[mrarroyo]

Today (February 21, 2010) there was a mini meet hosted by Gary (gjkphd), and attended by Rob (vorlon1), and I (mrarroyo). I would like to start by thanking Gary for opening his home and allowing us to bring a bunch of stuff, I guess the best explanation is controlled chaos.

It was not a very planned affair but more of a lackadaisical event.

Today’s main idea was to compare the stock HiFiMAN HE5 with one recabled by Alex of APureSound. Also there was an interest to listen to the AKG K1000 via the Audio GD amp, finally I wanted to once again listen to the AKG K340 and vorlon1 brought an NOS example to the meet.

It was a lot of fun to get together with both, and the funniest thing is that I thought on how to introduced them. Well they new each other from about 28 years ago but had not kept in touch all this time, small world we live in. The joke was on me! J

I won’t have much time for detailed impressions today but at least I can start the thread and post some pictures. I almost forgot that one of the best things was seen Monty, Gary’s almost 15 year old Havanese.

 

[KingStyles]

Lot of nice gear. It will be nice to hear impressions of the he5 and the amp there hooked to since I been reading they dont sound good unless they have an amp that can push 2 watts.

 

[mrarroyo]

The Solo SRGII does not produce 2 watts, not even close. However IMO and that of at least 3 others who have listened to it w/ the HE5 is a great sounding amp and we all preferred it to the EF5. BTW, it should sound better since it costs twice as much as the EF5.

 

[gjkphd]

great summary Miguel, a good time was had by all. I certainly enjoyed the K1000 out of the Phoenix, As I don't get to many meets I really appeciated you guys bringing over your gear. I'd never heard an Alesandro before either. Good to see Rob again, yes, it was 28 years ago that out paths last crossed! The EF-5 at first sounded ok, but after listening to the Slee, the HIFiman amp lacks in refinement and detail, For the price not bad but the HE-5 are better served by a more refined amp like my PHoenix and Yammie. Now I've gotta go clean the dust off the Phoenix and thanks for introducing head-fi to Monty

 

[vcoheda]

what a cute little dog.

 

[MomijiTMO]

Amazing amount of gear for a mini meet. Oh and that 'ath 700" does look remarkably similar to the ad900

.

 

[mrarroyo]

MomifiTMO, I took a guess at the model number of the AT. I hope the owner corrects me!

 

[apatN]

What did you think of the HE-5 with the Solo? I thought they sounded very good with the Goldpoint fwiw.

 

[mrarroyo]

apatN, the Solo SRGII w/ PSU1 matches wonderfully w/ the HE-5. In my opinion it does better than the EF5, which it should considering is costs almost twice as much. I have loaned the pair and the feedback I have received is the same.

 

[apatN]

Thanks mrarroyo. I have not heard the SRGII but I have heard an older version with the PSU1 at a meet. We agreed the Goldpoint sounded slightly better than the Solo. They sound quite alike though so your impressions mirror mine.