[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif Were those Tom's HE90's?

yup, and his O2 Mk1s. Aaron supplied the Jades and lambda pros (and a sneak appearance of the HE5s running off of a Graham amp), Ari put forth the gamma pros & Koss (as well as having a grand binaural stax recording & Grado collection with him just in case....), Jack generously lent O2 mk2s, and i'm not sure where the 404s came from (Kerry perhaps?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavoman /img/forum/go_quote.gif So if Kerry hogged his own amp, no one can name a winner ...

they were all winners! what beautiful sounds were produced from these amazing machines!

oh and here's an impression for ya; the O2 mk2s, while punchier and more efficient than the mk1s, don't make quite as nice music. and gammas and lambdas can rock more than O2s.

Doug-o, woulda loved to have heard yer original stax Os in this group. too bad i didn't get a chance last wknd at that grand affair known as the semi-annual ny meet.


oh and thanks to mr & ms mtn biker for organizing and hosting this lovely gathering!

 

[Towert7]

That must have been a nice little mini-meet. Wish I had been there!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

We need moar impressions!

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif yup, and his O2 Mk1s. Aaron supplied the Jades and lambda pros (and a sneak appearance of the HE5s running off of a Graham amp), Ari put forth the gamma pros & Koss (as well as having a grand binaural stax recording & Grado collection with him just in case....), Jack generously lent O2 mk2s, and i'm not sure where the 404s came from (Kerry perhaps?) they were all winners! what beautiful sounds were produced from these amazing machines!

Each of those headphones sound so different, in and of themselves.

My guess is that the "winner" amp (if there could be called such a thing amongst these top pieces of kit) is more dependent on which 'stat headphone used & personal preferences.

 

[wavoman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif Looks like that will be our job

Damn right! Here in Jersey no namby-bamby "we're all winners". Here one guy rules the playground, everyone else runs home to Mommy crying.

There are smack downs, and there are love fests. Love fests went out with the sixties. NJ mini-meet will be a fight to the death.

If we only could buy Spritzer's T2.

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikzen /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's it? Looks like you guys were sitting around watching football with headphones on, not having a meet. I'm not sure you even formed any impressions.

We where ,Giants almost blew the game ,Jets plain sucked

Thanks to Aaron for hosting this mini-meet,& brownielady for the sandwiches.
Great to hang with Kerry,Ari, Aaorn & Dave(for the little time he spent at the meet).

The three amps all had differant presentations.As well as the Headphones them self.

I used the Jade, Omega MkIIs MkI,& MKIIs,He90 on all three amps
I also used the Sigma Gammas on the Wes,I would call the Gammas a smaller Omega ,Very similar in sound just not as deep a headstage or wide.
I missed the Koss not reallizing what they where because of not having the plates on the earpieces(next Time).


I was impressed how good the Jades sounded with the three amps.

WES Had the deeper & wider headstage of all the 3 amps present ,a
little lusher sounding as well in a good way (not to be mistaken for uncontrolled) it had good bass ,highs & detail.
I sat on the couch with the OII Mk1s with my eyes closed & just stopped Listening to the equipment ,just to the Music.
HA you are going to be very Happy with the Jades with The Wes

RSA A10 Grabbed whatever headphone that was plugged into & held a vise grip to it,everything was tight with this amp it seemed to have more omph .
The A10 had great dynamic swing a more upfront sound,very lively.
Using the HE90 it was easily noticeable that the width & depth of the headstage colapsed compared to the Wes.Not meaning it didn't have decent headstage the Wes was better at it.

Blue Hawaii Kerry Version The Kerry BH was setup by itself with the esoteric DV50 as a source( a better source then the GO8).
Kerry did a great job with this amp.
The OII MkI really shined with this amp,this is the first time I actually got to hear the BH in a quiet enviorment.The BH seemed really well balanced in sound.
It did a good job with the other headphones as well,but the OIImk1s seemed like its soulmate.
The He90s where a little bright with the BH ,I would have liked to try some NOS Mullards instead of the I believe where JJs.

Three great amps ,prefferance & headphones used would make which one to buy.
I could live with any of the three & be very Happy

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Nice impressions! You made me very happy.

 

[decur]

was the wes a standard or maxed version ?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by decur /img/forum/go_quote.gif was the wes a standard or maxed version ?

Standard budget version. My understanding though is the tubes alone are $700. It also doesn't have SE inputs, just a pair of XLR inputs and RCA loop-outs (the development WES).

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bozebuttons /img/forum/go_quote.gif RSA A10 Grabbed whatever headphone that was plugged into & held a vise grip to it,everything was tight with this amp it seemed to have more omph .The A10 had great dynamic swing a more upfront sound,very lively. Using the HE90 it was easily noticeable that the width & depth of the headstage colapsed compared to the Wes.Not meaning it didn't have decent headstage the Wes was better at it.

nice.

now you just need to loan me your HE90 so i can use them when I get the A10 from aaron.

 

[immtbiker]

You mean that I wasn't supposed to leave the A-10 in a brown paper bag under the third bench in Alley Pond Park, like Bozbuttons said

????

Darn it

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif You mean that I wasn't supposed to leave the A-10 in a brown paper bag under the third bench in Alley Pond Park, like Bozbuttons said ???? Darn it

Bummed. The WES didn't make it back to Jack for shipping to me today, so it wont go out till next week after they return from the holidays. I am so sad.

But I'll live, and I'm glad everyone got to compare the amps more closely. I just thought that the amp was going back Sunday night, unless maybe Jack didn't have the packaging ready for shipping.

I noticed in the photos that the RCA loop-out on the WES were not being used. Sometimes the sound quality in an XLR > RCA loop out can suffer without a dedicated circuit to do it right, which I didn't have time or money for. I am hoping for just the usual cut in output level by using only +/ground. I wonder if you guys found the loop-out sound quality lacking and if so was it by a little or a lot?

Also, did you get to try the audio test CD with them?

 

[immtbiker]

I told Jack that I would bring them back to him on Tuesday night.
I also offered to ship it for him on Tuesday, If he wanted to give me the boxes and labels. There was no way to bring them back to Jack on Sunday, because I didn't even have it re-packed until Midnight.

Larry, if Jack went away until next week, I'd be glad to ship it to you tomorrow night and pay for the shipping myself, but they will come on my companiy's boxes. I can wrap them nice and careful for you. It would be my pleasure.
As far as the test tracks were concerned, I didn't get to download them until this afternoon, but you stuff had been already repacked away.

"Left...right...Left....right...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I told Jack that I would bring them back to him on Tuesday night. I also offered to ship it for him on Tuesday, If he wanted to give me the boxes and labels. There was no way to bring them back to Jack on Sunday, because I didn't even have it re-packed until Midnight. Larry, if Jack went away until next week, I'd be glad to ship it to you tomorrow night and pay for the shipping myself, but they will come on my companiy's boxes. I can wrap them nice and careful for you. It would be my pleasure. As far as the test tracks were concerned, I didn't get to download them until this afternoon, but you stuff had been already repacked away. "Left...right...Left....right...

I appreciate it! Let me email Jack and ask him what he would like us to do. He leaves tomorrow, and I don't know if anyone is staying behind to receive the WES from you. It would be nice to have factory packaging, and I wonder if I could talk him into shipping that separately for the next time I need to move the amp or ship it to a CanJam or meet.

PS: Do you have all the parts, like the glass shields that you weren't using at the meet? What kind of packaging did you pick up the WES in, i.e. does it have the molded or cut foam blocks like all their amps ship in?

 

[Maxvla]

Just an outsider here looking in, but had one comment:

If I were you, Larry, I'd wait until after the holiday to ship it regardless. Having a shipment started, interrupted by a holiday, then resumed just begs for problems. On something as nice as a WES I'd rather it follow normal continuous shipping operations.

I had a pair of headphones last year I bought a few days before Thanksgiving and it got lost in their system until it mysteriously showed up at my door 2 weeks later. The tracking had everything up until turkey day, but nothing after it. I called 2 days after it should have arrived and they said it was lost, but it did show up before I filed a claim. Now I'm avoiding shipping through major holidays. Fluke? Maybe.