Chicago ChiUniFi 6.5 Meet Impressions  

Thanks Keith for organizing and running a smooth meet.  Great job.

Jack brought his Smyth Realiser A8 and I think I am safe to say, everyone who had a chance to listen were amazed at the realism it brings.  If only the software was easy to use.  Oh the tactile transducer were also quite interesting.

As usual a lot of talking.  This time Keith had that covered as setup had a campfire like circle of chairs I saw people coming and going in.

The Bottlehead SEX Todd brought sounded awfully good with the HD800 he had paired with it.  

I spent a little time with the Intruder at Ray's table and enjoyed it.  If I didn't already have the SR-71B, it would definitely be on my list.

Finally, I had a chance to better understand all the talk about the Leben CS300.  Rob brought his paired with the ATH W3000 ANV editions and I was very impressed.  I can see why Rob uses it as a reference.

Another great meet.

The vote at the end set ChiUniFi VII for June 22nd.  

I had a great time guys.  Thank you Keith for putting this all together.  I've added a new post with some coverage if you know where to find it. 

I wanted to thank Keith for all his work putting the event together. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and talking about audio. Lots of cool equipment, much I have never heard before.  I think next event I will being a usb stick with my most familiar music on it, to make it easier to get impressions of equipment setups.  I did get to spend some time with Ray's Intruder AMP/DAC on my setup and I felt it sounded more refined than my current setup.  Brian's DragonFly DAC also was impressive, and was my first listen to a Saber DAC.  That also sounded better than my current setup.  Keith's Stax sounded very good, although the volume seemed low when I was listening to it, and I forgot to ask Keith about it later why that was.  Spent some time talking with Todd and listened to his Bottlehead amp, very nice sounding unit, and amazing that comes in Kit form.  Todd borrowed me his new Cardas cable to try out, but I was unable to detect any differences between my original Cardas and his new one.  I thought perhaps a break in of his new cable might yield more differences?  Jack allowed me to listen to his Realiser, and that was my first hearing such a unit.  When the soundstage kicks in, you would swear there were speakers in front of you, it was that good.  The soundstage wasn't consistent for me, perhaps tweaking is needed for individual head's is needed?  I could see myself having something like that in the future.  I spend a lot of time speaking with Ray Samuels about his equipment and business, delightful to talk to.  I'll be evaluating Ray's Nighthawk against my current Musical Fidelity V-LPS phono stage to see how they compare.  I know the MF can be bested, so that's my next system upgrade.  

It was great talking and meeting all of you.  

No Disc

Keith, 

Thanks for hosting. It's a really long day for me to come to the Chicago meets, but I always enjoy seeing my friends again. 

Hey Everyone,

thank you for the kind words.  Luckily, because this is one of the places I work, getting the room was really easy, and only required moving some furniture around.  and I'm happy to do that.  (by the way, thank you to everyone for helping me move tables and such at the end).  I'm pretty confident that we left the room in the same condition it was in before the meet, so it looks like this room would be available for us to use again if we desire.  I would like some feedback on that.

-Would you like to use this room again for a fall meet?  what would you change about the setup?

-we did have the speaker room set up, but I did not see much traffic.  Yes or No for a speaker room next time?

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Disc 

 Keith's Stax sounded very good, although the volume seemed low when I was listening to it, and I forgot to ask Keith about it later why that was. 

I was wondering who got stuck with that situation.  I must have fixed it right after you left.  The volume was too low because the Dac volume had been turned down by someone.  it was at 9:00, when its supposed to be at 3:00.  I'm really sorry you missed out on hearing it.  wish you would have caught and asked me.  That is the one situation that is very confusing with my setup.  there are essentially two volume controls, and they are set in specific ways, depending on what your listening through.  Sorry about that.  I should have made a sign.  Next time...

by the way, note to everyone.  if you go to try someones rig, and you cant get it to work correctly, dont leave the volume on really high when you walk away.  could do some serious damage to the equipment, and to the next persons ears.  I know its weird when stuff wont work, but you can rarely go wrong by turning the volume down.

anyway, thanks again to everyone, further comments to come.  I need to go be useful this afternoon.

Oh. I'm really sorry.  Count me guilty.  I did try maxing the volume so I could hear it, didn't even consider there was a second volume control.  Double guilty for not coming to find you.  Consider me educated.  Mea culpa. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keithpgdrb 

 

by the way, note to everyone.  if you go to try someones rig, and you cant get it to work correctly, dont leave the volume on really high when you walk away.  could do some serious damage to the equipment, and to the next persons ears.  I know its weird when stuff wont work, but you can rarely go wrong by turning the volume down.

 

 

Thanks, Keith, for organizing the meet!  I thought the venue worked really nicely for the amount of people we had.

I think the real Wow! piece of equipment for me was Todd's S.E.X. amplifier.  I had thought about building a Bottlehead Crack (and looked at other tube amps in the $500-750 range), but after listening to the S.E.X. with my LCD-2's, I am not sure that I can go with anything other than the S.E.X. now. It gave me everything that I thought I might be missing with the LCD-2's and might be the next step I have been looking for that will most likely last me for quite some time (next jump in quality costs several times more).

I also liked Ray's Intruder and if I listened on the go more often, it would be on my short list.  It did very nicely with my LCD-2's.

I am embarrassed that I spent too much time socializing at the beginning of the meet and missed my chance to listen to the Realizer.  I will say that using the bass shakers to add the rumble to the listening experience was genius and I might try DIY'ing something like that for myself.

Keith's vintage Stax were great, but like all Stax I have heard, as blown away as I am by the clarity, I always feel like something is missing at the bottom.  Maybe some bass shakers attached to my sofa could rectify that :)

It was great to see everyone and listen to everyone's gear.  I am finally getting some names and faces down.  Hope we can do another soon.  Maybe my cable switch box will be done by then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FraGGleR 

I think the real Wow! piece of equipment for me was Todd's S.E.X. amplifier.  I had thought about building a Bottlehead Crack (and looked at other tube amps in the $500-750 range), but after listening to the S.E.X. with my LCD-2's, I am not sure that I can go with anything other than the S.E.X. now. It gave me everything that I thought I might be missing with the LCD-2's and might be the next step I have been looking for that will most likely last me for quite some time (next jump in quality costs several times more).

 

That was a good match wasn't it? I was kinds Eh about the LCD's until I heard them with the SEX. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Disc 

Oh. I'm really sorry.  Count me guilty.  I did try maxing the volume so I could hear it, didn't even consider there was a second volume control.  Double guilty for not coming to find you.  Consider me educated.  Mea culpa. 

 

 

no worries at all my friend.  My fault as well for not leaving people instructions on the million ways you can set up the tubedac.  I also should have told people that when you use the front headphone jack on the dac, it cuts off the tube output in the back.  caught one person on that, but not all I'm sure.  next time, I may just skip the dac all together and just use the cd player alone.  I usually like to keep the fewest connections between sources anyway.

Well, after spending the day listening to Ray's F-117 Nighthawk. I can say it seems to be a keeper.   I'll know for sure when I unplug it and put the Musical Fidelity V-LPS back in.  Very pleased with the sound it's putting out.   

That's a pretty serious support system there. Who makes it? 

The Maple, is custom made by Timbernation to my specs. The Black table that sits below it is an Ikea Boksel Coffee Table. To really appreciate the mods, you have to hear it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio Addict 


Nice table. What is the stand it is sitting on?