[Silverion77]

Thanks everyone for coming out! Luckily the weather decided to be merciful. The gear today was awesome. I hope everyone had a good time. Be sure to share pics and impressions.

Cheers to @ampsandsound and Schiit for showing off your stuff, and a shout out to Gramophone for being awesome hosts!

Looking forward to the next meet (which will probably be in the summer once I work out some logistics with some people )

I'll post some quick impressions later once I can think... haha.

 

[GrindingThud]

Great meet, people, gear, and hosts! I'm surprised how much I liked the Mac amp. Some photos posted here, feel free to contribute to the album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VpzuJdgGDKAGsnCm2

 

[Eudis]

Had a great time.

Got to try some really cool stuff. He90 was dreamy. Truly something special.

That MacIntosh headphone amp was great the
VU meters we're very sexy.

Lyr3 was a nice surprise.

Also thanks for the feedback back on the Prototypes!

 

[SuperDuke]

Big thanks to Silverion77 and Gramaphone!
Highlights for me were the Stax SR Omega (thanks tommyhtc) and Lyr3/Senn 580s - Sheldaze has magic dust he sprinkles on his gear before he leaves home

 

[gandhisfist]

Excellent meet, another success in the DC area, some impressions on source gear and pictures will be forthcoming.

 

[Metamodern Sounds]

Thanks to everyone who set up and hosted this meet and everyone who shared their gear. This was my first exposure to high-end headphones and amps and I was really impressed. (Just what I need--another expensive audio habit!) It was interesting to try some models that are highly rated that simply weren't to my liking. For example, I tried a few Sennheisers and a set of Oppos, and they just didn't do it for me. I guess maybe I like a more colored sound.

Some of my favorites were the Sony MDR-Z1R (I think this was the model, but not positive), Fostex TH-X00, Grado Head-Fi edition, and Audeze EL-8.

If anyone knows what this says about my preferences, I would appreciate the insight.

Ken

 

[Billheiser]

Thanks to everyone who set up and hosted this meet and everyone who shared their gear. This was my first exposure to high-end headphones and amps and I was really impressed. (Just what I need--another expensive audio habit!) It was interesting to try some models that are highly rated that simply weren't to my liking. For example, I tried a few Sennheisers and a set of Oppos, and they just didn't do it for me. I guess maybe I like a more colored sound.

Some of my favorites were the Sony MDR-Z1R (I think this was the model, but not positive), Fostex TH-X00, Grado Head-Fi edition, and Audeze EL-8.

If anyone knows what this says about my preferences, I would appreciate the insight.

Ken

Insight: you listened and found you had valid preferences; and that's very good.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Some of my favorites were the Sony MDR-Z1R (I think this was the model, but not positive), Fostex TH-X00, Grado Head-Fi edition, and Audeze EL-8.

If anyone knows what this says about my preferences, I would appreciate the insight.

Ken

My insight is that you need more time to cultivate your critical listening skills. No shame in that, and I don't think anyone was a good critical listener from the outset.

Those headphones all have very different sound signatures and are more or less all pretty flawed. This means that the flaws you heard aren't necessarily in-line with your preferences, since they're all different and there is no Correlation.

Going to a meet and gaining experience is the best and most important part of this hobby, I'm glad you had a good time.

 

[gandhisfist]

Quick and dirty impressions while I write up something more detailed for the site:

Sonoma Model One: Surprisingly bassy and thick. Not really sure why this replaced the Utopia on the Wall of Fame.
Lyr 3: Probably one of the better amps in the schiit line up. Great upper mids and treble, low end is clear but seems slightly slow?
Massdrop CTH: A bit compressed and soft compared to the lyr3, but a really good hybrid, excellent price/perf
Yggy1 vs Yggy2: I preferred Yggy1, I like the drier presentation, Yggy2 is smoother but not as microdynamic to me.

 

[peepr]

Damn I wish I could have made it. I was sick with a nasty cold since Thursday and didn't want to spread it to everyone. Was really looking forward to hearing the Yggy and some of the flagship cans. I'll be there next time!

 

[GrindingThud]

I was not a fan of the Sonoma either. Did not like the sound and they were uncomfortable...thick I think is a good description. As for the Yggys, I can only say that I liked the coax input better than the fiber.

Quick and dirty impressions while I write up something more detailed for the site:

Sonoma Model One: Surprisingly bassy and thick. Not really sure why this replaced the Utopia on the Wall of Fame.
Yggy1 vs Yggy2: I preferred Yggy1, I like the drier presentation, Yggy2 is smoother but not as microdynamic to me.

 

[gandhisfist]

Have a post up on the blog with a more detailed write up and some pictures.

 

[55Powers]

Looks like you guys had and awesome meet. We don't have anything like this where I am located.

Anyone wanna post impressions of the Aurorus prototype from the meet? Very curious about these headphones seeing what other enthusiast have been able to produce lately.

 

[WilliamWykeham]

Nice to meet everyone, I was the guy with the DAVE. If you heard it between about 12-2 there's a high likelihood that you were listening to the unit at its worst as I came back to find that the input settings were changed to BNC2 instead of BNC1, which has an incredibly negative impact on the overall sound quality when connected to a Blu.

My fave was actually the Sonoma (I'd never heard an electrostat before), and really noticed the speed and transparency, especially mid-high frequencies. Thought on the low end it lost cohesiveness, perhaps a little boomy, but tough to say. Mr. Speakers Ether Flow was really a fun headphone for pop music, preferred the tonality of the HE1000 and Utopia for acoustic music though. I learned that the LCD4 is not the headphone for me, at all. The Balancing Act lived up to its reputation. I wasn't able to tell a difference between the two Yggys.

 

[dcguy73]

Nice to meet everyone, I was the guy with the DAVE. If you heard it between about 12-2 there's a high likelihood that you were listening to the unit at its worst as I came back to find that the input settings were changed to BNC2 instead of BNC1, which has an incredibly negative impact on the overall sound quality when connected to a Blu.

My fave was actually the Sonoma (I'd never heard an electrostat before), and really noticed the speed and transparency, especially mid-high frequencies. Thought on the low end it lost cohesiveness, perhaps a little boomy, but tough to say. Mr. Speakers Ether Flow was really a fun headphone for pop music, preferred the tonality of the HE1000 and Utopia for acoustic music though. I learned that the LCD4 is not the headphone for me, at all. The Balancing Act lived up to its reputation. I wasn't able to tell a difference between the two Yggys.

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.