Oh wow, that woo wee thing would turn the 95x into serious rockstars…Ficking $600 tho grrr. and the $160 for a damned plug would make the purchase almost silly… almost…hmm maybe…
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Well you could get a dedicated stax amp. I really want to try my 95x on my Woo 3ES Elite (which is on sale right now if you are interested lol)
But then again getting one of those converters opens the door to other estats lol
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Hahahahaha… no. Wanna trade for a nice gun or watch tho…hmmm maybe some tools, you have an entire addition that needs to get built 
Well getting into mech keyboards right now so if you had a bunch of those lol.
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As always your recommendations and descriptions of items continue to be 100% spot on, these are a welcome addition.
Wow, I think I tend to listen pretty loud and I never got the 95x to clip. I’m glad you like them! If I was a normal person, I could totally see them being an endgame headphone for a lot of people. The fact that the Audiovalve Solaris has an estat output is making it more and more appealing to me if and when I decide to take a deeper plunge into the estat world. As much as I love the look and the tubes the Cayin HA300 uses, for an additional $1k you get arguably similar performance and can use your estats on it. In 2020 I think I will start looking at my sources more than headphones, and the Solaris has a nice early lead for my most desired upgrades. Also looking at the Chord TT2 and M Scaler for non-tube, but all of them would be a ways off
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TBH I think the ha300 is higher preforming with headphones compared to the audiovalve imo. The audiovalve does so much, but I actually think it does the better job for powering headphones
I have the tt2 and give it my highest praise.
Mscaler is a ways off still for me.
I’ve had a chance to try out the tt2 and I was amazed by it. If I went that route, the M Scaler would also be a purchase further on down the road for me as well. The Solaris appeals to me for a tube amp mainly because of the estat output. If I went for the ha300 or a Glenn OTL, I’d still have to drop a good amount of money on an energizer that I would only use for a few headphones at best
I think it’s worthwhile to get a good energizer if you have a nice pair of estats. Or an iESL
Personally I think with the price of the Solaris you could get a ha300 or feliks elise mkii and a good energizer and outperform the solaris (but I don’t think the elise is the same level of the Solaris or ha300, but it is really good)
Well, I managed to get a bit more time on these today and they are sooo pleasant across the board, several times i found myself lightly dozing off with them on and THAT’s what this is all about, relaxation baby! I am sure that the more expensive ones do something or other “better” but at some point I want to just relax and enjoy the music and these have so far managed to do that for me.
As you big boys find the need to upgrade please offer up your older stuff for those of us on the neophyte side of the house, especially if you would like something else cool in trade or other mixed deals, life is too short not to have nice stuff if you can.
PS.Almost forgot to mention, these are the headphones so far that make the Tidal MQA worth it. Up until now I was constantly on the edge about the MQA stuff and often wanted to switch back to Qobuz. Again, need more time w/ them but I finally hear what the fuss seems to be about.
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Are you using the stock tubes on the ha300?
Yes, they are excellent. I have felt no need to change them tbh
That’s good to hear. The tubes are such a hidden extra cost sometimes, and NOS 300b tubes are pretty outrageously priced.
Yeah that was another appeal, good 300b’s for a good price. Honestly it’s a sweet amp
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Well, thanks. You wrote the post that makes me want to try these. Not that I need to spend any more on audio this year. fml.
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Oh dude, so sorry about that…not, LOL. At $400 these are a no brainer, if I just had these alone a good DAC, and almost any EQ, (having used other types of headphones and familiar with them,) I could be happy for years. They take well to EQ and don’t strain your ears with any genre of music. Volume levels are fine and unless you have a bug up your butt for nothing but the best of everything I just don’t see any issues. I have plenty of budget stuff and 1 or 2 better pieces and I enjoy all of them.
if you have plenty of good stuff around don’t buy them, they just add another amp to your desk with no alternate use. They sound real good but are not God level. They do things well and are a very pleasant sound signature to me, with minimal other investment.
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Very well said. It is a great idea for someone looking for a great headphone that’s unique and already has an amp. I think you could get a topping d10 or smsl su8 and have a pretty sweet setup
Last off-topic post, but I don’t want to start a new thread. Have you heard the Manley Absolute headphone tube amp? Drop will occasionally sell their B Stocks.
Yes. Now that is a tubey sounding headphone amp. The sound is very thick, what you would expect imo. It’s a very fun yet accurate sounding tube amp, although I don’t think its the best value if you are going after that thick sound the manley is an option for sure. I have had some manley studio gear and that stuff really shoves tube sound in your face lol (I actually sold them because I thought it was too rich sounding lol).