a few impressions.
dynamic. balanced HD650 with zu mobius cable via singlepower supra. this was a top notch system for the hd650 - the holographic imaging and sound overall was just amazing. w/ the 650 it beat out my apache (no question about it), but i always find high end tube amps to be better than solid state ones. the K701 didn't fair as well with the supra. must be more suited for high impedance headphones. maybe some adpaters and different tubes would improve things. not sure. but if my main headphone was the 650, a balanced supra would be toward the top of my list. too bad ray couldn't make it. would have been nice to compare to the B52. no GSX or Beta22 or Rudistor, so couldn't compare to my apache. an R10 with a raptor was there. the R10 has a huge soundstage and lots of detail. can't imagine a can better for classical (too bad about price though). the owner said he used them exclusively with rock, which i found a bit odd. not many high end phones - no HP1000, PS1, L3000, HE60, HE90 or even an Ed.9, DX1000 or W5000. there was a K1000. not for me, but there is always that one headphone which others love but you don't. another amp that really impressed was the WA5 LE with massive 300B tubes. all sounded good with it, even the GS1000 which in general seems only average (somewhat lacking mid range). a senn HD414 with zu cable through old school toaster SP amp was a big surprise. sounded really good (see pic below). compared 3 bal K701s, one with black dragon, one with an equinox, and the third with cardas. the first two sounded about the same, but both better than the last. compared bal 650 w/ zu to a bal pair with equinox. the latter was a little nicer (better focus and tighter bass). may look into getting an equinox for my 650.
electrostatic. the 1.2B and O2. heard the 1.2B through a Woo GES and the HE stat amp. the 1.2B is very good, possibly better than all my dynamics. the 1.2B looks much better than the 1.3, although sitting next to the O2, it seems in terms of looks and overall build quality not quite high end. the headphone needs 100+ hours to break in. there were two pairs there (one was mine) and it was pretty obvious which had the fewer hours. the 1.2B sounded better on the Woo (warmer, smoother, more liquid) than the He amp. the O2 is also amazing and exudes pure class. the sound is not dark/slow at all. through a McCalister and 17k MSB Platinum CD player, the music flowed effortlessly with gobs of detail and life. probably my favorite rig there. there was a home built stat amp (early Gilmore design). nice work. no HE60 or HE90 but some other stax models were present. they all sounded about the same to me - good but not great.
other. won through auction a pair of siltech cables with WBT nextgen RCA connectors. very good copper cables. discovered some new music - excellent jazz with great sound quality from the ECM label. Woo has new headphone stands out. solid build - heavy base and adjustable height. also, Woo is planning to offer the GES with a HE 1.2B jack and upgraded caps and resistors and maybe even balanced inputs. should be a killer stat amp. probably the next big item i purchase.
met and talked to a lot of head-fiers (all good people) and went to dinner afterwards. overall a fun time. thanks goes to Aaron for setting this thing up and to everyone who donated to the auction (head-direct, Woo, Nate, Yikes, others) and Aaron's wife for the cake and brownies. held me out until dinner.
a long day, but a good one.
