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Houston Head-Fi Meet 10/25/2008 Impressions - Page 7

post #91 of 108
10/29/08 at 12:25pm
Sorry, still a fresh and supple 47 here.
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post #92 of 108
10/29/08 at 12:58pm
I can't believe I just found this thread (better late then never)...

I unfortunately only got to catch the tail end of the meet/dinner & drinks.

I had a wonderful time and got to meet a lot of great people. Not only did I meet them, but I found out how close I live to Orcin and S1rrah (we'll get to test each others new toy's often). I got a chance to demo a lot of different headphones (thanks Shelly). I also got some time with Pabbi's Millet Max. It was my first experience with the SS realm and I was quite impressed with what I heard.

I unfortunately did not get a chance to listen to the Blue Hawaii. Shelly was in the zone and I could not bring myself to interrupt.

Thanks to all for the great company and atmosphere. I can't wait until next year when I can bring all my gear.
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post #93 of 108
10/29/08 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
What's this "next year" everybody keeps talking about...


So Gollie, I see you have a MPX3 Slam on order? Is that a recent purchase?
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post #94 of 108
10/29/08 at 4:27pm
I bought it two weeks ago...

As I wait, I have been hemorrhaging money getting ready for it to arrive. Tubes/PC's/IC's/Cans etc. I need to stop.

You will have to drop by to have a listen when I get it all set up.
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post #95 of 108
10/30/08 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Open letter to Al:

Thanks a lot for the advice! After hearing the upgraded cable that you loaned me at the meet, I jumped on eBay Monday morning and ordered a Blue Dragon v3 for my HD600's. I paid a little extra for Express Mail, and last night I settled in to listen.

Wow, what a difference! I will never disrespect overpriced cables again, that's for sure. I now fully understand what the Sennheiser veil is - you know it when it leaves!

The soundstage moved from the top of my head to the front of my eyes, and spread to the left and right. It was really not a subtle difference. As you say, the stock 600 cable must really be bad because it was certainly a bottleneck in my system.

Also, the detail was improved although I really can't say how much of that is due to the Blue Dragon because I have so many other pieces of my system in various stages of burn-in.

So thanks again for steering me in the right direction, and also thanks to Shelly for reinforcing this idea while we were talking about your recabled HD650's.

The only problem is now I can't see buying that pair of Denon D2000's without having them recabled, so the price just went up.
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post #96 of 108
10/30/08 at 11:29am
Give that BD 100 hours, and you will really wonder why Senn makes such a poor cable. I am also really sorry for all the Houston attendees that the balanced Bijou was not ready - 10 tubes and no 'sand' (silicon) at all - talk about old school. We'll see how it really stacks up, but I fear no Singlepower nor RSA.

The Millett 307A is a different story...

Actually, the Millett Max is a hybrid, which uses tubes and SS components - albeit at low voltage... now, the SOHA II (which very few got a chance to listen to) is also hybrid (just 3x the voltage), and we missed an opportunity to shoot it out with the GS-1.

Meets never have enough time - well, and focus...
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post #97 of 108
10/31/08 at 11:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Orcin View Post
Headphone impressions:
Woodied phones... everything, including Darth Beyers, sounded worse to me when woodied. I am leaving swt61's modded SD3000's out of this blanket anti-woodied assertion, because there is a lot more to these phones than the wood on the sides. Plus I refuse to admit that these phones, or any other balanced phones, actually exist. They were not real, I did not hear them. Really, I didn't.


Well, I now have the Darth Sonys at my house for a visit (thanks Steve!), so it is getting tougher to deny their existence. Fortunately, I can't use them balanced so maybe that will keep me from wanting them. They really do look impressive. My friend from work (shown below) perked up when I told him they were on loan to me. I'll have to invite him over for another audition. Maybe I can finally get him off those ipod buds for good. Of course, he'll need an amp, and a source, and yada yada yada.







P.S. This pic never gets old.
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post #98 of 108
10/31/08 at 9:35pm
Not to pop your balloon, but those cables can easily be reterminated to a standard TRS plug.
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post #99 of 108
11/1/08 at 3:18pm

More pictures from the meet

Well, I finally got around to uploading the pictures on my camera to my computer. Hopefully I am not duplicating too many pictures!

First: The famous doorprize(s) drawing!


Ken looks happy!














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post #100 of 108
11/7/08 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I am wondering what the damage was from the meet...

Orcin:
Woo 6 SE w/ Sophia Princess = $1200
various tubes = $200
Blue Dragon cable for HD600's = $200
Denon D2000's + recable = $550
let's just call it $2200 even with shipping.
Of course, the amp was planned before the meet, but the rest of it wasn't.


I am sure Gollie has beaten that total with his world-class spending spree.

Wareagle69 just bought a pair of Koss ES950's and I am pretty sure an amp won't be far behind.

s1rrah bought a MHDT Havana and keeps muttering about more headphones.

That's just what I know about... anyone else buy some new stuff as a result of the meet?

We'll need another meet next year to see all the new gear.
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post #101 of 108
11/7/08 at 8:39pm
At the meet, I remembered how much I liked the Senn 580s open (without the woodies). So I bought HD600 grills = ~$20. I also remembered how bad the stock 650 cable is and so I bought a Blue Dragon v3 cable for my 650 and put the Blue Dragon v2 on my 580s = 75% of $200 (with microsoft live cashback) = $150. The 580s are definitely feeling better now.

Aslo, going to the meet made me realize that I had way too many headphones, I sold my HD 25-1 = -$125 after shipping/paypal fees. So my total is $45! I am doing much better than Ken.

After I sell my Hornet and Ultrasone HFi-780, I will have some cash to spend on new tubes for the Singlepower Extreme! After hearing Alex's balanced Senn cable, I am also thinking about getting an APS v3 cable (SE) for my Senns and selling the Blue Dragon v2... so that will put me behind again.

Luckily (unluckily?) for me, the setup I walked away drooling over was the KGBH+840c+HE60. I might have to save up for a quite a while before I take that dive though. That will save my bank account in the mean time.

Wareagle69: I saw that you replied to a FS post for a KGBH. Are you the new owner of a Koss 950+KGBH?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Orcin View Post
Well, I am wondering what the damage was from the meet...

Orcin:
Woo 6 SE w/ Sophia Princess = $1200
various tubes = $200
Blue Dragon cable for HD600's = $200
Denon D2000's + recable = $550
let's just call it $2200 even with shipping.
Of course, the amp was planned before the meet, but the rest of it wasn't.


I am sure Gollie has beaten that total with his world-class spending spree.

Wareagle69 just bought a pair of Koss ES950's and I am pretty sure an amp won't be far behind.

s1rrah bought a MHDT Havana and keeps muttering about more headphones.

That's just what I know about... anyone else buy some new stuff as a result of the meet?

We'll need another meet next year to see all the new gear.
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post #102 of 108
11/8/08 at 10:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by shellylh View Post
Also, going to the meet made me realize that I had way too many headphones

Aw, come on. You can't have too many headphones.


Quote:
Originally Posted by shellylh View Post
After hearing Alex's balanced Senn cable, I am also thinking about getting an APS v3 cable (SE) for my Senns and selling the Blue Dragon v2...

Alex's cable definitely sounded good.


Quote:
Originally Posted by shellylh View Post
Luckily (unluckily?) for me, the setup I walked away drooling over was the KGBH+840c+HE60.

No actually there was no Blue Hawaii at the meet. There were no electrostatic phones at all. In fact, those things don't even exist. You must be mistaken.


Quote:
Originally Posted by shellylh View Post
Wareagle69: I saw that you replied to a FS post for a KGBH. Are you the new owner of a Koss 950+KGBH?

I think he missed the amp. I predict more attempts.
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post #103 of 108
11/9/08 at 1:04am
Shellylh,
Yeah, Orcin is right. I was too slow on the Blue Hawaii, but I did land the Koss 950s. They are enroute now. I'll keep saving my pennies for hopefully another shot at a used BH one day.

Seems as though the meet was a good stimulus for everyone to support the economy and spend money for cool headphone stuff.
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post #104 of 108
11/9/08 at 2:18am
lots of stats. love it.
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post #105 of 108
11/9/08 at 10:05pm
Lost Music Alert(tm)!!

...

So I loaned my Phillips DVD/CD player to a friend this weekend ...

The same player that somebody (can't remember who) borrowed at the meet.

Anyway ...

Long story short ...

Upon setting the player up for my friend, we discovered a CD in the tray ...

Judging by the fine quality of this particular CD (a "PentaTone" release) ... I'm guessing my fellow head-fier that borrowed my Phillips player at the meet accidentally left it in the tray.

Anyway ...

Here's a pic of the CD:

...



...

Beautifully recorded bit, I can tell you that much.

I've long since ripped it to .FLACS (well, today anyway) ... I'm a sucker for two things regarding classical ... Bach "Partitas" and Beethoven Piano Sonatas (the latter preferably played by Schiff)

(thanks to my anonymous donor!)



I can mail it to the rightful owner soon as somebody chimes in.

Best.

.joel
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