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I love mini-meets![/size]
There's something special about someone generously inviting you into their home, and sharing audio goodness with a handful of friends, that just cannot be beat, even by a large regional or national meet.
First and foremost, a huge thank you to Danny (and indirectly to Elyse for her generous allowance of our run of your beautiful home!) for your terrific hospitality. We really, really appreciate it.
It was great seeing some long-time Head-Fi friends, and couple of new buds. Having "only" a handful of setups to listen to had an interesting effect (quotes intentional, as having HE90's, O1's, O2's, HE60's, HP1's, and several HD800's is quite the handful
). First, one is not overwhelmed with a huge skyline of gear from which to pick. Secondly, this focus allows one to see the beauty & synergy (or occasionally lack thereof) in each setup. There is rarely a "best", or even "better". Differences become more preferences, and often specific to certain genres of music & recordings.
It was indeed a pleasure to hear the Omega I's for the first time. I agree with Dave in that they are a bit more forward than the O2's. Whether that is one's preference, or something you would live with long-term is up to you. But the reference quality is there, and one could easily tweak the sound with associated peripherals to one's likeing quite easily.
After finally hearing the HD800's (both balanced & SE), I can understand the varied impressions that resulted from these this past year. They are quite the chameleon, sharing qualities with the venerable HD650, as well as electrostats. Again, the reference quality is clearly evident, and they are very sensitive to changes in associated gear. I'd even go as far to say that they are a bit finicky, because one errant piece of gear, or even recording, can cause them to lack a certain cohesiveness. Still, they are top cans, and worthy of spending time & money building your system around.
Drew, thanks for taking the time to visually document our little soirée. Your Havana DAC made the HE60/HEV70 combo sound awesome. Lots of synergy there, each component balancing out their strengths & weaknesses. I liked it a lot. P.S. - your dad is cool.
The cherry on the top of this audio cake was clearly our speaker listening session toward the end of the night. Those Quads are simply sublime, and perfect for the type of music to which I listen most often (vocals, acoustic, strings, jazz, small orchestral classical, etc.). I never found them wanting in the bass regions at all, and preferred the sub out of the equation. Of course, that Sonic Frontiers DAC, Audio Research preamp, and amp (don't recall the name) helped out more than a little. A terrific setup, and a pleasure to listen to.
Last but not least, I will say that I enjoyed the company & conversation the best. It's clear that you all are in it for the music more than anything, and it was lots of fun sharing that experience in an intimate setting. Thank you all.
Cheers.