Recessed upper mids sounds good to me.  I love HE-400 signature.

Analixus:

Best stuff of the show:  Vali, Asgard II, Fostex TE05, Geek, Vanatoo, Lau, Teton, LcdX ($800 too much though), dBel's LCD3 modded.  Sanders and Venture speakers.

Mediocre/hyped:  Senn amp, Auralic (overly bright and analytical), JDS portable DAC/amp, Pinnacle, Violectric, Sony and Fostex Desktop players/gear (liked Fostex's stuff better than Sony's), WA7 Fireflies (better w/ PS upgrade but not enough to beat certain Schiit on SQ alone).  Focal pretty much all around (headphones, speakers, headphone amps).

Worst stuff:  JBL room, Fostex prototype ortho, Westone's new universal IEM connectors other people are also using (they almost lost 4 earpieces), BMC, Aurisonics, Audeze DSP (best used in bypass mode, meaning not at all), RSA A10.

Honorable mention: Ray Samuel's Boulder 1021 CD transport

Pretty decent: RHA 750 (Fostex TE05 kills it though), Phillips headphones, Woo WES and Monoblocks (not even as bad as some competitor lunatic fanboys say).

Have you seen a NAD Viso HP50 demo somewhere there? I am still very intrigued

This year I only had one day to spend on the show because of other Denver-area obligations so I didn't have a chance to geek out to the fullest extent. That said, a few brief impressions:

* Fostex ortho - I'll post a pic of this monstrosity later. A bit of a half-assed effort on the prototype: basically a stock Dxxxx/THxxx frame with some quickly machined cups. Shares a lot of the weaknesses of a stock TR50: boring FR that's rolled off at the bass, dull vocal presence, little bit of a flabby impact. But a year ago I also witnessed a pretty unspectacular showing from another prototype that was fixed by the final version...

* Abyss - Last year I really did not hear anything to back up the grandiose claims made at the time. This year's showing was a pleasant surprise. The combination of better fit, better frame, better damping, better amping and a quieter surrounding conspired to show off the fastest most stat-like ortho I've heard yet (for me "stat-like" is a compliment, ymmv). Probably my favorite bass presentation of the entire show. Also they kept their composure at very loud volumes - if anything they sounded more balanced without the high end harshness I recall from the prototype.

* Mad dogs - still quite decent and at a reasonable price. Alpha dogs - nice polished appearance, bad overly-polished sound. Like audiophile tone control for that extra crunchy treble some seem to like.

* LCD-X - best looking Audeze and good sound. Still has a lot of the characteristic sound sig of the LCD line.

* dBel's funktastic LCD3 - best take on the LCD I've heard so far.

* RHA 650/750 - very good for the price. Sennheiser needs more of these sorts of challengers in the dynamic IEM market.

* Denon TH600 - as with the 900s these are a nice refinement of the Dxxxx line. (Denon's been dead to me since the hamburgerphones of yesteryear)

* Viso HP50 - Apparently this is sort of Barton's second take on headphone design after last year's PSBs. Very smooth sound and quite quick for a dynamic. Excellent pricing. So-so visual design. Thanks to Tyll for the manic tour of his test tracks on these.

* Schiit - didn't listen to the rag, still seriously considering both statement products once they come out.

* TTVJ - fine amps hampered only by pricing and bland styling.


The beer social was great fun, many thanks to Todd and Jude for the beer and pirates and exhibitors for the company!

Jude can never be bothered to moderate on head-fi.  The only time I can ever get that guy's attention moderation wise is if I bitch and flame the staff enough via PMs to Joe/Currawong.