the story so far

Hi All,

I'm new on the boards and just wanted to share my story with all of you....

I'm 28 and have always been a fan of great music. 15 Years or so ago I was still using a simple sony discman with the standard heaphones that come with them. To me, coming from a very simple hifi system, this was a huge step up in sound quality. When my parents got me a headphone for christmas (Sony MDR-CD770) about 10 years ago, I was simply blown away with their sound. I could not believe that a headphone could produce that kind of sound quality. To me, they were the holy grail. Never even bothered to find superior phones. A few months ago however, I decided it was time for a new headphone as it was really nearing its end of life.

Unsure of what to get I looked at the most expensive Sennheiser at the store (These were the HD650's), and bought them online for a lot less money. I didn't put much thought into them as I only had my old sony as a reference and assumed sennheiser would be good as I've never really heard bad things about them. So when they arrived a few days later, I listened to some music and wasn't all that impressed. Sure, the sound was good (up to par with the sony), but for a headphone that expensive I was expecting (actually hoping) for quite a bit more.

I then started looking online for a reason why people would buy those expensive headphones. 2 words kept popping up....headphone amplifier... or is that one word

I was actually very intrigued that a device existed that would only amplify a headphone. When I started to see prices of headphone amps I was starting to panic. There were so many to choose from and all in different price ranges. Then I read somewhere that sennheiser demoed the HD650's with a GS Solo amp somewhere. For me this was fantastic as I finally had a reference point. Seeing as sennheiser used them, I was pretty confident that they would be a great match.

Reading the review by Miguel on the headfi site made me very interested in the amp. I went with the idea to ignore the comments about the lack of bass, as Miguel did a fine review about the SRGII which clearly stated that it adressed the bass issue.

About 4 weeks ago, I took the risk and bought the Solo SRGII /PSU1.

It felt like going from the standard earphones to the sony headphone all over again. Never would I have believed that a sound quality increase such as this would be possible.

Today, I still have absolutely no regrets about buying the HD650 and the Solo. It made me very interested in the world of high fidelity. Am reading up and learning a lot and feel much more confident when listening to high quality hifi in stores. I used to be very insecure with my lack of experience when going to a specialst hifi store, where I am now in a position where I dare to follow my ears in stead of following the sales guy. All this because I became much more aware of the music, the level of detail and in the way the instruments are presented.

Just wished to express my gratitude and say thanks to Graham for making such a fine product, and to Miguel for reviewing the solo in such a way that I bought it

Hope I haven't bored you all