I popped over to the National Audio Show at Whittlebury Hall today & frankly the line-up for headphone geeks was second only to CanJam. Not surprising really considering the Headzone area was sponsored by http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk who brought virtually an A-Z of the best headphones and amps on the market.
I brought along my two youngsters (budding audio geeks) and they had a surprising amount of fun trying out various goodies (Disclaimer - no little ears were damaged in the course of this headphone geekery
). Other than just enjoying the gear on show, my main mission today was to try my new HE-1000s on a variety of amps. I feel the HE-1000 could do with an injection of pace & dynamics that I feel isn't achievable with all amps. Check out the pics & comments for some good finds on that topic....
The main Headzone area. Busy, but not so much that we had to queue for anything really.
Just some of the incredible range of kit brought by the Highendheadphones guys & girls.
The new Chord Dave. Super expensive, and sounds it too. Super detailed, super clear, clean, fast, dynamic...sounds neutral to me, uncoloured. Looks crazy. Made the HE-1000 sound fast and engaging (only a few amps did that today).
Mini Pedalhead #1 enjoying the Chord Dave. "Wow Dad, these HD600s scale well". In my imagination she really said that.
Selfie with my HE-1000s and Dave, which made for a great pairing. I think the clean, fast & neutral Dave suits the HE-1000, which I do feel can sound uninvolving unless paired well. A whole world away from the TT (that didn't impress me much when I had one for a few weeks). Shame about Dave's price!
@ElectroMod Mark brought his Schiit and MrSpeakers goodness. Sadly the Ether C weren't there but nevertheless we spent a lot of time playing with the Yggy/Rag and Gumby/Mjr2 combos. Mark was also a total gent and even let mini Pedalhead #1 borrow his iPhone to play some games when she was getting a bit tired near the end of the day.
Gungnir multi-bit DAC with Mjolnir 2 amp. A super combo with with bags of resolution and power.
For me, the Yggy/Rag pairing was a definite step up from the Gungnir/Mjr2 (in price as well of course). I felt it was just a bit more open sounding, and voices sounded a little more natural. Made the HE-1000s sing. I'm saving up for an Yggy...
Stax SR-007mkII. Mini Pedalhead #2 liked this.
An 8-yr-old with attitude....and a pair of Stax SR-009s
.
Have to say, I thought the 009s sounded very ordinary out of the SRM-007tII...absolutely nothing like as impressive as the 009/BHSE combo at Canjam.
Chord 2Cute
Mini Pedalhead #2 in the zone with Obravo HAMT-1
Trilogy 933 - this was one of the few amps that I felt drove my HE-1000s well. I've never heard of them, but this one really impressed me.
Trilogy 931 - Excellent bang for buck amp. Not as impressive as the 933, but about half the price I think.
There were also of course many speaker systems on show, ranging from unimpressive to downright incredible.
The Devialet Phantom is incredible. Two little space-balls, one big room full of dynamic sound.
Back to headphone kit....Fosgate Signature. Reminded me (in looks) of a Mapletree MAD HD2 I used to have. Apparently no good for planars (same as the MAD I think).
A 6-yr-old in the zone with the Abyss/McIntosh combo. "They didn't fit very well" she said. Yup, pretty much how I feel every time I listen to them. I'm not a fan of the mids on the Abyss, seem a bit recessed to me.
Another one of the few amps at the show (that I tried) that I thought made the HE-1000s sing. Wonderfully dynamic and refined sound. Money no object, this would be near the top of my list.
Mini Pedalhead #1 enjoying a portable Sennheiser rig.
Paul, the very friendly owner of Highendheadphones.co.uk. I think I've piqued his interest to be a sponsor for the 2016 UK Head-Fi meet. That could be something special, they have a huge selection of fantastic gear.
HE-1000s got the thumbs up from mini Pedalhead #2. Apart from the fit. I mean, they're barely small enough to fit my head!
Pioneer SE Master-1. I listened to these at Canjam but it was quite noisy at the time so I didn't feel I could take much away from it. This time it was much quieter so I had a decent listen. I feel they do almost everything right, but unfortunately I found the bass a bit boomy and overblown. Nice though, and maybe a solid buy as a future investment if they really are limited to 1000 units.
...the matching Pioneer amp.
Mini Pedalhead #1's favourite of the day - the Oppo PM2.
Mini Pedalhead #2's favourite of the day - the Audioquest Nighthawk. (Big thanks to Nick @ Audioquest for being such a gent as always).
So, overall I thought it was an excellent show, with a great turnout of exhibitors for headphone enthusiasts. In the end, I found the following sounded great with the HE-1000s: Chord Dave, Schiit Yggy/Rag (and to a lesser extent, the GungnirMB/Mjr2), McIntosh MHA100, Trilogy 933. Time to start saving...!
I brought along my two youngsters (budding audio geeks) and they had a surprising amount of fun trying out various goodies (Disclaimer - no little ears were damaged in the course of this headphone geekery
The main Headzone area. Busy, but not so much that we had to queue for anything really.
Just some of the incredible range of kit brought by the Highendheadphones guys & girls.
The new Chord Dave. Super expensive, and sounds it too. Super detailed, super clear, clean, fast, dynamic...sounds neutral to me, uncoloured. Looks crazy. Made the HE-1000 sound fast and engaging (only a few amps did that today).
Mini Pedalhead #1 enjoying the Chord Dave. "Wow Dad, these HD600s scale well". In my imagination she really said that.
Selfie with my HE-1000s and Dave, which made for a great pairing. I think the clean, fast & neutral Dave suits the HE-1000, which I do feel can sound uninvolving unless paired well. A whole world away from the TT (that didn't impress me much when I had one for a few weeks). Shame about Dave's price!
@ElectroMod Mark brought his Schiit and MrSpeakers goodness. Sadly the Ether C weren't there but nevertheless we spent a lot of time playing with the Yggy/Rag and Gumby/Mjr2 combos. Mark was also a total gent and even let mini Pedalhead #1 borrow his iPhone to play some games when she was getting a bit tired near the end of the day.
Gungnir multi-bit DAC with Mjolnir 2 amp. A super combo with with bags of resolution and power.
For me, the Yggy/Rag pairing was a definite step up from the Gungnir/Mjr2 (in price as well of course). I felt it was just a bit more open sounding, and voices sounded a little more natural. Made the HE-1000s sing. I'm saving up for an Yggy...
Stax SR-007mkII. Mini Pedalhead #2 liked this.
An 8-yr-old with attitude....and a pair of Stax SR-009s
Have to say, I thought the 009s sounded very ordinary out of the SRM-007tII...absolutely nothing like as impressive as the 009/BHSE combo at Canjam.
Chord 2Cute
Mini Pedalhead #2 in the zone with Obravo HAMT-1
Trilogy 933 - this was one of the few amps that I felt drove my HE-1000s well. I've never heard of them, but this one really impressed me.
Trilogy 931 - Excellent bang for buck amp. Not as impressive as the 933, but about half the price I think.
There were also of course many speaker systems on show, ranging from unimpressive to downright incredible.
The Devialet Phantom is incredible. Two little space-balls, one big room full of dynamic sound.
Back to headphone kit....Fosgate Signature. Reminded me (in looks) of a Mapletree MAD HD2 I used to have. Apparently no good for planars (same as the MAD I think).
A 6-yr-old in the zone with the Abyss/McIntosh combo. "They didn't fit very well" she said. Yup, pretty much how I feel every time I listen to them. I'm not a fan of the mids on the Abyss, seem a bit recessed to me.
Another one of the few amps at the show (that I tried) that I thought made the HE-1000s sing. Wonderfully dynamic and refined sound. Money no object, this would be near the top of my list.
Mini Pedalhead #1 enjoying a portable Sennheiser rig.
Paul, the very friendly owner of Highendheadphones.co.uk. I think I've piqued his interest to be a sponsor for the 2016 UK Head-Fi meet. That could be something special, they have a huge selection of fantastic gear.
HE-1000s got the thumbs up from mini Pedalhead #2. Apart from the fit. I mean, they're barely small enough to fit my head!
Pioneer SE Master-1. I listened to these at Canjam but it was quite noisy at the time so I didn't feel I could take much away from it. This time it was much quieter so I had a decent listen. I feel they do almost everything right, but unfortunately I found the bass a bit boomy and overblown. Nice though, and maybe a solid buy as a future investment if they really are limited to 1000 units.
...the matching Pioneer amp.
Mini Pedalhead #1's favourite of the day - the Oppo PM2.
Mini Pedalhead #2's favourite of the day - the Audioquest Nighthawk. (Big thanks to Nick @ Audioquest for being such a gent as always).
So, overall I thought it was an excellent show, with a great turnout of exhibitors for headphone enthusiasts. In the end, I found the following sounded great with the HE-1000s: Chord Dave, Schiit Yggy/Rag (and to a lesser extent, the GungnirMB/Mjr2), McIntosh MHA100, Trilogy 933. Time to start saving...!
