I'll give some impressions I suppose.
NAD CD Player (forget which model)
XLR1's NAD Cd player was impressive and well built. It responded quickly to commands and had a fantastic mild warm sound to it. A great counter to my lush and velvety smooth MiniMax. The Nad gave more information, the MiniMax gave a little less, but presented that information in a smoother, silkier way.
Meier Opera (No built in DAC)
Oh how much I love Meier amps. So transparent and powerful. Built like a WWII tank. Great warm sound too, but again, not as warm as my XP-7, which is how a Meier should sound!
HD800s
At the recent Head-Fi meet hosted by Travis, I dismissed the 800s. I thought them to bright with no real deep bass. But that turned out to be a system mismatch I suppose. On my system, and Steve’s (XLR1), I found our warm sounding systems really tamed them well. The warmth of our rigs complimenting the brightness of the 800’s.
T1
While I did like them, and find them more comfortable than the 800s, their natural warmth, at least when compared to the 800s, was simply to much of a good thing on my rig. However, I believe Steve said that he though they sounded best on my rig. I the opposite, think they sound best on his rig. Over all I preferred the 800s, but not by much, and when considering wearability, might shift over to the T1s.
Monster RCAs
I actually felt these worked well with his system. Quality construction meets good sound, and at a great price too.
MDR-V6
These were my find of the meet. I simply loved these cans. They felt great on my head, they sounded nice and smooth, and gave vocals the royal treatment. These I will own someday.
I also smoked my first cigar, and actually enjoyed it. The brandy helped too. Relaxing indeed.
Thanks a billion Steve. Hope we can do this again when we get more gear
Kevin
