Meet Impressions
I have to say again how great of a meet this was. Doc was a fantastic host and kudos to him for opening up Bottlehead to us. It was great to tour the place, and I did take a bunch of pics of the facility which I'll post later. Pics of the meet itself too, which will also be posted.
Of course, things wouldn't have gone smoothly without Gil either, and it was great to sample some beer from next door too (Bainbridge Island Brewery). Out of all the meets I've attended, it was also by far the most snack-loaded one I've been to. Chips, crackers, cheese, etc, plus those Voodoo doughnuts. I had 2 of them, just because.
All told, it was great to get my meet fix in Seattle! The ferry ride to & fro added up to a great starter to my 9-day vacation in Washington state. It was great to catch up again with the Seattle crew too, of course. Always a fun time hanging out with you guys.
Equipment Impressions
Disclaimer: For anyone who might be thinking how I can possibly write impressions from a meet that was a little more than 1 week ago, I'm writing from memory of what I thought at the meet. Much more reliable than trying to remember what I heard.
Disclaimer #2: Meets are getting to be an interesting thing for me lately and I'm no longer interested in them that much for the appeal of listening to gear. I consider my home setup to be pretty much finalized and have no further interest in either "upgrading" anything, or side-grading, or downgrading. In fact, at the past several meets I've attended, most of my time was not spent listening to gear, this one included.
* Stax SR-007 on Cavalli Liquid Lightning: I started out my listening at the meet on Sachu's setup, where he had the LL prototype (so not the final production version), and of course I took it to task on some of my reference CDs. This system was being sourced by a Parasound DAC which naturally affected the sound, and more on that below. (DAC was actually an Assemblage, see Sachu's post directly below.)
To put it bluntly, I wasn't really overly impressed by this setup, and I wasn't sure which was more to blame between the LL and the DAC. Maybe both? Ok it was fine-sounding. Very good, even. But there was just no way I thought it compared to my own setup (BHSE on Plinius CD-101). I'd say it didn't seem much different than from my previous experience with the HeadAmp KGSS - that is, it didn't seem any better. There were some of the same characteristics I heard with the KGSS: some lack of clarity, minimal dynamic range, & indistinct bass.
Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC (MKI) vs Parasound Assemblage DAC (Sachu's, unsure of model): At the end of the meet some source-swapping was done on Sachu's system and I got to hear the difference between these two on the SR-007/LL.
The Alpha DAC affirmed to me that source can definitely make a difference, especially when it comes to the SR-007. As I told Sachu, I thought the Alpha was the better DAC. It had more dynamic range - it was better at conveying low volume specifically, and it provided more of a contrast between soft and loud. It also had more clarity, and more separation/diffusion. The imaging on the Assemblage was downright concentrated/integrated in comparison.
However, as better as the Alpha DAC was, and I thought it was a clear step above the Assemblage in pretty much every way, it still wasn't as good as my own setup at home. My setup provides even more dynamic range - specifically, the ability to really push wide-volume swings from very soft to very loud, and I also got the nagging suspicion that my setup is considerably clearer-sounding too.
A combo I would've liked a chance to hear: SR-007 on LL, sourced by KingStyles' Ayon Skylla. Now that would've really been interesting for me! Can we do that next time?
* Stax SR-007/SRM-717: I don't think I'd heard an SRM-717 before, so this was the first thing I listened to on KingStyles' rig. It seemed to me a lot like the KGSS and LL - meaning everything good, and bad, about them. Translation: it sounded really good. Nothing anyone would probably complain about, well unless you hear something better. A great value combo for sure. A BHSE would likely kick things up quite a bit for KingStyles (especially on his Ayon Skylla source), but I told him he doesn't need to upgrade. The SRM-717 was already plenty good. And I thought his dynamic rig was better!
At the end of the day, I think I'd put the SRM-717, Liquid Lightning, and KGSS all in the same category, sonically. They all seem to be roughly the same to me. The next step up to me would have to be something in the class of a Blue Hawaii type (or maybe a KGSSHV, but I haven't heard a build of that one yet).
Audeze LCD-3 on Schiit Mjolnir vs EC Balancing Act: An interesting comparison? Naturally the LCD-3 was balanced on both setups. If I had to pick a winner between them, my choice would probably be obvious: the Balancing Act took it easily. Both were really good for the LCD-3, and I don't even like the LCD-3 that much either (I think it's a great headphone, but not particularly excellent). But the Balancing Act had more "drive" for lack of a better word, and I don't mean that in the amp driving-sense, more in the mid-bass/lower-mids sense. It seemed to have more depth and presence factor, and added even more tactility on top of what the LCD-3 can already do on its own. It was actually pretty awesome, and definitely the best I've probably heard from the LCD-3. In fact, I'm starting to get convinced that the Balancing Act is probably one of the best amps for the LCD-3.
The Mjolnir wasn't bad though and I'd say it put up a good fight, especially considering it was running from an iPod (not really sure how the digital connections were all set up at this table). So it wasn't exactly a fair fight here. It'd be a fair fight to get both amps on the same source - wonder if that would ever happen.
Cavalli Liquid Fire: Ok I admit, I didn't listen to the one at the meet, but I wanted to relay the important part of a conversation that I had with Equus. It can be amazing what you learn from other people sometimes, and I learned just from talking to Equus that the Liquid Fire, and Cavalli equipment in general, will probably never be for me sonically. Preferences & the subjective experience play a big part as to why certain people like certain gear (which is something that's never really said on Head-Fi), and when Equus told me why he likes the Liquid Fire (mostly due to its mid-range), I realized his preferences were totally opposite to mine, and the Liquid Fire started sounding like something I wouldn't like at all. I actually lost all interest in it after our conversation. And extrapolating what I heard from the LL at the meet, I figured I'd never be interested in the sound of Cavalli gear in general. From now on I think I'll be sticking with my HeadAmp gear, since that's my acquired taste.
Senn HD650: I had to listen to a pair at the meet to find out how it still held up after so many headphones have come after it, and to refresh my memory. Still a very good headphone and it totally deserves marks for being a classic. No I wouldn't buy one again, but it was nice to remind myself of what everyday average headphones sound like. It wasn't that much worse than the higher-price stuff currently being pushed on the market and I think a lot of people would be satisfied with it instead of bigger-buck stuff like the LCD-2. Just because the LCD-2 has tons of fans doesn't mean it's that amazing. As a detractor/supporter of the LCD-2, I think the HD650 would be a fine choice for anyone who can't afford the LCD-2 - don't sweat the difference!
* My HeadAmp KGSS mini-review provides more context on what I think of the respective amps to the KGSS (and the BHSE): http://www.head-fi.org/t/566419/mini-review-headamp-kgss-vs-blue-hawaii-se
Meet pics to come later, hopefully within the next couple of days. I have 800+ pics on my camera from my vacation to sort through at the same time....
