Thanks Jay. I appreciate it, man!
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A few random, generally unrelated notes:
ZMF Headphones: Zach was kind enough to send a ZMF V1 and one other headphone to try out, and quite frankly, the V1 was one of the big winners of the entire meet for me. The isolation and comfort was very good, and the sound was very,
very impressive, especially given its price point (they start at $250 and go to $400+ depending on options). I thought they sounded very clear and articulate, with just a touch of lushness to the mids that made the sound really engaging. I didn't get as much time listening to this as I would've liked (I tend to be talkative... as hard as that may be to believe. Cough.), but the few minutes I did listen to it, it was on gear I use in my primary home setup (laptop > Lynx Hilo > Audio-gd Master 8 via SE headphone output) with my music, so I got a pretty solid understanding of what to expect with them. The highs are not quite as open as the HE-6, but at a fraction of the cost, they acquit themselves
quite nicely.
The first thing I go for in a system (tone and texture, particularly with guitars) were definitely above average with the V1. It didn't have the last bit of detail that the HE-6 has, but it wasn't far from it. (The V1 was created and voiced with the HE-500 in mind, so this makes sense to some degree). The bass had sufficient heft and impact without becoming overbearing-- which was one of the reasons I preferred it to Zach's other, more expensive headphone. On Fiona Apple's
Hot Butter (love her), I took the following notes: "Vocals sound really good, smooth without being overly so; This is just a good, enjoyable headphone; Reverb is really clearly delineated; Articulate, well separated sound." I think that, overall, sums it up for me. If I didn't already have a set of modified T5p's coming back to me this week, I would pick one up as an excellent closed-back headphone that actually provides isolation (unlike most of the Fostex/Fostexes/Fostices and Denons, according to the reviews I've read), and I might pick one up anyway. They're that good, no joke.
I got a chance to compare Zach's other headphones to the Alpha Dogs for a few minutes, and it's amazing just how dramatically different two headphones using the exact same driver can sound. The Alpha Dogs are neutral almost to a fault; they come across as immediately linear, and impressively detailed. The ADs are also noticeably less efficient, as they require several volume bumps to get the same volume level of the other ZMF cans. Zach's other cans have considerably more bass presence, are more sensitive (louder at a given volume level on the same gear), and have a more "fun" sound. These cans are different enough that I could see someone loving one and disliking the other, with personal preference determining which is which. Personally, between the two, I preferred the AD, as I found the fun, extra-bassy signature of the ZMF to be enjoyable, but not quite as refined. Honestly, although I didn't do direct comparisons between these two and the ZMF V1 (wish I had in retrospect), I think I might take the V1 over either of them... Although I'd have to be able to sit down and do an actual comparison to say for sure.
Grado Love Fest: Prior to this meet, I had heard two Grado cans for less than a minute each, both at meets-- which is to say, I basically had never heard them. Since Fred (Oteil) and Joe (JoeDoe) were kind enough to bring the GS-1000, RS1, 80, Senndo Gradheiser Whatchamacallit Grados with Sennheiser PX100 drivers, and HF2 (hope I didn't miss any, please correct me if so!), this was the first time I every got to really hear the Grados, and man, what an introduction!! I know that these can be polarizing headphones, and I didn't love all of them, but overall, it's fair to say that I am definitely a Grado fan now!! (Exhibit A of my newfound Gradophilia would be the fact that I snatched up a set of Magnum v4 from the F/S this morning). And of all the models I got a chance to try out, my favorite was most definitely the GS1000. Listening to that, for the first time on Fred's setup, was one of the "wow!" moments for me at the meet. The top end is beautifully open and clear without being strident, vocals and guitars are brought physically forward in the soundstage until they're right in front of you, which is (for me at least) a wonderfully fun and pleasing effect. Based on the things I'd read and heard in the past about Grados, I would have expected the transients on rock guitars to be more caustic and aggressive, but they were actually just about perfect. The bass was clear, tuneful, and punchy when called for-- although it was not on the same level as the orthos in regards to body, depth, or overall articulation down low. One one setup, the sound started to congeal just a bit when the music got complex; but when I tried it later from another setup, that had cleared up entirely, and everything was beautifully delineated and clear. They manage to sound incredibly spacious, even when the guitar player is locking eyes with you right in the middle of a solo, three feet away. Really, really incredible headphones. I hope that I don't see any of these come up for sale at bargain prices any time soon... My wallet just couldn't handle it, I don't think. My only reservation was more a problem on my end than with the headphones: my left ear is slightly deformed from years of wrestling (and maybe a few altercations here and there growing up), and it physically touched the left driver, which became uncomfortable pretty quickly. I'm guessing this can be resolved with different pads, but I don't know that for a certainty. I'd be willing to give it a shot for sure though
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Pictures: I finally figured out why I wasn't seeing all of the pictures I knew I had from the event (it may or may not have had anything to do with user error... aaaand there goes my pride.) I'm getting the situation rectified now, and should have some more pictures posted within the next few days (including those of Joe with his new ZMF V1 he won in the raffle... Lucky $%^&.
).
Atmosphere: In retrospect, it seems kind of odd that everyone just hit it off as well as we did, and that conversations just clicked naturally into place and ran throughout the event. There were a number of times when I was listening intently to a setup, taking notes on my phone, and paused to turn around and try to figure out what all the excitement and laughter was about-- but each time, it was just a result of the conversations people were having. And unlike the other two meets I've attended, I don't think I felt rushed a single time throughout the meet; everyone was just as relaxed and engaged in soaking up the experience as I was. I think if I'd wanted to sit down and listen to Fred's wonderful GS1000s for an hour straight on Ben's Valhalla, I could have done so without anyone batting an eye. There were a number of times throughout the day when people would break off into little pairings or subgroups, discussing something excitedly and switching back and forth between various headphones, amps, etc and talking through the results. Later in the day, Ben and Jay got into a deep examination of the new LCD-2 versus the LCD-X, and the couple of times I sidled up to join them, the conversation was as intense as it was deeply fun. I also had some non-Head-Fier friends and family that came by, and everyone was so immediately warm and personable that they felt completely at home and, somewhat surprisingly, never seemed overwhelmed or out of place in the midst of all our headphone craziness. That's a definite testament to the caliber of people that we had there, IMO. You always get some good people at meets, and you (I thought) always get some people you get along with less-than-ideally; but this time, I genuinely think everybody really enjoyed everybody else's company and opinions, and because there weren't 200 people crawling all over the place, you didn't miss out on actually getting to talk with some of the awesome personalities that showed up. It was kind of a perfect storm, for me anyway
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One last moment I loved: while we were all in the middle of discussing something enthusiastically, a guy walks in the door with a box, a tie-dye shirt, and a huge grin... and without missing a beat, I
knew who it was. "You must be Jay!" The grin got even wider, he shook everybody's hand, and jumped right into the group. Totally awesome moment.
My Blue Ribbon Awards: Everybody had a few things they particularly loved or was pleasantly surprised by, and I thought I'd share mine. I've already mentioned the stellar GS1000 and ZMF V1, and I would add the Schiit Valhalla, Beyerdynamic T51p (
love that headphone!!!), and Ben's new LCD-2 (with the Fazer mod or without). Honorable mention goes to Joe's frankencan Grado/Sennheiser dealio, which sounded quite flabbergastingly good, and might have been the best looking headphone at the whole darn meet. There was a TON of great gear there, but these were the ones that I kept coming back to in my mind afterwards. Awesome stuff!
There's a ton of other stuff I hope to get a chance to put up, but I've got to pack it off to bed so I can travel for work again tomorrow. Love everything you guys have posted so far, can't wait to see what other thoughts y'all had!!
And, in all seriousness.... We should probably start thinking about when would be a good time for the next meet
