[Barry S]

The meet today was awesome! Glad to see so many people make it today--thanks everyone for coming. We really have a great group and the time flew by.
 
CanMania / Capital Audiofest 2016 will be coming up July 8-10 at the Rockville Hilton, and we'll have lots of vendors as well as a meet on one of the show days. Gary Gill, the director of CAF is having a mini-meet at his house on March 5 and you guys are welcome to stop by--details on the website. His mini-meets are more speaker oriented and less bring-your-own, but there should be some cool audio gear.
 
Please post your photos and impressions in this thread.

 

[Barry S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Barry S]

In no particular order--some random impressions.
 
HD800s - Wow--this really does it for me. Combine everything I like about the HD800 and HD650 and remove everything I don't like--and you have the HD800s. Neutral balance with no part of the spectrum predominant, detail and imaging, but natural-sounding. The black finish improves the looks and for some reason--the fits seems better than the HD800.
 
Ether C - Very nice sounding out of the Liquid Carbon and AK player. Super comfortable and top notch build quality. Nice imaging for a closed set of cans and I like the way it's tuned.
 
DNA Status - Spent some time comparing against my Rag with both out of the Yggy. Good relaxed sound with plenty of detail and imaging. The dynamics fall short of the Rag, but that can be a good thing. Nice that we had the Sonetts present--I like everything I've head from DNA. Great tube amps with just a touch of coloration with a relaxed and musical feel.
 
DIY tube amp and discontinued DAC whose name I've already forgotten with HD600's -- The HD600's sounded more refined than I've ever heard them. The HE6's wish they they sounded this good.

 

[GrindingThud]

Lots of great tube action at this meet, from 3 variations of DNA amps to homebrew 2A3. I especially liked the DNA Stratus with the 2A3...very nice sounding rig, especially with the HE-1000. . I was also impressed with the diy 2A3 amp, was nice and clean into high impedance phones.

 

[omrcz]

I especially liked the DNA Stratus with the 2A3...very nice sounding rig, especially with the HE-1000.

. 
 

That combo took the breath out of my lungs and left me floating for a while. 


It was really cool meeting you guys, plenty of fun. There was a lot of people, too much equipment and too little time, sadly.
I did get to talk to @Billheiser (thanks for the complimentary band, I'll wear it with pride) and @sheldaze (thank you for being so laid back and generous with your stuff, man!)

I think I also recognized Barry S. though I got completely lost around so much equipment I didn't get to talk to much people.
Thanks again guys, lots of fun I'll see you next time, definitely.

Also, did somebody else have trouble with the Schiit stack 2 + Q701s? My stack seemed to malfunction half of the time without me realizing it and it just completely stopped working by the end of the meeting. I just plugged everything in to no avail, I think it's pretty much over for it so I guess I'll have to send them back.

If somebody has an idea, please illuminate. I'm quite confused.

 

[sheldaze]

I agree - awesome meet! Thanks for staying up late to get the time slot @Barry S!
 
Amazing group of people! Good to see the familiar faces from meets past - and really great to meet the new people! I hope someone was taking down notes, potential good stuff for the question/answer session at the CanMania at the Capital Audiofest 2016. So what exactly is a planar headphone? And what exactly is a tube? And you mean to tell me there are different kinds of tubes, and some tubes sound like solid state? And solid state is better for planar headphones - except when it is a MicroZOTL2 or a Stratus 2A3.
 
Love this hobby! And love days like today 

 
Looking forward to CanMania, definitely.

 

[Billheiser]

I was like a blind dog in a meathouse.

 

[willsw]

Thanks to Barry for organizing this - as my second meet it was a great experience. Wish I hadn't been an hour late, but that happens. Though I am a Member of the Trade I didn't really come as one, which was fun and left me free to leave my own setup and try others, though in retrospect I wish I'd brought some of the nicer headphones that aren't actually mine and belong/are lent to Linear Tube Audio - great headphones are ideal for showing off amps. Enjoyed a lot here, too much to list, but I do want more than ever some HD800s (or an HD800S!), so I may do some selling to do some buying. Listened to some TH900s and immediately understood why they're more expensive than the TH600s I own. And my horrible memory precludes me from knowing who also had the modded TH900s, very nicely modded, and they also had some little Headstage Arrows I fell in love with immediately.
 
I could go on, but basically I have a few more thousands of dollars worth of stuff on my wishlist and also wish I could spend more time in a quieter room with pretty much everything. More people = more stuff you wish there were less people around you to listen to, but less people have less stuff. The twenty-second catch. 
 
Also, for anyone who would like to, you're welcome to visit the Linear Tube Audio workshop to listen to the amp, hear it as a preamp (though the current workshop is a pretty terrible listening room), and see what goes into their manufacture. The space is in NW DC, in Mount Pleasant. Mark Schneider is away until Friday, but after that we could probably meet you there most times, day or evening or weekend. 
 
My girlfriend took a few pictures, unfortunately she mostly took pictures of me (no idea why), but here are a few to add to the bunch. 
 
 

 

 
 

 

[TimeLord]

As always, I walk away having learned more about this hobby of ours (read, more stuff to buy).
 
Highlights for me:
 
I was thoroughly impressed with the Ether C. Similarities with my Alpha Prime stopped at the soft leather head strap. After that, I found the Ether C to be light and very comfortable to wear. The sound does not have any of the top end brightness of the Alpha. And if I recall correctly, the bass was not as deep as the Alphas, but it was also not lacking. I'll need to listen to them longer, but they are certainly a contender for best closed headphone.
 
I finally got to hear the Oppo HA-2. It is a beautiful piece of gear. While the signature was bass heavy, it complemented my bass anemic Beyerdynamic T5p (first gen). It added the missing bass and I believe after acquiring the HA-2, it will bring the T5p back into my rotation.
 
@gandhisfist and the gentleman from NC, whose screen name I failed to get, introduced me to Audio GD. Powerful amplifiers that I'll have to learn more about.
 
I got a taste of the HE-1000. I liked what I heard, but I'll need a lot more time in a quieter environment to know whether or not one of these is in my future.
 
Thank you everyone for a great meet.

 

[kendavis]

My first meet and it was an amazing experience. A very friendly crowd of people with many folks sharing access to their h/w. Much fine listening and many interesting conversations. Thank you, Barry, for making it happen.
 
Next time I'll bring much more h/w of my own (including a CD player). Meanwhile, I'll be trying to figure out where to find the money to get a pair of HE1000s and maybe better DACs and amps. I was committed to selling my Grado PS1000es to raise money but after hearing them sing when connected to with Sheldon's (I think) DNA amp I'm not so sure. Thanks once again to all participants.

 

[katulu]

Listened to some TH900s and immediately understood why they're more expensive than the TH600s I own. And my horrible memory precludes me from knowing who also had the modded TH900s, very nicely modded, and they also had some little Headstage Arrows I fell in love with immediately.

 
Hey, cool, that was me with the modded TH900s and the Arrows.  Glad you liked.  I took some (horrid) pics too:
 
Room:

 
My headphone tree:

 
for those who asked, the "tree" of headphones was just a $40 Steffy Wood Products Maple Coat Tree from Amazon.  WIsh the prongs were spaced further vertically, but thats what I have.
 
 
Had a brief chance to hear LCD-2, HE-1000, T5p (sp?), and THx00.  Thought the THx00's were surprisingly good, and the HD800 S was truly amazing - through my HUGO and Silver custom Draug cable, with no EQ it sounded fantastic.  Still think my modded HD800 with eq sounds a little better though, but undeniably a change for the better with the S version.  Good going Sennheiser!
 
Cool meeting everyone!  Hope we can catch up. If anyone's in the Rockville/SilverSpring/Gaithersburg/Germantown area and you want to get together a Saturday to try each other's gear, send me a PM!  I'm portable.

 

[ANewtypeCentury]

It's funny - been lurking on the site for years, and it only took one meet to make me realize how much I have been missing. Today was my first Head-Fi Meetup, and I regret having not come to previous meets in the area.
 
Was able to listen to the HiFiMan HE-500 for the first time on a particularly nice DIY, and only when I plugged in my HE-560s did I notice now how hungry they are - my setup is insufficient to properly drive them as it turns out. Even if the rest of the event hadn't been fantastic, it was worth it just to find that out.
 
Really though, it was just great to meet everybody. I'm sure that, at CanMania, I will be able to focus a bit more on the headphones, but there was such a wealth of knowledge in that room that I was enjoying asking questions about the equipment I was interested in, especially since it was difficult to hear in the space and be able to form an opinion in the short amount of time (it felt short anyways,) that we had to use. 
 
Thanks for making it such a great day everybody.
 
P.S. I was the guy in the John Lennon shirt.

 

[yage]

I had a great time. I really liked the Ether C. I think I'll need to get some more time with them somehow. I thought @GrindingThud's SuSy Dynalo sounded fantastic - a pristine, extended top end that seemed to go on forever and ever... I wonder how it compares to the Pass HPA-1, though I haven't read anything that indicates whether that amp employs supersymmetry in its design.
 
I'm looking foward to CanMania. Can't wait to see who shows up. No pressure Barry and Amar...

 

[jafnvaegi]

 
DIY tube amp and discontinued DAC whose name I've already forgotten with HD600's -- The HD600's sounded more refined than I've ever heard them. The HE6's wish they they sounded this good.

 

I was also impressed with the diy 2A3 amp, was nice and clean into high impedance phones.

Thanks for the complements guys, she's a work in progress so next time around it may be even better!  We shall see anyway

 I'll be making it compatible to use both 2A3 and 45 tubes as well as some other little things (mostly for fine tuning and convenience) and big changes (new chassis & separate PSU).  The DAC was the venerable Timbre TT-1 from the late 90s.  I too love how the combo fares with my slightly modified HD600 and other various high impedance cans, though the amp is a bit too gain-shy for some planars to get to higher volumes and there's an audible noise floor with lower impedance cans.  I hope the separate PSU, new wiring layout and output impedance adjuster will help in that regard.  Some other upcoming projects include a DAC, which will hopefully be done before CAF.
 
It was great to see the familiar faces and meet some new people too!  There were a few headphones I was hearing for the first time today:  
 
With the HEK, the impressions were very positive on pretty much any rig...I'd say of the newly heard, this was my favorite.  It really is like melding some of the good traits of e-stats with that of planars and the practicality of being compatible with standard amps.  These had great balance and timbre, the bass was in line with my tastes and they were smooth and effortless.  It's a shame (for me) the asking price is so high, because I'd like some more head-time with these haha!
 
The HE800S is definitely a step in the right direction for that design over the original HD800 IMO, the 6-ish kHz peak is tamed down and there is perceptively a bit more body and fullness.  I'd like to get my hands on a modified HD800, that seems to be the ticket...but I'm liking the added refinement out the box.
 
I enjoyed the TH-X00 compared to my past memory of the TH-900/600 but I still think I'm more partial to the woodie-Denons of old, D5K & D7K.  For their asking price though, they're a steal for both build and sound quality if your goal is a fun and engaging signature and require a bit of isolation.  The finish on the wood is definitely more attractive than the older siblings.
 
The Ether-C seemed like quite a special closed headphone and that's as a general statement, even more so considering it's a dipole planar driver inside,  From my rather brief listen I could see that Dan did well with his latest designs and proprietary driver right away.  The closed-back planars I've heard in the past tend to have some oddness about them in the upper mids/treble, but this is much less apparent here.  I'm quite eager to try out the open version now.  Their build quality is superb too...hat's off all around.
 
All in all, a very fun and successful meet, many great conversations...I hope to see some of you at CAF too!

 

[gandhisfist]

What I learned at this meet is I can't put out the wallet fire.