Chicago Meet Impressions 5/14/11

Let me be the first to thank Ray, his wife and sister for letting us hold the Head-Fi meet at their place.  As always the hospitality and food were to die for.  You never walk away hungry from a meet here.  The mid afternoon snacks and the fantastic dinner made you feel everything came from a 5 star restaurant.

The much anticipated "Dark Star" had been circling overhead and landed with a lot of power and authority and it tasted great too!!!!!!!!

The cake came way of a local bakery here in Central Illinois and was spotted flying alongside the Dark Star.

I enjoyed meeting everyone and had a great time being chatty Cathy as seems to be the norm, though I did spend some time now and then with my own rig as WyWires, who was one of the friends to ChiUniFi IV, had sent me their just released USB cable to audition.  I ran it between my laptop and my PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC.  I normally listen through the internal bridge with a built in digital lense lately but with the new USB, I would say it was close to 90-95 percent of the sound quality through the bridge.  And this is not one of those really high priced USB cables as it is currently being offered at $259 for a 1.5 meter cable.  However, some might say I maybe biased so I will let others comment on actual sound quality.  I brought my HE-6s with a TWag v1 cable connected balance to my SR-71B.  The DAC was connected balance to the SR-71B with the new Whiplash Audio TWag v2 cable.

The pictures from my phone didn't come out well so I won't post them as I know Charles and Warp08 took quite a few pictures with some really nice cameras.

Do look forward to the pictures, BTW did Ray have a surprise amp unveiling?

Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time. Looking forward to the pics and impressions. Especially Ray's Dark Star.

I'll make this quick for now, as I have to tend to some other stuff.

First, a huge thanks to Ray and his entire family for welcoming us into their home for this meet.  As anyone who was there will surely attest, it would be hard to find more gracious hosts.

Second, thanks to Steve for setting this whole thing into motion.  I've organized a few meets, and it can be a lot of work.  The best ones go smoothly because of all the leg-work behind the scenes.

Third, thanks to everyone who brought gear and music to share with everyone.  There was so much, including a wealth of riches in the form of orthodynamic headphones.

Like Steve, it seemed like I spent so much of my time just catching up with everyone.  It's great to meet newer folks, and as one of the resident old timers, it's great to catch up with folks I've known both online and otherwise for so many years.

I'll be posting impressiongs later...it's been quite a weekend.  That big soccer game that I was babbling about....they won, and a certain goalie was a BIG part of the win.  His dad is very proud. 

Here is a really bad picture of the new Dark Star.  The only thing Ray didn't have a chance to finish was the silk screening.  The case design is based on his A-10 Thunderbolt but this time the sides are brush gold.  It has high and low gain along with both the 4 pin XLR and dual 3 pin XLR and the standard 1/4" for those wanting to use single ended.  It has 4 inputs on the back with 2 balance inputs and 2 single ended.  Like his preamps, the single ended become balance.  I don't recall all the specs but it puts out up to 150 watts in balance and I think 85 in single ended.  I believe well over 50% of the output is pure Class A before going into Class AB.  What a beast.  Ask Billy about the volume capability of this amp.

Rays Meridian 508.24 with a SR-71B and balanced HD-600

My setup at the meet, Toshiba laptop running iTunes with WyWires USB to PS Audio PWD with TWag v2 balanced to my SR-71B driving my HE-6s balanced with TWag v1.  I did bring an HM-602 for some to try as well and it is behind the SR-71B

Ray's massive Boulder CD Player

This is one of the Cary 805C that has about the same power as the new Dark Star.

And here is a blurry picture of Ray.  Maybe you can think what he is talking about.

Charles,  thanks for the great pictures.  Glad you were able to make the meet.

You had to be there for when the vinyl was playing.  To start with everyone was sitting and listening after Ray put on the above record but there were some unusual looks, including from Ray.  Boy that last digital sounded a lot like this vinyl.  (Note:  forgot to change the input selected to phono).  Next up, the digital camp jump on the wording on an album cover, "digitally remastered".  Now that brought out a few laughs from all.  

All i can say after my first head-fi meet-up is Wow.

Ray's generosity in opening his home to us is unparalleled.

I don't eat as well or receive as warm a greeting from my own family.

Being able to listen to state of the art equipment and enjoy an open dialogue with fellow head-fiers is really a pleasure.

Thanks to Ray and his family for their enormous hospitality.

I enjoyed meeting all of the long time members and learn more about our favorite hobby.

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Kind regards,
Chris

Thanks guys.  My impressions of the Dark Star is documented here:  http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/554057/ray-samuels-dark-star-initial-impressions-chicago-minimeet-may14-2011#post_7474613  Feel free to add, distract or comment.

Glad to have met you all.

How could I miss something like this. I have to watch these threads more....

I have promised the manufacturer, Frost Audio that I would post a link to their website in exchange for loaning us their BlackFrost RCA interconnect prototypes we have favorably compared in an A/B parallel setting on the B52/Meridian G08 with Ray's R10s.  Both Ray and I concluded the BlackFrost had bettered Ray's own MIT Terminator XLR Balanced cable despite being single-ended.  The feat in this is that the B52 does not have a phase splitter circuitry like other RSA balanced amps, and usually you can immediately notice the difference in layering and the sound stage of the presentation of the sound when you A/B a balanced vs. single-ended IC between the source and the amp.  The fact the BlackFrost prototype was able to outperform the Terminator balanced IC, is nothing sort of amazing.  Just wanted to emphasize it.

Those of you who listened to the R10s, in fact, listened to this cable.  Frost Audio is a startup company, but their pricing is extremely reasonable for the performance you're getting and is a fraction to what some other manufacturers charge for their comparable products.  If you liked what you heard, feel free to follow up directly with them for additional details.

More info on the Frost Audio BlackFrost line can be found at:  http://frost-audio.com/blackfrost  Dev Avidon is also on Head-Fi, you can also PM him with any questions.  Dev is a very nice, knowledgeable guy to deal with.

Full disclosure:  I have no financial interest in this company.  I'm currently evaluating the RCA cable and will be evaluating more of their stuff.  An offer to purchase what I like at a reviewer's discount has been extended to me, which I may take advantage of that should I deem them to have better synergy with my system than my currently used ones.

Thanks so much for the shout-out, I'm stoked as all get-out to get started here.  Glad our first impression was a good one!

Wow, the R10/B52 rig sounded amazing.

One of my top listening sessions of all time.

I will definitely check out frost.

Thanks

Like Chris (attilahun), this was my first meet.  I wasn’t sure what to expect; but definitely had a great time.  Never been around so much high end product before.  I spent the first hour just gawking.

Thanks to Steve for coordinating and Ray and his family for hosting and feeding everyone (awesome food).  Also thanks to everyone for letting me listen in on the conversations and listening to everyone’s equipment (especially Ray’s great lineup of products!)  I learned plenty from the group and the event!