[Liu Junyuan]

  I arrived early, trying countless miss after miss (as in 'hit or miss')... headphones that were 'close but no cigar'. To me the biggest winners by far are the old Sony MDR R10 (wooden), and the new AKG  K7XX. I tried all the Mr. Speakers, Audeze, Stax, Hifiman, etc. and the only ones that came close to these were SR-007 & 009, HE-1000 and maybe Shure SRH 1540. Oh the warmth, balance, natural tonal character, soundstage and dynamics of these two  are something that must be heard to be believed.
 
The Mr. Speakers Ether was really good to my ears  but after enough second-thoughts and comparison I came to realize too much of the soundstage / detail was lost by the fully open design. I may however just change my favorite after tomorrow because I still have to try the last 1/4th of the headphones and spend more than the 5 seconds I spent on the HE-1000 so far.

I like your comments on the K7XX; it is indeed an incredible headphone! 

 

[Liu Junyuan]

  I love the K7xx! It is an amazing headphone for its price.
 
what do you mean that sound stage & detail was lost by a fully open design? usually open headphones have better sound stage & sound more natural than closed headphones.
 
look forward to seeing the rest of your impressions.

Yeah, K7XX is a great headphone. I think it matches my Lyr better than any other headphone I have heard on it yet.

 

[DecentLevi]

My impression is that fully open headphones cause too much sound leakage compared with the more controlled-environ. of more closed ones. It looks like the AKG K7XX is only a limited edition that's hard to  find, but the newer version of the AKG K701 also uses the same driver.
 
I was also impressed with the Stax Lambda series and the Thinksound ON1 (rare for a good on-ear can) which was actually lent to me by another user casually and not even on display. I  didn't get his name but he may be back on Sunday too.

 

[money4me247]

  My impression is that fully open headphones cause too much sound leakage compared with the more controlled-environ. of more closed ones. It looks like the AKG K7XX is only a limited edition that's hard to  find, but the newer version of the AKG K701 also uses the same driver.
 
I was also impressed with the Stax Lambda series and the Thinksound ON1 (rare for a good on-ear can) which was actually lent to me by another user casually and not even on display. I  didn't get his name but he may be back on Sunday too.

the entire akg k-7-series & q701 use the 'same driver.' The k7xx is based on the k702 65th anniversary tuning though. the k701/k702/q701 has much less bass.

 

[elwappo99]

 

  My impression is that fully open headphones cause too much sound leakage compared with the more controlled-environ. of more closed ones. It looks like the AKG K7XX is only a limited edition that's hard to  find, but the newer version of the AKG K701 also uses the same driver.
 
I was also impressed with the Stax Lambda series and the Thinksound ON1 (rare for a good on-ear can) which was actually lent to me by another user casually and not even on display. I  didn't get his name but he may be back on Sunday too.

the entire akg k-7-series & q701 use the 'same driver.' The k7xx is based on the k702 65th anniversary tuning though. the k701/k702/q701 has much less bass.

 
The K702 65th anniversary (late production) = K7XX = K712
 
These are not the same as the Q701, K701, K712.
 
Drivers really haven't changed much, just the pads. 

 

[n3rdling]

I'm saving all my listening for tomorrow, but my one impression of the day: I can't believe how many people don't know what the R10s are!  Makes me feel old...
 
For those that liked the R10s, stop by tomorrow as I'm changing the foam in them and I think they'll sound better.  I might also have one more trick up my sleeve

 

[estreeter]

Guys, I realise that a meet isn't the best place to get an accurate impression of a source, but so far we haven/t seen a single impression of the Yggy much less an attempt to compare it to the Hugo TT. If the experts are correct, our audio memory is 90 seconds at best - hasn't stopped many here comparing various new and shiny headphones to the HD800. I'd appreciate any feedback you can give us. 

 

[reeltime]

But in reaching this conclusion had you got to listen to Yggdrasil? TIA

I did listen to the Yggdrasil today with the Ether headphones.  

 

[estreeter]

 
I did listen to the Yggdrasil today with the Ether headphones.  

 
and ?? 

 

[reeltime]

  They did get a LOT of exposure, and paired well with everything I listened to.  Very tempting.  For me it's the ETHER or the HD800s. Decisions, decisions. LOL

If I were doing it from scratch, I'd pick the Ether, because the HD800 are so darn picky when it comes to amps.  You get a lot more love and joy immediately from the Ether.  The HD800 can be a wild ride to find the right components to tame them.  Once you do, you've got a world class headphone, and a lot less money in your wallet.

 

[KB]

 

 
ALO brought their brand new Continental 2.  It's a DAC/ Tube amp portable, on the high side of the spectrum for a portable at $1500 ish, but still less than the Chord.  Not an overwhelming amount of power, but what's there is gorgeous.

 
Reeltime,
 
Thank you for stopping by to listen to our Continental Dual Mono prototype!  We're still fine-tuning the gain and are definitely planning to increase it a bit. 
 
Ken

 

[reeltime]

   
and ?? 

I've been trying to be diplomatic.  It didn't make a huge impression on me.  Could have been the listening environment, or a thousand other factors, but where the Hugo was an immediate "Oh my God, what am I listening to?" The Schiit didn't stand out to me.  It wasn't a dislike, but it wasn't an impression either.

 

[mscott58]

This beast was seriously impressive. Good sound, crazy battery life, and major volume. I'm debating picking one up when I head back to the meet tomorrow.

So what's the special for the show?

 

[Trager]

So what's the special for the show?

$50 off MSRP, plus a free case ($30 value). At $300, I think I'd much rather have one of these over any other outdoor BT speaker I've seen.

 

[estreeter]

 
I've been trying to be diplomatic.  It didn't make a huge impression on me.  Could have been the listening environment, or a thousand other factors, but where the Hugo was an immediate "Oh my God, what am I listening to?" The Schiit didn't stand out to me.  It wasn't a dislike, but it wasn't an impression either.

 
Thanks for your feedback. My guess - and that's all it is - is that you were still short of purrin's 'magic starts to happen' stage (24-48 hours) on the first day of the meet:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/thoughts-on-a-bunch-of-dacs-and-why-i-hate-chocolate-ice-cream/3270#post_11450551
 
Of course, I'm assuming that fire regs etc dont mean that exhibitors are required to turn off all their gear at night before they (presumably) go back to the hotel.