Great meet. Wish I had gotten there sooner but a) I got lost which cost me 1.5 hours and b) I could only leave so early... I got to meet everyone, and it was all great. I didn't get a change to listen to a lot of things, but...
I did get a chance to hear the big boys. The Orpheus was a knockout - by far the best, most musical, and all-around-incredible system I've ever heard, bar none. I liked it best with the HEV90 amp - the lushness and musicality were unbelievable. It just pulled you into the music until you could focus on nothing else. It wasn't the last word in detail, but it didn't have to be. It was also the most speaker-like that I've yet heard a headphone sound - the music was projected in front of you in a very speaker-like fashion, with a near-perfect soundstage, or as perfect as headphones could make it. Classical music was simply live, rock was, well, rocking, and electronica was a trip! Yes, I will have one of these systems, eventually. This was my first encounter with the Orpheus, but it won't be my last!
The Qualia is the most detailed headphone I've ever heard. I totally see what Nik was saying all the time about positioning - it's absolutely vital with these cans. In the right position, they sound full and very neutral; offest them even by a slight amount, and they suddenly sound thin and strident. However, while they are neutral, they are not natural. I don't really know what's wrong, but something definitely is. They just sound weird. I can't really claim what it was that threw me off with so limited an experience with them, so I'll leave it at that. They are, however, superb for electronic music, where being natural isn't important. Their amazing detail and solid impact are precisely what electronic music needs. However, the electronica I had was still better on the Orpheus... I heard these out of an Apogee Mini-DAC; I'll need to hear them with some tubes in order to pass judgement on how natural they are. In any case, I liked them a lot, flaws and all.
I wasn't too thrilled with the R10, but that could have been due to system/amp mismatch. I've tried it out of the Singlepower PPX3, and I thought that it lacked both bass and treble extension. It wasn't lacking in bass per se, and the midrange was very good, but... once again, I'll have to reserve my judgement until I hear them with many different amps and different tubes in them.
I just missed the Omegas. Damn! Oh well, next time!
But the biggest surprise by far was the prototype Hornet. Hot Damn!! Such a tiny thing, and such a huge, rich, forward and aggressive sound! It totally made my UM2's sing, and I would imagine that it would actually give the ER-4S the bass it needs to be balanced. Sign me up for one of these! I also liked it with the K501's - it made a sharp, Ety-like headphone sound full and, well, impactful!. I definitely liked them in that system. The Portaphile (?) prototype was very good as well.
So, a very good meet, and for the next one, I'll scope out the directions beforehand
P.S. I left a CD in either a Cary 303/200 or the player that was hooked up to the Apogee Mini-DAC. The CD is Shpongle's "Twisted." So, if you find it, you know whose it is... PM me, and I'll send you my mailing address and paypal the shipping fees. Feel free to listen to it in the meanwhile, if ambient electronica is your thing
I look forward to the next meet in my area. I didn't get a chance to drop off a donation, but I'll contribute to head-fi, and I think that will make up for things