[Captain]

Yesterday was a great day and I had a chance to listen to some really nice gear. First off have to mention the Orpheus HE90/HEV90, this is one class amp so smooth, incredible detail, warmth and very laid back. Had my doubt’s with more aggressive music, but proved wrong seems to handle any thing from classic to dance - a meet winner.

Robs EPM was also a very nice amp, matched very well with the HP-1’s; again very smooth, warm with bags of detail. Another combo I could happily live with, although I did prefer the PS-1’s with this amp.

Angstrom one-box headphone amp, this is one beast of an amp. Another class leader, although by this stage I can not remember what phones I Used with it, but I know liked it a lot.

The BlockHead – I have been very fortunate to have lived with this amp for the week prier to the meet. This is a very nice sounding amp. I have listened to it with the Benchmark Dac-1, Senn 650’s, RS-1’s and Beyerdynamic DT880 with Cardas. It has incredible detail, well controlled bass; it is effortless and has good decay and speed. Sounded great with all of these phones, but in preference I think it matches best with the DT880.

I really liked the Headroom max, again with the DAC-1. Have to say with the PS-1’s this was one of my favourite combos, every thing seems to match really well. I like this a lot, this is a very nice amp.

Back to realty now, the WNA Mk-II amp (again have had this amp for a few days prier to the meet). I am a real WNA fan and think this amp is an improvement over the Mk-I. It is a lot smoother with more pronounced detail, better control on bass, just seems to do it all with a lot less effort, it is also tad more laid back. Like to know your thought’s Jonathan. If you are looking for an amp in this price bracket you should give the WNA MKII a listen.

A.N.T. Audio amber, I like what I have heard so far. Alex has been kind enough to leave one with me for the week so will post impression at a later date. Had a listen to the Emerald this is one nice amp. It matches very well with the Senn 650’s. Not one of my favourite phone’s, but this amp does them real justice, if I had one I may even be tempted to buy a pair.

On the head phone front the ones I have to say are my favourite are the PS-1’s. I just really love these head phones, and after listing to so many different pairs yesterday these are the ones I do, and will carry on living with. Would have loved to hear them balance on the BlockHead, as I feel this would have been the Icing on the cake. In all fairness I am very familiar with the sound, but it seemed that which ever amp I plugged them into they sounded good. Others like the R-10’s, HP-1’s and the Technica ATH-W2002 were very nice, but the PS-1’s are the ones for me. In all honesty it is hard to give an insightful impression at a meet as you’re not totally focused, but this is the impression I came away with.

DAC-1 v’s Apogee MiniDAC, DAC-1 all the way. The Apogee just seems a bit tame and polite for my liking, were as the DAC-1 injects some excitement into the music, makes you sit up and listen. As Javier put it, has more of a wow factor. The DAC-1 is also a lot more detailed. Again may be not the best way to compare on the day, as the Apogee was only using it’s on board amp.

Their were other things I listened to and more I wish I did, I am sure they will come back to me as more people give their impressions. The best thing about the day was meeting every body. Thanks once again for bringing all your kit, let make sure we do it again.

 

[damitamit]

Just like to say big thanks to Kirk (Captain) for being a great host! and providing some very tasty food!

I think there should be a "food impressions at head-fi meets" forum, just so we can discuss that instead of headphones

Also thanks to bangraman for providing the E3s for the raffle (which i won

) and to everyone else for bringing their equipment and expressing their views on all matters headfi (and other things for that matter).

Great to see some of you again, and to meet some new headfiers!

Thats all for now, gotta go to class. Will post some comments (from what i can remember) later..

 

[StevieDvd]

Just to add my thanks to the genial Captian for his hospitality and catering generousity.

Yes we should rate meetings using the Egon Ronay scale as well.

It was nice to get behind the forum names and meet the real people, I think they are all still talking to me despite my sometimes chronic sense of humour.

I met my objectives at the meet and escaped with my wallet intact.

Thanks one and all.

Steve

PS can someone touch up my bald spot on the photos in Paintshop.

 

[antonik]

I also would like to add my thanks to Kirk - it was a very good meeting and the food was excellent, and to StevieDvd for giving me a lift! Kirk deserves a small medal for arranging the meeting, and all participants did show themselves as true headfiers who did not allow the great food to distract their attention from the equipment (well, not that much...) .

I had a great time and did manage to listen to some very interesting headphones and amplifiers. I suspect that my view would be considered somewhat biased no matter what I say, so I would rather keep quiet about my impressions with one exception - the Orpheus HE90/HEV90 is in a class of its own

.

Alex

 

[digitaldave]

Here's my thoughts on the meet... Please bear in mind though that I am very new to the critical headphone listening world, so it will be quite brief and somewhat lacking in the usual terminology used hereabouts :lol:.

1) Audio Technica ATH-ES5 vs Sennheiser PX-200 - Once Amit and I had worked out how to unfold the AT's, I had a brief listen. They sound quite good, with more bass than the PX-200. I forgot to check out the leakage levels though, but see bangraman's review. I think I;ll stick with my PX-200's for now.

2) Sennheiser PX-200 vs PX-250 - I'm not convinced about the noise cancelling on the PX-250's

. To me, turning on the NC had virtually the same effect as turning up the volume whilst using PX-200's. For example, whilst listening to both pairs, there were a couple of people standing behind me having a conversation. With the PX-250 with NC on, the level of their conversation was very similar to what I heard when the PX-200's were adjusted to give the same volume. Hope that makes sense.

3) Alex's Grado mod can produce some insane amounts of bass

. This mod is quite simple - replace the Grado pads with a pair of Sennheiser HD-25 pads. You'll have to hold the pads in place as you put the phones on, as they will fall off otherwise. bangraman made the observation that the same effect could be acieved using other pads, but I can't remember which ones.

4) Alex is powered by tea! Seriously, I think the only time I ever saw him without a cup of tea in his hand was when he was standing by the kettle making another one

.

5) I tried to avoid the end of the room with the high end kit. But it didnd't work!!! I started with a short listen on the Audio Technica ATH-W2002. Very nice. Then a quick go with the R10's. Oooh

. Finally, the Orpheus. Wow! I can see why these are so highly regarded. I managed to listen to the same track on the R10's and the Orpheus, and I was expecting to have to strain to hear the differences, but even I, with my untrained ears could clearly hear a difference, with the Orpheus being the clear winner between the two. However, I'll leave it to others to come up with a meaningful description of the differences. I would love to have one, but if I had that much money to blow, it wouldn't be on a pair of headphones

.

6) I would never have taken Jonathan Griffin to be a fan of the Prodigy

. Until I saw him rocking out to some of their tracks whilst trying various Grado/amp combinations

.

7) I have absolutely no idea where all the time went?! Considering how long we were there, I really should have listened to more stuff, or listened longer to each headphone

. Mental note to self for next meet...

8) The HeadRoom Max is a very nice looking amplifier - it just looks so solid. I did listen to it for a short while, but I didn't make any notes, written or otherwise

.

9) Talking of notes, next time, I need to make some so that I can remeber things I heard at the time when writing about them later.

10) Javier (Nomad) needs a pair of PS-1's

.

Finally, did anyone have a listen to my Audio Technica ATH-FC7's? I'd be interested to know what you think. I bought them as possible PX-200 replacements for commuting, but don't wear them much - I have a shaved head, and the expanding headband of the FC7's looks very daft! However, it doesn't look to silly when worn with a wolly hat, so I might give them a go in this cold weather :lol:

Cheers,

Dave.

 

[Jonathan Griffin]

I want to say thanks to Kirk too for organizing the whole event and being an excellent host. It was great to meet everybody for real, and there was some truly wonderful kit. I took the opportunity to worship at the shrine of the Orpheus, and it was heroically musical, but I was impressed with some of the more earthly kit too:

The PS-1's were lovely, seem to do everything well, and had just the right amount of bass

I only had a few minutes with the WNA mark II on a decent source (ie. not my iPod), but it sounded excellent, esp. with HD650's which I think it definitely drives better than the mark I. OTOH, it did seem a touch more laid-back than the mark I.

Really liked the emerald, it was clearly top notch, and it handles Brahms and Schumann just as well as the Prodigy

I was impressed by the Coda - it did just what I'd want from a good portable amp, ie. a major improvement in sound, compared with using the headphone socket of a (US sourced) iPod, at least.

Anyway, a grand day.
Cheers,
Jonathan.

 

[Rob N]

Big thanks to Kirk for being a great host and supplying excellent food

Also big thanks to Jatinder for giving me a lift,hope it wasn’t too far out of your way.

I didn’t get to listen to everything but it was interesting to hear the Benchmark Dac and the Headroom Blockhead which sounded really good with Bayers.

On the ‘high end’ table we really needed a higher end source but the £130 Squeeze Box (I think that’s what it’s called?) did a pretty good job.It was interesting to hear the Omega II’s and HE90 both driven by the Orpheus amp.In isolation the Omegas sound excellent but in a direct comparison with the HE90 it’s clearly the HE90’s that come out on top.

It was interesting to hear the HP1’s & PS-1’s with the Angstrom and compare with them being driven by the EMP Anniversary and PPX3-6SN7.IMO the Angstrom has a more precise neutral sound whereas the PPX3 and Anniversary have a little more warmth and touch of ‘tube magic’,this is particularly true of the Anniversary.There wasn’t enough room for me to bring the SDS-T unfortunately.The W2002’s sounded good through the EMP Anniversary,better than I’ve heard them before.It did confirm to me that the PS-1 is the best I’ve heard, IMO.BTW the PS-1 we used were Captain’s and had bowl pads fitted.

I listened to the WNA amp and was surprised how full it sounded.

As usual it’s difficult to make definite conclusions over kit in a meet environment but it’s always great to talk face to face with others and it was a very enjoyable Sunday

 

[Nomad]

Hi,

My first meeting around here. This is a difficult one: You have the chance to have a chat and to share (learn, in my case) your experiences with people who share your hobby, you have the chance to listen to a lot of gear very difficult or impossible to test anywere else... and you have only a few hours!

Well, I did choose the first option. And I don't regret it, even if I didn't test a lot of gear I wanted to test. People was warm, not harsh, not fatiguing, comfortable, ... (mmmm wait a moment, I think I'm reading a lot of headphone reviews these days).

Thanks to all of you. You made this great.

Specially Kirk. What a host. Everything was ready and organized. And the food was fantastic. Apart from excellent, there was a lot. I brought 1 Kg box of Godiva chocolats just in case we could need something in the afternoon/evening. I didn't missed them at all! There was still food when we left. And we were not shy with the fork! Thanks Kirk. I know it is not easy to organize these things and you did great.

It was a great meeting. Looking forward to post my impressions as soon as possible (I'm kind of busy these days).

Kind regards,


Javier

 

[Nomad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rauer Somebody's hand has a nice "glow" in the image 20. Is it a magic touch or did he get electrocuted by the phones? Care to identify the fellow head-fiers?

That was me, rauer.

You know? It is not all about the music and sound. There is a lot of side effects. You can take advantage of the mystical aura of the PS-1 in order to use it as a lantern. You can keep your room warm with the Orpheus. The wide, hot surface of the Amstrong made me think about new and imaginative ways to celebrate "Pancake Day".

Oh dear. I love these meetings...

 

[Nomad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain HP-1's, PS-1's, HP-1's, PS-1's, HP-1's, PS-1's,PS-1's PS-1's, PS-1's

I wasn't thinking or testing the PS-1. I was just praying for a pair.

 

[StevieDvd]

Nomad;s hand was glowing as it was in alomost continuous use either holding or stroking the PS-1s.

Towards the end of the meet we suggested perhaps some addiction counselling

I know he left before me but we saw him sneaking back - was it for one more fondle of the PS-1s????

j/k

Best wishes Nomad hope you and the Apogee have many happy hours of music and may you get some PS-1s for Christmas.

Steve

 

[bangraman]

I forgot to mention that. No-one had any overt complaints I think, but the 'high end table' was served by the Slim Devices Squeezebox. Not even DACed. But it was playing Apple Lossless

Yes, you may shout 'sacrilege' but it was for logistic reasons, that the DAC1 was about 5 times longer away than the longest IC's we had. And none of the 'high end people' bought any sources for reasons of space... not to mention hernia avoidance perhaps (although Jatinder might have had that covered with the Angstrom). We had planned to have a move mid-session to bring the DAC1 closer to the Orpheus/Singlepower, but I don't think anyone could be bothered. I think the result was enough for a taste of what the phones were capable of. It's a testament to the Orpheus's amazing sense of natural sound reproduction that you could clearly hear a difference even with a mediocre source.


If we didn't have the Squeezebox, there were plenty of iPods scattered around the place... I think I saw one with a dock

 

[Nomad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevieDvd Nomad;s hand was glowing as it was in alomost continuous use either holding or stroking the PS-1s. Towards the end of the meet we suggested perhaps some addiction counselling I know he left before me but we saw him sneaking back - was it for one more fondle of the PS-1s???? j/k Best wishes Nomad hope you and the Apogee have many happy hours of music and may you get some PS-1s for Christmas. Steve

Haha Steve

There are some rumors saying I was quite addicted to the PS-1. Well, I just want to state that this is not true. I was holding the PS-1s in every picture, but this is circumstancial and irrelevant. Nothing has been proved. I won't say more. You will have to talk with my lawyer from here.

I wasn't sneaking back. That wasn't me. It was dark. You still were under the effect of the Orpheus. How can you be so sure?

I'm really (really) happy with the Apogee and I don't think I'm going to wait until Christmas for the PS-1s. I'm just holding up (barely) because of some comfort issues I have and because I think I should give the 650 a chance, as I have the Zu Mobius balanced XLR Cable. I liked the PS-1 more in the meeting, but the meeting is not the best place to perform these tests. Besides, the unbalanced output with the PS-1 was much louder than the balanced 650, so in every quick change you had that "Wow factor" with the PS1. Still, I think I like more the Grados with the Apogee. More about the PS-1 issue soon. Stay tuned!

 

[Nomad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I forgot to mention that. No-one had any overt complaints I think, but the 'high end table' was served by the Slim Devices Squeezebox. Not even DACed.

We all agreed that will be our little secret. Now how can we expect to be taken seriously?

 

[bangraman]

Having got a quick listen to the DAC-1, although I didn't know the source feeding it, I do know the Max + W2002 combination and thought it was sounding good. The size is also very good... the Squeezebox or Mac Mini will fit right on top.


I then looked up the UK distributor retail price, which is a p!55-taking 1:1 $/£ conversion. ~£650 I could understand, but £940?