January 16th Orange County Meet Impressions

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by Luckbad, Jan 16, 2016.

  1. insidious meme

    insidious meme Ambivalent Kumquat

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    What blows was that I didn't hear anything on that table other than my own stuff. The EAR gear was always being listened to when I got back around that area, and clem and ohgurami seemed to switching their gear a bit, and then people were listening to headphones off the First Watt and/or the Krell. Popular place to hang.
     
  2. shaizada

    shaizada Friend

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    Hey folks, thanks for making this a fantastic meet. I really enjoyed it and everyone made it so easy to just have fun! Glad it all worked out in the end.

    Also, a special thanks to Audiofrk for going out of his way to make all the small and not so small arrangements. This meet would not have happened without him.

    I just provided the venue, but it really was Audiofrk's work that made it happen.

    A small request from my side, Audiofrk spent about $160 of his own money to arrange tables, chairs, snacks etc. if the group can just send him some funds to clear that balance (just the attendees) that would help. If u were at the meet and didn't get a chance, please send him about $10 or so via PayPal. Some people already paid him at the meet. I don't know his PayPal address, but he can post it here. Thanks!!!!

    Audiofrk, if for some reason you don't get back all the $160, let me know the balance left and I'll fill the gap of what's left. Thank you for all u did!

    Marv, thanks for leaving the Studio for me to listen to! I appreciate it. Difficult to hear things in a meet environment, but this way I can really listen to it in calm and silence :)

    For the EAR gear hooked up to the headphones, that setup was provided by Bob Levi as I wanted the group to get a chance to hear it. Only the EAR speaker amp in that setup was mine:

    1) EAR 834 Integrated 50 Watt amp driving AKG 1000
    2) EAR HP4 driving Grado PS1000e
    3) AK240 with flac and DSD files as source
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2016
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Vintage digital:

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  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This was a nice surprise. I was never a big fan of the K1000, but wow. Bass! We are talking bass, warm, lush... on the bass light K1000 as well. The K1000 was being powered by the EAR integrated on the right. Despite a mere workable source (AK240), the is probably the best K1000 rig I've heard yet. The Ear HP4 dedicated headamp is on the left (not used).

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  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    A table decoration.
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    How to be prepared for meets.
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  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Strange, I don't remember my Schiit stack sounding as good. Must be the tube rolling.
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    FWIW, when I first heard it, everything sounded totally fucked up. Immediately checked JRiver. EQ, Crossfeed, etc. all sorts of crap was turned on. Can't fool me. The secret is knowing the specific recordings and masters. If I don't know the specific recording, then I won't comment on gear.
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    I have idea what this is. Probably an antennae or shield of some sort.
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  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    That is what it takes to run the HE6. I forgot to take the picture of @ohhgourami's 175 lbs. Krell. It was on the floor.

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  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Extended range driver club.
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    Photos do not do justice to the Micro-Seiki turntable (on left).
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    Last edited: Jan 17, 2016
  9. FlySweep

    FlySweep Friend

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    ** Easter egg / Schiitboard w/o case next to Merv's Modi/Vali2 stack spotted **

    SPILL IT GUYS !
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    @n3rdling's DIY stat. A cross between the Orpheus and original Omega sound. Pretty amazing. DIY might be the way to go given current pricing on newer stats, Sennheiser, cough, cough, cough.
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    Headamp Aristaeus. Fantastic tube amp for stats.
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  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  13. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    w00t.

    Jesus, did I just say w00t... Just report me.
     
  14. TMoney

    TMoney Shits on SBAF over at Head-Case to be cool

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    Holy shit you guys had a lot of choice rigs. Maybe the most impressive gear at a meet I can remember.
     
  15. insidious meme

    insidious meme Ambivalent Kumquat

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    Last time i checked, Schiit doesn't announce stuff during informal meets.
     
  16. Andre Y

    Andre Y Friend

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    Wow, that was fun! Thanks first of all to @shaizada for hosting us all in his house, and @audiofrk for organizing things and making a meet n00b like myself feel welcome!

    @shaizada's speaker rig is something else, and I never pictured myself saying, "Can I listen to this album with this arm and cartridge on that table?" :) Thanks for sharing your amazing system!

    There were so many interesting rigs around it was kind of sensory overload, and a bit hard to tell sound quality because of the noisey environment, but it was fun trying anyway. Some things I got to listen to:

    @n3rdling's DIY stats sounded really good, but perhaps a bit less sensitive, so you really had to turn the volume up. It had transparency, but without the thinness that my HE60s had on their stock amps. Also, thanks for letting me know about the O-rings failing on the HE60: I didn't even know about that before.

    @schiit's stack was good too, but on unfamiliar headphones (Massdrop Fostex, some orthos). Vali 2 was cute as heck in real life. Also, it's great that Jason can find the time to hang out all day with fellow enthusiasts.

    @Bill-P's modded 580s sounded good, and somewhat unilke regular 580s, though it's been a while since I've heard a 580. They were rather forward in the midrange. It was not an unpleasant experience. It was also cool to kind of geek out on cameras. Later on we listened to his 580s vs. a pair of SBAF-modded 800s on both the Black Widow and Torpedo 3 (two amps I wanted to hear, too), and we mostly compared the soundstaging of both headphones which are about as different as night and day.

    The 580 has a very intimate presentation with relative little sense of the space when compared to the 800s, but the 800s didn't hit as hard in mid and lower bass. The 580 made it sound like the singer is singing right into the mic, with little room sound whereas the 800s placed the singer in the room. Both are valid presentations, and really depends on what music you're listening to. Also, thanks for showing me how to tell which version of Hotel California is being played!

    Darrin Fong's out-of-the-head demo was interesting too. It externalized for me to the sides and rear, but collapsed in the fronts. Apparently, there are different models you can try to see which works best for you. He was about to leave, so I didn't have a chance to try the other models.

    I had a chance to listen to the EAR setup with the K1000s and Grados. Very nice, though now I remember why I don't listen to my K1000s anymore: the clamping force on the little pads gets painful on my head after a few minutes. It did sound very good. The Grados also felt surprisingly comfortable, like big pillows clamped to my ears.

    Lesson learned: bring a laptop as a source next time. The Raspberry Pi was a bit flakey, and I had to be around to run it so people could listen to my rig (the Theta DAC purrin showed above).

    Thanks everyone, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Thanks for coming Andre. It's always nice to meet new people and see Internet friends in person. We need to do a BIGGER one!
     
  18. Donald North

    Donald North Friend

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    It has been a couple of years since I attended my last meet and it was a lot of fun to see old friends and meet new ones. I would like to thank Shaizada and Audiofrk for generously hosting and arranging this meet.

    Shaizada: I'm inspired to upgrade my phono cartridge to a VDH like you have.

    N3rdling: your DIY Orpheus clones are impressive

    Jason and Purrin: Always fun to talk shop with you two. I need to get myself a pair of those TH-X00 headphones.
     
  19. abernardi

    abernardi Friend

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    Great fun hanging with you guys! This was a real hobbyist's meet, no commercialism, just the love for the obsession! Bravo @audiofrk and @shaizada ! Oh, and hey all, Luis is alive and surviving his current endeavors (I should be so burdened!), great to see you buddy. I also appreciated the hi end speaker system crossover vibe that went on. GREAT meet... more...more...
     
  20. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    So was the schiit thing a new amp(maybe that new balanced topology Jason was talking about?)? Or maybe a new dac?

    Edit: I have a hard time thinking it would be the new Manhattan project/Gadget already
     

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