[xand1x]

Wow...I don't even know how to start this off

..well...here goes:
THANKS EVERYONE FOR ONE OF THE BEST TIMES..so much fun, I really had a great time. Time just flies too quickly

I will do my best to try and match your faces with your nicknames (sorry if I forget anyone!!)

Philodox - Thanks for use of your condo, you got a great place so nice, clean, organized..Simply perfect

Your K340's are amazing (I will pm you tonight or tomorrow about cables/phones)!!! I'm glad that I now own your old pair

, can't wait for you to get all of your stuff together (new amp, modded E-Sound, etc.)

Omendelovitz - Great guy, 2.5+ hours of great conversation in the car..thnx for all the advice! Good luck in your quest for the ultimate home and portable setup!!! We must catch up and do a mini-meet sometime (I also extend this offer to any other head-fiers in Ont).

Red Leader- Your Fostex headphones were nice to see (they outclass alot of people..in AGE =P..great cans though hehe)

Grey Horse - CD3000s were IMPRESSIVE (from the 2 mins i spent with them..really sounds like a can I want to look into for sure)

Rhydon - Your setup is to die for, i'm glad you've finally found the ultimate synergy (headphones, cables, amp, dac, source.) Thanks for your advice on the P3A + Power Supply..When I get more $$$ =P

Looser101 - HF-1 HF-1 HF-1 too fun!!! Holy I hope they took pics of me boogying down to James Brown with these on. I love your amp too, once you get it into a bigger case with syncs I can see it being a hit

Thanks so much for your advice and knowledge, always appreciated.

Aerius - Me and you combine to form.."THE SAUNA" (DYNAHI + YOUR TUBE AMP) Your amp sounds great, and k340's never sounded better out of it! Glad you were able to refine it to taylor to these cans.

Feens - Your 595 was great, I liked how it was almost the 'middle ground' between Senns and Grado's. Thanks for usage of these cans, great talking with you.

Asmo - Thanks for usage of your MIX CD, your 580s sounded good too. I will get back to you in regards to 280 pros..I'll pm you tonight/tomorrow about 280 pros.

Big Bad Wolf - Your a great guy!!!! Was amazing meeting you..sucks that we both have to work tomorrow

Glad you brought what you did (mp3 player, etc)

I hope im not forgetting anyone!!! If so, i'm sorry!!!


Ok Ok Ok Ok...Cans impressions now (cans that I somewhat listened to enough to make impressions on)


HF-1 - TOO FUN, must own a pair one day! Bass is to die for..I found these cans very relaxing and engaging at the same time. It's one of these relationships with headphones where..you just put them on..and SMILE because the music is so beautifully reproduced in the HF-1 way

SA-5000 - My impressions haven't changed too much. I like them for certain genre's; great treble extension, and detail detail detail. I don't find them harsh, but maybe lacking a bit in the lower end.

HD-580 - Liked it, for the price you really get almost every buck's worth. I prefer these to my 280 pros..very nice

HD-595 - Much of the same with the 580's but greater treble extension..Bass was nice too. They seem kinda balanced to me (not sure if this technically correct or not..or from a Grado vs Senn perspective)

280 Pro - My first cans...Outclassed by so many headphones though! They are great for what they are (decent isolation

K340 - Loved this can. The Bass texture is to die for, imaging is great, and they are very fun, but so picky when it comes to amps too

My dynahi just barely has enough gain to drive them haha, might have to get it increased.

HP-2 - Music sounded so realistic on this can; effortlessness is the way i'd describe this can..almost like a live concert in your living room. Very refined in every aspect. Was a pleasure!

SR-125 - Great can, amazing bang for buck. Not as fun as the HF-1 but I noticed there was better treble extension and these are very good for what they are!!!

Ok Ok Ok Ok..Now on to the cables

I will be very general in my observations: TODAY I DISCOVERED THAT CABLES DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, A HUGE DIFFERENCE THAT I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD'VE EXISTED TO THIS LEVEL!!

So far I'm loving the silver raincoats with my system =) soundstage and detail are amazing. I must spend more time with the coppers though.

Ok Ok Ok Ok..Now on to the amps

PPX SLAM: This amp took the hp2 and disc to a whole other world. Tone was superb! Timbre, PRAT, dynamics, everything. Very refined!!! I love it (I would consider buying this on top of my dynahi =P)

Dynahi: 1/2 of THE SAUNA!! I really am glad that I purcahsed this amp, suits my tastes. Although many call it sterile, I find it brings out the warmth into any track that has that type of sound. IMO, the DYNAHI is the SA5k of amps in the sense that it reveals the window into your system (its not treble heavy IMO) and lets you hear your source. I found PRATand treble extension a bit better than the PPX (though this is vague because it can very depending on tubes used). The PPX is king of mids though! Loved both amps..and both don't really sound THAT much different from one another, nothing night and day, just subtleties.

Renato's amp: THE MINI SAUNA, it drove the hf-1's beautifully. Once you get it rebuilt I'll definately buy one of these.

I will conclude by saying this..

Great times, thanks again everyone, let me know where (i will host if necessary) and when the next meet is!!

PS: Ty to jjcha for use of SA-5000 for the meet

 

[aerius]

My goal for this meet was to listen to the SA5000, CD3000, and PPX3 Slam.

The SA5000 was not what I expected based on Head-fi reports, which highlights the importance of hearing things for yourself whenever possible. If the consensus was to be believed, it would be thin, screachy, and have no bass (slightly exaggerated for effect). The headphone is really fast, but it wasn't any more detailed than my K340, bit better resolution than the Senn 580 but not at Stax or HP-2/PS-1 level. Bass decays are just too fast and the harmonics down there never fully develop.

There's also a slight echoey weirdness in the midrange which is noticeable on some acoustic guitar chords, also causes solo violin to sorta sound doubled, kinda like it's been run through a mild chorus effect in a sound editor. The big issue that bugged me was the cymbal decays which never stopped decaying. Get a good cymbal hit and the damn thing will literally take 10 seconds to decay, it stands out a ridiculous amount and kills the wholeness of the music. There's just way too much emphasis on cymbals, neat for the first song or two, but gets tiring fast, even with tubes. I'd imagine it's something like the supertweeter effect which Biggie once described to me.

Soundstaging's nicer than Senn 580's, but still not as good as the K340. Though it sounds nice & open it doesn't have as much depth & height as the K340 and the imaging doesn't lock into place as well. The mids & bass seem to float around a bit in the soundstage while the treble always feels too forward.

More later, I need to sleep now.

 

[aznsensazian]

Im interested in how the balanced k340s compared to regular modded non balanced one? Was there a considerable difference? Phil, any comments? Looks like you guys had alot of fun. Pictures pretty puleeasse

 

[philodox]

aznsensazian - Hey man, it is Jay not Phil. I'll get back to you about that later on... I think I need some more sleep before I post any impressions.

-----

Here is to me passing out at the end! I hope I wasn't too embarrassing.

I'm sure Renato got a kick out of it any way.

Damn you and damn your scotch... my head hurts this morning.

 

[HiWire]

HP-2! Woohoo!

That's about as coherently as I can post right now. We finished at 4:00 am.

For those attendees that remember our roundtable conference (and everyone else), please vote in my poll on used drivers:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=145520


A big Lambskin thanks to our host, Philodox...

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiWire We finished at 4:00 am.

Really? When did I pass out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiWire A big Lambskin thanks to our host, Philodox...

A big Lambskin thanks? Do I want to know?

 

[aerius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznsensazian Im interested in how the balanced k340s compared to regular modded non balanced one? Was there a considerable difference? Phil, any comments? Looks like you guys had alot of fun. Pictures pretty puleeasse

It's hard to say since every K340 seems to have its own unique sound. We didn't have a balanced amp so we had to use adaptors on it. Anyway, it has more bass & detail than his old pair but it's not quite as fun sounding. It's all there but the magic doesn't quite come together. I'd say it's more break-in issues than anything else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox aznsensazian - Hey man, it is Jay not Phil. I'll get back to you about that later on... I think I need some more sleep before I post any impressions.

Your name is Phil and you know it. Don't deny it.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox aznsensazian - Hey man, it is Jay not Phil.

Phil...odox

 

[philodox]

*sigh*

Maybe I should have Jude change my name to 'jayodox' or something? Nah, that sounds pretty dumb.

Say it with me now, File - O - Docks.

Ok, I'm off to have a shower/eat/etc then I will hopefully be back for some impressions... The last part of the night is a bit of a blur, but I did manage to get some listening done before Renato and I started hitting the Whisky.

 

[RedLeader]

I had a big post written, then I hit back

. Quickly, thanks to Jay and his better half for the place. The SLAM was awesome, I found some bass in my er6i with the Xenos (I would buy one, but cant find one anywhere) and finally found something that beat my setup (for my tastes) It was denon-dynalo-HF-1. So thats a little off my Toshiba-SHA-MS-1, but I know what my upgrade path will probably end up looking like now. Here are a few pics, I'll post more complete thoughts later, I've got another exam tomorrow

This next one needs a bit of explanation, for some reason I was supposed to take a picture of the box akwok sent his dynahi in. Not quite sure why, but here it is anyways:

 

[akwok]

What, my box..

 

[RedLeader]

yea.... I really have no idea. He asked me to take a picture, so I did. Not having any idea what to do with it, I put it up. Perhaps an explanation?

 

[looser101]

Redleader,

You can get information on the Xenos 0HA here, and he also sells direct. You can also contact Alberto directly from the website, he's a great guy.

The 0HA-R package with the AC adapter and rechargeable battery is highly recommended. This amps high current output into low impedance cans eats batteries, it's the price you pay for great sound.

- R -

 

[Borat]

Whose setup is this?

I'm interested in others impressions of the CIAudio VDA-1 as mine is still rather new and I wanted to see if people's impressions mirror mine. And I also happen to use HF-1's. What kind of amp is being used there with the DAC?

 

[philodox]

Well, I had a great time, and after catching up with Renato [looser101] this morning it looks like I managed to end the night without pissing anyone off anyways. Sorry I passed out; I am a lightweight when it comes to Whisky. I felt a little better after I read in the NYC thread that Jahn passed out as well... so at least I'm not the only one.

I also meant to offer anyone to crash as I can't imagine driving home at 4am is all that fun.

This could have, quite possibly, been one of the longest meets ever considering Renato came by at around 11AM and the last of the guests left at 4AM. It might have run even longer if I didn't have that last glass of the Crown Royal.

I just got some pictures in from Renato.

Here is Rhydon…

…and his SinglePower amp.

The amp got a lot of attention from every person and every headphone in attendance.

Here is a picture of RedLeader listening to the MS-1’s.

looser101’s setup with the Channel Islands DAC.

Skipinder listening to a pair of Grado’s… not sure which pair though as the fro is obfuscating the situation.

And my favourite picture of the night… my cat Bumby getting to know omendelovitz.

RedLeader – Those pictures are quite nice. I love the shot of my new K340’s that you took… though the lambskin in the picture is making me a little, er, uncomfortable for some reason.

One funny thing that happened while helping Eaphan [aerius] up with his gear was two separate people in the elevator asking us 'Is that a bomb?' about his self made tube amp. Renato's reaction when I told him about it was pretty funny as well.

Much of the gear that was in attendance I was already familiar with, but I hadn't heard either of the Sony's and wanted to make sure I got some time with them. I was not too impressed with the Sony SA-5000 headphones and am surprised that they are so expensive. They have a nice detailed upper range, but don't go all that low in the bass and have a midrange that just doesn't do it for me. These are not bad headphones by any stretch, but I would not be happy with them as my primary pair. The Sony CD-3000's were a little bit more to my liking as they seemed to have a fuller sound. I still didn't really like their tone though and they sound like a closed pair of headphones. One thing that surprised me was that they actually look big on my head. I have an enormous head, and most headphones don't look out of place on it... but these CD3K's are monstrously huge! I seriously hope someone got a picture of me wearing them.

I also spent a fair amount of time with the HP-2’s and HF-1’s as these are my favorite Grado’s as of yet… I’ve got a pair of HF-1’s on the way, but unless I win the draw at the national meet a HP-2 is likely not in my future. I enjoyed them both and they sound great on the Dynalo and I will definitely be using it to drive the HF-1’s when they arrive.

I had my new K340’s hooked up to Rhydon’s PPX Slam whenever possible… they are a match made in heaven. I can only hope that my bamaslama works with them as well once it is built.

One of the coolest things that happened last night was that both my second pair of K340’s and Rhydon’s second pair of HP-2’s found new homes. I hope that xand1x and HiWire both enjoy their new cans.

Well that is all for now, I may post some more impressions tomorrow. I had a great time guys, thanks to everyone that came.

- Jason ‘I Like Lambskin’ Smyth

PS. I think you left your CD booklet here Skipinder...