Too bad I won't be able to make tomorrow's date, because I will be going back to work at 4:15 pm. But I was there today, and not only did I get to meet Tuberoller - but I've also met Audio Addict, austonia, ChenaynayC, john_jcb, Nick Danger, reynman, Todd R and friends. Here are the impressions of the other Head-Fiers who listened to my equipment:
Headphones
Grado headphones - The SR-80 didn't get listened to, but the SR-225 and SR-325 did, extensively. reynman liked my SR-225, and he also thought my SR-325 sounded smoother than his own SR-325. austonia liked the SR-325 more than the SR-225, however. Friends of DariusF liked the SR-225, and thought the SR-325 was too bright - and they did listen to the SR-60, which to them sounded like a lesser variant of the SR-225.
Sennheiser headphones - Again, my HD600 was universally liked by those who heard it, but I want a better cable for it. I didn't get to hear any of the Senns with the upgraded cables, even though there were plenty of those. The HD280 Pro wasn't as well liked; their opinions ranged from "meh" (austonia) to "horrible" (friends of DariusF) to "incoherent" (reynman).
Sony headphones - The MDR-V700DJ (which I had brought to the meet just to show how overrated that 'phone really is) was universally disliked by those who heard it.
But the MDR-7506's opinions ranged from "too bright" to "too analytical" - but still better than the MDR-V700DJ.
Portable CD Players
The people who compared the three PCDPs that I had brought to the meet surprisingly preferred the Panasonic SL-CT790 (yep, the USA-market version, with no line-out whatsoever) to both the older SL-CT470 and the Sony D-EJ1000 - from their headphone-outs.
However, all headphone listening comparisons, except for my listening tests of the A-T ATH-EM7 and the Sennheiser PX### series, were made through a Grado RA-1 amp connected to the line-out of the Sony D-EJ1000 PCDP.
Now, here are my impressions of the headphones that I've listened to:
A-T (Audio-Technica): ATH-EM7 wasn't too bad for such a tiny portable earclip. It did sound better from my Total Airhead amp than straight from any PCDP. However, the ATH-W1000 and ATH-W2002 were kinda disappointing to my ears, considering how much $$$ that they currently sell for: Both of them suffered from scooped-out mids.
AKG: Both reynman's K401 and the K501 sounded good, but are too hard to drive even by my amps. But my jaw started dropping when I finally heard the K1000, connected to two different tube amps: It is one of the most coherent-sounding headphones that I've ever heard!!
Too bad a proper K1000-phone-and-amp setup would have cost me thousands of $$$'s, including the headphones themselves. And fuggittabout using the K1000 portably: It requires a big, stationary amp to drive it at all.
Beyerdynamic: The DT831 would be nice for classical music - and only classical music. But on the music that I listen to most often, I found it to sound too thin, and a bit bright. The DT250-80 belonging to reynman sounded very good, for a full-sized cup-type closed headphone. This will be my next headphone purchase, to replace all of the full-sized closed headphones that I currently own (including the much-maligned MDR-V700DJ).
I found the DT770Pro-250 to suffer from hyped-up bass
and treble - not my cup of tea. But I
do like the new DT880, even though it's somewhat bright-sounding. If only it weren't priced higher than the average street price of the Sennheiser HD600! In other words, I found no reason whatsoever to cross over from Team Sennheiser to Team Beyerdynamic in the high-end open-air headphone arena.
Grado RS Series: I had expected to come out of this meet loving the high-end Grados. Boy, was I wrong there! In fact, I've found both the RS-1 and the RS-2 even more coloured in the upper mids and lower highs than the SR-225 and the SR-325! Again, it could just be my listening tastes, but those RS-series Grados were not for me.
Philips SBC-HP910: Meier Audio supplied this headphone - and I was the only person at the meet who listened to that 'phone at all. Given that Philips has been making or selling everything, the HP910 didn't sound bad. The highs are a bit grainy in this 'phone - but what did I expect for its current selling price?
Sennheiser PX### series: Maybe it's just my ears, but many people preferred the PX200 to the PX100. It was just the opposite for me. But even though I preferred the PX100 to the PX200, neither headphone will make me give up my Koss Porta Pro or KSC-35 any time soon. The PX100 had a bit less treble than the Porta Pro. If I didn't have the Porta Pro, then the choice between it and the PX100 would have been a lot tougher.
Sony MDR-D66SL Eggo: I've listened briefly to this 'phone, based on the favourable reviews here at Head-Fi. But I wasn't too impressed with it; it sounded to my ears like a much cheaper headphone that has had most of the boomy bass stripped away from it. Like a lot of Sony and A-T headphones that I have listened to over the years, the D66 suffers from reticent output in the upper-mid/lower-treble range.
Sony MDR-R10: I really like this headphone, even on my modest equipment. It's a headphone that I want to just lay back and relax with, especially with my favourite mellow recordings. Those are the 'phones that I want to listen to Norah Jones with. 'Nuff said.
And a special thanks to Tuberoller for hosting the meet.
Randall
