HeadRoom Hosts Headphone Panel at T.H.E. SHOW Newport Beach CA June 2-3 - Page 2

If anyone cares...I will be there tomorrow to record the panel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF 

If anyone cares...I will be there tomorrow to record the panel.

Sweet!

Very interested.  

I eagerly await the results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maverickronin 

 

Sweet!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio_head 

Very interested.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by briskly 

I eagerly await the results.

Just got back from recording the panel and show....

shoot - only day I could get away was friday, so I squeezed it all in that day - managed to attend one seminar (john atkinson on speaker measurements), and to hear dozens of systems, including a lot of headphone amps... too bad I couldn't get back for more, local as it is...

outstanding speaker sound (given the bad overall conditions in such a situation) was produced by the Magnepan room above all (of course), the astounding new Sony SS-AR2, the ludicrously expensive yet alluring YG Anat, and the shockingly good Sonorus ELS06 electrostat.

in headphone impressions, I didn't listen much to the Headroom exhibit because I'm familiar with most of their offerings and they were also positioned along a noisy corrdidor. curiously, many of the tunes they had cued up were only 320k resolution...

the Hifiman HE-400 stood out as something I had long wanted to try (this in the Schiit room, where they also had Audeze and Beyer cans ready to try their full DAC and amp line-up), and of course Eddie Current amps making Stax sing (both 009 and 007), as well as another LCD.

too late in the day, I discovered this Auralic amp, and my time was up so I didn't get to ask questions: does anyone know it enough to comment?

I was also there on Friday and listened to the amp/dac. Apparently it's from a Japanese company and Alex had received them just days before. He hadn't really had a chance to even check them out fully. The balanced amp and balanced DAC are matching and looked almost like 1 unit. I listened to it for a bit with both the LCD-2 and the LCD-3's. Overall I think it was a great sounding combo. It was a little "solid state" sounding to my ears, but that could have been because it was literally new with no play time or just the design. Either way, it was musical and had some power. If I was a fan of solid state amps then I would definitely give this a look further.

I have some footage from the Saturday panel I can share as well, I just need to mash it all together.  I should have it ready in the next few days if anyone is interested.

Highlights of the meet for me were:

Headphone Panel...you can learn so much from a person by the way they present themselves, their ideals and how much they respect, or condescend to, the other people on the panel. Kudos to Purrin for keeping his cool in the face of adversity from a megalomaniac who is nothing more than an obscene idiot.

HE-400: Awesome headphone from HiFiMan at a very affordable price. Kudos to Fang for not charging an arm and a leg for a good headphone.

Schiit Room: A great pleasure stopping by that friendly room. Also awesome to see a show participant that wasn't playing Patricia Barber or some weak guitar solo music. Their new DAC is WIN in my book.

Wilson Speakers: Personal listening experience....pure WIN. I think Purrin put it best when he said "It's like having your own personal conservatory of music." I agree.

Sony Speakers: Not perfect but better that so many other speakers at the show.

The Let Downs:

The music...it seemed every room was showcasing their gear with the same ol' music. Patricia Barber....solo guitar music....Diana Krall....audiophile recordings that sound good on anything and everything that produces sound. The exceptions were far and few between....kudos to Schiit, Sony and Focal for not playing the same tired crap.

The noise...too many people talking when others are auditioning gear. Just plain rude.

Overall...T.H.E. show was a disappointment to me. It seems coloration is everybody's goal these days.

@LFF:  Thanks, look forward to hearing more on your opinion of the HE-400.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF 

Headphone Panel...you can learn so much from a person by the way they present themselves, their ideals and how much they respect, or condescend to, the other people on the panel. Kudos to Purrin for keeping his cool in the face of adversity from a megalomaniac who is nothing more than an obscene idiot.

 

  Well, now I really can't wait for the video.

BTW, hard to say for sure without my own rig and more controlled conditions, but HE400 bass > HE500 bass. Tighter and more controlled.

---

Otherwise I'm going to try very hard to not say anything more here on HF other than despite recent technological advances such "heroic" cabinets and drivers made from the element Unobtainium, the state of HiFi has NOT advanced since in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Stick with your headphone setups boys and girls!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF 

Highlights of the meet for me were:

 

Headphone Panel...you can learn so much from a person by the way they present themselves, their ideals and how much they respect, or condescend to, the other people on the panel. Kudos to Purrin for keeping his cool in the face of adversity from a megalomaniac who is nothing more than an obscene idiot.

 

HE-400: Awesome headphone from HiFiMan at a very affordable price. Kudos to Fang for not charging an arm and a leg for a good headphone.

 

Schiit Room: A great pleasure stopping by that friendly room. Also awesome to see a show participant that wasn't playing Patricia Barber or some weak guitar solo music. Their new DAC is WIN in my book.

 

Wilson Speakers: Personal listening experience....pure WIN. I think Purrin put it best when he said "It's like having your own personal conservatory of music." I agree.

 

Sony Speakers: Not perfect but better that so many other speakers at the show.

 

The Let Downs:

 

The music...it seemed every room was showcasing their gear with the same ol' music. Patricia Barber....solo guitar music....Diana Krall....audiophile recordings that sound good on anything and everything that produces sound. The exceptions were far and few between....kudos to Schiit, Sony and Focal for not playing the same tired crap.

 

The noise...too many people talking when others are auditioning gear. Just plain rude.

 

Overall...T.H.E. show was a disappointment to me. It seems coloration is everybody's goal these days.

I was unable to attend. But remain interested in seeing/hearing your recording of this year's panel. And you omitted one , add Norah Jones to this list of over saturation for demos.

I was incredibly disappointed by the lack of Plasma tweeters.  Maybe having enough storage space for 3 days worth of pressurized canisters was too much to bear.  

Btw, if anyone has any Germanium lying around, I hear taping some to your iPod turns it into an Esoteric.

I was very sad though, I brought my test CD that had Jenifer Warnes 'The Hunter' on it and she turned out to be there!  Didn't get a chance to have her sign it.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrin 

Otherwise I'm going to try very hard to not say anything more here on HF other than despite recent technological advances such "heroic" cabinets and drivers made from the element Unobtainium, the state of HiFi has NOT advanced since in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Stick with your headphone setups boys and girls!

So very true.

Also I've been enjoying the HE-400 quite a bit, comfort aside.