cyberfrog

Not sure abt the drive, but certainly the Tube Dac. My fren has it on his home rig...

The Tube DAC II is quite awesome sounding... Gotta be THE BEST dac i've ever heard...definitely one up on the older DAC I - Mk4.

funny you shd ask this question, coz i asked myself exactly that many times over the past few weeks. Firstly, I must admit that on its own, the ESW10 is quite a fantastic sounding pair of cans already. Like most audio products, if you do not compare and contrast, they are fine on their own. Unfortunately, i have a desktop integrated amp that I use to drive my ESW10 when i'm at home...and sadly, i've been unable to reproduce the sound quality on any of the portables i've tested. I'm looking for that extra oomph to drive it to its full potential (which i know it has becoz of my home rig).

I audtioned the D10 and the iQube (& the Earmax, which isnt really a portable) just 2 days ago. D10 initially sounded quite dynamic and punchy. However, eventually discovered vocals dun come out right...sounded grainy and rather harsh. iQube i must admit is pretty good. Good all round in fact. Am pleasantly surprised coz it's a Class D amp...which is well-known to be bright. The designer must have tweaked it somewhat. I listened to the Earmax (normal ed), and was pretty wowed by the tube sound. Not only do vocals sound ultra smooth and warm, instrumentals also came out "right". Overall quite impressed with this little guy. Incidentally, i borrowed my bro's Hornet for some serious listening again. All it does is to add a little weight and depth to the bass and low-mids. Again nothing to shout about. After testing so many portable examples, my gut feel is...the answer to my problem cannot be solved by portable amps. The cheaper ones dun make the cut...while the more expensive ones only sounded like nothing more than playing around with the equaliser. This is with reference to the ESW10 and my ears of course, not a general sweeping statement. The search continues... I would love to try a Pico...but it aint available in the shops...nor do i know anyone with one. It would be a leap of faith into the darkness if i went ahead to buy the one someone is currently selling. I can subscribe to the DAC being good, since half the battle is won by using a top-notch Wolfsen DAC...however, what the amp stage can do for the ESW10...tats still to be heard.

Thx for the detailed writeup! I was indeed puzzled by what i heard. I could tink of several explanations : amps not runned in, my ears not sensitive enough, cable quality, efficiency of ESW10... My wife who's also an enthusiast, came to the same conclusion w/o any influence on my part during the testing. However, i find it hard to believe tat from brand-new to runned-in, the sound is going to improve SO significantly; we're talking about electronic components here, not a mechanical device. Whilst I can still accept that SQ will improve a little, i simply fell off my chair when i plug my ESW10 into the Novo and heard no discernible improvement to SQ. Nevertheless, i'm willing to give those amps another chance, provided i can somehow hear a "runned-in" set. I listen mostly to jazz (Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Eddie Higgins, Larry Carlton...you get the drift) and vocals (CaiQin, Emi Fujita etc). No classical and hard-rock. I travel a lot, hence my reqmt for a portable amp. Source will be from the notebook, playing back lossless files and CDs. At this point, i'm tinking perhaps portable amp is not my answer, since their performance will invariably be limited by size and pwr reqmt. I do not have a particular budget at this time, coz i do not want to limit my search by budget. I'd rather hear what's "out there" and decide if my ears deserve what i'm paying.

I was at Jaben to audition the Novo with my ESW10. Suffice to say I was quite disappointed. I wasnt expecting anything great, but it was almost as if the amp did nothing other than become a volume controller for my ipod! At this point, i'm not sure what to comment on, coz it could be a simple case of synergy, or that the ESW10 is already a very efficient set of cans, or the Jaben Novo isnt runned in (which i doubt). And since i was already there, i tried other amps...the Crossroad Edge, RSA Predator, Blackbird and finally the Beyerdyn A1. I must admit that the Edge actually smoothed out the vocals and was pretty nice, considering the price. The Pred and Blackbird were pretty disappointing too. The only star was A1. I wouldnt mind having that amp, but at that price point, it BETTER be good! At this point, i'm opened to any sugggestions for a good amp (preferably portable) for my ESW10...

~ snip ~ Post has been moved. My apologies for going OT

I tink u guys need to understand why there exist specifications which exceed our human hearing capabilities. If you look at the frequency response curves of audio equipment, you should see where the curve starts falling steeply (be it low end or high end). A lot of the specs are based on a 1dB or 2dB roll-off. Hence if you see 20-20kHz specs, the 20kHz point may be at -2dB already. However, if you see a 30 or 40kHz rating, it should mean that at the still-audible 20kHz, there shouldnt be any significant roll off. As an analogy, you can look at cars. For daily use, the driver is prob using 50-100bhp. So why need a 500bhp car?? It means that, at 120kph, the CherryQQ will be struggling to accelerate further, while the GTR is not even breaking a sweat yet. Hope this helps!

I concur. Both ESW9 and ESW10 are driven very easily. Even w/o amps, they sound good already.

Juz dug up a little trivia, it would seem the EW9 uses Hokkaido Cherry while the ESW9 uses African Paddock. (http://www.luxurylaunches.com/gadgets/audiotechnicas_hot_wooden_headphones.php) On my ESW10JPN box it says "Black Cherry"... So whats the wood used on the W5000?

I have nothing against Rotel (in fact i like their design a lot), but i feel Rotel can be a tad too bright...be it their normal Class A/AB or their Class D amps. Even their CDP sounds bright. Very characteristic solid-state sound. I've not heard the CM1 but they are rated at 84dB...which is kind of low. So the more power you have the better. It'll be better to pay a little more now, than to settle for something less only to find it insufficient to power your speakers. Perhaps you wanna consider NAD M3 (2x 180W). Not sure what is the price but shd be close or a tad more than yr 2k budget. http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-am...Amplifier/specs Another product you can try is Cambridge Audio Azur 740A (2x100W). http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?...740A+amplifier+ There arent many hi powered intg amps out there. Another is the 250W Musical Fidelity A5.5 (i got the A5)...but this is a little more beyond yr budget. Regardless what amp you get, system synergy is important. Dun forget to budget for decent interconnects and speaker cables. Hope this helps!

Yes, i need a 1.0m one. And Kachui has kindly pointed to where he got his . I'm wondering other than custom cables, are there any factory-made ones of reasonable quality being used by anyone here?

Hi there. I'm looking at buying a decent cable to connect my Creative Xdock to my home system.(upgrading from run-of-the-mill one which i'm using now ). However, i'm not sure where to start. I'm sure some of the bros out there have extensive experience with the above. On the internet, there are offerings by Wireworld, Cardas, QED, Audioquest, Kimber and even Monster. Any recommendations which to check out? Any info is much appreciated!

Actually, you'd be pleasantly surprised to know that a decent RCA i/c can work well as a digital cable too!

Yes indeed. Optical is too clinical. Superbly detailed, but can be grainy, harsh and very bright. Coax tames the sound, smoother and less tiring on the ears.