I have heard or read that the guy with the Orpheus just canceled because there was no liability for damages...
It was a great experience, anyway. Personally:
The best:
Rik's rig= K1000+AVM preamp+Vincent SACD with tube output+power amp (can't remember which, sorry!)
Detailed, rich, incredible bass, tight, deep, controlled... nice mids (although a bit analytical, maybe) and great highs. I found out I am specially sensitive to high freqs, so it was just a bit too much for me, but probably it was sounding very even over the whole range.
The worst:
Macintosh cd player + macintosh amp + K1000.
I found the sound very digital, no bass at all. And this rig would cost over 20k euro!
I was specially interested to get an amp for my HD650, and tested it with Lehmann's amp, since I had the feeling it would be the right thing. Sorry Norbert, I was not so impressed. It did sound better than my stereo amp (Cambridge Audio Azur 640 v1), but I wouldn't pay the price for the improvement. The bass was tighter, but also thinner, and the soundstage felt smaller. Although the overall sound quality was better, these issues were putting me off. And I had big expectations!
Then I turned to tube amps, and I found I was liking it more. First I tried a chinese amp from Leon G&W t-2.6f) 300? euro and sounding great. But I felt I could do better. I tried another two, 1300 euro each (one was the diabolo, can't remember the other name). This was really great, but quite off my intended budget at the moment. The great thing is that I could use it for my stereo with loudspeakers as preamp...
I could also finally listen to some grados, the rs1 actually. I liked them a lot, but found them fatiguing. They are a lot of fun to listen to, but I wouldn't be able to listen to them for several hours. I did not like any closed headphone (maybe I am claustrophobic...). I found the audio technica's in the themeninsel sounding too flat and lifeless, as were the beyers.
Quite impressive the demonstration of the surround system with the stax headphones (who said there were no electrostats?). It really worked!
I brought with me most of my "toys", but with such beasts there, my stuff was pretty much "mid fi"
Anyway, at least somebody listened to my cd player and IEMs
I spent in total about 130 euro, but I guess it saved me more in terms of trial and error!
The only negative aspect was the loudness around. I think people could try to talk quieter... But who am I to critizise, being a loud spanish
BTW, you can thank me... I was the one who found Jan Meier asking directions in the street
I actually did not recognize him
but I saw he had the map showing the location of the meet...
