NY area meet Nov 14, 2009 impressions - Page 2

Thanks for the great pictures!
Guys what are these.

^ Audeze LCD-2. The iPod-ish-loooking what-cha-ma-call-it, I assume you're familiar with.

How would you compare the LCD2 or HE5 to the stax SR-202 (said to be better than SR-303 or sr-404)? ANd how about those 2 (or 3) vs the Koss ESP-950?

any impressions/comparisons of the LCD-2 and HE-5 would be much appreciated.

i really hope the headband on the Audeze ortho is more comfortable than it looks, because quite frankly, it looks like a medieval torture device.

Extremely comfortable. The foam is very soft and flexible so it doesn't put any pressure on the top of your head. The headband is quite wide, and fits a big noggin like mine with no problem. Once you put them one, you forget they're on your head.

I did, however, wonder aloud while doing my demo if perhaps the headband might be too wide for someone with a much narrower head than mine, and if perhaps that would be the cause of a loose/sloppy fit (akin to the K1000... err, sort of). I'll let those whose heads might fit this description answer this question.

In other words, I really don't know how it might fit others. It sure fit me well though, which was a big relief because I've grown accustomed to having to deal with the (oft-times terrible) clamping force of headphones that have much smaller headbands. That's what made me wonder about folks who have smaller heads, because if something works well for me and my size 8 noggin, chances are usually pretty good that it won't work well for someone else.

CAN YOU GUYS TYPE A LITTLE LOUDER?! CAN'T QUITE HEAR YA!

But seriously folks, great meet and happy to see everyone again.
HD-800s sounded quite good but I think I'd need a week with them in a quiet environment to figure out if they're for me or not.

As a former DJ, I suppose I like things rather loud (especially if I'm trying to form an impression in a loud environment) so thanks all for your concern and my apologies if I disturbed anyone.

Jeremy spent some time with my budget B22 and rolling tubes & cans on one of my two CTHs (well, that one is no longer mine


(photos by Nikongod)


He's a great guy and had a blast talking w/him and afraid he will be living the "sorry about your wallet" bit - a risk of attending these things.

This was my 2nd meet and had an even better time @ this one... Seeing & gabbing w/familiar folks, trading tech & deal info w/Nate (thanks!), meeting new folks, listening to great gear, etc. Thanks too to MoodySteve for giving my budget b22 a listen & subsequent thumbs-up.

Yes that Vinne (RWA) is a heck of a guy & turns out some great gear as does Fang (Head-Direct ?) and their generosity helped make the meet free for the rest of us. Came home w/a great wooden can stand from Tower7(?) made in USA by Von. Beautiful piece @ a great price.

Getting to meet is something everyone around here should really try to do.
Thanks Erik & other organizers for making this one another winner.

I wrote a comparison in the LCD2 thread in the phone forum. Ill paste it here eventually. As for comfort, the LCD2 wasnt bad, but it did have too much clamp imo. The HE5 was miles ahead in terms of comfort.

Thank you again cfcubed for all the nice comments on it!
The stand was designed by me, and my dad makes each of them from scratch by hand.

That was my HD800 setup that you had blasting. I have not setup my headphone equipment yet, and seriously hope they did not get damaged. ~_~

You listen much louder than Ray even does. Careful with the hearing you have left!

All,

I had a really nice time yesterday - awesome meet!

Special thanks to:

-- Erikzen for organizing such a successful meet

-- Yikes for the great job with the not-so-silent auction (he made it a lot of fun and we raised the $$$ for the room, and hopefully had extra to donate to headfi!).

-- Telica (immtbiker's lovely wife), for bringing those VERY TASTY brownies for us all! I had a few!

-- Everyone who came over to listen to the Isabellina HPA (with Onkyo ND-S1 or Wadia iTransport combo), and thanks to decur for bringing his Isabellina HPA + R10 combo with his really nice Northstar Transport.


As always, it was great to see so many familiar faces and meet a few new ones.

I (as well as decur) will be ordering the Audeze LCD-2s when they are ready and I hope they are ready really soon! - I really LOVED them with the Isabellina HPA (Alex, thanks for saving some table space for me, and it was a pleasure to meet you and you really have an outstanding and effortless sounding headphone!), and they are quite comfortable. I know they may look otherwise to some , but jpleg, Wmcmanus, and a few others gathered around to give Alex feedback and comfort was not an issue - especially the version with the velvet padded (vs. the leather). I think Alex is going to do some more fine-tweaking of the design and will add connectors for a detachable cable - but NO changes to the drivers because they sound SWEET!

They also kicked butt with the ALO Rx amp - a very fine portable amp with a BIG sound!

Ray's THE MAN and its always great to see him at the shows - great personality and a lot of fun to talk to, as always!

I hope everyone had a much fun as I did and had the chance to listen to a lot of excellent music and gear!

All the best,

Vinnie

Impressions

Thank you Erik for organizing this truly successful meet! It was a huge success.
Thanks to all of the Members of the Trade for attending as well. Always fun to see your wears!

Ok, so onto some impressions:

The HE5: For 600$, this is not a bad headphone. In some respects it holds its own with headphones like the HD800, which is quite the thing considering it's about half the price. Comfort for the short listen I gave was nice, reminding me a bit of the beyerdynamics. The one problem I have with the HD800 though, was even worse on the HE5, with vocals being very sibilant. I'm not sure if these were a demo pair or what, but the right driver connection was not making good contact at first. I assume they simply were not connected tightly. Once Fang tightened it, both drivers were working. For 600$, I think there is a market for these headphones.

The RE252: These were playing off a hifiman player, and for the love of me I'm still not sure what EQ if any was set on it, but the RE252 sounded lovely out of it! Bass, finally! That was my biggest complaint with the older RE2/RE0. The rest of the music spectrum was very musical and I had no complaints whatsoever. In terms of sound, these are a great IEM for their price. Thanks Fang for letting me have a listen to these little gems.

The R10 off the red wine: These sounded very nice. They certainly are a hifi can. As I was listening, I was mentally comparing them to my HD800. The bass was not as controlled and had a little reverberation sound going on that didn't sound quite right. The R10 also lacked that high frequency sparkle of the HD800's. Despite what the R10 lacked, they did have a very smooth sound. Vocals were never sibilant, which was a blessing. Whereas the HD800 are a complete departure from the HD650, the R10 sounded like a higher end HD650! I was very thankful for having a listen!

The Denon D2000 off cfcubed's built B22: These were The surprise of the meet. They sounded very good. Then when you say they are a 225$ headphone............ WOW. I personally would have EQ'ed down the bass a bit, and then these would have been wonderful sounding for me. Nice setup you have there cfcubed!

I tried my HD800 off the Woo WA6SE (before they were raped). I was actually very surprised, but something in the stream (either the source or the WA6SE) was very lite in the bass department. This I did not understand. Sadly, my HD800 still were sibilant with vocals.

In fact, all of the HD800 setups (and there were no less than 5, mind you!) I found to sound roughly the same: all sibilant with vocals. This is the one thing that makes me want to sell my HD800. A shame really.

The Stax 007 mk2 off the WES: Not bad at all. If I could have eq'ed the bass down a bit, I would be thrilled with these headphones! I spent a fair amount of time listening, and was really impressed. Perhaps these headphones are in my future.... ^_^

The HE90 off Ray's A10: This was the very first time I have heard the HE90 where I feel qualified to finally comment on their sound. In short, these are the most balanced headphones I have ever heard, bar none. I was very impressed with this setup. Fantastic work Ray. Pity, really, that I can't afford this setup.

The HF2 off my setup: I've had the HF1, and this was the first time I have heard the HF2. These particular ones had the big grado ear pads. Still, they sounded very nice! I am always shocked that grado has the ability to make headphones like the HF1/HF2, and chooses not to.......... !!!!!!!!!!
Iwan, you had quite the grado collection there!

It was nice seeing everyone again! This time, I spent more time listening than talking, so my apologies.
It was quite interesting to see that most people's setups have just kept growing. The HD800 were in good showing at this meet. It was probably the most common headphone there? I am a little worried to see what a meet would look like next year. How can these setups get any better?

Thanks again Erik. I think you were the only one that had a listen to the KSC75.

NikonGod, now your name truly has meaning. 450$.......... LUCKY

I wouldn't be concerned, the HD-800 can play very loudly without damage or distortion. This is one reason why many play such HQ systems so loudly, they associate distortion with loudness and because it's not distorting they don't realize how loud it really is.

But wow! was MoodySteve listening to the 800 at an insane level. Tinnitus and hearing loss can't be far away. Fearing for more fragile headphones I cautioned him to follow the old rule of thumb that if you begin to hear distortion to turn it down a little, otherwise feel free to listen as loudly as you want.

It is a little sad however. Ray was the King of loud listening, and now he has clearly been dethroned. The King is Dead, long live the King!

it was really great to see every one at yesterdays meet!
i really had a great time.
the highlight of the show for me was going back and forth all day long with
the head direct he-5 and both versions of audeze velvet type and leather type pad lcd-2 planar phones
both he-5 and lcd-2 are totally amazing excellent,but different
the he-5 more grado-ish and lcd-2 more sennheiser-ish sound sig

How thick are the spindles that hold the head band on? I'm thinking that a Grado head band mod might look nice.