cool pics Aaron - esp. the cake. happy birthday
The Gear good times tonight. lots of great gear and listening. the gear for just a handful of people was very impressive. although it was mostly all bozebutton's. he is a meet unto himself. a quick rundown of the goodies: HE90 (2), HE60, O2, R10, 010, PS1, HP1, HP2 (2), HP3, RS1 (3), SR325 (woody), SR225 (woody), GS1000 (prototype), K1000, Ed9, HD650, DT770; ES1, HEV90, KGSS, Cary 300B, Zana Deux, Supra (toaster style), RSA Apache, Melos (heavily modded), Krell, Some Rudistor; Emm Labs, Meridian G08, Modded Sony Player, something else; and more. lots of gear . . .
Rd 1 for me the meet was divided into two parts. in the first half, we (or I) just walked around and tried everything out. really just got familiar with the gear. i didn't do any real listening or comparisons at this point. was more just curious - jumping from one station to another, constantly switching headphones between tracks or mid track. lot of listening, but i can't really say i had any opinions or impressions at that point. then we broke for lunch -- greasy pizza. yum. : ) and cake. more yum. after we chatted for a bit and rested our ears, we started round two. this is where i started to do some critical listening.
Grados i spent a lot of time with the modded Melos. this is suppose to be an ideal amp for grados. i listened to the whole line up. First, the PS1. it is a very nice headphone - both in terms of look and sound. it is a bit heavy but otherwise fits very well. the bass is excellent - very full bodied and with good impact. on the Melos, the bass is controlled. boze said that on some amps, the bass can sound a bit sloppy. there is a lot of bass (it is prominent and somewhat forward) but on the Melos, it is not overpowering. the resolution was excellent as well and everything comes through clearly when paired with an amp that handle the bass properly. this was one of my favorite headphones at the meet. i now wish i had tried the PS1 on something else to see how it fared, but for some reason i did not. i then switched to the HP1000. in comparison, the sound seemed a bit thin and the bass rather small and weak. things were a bit crisper but the contrast between the two was rather stark. i wrote about the HP1000 elsewhere, as i recently had borrowed a pair and liked them very much (Asr's balanced HP2), but the PS1 seemed a more pleasing experience. the 3 HP1000s for the most part sounded the same. the HP1 was a little different but not much and i'm not even sure i could tell you in what respect. Next were the RS1s. there were three - a very old pair (gold lettering and italic font), a vintage but less old pair (tan headband), and then a non vintage pair with buttons (that was mine). the vintage definitely sounded better than the non. just an overall smoother and warmer sound. but the non vintage still sounded very good and was a step up from the 325. the 325 and 225 have the typical grado sound signature - punchy, upfront, slightly aggressive and maybe even a tad bright. great for rock and guitar and generally a fun headphone (at least for a quick session). what the higher end grados do is to take that signature and refine/elevate it. the RS1 is smoother and warmer. the PS1 adds better bass and resolution. the HP1000 gives great detail and better instrument separation. yet all are still upfront in their presentation and with a narrow sound stage. if the PS1 and HP1000 are 2 poles (lush v. analytical), then the RS1 seems to fall in the middle. that's how i viewed them. one vintage RS1 was balanced (Ari's pair) and from the Apache produced an especially pleasing, rich and textured sound. really an excellent combo. i gave the GS1000 (rare prototype model) a listen too. it sounded okay - very spacious and generally unlike the other grados. but i don't really care for this model that much, so didn't spend much time with it.
Stats & R10 the rest of the time was spent with the electrostatics and R10. the R10 was used with the Cary 300B. the Cary is a wonderful tube amp. this model had some upgrades and a DACT volume control. the R10 (and RS1) sounded great from it. the sound stage on the R10 has got to be the best ever made. just wide and big and loads of detail to fill its space. you hear things - details and other stuff - off to the side that you don't hear, or hear but not well, with other headphones. how it manages this, i'm not sure, but the R10 does micro detail without being analytical or sterile. it is probably one of the main reasons that people hold it in such high regard. i listened to the R10 a fair deal. definitely one to own, assuming you can find and afford it. on to the HE90. the HE90/HEV90 is probably one of the best combinations i have ever heard. if i had this setup (with a killer source of course, such as the emm labs, which it was hooked up to), i would never feel the need or have the desire for something else. i just don't think i would ever get bored of it or find it lacking. it think its forte is classical, but it sounded amazing with rock (indigo girls and regina spektor) as well. not sure how it would fair with heavier stuff. one CD i listened to carefully was Bach's violin concertos (and concerto for oboe and violin) with Hilary Hahn. Just so perfect with the HE90. the sound stage is of good quality (not huge though like the R10) but the vertical space is incredible. it seems to go so high. on the oboe/violin concerto, the notes from the oboe seemed to float from way up above. just float and slowly fall down. and the violin was so right with great precision and crispness. on the R10, which has a bigger overall sound stage although not the height of the HE90, the music was richer and the violin had vibrato (or resonance) to it, which was somewhat missing on the HE90. the HE90 and R10 are both great, but i preferred the HE90 overall. i am very curious how the R10 improves balanced and on an even better amp. that would be an interesting comparison. the HE60 shares a lot of the same qualities of the HE90, but the HE90 is much better. the HE90 has a larger sound stage, better bass, more detail, greater separation - it is just better in *all* respects. and this says a lot b/c i think the HE60 is better than a lot of headphones. the HE60 and HE90 sounded better on the HEV90 than the KGSS. the HE90 improved more which is probably a testament to how well it scales. with the HE60 the biggest difference was the increased sound stage. they just open up and this adds a lot. the HE60 although not in the same league as its big brother is still great. it is such an enjoyable and engaging headphone that once you put it on, it is really hard to take off (assuming there is no HE90 around to persuade you). the O2 is very different from the HE60/90 (seemed slower and more laid back). it wasn't a great match with the HEV90. sounded better on the KGSS. ideally we would have mated it with the ES1 (or BH, if we had one), but running all the amps at once was causing problems so we decided to shut down the ES1 early. i have an O2, so didn't spend much time with it.
Other Stuff there was also an 010 (Qualia). it was a small and still didn't fit me well. didn't listen to it much. gave the K1000 a quick session. just not really into these things. not owning speakers and listening only to headphones, the K1000 seems just a bit odd to me. i don't really consider them to be headphones - more two small speakers attached to the side of your head. listened again to the Ed.9 from the Supra. they sounded okay. nothing that interesting though. maybe i should have tried them with the modded chinese amp. that seemed to be a hit. i didn't listen to the ZD that much or the Krell amp, Ari's modded chinese amp, or the Rudistor. generally i had a hard time pulling myself away from the Melos + Grados, the R10 + Cary and of course the HE90/HEV90. the latter was definitely was favorite setup. if i had 15k to spend, that is how i would spend it. it was that good.
thanks again boze for inviting us to your home. it was a great treat to hear so much quality gear in a relatively quiet environment and for an extended period of time. it was fun too hanging out with the other head-fiers, all nice guys.
vcoheda
