[TheSloth]

Well, I started it, but the parts that of course we are all interested in are the pictures, so get posting!

I came rather late to the fray, but we had veteran head-fi'ers with all kinds of portable gear taking up table space at the Sony Plaza in Manhattan (as well as interesting looks from various passers-by...).

I think my rig qualified for by far the least portable rig there, being about the size of all the other amps put together.

 

[lan]

We left last but I guess we got home first since we were the closest

Yep, your rig was really crazy. Can't really call that portable with all those electronics sticking out.

 

[SwedeSound]

Just wanted to thank NY head-fiers for such a nice (and non-intimidating) initiation into the club. Great guys. Great gear. Great sound. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks again for putting this together. I was tickeled to hear the modded Senn HD650s and had a chance to A-B some nice amps with mine (PA2V2), which left me wholly satisfied. Be seein' ya...

 

[Jahn]

i'm here man i'm blasted. are those guys still at the Apple store? if you're reading this, post a pic thru a macbook!

The Sloth's Headroom Convertible was so scary looking, i didn't even listen to it! Wow, that was a tupperware-full of modules for that thing, impressive! I think we have shots of it. After housekeeping, mebbe after dogwalkin' I'll post up impressions!

One note tho - The Qualia Store in NYC is definitely dead. In its place? A Sony PSP.

 

[Romanee]

Great seeing y'all and having a really relaxed meet so I got to chat and socialize a lot for a change.

Really successful meet, from my perspective.

A few interesting and some strange discoveries.

Wish we could have had a PRII, Xin VMIV, and some other stuff, but we'll hear them some other time.

Great surprise that The Sloth made it - and with his travelling Headroom silicon (modules) archive with specially modified HR Portable Desktop demo lab. So many modules -- so little time! Great Fun! Thanks!

Can't post any more notes 'til much later when wife has finished "sharing", etc.

 

[TheSloth]

I had my first real taste of Grado's, and I have to say for classical music they weren't nearly as bad as I thought the might be. Still too coloured in the midrange for my ears, but interesting nonetheless. That based on HF-1's, MS-1's and SR-60's, with various pad combinations. The HF-1's with 414 pads were the nicest sounding to my ears.

I was eager to hear the new DT880 as was considering it seriously as an alternative to the 650, however found it's portrayal of instrument tonality to be slightly lacking. Don't get me wrong, it's top-class headphone, but my priority has always been accurate instrument portrayal, and it was just slightly on the thin/lean side (not lacking in bass however).

I also heard the K701 briefly, but was unable to confirm or change my previous impressions of it due to the meet conditions. I was struck by a spacious, open soundstage relative to the 880 I was A/Bing with though.

Romanee's portable amp (was it portaphile?) was really excellent. Very impressive piece of kit. Would enjoy spending more time in a quieter environment.

I also enjoyed using the optical output of Mr. Slacker's iRiver 120 to the DAC in my convertible - a great portable source if you use Windows. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm a die-hard Mac user so I won't be getting one any time soon.

For my own rig, I discovered that with only a slightly depleted battery pack for power, the '06 Desktop Module is the way to go in the Desktop Portable. The more power hungry modules simply put too much strain on the current resources of the DC-DC converter (especially with a less than full battery pack), with the Max Modules actually sounding worse than the Desktop in such a circumstance.

Enjoyed spending some time with the guys I met only briefly last November at the regional meet. Nice to put a face to the name Mercuttio (and find out why he has 2 't's' in his name).

 

[MrSlacker]

Just got home. Had a blast! We had a lot of fun at the Apple store.. i'll post some pics in a few mins.

Thanks to Jahn, I will be getting Koss KCS-75 now

 

[lan]

Thanks for the quick organization if there was one since it was too quick. We had a good turnout.

I took a few pics early on and then stopped. It was hard choosing to listen or to watch or to talk.

In the what was previously known as Qualia headphone section of the Sony Store.

Is this BIG LCD the Qualia 004 or not? Jahn was confused.

My precious...

Cameras are personal devices like headphones. This was just an ergonomic disaster for me and like wise my camera was too big for most people.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth I had my first real taste of Grado's, and I have to say for classical music they weren't nearly as bad as I thought the might be. Still too coloured in the midrange for my ears, but interesting nonetheless. That based on HF-1's, MS-1's and SR-60's, with various pad combinations. The HF-1's with 414 pads were the nicest sounding to my ears. I was eager to hear the new DT880 as was considering it seriously as an alternative to the 650, however found it's portrayal of instrument tonality to be slightly lacking. Don't get me wrong, it's top-class headphone, but my priority has always been accurate instrument portrayal, and it was just slightly on the thin/lean side (not lacking in bass however). I also heard the K701 briefly, but was unable to confirm or change my previous impressions of it due to the meet conditions. I was struck by a spacious, open soundstage relative to the 880 I was A/Bing with though. Romanee's portable amp (was it portaphile?) was really excellent. Very impressive piece of kit. Would enjoy spending more time in a quieter environment. I also enjoyed using the optical output of Mr. Slacker's iRiver 120 to the DAC in my convertible - a great portable source if you use Windows. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm a die-hard Mac user so I won't be getting one any time soon. For my own rig, I discovered that with only a slightly depleted battery pack for power, the '06 Desktop Module is the way to go in the Desktop Portable. The more power hungry modules simply put too much strain on the current resources of the DC-DC converter (especially with a less than full battery pack), with the Max Modules actually sounding worse than the Desktop in such a circumstance. Enjoyed spending some time with the guys I met only briefly last November at the regional meet. Nice to put a face to the name Mercuttio (and find out why he has 2 't's' in his name).

I don't think the DT880 is a great pairing with the Headroom amps. It fairs much better in all respects with the RKV MkII, and even the the EarMaxPro.

My amp is the latest Portaphile PV2^2-LT1210 Maxxed (with 1500uf Black Gate NX output caps). You're welcome to borrow it for a bit if you really want to hear it with your gear and controlled conditions. Let me know.

On the way home I played the recordings we should have heard for voices: Carmen with the Orchestra & Chorus of Toulouse, featuring Angela Georghiu (& other wonder singers). Besides the great performances, it's well recorded, the voices are well presented and there's plenty of breathing apparent, as well as good separation of the very espressive voices, good soundstage, etc. (It even sounded great with the Senn PXC300 portable NR phones.)

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee I don't think the DT880 is a great pairing with the Headroom amps. It fairs much better in all respects with the RKV MkII, and even the the EarMaxPro. My amp is the latest Portaphile PV2^2-LT1210 Maxxed (with 1500uf Black Gate NX output caps). You're welcome to borrow it for a bit if you really want to hear it with your gear and controlled conditions. Let me know. On the way home I played the recordings we should have heard for voices: Carmen with the Orchestra & Chorus of Toulouse, featuring Angela Georghiu (& other wonder singers). Besides the great performances, it's well recorded, the voices are well presented and there's plenty of breathing apparent, as well as good separation of the very espressive voices, good soundstage, etc. (It even sounded great with the Senn PXC300 portable NR phones.)

I'd be interested to sit down and do a serious comparison of the 650/Equinox, 880 '06 and K701, especially when my amp isn't gasping for juice! I think those batteries were already nearly empty when I completely overloaded them with Max Modules (and watched the power light dim significantly which it wouldn't normally do).

And that portaphile was very small and cute - but with a powerful yet clean and clear sound. I was surprised to hear such clarity from a BUF634 based output stage. Would be interested to hear it with a different (not iPod) source.

 

[Mercuttio]

NYC subways were not my friends today... but I'm finally back, one bumfight and one re-routed train later.

Always good seeing these folks, and to have finally met the mighty Sloth.

Pictures are loading up now... gotta resize. Kinda dark in there so my flash did some of the work... mixed results. Oh well.

 

[Romanee]

Lan -- nice quality Canon (20D?) pics. Can't wait to see M's new Nikon pics!

Going in to cook dinner. See ya later.

Jahn moves (or thinks?) too fast to be captured on digifilm!

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee Jahn moves (or thinks?) too fast to be captured on digifilm!

Photo representation of my posting habits?

I have to say, this meet was one of the nicest ones, good balance of critical listening and just socializing. Due to the nature of the meet (portable) it was actually BETTER that folks chatted away, so the portable rigs could show what they could do to handle ambients.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee I don't think the DT880 is a great pairing with the Headroom amps. It fairs much better in all respects with the RKV MkII, and even the the EarMaxPro.

Also, there is a huge difference when using the new DT880 balanced. I could understand the thin comments, when used with a single-ended, honest SS amp. But balanced, these headphones have some major cahones, without sounding bloated. Nice!

 

[MrSlacker]

It was kinda dark in there, so pics kinda suck lol

My rig

Gloco checking out the AT A900LTD

lan playing with Mercuttio's baby

Mercuttio

Jahn

Peter (Romanee) and SwedeSound (sorry, dont remember your name)

SwedeSound

TheSlother's crazy module collection

Now some Apple store fun!
Jimmy grooving to some headphones

Then we found a pair of HD650s in there... like all the other headphones, cables were ziptied to the stands... but that didnt stop Mercuttio from trying to rip them out

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

WOOOOPSI!