[Currawong]

[size=medium]gkanai generously offered his office up for us to have a meet at, resulting in what was initially to have been a bunch of guys mostly with portable rigs becoming a full-blown meet with serious desktop and portable gear over half a day. [/size]
 
 
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[size=medium] It's lucky that Gen's office has tons of table space, as we took up quite a bit of it with just the desktop components. Three Macs, a Resonance Invicta and DP1 fed a Zana Deux and a Stax 727A, which in turn fed LCD-3s, Sony R10s, TH900s and Stax SR-009s and 007s.[/size]
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[size=medium] On the portable side…I don't know where to begin. I showed off my transportable rig: Mezzo-modded AK100, Pico Power and Skuld-re-cabled Symphones Magnums. It probably helped that I have a growing collection of binaural recordings. I have a set of Tralucent 1plus2s on loan to top it off as well.[/size]
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[size=medium] Impressions:[/size]
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[size=medium] The R10s present were bass-light models and I wanted to see how they sounded compared to my LCD-3s, as well as get impressions of both of the DACs. What blew me away was that, to my impressions, the LCD-3s blew away the Sonys. This regardless of what either were plugged into -- the DACs themselves or the Zana (which has a 12 Ohm headphone output impedance). [/size]
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[size=medium] In turn, the SR-009s and LCD-3s battled it off with different music sounding better or worse on either in comparison. Chesky's recent binaural album, as well as a live recording of the Cowboy Junkies sounded nicer on the 009s. Brighter-mastered recordings were better on the LCD-3s. The Zana added a touch of lush and mellow to the sound.  The 007 MK1s and 727A were a bad match, sounding thin and weak. When the 009s didn't shine, they sounded too bright for the music. When the LCD-3s were lacking, they sounded a bit "veiled" (probably due to a drop in their response at 4 kHz). [/size]
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[size=medium] Between the DACs, I was mainly interested in the April Music Eximus DP1 and Invicta. Using both the LCD-3s from the Zana and Stax our impressions were that the DP1 was very good-sounding, very engaging and a little forward with the Invicta seeming to be a little more spacious and detailed, but a bit colder to me. The headphone outputs of both were good-sounding to me, though I didn't test them with demanding music. Comparing them showed the Zana to add only a very slight amount of mellowness to the music while maintaining detail and spaciousness.[/size]
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[size=medium] I finally got around to trying the Ultrasone Signature DJs which I liked a lot out of my AK100/Pico Power rig. They are almost everything I wish the ED9 had been (especially cheaper!) without having too much bass. While still a bit flawed they mated well with the more pop-oriented music I like.[/size]
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[size=medium] I only took photos with my iPhone, so I'll add those later. Anakchan and gkanai both went to town with D800s, so I'll let them post pictures this time. 

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[AnakChan]

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 







Still burst my balloon by telling my my TH-900 sounded better out of the Invicta than the Zana Deux . Gotta fix that OI quick .

The MDR-R10 continued to wow me, along with the SR-007Mk1. I possibly had heard the LCD-3 too often that it didn't do that much for me. One thing was my TH-900 felt like a toy compared to the other big boys around.

I also brought along the HP-A8, MS/RWAK100, Tera, & HM-901 which was hardly touched.

 

[gkanai]

Reserved for pics.

 

[AnakChan]

My post updated with pix.

 

[flatmap]

Lovely pictures!
 
So how did the TH900s rank among this crowd?  Did they hold their own compared with the  LCD-3s, Sony R10s, and Staxes?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Lovely pictures!
 
So how did the TH900s rank among this crowd?  Did they hold their own compared with the  LCD-3s, Sony R10s, and Staxes?

 
Sadly my favourite TH-900 was put to shame by other members' LCD-3 and MDR-R10. I must say that I really do like the MDR-R10. I believe this one is the bass light version but hope one day I'll get to listen (or own ??) the bass heavy version. The Staxes are just different (and to me, different level). As I mentioned above, the SR-007Mk1 was unexpected. I really enjoyed that pair very much.

 

[project86]

Holy cow! What a nice collection of drool-worthy equipment! Seems like a great time was had by all.
 
Interesting impressions about the headphone outs on the Invicta and DP1. I had my own take on the DP1 but I know I'm in the minority... most people seem to love it. What's exciting is that companies are focusing on putting really worthwhile headphone stages on their DACs. So guys who are mainly into speakers might end up trying some good headphones since they already have a great amp on board. 

 

[RochRx7]

Godlike collection of cans and great pics!
 
Was hoping for more reading material to pass time by at work (impressions!?)

 

[xzobinx]

looks like heaven to me. All the hot stuffs.
Anakchan if you opt to go with invicta dip on the zana 

 

[KamijoIsMyHero]

Quote:

Still burst my balloon by telling my my TH-900 sounded better out of the Invicta than the Zana Deux . Gotta fix that OI quick .

The MDR-R10 continued to wow me, along with the SR-007Mk1. I possibly had heard the LCD-3 too often that it didn't do that much for me. One thing was my TH-900 felt like a toy compared to the other big boys around.

I also brought along the HP-A8, MS/RWAK100, Tera, & HM-901 which was hardly touched.

what is that yellow piece next to the micro streamer? never seen it before

 

[AnakChan]

xzobinx, thx to my PMs with Project86, I did finally take the plunge of picking up the Invicta. So the above Invicta/Zana in the above pix is my setup (and so's the HP-A8 underneath). The DP1 belonged to another silent HF member who graciously brought the DP1 along to  the past Tokyo meets too.
 
KamijolsMyHero, the yellow/bronze is a prototype Shozy from Rhapsodio. It's a DAC/Amp and actually it's really quite powerful but as they needed work on it, there's been an updated version of which I've not tried myself.
 
Gotta run off for work now and will try to expand on my thoughts later.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Lovely pictures!
 
So how did the TH900s rank among this crowd?  Did they hold their own compared with the  LCD-3s, Sony R10s, and Staxes?

 
The TH900s fix many of the faults of the Denon range (though they are still very bass-y for better or for worse) but detail-wise don't hold a candle to the LCD-3s or Stax.
 
Quote:

Holy cow! What a nice collection of drool-worthy equipment! Seems like a great time was had by all.
 
Interesting impressions about the headphone outs on the Invicta and DP1. I had my own take on the DP1 but I know I'm in the minority... most people seem to love it. What's exciting is that companies are focusing on putting really worthwhile headphone stages on their DACs. So guys who are mainly into speakers might end up trying some good headphones since they already have a great amp on board. 

 
Your take would be interesting to read.  Most of the headphone stages I've seen in DACs are fairly basic things using opamps, but for a lot of headphones and music that works well enough IMO.  For all the music I tried, which was more acoustic and live binaural, the Zana added nothing to what the DACs could deliver, except a touch of tube musicality.  I think I would have had to break out the dramatic orchestral works with the LCD-3s and some high-impedance headphones to find their limits.

 

[purk]

Great mini but awesome meet guys.  What was the serial number of the R10?  

 

[Birdoffice]

Wow Sony R10. Really love to get one. If you know a good condition with reasonable price, please let me know.
Is sony Japan still sevice or have spare part?

 

[wes008]

Currawong, if you listened to it, I'd be interested to hear your impressions of the HRT Microstreamer.