[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee We're planning to have a followup portables/transportables meet sometime soon.

Cool. Let me know when you do... if it is in NYC I doubt I can make it, but who knows, maybe my Wife will want to go on a trip.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn very rarely is there a mass consensus item that blows everything away. even the baby qualias, great as they are, may not be the best match for my home system.

Well you have to separate your preferences from technical abilities. Since everybody has different preferences, there will not be consensus there. But Qualia for example has greater detail than other headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee Jahn & Lan - perhaps we can start making some notes as questions or issues come up, so we can prepare a basic "methodology outline" for a followup study.

Certainly we have to create apples to apples comparision in a mini meet condition. That's no problem. We will discuss in PM.

 

[Jahn]

cool. and for the record the K1000 did kick my KSC-35's butt, so yes there can be some consensus in the room - i retract my previous statement.

 

[Hirsch]

Some quick impressions:

Aaron's turntables are fantastic. I didn't spend a lot of time with them, because if I did it was going to cost me a lot of money to upgrade from my Scout.

The bads news is that I did spend some time with bozebutton's Meitner rig. That could be very expensive for me. The last time I heard it was at the last Grado Labs meet, and I couldn't get a grip on what it was doing. In a quiet room with no rush, it's a different story. That DAC can pull information off of a CD like nothing I have ever heard before. Stunning, stunning, stunning. My G08 is sweating, because it's still in the return period. The Meridian is an excellent player, but it's not in that league.

The HE90 playing out of a Black-Gated KGSS from the Meitner rig was it for me. I've never heard anything like that kind of detail out of a headphone before. I need to buy some stuff. Somebody lend me $25K, quick. I'll be happy to pay it back at about $50 a week...

The Baby O had a much fuller sound out of bozebuttons' amp than it does out of the 007t (but at least part of that is the interconnects). The Baby O has more bass than its big brother, but the bass is looser, and the rest of the audio spectrum just doesn't have the same finesse. Still, the Baby O was souding better than I've ever heard it before.

The Bogdan Gold/Silvers did a nice job in bozebuttons' setup, which is unbelievably resolving. Bogdan also had a Sennheiser cable there, but it had not yet broken in. It's based on the Princess line, and I'm going to report back once it has some hours on it. IMO it's competitive with my favorite cable, the Silver Dragon, right now. Once the sound of the Bogdan "blooms", I'm going to look at them critically.

bozebuttons' Cary was also in excellent voice. I love the sound of that amp.

I heard the circuit board MPX-3 through bozebuttons, theta/Ack! rig. The circuit board has made me very nervous, because I'm a fan of the P2P amps. However, Mikhail has gotten the sound right with the circuit board. The whole rig sounded great driving R10's yesterday, IMO.

There was a lot more there, most of which I missed. I've reached a point where I can only listen critically to a couple of pieces of gear at a meet, and then everything starts to blur. I've found that it's more efficient for me to pick a couple of pieces of selected gear, and listen with fresh ears, than to try and burn myself out going from piece to piece and try to hear everything.

By far, the best display at the meet was Telica's buffet dinner and desert. Forget headphones, it was worth being there just for the meal.

Another thanks to Aaron, Telica and the kids for putting this together. It was worth flying out in a snow storm to get to this one (I got there late because several flights were cancelled due to the weather).

The best part of the meet for me was getting a chance to talk to my friends in person, rather than via pixel. It was great seeing everybody there, and I hope to see you again soon!

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker ...Romanee (a name for a fine Bordeaux, you know), for pulling out his Arnold Schwartzenegger muscle, for both obtaining, and carrying all that portable equipment. I am interested in figuring out, how you came with 75 lbs. and left with 100 lbs I guess I'll figure that out over the years.

Bordeaux??? --- GASP! ... Burgundy, if you please.

Arnold!!! ... now that's a metaphor that's never been applied to me (and probably won't be again)

75 vs 100 ... Carrying the suitcase I just guessed it must have been around 75 lbs -- it was heavy but not that bad. Before unpacking it I actually weighed it... "No pain no gain (pun)"

Now if someone finds they're missing about 25 lbs. of primo gear.... oh, never mind.

 

[immtbiker]

Holy cow, I mixed up 2 regions of wine country. Can you ever forgive me?
I knew it began with a "B" though. I feel if we could hang out more, you and I can become more enriched about life's little pleasures.

 

[immtbiker]

Edit : Double Post This never would have happened on Windows 3.11

 

[Romanee]

Ah, a nice old Burgundy!

Ah, a nice old Burgundy!

 

[immtbiker]

Jahn and Erikzen in Nirvana

New MPX3 w/ circuit board...pretty sweet!

Bozebutton's KGSS w/blackgates and ExactPower monster

Cary 300SEI dedicated headphone amp

Dared MonoBlocks for K1000 w/ power supply and DVD source

Stealth w/ Qualia

Telica and Bob Marley proving...No Woman, No Cry...No Headphones, Cry,Cry

Jazz Model 1000

Danny Omega

Stevieo shows bunk beds are better than Carnegie Hall for soundstaging

More pictures to come!

 

[Canman]

Aaron, thanks for a great time! Your family could not have been more inviting and the food was a treat. The rice and beans and those brownies hit the spot. The density of great gear at Aaron's place almost rivals Hirsch's condo.

My mission was to check out the Qualia, but the biggest surprise was my turning to the R10. I have seen the light and it is beautiful. I want a pair now. It seems that the early R10 had less efficient drivers and that had a large effect on the bass response. Bozebutton's Meitner/Cary/R10 was a step into ecstasy. Someday, Someday. Of course the HE-90 was not so bad either. Truly a class headphone.

The Qualia had some amazing qualities, but it didn't push my buttons this time. There seemed to be an imbalance in the midrange that made the image seem hollow to me. Careful system matching is imperative. With the lushness of the Cary, they do very nicely. The R10 is more forgiving though, and has a magic that is irresistable.

It was great seeing everyone at the meet. I tend to like the smaller meets since they are more personal. Plus we get to toast with good Scotch!

Oh yeah, Boulez at Carnegie Hall and the Plaza Oyster Bar was fun too.

 

[immtbiker]

Romanee contemplating wine women and song

Arielle's favorite setup was the G08 into the Stealth, using the small Qualias w/ the Black Dragon Cables: listening to Norah Jones, and No Doubt, and Diana Krall. She knows what she likes!

Me listening to "United Artists of Messidor" on vinyl...using HP1000's (or was it the PS1's)?

Hirsch getting over jet lag (it was a 45 minute flight)

Tom and Lan, looking pretty darn happy (and that was B4 dinner)

Meech saying: "You lookin' at me"?

 

[Jahn]

WHEW thank the head-fi gods I wasn't caught wearing the R10s backwards! Which I never do, of course...nice pics! And rats on not getting to listen to the Singlepower - I didn't know it was the PCB version!

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee Philodox - We're planning to have a followup portables/transportables meet sometime soon. You've presented some good points to explore. Jahn & Lan - perhaps we can start making some notes as questions or issues come up, so we can prepare a basic "methodology outline" for a followup study.

Keep me in the loop on that if you can. I still want to see how the D-303 performs from the optical out. I find that I don't have that much use for it anymore, since it doesn't really work as a portable and I have plenty of room in my office for a full size player. I might keep it around as a "just in case" source, but probably not. However, if it works pretty well as a transport then maybe I'll keep it and set up some kind of "mini-system" for use in front of the fishtank, while sampling single malts.

 

[erikzen]

United Artists of Messidor! That's what the name of that album was. Most excellent dude. I might have to buy a new turntable setup just to listen to that record. Forget about the kids' education!

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikzen Keep me in the loop on that if you can. I still want to see how the D-303 performs from the optical out.

I tried the optical out on mine once, using a Monarchy DIP as an optical to coax convertor to feed an ART DI/O. Once was enough