2013 SF Bay Area (Changfest?) Meet Impressions Thread - Page 3  

Sweet pictures! Thanks to everyone for sharing their impressions. Really wish I could have been there with the rest of the Chang 'crew.

Ditto. Looks like a great time, great gear and great sounds. Soooooo curious to listen to the TH900s....next meet I suppose.

I spent more time just relaxing and chatting with people this time around than going around and listening to gear.  Of the gear I listened to, some mental notes I made:

 

* I really like the Hifiman HE-6.  Related: Jazzfan's Trends Audio TA-10.2 SE drives it well.  (I tried it off my Burson Soloist, but it was underpowered... or so I thought.  Turns out someone turned my iTunes volume down... so it might be good... I'll try next chance I get.)

* The AMB B22 is a beast.  Seriously... both my HD650 and the HD800 sound great off of it.

* Still impressed with Donald North's stuff... and I was happy to pay him back for recommending the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm at the LA meet with one of the Bay Area's best burritos. (And happy to be able to introduce some of the rest of you to taqueria El Metate, which Rdio gets burritos from every Tuesday.  Speaking of -- if any of you are talented software engineers, we're hiring -- http://www.rdio.com/careers/)

* The Fostex TH900 is awesome.  I heard it in LA and it was good to confirm that fact.  Now if only I had $2k to burn.

* The HD600 is so similar to the HD650.  From a quick listen, it just felt like the HD650 adds the warmth it's known for.  I can see why people can prefer one or the other, but in the end, they're more similar than different.

* It's a good thing Verber was selling his HRT Musicstreamer II+ ... listening to it versus my HRT Musicstreamer II revealed a pretty clear upgrade in terms of clarity, richness, detail and soundstage.  I bought it.  Now my HRT Musicstreamer II is going on sale.  (Seriously, I'm right now relistening to my music because of this upgrade... again...)

 

And probably some other stuff, but that's what comes to mind first.  Meanwhile, I was glad so many of you took interest in both my Bottlehead Crack+Speedball and my Burson Soloist.  I'm very happy with both and switch back and forth using my HD650 depending on my mood.  With the Bottlehead, just know that I built it with limited DIY experience... my last time soldering was in college *cough* years ago.  I probably did a mediocre job at best building it, and yet I'm happy with the results.  Tubes *definitely* make a difference here and it was at one point a bad tube that even had me thinking that I had botched the build until I got a replacement tube that worked and showed I had it alright to begin with.

 

Thanks to everyone for the great time, to CeeTee for the headphone stand of sorts and to the Changfest crew for putting it together.  I can't wait for the next one, LA or Bay Area.

Edited by uzi - 2/18/13 at 2:46am

 

Yep. I agree. Though I think your T5P still has it beat slightly with a more dynamic sound.

 

And I also think the W3000ANV was neck-to-neck with the TH900. The W3000ANV had better ambience, slightly narrower soundstage but even smoother treble. Gosh, I'm turning into such an Audio Technica fanboy.

 

 

Aww, don't tell me you missed out on the W3000ANV as well?

pt. 1/5 video.  Room #6  Uploading the rest right now.

 

 

That's was one of the things I learned at my first meet.  I kinda wish I hadn't learned that just yet as my wallet's not quite ready for that.

 

 

Yes!  The new alpha pads are to die for!  And although we disagree a bit here, I think it paired great with the Meridian Explorer (but that's because I tend to favor brighter presentations more often than not).

 

 

Aye!  It was an absolute pleasure to meet everybody!  Thanks for making an L.A. Head-Fier feel welcome!

 

 

As did I, like your K271 MkII.  It was more or less exactly what I was expecting (and looking for) so I'll have to pick that up soon.  Didn't know you were bringing all that Woo Audio lovin' as well, so thanks for carting along the extra pair just for me.  And thanks so much again for the pads!

 

 

Said K271 MkII will soon be mine.  Not that exact one of course, but one much like it.  Also shown above, aforementioned Woo Audio lovin'.

 

 

Yup, totally looking forward to your video and pics, especially since I didn't get to take any myself.

 

And as for the Mad Dogs, I've been trying to tell you they're amazing for six months bro!  SIX MONTHS?!

 

 

The bass was just a teeny wee bit weighty for me, but the rest of the range was AMAZING! 

 

 

Did you know that they all had personalized t-shirts?  That was a riot! 

 

On a personal note, I'm finally glad that my Pioneer SE-A1000 got some attention.  At the L.A. meet, I couldn't get people to give them a listen to save my life.  This time around, even Anax gave them a try!

 

Gotta head off to work now, so I'll post some personal notes later.

 

P.S. - To everyone who posted pics in the other thread, is there any chance of reposting them here?  We'd get to collect them all in one thread... and hopefully comment on a few of them as well.

Edited by warrenpchi - 2/18/13 at 7:45am

Had a great time meeting everyone and trying out new gear. As far as most impressive cans, the mad dogs for their price were mind blowingly good. There were closed cans that sounded better, but they were many many times more expensive.

My favorite part of the whole thing, though, was when verber dropped off the SR-007 mk1 and KGSSHV after the meet

 

Really?  how much are they?  How can I get one now?

 

Mike

 

Dunno actually, I think it was a crew thing for all the organizers.  I'd PM Questhate or Purrin or CEE TEE as a good place to start, but I don't know if you'd be able to get one with your username on it though.  I think those are special shirts. 

I think he's talking about the organizers, the men working on the Chang gang.

 

is there any information out there about this?

 

Sure...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now with people in it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey guys, thanks for printing my placard out for my table along with the entire event. I took mine home and it's on display above my dac + amp

Seriously I had a blast, if any of you are local, you guys are welcome to hit me up for hangouts.

pt. 2/5

 

 

I noticed that, too.  This event appears to have had an extensive amount of planning involved, everything appears to have been well covered.  But, I am a stickler when it comes to spelling, writing, etc.  I noticed the picture of your card last evening in one of the pics.  The underscore was missing between "Chris" and "Himself."