Thank you to everyone who was at the meet. I had a wonderful time again.
My main comparison piece was Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", chosen because 1) it has a large dynamic range ideal for high-end equipment (~12dB) and 2) it's a pleasing, unoffensive piece to anyone who might be listening in with me. The saxophone solo is peaky on a lot of headphones, but the best ones at the meet made it super-smooth. I also played a bunch of other pieces, some well-mastered, some not (to see how they would fare), the latter which made charliex state that I had terrible taste in music LOL
Short impressions:
HD600 > HD650, SR-007 Mk.1 > Mk.2
Spent about an hour with charliex's Headroom Max amp and a large number of dynamic headphones. HD800s were special but they didn't blow me away like the K1000s did. They sounded a lot better at Bay/Bloor Radio with the Peachtree Nova. The Headroom Max probably wasn't a good match for it. T1 > HD800 on the Headroom Max, at the very least.
The Senn HE60 (baby Orpheus) was spectacular. I didn't get to compare them against the K1000s, but wow. Best Take Five rendition I heard at the meet.
As for IEMs, modded Senn CX980 (foam removed) > Monster Turbine Pro Copper > Senn IE7. Pretty surprising since I got the CX980 for a fraction of the cost of the IE7.
The beta22 amp at the meet was not special at all. Apologies to whoever owned it, but I'll call a spade a spade. Not only was it grossly underpowered (nobody could get >60dB off an HE-6 even with the dial turned all the way), but it overheated during the meet as well, crackling whenever the dial was turned. Maybe it was poorly constructed, or the source was acting up. I don't know.
I gave the LCD-2 another chance. It's not as bad as when I first heard it, but it's still too dark of a signature and too uncomfortable for me to praise. I guess I'm more of a treblehead.
The RS-2 with g-cushions actually did well with hip-hop. What a surprise.
Do not EVER put the Grado g-cushions on a Prestige Series Grado. = SR225i + g-cushions = treble DEATH. That pretty much became the "worst" headphones of the meet lolol~
Both Acer AspireOne netbooks at the meet acted up and weren't sending clean signals to the DAC. A bit of a warning who use those as a source.