The guitar, or at least its ancestors, has been around for pretty much as long as human history. 5,000 years ago when culture was rising in Egypt and Mesopotamia early guitars were in existence in Asia. The earliest pictographic evidence of a guitar-like musical instrument dates from around 1300 BCE. in the near east. Early guitars didn’t necessarily look like they do today, but they did share the basic features – long neck, flat soundboard made of wood, flat back, and commonly curved sides.

The word ‘guitar’ originates from ‘guitarra’ in Spanish which in turn came from the Latin ‘cithara’, borrowed from the Greek ‘kithara’, which some people believe came from the Persian ‘sihtar’, which would have been related to the well known Indian stringed instrument the Sitar.

The modern guitar is remindful of the Roman guitar which in opposition to the Moors’ “oud” had just one sound-hole and a relatively narrow neck; though the Scandinavians have had, since at least the eight century, their six stringed lute which is also of the guitar family.

The guitar has experienced several incarnations over the centuries but the people credited with the founding of the first 6-string modern type guitar was the Vinaccia family and we actually have a six string model with no signs of having been modified from another type with the date of 1779 on it. However, it was around 100 years later that the dimensions of modern guitars were set and the man responsible for this Antonio Torres Jurado of Seville. It was around this time also that fan strutting became set as preferable to transverse table bracing due to the work of both Antonio Torres Jurado and the Englishman Louis Panormo.

The electric guitar is the latest addition to the guitar family, having being patented in 1936 by George Beauchamp and mass produced by Danelectro.

You can't beat the sound of an acoustic drum, but electronic drum sets do have there benefits. Electronic drums work with simply a signal produced and amplified.

The acoustic drums are built to sound loud which gives a body shaking sound when attached to a live stage performance. Traditional drums cannot be gentle whereas electronic digital drum sets can be changed for sound depending on the area they're being played in. The traditional drum disturbs the neighbors. In these conditions a electronic digital drum set is really helpful as its noise can be controlled. The additional advantage you get is, you can play and listen yourself by putting a head phone, without creating any noise for the others to get disturbed.

The different benefit you have with an electronic drum set over an acoustic drum set is the room required. Electronic drums do not require much space but the traditional drum occupies a lot of space. Similarly, in an acoustic drum set you need to tune the drums every time you practice. Electronic drums need only the sound adjustment.

Some electronic drum sets provide you to attach an iPod or mp3 player which enables you to practice with your stored tunes and you can hear them through the headphones. More advanced and high end electronic drums produce the sound which can be said to be almost as an acoustic drum set. Now there are many low priced sets on the market with the high end features.The different advantage an electronic drum set has over the acoustic set is it is not affected by moisture. Traditional drums lose their sound when coming into contact with moisture. The Best electronic drum sets offers you with different selection of sound and sound levels. Acoustic drum sets require manual tuning which may not produce the right kind of sound. While in the event of electronic drum sets it has different types of sound effects.

As you learn to perform on your drum using an electronic digital drum set, you can accordingly concentrate on the noise that is produced when you strike the drum pad. This will help you improve your performance every time you go wrong and thus you can produce drum beats like a professional drummer in no time. hence, you can to trained to perform on your electronic digital drum setdevoid of bothering anyone around. You can enjoy hearing different sounds in your headphone that can be produced by your electronic drum set. It can create the voice of horns, guitar, bass, keyboard and also a big beat of drum! You can adjust its volume with volume control knob. Due to all these amazing features, electronic drum kits are in great requirement now-a-days.

Warren Audio HD800 cable - aka Double-Helix cable: I had the HD800 cable on display at RMAF 8 weeks ago, with my Eddie Current ZDT amp and GE 5751 black plate tube, and everyone loved it. The cable clearly improves the detail and transparency of the HD800, and takes the HD800 another step further in approaching my electrostatic headphones in speed and transient response. I consider the HD800 to be like an HE60 with bass impact, which is a good thing. I did find that people listening at RMAF would switch the PS Audio DAC to 96K up-sampling when using the HD800, as it was not as bright, but then when they'd listen to the Woo GES/Stax O2 Mk1 they'd go back to the brighter 192K mode, so I'm not the only one.

What makes this sort of amazing is that the stock HD800 were really a disappointment for me; I thought they sounded thin, weak and artificial. Sure they were fast and the soundstage was large but they just didn't sound true to may ears. I heard them at CanJam on a couple of different very nice amps, with Larry's ZDT and a few other amps - but really couldn't understand the hype surrounding the phones or the price tag. When Larry installed the upgraded V1 Double Helix cable, I felt they improved to the point where I could see owning a pair; they were more transparent, the soundstage opened up and they retained their speed. But frankly, I had been listening to a pair of custom backloaded FE206e horns out of my ZDT and had been totally ignoring my phones - that and the price tag of the HD800 AND the V1 cable made it fairly easy to dismiss the possibility of ownership. 

The V2 cable and the HD800 combo changed that, first off the price came down significantly, but more importantly the little issues I still had with the re-cabled HD800 are resolved: the HD800 grew some bass - with nice, tight impact unlike the stock version's hint at the lower registers. The soundstage always was huge but now it also sounds natural unlike the stock version - maybe the best sound staging / imaging I've heard besides an HE90 and it retains all the great qualities in a more tonally balanced and accurate (to my ears) presentation. 

HD800 Double-Helix cable: 01/11/10: I received an updated HD800 Double Helix cable to replace the one that I broke when I twisted the HD800 connectors tighter (and had to repair before RMAF), even though the first cable has been working fine for the past 3.5 months. Rick's new build process cuts the cost to $299 for 2 meters and $100 for each additional meter, making it half the cost of the previous cable, despite a proprietary new insulative material. And at the same time it balances out the sound a little more so that I don't have to swap DACs, sources or tubes when I switch between my HD800 and K1000 on the ZDT amp. With the ZDT set up for the K1000, when I switch to the HD800 the sound is a little fuller or warmer with less treble emphasis than the original Double Helix, but at the same time still warmer and more detailed and transparent than the stock HD800 cable. So, now if I wanted to I could use my PS Audio DAC in 192K mode for the wider soundstage again, as it allows more flexibility in my setup.

The cable is also a little sturdier and heftier feeling than the previous cable, with a longer y-split than the original for more freedom (I think it went from about 14-15" to 23-24" by sight, and I think that you can request any length y-split you want when you order). I'll post some photos soon. The new black chrome HD800 connectors look nice and are a shiney black, and the bottom halves don't accidentally unscrew like the previous ones (which caused me to break the solder when I screwed it tighter and spun the internal connector on the first cable).

The HD800 connector has a longer grip so it's easier to handle plugs and insert them without taking the phones off your head (if doing a swap while listening and comparing), but just one time I got a partial or intermittent connection when I didn't take the phones off to change cables properly and securely. When connecting the cable with the phones in my lap, I have NOT been able repeat the issue to make the sound cut out with twisting, turning or pulling on the cable or connectors while listening, and it seems solidly made (thanks to Rick's new digital soldering station). Unlike the V1 Double Helix cable, I cannot unscrew the HD800 plug barrel on the V2 or make the wires spin and come loose inside. The new plugs may have slightly more wiggle in the HD800 socket than the stock connector, but it doesn't affect the sound at all when when played with. I was relieved to find that the longer connector on the HD800 end does NOT cause the cable to poke into my shoulder like the APS V3 cable on my HD600 does.

Overall this is a nice upgrade for the HD800 and is now even more affordable. I think it makes the HD800 sound more balanced and detailed than the stock cable. And it allows one to put in less effort to get just the right DAC, tubes and other components to pair up the HD800 with one's rig.

Blutarsky came over to listen to the eXStatA amp this weekend with his Stax Lambdas, and while he was here he tried out the newest HD800 Double Helix cable. Now, as some of you know, prior to hearing the HD800 with the original Double Helix cable Blutarsky didn't like the HD800 with stock cable, as he thought his Equinox cabled Grado HP-1000 were superior. When he first heard the HD800 with the original Double Helix cable a few weeks ago he began to seriously consider buying an HD800 for himself, as they weren't as veiled or sibilant to him as with the stock cable, and he loved the huge soundstage (we have the same EC ZDT amp to drive them, and similar sounding DACs).

I am used to a more boomy base so at first I thought the bass was not strong enough. I have to get used to the Warren Cable Bass so to speak. It might be the real bass I have never heard before.

So if looking for the ultimate improvement for your HD800 headphones, or any headphones for that matter, be sure to check out Warren Audio for all of your Headphone Cable needs.