Had an excellent time hanging with the Michigan folks. The group was small but the gear was plentiful. Headroom provided a boatload of gear for us to sample, and attendees had some pretty sweet stuff of their own.
Headroom sent, among others, the Senn HD800 and the Grado PS1000 and GS1000. I was able to listen to these via my Opus/Zana Deux rig. I was also able to compare them to my recently purchased HE-5's.
The HD800 is a wonderful sounding headphone, but for my tastes a little too clinical. I could enjoy them from a standpoint of pure detail, but I never felt like tapping my foot while listening to them. Where was the fun?
With the Grado's, I kept switching between my RS-1's and the 1000's. And I don't get it. All that money over the RS-1 for what? In the case of the GS1000 I just did not hear enough of a change to justify the cost. And the PS1000 just sounded wrong to me - kind of flabby and slow.
I also felt none of the high end cans were a huge improvement over the HE-5 ortho's and it's nice to go to a meet and feel satisfied with your gear. I think I have hit on near perfect gear for my listening taste. It's a pretty good feeling.
Other standouts were Al's Luxman P1 and wualta's Pioneer SE-700 piezo headphones. As a matter of fact I fell in love with the piezo's and will probably keep an eye out for a pair. They need a ton of power to drive them (near 2:00 on the volume knob of the Zana) but then they sound very good. If anyone out there has a pair of these they'd like to sell (at a decent price) shoot me a PM.
All in all, this was a great time. Thanks (and Happy Birthday) to Aimless1 for hosting. And see familiar faces again (Chris, Stephen) and meet new HF'ers (Luke, Becky). I look forward to see you all at CanJam.
A_Sr.
Headroom sent, among others, the Senn HD800 and the Grado PS1000 and GS1000. I was able to listen to these via my Opus/Zana Deux rig. I was also able to compare them to my recently purchased HE-5's.
The HD800 is a wonderful sounding headphone, but for my tastes a little too clinical. I could enjoy them from a standpoint of pure detail, but I never felt like tapping my foot while listening to them. Where was the fun?
With the Grado's, I kept switching between my RS-1's and the 1000's. And I don't get it. All that money over the RS-1 for what? In the case of the GS1000 I just did not hear enough of a change to justify the cost. And the PS1000 just sounded wrong to me - kind of flabby and slow.
I also felt none of the high end cans were a huge improvement over the HE-5 ortho's and it's nice to go to a meet and feel satisfied with your gear. I think I have hit on near perfect gear for my listening taste. It's a pretty good feeling.
Other standouts were Al's Luxman P1 and wualta's Pioneer SE-700 piezo headphones. As a matter of fact I fell in love with the piezo's and will probably keep an eye out for a pair. They need a ton of power to drive them (near 2:00 on the volume knob of the Zana) but then they sound very good. If anyone out there has a pair of these they'd like to sell (at a decent price) shoot me a PM.
All in all, this was a great time. Thanks (and Happy Birthday) to Aimless1 for hosting. And see familiar faces again (Chris, Stephen) and meet new HF'ers (Luke, Becky). I look forward to see you all at CanJam.
A_Sr.
