[darmanastartes]

First, a big thank you to @VanHai, @jtnt, and everyone else who brought gear. I arrived a little later than I planned but thankfully there was still plenty of time to get some listening in.

Impressions and photos below:

Dan Clark Audio Stealth

This is not my first time hearing the Stealth, and I'm still not a fan hearing it again. Male vocals come across as bright, strained, and yet somehow slightly muffled. Guitars sound thin and treble extension is very limited. The worst part for me is the limp, clicky bass.

Dan Clark Audio Expanse

This was my first time hearing the Expanse, and I liked it a lot more than I liked the Stealth. It comes across as audibly less dampened, and the bass response sounds much more natural. It is still a little lacking in impact, and percussion is not as crisp sounding as I would hope for at this price point. The midrange also sounds more natural, and male vocals sound a lot less weird. Midrange clarity and instrument separation are excellent. The Expanse also has much better upper treble air than the Stealth. I thought could hear a mild mid-treble peak, but it wasn't egregious.

Sennheiser HD 580 Precision

Despite its age, this is still a really compelling and competitive headphone, with excellent rendering of distorted electric guitars. The bass response was also surprisingly great, well-articulated with great impact. Vocals have good body but average clarity, and treble extension is limited.

Benchmark DAC3 HGC

I used this as the source for the above three headphones. It didn't stand out much to me, which can be viewed as either positive or negative.

HiFiMan Susvara

I enjoy listening to the Susvara every time I hear it. While not the absolute best headphone I have ever heard, it is ironically the most "reasonable" ultra-flagship I'd consider purchasing (my dream setup is the Stax SRX-9000 with the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE energizer, more on that later). The detail retrieval is nearly unmatched, and it pairs that detail retrieval with a preternatural to render dynamic range. This is very evident when listening to a song like Strobe by Deadmau5, which starts faintly but builds layer upon layer of synthesized instruments until reaching a crescendo nearly seven minutes into the song. The Susvara also just sounds tonally correct across the full frequency range to me, with no obvious tuning issues.

ZMF Auteur (modded)

This unit sounded more tonally correct to me than I am used to ZMF headphones sounding. I have been perennially underwhelmed by just about every ZMF headphone I've come across and have typically found them dark-sounding with limited resolution. This unit sounded brighter than most ZMF headphones, perhaps a little too bright, especially in the upper midrange. Male vocals were very forward and a little thin-sounding, as were guitars. However, analog percussion sounded excellent.

ZMF Auteur Classic

While not modded, the Auteur Classic is still brighter than what I am used to out of ZMF's offerings. With that said the midrange sounded a little off, almost scooped, with male vocals coming across as very nasal. The Auteur Classic had very good detail retrieval, and percussion, again, sounded great. However, sub-bass extension was limited.

ZMF Aeolus (modded)

This unit had very good treble extension but a little too much upper midrange and presence for me to listen to it for long at high volumes. It was also very sensitive to positioning on my head. At lower volumes, this was probably my favorite of the three ZMF headphones I listened to at the meet.

Woo Audio WA22

I am not the biggest fan of tube amps and the WA22 did little to change my mind. The distortion was audible and interfered with my ability to gauge detail retrieval. Just not my cup of tea.

Audeze CRBN and HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE

This energizer is simply magical. I had heard the Audeze CRBN before, but I enjoyed it a lot more out of the Blue Hawaii SE than I remember enjoying it the last time I listened to it. The energizer does get pretty warm though. As for the CRBN, it is a very detailed headphone that exhibits the characteristic "papery" electrostatic timbre just enough to be noticeable. This seems to result in slightly muted transient delivery. Tonally, the CRBN is solid across the board and is similar to the Susvara in that I didn't have any major frequency response-related complaints. On the other hand, the CRBN's dynamics were significantly worse than the Susvara's.

Moondrop Para (and "slam stack")

I brought my own Moondrop Para with me, and I was shocked at how well it held up against some of the much more expensive headphones at the meet, particularly when I was driving it with @gandhisfist 's Bryston BHA-1. The BHA-1 is probably my favorite solid-state amplifier ever. @antdroid referred to the setup below as "slam stack" once, which is accurate in my opinion. Anything I ran through this setup packed a harder punch than it would have otherwise.

Sennheiser HD 8XX

The Sennheiser HD 8XX is another very detailed-sounding headphone, and I don't quite understand why these are so hated after listening to them. They seemed more similar to the Para in terms of overall tuning than most other headphones at the meet. They both have what I call a "midrange forward, but correct-ish" tuning. I also noticed that by this point in the meet, the crowd noise was a lot lower, which helped me appreciate detail retrieval a little more. I wanted to compare these directly to the HD 800S, but by this point, people were starting to pack up.

Stax SRX-9000

Only got to listen to this one long enough to confirm that it is still my favorite headphone ever. The detail retrieval is absolutely unmatched, and I am willing to live with the slightly bright tuning and electrostatic timbre to get it.

Thanks again to the organizers and everyone that brought gear. I hope to see some of you at CanJam NYC next month.

 

[SolarCetacean]

I noticed that the Susvara was not using the stock earpads, they were using a full velour earpad. Which ones were they?

The idea of a "slam stack" is interesting. One of the reasons I like the Erco is that it sounds punchier and slam-ier than the usual THX amps and chip DACs. I think a slam stack or slam DAC would be useful for my electrostatics, as they tend to have weaker dynamics than planars or dynamics. That's basically what my Erco + SRM-006tS combo is intended to be, though that combo is the "smooth slam" duo with the Erco providing the slam and the 006t providing the smooth. If the Bricasti DAC provides good slam, then perhaps it could serve the slam role in the future.

I had hoped the Wandla would be at the meet, as the Erco has a Gen 2 upgrade which brings elements of the Wandla including the vaunted HQPlayer-based digital filter into the Erco. Since the upgrade is a one-way change that involves shipping the unit to Ferrum for the rework, I'd have liked to hear the original Erco against the Wandla as a preview of what I'd gain from the upgrade. But, circumstances leading up to the meet weren't the best even if it ended up well in the end. It would have been a huge bummer for the two coming from WV to drive all that way and have the meet cancelled for snow.

 

[Menkau-ra]

I noticed that the Susvara was not using the stock earpads, they were using a full velour earpad. Which ones were they?

The idea of a "slam stack" is interesting. One of the reasons I like the Erco is that it sounds punchier and slam-ier than the usual THX amps and chip DACs. I think a slam stack or slam DAC would be useful for my electrostatics, as they tend to have weaker dynamics than planars or dynamics. That's basically what my Erco + SRM-006tS combo is intended to be, though that combo is the "smooth slam" duo with the Erco providing the slam and the 006t providing the smooth. If the Bricasti DAC provides good slam, then perhaps it could serve the slam role in the future.

I had hoped the Wandla would be at the meet, as the Erco has a Gen 2 upgrade which brings elements of the Wandla including the vaunted HQPlayer-based digital filter into the Erco. Since the upgrade is a one-way change that involves shipping the unit to Ferrum for the rework, I'd have liked to hear the original Erco against the Wandla as a preview of what I'd gain from the upgrade. But, circumstances leading up to the meet weren't the best even if it ended up well in the end. It would have been a huge bummer for the two coming from WV to drive all that way and have the meet cancelled for snow.

Sorry, I was gonna bring my Wandla. I’ll bring it next meet if the weather is good.

 

[SolarCetacean]

Some gear impressions:

Sticker-modded HD8xx with leather earpads on the DNA Sonnett 2: This is probably the first time I actually enjoyed any of the HD8-series headphones. I had tried the 800S or 800 four times previously, and each time I was disappointed with the soft-sounding transients and tinny tonality. All 4 prior demoes were on solid-state gear though. I have yet to try out an OTL on the HD800, but this modded 8xx on the Sonnett 2 had thicker bass (in a good way) and generally richer tonality, though that came at the cost of some of the soundstage size that the HD800 is known for. A picture of the setup was in an earlier post.

ZMF Bokeh: A distinctly colored sound, par for the course for a ZMF I suppose. The earcups didn't seem to rotate enough, so there was more pressure above my ears than below and I wasn't sure if I was getting a full seal. It sounded bassy and dark. Not my preferred sound, but it worked well on shoegaze-style music e.g. "Bruise" by flowerbomb.

ZMF Caldera: This is my second time hearing the Caldera, now doing so on my Erco rather than a DIY Aegis amp. I think it is quite good. I'd put it in a similar tier to the Susvara. It sounds thicker, richer, warmer, and more intimate than the Susvara, but not to the point that it sounds closed-in and muddy. I generally prefer a more open, brighter, and spacious sound (hence my preference for Stax, Hifiman, and Audio Technica), but the Caldera had enough of those qualities that I enjoyed listening to it while also injecting the usual ZMF qualities to make it distinct from the rest of the summit-tier planar magnetic headphones. I would probably still pick the Susvara, but I have a new-found appreciation for the Caldera.

DCA Stealth and Expanse: My opinions of these haven't really changed since the last few times I've demoed them. They are very good headphones, but they do not exceed competence. The Stealth had weak bass punch, and I even took off my glasses and pressed the earcups against my head to ensure a good seal, but that didn't really help. Both headphones had an upper-mids emphasis that didn't detract from the sound, but it also wasn't my preferred tonality. Both are significantly better than the rubbery yet dull bass and excessively sharp treble of the Aeon 2 Noire. But my main issue with them is their bloated yet constricted spatial presentation. On my preferred headphones, like the Stax or the Shangri-La Jr, each note originates in a point in the soundstage, then the sound blooms outward from that point to form a volume. Think of those soft-white LED light bulbs; when you look at a lit bulb in a dark room, there's the bright white bulb, then a halo of diffuse light emitting from it. That's like the Stax. On the DCAs, it's like that LED bulb is 3x the size, but there's no halo of light around it. Like a light bulb that is large and brightly lit so the bulb itself is easily seen but somehow doesn't light up its surroundings. Sounds have volume, but the sense of space and separation between them is lost, and the result is a constricted and cluttered soundstage. When I directly compared the Expanse and the Susvara on the Schiit stack (Yggdrasil + Mjolnir 3 I think?), the Susvara won that matchup pretty handily. This concludes my two-minute hate (I don't really hate them, but I'm borrowing the phrase) against the DCA flagships.

AKG K371: If I wanted Harman-target tonality, I'd get this instead of the DCAs. A nice little headphone, and I get why people like it.

Moondrop Para: This is a good headphone. It had good bass punch and otherwise unobjectionable tonality, timbre, and spatial qualities. Nothing spectacular, but a worthy competitor to the Sundara which I recall is pretty similar.

Abyss Diana MR: I liked the bass punch, and the tonality was alright. There was a bit of scratchiness somewhere in the vocal range on these headphones, but that seems pretty common for studio-targeted headphones. I just thought the soundstage was pretty small and I value spatial presentation a lot.

LTA chain (Aero DAC + Z10e): I liked this chain. I'm considering getting the Z10e for my living room as I don't have an estat-capable setup there. The Z10e seemed to bring out more bass than on my Erco + 006t chain. Low-bass rumbles seemed more emphasized and noticeable vs on my chain. It didn't sound as punchy, but I suspect if I put the Erco in place of the Aero, the punchiness would return. Definitely worth another demo. Alas, I didn't get the chance to hear my SGL Jr on that chain.

MDave + BHSE: This is a nice setup. It's a step up from the BHSE + Hugo TT2 setup that I used to demo the X9000 last year, but I didn't get the chance to hear the X9000 on it during this meet. I listened to the SGL Jr and L700. The BHSE adds good bass heft and body to the Jr, which I normally consider a relatively bass-light headphone. I enjoyed the Jr a lot on that chain. In contrast, hearing the L700 on it cements my perception that the L700 has "negative scaling" with the ultra-powerful 3rd party estat amps. The bass was better, but it also gained this type of sibilance that I've described previously as "crystalline" or "glassy". I heard this glassy quality when comparing the L700 vs the X9000 on the BHSE + TT2 chain in my earlier demo, but the L700 doesn't have that quality on my less-powerful amps at home. I think this makes the L700 a good choice for a Stax owner who isn't interested in chasing amps.

Aurorus Audio Borealis on the Bricasti + Bryston 'slam stack': This is a very punchy headphone. Not as distinctively punchy as the Australis that I heard last meet, but also not as colored in the rest of the spectrum. It seemed like the usual warm and moderately dark headphone that was normal enough to allow the bass to shine while not calling attention to the rest of the sound.

Audeze LCD-4 on the LTA Aero + Velo: Apologies to Aurorus Audio, but the LCD-4 is punchier yet and seemingly tighter in its punch and did the "emphasized but uncompromised bass" approach better in my view. The punch, especially on bassy tracks, is practically physical, like I can feel my ears vibrating from the bass punch. Vocals are also very smooth yet present (many headphones with emphasized vocal presence make them scratchy or raspy). I can see why this headphone is legendary, and I'm glad I heard it. I wish I took the time to listen to the Tungsten as I've heard it is sort of like a modernized LCD-4. I have heard both versions of the Tungsten before, so I didn't make it a priority in this meet, yet that was before I heard the LCD-4.

Edit To Add:

Hifiman HE-R10D: Pretty decent. It has the usual hilarious earcups and it's generally a bassy headphone, but it's pretty spacious-sounding and the sound was enjoyable. A departure from the brighter and more neutral/incisive Hifiman open-back sound, but it's a relaxing sound for enjoying simple music. It sort of reminds me of a brighter and less tonally extreme MDR-Z1R with weaker spatial and imaging qualities, though I didn't do a direct comparison of the two. I didn't use the Bluetooth dongle, but that is an interesting feature.

 

[Melineous]

Seinnheiser HD 8XX is another very detailed-sounding headphone, and I don't quite understand why these are so hated after listening to them.

I also forgot to mention that I modded that 8XX. I removed all the stickers, and disassembled the driver housing to get every bit of adhesive out to "uncrapify" it. Then, I shoved paper towels into the bottom resonator to dampen it, and get rid of the sibilance it sometimes has on vocals. Don't worry, the stock 8XX is laughably garbage tho.

I noticed that the Susvara was not using the stock earpads, they were using a full velour earpad. Which ones were they?

The Dekoni Velours were what I brought on it.

 

[gandhisfist]

@antdroid referred to the setup below as "slam stack" once

The normal "slam stack" is the bha1 and the dangerous convert 2 dac (which I also have and use on my speakers). Comparatively I'd say the Bricasti has a little bit less macrodynamic contrast compared to the dc2 and has more nuanced microdynamics and less homogenous timbre.

 

[Huntersknoll]

Any impressions on the LTA Velo? I was thinking about making my way down but my area of PA got a bit of now.

 

[harris4crna]

Hifiman HE-R10D

After listening to your Sony MDR-Z1R, I concur 100% with your evaluation. The R10D is a less defined Z1R. I believe it works well at the $400 price range. It's a fun HP for simple music such as AC/DC Back in Black. Reminds me listening to this as a kid.

 

[yage]

Hi all - I noticed that some of you listened to the Benchmark DAC3 HGC. Here are a few things that I didn't mention during the meet:

I set the DAC3 to HT mode which basically maxes out the digital volume and turns it into a fixed output DAC. You can tell if HT mode is enabled if the LED to the left of the label is lit. The side effect is that you can't adjust the volume as the motorized pot will automatically return to this setting after you move it. To take the DAC3 out of HT mode, hold down the DIM/MUTE button until the HT LED goes dark.

The headphone output was also set to its lowest gain setting because I usually listen to it through my AKG K371s which are quite sensitive. This may not have been ideal if using other headphones with much lower sensitivity.

Also in case anyone was wondering, the HD 580's I own have the 'black silk' drivers. I've found that there are sonic differences between HD 580 models.

Many thanks to @VanHai for booking the room and getting the ball rolling. Also had a great time talking to @Code Red, @harris4crna, @gandhisfist and @jtnt about all things audio. Hope to see you at another meet!

 

[gandhisfist]

@Melineous what pads were on that bokeh you (or was it your friend?) brought to the meet?

 

[Melineous]

@Melineous what pads were on that bokeh you (or was it your friend?) brought to the meet?

They were the Bokeh hybrid pads.

 

[IvanE92]

Anyone local have a Sony WM1ZM2? Hoping to listen to one and compare against my DX320 Max.

 

[skhan007]

Local Friends: Please let me know if anyone has interest in the ZMF Auteur. Happy to work out a great local deal.

 

[Svperstar]

I haven't checked the meetup thread very much, this was a 4 hour drive from me. I might have made it. Oh well. There are other meetups.

 

[Menkau-ra]

I haven't checked the meetup thread very much, this was a 4 hour drive from me. I might have made it. Oh well. There are other meetups.

It was 4hrs for me as well