[greyhorse]

Just going to do my usual thing and post some pictures of the meet.
 
First, a big thank you to Pavel (FallenAngel) for hosting the meet.  The size of the room was perfect, and you were a wonderful host.  It was also nice being able to have a drink without leaving the venue, which usually isn't possible without a lot of added cost at more public venues.
 
Thank you also to everyone who came out.  I've been out of the headphone audio scene for a while, and it looks like I've missed hearing about some exciting new gear.  My wallet's telling me no way, but my ears are telling me I'm due for some new 'phones...
 
I didn't get a chance to listen to too much gear, so I'll leave the impressions to the more knowledgeable folks here.
 
PrimeNexus listening to my Crack/speedball through his HD800s.

 
FallenAngel's Buffalo III - Balanced Dynalo setup driving his HD650s? 

 
PrimeNexus' Crack/speedball + HD800 combo.  The Fostex HPA-4 was hidden behind his laptop.

 
Mark's (MickeyVee) amazing McIntosh MXA70s shown here driving my CD-3000s.  These were definitely the best I've heard my CD-3000s sound, though the Schiit Vali next to it was no slouch either.

 
The bar side of the room.  Plenty of space to stretch your feet or alternately dance around when tipsy.

 
Clsmooth391 testing out the McIntosh.  We missed you in the group pic!

 
Fiona (Hunkeh) over at Gozzer's booth watching Bryan unpack his massive suitcase of headphones.

 
Pavel manning the bar.

 

Chris (tylerchris) trying out HE-560s? on his portable rig.

 
The scotch in attendance at the meet.  Sure wished I didn't have to drive myself home.

 
MickeyVee asleep? listing to Jerg's HE1000s.

 
Aaron (Zida) listening to IEMs.  Yep, my IEM knowledge summarized in a sentence.

 
The other half of the room.

 
Albert (ambchang) trying out some of charliex's Grados on his Beta 22 rig.

 
charliex trying out Pavel's rig with Dino (Gozzer) in the foreground.

 
Vincent's (monoglycer) Millet hybrid.  Great meeting you again Vincent; it was good talking to you about photo gear.

 
ambchang and charliex having a chat.

 
charliex's Grados.

 
Danny's (DHMC) SR-001 Mk2s.

 
If anyone can fill me in on this setup by PM, I can update this post...

 
Finally a group shot of the meet, minus 2 or so members.

 

[greyhorse]

So I've been asked to post the inaugural Jecklin Float pictures of new attendees to Pavel's meets.
 
Jerg

 
tylerchris

 
PrimeNexus

 
Hunkeh

 
greyhorse

 
DHMC

 
 
soon-to-be-headfier?

 
Gozzer

 

[monoglycer]

As always, it is a blast coming to meets at Pavels place, remind me to actually donate some money next time for I feel the silent auctions didn't quite work out today sadly. Anyways onwards to pictures, you will note a lot of people with the HE1000....I believe everyone owes Jerg a thanks for bringing them in!
 
 
Greyhorse's Bottlehead and HD650 setup before it got punted onto the floor...

 
Different perspective of the Jecklin float pictures (for double the embarassment!)
 
Jerg

 
 
Tylerchris

 
PrimeNexus

 
DHMC

 
DHMC-Friend (best pic of the lot!)

 
Gozzer

 
Pavel being Pavel

 
The assortment of scotches...note the bottle of Glenlivet was full at the beginning...

 
Mark being super exited about his setup while Aaron fiddles with the HE1000 after a long wait

 
The HE1000 was so good, Aaron is in tears!

 
or...could put Mark to sleep while enjoying them

 
or...maybe him dance to some music (note the motion blur)

 
Ambchang enjoying the HE1000 on his setup

 
Pavel preaching to the choir

 
Nap #2 for mark (listening to music and drinking scotch is exhausting!)

 
Pavel at long last able to sit down and enjoy the HE1000

 

[Zida]

Great thread so far!
 
I could use a good cry, where can I get my hands on some take-home HE-1000!

 

[FallenAngel]

Very fun meet, great people and lovely to see some fresh faces.

On to the equipment:
The HP 1000, very nice to rock out with these for a bit again.

HE 1000 were absolutely amazing, like everything I enjoy in a headphone and surprisingly not overly difficult to drive.

K340 are always fun and bring back awesome memories.

Thanks for coming everyone, the people are what make these meets ever so enjoyable.

I'm thinking another one is in order before the weather gets colder.

 

[tylerchris]

Thanks to greyhorse and monoglycer for taking pics (and posting so quickly!), always an underappreciated job! Of course thanks to FallenAngel (Pavel) for hosting, great room and agree with others that being able to grab a drink just on the other side of the room was great! 
 
Loved talking to: 
- Jerg about his HE-560mods, his HE-1000, and comparisons to the HD800 / LCD-2/LCD-3;
- Charliex about how he's amassed his large headphone collection and his very sad story about how the postal service lost / stole his HE-6s (ugh)
- PrimeNexus about his Bottlehead Crack, his HD800s and how he makes his awesome cables (80% of which flew over my head!)
- Also had a good convo with ambchang, Aaron and 1 other (sorry forgot your name!) about scotches, watches, IEMs and newer planars (EL-8s / HE-400s)
 
Overall, great convos and of course great listening sessions with CharlieX's HE560 (as well as Jerg's modded / balanced HE560), mickeyvee's HE400i / HD800 coming out of his sweet McIntosh MXA70, Jerg's HE1000, as well as PrimeNexus's HD800 / Fostex HPA-4/Bottlehead Crack. 
 
Was my first Toronto meet, but will definitely come out to the next one! Cheers all! 

 

[jerg]

This was a very fun meet-up! Thanks Pavel for organizing as always, and it was great meeting the oldies as well as new faces (then again, I've only been to these last 2 so far, ha).
 
Dilo thanks for showing me your collection of UIEMs and DAPs, I definitely dig the RE600s as much as you do, but man a 7-month recabling job is not something I could suffer through as well haha.
 
Finally got to hear the Koss ESP950s, been curious about it for a long long time. It sounds so very well-rounded, rolled-off but still technically very capable, like a souped up Sennheiser HD6X0.
 
The star of the show was certainly ____ (insert any headphone) plugged into Mark's McIntosh system. I know my HE1000s were rather well-used yesterday especially off there!
 
More to follow...

 

[jerg]

Comparison-wise, the highlight had to be my session switching between my HE1000s and Mark's HD800, on his McIntosh system. 
 
What I thought:
 
- HD800 had a more growl-y, "audibly textured" bass, while HE1000's bass was more tactile and "physically textured". Both were exquisite, but in very different ways. Based on quite a few tracks, I found HE1000's bass presentation to be more musical and fun, without losing out on the low frequency detail level.
 
- Mids-wise, both were close to neutral but with slight colourations; HE1K comparatively was warmer but more laid-back, while HD800 cooler and more forward sounding. Detail-wise both have zero complaints from me, at least at a meet background noise setting.
 
- Treble. My brain felt that HE1K had the better treble tone, but HD800 had the better treble technicalities. Both are very close to optimal treble tone AND technicalities though, but swapping between them I noted this dichotomy.
 
- Headstaging / 3D imaging...both headphones are able to achieve "out of the head" lateral headstaging. HD800 does it a bit more cleanly, but HE1K presents a much more dramatic and impress-able headstage because of the sheer physicality of its sound.
 
But ultimately, the crux of HD800, as I have found time and time before when auditioning it on different systems, is that it is just not a genre master. It is a savant at some genres, excellent at some others, and just not that enjoyable for some genres. Meanwhile the HE1Ks held an impressive constancy in terms of how much they make every track (regardless of genre) FUN, despite it being a neutral, flagship-esque sound signature and characteristics.
 
That is really something not very quantifiable, it is the overall cohesive experience. Listening to HE1K side-by-side with HD800s yesterday, I realized that HE1Ks' real strength is actually that.

 

[monoglycer]

Ya thats kind of my impressions with the HE1k as well, it shares the similar 'fun' sound signature as the HE400i, it just does everything...better

 

[MickeyVee]

Goota Love the HE1000!!  They certaily do have the fun factor.  Definitely on my list someday.  Thaks jerg for bringing them along!
Thanks Pavel for hosting and Jeff for taking the pictures! (even the embarresing scotch-listen-nap-dance ones

 

[jrham]

Can't wait for the next meet. I'm looking forward to hanging out with all of you.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

 

[nephilim32]

Omg. I live in Toronto! Please invite me to this amazing meet. Be great to share impressions with many like-minded people who share the same passion and detail for quality sonic experiences.
Thanks for this thread. Love the pictures, especially of the 'crying man' lol. Man...I've done that many times with my HD 800's. There is just no shame in it.

 

[vnmslsrbms]

Nice comparison!  

 

[defbear]

Drat!