Great meet, thanks to GrAwk for organizing it!
Of the rigs I listened:
VPI’s Cary 303/300 (I think), feeding a Rockhooper Audio KGSS to a pair of Omega II MKI. Very transparent rig, good impact and the mids were there! I don’t know, but in my brief listening sessions with the OIIs in other systems, I have felt the mids to be a bit recessed sometimes. In this system, the mids were well represented. I think VPI got himself a good electrostatic combination.
Since I am in the electrostatic area, I heard Tkam’s APL Denon 3910 into a HeadAmp KGSS feeding the Omega II, MK II. Oh man talk about effortless music presentation. The most impressive thing about the whole rig was how natural the detail and ambiance was presented, no sense of artificiality at all.
Ingwe’s Ayre CX-7 Cd player was feeding a Bryston preamp, I didn’t get the model number on this one, then driving directly from the balanced outputs a pair of Headphiled AKG-K340. I think Ingwe mentioned there that the k340’s were not his, but they were hooked in his system when I listened. The sound had nice impact and it had good level of detail. Overall, the sound was too bright for my taste, but not overtly, just a tad bright.
Nautikal, he had a DVD player (that is not usually in his system, I believe his source is a computer bases one.), feeding a Darkvoice (don’t know the model), then driving a pair of re-cabled AKG-K701. Well, this sounded really good, nice balanced sound. I owned the K701 and I got very fatigued after about an hour of listening. I did not listened to Nautikal’s rig for an hour, but it was clear to me that the harshness of the K701’s was gone in his system. I think if you are contemplating an amp that will mate well with the K701 cans, then the Darkvoice should be one to deserve strong consideration! Well done Nautikal that was a nice sounding system.
I listened to Dreadhead’s GS-X based system. Please do not ask me to recall all the details of this convoluted set-up, because it involved several items in chain, but I’ll do my best: Dell Laptop as transport, to a USB/optical converter, to a Sound Processor (which I do not recall the brand) to a Bel Canto DAC3, feeding a HeadAmp GS-X. In this set-up I heard the denon D5000, sony mdr-sa5000 and Sennheirser HD560, all in balanced configuration. My favorites were the Senn’s, followed by the Denon’s and then the Sony’s. Going to try to hook-up the GS-x to my cd player to listen since I am looking for a balanced solid state amp, albeit to my chagrin Dreadhead left early, before I had a chance to ask. Next time!
Got to listen to the UE-11pro and compare them to my UE-10pro. No question, the 11 are much more musical and more punchy. In comparison the 10s are flatter sounding. If I had to start from scratch, I would most likely pick the 11s, but already having the ue-10pro, I am not sure that what I heard from the 11s would justify, in my humble opinion, getting this additional pair. Now if UE had a “upgrade program” or “trade-in” program, I will seriously consider the change.
The Audio Technica ATH-EWS9, surprisingly smooth. Out of the ipod touch sounded quite nice. I am getting a pair in the future. I liked them. The sound was the “good” type of AT sound. Like a baby, baby, baby L3000 sound signature. This is a light comparison, just regarding the general tonal balance. I do not think the EWS have the resolution and kick of the L3000, just the same general tonal balance.
Also heard from Justin that he had fiddled with the volume control of the pico to allow for more control on the earlier field of the volume pot (region 6-9). This was my only grief with this great dac/amp as for most of my material the gain was way to high for the UE10pro at my listening levels. Look forward to listening to this.
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OK, I feel compelled to make a couple of comments of things I observed during the day:
Saw a few tube amps left ON without any headphones plugged-in. This, in most cases if not all, is bad for the amp and the tubes. Please next time after listening to an amp and deciding to change cans, please make sure to leave a headphone plugged before moving along.
Saw a headphone to which one of the earcups became detached (not mine). The person using/manipulating the headphone at that moment, just put the headphone down and walked away. The right thing to do would be to alert the owner of this development and just have him decide what to do. There should be **no** fear about notifying the owner: This type of unfortunate circumstances do happen and it is just part of life, things brake. I, as an owner bringing stuff to a meet to share, am always aware that things can brake and that the likelihood of accidents may increase due to high traffic, so I come mentally prepared to face this type of situations. However, I do expect people to treat gear with care, and if things brake if just an unfortunate event and not otherwise. I personally think that if there is a piece of gear that one feels could represent too much of a loss if some unfortunate accident were to happen, then one should not bring it to a large meet. I will be the first to admit that this is the primary reason why I never take my qualia 010 out of my premises because if would crush me if anything preventable were to happen. However as an owner, I would very much appreciate that if one of my headphones (or other gear) was to suffer a contingency during a meet, I was told ASAP to deal with the situation and prevent further damage.
Same thing with an electrostatic headphone amplifier that had an issue with one channel being silent. It was my impression that when I noticed this, I was not the first one to be aware of this phenomenon. Electrostatic headphones can be easily damaged if there is some spurious events like arcing, thus the earlier this is dealt with, the best for the whole system.
Saw a few CD/DVD players left with the drawers open. This is a big no-no. The easiest way to F-up a transport is to dislocate the drawer.
So, please in future meets be appreciative of the kindness of other willing to haul their stuff to share with the rest of us. Being a good “meet citizen” will only benefit all and will encourage people to continue to share gear with the community.
I think there should be a sticky on the Meet-Planning section with some recommendations on “what to do” and “what not to do” in a meet. This should be a “highly recommended” reading material for meet attendees.
This was a great meet and this are very minor points albeit important in my humble opinion. I enjoyed the meet very much.
