That's what impressed me, the Hugo to my ears, was in the same ballpark having enjoyed your Oppo. Its ideal as a transportable amp, as a lot of my listening is tucked up in bed!
Cambridge meet impressions, 25 April 2015
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That's what impressed me, the Hugo to my ears, was in the same ballpark having enjoyed your Oppo. Its ideal as a transportable amp, as a lot of my listening is tucked up in bed!
They're certainly in the same ballpark on price.However I think my wallet would be pretty safe even if I loved the Hugo it hasn't got enough analogue connections to work in my system.
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That is the only thing as it would be a pain to keep hot swapping it for headphone listening and having to keep hooking back up to Hi-Fi for speaker listening as the Hugo dac does now show the age of the Tag dac smooth as that still sounds buttery analogue is just lacking that extra delicate handling in the detail and decay of it's presentation. I did wonder how the more affordable Grados would sound through the Hugo and never got around to doing this, like most things there on the day missed the chance to try them as time fly's.
As you know I find it hard to enjoy the Senn's myself (after years purchasing them & of forcing my ears trying to accept them) but it can't be called professional for sure, defamation suite filed Hi-Fi Man Vs Senn?
I still smiling after Dillans modded HE6 though as I was one of the fortunate ones early on to hear what proper bit of modding can do to a can. Just glad he set up his rig next to mine on the day.
I am still torn after three sessions with the PS1000's although I do not think they are worth their RRP compared to other cans costing in the early to mid 1K region. Plenty of last model PS1000's going at very reasonable prices second hand though with the very mixed received E model replacements on the scene.
Just to tempt you a little more I am in Basildon area if you give in! First met Andrew when he came around to hear my Sony ZX1 Walkman last year. I am still curious about the Oppo HA-1 as I did not have correct adaptor to hook my Walkman up to it at the Oppo stand at the Metropolis Studio event in January so could not really compare without my music through it. I also have a Oppo BDP-105 Bluray player.
[quote name="FortisFlyer75" url="/t/764154/cambridge-meet-impressions-25-april-2015/135#post_11556838
Just to tempt you a little more I am in Basildon area if you give in! First met Andrew when he came around to hear my Sony ZX1 Walkman last year. I am still curious about the Oppo HA-1 as I did not have correct adaptor to hook my Walkman up to it at the Oppo stand at the Metropolis Studio event in January so could not really compare without my music through it. I also have a Oppo BDP-105 Bluray player.
[/quote]
If you want to have a listen to my Oppo just let me know.
Just to tempt you a little more I am in Basildon area if you give in! First met Andrew when he came around to hear my Sony ZX1 Walkman last year. I am still curious about the Oppo HA-1 as I did not have correct adaptor to hook my Walkman up to it at the Oppo stand at the Metropolis Studio event in January so could not really compare without my music through it. I also have a Oppo BDP-105 Bluray player.
[/quote]
If you want to have a listen to my Oppo just let me know.
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If you want to have a listen to my Oppo just let me know.[/quote]
Thanks Naimless, might have to take you up on that offer, will pm you when I am freed up schedule wise in not to near future.
Maybe we should have a mini Essex meet as with Andrew there is three to start the party!
Even though it would not serve your connection purposes it would still not hurt to listen to the Hugo, could tempt you to the TT perhaps in terms of connections!
Will pm you in coming weeks if that's okay for listening session then...
I'm off to bed now, got to be up 5.30am!
I had a feeling an Essex mini meet was in our future and I'll wait to hear from you.
goodnight.
Count me in, be interesting to match some of our gear, also like to hear ZX1 again in comparison to my iBasso and Fiios now I a! Used to them for a year. Naimless's tube amp very nice connected to the oppo, not sure John if you had a listen?
Anyone bought anything from the show? Criterion and RHA had lots of visitors. I have only 1 purchase in mind from the meet and that is thanks to Chris and his curious red deerstalker, the AKG 1000s. .
Whether anyone sells theirs for reasonable money in the future remains to be seen. Am hopeful given the hype ssurrounding the HE 1000s that every decent phone will be for sale soon to afford the telephone number price tag they will be priced at.
I will bide my time and if it doesn't happen at least I can say I've finally heard them.
What I did discover is that my setup although a trifle more modest than some is on a par with most of what I listened to.
Whether anyone sells theirs for reasonable money in the future remains to be seen. Am hopeful given the hype ssurrounding the HE 1000s that every decent phone will be for sale soon to afford the telephone number price tag they will be priced at.
I will bide my time and if it doesn't happen at least I can say I've finally heard them.
What I did discover is that my setup although a trifle more modest than some is on a par with most of what I listened to.
This meet was so wonderful! Thanks so much to Andy, Mark, and all the folks who donated prizes to the raffle! £1300 for charity! Holy cow! Exclamation points!!!
The highlight of the meet for me was plugging my HD600s into the Icon 8 headphone amp and hearing the size of the soundstage at least double. That amp was probably the star of the show for me just for the marked difference it made on gear I already have. I'll be testing to see if the Feliks Audio Elise matches it with the HD600s as soon as I get a source with a proper line-out. Neither the Geek Out 1000 or the DX50 were able to output properly using a y-split RCA when I got this beauty home. I'll take some pictures later.
Another surprise from the meet for me was that I wasn't into the HD800s. It was the bass signature that didn't do it for me, which I haven't heard anyone else say. I preferred my HD600s which is really good for my wallet. The Epiphany Acoustics O2 tightened up the bass and I found it the best pairing for the HD800s. I listened to two HD800s and felt the same way on both.
I wanted to listen to as many planar magnetics as I could going into the meet, and boy did I ever. I heard both EL8s and preferred the closed (probably because of the loud meet environment, further listening required). I also listened to the LCD2 and LCD-XC at the Audeze table. The LCD-XC was either my favourite headphone, or tied with Raz's HE-6. They are both beautiful. I compared the Alpha Prime, Alpha Dogs, and Mad Dogs and the Prime were easily tops for me. They were clearer and more refined and had tighter bass. The HE-560s are a lovely headphone and were my wife's favourite headphone of the meet. I also listened to the Oppo PM-3. That headphone has gorgeous mids. I could just throw on some vocal tracks and melt into the lush vocal sea. I wish I had a bit of coin to save for a new set of planars, and think the best value ones I heard were the EL8s. The closed headphones have a really impressive soundstage for a closed phone and I love the Audeze signature. When I listened to my KRK KNS-8400 at work after the meet, they sounded so much duller. They are good value headphones, but they can't compete with most of what I was listening to at the meet.
I still can't figure out which Stax I listened to, but it was out of the Blue Hawaii. I thought it was the SR-009, but I can't confirm now. They sounded lovely.
I had the opportunity to test out several of Frank's toxic cables and they do make a difference on sound. Interestingly, they weren't labelled, so I didn't know what I was listening to. I liked the one that looked the cheapest. I even remarked that price doesn't always mean best, until I got home and found out that the most expensive model was the best. Kudos, Frank! That is a beautiful cable. Guess I like gold soundz (great song by Pavement, btw).
I am so glad to have been a part of this celebration of our shared hobby. I met so many generous people. I hope to see you all again soon and hope that I'll be bringing some new fun gear for next time around (c'mon Geek Pulse Xfi, arrive already!). CanJam here we come!
The highlight of the meet for me was plugging my HD600s into the Icon 8 headphone amp and hearing the size of the soundstage at least double. That amp was probably the star of the show for me just for the marked difference it made on gear I already have. I'll be testing to see if the Feliks Audio Elise matches it with the HD600s as soon as I get a source with a proper line-out. Neither the Geek Out 1000 or the DX50 were able to output properly using a y-split RCA when I got this beauty home. I'll take some pictures later.
Another surprise from the meet for me was that I wasn't into the HD800s. It was the bass signature that didn't do it for me, which I haven't heard anyone else say. I preferred my HD600s which is really good for my wallet. The Epiphany Acoustics O2 tightened up the bass and I found it the best pairing for the HD800s. I listened to two HD800s and felt the same way on both.
I wanted to listen to as many planar magnetics as I could going into the meet, and boy did I ever. I heard both EL8s and preferred the closed (probably because of the loud meet environment, further listening required). I also listened to the LCD2 and LCD-XC at the Audeze table. The LCD-XC was either my favourite headphone, or tied with Raz's HE-6. They are both beautiful. I compared the Alpha Prime, Alpha Dogs, and Mad Dogs and the Prime were easily tops for me. They were clearer and more refined and had tighter bass. The HE-560s are a lovely headphone and were my wife's favourite headphone of the meet. I also listened to the Oppo PM-3. That headphone has gorgeous mids. I could just throw on some vocal tracks and melt into the lush vocal sea. I wish I had a bit of coin to save for a new set of planars, and think the best value ones I heard were the EL8s. The closed headphones have a really impressive soundstage for a closed phone and I love the Audeze signature. When I listened to my KRK KNS-8400 at work after the meet, they sounded so much duller. They are good value headphones, but they can't compete with most of what I was listening to at the meet.
I still can't figure out which Stax I listened to, but it was out of the Blue Hawaii. I thought it was the SR-009, but I can't confirm now. They sounded lovely.
I had the opportunity to test out several of Frank's toxic cables and they do make a difference on sound. Interestingly, they weren't labelled, so I didn't know what I was listening to. I liked the one that looked the cheapest. I even remarked that price doesn't always mean best, until I got home and found out that the most expensive model was the best. Kudos, Frank! That is a beautiful cable. Guess I like gold soundz (great song by Pavement, btw).
I am so glad to have been a part of this celebration of our shared hobby. I met so many generous people. I hope to see you all again soon and hope that I'll be bringing some new fun gear for next time around (c'mon Geek Pulse Xfi, arrive already!). CanJam here we come!
This meet was so wonderful! Thanks so much to Andy, Mark, and all the folks who donated prizes to the raffle! £1300 for charity! Holy cow! Exclamation points!!!
The highlight of the meet for me was plugging my HD600s into the Icon 8 headphone amp and hearing the size of the soundstage at least double. That amp was probably the star of the show for me just for the marked difference it made on gear I already have. I'll be testing to see if the Feliks Audio Elise matches it with the HD600s as soon as I get a source with a proper line-out. Neither the Geek Out 1000 or the DX50 were able to output properly using a y-split RCA when I got this beauty home. I'll take some pictures later.
Another surprise from the meet for me was that I wasn't into the HD800s. It was the bass signature that didn't do it for me, which I haven't heard anyone else say. I preferred my HD600s which is really good for my wallet. The Epiphany Acoustics O2 tightened up the bass and I found it the best pairing for the HD800s. I listened to two HD800s and felt the same way on both.
I wanted to listen to as many planar magnetics as I could going into the meet, and boy did I ever. I heard both EL8s and preferred the closed (probably because of the loud meet environment, further listening required). I also listened to the LCD2 and LCD-XC at the Audeze table. The LCD-XC was either my favourite headphone, or tied with Raz's HE-6. They are both beautiful. I compared the Alpha Prime, Alpha Dogs, and Mad Dogs and the Prime were easily tops for me. They were clearer and more refined and had tighter bass. The HE-560s are a lovely headphone and were my wife's favourite headphone of the meet. I also listened to the Oppo PM-3. That headphone has gorgeous mids. I could just throw on some vocal tracks and melt into the lush vocal sea. I wish I had a bit of coin to save for a new set of planars, and think the best value ones I heard were the EL8s. The closed headphones have a really impressive soundstage for a closed phone and I love the Audeze signature. When I listened to my KRK KNS-8400 at work after the meet, they sounded so much duller. They are good value headphones, but they can't compete with most of what I was listening to at the meet.
I still can't figure out which Stax I listened to, but it was out of the Blue Hawaii. I thought it was the SR-009, but I can't confirm now. They sounded lovely.
I had the opportunity to test out several of Frank's toxic cables and they do make a difference on sound. Interestingly, they weren't labelled, so I didn't know what I was listening to. I liked the one that looked the cheapest. I even remarked that price doesn't always mean best, until I got home and found out that the most expensive model was the best. Kudos, Frank! That is a beautiful cable. Guess I like gold soundz (great song by Pavement, btw).
I am so glad to have been a part of this celebration of our shared hobby. I met so many generous people. I hope to see you all again soon and hope that I'll be bringing some new fun gear for next time around (c'mon Geek Pulse Xfi, arrive already!). CanJam here we come!
Hi Micah,
Good to hear from one of my fellow pre and post mini meeters. It was great spending time with you and your wife Liz who along with Ceri and the other lovely ladies brought some glamour to the proceedings.
Am pleased for you getting the Feliks and your success in getting it home despite the logistical problems. Happy listening my friend.
Who can forget Oscar's rega planar and his huge cd player running through an anaconda? All sat on solid platforms of veneer.
My first purchase was a headphone stand. Oscar sells them from £14.99 which includes free delivery!
The meet highlighted once again the need to have one to properly show off your phone's , to minimise the risk of them falling off the tables and to have an easy quick and safe way for fellow headfiers to handle them.
Moreover they look much nicer at home. And where better to spend your money than with Oscar?
I also bought an OTG usb hdmi hub for my Note 2. I'm in unknown territory here, I believe (from Paul and Phil) this is the way I can connect my phone to a usb device for audio so my phone can be played through the O2 or Dacmagic Plus. Apparently it'll need rooting. Naimless, is that what you did to get your phone playing with the Oppo?
My first purchase was a headphone stand. Oscar sells them from £14.99 which includes free delivery!
The meet highlighted once again the need to have one to properly show off your phone's , to minimise the risk of them falling off the tables and to have an easy quick and safe way for fellow headfiers to handle them.
Moreover they look much nicer at home. And where better to spend your money than with Oscar?
I also bought an OTG usb hdmi hub for my Note 2. I'm in unknown territory here, I believe (from Paul and Phil) this is the way I can connect my phone to a usb device for audio so my phone can be played through the O2 or Dacmagic Plus. Apparently it'll need rooting. Naimless, is that what you did to get your phone playing with the Oppo?
Hi
No my Oppo ha-1 does not need any USB hubs,the USB on the front of the ha-1 is a dedicated Apple one,it's one of the reasons I bought it in the first place.
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