[null]

Thanks tomek, for hosting the meet. Even though the heavy-hitters weren't there (ps1's and omega II's) the meet was still awesome. I had a blast. The meet was supposed to run from 12 pm to 5 pm, but it was extended.

I enjoyed the Grado 225s and 325s, the AKG (the silver one; can't remember model number...), tomek's new speakers, and tomek's eq!

I'll elaborate some more tomorrow, cuz i'm tired right now.

BTW, I took some pics, but I don't have my camera's cable right now so I can't upload them until tomorrow.

 

[HiWire]

We should try to assemble a list of attendees, equipment, and possibly some quick impressions. I found the event very educational, enjoyable, and filling (dinner was great)!

My own equipment...

Portable CD Players:
Sony D-EJ2000
Panasonic SL-S160

Headphones:
Koss SportaPro
Sennheiser HD 320
Alessandro Music Series One

Kind of like my sig. Please outdo me with your lists

I'll post my impressions later.

 

[tomek]

thanks to everyone for coming out, it was the best meet that i've participated in.

although we didn't have the ultra high end gear, we had a great rapport and the meet had a good balance of listening to gear, sharing music and friendly discussion. it was an assembly of like minded no-nonsense 'audio enthusiasts' and nothing made me happier than hearing people confidently saying throughout the meet, "I don't really hear much of a difference" just as often as they intelligently noticed and discussed differences while comparing various headphones/cables/DACS and statmats.

on an interesting note, nobody seemed to have noticed the small bits of rainbow foil I had taped onto everything electronic in the apartment.

although i didn't get a chance to listen to very much myself, i did like everything i heard. this was the first time that i've listened to any headphones since buying my speakers in March and it was good to experience the personal feel and up close presentation that headphones give you. i think the HD580s win once again in my book for best bang for the buck.

i had a hard time picking out significant differences between the 580, 600 and 650 and would not have been comfortable with picking them out blind. the A900s were undoubtably different but I didn't get a chance to really nail the difference down. I liked them though, I thought that they provided a nice headstage than the other phones which seemed to place the music lower in my head. I also liked that they were closed.

to be honest, the most significant comparison that I was making during the meet was between Corona and Creemore and it was a no brainer. Creemore won for having much more body, just the right amount of maltiness and a good bouqet. if anything, it could use more hops. thanks for the beer again, Yorgy. you brought good gear, good beer, and life advice.

i hope null had a good time, being the only rep of Teen-Fi there. i didn't get a chance to listen to more of that NO FEX cd that you brought but it seemed good. i hope you were comfortable the whole time and that you got to listen to all that you needed.

chillysalsa, thanks for the beer and techy talk. let's have perogies some time.

i hope nobody minded me referring to everyone there as a 'nerd' and openly telling people on the phone to 'come over and see the headphone nerds'. i'm pretty sure that for about 40 minutes at one point all i said is 'nerds and beer'. i think that this meet was a very important opportunity for nerds and an uber jock such as myself to bridge a very classic and well documented divide.

all in all, i had a really great time and was happy to have a group like you over and pop by anytime you want.

i'll post just one picture for you to remember the meet by.

 

[chillysalsa]

Well said…

I finally had a chance to meet some great folks, listen to different equipment, and learn.

BTW: I think we need to distinguish between some definition, we are geeks, not nerds. Geeks are like nerds, but geeks have developed social skills, eg. having a meet and discussing stuff other than Dungeons & Dragons or StarTrek. Music and hi-fi is far cooler than those topics.

After finally hearing Sennheiser HD- 580, 600, and 650, I think I see what all of these folks have been raving about. These cans are very neutral and comfy for long-term listening sessions, I like that a lot. Only spending 5 min on each, starting with 580, I moved on to the 600 and noticed they were extremely similar, but overall a bit more refined. 600s had a slight improvement in imaging, bass, and so on, but this was extremely marginal. Then moving on to the 650’s, they sounded like a totally different can. The 650s are more neutral, but I felt like they place you so much farther back in the hall, I couldn’t get used to it. I ended up preferring the 600s… go figure: I didn’t actually favor the ‘higher up’ or more expensive model, but it’s all a matter of preference.

In the end, I found myself reconsidering saving up for RS-1, and going after HD-600’s instead. That alone was worth going to the meet, quite the revelation.

The AKG 240’s really surprised me. I think they were fantastic for orchestral music, the soundstage is far more realistic than Grados. I am now in the audience when listening with AKGs, rather than on the stage as with Grados.

Switching to AKG 271’s, the midrange grabs you immediately. They didn’t have nearly the bass response that 240s have, but the midrange pretty much makes up for all of that. I think they would have to be paired with something a little more bass for me, so maybe the synergy would be better with a different source or amp than mine.

Aerius: your DIY Tube Amp was really impressive. Very nice job of smoothing out the frequency response of Grados, and the unit had NO discernable noise at low listening levels. I applaud your work, it is very impressive. The Gilmore V1 was quite sweet and neutral with Grados as well, excellent synergy. It is making my mouth water thinking about when I get the Dynahi built. After the new year, I will hope to have that done and bring it to a future meet.

Yorgi: the SACD C555ES was beautiful machine. I specifically brought that Hybrid Stravinsky disc because I hoped to compare the CD vs. SACD layers. I A/B’d the two for several minutes, and it was a heartbreak: I will sadly have to get a SACD player if more of my music comes out on SACD. The difference was discernable, the SACD layer had a lot more ‘air’, it sounded so much more like I was listening to perfectly clean vinyl. Going back to the CD layer, it sounded rather… brittle in comparison. Unfortunately, there are about 5 SACDs I own, or would like to own, and that doesn’t justify it at all for me right now… but the technology is superior. Of course, I have hard that Sony ES series equipment doesn’t do anything special for CD, it may be partly because they want to make their SACD technology sound even more superior. I think it would be worthwhile to do one of the Mods that put in the ZAP filter, lots of people raved about that upgrade. It’s a beautiful sounding player as it is though.

Dsrjohn: the Consonance is really euphonic in a good way. But I think Grados were too sensitive or two low impedance for it, I could hear some noise at low volume levels, and turning it up brought up the volume way to quickly. I think this would be eliminated with high impedance phones, but didn’t get a chance to try Senn’s with it.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t do a proper A/B the ArtDI/O vs. TubeDAC because their outputs levels are so different. By the time you matched the levels by ear, people would end up saying “ah yes, _____ is less harsh”, just because of the slight volume difference etc. etc…

I did get to listen to the DIO on my 325’s and the Pimeta, and I really liked the clarity and detail the DI/O has. I think that one is a no-brainer for anyone to get into outboard DACs, it would beat the heck out the analog output of a typical mid-fi DVD or CD player. The NEC / DIO combo is quite the value leader.

Tomek: those Fabaudio Model 1’s are stunning. The image of ol’ Louis Armstrong on Beautiful World was holographic, just floating in the air in the middle of the room, instruments placed well out to the sides of the speakers. I was stunned. The Behringer EQ is quite the little gadget, a brilliant way to level out the response of speakers without introducing defects in the time domain. I will definitely have to play around with one in the future with a speaker rig.

BTW: my rig was the TubeDAC / NEC 3XP / Audio Alchemy DTI / and RA-1 Clone Amp modified with OPA627 opamps.

anyways... "fun was had by all"

Thanks for the hospitality Tomek!

 

[aerius]

My goal for the meet was to do intensive listening on the Senn 580, 600, and 650 to figure out exactly what I was gaining going up the line. I would also check out the A900 to see what the hype was all about.

Both my Senn 580 & Yorgi's 600 had the Oehlbach cable, while swalker's 650 had the stock cable. The 580 & 600 were damn nean indistinguishable except for one thing, the drivers on mine aren't matched quite as well so everything's shifted a bit to the left, while with the 600 it's dead centered. I think the 600's kept things a bit more distinct in the bass, for instance in Tori Amos' "In the Springtime of his Voodoo" there's a nice part a bit over a minute into the song when the fast bass notes on piano & electric bass kick in. I thought the piano notes were a bit more distinct on the 600 but I couldn't be sure of it under meet conditions. I went through at least 10 CDs with everything from the Cowboy Junkies to Metallica and I thought they were really close, definitely looking at the last 1 or 2%.

While waiting for the HD-650's to arrive, I tried out the A900 and the AKG 271. The 271 really surprised me, I first heard it at the Waterloo meet earlier this year and it bugged me to no end and drove me batsh*t after a few minutes, I couldn't keep it on my head for more than a couple minutes at a time & gave up on it. This time was very different even though I used the same equipment, it just worked and did an amazing job at isolating outside noise. The guys had Tomek's speakers cranked, but I didn't know that and with the headphones on I thought it was just at a background level. When I finished listening and took them off I was like "oh dear god my ears!" since I was sitting 2' from the speakers. Soundwise, very nice, there wasn't as much bass as I'd like but the midrange & treble were great.

Audio-Technica A900. First impressions, excellent headphones, I could see what all the praise was about since they gave my Senn 580s a good run. They weren't quite as fast as the Senns and couldn't hold things together quite as well on complex passages, and that was it. "Inanna" by The Tea Party starts off with drums & acoustic instruments, then becomes a wall of amplified sound & distortion at a bit over 2 minutes into the song. For the first part of the song, the 580 had a bit more clarity with the tinkling bell while the a900 had more groove & punch with the bass & drums. But when the wall of sound comes in, the A900 gets lost & loses the bass groove while the HD580 barely, and I mean barely holds it together.

Moving on to "Springtime of his Voodoo", the 580 maintains its advantage in the highs, cymbals were a bit more airy, but the A900 still had more groove. Then when things get fast the A900 started blending the bass notes on the piano together more than on the 580's. So far, these are minor things, and I can see why so many people love them. They don't have the nth degree of refinement & speed, but what they have is pretty darn good. However, all was not rosy, on "Before You" by Chantal Kreviazuk the A900 sucked out the acoustic guitar and vocals bigtime. They sounded recessed and hollow, almost as if someone had plunked down a layer of foam in front of Chantal and the guitar. That ended my love affair with that headphone, see my sig for the reasons.

Swalker showed up a couple hours into the meet with his Senn 650's and other equipment, I got dibs on the 650 and immediately went about comparing them to my 580s on my tube amp. I found there was a good deal of improved clarity & detail in the treble compared to the 580, you can hear every single "ching" and tick on ride cymbals as they ricochet off each other, whereas the 580's smooth them over and lose the details. At the same time, they're not bright either.

Going back to "Springtime of his Voodoo", the 650's kept the piano bass notes even more distinct and separate than the 600's, which were a tad better I think than the 580's, same thing on the wall of sound from "Inanna". However, it didn't have the richness & warmth of the 580 & 600, kinda reminded me of Tomek's former Stax 4040/313 combo. Whether the difference is because of the phones or the cables I don't know, we tried to switch the cable on the 650 but the damn thing was stuck in there good and we couldn't pull it out.

Behringer EQ. Damn, what can you say about something that makes a Senn 580 sound like a fun & punchy Grado 225, and gives the Grado an almost Senn-like soundstage? If I had one I'd contract a bad case of RSI from twiddling the knobs & buttons all day.

More to follow later, but first off, thanks to tomek for hosting the meet, and Yorgi for bringing beer for everyone. I couldn't do a beer comparo since I got too buzzed off my first one, drinking on an empty stomach is bad.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by null I enjoyed... ...the AKG (the silver one; can't remember model number)

Those would be the AKG K271 Studio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiWire Alessandro Music Series One

Damnit, I just realised that I forgot to listen to these. I wasnt too worried about hearing the other Grado's as I already had a chance at the last Waterloo meet, but I really wanted to hear these Alessandro's. Oh well, there will be another meet I am sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek thanks to everyone for coming out, it was the best meet that i've participated in. although we didn't have the ultra high end gear, we had a great rapport and the meet had a good balance of listening to gear, sharing music and friendly discussion. it was an assembly of like minded no-nonsense 'audio enthusiasts' and nothing made me happier than hearing people confidently saying throughout the meet, "I don't really hear much of a difference" just as often as they intelligently noticed and discussed differences while comparing various headphones/cables/DACS and statmats.

I agree, it was very enjoyable all around. I'm still reeling from the revelations that we had about the statmat technology.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek i had a hard time picking out significant differences between the 580, 600 and 650 and would not have been comfortable with picking them out blind.

I felt the same way about the 580's and 600's...*sigh*... but I forgot to listen to the 650's. By that time I was in talky mode and lost track of the gear I had not yet heard. The beer helped too. [thanks Rick] Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek the A900s were undoubtably different but I didn't get a chance to really nail the difference down. I liked them though, I thought that they provided a nice headstage than the other phones which seemed to place the music lower in my head.

Funny, the soundstage is the main thing that threw me off these headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek to be honest, the most significant comparison that I was making during the meet was between Corona and Creemore and it was a no brainer. Creemore won for having much more body, just the right amount of maltiness and a good bouqet.

Agreed, the Creemore was far superior. I don't know if you remember [you did have quite a few], but we did a DBT of the two while everyone was listening to that crazy Mt. Whatever music. [I need to get a copy of that by the way] Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek i hope nobody minded me referring to everyone there as a 'nerd' and openly telling people on the phone to 'come over and see the headphone nerds'. i'm pretty sure that for about 40 minutes at one point all i said is 'nerds and beer'. i think that this meet was a very important opportunity for nerds and an uber jock such as myself to bridge a very classic and well documented divide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillysalsa BTW: I think we need to distinguish between some definition, we are geeks, not nerds. Geeks are like nerds, but geeks have developed social skills, eg. having a meet and discussing stuff other than Dungeons & Dragons or StarTrek. Music and hi-fi is far cooler than those topics.

I agree with chillysalsa here, we are definately geeks. Nerds snort. Nerds pick their nose.

But I resent the Dungeons & Dragons comment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek all in all, i had a really great time and was happy to have a group like you over and pop by anytime you want.

Oh, I will be by sometime when you arent there to pick up your speakers for serviceing... as we discussed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillysalsa The AKG 240’s really surprised me. I think they were fantastic for orchestral music, the soundstage is far more realistic than Grados. I am now in the audience when listening with AKGs, rather than on the stage as with Grados. Switching to AKG 271’s, the midrange grabs you immediately. They didn’t have nearly the bass response that 240s have, but the midrange pretty much makes up for all of that. I think they would have to be paired with something a little more bass for me, so maybe the synergy would be better with a different source or amp than mine.

I echo your thoughts on the two AKG's. But I would say that the greater bass response of the 240's comes at the expense of coherency. I think you might have a good idea in pairing the 271's with a bassy amp... as long as it doesnt cause them to loose any detail. Quote:

Originally Posted by chillysalsa Aerius: your DIY Tube Amp was really impressive. Very nice job of smoothing out the frequency response of Grados, and the unit had NO discernable noise at low listening levels. I applaud your work, it is very impressive.

Crap, another thing that I forgot to listen to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillysalsa Unfortunately, we couldn’t do a proper A/B the ArtDI/O vs. TubeDAC because their outputs levels are so different. By the time you matched the levels by ear, people would end up saying “ah yes, _____ is less harsh”, just because of the slight volume difference etc. etc…

Yeah, it might be easier once I mod it to 2V output. Quote:

Originally Posted by aerius This time was very different even though I used the same equipment, it just worked and did an amazing job at isolating outside noise. The guys had Tomek's speakers cranked, but I didn't know that and with the headphones on I thought it was just at a background level. When I finished listening and took them off I was like "oh dear god my ears!" since I was sitting 2' from the speakers.

hehe, I remember when this happened. You had quite the look on your face. Incidentally, I think we managed to get pictures of you wearing the 271's and staring off to the side all sophisticated-like. I'm pretty sure you were just looking at Toms glowing tube amp though.

Ok, now for my impressions:

yorgi: It was fun comparing my misterx PIMETA to your Headsave PPA. I think we both came to the conclusion that when driving either my AKG K271 Studio's or your Sennheiser HD600's they both did an equal job with your PPA having a slight edge on the bass. Your Sennheiser HD-25's were very nice for their size, but I think I just prefer circumaural headphones. I would probably say that the HD600's are my favourite non-AKG dynamic headphone.

I really enjoyed hearing some of my CD's on your Sony SACD C555ES. I found the highs much clearer than with my NEC / modded Art DI/O combo.

Sharing music with you was a pleasure as well. I'll be seeing you on soulseek.

aerius: I didnt really listen to your gear too much this time since I had already heard it at the last meet and for some reason I forgot to listen to your tube amp [I spent a lot of time looking at it though]. I did some extensive comparisons between your HD580's and Ricks HD600's and the only reason I prefered his headphones was because of comfort and looks. I didnt hear any noticable differences sound wise except for the slight driver mismatch that was already mentioned. But I didnt hear that until it was pointed out to me.

However, I enjoyed our talks about electronics and music and appreciate you answering my endless questions. I think I might try to make some cables this afternoon, wish me luck.

chillysalsa: Our setups were both very similar and very different. In the end I think that I would prefer your setup for relaxing with the AKG K240 Studio's and prefer my setup with the AKG K271 Studio's for when I want to concentrate on detail and immerse myself in the music completely. The Scott Nixon Tube DAC was very cool and I was not expecting to be as impressed as I was with the RA-1 clone.

dsrjohn: Wow, those Sennheiser HD575's are really a huge step up from the HD570's that I used to own. I think that there was a little less detail with them as compared to the other Sennheiser's that were there or my AKG K271 Studio's, but it has a much more comfortable fit than the 580/600/650. Your tube amp was quite nice. I think that I prefer solid state for critical listening, but there is definately a little bit of magic in the tubes.

swalker: I cant believe I didnt hear your HD650's... I'm going to be beating myself up about that for a while.

It was nice to talk to another audiophile [and no matter what anyone says if you post regularily on a message board about headphones that is what you are] that doesnt get scared away by rap.

null: I was really excited to finally hear the A900's. They didnt dissapoint, but they are not my cup of tea. I think they sounded like a closed Grado in a way and I've never been a big fan of Grado's for extended listening. The highs were a little much and I found myself becoming fatigued after a fairly short time. The bass was really there though. If I could get AKG quality bass at that level it would really be an experience. I think that the soundstage was a little too upfront and confined for my taste as it tends to lump all of the instuments together. Comfort wise they were about the same as the 271's which I find quite comfortable. I dont think they isolated as much, which is confusing after reading commando's review on them both. They were quite a bit easier to drive, needing only about 9 o'clock max on my PIMETA. Great headphones all around, but not suited to my tastes. You seemed to be enjoying the Grado's quite a bit though, so for you these are probably the perfect closed headphones.

Oh, and you need to stop being so talkative. I swear I couldnt get a moments peace with this kid. I would be sitting there listening to music in peace and he would come up and poke me on the shoulder and start talking to me. I dont think I heard him shut up the whole time.

[If its not apparent to people that were not at the meet, I'm being sarcastic here]

hiwire: Well, its unfortunate that I did not get to hear your Alessandro's, but it was fun chatting with you and sharing music.

tom: Thanks for hosting a meet after a 4 day bender. Much appreciated man.

Your new EQ is very cool. The difference that it makes is quite startling. I think that all the folks in "team source first" would kill themselves if they knew what we now know.

Good pick on the Thai Restaurant after the meet. I think I'm still getting the endorphins now.

tom's friend: Thanks for putting up with us.

EDIT: woah, long post... and I think I might have overdone it with the smilies

 

[HiWire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox Damnit, I just realised that I forgot to listen to these. I wasnt too worried about hearing the other Grado's as I already had a chance at the last Waterloo meet, but I really wanted to hear these Alessandro's. Oh well, there will be another meet I am sure.

Don't worry, they aren't burned in yet anyway

I'm frantically playing out the requisite 365 days of listening burn-in

Actually, I haven't heard much about the Grado/Alessandro burn-in experience... I don't think they will change too much. Though some people at the meet definitely listen at MUCH

higher levels than they have been played previously. The flat pads are very interesting, but I find the comfy pads much more... wait for it... comfy! It may be an option for me in the future. I enjoyed hearing the SR 225 and 325... also, its good to see that the Grado design can endure usage over time.

My general impressions were that we have an extremely sensible group here in the Toronto area. I tried most of the headphones at the meet - my favourites were the Sennheiser HD 650 and the AKG 271. On the amp side, I really had a hard time distinguishing any change, partly because many of the amps were plugged into different sources. That was nobody's fault - I was looking for quick knockout changes, not subtleties anyway

Sorry my Tiesto disk ran a bit loud, Tomek. I forget about the limits of tube amps sometimes. Yorgi's 555 SACD player was wonderful, but I think the SACD game needs a lot of careful listening in quiet environments... I am still very big on extracting the last 10% from CD (you read it right - I still don't think a lot of CDs are recorded to the format's potential). Witness the constant red on Tomek's Behringer EQ

The binaural recording was intriguing... it's a path that I wish more manufacturers had tried. Unfortunately, I think it might be a dead end at this point... there are simply too few popular recordings and too many constraints. I loved the MP3/compressed format discussion - nevertheless, I am dead set on finding the absolute limits of CD, SACD, and beyond

Hopefully, I didn't appear too uninterested or blase about everyone's equipment. My approach was, it's going to be very hard to listen properly to the phones with all my favourite recordings in such a "short" time. Sue me, I'm slow.

It was great to listen to the do-it-yourself discussion... perhaps a few of you will become tomorrow's big-name builders.

And the recording was Mt. Erie, if I recall correctly. Fun death stuff

 

[null]

Ok guys! Here are the pics! (note: I had taken like 24 pictures

but most of them came out pretty blurry. These ones weren't too bad though...)

Aerius's cool DIY tube amp

Yorgi's Sony C555-ES SACD/Redbook Player, Yorgi's Headsave PPA, and philodox's Maxed-out Mister-X PIMETA

Tomek's Audio Upgrades Speaker Amp

Tomek's Fabaudio Model One speakers

Tomek's Behringer EQ and Samsung DVD player (and a mint-tin gilmore v1 owned by aerius, in the corner)

Swalker's laptop, Yamaha DAC(?), and MG Head (with yorgi's HD 600s)

My impressions:

AKG 271S and 240S: I liked these cans a lot. I particulary enjoyed the mids, and they reminded me of HD 5xx series a bit (due to a slight laid-back sound). The 271S was lacking in the bass department. The punch was there, but it didn't go very deep.

HD 580, 600, 650: I also enjoyed these cans, but their laid-back sound simply just didn't appeal to me. (paired with aerius's tube amp, these things were making me fall asleep! lol j/k

I agree with whoever mentioned that the HD 600s had better bass than 650s. I really felt that Sennheiser had skimped on the lows with their 650s. The 650s did have more detail though.

SACD vs. CD: I definately heard significantly more detail on the SACD layer of an opera CD I was listening to compared to the Redbook layer.

Consonance Tube Amp: I liked it, but I agree that the Grados and that amp just dont pair well. I had to turn the volume up pretty well in order to just get sound in BOTH channels! (at low volumes, the sound was mostly just coming out of the right driver)

Tomek's Speakers: Having not heard audiophile speakers in a long time, they really sounded like a difference experience. I loved the highs!

Grado 225, and 325: I particularly enjoyed both the 225s and 325s with the mint-tin gilmore amp. I thought it was pretty good synergy. I think the Grados were a tad brighter than my A900s, and they didn't have as much deep bass. But boy could they ROCK!! Very fast, with excellent impact. I think I may just have to save up for a pair of these!

tomek's Behringer EQ: Fun little tool/toy, but not remembering the frequencies for the mids, highs, etc. made it a little difficult to adjust the sound to my liking. If I had the money, though, I would consider getting one.

Alessandro MS1s: These cans were like more neutral Grados. I still preferred the Grado sound overall, but these things would be a great alternative if you can't stand the highs of the Grados etc.

Overall, it was a great meet, with very friendly people!

 

[swalker]

I have to thank Tomek again for hosting the meet and picking a good restaurant even though I still think we paid too much tip for her "service" *ahem*

A few impressions..

Chillisalsa's V6 : Very nice. The soundstage was virtually non-existent but overall a pretty balanced presentation except a bit of sharpness in the treble. It did one of very best, if not the best job with my binaural file although the brightness probably did play a part in that. I think it does deserve all the accolades it gathered considering its nice buildquality and fairly small unobstrusive size.

Grados : I think the SR325's, to my ears, are the best of any Grados I've heard so far including SR225's and RS1's. They seemed less coloured than the RS1's and more fun than SR225's.

A900 : I think it's a good all arounder especially well suited to pops and rocks. Its midrange seemed a bit recessed and had that echoey closed headphones soundstage thing going but overall I thought they were a mighty fine pair of headphones. I should add that A900 had that funny upper-mid colouration I heard with W100.

HD580 : As I was last time, I was very impressed by them especially for the prices they're selling at these days. The difference between the HD580 and HD600 was indeed small however I shouldn't really judge this based on one meet.

Comparison between HD580, HD600 and HD650.

I've been listening to the HD650 heavily for the last 4 months or so and, probably because of that, the difference was not huge but was easily discernible to my ears. Most notably HD580/600 had more mid-bass (which made the bass boomier but at the same time added extra slam) and a bit of sharp edge in the treble. One thing I should mention here is that my HD650's were a lot looser in terms of the headband tension and that probably contributed to the sonic difference such as the laidbackness noted by Chillisalsa above. While I do like the HD650's most out of three pairs, I could easily see that someone would choose HD600/580 over them for their taste and there's no question the 580's present one of very best values in headphones right now. I mean.. you could get yourself a pair of HD580's and another pair for your wife for a price of one pair of HD650's. On the otherhand.. HD600's do look a nicer

AKG271 : I always thought they were my most preferred closed headphones and that hasn't changed in this meet. I think it's a toss up between A900 and Akg271 but I just liked the mid of Akg271 a little better and it sounded a little less hollow than A900.

Tomek's speakers : Now that I think about it, they reminded me of a bit of PSB speakers although I don't know much about speakers. I've heard the PSB's before and Tomek's speakers shared that weighty warm midrange of the PSB's. I hooked up my notebook to Tomek's DAC through an optical cable and played Bohemian Rhapsody, 2Pac, etc. Bohemian Rhapsody was 192kb MP3 and I don't think the sound was objectionable in anyway to my ears so... well draw your own conclusion there

It should be noted that 2Pac's Thugz Mansion sounded very nice through the speakers. I should've played a few Nas tracks but couldn't because we had to go eat at...

Coconut village Thai Restaurant : Questionable service, not-so-pleasing interior but the food was good and i think we all had a great time eating there.

I had a great time and people were pretty nice offline unlike they are on the board (sometimes)

 

[philodox]

Nice pictures!

That picture of aerius' tube amp is particularly nice.

You really see how big those speakers are when you compair it to my DIO sitting next to one of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by null AKG 271S and 240S: I liked these cans a lot. I particulary enjoyed the mids, and they reminded me of HD 5xx series a bit (due to a slight laid-back sound). The 271S was lacking in the bass department. The punch was there, but it didn't go very deep.

Not sure if we mean the same thing with 'going deep', but I find that the bass extension of the K271S is actually one of their strong points. I am with you on the amount of bass though. They are definately a bass shy headphone when compared to grado's or the A900's. Quote:

Originally Posted by swalker Coconut village Thai Restaurant : Questionable service, not-so-pleasing interior but the food was good and i think we all had a great time eating there.

lol... yeah, that waitress was something else.

"Are you SURE you dont want any appetiser?"
"How about some egg roll?"
"Yes, I think you should have egg roll?"
"The chef is busy, maybe you should have appetiser?"

After saying 'no' repeatadly she leaves and returns maybe 15seconds later with our first plate of food. Oh yeah, the chef is busy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swalker I had a great time and people were pretty nice offline unlike they are on the board (sometimes)

I agree.

One funny misconception that I had before the meet thread started and before I met chillysalsa. Before the meet thread I always thought that null was an older guy... perhaps due to the rabbi avatar. When the meet thread started and the teen jokes started flying it clicked in though. The other wierd thing is that for no apparent reason I always thought that chillysalsa was a teenager. Turns out he is around my age give or take. No idea why I thought that.

 

[null]

If you didn't already know, I'm Jewish!

That's why I have the cool Rabbi avatar!

 

[HiWire]

null, thanks for posting these pics! They are great, and also make it easier for me to match everyone's Head-Fi name to people in attendance (hmm... perhaps I remember gear better than names

).

I am conflicted now about the higher-end Grados. After listening to my Alessandros all afternoon today, I think I may shoot for something more comfortable as a "home" 'phone. My ears sting (wah!) from hours of comfy pad "tough love." Todd's flats may be the only upgrade path in my immediate future.

So I'm still dreaming of HD 700?/596?/Ultrasone Edition 7

someday, in the far, far future with a big-@$$ amp (probably hooked up to a hardcore CD or SACD-based source). As far as I can tell, the Alessandros are perfect for my portable system.

Regarding Coconut Village... the service sucked. But we were hungry

Also, that girl at the front table was cute...

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by null If you didn't already know, I'm Jewish!

yeah, I figured that out after the meet thread started and I read your signature

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiWire Also, that girl at the front table was cute...

What!? You are supposed to point this kind of thing out.

 

[Gord SW Ont]

It's really nice to hear how well the meet went! The pictures are great ... makes it seem that I was there

!

I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it ... but the family thinks it comes first (and can't understand that listening to headphones could be a passionate hobby

).

Keep the comments coming.

 

[tomek]

look, that waitress has missed her true calling in life, door to door vacuum saleswoman.