[Yikes]

Considering its meager beginnings the Boston meet turned out rather nicely. Good turn out including (hushed tones) women (several). There were a lot of cameras there so I’m sure that many photos will be posted.

I’ll post my photos and stuff tomorrow. Now I need to reassemble my system.

 

[stevieo]

looks like it was a great meet

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Well, I just finished unloading all of my gears from my car and I still have to unpack and set them up again, but I’ll do that later.

I sure had a blast at the meet and I hope everyone had a great time as well! Unfortunately, even though I took my digital camera, I didn’t really take too many pictures so those will have to wait till others post theirs.

First and foremost, I want to thank Dave (drp) for making this meet a reality, as he was responsible for arranging a great room for the meet! Without Dave, we have no meet. Thank you so much for everything!

Thank you to everyone who attended the meet. We really had a nice turn out and as Yikes has already mentioned, there were (gasp) several women in attendance as well. It was great to see everyone and my apologies to anyone who I didn’t really get to meet. Thank you to everyone who contributed for the meet. We raised more than enough to cover for the room and $177 will be contributed to Head-Fi, as without Head-Fi, we wouldn’t have had this meet.

Thank you to all the manufactures/vendors that attended that meet. It was great to finally meet Mikhail, Ray, and Tyll. Thank you for all of your effort in bringing in gears for the meet!

I really enjoyed Mikhail’s PPX3-SLAM and I think with the feedback control, it can match really well with variety of different cans.

Ray’s little Hornet amp was just incredible and I could not believe something that little could sound so nice. I may break down and put myself on the wait list.

I was really psyched to see the new HeadRoom Balanced Max, since I didn’t know if Tyll was bringing it. It sounded great with my balanced PS-1’s and my wallet is really glad that it will be completely over my budget. lol.

Again, thank you everyone for making it a great meet, and perhaps we will have another one in the fall. And now, I need to go set up my system back together.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevieo looks like it was a great meet

Sure, Stevieo, one comment about the fairer sex at the Boson meet and it's, "Sound good!"

It was, however, in fact, a great meet. Lovely attendees, of both sexes, had a fine time.

As proof I offer:

and an overview:

A grand time indeed!

More pix later---from me and many others, there were LOTS of cameras.

 

[some1x]

Yikes:
Was your modded OTL32 fixed and present at the meet? I'm really curious how people thought of the OTL32 + K1000.

 

[grandenigma1]

more more more

 

[en480c4]

It was definitely great to finally put some faces to the names here, and it was a great group.

It was my first meet, so after hellish traffic and rolling in very late, I pretty much spent my time taking in all the equipment and talking to people. I didn't try much gear... I limited my listening to a few amps with my 650's.

'Cause I'm tired, I'm just going to talk about the amps and leave other impressions for another time...

Tyll's enthusiasm is contagious. It was great to finally meet him, and on top of everything, I learned I had been mispronouncing his name! Whoops! I really enjoyed listening to the Desktop modules and Headroom's Millett. With the Headroom Millett, one of the Millett prototypes and Thaddy's maxed Millett with STEPS, it was a fun little comparison session. There wasn't a loser in the three, with each bringing something. The Headroom's adjustability, the prototype's warmth and Thaddy's detail and impact... all three were fantastic.

A real pleasant suprise was the Singlepower Audio PPX Slam. My amp experiences have been limited to DIY stuff, and to be honest, the Slam and the Headroom stuff were the first commercial amps I've heard, and I was BLOWN AWAY with the Slam. I really enjoyed talking with Mikhail... about the Slam and amps in general. The Slam totally changed my opinion of what my 650's can do! They had the smoothness they usually have, but the bass impact and speed that I usually associate with my Grados. He said that's why he named it the Slam, and he was right on! And female vocals just jumped right out, with an amazing midrange that fit right in with the smooth highs and punchy yet tight bass. And being able to adjust the sound via the feedback control to suit the phones you're using was awesome.

Well, I wish I had it in me to write more, but I'm beat. I'm glad people got to enjoy Nate's M^3, and I only wish I hadn't torched my PPA v2 so there could've been a real DIY shoot out. Thanks to everyone who took the time to put this meet together!

 

[n_maher]

Well, this was my first Head-Fi meet (hopefully not my last) and I must say that I had a great time. Ian (en480c4) and myself trekked down from Portsmouth and got to the meet around 3:15. What can I say, we hit traffic, got hungry, slept late (more on that later) etc., etc. After a brief run in with the jewelry show we managed to find the hotel (thanks drp!). Pics to follow brief impressions (right, me brief, who am I kidding).

Impressions:

1. Meeting Tyll in the flesh was pretty much as expected. Great guy and super friendly. Headroom could not have hoped for a better public rep. Headroom's gear collection is downright impressive. Tyll and I had been cooking up a Millett comparison for quite a while and it was fun to do some listening and compare notes. Headroom's Millett sounds great, especially running out of the DAC of the maxed Desktop that they had there. Speaking of said Desktop, that's a heck of a little amp. Completely transportable, looks great, sounds great and is so customizable it makes my head spin. I didn't get a chance to listen to the MAX that the had on hand or any of the micro line. What can I say, I'd need a 3 day meet just to properly sample the Headroom gear, and there were 3 other manufacturers (at least) on hand.

2. Singlepower - oh mama, I've read impressions of the PPX Slam here and so I was interested in giving it a listen. Mikhail walked me through the amp, showed me the board, chatted about design philosophy and was a guy I'd love to talk to more about this stuff. Now, the amp. Simply put, holy poop. I think the most power recommendation that I could give as a DIY amp build would be to say that if I had the money, I'd buy one. For around a grand I simply cannot imagine being able to build a better amp. I was floored. Listening to Eva Cassidey Live (out of a Merriden G08) was like nothing I've ever heard before through my Senn 600s. I also listened to the MPX3 which didn't have the synergy w/ my cans that the Slam did, but was nonetheless a nice peice of gear as well. I think I'm in love...

3. Ray Samuels - I didn't get to sample much of Ray's stuff outside of a phono preamp (which was amazing) and I have no excuse save to say that his stuff generally had people listening to it and seeing how I can't afford any of it I didn't push the issue. I did spend some time talking with Ray about his amps which was quite interesting and the guy takes no prisoners when it comes to logical layouts driven by an intense desire for perfection. Aesthetically his amps were amazing, so clean, so finished.

4. Everyone else - it was nice to meet some Head-Fi'ers face to face, chat about our shared obsession, I mean "hobby", and show them the gear that I'd brought. I think that I may have done a bad thing though considering that both jar and Icy006 are now considering building PPA's and M3's

. Several folks listened to my M3, which was nice since I was up till the wee hours Friday night getting it cased up and ready for travel (see pic below). It's still not in a permanent home but what can I say, I've been busy. Big thanks go out to Salt Peanuts, drp, and anyone else who had a hand in organizing this meet. Word on the street has it that Headroom is getting serious about attending these things regularly so let's schedule another one some time this winter. I might have the M3 done by then and maybe Ian's PPA will be fixed too?

And with that here are a few pics.

[1] The DIY stack: Top Left is the Millett Hybrid that I'm building for Thaddy. Below that is the M3 (w/ custom wood front panel bling). The stack on the right is Headroom's Millet (top), Desktop (mid) and upgraded power supply (bottom).

[2] Better shot of Headroom's Desktop stack.

[3] Ray's table of goodies.

[4] Headroom Max, price TBD (oh my).

[5] A bunch of happy nerds.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher Headroom's Millett sounds great, especially running out of the DAC of the maxed Desktop that they had there.

Are you saying that you ran the Millet amp out of the preamp-out on the Desktop amp?

Or is the analog-out of the Desktop amp a true line-out, where the analog signal through the DAC is unaffected by the headphone amp circuitry?

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Or is the analog-out of the Desktop amp a true line-out, where the analog signal through the DAC is unaffected by the headphone amp circuitry?

Tyll will need to clarify this if I'm wrong but my understand is that the line out is the output of the DAC and unaffected by the Desktop amp circuit.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Nope, the output of the Desktop is directly in parallel with the headphone jack out. But I did hook up the Desktop with Max module and Home DAC board; the cross feed was off and it was then split to the other couple of amps, including HeadRoom Millett on the top. This evening, with these ears, at that particular moment, I happened to particularly enjoy the little Millett prototype that was there. It was the pure Pete circuit and it was fun. But remember, you can't smoke every great cigar, or enjoy every great wine in one evening.

I'll add that it inspired me. I'm going to take two of Head-Fi Millett circuit baords that I bought from n_maher and make my own killer Millett Balanced Amp. No not a new HeadRoom product; just mine.

 

[chronoso]

hm, i just realized that i dont have photoshop on this laptops, so i'll have to hold off on posting pictures. i'll have 'em up tomorrow afternoon, promise.

-james

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens Nope, the output of the Desktop is directly in parallel with the headphone jack out. But I did hook up the Desktop with Max module and Home DAC board; the cross feed was off and it was then split to the other couple of amps, including HeadRoom Millett on the top.

Wouldn't this be double-amping? It would be cool to have multiple amps hooked up to the same source (the DAC) but switchable based on my musical mood. Or is this "double amping" concept insignificant when you have a tricked-out Max module?

 

[sacd lover]

2. Singlepower - oh mama, I've read impressions of the PPX Slam here and so I was interested in giving it a listen. Mikhail walked me through the amp, showed me the board, chatted about design philosophy and was a guy I'd love to talk to more about this stuff. Now, the amp. Simply put, holy poop. I think the most power recommendation that I could give as a DIY amp build would be to say that if I had the money, I'd buy one. For around a grand I simply cannot imagine being able to build a better amp. I was floored. Listening to Eva Cassidey Live (out of a Merriden G08) was like nothing I've ever heard before through my Senn 600s.


That sounds like the amp I have been listening to for the last few months.

Once you determine the tube set that matches your setup the sound quality from this amp is amazing.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Wouldn't this be double-amping?

Sort of.

One thing we all have to remember is that a good headphone amp is very likely a very good line-driver. If you take the signal out of your average DA converter and split it two or more ways, you're likely to end up degrading the signal because the source has a hard time driving all the inputs A headphone amp, on the other hand, is built to drive loads that are complex ad difficult.

SO, a very good headphone amp will make a great buffer between a source and a bunch of headphone amp inputs. It just seemed, given the gear at hand, that the pimped-out desktop would make a great source to drive the Milletts.

Good question, though.