[koover]

Hello,
Please post your impressions and pictures from the 9/15 AZ MiniCon meet.
All comments welcomed.

Joe (@Coolzo), Chris (@Destroysall) , Brandon (@anteroth) and I (Greg @koover ) will be meeting up soon to plan out the date for the upcoming spring meet. Members of the trade are more then welcome and the more the merrier. We'd love to have you!

Greg

 

[koover]

All,
Doina Ferent from Meze was kind enough to donate one of their new balanced cables for the meet. I was going to raffle it off but there was no one there with any Meze headphones other then I.
If anyone has a 99 classic or Neo and would like to go balanced, PM me (only AZ Headfi members please) and you can have a brand new silver plated balanced cable, no strings attached.

Just PM me and we can work out the logistics.
First come first serve.

 

[koover]

Another meet, another great time. Some Big-Time huge shout outs to the following....

Schiit. Without Schiit's consistent generosity, these meets wouldn't be what they are, except for all the incredibly cool people which is what it's all about. As everyone knows, Schiit is our sponsor and they accommodate us in any and every way needed. We truly appreciate you giving us all the opportunity to listen to basically your entire line-up. Whatever wasn't shipped out to us, someone had that piece of gear! Come out and see us some time. I believe you'd get your ears talked off which is a good thing. Thank you again

Audeze. Evan, what can I say...a very cool guy and someone anyone would want to hang with. Evan brought their entire line-up of headphones and paired with all the Schiit gear?... Sublime! It was a spectacle seeing everything laid out on the tables and just looking at everything. Not only was it cool just gazing upon everything, these are amazing headphones. It was enough to make a grown man cry! Not only did they bring all their HP's, they offered up an raffled an iSINE10 along with some T-Shirts and Hats which were aplenty and handed out to all. Very cool and you guys are most welcome anytime! Thank you

The Source AV. Alan made the trek from Torrance Cali and what he brought was amazing. His table was packed all day as there was enough gear to listen to for a good couple days. Thank you for making the trip and we all hope to see you in the spring. Thank you!

Headamp. Even though Justin couldn't make it, he made sure we had a SE Blue Hawaii along with a Gilmore Lite which Alan from the Source was able to set up with all his gear. Thanks again and hopefully we'll see you in the spring.

Ampsandsound. Justin (the guy in the middle) Man your amps just rock. You're becoming a regular and all our hopes are that you continue to come see us and support us. You're the man!

Meze. Doina was kind enough to send me a balanced cable for raffle but no one other then me had any Meze HP's. That’s a shame too as these are GREAT affordable headphones. Hopefully in the spring we can all have the opportunity to hear the Empyrean . Read above post and you can pick this up from me if you have a 99 Classic or Neo. Thank you Doina and you guys need to take that short flight out to see us some time!


Senheiser, Campfire Audio and Woo. All were represented thanks to Brandon (@anteroth) who reached out to each and made sure there was representation. Thank you Brandon for reaching out to them and taking on that responsibility. You're the man, man!

Joe @Coolzo (The cool dude in the hat) for being the man. Nabbing all the Schiit was and is amazing. Just the transport of all the gear, set-up, breakdown and management of all their gear is amazing and a lot of work.

Chris @Destroysall for manning the 2 channel room all day. I know you missed a lot of the meet being Mr. Security and host for the room. You're an awesome dude!

I'm not going to get technical about all the gear that was represented as that's only part of the equation. It's about the incredibly cool people that showed up. The best part of these meets is hanging with people that are like minded and are awesome human beings. Without the people, the gear means nothing. I wait every year with bated breath for our next gathering. Without all you guys, these meets wouldn’t be the same. Peace to all and can't wait to see everyone down the road.

Some of my friends...…….

 

[T Bone]

Thanks to Evan @ Audeze. I was thoroughly impressed with the iSine 20 and the LCDi4. Amazing what the manufacturers are packing into earbuds these days!

I spent a lot of time hanging out at Justin's Amps & Sound booth. I was thoroughly impressed with both of the amplifiers he demoed. I especially enjoyed the fact that he was tube rolling right there on the spot. Not hearing exactly what you want, here's another tube - try this. Very cool.

 

[miceblue]

I'll upload more later, but here's a photo mid-way through the event.

 

[VRacer-111]

I wish I could have spent time with more headphones... but I did manage to spend time with the Focal Clears, Audeze LCD-MX4, Grado GH-1 with G-cush pads, STAX SR-207 Lambdas, Philips X2, ZMF Ori, Dharma D1000, Hifiman HE4XX, heavily modded Denon AH-D2000, Verum 1, and Sonoma Acoustics Model One system, and Abyss Phi. About half of the time I was with my systems when someone was curious and wanted to listen to the setups or headphones or borrow headphones.

I think my favorite headphone was Greg's (koover) heavily modded Denon AH-D2000 with wenge wood cups... so NOT like a stock AH-D2000 - MUCH better especially with how clean and precise it sounds along with the much better treble and smoother sound. The AH-D2000 is what I picked to get for my first high quality headphone purchase about a decade ago when I wanted to step up to a decent headphone from the $20 cheap Sony's I had been using. The mods on it are very nicely done to my ears, big surprise coming from what I know the AH-D2000 is 'supposed' to sound like.

My second favorite would be the Grado GH-1 with the G-cush pads... they just sound so good... I was even brought to tears with them, they really impressed me with what ever I threw at them... classical/symphonic is very good on them and what somewhat broke me down with them (Holst, The Planets suite... 'Jupiter the Bringer of Jolility' specifically) While the tone wasn't true, they just delivered a pleasing and detailed sound experience that was not expected. No issues whatsoever with their highs on my setup. I think I will be looking to find a pair of these somehow... extremely impressed with them.

I could go on and on, but basically all the headphones I tried I really liked something about them, other than the Hifiman HE-4XX... it just didn't work for me.

But enough about the headphones - it was about meeting people at the event as well. Met Greg (koover) in person @ ~ 7am after spending so much time 'talking' with him online. Was nice finally getting to spend a little time and become more of a friend in 'real-life'. Meeting Greg was one of my primary reasons for making the trip to the meet, but now I have other reasons as well... Coolzo and BzzzzT were probably the two I talked with most, and also chatted with Zyker and borrowed the headphone collection Astral Abyss brought and gave him brief impressions of them afterwards.

Evan from Audeze was laid back/easy going yet immediately comes across as extremely knowledgeable and insightful to any and all asked questions. And Alan from TSAV can talk about/discuss anything electrostats all day long...

And then there were the two younger guys who bought some headphones. The first one who really wanted the Koss KPH30i and spend a lot of time listening to it with his family members and came back towards the end and purchased one of the brand new pairs I got from Massdrop. He seemed really happy with them, and getting really good audio for very decent price is always a great feeling. And the second I believe is a member on here who bought the SHP9500S. He didn't quite have what I was asking, so I told him whatever he had was good enough - I'd much rather someone get use out of it than me getting my original asking price. Not that I'm wealthy, but money is just not as important to me as helping someone else who is genuine in their interest. I'm a horrible businessman... LOL

One day is just not long enough for something like this... would be nice to have it over 2 days.
Anyways, it was a nice experience and I'd love to come back for the next event.

 

[funch]

One day is just not long enough for something like this... would be nice to have it over 2 days.
Anyways, it was a nice experience and I'd love to come back for the next event.

Great idea. We could start the meet say noon Saturday, have dinner together that evening, spend the night at the hotel, then continue on Sunday until we got tired, pack up and head out.

'Can-Jam in the Desert'.

 

[koover]

If we could get 7-10 venders/members of the trade to show up?.......Might be a really good idea. I’d be down for it and do everything in my power to assist in setting it up and making it happen.
I was just saying this in jest Saturday because when you’re socializing and manning your own table, it’s literally impossible for me to hear even 1/4 of what’s out there. We have a ton of gear!!!

We need our regular Venders/MOTT to show plus great people like Zach from ZMF, Dan from MrSpeakers, a representative from Schiit, some audio brick and mortars from Az, etc., we’d have one hellava show then. I also believe we’d draw from neighboring states.

We can go up to 4000’ and have the entire downstairs. If we could get some solid feedback from everyone, we can seriously discuss this and go from there.

Ideas, ideas and more ideas.

 

[Ken G]

Can Jam in the Desert!!!!

I'm down and would be willing to help out.

 

[balderon]

Greg (@koover) pretty much summed up my thoughts for the vendors and meet organizers. Kudos to all who participated.

It seemed the day was over almost as soon as it started. There were a couple rigs I didn't get around to checking out. X2 @VRacer-111 for a 2 day event.

 

[balderon]

For the Audeze LCD-1 fans (@evanrude), Audeze had used a Nady QH560 headphone and replaced the original driver to create the LCD-1 prototype. 3 years ago I purchased a Nady for parts. Since then my LCD-1 is starting to show it's age (especially the ear pads), again. I have been looking for months to buy another Nady for parts. I finally found 4 used headphones for sale! I snatched those up quickly. The headphone shells appear to be in pretty good shape so I hope to cannibalize the ear pads and headbands to keep the LCD-1 looking like new.

 

[VRacer-111]

Great idea. We could start the meet say noon Saturday, have dinner together that evening, spend the night at the hotel, then continue on Sunday until we got tired, pack up and head out.

'Can-Jam in the Desert'.

Desert-Jam....with dinner and movie night! Get a couple more TASCAM MH-8s and link them to my rig via the pass-through/Fold-out feature they have and everyone can use one of their headphones to watch and have a unique experience with. Just need a projector - koover, my good buddy... LOL

But yeah, I'd be up for a late Saturday morning start (Round 1), Saturday evening meal, and early Sunday morning start (Round 2)... get a chance to figure out what really want to hear that was missed in Round 1 and make priorities for Round 2. Plus, gear should be about optimal if left powered on overnight - at least DACs. I know my Gustard X20U DAC really takes quite a while to come around and show its full potential after being off for a while. Amps are hitting their true form at within an hour or two, once everything is up to temp.

 

[balderon]

Not sure what Greg has for a projector. My wife gave this to me for Christmas one year. It’s never been out of the box. Maybe she is clairvoyant.

 

[VRacer-111]

Not sure what Greg has for a projector. My wife gave this to me for Christmas one year. It’s never been out of the box. Maybe she is clairvoyant.

Oooo - Bluetooth Wireless! If we could all get a set of Audeze Mobius to use.... imagine the experience! It's probably not LDAC capable though...

I know Greg has an Epson 3D cinema projector, as we first met on another forum before he was on Head-fi.

 

[ampsandsound]

Hey Everyone.. just wanted to say thank you. You guys put on an awesome event. Coming out to see you guys is helping me get over my natural fear of flying .