Asr

Kamelot - The Black Halo

I wish for moar snow here! There hasn't been enough snow this winter so far and the last 3 weeks went by with practically nothing but warm weather. (For this time of year anyway.) I even heard from some friends who went up skiing/snowboarding anyway that the snowpack sucked. /shakes fist at sky to send the snow from the East coast to Colorado

Well I have quirky tastes in headphones. Not sure I like the HE60 and have never heard the ESP950, but the 404LE works for me and I don't really feel a need to get another stat headphone - at least for now.

I've decided to forget about Asspona on Saturday 3/6 and Sunday 3/7 and will join you guys for beer instead. There's a half-day on Friday anyway I can use to check out a handful of speakers. Cya guys there. Caveat: won't be able to join in the Skipper's Smokehouse event, going to have to drive back up to JAX on Sunday morning to catch an afternoon flight.

It's nice to see the 404LE getting moar love lately. Ze Monkey and boomy need to buy one too! T1 on pre-order. Wait for a T1 Loaner Program Head-Case Edition to commence. You're already on my shortlist. I'm thinking Voltron - tyrion - Monkey? (Not necessarily in order btw.)

DEW ET! SR-404LE > OII!

Not completely plastic but these are snazzy: MUSICDIRECT - AUDIO ADDITIVES - RCA CAP (EA)

Katie Melua - Pictures

People Impressions It was great to meet new people as always, especially when some of the people are long-established folks who you build up in your mind and to meet them in person inevitably shatters the image that was built up - in a good way, of course. With that said, I enjoyed meeting the Texas crew that notably included pabbi1, luvdunhill, [AK]Zip, and swt61. These guys were just really cool and fun to hang out with. Not only that, I think it'd be appropriate to say that these guys are also very skilled at what they do, as they all have a certain craft that was displayed in a "tour de force" way at the meet - the DIY amps built by pabbi1 and luvdunhill, the cables and amps that [AK]Zip had built, and the woodworking by swt61. I came away from each of these guys highly impressed by their work and with even more respect for them than before, which was already high. Equipment Impressions Per the usual inevitability that you never really get to listen to as much equipment as planned at a meet, that was even more the case for me at this meet. I had a bigger tendency at this meet than at any previous one of looking at the gear more than actually listening to it, and there were also plenty of distractions that didn't keep me sitting down too long. :| - Ayre QB-9 > HeadAmp BHSE > Stax OII MKI: This is all equipment that I own of course but this was the first time I assembled this particular configuration of components - I haven't set up the QB-9 at home since I got it several months ago. So this was the first thing I listened to. This system was set up in balanced mode for the BHSE with the QB-9 on the "Listen" setting. It sounded very good indeed, no real complaints about it. But of course there's an inevitable comparison to be made with respect to my Plinius CD-101, and I think the Plinius is a better source. Not that the Plinius is perfect in every way but I think it's probably just a tad "cleaner" sounding and has more edge to the treble. It may also have a more open soundstage and a more "accelerated" feel on either fast or high-energy music. I also think the Plinius may have more dynamic range in the aspect of giving greater intensity on sudden volume changes and a more pronounced effect on subtle modulation of volume levels and holding onto high-intensity/upper-frequency volume. For example, Julia Fischer's violin on Bach Concertos swells in volume extremely well on the Plinius, and the QB-9 didn't seem to be quite as capable. I'm going off memory on this of course with a time gap of several days between the two systems, but I'll add that I've spent lots of time listening to the Plinius/BHSE system over the past several months, as often as possible (usually every day with some exceptions). - Senn HE60 (source: Ayre QB-9 | amp: BHSE): Auditory memory is a funny thing. The last (and only) time I heard an HE60 was just over 3 years ago out of the SP Concerto ES and I distinctly remember being impressed by it back then. This time not so much. Granted a lot has happened between then and now so I'm not sure what to attribute this to. Well ok, it's not a bad headphone per se, but I just didn't enjoy these out of the BHSE. I turned up the volume in an attempt to get more mid-range presence but it was futile, to me these headphones were just missing a chunk of mid-range body that the OII has no problem with. It wouldn't have felt as bad if the treble was up to par but the HE60 disappointed me there also, as it felt like there was an upper-treble roll-off, right above where sibilance peaks out. And I did think the HE60 had a propensity towards sibilance too. So I think I would say the BHSE probably isn't the best amp for the HE60. - pabbi1-built eXStatA w/ Stax OII MKI (source: Cambridge Audio 840C): I would describe my affinity for the OII MKI as something like "it's really damn good and can be absolutely amazing but isn't exactly one of my favorite headphones." This is one of the reasons I've thought about going with a cheaper stat amp - I like how the OII sounds but would like to minimize the associated cost of the amp if possible, since I don't use it for a wide array of music. The eXStatA proved to me that it might be possible to downgrade from the BHSE - I mean, I wasn't sure how much less to expect sonically but this amp was ear-opening. Of course I don't know how much the 840C was affecting the system but the sonic omissions compared to the BHSE weren't many and I certainly didn't have any major complaints. The system did seem to have less overall resolution but the biggest difference that I noticed was that it was quite forward-sounding in the mid-range and also quite punchy in the mid-bass. My system with the BHSE is significantly more laidback. That aside, I think the eXStatA represents substantial value for money and is probably a great option for anyone who wants to get a solid stat amp for cheap. - Balanced B22/o22 w/ K1000 (source: Original CD-2008-MKII): When I was done listening to this system I thought: "aw, crap, do I have to re-invest into a B22 for a K1000?" I've never paid much attention to the K1000 before primarily due to its earspeaker design but this system had me re-considering my ways. I liked the treble and the overall level of detail which seemed to be approximately on par with the Qualia 010. I think if there's a cheaper headphone that could take the Qualia's place in my headphone collection, the K1000 is probably it. At the same time it sucks that the K1000 also has beefy amp requirements. Crap!

Head-Fi pics have been posted here: Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - DFW Meet Jan 23 2010 Impressions And now for HC-exclusive pics. Impressions to come later. inside luvdunhill's custom balanced all-FET amp, 1 of 2 inside luvdunhill's custom balanced all-FET amp, 2 of 2 pabbi1's KGBH which exploded early in the day swt61's B22/o22 & TPA Darwin stack pabbi1's KGBH with the top panel pabbi1-built eXStatA inside pabbi1's Vulcan, 1 of 3 inside pabbi1's Vulcan, 2 of 3 inside pabbi1's Vulcan, 3 of 3 inside another pabbi1-built amp (forgot what it is) pabbi1 checking out the 404LE left to right: unknown #1, unknown #2, luvdunhill, swt61, [AK]Zip, Bazile, Maxvla

'Twas a smashing good meet. Kudos to [AK]Zip for organizing it and taking care of the gear I sent out. One way to know a meet has been a success is when you go in knowing absolutely no one and by the end of the day you have a new set of friends. It was great to meet everyone, all really nice people. [AK]Zip himself was both something of what I expected and what I didn't expect, in a good way of course. Will post more later including pics. Thanks to all for making it an enjoyable time.

Moon and The Hurt Locker on DVD Western Digital 500GB Elements external HDD ....and a pre-order for the Beyerdynamic T1

So with my BHSE gone at the moment (I sent it out for the Texas 1/23 meet), I thought it was finally an opportune time to set up the WA22 and give it a spin. Aside from two meets last year (ChiUniFi 3 and SoFla) I haven't listened to this thing yet. Of my dynamic headphones, the HP2 has been getting the most head time lately, so I've used only it so far to keep my impressions as "controlled" as possible. These are re-cabled for balanced but I'm using the amp single-ended right now to also control that variable, as my only other dynamic amp is the Gilmore Lite. The amp sounds really good so far. In comparison to the GL, there's an extra dimension to the soundstage, as if the z-axis has opened up - all the instruments sound distinctly farther away with a greater sense of virtual space between me and them. There's also more space between the various instruments. It's also obvious there's more mid-range which helps acoustic instruments sound more organic for lack of a better word. I can also hear less treble quantity compared to the GL but with the HP2 it doesn't really matter (though it should be interesting when I listen with the Qualia later on). I've heard only a few amps on my HP2 (the GL, also the Luxman P-200 and TTVJ FET-A) but I think the WA22 may very well be a great amp for it. Not that I had any complaints about the HP2 & GL together but this setup sounds distinctly better in the soundstage and mid-range aspects. What would really be nice is another high-quality tube amp for comparison, like the ZD... Tubes are stock except for the 7236 power tubes.

The hotel's system was being wonky earlier - was trying to get Thursday-Monday booked but the group rate didn't go through for those days. Shortened it to Friday-Monday, still no group rate. Friday-Sunday worked, then I expanded back to Friday-Monday which worked, then finally Thursday-Monday, finally went through. Clearly they have a computer glitch. Hotel's booked now in any event and I plan to be in & around Chicago for about 6 days starting Tuesday.

Massive Attack - Protection IIRC, it has been invented. Forgot what the software was called tho.

I sold my HF2 and don't regret doing so. In the end I thought it was fine for a John Grado HP but Joe Grado (HP2) simply speaks to me more with the music genres I use it for (classical & jazz primarily). Also, with the music I listened to on the HF2 (trip-hop, prog rock, metal, etc), I just enjoyed it more on either the HP2 or AD2000. I also tried the HF2 with flats, bowls, and quarter-modded HD414 pads and none of them helped either. Or to put it another way, the HF2 didn't really fill any voids in my headphone collection, and in the instances that I would've used it in, I had other headphones that soundly beat it.

Julie London - The Very Best of Julie London [Disc 1]

Some of the preceding esoteric titles inspired me to pull one of my own esoteric CDs that I haven't listened to in a long time: Bows - Blush

I'm almost contemplating buying one but I don't know what I'd do with two custom IEMs....or maybe I'll just wait & see if UE shows up at CanJam '10 so I can try to win a pair.

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Lonely Runs Both Ways

^ If you don't mind bumming it out, what about the Adria that immtbiker uses for the NYC spring meets that was also the venue for the first National Meet? It's out on Long Island and kinda far from Manhattan but a combined bus & subway ride (both are cheap) will get you right into the city. To get to the Adria from JFK you have to take the LIRR (train) which is also cheap (not sure how to navigate there from LGA, have only flown into JFK myself).

Eva Cassidy - Songbird

Redbook CDs Anne Bisson - Blue Mind [Fidelio Audio] Arne Domnerus - Jazz At The Pawnshop [K2HD Silver] Dream Theater - Images and Words Eric Clapton - Slowhand Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place Fever Ray - Fever Ray Jeff Buckley - Grace Led Zeppelin - Definitive Collection [sHM-CD] [Japan] Metallica - Metallica Metallica - Ride the Lightning Neko Case - Middle Cyclone Roy Orbison - The All-Time Greatest Hits Of Roy Orbison [MFSL] Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup Stereolab - Margarine Eclipse Tool -

^ Free you say? I think I'll have to attend the next NY meet just for that! Just thinking about NYC makes me want to visit again. It's the best city on the planet!!!

Feeding off either the daytime or nightlife vibe in Times Square? Central Park would also be the obvious recommendation for a romantic tryst.