[Ebonyks]

First of all, i would like to thank everyone who attended, you guys are really what makes this place wonderful. I had a great time, and would gladly organize future meets, perhaps every 6 months (opposite the chicago meets) would work well. Anyone have any ideas/opinions on that?

Now, on to the gear:

The thing that i enjoyed most at this meet was bar none the HP's that tuberoller was kind enough to bring. Even after being at head-fi for over a year, i still have never heard these phones until today. Clear, detailed, neutral, and just wonderful. I think i'm a joe grado fan.

Ray also brought his new stealth amp to the meet, which i still think of as a very good amp, but i question my feelings about it given the price tag. Ray's a great guy, and i can't think of anyone in the busniess who goes out of their way for their customers like ray does, but 2,500 dollars is just too much for me to spend on an amp. However, everyone that got in on his intial discount (Which ray actually lost a fair amount of money on), will be sure to enjoy this wonderful, albiet pricy amp.

Another big suprise for me was the HD-650's. I always hated the HD-600's because of their muddy bass and veiled-ness (Yes, i heard the veil today, and it's bad), but the HD-650's are a huge improvement over their younger brothers. Their sound is more involving, with a more balanced, punchier bass. With the cardas, they're certaintly pricy, and certaintly not equal to the HP's that listened too, but still a nice suprise.

I played with the K1000's quite a bit at the meet, and this just isn't the phone for me. There's plenty that i like about it, the soundstage is wonderful, and they truly feel like listening to speakers (Especially with the fisher, this was wonderful), but the phones are just somewhat shrill, and aren't anything i could live with. I can see why these have fans though.

The philly amp was somewhat disapointing (However, i didn't loathe the amp like ray seemed to). We played around with tuberolling, which improved some aspects, but the bass on that thing at one point was just ridicliously bad, i couldn't believe it. The amp was also pretty bright. I think this amp may have some potentional, and it certaintly seems to be picky about tubes, but perhaps something is out there that will make it sound great. I'll never know.

My feelings about the R-10's are pretty much the same as before, they're a great set of phones with a relaxing, but far from neutral sound. Not worth the price, but a great phone to have at a meet nonetheless. I still perfered these with the HR-2 over anything else at the meet.

Anyone here who claims to not be able to tell a difference between the HR-2 and the XP-7 needs their hearing checked. The bass presentation on the XP-7 was significantly different than on the HR-2, with perhaps an unrealistically punchy bass. I can't really recall spefics, but the sound was really pretty different.

One of the biggest disapointments for me at this meet was really being able to spend some time with the merdian 508.20 (I think that's the name of it, someone correct me if i'm wrong). The CDP just wasn't involving in my setup, and instead of sounding lively, just sounded flat and dull. I'm ashamed to say that there were aspects of my Ns500v that i perfered. When i bought my MMF 5 (Not at the meet, currently broken), i was hesistant that i should have bought something like the merdian player, but in retrospect, i'm glad i made the decision that i did.

Well, Chris bailey was kind enough to hand out some of his new cables at the meet. They're damned ugly if i do say so myself, but i'll be sure to spend more time with them in the comming weeks so i can give a more detailed review of them. I wanted to play with this HD-580/600/650 cables, but sadly, i didn't have time to A/B them with any other cables. And sorry about the melos constantly shocking you (Yes, my melos was attacking people at the meet)

I also listened to the RS-1's for a bit at the meet, and i can really see why people like these. I'm not a big fan of the radioshack pads that ray likes on his, but with the flats, they were simliar to the HP's, but had a noticably different sonic charcter. They weren't really bright as i had previously believed, but they have a unique presentation, and a enjoyable soundstage. I'd like to spend some more time with these cans on a source that i know better, like my (temporarly broken) MMF 5

Well, that's all i have to say for now, i encourage everyone to post their impressions, and i look forward to seeing tuberoller post his pics.

 

[elrod-tom]

Sounds like you guys had a great meet. I wish I could have made it, but work intervened in a major way.

 

[KR...]

Will there be any pics posted?

The RS-1 and the HP-1000 do not sound as different from each other as many here claim. They do a lot more the same than they do different. HP-1000's do have a bigger sound stage, since they are a bit more laid back and also have better separation and more air. The RS-1 do have better bass but are more forward sounding and intimate.

I do not like all the Merdian CD players that I have heard, but I haven't heard their ultra high end ones, I also found the ones I did hear a bit bland.

 

[Ebonyks]

Yeah, tuberoller took a bunch of pics, i figure they'll most likely be posted tonight.

It's strange, i loved the merridan on ray's setup, and in my own, it just wasn't what i was hoping for

 

[elrod-tom]

That says a lot for synergy of system components. Makes perfect sense to me. Sounds like the Meridian is not an ideal match for your system...which is OK, because it IS a great match in Ray's system (that much I remember from the Detroit and Chicago meets

)

 

[Hajime]

I had great fun at this meet and I'd like to thank Ebonyks for hosting it. It was nice listening to the gear and meeting so many people. I'll post some impressions after I get done eating.

 

[markl]

Quote:

Anyone here who claims to not be able to tell a difference between the HR-2 and the XP-7 needs their hearing checked. The bass presentation on the XP-7 was significantly different than on the HR-2, with perhaps an unrealistically punchy bass. I can't really recall spefics, but the sound was really pretty different.

They really only start to sound alike when you roll in the AD797 op-amps into the XP-7. That's an interesting observation about the XP-7s bass. I also questioned whether the lower-power XP-7 actually had more bass than its bigger brother. While you found it "unrealistic" I suspect others would like it better.

 

[Tuberoller]

Thanks to our host Ebonyks. May your dreams be filled with thoughts of R10s.

A good crowd,but most important the meet was a great time and lots of new faces were in attendence. As expected there were a good group of newbies and young guys. I would say the average age of attendees at this meet was much lower than any of the other meets I have attended. This is why the young guys need to do meets.

Hajime's cables wern't that ugly but I have them for review and they'll be stacked against the big boys. I have confidence our young cable guru will hold his own.

 

[Tuberoller]

Anther great thing about this meet that was missing from the Chicago meet,as well as the Detroit and NYC was the DIY crowd.

Check out the pics of just some of the great DIY amps that were available for attendees of this meet. Again,this is why it's important for other folks to host meets and for meets to be held in other places besides the big cities. The workmanship and sonics of both these amps was superb and the builder should be very proud of his work.

 

[Tuberoller]

 

[eric343]

Some Serious Gear there...

 

[xtreme4099]

nice ... very nice

 

[Tuberoller]

I would first like to thank Ebonyks for hosting a great meet. This is the most fun I have had at a meet. I think that some of the other meets have grown too large and listening opportunities have become scarce. This meet had nice attendance and there were quite a few new members and a few who did'nt have any phones at all. This is great and what I think the meets should be all about. I don't think many of these newbies would have attended the Chicago meet(though they are way more than welcomed) and if they did,they may have been imtimidated. It was great to see so many young guys and to see so many DIY projects on hand.

I like Ebonyks and feel he did a great thing but he is a very opinionated young man and I guess that's a good thing

. I have to disagree with some of his opinions at this time but that's all cool.

The HD650 are OK and all but they have yet to bowl me over and I'm sure they are just a stop-gap measure to hold us all over until the HD700 come around. If you don't already have HD600s,then they are the ticket.

I still don't know why all you guys love the HP1000. Maybe I'm going stupid or something but this one is beyond me. They stopped making these for a reason boys(that' a joke, so shut up).

Chris's HD600 cable is not that ugly. It ain't pretty and you won't get any girls using it,but so far it sounds pretty good. Chris,next time you see Ebonyks,I'll hold him while you choke him with the cable. Review coming soon.

The Philly Audio amp was only OK sounding,but it sure was pretty. I could use that thing as a mirror to trim my nose hairs.

Man,I wear K1000s to bed. They are awesome and anyone who doesn't like them is just jealous of all the guys with good taste

Get over it. The Fisher 400 is still the best amp I have ever used with K1000 but the Sophia sounded pretty good too. There wasn't that "magic" as with the K1000/Fisher combo,but if I was a K1000 owner in need of an amp,I would most certainly look at the Sophia Baby amp.

You Melos lovers are another rare breed. Is there an extra hole somewhere in that thing that only you guys know about? They sound OK but this is another example of a cult following that I just don't get. Hey guys,there are still new headamps being built,why don't you try some of them.( don't bother,I'm joking)

The R10s are the ****,plain and simple. If any of you guys had $4000 to spend on them,you'd all have'em and you know it. Stop denying it. They are great phones but I would be very relcutant to drop that kind of dough on them if they could'nt give me a good, stiff woodie(oh wait,they do). The R10/Stealth combo was the star today and Ray had the grin to prove it. He looked like he just ate a bird he was smiling so hard.

I hope this meet inspires some of the younger guys to do meets near them. There were a bunch of people here that I seriously doubt would have made the trek to Chicago(you don't know what you're missing) and they all looked to have had a great time. This was a really fun meet and i really hope to attend more like this in the very near future. It's time to step up guys.

 

[Ebonyks]

No no no tuberoller, the ugly cables are the IC's. Hell, chris himself wanted me to promote them as being ugly, be his shill of sorts. I think the HD-600 cable looks kinda slick, in a strange sort-of way.

I dunno, i just love the melos, and ray is on my side for that one

. There's just something about the warmth of the amp combining beautfully with the solid state power and dynamics. I still wish i had the MMF 5 there, it would have been nice proving your wrong with your melos bashing

You also gotta realize my HD-650 impressions were with the melos, so i guess it's all just working against you at this point.

And how can you live with the k1000? They're just too uncomfortable for me to wear long-term, perhaps there's some way to fit them better, i dunno. They are something special with the fisher though, i'll gladly give you that.

You liked the stealth/R-10 combo? I still think they're better with the HR-2, they just have a greater dynamic range, and are somewhat agressive in comparasion to the stealth. The stealth is a pretty good match with everything, but no single headphone combination really blew me away. It's a great amp to be sure, just not an "out of this world" amp with anything i heard it with. I still gotta try that 404/KGSS of yours paul, care to join me in something smaller in about a month? I'll bring the MMF 5

And fred, that picture of me with the R-10's is the single worst picture i have ever seen of me in my life. Vengance shall be swift and painful

And about my tastes, hell, i'm glad you have the tastes that you do. That way, all of the good-sounding gear has one less potentional buyer

 

[Hajime]

Settle down you two.

Before I comment on the equipment I heard, the interconnects I built were ugly. I brought some prototypes of RCA-RCA cables I am developing and I didn't bother covering the insulation so it was showing. For anyone who's wondering what I mean you can see the pictures Tuberoller posted. My setup was the one with the Meridian and Philly Audio amp. Look for the red and blue.

Now for my impressions: I tried to listen to as much as possible, and the fact there were a smaller amount of people at this meet really helped with that. There was such a wide array of gear to try out at this meet that I'm sure I forgot to hear something (for instance, I know I forgot to hear that toaster-shaped amp and I wish I had).

Ray's Stealth amp was great. To my ears it matched well with some headphones in particular, such as the R10 and Sennheisers. I think that the Grados work better with the HR-2 then the Stealth. If I were to choose a solid state amp for the Grados it would probably be the HR-2 - they make a great combination.

The HP-1 disappointed me. It didn't sound especially spectacular and I can't understand why someone would pay as much as they've been going for. To be honest I think I like the sound of the RS-1 more. The RS-1 and the HR-2 make a good match.

The R10’s are a very strange headphone. Listening to the R10’s is a fun thing to do as they sound very spacious and realistic. The bass was prominent when I listened to them on the Stealth amp and on the HR-2. I’m not sure I like the overall sound, and I certainly wouldn’t pay $3000 for a pair.

The Melos scares me. I was plugging in a pair of Outlaw interconnects and it shocked me pretty badly. I didn’t focus very much on the sound after that. I was stupid enough to try and unplug the outlaws from my Meridian after that and got shocked again. My hand still hurts.

I got a second chance to compare the HD650's to the HD600's. The HD650's had more bass, but the HD600's had a lighter, more airy sound. I don't find the HD650 a superior headphone. In fact, I may return to the HD600 in the future.

The combination I enjoyed the most was the AKG K1000's paired with the Fisher 400 tube amp. I love the sound from this setup and I am definitely going to get a K1000 setup of my own very soon. I also had a chance to hear the K1000's with the Baby Sophia amp and thought it was nice, but I enjoyed the Fisher more. The Sophia had a smoother sound to it and when the volume was turned up it wasn't as quiet. I really wish I could have heard the toaster amp with the K1000's.

Well, those are my impressions. I had great fun. Once again, thank you Ebonyks for hosting it.