Everyone's enjoying a different set
Not only were the 650s on deck, there was also a set of 600s and two sets of 800s.
Onsong brought a nice array of Calyx DACs for us to try.
Everyone was talking about the HiFiman HE-500 and HE-300.
Another pair of beautiful HE-500s w/ reference cables from Whiplash.
Everyone loved the gear Ray brought.
A nice "Little" setup.
The amazing Dark Star, it was surreal with the LCD2.
Ray's source
Ray's HE-6s
The Porta Tube with my setup, I really liked this little guy.
Laszlo brought along a nice array of customs, portable amps and his recabled HE-500s, 300s, and DT880s. Along with the new JH-3A/JH16 combo.
The new Bottlehead Smack and the Crack were there showing their potential.
My NFB-12 DAC with a Little Dot MK III. The tubes are the Amperex 5654s from a MK II.
It's a family reunion.
The recabled HD600s power by a Bottlehead Crack, a very nice combo.
HiFiman loaning a pair of HE-6s with it's dedicated EF6 amplifier.
My thoughts on about the meet....
- It was awesome meeting you guys in person, especially Ray Samuels. Ray was kind enough to bring along, at least, 50 grands worth of equipment. Including the rare Sennheiser Orpheus, a pair of rare Sony R10s, Audeze LCD2s & HE-6s all in Balanced Configuration.
- The Orpheus's were the first headphones I got to listen to. For a ~5 year old headphone, they were amazing. They could easily compare to today's big boys. Sadly I didn't have an in depth listening session with these phones.
- I did get to listen to the amazing LCD2/Dark Star combo and it was simply surreal. There was absolutely no noise and it felt like I was listening to the artist in the recording studio. This was an amazing feeling but for a 1000$ headphone, it did not feel amazing. For a thousand dollars, if it does not fit good and doesn't wipe my @$$ it's not the headphone for me.
- After seeing multiple headphones in balanced configuration, It gave me a new goal to strive for in my DIY/Amp explorations.
- I was able to do the ultimate comparison between a pair of recabled HD600s, a pair of HD650s and HD 800s all powered by the same system. My favorite of the three was the HD600 because it seemed to be the warmest of the three, offered as much detail as the 650s and it had a bit more bass, even though it did seem a little bloated. The 600 sound made me think about selling my FA-002 Woodies. The 650s were the most analytical of the three and had the least bass of the three. The 800s were on a completely different ball game. The 600s and 650s seem "flavored" because they have a distinct sound to them, on the other hand, the 800s seem uncomparibly balanced and on the next level of detailed but I would still pick a pair of HE-6s over a pair 800s because the 800s have a less detail than the HE-6s to my ears. The HE-6s huge driver can move more air to reproduce cleaner bass at lower frequencies and to me, the HE-6s look and feel like a world class headphones and the 800 do not.
- The talk of the show had to be the HE-500s. The headphones look as good, feel as good, sound almost as good as the HE-6s and now cost a little more than a pair of 650s. That brought me to a point were I was debating whether to eat for the next month or buying them. Even Ray, the man that has all top end headphones in the world, jumped in joy when he won the raffled pair.
- The rest of the talk was about the HE-300, the youngest brother of the Hifiman line. It's really more like a twice removed distant cousin you never knew you had. Although it sounded very good, it is a completely different animal when compared to any of it's brothers. I would say it is a direct competitor to the 600 and 650s and sounds very similar. If i remember correctly, it sounded a lot like the HD650 but not as analytical with a small midbass bump. Both look amazing, sound amazing and have the same features. I will give the HiFi man a thumbs up for it's exquisite box it arrives in.
- When I saw the Bottlehead Smack and Crack in person, I thought they were profesionally built. They looked amazing in person and both could drive a pair of 600s nicely. I did find the Crack to be a bit more clear but also a bit more noisy but I didn't spend enough time with it to get a definite conclusion. I used the Smack to do a comparison between the 600s, 650s and 800s and I found the amp will drive any of those phones very nicely. I found the smack to be very detailed, almost at at a chip amp level, but warm and mellow at the same time. The Crack is now on my list of tube head amps to look into and I know I wont be disappointed if I buy it.
- A jem I tried at Chi Uni Fi 5 was the goVibe Porta Tube. This slightly big portable amplifier was very mellow and boosted the Bass/MidBass to the next level. It was like someone took the bass setting on their amp and set it to more or less +6db. It was interesting to say the least. It also seemed to have the mellow "tube" sound that is expected but I found that the highs were a bit noisy. I enjoyed this sound a lot, it was different in my kind of way. Thought the build was a bit disappointing, Yes it does have a 1/8th in and 1/4th in jack and a very nice aluminum knob, and the size is acceptable being just a bit bigger than my ipod but at ~600$ it is a bit disappointing. The similarly priced Ray Samuels SR-71B has twice the features and twice the build quality.
- As I tested different headphones in the price range of my FA-002 Woodies and others tried my FA-002s, I found out just how awesome they are. Plenty of people told me that they really liked them and I found them to improve nicely with the different Amps & Sources I tried. I personally think I made the right choice because I liked them more then the 650, 600s, D2000, AKG 701 and HE-300 I tried at the meet.
- Overall I think it was a great experience. I recommend anyone who is into headphones to attend a meet, even if it is your first time. A headphone meet will give you a good idea of the potential of headphones, the headphones available in your price range, how different amplifiers affect your headphones, what you should upgrade next and most importantly the sound you are aiming for in your system.
I'm sorry it took me so long to get my impressions done, hard to find free time in collage. Those were a couple of my thoughts on the meet, the rest are trivial or I just can't remember.
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