[Omnis]

I'm not, like, slandering or anything. I was just saying that that's what it seemed.

Who knows? It could've been me or my CD's. I just finished listening to K701s, and my ears just picked up a lot more brightness than bass. The raptor sounded fine with everything else...I was just joking about how it all seemed so different with the R10s plugged in.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Another fun filled Head-Fi meet! I was a bit out of it early on and didn't do as much listening as I should have. At around 3pm, I was starving so took a walk over to Bayside (just a block away, how cool is that!) and enjoyed some live music. Some cute Asian chick and a Rasta dude doing a Dylan cover in duet style. It was undoubedly the best, and worst, music I heard all day. At least it was live. But as I wandered about, it occurred to me that this was my 10th Head-Fi meet and 6th in Florida. No wonder I wasn't doing much listening!

Back to the meet and feeling refreshed, I did manage to catch a full side of good ole' Cannonball's "Something Else" on the Linn LP12 system with a nice looking pair of Zebra wood Headphile modded HF-1's. Suffice it to say, I sat back, closed my eyes, and didn't budge an inch until it was time to yell for help. "Hey, man... do you mind lifting that tonearm?" What can I say? I'm always at home with one of Larry's woodie creations, and this marvelous pair of HF-1's was no exception.

I did listen to mikeg's McAlister amp, and agree with the other voices in the crowd that it sounds a heck of a lot better than it looks. But sound is what matters, and the looks, well, it doesn't look that bad. It just needs a more professional looking case (as tyrion) mentioned, and that concern will be removed, leaving you only with the music to think about. I was quite happy and fully content with the ESP950/McAlister combo, listening to mikeg's Beuna Vista Social Club. But as I moved to the Stax SR-404, the presentation improved over the ESP950's and for the slight price difference, I'd much prefer the SR-404. Then up the ladder again to the HE90, and as always, it put everythign into sharper focus as compared to the SR-404. Switching over to the pair of HE90's connected to the HEV90 it was another noticeable step up in terms of overall focus, imaging, layers of details, and a sense of air, as compared to the other pair of HE90's connected to the McAlister.

How much of a step (or was it a leap?) in performance between the McAlister and the HEV90? That's a tougher call, and certainly the McAlister is priced right. Well, actually, it's a steal because at $700 it drives the HE90's quite respectfully and had the HEV90 not been there for comparison purposes, it would have been a hard sonic picture to find fault with. It's just that when compared to the HEV90, you quickly realize how pixelated the picture really is.

It will be interesting in New York in April to do some listening with many of the other electrostat contenders, including the much anticipated Singlepower ES-1 as well as the amps by Rudi Stor and others.

I did some brief listening to the little pool cue chalk sized MP3 player, the name of which escapes me at the moment (Blue Cube? Odd, it's not blue). Amazing what they can do in China these days for $130. It actually has an FM tuner as well, and while listenign through the K701's, one of the guys nearby helped me to find a radio station that was listenable. Of course the minute I was done with my audition and handed the headphones to Frank's (flecon's) young girlfriend Jenny, a frown came over her face and she immediately called for another station change! I guess this goes to show, my musical tastes have not kept up with the times...

A big thanks to tyrion for the assist in the "get out of jail for free" escape from the public parking lot across the street where my car had taken up residence for the afternoon. That little foot tap, whistle into the wind, and turn your head away move that you did as you slid the orange barricade cone to the side, allowed me to speed away out the side door, and $15 richer. I think I owe you at least one CD from yourmusic.com... we should be ashamed of ourselves, acting like kids! But hey, that's what it's all about!

 

[mikeg]

tyrion - Although I didn't listen to the R10 through the Raptor at the meet, I have often compared the sound of the R10 when driven by my Corda Aria amp, versus the sound that's obtained by plugging the R10 directly into the headphone jack/connector of the Marantz SA8260 (i.e., plugged directly into the Marantz). So far, my conclusion is that I can not discern a difference between the sound that's produced by the Aria, versus that produced by the Marantz. So, why am I keeping the Aria? Well, its volume control is more convenient than using the little twister volume knob of the Marantz, and also because the Aria look so pretty. Of course I know that these are rather silly reasons. But, perhaps use of the Aria also contributes to my feeling of gaining something from its use, although none of my superficial A/B comparisons validate this. BTW, lots of my previous evaluations of the headphone jack/connector output of the SA8260 (i.e., comparisons with other amps, such as the Grado RA-1) convinced me that this Marantz CDP's headphone output has exceptional quality. Perhaps you and I can re-evaluate this feature of the Marantz at a future meet.

I don't know what to say. There hasn't been a headphone I've used through the Raptor that I would ever call bass deficient. That big Sony source is an SCD-1 and one of the bigger bass sources I've heard. You are the first person that I've heard call the Raptor bass deficient.

However, to each his own. I heard the Marantz with a few different headphones yesterday and wasn't impressed after a very short listening experience. It was one of the sources I was interested in hearing due to the reasonable cost that they can be found on audiogon. In particular using the headphone out of the source with the R10's. I thought it was acceptable if that was all you had but not a substitute for any of the many dedicated headphone amps, including the Raptor. I would like to have spent more time with SA-8260 but I ended up spending most of my time with my KGSS and mikeg's McAlister. When I had my K1000's the Raptor produced as much bass as the various integrated amps I paired them with. QUOTE]

 

[mikeg]

Actually, the new R10, shipped from Japan during 7/04, cost approx. $3,150 (incl. shipping), while the new HE90 cost about $5,200 (also incl. shipping).

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsychoZX Just in case anybody could have taken my comments the wrong way, I wasn't trying to discredit his experience either. About $3-4000 (give or take) used depending on the condition and how old they are. The HE90s are even more.

 

[mikeg]

Gary - By referring to the "Orpheus" in the following statement, do you mean the HEV90? I'm referring to your statement that "It's a shame that the McAlister had to be matched up against the Orpheus, etc. etc."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guss2 Just a quick couple of thoughts.The McAlister and the Apollo are absolute steals is their respective catagories(IMO).It's a shame the McAlister had to be matched up against the Orpheus,because it's a damn fine amp,but his was my first listen to the Orpheus combo and it is without a doubt the undisputed king of headphone rigs(IMO),and this was with the Apollo as it's source.I'm not sure you could do much better than the Apollo at $1000,and I'm actually thinking of grabbing one for a second system.

 

[mikeg]

I can't recall whether you played the same CD in both systems. Did you? If not, then perhaps the difference is due to differences in the recorded music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnis I'm not, like, slandering or anything. I was just saying that that's what it seemed. Who knows? It could've been me or my CD's. I just finished listening to K701s, and my ears just picked up a lot more brightness than bass. The raptor sounded fine with everything else...I was just joking about how it all seemed so different with the R10s plugged in.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnis I'm not, like, slandering or anything. I was just saying that that's what it seemed. Who knows? It could've been me or my CD's. I just finished listening to K701s, and my ears just picked up a lot more brightness than bass. The raptor sounded fine with everything else...I was just joking about how it all seemed so different with the R10s plugged in.

Don't sweat it, you have a right to your opinion. I just wanted to point out my impressions of the Raptor. Don't let anyone stop you from posting what you believe.

 

[Icehawk]

Thanks guys for coming out - I just sent Mike the pics so with a little patience they should be up soon.

I'm dead tired, got in at 9:30am today so I'm just going to give a couple quick impressions of some gear:

K701s - I liked these a good deal with a variety of music, very clean sounding to me with very good treble and still a reasonable, if not slamming, amount of bass.

HD650 - Hrm, they sounded good but they had a muddy/warm sound to them that I really didn't like. They had a forgettable sound to me and after listening to them a few times I didn't bother again. I don't think they are bad cans, just they didn't do it for me.

GRADOs - I got to listen to 2 HF1-s, SR-60, HP-1000, SR-325i, and the PS-1. First off the SR-60 is a pretty decent budget can, very bright though so not sure if it is my cup of tea. The construction is also pretty cheap looking/feeling as well. Stepping up to the HF1-s I had a harder time, I listened to two sets both of which were woodied and my opinion varied during the day - as I listened to more Grados I began to like them a bit more.

Ok, so now I decided I needed to be wowed (I hoped) and hooked up my Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique vinyl and proceded to listen to the "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" track which has some of the craziest bass I've ever potentially heard. I've listened to that song on so many systems and in the end was always dissappointed with the impact of the bass - this ended when I pulled the PS-1s on my head. WOW. Ultra clean treble with tremendously deep and clear bass - this was the headphone I've been looking for! I listened to them many times over the day and of all the cans, including the HE90s, these were the ones that everytime I put them on I was blown away. Even out my DAP with no amp! Sure, it wasn't 100% of the full effect but even so I could instantly tell how nice they are.

Next I tried the HP-1000s and... well I'm wondering why but what I heard didn't jive with others views, but I guess we all hear differently

They sounded muddy to me without the treble clarity/brightness I'd heard from the other Grados at this point. I didn't give them a long listen admittedly as the PS-1s were calling me! The other issue was that Wayne has a pretty big noggin and the headband had been stretched so it was a bit hard for me to really listen to them properly. They also had flats - all other Grados had the bowls on in the normal direction. I did give them a second listen later and the day and they did sound a bit better but I still heard that "muddy" sound. I thought that was interesting as both Wayne and Mike said they would call the HP a pretty flat/neutral can, guess that shows how hearing (and preferences) are different for everyone. Perhaps it was that I listened to some fairly bright cans before trying the HPs?

On to the last Grado, the 325i. A friend (non forum member) and me sat for a good 30mins with the 325i and K701 with the PS-1 coming into the mix as well at the end. We both felt the 325i and K701 had a similar sound with the 325i being a bit more musical or warm and the K701 a bit more analytical. Comfort of the 701s was a heck of a lot better than the 325i for me, in fact most of the Grados were a bit uncomfortable for my left ear - I guess it sticks out! In the end my friend and I both leaned towards the sound signature of the 325i, of all the Grados I heard they leaned the most towards the PS-1 sound.

Towards the end of the day I compared the 325i and HF-1 back to back for a while and personally I preferred the 325i by a small, but decent, margin. I thought they had a fairly similar sound with the HF-1 perhaps a bit warmer.

I also briefly auditioned the last gen DT880 and DT990, not bad cans at the old pricing of <$200 but in all honesty I was not super impressed. The DT880 reminded me of the K701 but just not quite as good, maybe 85%. The 990 was worse and really sounded muddy to me in the low end out of both source/amps I tried. Bummer, I thought I was going to get a DT990 next... nope!

What else? Hrm, I tried the K1000s briefly but a meet is just not the place to try what are essentialy head speakers. They definitely looked cool if a bit goofy

Electrostats - got to be honest, I really didn't spend a lot of time with any of them although I thought they all had a nice sound. The Stax seem like a great value though for an electrostat, the brief listen I gave them was quite enjoyable. I did notice if you moved that the plastic housing would squeak though which was a little weird.

I gave a quick listen to the SA5000s, R10, and AT's AD2000 and W5000 (?) and felt they all had a similar flavor - very sweet highs with very little bass, although what was there sounded OK. For me I found them very music specific - if I listened to music like jazz I would probably enjoy them but since I listen to rock, electronica, etc I really just felt like they weren't the cans for me.

So here is my synopsis - I listend to a good range of gear and honestly only one can wowed me - the PS-1, and it did it every time I put them on. Now for $1400 they just are too much for me, I'd go $600 or maybe even to $800 since I really do think the sound (for me) was amazing but my budget just won't allow for a can with a pricetag so high.

So what am I going to do, I need a new can. It's going to be a 325i

Thanks a million to all the Head-fiers who came out and generously shared their equipment and experience!

 

[tyrion]

How about some pics:

 

[mikeg]

I agree with most of the preceding comments regarding the performance of the McAlister amp, versus that of the HEV90, and also with Wayne's comparison of the Koss ESP/950 to that of the SR-404, and the HE90. As for Wayne's review comments regarding the McAlister amp's performance versus that of the HEV90, I fully agree with his evaluation. I enjoyed the performance of Mike's HE60, but also clearly heard the improvement in performance offered by the HE90. This was my second opportunity to listen to the K701, and I enjoyed it's fine sound, although I didn't find it to be a major step up from the HD580, which I also enjoyed. As for the participants at the meet, they were great, and I really enjoyed seeing old friends, and meeting new ones. I want to especially complement everyone at this meet, and at the other Florida meets that I attended, for the great care with which they handled and used all of the equipment, and for the fine consideration that everyone showed each other. I've really gotten over my inhibitions regarding bringing expensive headphone equipment to Head-Fi meets. As for Jamie (Icehawk), he organized a great meet, and arrange for a fine facility in which to hold it. I especially thank Wayne for bringing his HEV90 to the meet. This afforded us the best possible electrostat headphone amp. with which to compare the McAlister. The HEV90 is beautiful, and a spectacular performer, and this was my first chance to see and hear it.

 

[PsychoZX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg Actually, the new R10, shipped from Japan during 7/04, cost approx. $3,150 (incl. shipping), while the new HE90 cost about $5,200 (also incl. shipping).

Man I hope I can find a new production pair for that price. Doubt it though.

 

[tyrion]

I agree with Mike's assessment of the HE90 v. the HE60. However, if you factor in the relative cost of the two headphones, the HE60 is a bargain.

 

[Icehawk]

Oh, yeah and the DAP that Wayne mentioned is my MobiBlue DAH-1500i. I really like it for a portable. It's always a crowd pleaser, especially for those of us that like gadgets.

Did I mention that the HEV90 is gorgeous?

 

[tyrion]

Here are some more:

 

[tyrion]

These are the last of Icehawk's pics: