Kansas meet 1/10/09, Hold on to your organs! - Page 2

scratchy amp

I have had the ea-l and the mcallister dynamic headphone amp in storage for over a year. The pots and switches on both amps could use a good cleaning. After using them at the meet most of the scratch went away. The ea-1 is a mixed bag. I think the design is probably very good. But the build quality is more in the prototype class and not what i would call production level. It has always had hum on the balanced inputs and i suspect a failed cap or something. I have not had time to work on it so i just dont use the balanced inputs. The rca inputs work fine but dont have as much gain as i would like to see.
The stax amp is srm 313 and it has a lot of gain. To my ears in a side by side with the ea1 the ea1 sounds best. the stax 313 has an very slight distortion in the higher registers but the sound is overall very good. The mcallister dynamic headphone amp has made hd 650 perform better than any other amp i have pluged them into. It seems to have a wider soundstage than any other headphone amp. The sa5000 are my favorite dynamic phones and they are easy to drive even from portables so the macallister makes less difference on these phones. I suspect the macallister would make the most difference on headphones with higher impedance. Maybe I will have my dynahi finished by the next meet so we can compare high end solid state class A with some of the tube amps.

I want to say thanks to the host, Bill once again it was a lot of fun. Some new faces and some regulars as well.

It is great for me to see how people use their rigs. Some are quite simple and to the point and some tend to run the signal through many routes before they reach the ears. There was some interesting equipment well.

What sticks out:
I really like the Denon D2000's, I am officially going to put my next extra money towards the D5000's

I said it then and I will say it now, after listening to the Antique Sound Labs, and the Little Dot, I am really happy with the sound that my Millett Max puts out for the money I have invested.

As for the Stax: Always impressed, I do not know if I am ready for them, maybe one day.

OK, I'll say my piece. First, thank you, Bill, for hosting the meet, and for the excellent soup! It all went by too quickly - I was getting wound up as the meet was winding down.

Now, a tale of rags to riches. Years ago I spotted a pair of Yamaha (YH-1's IIRC) headphones at an estate sale, back in a dark dirty corner of the basement. It was not even priced, but I got it for a dollar. It needed help, but I could tell it was something special, as it had someone's signature on the headband - turned out to be Mario Bellini's. The non-spring part of the headband was broken, as it was just plastic and vinyl, but I fixed it with parts from a set of broken Signets. At the last meet, Bill asked if he could have have it. I hesitated, but relented. At this meet, he handed them to me, and I plugged them into my DAC. My jaw literally dropped! Amazing!! Bill had recabled them with Denon cables, and replaced the foam behind the drivers with heavy felt. New ear pads too. I listened to them off & on throughout the meet. Very nice. Bill hinted that they may be Stax beaters, and to think I spent serious money on HD600's, hoping they would be, but they weren't. I've got the same cables, maybe I should score another pair of these.

Next: Bill also brought a turntable, a garden-variety direct-drive Technics. On its arm was mounted a Shure V-15 IV, and that played thru a Fisher tubed amp, and (again) the modded Yammies. For my part, I had brought a direct-to-disc LP of Vivaldi string quartet music. I listened to most of it, and it was the best LP fidelity I have ever heard. I could hear each instrument being bowed, separate from the others, and the speed of the bow on the strings was very apparent - something I had never really been aware of before.

Next: Gary had the table to my right, and he had two DAC's. One of them was getting signal from the transport with a see-through optical cable. I mean, there was no jacket, and I could see my fingers through it. When we took it off, red light was coming out the end, but it was not lit up along its length - maybe so in a dark room. We did an A/B of his LiTe DAC versus my vintage Sony DAS702-es, and matched levels with the Sony's variable outs. Everyone who listened thought they were fairly evenly matched, but I thought the LiTe DAC had a more lively sound. They Sony unit is more versatile, and has a headphone jack. Gary said he had something for me, and returned from his car with a large box. In it was a PS Audio Lambda transport! WOW!! In return, I gave him an ex-console Magnavox tube amp - single ended, 10 watts per side, very sweet; also my MCS 3830, a low-powered SS unit, which is not bad at all for headphones. The PS unit will be replacing the Toshiba no-longer-plays-a-DVD unit I had using for a long time. Thank you, Gary!

Next: I was unable to make my Koss electrostats sing......but no biggie. Worse, I left my Stax amp at home.

Laz

My turn.

So after last year I had decided I didn't like the HD650 for it being extremely warm. Even though I am a fan of warm sounding cans.

This year I decided to give them another try and do a more A-B comparison with the HD600s I also compared them both to the DT880s. While I give all three high marks as great cans all worthy of being owned. My pick is going to have to be the HD600s. The HD650s have just as detailed reproduction as the HD600 how ever the sound is just too warm for me. In comparison the HD600 still has the warm sound I enjoy when I compared them to the DT880s. My current higher end can is a HD280 and while I enjoy the detailed balanced audio it produces, it just puts too much pressure on my ears and I can only endure it for a few songs at a time. Open air cans I don't have that problem with. So the HD600s will probly be my next can of choice. Unless I get my ears on the new HD380 and find them not to produce as much pressure on my ear drums.

As a side note I was just listening to a johnny cash song with my HD280, I then listened to the same song with my PX100 I found the PX100 to be muddy and overly warm in comparison... edit: (I think that muddiness may have been a result of being plugged into my amp and getting too much power? not sure it sounds better just plugged to the source.) I would also say the PX100s are the little brother to the HD650. I am disappointed to hear that the HD800 is as warm I was hoping they would be more clear like the HD600. NO we did not have the HD800 at this event the SA5000 does look a awful lot like them though.

I kept hearing every one talking about the orthos and while giving them a try and being impressed with the detail of the sax that was being played. I really would have liked to have done a A-B comparison of the two different models that bill had on his table. Unfortunately I was trying to document every piece of gear at the event with my camera I feel i missed a few things of pladplatypus though sorry about that.

Lawrence, Kansas Head-Fi Meet Impressions

First off, I would like to thank Bill for hosting the meet and providing some very tasty Chicken Curry Soup. It was great, and I'll have to suggest such an idea to my wife (who has a unholy alliance with the spice). The location was quite good for the meet and the tour is always a high point of the trip.

Impressions:

1.Sony SA 5000:

Unfortunately, I didn't do these cans a service. I remember reading on the boards that these are really best at lower volumes, and I cranked these bad boys up (since the ambient noise was quite loud). I just wasn't digging them, as I thought that they were overly bright and too aggressive, as if I was pushing the drivers too hard (which I might have). I was listening to them on my LD MK II (which may have also had a synergy problem). In a nutshell, I don't care for them. I'll have to dedicate more time to make up my mind.

2.STAX SR-Lambda

By far, my favorite headphone (along with the DT-880). Energetic, fast, and exciting are three words I would use to describe these cans. Tight bass, forward (perhaps colored) mids, and sparkling highs really make these an excellent headphone for any genre. Listening to some Rush '2112' was very eye-opening. An incredible sound-stage and imaging coupled with the engrossing sound kept me coming back for more. All in all, I MUST HAVE MORE STAX!!!

3. Denon D2000

Even without the infamous “Markl mod”, I really enjoy these darker, smoother sounding headphones. The midrange isn't all that forward (some would call this recessed, I wouldn't however). The most striking part of this headphone is the powerful bass. By far, this is the smoothest, bassiest headphone I have ever heard, but in a good way. I imagine that these qualities (along with the comfort) would cause little fatigue in long-term listening. Not one to own, but fun for an afternoon.

4.Audio Technica A900 Ltd. :

A/Bing these with a pair of HD280 just isn't fair to the Senn. These are THE most comfortable headphone I've ever had on my head. The pads are wonderfully soft and pillow-like. The 3-D wing system causes a little pressure on top of my skull, but it quickly disappears. I would say that these are a fairly colored headphone, but in a good way. The midrange is a little more forward, and the bass is accentuated, but not overpowering (like the D2000 can sometimes sound on certain recordings). I guess I would say these are very far from neutral. These have spawned a purchase of a pair of JVC RX-700 that should arrive in about two weeks.

5.Grado SR-325i VS. Grado SR-60

I did an A/B verses my SR-60, using one of Bill's tube amps with two headphone-outs coming from his ibasso (I believe). I have to say that these sound so similar that I just can't justify upgrading my grados at this time. I only did the A/B for about 10 minutes, so I probably need more time to make up my mind. I did, however, discover that bowl pads greatly increase the sound quality of my SR-60's. As a matter of fact, I've purchased a pair of bowl pads and I should receive them tomorrow (UPS willing).

That's the new stuff for me that I got to listen to at the meet.. Next time I would like to spend more time with the orthodynamics and bring a better rig. My next purchase will most likely be a Zero DAC, as this seems like a fairly good budget DAC (which is all I can afford at this time). Thanks again to everyone who came and brought their precious gear!

Nylan

Sounds like you guys had a great time testing out headphones and eating Bill's delicious Chicken Curry Soup!

Please let me know you when guys do it again as I would like to attend!

Must have been great and some nice pictures as well.