I want to thank everyone for coming out and bringing some truly great gear. Only about half of those who expressed interest showed, but it seems most of the gear on the list made it. The UCSD contingent was missing and with finals last week I assume other things were on their minds. 9 strong by my count...
Baby O - Really dug this setup, esp. out of the Ack! Hugely transparent and accurate, there was bass, though not too much in the way of slam. Can't wait to hear these paired with a better amp, Canloader is looking at a Blue Hawaii. We work close by and I hope to pay him a visit in a few months. I might try to secure a similar system for a home setup if I pass on the W5ks.
Stax Classic - Nice, light, airy, completely lacked any sense of impact. Just not for what I listen to, but some opera/classical I can see it.
Senn 580 vs. 650 - Believe it or not I've never heard a high-end Senn before, including their widely popular upper tier dynamic cans. I prefer the 580 in the rigs I listened to (mine and Borat's CIAudio->Hornet). The 650 seemed to lack top end, just wasn't exciting.
Allesandro MS2i - As an HF-1 owner I hear the heritage, but a little too bright. Kinda heavy but felt solidly built. I was curious with these as I'd like to get some phones for recording/monitoring/jamming at night on guitar.
Hornet - About what I expected, forward, fun little amp, compact beyond belief.
EMU 1212->Gilmore Lite->HF-1 - Quite a bit less warmth than running the HF-1 out of my setup, but it seemed more fleet-footed. Very good budget setup.
Beyer 880 - Nice, like this better than the dynamic Senns. A tad bright for my tastes but it got most things right.
Woo Audio 3 - A bit surprised by the ability of this amp. Considering this is the cheapest US built amp it really has a superb sound. I would love to sit down and do a side by side with the Slam.
That's about all I remember, was talking much more than listening (apologies to the folks who sought refuge from the noise, I am a closed can guy afterall
). Yeah, I figured the L3ks might get slammed a bit, we need to remember there is an asterisk here, only 30 hours on the drivers that were replaced 2 days before the meet. It could be cognitive dissonance, but my ears detected a whole new level of transparency after 150+ hours on the old drivers. It's a shame they didn't have a full week to prepare.
Thanks canloader for all the photos!
