UK National Meet 2011 Impressions (02/04/11) - Page 3  

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr41 

 

 

The Chap's name is Simon Griffin. Really nice bloke, but I can't remember the name of his company. I think he's selling them for about £800, I'll PM you his number.

 

I thought this was a great shot and couldn't resist including it

The name of the company is Decent Audio. Looks like they are in the final stages of getting things off the ground. I think I may have been his his first LCD-2 customer!

I forgot to mention, I was mighty impressed with Meier Corda Stepdance. I auditioned the UM Aero and immediately tried my SM3's with the Stepdance and I could have sworn my SM3 were on level or slightly better than the Aero. I know its not a fair comparison as the Aero's were running straight from my iPhone. Think its time to retire my GS Voyager for the Stepdance. My wallet is wailing.

Moving immediately on to something more positive (and please, don't take my last post too seriously, if you love the HD800 that's great - I also really didn't mean to imply the amp others heard them out of was bad - I wrote that post before reading those posts) I found the K1000 to be a really interesting concept I'd love someone to take up and run with.

As these were designed really for a speaker amp or at least an amp built to serve them it's highly likely they weren't getting the juice they needed from headincloud's very nice DIY headphone amp, for me the highs sounded a bit grating and harsh but their owner did say on his own amp they sound a lot softer and smoother.

What they did though was very special. They offered a real speaker-like soundstage at a volume which , while certainly not kind to anyone else in the same room, would be very considerate of house mates in a shared house.

One of the reasons I love headphones is I live in a shared house with very thin walls and I can listen at all hours. Some kind of K1000 style headphone would be great for me.

It does make me wonder what might be achieved going DIY with the drivers from some desktop speakers transplanted into a DIY housing. Could be an interesting DIY project.

From what I understand he's been dealing in planar speakers for a while (correct me if I'm wrong) and this is his foray into the world of headphones. I had a chat with him and he was a really nice guy.

Would actually like to say all the members of trade there were great.

I'd met Mark from High End Workshop before and he's one of the most knowledgeable guys about auido and music I've met. He bought water along for everyone, gave me some spare Stax pads (he turned me on to Stax at the last meet), re-terminated Reza's headphones on the spot without charge and once again introduced me to some great new music. He also have a great prize of the HE-4 (lucky Didier!)

Zain and the guys at amp city were brilliant and attentive of everyone there and of course it couldn't have happened without them, their prize of custom IEMs was extremely generous, Zain offered me an amazing deal on the highly impressive Arrow amp which if I had any budget at all at the moment I'd have jumped at.

Thanks also to Whiplash who while not present donated the DT990s to the raffle.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardtarget666 

 

The name of the company is Decent Audio. Looks like they are in the final stages of getting things off the ground. I think I may have been his his first LCD-2 customer!

 

 

 

Hi tws1,

A good set of impressions, I'm glad you enjoyed the meet

I think I largley agree with you about the HD 650, I love them to bits because they're fantasic with acoustic guitar and vocals etc, but they do have a slightly darker sound and they're a bit slow for fast electronic or rock.

By the way, I think it was my AMB Mini³ you were using to drive the AKG's, I lent my uDac 2 to tranhieu for the day as he forgot/didn't have a DAC. I had a brief listen to the Just Audio amp too (the smaller one), and I also thought it was very good, in a similar league to the Mini³ in fact. Justin struck me as a down to earth and very nice guy.

I'm so glad that such a great day was had by all. It was fantastic to meet everyone & share thoughts & ideas with you all. 

I was planning to come away from the meet with an idea of what I'd like to get next as a desktop system. TBH though, I may be slightly more confused with what to get than I was before I went! I think another pair of HD650s will be in my future somewhere but apart from that I'm not sure. Maybe the Lyr to go with it, but I really didn't get the chance to pair any sources with different amps. The only source I listened to with a familiar set up was the (£2000!) Ayre QB9 which is way out of my price range.

I really feel the same way about the HD800 as almost everyone else I spoke to. Didn't like em. Even Geoff (Headinclouds) who owns them had the same opinion. The LCD2 was a completely different matter though. Didn't meet anyone who had a bad word about it.

A quick reminder to anyone that wanted to get in on the HE500 loaner programme after hearing them: Here is the sign up thread.

P.S. Stef, I have your Grado adaptor. I ended up coming home with two so I'm guessing one of them is yours. PM me your address & I'll send it to you.

Sorry i missed the meet guys, i had an exam the day before and had to send back some cables for repair so decided to give it a miss.

This is kinda off subject because i wasnt there but did anyone catch the serial number of the HD800s which sounded so bad? I know the early serial numbers had a very flat response and the later ones had a 5db bass boost. Here's mine for instance....

I have heard multiple pairs and some have sounded flat and lifeless but i've heard 2 pairs that really sound spot on.

I know this isn't the place to discuss this but i was just curious about the serial number and wanted to explain why

Congrats on the meet

For me the highlight of the show were headinclouds's gorgeous amps. The JLH Class A just blew my mind - got to be my next project I think :)

I quite enjoyed listening to the HD800s - I found a lot of the 'phones I tried to be too bassy for my taste, but the HD800s sounded good in that respect. I liked the top end too, but for example I found the piano on Pyramid Song sounded a bit odd - kind of nasally if that makes sense. They sounded good with Santana though - but maybe that was the aforementioned amp instead.

EddieE's Beyer electrostatics were interesting - first pair of electrostatics I'd ever heard and they were amazing, really magical with female vocals and top end stuff in general. Very enjoyable!

Didn't know where to start with what to listen to when I came in...the first thing I heard were the LCD-2s, which set the bar pretty high! It was a great experience to listen to all this kit I'd been drooling over on the web. The Audio Technica 'phones were another first for me and I was really impressed. They're on the list...

I wanted to hear a Stax setup but got distracted by too much other stuff before I had a chance. Never mind, there's always next time!

Was great chatting to the sponsors too, a great bunch of folks. Really cool how happy everyone was to let people try their gear and how friendly everybody was. Thanks all!

03029174,

I think (not sure) there was more than one pair there but I'm not sure whether I listened to the same one each time I had a listen or not. Your frequency chart looks very different to what I experienced, it also looks very different to what the headroom graph shows, which also looks very different to my experiences.

The main issues for me was lack of body to the mid range (generally a case of too little mid-bass) and terribly sibilant treble. The sibilance was the worst part. Maybe it depended if you listened to a track which would show up the sibilance or not on whether you liked them or not. I defy anyone to claim that is how a cymbal sounds, seriously.

The bass quantity, for me, was not a big issue - I've enjoyed many phones with a similar bass quantity, the bass was one of the least offensive things about it, even though there was nothing special about it to forgive its small amount.

Bottom line there is likely no difference between what I hear and what you hear - but instead a difference of taste. There are phones I've liked a lot others have simply hated - just the way it is.

Looks like you had a great meet!  Wish I could of been there myself. However I did send the L3 in wood across the pond for her debut meet!! There is one pic of the L3 next to the Lisa III XP..  I was hoping to get some 1st impressions, at least one? good or bad.  Did anybody hear the L3? or see the Tiger & Maple wood case?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomForshaw 

EddieE's Beyer electrostatics were interesting - first pair of electrostatics I'd ever heard and they were amazing, really magical with female vocals and top end stuff in general. Very enjoyable!

 

I was glad a few people had a listen to them, I don't think many did as they aren't a recognisable headphone. I don't think I'm quite finished with the pad rolling but I personally find they stand up pretty well to my Stax SR-303, even if the latter, for my personal tastes, take the prize.

Their high end is especially nice and you're right about female vocals - that's what I most frequently call them into action for!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remitrom 

Looks like you had a great meet!  Wish I could of been there myself. However I did send the L3 in wood across the pond for her debut meet!! There is one pic of the L3 next to the Lisa III XP..  I was hoping to get some 1st impressions, at least one? good or bad.  Did anybody hear the L3? or see the Tiger & Maple wood case?

Yes saw the amp and it looked absolutely beautiful, great craftsmanship! Made a mental note to come and have a listen later but typically for me completely forgot, sorry!

I did hear someone saying they thought it sounded great (not sure who they were) so hopefully they will offer some detailed impressions.

Time passed so quickly that I forgot to test a couple of gears.

I would have loved to test the HE500 (or HE-6P, whatever the name) from Numidol. Any impressions about it? How does it compare with the HE-6 and LCD-2 ?

Did anyone try the Tranquillity dac?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remitrom 

Looks like you had a great meet!  Wish I could of been there myself. However I did send the L3 in wood across the pond for her debut meet!! There is one pic of the L3 next to the Lisa III XP..  I was hoping to get some 1st impressions, at least one? good or bad.  Did anybody hear the L3? or see the Tiger & Maple wood case?

Didn't get to the meet unfortunately but I am arranging a meet up to take a listen to your new L3.  As a Lisa III owner I'm sure it won't take me very long for to put an order in.  I shall forward a review of course.

Regards

Sceptre

It seems that all had a great time, shared experiences, equipment and time with each other.

There is no better place to find out what you like and why.  Coupled this with friendly, courteous head-fi fans and it makes for a time machine - like 'where did those last 6 hours go?'

Well done to the organisers and sponsors making such a show happen.

I wanted to hear the LCD-2, L3, Audio GD DACS and the DIY amp products.  Keep the impressions and pictures coming.  It almost feels like I was there.

Regards

Sceptre