The hifiman ananda cost now in Germany 399€ and for that beast its so unbelievable:)

Did you try 6N23P-EB? Where would you place him, close to 6N23P silver?

Hi Sine Craft Audio, here is Liz, the promoter of Ultimea, we really wanna collab with you, if you are interested pls tell me you email, we can talk about the details.

Always interesting listening to people talk cables. Had another review (British Audiophile) who said the exact opposite for Mogami and Belden. He said Belden for added warmth and Mogami to use for added energy. Gotta love it haha. Placebo effect and the mind are amazing

How is the build quality? From the photos it kind of looks subpar, even at the same price of under $300, cheap chrome plastic and imo tacky lettering on the inside of the headband. I've also heard HiFiMAN has had systemic quality control issues. I am debating between these and the HD 6xx as my one 'audiophole grade' headphone to last a long time.

Boutique literally means shop ! it's a french word, Americans should refrain from using french words they don't understand, shop shop ! just like Entree literally means entrance, a STARTER !

i just got these for 400 open box on the hifiman store, and an ef400 for half price too

Has anyone compared recent Manley products vs arc ? Just curious for a tube pre or more affordable monos how they compare ? This review was more about design and inputs not really about sq and performance. 🤷‍♂️

With blind testing you could not tell any difference between these.

This is not the greatest headphone in the world, this is just a tribute.

I want these 😝

Lots of unanswered questions. Price is $6500😮 No look inside? Coupling capacitors? Volume control architecture? For 9x less I'm playing with a Musical Paradise MP 701mk2. It actually allows for "modding" with a plethora of rectifier&signal tube choices: 1. 6.3V filament rectifier tubes: 6Z5P, 6X5. 2. 5V filament rectifier tubes: 5R4, 5U4G, 5AR4, GZ33, GZ34, 274B, 5Y3, 5Z3P. 3. 6.3V signal tubes: 6N11, 6N1P, E88CC, E188CC, CCA, 6922, 6H23, 6H6, 6H30, 6CG7, (6SN7 with 6SN7 to 6922 adapter). 4. 12.6V signal tubes: 12AU7, 12BH7, E80CC, (12SN7 with 6SN7 to 6922 adapter). Coupling capacitors can easily be rolled , as can bypass caps... Coincidentally, I've settled on big 5u4g rectifier, a Sylvania 6sn7 and two Jan Phillips 6922 for now with 2.2uf V-cap coupling capacitors (or Mundorf SGO EVO supremes) and HVL bypass caps.....For now😅 A different preamp every month for $1k?😮 Ok, so it's not balanced. I added a DENAFRIPS Hestia12th for that luxury, which leaves $4k to spend on the rest of the system and room treatments. Sold to the Budget Audiophile tweaker in the front row! 🎵🎶😊👌🎶🎵

Cables are not a parametric EQ or tone control. If you buy some quality cable eg. Belden and terminate it with Neutrik or Amphenol connectors you are finished with cabling. This costs about $10-$20 and 5 minutes of your time...

Descriptions are great but it would have been nice to hear something.

Did you prefer the Calderas over the Susvara? I'm in the market for one of these but I cant choose.

You got a weird sound anomaly in your video, sort of like either a winding or grinding noise or a rainforest background noises.

This is an interesting speaker and headphone amp proposition. Reminds me of the LTA Z10e which also adds electrostats. How would you compare the two for speakers (like Devores which you own) and headphones? Much appreciated!

There are other reclockers you could use. More than a year ago, I had bought the Singxer Su-2, a so-called "USB bridge". The other day I purchased a new USB cable, an Oyaide Neo Class A which did sound nicer than stock USB cables. Then, as audiophiles are wont to do I had try every configuration of my system using what I had lyinig about, with the new USB cable. And voila, I was very surprised to find out that with the new Oyaide and my Singxer Su-2 in the signal path, the sound was much improved. Sorry to have to say that but it was true. So you don't strictly need to shell out for the Denafrips reclocker. Actually I just spotted a pre-owned Su-2 currently for sale at Usaudiomart, for only $350. My wisdom on this is that probably the "blame" is to be laid at the feet of the streamer (or transport). A truly good streamer or transport would eliminate the need for a reclocker such as the Iris or the Singxer!

Having owned the V2's for several years, no matter amp/chain you drive them on I still consider their signature as "Neutral/Bright" regardless of genre! I drive mine (only listen to my 3000+ CD collection) with an Oppo BDP 5D universal player (which has relatively decently regarded Sabre Dacs built in) fed by XLR cables into a Violectric V281 which feeds the HiFimans also via a 3 meter xlr cable by Fog City cables w/22awg Mogami wire. It sounds sweet on almost all music genres (except hip-hop or EDM, which I'm not a big listener of)......and frankly; still "bass-lite!"

I’ve been looking at the orangutan series for a while. What do you think of these and placement away from wall? I love the o’96 looks personally but my wife would lose it if they were out like 3+ feet away from the walls haha

Adding warmth or spaciousness...............hahahaha........truth is inverting facts when in reality some newer audiophile high end technologies loose warmth and spaciousness..........Marketting and audiophile beliefs are stronger than facts........ Balanced inputs/outputs ...OK............what about the circuit SE or symmetrical ? No two active devices are perfectly identical........the circuit may be silent but it will always eat away or change some finite ( or more) parts of the signal.. Pro use justified and still does use balanced connections ( for good reasons)............inside the circuit was SE for a reason ... Tube circuits well designed ( and using quality valves ) are very silent......tubes are more linear ( less distortion ) than SS , they are subject to thermal induced modulation and thermal distortion........there are too many bad tube designs today made by people who don't have the knowledge of the past....but think they can do better than the older school engineers. We saw what happened when the new gen engineers designed and modified the Boeing MAX...when computers are in control instead of the experience of the elderly... Hopefully MR got it right with then new pre this time ........bringing musoic alive instead of audiophile clean and lean nu impressive audiophile performance but far away from natural sound and music.............looking at the details of a flower but not seeing the beauty of the composition of the bouquet . Nice rectifier ..........but what tubes do you use ......or did you change to nos ? Presume the volume pot is propably a motorized ALPS......( standard in most preamps/amplifiers ), there are better pots but they are not motorized . I don't see a switch to protect and extend the lifetime of precious ( nos) tubes but that is neglected in most gear, pity for the tubes ......the warm up timelaps in some amps does not protect the tubes , only delays the switching of in/outputs .... Have a nice day

♥

Who stole your other foot? Supposed to have 4!

Thanks for sharing the LOVE! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

el-84's.?

Do you know if your super grill work on he400i 2020 edition as well? Thanks

Fantastic audio gears,thanks 👍🎶🤚…..

That adapter you used to adjust Caldera to a 3.5, what is it? That'd check a lot of boxes for me.

Thank you for this, please don’t apologise for what you enjoy. You have a great setup, happy listening

Really love the Caldera (and also enjoy it best with the suede pads) - very cool to see it end up in your 'endgame' system.

Curious what other headphones you have in your collection?

If meaty, impactful sound is your thing, I'm wondering what makes the Caldera a better choice for you over the Utopia?

i wanna listen. Whens the meetup? :)

Had to go all out for the 100th episode, right?

I have both morrow MA4 and bj lc1 , funny with me it’s the opposite . In both my tube and solid state systems the results are the same , yes the bj has a slight wider soundstage, faster in dynamics but I felt the trade off was a thinner presentation, less bass , I cable I would use if your system is in the warmer side of things . The morrow while sound stage closes in a bit , every instrument has a larger presentation, they sound fuller , it’s a more neutral cable , made to translate the true representation of a recording without adding. Morrow by the way has better bass representation

Have you tried it with... HiBy R6 III?

How would you compare the Devores to the Klipsch Heritage speakers..

Thanks for the review! I will be going for a speaker upgrade as soon as I can afford it ... Since I have a solid state amplifier I would prefer DeVore's Gibbon Super Nine which is on top of my shortlist. Have you ever auditioned them? I would really like to see them reviewed.

Would it be reductive to say the VO is for cokeheads and the Atrium is for stoners? (kidding, but seriously).

Anyone who clowns on bi-amp needs to spend some real time with this configuration and experiment with it. Have an open mind, you may be surprised.

Looking forward to hearing about the KWA99 review. I have the PH 9.0 XT ordered. Moving on for an E Glo S I have owned for 5 years. I have tube power amps and I have an interest to try SS. The test of time is being good to ModWright. This means a lot to me.

Sennheisers really need an OTL tube amp to shine. Grados do better with hybrid tube amps.

Does Decware have a gear that you can connect turntable, cd player, and headphone?

Wow 6 months already! Sounds like it really works well with your system. Would love it if you got something from Rogue Audio at some point. Their RH-5 headamp is very unique in both build and sound.

Did you keep them?

As someone else said here in the comments, balanced output sounds quieter than the single ended one. I tried two units and both of them had this "issue". To me it's not balanced with 3W of power on 32 ohm as they claim. Have you ever tried to compare the headphone outs? Edit: I also have an Aune S6 DAC/amp, which delivers about 1.5W on 32 ohms on the balanced out and another proof of what I say upwords is that they have the same loudness when I put both volumes to the same value.

Heresies are efficient for sure and you can drive them with a small amp. They will appears bright and lively. But if you switch it to a higher power amp, the big woofer will sing for you. I have tried the IV with 25WPC, 50WPC and 70WPC and the 70WPC sounds the best. Just got a vintage power amp with 120WPC and have not tried it yet. As far as cost goes, I acquired mine at a deep discount, the pair was B stock to begin with but the owner has a chance to go up to La Scala so he let it go with addition discount for me and a bit more than 1/2 the new ones with boxes and paper works (a real file folder with certs and all). So it was a no brainer.

the denafrips pontus II 12th-1 can further be improved by adding the DDC Denafrips Iris 12th! Apple Music lossless

cool that you checked this out

Good Review. I have heard the 96's in Australia with Leben gear and I was really impressed. Nice tone to the presenters voice and not some annoying sales pitch that you usually get with audio reviews.