Dutch Meeting Impressions, March 27th, 2011

My memory is still fresh enough, the notes...

1.

Set up: Clip Plus + Mark V (volume on 76) + Philips N6330 

Set up: idem ditto + HD600

Nr. "Átta" by For A Minor Reflection (FLAC!)

HD600: everything is slightly better, more distant presentation.

2. 

Set up: Clip Plus + Mark V (volume on 76) + Philips HP1000

Set up: idem ditto + HD600

Nr. "Better Git It In Yo'Ur Soul" by Charles Mingus (FLAC!)

HD600: slightly warmer, more direct/being there presentation, subtle bass boost?, warmer mids?.

P.S. I think what has been written about the Mark V might be true: certain Sennheiser headphones sound very good connected to it. 

3. 

Set up: (Nokia) N6303 (volume 5/10) + ATH M50

Set up: idem ditto + K181 DJ

Nr. "Boufura" by Kagrra (320 kbps WMA!)

M50: warm, detailed, less clarity, less convincing vocals, very pleasant/intimate presentation.

P.S. The headphone plug is so impressive I would almost buy a M50, just for that intimidating 'I will eat you alive skinny HD600-plug', oh yeah!

4. 

Set up: CDX593 + Mark V (volume on 40) + Grado HF2

Nr. "Better Git It In Yo'Ur Soul" by Charles Mingus and "Boufura" by Kagrra (CDs!)

HF2: addictingly dramatic/vivid, very intimate presentation, great detail

P.S. It is a shame I did not test the Grado with an orchestral track at the time.

5.

Set up: CDX593 + Mark V (volume on 40) + HF2

Set up: idem ditto + HD800

Nr. "Boufura" by Kagrra (CD!)

Conclusion: both were very likeable and I prefer the HD800. These headphones also surprise you. As Henk pointed out to me it was that either the HF2 picked up guitar distortion earlier or the HD800 just does not accentuate guitar distortion. Around 0.33 or 0.34 seconds in the track there is such a peculiar moment that makes you want to be there. Thankfully I did not bring any Jimi Hendrix album with me.

P.S. I cannot really explain it but I have the slight urge to buy a HD800, too bad I missed out on Ultrainferno's DT990-600.

6. 

Set up: Proglover's iPod? + Neco Soundlab Dual Mono headphone amplifier + K701

Set up: idem ditto + Pioneer Monitor 10R

Nr. "Little On Up" by Nils Lofgren (quick impression of the K701) and "Alive" by Pearl Jam (for the AKG and Pioneer)

Conclusion: the K701 needs much more power and has a very even presentation but the low end of the Pioneer sounded better to me as in I could really listen to the bassist doing his thing with the Pioneer. The K701 sounded slightly bloated and limited. The percussion also sounded better defined with the Pioneer. The Pioneer also has a very balanced presentation although has a less spacious presentation though. 

P.S. For me something sounded off with the K701 but acoustics and voices sounded right. I should have checked with orchestral and organ music too, oh well.

7.

Set up: Cyrus Transport + SPL Phonitor (volume on -28) + Sony R10

Nr. "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (CD!)

Conclusion: I love this track for its intro! Back to the R10, well it sounds definitely better than the K701, slightly warmer than the HD800 and has an effortless presentation. For me it sounded as if the music breathed freely...

8.

Set up: CDX593 + Behringer SRC2496 (gain - 10, volume12 'O clock) + DT48E (Mine)

Set up: idem ditto + DT48 E recabled (Drosera's!)

Nr. "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + The Machine (CD!)

Conclusion: Drosera's DT48 sounded more even with a better low end definition and impact, less in your face vocals presentation, all round a better balanced presentation. 

P.S. I am sure my DT48E can sound better balanced with at least a recable.

Most importantly I had fun and lugging my audio gear to Soest was worth it. I do not know why but the HD800 just sounded right and surprisingly was less power hungry than a HD600. I hope my short impressions are at least understandable. 

P.S. I am still not getting a Grado until the timing and prices are right. 

I missed it! I got invited last minute to the Ulver concert in Rotterdam, which started at 14:00. Tough decisions...  I hope everyone had a great time and that there'll be another meet soon! Looking forward to the pictures!

Well - I had a blast! The company is something no can can bring to life...

The Beijer 990 was something I liked (but it is not the favourite for its owner Ultrainferno)

Proglover's Denon DT7000 was also good, really had lots of bass, but the soundstage was very linear in my head between my ears. And try as I might (SPL Phonitor: angle-, center- and crossover adjustments), I could not really get it "out of line".

Another treat was the HF2 - which I found more to my liking than the PS1000... which was a shocker really. Admittedly that has a real lot to do with the weight and the fit and I could not do a side-by-side, but still - the sound of the HF2 is way better than I expected it to be.

To me the many different incarnations of the DT48 were a bit alike. Might have to spend some more time with them to get to know the finesses of the sound-sigs. Or maybe I grabbed the same ones every time?

The different amps were a joy to compare - and it is great that nobody complains when you hop with a can from left to right and request the same song again. More people actually understanding what you are trying to do! (that really made me feel at home). The Luxman had the power to drive the K1000 out of the headphone jack. Granted, a speaker amp like Blackmore's Cary 300B still does a better job for the K1000 - but this was way better than I expected it to be. And every other can benefitted from it too.

There were a lot of Apple toys, I think good quality digital music and DS's have a future. Will go looking harder for a good (and if possible really simple and cheap) solution to feed my ATH-D3000 some digital signals. Other than the Pure i20 that is. The Pioneer docking station Ultrainferno brought was a nice one - if only those docks also had a ethernet port as well to stream to. Or get the music from a twonky or something. Hmm. The Linn Majik DS I heard the day before the meet was good (with an Edition10 and a PS1000 it ought to be!)

We had very good conversations - about the Philips can for instance. Proves that everybody is looking for something else! And that a good seal and fit while finding the "sweet-spot" is really important.

A big thanks to Paaj and his family and to everyone at the meet: it was great! (And thanks again for lending me the XLR-to-cinch converters! I felt stupid leaving those at home... )

@Henk: That actually was made by Onkyo, not pioneer (http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/ND-S1.html)

I still like the DT990, musically it's better as the HD600, but the Sennheiser just is more engaging/fun. I'm sure I will listen more to the DT990 when my new amp/dac arrives. I do prefer them over the 600 for Jazz

I have to say that the other amps did a far betting job driving them as my own amp does. Luckily my new system is on it's way to me.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to listen to everything and I'm not good at explaining sound but I can say that:

* It was a joy to listen to those open Stax. First time ever and I'm very much impressed, I loved the sound. Apologies for my gf calling them "old" ;)

* There are a whole lot of headphone soundsignatures that don't comply with my likes, especially all those monitors

* The K1000 was great to see and hear for real, lovely experience

* The Denon 7000 was great. I understand what Henk is saying about it, and he's right but I still like it. Its nice and "dark" and bassy, but I like that.

* I liked the Audio Technica W5000

* I expected the HD800 to be more like the HD600 and better. But to my hearings (on my system) I couldn't hear the 600 signature in the 800. Where the 600 is dark, the HD800 is clarity (as Paaj says as well). It sounded good, but I was missing the fun of the 600 (even if it is without question the far better sounding headphone)

Conclusion: there were lots of great headphones and I wouldn't say a specific model is/was no good, they're just different. Luckily everyone likes hearing other things and luckily all those different brands and models give us just that.

Thanks again for having us and see you next year

I also had a great time.

Without a doubt, the K1000 made the biggest impression on me. It sounded so different from everything else, the open sound, the naturalness. I'll be looking for one too, these things are worth the money.

I compared the ESW10jpn to the ESW9. The ESW9 sounded like I remembered it from owning it (very briefly); warm and slow, very very slow, which I can't stand with rock/metal guitars. ESW10jpn did that better for me. It sound seemed more in balance to me, less throwing a 'warm glow' over everything. I didn't spend enough time with it though and meet condition are something else then listening at home. Also, I can judge a portable the best when I try it on the go a couple of times.

Liked the R10 offcourse, O2 shined with acoustical guitars (Nils Logrens guitar sounded great on that, WOW). The GS1000 was a bit dissapointing for me, as all Grado's seem to be these days, my HF-2 sounded better to me, which I don't love as much as some others do.

Another great experience was the W5000. I switched a couple of times between my D7000 and the AT, and I was struck with the difference in transparency; W5000 wins without any doubt on that. Offcourse the Denon has the bass and has a fun sound. But at home, I found my D7000 also very transparent in comparison to my mid-end cans, very noticable difference. To hear a W5000 tops that at the way it did, was striking.

So as a consequense of that, when I was home and saw one at FS section for a surprisingly good price (500 usd), I bought it.

The HD800 and I will need more time at some other meet in the future. I had 2 listening sessions with it, and liked it better the 2nd time. But still, I'm not sure that one is my cup of tea.

Nice impressions guys, without a doubt K1000 are above all I ever tried, except Qualia, which are at the same level, but that's like USD 4000-4500 a pair

I wish Henk took his AT HA5000 to the meet, then you would had a real hard time stop listen to W5000. SPL Phonitor is a great one to, but HA5000 is better match, imo. I am listen to them from my portable rig and they are fantastic anyway...If you want a great closed back rig, buy HA5000+W5000 and forget the rest.

There is one little something that SPL did slightly better and that was hard/metal rock music. The speed of SPL is like from SET amp, Metallica "Master of Puppets" sounded very good, however using Yoshino EAR HP4+GS1000 gave me that feeling as well, but that's another story.

R10 are very dependable on set up, last time tried them from out of Henk's Dion headphone amp ( Dutch made ) and they were absolutely high class on their own, simply great overall.

Hopefully somebody used his iPhone not as an transport only, but also as an camera, where the hell pics are?

The fact that I could not make it is not so bad considering I get to read all these wonderful impressions. Now, where are the pics? :-D

Pics were definitely made, not by me though. They will come. Very curious to see them.

First of all a huge thanks to paaj and his parents for letting their basement be haunted for a day by a bunch of headphone weirdos (again) and making us feel welcome! I had a great time and it was very nice to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones. Special mention to (to)henk(2) for again spoiling us with some wonderful specimens from his stable of headphone thoroughbreds.

Most of my listening was done using my own Luxman P-1u fed by a Audio-gd Compass, except for the Stax stuff of course.

Might as well kick off with the latter:

Stax 4070 and 404LE (from paaj's SRM-T1W and VDA2/VAC1 DAC, mostly using streamed music from Spotify):

Okay, definitely not the most ideal way to try these out, too many uncertain variables. And I don't really feel like I gave these headphones all the attention that they deserve.

The 4070 sounded very pleasantly balanced and complete with good bass authority. Unfortunately, I couldn't escape the feeling that it left my totally uninvolved. The only way I can describe it is that it's just too well-behaved. The 404LE (which I certainly liked on the last meet) performed considerably better in this regard, it's a Stax with a bit of Grado thrown in. (Although, perhaps not technically on the same level as the 4070, not sure there...) Still, the reservations remained, I definitely need more edge from a headphone for it to thrill me. This is illustrative of my ongoing reticence when it comes to electrostats (not just headphones).

Stax SR-007 MkII (from tohenk2's SRM600 amp and Cyrus CD8X cd player):

If any headphone would be able to make me let go of my 'electrostat-reservations' this one would be it. And it did (well...almost). The one thing that struck above all with this headphone is that, unlike any other electrostat I've heard, this one truly drew me into the music. I felt involved and not like a bystander to a fascinating technical display any more. It's a gorgeously full and (dare I say it) warm sound. In fact, occasionally I had the feeling there was slightly too much bass, which I really didn't expect from a 'stat. It really is one of the greats, very very nearly managing to sound 'dynamic' enough for me. If ever I have more disposable income I could really be tempted to build a rig around this 'phone.

Portable roundup:

I had the chance to do a quick comparison of the Sennheiser HD25-1 II, Audio-technica ESW-10, Beyerdynamic T-50p and AKG K181DJ with my own Audio-technica ESW-9. All the listening was done straight from my own iPod Classic (latest gen), because that's how I would normally listen to these.

I was surprised to hear how similar the Audio-technicas and the Sennheiser sounded. The ESW-10 is definitely technically a step up from the ESW-9. It also has a better balanced presentation, but somehow I rather like the warmish signature of the ESW-9 and particularly the lovely crunch they have on distorted guitar, that was simply absent from all these other headphones. (Okay, maybe I'm simply used to it.) The Sennheiser was clearly more neutral than the Audio-technicas (unsurprisingly), also perhaps not quite on the same technical level either, but the fact that it still had the stock steel (!) cable might not have helped there. Nice, but not fun enough for me as a 'road-phone'.

The AKG with its big pads and strong clamp does isolate remarkably well. Sound-wise it's far more neutral than you would expect from a DJ headphone. This actually works against it in amplified music, where I found it a bit boring. It gels much better with classical music though, and here even the “Large Club” setting of the bass boost proves very enjoyable.

Finally, the T-50p was both problematic and weird. Problematic because they really didn't clamp enough to get a decent seal which resulted in completely different signature when you would press the cups against your ears, going from hardly any bass to overwhelming bass. They also seem to have some strange dips in the frequency response, most noticeably in the lower upper treble, which virtually eliminated acoustic cues. Yet, annoyingly, it's not a bad headphone, technically it's really quite advanced. Just a headphone concept that Beyerdynamic might still have to work on a little.

Sennheiser HD600

Great to finally have the opportunity to try out this classic. Suffice to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. This headphone has such an inviting signature: just resolving enough, warm without being too lush, balanced throughout the spectrum. Musical, inviting and relaxing: the perfect candidate for some late night listening, when you're actually too tired to be hit over the head with detail and just want to let the music wash over you. 'nough said, this one's going on the 'to-buy list'.

AKG K701

Another classic I'd never heard. Big thanks to tohenk2 for remembering that I wanted to hear these and bringing them. Unfortunately, the contrast with the previous 'phone was remarkable. I can still sort of hear the overall similarity in signature with my beloved AKG K500. The bass of the K701 is definitely tighter, the highs more extended, but both of these also sound dry and slightly synthetic. Annoyingly so in the highs. The mids have a similar quality (or lack thereof), but all these things aren't this 'phone's biggest handicap. Because...it has a VEIL. Yes, capital letters, because it's not a subtle problem either. It's really like listening to music through a velour curtain. I'm actually rather shocked that AKG has considered this its top of the line offering for so many years now.

Denon D7000

Without ever having heard any of the Denon D-line, this headphone met my expectations of it quite well. Except one thing that still managed to catch me off guard: the bass! Yikes, more than once it had me literally laughing out loud with surprise (laughing with, not at). It's enjoyable certainly, although it's hard to say whether it will prove to remain so in the long run. (I want to hear the LA7000 now.) I have the same reservation about its colouration. It's certainly pleasant and easy on the ear, but it doesn't really bring the added life that the W5000's colouration does for me, and I wonder if it wouldn't start to annoy me in time. Still, it's a remarkable piece of engineering, well-poised despite the high amount of low-end, with clarity throughout the spectrum and a very decent soundstage. I would certainly love to spend more time with it.

Philips N6330

Apparently a Sextett clone, although I didn't know that before I listened to it. This one definitely has vintage magic. The first twenty seconds you're very aware that you're not listening to the most resolved or detailed sound and from then suddenly you notice yourself not really listening any more, but simply experiencing (and hugely enjoying) the music. It's most certainly very Sextett-like in that regard. I would really like to own one of these. Unfortunately, they appear to be quite rare.

Grado HF-2

Wow, Head-f1, how you could make that mistake is completely beyond me. Anyways...I only briefly listened to these, but, for a Grado, they do get a lot of things right. The spectrum is balanced just right for me and they aren't plagued by that occasional coarseness that rather spoils some other Grados for me (including the GS1000).

Beyerdynamic DT990 (600 ohm)

(Funny, I didn't even realise it was a 600 ohm until long afterwards.) Marks to Beyerdynamic for consistency, this is very similar in signature to my own (long neglected) DT880 (250 ohm). Definitely more 'smiley' though, more bass and certainly more highs. But everything is so dry and unmusical, not my phone at all I'm afraid. I've long entertained the idea of getting a 600 ohm version of the DT880, now I'm very glad I didn't. That said, it is so often maintained that these headphones completely transform with a good tube amp that I would still love to hear such a combination. If only to satisfy my curiosity. (Unfortunately, the only tube amps at this meet were electrostat amps.)

I'll finish by thanking all who attended in making this another great meet. I do hope we can make this at least a yearly event. First of all for the company, but also because I learn more at a meet than I do in 5 years of forum browsing. These really are incredibly valuable opportunities.

Maybe we get more lucky during weekend, mean that folks have more time to post some pics and extra impressions...

perhaps i've should have been there. always been curious about the r10. i have a he60 with stax adapter, never heard he60 with a stax or other amp. where there TT's or R2R's at the meet?