Here is my little write-up of the Amster-Jam.
What stood out the most, gear-wise:
Fei Wan
Taking the chance to hear this was high on my priority list. John made it possible - thanks again!
Style-check
I'm surprising myself, they are 10/10 for me. What a stunning look. I don't typically care much about the design since I don't see them when I wear them. But in this case, I really enjoyed looking at them.
Sound-check
As always - this is TME (to my ears).
Mighty, overall! Bold bass department. Massive sub, even bolder mid-bass. Round, controlled and textured. Mids: Forward, textured, dynamic. Treble: Energetic, detailed, with my critical zingy track: on the edge. For other critical treble tracks: In alert mode - but still good. Stage: Wide x-axis, wide y-axis, no 3D but I did not miss that for a single moment either. Very high detail and good seperation. The secret sauce for me was in the powerful mid-dynamics (for the lack of a better description).
For the last weeks I almost exclusively listened to the Raven - and I very much enjoyed it. Fei Wan is on par! At least. The same level of greatness and enjoyment. It very much fits my electronic and Miami Bass libraries and probably much more genres too. Since I see a large overlap with Raven, I'm not considering buying Fei Wan. For now.
P6 Pro Ti
This was the other top priority I had. Thanks for making it happen, Alessandro!
I can keep this short. It took a bit of time and the cosy couch, some meters away from the Dutch head-fi epicentre in order to focus on this A/B test. After 2 tracks I was able to pinpoint where I hear the difference. It's in the mids. The Ti is a tiny bit pulled back which added some "elegance" for me. This might have led to my interpretation of even one little little tiny bit more roundness of the R2R-esque liquid treble. I can understand why the description focussed on voice and timbre when it was released. Everything else, including the insane and impulsive dynamic range is there.
Listening to it was bittersweet and I found myslef (virtually) scratching my head, how I'm not adult enough to be immune against this minimally hearable and impossible for me to quantify difference. That's probably what drives some / many of us, I guess... What will happen from here - I honestly have no idea for now.
To sum up matters: Mighty Alessandro asked me to complete my testing by listening to his LP7 Ti too - the implementation was different and even more analogue (and I mean, how is that even possible?) but the perfect form factor of the P6 pro series makes the LP a no go for me. My P6 has seen 3 continents and an LP would never leave Zurich since I would not want to put in a pocket of my trouser ...
Up to the last point: What stood out besides the gear has been mentioned by other posters a lot and here is my version. The vibes of such a meeting can not be described but must be experienced - my apologies if this sounds too cheasy for you. Reading / writing on a good forum is one thing but being able to dive deeper when in a face to face discussion, to me lifts everything to a whole new level. Talking gear is great and I love(d) it. Being able to talk about other things is priceless and this bears the potential of creating friendships (big word for me). And with that, here is my personal summary - my apologies to the less than a handful of people I was unable to speak. Next time!
In no particular order:
@DutchKarma Thanks for sharing the insights in the Dutch Football league - and Bangkok architecture!
@armstrj2 Thanks for supporting my aspiration to drink less beer by making me switch over to Cidre! Cheers!
@Junmoe62 Thanks for reminding me of the fact that I can always buy a single DD IEM for 8K!
@Alpexis Thanks for reminding me of the fact that I can always buy a simple power cable for 8K!
@Alexzander Thanks for being such an easy guy to chat to!
@Leto Dal Thanks for taking explodingravenconcerns seriously!
@Oschi Thanks for reminding me how close Der Ruhrpott is to Amsterdam!
@lafeuill Thanks for explaining to me that a vitamine B9 deficiency can have impact on memory. Or was it B8? C9?
@LFC_SL Thanks for planting the seed in my brain that hypothetically I could state the real costs of gear to my spouse!
@julioiglesias Thanks for the Voldemort moment when you dared to say the name. MQA!
@F700 Thanks for letting me send some regards to your wife over the phone - in my bad French language!
@NYanakiev Thanks for sharing the cab and touching on many topics. I will find a way to transfer to you the 7€!
@hAbIrAbI Thanks for being kind enough for not judging me for drinking Weissbier!
@MSwiss Thanks for reminding me of Hulks, Pepsis and Batmen - and how to properly talk to Brits, mate!
@slumberman Thanks for being the living definition of modesty - you are a legend, Sir!
@oliveradr Thanks for reminding me of the power of ratings and the quick mental journey back to Frankfurt.
And then, a special thank you
@drftr for making this happen, for all the extra miles you went for and for knowing that your offers for support are no lip service but the real deal. And another special thank you
@MatW for the organisation, for all the efforts, for being a really nice guy and for making me remember Rotterdam Termination Source and how uncatchably advanced the Western Dutch Gabbers were style-wise, in the 90s.
The final two specials go out to Stefan from Headphone Auditions for being such a great host - this was one hell of a burger!
And finally thank you KLM for cancelling my return flight, referring to the fairy tale of weather conditions and making me having to rebook myself in order to be on the first flight out to Zurich, this morning, 07:00, making it impossible to attend the second meeting. You did a great job in assuring that I will never fly KLM again. In this case: SWISS 10 points, KLM 0 points.
Thanks everybody - over in person in Amsterdam, or here, in the forum, for making this happen! ✌
Keep going folks and even more pics please...
