Much appreciated, friend! 
Yup. A good deal of our community consider the 650/6XX a reference standard. Nice indeed. 
Sleek setup, fellow Texan! That Edition X looks very well-kept and shiny 
Daaang! I’ve only heard the Raal for a very short time in a noisy room at CanJam, but definitely quite the special piece of equipment I must say. Very jealous.
The SR1a is indeed a special piece of gear and currently the one that provides the best headphones listening experience to me. I’ve to say that the setup that you saw has evolved quite significantly but the SR1a is still here.
Very nice setup. These will always give great service.
Thanks!, Likewise! I try to take care of them. They have their years and use on top of them, so far my favorite planars from my stack.
Blockquote Jack Wu was kind enough to lend me his demo dCS Bartok for a week … Man, this is GOOD
Blockquote
Man, I would really love to pair that DCS Bartok to my Cayin HA-300 tube amp. I bet it’ll sound amazing with my Psvane ACME 300B tubes and 1952 Sylvania 6SN7GT 3-hole bad boys!
I started out with a Boosteroo headphone amp from radio shack, a pair of Audio Technica ESW9’s, and an iPod. Then later down the road the Boosteroo/iPod was replaced with a Ray Samuels P-51 and a 6th gen iPod nano. Many upgrades later and leaving portables behind for the convenience of bluetooth audio, I’ve finally ended up with this stack on my desk.
that purple though.
clean setup!
Purple Blue Hawaii!!
Those probably sound a little better than that Boosteroo I’m guessing. 

Nice setup!
Yeah, the photos don’t do the purple justice.
That boosteroo had 3 audio outputs, I could run the ESW9’s my Grado SR60 and a pair or Porta Pros to essentially learn to A/B cans
Nice set up! What kind of stand is that? Custom made?
Thanks, its a Salamander Archetype stand and I swapped out their poorly painted black threaded rod with 5/8"-11 brass threaded rod. I also have some stainless 5/8 rod that has a dark oiled hue to it that I considered but the brass is growing on me.
The brass is a sharp look and great contrast against the black shelves. I didn’t realize the issue with the rods, thanks for highlighting it.
Im amazed your “desk stack” hasnt collapsed your desk. Very nice. There is enough air circulation to keep the Purple Blue Hawaii from not getting overly hot?
Im thinking of how to stack my gear and where I would stack the tube amp as its gonna be my largest and most heaviest piece. On top for air or on bottom for weight. I guess it depends upon the stand I decide to go with and how much space I want to eat up on my desk, or maybe Ill make a stand just close enough to my desk… oh the thinking I must do!
This desk could hold a lot more weight, I could probably rebuild an engine on this thing!
The open rack provides plenty of ventilation for air flow, I even did some thermal image checks, the DACs barely get hot and plus the room is climate controlled. The tubes put out some heat but the shelf above the Hawaii doesn’t get hot enough to pose any issues.
I’d always put tube amps at the top for heat dissipation and the ease of swapping tubes. It’s hard to swap them with a shelf above it unless you disconnect everything and pull the amp out.
Once I get everything together I will see how the flow is, how the cables run and where best to put it, to get a good sense of what I need for a rack. I have been doing some online searching and there are numerous options. Ill just get something sturdy as I think I would prefer the tube amp on top.


