Head-Fi Atlanta Meet Impressions

[PiccoloNamek]

Head-Fi Atlanta Meet Impressions

This spot reserved for our meet impressions.

Impressions:

The Denon D5000 is very bassy and has very forward treble and upper mids. As Fitz said "It has a very smiley face EQ". I agree with this. It also has a closed headphone coloration. Not bad, but definitely not my cup of tea.

Beyer DT880: Pretty good. Well-balanced over all, but slightly bassy, and the upper treble is emphasized.

AKG K400: This headphone is awesome. Very light and airy sounding, almost delicate. Good for acoustic music. Sounds much better than the K701s or K240s.

Sennheiser HD25-1 II: Surprisingly good. I thought they looked kind of clunky and throwaway, but they sound very good indeed. Slightly dark, but otherwise well-balanced.

Stax Sigma/404: Now these I liked. Out of all of the headphones at the whole meet, these had the most balanced and even frequency response, and clearly beat out all of the others in terms of speed, detail, etc. But seriously. I listened to every headphone there and none of them had the same combination of excellent qualities that my Stax headphones have. It seemed like each and every one of them had some kind of problem; peaks and dips in the frequency response, too slow, too bassy, too much treble, etc.

The only other 'phones that came close were the HD600s. The 600s and my Stax are very comparable in terms of overall presentation. The stats take everything good about the 600 sound and add in the speed and detail that only an electrostatic headphone can give. As someone there (I think it was Fitz) remarked "Senns with speed..."

AKG K240 Sextett: I can't believe people think these sound good. I tried several test songs on them, and I heard the same problem every time: these headphones have a drastically dished upper midrange! They are incredibly dark, perhaps the darkest headphones I've ever heard. They are also extremely bassy.

[krmathis]

Then the waiting begins....
Hope you all have a nice time, and lots of gear to audition.

[mrarroyo]

Enjoy the meet, looking forward to pictures and impressions.

[Fitz]

My feet hurt, I should've worn some different shoes.

[mwallace573]

Quick and dirty impressions:

Grado RS-1: Bass that physically punches you in the face! Soundstage and separation were noticably better than my MS-2i. Very addicting.
Millet Max: Delightful sounding amp, and if I were to feel the need to go back to tubes this is the route I would most likely take.
Denon D5000: Very big bass, especially with my PPA; with bass boost is was unbearable. I think I'll pass on these.
Beyer DT880: A very enjoyable listen; very unlike the DT770. For the price, I'll give it a thumbs up.
AKG K1000: I spent way too much time with this headphone. Fitz's amp drove these impressively, and my current setup could drive them to ear splitting volumes before the half way mark on my volume knob. Regardless, even if I could afford their current market value, I still wouldn't pay what collectors think they're worth. I'd pay $600 happily however.
AKG K701: Despite my amp upgrade, I am still unimpressed with this phone. Over ingwe's setup however they sounded pretty darn decent.
AKG K240 Sextett: Man I wish I hadn't sold mine. They sounded simply stellar through my PPA, and with the bass boost switched on....

All in all it was a good time, and I'm looking forward to the next time we decide to do this again. Thanks Piccolo (I'm horrible with real names) for hosting this little get together once again.

Here's some quick pics I took with my cheap Kodak that should tide you guys over till the more professional people can start posting. Cheers.






AKG Hall of Fame.


No, that's not a NES, that's an AMP!


Friggin' great phones.


The only Stax on site, so it deserved it's own picture.

[mrarroyo]

We need more pictures and impressions!

[Fitz]

I forgot my camera, among other things, so I have no pictures to offer. My impressions of the two new headphones I heard were quite different than what I was expecting of them though.

Denon D5000: I will be happy to not have to listen to these phones ever again. Very prominant treble and one-note bass. Vocals sounded very unnatural to me, and there was no detail or articulation in the bass. When I first started listening to them, my ears were screaming "DO NOT WANT!"

Sennheiser HD25-1 II: I knew nothing of these phones beforehand, since closed supraaurals are so far off my radar. I was actually surprised at how nice they sounded. A little on the dark side, but otherwise a pretty balanced sound. Even as an AKG man, I would gladly take this over something like the K81DJ.

[NightWoundsTime]

Looks like a good time guys. Actually had a brief thought to driving up, but you know the gas prices right now and all that. In a different time, I would've been there.

[PiccoloNamek]

More pics:

[tomb]

Here's mine:


PiccoloNamek standing, MexicanDragon on the sofa.


Postal_Blue in a blur, Sleeplessness in the corner with his Beyers, MWallace573 and Fitz.


Sleeplessness still listening.


Fitz's discrete perfboard amp - amazing soldering quality on that thing! Those are his K1000's at upper right.


Closer view of the Fitz amp.


The remainder of Fitz's AKG collection: K1000's, K240 Sextets, and K400's.


PiccoloNamek's Stax amp to the left, MWallace573's PPA to the right. I believe those are Ingwe's HD650's in the middle.


Another view of MWallace573's stuff.


I believe those are Sleeplessness's Headroom Micro's.


My personal favorite: Postal_Blue's Starving Student Millett.


Ingwe listening to his Apogee DAC with his Apple laptop and HD600's w/Cardas cables - K701's to the left.


BigAmish's nice gear: A nice Mapletree, Sony SCD player modded with the Auricap mod, and his pair of RS-1's.


Some of MexicanDragon's haul from the sale of his HF-1's ... BigAmish's modded RP-21's are at left - very impressive sounding phones for less than $100.


Beezar was there with MAXes galore.


Sleeplessness listening to some Led Zeppelin with his Beyer's through a testbed MAX and and Alien DAC.

Well, I had a great time and am thinking I've made lots of new friends that have become familiar faces. Thanks to Ingwe for getting the ball rolling. A special thanks to PiccoloNamek for once again hosting us all at his church, catering the meal, setting up, cleaning up, etc., etc.

[vcoheda]

the red car amp is so neat.

[ciphercomplete]

Man I wish I could have made it up there. I had that day circled on my calendar for 2 months and then something came up that I *had* to do that day.

Hope we can all agree to do another one soon.

[jellojoe]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

the red car amp is so neat.

Tough call between that one or the NES amp.

[ingwe]

I had a great time. Thanks to everyone who participated. Another special thanks to PiccoloNamek for hosting and ordering taco-bar munchies from Moe's.

And I'm happy to report Fitz emerged from the shebang with this thumb intact.

Here's some of my impressions:

• I bought a MacBook and an Apogee Duet (AKA M->AD) two days before the meet. So I was very interested in trying different headphones and amplifiers with it. I wasn't disappointed.

• I think I may prefer the M->AD feeding my Bryston rather than the Ayre. BigAmish liked it better also.

• Speaking of BigAmish, he and I had a wonderful time evaluating our mutual stuff. He moved his Mapletree amp over to my table and I it fed the M->AD. Then we got down to business.
  
  We evaluated his RS1's and my HD600's with a variety of music recorded in different ways (classical hall live, studio, environmental live, etc).
  
  What made this so enjoyable was, unlike so many many threads, we didn't swear at each other and insult our respective mothers.
  
  It became clear we couldn't really come up with blanket statements regarding which was best. Each phone had its place. And what that is is a very personal decision. It was great fun figuring out the variables.
  
  And, I really enjoyed getting some RS-1 listening time in.

• I spent a bit of time with Fitz's K1000s. What remarkable headphones they are! But very inefficient. (Not a bad thing.) When plugged directly into the Duet's headphone jack, I had to turn the Duet/Apple volume up to maximum just to get appreciable volume. It sounded great. But I'll have to give the Bryston kudos--it drove them very well--although not to ear-splitting volume. (I certainly don't want that.)

• Next, I commandeered PiccoloNamek's Stax and tube amp and hooked them up to the M->AD. Oy Vey! Organic, fast, effortless, detailed, extension up the wazzooo. As PiccoloNamek remarked, "Sooner or later everyone comes to Stax."
  
  I think I'm going to start saving some pennies. Curse you PN!

• After that (or was it before, I forget) I auditioned PostalBlue's D5000 through the M-->AD->Bryston. He had them slightly modded--some fiber fill in the can. I think they have potential, but I'd like to hear them fully modded. Jury's still out.

• And, so freaking what if we didn't have 20,000 dollar systems represented. That ain't the point.

-m

[paul_lindemann]

The best I have heard so far! Just wish they were lighter in weight.