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Kittery, ME Mini-Meet Impressions


en480c4

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Thanks Ian for hosting the meet, and it was great to see everyone again. I had a great time and Ian's definitely got a nice place there. I'll post some impression tomorrow since I gotta go unpack and setup my rig and then go to bed since I have to get to work early.

Oh, and thanks Dave for driving my lazy ass to the meet. ;D

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Thanks everyone. It's definitely nice to have a place that can easily accommodate a bunch of people... And being able to set the rigs up on the platforms and then just spin the couches around worked out very well.

suicidal kitties and all.

Zoe takes to much pleasure in slicing up my hands and arms to end it all! I think she was just supervising, and making sure none of the ruffians packed up any of my gears in their boxes!

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Ok, time for some more detailed impressions:

The Pico - I actually spent a good amount of time with the prototype at both the Boston and NYC meets last year and knew full well what to expect. But what I hadn't got the chance to do at those meets was listen critically (both loud meets) so this time I brought my Etys and spent a solid 45 minutes listening in 'P' mode. My sentiments echo a lot of what has been said already, the amp's size belies its amazing level of performance. I had no issues with volume range or adjustment on both high and low gains with the Etys and in both cases the background was amazingly black. And as some of you know I listen at very low levels, typically in the mid to upper 60s, especially with closed cans.

Rockhopper Beta22 - *sigh* I miss my beta. The first thing that we did with this amp was to wire up the 4-pin jack that Haj had Stephen include for future balanced consideration. Incidentally, Stephen did a great job on the internal layout of this amp. Anyway, I managed to not f anything up and had the amp back together in short order. Once again this amp thoroughly thrashed everything I threw at it. Both my HD650s and HF-1s sounded great sourced by the 840sea and I even briefly checked out Haj's K1ks on it but once I started with them I knew I'd better stop before I ended up looking for yet another out-of-production headphone. This experience reinforced my desire to get my balanced version up and running sooner rather than later.

KGSS / Sennheiser HE-60 - Not much to add here, I simply love this combo. What was very good driven by the Stax trafo-box in Boston only sounded better out of the KGSS. I ran a wide variety of source material through this (piano, female vocals, Opeth) and I enjoyed it all. My motto for '08, must not buy electrostats.

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A quick note from work . . . A big thanks to Ian for hosting; the loft is a very cool place. Additionally, having comfortable sofas on which to kick back while sampling great gear has spoiled me for all future meet conditions.

The KGSS Story - Yup, sorry kids, I should have elaborated on the fact that this was a one off and Stephen's personal KGSS. Once I figure out my next amp move upward, it will more than likely follow the orange glow and migrate home where it belongs. In the mean time, the KGSS/HE60 combo remains one of my favorite rigs of all time and still my personal best.

The Pico scare - These are three guys that I would trust with any of my gear, so offered a Pico loner program whereby they could each take the Pico for a few days. Instead of jumping at the chance, they all slowly stepped back and in general reacted as if I'd held out a crack pipe and said "Go a head, first one's on me." Pfft . . scaredy-cats... >:D

Best of show - Ian's music collection. I remain amazed at the shear amount of music that Ian owns, and from what I could hear, it is all good listenable stuff. I was exposed to a few new artists, and with five or so fine gear stacks, it was fun finding a system to fit the genre. Since it really is all about the music, this was great incentive to expand my collection.

Meet security - Don't let the cutesy kitty pix fool you; they are trained professionals that carefully examine all gear and containers. I found the rafter kitty in my travel bag; head only poking out. . . I still get belly laughs from that image.

More later...

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Best of show - Ian's music collection. I remain amazed at the shear amount of music that Ian owns, and from what I could hear, it is all good listenable stuff. I was exposed to a few new artists, and with five or so fine gear stacks, it was fun finding a system to fit the genre. Since it really is all about the music, this was great incentive to expand my collection.

Very cool. I'm looking forward to doing some liquidation in the near future and putting it towards more music. :)

Looks like y'all had a great time, thanks for the impressions!

I'd also be interested in a Headamp Desktop DAC/Amp. Maybe an electrostatic one that comes with a free OII.

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Well, here are some of my impressions....

HeadAmp Pico

I used this through USB on Ian's HTPC and my MacBook with ER4s. Jeebus it sounded nice. It had pitch black background with more than enough oomph to drive ER4s and drive them well, they did. I wasn't really worried about it tempting me since my old laptop was dead and my iMac's in the same room as my rig. Then I had to go and get myself a MacBook. Doh!

K1000 w/ Rockhopper β22

Man, this combo sounded sweet and reminded me why I've kept onto K1000's all this time. Since it has been a while since I've heard K1000's drive through a nice power amp, I don't know how the combo stacks up, but I don't care, I really enjoyed how it sounded and that's all it matters. I think I'll be holding onto the K1000's until I get myself a nice speaker setup.

Woodied 225

These sounded infinitely better than the stock 225's I've listened to before. There were no harshness or piercing characteristics of stock 225's I remember, and I quite enjoyed them. Of course, the caveat is that Nate and Ian told me that these in stock form sounded better than any other stock 225's they've heard in the past.

HE60 w/ Rockhopper KGSS

I should have stayed away from this rig. The lack of impact be damned, I loved this combo. It definitely made me miss the OII/KGSS DX combo I used to have. I have a feeling I may be ending up with another pair of OII sooner or later.

Stable platter on Nate's Wadia

I will never get used to the fact that you're supposed to put the CD on upside down.

The Accent Walls

They're simply awesome.

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I love how Ian dodges these integral questions :)

I hoped that ignoring them would make them go away :D

Is Ian single?

Yes, but don't forget... We've met, so don't hold your breath ;)

Ian, will you marry me? :kitty:

Sorry, but no. Kitty 1 and Kitty 2 are very demanding of my time. It just wouldn't be fair :(

And thanks everyone... Needless to say, I love my place. But it's always nice to hear the feedback from everyone.

The Accent Walls

They're simply awesome.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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