Okay, I finally got some time to write here.
A big thank you to
BIG POPPA for getting this meet up and running as smoothly as it did. Also, thank you for getting the MOTs all settled in.
Thank you to
barra for bringing the Zana Deux to represent Eddie Current, and the PMx2 to represent Audio Zenith.
Thank you to
bimmer100 for representing Norne Audio.
This was a darn pretty awesome meet overall. There was way too much gear, and too little time. That's usually the case for these meets, but there was really TOO much gear this time around. I only really got to listen to around 3 or 4 rigs, hahaha.
If you haven't seen the videos covering the meet, I've posted them here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/775709/2015-seattle-redhook-meet-impressions#post_11788753
First up was the PMx2. Dang that sounded nice. I previously tried the PM-2 on the OPPO HA-1 and I didn't care for its sound. This time around with the Audio Zenith mods, I thought it sounded a lot more balanced overall in terms of the frequency response. For an OPPO headphone, it sounded quite airy! When I put it on my head and put on some of Yoshi Horikawa's music (awesome electronic music from Bandcamp http://yosihorikawa.bandcamp.com/) from
barra's iPhone, I was pleasantly surprised at its soundstage, driver speed, and instrument separation. Horikawa's "Wandering" track is a great song for exactly that since the song intro reminds me of airy nature recordings *pun intended* and the fast-pacing of the main song is good for seeing how well the drivers can keep up with the transients there. I wish I had gotten more head-time with the PMx2 since it did impress me.
^ that's not me, but it's the best photo of the PMx2 I have
Next up was
atomicbob's rig with the Sennheiser HD650, Mousai MSD192 DAC, and Project Sunrise III. It's always a pleasure talking to
atomicbob and getting more into the science of things. The battery pack/hot transport test run seemed to be quite a success! The HD650 on that particular rig had a really good sense of imaging and instrument separation; amongst the best I've heard from a headphone. Binaural tracks sounded really great on that setup.
^ hot transport battery pack on the left
^ Mousai MSD192 DAC being powered by a
laboratory-grade power supply
After that, I decided to take a listen to the STAX table at the HeadAmp booth. I was excited for HeadAmp to come because 1) I wanted to see what all the talk was about the Blue Hawaii amp and 2) I wanted to directly compare the SR-009 to the SR-207. I honestly didn't like the Blue Hawaii's presentation of sounds from what I heard. I thought the amp was good overall, but the imaging and soundstage seemed odd to me. Utilising the two 580 V STAX plug outputs though, I compared the SR-207 to the SR-009 next to each other. The SR-009 seemed to have a more rounded soundstage next to the SR-207 and overall just seemed more open so to speak. In terms of the frequency response, the SR-009 sounded smoother to me too. However, I was hearing the SR-207 to be able to keep up with music transients better than the SR-009, which I think helps give the sense of better instrument separation.
All things considered, I am perfectly content with the, now, $450 SRS-2170 over the $8300 SR-009+Blue Hawaii.
I had a lot of fun getting to talk to Peter about the STAX headphones in general as well as the HE1000.
^ HeadAmp's vault of headphones
^ Blue Hawaii amp powering the SR-009 and SR-007 MK I (I didn't really like its sound from the Blue Hawaii; I much preferred the sound of the Liquid Lightning)
^ SRS-2170 vs SR-009+Blue Hawaii
^ Blue Hawaii's tubes
^ The rest of the HeadAmp booth with an array of flagship headphones and GS-X amp. That's Peter talking.
About the HE1000, I had my beta unit with me at the meet. I didn't get a chance to compare it to the production unit one at the HeadAmp booth, but I did like its sound coming from the Zana Deux. It made the soundstage narrower to me, which improved the center imaging and I thought had good synergy with the HE1000. My complete HE1000 review based on the beta unit can be found
here.
Actually....those are the only 4 rigs I
really got to listen to. I briefly listened to
Sardonyx's rig with the Alpha Prime and JDS Labs Element. I thought the two sounded great.
I also briefly heard
kdejonge's righ with the HiFiMAN HE-400i and Gustard amp. Not too shabby, but I still don't like HiFiMAN's older bright sound signature.
The main interest for this meet was actually getting to talk to 1964 Ears, and more specifically about the ADEL technology developed by Asius Technologies. Prior to the meet I read up on the relevant patents, research papers, and research paper references to see what I could find about the claims they made in their Kickstarter campaign. When I heard 1964 Ears was going to attend this meet, I was pretty excited. I was more excited to hear that Vitaliy himself was going to come to the meet. However when I went to the meet and Stephen Ambrose of Asius Technologies himself walked through the doors, I literally said out loud "no way....."
I didn't get a chance to talk to Ambrose directly regarding the ADEL technology until the very end of the meet; literally at the time we were packing up the tables and the library was closing. It was really an honour getting the chance to talk to him about the work and research he's done over the years, and being able to connect my educational background to this hobby. It was truly an inspirational event for me. I will definitely be in contact with him in the future. I had the incredible opportunity to give these in-ear earphones a try too, and I seriously look forward to see how this technology evolves in the future.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jCtOmSeLA[/video]
^ 1964 Ears booth. Ambrose is on the left in the above photo.
^ Vitaliy of 1964 Ears having a lot fun doing impressions
^ A12 spec sheet plaque (I didn't listen to the ones at the 1964 Ears booth, but I love
ericr's A12
Miscellaneous photos:
^
bimmer100's beast of a setup
^ Ultrasone ED8 is always pretty to look at
*Pardon the blurry photos this time around. I think my digital camera is at the end of its life cycle.
