SEATTLE MEET @ FRONT PANEL EXPRESS 1/21/2012 - Page 4

My shoulder is still complaining about the setup and tear down ritual.

First of all, thank you to Front Panel Express and Gil for hosting/organizing this event, it was a really fun meet.

Secondly, thank you to Doc B for bringing a pair of HD800's as well as the elaborate-looking Bottlehead rig.

Prior to the meet, I was really only interested in the headphone aspect of hi-fi gear. After the meet however, now I'm really interested in DAC's and tube amps. 

The Bottlehead Crack rig was really nice-sounding with my Shure headphones. On the topic of that rig, Doc, what was the Crack amp hooked up to (DAC)?

It was really neat to see the Thunderpants in person. I must say, they are really beautifully-crafted headphones.

The next task in my journey of hi-fi reproduction is to learn more about the concept of synergy.

Once again, time well spent.  Did not have the mental energy to focus much on listening to various set ups as I did not hit the pillow until 2 am the night before and had to shovel snow off of 75 feet of driveway the next morning just to get out and on the clear pavement before packing up...I was wiped, but it was good to see everyone again and to extend welcomes to the new faces.  So my apologies to some of you who might have wanted to yak it up with me only to find me a bit too serious looking....had no intention of being rude....

Big Poppa and the Front Panel Team really do deserve all the accolades and thanks extended and then some.  The cool vibes kept me smiling.  I also appreciate the thorough professionalism and passion the MOTs brought to the event...

Quick impressions: I was taken aback by the very nice sound produced through the tiny, yet powerful, amp PB made and would like to get my hands on one.  I also quite liked the tube amp that Scott Bradley made (really good for those cold winter months, too...). 

As for headphones, I was mostly listening to closed cans because at the levels I listen to,

open-cans emanate too much sound, as Equus well knows.  I did not want to be a bother....will just find an opportunity to listen more closely to amp synergies with the LCD-2/HE-XXX cans some other way.  So having said that, I enjoyed the 40th Anniversary AT-5000Ws very much, given that the AD-2000 is my go to unit for acoustic and female jazz, however a bit bright and 2 dimensional on some recordings...compared thereto the closed-back 5kW's sort of reined in the treble and made it more laid back/natural sounding...but at its price point, I think there are better cans out there, however open-backed....choices, choices...aaah....If they go down in price and I have the moolah to sneak past that velvet hammer.....

I also appreciated the price-performance ratio of the Fisher's that Sentient brought...lovely to look at and very nice sounding, though I only spent a couple of minutes with it.  However, it seems to have been built for people who have small heads/long faces..but it was brand new almost so perhaps the headband did not get enough flex, much like a new shoe needs some walking to feel right.

As for the Sansui 9090 that Big P brought...I don't know if anyone cares here, but vintage integrated amps/receivers put alot of today's builds to shame.  The Sansui is one of those and was built before quite a few of the attendees were even in fate's line of sight to be born into this hobby.

Once again, thanks for this kind of thing....and the friendliness all around.  I was happy to go home knowing that my K702s and ATHs were not damaged, as I had been told was the case.  Turns out my beloved Pioneer SX-1250 may have need for some internal repair, so a Marantz 2275 is doing backup for it while I figure out what to do next.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

Secondly, thank you to Doc B for bringing a pair of HD800's as well as the elaborate-looking Bottlehead rig.

 

Prior to the meet, I was really only interested in the headphone aspect of hi-fi gear. After the meet however, now I'm really interested in DAC's and tube amps. 

 

The Bottlehead Crack rig was really nice-sounding with my Shure headphones. On the topic of that rig, Doc, what was the Crack amp hooked up to (DAC)?

 

 

 

Yes, we were running a proof of concept prototype of our DAC. The DAC uses a PCM 1704 chip and a lot of little tricks to keep jitter way down, and this version one was running with 6922s and 300Bs for the tube output. All files were 16/44 AIFF or WAV running on a mac mini and the software was the latest version of Amarra.

The prototype looks very different than what we have in mind for the production model. There is info about the design here:

http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,2265.msg19079.html#msg19079

Lil' Knight thinking this thread is getting a little side tracked. A PM may work a little better. Thanks

I am continuing my trend of changing my setup after going to a meet.

At the office, I am now using the JoLida FX tube DAC I had at the meet, feeding a newly purchased Schiit Asgard (while I love the JoLida FX10 amp I had paired with the DAC at the meet, it is just a bit too large for the office).

The Asgard is breaking in and I am really enjoying the new setup.

Thanks again for a great meet!