Better late than never!
Again, I'd like to thank everyone for a great day.
I wrote most of these notes on Saturday night, things may seem a little out of order etc but I was just writing as I was thinking...
I was really keen to listen to some Grados as I'd read so much about them - all in all I think it's fair to say that I fall into the "hate" category for them, they are way too bright for my tastes, I did like the amount of detail in the mid range though. I tried the SR225, RS-1, Alessandro MS-2, GS-1000 and the HF-2 - the only ones I liked were the HF-2 as they were not as bright. I was really dissapointed by the GS-1000's, I expected better from a £900+ headphone (the soundm may have been affected by the fit, I couldn't get the cups to sit flat against my head)
The next thing I was excited about was the HD800, I wasn't too sure at first, they have such a different sound to everything else I'd heard. I think it was the super wide soundstage that threw me, the presentation seemed a bit too distant to me too, vocals sounded too far away. I thought they had a really smooth sound and in the end decided I liked them quite a lot - but not enough to think about owning a pair anytime soon at the cost. At the end me and Mark (Pedal) compared the balanced vs single ended HD800 out of the WA22 and both decided that there was very little (if any) differance, I think this may be the lack of hours on the Woo though.
One pair of headphones caught me by suprise - the Audio Techina AD2000, they have a really wide soundstage the instrument seperation was amazing, the detail was really good and I thought they had a nice open, airy sound. Did these have a Cardas cable?
I compared Alvin's HD650 to my 600's and decided I prefer the 600's, the 650 seem to heavy with the bass for me. They are a great pair of headphones though, I did prefer the treble on the 650's to the 600.
The Darkvoice 337SE was a very nice amp, I wasn't 100% sure on it's pairing with the tube DAC though, it seemed slightly bass heavy - even more so with the 650's. It was a good match for the Denon D5000/7000 though!
I tried the 3 pairs of Ultrasone's that Sceptre brought along, out of the 3 pairs, the only ones I'd consider buying would be the Edition 9's, I liked the bass, it was really deep and tight but I still prefered Mark's D5000 overall.
The DT770 Darth Beyer's were awful (sorry Mark
) - they have obscene amounts of (flappy/farty) bass and not much else really. I wish I'd have had a chance to compare them to stock DT770.
The Denon D5000 Markl modded cans sounded fantastic with my amp, they had a really great (IMO) warm sound and were very entertaining. They had great dynamics, a really sweet high end - smooth mids and tight, fast bass. They were definatley the best pair of closed cans I heard today. I think that they sounded better with valve amps (my MiniMAX and the Darkvoice) than the Heed Canamp of Mark's.
The D7000 were very similar but I found them to have a slightly brighter high end, the rest seemed much the same. I do recall that they had a slightly more open sound, I think this was because of the thicker earpads.
I tried the DT990 and the Shure SRH840, both left me unimpressed - they both had a flat, lifeless sound. I didn't give these much oppurtunity (2-3 mins each at most). Somebody mentioned that these were new on the day?
Another headphone that didn't meet my expectations was the STAX Omega 2, they did have very good detail and soundstaging but they didn't really "click" with me, they seemed a little flat sounding and not very dynamic - I'm not sure if I was listening too quiet to these. I'll have to have another try next year!
The Clarity Headmaster was one of the first things I listened to, I used it with my HD600 first and was impressed at the sound, it was really neutral and crisp. I tried it later on with the HD800 and had pretty much the same thoughts - it wasn't the best at the meet but it was quite a good amp. I wanted to try some closed cans with it but didn't get time.
One objective I had in mind while at the meet was to compare my CDP with a DAC to try and decide if I want to split with my money, I did a direct comparison of the DACMagic with my CDP using my headphones and amp and I couldn't really hear much of an improvement, I think that the soundstage was a little bigger when using the DACMAgic but I'm not convinced I could tell the difference in a blind test. I heard a much bigger difference in sound when using a Cardas cable with my HD600, the difference between that cable and my Oehlbach cable really suprised me as I was a cable sceptic before the meet. With the Cardas cable the sound was much more energetic and involving - I'm trying to resist upgrading. There were several others who noticed the cable difference immediately too.
Another headphone I've just remembered about is the AKG K701. I was a little dissapointed with them when I heard them on the Heed Canamp but they transformed when I used them with my MiniMAX or the Darkvoice, they really opened up and the bass improved dramatically. My only concern with those was the soundstage, it seemed to lean to the right somewhat at the higher end (I can't really describe it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkyMark
From memory, things I did like were the AD2000 going through the Millet Minimax and a Yamaha CD player (Tudj's?).
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Yes, the Yamaha was mine - I was quite suprised with it too, maybe it wasn't as cheap as I'd originally thought (I inherited it from my Grandfather and have being using it until I can afford my own)
. I would definitely bring it all to the next meet!
