[Audio Addict]

I can't believe I am the first to post but let me go ahead and get the thread started.

First a bit thanks to Jim (morphsci) for organizing the meet and Van (vdukeman) for hosting the meet.

I would also like to thank Todd for sendng his new TTVJ FET amp and the Stephan AudioArts K702 cable. My 702s with the upgraded cable sounded really wonderful through this amp. The 702s are fairly inefficient and Todd's amp had no problem bringing out the best in them.

To close the loop, Papa Dells pizza was very delicious. I can't recall a much better pizza. Great final choice Jim for lunch.

It is always good to get together with other Head-Fiers and there is such a common knowledge. It is great to just talk. Ray always has good stories to tell.

Unfortunately, there were no HD800 or PS1000 in appearance so the king of the hill was still the R10 driven by Ray's B-52. What a great match, if only they still made R10s.

Computers / Music Servers continue to grow at meets. Jim had a great set up using a Mac mini using its optical out into the DAC of his Cambridge Audio 840C. The sound was very good.

Ray had has latest revision C Apache at the meet and I compared it to my Apache that was the prototype for the latest that he tweaked for my HP-2s. With his, my HP-2s were more neutral compared with my Apache, which is a little warmer. Others like the more neutral sound. That is what is great about the hobby; there is no one item that really is going to be the best for everyone.

I know the posts will come, this thread is useless without pictures, but there were several head-fiers taking lots of pictures. Jim was taking some very serious pictures as he carried his camera around on a tripod to be sure he got those top notch pictures.

 

[kejar31]

It was a very fun event.

BTW Audio Addict your Apache HP2 setup was awesome!

 

[tintin47]

Another note on the TTVJ FET amp: I don't really like Senns very much, but the few minutes that I had with 650s and the FET amp made me think that I need to give them another shot. The amp was super crisp and very detailed, and slightly bright to my ears, which may be the reason that it sounded so good with the senns. It certainly had no problem providing the power to drive the Senns, either.

I didn't like it as much with the RS-1s and D5000s that I heard through it, though. Again, I attribute this to the slightly bright sound of the amp, which made the Grados and Denons very bright, but surprisingly there was no harshness. The highs that the amp brought out were very smooth and controlled, but too much for my ears. It increased the headstage of both phones over my amp (CK2III), and drove them both with authority, with very nice, controlled bass. Overall, it was fantastic, especially for its size - it is really difficult to understand how small this thing is from pics.

The overall meet was great. The pizza was great, as was the company. I particularly enjoyed the pairing of Ray's balanced PS-1s with the RSA Apache. It was the first time I have heard PS-1s, and they are great. I couldn't stop listening. I preferred them with the Apache even to the PS-1/B-52 combo. The phones are just so liquid and they really come into their own when balanced with the hyperdetail of an SS amp like the apache.

Another combo that I really enjoyed was the K1K amped by the dual Shanling amps (P300?). It was a neat set up and sounded great.

Thanks again to morphsci for organizing everything.


Edit: The HP-2 sounded great with the tweaked Apache. Thanks for bringing that one audio addict.

 

[kejar31]

Here are some of TopPop's pics from photobucket, he posted in another thread.

 

[TopPop]

Oh... he he... yeah, I guess I could have just done that!

 

[tintin47]

Thanks for posting those. How did you get to the album on photobucket? It asked me for a password and I couldn't figure it out.

 

[TopPop]

Try the link now. I made it public, so it should work.

 

[kejar31]

Pictures just can't show how really huge those R10's are.

 

[TopPop]

^Or how good they sound.... mmmmmm....

 

[TopPop]

So, if Justin was able to get the pics, I'm assuming the link works now? Anyone still having any trouble?

 

[tintin47]

Nope. Link works fine. The R10s are huge. I have to say though, that, while I enjoyed them a lot, they had a weird emphasis on highs. Not high notes exactly, but things like cymbals and the such. The R10s brought the cymbals right to the front, and while they were shockingly realistic sounding, I found that characteristic intruding on the rest of the music.

I also feel similarly to toppop, in that the meet affirmed my love for the rs-1s, though it seems I could probably replace them with a PS-1 and maybe like them a little more. The only phone I felt that I would really like to own one day was the K1K.

 

[TopPop]

The funny thing is that, although I liked the K1000, I wasn't bowled over like I expected to be. Actually, there were a few cans that didn't stick out like I thought they would (R10s not included!).

I finally got to hear a pair of K-701... not my cup o' tea.

I was most impressed (that is to say, relative to my expectations) by:
-Beyerdynamic 250 ohm DT-770 pro... much better than the 80 ohm version we have in the linguistics lab at UIUC.
-Audio Technica ATH-ESW9... very smooth, weighty sound in a small package.
-The size (or lack thereof!) of both the Mustang and Pico portable amps... freakin' tiny, that's for sure.
-Behringer SRC2496... upsampling DAC and decent amp all in one for what this thing goes for?! Fuggeddaboudit.
-Sony R10... wha-wha-what? Yes, please.

 

[TopPop]

Oh, and in general, I was just mostly impressed with the quality of some of those amps! I found that, no matter what the phone was, the right amp really made them sing. Even my cheap HA-RX900s sounded fantastic on the Headamp GS-X!

 

[Pyriel0]

The ps1 and r10 floored me. I liked the rs1 a lot too. I finally got to listen to the senn's and they didn't live up to the hype created here to me. I heard hd600+zana / hd650(balanced)+gs-x and with my shanlings. I liked Aura's moth amp very much. Listened to the ps1 and k1000 on it. Next time we have a meet around here I will make sure I have a 4 pin -> dual 3 pin xlr's. The K1K will probably sound a lot better on other people's gear. That gs-x amp is more than I have in my entire system combined lol, and that includes the K1K.

I'm glad I already bought the k1000. If not, I think I would be clicking order on the ps1000 right now after how much I liked the ps/hp/rs1

It was my first meet but I thought it was very nice. Everyone was very nice and lunch was great. Was a very good time.

 

[blent]

I had a great time meeting most of you for the first time. This was my second meet but many new faces. Many thanks to the organizers and for the bank for lending such a perfect location for a meet. Listening to all the great amps and headphones from eveybody is always a great learning experience that either helps you decide which direction you want to go in, or it confuses the heck out of you like it does me.

Looking forward to the next one.