[jinp6301]

So this is going to be the impressions thread. basically a thread for lan to put his pictures in.

I'm too tired to post impressions now so I'll do it later, but mostly it was a Grado comparison between 4 mid/high end Grados and comparison between low range home amps.

 

[lan]

Got back home last night around 2:30AM so was too tired also to post.

I didn't take that many pics since there wasn't THAT much gear. Let me say thanks for arranging to host this at Columbia. It was quiet, clean, and spacious enough for small meet.

Above: My HF1s. I wore these to and from the meet. I prefered these over SR225s. They are tonally more correct being less trebly and have more as well as impactful bass as well. I find this unique feature of HF1s vs other Grados that make them good portable cans or more compatible with cheaper equipment since cheaper equipment doesn't have as much bass nor as good treble. Other fellas can speak about the flats but I prefer the flats in general.

Above: Grado RS2. This guy was the most serious listener of our group. Probably because the rest of us are just cruising along with our gear not really making many more mad purchases. Sorry for his wallet.

Above: The RS2 IMO were the best Grados of the bunch, which included HF1, SR225, SR325i, and the SR60 (which was hiding in fear in the box). To me it was tonally balanced, had more delineation of sounds, had more refined treble, and more soundstage. Overall a more refined sound.

Above: The new MiniBox-D packaging. I like these amps form factors. They are all flat - small.

Above: Darkvoice. We did a comparision between this, the Little Dot, Gilmore Lite and the O1. If I would describe a strength of this unit better than the others, I'd say it was it's bass. Of course being tubes, your results will vary on the tubes. It was tonally ok. Midrange present enough. I think a well balanced presentation.

Above: O1. One of these was amp only while other was DAC and amp. I think both units sounded great and trumped the other amps at the meet here. There was more detail and spaciousness which made this clearly on another level in transparency vs. the other amps.

Above: Gilmore Lite with DPS. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite amp here. It sounded pretty bland which is bad to me because music without life is just not worth listening to. I would say this is a dry and sterile kind of sound. Bass wasn't extended or tuneful. Midrange didn't sing to me. There was hardly any soundstage or depth. The treble was refined though, meaning not harsh which is good.

The other amp was the Little Dot. The midrange on this sung to me. I think that was it's virtue which made be like it over the Darkvoice. Of course with tubes again, your millage may vary.

Above: Minibox-E. This small amp was pretty cool. It was solid and hefty feel and so was the sound. It made the 4G ipod's lineout pretty nice to me and I generally don't like that ipod model. Pretty spacious sounding and pretty refined sound given it's a portable was a surprise to me.

Above: Grado SR352is. IMO, the worst Grado of the bunch here. It was refined sounded but tonally off as if somebody pressed the loudness button. It made the midrange recessed.

Above: The K701 overlooking the SR325i and reflecting some of it's gold characteristics. I am not of fan of these headphones today. They seemed tonally incorrect and in ways I couldn't describe as easy as the SR352i (which by comparision sounded like you pressed the loudness button).

 

[Jahn]

darn it, i was all set to bring the HP1000 Darth Grados and the GS1000 with reverse bowl pads to add to the Grado fun! looked like a good minimeet tho, let's have another one when the wife's out of town this time

 

[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn /img/forum/go_quote.gif darn it, i was all set to bring the HP1000 Darth Grados and the GS1000 with reverse bowl pads to add to the Grado fun! looked like a good minimeet tho, let's have another one when the wife's out of town this time

ohh that would have been awesome!

tell us when you're free jahn!

 

[jinp6301]

Ok

So I'll write a short comparison of the Grados.
Basically RS-2>HF-1>225>325i.

The RS-2 was much more refined then any other grado present. It makes me sad when I listen to my 225s now

. The HF-1s were a better version of the 225s. More refined treble, more bass (especially with flats) and just sounded better then the 225s! Now I know why people pay that much for them. The 225s were good, but now I have the upgraditis itch again for the RS-2s. The 325is were too heavy to be comfortable and the treble was way off for me and definitely too strong for my tastes.

Flats vs Bowls

The flats are so great!!! The flats bring much more bass then the bowls without sacrificing any detail. The bowls have slightly more soundstage. The flats were definitely more comfortable then the bowls but I'm not sure that its worth it for $30

Little Dot 2+ vs Darkvoice 332 vs Gilmore Lite vs 01 (w/ DAC)

Basically Darkvoice 332 = 01 (w/ DAC) > Little Dot 2+ > Gilmore Lite

The darkvoice was definitely a step up from the little dot. There was more seperation, bass was more defined, and soundstage was larger. The midrange was slightly lacking against the little dot though. The 01 was a HUGE suprise. I didnt listen to it much at the last meet but this meet it blew my socks off! I will almost definitely pick one of these up for my iriver. There was great soundstage, good bass control, good seperation, but not as much musicallity verses the darkvoice, but for ~$250 with a built in DAC, you really cant go wrong. As people have said before me the GLite was dissapointing. I liked the clarity and the nice sparkling treble but it didnt do much else. The soundstage was lacking compared to the other amps but the GLite used the soundstage a little bit better.

One thing I'm excited about was the prototype for a USB DAC/portable amp. Basically an all in one solution for you laptop owners who want to travel light! It sounds pretty good, not a good as the minibox E or the XP amp but it has good seperation and decent bass. The main problem is the crappy design. There were a lot of buttons on it that did nothing and it was just wierd looking. The amazing thing about this is that its only about $100 and its an USB DAC AND a portable amp. It has both usb input and a mini input. How can you go wrong???

 

[Poboy]

can someone post their impressions on minibox e in particular ( comparing it to the minibox D ) . how does it compare other portable amps ( in the similar price range of 100 to 200 $ ) if someone has compared them.

 

[laxx]

Sorry Poboy, but I have no impressions of the minbox e. =T I'm not a fan of portable setups as it's just too much to carry compared to my DAP + Pk1's (pretty darn portable in my eyes).

For impressions, I didn't do as much listening as Jinp did, but I spent a little time with most of the desktop systems.

Of the amps, I'd say my preference would be:

1. Darkvoice 332
2. Little Dot 2+
3. 01 (either one, though the one with a DAC sounded a bit better, but Fang said that one had alot more burn in than the one without a DAC)
4. Gilmore Lite + DPS

It could be my mind playing tricks on me, making me choose the 332 since I own it, but I feel it does more right than wrong. With this said, I'll be basing the sound of the other amps to the Darkvoice 332's sound which I'm more accustomed to since I use it all of the time at home.

The Little Dot 2+ sounded relatively simlar to the 332. The main differences were between the treble and soundstage. The LD2+'s treble sounded a bit off to me and the soundstage was a smaller. Aside from that, there was a bit more detail with the 332.

The 01 amplifier sounded great for it's inexpensive, budget cost. It had clarity that reminded me of my Aria, but with that came a lean, sterile sound. It sounded airy, but lacked the body that the 2 tube amps brought. It felt like there was more detail, but in actually, there wasn't. I suppose it's the difference between tubes and SS. Also, the bass could have had a little more impact.

The Glite... I have the same sentiments as I did from the last meet. I don't like it. Going from the Glite to the 01, you're greeted with such a spacious sound. It makes the Glite sound like you're wearing earplugs under your phones. I'd say the 01 does everything better than the Glite, except the Glite goes goes further in the bass department. I didn't spend alot of time with these 2 amps, but I did listen to the same song a few times to make sure I was hearing what I thought I was.

Now to the phones, I didn't listen to the K701's at all during the meet. We basically spent our time with SR225's, SR325i's, HF-1, RS-2's. Lan used flats all around, I used bowls all around. I greatly prefer reverse bowls, but that could be because the pads on my RS-2's are pretty darn new and hard. First, flats bring out alot of bass. Too much for my liking, so I'll be sticking to my reverse bowls.

I spent about 30 seconds with the HF-1's and found them too bassy for me. It reminds me of my SR60's with comfy's out of my Darkvoice 332, but not as bloated. All of us had the same conclusion about the 325i's. Something sounded off, though each of us described a different aspect. Lan said the bass was off, I felt the treble was off. None the less, we all described it to have a U shaped frequency response that leaves the mid range akin for more. I'll leave the rest on the Grado's for my more formal review in Asr's thread.

Overall, I wasn't at the meet to listen to gear. I had most of it at home already prior to the meet and I'm currently not in the market for any new gear (darn photography). I had a great conversation with Lan about photography and puchased a lens from him as well. I had a great time at the meet and look forward to another sometime during the Summer.

 

[laxx]

Oh, I gave the custom Pk1 molds another go and like last time, they didn't fit. Fang also had a universal fit iem mold on a pair of Pk1's, but those didn't fit as well. =T Nothing you can do about that, but I am curious as to how they sound.

And the new packaging for the Yuin line looks very nice. =] Much better than the super bland packaging I got with my Pk1 and 2's.

 

[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif can someone post their impressions on minibox e in particular ( comparing it to the minibox D ) . how does it compare other portable amps ( in the similar price range of 100 to 200 $ ) if someone has compared them.

I tried the minibox E and it was pretty good for the price. Its really powerful compared to the other portable amps I've heard (supermacro, XP amp). I liked the design and it was pretty refined but I only heard it for a short while so I cant really give a dedicated comparison.

 

[Towert7]

Looks like everyone had fun! Wish I had made it.
Jahn, keep me posted if the bunch of your make it for another NY mini meet. I would be up for that if possible.

 

[Hellenback]

Quote:

One thing I'm excited about was the prototype for a USB DAC/portable amp. Basically an all in one solution for you laptop owners who want to travel light! It sounds pretty good, not a good as the minibox E or the XP amp but it has good seperation and decent bass. The main problem is the crappy design. There were a lot of buttons on it that did nothing and it was just wierd looking. The amazing thing about this is that its only about $100 and its an USB DAC AND a portable amp. It has both usb input and a mini input. How can you go wrong???

__________________



Which amp are you talking about here?

 

[laxx]

.

 

[laxx]

There was an unnamed portable DAC/amplifier that was there. Very confusing to use as nothing was labeled on it (input, output, or switches).

 

[MrSlacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif There was an unnamed portable DAC/amplifier that was there. Very confusing to use as nothing was labeled on it (input, output, or switches).

wat r u talking about

 

[laxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif wat r u talking about

I was answering a question Hellenback asked.