So, just received a Taboo III - lucked out and someone cancelled their order thus cutting wait time to < 2 weeks. Better than retail and better service too  :)

A little backstory - a few years back was on the road constantly repairing equipment for my office and made a pretty good chunk of cash. Bought a set of Sennheiser HD-800's and plugged them into the receiver. First impression was "wow, lots of detail, impressive." We all know what happened next - they didn't get used much; after a while, they just fatigued me  :(

So I have been sort of shopping on the backburner for a tube amp as the folks on Head-Fi strongly recommended one for these cans.  I also come from a more traditional audio background than most of you probably do - High Powered HQ Solid State amp, Scan Speak Revelator/AirCirc tweeter towers, and a lot of speaker building on the way - some of it good, most not so good  ::) The Scan's are good, but you need a can of whoop-a** to drive them at 85dB sens. The speaker was designed by another DIY'er and it is the best LR4 XO I've had in the house.

Using a tube amp with the HD-800's seemed like a good way to try out bottles, take care of a fairly expensive piece of problem gear, and the amp wasn't all that expensive either.

Initial Impressions:

1.) Tubes do quiet/spacing/pacing better - not sure how to describe this, but they do it and it is totally noticeable.
2.) The TIII improves the HD800's massively but only through the low gain output - the high gain side (for LCD's) exacerbates their issues.
3.) Tubes are more musical than the solid state amp's I have heard and/or could afford!
4.) The final steps are to 4-pin XLR the HD-800's and do the damping mod on the earpieces to tame the 6K peak a bit, which seems to be a lot of the problem. Expecting Greatness here, and also have the ability to get more cans without taking up any floor space.
5.) I just like bottles - as a young fire control/missile radar tech in the early 80's Navy, I worked on a lot of equipment with black crinkle finish and glowing glass. Sight and smell is strangely nostalgic  ;D

My Scan-Speaks are 85-86dB sens so there really isn't any point in hooking up to the TIII, but I may look at cranking something out Hi-Eff in the future.

Recommendations for additions/changes are welcome but they need to be max bang for the buck. I will say I like the character of the TIII as is and do not plan on rolling tubes or changing caps. Cable recommendations are welcome but again, max bang please!

Cheers / Robert

Hi Robert,
Congrats on a great pairing! I have the HD800/ Taboo3 and on the 4 pin XLR out it's just fantastic. Also have the CSP3 in the chain, I use it about 50% of the time for headphone use, other times just straight into the Taboo. Either way is great, neither is "better" than the other, just a different feel. Tube rolling is fun too, what are you using?

I'm a bit confused by your one comment though?, "The TIII improves the HD800's massively but only through the low gain output - the high gain side (for LCD's) exacerbates their issues" ....Low gain /high gain? My taboo has no gain adjustment just wondering if yours is built different or...?

Cheers
Craig