Mini reunion en Naples, Florida con HiFlight (Ron)

[mrarroyo]

Naples Mini Meet on January 7th, 2010:

Ron (HiFlight) and I exchanged a couple of PMs and decided to get together to try each other's new gear. I am on vacation and going on a trip so I decide to take a small detour to Florida's west coast and meet with Ron in Naples. I thought that we would just take a small number of items and boy was I wrong! The list of gear (not all of which was photograph) follows.

Full Size Headphones

AKG K1000 w/ an APureSound V3 re-cable (not photographed)
AKG K340 (stock)
Denon D2000 w/ MarkL mods, Bubinga wood cups, and an XEV re-cable by Zynsonic
Head Direct HiFiMAN HE5
Sony MDR F1 w/ an XEV re-cable by Zynsonic
Ultrasone Ed.8
German Maestro GMP 8.300D

Portable Headphones

Yuin OK1
Etymotic ER4P
Koss Portapro Anniversary Edition
Head Direct HiFiMAN RE-252

Sources

Aeolus magiDAC
Shanling CD Player PCD300A
6th Gen 160 Gb iPod w/ lossless files w/ an ALO Bamboo Dock
Philips DVD DVP5982

Full Size Amps

K.I.C.A.S.
SOHA built by MisterX
Head Direct HiFiMAN EF5
Graham Slee's Solo SRGII
Bravo Audio
Jaycar HeadAmp (highly modified Aussie kit)

Portable Amps

D4 by iBasso (not photographed)
T3 by iBasso (not photographed)
Reference by Zin w/ C5 board
Reference by Zin w/ D5 board
Here are some photos taken during the approximate four-hour mini meet.









What did I come out from comparing the various gears?

1.   The AKG K340 continuous to be one of the best sounding cans I have ever listened too. Especially if the source and amp are of high quality.
2.   The little Bravo Audio has to be heard to be believed, it just sounds right regardless of the can used. I could not believe it was driving the K1000 and K340 to such a high level and fantastic quality. It is so good I will be looking to buy one shortly.
3.   I wish more people gave the Sony MDR F1 a chance. It is a very clear and open sounding, quite close to a K1000 since the driver is also away from the ear.
4.   The Ultrasone Ed.8 is a very punchy and detailed/clear can with a high level of  "fun" thrown in. Unfortunately for me I cannot at this moment sink $1,400 into purchasing one.
5.   The KICAS and the Ed.8 make a very good pairing if you are looking for a combo that will have your foot tapping and a big smile in your face. It was a delight to listen and let the music take you away. In my opinion the Ed.8 sounded better out of the KICAS than my modded Denon. We then switched to the SOHA and funnily enough the roles were reversed, the modded Denon sounded better than the Ed. 8 out of the SOHA. BTW, the source being used was the magiDAC.
6.   The Solo SRGII and the HE5 are a fantastic pairing, with a lot of the music even better than the EF5. I say this because the Solo SRGII is a very warm amp, more so than the EF5 so it was able to control the energetic top end of the HE5. I will start rolling 12AU7 tubes into HE5 to see if I can find a warmer sounding tube. Note, I am not saying that the EF5/HE5 combo is shrill or metallic sounding as I have read from some users. To my ears and w/ my music the EF5/HE5 has a bit too much treble energy that I hope to tame by rolling tubes. More to come on this matter.
7.   The K1000 even w/ the limited amps and sources we had remains to me the king of dynamic headphones. As stated in another post of mine the Sony Qualias is the only headphone that comes close.

It was a lot of fun to get together w/ Ron (HiFlight) and try each other's new gear! The following (in blue) are Ron's impressions.

I also much enjoyed the day.  As I had just gotten the KICAS, magiDAC and Bravo tube amp, I hadn't had a chance to try out everything, so it was an educational experience for me also. 

It was interesting to see how the synergy changed depending upon the combination of amp and phones that were paired together. 

The surprise of the day was how good the little Bravo amp sounded when driving the K340s and K1000s!  I was using the stock 6N11 tube, but the amp sounded even better when we swapped the cheap switching power supply for Miguel's Elpac 2 amp switcher PSU. 

This little Class A powerhouse was driving my K1000s to a normal volume level at the 9 0'clock position on the volume knob.  It also effortlessly powered my K340s and sounded superb doing it!   All of this for $59.00.... unbelievable!

I should also note that the Bravo only had about 3 hours of use prior to our meet.  My Ed.8s also have only about 30 hours use, and I was told that they need a couple of hundred hours to reach their full potential. 

I also can highly recommend the Shanling PCD3000A.  Not only does it do a fine job of rendering CDs thru both Coax and Optical outputs, but it has a very nice-sounding headphone output as well.  It is quite narrow and easily fits into very small spaces.  The more I use this player, the better I like it. 

It is always fun and educations to be able to listen to other equipment in addition to ones own toys

RLK. 

[A]

Os lo pasasteis bien, eh...

[azelais]

Que gozada¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡.
Se te habrán puesto los dientes largos con tanto juguetito.
un saludo

[ogran]

mrarroyo, por favor, comenta algo más de los Sony F1...

[EvilEmil]

Gracias por las estupendas fotos y los breves comentarios . Me resultan muy interesantes.

[mrarroyo]

El Sony es un auricular que te hace vivir la musica pues la presenta en una forma muy habierta, detallada, y clara. El "driver" esta montado de una manera que esta totalmente abierto y not toca la oreja. En esto se parece al K1000 y hace que te den deseos de bailar.

Es un aricular poco conocido y hace un par de años se vendia por $180 USD y luego subio a cerca de $300 USD. EMO, es superior a muchos auriculares que conocemos y tiene la ventaja de ser bien liviano por lo que te olvidas que lo tienes puesto.

[rocoa]

Menudo empacho Miguel. Gracias por las fotos.
Saludos

[FJ]

Madre mia. Con tantas combinaciones ¿cuanto duró la reunión?¿Siete semanas? 

[ogran]

mrarroyo, muchas gracias. Que tal a nivel de detalle? Te resultaron similares a otros auriculares?

saludos!!

[mrarroyo]

ogran si te refieres al ampli de Bravo no importo el auricular que usara. Sono bien con todos.

OJO! - Revise mi "post" inicial añadiendo en azul los comentarios de Ron. Gracias.

[azelais]

Miguel, que más podrías decir de los Edition 8. He leido poco sobre ellos y tengo curiosidad por saber si son muy similares a los 9. De todas formas si tienen muy pocas horas de uso supongo que no se puede valorar muy bien.
Saludos

[mrarroyo]

azelais no he escuchado el Ed. 9 solo el PROline 2500 y el HFI780. Pero en mi opinion el Ed. 8 suena mejor que el HFI780 (aun con un re-cablado por APureSound) y el PROline 2500. A pesar de ser cerrado tiene un excelente detalle y claridez, ojo su "soundstage" no es muy amplia.

[azelais]

ojo su "soundstage" no es muy amplia.

Gracias por los comentarios Miguel. Sí al 8 le ocurre lo que al 9, necesita muchas, pero muchas, horas de rodaje para que la escena vaya abriendo del todo y gane en dinámica y extensión de agudos.
Saludos

[djmochax]

Como siempre muy interesante mrarroyo, que envidia poder probar tantos cacharitos de una tacada...
Parece que el bravo va a ser una opción interesante por los comentarios, al menos como una alternativa para equipos secundarios.

[ayone]

Gracias Miguel por compartir con nosotros tus audiciones.

Una duda, el ampli Bravo Audio, es este: "El nuevo" :



o es el anterior.

¿Crees que es un ampli adecuado para  mover unos AKG 501?


Saludos,