Finally got a chance to digest my notes. So, I will post a few more thoughts and a few more pictures (Lee posted some on facebook and wanted me to post them here)
I think the space ended up working really well. We weren't really short on space or electricity all. It probably could have accommodated another 3-4 rigs.
A major impression I came away from the event with is something I had been thinking about recently: the ***incredible*** place we are in regards to small amp/dac setups. When I first got into headphones in the early/mid 2000s, your gear was crap unless your amp weighed at least 40 pounds. The first round of quality DACs were that big too. And while there is still some incredible big gear out there, especially for e-stats, the quality we are today getting from things like the Schiit M2U stack, Chord Mojo, Grace m9XX, Liquid Carbon, Bakoon, etc is stupefying. These setups being this good were just completely unthinkable 5 years ago. And that really makes these types of events great, because in the past they were really a competition of who was willing to haul the most gear around. Now there are a lot of options at an event like this.
My second impression was how shocked I was at the difference between the SR007 and SR009. I put the 007 on and I was wowed. It was nice, smooth, surprisingly warm, detailed. Then I put to 009 on, and was completely blown away. Calling it neutral is almost downplaying it. It was beyond neutral, it was 100% natural. The only experience I've had that rivaled it was good magnoplanar speakers in a well treated room. Occasionally I can close my eyes, and after a few minutes and some good scotch, on a great pair of headphones, well amped and sourced, they drift away. With the SR009 this happened instantaneously as soon as I closed my eyes. I really want to extend a thank you to Purk for letting me have some time with them after the meet had wound down.
Really regret not getting a chance to hear an HD800 through Tom's torpedos. The 12AY7 model really sounded great on my HE400i. Also I gotta make sure I bring @tomb some more power cables next time
It's so glad to have a guy like Joe being local, as the demo units he was able to bring, I think, really took the meet to the next level listening option wise.
The quality of attendants personally were off the chart as well, just really a great group. I was definitely torn any number of times between enjoying conversation and trying to get more listening in. I think most of the time I opted for conversation, and didn't regret it at all.
If I had a single regret, or more accurately, thing I would change, I want to get some more "newbies" to the meet next time. Everybody at this meet was very experienced, save for one of my employees, who just happened to walk in. He was totally blown away, and I think it'd be cool if we could get a few more people who are newer, or haven't had a chance to experience some of the gear we are fortunate to have.
I think there is a very great core group that we can do these things much more regularly than we have in the past, and I really enjoyed putting this one together, so I have no problem taking the lead on some of these, and maybe even occasionally doing slightly less formal versions at somebody's house.
Thanks again to all who came! And we definitely missed those who couldn't make it, but certainly look forward to the next meet.