Melbourne Meet Impressions - Sunday 7 October 2007

It was a fun day with so many toys and so little time. Good to meet all who turned up today.

I think i will add a closed can like Audio Technica ATW5000 in the future. It goes really well with the Yamamoto HA2 and like you Glenn, i would have liked to pair them with your Marantz SA11S1 but may be next time.

RSA Raptor and Corda Opera are great too. Got to watch my wallet carefully.

Looked like a cozy little meet =D

I'd like to read some impressions on the Green solo VS HP100 VS Talisman T3-H VS Opera!

Post away guys!

[QUOTE=d-cee;3336049]...I'd like to read some impressions on the Green solo VS HP100 VS Talisman T3-H VS Opera!...QUOTE]

Me too!

it is a fun day, i enjoy every single minutes of it. get to sample so many different gears all at once and get to know what's your preference, this can save heaps in the long run. every1 have awesome gear to show off. i like the combo of the w5000/ha5000 and the w5000/yamamoto. where's that w5000 in the pictures? it's so popular in the meet, must be in some1 's head :P
i also like the ibasso d1 and the pk3, very good value for money. as for the Green solo VS HP100 VS Talisman T3-H VS Opera, due to time constraint and with so many toys, i only spent on average 5 minutes on each amp. hard to do an in dept comparison, as the owner of both the solo and the talisman and being familiar with both amps sound signature, all i can say is
the hp100 has fairy similar sound signature to the solo,detailed, clear, bass hit deep and tight, the opera sound a bit like the talisman, warm, lush and wide sound stage. the owners of the hp100 and opera might want to give their inputs on their thoughts.

look forward to the next meet, no balanced amp in this meet, hopefully some1 will bring one next time?
finally a big thanks gz76, for providing the space and organized the meet.

it was great fun, i really enjoyed using a fellow members tomahawk it was fun. and being a portable-iem person, it was interesting trynig out all the cans - i enjoyed the hd-25s (i think) very much as it gave good isolation, it was interesting the different sound signatures cans offer compared to IEMs!

overall a fun day

First, thanks to gz76 for organizing and hosting this gtg.

the day:
It was a busy Sunday for me + family, so I only arrived in the arvo
and spent ~3 hours there. Good to meet up with local head-fiers, there
is now a local group to compare and contrast gear with.
Very helpful indeed for me who's considering headphone solutions for
home and work

my gear:
Tomahawk, UM2, ALO cryo dock
Marantz CD48 + Kimber IC (not used since there were sufficient sources).
Guess what I forgot to bring!
Yup, my Ipod source. It's not a great source but at least I have a
reference point I'm already used to.
I did bring some CDs, so made good use of the Marantz SA11-S1.
Played some Eva Cassidy, Katie Melua, Stacey Kent, Van Morrison, Hugh Masekela
and yes, Virgil Fox's organ works on the rig I liked.
Found New Buffalo (thanks jaspert)!

goal for the day:
Find some headphone(s) I like, I have never listened to any high-end
headphones. The following are just first impressions, not a review for
obvious reasons.

cut to the chase, what I liked best:
Marantz SA11-S1 source + RSA's raptor + HD-650.
Wonderful mid-range with both female and male vocals.
A good sense of space. Faults if any did not detract from just enjoying
the music. Maybe the source and amp had great synergy with this headphone.
I won't hesitate to buy a HD-650, it suits my taste for now.

everything else is just different:
Also tried the Yamamoto with AKG-701, W5000, 2500ULE and HD-650.
The first 3 sounded a little splashy at the top end to me with
the Ultrasone being most splashy. I liked the W5000 with the Yamamoto,
good wide sound space, articulate but preferred the HD-650 with it.
It was more musical and engaging, albeit a little slow.
However the source (Iriver to Zhaolu) and music (Brothers in Arms) used to
demo this I'm not very familiar with.
Also tried the Paradisea DAC, no comments on this, need more time with
it since it's a DAC I'm considering.
Did not get a chance to demo everything else, maybe next time.

That's all I had time for, the rest was just chatter.
cheers to gz76 and everyone else who attended and brought gear to share.
Maybe the next one I'll bring a new headphone and amp

enjoy
k_

double

looks like a great meet

from the looks of it, there was a female there?

hold ur horses, ill get em up!

as a result of the meet ive already purchased a pair of Yuin PK3's for funsies, also nearly bought a Tomahawk today, going to try out k371n's LDM+ to see if I like that!

sounds like a fun day. always wanted to hear a w5000. i'm sure it sounds awesome with the yamamoto amp. sucks that i cant wear a closed headphone for extended period of time (over 30mins) with out steaming my ears :P.

looks like my k1000 should have better amp and cables ready for the next meet

Or, someone really likes eating chicken.

Would loved to have come and brought some of my modest gear...maybe next time.
Any impressions on the Graham Slee Solo with Grados from anyone?

Great meet - thanks again to the host It was great just to clap eyes on a whole bunch of gear I had previously only read about. Really cool bunch of guys too. I was quite keen on the stello ensemble (dac, headamp, poweramp) and the opera - special mention to the lavry. Gee, the HD650 had quite a presence - they are a good all round high end can!