[barleyguy]

Quote:

I've been swamped, but will call Westone tomorrow and if I can't work something out with Rachelle then I might need some help with loner gear for the meet.  I'd have to pick it up from Westone next week.  Can you please PM me with alternate ways to connect with you outside of Head-Fi?
 

Larry, I sent you a PM...
 
Everyone else, we will have tables set up for gear, but please provide your own extension cords and power strips.  If you have a long extension cord you can bring, that would increase our versatility.  Bringing a spare for anyone that didn't read this wouldn't hurt either.
 
As mentioned in the first post, the doors will be open at 10:30 to set up gear, and we'll start the meet at 11:00 with the Westone demos available and that sort of thing.  There will be a tour of the facility in the afternoon at roughly 2:30.
 
Also, there will be a raffle; the likely grand prize is something with the number 4 in it.

  There may also be an audiologist there if anyone would like free ear impressions to put on file with Westone.
 
Look forward to seeing you,
 
Harley.
 

 

[bixby]

I am planning to be there with a guest.  I will bring a few ipods and macbook as well as dac and Shure 840s and Westone UM-3X.
 
I am sorry I will miss Larry, though.  My sympathies are with your family.

 

[lilkoolaidman]

Quote:

Also, there will be a raffle; the likely grand prize is something with the number 4 in it.

  There may also be an audiologist there if anyone would like free ear impressions to put on file with Westone.
 

And that "4" wouldn't happen to be orange in color would it?

 
Westone really is working to make this a special event. I almost feel bad showing up for free.
 

 

[barleyguy]

Quote:

And that "4" wouldn't happen to be orange in color would it?

 
Westone really is working to make this a special event. I almost feel bad showing up for free.
 

 

That's exactly the 4 I'm talking about.

 
I just talked to Larry.  He dropped some gear off at Westone including an HM-801 music player, an SR-71B portable amp, a couple of DACs, a variety of high end interconnects including a Twag LOD for iPhones, and a woodied open-back Denon D7000.  He also left a Triple Fi Pro and one of the high end Monster IEMs.  And some tips that people can clean and use.  I might have missed some stuff; I wasn't taking notes.  We'll have Larry's stuff set up at the Westone table in the morning.
 
If anyone would like to bring an SD card with their own music on it, the HM-801 takes SD cards.  Also, if you have a computer with a USB cable or a standalone CD player those would work as sources too.
 
I'm going to drive south soon and stay the night so I can be there early.  Everyone drive safe and we'll see you then...
 

 

[bixby]

Add another local guest to my gang.  He will be bringing a classic Kenwood receiver with a nice headphone out.

 

[bixby]

I'll be tweeting some impressions of the event @bixbyus
 
EDIT: so much for tweeting, no internet access that I could see, but we had a great time.  I am sure details to follow.

 

[JazzVinyl]

I attended this meet.  And had a nice time time.  The Westone folks were as nice as can be.
 
I heard the Westone ES5's....WOW...life won't be the same!!
 
I got my impressions for free by Westone and I will be calling them early next week to order my Westone ES5's.
 
Will be proud to say: "I supported the USA - by buying a custom manufactured item that is made right here,  by American workers".
 
Yeah Westone!
 
.
 

 

[bixby]

I want to sincerely thank all the folks at Westone for hosting the meet and of course Barleyguy for organizing the meet. Props to Rachelle, Kate, and David(hope I got that right) for their fantastic hospitality.  For those of you who did not make it, you missed a great event and a 1 in 13 chance to win a pair of Westone 4s.  I got a very nice tee shirt, thanks Westone.
 
While we did not have the numbers we have had in some past meets, everyone was interacting and it was a great meet.  Larry, Sherwood and otters ( I like the spell check suggested this for a misspelled others )were sorely missed,  but we got to hear lots of computer audio combinations and of course all of the Westone IEMs.  I think we may see some pics later.
 
Larry thanks for the equipment, I got to hear my two Touches (gen 2 and 3) with a good line out dock.  Guess which one won?

 

[KlausGut]

This was my first meet and I have to say my brain was energized. Good conversation about music (and the technology that assists in producing music) will always make the synapses fire like a teenage Somalian with his first AK-47. Easy now, it was just a joke. A big shout out to Westone for being gracious hosts. Praise be to Allah. Thank you, Harley for spending the time and effort organizing this Chimerian beast of communal solitude. Bought new music and now must listen. Thanks, all.

 

[clarinetman]

Twas a good time today, thanks to Westone for their hospitality and to everybody else for allowing me to listen to your equipment. I feel lucky I didn't break anything this year!!

 
I was also very surprised that my favorite (universal) IEM I heard was the TF10. I actually liked them better than my SM3 in some respects, namely the treble response and airiness.
 
I got a kick out of listening to Rush on Larry's modded D7000, they're an awesome set of cans.
 
 

 

[craiglester]

Thanks to all at Westone for their generous hospitality (and gifts!) today, I'd also like to thank Barleyguy for helping organise the meet for us all..
 
Had a great time, listened so some nice stuff, and met some nice people today. If anyone wants to keep in touch, or meet up at the RMAF (I hope you're all going!) then feel free to PM me anytime.
 
And I'll wear my Westone T-shirt with pride  Now.. where to put that sticker...

 

[lilkoolaidman]

I, of course, had a good time as well. It would've been better if it could have been on Saturday, then we could have seen the molding process, etc. in action during the tour.
But, we did see their cleaning crew

 
And thanks to Larry for lending some of his gear. I don't know if the TF10s were lent based on my comment earlier in this thread on me wanting to hear them, but I'm definitely glad they were there. I just might get a pair, then remold them using the impressions I got. Wait, I didn't get any

. Oh well, perhaps Westone will be doing more free impressions at RMAF this year.
 
Also, I know now what the problem with my TubeMagic D1 was. The Sigma Tel driver was conflicting with the modified C-Media driver for the D1. When I got home I thought it was broken, because no sound was going through, using any of the inputs. Turns out, my receiver's speaker output (which I used to test) was turned off

. Then, I found the driver issue.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

 
Quote:

Twas a good time today, thanks to Westone for their hospitality and to everybody else for allowing me to listen to your equipment. I feel lucky I didn't break anything this year!!

 
I was also very surprised that my favorite (universal) IEM I heard was the TF10. I actually liked them better than my SM3 in some respects, namely the treble response and airiness.
 
I got a kick out of listening to Rush on Larry's modded D7000, they're an awesome set of cans.

Actually the re-cabled open-backed Denon belong to lmswjm and I think he might do the mods for others as well.  He loaned them to me for the meet.  I PM'd him my initial impressions a little while ago, as follows.
 
Quote:

I unpacked the box today and gave the open D7000 a listen with my balanced SR-71b, fed by a 24/96 USB DACmini.  I compared them to my LA7000 with the single ended DACmini and ALO Amphora amps driving those (using DACmini as the DAC).  I will try it later with my ZDT on the 4-pin output, with my LA7000 on the 1/4" jack.  I do have an APS V3 single ended adapter should I need to try these on an unbalanced amp later.

 

The open D7000 do sound very nice.  They sound slightly more open than my LA7000, but the mids are not as lively with vocals and the bass is not as well controlled or tight.  They don't seem to have added colorations or suck-outs in the sound.  I don't have a stock D7000 to compare to, but I seem to recall the stock ones seemed less "airy" in the highs than these.

 

With test tones the open D7000 play strong to 40Hz and are only 1-2 db down from there at 31Hz, but at 25Hz and 20Hz they have audible distortion and doubling, and volume is another 4-6dB down.  When I played Bella Sonus "Enamoured" the song "From a Standstill", the very deepest electronic bass notes are almost lost, vs the LA7000 which are strong down there. The open D7000 seem fairly flat through the rest of the frequency range that I can hear, with the same small 2.5K bump I hear in my LA7000 but with less of an 8K bump than my LA7000.  The sound doesn't change a lot when I cover the back of the open cups, which isn't surprising considering the design of the driver.

 
Basically the open Denon did improve with the ZDT amp, but so did the LA7000, and the basic flaws didn't .  
 
Also, I hope Westone isn't too upset about me sending my TF10Pro to the meet (which are nice but don't sound right somehow), but people did ask to try them...  

 

[barleyguy]

I went ahead and made an impressions thread in the usual spot, if anyone would like to post over there.  My first post is a bit of a lame placeholder since I'm thrashed at the moment, but it will get better with the magic of the edit button.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/566177/westone-tour-and-colorado-meet-august-7th-2011-please-post-pics-and-impressions-or-even-pics-of-your-impressions-here