[tommyhtc]

It was great meeting everyone! I haven't seen @Hirsch in about 11 years, so it was nice to run into him again. Heh heh, last time I saw him, Singlepower was still an upstanding brand.

I got to spend some quality time with @WilliamWykeham's DAVE and BluMK2. They sounded absolutely incredible -- I've never heard the HE1000v2 sound more alive than with that combination. The ampsandsound Kedzie(?) sounded fantastic (punchy with lots of bass) driving the Ether Flow, a headphone that I hadn't heard before this meet. The Ether Flow sounded less great with the DAVE, as they seem to mate better with tubes, but I'm still considering picking up a pair for my home setup (iCan Pro).

Other highlights: the Voce electrostats powered by the KGSSHV, which sounded marvelous and well-rounded, and @Vas19's ECP Torpedo III tube amp, which it looks like he's already sold since the day of the meet.

Biggest disappointment: The Yggys (v1 and v2) with the Cavalli Liquid Gold sounded a bit too digital, but the room was really loud and I was using Utopias, a headphone I'm not familiar with, so take that with lots of grains of salt. I should've brought over my HE1000v2 to try with that combo.

Not that it really matters, but I think that Torpedo might have been @Silverion77 's . Correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[Silverion77]

Guess I'll throw some rough thoughts here.
First, I think quiet time at the meet was a great idea. Thanks for that @kendavis . Something we should definitely look to continue moving forward (maybe even adjust to 10 min quiet, 5 off).

And now on the sound:
HE6 + Ragnarok: Gotta thank @Medicake for this one. Listened to this the most and was quite pleased with it. Probably one of my favorite renditions of neutral. The bass was well extended and in line with the rest of the package, but it still had some nice physicality to it, which is always my biggest gripe on some other headphones (especially planars). I will definitely have to get more head time with it and others like it.

LCD4 & McIntosh MHA150 (& 3F): So I had an extended listening with the LCD3F before. Overall, I found the presentation to be a nice interpretation of dark. Had the solid Audeze mids with a clean transition to the low end. Even though the bass was well extended in typical planar style, I found the dynamics and detail of the bass lacking. I figured it was my amplifier of choice at the time (Torpedo 3). I had also heard the LCD4 at a previous meet, but found it uninspiring. Boring...overly dark. Could have been the listening conditions at the time. Fast forward to now and I'm pretty darn confused. The LCD4 had an absurd amount of physicality and engagement that I did not hear from it previously. Bass was tight, detailed and physical. I didn't find the treble to be nearly as rolled off as I did before. This made me think my impressions of the 3F weren't fair and a big fat SS amp like the McIntosh was needed, but a quick swap still left me disappointed for the same reasons I said before. Needless to say, I find the 3F and 4 to be pretty different in how they present themselves and much prefer the 4. Also left me a bit confused about my previous impressions. Will gladly return to Gramophone if they still have that setup to give it a try. Haha.

MrSpeakers Voce: I listened to a couple songs and something sounded really off with this. Mids (especially vocals) had this weird compression and 'tunnel' affect going on. It had a pretty dark skew to it which is surprising coming from an estat and I found some of the bass details and attack to be lacking. Overall a pretty uninspiring packing.

Focal Clear: Impressions are pretty brief on this, but I immediately noticed the upper midrange drop. It added a weird tinge to vocals and some instrument harmonics that I couldn't shake once I heard it.

 

[SuperDuke]

Re the VOCE - Several of us agree w/ what you are saying particularly on the bass. Not sure what's happening. These impressions are very different than recent reviews and the awards given in Asia and I think in LA over the last yr. Could be the VOCE is very AMP dependent. I think many of the former reviews were using BHSE and DAVE. The other possibility is that my VOCE only had about 30hrs on it. Not sure if there is such a thing as break in w/ Stats.

More to follow hopefully

 

[gandhisfist]

Re the VOCE - Several of us agree w/ what you are saying particularly on the bass. Not sure what's happening. These impressions are very different than recent reviews and the awards given in Asia and I think in LA over the last yr. Could be the VOCE is very AMP dependent. I think many of the former reviews were using BHSE and DAVE. The other possibility is that my VOCE only had about 30hrs on it. Not sure if there is such a thing as break in w/ Stats.

More to follow hopefully

Really looking forward to hearing it again once it has more time on it. Please do let us know if it opens up with more running time.