Wow that was a fun meet! Lots of new gear to try and few new faces showed up. I had a pleasant time chatting with some of the newer members and it was a
ton of fun comparing the new mid-fi gear that people brought. Sorry, I'm
really bad with names, so I already forgot the names of the new people that I met. >_<''
My name is Michael, so if you remember my name but not my Head-Fi username, here I am.
I would have liked to stay longer and do more in-depth comparison between headphones, but unfortunately I had to leave. I'll be sure to bring the JDS Labs O2 and ODAC to the next meet in case anyone wanted to give it a listen (I know one other person at the meet had an O2+ODAC combo).
The Digizoid ZO2 portable subwoofer was a huge surprise to me. When paired with the V-MODA Crossfade M-100, at bass setting "green" or "green-yellow", the bass response was pretty incredible. Surprisingly, the bass increase didn't affect the mids or highs from what I observed at those settings. In short, the ZO2 adds funness to your music without ruining the rest of the sound spectrum on the green/green-yellow settings (I have NO idea how this thing works, but it does and it's amazing).
Though its user-adjustable bass settings are interesting, the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro wasn't very impressive to me as the midrange sounded tonally off to my ears and it was lacking in treble extension. At the highest bass setting (position 4, I believe), the bass was pretty well-controlled and slightly emphasized. In comparison, at the lowest bass setting (position 1), the bass seemed loose and really lacking in extension. Regardless of the bass setting, the instrument separation wasn't very good, so it wasn't very detailed. The soundstage on the other hand was pretty large for a closed-back headphone, especially at position 1. It is...an interesting headphone to say the least. From what I can recall, apart from the AKG K1000, the Custom One Pro is amongst the first headphones to have a physical mechanism to control the bass response of the headphone (as opposed to digitally).
Considering that I'm receiving the K 701 through the mail soon, I was VERY impressed with how well the K 702 and Q 701 sounded out of the JDS Labs O2/ODAC rig. I used to read that the K/Q 701/2's sounded good through the Schiit Bifrost/Lyr, but man do they shine with the O2. I can't describe the difference in sound in words, but I can say that with the O2/ODAC, the K 702's sounded much more detailed than with the Schiit Bifrost/Lyr using the same music (Ottmar Liebert). Comparing the two rigs, the O2/ODAC seemed to have better-defined instruments whereas the Bifrost/Lyr produced a kind of fuzzier sound that made the instruments not as clearly defined. That's how I observed the two at least, and I'm really glad I decided to purchase the O2/ODAC. However, since Schiit Audio
just released their new Magni and Modi amp/DAC pair ($99 each), I'm really curious to see how they perform next to an O2/ODAC.
Back to the K/Q 702/701, my oh my was that an impressive soundstage with binaural recordings! I can't wait to try the K 701's with gaming.
Comfort-wise, the K/Q 702/701 are amongst the most comfortable headphones I have ever touched. They are very light on the head and the clamping force is just right for me (in comparison, I think the HD800 has a bit too much clamping force or the earpads are too stiff for me). I don't have the headband issue that a lot of people complain about.
Strangely enough, whether it be the cable, or the "Quincy Jones button", I did find the Q 701 to be slightly warmer-sounding compared to the K 702. The treble of the Q 701 was also less sharp/piercing to my ears when listening to rock tracks. I'm not into cable modding yet, so I'll be sure to keep this in mind for when I do get into it.
^ I've seen a lot of photos of the Q 701 on the internetz; they look significantly more beautiful in-person in my opinion. The matte finish on the plastic pieces is really sleek-looking.
The HD650 sounded really good with the Schiit Mjölnir (mee-ohl-neer; I still like to say meh-johl-ner
) setup. I can't quite compare it to the WA3 setup I heard at the last meet in Bainbridge Island, but this setup sounded pretty darn good. Four words for the HD650: silky smooth, warm, relaxing. There is nothing about the HD650 that jumps out at you, so it's a very smooth and relaxing headphone to listen to. Comparing to what I remember in the past, the HD650 on this setup was more airy and the treble presence was more than what I can recall. Jamming with Metallica was really nice as I did not detect much of a "Sennheiser veil" with this setup, so it was a nice surprise for me.
^ that purple HD800 cable...looks so awesome!
The AKG K550 sounds somewhat similar to the SRH940 to me but with a smoother treble response and a much better bass response, both in terms of extension and quality. For those of you who don't know what the SRH940 sounds like, it's a very analytical headphone with a forward midrange and is very fast. Unless it was only this specific K550 unit, I can't really recommend the K550 as you should really try it before buying it. I just COULD NOT get a good seal on it...I literally had to push the earcups into my head since the bottom of the earpad would not get a good seal on my head whatsoever (there was always a gap between my head and the earpad). I don't think AKG designed the K550 to conform to a human head. On the other hand, I have a friend who owns and loves the K550, so evidently it does seem to fit the heads of some human beings. >.>
Fit aside, I actually really like the K550's sound.
I will just say this right here, right now: the Ultrasone PRO900 is the worst headphone I've ever heard and I would rather listen to a Beats Solo over it...yeah it's that bad in my honest opinion. I literally could NOT listen to the PRO900 for more than 1 minute because it was so harsh and sibilant (I couldn't even enjoy Lindsey Stirling or Tiësto with them
). The PRO900's earpads were really large for my head...similar to the earpads on the HD800 or K/Q 702/701 (my face is being swallowed by the velour earpads!). I really wish I could enjoy the PRO900's, but the super sharp midrange and sibliance, combined with tons and tons of treble energy just couldn't cut it for me.
I didn't get much of a chance to compare the different Fostex T50RP's head-to-head, but I got to compare the Mad Dogs and the Mayflower to the Crossfade M-100's.
Mad Dogs vs M-100:
The M-100's have more bass in terms of extension and presence, the treble is more rolled-off, the mids were about the same in terms of presentation (laid-back), but M-100's midrange and treble sounded tonally better to my ears, especially the upper-midrange (female vocals, violins, upper piano notes, etc.). On the other hand, the Mad Dogs sounded much more balanced, the soundstage seemed much wider than that of the M-100's, and the noise isolation was really really great. I put the Mad Dogs on my ears on and the background noise was pretty much gone...amazing.
^ that red V-MODA audio-only cable looks really nice in-person; photos don't do it justice
Mayflower vs M-100:
The Mayflower's midrange sounded tonally better than Mad Dogs to my ears, but I still think the M-100's midrange had better tonality. In terms of presentation, the Mayflower had a midrange that was ever-so-slightly more forward than that of the M-100's. On the other hand, the bass and treble of the Mayflower sounded messy to my ears. The Mayflower has nice bass extension, but the bass seemed a bit loose, especially for Massive Attack's
Teardrop song. Likewise, the upper-midrange and treble seemed somewhat sibilant and harsh respectively compared to that of the M-100's. The prominent "sssss" sounds in
Teardrop's lyrics were definitely sibilant to my ears and the higher-note "drum" sounds in the background were fatiguing for me.
I forgot to mention the Audio Technica ATH-W3000ANV. Maaaan those are beautiful! That cherry heartwood is absolutely
stunning to see in-person and they even included some of that wood on the 6.3mm jack. Words cannot describe how strikingly beautiful their appearance is.
Oh, right, about the sound, to me they weren't the most impressive headphone as I found the midrange to be a bit laid-back and warm-sounding. Usually I hear about Audio Technica headphones being well-praised for their rendering of voices/vocals, and I do think they sound good, but the laid-back presentation of the mids seemed like a detraction for me and I didn't feel very engaged with Beth Orton's voice.
