[Ishcabible]

I took a few really bad pictures:

 

 

 

 
No idea how they turned out so poorly, but whatever!
 
Stuff on my end: My SEX broke, so that was upsetting because I wanted to compare it to the Crack.
 
The HE1000 was what impressed me the most, conditionally. I heard the HE1000 at Nashua and was incredibly disappointed by it. It lacked dynamics and sounded compressed overall. Out of the Deckard I wasn't particularly impressed but I did hear some treble, but out of the EHHA they came alive. They have great presence, though I still heard some congestion.
 
The PM2X is a fantastic headphone--imagine an HD600 without the aggressive upper mids and tighter bass. I'm seriously considering sending in my PM2 to get modded.
 
The Grace M7XX has never been my favorite piece of equipment as it's on the warmer side and I've only ever used warm headphone with it, but with the HE400i, it's a really good combination. The Grace tames the highs of the 400i quite nicely, but its bass seemed a little underpowered.
 
I'd never heard the Valhalla, so hearing the HD650 with the Val2 and Bimby was something I was really was excited to hear, and I was not disappointed. I feel like I'd be totally content with a 650, Val2, and even a regular Bifrost.
 
Speaking of the HD650, a fully modded one is something I probably would enjoy music more with than the HD800. I'd definitely miss the detail though. 
 
I owned a TH-X00 in the past and didn't like it much. Unfortunately, I still didn't like it much.
 
The Anax 2.0 modded HD800 was the most surprising headphone of the meet--it was almost too warm.
 
The Blackwood was just as good as I remember. I can't think of another <$1000 closed headphone I'd rather have.
 
I'm surprised how well the Talos (friend's modded T50RP) held up. I said in the past to him I like it more than the X00 from memory, and yesterday confirmed it.

 

[JoshMo]

 

 

 

 

 
Headphones:
 
AKG 7XX: Always had an unfair bias against the AKG 7XX's as they are probably over described in the various forums, but for the money I think they are a very capable headphone. I don't know how well they scale, but they sounded pretty damn good on a tube amp which warmed them up enough for my liking. 
 
HD800 3 different mods - @porkfried Anax 2.0 Modded, @Ishcabible with his own resonators and the latest greatest rug liner, and mine with a cork mod, the french resonator and thick rug liner. Anax 2 modded sounded super bassy (too dark? maybe lost a bit of resolution) on the valhalla 2, but quite a bit drier on the crack + SB. My modded sounded drier on the valhalla 2 and warmer and smooth on the crack + sb. Go figure. Really liked kyle's home made resonator. Great job. Should have compared these to my 800's more but I was too busy gabbing it up like a middle school aged girl.
 
LCD 3: Meh. LCD anything aren't my thing. Look great, look comfortable, but sounded worse than my HD650's. Did not try the LCD-XC that was there (should have)
 
Grado GS1000: Double Meh. Grado's aren't my thing. Like the looks and they appear lightweight, but those pads are like wearing a headband made from sandpaper.
 
PMx2's: These sounded fantastic and build quality was top notch. Liked them alot. Fast, clean, neutral, but remained fun and musical. Just enough of everything I like, nothing that I didn't. Polar oppo-site (HAHAHAHAA, get it) of Enigma's below. I could listen to these all day everyday, or have them be my only pair and be pretty happy. I prefer my modded HD800's (more detail), but if someone offered me to trade them straight up I would lose sleep.
 
Enigma: The aptly named enigma. I really really liked these as odd as they are. At the meet I compared them to a fruit flavored beer. Really great in small doses, but not as suitable for everyday. 
 
HE-500: Lived up to the hifiman reputation of needing lots of power to live up to potential. I listened to these on a couple of different setups, kinda lifeless and unexciting on lower powered amps (like crack) but feed it the juice and it hits hard and is will shake you up. I could see adding some type of the older power hungry headphones to my line up in the future.
 
Flare R1: Maybe a highlight of the meet for me, @Ishcabible had been waiting to try these out of my Lyr to get a baseline of how they sound. He plugged them in, brought them up to his head, pulled them apart a bit to put them on his head, and in one solid motion did the same in reverse, taking them off after roughly 1 second of use. It was at this removal phase that he made a face I can only describe as the "who farted" face. Classic.
 
HE 1000: Nice resolving headphones, but I tend to prefer a meatier sound. These did not grip me, even though they are top notch headphones. Agree with the above point that the amp might not have been doing any great favors, but that was just my quick impression, didn't spend too much time analyzing. 
 
SR-007: Now these are the counterpoint to the HE1000's to me. These were livelier, warmer and all around more fun to my ear. Super detailed, but also musical, fairly even across the board, with the slight bit missing at the low end.
 
Amps / DAC / Equipment:
 
Valhalla 2 - lived up to reputation of a great pairing with the HD650. I think what makes this pairing special is the darker headphone paired with a drier, crisper amp. Prefered this combo over the LYR 2 / HD650. Hey @porkfried- wanna trade?!? (joking)(maybe)
 
Grace m9xx - Also had a negative predisposition to this combo in my head for no good reason. I was completely wrong. Solid. Leaning toward the warm side, which fits my preferences. Didn't try a lot of different headphones on it, but it seemed to drive the ones I tried well enough. Awesome performer for the size, and If I needed something more portable, this would be near the top of the list. 
 
Liquid Carbon - Gobs of power, pretty neutral dry sound, liked the trasportable size. Would consider if I was worried about a balanced system. I like the tube sound, or as @Rynsin likes to say, distorted sound.
 
Only disapointment - the SEX not working. Seriously considering building this and thought it would be interesting to hear.
 
Did I miss anything?

 

[Hi-Fi EDU]

Ok, my turn. For ID purposes, I was the guy with the 400i, X00 and the m9XX. First off, thanks @Ishcabible for opening up your place to a bunch of audio geeks. Much appreciated. Also thanks to everyone who brought their stuff in and made it such a welcoming environment. It was nice meeting and conversing with you all. My first meet was definitely a good meet. For its "mini-meet" status, the sheer amount of gear on show was overwhelming enough. I could barely keep track of everything I was hearing, so an even bigger meet (i.e. the "non-mini" kind) might blow my top off

. Not saying I wouldn't enjoy it regardless, like I did this mini-meet. That said, here are what I could somewhat keep track of (all my opinion, ofc):
 
Favorites:
 
HE-1000 - Price aside, this headphone wholeheartedly surprised me. It's lighter than I expected, quite alien-ish yet attractive looking, and it has this oddly comfortable hug when worn. But it was really all about the sound. To date, it is is best pair of headphones I've heard (the SR-007A is right there too); keep in mind I'm relatively new to this. I tried it with the Liquid Carbon balanced and then with the Audeze Deckard, which is obviously unbalanced. It sounded good through the LC but to my surprise, the Deckard definitely took it up a notch or two (both via the Gumby, I think). The HEK have a well balanced, transparent, open yet very engaging sound presentation, throughout. @pavement714, if I were you I'd ride off into the sunset with this setup and call it quits. But unfortunately, we know most times this game doesn't quite work like that. Let me know if you decide to offload that grey cable though and maybe the item directly below

. Perfect segue...
 
Audeze Deckard - This silver stallion wasn't even on my radar before this meet. Man, did it drive the HEK well IMO, at least compared to the only other amp I tried it with (LC). Very attractive looking DAC/Amp with a smooth volume knob. The greatest lesson the Deckard taught me, simply based on my crude comparison, was that a solid unbalanced can be every bit as good as a solid balanced, if not better. I'm glad I forgot to try my own headphones on this thing, otherwise who knows. Our paths may cross again.
 
SR-007A -  007, here for service. Like the HEK, it was an experience trying out @Ishcabible's 007. Upon donning these, the springy suspension system and the weakish clamp made me wonder if I'd even get decent sound due to the relatively, lacking seal. Yeah...I did, well north of decent. Palpable, was the word that instantly came to mind. I almost felt like I could reach out and touch the music. Transparent, great energy all-through, and I loved the low-end. Also looked much better than some of those ugly, low-end Stax models (IMO) that I've only seen passing images of. Price notwithstanding, it's an excellent set-up. You should ride off into the sunset with @pavement714.

 
Other Stand-outs (those I can remember):
 
ZMF Blackwood - I'll take a page from @JoshMo's book: I had an unfair bias about this headphone before I'd even heard it. That's probably because it is pretty much cut from a similar sonic cloth as the X00, and I wanted to live in ignorant bliss about which of the two was "better" (remember, I own an X00). I first tried it through my m9XX and it sounded dull. I was elated! Selfish of me, I know. But then @porkfried kindly plugged the Blackwood into his Bimby/Val2 stack for me. The difference in presentation was night & day; I took them off my head rather quickly. Darn it, I said to myself. Turns out the m9XX doesn't pair well with the Blackwood, but does with the X00 to my ears. Needless to say, the Blackwood's ain't bad at all.......ok, back to my state of blissful ignorance about these.
 
The Sennheiser's - I only tried two of the modded HD800's available, @JoshMo's and another that had a knitted headband cover. I have no experience with stock sound but I liked what I heard out of both. Didn't notice that treble peak at all, so jobs well done with the mods. There was more low-end than expected with really sweet mids. As I expected, they reminded me of a better version of the K7XX, which I used to own and enjoyed. Lastly, that knitted HD800 sounded surprisingly good to me through the m9XX. So, like the Deckard, I might cross paths with this one in the future, maybe the newer S variant. No rush though...I hope. As for the modded HD650, well done with that one as well. The bass and the treble presence definitely surprised me, bringing more energy than expected. The mids were really clear too. Sennheiser knows their mids. I now wonder what stock Senn's sound like.
 
PMx2 - Yeah, beautiful build. I could be content rotating those smooth, swivel joints all day long. As for sound, if this is what neutral essentially sounds like, I'm more of a neutral-head than I thought.
 
Enigma - Is this thing a torture device? - No, it's a pair of closed-backs. Will this thing get over my head? - Yes, somehow. Will its clamp force crush my skull? - No, they actually feel like pillows over my ears (with the huge Alpha pads!). Ok, surely it sounds bad? No, not really. Yea, these things live up to their name.
 
- I also quite enjoyed @Ishcabible's modded T50rp, also to my surprise.
 
 
The "Maybe...Not my style":
 
The LCD's (3 and X): Before the meet, I was most excited to hear these. But, I guess LCD's might not be be my cup of tea, sound-wise. It's unfortunate because I really did want to like them but couldn't. Maybe I should blame the 007 and the HEK.
 
Shure SE-535: Forewarning: I'm not much of an IEM guy. These have the cleaner mids and clearer, more present highs that my cheaper, SE-215's wish they had. But the 535's just lacked any low-end oomph for me. Silver lining: wallet remains safe

.
 
Grado GS1000i: Yeah....I'm definitely not a Grado guy.
 
 
That's all my brain remembers. Thanks again for a good time!

 

[pavement714]

Thanks @Ishcabible for hosting and @JoshMo @Hi-Fi EDU for the detailed write-ups! I got to finally try some cool gear I was curious about hearing and everyone was really nice.
 
Like I said at the meet, I'm still learning how to articulate my thoughts on headphone differences without it becoming complete fluff, and my path to my current 'endgame' setup only involved owning a small handful of cans vs. buying/modding lots of them over time. So instead, here's a stray few observations:
 

1. @Ishcabible's custom amp with my HE1000 and the modded HD800 was a lot of fun. That thing is a beast, especially without a case! I could see what that amount of power really brings to power-hungry cans in terms of the feel of the sound. Want to build me one, haha?
2. The setup that impressed me the most was the Stax SR-007A. Lush, inviting, detailed, enveloping sound and super comfy, but to my ears less detailed than the HE1000. I would love to hear the 09 in comparison, I could see why it would have the title of the best headphone in the world (with appropriate amp) at a $10K asking price.
3. The HD800, even after modding, sounded too harsh and clinical compared to electrostats and planars. Perhaps there is a little more detail than the HE1000 but the way its presented is not to my liking. I'm guessing the HD800S leans closer to my preferred sound, but I'm very happy with the HE1000.
4. I'm still very happy with the Deckard (and it seems some other people were impressed too). The Liquid Carbon, M9XX, and Schiit's tube amps did not impress me in comparison, even with LISST tubes on the Lyr 2. I'm guessing the Ragnarok is like the custom amp I talked about earlier in terms of an 'upgrade' in power, but at a pretty high price.
5. Tubes aren't for me, the loss of detail/distortion is something I can't get over compared to SS. Hearing 60's music on it did have a nice warm sound to it, but I couldn't get over the detail loss.
6. I didn't hear much of a difference at all using a balanced set-up with the Carbon, so I'm very happy with my SE Deckard.
7. I 100% (4/4) passed a blind test between my Gumby and Deckard's built-in DS DAC, though that wasn't the case for everyone. I still don't personally believe in the "fast-switch" method of blind-testing, but it was an interesting experience and I personally feel justified in spending the dough for it. I know better know the differences in music presentation.

 
 
 
Let's do it again soon! I'd host but I live in a closet, haha.

 

[Rynsin]

 

 

 
 
Many thanks to @Ishcabible for opening up his place to us. As always, I enjoyed listening to awesome gear and making fun of @JoshMo for liking tubes.
 
HD800s -- now that I've heard an HD800 that is too warm, I can say I've heard it all. I was amazed by how different all three pairs of HD800s sounded, although my opinion of the headphone overall hasn't really changed. They seem irredeemably far from neutral, and while many of the mods I heard improved on the sound quite a bit, none of them brought them to the level of being... well, good.
 
HE1000 -- still not as big a fan of this thing as I thought I would be, especially coming out of the Deckard. Seems a little too smooth and silky for me. Not enough daggers in my ear, I guess. Major props to @pavement714 , who was able to successfully identify the Deckard's DAC against the Gumby 4/4 (93% confidence, raw Bernoulli) times.
 
Liquid Carbon -- I was very surprised to discover that almost no one could hear the difference between the Gimby balanced through the LC and the Maverick D1 through the LC. Either the Maverick is really good or the Carbon is really forgiving (or really bad, I guess).
 
Fostex TH-X00 -- @JoshMo convinced these headphones aren't as bad as I originally thought they were after hearing them in San Diego, especially with the "right" amp. Out of his Lyr with LISST, the TH-X00's bass didn't sound like a muddled mess like it did out of the Crack.
 
ZMF Blackwood and Vibro -- I've made it through another meet without catching the ZMF bug. I just don't think these things hold a candle to the Paradox Slants. They've got a warmness to them I can't precisely place, except in the lows. 
 
IE800 -- I believe @RealThomasJefferson brought these. I was really impressed with how well these IEMs performed. They made a convincing argument that maybe I didn't need to sacrifice so much with IEMs as I originally thought. Really wish I had brought my RE-600s to compare, but that's life.
 
Modded HD650s -- these (I think they belong to @JoshMo) were really something. Maybe someone could remind me of the exact mod? They were impressively neutral with good bass impact and soundstage, although they lacked a little detail.
 
Anyway, that's all for me -- for now. I'm still trying to decide what I thought of the AKG phones, I probably needed to listen to them a few more times. Oh well. Glad people seemed to enjoy the PMx2s, I can't recommend AudioZenith and Alex enough. Hopefully we can do this again soon! (I'll buy some snacks and bottles if somebody finds a space!)

 

[JoshMo]

HD650 mods include quarter mod (cutting quarter sized hole in foam in front of driver), removing foam behind driver (under plastic cage wheb you take off rear grill), and applying dynamat in certain spots behind the driver to massload.

I can also tell from your impressions that your ideal sound is the opposite from mine, you appear to like a flat neutral response (your PMx2's are a great example), and while you didn't like headphones you thought were too warm or colored (Blackwood, HD800) I happen to really enjoy those headphones for that very reason. Same with amps - your Tisbury is your ideal match, where I feel SS amps are dry. You have become my headphone arch nemesis. (we all know who is on the dark side)

You and @pavement714 shouldn't give up on tubes yet - Kyle's EHHA is a tube hybred and should show you the road as you go up the quality ladder the tube sound (don't even think about saying distortion) can be refined and give a pleasant tonality, not just wet, slow and unrefined as some lesser tube amps (crack included).

Also forgot to mention the Talos modded t50rp mk3. The one negative was it sounded a bit boomy to me, not muddy, bass was clear but low frequencies trailed longer than they should have. I am sure that this could be tamed fairly easily with proper damping. Other than that I couldn't believe how smooth these were. I have not heard a ton of t50rp mods in the past, but from what I've read that all have a high peak around 5k. Didn't hear that with this pair. Excellent job on these, very enjoyable and fun.

 

[FFRESPONSE]

   Trying to figure out who was kind enough to bring Audio Zenith cans followed all the comments here since JWizzlez posted in PMx2 thread. Finally I know whom to thank, Ryncin please accept my sincere appreciation for showing PMx2s at what appears to have been a great meet of fellow music lovers.      
   Amazing how Ishcabible was able to perfectly characterize the sound of PMx2 after what I assume a fairly short audition, I myself couldn't have described it better. JoshMo's polar oppo-site is another good one and I can't agree with it more .  Hi-Fi EDU, believe me you are not the first one saying this about neutrality and hopefully not the last one.
   I just came from SoCal CanJam and can't believe what people are writing on most of the gear displayed there so what is wrong with you guys, how do you know and can appreciate neutrality these days? Most everyone else seem to be chasing their dreams with different sound signatures without noticing the real beauty. Those 50 shades of grey to which our ears are perfectly tuned and not some elusive exaggerated HF resolution so many manufacturers pushing us towards.
   Thank you all for the energy knowingly or not you supplied me with. Without such feedback it would be real hard to keep on going with dozens of measurements and days or sometimes weeks of hard work tuning each set to perfection. 
  Looking forward to meeting you all one of these days. Enjoy your music and all the best!
Alex

 

[Allanmarcus]

I don't think any 25ohm headphone will sound good thought the crack. It needs at least 150 ohm cans, or greater. The 650 or 800 were the only ones there that probably would work well with the crack.

Rynsin and I received a very nice lesson from Alex on how to identify neutrality in headphones when I got my PMx2, and it sounds like Rynsin is spreading the good word.

I'm a little disappointed in the reception of the liquid carbon. Do most of you agree that it sounds essentially the same as the maverick? If that's the cast, it's a testament to the quality of the maverick. BTW, it's my LC that I loaned Rynsin . I always thought the difference between amps was pretty darn subtle, but I'm also a fan or blind testing.

Finally, even though Rynsin explained the math t me, it takes a certain level of nerd to say 4/4 become 93% :wink_face:

Sounds like it was great mini meet. I'm jealous. I live in the middle of nowhere and can only enjoy meets vicariously through my son (except for RMAF).

 

[JWizzlez]

Sorry I missed out on this thread back in march. u/Rynsin to answer your questoin about the IE 800 to RE 600 comparison:
 
The only time I have tried the RE 600 was at BH Photo in NYC. I didn't have the IE800s at the time and was there to buy the RE 600s. They plugged the RE 600s into the AK 240 DAP and let me have at it. I listened to some Miles Davis, Run the Jewels and Stevie Ray Vaughan. At first I liked the RE 600s compared to my Klipsch X10i Lou Reed editions. They had a little more detail and imaging, much better soundstage and more bass impact and sub bass [which the X10's have very little of]. The X10s are really warm and the RE600s felt way more open and clear. But the big turn off for me was that the bass felt way too...smacky? It felt almost snare like. I just hated the feel of it for Hip Hop.
 
When comparing the RE 600 to the IE 800, I feel like the Senns take the qualities of the Hifimans and significantly improve on them. The bass is nearly perfect, although the only source I've been able to get my hands on that made me feel there was no bass bleed was the Chord Mojo. The RE 600s feel incredibly stale and dry compared to the lush yet greatly separated and spacious IE 800s. The mids on the Senns are phenomenal and well balanced. I tried the Shure 535s and even the 846s and found them to be uncomfortably forward, although the 846s from my memory sound as good as the IE 800s if not better, but just have a different signature. 
 
So considering the huge price gulf from the RE 600 to the IE 800, I would say it's not worth the jump. But the one thing I'll say is that I had never listened to a hifi headphone from a high quality source before that day [except for a pair of Stax Lambdas when I was a kid and listened to 2pac on my Bose Triports, so suffice it to say I didn't appreciate what I was hearing] and the difference between even some mid fi HD 650s to my IE 800s was life changing. Needless to say, I have been pursuing an affordable used set up of the HD 650s with the Schiit Valhalla ever since.
 
And also I thought the Audio Zeniths were GOAT bang for your buck. I spent an hour comparing them to the HE 1000 and the Stax 007 and I could barely tell the difference [with my newbie headphone ears]. So those are my end game goal now.