[GrumbleFish]

I didn't see a pair of Paradox at the meet, they didn't make it right? I was super excited to hear those.
 
I must say I find it interesting how many have said they don't care for the HE-6. I loved them. Both on the Liquid Glass and the GSX. I thought they had plenty of bass. Perhaps I'm crazy... or I just have different ears than the rest of you guys. They sounded phenomenal with the aforementioned Pink Floyd.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

Oh, and something I forgot in my impressions. 

I found the Mad Dogs extremely underwhelming. They're just not nearly as good as LFF's Paradox. 

I agree they were underwhelming after I heard the HE400s... they are going straight back to Dan...

 

[gopanthersgo1]

I didn't see a pair of Paradox at the meet, they didn't make it right? I was super excited to hear those.

I must say I find it interesting how many have said they don't care for the HE-6. I loved them. Both on the Liquid Glass and the GSX. I thought they had plenty of bass. Perhaps I'm crazy... or I just have different ears than the rest of you guys. They sounded phenomenal with the aforementioned Pink Floyd.

I found the HE-6 severely underwhwlming, like the same sound as some $300 phones even when being amped by the GSX... they had no texture or anything like that to make them enjoyable, they were VERY bland IMHO...

 

[MorbidToaster]

They didn't make it unfortunately as Danny lost his ride at the last second. I heard them in Dallas months ago and they stuck with me due to the fact they were so good. 
 
It's not the bass, it's the treble (for me anyway). Something is off about it. It sounds a bit shouty and grainy. I much prefer the perfectly clean sound of the HD800 (especially on the LG).
 
As I said in my impressions...I'll be getting another HD800 soon as I need a good headphone of some sort and they easily the best can with the Leben at the meet.
 
Quote:

I didn't see a pair of Paradox at the meet, they didn't make it right? I was super excited to hear those.
 
I must say I find it interesting how many have said they don't care for the HE-6. I loved them. Both on the Liquid Glass and the GSX. I thought they had plenty of bass. Perhaps I'm crazy... or I just have different ears than the rest of you guys. They sounded phenomenal with the aforementioned Pink Floyd.

 

[GrumbleFish]

Quote:

They didn't make it unfortunately as Danny lost his ride at the last second. I heard them in Dallas months ago and they stuck with me due to the fact they were so good. 
 
It's not the bass, it's the treble (for me anyway). Something is off about it. It sounds a bit shouty and grainy. I much prefer the perfectly clean sound of the HD800 (especially on the LG).
 
As I said in my impressions...I'll be getting another HD800 soon as I need a good headphone of some sort and they easily the best can with the Leben at the meet.
 

Mmmm. Interesting. I certainly did enjoy the HD800 treble, but I found it a bit too harsh on Chris' Bryston amp. The tube selection on the Liquid Glass tamed it to be very, very nice though. I'll spend more time comparing the two side-by-side next time I have the chance.

 

[safeandsound1]

I love the PWD quite a bit; I should because I own one   Like all audio equipment, though, it does have its own sound.  One of the quirkier things about a PWD, though is that you can tinker with the sound some by changing the firmware.  Some of the versions of the firmware are a little smoother while others are more detailed.  No matter the firmware, though, the PWD will always have a full, airy, and detailed sound.  To my ears, that is a good thing.
 
I know that the Ayon CD-1 was a big hit with many at the meet.  It is a very good CD player indeed.  I think that the Ayon also matched with the majority taste in the room which seemed to be super tube oriented, or at least that is what I gathered as I talked with people.  The Ayon products are certainly geared for tube-lovers.

 

[Solude]

Was the meet PWD an MkII?

 

[Maxvla]

Wanted to thank everyone for coming out. We had nearly double the attendance of last year! We added a few vendors that added to the total as well, but member numbers were way way up. Last year including vendors we had about 25-30. This time we had 53 with an addition of about 6 vendor staff.

We missed a few, notably zilch0md and HideousPride. Hope you are feeling better zilch, and sorry we couldn't get a ride together for you HP. Some condolences to the Sanderson pair, who lost their vehicle on the way down, and took out part of the Gungnir as collateral damage. Glad you two made it safely! We'll have to do some mini-meets since we live so close.

A few thank yous:

Everyone for bringing exact change! Didn't see a single $50 or $100 bill all day for registration. This made it much easier and faster. I really appreciate it.

The vendors, for bringing WAY more stuff than I expected, especially the surprise addition of the RK Audiology ladies who brought out the full Westone lineup and were available to take impressions for customs!

Everyone that allowed me to throw my DAC in their rig so I could compare against other DACs, and Justin, so I could listen to what will likely now be my future setup, X-Sabre -> GS-X v2 -> HD800.

Everyone for being courteous and helpful to Mark and Adrian, our youngest attendees. Poor Mark has a steep hill to climb based on his acquisition plan!

Travis, Grace, Dave, Anna, and Nick.


We turned a good profit, as I hoped, and that will be put towards next year's meet that I expect to be even bigger. In that case we will be looking to book the largest room in that conference center next year (2 1/4 times larger!). Expect planning to start earlier and the date to be set well in advance. What did you guys think of the venue? I wish we could have had food available this time, but it will be explored further next time. Their menu really was not set up for a group like us, so I may have to work out some sort of custom deal and I really didn't know what to expect, so we went without. I'm glad there was a good selection of food nearby, though.

 

[MorbidToaster]

I completely agree. If you read my impressions from Dallas (same meet with the Paradox) I found it much too harsh for me. I didn't even listen to it this time as I knew what to expect. 
 
The LG is the best HD800 I've heard, hands down. It handily bests anything else I've heard. The Leben is damn good with it though, so I was happy about that. 
 
Quote:

Mmmm. Interesting. I certainly did enjoy the HD800 treble, but I found it a bit too harsh on Chris' Bryston amp. The tube selection on the Liquid Glass tamed it to be very, very nice though. I'll spend more time comparing the two side-by-side next time I have the chance.

 
I have a feeling the PWD II would actually sound great in my current speaker rig, but so would the Ayon. More musical sound, or more detailed sound. Either would work as my system is fairly tubey anyway. It really depends on the rest of your system.
 
I told Al how much I enjoyed his CDP in Dallas and have been considering one with a USB in as my digital source for awhile now. 
 
One thing to consider though guys is that Al's Ayon is by no means stock. He has an extra 4-600 dollars in tubes in there.
 
Quote:

I love the PWD quite a bit; I should because I own one   Like all audio equipment, though, it does have its own sound.  One of the quirkier things about a PWD, though is that you can tinker with the sound some by changing the firmware.  Some of the versions of the firmware are a little smoother while others are more detailed.  No matter the firmware, though, the PWD will always have a full, airy, and detailed sound.  To my ears, that is a good thing.
 
I know that the Ayon CD-1 was a big hit with many at the meet.  It is a very good CD player indeed.  I think that the Ayon also matched with the majority taste in the room which seemed to be super tube oriented, or at least that is what I gathered as I talked with people.  The Ayon products are certainly geared for tube-lovers.

 

[TWIFOSP]

I may need to audition one in a better setting, and with tubes I'm familiar with.  The amp is fantastic no doubt, but the setup had a few flaws with center voice in particular that I found not to my liking.  The liquid fire had the same issue.  I am willing to chalk that up to the source, the recording, or the tubes being used.  I really wanted to try one in my setup, but we had to tear down by the time either LG didn't have someone glued to it.  
 
Quote:

The LG is the best HD800 I've heard, hands down. It handily bests anything else I've heard. The Leben is damn good with it though, so I was happy about that. 
 

 

[MorbidToaster]

I wouldn't audition it with familiar tubes, honestly. I'd just make sure you have a ton on hand. I rolled about 20 pairs before finding my favorites (which Alex brought but I never really saw rolled in).
 
Quote:

I may need to audition one in a better setting, and with tubes I'm familiar with.  The amp is fantastic no doubt, but the setup had a few flaws with center voice in particular that I found not to my liking.  The liquid fire had the same issue.  I am willing to chalk that up to the source, the recording, or the tubes being used.  I really wanted to try one in my setup, but we had to tear down by the time either LG didn't have someone glued to it.  
 

 

[bbophead]

Quote:

I didn't see a pair of Paradox at the meet, they didn't make it right? I was super excited to hear those.
 
I must say I find it interesting how many have said they don't care for the HE-6. I loved them. Both on the Liquid Glass and the GSX. I thought they had plenty of bass. Perhaps I'm crazy... or I just have different ears than the rest of you guys. They sounded phenomenal with the aforementioned Pink Floyd.

Thanks.  For a second there, I thought I was the only one who liked the HE-6.

 

[bbophead]

Quote:

I never got to test the Concero, but will be sure to next meet, really interested. It would be great for my LCD2.2 rig when I get the money.

No worries.  There'll prolly be another FOM by the time the next meet rolls around.

 

[pabbi1]

For the record, I have gone back and forth considering replacing the Ayon with the PWD. Sometimes the PWD sounds 'better' (more detailed), but the Ayon always brings me back, especially for guitars, piano and vocals.
 
The Ayon ain't broke, so I ain't fixin it. The Siemens CCa and the 1980 date code on the 6h30-DR make it way better than what you hear with the stock EH tubes.

 

[TWIFOSP]

I'm not going to write the PWD off.  Obviously many people like it.  I think it's more likely that I'm used to dynamics and then when I switch to stax AND a PWD, the Stax sound, and lack of familiarity is also affecting my impression of it.  But I wasn't wowed by it, let me put it that way.  I felt the Ayon rendered cymbals more life like than the PWD.  The PWD stood out as having a "gradient" or stepped like sound with a cymbal crash or shimmer.  
 
Anyway, obsessing over the last 1% is the entire point of this hobby.