NorCal 8/8/2009 Meet Impressions

[Beefy]

Bottlehead Forum - RE: Headphone Quickie Questions - Paul Joppa - August 05, 2009 at 11:15:53

"Each tube has its own D cell for filament power."

And yes, looks like 4x 9V as well behind those.

[justin]

just noticed someone had adjusted the volume on my playback software (Cog) to 297% so everything was clipping

[boomana]

The person listening here is Jacqui Naylor.

Vorlon1 gave me a couple of her cds a couple years ago: Gorgeous voice, but cheesy jazz music selections.

[Dusty Chalk]

I thought it said "Dahnnyi's Olymato".

[Voltron]

How long do the batteries last on those things? Looks like 4 9v and 2 AA, or are there more underneath?

I did not look at Beefy's link, but there are two D cells and 4 9v and the guy who makes them says you get about 1000 hours from a set.

[guzziguy]

I did not look at Beefy's link, but there are two D cells and 4 9v and the guy who makes them says you get about 1000 hours from a set.

That was Paul, right? He was the young guy at the table. Are you sure he said 1000 hours? He told me about 100 hours, but wasn't sure.

[Asr]

'Twas another great meet in the regions of Northern Cali, kudos to JP for pulling off a shindig not too long after the chaos of CanJam 09. The more laidback & chill vibe made it easier to soak in everything this time, and there was lots of stuff indeed. More stuff than I had time to listen to. As usual, it's the people who make the meets and the crowd in attendance was a round-up of both frequent regulars and fresh newbies. Always great to reconnect with familiar faces (especially those in Team NorCal) and meet new ones, though since this was a mere 1-day meet, I inevitably spent more time talking to those familiar faces and trying to get pics of it all, though I did get to introduce myself to some MOTs like Bottlehead, Neko Audio, and Donald North Audio (I missed the latter two at CanJam 09).

Impressions below, pics to follow later. Didn't get to listen to as much as I hoped, had to jump the meet early to catch my return flight. Would've liked to join in on the post-meet activities, will make it next time!

Spectral SDR-2000: Transport was the Spectral SDR-3000 and amp was Icarium's HeadAmp Gilmore Balanced Reference with my own music. Headphones were my own Qualia 010. I was definitely impressed by the SQ - fast, clean, clear, no squiggles. Every single musical element was perfectly in focus and crystal clear. Sounded really good and would love to hear it again, especially in quiet conditions.

DNA Sonett: Source was the Sonic Frontiers SFCD1 and headphones were my own Qualia 010 with my own music. There was more mid-range than I'm used to, which I also disliked - but would probably be more ideal for more people. Something in this system contributed to a lack of speed and precision, and the soundstage seemed smaller than usual too. But it did have a very full mid-range, and lots of texture to the mid-bass.

Stax SR-Omega: I came away from these with a ZOMG reaction. It's true, they really are awesome. They seemed to have a very natural frequency balance and sounded very fluid, with no particular emphasis in any part of the spectrum. But more than that, it also allowed a very insightful look at the entire musical picture and all the elements in it, with a very surrounding soundstage. I liked these quite a bit, but I think I liked the next headphone even more. Source was Voltron's Amarra and amp was the Woo WES.

Stax 4070: I liked the SR-Omega, but I instantly fell in love with the 4070. It rocked me to my core. I can't pin down exactly what made it so intensely awesome for me, but I had an almost emotional response to the music, which is pretty rare for me. Alison Krauss literally almost brought a tear to my eye. I'm seriously considering a purchase of these now, they were that awesome! (I didn't really have a fit issue either, though I will add the earcups are huge!) Amp was the Woo WES and source was the Amarra.

Audeze LCD-1: I think these might end up being one of the great <$500 values in dynamics. They're pretty damn good all-around - fast, clear, relatively deep tight bass, what else do you need? They're also moderately efficient. My only issue with them, they look kinda ugly and the way they fit may not be conducive to all head shapes (certainly not mine).

HeadAmp BHSE: I hunted around for a source for my amp and eventually decided the best course of action was to plug it into my Pico USB DAC. It works, it's great for its price - so why not? And it sounded pretty good out of the Pico DAC too - I listened with my SR-X MKIII which bowled me all over again, just a great headphone. I did only a brief test listen with the OII to make sure it worked properly. Looking forward to spending much more time with my own amp very soon now....

Senn HD800: I saw a few pairs around on various systems and decided to check them out further just to hear if they were any better out of other sources and/or amps. Verdict: I prefer my Qualia, HP1000, and AD2000 trio and don't regret selling my HD800. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the JH13 trounces the HD800!

[Currawong]

I was a bit sad Craig sold his 4070's before I could give them an extended audition. The first time I tried them, with Jeff Buckley as the music, just out of his DAC1/717 rig, I had a similar reaction. They are just unbelievably good with vocals IMO.

[atothex]

A direct copy-paste from over thar:

I only listened to the items that interested me, mostly to reaffirm my notions, but the Omega and JH13 Pro were new to me. The stuff that I didn't listen to, I either had a well-defined opinion, or they weren't on my radar.

K1000: good, but I don't love them. Nothing conclusive.

Omega (maybe with O2 drivers?): much better than the O2! It might be the most dynamically impressive stat I've heard to date. I guess I'm just not into stats in general, but these were great. How great? No idea, really.

4070s: I had previously thought I liked these, but they really sound wrong with certain things. By that, I mean one of my test tracks was sounding entirely different than ever.

Jades: Pretty good for a stat. Nothing conclusive, but I can't find any major faults yet.

other stats: I like but don't love anything. I actually don't even like the O2 mk1s. Still, the mid-priced ones can be very good considering the price.

Stax adapter box: Holy crap, I didn't know it was so cheap! $300 for the ability to run from a small power amp. This is a great alternative to those who already own good power amps and don't want another beast like a BHSE and WES.

vintage S RS1 vs HF2: Foo_me let me borrow his beauties for an extended comparison, which was very easy thanks to the Gilmore Balanced Reference and the Spectral stack. The HF2 has definitely has more body, but the RS1 has better balance and clarity. The tone is amazing on both, but the vintage RS1 may have the most perfect tone I've ever heard. Well, it's up there.

W10VTG: My personal reference and tied with the vintage RS1 for perfect tone in my mind. Can't find any criticisms yet. Other candidates include the JH13Pro, HD800, HP1000.

JH13 Pro: For maybe the first time ever, I felt like I was listening to the limitations of the Pico's DAC. Good stuff, but not a high end setup in my mind. Of course, a source upgrade would make a huge difference.

LCD1: I don't love it. The performance is there, but the tone isn't. The highs bother me, being strong and a bit unnatural. Also, synergy seems wacky. They sounded fine from Transdac -> ZDT, but terrible from Spectral -> Gilmore Balanced Reference.

L3000: I finally found what I perceive to be a fault. You know how a lot of "high end" phones have kind of a diffuse bass? The L3000 is about the only thing that I'd describe as having a diffuse treble. It doesn't bother me much, but hey, it's something.

Stacker 2/Sonic Studios: Great, of course. JP obvsiously knows his stuff.

Amarra software/Amarra 4/WES: sounded great when I got it to work, but it decided that it doesn't like me. I couldn't get it to work for me and never came back, so I basically forgot to listen to the Berkeley DAC. Oops.

CTH: I'm actually listening to one as I'm typing this up. I only have low impedance phones these days, but this little guy is a KILLER with low impedance. It's at least mid-fi, not lo-fi. I'll have to compare it to a CK2III sometime.

Eddie Current rigs: I listened to them. Can't say much other than Eddie Current and Headamp are probably my 2 favorite amp builders. I sometimes hate listening to analog like vinyl or tape. Whenever someone has a nice setup like Ironbut or Craig, it invariably sounds mind-blowingly amazing.

Anyways, it was good to see some familiar faces and to meet some new people.

[penger]

Audeze LCD-1: I think these might end up being one of the great <$500 values in dynamics. They're pretty damn good all-around - fast, clear, relatively deep tight bass, what else do you need? They're also moderately efficient. My only issue with them, they look kinda ugly and the way they fit may not be conducive to all head shapes (certainly not mine).

Senn HD800: I saw a few pairs around on various systems and decided to check them out further just to hear if they were any better out of other sources and/or amps. Verdict: I prefer my Qualia, HP1000, and AD2000 trio and don't regret selling my HD800. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the JH13 trounces the HD800!

I agree with you regarding the LCD-1. The frame seems to be unable to fit properly on my head as well. I think it may have had to do with the weight of the drivers/cups?

I was listening to blessingx's rig and actually liked the CD3000 more out of his Extreme Platinum vs. the HD800. The bass had more weight, but the HD800 had better soundstage. Having a skinny/boney head didn't help with getting seal on the HD800 as well since there aren't really 'pads' in the traditional sense on the HD800. That might have affected my listening experience.

[blessingx]

DNA Sonett: Source was the Sonic Frontiers SFCD1 and headphones were my own Qualia 010 with my own music. There was more mid-range than I'm used to, which I also disliked - but would probably be more ideal for more people. Something in this system contributed to a lack of speed and precision, and the soundstage seemed smaller than usual too. But it did have a very full mid-range, and lots of texture to the mid-bass.

Stax 4070: I liked the SR-Omega, but I instantly fell in love with the 4070. It rocked me to my core. I can't pin down exactly what made it so intensely awesome for me, but I had an almost emotional response to the music, which is pretty rare for me. Alison Krauss literally almost brought a tear to my eye. I'm seriously considering a purchase of these now, they were that awesome! (I didn't really have a fit issue either, though I will add the earcups are huge!) Amp was the Woo WES and source was the Amarra.

Interesting comments on the DNA, as with the HD800s, I found it flatter/even than your experience. Especially if compared to my Extreme Platinum.

Did you get a chance to compare the Lambda Sigs to the 4070 out of the WES? I missed this time, but always curious of others opinions of these relatively similar sounding 'stats (and more welcome etch than the mellow O2s).

[Torpedo]

The person listening here is Jacqui Naylor. I got one of her CDs from Doc Bottlehead a couple of years ago. She seems to be selling them on her own now.

I like Jacqui's singing very much. I've got 4 or five of her albums. Maybe she tries too much to sound like Billie, but fortunately not all the time. Is she a headphone geek? Quite surprising finding someone like her in such meeting

Great pics, thanks for sharing BTW, how was Al and his damaged leg? I suppose that if he made the meet he must be acceptably well whatsoever

[Dreadhead]

Stax 4070: I liked the SR-Omega, but I instantly fell in love with the 4070. It rocked me to my core. I can't pin down exactly what made it so intensely awesome for me, but I had an almost emotional response to the music, which is pretty rare for me. Alison Krauss literally almost brought a tear to my eye. I'm seriously considering a purchase of these now, they were that awesome! (I didn't really have a fit issue either, though I will add the earcups are huge!) Amp was the Woo WES and source was the Amarra.

ASR, glad to see you were as impressed as I was. I almost kept my stats rig because of them.

[Elephas]

^ You are a master with the camera! Great pics.

And the descriptive comments, too!

I say we start a fund to fly Iron_Dreamer to every largish meet, maybe four a year?

Those high-quality photos and comments are worth a lot. Definitely a lot more than some meet impressions, like preferring 4070 over SR-Omega, sheesh.

[guzziguy]

Interesting comments on the DNA, as with the HD800s, I found it flatter/even than your experience. Especially if compared to my Extreme Platinum.

I think the problem with the DNA amp is that it doesn't put out enough power for hard to drive headphones like the HD800. I borrowed the LCD-1 to see how it sounded out of my Platinum Extreme. However, somebody was listening to it so I plugged it into the (single-ended) DNA. It produced OK volume if I turned it up all the way. Still the sound was very flat. The LCD-1 is a hard headphone to drive as it has low impedance and, apparently, low sensitivity. When I was able to plug the LCD-1 into my Extreme, it was able to easily drive it to acceptable volumes and the LCD-1 came alive. The DNA amps are for people with easy to drive headphones.

I like Jacqui's singing very much. I've got 4 or five of her albums. Maybe she tries too much to sound like Billie, but fortunately not all the time. Is she a headphone geek? Quite surprising finding someone like her in such meeting

She was there because the Bottlehead people were there. She is associated with them. I bought my JN album through the Bottlehead website several years ago. Dan (Doc Bottlehead) wrote the liner notes for it. I think that he's also engineered at least one of her recordings. She is not a headphone geek but obviously interested enough to try them out.

She was very nice and friendly. I'm not much of a groupie type, so I kept my distance as I assume any even slightly well known performer gets tired of people approaching them. She actually came out from behind the Bottlehead table and introduced herself to me. So she gets points for being "human" from me.

Great pics, thanks for sharing BTW, how was Al and his damaged leg? I suppose that if he made the meet he must be acceptably well whatsoever

Al was doing very well on his leg. He didn't limp and seemed to be in no pain. He had an MRI that morning, so he'll know for sure very soon. Then we'll know too.

[Torpedo]

Glad to know JN is as nice a person as her looks I didn't know she's associated to Bottlehead. What's the album with the liner notes written by Dan? Maybe I've got it.

Nice that Al was doing so fine. If the no pain isn't for his drugs and it's due to the knee getting better, maybe it's not seriously damaged. We'll see when he's given the MRI results. Fingers crossed

[spritzer]

Omega (maybe with O2 drivers?)

That set has the stock drivers.

[Icarium]

It's a balanced dynalo with a sigma22 power supply.

[atothex]

That set has the stock drivers.

Yay, confirmation. In that case, the original Omega rocks better than any other stat I've heard. Is it true that it has the biggest Stax driver ever?

Edit: did Fallenangel get to sell that Dynalo?

[spritzer]

Yay, confirmation. In that case, the original Omega rocks better than any other stat I've heard. Is it true that it has the biggest Stax driver ever?

They are certainly in my Top5 and yes, the driver is 90mm across. Here is what it looks like on the inside:

[Icarium]

Yay, confirmation. In that case, the original Omega rocks better than any other stat I've heard. Is it true that it has the biggest Stax driver ever?

Edit: did Fallenangel get to sell that Dynalo?

I'm not sure if that one was for sale, but he is working on one to sell. He said ~800 for non custom panels... ~900 for custom panels (Pretty insane deal).

Also a balanced ckkiii for 600 non custom panels and 700 for custom panels.. I think. Maybe 700/800 I forget.

[Duggeh]

They are certainly in my Top5 and yes, the driver is 90mm across. Here is what it looks like on the inside:

How large is the HE90 driver? Aside from the Jecklin driver it's the only one I can think of that might be larger.

[guzziguy]

Glad to know JN is as nice a person as her looks I didn't know she's associated to Bottlehead. What's the album with the liner notes written by Dan? Maybe I've got it.

Nice that Al was doing so fine. If the no pain isn't for his drugs and it's due to the knee getting better, maybe it's not seriously damaged. We'll see when he's given the MRI results. Fingers crossed

The album is Color 5, 2006.

[Asr]

Did you get a chance to compare the Lambda Sigs to the 4070 out of the WES? I missed this time, but always curious of others opinions of these relatively similar sounding 'stats (and more welcome etch than the mellow O2s).

Nope I only listened to the SR-Omega and 4070. I saw that Lambda Sig but was running out of listening time, and I would've rather listened to an LNS anyway (don't recall seeing one though).

Those high-quality photos and comments are worth a lot. Definitely a lot more than some meet impressions, like preferring 4070 over SR-Omega, sheesh.

What? What's that I heard from the peanut gallery? I'll post pics too, granted they're not as nice as Peter's, but they're still something, right?

Shure SRH840: Forgot to add these to my earlier impressions. These sounded ok, wouldn't say they're terrible, but not outstanding either. Fine SQ for a closed headphone maybe, complete with closed headphone-type bass. Useful amount of isolation I'd guess. They had a lot of pressure though, and got "hot" quickly. Pleather earpads, ick.

Qualia 010 w/ Small headband: I tried these on for kicks (they were Justin's). Perfect fit, zomg. If Sony still sells headbands, I might pick one up!

[atothex]

Did you get a chance to compare the Lambda Sigs to the 4070 out of the WES? I missed this time, but always curious of others opinions of these relatively similar sounding 'stats (and more welcome etch than the mellow O2s).

I got in a very quick comparison. The Sigs were much brighter than the 4070s to me, and that's all I can say.