check with the CFA3 next, but I think it will only get slightly worse against it, as I think the CFA3 has a bit more authority (slightly) than the EC does. I will say though, these aren't huge differences, but enough to matter.

It does have a really smooth and easy listening sound overall though. Again just not really impressed against what I've heard at a TOTL level. Will report back after the CFA3 comparisons over the next few days.

I also had the same impression on older Bakoon ( Japan version ), compared to EC Studio BA and Ultrasonic Oblivion. Some people are really into that smooth and sweet sound though ( including me )