Philadelphia Meet Impressions -- 10/20/07

Monks (a wonderful Philadelphia beer emporium) would have been a great idea. I think that the nature of meets is that we each have a shared experience and our individual reactions, etc. Here are mine.

I had a great time at the meet. Superpredator deserves accolades for putting this together. The music and gear were almost overshadowed by an idyllic bucolic and a couple of other uncommon adjectives - environment. Truly very serene and Superpredator set up the room for seemingly ultimate comfort.

We had a guest celebrity appearance by treEchelon who pulled himself away from his studies at college (uh huh!) to return to the fold. Very nice to see you.

A lot of gear comparisons and good conversation. Learned a lot about what I liked and not. One thing that I learned was that I simply NEED the money to buy the Samuels B-52 (not likely) and the Cayin headphone amp (probably will happen). The K701s simply sing sweet and musical with the Cayin. Sigh...

I had the chance to try a variety of cans with the Darkvoice 332 with upgraded tubes. Mostly, I confirmed what has already been written. The amp sounds great with high impedance cans like the Sennheiser 580-600s and the Beyer 880 (interesting comparison - the Beyers really jump) worked a bit better than OK but not magical with the K701s and was just bad, rough, distorted with low impedance cans such as Grados and one other (I just don't remember the brand, but they were about 30 ohms).

I also listened to a variety of cans with my Melos Meistro preamp. I have been using it for years and years as my home preamp and have not given it a chance as a headphone amp. Big mistake. Maybe not as good as the Cayin or B-52, but it more than holds its own with almost any headphone. For now, it will be my main headphone amp.

One surprise was the benefits of balanced phones and amps. The balanced 701s and amp (Headroom provided) really brought a big smile on my face.

Nakai brought a number of IEMs to try - these were Chinese in origin and I am not sure if they will be marketed in the United States. All were good but one especially made very nice music. I know that this does not help since you have not seen them, but I hope that these IEMs learn to travel to the U. S. of A.

I did not bring my Timbre TT-1 for comparison, but I am getting tempted by the Rega Saturn. Is there a lottery to win someplace?

Listened to a few itty bitty amps. The Minibox E continues to show itself as a low price musical surprise and i was mightily impressed by the Tomahawk and the Supermacro.

I am still wondering about the ipod Classic. To my ears, it does sound different, more incisive, than previous incarnations. I am not sure if that is a good thing.

I continue to be simply amazed by the amount of care and dedication exhibited by our crowd as each choose the equipment and music that touches them. I am also amazed that almost none of those choices are identical. Goes to show, I think, that we each hear what we hear (duh) and have our own reactions. Clearly, most of those people need to develop further since none of them are advanced enough to hear what I hear....

Anyhow, that is what comes to mind. Next time tyrion will have to bring the beer...

Philadelphia Meet Impressions -- 10/20/07

Hint, hint . . .

Great minds think alike. I was just going to start one. I will try to move a couple of posts from the meet thread over here.

Edit: Done. Now start posting. Where is Everett?

Done. I told Everett (nytryder) I would come to Philly in the next year since he is coming down to CanJam '08.

It's a gorgeous day in the Philly area, so I bet everyone's outside. That's where I was at least.

It was great to see familiar and new faces, and I'm glad that the venue seemed to work out okay. I don't think we could have asked for a more beautiful day. Thanks to everyone for making it a success, for sharing their equipment and experience, and for volunteering to help take down tables after it was over. Thanks to Fang at Head-Direct for attending, HeadRoom for lending equipment, and Justin at HeadAmp for trying to make it even though he wasn't able to after all. Also thanks to my father and step-mother for helping to set up on Friday. I went over to their house after the meet for dinner and dropped a CanAmp with a pair of KSC75 so my father can get a better sense for what this mania is all about.

I'm looking forward to pictures going up.

Highlights Part 1:

Aside from some great-sounding music that I was unfamiliar with I listened to Cat Power - The Coves Record and Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars for most of the day.

Fairbanks brought several pairs of 6BQ5/EL84 tubes for me to try in the Cayin HA-1A, including gray glass RCA, oval plate RCA-branded GE, and Telefunken. The RCA were an instant and obvious improvement over the Electro-Harmonix supplied by Cayin. I was also running an RCA 12AU7 clear top along with, unfortunately, the soon-to-be-replaced Cayin-branded 12AX7. The RCA 6BQ5 seemed to paint in big broad brush strokes, with very good, plentiful bass, a lush midrange and pleasantly rolled-off highs. They were more forward than the GE or Telefunken, and pretty far from the last word in realistic imaging, but held their own in terms of soundstage. I liked them so much I bought them to have as a second option to the Mullard EL84 I eBayed last week.

Barry and I did some listening to the Cayin/K701, and I think we were both pretty wowed by the huge, sweet sound we were getting. Until the Cayin I was never very impressed by the K701's ability to get female vocals sounding sultry and smoky. The Cayin's ultralinear mode makes everything bolder and punchier at the cost of making the highs a little rough, a fair trade-off depending on genre and headphones.

The Rega Saturn / Yarland P-100 combination had a wide-open tubey midrange while retaining an articulate, crisp quality. I noted a faint hum with the W2002 that wasn't particularly noticeable with music playing under meet conditions, and Fairbanks got it sorted out with a tube change. Minus the hum I think it performed excellently with W2002, with especially high marks in imaging, soundstage, smoothness and overall balance. It seemed to be slightly colder or less musical than the Yamamoto/Monarchy M24, but not detractively so. The W2002 loves to be opened up and convinced it is not a closed pair of headphones, and the Saturn/Yarland did so very well, perhaps better than the Monarchy M24, which tends to create an image of sound projecting from the front of you. Both are good, just different.

Though I missed yet another awesome party while I was away, it was worth seeing everyone and checking all the new wallet busting equipment. The only thing I would've changed is the 3 hour journey to get back to my house.

The meet location was enchanting. Thank you Lewis for nabbing such an excellent spot and setting up the room beforehand and for picking up our food.

The B52 was simply amazing. The overall presentation was near perfect. Almost every headphone (like my RS-1's ) I plugged sounded suberb. The only thing I can hold against it is that details on the Yammy were most present. The Yammy was more thin and analytic, though, and lacked the magical envelopment of the B-52. Sorry for hogging the B52 half the time, guys.

The W2002's sounded better than any other headphone there. I can't help but feel that these phones are under-appreciated by head-fi.

We got to do some loose AB testing between sources at the meet and were able to hear differences between the DAC1 USB and warm CDP's. The CDP's were bloomy and slightly richer.

I heard the GS1000's, though I forgot to listen to them out of the B52 . They were sibilant as hell. I hope that Ken is able to find a synergistic equipment match for the GS1000's.

The Balanced Desktop was neutral as ****! I need some warmth in my system.

I got to try the K340's and K701's balanced and I still prefer the former over the latter. The K340's are more laid back and have more weight and finesse.

Fang, I look forward to your future products and I wish you good luck with them. You definitely have some interesting and ambitious plans.

The Melos Sha Gold was a great find, Barry.


I anticipate the next meet. I'll be expecting grilled meat, ice-cream, and naps after we eat.

Where are those photos of Everett, anyways.

HEY! I was stung by a hornet earlier in the day and was heavily medicated, and if I see one photo of me on here there will be **** to pay!!!!!!!!!
Impression to follow. Sorry for the delay guys but the rest of the weekend and today have just been mad busy.

HEY! I was stung by a hornet earlier in the day and was heavily medicated,



Uh huh. Right. Sure.

This was my first meet and I really enjoyed meeting all of you.

My mission was to get some wider experience using some different cans with the B-52 and I wasn't disappointed by the balanced AKG 701s. My quest is nowhere close to complete but it was nice to hear the 701's sound much less analytical and more robust in the lower end while also presenting so much detail I was hearing hand movements across the bass strings in a new way. I had the B-52 sourced by my Benchmark DAC-1 and was pleased to hear the positive impressions with that set up. I did notice some interesting "punch" and speed improvement while sourcing it with the Rega Saturn. This was a difficult comparison because the output of the Rega Saturn was difficult to volume match with the DAC-1.

I enjoyed listening to the Darkvoice 332 and thought is was nicely voiced with the tubes chosen for it. I did not fall in love with any of the Grado phones I heard. I found them very uncomfortable and very treble forward to my liking.

My most memorable moment was the close call with the water spilling and Nytryder's meds kicking in . Thanks to everyone who attended and made me feel welcome.

david

Highlights Part 2:

I did some listening to the Denon D5000 that zenman brought. They were quite fun to listen to out of the Cayin and Yamamoto, although I think the Balanced Desktop managed to cut through the fat a little better. I definitely see what people mean when they compare them to Senns. Denon may have lifted their model-numbering scheme from Audio-Technica, but they have a fit and finish all their own.

The Sony SA5000 may have been the biggest surprise of all this time around. I'm sensitive to emphasized treble (I like my Grado at low volumes) and I never expected to like these cans very much. I thought they sounded simply lovely out of the Yamamoto. Somewhat thin, sure, but still a stellar mix of liquidity, air and tiny detail that had Chan Marshall sounding angelic. I feel like I need more time with these (hint, hint ). I've always wondered if Drarthurwells was onto something pairing them with the Bada PH-12; perhaps the Yammy gets them sounding sweet in a similar way.

I briefly listened to a couple portable amps with the HF-1 including threEchelon's PINT, my SuperMacro as well as using just a Radioshack volume control cable out of my iMod. The SuperMacro seemed to have a cleaner, darker, more controlled sound, but the PINT seemed more transparent, maintaining the iMod's sound signature better. I am surprised at how good the iMod sounds without any amp at all. The SuperMacro definitely adds some fullness and its own slightly warm, dark character, noticeably refining the highs, but I could be happy with just the iMod and a crappy in-line volume Radioshack cable.

Later I listened to the MiniBox E using the K701 and I was impressed by how it went up against the SuperMacro. It also looks gorgeous. All this portable amp listening had me questioning the usefulness of spending large amounts of money on an amp to drive headphones or IEMs for casual listening.

I listened to the B-52 only briefly, but in terms of appearance it is a pure work of art.

The Darkvoice 332 definitely seems geared towards Senns. It made music with the HD580 and not so much with the K701. It also seemed to do okay with the D5000, although I think I prefer both the Cayin and the Balanced Desktop.

I also had a few seconds with the GS-1000 and the Cayin, and my cursory impression is that the match was good. Ken, you seemed to have more time with the pairing, so you would have a better idea. I'm curious as to whether you found any amps or sources that satisfied you.

Oh yeah, and threEchelon's vintage RS-1. I had a few moments with it and the Yammy in the early morning hours before Barry and Fang stormed the building. I liked what I heard, but unfortunately forgot to go back and listen again. I think I was on sonic overload by the end of the day. Barry, I think you were onto something when you said it would better to spend more time with less equipment (forgive the paraphrase).

Hilariously, there was a repetitive phenomenon at this meet. I'd watch someone remove his headphones and, not having heard the conversation already under way, begin talking to someone who was already engrossed in conversation with someone else. It was very funny to see again and again.

Nytryder, I promise you will love this picture!

Looks like you guys had a fun time, though this thread is worthless without pics. Out of the B52? I'm glad that I won't have to kick you out of the cult.

I was only able to spend about 2 hours at this meet, so my biggest impression is that 2 hours is not enough time for a meet. That said--

--I spent some time listening to a prototype earbuds that Nankai provided, and comparing it to my E500. I'm not sure if it had a model number or name--it was *not* the modified PK1. I found that the earbud sounded good overall, though the highs were somewhat exaggerated to my ear.

--I really liked Barry's Darkvoice with my Sennheiser HD580, and also with Barry's k701. I didn't like it so much with Grado RS-1s.

--Through the Melos, the RS-1s had a much better overall presentation, though they still have a treble emphasis that I find fatiguing. (There is clearly a theme here: I seem to definitely prefer a warmer presentation to a bright presentation.)

--I went back and forth comparing my k501 to Barry's k701 through his Darkvoice. They definitely sound different. The k701 had a somewhat stronger bass and a bit more forwardness in the upper register, but the k501 really held its own. I honestly couldn't decide which one I prefer.

--I spent a fair amount of time comparing the stock 650 cable on my HD580 to several aftermarket cables. The aftermarket cables are certainly better built and I suspect will last longer, and they're pretty, but they didn't make an appreciable difference to my ears. Clearly, others have a different experience, but this confirmed to me that my money would be better spent on other parts of the system besides cables.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to confirm that I am quite happy with the HD580, k501 and E500. There were some great-sounding pieces of gear at the meet, but nothing that made me feel like I need to trash my existing cans and get something new.

Yeah out of the B52.


Lewis, the SA5000's are at home. I'll ask my dad to ship them to you.