Colorado Springs Stax/Ortho/Dacs Meet Impressions (BIG PICS!) - Page 5

fantastic pictures , thx again.

custom car computer ?? sooo coool , the other gear speaks for itself, including the "kiddies" table ..dB

I did bring them, but with all the 'stats we definitely never got around to hearing them.

In other news, there were a few standouts from the show, for me:

1) Naaman's everything. Srsly. This was some top-shelf gear. Beautifully constructed, great designs, and they sounded fantastic. The K1000s out of his Beta were so good that I am seriously rethinking my O2 and BH trajectory. I just like the K1K more than any headphone I've heard to date.

2) HeadphoneAddict's Smegma Pros: Wow! Great-looking, and a radical transformation soundwise. Since there are relatively few 'stats, this one fills a good niche. Kind of Grado-esque, in a way, with a tight, focused soundstage and good instrument separation. I liked the tonality of it a lot. Cool.

3) Wiatrob's Cavalli compact hybrid. Heard this through an RS-1, and it sounded fantastic. Grados love tubes, and this little amp had tubes in spades. Looked like a fun design, and bill executed it well. If I still had any dynamics, I'd be looking into it.

4) The DAC shootout. We ran a coax signal (and one optical) from a distribution amp into 6 DACs, then into my preamp, and shot them out head-to-head. Wiatrob, HeadphoneAddict, NaamanF, and Wiatrob's friend all participated, and I operated the test. Unsurprisingly, the expensive DACs did better than the cheaper ones, but the two that punched above thir weight the best were the Stello DA100, and wiatrob's Gamma Y1. My own results were biased, of course, since i own one of the DACs and I was running the test, but I think that it settled some doubts in my mind about the importance of source.

They did well, probably better than the D2000 and Edition 9 in terms of transparency and openness. Both are a good match for the WA6, and mostly lacked the soundstage of the K1000. The K1000 reminded me of a Stax Sigma Pro but without the Sigma's lack of detail and treble extension. The D2000 sound best balanced off the single power, while I thought they had too much bass off the Beta 22. The Edition 9 take a few minutes for the ears to acclimate, and switching from a stat or K1000 to the Edition 9 is not the way to do it.

Thanks a lot for all the pictures and impressions!
Quite impressive amount of gear in there...

Nice pics and great gear. I can't wait until my B22 is done so I can hear my (that's right Larry, still MINE!!!! hehe) K1000 in all their glory

I think between the Pico DAC, B22, K1k, Smegma Pro and T50RP I'll be one very happy camper.

Great writeups guys.

When was this.. I had no idea it was going on. Darn. I'd have very much liked to have talked to people about the Orthos, as I'm about to start hacking a pair together this week.

Not that any of My gear would have found much of a place there. Heh One pair of old stax Electrets and a potential ortho project. :/

Yep. One definitely one happy camper.

yeah you'll be at the precipice but not be able to see - need some glass (es) to do that

..dB


tooobz rule !!