Thanks for posting the pics, Jerry (JrHam) and to meet a recording engineer with similar listening preferences. DISCLOSURE: I was there with a contingent with a prototype music server (the 3E black box) and
prototype 3E head-amp. It was good to see that the next generation of audiophiles full of energy and curiosity.
In Jerry's pics, Ray is the fella in the black top in the 3rd last pic of his set. Others may recall seeing some newbie carrying around a Timmy's cup
for pretty much the whole meet...ratio of cofee:water_refill was about 1:6. I came in from the back of the building from Yonge Street and met Pavel (pics 5 and 11 in collage, below) relaxing outside
after having set-up the tables and his gear(more later).
I normally take pictures of equipment but I was interested in talking to the attendees to find out what they looking for in a the way of a music server and better amplification. So with out further delay, here is a collage of most of the attendees from that day:
The collage photos are numbered upward starting from the top right edge and going clockwise. The numbering continues upwards by spiraling away from the edge toward the center. Enjoy. I also add in a higher rez version of this collage (5000 pixels across and 3.3MB file) later. Click above image for 1600x1200 rez.
I had interesting chat with Robin (
pic 6 in collage) and how he finally settle down on his
Audeze LCD-XC phones. The superb finish and heft gave you that Lexus on your head feeling and the sound did not disappoint when powered through his Audio-gd integrated DAC/HA setup. The back story about Robin hauling his gear down to Bay Bloor Radio and going through their headphone inventory to settle down on the Audeze reminded me of a time in the eighties when I hauled my turntable and NAD 3020 to stores to find my second pair of speakers (made by Camber). I pointed him to the 3E prototype (music server and head-amp) corner when he mentioned that all he wanted was a the same refinement he had when using his outboard Audio-gd DAC (s/pdif inputs and no USB input...model number unknown).
The next station I sat down at was Jerry's (on left in
pic 3)
Audinst HUD-MX1 with a David Bowie playlist already loaded and driving the
AKG K-240...pretty sweet. In the November local meet in 2015 impression thread, I came across his enthusiasm, and that of the attendees, for this humble headphone. I have a pair of HD-424 (also from the eighties) and it served as my early reference until I could find a similar sounding pair of speakers. I also have a pair of AKG K-240. I was interested in how they sounded in comparison to the current headphones of favor (HiFiman, Audeze, Sennheisers, etc) that are much raved about. I found his system to be very neutral and revealing. No favors were given to poorer recordings and the good stuff sang.
In the back left corner of the room (from the main entrance OR
pic 8) was a Bottlehead looking head-amp (I'm dating myself a decade back when they were all the rage) with a pair of Beyer headphones. From the name tags in other pics, the four fellas are Chris, Chris, Robin and
???. They had a pretty technical discussion (bordering on engineering) on the certain aspects of amplifier design.The setup had that tube warmth and body and a total lack of any digital glare or hardness. Definitely pleasant to listen to. I got the feeling that I could stick them on and not have the feeling of listening fatigue. Before I go on, I'll mention that at the TAVES 2016 audio show, There was one retailer with a lot of uber-end gear on display. It might have been the electrical grid but even the likes of the JPS Abyss powered by Woo amplification sounded unbalanced to me...maybe it was my high expectation and different listening preference. In general, I had a better impression, overall, of most of the setups from the weekend meet. To shorten this already long post, I'll just highlight some of pics.
Pic 1: I missed noticing that someone had setup a Cavalli based head-amp setup. That was unfortunate as Its reputation precedes it. Next time. Seems like Wilson is enjoying Chris's setup.
Pic 2: I missed the names and could not read the name tags of these two young fellas but I was dismayed when I could not recognize most artists on the their Samsung phone-based server into the Fiio amp.
They had a rotation of gear in there and at one point late in the afternoon I got to listen to a compact tubed based amp (previously raffled by Pavel at an earlier meet) driving the HE-400i.
It made one of Jerry's favorite cuts (Ray Price singing "For the Good Times)
feel as if I was sitting down by a nice warm fireplace with a scotch. Howard's golden ears picked up a little Essssing but again pretty enjoyable.
Pic 3: Collectively, Jerry and Howard must have twinned ears...they hear and describe the sonic signature of gear using very similar terms.
Pic 4 Jeff, Robin and Chris enjoying moments away from gear
Pic 5: Pavel talking with the Aaron who brung the
HE-1000 phones. I missed my chance to hear them through familiar electronics
Pic 7: Better look at Pavel's setup with Chris giving it the thumbs-up. The setup was quite interesting. A S/PDIF signal to a Buffalo DAC with digital volume control feeding a fixed gain stage (7x amplification) headamp called the Dynalo. That DAC output signal was also fed two other amps with their own volume control. It got interesting when someone listening to the fix gain stage adjusted the volume and inadvertently altered the downstream amps (Bijou on left and Torpedo center). Good setup for shoot outs where you want to have an apples to apples comparison of gear. Back to the HD-800 and my first listen to these cans that serve as the reference for many. You cannot complain the build. The sound was great. The DAC was a Buffalo III with a 32 bit digital volume control as described to me by Pavel. I sort of understand the approach and that in theory, you could put attenuate a 0 dB Redbook signal by 96 dB and still have all the bits! On my short gut evaulation, the DAC and matching fix gain stage sounded grea on a female piano vocal by Mary Chapin Carpenter. It would be good for Pavel to explain his choice of coming into the DAC with a S/PDIF signal instead of via USB.
Pic 9: You might call this the "3E" corner. The two fellas on the left have done much of the voicing of the server and headamp. The sonics of the server have been quite stable for some time in terms of voicing and work is proceeding on finalizing the interface design. The headamp is a much latter development but will probably be the fastest to get to some production worthy state. I like to thanks all of those that provided feedback and time listening to the units with the favourite phones.
Pic 10: That's Jeff (aka Greyhorse) with the scarfed photographer. She was one of two girls at the meet.
Pic 11: The two cables guys (Pavel and Henry) and the photographer(
???). At the time they had an interesting discussion as to why it is that "guys" outnumber women in certain creative endeavours. I had to draw the line when then grouped the activities of creating music and creating hardware under the same umbrella. Could it simply be, as someone put it, that "
when boys outgrow their moms...they are seeking to woo a replacement their own age" :rolleyes: .It was interesting to see a soldering iron a stones throw away from the drinks and Timbits.
Pic 12: That's an obligatory shot of Nima who got there around 6pm when a lot of people had already left. Next time...come earlier. Timbits were still available.
Pic 14 : Jerry, Kim, Fiona and Taras. I made it a point to get Fiona into a shot (the second of two girls). She revealed that she was the one who pulled her male friend to the meet. Her requirements are a clean detailed mid-treble and a balanced bass.
One observation I had was the amazing number of people running the same music server software...aka as Foobar.
I apologize right up front for not talking to more people but I tend to just bump around like a pin-ball. I saw the HE-1000 and made a point to listen to them but they never made it onto my ears. The one saving grace was the little brother, HE-400, did
P.S. If you can identify yourselves in the photos, I'll replace the references to
??? with proper names. Ditto for the equipment references.
P.P.S. Came in to fix a few typos and noticed that certain keywords have been link to Amazon by a code robot created by Viglink...do not click...
I do not support this type of behavior by Head-fi/Amazon. Sad Day. Keywords altered in this post are ( amp, DAC, headphone, Audeze, speakers, FiiO, and HE-400)
cheers,
Ray
