Mountain View 12/3 meet impressions..

Sounds like fun, and I hope you keep going to meets. Steve! Bruce! Get in here and post! I want to see the Cary with SP adapters!

Thanks again to kool bubba ice (Mike) and utep10 (Bruce) for attending the meet, it was nice to meet you guys and get a chance to listen to your equipment.

Impressions:

- AKG K1000 / Cayin HA-1A

Gotta start with this AKG beast. First I have to say that my listening ability is gradually improving with time, as I get more used to training my hearing and trying to discern the differences between components. That said, the K1000 never did impress me much before, mostly because I couldn't tell what it was doing. Well that's all changed now - my ears are trained well enough now to finally hear its virtues, and OMG this thing is amazing. Almost couldn't believe it. It still has no bass, I don't know why, maybe someone can educate me, but that's clearly not the focus of the K1000. Its main ability is cracking open that last barrier between you and the soundstage and presenting it in a vivid format that's entirely surreal.

I guess it's because of the "earspeaker" design but not entirely sure that explains it all - I don't know how this thing is doing it, but it's like the soundstage is cracked wide open and then puts you smack into the mix, surrounding you with the layers. The peeling apart of layers is like a three-dimensional experience, you can actually hear things moving around in it! And the layers in complex music are so clear and distinct, you don't have to strain your ears to hear them - they're brought out in spades.

And I found a renewed appreciation for the Cayin, as this amp is just absolutely incredible. Driving dynamic headphones from the 1/4" jack I never needed to turn the volume pot even close to noon. When we connected the K1000 to its speaker terminals I thought it wasn't even working - turns out all we needed to do was crank up the volume - up, and up! As I turned it up, it was like waking up the dead, the K1000 was just brought to life. This amp is just amazing, I knew it had power in reserve but never actually knew how much it really has - there was still plenty of headroom left even when the K1000 got loud! This amp has more than enough power for the K1000 - if there's anyone who wants a true monster of an amp that can effortlessly power dynamic headphones from 16 Ohms all the way up to 300 Ohms AND the K1000, seek out the Cayin now!

- AKG K701

Off the VHP-1, the K701 sounded pretty good, but not quite as nicely as with the GS-1. The K701 is just a great, versatile headphone that works nicely with pretty much anything, but really does nothing truly excellent when it comes right down to it. The VHP-1 pairing didn't seem very synergistic - the amp seemed transparent overall but didn't aid in refining sound or filling the mids back in. I still hold to my recommendation of running the K701 with a tube amp.

- AKG K501

I tried this with the VHP-1 as well, and on utep10's system. The recession in the lower mids and bass didn't seem to be helped by anything - it was evident regardless of what I used it with. Not much more to say on this headphone (will be posting a mini-review in the near future).

- Senn HD600, Cardas cabled

I remember when I had my own HD600 back in the summer, sold it because I found it too dark. Not that I'm saying that it is dark, that's only what I thought of it at the time. Well this HD600 sounded clearly different than the one I owned - definitely less dark, much more balanced. The Cardas helps out more than I thought it would. It's still not a treble-oriented headphone, and for those who demand treble sparkle, you're looking at the wrong headphone. But with the Cardas cable it's very clear and natural-sounding. A very pleasant sound, nothing really at fault - the HD600 really just has a great free-flowing response that's easy to listen to. Not very detailed though. With the Cardas cable, it seemed like the focal point of the frequency response was the center mid-range, of all things.

- Sony MDR-SA5000

Wow. Just wow. This headphone totally blew the doors off my previous opinion of Sony cans, I wrote them all off as bright and harsh based on the MDR-V6 and Headphile Darth Beyered MDR-CD3000. I'm eating crow now. The SA5K is still a relatively bright headphone of course, but there was no trace of harshness even a little bit. Very fast, very open, very detailed. Like the HE60 I heard at the Marin meet, on a smaller scale. This is just an absolute beast of a headphone if you crave detail & resolution over everything else - it picked up every tiny nuance of every CD I heard it with, it was almost scary. It also has a great low-reaching bass response - it actually picked up the opening bass line on Massive Attack's "Angel" with a deepness I haven't heard before. However, this extension was kinda marred by what I heard as a loss of definition - it sounded like a dull bass line and wasn't powerful or forceful. Like a one-note bass, if you will. I was disappointed.

The SA5K is the closest I've heard to a tonally flat response, which I was expecting. It has excellent extension and is a vacuum cleaner at detail. It's not for those who like a warm mid-range - it's just not warm at all. It sounded best with classical, as it seemed to take away the liveliness and emotion of my other music genres. It did sound great with utep10's MPX3 though - the amp actually livened up the mid-range a bit and gave it a welcome "flesh and bone" feel. Truly excellent dynamics regardless of amp - the quietest whispers are appropriately faint but when the music starts getting excited, so does the headphone, upping the ante on the volume and giving that necessary push for volume and force.

- CIAudio VHP-1

Not much to say about this amp. It doesn't really do anything wrong but then again it didn't do anything great. It did seem a fair bit competitive with the GS-1, with the similar ability of getting that inner-scoping of space to get the soundstage, balanced treble and bass, and fine detail retrieval. However, the GS-1 is simply more detailed and more refined, and much more versatile too.

The VHP-1 does seem to have a gain toggle switch though that worked pretty well to give extra punch on the SA5K and K701. It boosted bass more than the other frequencies but it seemed like a gain switch nonetheless. If there's one thing I can really praise this amp for, it's the gain switch - it's obvious the amp can put out a load of current to power nearly any dynamic can. With the gain switch, I'd say it might be able to power up to 600 Ohm cans. I didn't leave this toggle on because in general I hate the idea of altering output power for extra boost. (So my impressions might have been different if I had listened with the toggle on.)

- Singlepower MPX3 (original chassis)

Awesome amp. Incredibly liquid mid-range on it - amazing that even the SA5K was able to reveal this for me. Music just flows right with it - smooth, almost bubbly, full of life. I didn't get much time with the amp because I listened to it last, hopefully will get another chance at it sometime.

- HeadAmp GS-1

The only thing I want to say here are two things: (1) the GS-1 is an excellent solid-state amp all around, if anyone didn't already know that (heh), and (2) as an FYI to other GS-1 owners, do NOT try to use its Preamp output and the headphone jacks at the same time. I might be stating the obvious for some people, but this was something I didn't know before. Mike had connected the Preamp outputs to something (forgot which component exactly) and when I plugged in the SA5K or K701 there was heavy distortion. Had absolutely no idea why the amp was distorting because everything looked fine, so I tried unplugging the IC on the Preamp jacks, which finally worked.

@Asr:

If you thought that the K1000s sound good with the Cayin, you should hear it on an even better amp: everything is taken up another level, including the bass, although I'm not sure it would satisfy any bass-heads no matter what amplifier you connect the K1000s to. But it is undoubtedly on another level on a better amplifier.

Heh, well I'm sure I'll have more K1000 opportunities at future meets. I'm convinced I probably won't own a K1000 but it'll definitely continue to be something I'll want to hear at meets. And I'm sure the First Watt F1 beats down the Cayin for SQ, but is it as versatile?

Pics

utep10's original chassis MPX3


utep10's Sony DVDP to Oritek-modded Zhaolu D2


utep10's system, with Cardas-cabled HD600


Fate finally brought a K1000 within spitting distance of my Cayin HA-1A


A match made in heaven? K1000 on top of the Cayin HA-1A


K1000 all set to go on the Cayin!


Mike's VHP-1, frontal view


VHP-1 back panel

Interesting. I've owned my GS-1 for over a year now and use it as a preamp the whole time. Therefore, I've always had an IC connecting the preamp output of the GS-1 going to my B&K speaker amp. I haven't noticed ANY distortion or what not when listening to the headphone outputs. I am also using a K701. Are you sure you were not plugging something into the loop outs? That will introduce a signal into the amp.

Anyways, looks like you guys had a good meet.

Oops, I guess Bruce didn't bring the Cary with him (can't really blame his given that it was smoking due to misuse the last time he brought it to a meet!). Sounds like the Cayin can handle the job though. The new SinglePower Extreme really drove the K1Ks well at the So-Flo this weekend. That was among the best I have heard them driven from a headphone amp, although the Raptor also drove them very well. Still hoping to hear what Humanflyz's F1 can do with them soon...

The loop outs were in use too - well I guess that would explain it then. Thanks for the correction!

Great Time!

Steve,

Thanks for hosting this and opening it up to let me attend. You did a fine job of hosting. With the Root Beer, Sweet Tarts and Bottle Caps I was in sugar heaven. My kids would have been jealous.

Mike,

It was nice meeting you. Hope you didn't mind me plugging some headphones into your listening sessions. I really enjoyed the music you brought.

Where as Steve is refining his listening ability, my listening skills are no where to be found , so take these with a grain of sugar from a root beer bottle cap:

I'll echo Steve's comments about the GS-1/K701 synergy but I wouldn't want to leave out the source as well. I think that Steve's Arcam CD player was hooked up to the GS-1. I loved the tone of this system.

The K1000s hooked up to the Cayin was quite amazing considering the cost of the Cayin. It exhibited none of the harshness usually associated with a K1000 system. Hopefully I can hear this setup again sometime soon.

Mike's VHP-1 was hiding for most of the meet, at least from my prospective. I was wondering what Steve had his headphones plugged into. The VHP-1 was using a Cambridge CD player as a source. I liked the warm presentation of this system but listening to the HD600/Cardas and also the K501, just didn't synergize well (too dark sounding). The K701 did a better job. I would imagine that Mike's SA5k would sound nice with this setup.

Speaking of Mike's SA5k. They seemed to synergize well with my Oritek modded Zhaolu / MPX3 system. This combo really had that PRaT thing going without any of the brightness that "I" associate with Sony cans.

With only three of us, there was some serious listening going on. Hopefully Mike was able to do his amp comparison without any distractions from my candy chompin'/soda slurpin" mouth .

Steve, if anyone asks where all the bottle caps went, start walking the other way.

Hope to see you guys at the next meet.

Well, I didn't talk to Steve and Mike before the meet but I assumed that this was going to be a short meet, comparatively speaking. I have no problem bringing it to the next meet if someone wants a listen. At least this time, I'll know what instructions to leave with the setup .

I'm sure it won't touch the Pass Labs Aleph or Humanflyz's F1 for driving the K1000 but it does fine for me and much better on my speakers.

btw. I'm still diggin' Neil's Party CD.

Mike,

That comment was more in jest. I thought that Steve was maybe meditating or something.
I would be eager to hear your modded XDAC3 was well. Bet it sounds awesome.

i just got my k1000s,i need to feel the power. so far not so much.