Official NYC spring meet 2012 impression thread  

Had a great time today. Got to take some pics with my new toy the Nikon D3200. Didn't really spend too much time in the Stax section with the Blue Hawaii, but got a few pics of Kerry's rig and some other Head-fiers doing their thing. Really would have like to to talk more DIY stuff with the DIYers, but I at least got a few words in. I really liked hearing Oleg's D7000s on some different gear and I enjoyed hearing Mr. Speakers Mad Dog T50RP variant. I really wanted to see and hear an EHHA Rev A to no avail. Maybe next meet ;) One take away... I did notice that most people have a way lower listening level than myself. I don't know what it is, but I love to crank it up! Anyways, here's some more pics...

 

 

Oops.. here's TMoney's KGSS and a close up of Kerry's BH rig...

 

I also really enjoyed the meet which let me hear headphones and other gear I can't afford such Stax SR009, Burson 160D, Joe's 2pcs Woo Audio (I also used it as a reference unit to try different headphones so thanks so much for letting me use it since i had no setup of my own except Cowon A3 player). I also enjoyed Mullet's CTH amp with CCA tube so I'm considering getting one and i prefer it over O2. I also discovered that Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 was capable of giving HD650 sound I'm looking for while O2, CTH, Joe's Woo Audio and Burson 160D failed to do it for me but all of them can drive D7000 with Woo Audio being best but if you want small affordable amp CTH will do the job. I also had a chance to hear Thunderpants (their bass is too emphasized for me) while Mr.Speakers Mad Dog are more balanced. I also tried to drive Mad Dog on my Cowon A3 and compare to Beyerdynamic's T70 32 Ohms and i prefer T70 which i gonna get to replace my DT1350 which i like for the sound but i have small comfort issue plus each time i put them on i have to spend about a minute to get the best sound while T70 just put on and press play. I also was able to try T90 and when  compared to my D7000 on Joe's Woo Audio i clearly prefered  T90 but tried to compare them using O2 or CTH it was a very difficult to choose which headphones I like better since some tracks i prefered with T90 and some with D7000 but again i prefered CTH amp over O2. I also heard K550 but they are bass light even when used with setups costing three times more than headphones. I also heard and confirmed that i prefer T1 over HD800. I also tried HE-500 to hear if i would like them over D7000 but it wasn't the case regardless of the setup i used for comparison

Edited by olegausany - 6/2/12 at 10:04pm

Have to say, this was a great meet. Met awesome people, confirmed some things and got me thinking about my next steps I'll have to take on this journey. I know I need a pair of open headphones which look like it will be the T90. Just overall fantastic cans, especially considering they weren't burned in fully. I also think I found my new CIEMs in the UERMs. Unfortunately the two will kill my wallet. I'm really looking forward to the next one and keeping in touch with the reps I met today. 

I'll let others provide their impressions of all the great gear and cans at the meet yesterday - for me, once again, the best thing of all (and the main thing, to be honest) was simply to be able to hang out again with all the great folks in our hobby.  A very big thanks to Tom (Bozebuttons) again for setting this up - I had a great time! 

Edited by 563 - 6/3/12 at 6:11pm

First off, I'd like to say I had a great time at the meet! It was my second one and it was absolutely phenomenal, I definitely gained a lot of knowledge and further understanding there. I have to say today(well, yesterday now) definitely reinforced my thought that higher fidelity definitely makes you appreciate certain genres and artists a whole lot more. I was never a big muddy waters fan but I was floored by how raw and emotional it ended up sounding on Niel's headroom setup for his 325i's. His balance act on the LCD-3's was a favorite of mine yesterday as well and I got to get a lot of enjoyment out of that. My favorite session of the day had to be listening to Rachmaninoff on HD800's through one of Herbert's amps that Sphinx had brought in. I had heard a lot of praise for the staging of the cans but that was some incredible stuff I heard going with the piano work.

 

Overall it was fun to just go around and learn while I helped gain a palette for myself which I am kind of short on. I do think I got closer to my next can with the Maverick D1 I brought along and the Senn HD650 seems to be a match made in heaven. They had some blue dragon cables on them as well so that may have made a difference but I had no stock cables to compare to. A lot of the other cans I tried just didn't seem to have amazing synergy with the D1 overall except maybe the VModa M80 but I don't think that can really seems like it'd be too picky about what it's being plugged into. Definitely am NOT a fan of the K701 through the D1 vs what I had heard through some Schiit gear earlier this year. Biggest disappointment though was not being able to listen to Pras' new set up with the Hifiman's and Herbert's bread board DIY stuff that was next to mine....I dunno, just kind of got lost in everything today .

 

One last thing though. The SR009's with the Blue Hawaii? One word, unreal.

Nice impressions guys, keep 'em comin'!

Looks great.

A big thanks to Tom for organizing the meet.  Also, thanks to all the manufacturers, company representatives and press members who made it by.  Big ups to everybody who was taking pictures.  Please post those pictures up guys, as meet impression threads suck without pictures.

 

I didn't really spend much time listening to stuff, so I'm not going to write any impressions.  It was great seeing everybody again, and hopefully we'll all see eachother again at the next meet (I don't need to list names, you guys know who you are).

 

Hope everyone had a good time!

 

-Pras

a huuuuge thank you to tom (bozebuttons) for hosting this wonderful meet!

hands down,the best thing going at these meets are all the people!

the amazing headphone gear that is displayed,is secondary to the fun with fellow head-fiers,vendors and press.

 everybodys headphone rigs were top notch there!

2 items of mention are:

justins oppo bdp-95 cd player,driving the amazing (2) headamp blue hawaii's for $995 this universal player is an outright steal!!!! for little money you can have a world class source,that plays cds,dvds,blue rays,etc.

second item that caught me off guard was bozebuttons ibasso dx100 all in one portable player i really really really really really liked this! i could not believe the sound quality coming out of this unit. the sabre dac in this portable,carefully tuned to the outstanding audiophile grade built in headphone amp,left me drooling for one! 

Edited by decur - 6/3/12 at 9:41am

Great job organizing this meet, special thanks to Tom for putting this together.

Had a lot of fun getting to meet so many of you. Got to listen to some amazing gear, and was very psyched that so many of you were getting a kick out of the stuff I brought with me.

My big mission for the meet was to try out some D7000 s with my Balancing Act, because I'll be in the market for some closed headphones in the not too distant future. I was quite pleased with them, they're on my radar list now!

Fun time all!

Just want to give a big thanks to the organizers of this incredible event.

 

I want to give a very big thanks to all the folks that bought their rigs! I had no idea just how good audio could sound, which, I hope to rectify as I keep listening and doing more research. I'm just a newbie at this point...!

 

Thanks to all the incredible people I met, you've given me a wonderful first impression of the kind of community you have here!

 

So, thank you again, and I hope to see you all in the future at more meets/get togethers!

 

-Sam

 

You should be aware of D1's USB limitations: it's not bit perfect and limited only to 16bit/48Khz

People listened to headphones? Must be meet newbies.