2013 SF Bay Area (Changfest?) Meet Impressions Thread - Page 10  

For me, one high point of the show was the "table-o-STAX" manned by tiberiuspv and rubenpp.  This was a rare opportunity to to see and hear a large number of the STAX line all represented at one table.  Thank you for sharing this slice of STAX history with the Bay Area Head-Fi community.  Of course a big show of gratitude out to team Changfest for organizing the event.

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrenpchi 

That was all straight out of your phone right?  I'm gonna try and duplicate that as much as I can and get back to you.  BTW, did you get a chance to hear Oblique's D600?  I think you'd find them to actually be more to your liking in terms of both bass control and overall brightness.  To me, they sounded more neutral than the D7100 I brought.

 

Well, your ES10 isn't anything to shake a stick at.  And besides, they're going to be your portable mainstay as you won't be dragging your Mad Dog out of the house.

 

Wait, mosesed96 did mention that there was something additional done to it.  I'm assuming you're referring to the one with the red and black cabling.  Anyway, he did mention that it wasn't just a simple re-cable, but that he didn't exactly know what was done to it internally.

Yes. That was all straight from my phone. I thought the D7100 was similar to the D7000, so I pushed them through the O2 earlier. Big (and audible) mistake. I didn't get to try the D600, though. Maybe I should have...

And you're right. I'll most likely drag the ES10 to places where the Mad Dogs won't be able to visit. It's also an easier decision since the ES10 can be driven just fine from my phone. That's the only reason why I haven't purchased a pair of Mad Dogs yet. As it is, I think I'll just recable and do some mods on the ES10 to see if I can tame that bass down a little bit.

Regarding the T5P, I heard him say that the whole thing cost him about $500 on mods, but I didn't really hear him say that it was more than a simple recable. Maybe I misheard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill-P 

 

Yes. That was all straight from my phone. I thought the D7100 was similar to the D7000, so I pushed them through the O2 earlier. Big (and audible) mistake. I didn't get to try the D600, though. Maybe I should have...

 

And you're right. I'll most likely drag the ES10 to places where the Mad Dogs won't be able to visit. It's also an easier decision since the ES10 can be driven just fine from my phone. That's the only reason why I haven't purchased a pair of Mad Dogs yet. As it is, I think I'll just recable and do some mods on the ES10 to see if I can tame that bass down a little bit.

 

Regarding the T5P, I heard him say that the whole thing cost him about $500 on mods, but I didn't really hear him say that it was more than a simple recable. Maybe I misheard.

I remember all in all it came out to be almost 2k in total

I learned at the meet how overlooked the HD650 is these days since all these new headphones are out. I was listening to HD650 through Uzi's Bottlehead Crack w/ Speedball and it was just delightful, I'd save a lot of money. I suspected a lot of it came from that beautiful little wonder-DAC, the HRT MSII+.

His Burson Soloist through the same DAC is the jams too. If I didn't have my Gungnir, that takes #1 spot for me, I prefer it over the Bifrost even.

Thanks to everyone that pulled this event together... It's been 5+ years since I've been to a Head-Fi event, it's incredible how much it's grown since then. Although I was mostly there just to get my ear impression taken for getting a pair of UE 18 Pro, it's still amazing to see this community continue to thrive and grow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by walfredo 

 

 

 

I ran across a headband cover like that once and have forever regretting not even bookmarking it. Anyone know who the owner of these were or if these were a commercial product? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by eucariote 

Yes, thanks uzi for the El Metate tip- you weren't kidding, the super chicken is the best burrito ever.

 

 

 indeed.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_Himself 

I learned at the meet how overlooked the HD650 is these days since all these new headphones are out. I was listening to HD650 through Uzi's Bottlehead Crack w/ Speedball and it was just delightful, I'd save a lot of money. I suspected a lot of it came from that beautiful little wonder-DAC, the HRT MSII+.

 

His Burson Soloist through the same DAC is the jams too. If I didn't have my Gungnir, that takes #1 spot for me, I prefer it over the Bifrost even.

Glad you liked my stuff.  Yeah, the HD650 doesn't have the level of detail that something like the HD800 has, but it has terrific presentation (imho). It sounds great, is really comfy and light, and it doesn't break the bank.

Agreed, the HRT MSII+ is a terrific unit, and definitely a step up from the HRT MSII... while the general presentation is similar, the plus unit improves on soundstage, clarity and detail.  It's easily noticeable.  In fact, I brought both units to work today and let a couple of coworkers that recently bought Schiit Modis give them a shot.  They quickly confirmed my assertion.

Moshen (who was also at the meet) and I had a two-man mini-meet a couple of weeks ago in which we compared his ODAC with my MSII (I didn't have the MSII+ yet... I had just picked that up at the meet on Sunday from Verber), his O2 Amp with my Burson Soloist and his HE-500 with my HD650.  I'll let him pipe up if he wants about how he felt, but for me it went a little something like this:

* The ODAC and MSII are really similar with the MSII winning by a hair in terms of musicality.  I figure the Modi is probably similar as well, and the MSII+ smokes 'em all, but is more than double (or triple) the cost of the others, so that shouldn't be too big a surprise.

* The O2 and the Burson Soloist are moth meant to be neutral and transparent and both succeed.  It was kinda hard to tell them apart via A/B testing, but I felt the Soloist won by a hair.  It would be interesting to conduct this test again with the better DAC, but not bad for a $150 unit against my $1k unit.  At the same time, the Soloist has more power and flexibility to it, and I have no regrets in purchasing it.  Meanwhile, the Bottlehead Crack+Speedball was very different than the other two and terrific in its own way.

* The HE-500 and the HD650 are both very different, and both very good.  They have entirely different presentations, and we both felt that we could both be happy with either... though Moshen preferred his HE-500 and I my HD650, which makes sense given the genres we listen to -- a lot of electronic stuff for him and rock stuff for me.

I went a little past it with the Burson Soloist, but I'm trying to do the best that I can in the "Mid-Fi" range for now... stuff that's $500 or less.  The HD650 + Bottlehead + MSII+ setup certainly qualifies and is fantastic.

Chris_Himself -- interesting that you think the MSII+ better than the Bifrost.  I've had my eyes on one of those for a while and meant to listen to it at the meet, but didn't get around to it.  I'd love to pit a Bifrost against this MSII+ sometime... and a Dragonfly for that matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill-P 

Regarding the T5P, I heard him say that the whole thing cost him about $500 on mods, but I didn't really hear him say that it was more than a simple recable. Maybe I misheard.

Really?  At one point, he elaborated that the dude who did it also did some internal mods (though he doesn't know what those mods entail).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumy 

I remember all in all it came out to be almost 2k in total

Okay, for $2K it BETTER BE more than a recable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrenpchi 

 

Really?  At one point, he elaborated that the dude who did it also did some internal mods (though he doesn't know what those mods entail).

 

 

Okay, for $2K it BETTER BE more than a recable.

In fact I had a talk with the guy who mod the T5p, he indeed did some mod in the chamber, but he didn't go into detail with me. Beside I wouldn't know anyway.... but he did mention it is a very risky mod that could permanent damage the drivers. I guess the greater the risks the greater the rewards XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by uzi 

 

 

Glad you liked my stuff.  Yeah, the HD650 doesn't have the level of detail that something like the HD800 has, but it has terrific presentation (imho). It sounds great, is really comfy and light, and it doesn't break the bank.

 

Agreed, the HRT MSII+ is a terrific unit, and definitely a step up from the HRT MSII... while the general presentation is similar, the plus unit improves on soundstage, clarity and detail.  It's easily noticeable.  In fact, I brought both units to work today and let a couple of coworkers that recently bought Schiit Modis give them a shot.  They quickly confirmed my assertion.

 

Moshen (who was also at the meet) and I had a two-man mini-meet a couple of weeks ago in which we compared his ODAC with my MSII (I didn't have the MSII+ yet... I had just picked that up at the meet on Sunday from Verber), his O2 Amp with my Burson Soloist and his HE-500 with my HD650.  I'll let him pipe up if he wants about how he felt, but for me it went a little something like this:

 

* The ODAC and MSII are really similar with the MSII winning by a hair in terms of musicality.  I figure the Modi is probably similar as well, and the MSII+ smokes 'em all, but is more than double (or triple) the cost of the others, so that shouldn't be too big a surprise.

* The O2 and the Burson Soloist are moth meant to be neutral and transparent and both succeed.  It was kinda hard to tell them apart via A/B testing, but I felt the Soloist won by a hair.  It would be interesting to conduct this test again with the better DAC, but not bad for a $150 unit against my $1k unit.  At the same time, the Soloist has more power and flexibility to it, and I have no regrets in purchasing it.  Meanwhile, the Bottlehead Crack+Speedball was very different than the other two and terrific in its own way.

* The HE-500 and the HD650 are both very different, and both very good.  They have entirely different presentations, and we both felt that we could both be happy with either... though Moshen preferred his HE-500 and I my HD650, which makes sense given the genres we listen to -- a lot of electronic stuff for him and rock stuff for me.

 

I went a little past it with the Burson Soloist, but I'm trying to do the best that I can in the "Mid-Fi" range for now... stuff that's $500 or less.  The HD650 + Bottlehead + MSII+ setup certainly qualifies and is fantastic.

 

Chris_Himself -- interesting that you think the MSII+ better than the Bifrost.  I've had my eyes on one of those for a while and meant to listen to it at the meet, but didn't get around to it.  I'd love to pit a Bifrost against this MSII+ sometime... and a Dragonfly for that matter.

If you wanna meet up, I can bring my Gungnir out, might as well shoot high right? I honestly always knew the MSII was a winner, but I never met anybody with the MSII+ before. It's absolutely nuts. Everybody expects the DIY build to be good because it's not hiding anything.. and for $300 in parts, thats about right.. but a $350 USB DAC with no power supply? Cmon..

The HD650 may be an old world grail, but it's presentation still goes toe to toe. I mean if you don't like HD800 (many people don't), or the planar sound (many people don't), what else is there really? Also removable cables are rather important, to me at least. Sennheiser knows that :)

Oh also how awesome was that Donald North amp, everybody? One of my favorite amps at the meet and it's relatively expensive, but it friggin looks fantastic and it sounds good as well.