Thought I'd follow some fellow Chicago/MW folks over here from HF and post some of my quick impressions as well:

The HEK continues to strike me as the headphone I have been looking for, but with its crazy leakiness, still hard to confirm during meet conditions.  It has a great balance to it, with a lot of what I liked about the HD800 (previous favorite flagship) and HE-6 in it, but with all the edges rounded off a little.  Not as technically wow as the HD800, but what I would give up in ultimate resolution and air, I get back in more tactility and a healthier bottom end.  BUT, I don't think I like it THAT much better than the HD800 to justify over twice the cost.  Perhaps once I get back into flagships, enough will be on the market to get one second hand at a more reasonable price.
 
The Ether is supremely comfortable, but I just don't see the love it is getting.  Not for the price, at least.  I can't say that it does anything wrong, it just doesn't resonate with me.  Oh well, will chalk it up to preference.  I didn't really care for the HE-560 either which is crazy popular as well.
 
Definitely liked the DNA Stratus.  Didn't have my Bottlehead S.E.X. on hand to compare to, but it definitely made my HD650s sound quite lovely. 
 
The ZMF Omni is my new favorite T50RP based headphone, but it is still a planar headphone.  I think I am just a plain old dynamic driver guy. 
 
Finally got to hear a Koss ESP950.  I had read a lot about it, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed.  The build quality is scandalously bad for the price, and the sound just didn't wow me.  I think my HD650 out of a good tube amp sounds much better.  The other Stax models were interesting to listen to, but still not my thing.
 
I am kicking myself that I didn't plug more headphones into my Pulse Xfi + LPS setup, as I am quite enjoying it and wanted to spend more time comparing it to other setups.  I'm pretty sure I liked it better than the Oppo HA-1 with my HD650's, so it would have been smart to see how some of the flagships on hand sounded off the rig.  Will try to bring my Bottlehead S.E.X. next time, as it is a far better amp than the built in one of the Pulse. 

Also, a shout out to Austin for listening to my rig (Pulse Xfi +LPS) and saying something positive about it.  I think maybe it looks too plain for something that sounds as good as it does for the price (at least at early backer pricing) and people kept passing it up or not taking a real listen. 

Chicago Meet Impressions:

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Related Q: Where in the fuck do you even get a Questyle CAS192 these days? They have no U.S. distributor and seem to have become borderline unobtainium in the states as of late. I hunted around a bit for one when I was looking for a balanced WM8741 alternative and came up empty.

These guys have a team in the US. They are represented by Bruce Ball, i met him and Gary and the recent Munich High End, very eccentric guys. They dont seem to have a dealer yet though which may be a problem but they do in Canada, maybe you can just go direct, i dunno, I'm in the UK. Anyhow i have a CMA800R and love it (got a second one on my way) although i dont use their DAC, had some bad experiences with some crappy German branded Chinese WM8741 DAC in the past and am over DS

Haha, I figured. I thought it sounded awesome, but, yes, I did ultimately prefer the denser NOS tone and feel. I dunno, just sounds more real to me, especially with drums, vocals, and acoustic guitars for whatever reason. I hadn't entirely planned on keeping the Theta...more just to have something to compare my Model S to for my Model S review. I am saving up for a complimentary DAC to it, like the reDACted, for a down-the-road purchase.

if there is anyone's dac adventures I envy its yours Hanz.   


As for marv's ummmm......... heavy is the head that wears the crown. Don't think I can deal with people whining that I didn't like their dac.