AXPONA 2018

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by dubharmonic, Mar 29, 2018.

  1. maverickronin

    maverickronin Friend

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    Anyone coming tomorrow?
     
  2. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I'm only going to be there Saturday.
     
  3. Btdk34

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    I’ll be there around noon and will hopefully be staying the rest of the day!
     
  4. maverickronin

    maverickronin Friend

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    Cool. I'll be there today and Saturday for sure. Possibly Sunday too.

    I shouldn't be too had to spot. I'll be in all black, wearing a Camelbak.
     
  5. Btdk34

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    Ha funny, all be in all black wearing a swissgear backpack.
     
  6. Lenroot77

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    I’ll be there Saturday!
     
  7. Greg121986

    Greg121986 Almost "Made"

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    Great show so far. Tons of stuff. The Renaissance turned out to be a really nice location. I will be there again tomorrow, but I have to leave by early afternoon.
     
  8. recstar24

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    Came for a few hours early today and planning on doing the same with a buddy tomorrow Saturday. The venue is great, big and spacious. Loved chatting with Peter from headamp and the stax BH combo is always a good time! Didn't go as crazy with my vinyl buys but I guess that's why I'm coming back lol. The emotiva room is ridiculous and those T2 speakers puts to shame some of the mega buck speakers there that are so piercing bright, ouch.
     
  9. Lenroot77

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    I’ll be in a grey hoodie with my SBAF dog shirt!
     
  10. recstar24

    recstar24 Friend

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    Headphone impressions - headamp is awesome and the mrspeakers headphones rock.
     
  11. Btdk34

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    I came to Axpona expecting to spend most of my time with headphones and headphone-related gear, but found myself enjoying the speaker set ups much, much more. I went to a lot of rooms, but a few really stood out:

    • PureAudioProject Trio15 Horn1: These had exceptionally clean bass and tons of detail. They had good imaging, but the room was very small and there was a built-in desk about a foot away from the left speaker (fairly in-line with the horn opening) so I feel like that hindered them a bit. I also noticed the mids sounding slightly hard/shouty at times, but mostly from the left speaker (pretty sure this was related to the desk). The only other complaint I had was that they could have used more mid-bass to fill out the sound. They sounded ever so slightly “hollow” on some tracks. I was told that this could be easily remedied by changing the crossover components. All my complaints are really minor, and I thought these speakers were fantastic. As they were, these were my third favorite speaker at the show. In a different room I’m sure they’d sound a ton better. $7500 per pair, with horns.
    • PureAudioProject Trio10 Voxativ: These also sounded quite nice. Again, these were in a fairly small room. These had good imagine as well, and I also felt these needed more energy in the mid-bass to balance them out. The bass didn’t have as much impact as the Trio15 did which makes sense (10” vs 15” woofers). I spent much more time with the Trio15 so that’s about all I can say for these.
    • Spatial Audio X2 Modular: These are fantastic sounding speakers. They appeared to have the same detail as the Trio15 Horn1 speakers, but the tonal balance was better. These had much more body to them, and things sounded more “real”. The imaging was very clear, and the soundscape was expansive. I’d say these outclassed the PAP offerings, but the X2s were in a different room and had different upstream gear. These were my second favorite speaker at the show. $9600 per pair, so out of my price range.
    • Harbeth 40.2 - I didn’t expect these to be as great as they were! They were incredibly punchy and had an addictive sound. These had the best “you are there” feeling. The bass wasn’t as clear or fast as the either PAP or Spatial, but was extremely close. You’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference if you couldn’t compare them back to back. The mids and treble were extremely detailed, yet exceptionally smooth! The Spatial was nearly as smooth, and I’d say the Trio15 was just a hair behind both. These were my favorite speakers at the show. They were also $15,000, so definitely out of my price range.
    Overall, it was a great show. I think I’m leaning towards purchasing the Trio15s eventually, because they are easily tunable, and the mid/tweeter driver choices give you even greater control over the sound you want. It’s also cheap(-ish) to start out with them, at around ~$4,000 for the Tang-Band version. I’m fairly confident its possible to build a Trio15 system that could outperform the X2s with the right crossover components and driver choices. FWIW, I have very little experience with 2-channel setups, so keep my explanations above with that in mind :)
     
  12. dubharmonic

    dubharmonic Friend

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    Just arrived, I have a bright blue PanAm bag, heading towards to Ear Gear!
     
  13. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I only spent half a day on Saturday and didn't really get to talk to as many folks as I meant to.
    I didn't do much ear gear listening, but I did listen to a few things:

    1. Campfire Audio Comet - Nice build quality, weird fit/positioning, sounded too thin and brittle out of my Note 8 (likely due to an impedance mismatch). Technicalities were better than my Shure SE215s, but ended up not being as pleasant a listen. Even if I were to find a DAP or other device with a better match, I don't think I would like them sticking out of my ears the way they do. I still prefer the stage monitor styled up around the ear fit.

    2. Emu prototype? - Based around the same CAL! driver that their Massdrop Purpleheart portable headphone uses, these has a semi-open wood shell. They sounded pretty good if a little congested in the middle, and they didn't really sound open despite not being closed, but for the $75 asking price, I was impressed. The whole table was filled with wood porn, with cups in various states of production. While I didn't listen to the larger Teaks that looks like Denons, I almost wanted to buy one because of the vast array of wood now available, including some incredible ebony.

    3. Sennheiser HD820 - I almost didn't listen to them because I simply won't pay anything close to $2400 for a pair of headphones, but curiosity got the best of me. Love the new pads, the isolation was pretty good, and they sounded like HD800s with slightly less piercing treble, slightly smaller and less diffuse soundstage and muddier bass. It was unfamiliar music out of an HDV 820, so I couldn't really get any more out of the demo.

    4. Hifiman Susvara - Despite being instantly turned off by the stand offish bearded dude manning the table, I gave these a listen. Nicely balanced, comfortable, shitty rubber cable, and way too expensive. I mean they were good, but $6K is China money pricing - not in line with how much "better" it might be than the older generations of Hifiman headphones or in comparison to my reference HD650M.

    5. Mysphere 3.1 - Stumbled upon these in the Woo Audio baller lounge and even had a nice chat with Jack Wu about them. They are an interesting evolution of the K1000 paradigm and they did a good job of sounding a bit more spacious like speakers, but $4K? Hell no. Nicely and thoughtfully engineered with nearly everything removable/dismantle-able due to magnets, they were comfortable enough if a little heavy. The sound was reasonably well balanced, but wasn't detailed or big enough sounding to even come close to justifying the price tag. I feel like I needed more volume so that the sound completely enveloped me, but then it was simply too loud to listen to.

    6. Stax 404 super special edition and SR009 - I am not entirely sure what the exact model was, but apparently only 1000 were made. I was suprised at how much I liked them. A lot fuller sounding than I was expecting. Not as much air as the SR009 also plugged into the same Woo 3ES, but a more natural sound. I liked the SR009 less than I remembered. It was technically beautiful as I remember, but it seemed too distant. Like watching perfect elves walking through the forest at a distance as they left Middle Earth. Beautiful, amazing, but too far away to actually feel real. Not my cup of tea.

    And despite spending a lot of time at the ZMF table talking to people, I forgot to listen to the Auteur. I will have to stop the ZMF corporate headquarters some time and do an extended listen, as they were by far my girlfriend's favorite LOOKING headphones.

    Since I am "done for now" with headphones, I was more excited to listen to speakers - I wanted to get a high end reference sound to pursue as I build/buy better 2 channel gear. I only spent a few minutes in some of the way too many listening rooms before I got partial hearing damage and overall ear fatigue. I was actually taken back a little by how crappy a lot of the speakers I listened to sounded. I am sure it had a lot to do with the fact that these were all set up in small hotel rooms with varying levels of room treatments, but it was still shocking how bad some sounded - like how the hell would they convince anyone to buy them after listening to them. I did a poor job of recording speaker models since none were within 2 digits of my budget, but I at least go the brands.

    1. Lumenwhite Kyara? - These blew me away. These were Holy Shit good. Unreal realism, staging, voicing, tonal balance. If these sounded this good in a tiny, barely treated hotel room, how good would they sound in a properly set up space? At $40K a pair, though, they will never be mine. At least I know now how good a set of speakers can sound now.

    2. Graham Audio ??? - Big 70's looking boxes with fabric fronts. I think based on some classic British monitors. These sounded fantastic. Big, spacious sound without doing the diffuse, ethereal thing. Rendered male voices very well. Maybe a little scooped out in the mids, but they were playing a 50's recording so it could have just been the songs. More approachable at $13K, but still way out there.

    3. Salk Audio Song 3 - Disappointed again by these. Heard these last year off of a Schiit stack and was underwhelmed. This time non Schiit stack and still underwhelmed. Bass was a muddy mess and they were quite shouty. Maybe these are more sensitive to the room, as many people rave about Salk, but these might have been the worst speakers I listened to at the show.

    4. Avantgarde Trio? - These were ridiculously large horns in a small suite and they were played WAY TOO LOUDLY. I understand that the ORFAS crowd are basically deaf already, but the couches were way too close and my left ear was ringing for nearly an hour after escaping from horn hell. These belonged in an auditorium with the way they beam up close. They were impressive looking, and probably would have sounded amazingly dynamic, but jeebus.

    5. Pure Audio Project 15 and 10 - I was excited to listen to these, as they have gotten some good reviews, I am intrigued by the open baffle concept, they look very nice, and I can buy the components from PAP, build my own baffles and save thousands. I listened to the 10's with the Voxativ full range and thought they were nice. They weren't being played loud enough for the classical that was being played, so I don't think I got as full or dynamic a sound as I thought I would. The imaging was pretty good, and I still want to hear these again. The 15's had a horn full range that I hadn't seen as an option before, and I was immediately apprehensive after having just been aurally assaulted earlier. Sure enough, and especially because I was sitting almost directly in front of the right speaker, I got the painful beaming effect from the horns. With the 15inch bass drivers, the bass had a lot more of the impact and fullness that I would want from a speaker. I wish they had stuck with the Voxativ or other full range drivers so I could have gotten a better idea of how they sounded in this setup, but maybe next time. I am intrigued enough that I might build the 10's with the Tang Bands some time in the next couple years.

    6. MBL something or others - Someone was raving about these in the headphone area so I went to check them out. They looked like alien technology, which I guess was cool, but I was underwhelmed by the sound. They were going for that diffuse field thing, with drivers facing to the sides to bounce the sound everywhere. If I only listened to background jazz or lounge music, these would have been really good, but it was unnatural the way the music was just floating around everywhere. I am sure some people would love this effect, but it wasn't for me.

    7. Emotiva theater setup - This was the final stop and I was surprised and amused that they were playing the Overwatch cinematic trailer as a demo (apparently someone asked for it). Always fun to check out the setup because they had a ridiculous number of speakers and subs set up for the full Atmos effect, but way too loud again. Only wanted to show my girlfriend what was "normal" for enthusiasts so she would be happy that I was only going for a simple 5.2 setup. Not sure if it worked.

    At this point, I had severe ear fatigue so called it a day. Had a lot of fun showing my girlfriend the insanity of the audio hobby. Wish I had had more time to find and talk to more SBAF folks. Shout out to @ogodei for hanging with me - I had a lot of fun catching up with you.
     
  14. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest

    Would be interested in hearing more impressions of the Spatial Audio X2 modular
     
  15. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Yes a comparison to Spatial Audio would be really, really appreciated.
     
  16. Btdk34

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    Is this pretty typical of horn-type drivers? I’ve heard reviews saying the Horn1 was better than the Voxativ (no idea if this is accurate), but I agree that the beaming was pretty unpleasant, it made the mids/lower treble fairly hot on some tracks. Would a larger room/further away seat placing help this, or is it just a general trait of horns?
     
  17. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    No always but it is common. Like everything, synergy and execution of a product is more important than blanket statements. For example, I heard some great 300B gear on some heavily modified LaScalas - phenomenal!
     
  18. monacelli

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    Thanks for your impressions of these. FWIW, the Comet has a nominal impedance of 48 Ohms at 1 kHz, and a sensitivity of only 97 dB/mW, so I'm not surprised they weren't a good match for a smartphone.
     
  19. bobboxbody

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    I spent some time listening to the Spatial modulars at Axpona today, mostly violin concertos and some jazz. I think they had the most realistic tone/timbre/texture of anything I heard today, much more so than the Pure Audio Project speakers (I preferred the non-horn ones, model 10 I think).

    Other highlights were there Fern/Roby Tower speakers - 2 ways based on Mark audio paper come drivers, great speed and imaging

    I spent a long time at the ZMF table listening to the Atticus/Kenzie combo streaming Tidal - it really helps being able to listen to songs I know rather than endless breathy female jazz vocals that make speakers sound good. Preferred the Atticus to the Eikon and Auteur, hadn't heard any ZMF or amps& sound stuff before today.
     
  20. Btdk34

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    I haven’t seen many reviews of the PAP Beyma Trio15s, but I’d be curious to know how those sound compared to the X2 Modulars since (I think) the X2s also use the Beyma TPL-150/H drivers.
     

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