[jefemeister]

Those SA-5000 have a good amount of time on them but not a ton . They acually belong to Canman. In my possession, I put maybe an additional 50 hours on them.

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefemeister Those SA-5000 have a good amount of time on them but not a ton . They acually belong to Canman. In my possession, I put maybe an additional 50 hours on them.

My apologies to Canman for trashing his SA-5000's...oh well. Hopefully they burn in better, but bottom line is, if he likes them, well, that's all that's important now, isn't it??

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom My apologies to Canman for trashing his SA-5000's...oh well. Hopefully they burn in better, but bottom line is, if he likes them, well, that's all that's important now, isn't it??

I don't think he's a big fan either, nor am I. We do both agree that they're perfect for classical music though.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom My apologies to Canman for trashing his SA-5000's...oh well. Hopefully they burn in better, but bottom line is, if he likes them, well, that's all that's important now, isn't it??

Were the SA-5000's much brighter than AKG K1000's, which some people accuse of being bright (not me)?

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Were the SA-5000's much brighter than AKG K1000's, which some people accuse of being bright (not me)?

I thought so...but in fairness, I didn't do any A-B type switching with equivalent music.

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom My apologies to Canman for trashing his SA-5000's...oh well. Hopefully they burn in better, but bottom line is, if he likes them, well, that's all that's important now, isn't it??

I'll try to forgive you e-t

I'm pretty much in agreement with jefemeister on these cans. Due to the brightness, Sony cans are more difficult to system match than other cans. Hooked up to my Maestro they sound pretty nice -- excellent detail and soundstage with some reverberation in the bass. I don't know if they are burned in -- I had about 100 hours on them when I sent them to Jeff. Overall, I prefer the HD650 to the SA5000 due to the richness in tone that the Sennheiser gives to (or doesn't take away from?) the music. Especially since the R10 provides the detail while giving the richness in tone at the same time, the SA5000 is sort of useless for me.

jefemeister, did you finally get to give an R10 a listen?

 

[kmcdonou]

It was really nice to meet so many of the people who's posts I read frequently on Headfi. Again, thanks to John and Wadia for hosting the meet and providing pizza. It was really nice. Also, thanks to Headroom, Mikhail, and Ray who could attend and bring all that wonderful gear.

For the Headroom line out I focused on their portable Microamp and top of the line Max. I actually did a head to head comparison of the Microamp vs the SR-71 and I preferred the Microamp (using 320kps MP3 files served through an Ipod). It sounded more natural, less warm, and more tight and controlled.

Their standard Max connected to the Wadia 861 was an excellent solid state amp. However, after listening to several SS amps (Philodox's Dynahi and Chosen1's maxed out PPA), I realize tubes are my cup of tea. Tubes make the sound more natural to me. Everything is more rounded and full. Yet, if I wanted a top of the line SS amp, I would seriously consider the Max or a Dynahi.

I listened to the Raptor and found it very nice. Everything sound very natural (there goes that word again) and non fatigueing. Yet, I prefer my maxed out MPX3. It sounds fuller, richer, and has greater transparency. However, in all fairness, it costs a lot more. That said, Ray has a great product. The Raptor sounds like a cross between a SS and a tube amp and would be a great choice for someone who traditionally listened to SS but wanted to see what tubes are all about. Just be careful around the Raptor's tubes, they get damn hot!!

The other intersting listen was Chosen1's maxed out PPA. Although it definitely had a forward sound to it, it was really nice. I especially liked it when combined with my Ack Dack 2.0. It made the sound more liquid. However, I think I might go with the standard Aurora caps with such a forward sound versus the teflon caps in my Ack.

The final thing I focused on was a comparison between the various recabled Sennheiser 650s. I am a Grado man (RS-1s), but I wanted to try the 650s to see if I might have a second pair of headphones. I tried Headroom's 650 with a Cardas cable, Jefemeister's with a Silver Dragon, and Bob Walters' with a Zu Mobius. I kept all three pairs right next to me and kept switching them in and out of my MPX3. I also hooked two pairs up at once to the Headroom Max and switched in the third pair.

The Zu and Silver Dragon clearly beat the Cardas hands down. The overall clarity and high end extension was greater with both of these cables. However, between the Zu and Silver Dragon it was too close to call. I think I would give the edge to the Zu for it's greater extensions in the upper end, which helps make the 650s sound less restricted. Yet, in an A/B test, I am not sure I could tell the difference between the Zu and Silver Dragon, at least not under meet conditions.

As this was my first meet, it was really quite nice. I met some great people and listened to some nice equipment. It clarified for me that I need to make my system more synergetic (is this a word?) with the RS-1s, as they sound the best to me of all the headphones I tried. They sounded magical with my broken-in MPX3 with Solen 1 and Jensen paper in oil caps and standard Ack Dack 2.0. However, with my unbroken-in black gates and 12v tubes, combined with the upgraded teflon caps in my Ack Dack 2.0, there is too much of a forward sound to my liking. I may have to go back to the standard Aurora caps in the Ack if after burn-in the sound doesn't move backward a bit.

I also realize there is no need to add a solid state amp to complement my MPX3. As good as some SS amps sounded, they were not near as a satisfying as an excellent tube amp. I say that with a caveat as I haven't head the Gilmore GS-1 or the prototype of Singlepower's SS offering.

All in all it was quite an enjoyable meet and I look forward to attend others in the future.

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunwar Was the little amp an SR-71 or was it something totally new, this could be very interesting indeed. Or are you just referring to the Raptor.

Raptor.

I thought the Raptor was a big amp. Almost as small as the SR-71

 

[kmcdonou]

Here are some general pictures of the meet. I did not take any closeups of gear. Hopefully someone else has that.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom Well, I know that I speak for everyone who was in attendance at this meet when I say that a great time was had by all!

I'll second that!

I am consistently surprised by the generosity of people at these Head-Fi meets. Thanks for the pizza and beer John!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefemeister I was surprised by the quality if Philodox's Eastsound CD player and Dynahi amp. Just absolutely ridiculous good sound for around $1300 total.

Thanks man... I did hear some things that I really liked at the meet, but there was always a reason to not buy. Or at least to put off buying in the case of a certain $8,500 piece of gear.

Oh... and the IC's of course, but I'll get to that later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefemeister I know this sounds dumb, but I really liked the volume knob on the Veda Dynahi--looks, feel, and operation.

Actually that is one of the things that I really like about my Dynahi as well. I think that Veda has found a real gem with the Cosmos potentiometer. Much better than the Alps Blue Velvet in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom What was particularly neat about this meet is that we had a few folks who came quite a distance...from deep in the heart of Canada (philodox, where was that place again?)

LOL... that’s Hamilton.

Or are you talking about my funny shirt? Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom If that didn't convince you, all it would have taken was a comparison of philodox's rig (Eastsound CD player and Dynahi amp) with the silver cables he brought (brighter than I care for), with the switched-out Dimarzio cables on loan from HeadRoom (ahh...much better!!)

No kidding! I don't think that the silver IC's were bad, but my system definitely likes copper IC's better. I'm starting to wonder if I should recable my K340's with copper as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom I especially liked listening with his modified AKG K340's...someone remind me why I sold mine again. A nice listen.

I think you might have been the only one... my K340's didn't seem to get too much love at the meet.

Oh well, I love them, and headphones really are the component that are based on mostly personal taste.

----------

Well, I had an amazing time.

Unfortunately I fell in the same trap that I usually do at meets. I spent most of my time wandering around and looking at everything and talking to everyone and only ended up hearing a few things.

I really enjoyed talking with everyone there and have already forgotten most of your names.

[My short term memory is not the greatest]

I got a chance to compare the new micro stack to my AOS Flute. For whatever reason, the coaxial output of my AV320 would not work with the micro stack, but I listened to both using their portable DVD player. At first I thought that the stack completely killed the Flute, but after calming down and trying a different track I realized that it was mostly due to a volume mismatch. Once I got that normalized the difference was much smaller. Unfortunately it is not possible to say if it was the DAC or the Amp as the Flute cannot be separated, but the micro stack did have a slight edge over the AOS Flute. They both sound great, but the micro stack seems to 'keep it together' a little bit better and is a bit more punchy. All in all I am quite happy sticking with the Flute, but if I was buying my portable rig right now, the Micro stack would be my first choice. Beautifull build quality and great value!

I feel bad as I think that the only two things that I listened to in 'the room' was Tom's K1000 rig and the PPX Slam off of a Meridian. I loved the K1000 rig.

There are reasons that I won't be buying the K1000's for some time... mainly the ergonomics and zero isolation. I'm hoping that I get a chance to hear some of the K1000 in CD3K housing hybrids that Headphile makes at some point as I think this might address these issues as well as bumping the bass up a bit. I'm not sure why I didnt like the K1000's so much in Chicago... I think Tom has been working on his system for some time now so it may have just been happy synergy.

The PPX Slam was very nice with my K340's... I would probably go with one of his higher end models myself, but this one is a great value. I like the sound of Mikhail's amps, very tubey like the Wheatfield that I fell in love with at the Chicago meet.

The speaker rig was pretty nice, but I was more in a headphone frame of mind.

The best setup there was most definately the Wadia+Max. Originally I listened to a Max [home with all max parts anyways] hooked up to a Meridian 588 and I was not impressed. It sounded very good, but my setup beat it IMO. I'm thinking that it was the Meridian and not the Max that was holding the system back though. With the Wadia driving it the Max sounds amazing. I think that most of the credit goes to the source here [as with my setup], but the fact that the Max can keep up is a feat in itself. The Wadia was the only source that I heard that I prefered to my own. It would have been interesting to hook the Dynahi up to the Wadia. I think it goes without saying that the Wadia is a better source than the Eastsound, but I'm not sure what would win in a Dynahi vs. Max shootout. One thing I will say is that the features included on the Headroom amp will make it worth it for a lot of buyers. Crossfeed and selectable gain are really nice to have.

By far the most fun of the night was the talking after everything was packed up. The adventures of Ray "10 Eggs" Samuels in the land of the Cowboys was priceless.

It was great meeting everyone, I had some great talks with people and made a few friends.

Special thanks to John and Jeff from Wadia for putting up with all of us. Wadia makes some amazing gear and I'm sure that I will own some of it... some day.

Ray is always a pleasure to hang out with and I finally got a chance to thank his Wife for all the food that she made for the last Chicago meet.

The guys from headroom were a blast and it was great to talk about audio with them. Thanks for letting me borrow those IC's Jamey, that was really cool of you.

It was fun to finally meet Mikhail. You really know your stuff man, and your amps are beautiful.

Meeting Jude was very cool, but I was not expecting that accent... are you coming to the Windsor meet man?

We need some more pictures people! [and when you do make sure you name the people in the pictures... I met lots of cool people but forgot most of their names

]

EDIT: Forgot to mention the Qualias. I did not like them one bit. I think Tom may have hit it on the head with his comment on listening level... they may sound good at low volumes. I tend to listen at very high volumes and the Qualias sounded echoey, boomy and just all around sloppy to my ears. This was when driven by my Dynahi [an amp specifically made by KG to drive the Qualias]. I turned them down a fair bit due to the boomy bass and the sloppiness improved. They do have very nice detail, but their soundstaging is weird... and not in a good way like the K1000s. I found that by wearing them with the headphone pretty far back on my head I got a good seal and they actually isolated a fair bit. Personally I would expect a lot more for what these cost. My K340's have a couple flaws that I can live with, but the Qualias flaws are way too pronounced for them to be enjoyable IMO.

 

[Feanor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox I got a chance to compare the new micro stack to my AOS Flute. For whatever reason, the coaxial output of my AV320 would not work with the micro stack,

I hope they find out what the trouble is, it would be a royal pain to order a micro dac and have it not work with my archos.


Seems like you guys had a great mega-meet! Too bad I couldn't make it, would have loved to.

 

[backdrifter]

edit

 

[philodox]

Hmmm... I'm pretty sure there were more than 7 people at this meet. And most of you were taking pictures! Come on, we need some Ray Samuels money shots...

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by backdrifter So how can they be good with classical music then?

Becuase there is limited very high frequency content in classical music. The piano only goes up to 4186Hz fundamental, and most music doesn't take advantage of the piano's lowest end. The music also tends to be less complex, and therefore the Sony's don't get congested. I feel the distortions in the SA-5000 really manifest themselves when they're trying to do too much at once. And the midrange is gorgous, light, and airy which I think makes up for a lot of this. But when playing rock music or the like, the beautiful midrange jus can't make up for the other deficiencies because they become more apparant. Of course, YMMV.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman jefemeister, did you finally get to give an R10 a listen?

Oh my god... how did I not know that these were there???

There should have been signs and blinking lights and stuff... Crap, I listened to the Qualia's and missed the R10's!?!?

*sigh*