[HugoFreire]

More pics of the meet, pleeeease...!

 

[SiBurning]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanz I think it's interesting how some of the cables have retroreflective coverings.... look how they glow (reflect the tiny flash from my camera), even way in the background...

Yup. It's like too much sibilance. Connectors too. Also, my gray hair is a bit too... sibilant. Thanks.

The one in thepicture at left, second from the top looks like glow in the dark. So does the one in the top right.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiBurning alanz, thanks for the pics. I look so stupid happy listening to the ety 4s, I'm going to buy a set this week. Now if I could only read everyone's nametag to place the names with the faces.

did you decide on canalphones over closed headphones?

 

[Audio Addict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Here ya go. The PCB is smaller than a credit card. This is an uncased unit but working.

Thanks. Man that is small!!!!

 

[immtbiker]

Stevieo happy to finally being able to empty his entire children's college fund on a phono stage (Ray testing the tensile strength of a Grado headband)

Bozebuttons' VPI Scout w/ X10B phono stage thru my Raptor and my Mango Carrot juice bottle in background

Esoteric DV-50 through modded Cary dedicated headphone amp, and someone in the background with excellent fashion sense

Levi's Blue Jean models promoting Head-Fi products

Yikes challenging Mikhail to an arm wrestling contest, and Dave-the-Rave with his bootleg R-10's

Impressions to follow after I come down from the trip from eating the worm. Lesson to be learned: After eating brownies, 12 year old local Mexican Tequila tastes smooth. After the sugar coating wore off, 12 year old Mexican Tequila tastes like floor polish.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker Dave-the-Rave with his bootleg R-10's

He looks happy though.

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Here ya go. The PCB is smaller than a credit card. This is an uncased unit but working.

Now that will be nice when Ray gets done with his perfectly fitting cases...I wanted to come so much, but I had to cook (of all things) at my GFs daughters graduation party. 70 people wanting my hamburgers and Coronas and all I could think about were listening to Grados and the oppty to meet everyone; oh well...

 

[SiBurning]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit did you decide on canalphones over closed headphones?

Yes. It makes more sense to get canals first, given how hard it was to hear closed headphones in the relatively quiet meeeting room. If it hurts too much, then I'll shop for some beyers.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by recstar24 I have a very interesting Hornet experience to share with you all. Ray has consistently invited me over to hear his amps, whenever he has a new creation of some sort, and one day he invited me over to hear somethuing. At the time, i did not know what it is, all i knew was that he had a raptor and something hidden underneath a blanket hooked up to his A/B box, and wanted me to listen to both to see if i could differentiate anything. Well, I couldnt, and was simply amazed at whatever was under this blanket i was hearing. Huge soundstage, killer bass, robust and powerful sound, all on hd600/cardas, transparency up the yin-yang. When he revealed that little thing, my jaw dropped. I've A/B'd Rays amps numerous times - sr-71 vs. HR-2, sr-71 vs. Raptor, Raptor vs. HR2, Stealth vs. everything, and I can clearly hear and delineate what exactly I'm hearing when doing the A/B thing, with 100 percent accuracy, Ray can attest to that. When I A/B'd the hornet against the SR-71, i failed 10 times in a row! Everytime i thought i was hearing the raptor, it was actually the hornet, and vice versa. Out of about 20 times, i got maybe 2, and those might as well be thrown out for random guesses. The hornet is right up there with the Raptor, i can personally and honestly say I cannot hear a single difference between the two up to this point. Ray, remember I'm number one in line, let's keep this in Chicago baby!

Not so strange... well, yes strange, but you're not alone. See my post at the bottom of page 1 ... same thing, except I removed the complicated A/B-multicable-multiconnector setup just to be sure.

Remarkable little gizmo, ain't it?

 

[erikzen]

Once again, the New York Head-Fi meet was absolutely fabulous. As usual it's all about the members, both the ones that come and generously share their equipment, those that just listen, and even those who join us virtually and enhance the experience through their online comments.

That being said, there are a few people that deserve special recognition:

bozebuttons - bozebuttons was the main organizer of this meet. He secured the hall, put down the money, informed the manufacturers of the event, and literally brought a truckload of equipment. The meet started at 1:00. By 3:00 he was basically finished setting up and then had to take a refreshment break. The poor guy didn't even get a chance to listen to anything for the first two hours of the meet. At about 6:30 he started breaking down his equipment for the next two hours. Top honors must go to bozebuttons for putting together a truly fabulous meet.

Tyll Hertens - Tyll has gone to great trouble and expense to put together one of the greatest pieces of "audio dog and pony show paraphernalia" imaginable. Then he decided to travel around the country (it should be around the world except for the damned US Customs) sharing his incredible gear and pure enthusiasm for our hobby. On top of all that he donated a BitHead and MicroStack to the silent auction to help fund our meet and to raise funds for Head-Fi. That's not to mention the awesome coffee mugs he gave out. Here is a man that truly loves what he does and helped make this meet a completely unique experience.

jpelg - jpelg organized the silent auction and allowed me to be his lackey and chauffer for the day. jpelp set the rules of the auction, printed up bid sheets, merchandized all the items, and generally made sure that everything ran smoothly. According to the final bid sheet the auction raised $795, excluding the money from the "buy it now" cds.

mikhail - As usual, mikhail came out in force for another NYC (OK, so we were about 30 miles from NYC, but what the hell) Head-Fi meet. He went to great trouble and expense to bring out his gear. His new "Slam" amp shows that he's still making progress in the world of tube headphone amplifiers. Thanks for coming out and helping to make the meet a success.

Ray Samuels - What can you say about Ray that hasn't already been said? He surprised everyone - myself included - with his new "Hornet" prototype, while continuing to WOW everyone with his line of top quality amplifiers and now his new phono stage. Not only that, but he knows how to tell a story and chase the ladies. (Mrs. Samuels, if you're reading this, Ray is completely innocent, I swear!)

Donations

The New York Head-Fi chapter would like to thank all those who donated to our silent auction:

Tyll Herstens, Headroom - Bithead, Micro Stack
DrewBrew, Moon Audio - Sennheiser replacement cable, mini-mini IC
drewd, Shellbrook Audio - Super Mini Moy
zatara - triflanges, iPod shuffle skins
jahn - bananahanger headphone stand, numerous cds
bozebuttons - dynahi boards, CD-ROM transport
Yikes, Siltech America - various interconnects, DVDs, CD-Rs
jpelp - Blank Mini Discs

Many thanks for the donations. It helped bozebuttons cover the cost of the hall rental and allowed us to make a sizeable donation to Head-Fi. (Jude, I don't have the money so don't look at me!)

Winning Bidders

Thanks to the following winning bidders for their generous monetary donations:

jahn
teerawit
jbloudg20
machead
joelongwood
zatara
jpelg
SiBurning
danny&elyse
erikzen

Also, many thanks to the bidders that did not win. Your bids are just as important in raising the money we did. (Sorry for sniping, oski. If you really want the Micro Stack PM me and we'll work something out.

)

Anonymous Donors

For those of you keeping score, bozebuttons indicated that we raised $966. That leaves $171 additional. Besides the auction items, CDs were sold at $1.00 a pop and some very kind members donated cash without bidding or buying. Unfortunately, since we didn't take your names down on a bid sheet its impossible to identify who you are, but your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Once again, a big "Thank You" must go out to all the members, as it's all about sharing the gear. Without your partcipation the meets just wouldn't happen.

Apologies to anyone I missed. Everyone's effort, generosity, attendance, and overall good karma was greatly appreciated.

 

[erikzen]

My shots can't compete with those already posted, but it would be a shame not to share.

bozebuttons did a great job of securing an excellent spot. It took a while to set everything up but there was plenty of space for everyone.

The HeadRoom Table took the most time to set up but you wouldn't believe the amount of equipemt Tyll and Fish Lips the Lurker brought - and this isn't even all of it!

Many thanks once again to jpelg for organizing the silent auction

There were some strange sites at the meet - and there were some unusual headphones, too!

As usual, we had a huge portables table, set up almost entirely by romanee

I didn't do as much listening as I usually do, but the vinyl rig was oh so luscious

It seems like Ray Samuels' Hornet was the surprise of the show. What number am I in line?

We had excellent refreshments, courtesy of immtbiker (and Telica) and SiBurning

Although, after that, it made it difficult to figure out how to put the headphones on and the patterns of your fingerprints became almost as interesting as the music

 

[mjg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan He looks happy though.

are these for real bootleg? I thought it was some joke.

 

[immtbiker]

No...I was just busting Dave's chops, because he waited soooo long for them.

Now, if only he would stop putting them on backwards.

 

[rawhit]

Hiya guys,
this was my first US head-fi meet and I had a whale of a time

The folks at the meet were really friendly and it was fun meeting them. Mikhail is a really cool dude and it was great talking to him.
I arrived late thanks to a NYC traffic jam so didnt have much time to listen to the gear.
.The amount of gear present was quite overwhelming and there was a lot of stuff I wish I could have listened to.

Gear impressions :
Daddy Orpheus sounds as good as it looks

. Its a definite improvement over the HE-60s though to my ears the improvements are rather small. The top end is better defined and sound is more 3D. Bass is more refined but a tad lighter.

From my short listen to omega2 I think I still prefer my HE-60s as I found the O2 to be too dark sounding. An extended audition will be required to say anything more.

R10s look really classy and out of the PPX3 slam they had enough bass for me. With Maestro ZR they sounded more refined but a tad bass light.
I gave a quick listen to Apogee DAC -> PS1 and its really not my cuppa tea.

On the portable front the only thing i got to listen to was the microdac/amp setup attached to the iriver140 player. For its size I must say that the system sounded mighty impressive. It even made my sharp md33 sound like great cans. Anyone knows whether the micro stack had the desktop module or the standard module?

cheers
Rohit

 

[Jahn]

Ah all the impressions reminded me - I never got to hear Ray's Phono Stage, or Mikhail's Slam! Darn it! Next time...

Also, cool that you got a pic of the brownies and the mezcal!

And I agree - Tyll's Wadia was really amazing. I loved the fact that the Max allowed you to switch back and forth from its internal DAC to the Wadia's DAC. And was it just me, or were some of those amps Bolted to those tables? When headroom was packing up, I swear they folded it up, turned it on its side - and some of those units were sticking like tree frogs!

Edit- Ah I remember listening to the AT L3000s. Actually, my first listen to full-sized AT can of any sort. I must admit, if that's the house sound, it's just not my cup of tea. It seemed to be a bit...dammit I don't have the right word for it...warbly? Whatever it is, it's not the impactful straightforward presentation I prefer (hello Grado!).