[Nick Dangerous]

 
We brought the gear. We spun the vinyl. We ate hotter than hell salsa... and we had a good time. 
 
Bring on the impressions!

 

[MorbidToaster]

Really surprised I liked the Alpha Dogs as I was never anywhere near a fan of the previous Mad Dogs (though the 3.2 is better).

Could honestly see myself owning them for a portable/secondary in the future.

That's about it for me. Everything else was as expected. Good to see everyone again as usual.

 

[Maxvla]

Good to see everyone again. Missed seeing a few people, notably Al.


I also liked the Alpha Dogs, but found them a bit genre limited. I don't really like any closed headphones, but these were alright (one of the best closed I've heard). If you feed them the right kind of music, they are very engaging. There is a little weight to them, but it is comfortable. I preferred them on the Burson Soloist compared to the Schiit Mjolnir/Gungnir stack.

Travis' vinyl rig is exceptional now. The new TT made all the difference. Can't wait to see what it can do for vinyl ripping. Truly enjoyed every second of listening on that rig, even with the HD600s.

New Resonessence stuff sounds like the old Resonessence stuff. Buy the original Concero, IMO. The combo unit was good, but I still liked the Decware amp better. I never tried the HERUS.

Heard my HD800 and a LCD3 side by side on a B22, the LCD is so dark and muffled sounding in comparison. Not sure B22 is the right amp for either of them, though.

Finally heard a Grado that I didn't want to rip off my head instantly. It was one of HorsenamedJeff's, the lighter wood color one with flat pads, IIRC. Quite nice. Which model was that based on? The other one was not my taste (usual Grado fare).


Sorry I had to leave a few hours early, but I had to get back to OKC. Hope everyone saves January 18th for the big Austin meet in a few months, should be bigger and better than before. See you then.

 

[Tristor]

It was really nice to meet you all there.  Jon and I had a blast and made it back to San Antonio safely.  I learned a ton, and it helped to validate my decision to go with the HE-500s over the LCDs when I acquired my most recent setup.  I had the opportunity to try my HE-500s with someone else's Lyr that had some non-stock tubes rolled in it, and I immediately learned the importance of swapping out the tubes.  That's probably going to be my next acquisition.  The Alpha Dogs were frankly amazing, shockingly good considering their humble roots, although I thought the Burson Conductor was terrible, which was the bigger surprise to me honestly considering the hype it gets. Felt very muted, and the stepped attenuator was exceptionally noisy on it.  I much preferred the Schiit stack.  The HD-800s were fantastic as well on the Decware CSP2, it blew me away.
 
I look forward to the Austin meetup, as it's closer to my area.

 

[Maxvla]

Interesting that you liked it on the Schiit pair. I thought it was trying to push a tight bright edgy sound through a headphone that is naturally smooth and laidback leading to a disaster of sound. The Burson played to the Alpha's strengths by enhancing the body of the sound, while keeping it from getting too fat. Also the Burson let the Alphas have reasonably good detail without forcing it, where the Schiit pair failed. The Burson's attenuator is supposed to sound like that, by the way, as Mr. Speakers told me when I commented on it. Something to do with it being a fully discreet attenuator. I've owned both of those Schiit pieces (though the amp only briefly) and eventually decided they were not for me. I couldn't stand the Alphas on that stack for more than a few minutes.

Also, was it the Conductor or the Soloist? Have to admit I don't really follow the Burson products so I get them confused easily. Regardless I wouldn't own the Burson either, as I've heard it with my headphone of choice, the HD800, and it was a lackluster combination.

The oddest thing of all is that we had polar opinions on the Alpha setups, but both agree completely on Nick's HD800/CSP2+ rig. It does no wrong.

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

Good to see everyone again. Missed seeing a few people, notably Al.


I also liked the Alpha Dogs, but found them a bit genre limited. I don't really like any closed headphones, but these were alright (one of the best closed I've heard). If you feed them the right kind of music, they are very engaging. There is a little weight to them, but it is comfortable. I preferred them on the Burson Soloist compared to the Schiit Mjolnir/Gungnir stack.

Travis' vinyl rig is exceptional now. The new TT made all the difference. Can't wait to see what it can do for vinyl ripping. Truly enjoyed every second of listening on that rig, even with the HD600s.

New Resonessence stuff sounds like the old Resonessence stuff. Buy the original Concero, IMO. The combo unit was good, but I still liked the Decware amp better. I never tried the HERUS.

Heard my HD800 and a LCD3 side by side on a B22, the LCD is so dark and muffled sounding in comparison. Not sure B22 is the right amp for either of them, though.

Finally heard a Grado that I didn't want to rip off my head instantly. It was one of HorsenamedJeff's, the lighter wood color one with flat pads, IIRC. Quite nice. Which model was that based on? The other one was not my taste (usual Grado fare).


Sorry I had to leave a few hours early, but I had to get back to OKC. Hope everyone saves January
18th for the big Austin meet in a few months, should be bigger and better than before. See you then.

That Grado was my friends, Tritonesub. Its based on an SR80I, two hole punch, and wood, don't remember what wood. Mine is same design but with black cherry.

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

Ill hopefully have time to write some impressions during physics today, but overall I had a blast. Super jealous of Morbids system, have fun with that one. Loved the salsa-of-death, ill be buying some myself. That's all I can write before heading off to school.

 

[MorbidToaster]

Oh yeah, I forgot to comment on the amps. I tought the Burson was terrible. Way too laid back.

The Schiit stack was a bit forward and pushy with the sound and IMO still wasn't quite right. I bet the BHA-1 would be a good pick.

 

[bbophead]

Oh yeah, I forgot to comment on the amps. I tought the Burson was terrible. Way too laid back.

The Schiit stack was a bit forward and pushy with the sound and IMO still wasn't quite right. I bet the BHA-1 would be a good pick.

 
Need a pic of the Kuzma.  Trying not to be jelly.

 

[XLR1]

Thanks Nick. Great meet! Normally not a huge Grado fan, but Grado PS500 impressed me.
Steve

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

Had a great time at the meet, seeing familiar faces again was great, as well as seeing new ones. Great conversations, good food, and of course, great gear.

I have to say, the AlphaDogs really blew me away. I slipped them on (balanced running out of Mjolnir/Gungnir) and my jaw loosened a little bit. The imaging and soundstaging was just incredible. Ive said it once and ill say it again, Dan must be a wizard, sprinkling bits of magic into each Dog. Even though the BBurson-side macbook was having difficulties playing music, I enjoyed the heck out of the Dogs. Nick kept saying under his breath "only $600???", completely in disbelief of the price/performance ratio, and I am too. Good job Dan, those are on the future purchase list.

I didn't really get to spend much time with the Concerro (sp?) gear, but the little herus /kingfisher was a cool little device, and id definitely reccomend it for college-library-fi. I am still lusting after the Decware amp that Nicks got and that beautiful rectifier. (Really? $250? That's more than my cans).

For some reason, the MANY HD800's at the meet didn't really wow me. The soundstaging was IMMENSE, but other than that, Senn didn't really do it for me.

I am VERY pleased to find I can run Mad Dogs out of my humble amplifier fairly well, those are on the list as well. I wanted to try a pair of HD800s on my amp, but I forgot. Maybe next time.

I thought the amount of DAPs/portable setups at the meet was amusingly high, and though I was impressed by the power the E12 put out, the tonal balance didn't fit my X10s sadly. The quest for a cheap portable amp to beat out my E7 continues.

Another thing that didn't really impress me was the M100. I expected a bit more from ghat one, but maybe its just my Grado-loving ears. I thought the Modi >Lyr setup was great though, nice tubes in there.

The Kuzma was FANTASTIC. The absolute best id ever heard vinyl, simple as that. The Leben was a BEAUTY of an amp, although I didn't like how stepped the volume pot was. It was hard for me to find the 'right' volume with the HD800. Getting to hear 'Dream Theater' for the first time on that setup was MORE than worth the wait of seeing that LP just sitting in my room. La Villa Strangiato just gets more and more impressive everytime I get to listen to it on a high end rig. Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue' was of course, beautiful on the Kuzma. The table just does everything so well. I am and will be, a very jealous man, for a long time.

Maxvlas HD800 setup was a very fun rig, I really enjoyed the bbassy trance-like music they were pumping out.

I fell in love with the RS1's, yet again. If I had $400 on me they would've come home with me. Maybe next meet I'm surprised how many people didn't like them, yes they could use a bit more bass, but I LOVED everything else about them. The PS500's were of course, great as well, but they didn't shine to ne as much as the RS1's did. I wanted to listen to The Fountain of Lamneth on them but seeing as the song is 20+ minutes, I didn't want to hog them for that long.

I was sad I wasn't there long enough to hear any 'stats, or any Audeze cans (LCD2 is still my favorite 'phone), and there were several people I would've liked to see but I had to leave early.

1/??

 

[MorbidToaster]

Need a pic of the Kuzma.  Trying not to be jelly.

I didn't take shots but plenty of others did.

When I get home you'll get more shots in it's natural habitat anyway.

 

[Advil]

It was nice meeting you all!! I had a lot of fun and got to try out some very cool equipment. Thanks for your generosity and bringing everything along. I enjoyed trying out my Q701's on different amps/sources since I've been amp shopping!

 

[jazzman7]

Quote:

I thought the amount of DAPs/portable setups at the meet was amusingly high, and though I was impressed by the power the E12 put out, the tonal balance didn't fit my X10s sadly. 

 
Hey, I resemble that comment!     I think my rig of choice in the lineup is currently the iPod mini strapped to an E17, largely because of its small form factor and its ability to drive almost any headphone that I would wear walking.  In fact, I just realized the combo is smaller than the X3 in two of its dimensions.
 
I left my meet impressions on the Alpha Dog in the associated Headphones forum post.  One thing I did not realize:  The version of the Alpha Dog that we all saw at this meet is different from that in pictures posted so far.  Does anyone have closeups of the Alpha Dog from the meet?  Many are waiting in anticipation as to its final look.
 
Thanks to Nick for setting things up, and kudos to Dan for making the trip.  Alpha Dogs may be in my future, too.  All the gear I saw and heard was great (and the Kuzma was the best I've ever heard vinyl sound), and the conversations were even better.

 

[ktm]

The Alpha Dogs were a pleasant surprise. 1st set of good closed cans I've ever had on my head.
For their bulk, they weren't uncomfortable either.
The AKG 70x cans sound better with my amp than I ever thought they would.
The hd800's are still an outstanding headphone.
My current setup is not too bad, so I really wasn't thinking about any upgrades. To go
to the next level is going to be $$$$. For now, no more chasing the dragon.
Thanks again to Nick. Always a 1st class host.