Lost and bewildered.
Wayne points out that I posted my impressions in the wrong thread. Rather than do a permalink and all that, I'll just paste and repost them here.
Sorry 'bout that.
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... and a good time was had by all. Thanks for doing this Mike!
Some impressions that come to mind (or remain in what passes for my mind):
The star of the show was Mark Reid's new tube amp. Everybody was so blown away listening to it, nobody asked if it was OTL. It had one transformer on top of the chassis, so that seems likely. In any case, it sounded magnificent driving my 650s and K-701s. (and just about every other set of headphones we had at hand) Mark also brought a brand new, un-broken-in chain-braided cable that sounded very promising indeed. Great punch and drive, a very full sound. And on static display (nobody brought any speakers) was a chip amp that looked to be a thin wooden plinth with a couple heatsinks and a transformer on top. It appeared to float in midair on a set of cones. When Mark flipped it over, it revealed point to point wiring in channels routed in the wood plinth. Brilliant.
Gary's Aristaeus and HE90s made lovely sounds. And the Aristaeus is so drop dead gorgeous to look at.
Gene's Woo 6 SE continues to impress.
Mike's analog rig sounded effortless, and well, beyond reproach - about like you'd expect a high end turntable and an absolute top-shelf amp to sound, actually.
Vicki's SP Extreme and my 701s seemed very fond of each other. We'll have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't elope.
I had never heard esw10s before. They were very involving on both Miguel's Xin and my little Tomahawk. Vicki says they can be driven straight out of an iPod, too. And they're pretty, what with the shiny wood caps and all. I never even knew I wanted small supra-aural cans before. Hmmm.
Apologies to those whose interesting gear I've left out....
-Carl
