Originally Posted by jude  Last Saturday's Detroit Mini-Meet was definitely one of the best local Head-Fi Meets we've had. Though there were only a dozen or so of us, the gear selection was enough to make a serious Head-Fi'er hyperventilate with a what-should-I-listen-to?-what-should-I-listen-to? dither. On the one hand, I wanted to listen to the great stuff that most of us could afford, like the Style Audio Topaz and Emerald, the TTVJ FET-A, the new SHURE headphones, the portable stuff, and more. On the other hand, I wanted to listen to the Sennheiser HE 90 "Orpheus" that Ray Samuels paid a king's ransom for, along with his multi-kilobuck A-10 electrostatic headphone amplifier to drive it; or the balanced Sony MDR-R10, the Ultrasone Edition 9, and the balanced Sennheiser HD 600 from the Ray Samuels Audio B-52 and Apache, Luxman P-1, the smattering of Wadia disc spinners, the Lavry DA11, and more.
As it turns out, we had many hours to take it all in. The first of us arrived as early as 0830, with elrod-tom very generously arriving with enough bagels, cream cheese and coffee for everyone (and then beer later in the day and evening). holdendebeans showed up a little later with bags/boxes of snacks and candy. Ray Samuels then treated us to a rather severely over-ordered amount of delicious pizza for lunch, with enough left over for those of us who stayed past dinner (and still with leftovers for several of us to take on the road or take home). Murugesh and I closed up the place, probably leaving sometime around 2200.
Thanks so much, everyone. I had a great time with you all, and we have to be sure to get together again very soon.
With that, here are some of my impressions:
Sennheiser HD 800 alongside the Sennheiser HE 90
Ray Samuels Audio's new A-10 electrostatic amplifier / preamplifier paired with the Sennheiser HE 90 was simply otherworldly. Fronted by a classic Meridian 508.24, this rig was a portal directly into the music. I don't think there was concomitant wearing of the HE 90 and a closed-jaw condition by anyone the whole day. Though the HE60 and Jade electrostat that Ray brought were also impressive, the HE90 was, to these ears, the clear standout of the three.
In my opinion, the HD800 is on another plane as a dynamic headphone--seriously, I don't think anything comes close that isn't electrostatic. It found itself in several rigs throughout the day, and I myself used it in my Wadia 301 (GNS-modded, Wadia "p" modded) and the Luxman P-1 (a setup I'm now intimately familiar with), the Wadia and the Ray Samuels Audio Raptor, and alongside the A-10/HE90 setup out of the Ray Samuels Audio Apache. In terms of detail retrieval and transparency, the HD 800 is, to these ears, among the unparalleled.
So how do they compare?
Most of my comparative listening with the HD800 was done with one of the rigs that was physically near the A-10/HE90 setup, and that was from Ray Samuels Audio's Apache. The one thing to note, however, is that in order to share the source with three rigs--the A-10, the B-52, and the Apache--the balanced tape outs were used; and so the Apache was two tape out steps away from the source (the Meridian), whereas the A-10/HE90 was being fed directly from it. From the start, then, this put the Apache/HD800 at a disadvantage, even though it still sounded fantastic.
That all said, in my opinion, the A-10/HE90 edged out the Apache/HD800 at our Mini-Meet. The former may very well be the best headphone audio setup I've heard, period; so, listening to it, I knew any HD800 setup might not be able to match it in all respects. But the Apache/HD800, even though two hops away from the source, played in the same league very thoroughly, the Apache/HD800 sort of being the Alain Prost to the A-10/HE90's Ayrton Senna (I'm sorry, you non-F1 fans, but it was the first analogy that came to mind, so I ran with it). In other words, the HD800 out of an exceptional amplifier is simply outrageous--the HE90 out of an exceptional electrostatic amp is simply outrageouser.
Having heard the HE90 on several previous occasions in the last eight or so years, I had some idea what to expect. Not surprisingly (to me anyway), the HE90 was tonally sweeter than the HD800, the latter being maybe the most truly neutral transducer I've ever heard--yet, though sweeter, the HE90 gave up nothing to the HD800 in terms of conveying spatial cues and detail, at which the HD800 excels. In fact, the HE90 seemed to convey subtleties of soundstage and instrument placement even more accurately than the HD800, which, again, in that area, too, is near state of the art (the HE90 being my current pick for the state of the art in this respect). Advantages of the HD800 were its overall tonal neutrality (especially if that's what one is looking for). With the exception of the aforementioned spatial detail and soundstaging, I find the HD800 can be the more articulate, more analytical of the two (given the HE90's sweeter tendencies), though this isn't to be mistaken for being clinical, which, to me, the HD800 is not.
Asked to pick a winner, and it's the HE90 for me. I can try to pick apart and analyze this comparison to death, but there's a certain gestalt that is difficult for a simple guy like me to dismantle for analysis and to put into words for you. So let me just say this: Overall, the A-10/HE90 combination took me into the performance more than the Apache/HD800 did, which makes the former the better of the two to me. But, again, in my opinion, the HD800, though edged out by its legendary Sennheiser forerunner, still plays in the biggest of the big leagues, and very confidently so, at that. And it's not nigh impossible to find. And it can be had for much less than the price of a year's tuition at the local university. And you can take it with you. That latest point can not be overstated, given that this level of transparency was once reserved only for the stator-equipped. Fantasies of the Luxman P-1 or Apache at home for the HD800, and a TTVJ FET-A for it at the office, fill my mind like the audio equipment equivalent of a harem; all of which can be had for less than the HE90 alone (far less). (Don't forget also that if you insist on trying to extract some of that HD800 magic while at Biggby's or Starbucks, you can do a decent job of it with a good portable rig.)
Again, keep in mind that all of my direct comparisons at the mini-Meet were done with the HD800 hooked up to an amp that was two tape outs away from the source. I have that same Apache/HD800 combination in my home rig right now, and I can say unequivocally it sounds better at home than it did at the Meet. I may just have to have a few friends over very soon to hear it in that setting, where the source is directly piped to the amp, and where all of it is plugged into a dedicated AC line (that is also split, via a BPT dual balanced power box, into separate lines for analog and digital components).
What I'm trying to say in my many words is that the HE90 is probably the only headphone I'd rather have than the HD800. For me, the HD800 is, again, a new standard in dynamic headphones, past or present, being, to these ears, the best dynamic headphone that is or ever was.
Later, I'll post more impressions of other gear at our Detroit Mini-Meet.
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