Hi all,
I've been sorting out impressions of the equipment I heard at Hirsch's....... I should say that I almost completely missed the meet, but at the last minute managed to attend for a couple of hours.
My favorite set was the Creek CD53--SP Supra-- R10s. There is a clarity and detail in this combination. The vocals are amazing, the high freq are so well defined. The R10s bring a transparency and fidelity that it is quite difficult to put into words. They are outstanding headphones. When the Creek sits on the sure foots there is a significant increase in bass, quite dramatic.
The MPX3 driven by the Arcam sounded good. It seems that early on the usual dynamic sound was not perceived. It could have been that the tubes were not warm, as someone mentioned or maybe the amp was missing his fav source
. I would also like to point the very nice synergy with the Nordost Black Nights. To my ears this ICs open up the stage quite a bit. To try to put it into words, I feel as if the instruments and sound are brought forward. This, as if you are in a concert chamber, and all of the sudden you are transported from your audience seat, to the conductor position, you now realize that all the instruments surround you. I have incorporated other cables in this system (LAT, Homegrown Silver Lace, Kimber Kable) and by far the best synergy I've observed was with the BKs
From the two small tube amps, the Moretto HAP-03 and the EarMax Pro. I felt that the combination with the HD600s still belongs to the Moretto. I found more detail and better instrument separation in the HAP-03 amp. Quite a good little amp. Which during the meet was driven by the Rotel CD player,, this a very good player, with the ability to resolve complicated musical pieces with great ease.
I had the chance to listen to a The Who tape over the reel to reel system. This analog system has quite amazing fidelity of sound reproduction. The limiting variables are tolerance to hiss, bleed through and tape management by previous owners, as the only way to get tapes is the used market. It paired very well with the Marantz vintage integrated Amp.
I listened to the Hemmeline HR2 and the Gilmore V2. The combination of RS1s and HR2 is very good. I found the sound a bit warmer with the Gilmore V2. The HR2 provided a great dynamic sound and detail. One thing, I did not liked the Sony MDR-CD3000s with either of this amps, specially with the HR2, the CD3000s sound painfully bright in this instance.
The NEC "source from hell"---Fisher 400 --- K1000s is an incredible sounding combination, very warm and bass is great. I liked the custon adaptor that Hirsch made for the K1000s.
Concerning headphones, I liked the HP1s and HP2s we had, truly transparent headphones. I tried the Sony F1s, I found some compromise in the high frequencies and some agglutination in the mid ranges. However, very surprinsingly, this is less noticeable with some amp combinations than with others. I think there is potential in this headphones. Specially given the level of confort they provide. I liked the K1000s very much, great ear speakers! I tried the AT-W2002 with the MPX3, I think there is some serious synergy here. I have to admit I have not been a big fan of the W2002, until I heard them with the MPX3....
I would like to thank Hirsch again for opening his house and sharing his gear with us. Also I would like to thank the Head-fiers that attended, a great and generous group.
--CD44hi
