[Absorbine_Sr]

Had an excellent time hanging with the Michigan folks. The group was small but the gear was plentiful. Headroom provided a boatload of gear for us to sample, and attendees had some pretty sweet stuff of their own.

Headroom sent, among others, the Senn HD800 and the Grado PS1000 and GS1000. I was able to listen to these via my Opus/Zana Deux rig. I was also able to compare them to my recently purchased HE-5's.

The HD800 is a wonderful sounding headphone, but for my tastes a little too clinical. I could enjoy them from a standpoint of pure detail, but I never felt like tapping my foot while listening to them. Where was the fun?

With the Grado's, I kept switching between my RS-1's and the 1000's. And I don't get it. All that money over the RS-1 for what? In the case of the GS1000 I just did not hear enough of a change to justify the cost. And the PS1000 just sounded wrong to me - kind of flabby and slow.

I also felt none of the high end cans were a huge improvement over the HE-5 ortho's and it's nice to go to a meet and feel satisfied with your gear. I think I have hit on near perfect gear for my listening taste. It's a pretty good feeling.

Other standouts were Al's Luxman P1 and wualta's Pioneer SE-700 piezo headphones. As a matter of fact I fell in love with the piezo's and will probably keep an eye out for a pair. They need a ton of power to drive them (near 2:00 on the volume knob of the Zana) but then they sound very good. If anyone out there has a pair of these they'd like to sell (at a decent price) shoot me a PM.

All in all, this was a great time. Thanks (and Happy Birthday) to Aimless1 for hosting. And see familiar faces again (Chris, Stephen) and meet new HF'ers (Luke, Becky). I look forward to see you all at CanJam.

A_Sr.

 

[wualta]

Big thanks to Aimless 1 for gracious hosting on his birthday. My thanks to everyone for listening patiently to my nutty stories and Absorbine Sr. for bringing the HE-5 / ES-5 combo. Loved it. Loved it even though I know it's not perfect. Now I know the orthodynamic promise isn't just a load of my own hot air!

... and thanks to the generosity of Headroom, I know I don't have to lust after an HD 800. Since they saved me that much cash, I should probably, like, buy something from them someday.

Almost forgot: the NuForce uDAC and the little cheapie A-T FC700 'phones were cheapskate highlights for me, so another tip of the hat to Absorbine Sr.


MiniDisc forever!
.

 

[Kabeer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Absorbine_Sr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Other standouts were Al's Luxman P1 and wualta's Pioneer SE-700 piezo headphones. As a matter of fact I fell in love with the piezo's and will probably keep an eye out for a pair. They need a ton of power to drive them (near 2:00 on the volume knob of the Zana) but then they sound very good. If anyone out there has a pair of these they'd like to sell (at a decent price) shoot me a PM.

You just missed one that sold today.
But otherwise, Im suprised you find them very good. Every report Iv heard about them say they are rather...erm bad..
Maybe its a gear thing?

 

[Aimless1]

 

[Aimless1]

Left - Audio Technica W10Ltd, Right - Audio Technica AD2000, Bottom - Bel Canto Dac3

Luxman P1

Left - Audio Technica W5000, Right - Grado HF-2





Headroom Portable Amps/DAC

Absorbine_Sr

 

[Aimless1]

Wualta

Left - Zana Deux, Right - Opus 21

HiFiMan gear

Absorbine_Sr work rig

No. 9 Portable Goodies

rear - orthos, foreground - piezo

 

[Aimless1]

Detroit

LWells on right with his friend

LWells Gear with D2000 Lite on the right

Seated: Wualta - left, No. 9 - right

Orthos with HE-5 left and Yamaha Y-100s right

 

[Absorbine_Sr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kabeer /img/forum/go_quote.gif You just missed one that sold today. But otherwise, Im suprised you find them very good. Every report Iv heard about them say they are rather...erm bad.. Maybe its a gear thing?

Or an old guy with bad ears thing...

Seriously, driven by the Zana Deux they sound ok to me. Meet conditions and all but worth spending some more time with. We'll see.

 

[Aimless1]

Thank you to everyone who came ... Absorbine_Sr, No. 9, Wualta, Detroit with his father, LWells with his friend. Special thanks to Todd the Vinyl Junkie for the loan of the TTVJ amp and to Headroom for 8 wonderful headphones and three portable amps/dac. Last, but not least, thank you to my employer who supplied a place to host the meet.

The standout for me is the EF5/HE5 combo. The unit had great synergy and sounded better together than the HE5 paired with the other amps. Sounded much better than their price would suggest. Lots of great gear. Like always some sounded better than others. But this year I'm not tempted to acquire new gear. My wallet thanks me!

Nice part of a small group is what happened at the end of the meet where we all pulled up our chairs and just talked. This was a spectacular meet with top gear, old friends, new friends and I can't think of a better birthday present. I'm still smiling

P.S. - I just discovered that I forgot about one of the P1's anomalies ... the XLR cables are to be connected left to right and right to left ... not right to right and left to left ... from the P1 to the Dac3. Since I had it set up right to right/left to left it changes what it sounds like, and not for the better.

 

[no9]

Big thanks to everyone that made the trip to grandville for aimless1's birthday, oh and. the meet too. Thanks again aimless for all the work you put in to make this happen. And to Thomas L Stuit, Insurance guru, for allowing us to use the facilities, headroom and Todd the vinyl junkie for letting us demo their wares

 

[mrarroyo]

You all had great gear to listen too, and it looks like you all had a great time.

 

[wualta]

[mutters whilst furtively glancing at photos of self] Dammit, I knew it: hang around audio gear long enough and you start to look like Henry Kloss.

Idea for movie: The Santa Kloss Clause. Better get busy writing the script to pay for new headphones.. [/mutter]

 

[lwells]

I had a great time!

I have to concur on the synergy of the EF5/HF5. What a terrrific sounding setup! I am sold on those. I will make that leap when I stumble upon some money in the future.

Thank you very much Aimless1 for making this event possible. It was a blast! The only thing I regret is trying those HD800's. I need a pair now

 

[lwells]

I would also like to point out how impressed I was with the NuForce Dac/Amp. What a terrific piece of equipment for the price!!! It's so tiny too!

 

[elrod-tom]

Looks like y'all had a nice meet. Wish I could have made it.