Nor-Cal Feb 11/2012 Impressions Thread  

Agreed.  Another great Bay Area Meet by CeeTee and the Bay Area Head Fi Members. 

Heard a number of wonderful headphones, amps and IEMs.  Time to head back home and check the savings account.... (!)

Had a great time listening to awesome rigs and meeting awesome people!

Kinda sad that I lost my beanie though :( 

Very cool!. Answered many questions about my listening preferences and if electrostatic is in my near future. It is. Great turnout and helpful people. Thanks!

I wasn't able to stay as long as I would have liked, but had a great time nonetheless. Had a very nice chat with Purrin (got to listen to his "veil lifting" TP-modded LCD-3's & his modded HD800's), listened to the SR-009 and finally got to hear the Sennheiser Orpheus system....which to these ears was all it has been cracked up to be. 

Congrats to all who helped put the show together. Great job!

I wanted to check out and listen to the Schiit Asgard at their demo table (around 3:30 PM), heard the Schiit Asgard would make my headphones sound better then my Essence STX, but the two company reps. were more interested in talking to each other then paying attention to any potential customers.

I walked up to the Schiit demo table and all the company rep. (the short one) did was step a few inchs out of my way, look at me with a slight glance and then go back to his long conversation with the other company rep.

Next to the Schiit table was Ultimate Ear, their reps was dealing with 3 or 4 customers, but still took the time to read badge, address me by my name and offer a demo.

*continued sobs*

Thanks for all the hard work CT. A few quick shots from the fun...

Definitely, thanks CT for the work organizing this! Also thanks to everyone who brought and exposed their equipment to random people :)

It was really nice to try out so much equipment. Too bad it was a bit noisy background to judge very subtle differences, but it was still really fun to try out all kinds of headphones and amps.

Got home, unpacked and I thought I'd go ahead and start an impressions thread.

Another fantastic meet thanks to Cee Tee!

And it's always a pleasure to have a lovely face to check in with,.. thanks also to Susan.

It looked like most of the 100+ members who posted that they'd attend made it (in spite of the jackknifed big rig on 101!).

I did a good bit of listening which I'll go into detail after a little rest but for me it's all about seeing and rubbing elbows with like minded folks and spending some quality time with long time friends.

Thanks again CeeTee! All your hard work paid off and we all owe you in a big way.

Subscribed! Really eager to hear some impressions of how the various amps meshed with the 009 (BHSE, LL, 727...) keeping in mind the difficult meet listening conditions... 

I must say, we are very lucky in the Bay Area as we have some heavy hitters here who are kind enough to bring out their equipment for others to enjoy and analyze. CT, this is my 3rd year attending (and I'm promising myself to contribute and setup a table next year) and it was by far the most amazing meet yet! I'm so mad I didn't keep track of all the people's avatars that I liked so if you see me mention your equipment, please add your name for recognition and for me to harrass you with follow-up questions :)

So much amazing equipment at the show, but here are my personal favorites:

* LCD-2 Rev. 2 + Eddie Current Super 7 amp >> Wow!! This pair sound amazing!! Deep, clean bass, crisp highs and lots of impact with a black background. -->OWNER= Eddie Current /Craig.U

* LCD 2 + Leben CS300 >> First time I ever heard the Leben. Man, what an awesome, full-sounding amplifier. Retro design really not my type, but it actually looks very nice up front and the sound is crazy good. --> OWNER = ??

* HiFiman 500 + DecaWare Mini Torri >> This amp not only looks amazing but sounds incredible with both the HiFiman and the LCD-2. Had never even heard of it before the show --> OWNER =?? Same guy as above, he had some serious gear!

* Sennheiser Orpheus....need I say more? --> OWNER= Ne3rdling(sp?)

* Schiit Lyr + LCD2 >> This pair sounding very good and I was surprised. I think this is one of the best bang-for-the-buck amps out there that can drive the modern MagPlanars. It runs QUITE hot to the touch, but $450 and the powerful sound is worth it IMO. --> OWNER=Schiit Audio

* Cavalli Liquid Fire >> Very clean sounding amp, but when I tried the HiFiman HE6 and LCD-2, it just didn't have enough juice in my opinion to run those properly. With dynamics it sounded proper!! -->OWNER=??

Thanks again to all of the people who owned the equipment above and everyone else as well. We have a great community here and a great organizer in CT. Best meet ever in my opinion. T'ill next year!

Thanks again CT - a pleasure meeting - you put together a great gathering 

Thanks to IronBut and Frank for sharing your tables... made for a great table, was great to see you guys again.  Only listened to a few things. 

Frank your new creations rocked again. Steve - R2R-ZD-800 rig is world class. Thanks Al for bringing in the apex pinnacle - sounded great. Milos - thanks for the sennheiser orpheus (still love to listen to it), and the Blue/009, not much to say, goodness.

Thanks all for the table visits.

Cheers,

Mikey

Well, to say that I had a good meeting would be an understatement.  I'm right now listening to the thinksound ms01 earphones that I won and eagerly awaiting that other thing that I won (sorry, please don't hate me).

What with a 3 year old, a 1 year old and a job at a startup, I haven't had as much time or money to spend on this addic^H^H^H^H^Hhobby as I'd like.  I showed up with my HD650 wanting to hear how it stacked up against the big(ger) boys, and even moreso to experience decent amping.  Who knows where else I'd have the opportunity to do that, so thank you very much to CeeTee, to Jude, and to everyone who awesomely shared their gear with all of the rest of us today.  I'm humbled by your generosity and your sense of community.

I came away being wowed by the HD800s, the LCD-2s, the Staxes, etc. of the world, but also feeling pretty good about my HD650.  It's the sense that I've got something to look forward to in the future, but also that I'm in good hands for now.

On the amp side, there was a lot of neat stuff to listen to.  In the budget I was looking at at this juncture, I came away interested in the Schiit Valhalla for a desktop amp and the Jaben GoVibe Magnum for portable use (though also considering the Mini3).

I'll post my impressions of the ms01 as I get more familiar with them, and of course the UE customs when I get 'em.

Thank you CEE TEE for making me drag my sleepy butt up and out of bed at 5 o'clock in the morning to haul 4 semi-huge boxes of amps (Leben CS300XS, Decware Mini Torii, and the amp built by 2359glenn) and other stuffs down 6 flights of rickety, creaky old 1927 wooden stairs to wait for a ride from Lurkumaural while standing on a damp SF Nob Hill curb.

IT WAS WORTH IT! So let's do it again sometime, okay?