[Publius]

Everybody but plaidplatypus bailed on the after-meet. Tossers, all of you.

Random impressions. Keep in mind I'm not a particularly picky listener.

1. The Zhaolooser was fine. I'm not really a tube guy at all so I can't comment a whole lot on them.
2. First experience with testing line-out adapters on iPods with outboard headphone amps. The background noise was much less, but I didn't get a whole lot more out of the setup compared to the direct headphone out. Distortion wasn't much improved. It reconfirmed my suspicions that I really should just stick with the internal headphone out.
3. plaidplatypus's Lambda was the first electrostat I ever tried. Definitely a very nice experience. I can resonate with most of the attributes people give them - detailed, strange but smoooth high end, etc. The bass was fine, though. I don't see why people would complain about it.
4. Mini-shoot out between his A900LTD's and my A900s: The LTD bass was considerably improved, but everything else wound up sort of a wash. I think the LTD has less microphonics with the cable (always sort of a problem with the originals). The padding/upholstery on the LTD is a lot better. I would say that the midrange/treble is different, but I could really say that it was better. The change in materials may just be changing the response a bit, but I couldn't convincingly show myself that it was higher or lower.
5. HF-1s were great. What else did you expect?
   
   Definitely a grado sound. I wound up listening more to the Lambdas though, so I'm at a loss for anything more descriptive.
6. Tried a pair of woodied Senn 325s. The bass seemed a bit bloated. Otherwise fine (and good looking).
7. SMA was, as usual, kind of nuts. How many hifi shops have a Hammond organ in the corner?
8. I think I lost a Futurama Season 1 DVD at the meet, so if you managed to get a hold of one, please let me know.

 

[swt61]

The tube amp I had at the meet was the Darkvoice 336. The Zhaolooser was the DAC below it (no tubes). I'm assuming the Lambdas were only present at the after meet gathering, as I never saw them at the meet.
luvdunhill brought a Senn. 650 and an ATH- W1000. I was surprised at how nice the W1000's sounded through the Darkvoice, especially with Jazz. I would have thought low impedance cans would not have been a great match with the Darkvoice, but I've been wrong twice on that idea. The RS-1's I heard through it at the Dallas meet also sounded pretty good.
The other offerings were a pair of HD 580's balanced, another pair of 650's and some AT 900's, All of which I had experienced before. I did get to listen to my K340's through luvdunhills Singlepower PPX3 SLAM, which sounded nice, but just not as good a match as the Darkvoice. It did drive his 650's quite well. While the 650's do have some nice detail, I was again not crazy about the veiled presentation or the soundstage. I experience the same behind a curtain feeling with the balanced 580's. In their defence the K340's have a completely different sound signature that I've grown quite used to in the 21 years I've owned them.
I also got the chance to listen to my new MisterX built maxxed Pint drive the HD 650's. It did a bang up job! I'm very impressed with this little amp. I think I also may have enlarged the K81DJ fan club a bit. There were at least 2 present who were very taken with them.
Givin more time I would have liked to talk more with luvdunhill, and traded out tubes on the Darkvoice with some of the many he brought along. Also got to talk to Schalldämpfer a bit, mostly non headphone related, nice kid. He introduced me to the area around the UT campus, which was a very fun area with some cool shops.
While any headphone meet is a good experience, I'd like to have seen more attendees. Hope we can gather another group together in TX in the near future.

 

[philodox]

The Darkvoice was preferable to the PPX SLAM with the K340's? Nice, that looks to be one damn good amp for the money... I can't wait to hear it.

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox The Darkvoice was preferable to the PPX SLAM with the K340's? Nice, that looks to be one damn good amp for the money... I can't wait to hear it.

Don't get me wrong, the PPX3 Slam is a damn nice amp! And I think I preferred it driving the HD 650's. There's just no getting around the synergy of the Darkvoice/K340 combo. I also think that the tubes in the PPX were taylored to the Senns., And likewise the tubes in the Darkvoice were taylored for K340's. With more time to tube roll and tweak, who knows how things might turn. I did find the PPX much more to my liking with the Zhaolooser in the chain, as opposed to luvdunhill's Meitner. But hey, a 16 y.o. DAC wouldn't be expected to keep up with a new offering.
System synergy comes into play a great deal here. I don't think my system is at all tuned for the Senns. And I thought luvdunhill had done a very good job tweaking his system for his headphones. The bass of the Zhaolooser101 and the Kenrad tube in my Darkvoice is definitely taylored much more to my bass shy K340's. So the playing field wasn't exactly even.

 

[SonicDawg]

Any comparison of the Zhaolooser to other top-ticket DAC's?

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg Any comparison of the Zhaolooser to other top-ticket DAC's?

There wasn't much gear there, but you can read a little about it in the Zhaolooser101 impressions thread.

 

[johntraveler]

First of all this was my first meet, I had a good time but I wished there more time to experiment with different combinations, and to talk more about cabling, amps, and headphones. Two caveats about the following review: I do not have “golden ears” and a meet is not the best environment to hear differences in equipment.

Impressions:

PPX SLAM, I have heard a lot of good things about this amp driving Grado’s and Senn’s and after first hearing my Grado 325’s from this amp I would agree this is a very good amp. The first thing I notice was this powerful and controlled bass I have never heard before from my phones. The top end on the 325i does can get a little harsh and forward depending on the recording but from the amp I did not hear any harshness.

HD650, I own a pair of hd580’s and I love these with balanced connectors directly connected to my benchmark dac1. This was the first time I heard the 650’s and I was quite impressed by how refined they sounded even with stock cables (the bass blot was gone, and that senn veil disappeared). I could not say the same for the 580’s stock. I would say they sounded slightly better than my 580’s balanced. I may have to buy a pair of these in the future and add balanced connectors.

The Darkvoice, I wish I had more time to with this amp but for the price you really can not go wrong. I foresee this amp in inventory in the near future. Even though I preferred the PPX Slam to this amp driving Grado’s the price difference is quite large. This would be a very good amp for someone new to tube amps

Gilmore V2, I have heard a lot of good things on this forum about Gilmore’s and Grado’s. When I first heard the Gilmore with the Grado 325’s I was not very impressed. It was originally connected to an off the shelf CD player. When I connected the Gilmore to the DAC1 it was a whole different beast. I was now hearing many of the things I like about solid state amps (speed, dynamics, and powerful controlled bass). I wish I had more time with this combo.