Finally getting around to writing up some of my impressions because I've been in recovery mode haha.
Anyway first I want to say thank you Schiit for sponsoring our meet! As always, it was awesome and I always love having Schiit gear here. The Rag2 is one of my favorite, versatile amps. I think the Lyr+ is a small step up from my Lyr3 though I wish the high gain wasn't less than the prior revision. But in technicalities, I think it is a small step forward and the ability to swap between tube and SS is so nice. Thank you so much for the giveaway. A happy community member went home with a Bifrost 2/64.
Secondly, I'd like to thank the manufacturers who worked with us to either exhibit their gear or send us demos: HIFI FOR ALL, ETA, NITSCH, ampsandsound, STAX, ZMF, Wells Audio, Enleum, and Modhouse. Thank you ZMF for the BOKEH giveaway. A very happy community member went home. All smiles there. HIFI FOR ALL and NITSCH, thank you for the giveaway goodies. Hats and headphone stands, everyone loves those!
Lastly, I'd like to thank our community members for bringing their gear to the meet to show and tell. Thanks to our volunteers who helped set up, tear down or watch the tables when needed. And thanks to the community who just showed up to take part. You all were so nice and kind and I got to talk to a lot of you. Many enjoyable conversations were had.
Onto my impressions:
HIFI FOR ALL:
On man that new headphone project is absolutely killer. I love the thought of being able to construct or build this on my own in the future. Modifying it however I want or implementing your own ideas. It seems like such a cool idea. Remembering how it last sounded at the mini meet in November to where it is now, it has been such a huge step! It feels a lot better. More refined and far more comfortable. And the sound is really impressive! It sounds far more full and the tonality is far better! I really like it! I think it's a really good baseline now for everyone else to be able to treat it like an open source platform. I really can't wait to see other people's modding efforts when that side finally takes off.
ETA:
Tried out the new Ada. I think it is a good, affordable headphone. I think I still like the mini C the most. This new headphone has good tonality though it isn't technically as good. I saw the price after the meet and I think it is quite competitive. I do love the purple prototype though. The technicalities on it are really good. Very good dynamics and soundstage from that headphone.
NITSCH:
I mean I've tried the Pietus Maximus now a few times over and every time I've been brought to smile. I love the warm little beast. It's definitely a tubey take on solid state. It is not meant to be an uber resolving amplifier. That being said, if you liked the piety but wished for more power and some more clarity and resolve, it does that without trading anything away. There is no loss in the sense of warmth and tubey-ness with the increase in clarity or resolution. It's just a straight improvement in every way. And I think it pairs extremely well with the Meze Empyrean. Any headphone where you'd want a more relaxed presentation with a hit of additional warmth is probably going to pair well with it.
ampsandsound:
I had a chance to briefly listen to the Kenzie. It was a very enjoyable, tube experience. It's definitely smooth but doesn't give up much in terms of dynamics or resolution. It's not the most tubey implementation, so if that's what you're looking for, you probably should look elsewhere. It's more warm-neutral. Reminds me of a very very grown up version of the valhalla. But warmer than that too.
ZMF:
I gave the BOKEH and the Homage a try. At first I tried out the BOKEH on a solid state amp and didn't quite like it. It doesn't do anything wrong in particular. It just didn't take me. It's clearly not as resolving as other ZMF offerings. And it's not particularly warm. It's fine. But when paired with a tube or even the Homage (more on that in a second), it smoothens out and becomes mid focused. It sounds very nice and intimate. Its a very enjoyable listen. I definitely understand the appeal. That being said, the Homage is very impressive. It sounds like a tube headphone. I had to double check that it was solid state. It definitely sounds at least like it's a hybrid (despite it not being so). It's also way way lighter than it would appear. I really like it.
Enleum:
The HPA-23RM is soooooo good with planars. I had a chance to run the RD-4 and LCD-4 off it and I love it. It's clear, resolving, dynamic, and the extension is deep in both directions. I have nothing bad to say about it at all other than it is a beast in portable form. I had been told that it could run a tungsten but don't personally feel like it does that well. I think for anything with really deep bass it kind of let's the drivers get a little floppy. But the tungsten is kind of it's own thing.
Modhouse:
Speaking of the tungsten, the single sided blew me away. I want one. Badly. It's very very good. I really like it. It sounded a little V shaped to me but the tonality and timbre were spot on for me. The brights were just a touch too bright to me but that's probably just me. I am usually treble sensitive anyway. Paired with the Ferrum stack, it took on a warmer, deep rumble with some relaxed highs. While I really liked that sound, I think the dynamics were just a little held back but not by much. It's like 95% and I can definitely see someone preferring this pairing. I also tried it on the Wells Audio Head trip and felt that was a little too mid focused, which rolled off the bass and highs a little not to my liking. I know some above said they didn't prefer the Rag2 pairing, but I did. I thought it gave it the most dynamic sounding, especially at higher volumes (which I am prone to listening at for short period of time). It can get a little glaring at times at higher volumes, but I think that's more the Rag2 than the headphone. Overall, I prefer it with the Rag2. I am very curious about the double sided version and need to hear one of those before pulling the trigger on one or the other.
The AB1266TC also caught my eye. I had a chance to listen to it at CanJam SoCal and while I enjoyed it, something about the timbre and the tonality weren't quite on point for me. It was a little more of the same this time. I appreciate that deep and detailed bass but something about the highs doesn't sound right to me.
The ES-1a was a standout for me. I'm not usually a big electrostatic fan. And while this didn't produce those deep, impactful bass notes I love, the resolution, speed and amazing highs were astounding. It was a great pairing with the Woo 3ES. ALMOST makes me want an e-stack but not quite.
RD-4 is always, always my favorite listen. Something about how the extension in the bass feels so real to me while the highs don't come off as recessed so the whole tonality of the headphone feels balanced to me. Usually when something has the "right" (my bass-head version) of bass, it usually comes with a V shape and the highs kill me. But this is not the case with the RD-4. And the timbre sounds just right to me. The stock LCD-4 does not have nearly the same resolution. Rhythmdevils pulls out everything from this driver and more than I thought was there. It's truly amazing. I love it.
