CanFest 2010 Charlotte, Saturday, August 14, 2010

Ray with the Hooters girls. Great photo op!

Nice gear spread, especially the Pete Millet 307A.

Hooters? Almost worth the trip ...

Thanks to Danny and other locals for putting this together. Thanks to the many notable vendors who made the trip to Charlotte, and thanks to Ken from ALO for sending a loaner set of ALO-cabled Audeze LCD2 planer phones.

Disclosure

I help Vinnie with Red Wine Audio's web site. I have no affiliation with ALO. I was a Red Wine Audio customer approximately four years prior to my current contract role, so I'm a believer.

Most Interesting Sight

See first photo.

Best Sound

Joseph Grado’s home recordings via his specialized transducers (mics?), via Nagra digital recorder and his vintage highly customized phones.

What I heard was more along the lines of recorded sounds (bells, doors being closed, human voice) than music in a traditional sense. None the less, the sound was very real.

Favorite Cans I Listened To

I’ve have to go with Ken’s LCD-2 loaners. Not perfect, but very natural bass and mids. Mids and bass on the LCD-2s are extremely good. The weakest area IMO was the highs felt somewhat rolled off. In terms of dynamic headphones, LCD-2s rank number 2 in my book (based on what I've heard). For dynamic cans, my old K1000s via 30.2 are still my reference (...and yes, I can handle lean bass).

Special Recognition

Pierre from Mapleshade Records came by my table. His entire recording process is off the grid, so he was interested to hear the LFP-V Edition with LiFePO4 battery. He knew enough about batteries to know what this was.

To the point, with a Macbook as source, he burned a copy of his recording of Kendra Shank, Afterglow http://mapleshaderecords.com/cds/02132.php

Ballads in what sounds like a live recording, yet I’m sure it’s studio. When I got home I played it through my Alnico single drivers. Uncanny (no pun intended) detail and air. Fantastic recording. Thank you Pierre!

Other

Spent time with a number of (relatively) budget-priced phones like K701s and HD 650s and a handful of Grados. I continue to like the K701s. They are a little lean on bass, but their faults are (IMO, on the gear I've heard them on) more of omission rather than adding bad stuff. For a street price of mid $200s, on my LFP-V Edition and the Woo 5, these phones were very easy to listen to.

Spent some time with the Woo 5. Very impressive headphone amp. Different strengths compared to my HPA, but certainly sounded like a great headamp for the price. On this amp I tried k-701s, LCD-2s and Beyer T-1s (I think I got that right). Of the three, LCD-2s were my favored pairing.

Most Interesting Experience of the Day

I had a chance to A/B an SLA RWA Isabellina HPA with my Isabellina HPA LFP-V Edition. Here’s a snippet of my post on AudioCircle…

Had a chance to put an SLA HPA directly against my HPA LFP-V. Same source (Macbook via USB), same USB cable (stock RWA), same headphones (Audeze lcd2 planer phone [$1,000]) with ALO recable (price unknown).

I own the following DACs in order of preference:

HPA LFP-V, fixed outputs - Amperex 7308
Wavelength Cosecant V3 Async USB – a few NOS tubes - Numerator 24/96 DAC Module

Isabellina (in SLA Isabella) - Amperex 7308s

I used Diana Krall’s Live In Paris, I've Got You Under My Skin. I know this cut inside and out and find it great for evaluating equipment. Starts with clarinet and flute, then layers in percussion, bass, strings, vocals, piano, etc. Good sense of hall ambience.

What I Heard

Bear in mind, this is a fairly brief listen in less than ideal environment. But two things jumped out:

The flute and clarinet were significantly more organic, with greater dimension and just plain old more realistic overtones / timbre. The room got larger, especially in terms of bass, and the bass was more natural with the LFP-V.

This was not like comparing two $500 ICs where I usually need to A/B a few times to begin to figure out which is better and why (...and even then I sometimes scratch my head  ). The delta was along the lines of what I experienced when I first added the Isabella as a front end to my Signature 30.2.

Great to see the vendors and local Headi members. Thanks again Danny for hosting a great event.

Kent

Highlights:

-Winning the Xciter DAC!

-Meeting Fang from Head-Direct, Nicole and Drew from Moon Audio, Jack Woo, and Craig from Whiplash Audio

-Ray's HE60 with the A-10, hands down the best system there. The music sounded like a real jazz performance. Totally blew away all the dynamics there

-Woo WA2 with K701, I never knew the K701 bass could be so nicely controlled and impactful

-The guy who brought his Zana Deux, can't remember his name

-LIstening to the R10 for the first time. I wouldn't say it was better than the other top end headphones, but it was intensely musical

-Thanks to Kent for letting me listen to the LCD-2

Hi Guys ... I posted this in the original Canfest thread, but figured I should also post it here.

Looking good!

Especially with those blondes around.. he he

This picture is great.  

Any impression on Jack's WEE?

Was the SR-71B at the meet.  If so, any comments on how it compared to the Protector?

The other was the New Whiplash Audio iMod and reference cable, any comments on this new release?  Maybe the combination of this with the new SR-71B?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio Addict 
This picture is great.  

Ray's the Man!!! 

Hey Miguel,

Had I known about that, I might have drove all the way down!

Hope you all had a great time!

Vinnie

Comments on the WEE and SR-71B.

The WEE was very good. I gave Jack a check for one. Here's my take on it. The WEE, similar to "orphan drugs" is an orphan audio accessory. I think it is a no brainer for those who have electrostatic headphones, and the financial ability to afford one. It is definitely a no brainer for those who don't want, or can't afford, a dedicated stat amp. This also helps to support and encourage people like Jack to continue to develop these odd ball items which help us in our hobby. Jack is not going to get rich off this product and clearly it is a labor of love with minimal profit. So, order one if you can afford it and enjoy your stats with this great little device. Oh, and how did it sound? Under show conditions....Wonderful! I did not feel there was any disadvantage to it, that I could detect, compared to my KGSS. Am I ready to get rid of my KGSS? Maybe, but I have to spend a little more time with the WEE on my Aragons and compare it to the KGSS in my usual listening environment. I am very reluctant to give up my KGSS but if the WEE is as good as I think it is, after a little more time with it, the KGSS is a goner with no regret. I will not have my WEE for another couple of months so the final disposition will have to wait.

The SR-71B---I won't tell you what I AB'd this with but it was top notch and much much more expensive. Simply put, I would be happy to live with the SR-71B. I used HD600s with them and compared it to HD800s and a world class amp. The SR71B held its own. It was bread boarded, but assuming the final product is similar to what I heard, it was scary good, very scary good. I am planning to purchase one of the first ones when available.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannyB 

The SR-71B---I won't tell you what I AB'd this with but it was top notch and much much more expensive. Simply put, I would be happy to live with the SR-71B. I used HD600s with them and compared it to HD800s and a world class amp. The SR71B held its own. It was bread boarded, but assuming the final product is similar to what I heard, it was scary good, very scary good. I am planning to purchase one of the first ones when available.

So what source were you using?  Was there a interconnects terminated with the Protector balance plug that you used that Ray maybe used with his G08?

Wow tvrboy congrats on winning the xciter :)  You're a good guy so I'm glad it went to you.

I am in one of the pics. Wow lol. But I had a great time. I never realized, not to offend any one, how old everyone is lol. I have talked with all of these people online and it just never clicked lol. But I will be one to carry on the tradition. :)