Stockhom, Sweden (Sept. 11-12, 2009) Impressions - Page 2

Do I smell some scotch? ;-)

Glad to hear you were able to experience Donald's Sonett amp. I look forward to hearing more impressions.

Okay, let's get the photo-stream kicked off. Please jump in if I miss out or mis-identify/mis-attribute any of the gear.

I should point out that credit for these superb pictures goes to P-pan. Thanks p-p!

We managed to pull together a pretty decent 'smörgåsbord' of equipment, at a guess I would say the table was about 40ft long with rigs along both sides and pretty much every inch of it was covered with equipment. Towards the end we had to start building upwards, Manhattan-style, as we ran out of real estate!

This pic gives a bit of the flavour, you can just make out snejk at the far end. What look like very fetching green earrings are, I believe, in fact JH 13 Pros:



snejk had some really nice cans with him including Grado GS1000 and RS1 and AKG K1000:









Actually, looking at the serial number that first shot is of my pair. Anyway, there are plenty more to come. I'll load them up as I have time, probably in dribs and drabs throughout the week.

So, where to start.


Grados:
One important lesson from the meet is that my very humble rig (Zero dac -> RS1/HF2) is about 80-90% there in terms of pure musical enjoyment compared to even the best rigs I heard there (Audio Concepts Focal speaker room excluded, the Grados were not even near!), maybe even more. When comparing different things like separation and such, many other headphones win over Grados, but for my listening habits, metal and rock mostly, nothing I heard made me want to get rid of my Grados. I heard many rigs which could complement them though

I tried my Grados from many of the rigs, and they all sounded very good. The Mapletree had VERY good bass, but with my short audition, I think I would choose the Grace m902 for my Grados for it's simplicity and clean and neutral sound. It is a bit on the expensive side still though, and much more so than the Mapletree.

GS1000: Last time I heard them I though they were rather pointy. I did however like them very much now though. The tone was very good, as were the soundstage.

To be continued...

Very nice pics so far P-pan! I think I've got to get me one of those nice looking green earrings

THANK you struts for making this happen and THANK you AudioConcept for very generously taking the time and making space for us. Also thank you for the amazing sources loaned to the meet, making everything a lot easier and adding a new level to the regular focus on only headphones and amplifiers. The importance of a matching source has never been more apparent. Unfortunately I don't think I will ever own a Boulder or Nagra cd player.

These two days have been very rewarding for me, being able to try gear that would otherwise be impossible to try in such a short period of time, or, simply impossible, period.

Please note that I find it quite hard to put words to audio experiences.

Before the meet my biggest anticipation was in demoing the HD800, a phone that I thought I most likely would bring home. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I realized that they were not for me. I tried the stock phone as well as struts Apuresound terminated phone. I tried them from a number of hi-end sources and number of amps, including my MAD Ear+ HD Super, my Naim Headline2, DNA Sonett, Rudistor RPX-33 and the Grace m902. While it obviously had great sound quality as well as good fit and finish, they didn't engage me enough to really make me want them. I liked them more with solid state than with tubes. Mind you this is more a preference of the sound signature than an analysis of which amp was the most transparent etc. Another disclaimer is that most of my current headphone listening is with Grados, mainly the GS1000 so I guess you could say that my ears and brain are currently "gradotized". Neutral, whatever that is, is not my thing I guess. I seem to prefer a more aggresive sound.

Another thing that I really wanted to try was Stax as I never had heard any prior to this. In short I liked them but I don't think they suit my listening habits, mainly rock, electronica and pop. The massive Boulder/O2 was impressive though and the sound was quite different from the 717/O2.

The DNA Sonett was a stunner and if I didn't own the Mapletree the Sonett would rank high on my want list.

Orpheus. Well, what can you say. I have listened to it once before and I am no less impressed after this. Makes me a bit sad to know that I probably never will own one.

The two things that caught me by surprise was struts MD2000 (Lawton modded Denon D2000) and the JH13 in-ears. Along with getting a new DAC those two makes my wallet cringe with fear.

Other positives were the Grado hf2 and Audiotechnica ATH-ESW10.

I also did a quick comparison between my RS1 and Henmyrs brown headband vintage RS1. In short, they are both RS1 but mine felt a bit brighter and the vintage pair a bit more relaxed. They seemed to not have the exact same sensitivity, the vintage needed a bit more on the volume pot to reach the same SPL, at least it seemed that way. Could have been the slightly more relaxed sound from the vintage pair that urged me to adjust the volume though.

I'm sure I have forgotten a lot, will continue my ramblings when I remember more. One very good thing about this meet though is that I a have renewed faith in my own gear.

Once again, thanks struts, Audioconcept and all other participants. It was a real pleasure meeting with you guys.

Oooh... one funny thing was when watching the girlfriend of a regular customer wandering in and noticing all the headphone geeks and gear, she seemed to be quite astonished and amused about the thing going on there.

Mirrors my impression of the two.

I hope the lower volume of my vintage pair is not a sign of them dying They've really started to grow on me and it would be a bummer to replace them with new drivers if that happened.

I do not think that they are though, but the volume difference is a bit strange.

I do not think that your pair sound exactly like my previous buttonless pair either:

Vintage pair:
* Clear treble
* Medium bass
* Laid back midrange (for an RS-1), less peaks (for an RS-1)

Buttonless pair:
* Smooth, not so clear treble
* Heavy bass (for an RS-1)
* Peaks in midrange (more colouration, for better and for worse)

Your pair:
* Clear treble
* Medium+ bass (not sure on this)
* Peaks in midrange (more colouration, for better and for worse)

I'm thick and can't figure it out, not even with krmathis' hint

Interesting comparison against the buttonless version. I guess the more balanced and less "midrangy" sound of the vintage pair is why many find them more attractive.

Time for some impressions. I didn't audition much of the gear at the meet as I wanted to meet the people and soak up the experience. So I confined my listening to things I really wanted to try.

One of my main ambitions was to benchmark the Orpheus against the best Stax has to offer. I started on Friday with Anders' rig, but the combination of O2MkI tied to one amp (Stax 717) and one source (mbl 1541) meant that comparisons were rendered pretty much impossible. It was clear that these cans had some real potential, but neither the sonic signature nor the overall impression left me really moved. Not being in a position to eliminate either I suspected that the Stax amp and mbl CD player were both failing to allow the O2s to perform to their fullest potential (Anders told me he is about to take delivery of a BHSE, can't wait to hear his impressions!).

Day 2 brought new combinations of equipment and new possibilities and krmathis and I spent pretty much the whole day trying to resolve this conundrum. krmathis' steer was that the O2s preferred tubes so we started out with the Leben CS300 integrated driving his SRD-7 energizer. A small quantity of quality tube watts would be just the job, or so we thought. krtmathis was somewhat satisfied but I found the sound, while undoubtedly good, no excellent, to be too 'dark' with a lack of upper midrange 'life' which strangled the music compared to the Orpheus.

Next stop (after consultation with AC's ever-helpful Conny) was to substitute the Leben for his Atmasphere power amp, this driven by the preamp built into the Macintosh CD we were using as a source for the Stax rig. Despite being a tube amp the Atmasphere has a very lively, crisp sound and we thought this would be just the job. Unfortunately not, and both krmathis and I pretty much agreed this was a step backwards rather than forwards. A fair bit of time was wasted while we reseated all the tubes to ensure there were no loose connections spoiling the party.

Next stop was to substitute the source. The Macintosh, having a 'warm' signature of its own, was swapped for the Boulder 1021 CD player driving an Atmasphere pre. Conny was sure this would be the tonic. Nothing could have been further from the truth. This combo sounded so bad I was sure that something was broken. The sound was thick and 'porridgey' with a total lack of finesse and realism. More time wasted while we tried different cables (the Atmasphere is apparently notoriously cable-sensitive), jiggled gain settings on the pre etc. No luck. Back to the drawing board.

There were plenty of top-flight pre-power tube combos (Macintosh, Nagra, AR etc.) on-hand but we just didn't have the table space to accommodate them, and the Leben was pretty much the best tube integrated on offer.

So I decided to change tack. Throwing caution (and krmathis' instincts) to the wind we decided to substitute the Atmasphere combo for the Boulder 865 integrated. Solid state, but, I thought, with the transparency and fidelity that I felt was so lacking with the Atmasphere combo. Bingo! Suddenly, from being poles apart the Orpheus and the Omega suddenly seemed very close indeed and krmathis and I were able to agree that honours were absolutely split between them. The presentation was quite different (more different than anyone might expect at this exalted level of performance) but nevertheless it was impossible to crown one unanimous winner, they were both clearly in a class apart from everything else. I characterized the difference as being like hearing the same musical performance in two completely different concert halls. In one the walls were further away and more reflective, i.e. more atmosphere (Orpheus) and in the other they were closer and more damped, i.e. more immediacy (O2). The performance on stage was the same but the acoustic was presented completely differently. Both were however without doubt systems to die for and krmathis and I both agreed that we could happily live with either.

Whether this is a comment on the quality of the HEV90 or that of the SRD-7 is of course up for debate. All I can say is that the combination of Boulder 1021->HEV90->HE90 and Boulder 1021->Boulder 865->SRD-7->Omega 2 Mk I was as close as we were able to contrive throughout the meet. These two undoubtedly reside at the pinacle of what is currently possible with headphone technology and both systems do things that no dynamic rig at the meet could even come close to.

Our conclusion (for the record) is that the age old debate of Orpheus versus Omega is MOOT. These are both cans/systems at the very edge of what is currently possible. It is a question of horses for courses, anyone who tells you that one comprehensively trounces the other is simply failing to distinguish subjectivity from objectivity.

What a relief! That saved both krmathis and me a whole heap of money!

Further impressions to follow as time allows...

Sounds like a R10 challenge is next

It's a bitch Donald but I guess someone has to do it!

A few more pictures in here -> Lurad... - Euphonia Audioforum

Hope I am not too rude for copying them into here.
Peter, have me excused!

Cable "mess" under the tables...


Rudistor RPX 33 and Lawton LA2000


ERGO model 2. There were an A.M.T. around as well.


DNA Sonett



Sennheiser HE90

Well, where do I start? he he
The Stockholm Head-Fi meeting were the second meeting I attended, and my first one abroad. When I got informed about it some months back, and were told that there would be a Sennheiser Orpheus rig around I was all set... Just had to attend.

Friday:
So Friday evening after work I flew out, arriving Stockholm around 6:30pm. Just in time to check into the hotel, drop off my luggage and take a taxi over to Audio Concept to meet up with some of the guys. Fridays meeting were all over, so I just took a short look over the gear available and made up some plans for Saturday.

Me, struts, Robert and Conny (from Audio Concept) shortly after went out for dinner and some beer. Finishing off back home in 'struts' apartment with some wine and a really nice vinyl/speaker rig. Thanks a lot guys!

Saturday:
Arriving Audio Concept at 10am me and struts were the two first ones to arrive, so we wasted no time but jumped on hooking up my Stax O2 through the SRD-7 Pro into a Leben CS300. It sounded quite nice, but not quite "there". It sounded quite dark and non-engaging.
So the hunt for other amplification and sources went on. First with an Atmosphere amplifier and McIntosh CD player, until we somewhat later ended up with the Boulder 1021 cd player and Boulder 865 amplifier. First then we all nodded and agreed that we finally found a "perfect" combination. The O2 brightened up and became really engaging. Too bad the CD/amp combo were about $50,000... Oh my!

During the day I also had several appointments with the Sennheiser Orpheus (HE90/HEV90) rig. Spent some quality time with it, and also side by side comparison against the O2.
I must admit I really liked it. Quite different sound approach compared to the O2, with what I would refer to as a higher emphasis on midrange and treble but with a somewhat "thin" bottom end. While the SR-007BL have a more solid bottom end, but less sparkle in the midrange and treble. They are both clearly state of the art though, giving me all the sound information. Just in their own different way.

Both me and struts agreed that we did not feel we missed out of anything with either 'phone, and that we felt no urge to acquire the opposite one.
My wallet thanks me!


Of course I spent some time with the other 'phones and rigs available as well.
Beside the HE90 the HD800 were the 'phone I had most looking forward listening to. It felt sturdy to handle, comfortable on the head, but the sound was not quite to my liking. Hard to pinpoint what I did not like, but it reminded me a bit about the HD650, which I do not like either. Relieved as I cancelled my HD800 order back in March (I think).

Other highlights of the meeting were K1000 out of 300B equipped amplifier. I had previously hard that it should be a match in heaven and it certainly was. sneik's Audion Silver Night 300B sounded really nice with his K1000, warm, detailed, controlled bass, ... Really nice!

Other 'phones I spent some time with were the JH-13 Pro, HF2 and L2000. Sad I missed the HE60, but I guess it will be around next time as well, so no big issue.
Of those the JH-13 Pro impressed me the most. Prior to this meeting I had more or less decided to get one, but now I am 99% certain. Really great sound, especially considering they are IEMs and that these were universal (not ideal fit).

Saturday evening I checked out the city on my own. Visited Gamla Stan, had a nice dinner at Jensens Bøfhus before finishing off at the Absolut Icebar.

Sunday:
Time to leave this beautiful city, flying home while summarizing all the impressions I had from the two last days.


Guess it is time for a summary:
I met lots of friendly fellow Head-Fiers ->struts, snejk, danne, Henmyr, p-pan, others... Hi guys, it was really nice meeting you!
Although we had some language problems once in a while I think we managed quite well with our Swedish / Norwegian languages.. hi hi

...and of course a huge thanks to Audio Concept for hosting this event. Providing the location, power, tables, and of course all these high end sources and amplifiers. Thanks!

Until later!

Come to Copenhagen October 3rd where Anders will be bringing them. See all the other gear that will be present in the op of the meet thread.