Having attended dozens and dozens of audio shows and product demos during the past 20 years, the Detroit "Headroom Show" has the positive distinction of being by far the quietest. It was nice being able to actually hear subtle details in the music without it being droned out by the 5,000 watt home system next door or the car audio displays down the hall.
Being faced with such a huge array of headphones and headphone amps all at once did tend to make me somewhat scattered while jumping from display to display when a particular product of interest came available to audition. That combined with intermittent chat sessions with the various attendees, limited my listening time with each component to a point where critical comparisons are impossible.
However, I did come away with some new and revised opinions on certain equipment such as the Grado RS-1's and 2's. I'd never heard the 1's before and when I briefly auditioned the 2's at a nearby audio shop, I wound up buying 325's because the 2's sounded a little "mushy" in comparison. I don't know whether my tastes have changed or whether the better listening environment in Detroit gave me a better audition, but I came away quite impressed with both the Grado "woodies".
I found myself gravitating to the AKG 1000's several times. Despite their cumbersome appearance, they were quite comfortable and surprisingly steady on my head. I could easily move around without them dislodging at all. The sound was crisp and clear with a marvelous soundstage ( or "mindspace" as Danny likes to call it ) and although some people (including Tyll) complain they are bass-shy, I found them to be extremely balanced when powered properly....like their 501 bretheren only better. Having them floating at the side of your head rather than clamped over your ears made them extremely comfortable and cool. They're definately stay at home phones, but I think there will be a pair in my not-to-distant future. Everyone who tried them on immediately broke into a huge grin...although this could be from embarrassment as much as great sound.
Like Jude, I found the Sony 3000's to be a bit of a disappointment. Granted, I do prefer open phones and didn't give the 3000's much of an audition, but after hearing so much praise about them, I was anxious to hear them and was somewhat let down. Perhaps my snap judgement is unfair and living with a pair for a while would change my opinion. I remember not being impressed when I first bought my Senn 580's, but after a couple of weeks they grew on me considerably. I imagine that if you must use closed phones, the 3000's are a very good option.
Being able to listen to AKG 501's and Senn 580/600's with several high quality amps reconfirmed my belief that both these phones are admirable performers. The AKG 401's were also quite good.
Speaking of amps, I was impressed by the entire Headroom line-up. They look much nicer in person and their build quality is excellent. I didn't have my Sugden Headmaster with me for direct comparison, but I'm certain Headroom's "Home" amp and definately the Max and Blockhead are equally as good and likely better sounding......although not as pretty.
I could also notice what a positive difference power supplies make with headphone amps. While the portable Grado, and Cosmic amps sounded quite good (as did the smaller Creeks etc. with wall warts) and offer a dramatic improvement over a portable or receiver jack, there's another dramatic improvement...particularly in bass response...when you move up to a home based amp with a proper AC power supply.
As I mentioned in the Chicago show thread, each of the displays held one source CD player which (I believe...correct me if I'm wrong) were fed into a Headroom (Home?) amp which was used to boost the signal to a splitter box which went out to all the other amps on that particular display. This amp was being used as a master volume control to all the other amps. Sometimes someone would adjust this volume control by mistake...sometimes reducing the power to the various dedicated amps resulting in loss of volume and affecting the final sound. I'm wondering if this also affected the ultimate sound of each amp...especially the tube amps. For instance, Jude noticed that the tube amps didn't sound much different than the solid state amps. Perhaps the Headroom solid state "booster amp" added some of it's own sonic qualities to each subsequent dedicated amp.
I didn't spend much time with the high end equipment because it was all so far out of my price range and I didn't want to be tempted. If someone would give me a 90% discount on the Orpheus however, I'd be eternally gratefull.
