[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker The world's first outdoor Head-Fi meet! It was a good thing it was a beautiful day. The neighbors must have been thinking "What kind of barbeque is that?"

You aren't kidding, I was laughing my butt off. All of Hirsch's neighbors were coming to their windows and peering down trying to figure out what was going on. Then they'd see me laughing at them and disappear...

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 were the ken rad / vt-231 combo the only tubes the SDS-XLR used for the meet? from the impressions, it seems that the SDS-XLR has an edge over the Balanced Max. is this correct? too bad you guys couldn't get a direct SDS-XLR versus Balanced Max comparison going at the meet.

Heck Alex,

There was only one set of tubes in the SDS-XLR for the meet, I don't know what they were.

As far as the impressions of the SDS-XLR versus the BlockHead it probably depends to a certain extent on your biases. I'm guessing Tuberoller would have preferred the BlockHead!

I only heard the Senn 650s and the RS-1s on both amps, it was on very limited selections of different music played on different sources and under meet conditions so these opinions are pretty much meaningless, they're very much first blush reactions which are not necessarily accurate especially when comparing gear at this level which takes time and dedication to sort out. The SDS-XLR had a G08 feeding it while the BlockHead had the top of the line Wadia so I would have to give the edge there to the BlockHead.

The Blockhead did about as well with the RS-1s as anything I've heard in the past and I thought better than the last generation did. But the SDS-XLR was magic with them, true jaw dropping magic. I suppose some would prefer the BlockHead over the SDS-XLR with the RS-1s, but I would secretly wonder if they had suffered hearing damage at some point in their lives.

The 650's were closer on the two amps and I could see personal preference playing a bigger role in the decision. The BlockHead plus 650s epitomized one facet of what these cans can do with a solid-state amp. The SDS-XLR was better (for my tastes) than the BlockHead was with them, but I thought it was a lot closer and I wouldn't think it all that strange if someone decided they preferred the BlockHead. In this case the Senns are not really emotional cans (at least not compared to the RS-1s). A solid state amplifer emphasizes their raw performance and makes it come to the fore in an impressive manner while the SDS-XLR seemed to emphasize the emotion more than the raw performance.

The balanced max gets the nod for egonomics, it's a whole lot more convenient to carry around and fit into a normal decor, although you can probably sell the SDS-XLR chassis for scrap metal and get your money back.

I imagine that thought occurred to you when you were moving yours around!

The SDS-XLR is not an amplifer for amateurs, it's a serious committment to what had better be a long term hobby...

If the sound of either amplifer is what you've been looking for, then you can't go wrong with either one of them, both of them are very nice amplifers.

 

[WmAx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiGHFLYiN9 Believe it or not today was my first chance to hear the CD3000, I believe they were part of Tyll's myriad headphones. I really liked what I heard, and if possible I will be adding a pair to my collection in the near future if i can find a new pair somewhere... and of course rewiring them

Just a note: the CD3000's in the apartment were Tyll's. The ones outside(I left on the table outside the door for a while) were my CD3000 headphones with cloth filters installed over the drivers to shelf down treble from OEM form.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

Thank you, Hirsch, for the fun meet, and for inviting me to the dinner afterwards.

Here are some pictures of some happy[maybe some are too happy? ha] people...

A very content person...

-Chris

 

[immtbiker]

Hey Mikhail, that "Hello, My Name Is" tag, had a one day expiration. You were supposed to turn it in at the door, at the NYC Meet, and pay for a new one in Maryland. The MD State Troopers will be on the lookout

 

[Thaddy]

Hirsch, your beard is freakin' awesome man

 

[Steve999]

I really enjoyed the meet. The highlights for me were witnessing the spectacle that is Tyle (prounced "Tile," by the way); listening to WmAx's modded AKG 501s, which give any electrostatics a good scare, IMHO; and hearing Senn's newer phones (HD201, HD487, HD555, HD595), which to my taste are a great improvement over the older HD202 / 212 / 497 / 580 / 600 / 650 line.

 

[thrice]

I want to thank Hirsch for hosting this meet. It was a blast! Lots of great stuff.

Tyll introduced us all to a pair of HD201s, for $20 they're pretty damn good and would make a great gift phone for anyone you know.

The new Headroom lineup is impressive indeed some great stuff there and as always Singlepower's lineup was great too. The SDS-XLR is something to hear

The prototype Millet K1000 amp was fun too, I'd love to spend some time with it again as I only heard it for a few minutes.


For me though, it's all about the Headroom mug. Tyll handed out some Headroom mugs and I've been using mine for morning coffee for the last few days. I can honestly say that it keeps my coffee warmer longer, the taste is fuller and richer, and of course the aroma is broader with a hint of chocolate. Overall a fine mug, highly reccommended

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrice The prototype Millet K1000 amp was fun too, I'd love to spend some time with it again as I only heard it for a few minutes.

The K-1000 is a little finniky about amplifiers, but when its done right they sound so good. That Millet amp drove the K-1000 rather well -- I'd love to spend some more time with it as well.

And yeah, Headroom makes a fine mug

 

[Steve999]

I gave the HD201s a good long listen. I was floored by the performance at the $20 price level. The fact that they are a closed design makes them all the more interesting. These are the best $20 headphones I have ever heard (and I am a big fan of bargain basement audio). I thought the bass extension wasn't quite as deep as my HD280 or V6 (both of which I brought to the meet), and the detail was not quite as good as those two phones, and perhaps they were a tad on the bright side (about on par with the HD280s but not as bright as the V6s), and perhaps there was just a shade of a mid-range resonance, but the overall sound and tonal balance competes very well in the $200 and under category, IMHO. Plus, the comfort level was much better than the V6 or the HD280 or many other phones, especially closed phones. They're light and not too tight. Put differently, I could reel off several headphones between 5 to 10 times the price of the HD201s that I would not prefer to the HD201s. I wouldn't trade them for my V6s or HD280s, though. Though I might just add a pair of HD201s to my collection.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrice Tyll introduced us all to a pair of HD201s, for $20 they're pretty damn good and would make a great gift phone for anyone you know.

 

[Hirsch]

You may have noticed a number of portable DVD players in the Headroom display. There's a reason for that. Most portable CD/MP3 players these days don't have digital outputs, and Headroom has some new DAC's. The Micro DAC is a very good buy at $300. I'd have bought one in a heartbeat if I had a portable player with digital output. It might still be an interesting option for computer playback.

Ayt999, the Ken-Rad/Sylvania combo was the only one used in the SDS-XLR at the meet. I didn't have another broken in set of six. I had been using a pair of National Union black glass 6SN7GT's in front of a quad of black base Syl 6SN7W's. That combo was sounding good, but a day or two before the meet, one of the National Unions went microphonic in a bad way, and is now totally unusable. Depressing, to have such a nice tube meet such a sad fate.

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrice Tyll introduced us all to a pair of HD201s, for $20 they're pretty damn good and would make a great gift phone for anyone you know.

I got my Father a I Pod mini Loaded with 10 hours or more of his favorite music and a set of the HD 201s for fathers day and my mother said my dad keeps asking my mother DO YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THESE? YOU CAN'T BELIVE THE SOUND!!!! my mother called to thank me

PS. my mother said she would call my dad to the phone so he could thank me but he could not hear her LOL. Like father like son.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve999 These are the best $20 headphones I have ever heard (and I am a big fan of bargain basement audio).

I ordered mine from Headroom the other day, should make the perfect lawnmowing headphone

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Got a little time to get my DC pix up. Hirsch was kind enough to open his apartment up to us for the meet, what a treat, this was my first meet so far held right in someones house. It was really fun.

Here you can see two of the table overflowing into the yard. It was a terrific day and many folks spent a little time enjoying the air and sunshine.

People just love to try out their iPod with the Micro Amp. Well, I guess that’s what it’s there for.

Here’s a scary pic of some scary cans. I did have a comprehensive 20 second listening test with these cans. I can tell you that they get the award, so far, for worst sounding cans at a meet. Yes, worse than the Bose Tri-ports. They had a frequency response something like 600 Hz to 3000 Hz, plus or minus … a lot.

Here’s Stevieo checking out the desktop stuff inside. (Hey, didn’t I just see you yesterday? GPalmer made the trip from NY, too.)

Sorry, I can’t remember this guys name, but he played with the desktop stuff outside. I think he was doing some tube rolling on the Millett.

There were other places to hang out inside. Here’s a cluster around the ever changing dinner table set-up.

The easy chair in the living room also saw a lot of balanced headphone use.

The floor even saw some use. Highflying9 exercises his squatter’s rights.

Dave and Jason found there way into Hirsches extreme headphone listening room just off the living room. Man, I love fisheye lenses: you can always get everything in the shot. It distorts things though, Dave here, could reach out his left hand and grab a Coke out of the fridge two rooms away.

Hirsch has a picture just like this of me.

Thanks again for you hospitality. Cheers!

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiGHFLYiN9 I think I may have left a pair of RCA splitters there, if anyone happened to find them let me know. If not no biggie.

RCA splitters found. Contact me to get them back.

Still MIA: one pair Grado flat pads, one pair Grado bowl pads. If you've got extra Grado pads in your things, and are wondering where they came from, it was here. Please contact me if you find them.