[ayt999]

so we had a meet. at my apartment. (for the third weekend in a row.)

the people present were zbuddah, Scrith, utep10, NeilPeart, and ayt999 of course. a great bunch of people. (IMO)

only problem was most of the gear present was mine so I didn't get to listen to too many new equipment.

items such as the K1000, t-amp, DAC1 (with a HD650 with Zu balanced cable permanently attached), DAC1 (without headphones permanently attached), and a Qualia with red earpads (who knows, maybe the color of the earpads affects the sound) were brought over by the crew from San Jose / Redwood City... but I wasn't too fond with their sound so didn't give them a nice listen. trying to listen to the headphones before NeilPeart took a picture of me with headphones such as the K1000 on added to the lack of listening on my part.

 

[ayt999]

so anyways, as usual, my contribution to the meet thread will appear mainly in the form of pictures.

zbuddah trying out NeilPeart's KSC-75-in-a-beanie

owner of the beanie

NeilPeart apparently is a small

okay, which headphone is NOT mine

NeilPeart taking pictures of people other than me

Scrith, you are too tall (or NeilPeart is too short)

messy rack

high Qualia / person ratio

looking good utep10

Scrith has nice posture

my three most expensive cans

K1000?

 

[utep10]

First off, thanks to ayt999 for hosting for the third week in a row, though, this was the only one I was invited to

. Thanks to Scrith for the ride up and NeilPeart for the navigation through treacherous Berkeley. Me and zbuddah just hung in the back.

I really enjoyed the Qualia and Orpheus(HE90) shootout. Both were superb performers and it really comes down to your tastes. The Qualia was fast and very revealing with the Gilmore Balanced Reference and the Orpheus (on the Blue Hawaii) were a tad maybe two tads warmer then the Qualia. The Qualia really excelled with the fast techno music that Scrith brought and the Orpheus excelled with the vocals and acoustic instruments. The R10 is somewhere in between the two for me.

Also the combination of cable upgrade and going balanced was quite notable on both the Qualia and the HD650. Someone hopefully can fill in the details there.

Best part was seeing old friends (NeilPeart and ayt999) and meeting new ones (Scrith and zbuddah). Can't wait for ayt999's next meet (next week?).
Hope I got the right terms for everything.

The one setup I didn't get to spend alot of time with was the K1000 and T-amp. I'm sure I'll get another chance real soon.

 

[ayt999]

Bruce, I would have invited you to the others, but the first one was supposed to be NeilPeart coming over to drop my stuff off which turned into a meet with gsferrari, NeilPeart, and me... and the second one was a very small one where KurtW came over mainly to pick up something I bought for him. you didn't miss much.

Blue Hawaii = electrostatic amp
Balanced Reference = dynamic amp
you have the amps mixed up there.

as for a meet next week, I think I am a bit exhausted from the previous three and want a weekend without visitors for once.

 

[Scrith]

Thanks to ayt999 for hosting (and providing most of the equipment for) a great meet.

My quick impressions:

The Qualia w/ Alex's balanced custom silver cable sounds better than the stock cable in general, but it's a bit of a trade off...stronger bass and highs, weaker mids. I am really interested in hearing/buying a balanced Qualia cable made with copper or copper/silver (or palladium?!?), which might give you the crisp highs without losing the some of the flavor of the mids.

Both of the Qualias (with around 300 hours each) sounded great in comparison to the HE90. They are more detailed, have better bass, and are much more responsive. They do not have the magic mids of the HE90, but I consider this sound the HE90s make as colorized...it sounds unrealistically warm in the mids, which does make voices sound very friendly. But there's no question in my mind that as soon as you take off the Qualias and put on another headphone, you are losing detail and speed...especially when listening to high resolution audio (like the SACD we tried).

The balanced HD650 (driven by the DAC1) sounded excellent as well. I think this is the best bang for the buck in the high-end headphone market. It was definitely better than the standard HD650 we had driven off the regular outputs of the DAC1.

The R10 is a great headphone. But there is no doubt in my mind that Sony did the right thing by retiring it and replacing it with the Qualia.

The Gilmore Reference Amp was very good...but the DAC1 did a decent job driving my standard Qualias as well. This is not as huge a win as I thought it would be...I think there is definitely something to be said by the combination of a DAC and (mini) headphone amp in the DAC1; it takes a extremely good amp to make up for the fact that you are sending the output of the DAC1 to something else to be amplified. I am really curious about the possibility of driving Qualias with a balanced cable from the DAC1's balanced output.

The L3000 sounded very good. I'd rank it somewhere between the R10 and the Omega (with the Omega bringing up the lower end).

The Accuphase DP85 is awesome. If it played DVD Audio I would have to find a way to convince my wife to let me buy one, I think.

The K1000 "headphone" sounded good. But I think you can find even better speakers to strap to your head, if that is your cup of tea. My idea was to buy some really good bookshelf speakers and hang them from the ceiling in such a way that they are pointed at your head while you are sitting in your favorite headphone listening position.

Thanks again everyone (especially ayt999 for hosting) for a great mini-meet.

 

[NeilPeart]

I think Bruce was referring to the Orpheus, not the Omega II when he mentioned the comparison (we compared the Omega II to the HE90 briefly, but not with the Qualia). I had a blast as usual, and the people were the reason, not the gear. Both Qualias sounded great, and Alex's was much-improved since the last time. I noticed better bass impact and wider soundstage and treble expansion with the balanced Qualia vs. the stock Qualia. However, I preferred the stock Qualia's midrange (especially vocals) with the stock Qualia over the balanced one, but I attribute this to the stock cable's use of copper and the balanced Qualia's silver cable. The differences between the Qualia from the Benchmark DAC1 amp and the Gilmore Balanced Reference weren't immediately apparent, believe it or not, but they were noticeable after some listening (more bass impact and an extended treble are what I heard). However, I'm sure a longer listening period would reveal more differences between the $150 DAC1 amp and $2000 Balanced Reference. Chris’ upcoming balanced Dynahi and Zu cable upgrade (yes for the Qualia

) will only improve the Qualia's already excellent sound. While I appreciate the Qualia's detail and resolution with trance and electronica, I still prefer the Orpheus for most of my listening, especially with organic instruments and vocals - the HE90 simply presents the midrange so effectively and emotionally that one cannot help but be enamored by the seductive singing of Madeleine Peyroux. My 'phone rankings from the meet:

1. Sennheiser HE90
2. Sony Qualia 010 (yes I prefer it to the R10 with the gear present; Alex’s upcoming SDS-XLR may change this)
3. Sony MDR-R10
4. Sennheiser HD650+Balanced Zu Mobius
5. AKG K1000
6. Audio-Technica ATH-L3000 (the only AT ‘phone worth listening to, IMO)
7. Sennheiser HD650 (stock)
8. Stax SR-007 (Omega II)
9. Grado HP-2
10. Grado PS-1

Thanks for a kick-@ss evening guys.

 

[zbuddah]

Sup you guys I had a blast and my ears were certainly enjoying it!
Man it was alot to take in last time I had seen this many headphones was at the World of Headphones tour years ago

.
Most enjoyable headphone for me hahah apparantly was the he90,next up came the r10/qualia, then the L3000. I think for me the biggest shocker was the K-1000 I really did not expect it to sound that great, that mentallity went out the window when I put on these ear speakers. It sounded pretty darn good certainly doesn't sound like a headphones maybe cuz it isn.... ???? is it? I dunno

The t-amp was pretty cool to see in person I'm surprised that thing is suppose to be able to power speakers!

Ah yes the qualia vs he90 I think I favored the HE90 sound to the qualia not that the qualia were bad by any means just different. My ears don't have much of any experience beyond hd600's but as detailed as the qualia was I found myself enjoy the he90 a bit more. Don't hurt me chris

jk

Thanks for the meet it was great meeting some headfiers from around the bay area. My ears had a blast experiencing some new phones, and I had a blast hanging out with some new people. Thanks everybody

 

[NeilPeart]

Some pictures:

The Crew (left to right): Alex (ayt999), Andy (zbuddah), Chris (Schris), Bruce (utep10)

Which is better? hint: I’m wearing it

Cans Pictured:
AKG K 1000
Audio-Technica ATH-W100
Audio-Technica ATH-W11JPN
Audio-Technica ATH-W2002
Audio-Technica ATH-L3000
Grado HP-2 w/JGUWB cable
Grado PS-1 Pro
Sennheiser HD 650+Zu Mobius XLR
Sennheiser HD 650 (stock cable)
Sennheiser HE 90 (Orpheus)
Sony MDR-Crap Cans
Sony MDR-R10
Sony Qualia 010 (red pads and stock cable)
Sony Qualia 010 (blue pads and XLR cable)
Stax SR-007 (Omega II)

Qualia’s Carbon Fiber

Qualia Blue

Qualia Red

Qualias Lookin’ Pretty

Qualia driven by Gilmore Balanced Reference via Alex’s homegrown silver-braided XLR cables

Stax SR-007 on Stax HPS-2 stand

The mighty Accuphase DP-85

DAC1s

DAC1 with Zu Mobius-XLR

Sennheiser HE 90 is a Hottie!

 

[utep10]

Thanks for straightening me out. The Orpheus (HE90) and the Qualia's were the stars this time. Between these two, could we consider the Qualia's a bargain at their price?

 

[zbuddah]

If I remember correctly Alex told me the he90 was at $6,000, correct me if I'm wrong Alex , vs. the $2,600+tax qualia, I certainly think the qualia would be a bargain vs the HE90. They are pretty close in competition but theres like 2.xX difference in price. If I had 3 grand to spend on a qualia would I save it to buy an HE90? probably not haha.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 okay, which headphone is NOT mine

Is this a trick question?

-Ed

 

[ayt999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Is this a trick question? -Ed

no, there are three headphones in the picture that are not mine.

 

[raif]

a qualia, k1000, and the sennheiser


what do I win?!?!

[size=xx-small]man I wish I could have been there[/size]

 

[ayt999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raif what do I win?!?!

an invitation to the next meet, whenever that is.

 

[Edwood]

What? You don't have the K1000's?

LOL, I thought you were collecting them all?