[sacd lover]

Well .... first off, this was the best meet I have attended yet. Most of the regular

head-fiers attended, some

new head-fiers appreared and we had the best assortment of gear so far.

It was a big surprise to see Matt Anker of sacdmods here. I wish I had known he was coming because I have a job for him.

Billy is just as much fun as he seems on the board but much more mature and well spoken in person; very classy.

The new head-fiers I met for the first time ..... magnum, Viscious Tyrant and nmculbtreth were all good guys and I hope all of you come to the next meet we have.

Of course all the regulars were there and I always look forward to seeing Reks, ascs236, mikey01, digitalbill (aka sunshine) and the out of state transplants tkam and grandenigma1.

There was a lot of gear I have never tried and some I havent heard for many years. I sampled around and tried to hit everything more than once.

First up headphones ...... I really liked the AT W5000. I thought the bass/ mids and dynamics were very good. The phone could sound just a tad bright but I think I could tuberoll that out. I usually dont like the AT cans; atleast the ones I have heard. So the AT W5000 was a pleasant surprise.

I listened to the Senn 650/ equinox on the PS Audio amp and own my own MPX3. I just dont like this headphone as well anymore. The sound is just to dark and thick sounding for me. The pleasant aspects of the phone are still evident but for that type of sound the Senn 600/Cardas does a better job to my ears. This 600 vs 650 vs 701 has been a debate of late on the board and even with SS I dont hear enough life to put the 650 on par with the other two. The 650, however, sounds exceptionally good balanced ..... better than the 600 balanced.

The AKG K701 is one of my headphones and I have to say this headphone sounds good with everything. There were a couple of setups I liked the 600/ cardas with best .... but the 701 was nearly as good. With the others the 701 sounded clearly better. The 701 is so balanced and clear sounding without any noticeable flaws. The more I hear this headphone the more I suspect this will someday be my #1 phone.

The AKG K1000 was awesome. I havent heard this phone in years. Driven by tkam's Prima Luna tube amp this headphone was exceptional. Now I am in the camp thats sad to see this one go. Some dont like the fit but I didnt mind the temple pads in a shorter listening session. The 1000's had good bass with the Prima Luna, beautiful mids and the highs were very good .... no brightness or edge whatsoever. The soundstage is so good and well beyond any of the other headphones. The K1000 experience as a whole was both involving and immersive. This pairing was my equipment highlight of the meet.

I have to stop here. But I will add more impressions later.

 

[mattigol]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacd lover First up headphones ...... I really liked the AT W5000. I thought the bass/ mids and dynamics were very good. The phone could sound just a tad bright but I think I could tuberoll that out.

My sentiments exactly. Now come on Earl, tell us where we can see you on the pictures.

 

[tkam]

This was another great meet, it was good to see old friends and meet new people. The location was also very nice we had more than enough space.

Headphones

The jvc dx-1000 are interesting phones, for the most part they sounded pretty good but there were times when they just sounded terribly wrong with respect to soundstaging and vocals.

W5000 - To me these sounded ok but they don't fit my tastes at all. They sounded a bit like the k701s except brighter and with artifical soundstaging and imaging. Why did every track I tried put the vocalist front and center and the drummer at the end of the stage?

W11JPN - These are the only other AT phones beside my L3000 that I've liked. In fact they have the same general tonal balance as the L3000 just with less refinement and not nearly enough treble resolution. Overall though they are nice fun headphones.

HP-2 - It was good to hear these again and IMO they are still far and away the best headphone to ever come out of Grado. Great tonal balance and endless dynamic ability.

RS-1 - These are now my 2nd favorite Grado phone they great dynamics and a warm tonal balance. Treble is sparkly but for the most part stayed under control. Bass was tight and snappy I actually preferred the RS-1 bass over the PS-1.

Sources

Lavry DA10 - I didn't spend nearly as much time with this as I wanted to but overall its a very nice source. Detail and resolution is all there and it has a very nice tonal balance (slightly on the warm side I'd say).

Meridian G08 - This is a really nice CDP, I can see why so many people like it. It's very smooth and effortless and has a relaxed forgiving presentation about it. I did get a chance to hook up a G08 (thanks again billy) to my dynamight to do some brief comparisons to my apl philips sacd 1000. I preferred my philips by a pretty large margin, the G08 just wasn't dynamic enough and didn't capture subtle nuances and texture differences as well.

Amps

Zana Deux - A very impressive amp indeed, probably one of the better single ended amps I've heard. Endless amounts of power allowed to control pretty much every headphone with ease. I do regret not having a 4-pin xlr to 1/4" adapter to try the K1000 with it. Maybe next time

PPX3 Slam - To me this amp is still the sweet spot in the singlepower lineup it's very dynamic and lively. If I were to buy an SP amp this would be it (well ok a balanced version of it

) but I would not go to the higher models the sound quality improvements don't come close to justifying their costs IMO.

RSA HR-2 - This amp had pretty good dynamics but otherwise nothing really stood out for me.

RSA Raptor - The Raptor won the award for being the cutest amp at the meet. Some people seemed concerned with the heat it put off it didn't bother me too much I guess I'm used that sort of thing with my dynamight

. I did find the Raptor to be a bit bright and there was some odd soundstaging going on. Kind of similar to my experience with the W5000, using the 650s the raptor gave them a wide soundstage but it wasn't very cohesive at all. This wasn't a problem with the RS-1's since they dont really have much of a soundstage

.

Modded PS Audio GCHA - This was also a pretty nice amp, big strong bass and pretty smooth throught the midrange and treble regions. It could have used a touch more warmth for my tastes but I'm a picky person.


So thanks to Reks for getting a great meet together and to Zach and Billy for being the other two out-of-staters to make the trip.

Edit: I also want to thank Matthew Anker from SACDMods for showing up. He does fantastic work and really knows his stuff.

 

[grandenigma1]

Amps:

Ill have to echo the sentiments of the Zana as well. It was easily one of the most beautiful sounding tube amps I have heard.... too bad its not likely that anyone will be lucky enough to get one.

The modded GCHA was also a pleasant surprise. It was a very nice sounding SS amp and one that I really could not fault... although I am sure the source and power regen were aiding that one quite a bit. I however do not think it is worth the price considering other options out there such as the GS1 which easily sounds just as nice.

I know many love the thing but for some reason the Raptor just sounds off to me with the Senns especially in the sound stage and imaging... With the Grados however, being that they lack any and all sound stage, it sounded pretty nice... same goes for the HR2.

The Rockhopper Millet was a real disappointment... either something was wrong with it or I do not know why people praise this amp so much. I easily prefer the Dynalo, PIMETA, M3 over this amp. It just sounded very thin and dry to me.

The SFT PP Dynahi was a very nice amp, especially for the price tag. The model we had was a bit ghetto looking as it was only a prototype but it sure sounded very nice. At $600 I would certainly take one. I can not honestly think of any other amp at that price point that sounds as good aside from perhaps a nicely built M3 with STEPS and all that fun stuff.

Headphones

The recabled HP2s were very nice and easily my favorite sounding Grado. The recable really took them a step up from the already great stock HP2s. The RS2s are still my favorite current Grado. They have a nice warmth that none of the other Grado lines seem to have...

I am not a big ATH person but if I had to make a pic it would be either the JPNs or the L3ks... they are both fantastic phones. They each have unique traits, while still being very ATH, that make me appreciate both.


I still like my Balanced 650s and single-ended 600s best

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhd812 the treasure of the meet has to be (at least for me) are the Enigma Audio cables I walked out with. Its to early for me to blow the horns but I have a few question for mister Enigma.. one is were these burned in before? second was can you p.m. Ryan and send him a set to try out...I am not giving up mine any time soon. these damm cables had me going threw my entire cd collection earlier. I was a/bing the against the Cardas Neutral Reference and I hope Todd has the 30 day return policy....lol

Thanks for the kind words billy and despite what earl says I still think you are odd...I mean classy

The cables at the point you took them had maybe 1-2hrs on them. I had made them specifically for the meet along with all of the others there. With time you should find that they open up even more and become more accurate with a slight improvement in the bottom end.

 

[Mikey01]

Hey, Billy IS freaking odd.....BIGTIME. Maybe thats why he fit in so well. I love him just the way he is. Don't change.

 

[mattigol]

From what I can see, Billy is definitely not your average meet attendee or introverted hifi geek. Which was clear to me ever since he posted his jacuzzi-rig sequence of pictures.

 

[grandenigma1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey01 Hey, Billy IS freaking odd.....BIGTIME. Maybe thats why he fit in so well. I love him just the way he is. Don't change.

Oh and btw... it was good to see you again mikey.... you looked cute in your pink little tutu and the little bow in your hair. I think I can see now why billy would not keep his hands off you... too bad I got there a bit late and he had already claimed you for himself.

 

[F1GTR]

Where could one research the Zana Deux a bit more? What company makes this amp?

I tried a Google search and it came back with this thread.

 

[shplorgh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1GTR Where could one research the Zana Deux a bit more? What company makes this amp? I tried a Google search and it came back with this thread.

It's made by Eddie Current (www.eddiecurrent.com). I emailed him and he said it will probably come in around 1200-1500.

 

[F1GTR]

Thank you for the information.

That's a pretty decent ballpark price on an amp almost everyone seems to enjoy.

 

[mattigol]

Is the name "Eddie Current" derived from the electromagnetic brake?

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol Is the name "Eddie Current" derived from the electromagnetic brake?

This may answer your question...


http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae572.cfm

 

[mattigol]

Thanks for the link. I suppose I was on the right track with my electromagnetic brake. However, the underlying physical principles had momentarily slipped my mind.

 

[acs236]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mega Impressions of the AT woodies? Especially the W11JPN

I listened to a few different of the AT woodies. I'm not a big fan, but the W11JPN was nice. I probably liked the best out of all of them. The W5000 sounded a bit strange to me, but most everyone else liked it.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol My sentiments exactly. Now come on Earl, tell us where we can see you on the pictures.

Hey...uhhh...that's kinda scary.