[brobilly]

Nelson, you said you have the hifiman hm801, how does the ED8 and hm801 combo sound? And I've heard people saying ED8 needs hundreds hours to burn in, is that right?
 
Quote:

Hey Litho, glad you were able to hear the Ed. 8s.  They seem to be a little underrated on Head-fi, maybe because their price scares a lot of people off (you can find them discounted on rmcaudiodirect).  But I'm not aware of another closed, portable headphone that sounds better.  
 
They do a lot of things right, with a good tonal balance and great detail.  IMO, they do have a slightly recessed midrange and its bass and treble can come off as peaky with the wrong setup.  They also don't isolate as well as my Beyer DT1350s (or most IEMs), but these are mostly minor complaints.  I just wish I had brought my RSA-stereo plug adapter, so you guys could hear it on a desktop amp and source.  The CLAS+SR71b does sound pretty damn good for the price and size, though.
 
The Beyer DT1350s are also an excellent choice, they're more portable and isolate better than the Ed. 8s.  And they're not that far behind the 8s in terms of sound quality; they have a richer midrange, but maybe lack some texture in the treble and impact in the bass.

 

 

[cycler2]

It was a great meet.  The attendees were all friendly and generous with their gear, music, and advice.  I was glad to see a fellow Lavry DA-1O owner there (dj nellie).  Although the gear was the initial attraction, I was most taken by the variety and quality of the music everyone brought.  Many thanks to Steve for introducing me to Rodrigo y Gabriela and Archipeligo (do I have that right, Steve?)
 
Rich

 

[scompton]

Quote:

I'll say good choice But I won't expect DAC1 will feed HE6 well. dac1 is a great dac/amp, but HE6 is hungry for power. Get a Schiit Lyr and you won't regret. 
 
haha, attending meets like this will make your wallet thinner..
 


 

Or get a vintage speaker amp


Quote:

It was a great meet.  The attendees were all friendly and generous with their gear, music, and advice.  I was glad to see a fellow Lavry DA-1O owner there (dj nellie).  Although the gear was the initial attraction, I was most taken by the variety and quality of the music everyone brought.  Many thanks to Steve for introducing me to Rodrigo y Gabriela and Archipeligo (do I have that right, Steve?)
 
Rich

 
You have them right

 

[Timestretch]

Quote:

Or get a vintage speaker amp
 

This is absolutely a consideration! Yours sounded phenomenal, if you are who I think you are, haha. That "realistic" receiver at the meet was killer. It's weight would crack my ikea desk, though

 

[playa1]

 
 
I would like to thank everybody for a chance to listen to all great headphones and setups.
It is very refreshing to have a opportunity to talk to passionate, knowledgeable, nice and friendly people. It would take me years to try all this different headphones I was able to audition at the meet in three hours.
What I really liked about it was that even each of us had different equipment (I'm the guy with modest system consisting of Audinst HUD-mx1 and K501) and taste, we were open minded and enjoyed each other setups. I'm not much of Sennheiser guy but I enjoyed Bogdan's HD600 with his great Sophia tube amp, listening to classical music. It was very musical and smooth.
 
Vintage Stax were great.
 
One of the favorites of mine at the meet was Stax SR-007 and Stax SRS-2020 with their clear, open and detailed sound. And the guy who owns them was extremely nice and helpful. 
 
I was most impressed when I asked if I could  listen to Hifiman HE6.I plugged it into one gentleman vintage RadioShack receiver and was blown away listening to I think some Beethoven music.
So, Timestrech (It was fun talking to You) I think you made a great decision and I hope I will have a chance to listen to your new setup
 
I included edited image from the meet. I hope you don't mind Timestrech.

 

[LithoJazoSphere]

 
Quote:

Hey Litho, glad you were able to hear the Ed. 8s.  They seem to be a little underrated on Head-fi, maybe because their price scares a lot of people off (you can find them discounted on rmcaudiodirect).  But I'm not aware of another closed, portable headphone that sounds better.  
 
They do a lot of things right, with a good tonal balance and great detail.  IMO, they do have a slightly recessed midrange and its bass and treble can come off as peaky with the wrong setup.  They also don't isolate as well as my Beyer DT1350s (or most IEMs), but these are mostly minor complaints.  I just wish I had brought my RSA-stereo plug adapter, so you guys could hear it on a desktop amp and source.  The CLAS+SR71b does sound pretty damn good for the price and size, though.
 
The Beyer DT1350s are also an excellent choice, they're more portable and isolate better than the Ed. 8s.  And they're not that far behind the 8s in terms of sound quality; they have a richer midrange, but maybe lack some texture in the treble and impact in the bass.

The DT1350s were alright, but they just didn't appeal much to me.  The Edition 8s, on the other hand, sounded every bit as good as I was hoping, even out of the iPod/AlgoRhythm/SR71b setup (which is more or less the sort of setup I'd use as a portable anyway).  I looked at a few of the impression threads from previous meetings in the area, and apparently the DC area has historically had a dearth of Ultrasones, so I'm glad that between your Edition 8s and my Pro 900s and HFI-780s that people had a chance to sample a few.  The "peaky" bass and treble to me is kind of the point of them, to satisfy your basshead and V-graph preferences on the go without having to give up sound quality.  Even in a somewhat noisy environment like the meet they were clear as crystal. 

 

[kwal]

I had a blast meeting everybody yesterday.  A lot of great setups at the meet, I was pleasantly impressed with how my asgard powered the LCD3's especially with the Dac1 feeding it (the asgard).
 
The Hifi Man stuff was amazing that new amp with the he6 is amazing. The He400 sounded good in my rig and will be a future purchase.
 
I wish I got a photo of brobilly's big ole power cords plugged into the $10 Christmas extension cord.

 

[Timestretch]

 
 

I included edited image from the meet. I hope you don't mind Timestrech.

Oh, thanks! I know very little about photo manipulation (and again I apologize for the out-of-focus shot - like I may have mentioned, my hands always shake, never still - it is very inconvenient) - but your edit makes things much more visible. Great!
  
Also, your K501 was really cool. I didn't get a lot of time with the K701, but I preferred your 501 to it from what I heard. So light, so comfortable, and so clear! Hopefully we can meet at a future meet, because I also enjoyed our conversations. 
  
 

 

[Otakusound]

Really enjoyed the meet here too, though it went really fast and I wish I had gotten more time with all the gear. I totally hogged the lcd3 toward the end though and that was pretty awesome. I wasn't controlling the volume so it was quite a bit louder than I'm used to listening, but all the music sounded lovely nonetheless. Especially of note was some really cool bluegrass ish that really showed off the lcd3's beautiful midrange tonality; really took my breath away.
 
Someone was always listening to the he-6 it seemed when I was in that part of the room, and I only got to listen to one Chopin piano thing. Really kicking myself now for not getting a longer audition.
 
The original lambda powered by energizer -> receiver of olde was the bees knees. I feel like if I owned one my life experience would be greatly enhanced, and I'd probably be a better person in general. It helped that there was some slick jazzy guitar playing in them at the time and then decided to turn into Enter Sandman. Life enhancing I tell you.
 
Bowie dude (sorry for not remembering your name) totally convinced me to stop being lame and try out DIY for a change. I will probably pester you about the details as soon as I figure out who you are around these parts.
 
There was lots of other stuff I got to try, and I'm really thankful to you all who put up with me running around like a kid in a toy store, except it was a toy store where I could take everything out and play with it. Yeah, that metaphor sorta works.

 

[wje]

I was tipped off that this meet was an upcoming event.  I live in northern Virginia, too.  However, we had an event on Saturday which kept me away from this fabulous event as well as a chance to meet up with many of you.  It sounds like a lot of Hifiman gear and Audeze gear, too - along with the DACs, amps, turntables, etc.  I would have been in heaven.  I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a pair of HE-5LE headphones about a week back, and hopefully, should receive them on approximately Monday.  That will be the costliest headphone purchase that I've made.  Most of mine have been modified Grados or variations of the Magnum driver based headphones.
 
Well, with that out of the way - I've been having the Fostex Fever lately.  Playing around with the T50RP modifications has been a great experience.  Certainly, going about the ways on a pair of $800 headphones wouldn't be wise.  But, with the Fostex, it's a bit easier to tolerate if something goes wrong.  It's not a phone that I use all the time as I switch things around depending on the mood and genre of music that I'm planning on listening to.
 
By the way, does anyone know of any local metro area company that offers Fostex around here?  Or, is any member locally selling some Fostex 'phones?  I had an issue doing a recable job on my T50RP, thus am seeking a new pair or at least a driver.  So, if anyone has anything, please let me know.
 
Also, if there's anything I can do for anyone around here locally, please let me know.  I have the Fostex T50RP, Magnum v.4 in Honduran Mahogany cups, the O2 amplifier, the C&C BH amplifier and a glorious Sansui 881 receiver in pristine condition that makes my headphones sound so lush!
 
Edit: I've located a semi-vintage pair of Fostex T20RP v.2 headphones from a guy in Florida.  I'm no longer looking for more Fostex headphones.  Just awaiting the arrival of the Hifiman HE-5LE on Monday - cough, cough ... I might need a sick day ... cough, cough.
 
 

 

[mralexosborn]

Anyone local interested in purchasing a pair of Grado HF-2's? Price is $425. 

 

[wje]

 
Quote:

Anyone local interested in purchasing a pair of Grado HF-2's? Price is $425. 

I wish I were at the moment.  Had it been about 6 weeks earlier, I would have moved on them, instead of having to rely on the FS section here.  Good luck with the sale.
 
 

 
 

 

[tme110]

does anyone in the local area have a T1 I could check out?  I'm trying to talk myself out of it but for some strange reason I've suddenly decided that I need a new set of phones and so far it's the T1 (though I've never even touched one before).

 

[vvs_75]

Booked Annandale library for July 28th 10am to 5pm.

 

[tme110]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/608355/va-md-dc-meet-on-saturday-july-28-2012