[Hirsch]

A small but dedicated group of Head-Fier's got together on Sat to do some listening. Most listening was done on a setup put together on the dining room table, but two other systems were present.

The table source was a Rotel 955 CDP through a Monarchy DIP into two ART DI/O's hooked in series. This allowed up to three amps to be run from the Rotel. In addition, there were portable sources, including the Sony D25s, the Panasonic CT-470, and another whose model # escapes me.

The Melos SHA-1 was off in a separate system, driven by the Sony DVP-S9000ES.

The X-Can v2 also stayed in its own system, which is integrated with my computer.

Amps on the main table were the Headroom Cosmic, Berning MicroZOTL, Grado RA-1, and Audiovalve RKV Mk III

Headphones included the Grado HP-1, Grado RS-1, Grado DR-325. Grado SR-200, Grado SR-125, Sennheiser HD-600/Clou Blue, Sennheiser HD-600/Cardas, Sennheiser HD-560II, Sony MDR-CD3000, Beyerdynamics DT-770 (600 ohm)

The MSB Link III Dac with upsampling also made an appearance.

Attendees were dcg, formulacarl, harv, dusty chalk and hirsch

I'm not going to post a whole lot about different sounds, as things were happening in quick sound bytes, and I like to form judgements over days, weeks, and even months. However, some quick impressions:

The RKV is a wonderful amp. Clean and powerful, and the only tube amp I've heard so far that can drive Sony's, Grado's and Sennheiser's equally well.

The Headroom Cosmic is a nice amp indeed. I was unable to distinguish the effects of the crossfeed processor, but the overall sound impressed me. The only Headroom amp I had heard previously was the old version of the Supreme (IMO a less than successful effort)...the Cosmic gave me a taste of the better side of Headroom's amps and I'm now looking forward to hearing more Headroom products in the future.

Hard to tell the difference between the Cardas and the Clou in pseudo-blind test. It's very easy to hear differences when there aren't any (given the Cardas to listen to twice, blind, I thought is was the Clou one of the times. We didn't pursue this far enough to draw any conclusions). However, it appeared that overall consensus favored the Cardas.

The Beyers are an impressive headphone. A lot of fun to listen to, and well worth exploring further.

The HP-1 shined with all of the amps...as it should

All in all, a good time with good people. We've got to do it again soon...I want more time with that RKV!

 

[disturbed]

Geeks....theyre all geeks and theyre coming to get ya....

DROOL...can I have those babies?


I just noticed the cheese you guys planning to make the edible version of the cheese phones?

 

[markl]

Who's who in the pic?

markl

 

[dhwilkin]

Who's wearing the Mononoke shirt? He's cool, as I've got the same shirt in my closet!

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by disturbed I just noticed the cheese you guys planning to make the edible version of the cheese phones?

I wasn't going to comment on that here. It belongs in the DIY forum.

 

[KR...]

who's who in those pics?

 

[RMSzero]

I wish that was MY dining room table . . drool . .

 

[pigmode]

Wow, lottsa cool equipment. What's that black box next to the DIO in the third pic?

 

[Vertigo-1]

That's the Monarchy DIP.

 

[dngl]

looks like it was fun!

 

[MooGoesTheCow]

Wow! Great pics! Let's hear some impressions from the other attendees

And yes, attach some names to those faces, please. Who brought what? What was for lunch? What was best in show? Details, people!

 

[dcg]

In the top pic, from left to right: DustyChalk, harv, me (needing a haircut very, very badly

), and formulacarl.

Hirsch is the new face in pic #2.

A big thanks to Hirsch for having us over (and for the cheese! yum.) Like he said, a lot of stuff to listen to and not enough time. I have to agree, though, that the RKV sounded great, and I was glad to get the chance to hear some of the higher end Grados.

 

[kwkarth]

Great report fellas! Looks like you guys had a great time!
Thanks for the great pics too!
Cheers!
kevin

 

[Driftwood]

damn, sorry I couldn't make it, would have loved to hear the RKV so I could tell kelly that it sucks

hopefully there will be a next time soon. maybe late june?

and, as far as this meet goes....
give us some comparisons!

Driftwood

 

[Dusty Chalk]

(Sorry for the delay, been working on my taxes.)

Things I came away with:

- Great bunch of guys. I had a blast. It was a lot of fun, especially being able to attach some faces to some online names. Thanks especially to Hirsch for hosting it and providing the nice cheese.

- Hirsch has way too many DVD's. (And no anime!) His collection of the ones he hasn't watched yet is bigger than my entire collection, I believe.

- I need to either (a) have his job/income, or (b) be his credit card company.

- Loki (?sp) has got to be the nicest cat I've met in a long time.

- I need to get a pair of those Silver Lace interconnects. They were easily some of the finest interconnects I've ever heard.

- The ART DI/O did not best the MSB. To my ears. However, at 1/3 the price, it comes pretty damn close. Close enough that, had I known about it at the time, I probably would have saved a few hundred dollars. But as it is, since it's money already spent, I'll stick with what I have. It's not a giant killer, but it is definitely a better bang for the buck. I would think of it as the Sony V6/7506 of DAC's -- I.E. a great entry-level upgrade (not the sound, mind you, just the frequency response).

- I finally know what people are talking about when they refer to the "Grado slam"! (I've only heard one set of Grado's in my life -- the 225's, I think -- and was too busy being distracted by the discomfort factor to enjoy them properly.)

- Those HP-1's are the only set of Grado's that I have ever actually liked, and there were a lot of them there! (I guess I'm just not a Grado man.)

- That RA-1 is nice. I take back everything I said about it.

- I'm deaf. A lot of things were very close, yet audibly different. But in a lot of cases, I could not immediately tell the difference. For example -- WRT (what, to me, were) the big three amp's -- the RKV, the MicroZOTL, and the Melos -- they're all very good. At this point, it's not a matter of one being better than the other, it's a matter of which character you prefer. I'm pretty sure I chose the right one, as I am really happy with the character of the RKV in the context of Saturday's meet. The character of the Melos is pretty close to the RKV, I have a hard time discerning the two. However, the MicroZOTL was very different.

- Another example of deafness -- could not tell the difference with the phase switches on the HP-1.

- I need to get one of those Cardas replacement cables. From what little I could discern (I'm with Hirsch -- I prefer to spend weeks, if not months, with something before forming opinions -- so all of these are "initial impressions"), I pretty much agree with DarkAngel's synopsis of the Cardas vs. the Clou. However, it might be due to a more "hyped" sound out of the Clou's that is giving the appearance of a more extended frequency response. However, that could also be a good thing. I also agree with his conclusion that both of them are significantly superior to the stock cable. Either of these will be an audible improvement.

- I need to remember not to forget anything next time. I didn't bring any tunes, other than my Keith Jarrett Sun Bear box. So, no dark music for Hirsch.

- I forgot my Cheesy Poofs. Oh, well, enjoy them Hirsch! Quote:

Originally posted by Driftwood hopefully there will be a next time soon. maybe late june?

Not likely -- the Headroom thing is in mid-June -- see you there! But we will have others. I know I'll be stopping by Hirsch's again at some point...