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2007 International Meet Announcements Thread  

post #1 of 20
3/10/07 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 
ANNOUNCEMENT:
Welcome to the HeadFest 2007 Announcements Thread. We're creating this thread so that you can keep up with news about the meet without having to keep up with each of the individual discussion threads in the 2007 International Head-Fi Meet Forum. If you're coming to the meet, or considering coming, we recommend you subscribe to this thread (use the Thread Tools menu just above this post) so you can be notified automatically when new announcements are posted.

In order to keep this thread a succinct source of news, posting in this thread is limited to Head-Fi's moderators and the organizers of this Meet. To ask questions or discuss any of these announcements, please post in one of the other threads in this forum.
post #2 of 20
3/10/07 at 10:59pm
Thread Starter 

The Basics

Head-Fest 2007: The Second Annual International Head-Fi Meet!

When: April 21-22, 2007. Meet times Sat. 10:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. Sunday 10:00a.m. to 4:00p.m.
Saturday dinner and amp maker panel discussion starting at 7:00p.m. Sunday BBQ lunch at lunchtime.

Where: Radisson Hotel San Jose Airport (generously provided for us at cost by Head-Fier Sleestack).
1471 North Fourth Street
San Jose, California 95112 USA

Reservations: (888) 201-1718
Telephone: (408) 452-0200
Fax: (408) 437-8819


There will be more meet space than we had for the extremely successful First Annual International Head-Fi Meet, including multiple conference rooms plus hotel rooms converted for small break-outs, quiet rooms, additional vendor displays, etc. We will have blocks of rooms with special rates available at the Radisson, as well as another near-by hotel in the Sleestack empire.

Tyll Herstens is working with us in the same important roles he filled this year, and he is especially focusing on increasing the already excellent vendor participation. Lots of audio companies are kicking themselves for missing the first one and do not intend to make the same mistake next year! For our part, with all this advance notice and with more space for the meet, we hope to dramatically increase the member turnout for BOTH days as well. Start making your plans NOW!

That's about all we can tell you at this point...details about registration, table availability, room rates, etc. will be coming soon.

We'd really like to build on the immense success of the 2006 meet, but Aaron & crew did such a great job, we're going to need a lot of help to make it happen. There will be plenty of volunteer opportunities at the actual meet, and those will get sorted out later on. Coming up much sooner however, we have some larger, more strategic roles that need to be filled. Please post in this thread if you're interested in taking on one of these highly visible positions. Note: leaving a post here does not commit you to anything, it just lets us know who is interested once we start putting together the uber-team. Residence is the Bay Area/California is a plus, but not mandatory.

We are confident that the Head-Fi community can come together for another awesome weekend. See you all in April!


Register for the meet by clicking here!

Complete list of everyone registered so far.

List of vendors attending and presenting at the meet.


Driving Directions - Radisson Hotel San Jose Airport:

From San Jose International Airport:
1: Start out going NORTHEAST on AIRPORT PKWY toward TECHNOLOGY DR.
2: Turn RIGHT onto OLD BAYSHORE HWY. 0.4 miles
3: Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto N 4TH ST. 0.4 miles
4: End at 1471 N 4th St, San Jose, CA
Total Est. Time: 3 minutesTotal Est. Distance: 1.36 miles

From San Francisco International Airport:
1: Merge onto US-101 S. 32.5 miles
2: Take the BROKAW ROAD exit toward FIRST STREET. 0.2 miles
3: Merge onto OLD BAYSHORE HWY. 0.4 miles
4: Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto N 4TH ST. 0.4 miles
5: End at 1471 N 4th St, San Jose, CA
Total Est. Time: 35 minutesTotal Est. Distance: 33.64 miles



Hotel Accommodations

The room rates are now set for the Sleestack hotels, and Head-Fi members, vendors and guests can reserve rooms starting at 12:00 p.m. Pacific tomorrow, January 31, at both the Radisson San Jose Airport and the Best Western. The rates are going to be a MAXIMUM of $89 per night at the Radisson and $69 per night at the Best Western, and depending on a couple of factors, Sleestack may be able to LOWER the rates as we get closer to the event. The primary way we can get the rates lower is by having a large number of bookings for the Head-Fi event, which is how you need to identify yourselves when you make reservations. Anyone who reserves a room with the Head-Fi Discount will get the lowest discounted rate at the time of the stay--it doesn't matter how early you book the reservation.

Regular posted rates on the Radisson site may change or they may be limited in number. If you are able to get better rates at these hotels through third-party sites or memberships you might have, then congratulations. But, for those identifying themselves as part of the Head-Fi event, you will pay the maximum stated above and may pay less. Sleestack did his best to keep these rates down, and they are really quite excellent especially considering many rooms can be shared.

Here is the the contact and address information for both hotels:

Radisson Hotel San Jose Airport
1471 North Fourth Street
San Jose California 95112 , US
Reservations: (888) 201-1718
Telephone: (408) 452-0200
Fax: (408) 437-8819


Best Western Gateway Inn
2585 Seaboard Avenue
San Jose, California, 95131-1006, US
Phone: 408-435-8800
Fax: 408-435-8879
Toll Free Reservations: 800-437-8855
post #3 of 20
3/10/07 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 

ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW SYSTEM FOR REGISTERING A GUEST

By popular request we have added the ability to register guests for HeadFest 2007. You no longer have to get your guests to sign up as Head-Fi members and then register themselves. (Not that we discourage them from joining up; bringing more enthusiasts into the community is always considered a good thing. But now there's a way to bring a guest without making them join.)

Here's how it works: after you register yourself for the meet, return to the registration page. Now you have the opportunity to register your guest, by signing up for the "Guest Admission (Admit One Guest)" subscription. Do that, and poof, your guest is registered. At the door we'll have one badge for you, and another badge for your guest.

(Your guest gets his or her own badge but doesn't get his or her own separate username or avatar; the badge will simply identify him or her as your guest. If your guest wants to have his or her own "identity," he or she needs to sign up as a member of Head-Fi and then self-register for the meet, just like before.)

What if you're bringing two guests? Then after registering your first guest, return to the registration page once again and sign up for the "Guest Admission (Admit 2nd Guest)" subscription.

That's all there is to it.

Right now the system tops out at two guests per member. If you genuinely foresee bringing more than two guests, and if you want us to build the system up to handle that instead of just asking some of your guests to sign as Head-Fi members themselves, then PM me and I'll see what we can do.

(I'm sure some of you are asking, "why can't I just buy N guest passes instead of buying guest 1 and then guest 2 one at a time?" Yes, we realize it's sort of clunky. The tradeoff for integrating our registration system with the vBulletin software that runs Head-Fi has been that we've had to accept certain vBulletin limitations, at least this time around. Perhaps by next year we'll have had time to engineer something a bit closer to heart's desire.)
post #4 of 20
3/14/07 at 2:46am

HEADFEST wallpapers

I've just uploaded a few wallpapers in preparation for the meet. Visit this thread for more info.
post #5 of 20
3/22/07 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 

Empirical Audio and Reference Audio Mods/Kryophysics

(Originally posted by Voltron)

Adding to our Int'l Meet's great depth in sources, we have two more vendors who are appearing at their first Head-Fi meet. Empirical Audio and Reference Audio Mods/Kryophysics will be presenting their exciting product lines and sharing their knowledge with Head-Fiers looking to get the most out of their front ends. One is focused mostly on computer audio and one is focused mostly on those little silver discs, but both are out to make digital music be all that it can be. Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about OUR wallets!

Here are some details, but check out their websites for more info:

Empirical Audio will be exhibiting a selection of modded and original components at the meet, focused on computer audio. Steve Nugent will be bringing his Benchmark DAC1 Turbomod, along with his own Spoiler USB Tube Dac (if we're lucky!), his Off-Ramp and Off-Ramp WiFi, and USB Freeway which are USB to S/PDIF coaxial converters that allow you to connect your computer to your high-fidelity audio system and play music stored on your hard-disks. Steve should have some other tricks up his sleeve, including some great cables and PSUs and the like, so be sure to check out Empirical Audio's offerings at the meet.

Reference Audio Mods (RAM) will be showing the benefits of modified CD/SACD players and it partnering with Kryophysics to demonstrate the benefits of Cryogenic treatment. RAM is basically taking a "hear for yourself" approach with modded vs. stock comparisons like these:

1. Modified Oppo player
A.Stock
B.Cryogenically treated Stock Player
C.Crogenically treated Modified Player

2. Modified EastSound (Superb Sub 3K solution)
A.Stock
B.Modified

RAM will also be demonstrating the reference quality products by Audio Consulting to show the benefits of using high quality AC transformers and high quality cabling.

Plenty of Head-Fiers are familiar with these folks and own their fine work, but it is a great sign for Head-Fi that they want to exhibit at our event. Plus, it means there will be even more cool stuff to check out on April 21 and 22!

More to follow!
post #6 of 20
3/22/07 at 9:12pm
Thread Starter 

Win a free hotel room night, meal voucher or Ear Candy 1/4 inch to mini.

For any who haven't seen Sleestack's announcement, he is offering a chance to win a free hotel room night, meal voucher or Ear Candy 1/4 inch to mini. Thanks once again to our gracious 2007 Meet host!
post #7 of 20
3/27/07 at 7:06pm

Wes Phillips Returns!



I'm not going to disclose exactly what tactics we used to convince him to do it, but Wes Phillips of Stereophile will be attending Head-Fest and covering the meet for Stereophile. He also will be returning as the moderator of the panel discussion, and surely will do another great job in that role. Thanks Wes!

Now, let's get some more topics for the panel members so that The Monkey can put together some good material for Wes to use!
post #8 of 20
3/27/07 at 8:59pm

Bad News and Good News on the Vendor Front

So, we have heard from two vendors who cannot make the meet after all . . . , . . . but on the other hand, we have two new vendors who are joining the fun!

Unfortunately, Beyerdynamic and Etymotic Research have conflicts on the weekend of the meet, and therefore they both have to bow out. Beyer will be supplying Todd the Vinyl Junkie with its line-up of cans, so attendees can audition them on some of the best gear around! Etymotic and Beyer will be missed, but we hope to see them back in 2008.

Crossroads Accoustics will be making the trip from Singapore to San Jose for the meet, which adds to our international cache! Uncle Wilson of Jaben fame will be attending the meet personally on behalf of Crossroads. Uncle Wilson will have with him the Crossroads line of affordable IEMs -- including two new IEMS that are not yet released and an entry level portable amp! Specifically, Crossroads will be introducing the Mylarone-1, Mylarone-2 and Mylarone-3. The Mylarone-2 & Mylarone-3 have not been released yet, but Uncle Wilson will be sendind some photos before the meet and we will post them up. The portable amp, known as the Crossroads CR-2 will also be making a Head-Fi debut at the meet.

Altec Lansing just contacted us today to attend the show! Altec has partnered with Ultimate Ears to sell Altec-branded UE phones in mainstream commercial outlets. I will update as more details about Altec's plans for the meet emerge.

Dare I say, more to follow . . . ?
post #9 of 20
3/30/07 at 1:30pm
Thread Starter 

Get an avatar! Do it soon!

I did a quick count this morning and over forty percent of those registered for the meet do not yet have an avatar. If you are one of these, I urge you to get one.

Your avatar will appear - prominently - on your HeadFest badge. Without it there will only be a big lonely white space above your name. Either that or, if I find myself in a "creative" mood, an arbitrary "mystery member" image selected by me. You probably don't want that to happen.

Your avatar is part of your online identity, and it really helps people recognize you at meets. It'll usually someone a few seconds at best to match your username to what they remember of your posts, but if you've been posting consistently for a while with the same avatar, people will recognize you by your avatar instantly. "Hey!" they'll think, "It's that guy who looks like Namie Amuro! I've been wanting to talk to him!"

We've tried avatar-badges at meets before, and believe me it really does work this way. Your avatar is the best bridge between the online you and the real-life you.

I say to get an avatar soon because the meet will be upon us in just three short weeks, and your avatar won't help people recognize you unless you've been posting alongside it for a while. It takes time for your image to get established in the minds of your readers, so don't put it off any longer: get an avatar today, or at least this weekend.
post #10 of 20
4/3/07 at 2:32am
Just a heads-up that I merged a few threads and generally cleaned up a bit. With some outside attention, it became readily apparent that our meet forum had gotten a bit sloppy. Hopefully these moves do not offend anyone, and make information a little bit easier to access.
post #11 of 20
4/5/07 at 3:56pm

Head-Fest Gear Available from Cafe Press!

Quote:
Originally Posted by blessingx View Post
In preparation for the International Meet, here are a few commemorative bits of clothing. Shirts, a hat and even some undergarments (for those previously made jokes) are available. The official logo and an alternative design are used. In some cases there are multiple printing options. Items will be for sale till the week after the meet, then I'll take the store down. If you order soon they should arrive before the event. Then you can wear them to the meet and be a total audio geek.



Also don't forget the wallpapers previously posted.
blessingx has generously made his great Head-Fest designs available on clothing items from Cafe Press. Check 'em out!
post #12 of 20
4/5/07 at 7:17pm

DOOR PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Many of our great vendors are donating items for door prizes, so we wanted to post up what we know so far about the goods that are for grabs. Everyone who registers for Head-Fest, including guests, will be entered into the drawings for these fabulous prizes. As one last incentive to pre-register for the Int' Meet, those who pre-register will have two entries in the drawings, while those who register at the door will have only one entry. You do not need to be present to win, but only one prize will be allowed per person. Just to keep it fun, if a pre-registered attendee wins two items, they will have the option of taking the second prize and letting the first one go back into the pool. If any multiple prize winner is not present, then we will default to the first prize awarded. Any winner who is not present will have to make arrangements for shipping.

So, with the formalities out of the way, here is the stuff (although more will be added as vendors inform us of their donations):

Headroom:

A Desktop Amplifier with built-in DAC and preamp function! Beautiful desktop solution for computers or analog sources!

Ultimate Ears:

One pair of Triple.fi 10 Pro and one pair of Super.fi 5 Pro! Three drivers or two, these are both great options for mobile listening!

Head-Direct:

One pair of Yuin PK1 earphones, one pair of Yuin PK2 earphones, a brand new unreleased three MiniBox Silver mini-mini cables! Portable fun for the entire family!

Lavry Engineering:

LavryBlack DA10 stand alone stereo digital to analog converter and state of the art discrete headphone driver all in one! Put your headphones into the Black!

Audio Art Cables:

One 2M foot pair of award-winning SC-5 speaker cables and one 1M pair of award-winning IC-3 RCA interconnects!

Benchmark Media:

A brand new DAC 1 USB two-channel digital-to-analog audio converter and headphone amplifier! Very cool new technology from Benchmark!

Stefan AudioArt:

Equinox HD650/600 Cable, either regular or Limited Edition, up to 12 feet and your choice of connector. Plus a Black Long-Sleeve T-Shirt with Stefan AudioArt logo. Custom work and high fashion too!

RudiStor Sound Systems:

An NKK 01 SE top of range hi-end portable audio amplifier with integrated USB-DAC! Headphone Amp, DAC, transportable, rechargeable, what more could you ask for?

Slim Devices:

Squeezebox 3 Network Music Player! You know you want one!

Reference Audio Mods/Kryophysics:

A stock Oppo 970 CDP as well as a $200.00 voucher for the Oppo cryo treatment by Kryophysics! Cool as ice!

Crossroads Acoustics:

Five portable setups, each including all three models of Mylarone IEMs, plus a CR-2 Amp, plus a Head-Fest logo iPod dock! Just add an iPod and you are rollin’!

KOSS Corporation:

Koss ESP950 Electrostatic Stereophone System, including the ESP950 Electrostatic Stereophone, energizer, battery pack, leather carrying case, connecting cables (straight, dual entry 4 foot cord/6 foot extension), and 120 VAC adapter! Wow!

Shure:

Two pairs each of the brand new SE210 and SE310 IEMs! Pop some black olives on them and there's a party in your head!

Todd the Vinyl Junkie:

Hot off the assembly line, Todd will be donating a TTVJ Millett Hybrid Portable Amp, or TTVJ MHPA for short! These are being built as we type, so there is a chance that the winner will have to wait for it to be shipped. This world-premier little item will be worth the wait!

Woo Audio:

A Woo 3 SET OTL amplifier with preamp output and silver and black Woo Audio aluminum headphone stands! WooT!

Audio Line Out:

Ken is making his newest and bestest Jumbo Cryo X Silver iPod Line-Out Dock for one lucky winner! Which sounds better: Cryorrific! or Cryotastic! Either way, it's so cool it's hot.

Moon Audio:

A pair of Silver Dragon interconnects, up to 3 feet long, with Cardas GRMO RCAs! And just so everyone is clear, Drew cannot even attend the meet! Going the extra mile on top of sponsoring and loaning cables for the K1000 room. Mad props are in order!

Ultrasone

A pair of HFI-2200 ULEs and a pair of shiny new iCans! The Ultrasone site says the HFI-2200 ULE "assures a goose skin feeling" so the winner will have to let us know if it is accurate!

STAX

Two complete electrostatic systems! First, the S-001 Mk2 Portable system, comprised of the SR-001 In-earspeakers and the SRM-001 battery-powered energizer. Electrostats running on 2 AA batteries (or included AC adapter) is amazing! Second, is the SRS-2050II Basic, which includes the SR-202 open-back earspeaker and the SRM-252II energizer. Basic is an understatement!

AAA Audio

An Original Master headphone amp! Ping Gong and AAA Audio are throwing another fine solid state headamp into the prize pool!

Ray Samuels Audio

An Emmeline "The Tomahawk" Portable IEM amplifier, *possibly* in a fancy new color! Ray is flinging a Tomahawk to sweeten the fat pot of door prizes, and he hopes to have one of the new color models available to make it that much more special.

Mystery Head-Fier

Two Mystery Boxes are being donated by an anonymous and rather mysterious Head-Fier. All we have available are the names: Mystery Box #1 is known as "The Portable Trifecta"! Mystery Box #2 is known as "The Box of Snakes"! Who will win these prizes will remain a mystery until the weekend of April 21-22. Wait, that's only 10 days away!!!

Sennheiser

Sennheiser's offerings are the impossible-to-find (even for them) 60th Anniversary HD555 Aqua Blue that were released in 2005, and the brand new, unreleased PX450 active/passive noise cancelling travel headphones! Or as I like to call them: something old, something new, something portable, something blue!

SinglePower Audio

A brand new SinglePower Squarewave amp! Mikhail is keeping mum about the details, but this is a new offering that will have its debut at the Meet. Sweet!

Westone

A triple play in honor of their new release: a Westone UM1, a Westone UM2, and a Westone 3 (shipped to the winner in time for the release date). That ought to make for three happy Head-Fiers!

V-Moda and Altec Lansing

Although neither of them will be able to exhibit at the meet, they are both donating prizes! Specifics will be announced when we have them, but thanks to both for adding to the pot!

MASantos

Manuel is donating some cables of his own design and fabrication! The Black Beauties (my name, not his) are RCA-RCA interconnects, 2.6 feet long, with black sleeves and black connectors. The Silver Plated Copper wire with teflon insulation has a 2x4 wire braid per cable (for 16 wires in total), use silver solder throughout, and terminate in Neutrik NYS RCA plugs with gold contacts. That's a lot of great components and a lot of hard work to construct. Thanks for pitching in!


**Note the new rules above regarding drawing entries for pre-registered attendees!**
post #13 of 20
4/11/07 at 6:58pm

The Monkey's Panel Discussion Topic Thread Will Be Closing Down This Weekend!

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Monkey View Post
Voltron has shared with me some exciting details about the Head-Fest 2007 Panel Discussion. We're pleased to announce that this year's panel will be made up of headphone amplifier designers and manufacturers. The event will take place on April 21st at 7:00 PM during dinner. Thus far, the panel is made up of the following amp makers/designers: Tyll Hertsens (HeadRoom), Pete Millett (amp guru), Mikhail Rotenberg (Singlepower Audio), Ray Samuels (Ray Samuels Audio), Rudi Stor (RudiStor Systems), Craig Uthus (Eddie Current), and Justin Wilson (HeadAmp). Wes Phillips of Stereophile will return as moderator of the panel discussion. Heavy hitters indeed! More panel members are being discussed and this post will be updated with additions accordingly. Sennheiser has graciously agreed to provide and set up the microphones for this great event.

Like last year, we are asking the Head-Fi community to sugest topics and questions that you would like the Panel to address during the discussion. This idea worked very well last year with Wes incorporating many of our suggestions as he guided the discussion. So please post your proposed topics and questions in this thread. Of course, even if you can't attend, we welcome your valuable input here.

I don't think I am alone in my opinion that the panel discussion was one of the highlights of last year's International Meet. Your questions will play an important role in duplicating that success. And so, to echo immtbiker's words from last year, let the brainstorming begin!
The Monkey will be shutting down his panel topic thread this weekend so that he can summarize the ideas for Wes Phillips. Get your ideas in while you can!
post #14 of 20
4/11/07 at 10:16pm
Thread Starter 

Registration cutoff Thursday 4/19

The last day to register for the Meet and get a customized badge will be Thursday April 19th.

After that date you may still be able to register online (no promises), but instead of a cool personalized badge preprinted with your username and avatar, you'll get a boring generic badge. One with your username scribbled on it with a felt-tip pen.

The choice is yours.

Just to be clear, I'm not being mean and arbitrary here. We need a day to physically produce the badges, and the day between Thursday and the start of the Meet is that day. If your registration's not in by the time I start, I'll have to put you on the 'generic' pile.

Also, a word to those of you who don't have avatars yet. You really ought to get one. I think you'll be sorry if you come to the Meet and people are squinting to read your username off your badge instead of glancing at your avatar and recognizing you immediately. Thursday's the last day to input/update your avatars too.
post #15 of 20
4/17/07 at 1:50am
Thread Starter 

Video recordists (or webcasters) needed

Originally posted by clarke68 in the Volunteer thread:

Emergency Volunteer Opportunity!!!

Head-Fi member Stevesurf, who did the webcast for last year's meet and generously offered to do the same this year, is suddenly unable to make it because his girlfriend will likely need to go to the hospital. Please send your thoughts/prayers/good vibes to Steve...and all those even remotely talented with a video camera, please let us know if you're able to video the panel discussion or any of the lectures.

Thanks!
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