[omendelovitz]

God knows I took no pictures and there are likely people better qualified to start off this thread, but it seems like I'm the only one who has recovered quickly enough to start a thread, so everybody will have to follow my lead

1st off, I have to say the meet was not only greatly informative, but lots of fun as well. Since Tyll decided to drop by on the way to New Hampshire and some other east coast US meets, we had the opportunity to enjoy some Headroom freebies (those velcro cable straps rock Tyll, thanks) and some great headroom equipment. I have to admit, my favourite getup at the meet was Tyll's Meridian CD player and the Headroom max. Balanced inputs rule! I also have to say that I enjoyed A/Bing some of the HD650 variants we had going on at the meet (of course, through the Headroom Max). I liked all the recabled 650's better than stock for sure, but my favourite was the GrandEnigma recable on the 650's. Very sweet, clear and smooth indeed. I found the Cardas and Equinox cables to be essentially the same as far as sound is concerned, with a slight edge going to the equinox cables as the Cardas were just a tad brighter. I really enjoyed the portable setups we had going there, especially PixelPusher's LaRocco, which I ended up hogging for most of the day. I am happy to have had the opportunity to compare the SR-71, PR-II and HR Micro (desktop module); I'm also glad I ended up buying the SR-71 (although Rhydon wouldn't agree with me - he liked the neutrality of the Micro w/desktop and PR-II better; me I realize how much I love the 'coloured' lushness of the SR-71 and it's smoothness - especially since I lost no detail when compared to the PR-II or Micro).

Finally, I have to say a great Kudos to Pbalcer, who lent me his HA-1 (I assume a Meier design w/ a Pbalcer build?). I may just steer away from the portable realm just yet...

After listening to the HA-1 last night and this morning, I have to greatly endorse this unit. The $180 he's asking for it is a steal IMO as it is every bit as good as the PR-II I enjoyed yesterday - it is also 1/3 the price and doesn't require the unbelieveably nice (but pricey) Zu Pivot cables to sound as good as the PR-II (which sounded better than the SR-71/Micro only when combined with those magical Zu's IMHO). Go team Discrete Amps!

Edit: Kudos to Pixel Pusher and his K1000's: They weren't my cup of tea, but only b/c my equipment was too crappy to really benefit from their amazing sound. Those cans are a masterpiece in their own right. PP, don't ever let those go!

Edit 2: DT880's (w/Cardas cable) - All I can say is... NICE! These were a highly pleasant surprise when I put them on. Had I gone the way of the DT880 instead of the K701 and HD650 earlier on in life, I probably wouldn't own a pair of GS1000's today. Only one problem with them - no portable setup has enough juice to drive these cans properly. They really require a lot.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

A big thanks goes out to Jay and his cats for putting up with us in his small-ish condo for a couple hours. It was nice to match some faces to screen names.

I missed out on the HD650 comparison, but I got some good time with the GS1000s. They're great cans when properly amped and sourced. They have incredible dynamics and soundstage, while still keeping some of the classic grado sound signature. They sounded nice, but weren't really my cup of tea. I didn't find them extremely comfortable as they were rolling around my head quite a bit, but that's just because Oriel probably stretched out the headband to fit his extra-large head

.

I took some time with the UM2s and wasn't crazy about them. Sure there's some nice bass and overall good texture, but it still suffers from the inevitable compressed soundstage like all IEMs and the bass is really strong, but it comes to a point where it was just too boomy to be enjoyable. Many people got to try out the D-Jays, and for the most part were very impressed. I will post my final impressions very soon.

Other great joys at the meet was Kev's K1000s, which were arguably the best headphones at the meet. What really just blows your socks off is their instrument seperation and audio positioning. Just incredible. The Headroom Micro amplifier was a very nice and strong amplifier that I enjoyed very much, although I found it a bit warm-sounding. The Larocco was arguably the best portable amp there, but I didn't get much time with it thanks to Oriel who was holding it like his newborn child. A great suprise at the meet was the nice and smooth amplification of the Little Dot 2. Although it did run incredibly hot, almost too hot to the touch. I wouldn't want that anywhere near any other components.

The biggest dissapointment was the K701s. Non-recabled versions sounded lifeless and incredibly lacking in almost all regards. It was almost way too neutral. The recable made a nice difference, but at that pricepoint there are still better values.

We had a HHF-1 vs. RS-1 comparison as well out of the micro amplifier. The RS-1 won in everything we threw at it from rock to jazz to even classical. The RS-1 was liquid-smooth in all its tests, when I was feeling that the HHF-1 was almost over-exerting itself to try to keep up. It's bass was fairly overpowering the midrange when not needed. The HHF-1 also had a sort of distant sound, most likely due to the elongated chamber. For about the same price, the RS-1 takes the prize hands down.

My final addition to my headphones collection will be MS-2i. They're like a very controlled HF-1, and I even liked their sound signature better.

Overall a great meet with great people and I can't wait until the next meet (hopefully closer to home

). WHoever was taking pics: post them!

 

[aerius]

My main goal for this meet was to hear the K501, K1000, and GS1000, as well as getting reacquainted with the RS-1 and finally hear some Headroom gear. The short version is I'm not entirely happy with the direction AKG and Grado are taking with their new signature sound. The K501 & K1000 are damn good, the K701, meh. The RS-1 still amazes me years after I first heard it, the GS1000 was pretty so-so. In both cases, the magic is gone with the new models. The old models, despite their flaws have magic, the new ones don't.

Tyll was just great to talk to, he has boundless energy and enthusiasm for headphones and it was infectious. Thank you to Tyll for coming all the way up from Montana and bringing all the wonderful gear. I think several of us were shocked at the size of the Balanced Max headphone amp, it looks like a cute little thing from the pictures, turns out it's larger than my old chunky carousel CD changer, it's big. The crossfeed is a savior with headphones which have a blob in the soundstage such as the Senn 6x0 and K701, flip the switch and the soundstage goes from blobby to seamless. Very handy.

Also took brief listens to the Beyer 880 and a balanced K701. The 880 did not agree with me at all, the brightness gave me PTSD flashbacks to the SA5000, cymbals were unbearable and I was thinking "please make it stop".

The recabled & balanced K701 was a fair bit nicer than the stock one. It's not as bland and sibilance is tamed, however it still suffers somewhat from the 2-blob soundstage effect and needs crossfeed to make the soundstage right. Unfortunately it still lacks the midrange magic of earlier AKGs.

More later, I'm not really awake yet...

 

[JaGWiRE]

I won't comment too much on gear, but I had a lot of fun. It was interesting to hear Jay's setup properly, I thought it was really great, especially how those cans freaking isolate everything under a 1000 dbspl

. I got to try a few pairs of phones on, I decided I hate the k1000's just by their design (didn't get too much listening time with them), and how they are ear speakers and not headphones. Similarily, I learned on Oriel's gs-1000's and a few other pairs of grados that they just aren't for me, maybe they need some time to get used to, but on my head the comfort level seems all messed up, the pads are nothing like what I like (which is more or less what is on my sennheisers, the k5/6/701's, k340's, or beyerdynamic 880's for example), where the pads totally wrap around your entire ear.

The meet definitley could had benefitted from a larger space. There were tons of gear, and the rooms were all very hot becasue of the amount of people. I really liked meeting new people though, and chatting. I probably need to shut up and listen more, but I did get to meet some new guys. It's a good thing there are a few of us in the GTA rather close to eachother where we can host mini meets.

Overall, I listened to some stuff, but I really had most plans for later at night / after dinner, I really was starved by 5-6 oclock, and I was waiting to test the zhaolu out after the mods were done, which was around then. I was planning some critical a/b/c/ding, but unforteuntly I had no ride back. Anyway, I guess I'll have another try at this gear in the future.

At the momment, I'm eyeing the esound e5 as a new source

.

PS, when did the meet break up? I hope I didn't miss too much

.

 

[RedLeader]

Start of with a few pics I snapped between listening (highly compressed and quickly resized for optimal quality loss!) And then I'll move onto the impressions

My main goals were really to test the HD25-1 against my HD25-BA, and find a portable amp that would pair well with my H120. The soundstage and dynamics on the 25-1 outstrip the SP/BA rather significantly, even when the BA had a cardas cable on them. Needless to say I now own the 25-1 and am about to post my 25-BA in the FS forums.

There were a number of good portable amps there, but my 2 favourite were the PINT and the LD Micro. The Larocco, when I had a chance to listen to it, I found far to bright and piercing. The BitHead was an excellent little amp, but I found the bass impact to be lacking. I found that odd, as with 4xAAA the current should be there to deliver what is needed. It was detailed, just not to my tastes. Both the LDM and the PINT delivered nice smooth sound, but the mid-bass and lower register were done a bit better by the LDM, so needless to say that is now on my shopping list.

As I'm moving away from expensive desktop setups I didn't spend much time listening to them, but I was impressed by the HA-1 and Renatos tube amp, when it wasnt buzzing

. I'm a sucker for powerful discrete amps, and the HA-1 was very similar to the SHA, if more refined.

In terms of fullsize cans, I was thoroughly impressed by the RS-1. Beautiful tonality, and the dynamics I love. Oddly enough, I was rather disappointed by the GS1000. After a conversation over dinner I found that it was most likely because of the amp that I was using, but it seemed shrill and I just couldn't get a comfortable fit at all. I finally found out what was wrong with the K340, which was that I wasn't getting a good seal. As soon as I pressed the cups to seal on my ears, I found the bass that was lacking. Overall a great can, can't believe I missed that the first time I heard them. The K1000 were very cool listening to a binaural recording, but other than that they were a let down. On simple jazz and classical they held up well, but on quick pieces they felt very muddy and congested, and the bass even appeared to clip on a couple tracks. I know I had enough power as I was using "The Bomb", but it just sounded awful.

At the end of the day I ended up leaving my DT990 and LD2, and bringing home some HD25-1 and a pair of AT900. I dont need the AT900 so they'll most likely be up for sale shortly, but they're a nice can. Gaming now I can hear the soundstage that is talked about, but I find it isn't as apparent while listening just to music. I've discovered I'm really a closed-can guy at heart and have some great cans to enjoy.

Oh, and before I forget, many thanks to Tyll for bringing so much stuff, and for the stickers, cable ties and coffee mugs (Which I forgot at Jays...) His recabled K701 sounded so much better than stock, and I got the chance to compare balanced and unbalanced DT880 off the massive headroom amp. Definetly a bass improvement and a soundstage increase, very cool to listen to.

And another thing, the D-Jays! Thanks for having those sent, they were actually a nice surprise. In the budget IEM crowd, I think they compare very favourably. They reminded me very much of UM1, but with more detail. Not to an er6i level but most assuredly an increase. At a preorder price of $80US they're a great deal, and they sit inside the ear very nicely, no crazy hearing-aid poking out!

Thanks, was great seeing you guys all again!

 

[Asmo]

Was a great meet! Everyone had a good time it seemed.

Anyways, my impressions:

What I loved:
The K-1000s, Philodox's AKG 340s, AKG 701 recable, Headroom Amps.

What I disliked:
Zhaolu, GS1000s

My main goal for the evening, was to compare some sources, and try to find a good amp for my 701s. Some people seem to dislike the 701 sound signature, but they are currently my favorite headphone (in the price range), and even more so after hearing the recabeled ones. After this meet, I am considering purchasing a maxed out headroom desktop amp to pair with the 701s, the combination was perfect to my ears.

I personally have become a huge AKG fan, The K1000, 340s, and 701s were the best headphones at the meet imo.

I won't go into great detail what I didn't like, but I found the grado GS1000 sound signature not to my liking, and the Zhaolu simply unimpressive as a dac and as a headphone amp.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot about the larvy, and didn't listen to it while I was there, I was running around comparing the VDA-2 to every other source there, but the larvy. The merdian 588 was pretty good, had very nice high end sparkle, but I prefered the VDA-2 sound. Compared to the headroom DACs, the headroom dacs had more clarity in the top end, a lil brighter, overall it was hard to say which was better, but if I do purchase the headroom desktop amp, I will probably get the DAC option to replace my vda-2 and not feel like i'm losing any quality.

 

[Thaddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLeader

Jay, do you mind spilling the beans on this CD player? Looks like an E5 to me...well, it used to be an E5 I suppose

 

[Towert7]

Cute picture of the cat's RedLeader, and my goodness, that's a lot of equipment packed into a small space! Wow. Wish I could have been there, looked interesting.

 

[mrarroyo]

It seems you guys had a god time!

Philodox my K340 are packed and ready to be shipped to Larry at Headphile for a 2 meter BlackGold recable.

I put my feet on the stove to get rid of the doubt.

 

[RedLeader]

yea, we had a ton of gear, and then tyll showed up... Needless to say, there were far more headphones than you could possibly listen to. I was there till 3am and would've liked to hear a few more cans, but by then pretty much everything was packed up and gone.

 

[skudmunky]

Are those really Triports in that big box o' cans?

looks like you guys had a rockin' time.

 

[skyline889]

More pics please!

 

[swt61]

Looks like it was a great meet. Where's philodox today, haven't seen any post from him yet?

That pic of someone out on the deck is fantastic. What incredible scenery, is that a river in the background? It really looks like a beautiful area!

 

[digitalmind]

Wow, lots of gear there! Seems like a heck of a fun day. Many many nice headphones all cluttered on piles, seems like my kind of meeting.

Good too see the Magic Red's made it, too bad they couldn't do any burning in before the meet though.

 

[pbalcer]

First I would like to thank Jay for organizing the meet and Tyll for comming. The meet was really great and I had the opportunity to listen to tons of equipment - including Headroom's balanced MAX amp (that thing is MASSIVE!).


I went to the meet mainly to compare RS1 and HD650 with other high-end headphones. Particularly I wanted to listen to K1000, K340 and GS1000. I also wanted to compare my DIY headphone amps against others. (BTW. my HA2 and HA1 are not based on Meier's HA1 design - the design is completely different).

I found GS1000 really nice sounding at lower volumes. They do have wider and fuller soundstage than RS1. However, I prefered the clarity of RS1 at higher volumes. I was really impressed by K1000's imaging and clarity but slightly less by their high frequency response (too much treble for me). The supprise was the woodied K340 with balanced cables. They really did sound great!

Without a doubt the best sounding amp was the Headroom Max. It was especially impressive when ballanced output was used to drive headphones (BTW. K701 with balanced cable sound so much better than with the stock cable...).

Among other amps, one of my very few favourites was the Little Dot II tube amp. At first, I didn't expect much when I saw it but then I spent quite some (enjoyable) time listening to it.

I prefered its sound to other amps with diamond-buffer-type or "pudh-pull" output stages. The Little Dot II sounded very (but not overly) detailed with that effortless smootheness... My next project is going be a tube amp!

Thanks to everyone for comming and bringing your gear!