3 hours later...what I remember:
Orpheus HE90: a great sounding headphone, truly something that I think I could listen to any type of music on for hours and hours and never get tired of. And yet...it's there, and even NeilPeart had to admit it when I pointed it out during certain musical sections...a very distinct veil (somewhat similar to that of the HD650, though not quite as dramatic), and some distortion in the bass (and, to a lesser extent, the highs as well). He'd have the Qualias on and I'd have the HE90s on and I'd say "There...listen to that on these..." and he would and instantly you could see the surprised expression on his face...it sounded clearer on the Qualias. And this was with the Benchmark DAC1 driving the Qualias (vs. the Blue Hawaii uber-modded amp driving the HE90s). Still...easier on the ear than the Qualias (which, again, only had around 50 hours of break in).
R10: amazing headphone...I kind of ended up considering it as a cross between the HE90 (for mids and musicality vs. the Qualia) and the Qualia (with clearer, less veiled highs than the Orpheus). This is another one that I think I would be perfectly happy with if I had only one headphone.
Qualia: there is no question that these headphones will enable you to hear things that the HE90s, R10s, Omega IIs, etc. will not. It is like night and day, plain, basic, right in your face, go back and forth between these and any other headphone I heard tonight as many times as you want...these are, quite simply, the most detailed, revealing, transparent headphones that I heard tonight. True, the lower mids are a bit recessed (perhaps something an equalizer or break-in or a better amp could overcome?), as is the bass (to a lesser extent)...but they are there, and they are absolutely crystal clear. Again, a reminder on this: amp was a Benchmark DAC1 and the phones had about 50 hours of usage prior to this evening (and were 4 days old).
Stax Omega II: disappointing. OK, it sounded very good. But...and I'm sorry...in my opinion it is just simply owned by the HE90. And, next to the Qualia, it sounded a bit *distorted*.
Audio Technica W2002: I did not like these phones. After hearing the same music on the Qualias and switching to these, the distortion was obvious...they sounded muddy. I preferred the HD650 w/ balanced cable to these, as well.
Grado HP2: very detailed phone (perhaps a notch less than the Qualias, and with a kind of laid-back quality), although the presentation was very flat, and had a sort of metallic twinge to it.
Grado PS1: more musical than the HP2, but less detailed. I think, after the richness of the HE90, R10, and Qualia, these just seemed a little dull.
HD650 (balanced): sounded pretty good, about the same as my un-balanced HD650 (though I didn't bring them for a direct comparison). I think an unbalanced HD650 sounds better through the MPX3 than a balanced HD650 with a DAC1...but again, that is just kind of a guess, since I didn't have my HD650s with me.
For whatever reason, the Qualias seem to lose a bit of detail with the MPX3 (although the sound is richer and has more punch) when compared to the amp built into the Benchmark DAC1. This is especially odd to me because the MPX3 sounds absolutely amazing with my old HD650 headphones (a major upgrade over the DAC1's amp). This influenced some of our comparisions between the R10 and the Qualias, because the R10s (which sounded only a little bit worse connected to the MPX3) were connected to the DAC1, which seems to work better for both of these cans. When we switched the two around (R10 to MPX3 and Qualias to DAC1), I think the Qualias went up a notch in Leeav's opinion (I was already familiar with the difference between the two amps with the Qualias). The MPX3 was using a Tung Sol Round Plate in the front position and 2 Sylvania VT-231s. It has the Solen Stage 3 and Jensen capacitor upgrades.
So that's what I remember. My plan now is to think about a more suitable (expensive, I guess...) amp for the Qualias, and get them burned in a bit more before the next meet.
