[Luminette]

Welcome

I hosted a mini-meet at my place on Saturday, including HeadphoneAddict, Blutarsky, Sherwood, wiatrob and myself. And HeadphoneAddict's son (he has a Stax rig!)


The idea of a small meet was to keep things more accomodating to getting some critical listening done - near impossible to do at full meets. And we did just that

It's much more affordable, too

All in all, it was a good success. A lot was learned, definitely by me and hopefully by all.

Thank yous go out to:

HeadRoom, without whom we would not have had the D7Ks to review

And Drew at Moon-Audio, without whom we would not have had the Senn cables, the Creek, the Shanling nor the iQube (even though we were so caught up in everything else we didn't listen to the amps and hardly the cables - wait for impressions on the much larger meet I'll be attending in Chicago next weekend for impressions on these things)

And Alex at APureSound for the V3 Senn cable

As well as Fungi for most of the portable cans seen in the portable buffet pic below.

And my mother (Aww), for making us a good selection of food and drink

And everyone else for actually showing up and going through the efforts of disassembling, packing, unpacking, assembling, disassembling, packing and then assembling their stuff again once they finally got home. What a pain.


The Melos was stuck on mute because you can't unmute it without the remote, which was left 70 miles behind. Minus cool points for Melos engineering! This was a pretty unbelievable thing that took a while to sink in for us. All were eager to hear. We'll have to wait until next time

I'll shut up and move right into the pics here for you guys - I'll save my comments until after the pics. Sherwood and wiatrob also took some photos so be on the lookout for those when they come (they are surely both much better photographers than I - I just point and click)


[size=small]Photos:[/size]

wiatrob and I started the day off checking out the issue with the power on my overhyped PS1 SCPH-1001 that I thought I may pull out for everyone to give a go

wiatrob's area where we spent time exploring his Soha II build

A little buffet of portable choices and a pair of Bose which I insist are not a choice

The selection of Senn cables - Blue Dragon, Silver Dragon, APureSound V3, Stock HD650, Stock HD600

Creek OBH-21SE, Shanling PH3000, Stock Woo Audio 6

My Oppo HD981-DV I picked up as cheap entry level transport

Headphone buffet

D7000s, V3'd Edition 9, V3'd Edition 9

HD600s, Balanced V2'd D2000s and Germania modified AT700s

Uh. Grados?

This was HeadphoneAddict and Blutarsky's table

And the listening begins

Stello DAC sitting on top of the Melos Gold

The muted Melos

Melos insides

 

[Luminette]

Melos back

The Head Direct EF1 on top of a Singlepower Squarewave XL on top of a Sigma 11 on top of a Sigma 11. A Sony 303 PCDP and the Darkvoice 336i. And the Apogee Mini DAC on the left. And the tiny DAC Larry had that I can't remember the name of but will edit this once he lets me know

Stock WA6 and Maxed WA6 with Sophia and PDPS

The two WA6s and the GES just being so tubey one can't not take a photo

One of the last photos of the night - it was just HeadphoneAddict, Blutarsky and myself left and they were doing the review between the Stello, the Apogee and the Magi-DAC

And snacks etc prepared by my mom

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I can't post everything from my iPhone so I'll be back soon!

 

[bjarnetv]

thats a lot of awsome gear!

fingers crossed for some ef1 vs stock wa6 impressions, as i still havent managed to decide how much to spend on an amp

 

[Luminette]

My impressions/comments from the day - I'll try to go chronologically


Balanced APS V2'd D2000s vs stock D7000s (possibly not fully burnt-in)

Well. I am a D2k person. I have not liked the D5ks in the past. I'd say that the D7ks are more D5k than D2k - but that they are definitely an improvement on the D5ks. I think everyone agreed that a recable was just what the D7ks needed.

The D7k has a lot of bass. But I am not necessarily saying it has too much bass. It goes really deep and has no issues with getting it to resonate/sustain down there, either. What I particularly liked was that the mids also felt pretty strong with these, too. Usually you may expect the low end to overpower the borders with mids but I didn't feel this way (albeit a brief listen for this particularly). The highs on the D7ks weren't as good as the D2k pair - would a recable make up for the difference?

There was more air around the highs in the D2ks, allowing for the superior detailing and particularly decay of things like cymbals. And an overall clearer presence because they weren't crowded at all.

If money is a concern - it's a no brainer: D2ks all the way.

If money isn't a concern - I suggest you go for a pair of recabled D7ks, or wait to hear impressions on them

. I think a Silver Dragon would be the perfect cable for them but I heard interesting and convincing things about the Jena as a choice for these (and closed phones at large).

Still, I have no idea which of the phones I would prefer, then.

If you are already a D5k fan, the D7ks are definitely a relevant one to take interest in.

I have really no experience with the markl mod'd Denons so I can't add anything there.

I would be very interested in hearing more to do with all of these Denon variants (including recabled and/or mod'd d7ks) so as to draw some more finalized conclusions.


Soha II

wiatrob had his Soha II here and after hearing his talk on serious synergy with the Senns (650 and 600s) [I would assume 580s, too] I was ready to hear it.

I am not an HD650 fan - I have always found them to sport crapmuddy laid-back-feeling boomy bass, lack of mids and syrupy-glazed over highs (particularly easy to catch with pianos) all delivered in a dark presentation.

Well, I was really enjoying them out of the Soha II. It didn't really make much sense. But I have to vouch for the way that amp sounds with the 650s (and according to wiatrob, the other hd senns). If you are a 650 person, I currently cannot make you a better recommendation (unless maybe you want to spend 4-8 times the money - but even then..)

I didn't get to listen to it with the 600s but I really plan to the next time we get together. Which I am thinking about trying to make sooner just for this purpose

We did spend some time listening to the Soha II with the D7ks and the Edition 9s, though. The D7ks turned into these feather-bassed super highs-oriented cans (it was pretty strange) and the Ed 9s turned into these bloat-bassed.. things.

Strange stuff.


Edition 9s and the WA6 - both stock and Maxed w/ Sophia

Sound good. Maybe a touch more bassy than I would like - but I was mostly listening to Infected Mushroom (Electronic - Psytrance). But just a touch. It's perhaps more to do with a current inner debate I have between whether I want the V3 on my 9s or the Silver Dragon. It's an issue between bass presence and mids presence. And the 9s lack mids to begin with. But the V3 gives me deeper bass and better resonance capabilities (important for electronic, primarily - but all music imo)

Le sigh

I am very pleased to have my WA6 now for use with the Ed 9s.



Senn cables

I have not had the chance to spend much time at all comparing between the senn cables I have on hand - I just got them and then had to prepare for the meet and never got around to it during the meet. Look for more impressions out of me (and probably Aura) on the Chiun-Fi meet taking place next weekend as I will be traveling to Chicago for that and we both plan to spend some time with those. Also add an Oracle² cable from Enigma Audio to the mix at that point

The one impression I can make so far is that I don't like the Silver Dragon on my HD600s and feel that the V3 is the right cable there for me (reasoning is that the silver just guts the bass too much for me - it's a borderline phone for me in that aspect as it is where I would like a little more)

Stay tuned to Chiun-Fi impressions for Senn cable reviews



WA6 stock vs WA6 w/ PDPS and Sophia


The difference is there, but it's not that easy to pick up. I was only doing back and forth A/Bing and not long sessions where I think it w*ould have become more evident - but I still found it.

The highs are a little more extended - actually to a relevant degree but it seemed more minor with the music I was listening to. If you're a WA6er and listen to classical or female vocalists, get yourself the Sophia for sure.

The bass may have also extended a little lower, too - but it was a hard call to make.

There may have been a slight improvement on fullness to the body of the music overall.

Sorry for the maybes and 'ehhh...' - I'm still training my ears for these things, and I don't want to confirm things that I'm not completely sure about, but if I'm mentioning it as maybe, I am leaning towards it. HeadphoneAddict surely can confirm this better.

It's mostly the Sophia doing this for the amp. I'm just going to get a Sophia for my WA6 and call it a day - skipping out on pdps and the caps upgrade.

Bang for buck is the WA6 itself (with the right basic tube compliment)

A slight extension that, by my judgement gets the last reasonable bang for buck would be adding the Sophia, too.


EF-1 vs Darkvoice 336i vs Starving Student vs WA6

EF-1 beats Darkvoice 336i. Tube selection could have helped the Darkvoice out some - but the EF-1 has it in every regard, I think.

Starving student sounds surprisingly good for price. A Millet hybrid (there is a used one for sale for $150? I think) is the no-brainer choice for an entry level tube amp.

An EF-1 bought used will be my new recommendation for home tube amps for a budget range in that $2-500 area. It was on sale for $300 for a while there but is back to $399 now. Shame - the way they sound and for a price of $300 - these things would be flying and rampaging all over the littledot FOTM bananas (that needs to die, please?)


The WA6 of course wins out over the EF-1 - by how much is hard to define. Whatever I say could be taken as less or more than the difference really is. What I will say is that I think the WA6 is worth it.


Cambridge Magi-DAC vs Apogee Mini DAC vs Stello DA100

Take my impressions with some grain of salt as the bigger part of my perspectives here actually come from having heard the outside noise of someone else wearing the HD600s (lol)

But I did eventually sit down and compare them briefly - in which the perspectives lined up with the preceding!

The Apogee has the definition - it's just a little more than the Stello. I think I would actually prefer the Stello for being able to listen longer without being fatigued by a sharpness?

But - this comes down to how the rest of the system, particularly the headphones, handle the source. Plenty will smooth over that cutting detail aspect and leave you without that as a problem at all (if this is even the kind of thing that may be a problem for you to begin with)

Bang for buck between the two is definitely buying a used Stello

If money wasn't an issue, I'd definitely go for the Apogee and see what final sound I could end up with after headphones and amps/tubes / cables etcetc. If nothing else, I'd then sell it and move for the Stello.

I can't myself say that the Apogee surely would be fatiguing over long periods.. it jusssst depends

As for the Cambridge Magi-DAC. Buying one of these used would be a top recommendation for entry level home source.

It sounds a bit polished.. or.. polite.. or.. processed. It's not as true to the details as either of the other two. But at it's pricepoint, it's not a bad choice. And certainly not a source to give you trouble over long listening periods.



HE60s vs ESP950 vs O2s

The HE60s are the favorite out of them all. Even with the bass lightness, particularly made evident by the O2s, I just find it an easy choice to pick these. The O2s have a darkness that you do acclimate to - but not completely, imo. I just wasn't in love with the O2s.

The ESP950 were, as described by HeadphoneAddict, an electrostatic Grado. I agree. Grados fatigue me quick, and so would these - I didn't let them run long enough to result in actual fatigue but it was easily felt.

I like the HE60s sound but would enjoy something w/ith more low end and perhaps even slightly less upper mid and highs end. I just don't like to neglect my bass.

It's too bad that the HE90s are as expensive as they are

Overall, I don't think I am that much a fan of electrostat sound. There's always something odd and missing to the music. It just doesn't feel that alive for me. Maybe it's the bass. But I still felt this way while listening to a pair of HE90s out of a very top of the line setup from the meet we had here back in August

I don't see myself going down the electrostat path - mostly in that I just don't have the budget to acquire something that isn't appealing enough for me as of yet.

 

[kydsid]

Really looking forward to more impressions on the three dacs.

 

[mrarroyo]

Great pictures and gear! Glad to see the EF1 is getting love. It is an excellent unit in the under $500 category.

 

[Blutarsky]

Big kudos to Jackson for hosting our meet and his Mom for making an incredible range of amazing breads, cakes, pies and brownies. I can't decide whether I preferred the pumpkin bread or the brownies... culinary version of the Grado vs Senn debate. Thanks for a great day!

Ton of impressions but I have only time (at the moment) to lament the Melos remote control misadventure

and somehow missing Larry putting my PS-1s over his HD-600s?

At least they don't smell like Stevie Wonder's hair gel!

More later...

 

[Orcin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminette /img/forum/go_quote.gif WA6 stock vs WA6 w/ PDPS and Sophia It's mostly the Sophia doing this for the amp. I'm just going to get a Sophia for my WA6 and call it a day - skipping out on pdps and the caps upgrade. Bang for buck is the WA6 itself (with the right basic tube compliment) A slight extension that, by my judgement gets the last reasonable bang for buck would be adding the Sophia, too.

Having spent a lot of time critically listening to a stock WA6 vs. a stock WA6SE, I think you have this exactly right. The separation of the power supply in the SE adds some punch and power to the amp. John and Larry say that the pdps mod does the same thing for the WA6. I appreciate having that extra power to listen to the variety of phones that I aspire to own.

However, I can tell you that the most bang for my buck in comparing the two amps was the effect of the Sophia Princess. If I listened to the WA6 with the Princess vs. the WA6SE with the stock Sovtek 5U4G rectifier, I would take the WA6/Princess for any type of music.

I love these Colorado meet reports. Keep up the good work!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I am so exhausted all I have the energy for is to comment on your comments - nothing original here - see my comments in red below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminette /img/forum/go_quote.gif My impressions/comments from the day - I'll try to go chronologically Balanced APS V2'd D2000s vs stock D7000s (possibly not fully burnt-in) Well. I am a D2k person. I have not liked the D5ks in the past. I'd say that the D7ks are more D5k than D2k - but that they are definitely an improvement on the D5ks. I think everyone agreed that a recable was just what the D7ks needed. The D7k has a lot of bass. But I am not necessarily saying it has too much bass. It goes really deep and has no issues with getting it to resonate/sustain down there, either. What I particularly liked was that the mids also felt pretty strong with these, too. Usually you may expect the low end to overpower the borders with mids but I didn't feel this way (albeit a brief listen for this particularly). The highs on the D7ks weren't as good as the D2k pair - would a recable make up for the difference? There was more air around the highs in the D2ks, allowing for the superior detailing and particularly decay of things like cymbals. And an overall clearer presence because they weren't crowded at all. If money is a concern - it's a no brainer: D2ks all the way. If money isn't a concern - I suggest you go for a pair of recabled D7ks, or wait to hear impressions on them . I think a Silver Dragon would be the perfect cable for them but I heard interesting and convincing things about the Jena as a choice for these (and closed phones at large). Still, I have no idea which of the phones I would prefer, then. If you are already a D5k fan, the D7ks are definitely a relevant one to take interest in. I have really no experience with the markl mod'd Denons so I can't add anything there. I would be very interested in hearing more to do with all of these Denon variants (including recabled and/or mod'd d7ks) so as to draw some more finalized conclusions. I also liked the D2000 more than D7000, regardless of single ended or balanced (4-pin XLR with adapters), but I didn't think the D7000 were bad either. The D7000 actually had much better bass control than either of the 2 pair of D5000 I have listened to in the past, with the same rich mids, but with what seemed like less than optimal treble sparkle. With the WA6 and Infected Mushroom either one could rattle my teeth, something none of the stats could do. Instrument timbre and tone were good, and I thought both were detailed well enough. My memory says the D7000 went nuts with absolutely huge bass on the SOHA II, just like the Edition 9, so I am confused about your "feather-weight" comment below. Soha II wiatrob had his Soha II here and after hearing his talk on serious synergy with the Senns (650 and 600s) [I would assume 580s, too] I was ready to hear it. I am not an HD650 fan - I have always found them to sport crapmuddy laid-back-feeling boomy bass, lack of mids and syrupy-glazed over highs (particularly easy to catch with pianos) all delivered in a dark presentation. Well, I was really enjoying them out of the Soha II. It didn't really make much sense. But I have to vouch for the way that amp sounds with the 650s (and according to wiatrob, the other hd senns). If you are a 650 person, I currently cannot make you a better recommendation (unless maybe you want to spend 4-8 times the money - but even then..) I didn't get to listen to it with the 600s but I really plan to the next time we get together. Which I am thinking about trying to make sooner just for this purpose We did spend some time listening to the Soha II with the D7ks and the Edition 9s, though. The D7ks turned into these feather-bassed super highs-oriented cans (it was pretty strange) and the Ed 9s turned into these bloat-bassed.. things. Strange stuff. Wierd, I didn't hear that, and both Ed 9 and D7000 sounded very good with the SOHA II, and bass was pounding. You have me questioning my sanity and recall of what I heard. I passed on the HD650 - been there done that. Edition 9s and the WA6 - both stock and Maxed w/ Sophia Sound good. Maybe a touch more bassy than I would like - but I was mostly listening to Infected Mushroom (Electronic - Psytrance). But just a touch. It's perhaps more to do with a current inner debate I have between whether I want the V3 on my 9s or the Silver Dragon. It's an issue between bass presence and mids presence. And the 9s lack mids to begin with. But the V3 gives me deeper bass and better resonance capabilities (important for electronic, primarily - but all music imo) Le sigh I am very pleased to have my WA6 now for use with the Ed 9s. I listened to this combo with more music selections than infected mushroom, including those with real instruments and vocals. I thought the Edition 9 bass sounded fine with both, with an edge to the maxed with Sophia Princess. I did discover someone was listening to the Edition 9 with both amp's impedance set for 100-600 by accident, but I don't know if that had anything to do with what you heard before I corrected the problem. Senn cables I have not had the chance to spend much time at all comparing between the senn cables I have on hand - I just got them and then had to prepare for the meet and never got around to it during the meet. Look for more impressions out of me (and probably Aura) on the Chiun-Fi meet taking place next weekend as I will be traveling to Chicago for that and we both plan to spend some time with those. Also add an Oracle² cable from Enigma Audio to the mix at that point The one impression I can make so far is that I don't like the Silver Dragon on my HD600s and feel that the V3 is the right cable there for me (reasoning is that the silver just guts the bass too much for me - it's a borderline phone for me in that aspect as it is where I would like a little more) Stay tuned to Chiun-Fi impressions for Senn cable reviews WA6 stock vs WA6 w/ PDPS and Sophia The difference is there, but it's not that easy to pick up. I was only doing back and forth A/Bing and not long sessions where I think it w*ould have become more evident - but I still found it. The highs are a little more extended - actually to a relevant degree but it seemed more minor with the music I was listening to. If you're a WA6er and listen to classical or female vocalists, get yourself the Sophia for sure. The bass may have also extended a little lower, too - but it was a hard call to make. There may have been a slight improvement on fullness to the body of the music overall. Sorry for the maybes and 'ehhh...' - I'm still training my ears for these things, and I don't want to confirm things that I'm not completely sure about, but if I'm mentioning it as maybe, I am leaning towards it. HeadphoneAddict surely can confirm this better. It's mostly the Sophia doing this for the amp. I'm just going to get a Sophia for my WA6 and call it a day - skipping out on pdps and the caps upgrade. Bang for buck is the WA6 itself (with the right basic tube compliment) A slight extension that, by my judgement gets the last reasonable bang for buck would be adding the Sophia, too. I don't disagree with anything you said - I was getting burned out by this time and everything was starting to sound good. Your stock WA6 sounds really good! EF-1 vs Darkvoice 336i vs Starving Student vs WA6 EF-1 beats Darkvoice 336i. Tube selection could have helped the Darkvoice out some - but the EF-1 has it in every regard, I think. Starving student sounds surprisingly good for price. A Millet hybrid (there is a used one for sale for $150? I think) is the no-brainer choice for an entry level tube amp. An EF-1 bought used will be my new recommendation for home tube amps for a budget range in that $2-500 area. It was on sale for $300 for a while there but is back to $399 now. Shame - the way they sound and for a price of $300 - these things would be flying and rampaging all over the littledot FOTM bananas (that needs to die, please?) The WA6 of course wins out over the EF-1 - by how much is hard to define. Whatever I say could be taken as less or more than the difference really is. What I will say is that I think the WA6 is worth it. Re: EF1 (no dash in the name): I felt both the stock and maxed WA6 had a bigger wider soundstage than the EF1, but the maxed with Sophia was the best of the three. The EF1 impressed with it's good power output and control, and versatility with all the cans we threw at it. The EF1 has over 500 hours on it now, and it beat the 336i with Grado, Denon and Edition 9, and even beat the 336i with the HD600 even though that has always been the 336i's strong point. The best the 336i sounded was paired with the HD600, and I had a few comments about the incredible bass the combo put out with Infected Mushroom. I think most of us also liked the Millett Starving Student more than the DV336i with everything but Sennheiser. It was very smooth and refined and musical - but I haven't actually studied the sound to see if it is detailed or powerful. Most of my Millett listening at the meet was with the PS-1 and it did very well with those. With the Darkvoice 336i, I had a $70 JAN CRC RCA 5692 redbase and JAN CRC RCA 6AS7G ($30) in it, and basically it was tuned for the HD600 and nothing else sounded as fantastic on the 336i. For the Ediiton 9 and D2000 the 336i needed the Sylvania "bad boy" or Sylvania VT-231 in front, and a Tung Sol 5998 in the rear - I had a Tung Sol with me but forgot the front tube, so I didn't try changing the one. The RS-1 usually need the Tung Sol 5998 in the rear with either the Hytron 5692 or RCA grey glass in front. That's why I have $600 in tubes for the 336i, to match with specific headphones. Cambridge Magi-DAC vs Apogee Mini DAC vs Stello DA100 Take my impressions with some grain of salt as the bigger part of my perspectives here actually come from having heard the outside noise of someone else wearing the HD600s (lol) But I did eventually sit down and compare them briefly - in which the perspectives lined up with the preceding! The Apogee has the definition - it's just a little more than the Stello. I think I would actually prefer the Stello for being able to listen longer without being fatigued by a sharpness? But - this comes down to how the rest of the system, particularly the headphones, handle the source. Plenty will smooth over that cutting detail aspect and leave you without that as a problem at all (if this is even the kind of thing that may be a problem for you to begin with) Bang for buck between the two is definitely buying a used Stello If money wasn't an issue, I'd definitely go for the Apogee and see what final sound I could end up with after headphones and amps/tubes / cables etcetc. If nothing else, I'd then sell it and move for the Stello. I can't myself say that the Apogee surely would be fatiguing over long periods.. it jusssst depends As for the Cambridge Magi-DAC. Buying one of these used would be a top recommendation for entry level home source. It sounds a bit polished.. or.. polite.. or.. processed. It's not as true to the details as either of the other two. But at it's pricepoint, it's not a bad choice. And certainly not a source to give you trouble over long listening periods. Admit it - not once when listening to all those amps in my rig did you complain of being fatigued by the Apogee. That detail is what helped you to hear the difference between the two WA6, or the EF1 and Darkvoice, etc. It was certainly never edgy to me. I had written up my own comments about the three DAC, which I'll paste in below: "We compared it to the Apogee mini-DAC with sigma 11 PSU and Stello DA100. We used optical input at 16/44.1 and 24/96 with a Linn master recording, and XLR out with ALO SXC XLR cables (or Silver RCA IC). We all thought it sounded very good and it's frequency response, tone and soundstage were very good. But (yeah, you knew that was coming), it was a little soft around the edges and slightly slow on the attacks, and there was not quite as much micro-detail as the Apogee and Stello. We were starting to get burned out by the time we finished listened to these three DAC at the end of the meet, but nevertheless we could hear the differences before everything started to sound the same 30 minutes later (forcing us to rest out ears for a while). It is worth $400 for all it's features, and we did try all three filters, with the one on top having the best attack, but we did not get to spend a lot of time getting familiar with the three filters and different genre and material. The same $400 gets a Headroom Micro DAC that has less features and similar sound (from memory - we didn't have it on hand). Based on what we heard, the Cambridge DACmagic sounds closer to the Apogee and Stello DA100 than it does my CD5001 analog output, although my CD5001 analog out is also pretty good to start with. The Apogee with sigma 11 PSU was a little sharper or more well defined than the Stello, but the Stello was very relaxing without feeling like it was losing or missing anything. I thought both were within a few percentage points of each other and only slightly preferred the Apogee - I'd be happy with either Stello if I didn't already have the Apogee. I'd be happy with the Cambridge if I hadn't heard better." HE60s vs Koss ESO950 vs O2s The HE60s are the favorite out of them all. Even with the bass lightness, particularly made evident by the O2s, I just find it an easy choice to pick these. The O2s have a darkness that you do acclimate to - but not completely, imo. I just wasn't in love with the O2s. The ESP950 were, as described by HeadphoneAddict, an electrostatic Grado. I agree. Grados fatigue me quick, and so would these - I didn't let them run long enough to result in actual fatigue but it was easily felt. I like the HE60s sound but would enjoy something w/ith more low end and perhaps even slightly less upper mid and highs end. I just don't like to neglect my bass. It's too bad that the HE90s are as expensive as they are Overall, I don't think I am that much a fan of electrostat sound. There's always something odd and missing to the music. It just doesn't feel that alive for me. Maybe it's the bass. But I still felt this way while listening to a pair of HE90s out of a very top of the line setup from the meet we had here back in August I don't see myself going down the electrostat path - mostly in that I just don't have the budget to acquire something that isn't appealing enough for me as of yet.

Blutarsky and I also like the HE60 the most. Fortunately the Woo GES lends enough bass to the HE60 that you don't get smacked upside the head with the absence of it, like with SR-5 or SR-3. The ESP950 are when you want "punchy and fun" in an electrostatic headphone, but they are too forward to rely on as your only Stat. I regret not pulling out the SR-Lambda Signature now, and then you'd hear a little etch on the upper mids with those, that makes the ESP950 sound smooth. Also, I really liked the SR-Lambda at the meet as they had good bass, tremendous detail while remaining smooth sounding, and with bigger soundstage than ESP950. On the SRM-T1 that Sherwood brought, the SR-Lambda sounded better than the SR-007 Mk2 on that same amp. The GES maxed is even better with the SR-Lambda, and while the O2 were disappointing to me on the SRM-T1, they are definitely usable on the GES. The O2 are definitely interesting, because the more you listen to them, the more "right" they sound. They are not suitable for quick A/B testing.

 

[wiatrob]

I'm still doing chores, but I'll post pics and words within the next 24 hours or so!

 

[dBel84]

Now that was some mini-meet.

Thanks for the great impressions. I am going to have to get to hear some of the electrostatic flavours at some point. Better yet Larry, lets light a fire under Smeggy

and you can let us know how the SFI's sound in relation to the gear.

I would have been very surprised to hear that any headphone capable of producing bass would be lean sounding with the SOHA II, there seems to be dissent in the ranks

..dB

 

[wiatrob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now that was some mini-meet... I would have been very surprised to hear that any headphone capable of producing bass would be lean sounding with the SOHA II, there seems to be dissent in the ranks ..dB

We'll have to do some more listening - but the change in the 7000s was eyebrow raising when Blutarsky and I discovered it.

Superior presentation with 600s and 650s with esotreric cables...

We also A/B'd the SOHA II vs SOHA I with Jisbos. I didn't have a chance to put the same tubes in, but we both felt that the bottom end of the II was much enhanced in a difficult to describe way - More defined? More Controlled?

I'm thinking about taking the Denon plunge - hell after this meet, I'm thinking about taking the ELECTROSTATIC plunge :^)

More to follow...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiatrob /img/forum/go_quote.gif We'll have to do some more listening - but the change in the 7000s was eyebrow raising when Blutarsky and I discovered it. Superior presentation with 600s and 650s with esotreric cables... We also A/B'd the SOHA II vs SOHA I with Jisbos. I didn't have a chance to put the same tubes in, but we both felt that the bottom end of the II was much enhanced in a difficult to describe way - More defined? More Controlled? I'm thinking about taking the Denon plunge - hell after this meet, I'm thinking about taking the ELECTROSTATIC plunge :^) More to follow...

I am 95% sure the weak bass on D7000/SOHA II was gone by the time I listened to them. I don't remember hearing anything with poor bass out of that amp. Nobody actually said to me, "The D7000 have no bass with the SOHA II". They said, "You wont believe this, you gotta hear the D7000 on the SOHA II". So I listened and heard pounding monster-bass like an Edition 9 and was going "Wow". And you peeps thought I was surprised at the lack of bass, but it was the other way around for me.

So, did you ever get to listen to the classical guitar and baroque music on the O2? It was sooo good. BTW, Larryminator's HE60/HEV70 are down to $1850 now! If you need the $20 back on the balanced XLR IC's to buy his HE60, let me know. I'll help feed your addiction.

 

[ISALULA]

Nice set of gear you had there !

Thanks for the pics and impressions