atothex
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2008
- Posts
- 1,062
- Likes
- 16
Am I the first one home? Well, whatever... impressions in here, ladies and gents. Nothing from me yet.
Edit for my take:
For the first time ever, I felt like I brought some really good stuff to a meet, even by Head-Fi's lofty standards. I couldn't bring a full rig, because I don't own a CD transport, but everything I brought ended up being used at others' stations.
I only listened to the items that interested me, mostly to reaffirm my notions, but the Omega and JH13 Pro were new to me. The stuff that I didn't listen to, I either had a well-defined opinion, or they weren't on my radar.
K1000: good, but I don't love them. Nothing conclusive.
Omega (maybe with O2 drivers?): much better than the O2! It might be the most dynamically impressive stat I've heard to date. I guess I'm just not into stats in general, but these were great. How great? No idea, really.
4070s: I had previously thought I liked these, but they really sound wrong with certain things. By that, I mean one of my test tracks was sounding entirely different than ever.
Jades: Pretty good for a stat. Nothing conclusive, but I can't find any major faults yet.
other stats: I like but don't love anything. I actually don't even like the O2 mk1s. Still, the mid-priced ones can be very good considering the price.
Stax adapter box: Holy crap, I didn't know it was so cheap! $300 for the ability to run from a small power amp. This is a great alternative to those who already own good power amps and don't want another beast like a BHSE and WES.
vintage S RS1 vs HF2: Foo_me let me borrow his beauties for an extended comparison, which was very easy thanks to the Gilmore Balanced Reference and the Spectral stack. The HF2 has definitely has more body, but the RS1 has better balance and clarity. The tone is amazing on both, but the vintage RS1 may have the most perfect tone I've ever heard. Well, it's up there.
W10VTG: My personal reference and tied with the vintage RS1 for perfect tone in my mind. Can't find any criticisms yet. Other candidates include the JH13Pro, HD800, HP1000.
JH13 Pro: For maybe the first time ever, I felt like I was listening to the limitations of the Pico's DAC. Good stuff, but not a high end setup in my mind. Of course, a source upgrade would make a huge difference.
LCD1: I don't love it. The performance is there, but the tone isn't. The highs bother me, being strong and a bit unnatural. Also, synergy seems wacky. They sounded fine from Transdac -> ZDT, but terrible from Spectral -> Gilmore Balanced Reference.
L3000: I finally found what I perceive to be a fault. You know how a lot of "high end" phones have kind of a diffuse bass? The L3000 is about the only thing that I'd describe as having a diffuse treble. It doesn't bother me much, but hey, it's something.
Stacker 2/Sonic Studios: Great, of course. JP obvsiously knows his stuff.
Amarra software/Amarra 4/WES: sounded great when I got it to work, but it decided that it doesn't like me.
I couldn't get it to work for me and never came back, so I basically forgot to listen to the Berkeley DAC. Oops.
CTH: I'm actually listening to one as I'm typing this up. I only have low impedance phones these days, but this little guy is a KILLER with low impedance. It's at least mid-fi, not lo-fi. I'll have to compare it to a CK2III sometime.
Eddie Current rigs: I listened to them. Can't say much other than Eddie Current and Headamp are probably my 2 favorite amp builders. I sometimes hate listening to analog like vinyl or tape. Whenever someone has a nice setup like Ironbut or Craig, it invariably sounds mind-blowingly amazing.
Anyways, it was good to see some familiar faces and to meet some new people.
Edit for my take:
For the first time ever, I felt like I brought some really good stuff to a meet, even by Head-Fi's lofty standards. I couldn't bring a full rig, because I don't own a CD transport, but everything I brought ended up being used at others' stations.
I only listened to the items that interested me, mostly to reaffirm my notions, but the Omega and JH13 Pro were new to me. The stuff that I didn't listen to, I either had a well-defined opinion, or they weren't on my radar.
K1000: good, but I don't love them. Nothing conclusive.
Omega (maybe with O2 drivers?): much better than the O2! It might be the most dynamically impressive stat I've heard to date. I guess I'm just not into stats in general, but these were great. How great? No idea, really.
4070s: I had previously thought I liked these, but they really sound wrong with certain things. By that, I mean one of my test tracks was sounding entirely different than ever.
Jades: Pretty good for a stat. Nothing conclusive, but I can't find any major faults yet.
other stats: I like but don't love anything. I actually don't even like the O2 mk1s. Still, the mid-priced ones can be very good considering the price.
Stax adapter box: Holy crap, I didn't know it was so cheap! $300 for the ability to run from a small power amp. This is a great alternative to those who already own good power amps and don't want another beast like a BHSE and WES.
vintage S RS1 vs HF2: Foo_me let me borrow his beauties for an extended comparison, which was very easy thanks to the Gilmore Balanced Reference and the Spectral stack. The HF2 has definitely has more body, but the RS1 has better balance and clarity. The tone is amazing on both, but the vintage RS1 may have the most perfect tone I've ever heard. Well, it's up there.
W10VTG: My personal reference and tied with the vintage RS1 for perfect tone in my mind. Can't find any criticisms yet. Other candidates include the JH13Pro, HD800, HP1000.
JH13 Pro: For maybe the first time ever, I felt like I was listening to the limitations of the Pico's DAC. Good stuff, but not a high end setup in my mind. Of course, a source upgrade would make a huge difference.
LCD1: I don't love it. The performance is there, but the tone isn't. The highs bother me, being strong and a bit unnatural. Also, synergy seems wacky. They sounded fine from Transdac -> ZDT, but terrible from Spectral -> Gilmore Balanced Reference.
L3000: I finally found what I perceive to be a fault. You know how a lot of "high end" phones have kind of a diffuse bass? The L3000 is about the only thing that I'd describe as having a diffuse treble. It doesn't bother me much, but hey, it's something.
Stacker 2/Sonic Studios: Great, of course. JP obvsiously knows his stuff.
Amarra software/Amarra 4/WES: sounded great when I got it to work, but it decided that it doesn't like me.
CTH: I'm actually listening to one as I'm typing this up. I only have low impedance phones these days, but this little guy is a KILLER with low impedance. It's at least mid-fi, not lo-fi. I'll have to compare it to a CK2III sometime.
Eddie Current rigs: I listened to them. Can't say much other than Eddie Current and Headamp are probably my 2 favorite amp builders. I sometimes hate listening to analog like vinyl or tape. Whenever someone has a nice setup like Ironbut or Craig, it invariably sounds mind-blowingly amazing.
Anyways, it was good to see some familiar faces and to meet some new people.