[davidmiya]

I just wanted to thank everyone who showed up. It's great to know that there are Hawaii people out there who share this same interest in headphones. We all got to hear some cool phones and setups that we would never had gotten to hear otherwise because of our location here on the islands.

More impressions to come... I just wanted to get this thread started. psxguy and refault should be posting some pictures very soon

 

[refault]

Here are a massload of pictures with captions under them:

Miya's setup (Meridian 588 + RS HR-2)

PSXGUY listening to my A500's through Miya's setup

Miya chilling and PSXGUY taking a pic of the Meridian

Miya's HD650's with Silver Dragon cable

PSXGUY listening to my SR-225's

The famous HP-2's

Miya listening to his HD650's

HP-2 and SR-225 comparison shot

PSXGUY listening to Miya's HD650's while playing with the Meridian controller

From bottom to top: Sennheiser HD595, Audio Technica ATH-A500/Rio Karma, and the HP-2/SR-225

PSXGUY checking out the HD650's while listening to the HP-1's while Miya listens to my SR-225's

 

[refault]

Miya chilling with the HP-2's

HR-2 amp with HD595's plugged in

PSXGUY listening to the HP-2's again

Up-close picture of the Meridian

Miya changing the op-amps on the HR-2

Sultan listening to his HD-590's and Cellophane's dad chilling in the background

PSXGUY's iPod w/ SIK line out

Cellophane and her dad

Sultan's PPA and the Meridian

 

[refault]

Another up close picture of the Meridian

4 Amps, from left to right: Sultan's PPA, Miya's RS HR-2, PSXGUY's Corda, my Meta42

Up close picture of the HR-2 cover

Sultan listening to the HP-2's

Cellophane listening to the HP-2's

Sultan's NAD 521BEE and Miya's HD650's

Sultan's PPA and Miya's HR-2's (without cover on)

Thanks to everyone who showed up. Thanks to Davidmiya for setting up the meet at his wonderful (but hard to find.. ) Manoa home. Special thanks to Sultan for giving me a ride home after the meet..

I hope everyone enjoyed the equipment.

 

[psxguy85]

I had a great time at the meet, guys and gals. I'll try to post more impressions later, but as of right now the HP-1 is my favorite headphone. When I mean favorite, I mean F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E. I didn't know I'd actually find a Grado headphone that I could not stay away from, but apparently the HP-1 is it.

Pictures, w/captions: (sorry, some of them are redundant)

David's HR-2 and my Corda HA-1 MKII sitting on top of his (gasp) Meridian 558!

David's HR-2 with cover removed

Our wonderful host sitting next to his pride and joy (and my measly little Corda.)

Massive Ray Samuels Audio Power Supply.

Close-up of the Meridian Logo

David switching op-amps

Grado 225's are the tops!

--but the HP-1 is better.

erfault listening to Sultan's DT770s.

Left to right: Sultan's PPA, David's HR-2, my Corda, erfault's Meta42.

Another view of the awesome Meridian with our amps sitting on top.

 

[psxguy85]

My 30GB iPod and Sik cable sitting next to erfault's Rio Karma.

THE BEST SETUP EVER. Not quite, but it sounded quite good if you ask me.

Comparison shot of the SR-225 with the HP-1

Sultan's NAD 521BEE

IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/steevens85/HawaiiSummer2K4/meet17.jpg[/IMG]
HP-1 pr0n

HP-1 vs. HD-650

The Gaggle of Headphones that was at the meet.

All listening intently to their own individual setups

Sultan trying his HD-590's through different combinations of amps and sources

The Happy Head-Fiers standing at the end with their favorite headphones. *cough* HP-1

 

[ayt999]

great pics... but those are not the HP-1.

HP-1 has phase switches on the cups where the "JG" logo is on the HP-2 and HP-3. so it is one of the other two models.

I so wish I were in Hawaii right now. looks like you guys had a great time at the meet.

 

[psxguy85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 great pics... but those are not the HP-1. HP-1 has phase switches on the cups where the "JG" logo is on the HP-2 and HP-3. so it is one of the other two models. I so wish I were in Hawaii right now. looks like you guys had a great time at the meet.

It's erfault's fault. He said it was the HP-1.

I still like them even though they're the HP-2 or HP-3.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

So should I be expecting to see some Joe Grados at the next USC meet? Of course there's that pair in FS for "only" $650, not bad since those cans used to sell for $1400 not so long ago.

 

[psxguy85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer So should I be expecting to see some Joe Grados at the next USC meet? Of course there's that pair in FS for "only" $650, not bad since those cans used to sell for $1400 not so long ago.

Hmmmm....I'm $150 short. Oh well.

 

[davidmiya]

After thinking about the stuff we heard, I'm beginning to wonder if I can hear the difference between the various Sennheiser models (we had quite a few there). The HD595, HD650 (with Silver Dragon), HD590 (with Equinox), sounded pretty darn alike with exception of the HD650's getting a tad more detail.

The HP-2/HP-3 sounded pretty darn good. The soundstage was more compressed than that of the HD650, but I think it got a few more details and was a bit more upfront. I think it's just a matter of taste. Some people will like Joe Grado stuff while others will prefer the laid-back Sennheiser sound. I would actually prefer to have BOTH because certain types of music sound better on different phones

The real shocker was the Audio Technica A500. That crazy little phone sounded smooth and fairly balanced. The bass wasn't muddy at all like I thought it would be. The same goes for the DT770. The bass wasn't half bad. Though, the detail extraction wasn't that great.

The PPA was as I remembered it. It's definitely a step up from the Meta42, but not quite all the way to the Emmeline HR-2.

I would have liked to hear the Shure phones. Unfortunately, I don't want to have to buy into the Shure line after having bought out the Etymotic line completely. It's too tempting

Also, I think I feel obligated to mention the equipment I've cycled through in my home rig as a result of Head-Fi

Here it goes:


Bose Triport
Meta42
Cardas 300-B Microtwin ICs
NAD C541i
Radio Shack CD-3400
Monster Cables
PPA
Sennheiser HD600
Sennheiser HD650
RS Audio Emmeline II Stealth
Stax Omega II
KGSS
Cardas Neutral Reference ICs
Sony CD3000
Cardas Replacement Cable
Silver Dragon Replacement Cable
Pioneer DV-47Ai
ART DI/O DAC
Bel Canto DAC2
Transparent Digital Coax

It's been a long trip. Longer than I'd like... but my favorite rig ever is as follows:

Monster Power HTS-5100 SS --> Absolute Power Cord --> Meridian 588 --> Zcable Live v5 ICs --> RS Emmeline HR-2 (AD8610) --> Etymotic ER-4S

This is also my current rig. I don't think it's gonna change at all... unless I can get my hands on a Sony R10

 

[cellophane]

Thanks to everyone for making the meet a great success! Thanks to David and his parents for hosting, thanks to everyone else for the headphones, amps, cables, CD's, and pics.
My impressions of the phones themselves:
Shure e2's and e3's: mines, and sadly the only phones I brought.
Ety's: more microphonic but also more comfortable than I'd imagined. I used them for like 1 minute only, so I can't comment on the Shure vs Ety sound. Since my e5's are on the way, I figure I have enough canalphones

Beyer dt770: They look more comfortable then they feel, since the headband was pretty tight. For some reason I coudn't listen very well in these, which was disappointing as I am a huge basshead and was pretty eager to demo these.
Senn 595: pretty comfortable, sounded pretty good out of a (meta?) amp. Not as astonishing as the 650's with a nice cable, nice source, nice amp, and nice CD, but then again, what is?
a500: I must buy them soon. Super comfortable, not as huge as I imagined, and the bass was nice and deep to my ears. When I go to Japan next summer I'll upgrade to the a900's.
Grado's: It's true that these are fast, punchy, and bright! The famous hp-2's sounded great, but the headband was so streched the cups didn't even touch my ears, a la akg k 100

A few other notes . . .
To me, if the phone isn't comfortable, it doesn't matter how it sounds. I guess its because I don't have a good source or own an amp . . . yet.

Was it refault's fault (heh) that everyone thought these were the hp-1's? Also, I thought that you pronounced it Grate-oh's, not Grattles. They sure didn't look like $200 and $650 headphones. I wouldn't mind buying the sr-60's as a gift for my rock and roller friend, then borrowing them . . .

So now, as a result of this great meet, I ended up deciding to buy a full-size can, selling most of the portables I have, and getting that Gladiator cd too.
More random thoughts sure to follow!

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmiya After thinking about the stuff we heard, I'm beginning to wonder if I can hear the difference between the various Sennheiser models (we had quite a few there). The HD595, HD650 (with Silver Dragon), HD590 (with Equinox), sounded pretty darn alike with exception of the HD650's getting a tad more detail.

I did a lengthly comparison between stock 580s (mine), 600s w/Cardas, and stock 650s at the detroit meet. I agree that the differences are very subtle. Honestly I could be quite happy with the 580s. I will upgrade though, I'm just not sure if 600s with a nice cable is better than 650s without. Of course I then have to get a better amp. . .

 

[Jahn]

Hey hawaii gang, it looked like a fun meet over there! Could you share some impressions for us of the following set-ups?

Source - Sony D-777 (at least I thought that's what I saw) and Ipod
to
Amp - Meta, and PPA (and which op amps you like most with...)
to
Cans - DT770(pro? which ohms?) and SR225(I have MS-2 on the way, but I bet it will sound closer to a 225 than the HP2 of course!)

Any combination of each source, amp, can above would be appreciated! I'm asking because I have those sources, and the DT770Pro80Ohm and MS-2 are coming soon - but I'm totally up in the air over an amp, but the meta is the low end and the PPA the high end of what I can afford. Thanks!

 

[refault]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Amp - Meta, and PPA (and which op amps you like most with...) ...but I'm totally up in the air over an amp, but the meta is the low end and the PPA the high end of what I can afford. Thanks!

I don't know what op amps Sultan had on his PPA but I had AD8620's (I think? something like that, well the number that is) on my META42. I tried to listen to differences between the PPA and Maxed out META42 and it was pretty hard to hear any. I felt the soundstage, using the HD650, was wider with the PPA than the META42. I also felt that the PPA had more of a boost on the low-end than the META42 (thanks to the bass boost switch. without the bass boost switched on the PPA seems to have less of a punctuated low-end than the META42.)

Other than that I really couldn't dig out more differences between the two amps.