September 16th Vancouver Head-Fi MEET! - Page 17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girls Generation 

He probably wouldn't be wanting to be opening all those new LCD2s up just to 'loan' them to us for the meet. He'll most likely have one LCD2 and one LCD3 out. Not sure if he'll have stock Audeze cables terminated in XLR; it certainly would be helpful if he does since I can directly compare stock cable vs. aftermarket.

Sorry, it was meant to be sarcastic. I had meant that there were enough people bringing LCD-2s to the meet, me bringing one might be redundant. 

Oh.... ok lol

Well, we can never have too many. Every LCD-2 sounds a tiny bit different, and if we have the time, some, including me, would probably be willing to try to discern the difference, given there will be a very high-end cable, and the Gungnir/Mjolnir to reveal those differences.

Plus, there are only going to be maybe 2 or 3, if someone randomly shows up with them, the rev2s, and only one rev1 in the meet, and it may be quite a bit popular, so you may as well bring yours to satisfy the people who have to wait :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinQY 

Sorry, it was meant to be sarcastic. I had meant that there were enough people bringing LCD-2s to the meet, me bringing one might be redundant. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinQY 

Hey, heard this from Travis, I'd love to come by. I was planning on bringing LCD-2s, HE-400s and Benchmark DAC-1s, but I see that a lot of people are planning on bringing those phones, so it might be kind of a moot point. And I'm upgrading the DAC-1 to a PRE, planning on a speaker rig soon, so I probably won't get that here by the time of the meet. However, I most definitely will have the Westone 4s on hand (They're literally glued onto my ears at all times), I'll bring some extra tips so people can try them out. Possibly a modded Grado sr80i as well, if I get them back from my friend this weekend. Not sure on this one though. Probably won't need a table reserved or anything. Excited to see everyone there! 

 

You'd be surprised... I think we'd be some of the few teenagers there. Most of the mini-meets I end up going to are either entirely gruffy old men, or people our age.

 

P.S. Might we need some extra sources? I can bring a few laptops if anyone needs them.

I would very much like to listen to your HE-400 through the DAC1. I bought a pair on the initial preorder when it first came out and didn't like them. There's talk of it being revised now. Is yours a "new version?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by palmfish 

I would very much like to listen to your HE-400 through the DAC1. I bought a pair on the initial preorder when it first came out and didn't like them. There's talk of it being revised now. Is yours a "new version?"

Yep, revision 2 with the 3.5 plug. The DAC-1 is sold, waiting for the DAC-1 PRE to come in, if I get that back before the meet, I'll definitely bring it.

I hope others bring their ODAC/O2. I'd like to do a direct [flawed] comparison without having to switch cables on one LCD2.

I'm listening to the Spore right now, and I'd like to hold my comments until you've heard them for yourself :)

Because I'm mostly bringing an amp and dac with my computer as a source, you guys are free to bring your own music to reference on a usb along with some headphones to plug in.  there's two SE jacks if you want to ABX : )
 

Cool, I'll just bring a hard drive or two then.

Since there will be multiple HD-25s, should I switch the pads on my HD-25s to the velours so people can feel the difference (unless somebody else who is bringing them uses the velours normally)?

I also wanted to mention to anyone: cables are not created to change the sound, as if you're altering the sound to your liking. 

Such notions, like "if you want to have your sound 'brighter' because your gear, for instance, the LCD2 rev1, is dark and not to your liking, you can just get a silver cable," are just wrong. Cable reviews here on head-fi tend to sound way out of proportion because there is no reference point to contrast to (i.e. your looking 10lbs fatter on television because there is no reference point). 

A cable's true objective is to deliver the original sound to the headphone without ANY color, really absolutely no alteration to the signature, aka "EQing." The point of such a cable like the Spore is to deliver the signal with the LEAST amount of loss, hence the intense shielding, etc. and separation of wires. The rest of the cables that exist attempt to do the same, but has some signal loss. Most people are used to this and is the reason why we see better cables as "adding on" to the sound, instead "losing" some with worse cables.

Therefore, I'd like to ask you guys to flush out your preconceptions and take a listen without any bias. What you are looking for is just a very realistic, visceral sound, with a lot of detail, some you have not noticed ever before, a wider more 3D soundstage, and naturalness in presentation of all the elements of the music. You are not looking for any equalization, or change in frequency due to the cables; this is not a solution to your wants in the way your gear presents your sound. You are also not looking for any gigantic change in sound. Also, not everyone hears everything the same way, so some may not hear any difference at all (my guess as to how cablehaters do not hear things we do).

Quote:

Originally Posted by planx 

 

 do you need all that? There's only 5 hours in the meet hahaha and my Foobar playlist is 1 week long, so I think my playlist is sufficient for the meet 

I'll probably just transfer a few thousand songs on an external drive. Only because I don't have any flash drives over 8Gb . I'd like to keep a varied collection for demoing, since most meets I just bring an iPod, and I always end up regretting not having on hand that one song that you suddenly want to try with a particular piece of gear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by planx 

 

Fair enough, makes enough sense to me. I myself cannot live without a handful of songs that I absolutely NEED when testing, reviewing, and comparing things.

When your iPod is only 8Gb, you REALLY have to start making compromises. My criteria for portable playlists is that they are energetic enough for on-the-go, and aren't too quiet (e.g classical, some Jazz). Which is a pity since ~60% of my library is composed of stuff like that. For critical demoing/listening, I usually bring a laptop.