DC, VA, MD Areas Head-Fi Up Coming Meet At Burke Centre Library On 5/31/2025

[VanHai]

Another successful meeting, and thank you very much for showing up and bringing your gear. It was so nice to talk to everybody. I forgot to bring my phone, so there was no picture from me. If you take some pictures please post them.

 

[CapitalJD]

Thanks @VanHai for putting this together. I had a great time. I really enjoyed my Tungsten on your tube amps.

Has anyone who’s had a chance to listen to those tube amps also heard the Aegis? How do they compare? The sound was magical but a custom amp from Australia is a lot of work vs something from Cayin, Woo, or ZMF among others.

 

[STAXR]

 

[SolarCetacean]

I definitely started off on the wrong foot during this meet. Apologies to anyone who wanted to hear the Z10e but had to leave before 4 pm, because I only made it back around then. But despite missing a third of the meet, I still had a nice time!

I invited a long-time friend who's in the area to the meet and he was able to listen to my headphones and he liked them a lot. In particular, he really enjoyed the X9000. That was part of why I didn't leave to get the Z10e's power cable until after 2 pm because this friend could only come in the earlier part of the afternoon so I had to stay around until he arrived.

Also, a shout-out to you all. The idea of leaving $20,000 worth of audio equipment out of sight for an hour and a half would be crazy for most people, but I trust you guys enough to do that. Thanks for watching over my stuff, and thanks to Michael (who isn't on Head-Fi) for helping me pack up at the end!

I must say that I probably won't bring this much source gear to future meets. Between interconnects, power cords, boxes, and now power umbilicals with the Z10e, it's a lot of stuff to keep track of and pack/unpack.

---

I listened to a good number of headphones. The on-ear headphones from ETA Audio were quite bassy; they really lived up to the "on-ear with bass" concept.

I enjoyed @VanHai's Atrium Closed on the McChanson 300B amp. I think this is the first time I've heard a 300B amp and while I can't quite tell what part of the sound comes from the amp and what's from the AC's base tuning, I thought it was quite dynamic and musical. Those who have read some of my other posts know that I don't like using the term "musical", but for the AC I thought it fit.

I liked the HE-500 that @JL3001 brought. It sounds like a vintage Hifiman in a way. The general sound signature is a familiar one, but it has a weightiness that the newer models lack, though it also has a hazier treble and less clarity. The HE-500 and its siblings are from before I got into headphones, so it was nice to enjoy a blast from the past.

I also liked the Final D8000 Pro LE that Michael brought. I've now listened to all of the D8000 family except the original D8000. The Pro LE had nice, punchy bass and shared some qualities with the DC Pro, which I quite liked.

@rhyyhm has a picture of me looking at the CRBN2 in my hand (I was the one in the red T-shirt) with a "not bad" look on my face. I have a more positive impression of the CRBN2 now after hearing it on @Svperstar's Carbon amp. It's very neutral, perhaps even leaning towards bassy. The synergy with the Z10e still wasn't that good, so it's best to stick to high-power, neutral estat amps for the CRBN2. "Not bad" would be an understatement, I now think the CRBN2 is quite good. And kudos to Svperstar for finding a pair of earpads for the X9000 that doesn't ruin its overall sound signature.

Oh yeah, the Koss ESP-95x with the Stax plug adapter on the Z10e sounded very nice too.

 

[Svperstar]

I got home from the meetup and got invited to go to the movies at 10:25 PM. So I just left my stuff on the floor and went.

When I got home I got everything hooked back up, but when I hit play I had no sound. I checked the cables, power cycled. Nothing.....................then I noticed my PC was muted. Doh. lol

Also, a shout-out to you all. The idea of leaving $20,000 worth of audio equipment out of sight for an hour and a half would be crazy for most people, but I trust you guys enough to do that. Thanks for watching over my stuff, and thanks to Michael (who isn't on Head-Fi) for helping me pack up at the end!

The synergy with the Z10e still wasn't that good, so it's best to stick to high-power, neutral estat amps for the CRBN2. "Not bad" would be an understatement, I now think the CRBN2 is quite good. And kudos to Svperstar for finding a pair of earpads for the X9000 that doesn't ruin its overall sound signature.

Oh yeah, the Koss ESP-95x with the Stax plug adapter on the Z10e sounded very nice too.

I had your X9000 over at my table for a while so people could compare it to the other estats so at least it was pretty far from the door.

Was nice to have another X9000 on hand to do a comparison to the pads I have on mine. The Brainwavz Sheepskin XL pads are a bit darker then the stock X9000 but makes the bass rumble more. Glad to see other people heard the same thing. Last time I brought 3 amps and almost nobody listened to the 717 when I had it out.

One user was listening to my X9000 for about 30-45 minutes while you were gone and said "those are probably the best headphones I have ever heard" he listened to a ton of metal and nothing does any kind of string instrument like the X9000. Its not perfect but never heard anything else like it for strings.

Was nice to finally do a head to head comparison of the Stax L500mk2 and L700mk2 even if one was modded and one wasn't. They sound very similar.

Glad you liked the Koss 95X. Debating getting leather pads for them, was cool hearing the Senn HD800s with leather pads. I might pick up a pair of them for my HD800.

Was glad to finally hear a Final D8000, I thought about picking up their earpads for the X9000 but sadly the inner diameter isn't big enough I don't think and would just attenuate the sound.

Also I can't believe I had to go this long before hearing the Stax 009s. For sure they sound like an X9000 Jr. Solid headphones, I was lead to believe they have zero bass. Not as good as a CRBN2 or X9000 but they did have some bass rumble.

Fun meetup.

 

[botmann]

I enjoyed my time at the event very much. Don't get to geek out over audio with people in person very much. Also a lot of fun checking out trying other people's gear from the less expensive to beyond my means. I didn't take a lot of photos.

This is the gear I bought. Also pictured is the HiFiman HE500 that @JL3001 brought. Nice cans. It has more emphasis on the low mids and bass than the HE6se V2 that I brought.

Pictures of gear other's brought.

Misc pictures, which includes other's gear

I really appreciated the Tungsten DS headphones that were brought to the event. I was able to check out how well my system/chain could run them. I thought it ran them well. It was also interesting to compare how they sounded compared to my solid state system versus @VanHai tube amps. Obviously some of the sound difference is the different DACs and source material.

It was also interesting hearing the sound difference between the FiiO K9 Pro (ESS) vs FiiO K11 (I think) which is a R2R DAC/amp with the Focal Stellia. Although similar sound, the K11 did sound like it has a little bit wider sound stage. I didn't have the same power the K9. It was very enjoyable.

 

[razoredge]

I got home from the meetup and got invited to go to the movies at 10:25 PM. So I just left my stuff on the floor and went.

When I got home I got everything hooked back up, but when I hit play I had no sound. I checked the cables, power cycled. Nothing.....................then I noticed my PC was muted. Doh. lol



I had your X9000 over at my table for a while so people could compare it to the other estats so at least it was pretty far from the door.

Was nice to have another X9000 on hand to do a comparison to the pads I have on mine. The Brainwavz Sheepskin XL pads are a bit darker then the stock X9000 but makes the bass rumble more. Glad to see other people heard the same thing. Last time I brought 3 amps and almost nobody listened to the 717 when I had it out.

One user was listening to my X9000 for about 30-45 minutes while you were gone and said "those are probably the best headphones I have ever heard" he listened to a ton of metal and nothing does any kind of string instrument like the X9000. Its not perfect but never heard anything else like it for strings.

Was nice to finally do a head to head comparison of the Stax L500mk2 and L700mk2 even if one was modded and one wasn't. They sound very similar.

Glad you liked the Koss 95X. Debating getting leather pads for them, was cool hearing the Senn HD800s with leather pads. I might pick up a pair of them for my HD800.

Was glad to finally hear a Final D8000, I thought about picking up their earpads for the X9000 but sadly the inner diameter isn't big enough I don't think and would just attenuate the sound.

Also I can't believe I had to go this long before hearing the Stax 009s. For sure they sound like an X9000 Jr. Solid headphones, I was lead to believe they have zero bass. Not as good as a CRBN2 or X9000 but they did have some bass rumble.

Fun meetup.

I think @VanHai’s Senns are 8XX, not 800S.

 

[darmanastartes]

One user was listening to my X9000 for about 30-45 minutes while you were gone and said "those are probably the best headphones I have ever heard" he listened to a ton of metal and nothing does any kind of string instrument like the X9000. Its not perfect but never heard anything else like it for strings.

That was me listening to your X9000. I've listened to the X9000 quite a few times now, and they amaze me every time. I'll never forget the experience of listening to them for the first time paired with the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii Special Edition energizer. The level of detail retrieval and insight has yet to be surpassed for me.

I did really appreciate having so many different electrostatic headphones to sample at the meet. I'd heard a lot of them before, but it was good to be able to compare them back to back to back. One such headphone I'd heard before was the Koss ESP/95X, which I was pleasantly re-surprised by. While it didn't have a ton of bass response, the resolution was very good for such a comparatively affordable product. I had not heard the HiFiMan Shangri-La before though, and I spent a good amount of time listening to it after moving on from the first electrostatic station. It was definitely a more natural and balanced sounding headphone than the X9000, but it didn't have quite the same special sauce in the treble in my opinion.

I normally take more detailed and structured notes at these meets, but I decided to just relax and enjoy the experience this time around. I did take some pictures, which I've attached below:

 

[Svperstar]

Notice how the name is wearing off on the CRBN2? The Audeze name and the CRBN2 logo are both fading quick, I guess they missed a step putting a protective layer when upgrading mine? No worries. Doesn't effect anything in the slightest.

Next meetup I go too I am going to make sure I have a USBC/iPhone cable setup so people can plug their own devices into my RME ADI-2 DAC.

Felt like a dinosaur only having my laptop there.

I actually had a cable in my car that is USB one end then USBC/iPhone at the other end. Not sure if it was data tho.

 

[botmann]

I think @VanHai’s Senns are 8XX, not 800S.

That is correct. I was talking about them and was corrected. I thought it was the 800.

Felt like a dinosaur only having my laptop there.

You were not the only one there was only a laptop. I am slightly more old school than you were with bringing a desktop PC. The PC was a small form factor PC that I hooked up to a NexDock 360 laptop, which is nothing more than a more elegant monitor, keyboard, and mouse in a laptop clamshell. It's nice because I can connect with a USB C 4/thunder bolt cable instead of the a fat cable or three cables as a more traditional KVM switch would need. It's great for troubleshooting/testing other devices since it can use a HDMI input. People seem to be ok with using the setup and my Spotify account to check stuff out. Someone always uses it to check out a lot of other people's gear, which is part of why I bring the gear.

On a side note of my gear, I'm glad to see no one damaged any headphones with the headphone amplifier, which is actually a stereo speaker amplifier that was set to send all power to the headphone 6.35mm port. People seemed to enjoy using it with the FiiO K9 Pro (ESS) as a DAC.

I like to thank @VanHai again for setting up this meet. I always look forward to going when I am able to go.