I got back from the Charlotte meet yesterday. It was my first meet and it was a lot of fun. It was great to meet so many people and chat about headphones, something I rarely get to do off head-fi.
I got to Charlotte on Friday, the day before the meet. I met Ray Samuels and we went out for dinner (he was nice enough to buy me dinner) then had mini-meet in his room. He had his “B-52” and “Apache” and also the Grado P1000, Sony R1, and HD600. All of them were balanced. He also had the “The Predator” and what I believe was the “P-51 Mustang.” Both of these portable amps are tiny! I told Ray that he really needs pictures on his website that accurately represent just how tiny those amps really are. Steve (Asr?) brought along a balanced ATH-AD2000 and a balanced Qualia 010. Jack Woo and his father were also there for a little while.
Since it was a mini meet, I got to listen to the all the equipment listed above in quiet environment and spent some time with them. The mini meet also let all of us chat for a little bit so that was fun.
I got to have a long conversation with Ray (during dinner and the mini-meet) and let me say that Ray is just a great guy. I don’t own any of his products, but my impression of him is that he takes pride in the work he does, tries to be a craftsman instead of as assembly line technician, and stands behind his products. If I was in the market for an amp, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy something from him.
It was really nice to meet all the people (Ray, Jack Woo and his father, and others) behind the products we buy. It puts a face on the equipment and reminds us not every company is a huge faceless corporation.
Enough of the small talk!
Headphone Impressions – I listened to so many headphones they eventually all started blending together. It’s difficult for me to give comprehensive reviews because of this. I will also skip the headphones that are discussed regularly on this forum.
Sony R1 balanced – Just a great headphone. My first impression was that it looked both odd (the wood earcups are huge) and luxurious. The sound is very balanced with a nice speaker like (as compared to other closed headphones) presentation At the same time, I didn’t really think it was one of those must haves. I thought the bass could have used a little more weight to suit my listening preferences.
Sony CD3000 through a Woo Audio 6 - A very nice sound.
Grado P1000 balanced– Terribly awkward fit with a great sound. This is not a bass heavy can. They had a very clear sound with the Grado forwardness. I’m not a huge fan of bright, forward sound so they were occasionally painful to listen to. Honestly, it’s so odd to me that I’m not a fan of the current Grado lineup but the PS1 and P1000 sound great.
Grado PS1, modded - I’ve heard this headphone before and its just as nice the second time. A very bassy and smooth sound without the sound-signature based ear pain usually associated with Grado. The PS1 has the worst fit of any headphone I’ve tried in my life. I felt like somebody was driving a nail into the top of my head.
ATH-AD2000 balanced - I’m not a huge fan of the single ended AD2000. I find the sound oddly colored and too forward. The balanced ATH-2000 is slightly better but I still couldn’t warm up to it. They did, however, do an incredible job on “Poem of Chinese Drum” by Yim Hok-Man.
ATH-W5000 – Fantastic! My opinion of AT headphones moves right around the middle of good and bad. I think ATs in general are decent headphones. I was not expecting all that much from the W5000. It is somewhat bass-lite (I was comparing them to the D7000), but it had a sweet, warm sound that just made music beautiful. Everything was crystal clear with the forward sound. The forward sound was occasionally painful, but I’m sensitive to that.
AKG K1000 – Incredible sound that blew my mind. Unfortunately their particular design caused a feeling of disorientation that also blew my mind. As I wore them I realized I like a physical cue to tell me where the sound is coming from. With speakers I can see them with my eyes. With headphones, I can feel the earcups. With the K1000, there is the feeling of something on your head, but nothing around the ears. I could not adjust to this lack of a physical cue, but I only listened for a few minutes. It was just strange to hear sound but not be able to sense where it was coming from.
AKG K240 Sextett – I’m not a huge fan of AKG stuff and the Sextett does not change this. They did remind me of the AKG K240 Monitor 600 Ohms, which is the one AKG I like.
Electrostatics – I felt reluctant to try on the electrostatics. Some people say they are like a drug in that once you try them you are addicted. I don’t want to spend that much money on a headphone and the associated equipment to drive them. I’m happy to say I tried the electrostatics and walked away without losing my love for dynamic headphones.
Stax SR-007 – I didn’t like these. It was a very dark sounding headphone with muddy low end. When I first put them on I thought some of the subtle details in the music was distortion.
Jade Electrostat, powered by what I think was the HeadAmp KGSS – I really liked these. They had a clear low end which was welcome after listening to the SR-007. They revealed the smallest details well.
Stax lambda – Beautiful, fun, and musical sound. I thought they were brighter than the Jade in a good way. The bass felt right unlike the SR-007. If you ask me if this or the Jade was better, I'd tell you I need to listen to them again.
Qualia 010 – Didn’t like them very much. Sounded a little bit like the sound came out of a tin can.
Yuin PK1 – These are earbuds? Don’t these look the same as the earbuds that used to come with my Sony Walkman (back in the tape days)? Great sound but something was rattling around when the bass hit.
Yuin OK1 – Better than the PK1, but I didn’t listen to long enough to get a solid impression.
D5000/D7000 – They are my favorite cans. I posted a comparison in another thread.
D5000/D7000 impressions.
Sennhesier HD800 - Shame on you Sennheiser for not sending them. They would have stolen the show. Many people were disappointed.
I’m not going to comment on any amps, sources or cables. I have a particular philosophy about these and I would be doing a disservice to both equipment makers and head-fiers by doing reviews. I will, however, provide some comments on aesthetics. These are very subjective.
After wandering through and looking at all the equipment, I started to think about the different case designs. There are at least three ways to look at casing. You can approach it like an efficient engineer by just buying a basic metal case and throwing the electronics in there. You can approach it like the big name brands by putting a nice coat of paint on a decent custom case, but still make it look like a factory product.
The third way is to decide that your equipment needs to be luxurious in both sound and looks. You approach the case design as a craftsman and you want your customers to be pulled in by the looks.
I really liked the casing of most of the Ray Samuels and Woo audio products. They just looked good. I’ll take the guess that if you put people who know nothing about audio into that room, they’d have pointed towards the Woo Audio and Ray Samuels' tables if you asked them what they thought would be the best stuff.
This idea is also prevalent when using wood. Using wood makes things look more luxurious, but there is a difference between using wood for the technical resson for using wood and using wood as an artistic medium. The wood on the Denon D5000/D7000 is just tacky looking compared to the incredible looking ATH-W5000.
That’s about all. I listened to other headphones, but I think all of them are regularly discussed here.
It was a fun meet. Thanks to DannyB and the Carolina Audio Society for putting it together. It was great to meet everybody. Hopefully I can tie together the faces and screen names as this thread progresses.
If anybody has any particular questions let me know.
.gif)
