[ajzepp]

Hey guys...need one more piece of advice if you don't mind...

Jan Meier has a really good package deal with his amps. The Corda Jazz I'm ordering is around four bills, but if I purchase a pair of BeyerD T1s at the same time, the total price including shipping is right at $1300 SHIPPED. I checked out what the T1s usually go for, and clearly this is a really good deal. Do you guys think I should pull the trigger on those phones over the DT880s? I may need to wait another week or two in order to make sure my disposable income hits the magic number, but it might be worth it. I've read a few reports that Jan's amps with the T1s are absolutely incredible.

I am accustomed to a relatively high end rig with my Maggie 3.6s, so I'm thinking maybe I should hold out and take advantage of this deal...what say you guys??

[ecramer]

yep i go for the t1's

[Nocturne79]

Hey Ajzepp

Check out Head-Fi.org, and just in the search type in corda jazz and they have a all thread on impressions with the T1's   

I can't comment as I have never heard the headphones but they have a wealth of knowledge over there.
Good luck bud

Crazy Nocturne

[eclein]

I haven't heard either one but if I had the money I would go that way....both get excellent comments....T1's are nice, nice...

[ajzepp]

Thanks guys, I had a feeling you'd be high on the T1s...I guess they are pretty special phones! I hate the idea of waiting a little longer to get my system, but sounds like it may be worth the wait.

Crazy Nocturne: There's a specific thread that discusses the Jazz and T1 pairing? Cool, I need to read that  

[TF1216]

How about the new Sennheiser HD-700 cans that were released this week.  Supposed to sound really nice without super amps.  Also, the pre-order for the HiFIMAN HE-400 is $349 which is $50 off.  I wonder if the HE-400 would give the T1s a run for their money.

[ajzepp]

How about the new Sennheiser HD-700 cans that were released this week.  Supposed to sound really nice without super amps.  Also, the pre-order for the HiFIMAN HE-400 is $349 which is $50 off.  I wonder if the HE-400 would give the T1s a run for their money.

I definitely have taken an interest in the HiFiman gear...they seem to have a real solid following. I have been particularly interested in the HE-500s.

[Noseyears]

I definitely have taken an interest in the HiFiman gear...they seem to have a real solid following. I have been particularly interested in the HE-500s.

There's a really nice comparison/review of the HE-500's at headfonia.
He compares them against the T1's, LCD-2's, HD800's etc.

[ajzepp]

Cool, thx...that's my next stop  

[saisunil]

For me LCD2 and hifiman HE-500 are the head-fi deals of the year.
You... The key here is matching amp.

[ajzepp]

For me LCD2 and hifiman HE-500 are the head-fi deals of the year.
You... The key here is matching amp.

I agree.

[eclein]

zepp if your thinking about the HE-500's--get'em....LOL...I have the HE-5LE's and they are the best sounding headphones I have ever heard let alone owned...very smooth, dynamic, incredible definition without any fatigue, a slam dunk if your even thinking about them--jump, if the money is available, JUMP!!!

Personally I wouldn't go halfway with any of the newest ones, if they sound almost as good you'll constantly think to yourself "..man if these sound this good I bet the HE-500's sound awesome"

[ajzepp]

zepp if your thinking about the HE-500's--get'em....LOL...I have the HE-5LE's and they are the best sounding headphones I have ever heard let alone owned...very smooth, dynamic, incredible definition without any fatigue, a slam dunk if your even thinking about them--jump, if the money is available, JUMP!!!

Personally I wouldn't go halfway with any of the newest ones, if they sound almost as good you'll constantly think to yourself "..man if these sound this good I bet the HE-500's sound awesome"

lol, that's my thinking as well, brother...

I'm dead set on the amp, so I'm still thinking I should go with the BeyerDs, but the Teslas, not the 880s....and then my second pair of headphones will be a planar, either the Audeze or HifiMan...pretty sure that's the way I want to go

I'm expecting to have funds freed up by the 20th, so I have another week or so to finally decide

[ajzepp]

Well, I have completed my portable rig...special thanks to Ed (Eclein) for all his enthusiastic assistance! Aside from my iPod 7G, which I already had, I have to give credit to Ed for the other parts of this system. I added the Fiio E-11 portable amp, the Fiio L9 line out dock cable, and the Etymotic MC5 IEMs with Comply tips. This little Fiio amp is quite amazing! It's much smaller than I anticipated and it fully charged in no time.  Now it's time to get back to work on the MAIN headphone rig 
If my plans for that turn out as well as the portable system, I'll be a happy camper!

[Frank I]

The T1 is a substantial step up over the 880 and its my reference can. Spacial imaging and Focus is the best of any headphone I have heard. I owned the Concerto from Jan nice amp but I will tell you that the T1 sounds best with OTL tube amp. Jan is giving you good deal there but solid state would not be my first choice for the T1. if you really want the synergy IMO its with the tube amps. My CSP2 is fantastic and many people like it with the Woo WA2 and even the Woo WA3, The better the source and amp the better the t1 becomes. Just my 2 cents.

[ajzepp]

Thanks Frank...I have been back and forth a few times, but I keep coming back to the T1 deal that Jan offers. It's such a savings on the T1s that it's almost like getting the amp for free, especially since he just reduced the price a little. I'm a fan of tubes for my speaker system, so your amp advice is appreciated and I will definitely try the T1s with both SS and tubes. My goal is to end up with both a reference orthodynamic/planar headphone (probably the Hifiman HE-500s)and a reference dynamic headphone (Teslas), and then both a nice quality SS (Jazz) and tube amp (TBD). Not all at once, of course, but I hope to have these pieces of gear over the next year or so. 

[eclein]

ajzepp- How does it sound, I'm guessing pretty good?? Always a pleasure to let people know about dynamite gear. Enjoy-the Comply's really make a huge difference don't they????

[ajzepp]

ajzepp- How does it sound, I'm guessing pretty good?? Always a pleasure to let people know about dynamite gear. Enjoy-the Comply's really make a huge difference don't they????

It's sounding better than expected, that's for sure! I have a lower end pair of Sennheisers here....the 518s. They were around $100 and, for the money, considered to be pretty good headphones. Well I A/B'ed them with the etymotic + comply tips last night with the Fiio, and the etymotics are better. They still give up a little in the low end, even with the complys, but in terms of SQ, the etynotics beat the Senns. The little Fiio amp is really allowing them to sound better than they did when I first got them, and I'm very happy with the overall presentation. I was REALLY surprised how transparent this little system is.  I could very easily tell how overproduced and compressed my Foo Fighters album was, whereas something like my Iron and Wine tracks sounded organic and open...I can easily discern recording quality given how resolving these etymotics are. I can't wait to hear some  higher end phones soon!

[ajzepp]

Just ordered a pair of Ultrasone Pro 550 portables    The Etymotics are so good at isolation that they probably aren't the best option for when I'm at work. Also, I was really mad that those little Etymotics sounded so much better to me than my budget Sennheiser 518s!! lol  I honestly did not expect that. So I wanted a set of headphones that was portable (the Ultrasones fold up nice and neat), not quite as isolating, and an upgrade over my Senns. I also wanted phones that were goign to be different than the T1s in terms of its sonic signature. Obviously the T1s will kill the Ultrasones I'm getting, but the ultrasones are supposedly very good with rock and bass-heavy music, whereas the T1s will just be perfectly balanced and uncolored all-around. So I feel like I made a pretty good decision on these Pro 550s, but we'll see on Tuesday! I just hope my little Fiio E11 can power them adequately...supposedly even the smaller Fiio amps can do a fine job with them, so the E11 should be a nice pairing. This is FUN!!!! 


**Frank: Something else I was thinking about that I'd be interested to hear your take on (and anyone else who wants to chime in!). You mentioned the synergy between the T1s and a tube amp. Well, the x-factor in my set up if I go with the Corda Jazz is my little tube DAC that I absolutely love. I have had solid state gear all around, I've had tube preamps/dacs mated with solid state amps, and I've had solid state preamps mated with tube amps. To my ears, what sounds best is having the tubes upstream and having the amplification be either solid state or hybrid like I have with my Butler Audio amps in my main Magnepan system. So my master plan with the Meier amp is to have my ALAC files outputted via my hiface usb-to-spdif adapter, into my TDAC tube DAC, and THEN into the Corda Jazz. I could be totally wrong since I'm a headphone newb, but I will put money on the fact that, just like my main rig, I'll end up having the best of both worlds and the T1s will have better synergy with the Meier amp than they would otherwise since I have a very capable tube DAC in the signal path.

Thoughts?