Well a pleasent evening has been spent here in the company oneself experiencing the delights of headphone listening
Now this is no ordinary setup. A good friend has leant me his Audio Aero Capitole 11 CD player for a few days to trial. This is one impressive piece of kit and certainly a bargain on the used market for some. Why some
Well, it's so obviously voiced to sound as close to a good analogue source, that CD diehards and Naimees (Robbo and Julian) would hardly be wetting themselves
But I suspect the likes of Chris would find this one impressive CD spinner. Loads of body to the midrange, a slightly loose bottom end and just oodles of atmosphere. Where it falls down IMO is in leading edge definition and bass punch, in other words the typical strengths of typical CD players. No it doesn't have the ultimate refinement of a really good vinyl setup, but you have to really concentrate to notice.
Hooked directly into the balanced outs I have the Stax SRM-007T, a valve powered headphone amplifier, that is powering the Stax Omega 11 electrostatics. And tonight I have listened to 3 hours of CD's back to back, with no sense of fatigue, and experiecing a direct connection with the music that was trully stunning.
There isn't an amp speaker combination I can think of that can offer this level of sensuous tonality and detail full stop. Music makes even more sense than before, you notice how everything meshs together, being able to pull infinessimally small details out of the mix without it in anyway destroying the coherence of the music. Fabulous
So why, when this "amp and speaker combo" costs used about the same as an MF integrated and Mission speakers, do we dismiss headphone listening so readily Yep it's a different experience, and a solitary one. But it's just you and pure unadulterated music, surely that's what we are all after. I was going to sell these phones, but have removed the ad and look forward to some great listening in my new apartment well into the early hours
Now this is no ordinary setup. A good friend has leant me his Audio Aero Capitole 11 CD player for a few days to trial. This is one impressive piece of kit and certainly a bargain on the used market for some. Why some
Well, it's so obviously voiced to sound as close to a good analogue source, that CD diehards and Naimees (Robbo and Julian) would hardly be wetting themselves But I suspect the likes of Chris would find this one impressive CD spinner. Loads of body to the midrange, a slightly loose bottom end and just oodles of atmosphere. Where it falls down IMO is in leading edge definition and bass punch, in other words the typical strengths of typical CD players. No it doesn't have the ultimate refinement of a really good vinyl setup, but you have to really concentrate to notice.Hooked directly into the balanced outs I have the Stax SRM-007T, a valve powered headphone amplifier, that is powering the Stax Omega 11 electrostatics. And tonight I have listened to 3 hours of CD's back to back, with no sense of fatigue, and experiecing a direct connection with the music that was trully stunning.
There isn't an amp speaker combination I can think of that can offer this level of sensuous tonality and detail full stop. Music makes even more sense than before, you notice how everything meshs together, being able to pull infinessimally small details out of the mix without it in anyway destroying the coherence of the music. Fabulous
So why, when this "amp and speaker combo" costs used about the same as an MF integrated and Mission speakers, do we dismiss headphone listening so readily
Yep it's a different experience, and a solitary one. But it's just you and pure unadulterated music, surely that's what we are all after. I was going to sell these phones, but have removed the ad and look forward to some great listening in my new apartment well into the early hours
t: 
That way I wouldnt really need to change it at all. .. At some later point I could change the glass for pine boards, and it would probably look okay.
needed the cash to fund other projects, but the memory will linger.....vinyl's OK by me guys
