[immtbiker]

Post your impressions of Dev's Meet here:

 

[nikongod]

I had a great time at this meet. 
 
Thanks to Dev & Wife for letting us all come over to their place. Many (many) thanks especially to Dev's Wife for cooking AWESOME pies. 
 
I snapped a few pictures. 
 

 
The nifty little Onyx Blackjack ADC/DAC with USB and a surprisingly nice headphone Jack. Im probably going to get one of these to do needledrops with. 
 

 
Rocking out with the HE500 (I think)
 

 
Monitor speaker with vintage drivers
Grado HP-1
Crazy-awesome Krell amp
SACD player
 

 
Balanced Bijou
 

 
I like this guy's style. 
 

 
Nikon, denon, hifiman. Shot with cannon. 
 

 
Some live music to finish off the meet, Very nice!

 

[brasewel]

I had a great time. Ate more than I generally do and will have to burn those calories tomorrow :rolleyes: A sincere thanks to your wife for cooking those delicious meals and snacks and yourself for being such a hospitable host.
I had a suprise in store for me when I went to load my stuff in my car. Someone smashed my front passenger window to steal my gps :mad:. Luckily that was the only valuable item in the car. I guess no place is a "safe" place in Brooklyn. A sad way to end an otherwise awesome day.

 

[Coupe]

Argh!  That sucks man!

 

[bozebuttons]

Thanks to Dev & his wife for opening up thier home & feeding us with a great spread.The pie & live music at the end wasn't so bad ethier

.
 
The Onx blackjack with the shure840s & laptop make a great budget system or setup for a dorm.
 
Ari's silver Ghost amp with the HD800s where a great combo,I can see why Ari likes the 800 so much.One of the best  amps I heard the Hd800s with no holes in the soundstage.
 Daves Kenwood headphones with the the TTvj new Arette driven by the Ipod was a  musical combo,I especially liked the little chair holding the Ipod

 

[Dev Avidon]

Quote:

I had a great time. Ate more than I generally do and will have to burn those calories tomorrow

A sincere thanks to your wife for cooking those delicious meals and snacks and yourself for being such a hospitable host.
I had a suprise in store for me when I went to load my stuff in my car. Someone smashed my front passenger window to steal my gps

. Luckily that was the only valuable item in the car. I guess no place is a "safe" place in Brooklyn. A sad way to end an otherwise awesome day.

I'm really sorry to hear that - that's incredibly disappointing...  I love my neighborhood, and I've never had any problems like that before, so needless to say that's heartbreaking to hear.  If there's anything I can do to rectify things for you, please let me know!
 
On a brighter note, your rig was probably my favorite.  That LCD-2/RSA Apache/Havana combo was just the lushest, most inviting rig I think I've ever listened to.  I'd never leave my house!
 
Will post some pics tonight after work - glad everyone had a good time it sounds like!

 

[SolidVictory]

 
Fantastic meet. I really enjoyed hanging out and talking with you all.

 

I was really impressed with the HiFiMan HE-6's and Audez'e LCD-2's (the Edition 10's on the otherhand were really a letdown). I also enjoyed listening to the plethora of amps with my AKG K702's and the other headphones.

 

Great performance at the end too!

 

Here are some pictures from the meet (the rest are in the flickr album here):

 

 
P.S. I'm Salman, the guy taking pictures 

.

 

[sphinxvc]

This was a fun meet.  Thank you Dev and Drew for your hospitality.  The food and pie were awesome.
 
Dev's B/H K1000s fed by Tom's Krell was a real treat to listen to.  
 
Dev, you and your friend were lights out performing for us.
 
Thanks again Charles for giving me a ride home.

 

[Coupe]

It was an amazing listen.  Nikon's Silver Ghost / 800 was my fav setup IMHO.  It even took an SGS as source + 320 mp3 and provided wonder.  The story behind it was amazing as well!  Amazing Ari!
 
The LCD-2 Apache setup was outstanding.  I was yelled at by someone for playing it too loud and interfering with other's listening. 

Before that happened, Metallica - One + the LCD-2 impact was heaven!
 
BTW I am Steve.  I was the guy who successfully had his back turned on any of the pictures!  Anonymity! 

 

[brasewel]

Steve I wasn't sure who you were until I looked at your sig 

Nice pics Salman. Much appreciated. 

 

[jpelg]

 
First & foremost, a huge, huge thank you to Dev & his wife Drew for being the most gracious & generous of hosts. Not only did you allow us into your home, you fed our bellies with food, our minds with stimulating conversation, & our souls with live music. What more could we ask for?
 
Always great to see old friends (Aaron, Ari, Dave, Tom) and meet new ones (Brasewel, Charles, Paul, Salman, Steve, & one other dude who's name I can't pronounce). I was impressed with the intelligence & thoughfulness each of you bring to your music enjoyment & assessment of gear. Thanks for sharing your setups & your ideas with me.
 
While we had an embarassment of riches in gear (as usual), impressions will certainly be tempered by the to-be-expected chit-chat that goes on at such meets. I was happy to reaffirm that such classics as AKG K1000's, Grado HP-1's, & Etymotic ER4's still sound great and stand up to the onslaught of terrific new gear that is coming out today. HifiMan HE-500's sound terrific, & only lag in the ever-so-slightest bit in comparison to its older sibling the HE-6 which has a tad more cohesive & natural midrange, but make up for it in their ease to drive. My first listen to Shure SRH840's impressed me as a quite good closed can for the price, particularly out of the very nice Apex Arete amp from TTVJ that showed up a bit late to the party. 
 
Headphone-wise, I think my only disappointment was the Ultrasone Edition 10's that just didn't sound right at all. And this is coming from an Ultrasone fan, so go figure *shrug*.
 
Speaking of amps, Ari's Silver Ghost amp put lotsa tubes to good use by making the Sennheiser HD800's sound terrific. On the portable front, I decided (very unscientifically mind you) that the RSA Protector sounds virtually identical to the SR71B using single-ended sources, & both of those were easily my preference over the Stepdance. 
 
Sources included CD's spinning shiny discs, but there is the obvious strong trend toward computer-based audio. The RME Babyface DAC was a big surprise in how good it sounded, even using the headphone-out matched to line-level (rather than using the breakout cable output). Dev's one-off, custom-modded 5.5gen iPod sounded really terrific using IEM's, and makes a great case for ditching portable amps altogether.
 
Although I sampled other bits & pieces throughout the day, those were the impressions that come to mind at the moment. Oh, and pie - yummm!
 
Thanks again to the organizer Dev, & to everyone who participated. Cheers!
 
 
ps. Sorry to hear about your car & GPS, brasewel. That just stinks. Hope it didn't put too much of a damper on your overall feeling about the meet.

 

[sphinxvc]

Lol Jimmy. It's Pra-shant, almost like croissant.

Good meeting you too.

 

[brasewel]

 
 
Quote:

Lol Jimmy. It's Pra-shant, almost like croissant.

Good meeting you too.

 
^^ Haha. My name is a lot harder to pronounce
 
@Jimmy
Well these things happen. My insurance is covering all the expenses apart from the GPS. I learnt a valuable lesson that one must never leave their GPS in their car in open view when in NYC.

 

[Dev Avidon]

The lovely missus (who's name is actually spelled Dru, believe it or not), is going to be making a head-fi account and posting some pics today, but I figured having had a little time to recover and digest, I might just share a few of my thoughts beyond simply feeling ecstatic that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves (though again, I am mortified about Braswel's GPS being stolen...).
 
There were, past question, more headphone riches than any one man could possibly hope to soak up in a single sitting, but luckily for me there were only a few cans I'd never heard before, so I had some point of reference on a lot of the rigs.  I have to agree with Jimmy's sentiment that the Edition 10s just didn't sound right.  Frankly, I think all three of my mid-100 dollar closed shells (FA-003s, SRH-840s and ATH-m50s) are better phones for my tastes.  I, too, am a big Ultrasone fan, and Coupe's Pro 2900s (which he has graciously let me borrow for a bit) are some of the single best phones I've ever heard.  Just fantastic in every regard (if I had one complaint, it's that they're maybe a touch bright, a little harsh on the treble, but that's to be expected for a phone so detailed and clean).  It seems odd to me that Ultrasone can make a model that's over $2000 cheaper that's simply better in every respect (again, in my opinion).  But apart from that...
 
The HP-1s are fantastic.  Genuinely beautiful phones; it was a real treat to hear them (not to mention Bozebutton's entire rig - that Krell is just stunningly good sounding).  The signature on them is so unlike everything I've come to expect from the Grado house sound - so neutral, and delicate and effortless.  Usually when I think Grado I think big and brash, very aggressive, fun phones.  These were a completely different animal.  Truth be told, I was not expecting anything close to what I heard out of them.
 
I also don't think I've ever heard the LCD-2s sound quite so good as they did out of Brasewel's rig.  The combination of the Havana and and the RSA Apache just made them sing.  Pound for pound that was probably my favorite rig at the meet.  I'd probably never leave my house if I owned it - I'd just sit there and listen day in and day out.  I know the LCD-2s are a relaxed, inviting phone, but in that setup they were open and clear and detailed as well.  I've heard the LCD-2 sound a little muddy in poorer setups, but not here.  There was simply nothing wrong with that setup, no caveat I could point to.  I wouldn't master with that rig as it's a touch warm of neutral.  That's about it - I can't imagine a more enjoyable personal listening rig.  Based on my own personal preferences, I always think of myself as the kind of person who would prefer a phone like the HE-6, and I always end up preferring the LCD-2.  Maybe I'm not such a neutrality freak as I thought...
 
I was also really quite impressed with Coupe's Bijou - there's work to go, no doubt, but there's a lot of potential there.  What struck me was how tight and impactful the bass was out of that amp, which is not something I usually associate with tube amplifiers.  Many a lesser tube amp I find to feel "slow" in that sense, imaging nicely and providing a very lush soundscape, but always seeming to gloss over the details and punch.  The Bijou suffered from a little upper-mid breakup, but I think once that gets sorted, it's going to be something truly special.  I'm kicking myself that I didn't get to hear the Darth Beyers - so many phones, so little time!
 
Speaking of tube amps, Ari's Silver Ghost was unbelievable!  One of the fastest, most detailed tube amps I've had the pleasure of listening to - that's a major accomplishment.  I still find the bass on the HD-800 to lack the definition that I tend to like in bass response, but that's another combination that I could listen to just endlessly.  What really struck me about that amp was how quick the transient response was.  Even very difficult passages always felt right on top of the ball.  I've found it's easy for a mediocre tube amp to get bogged down and overwhelmed, and to start glossing over details in quick sections, but Ari's was just lighting fast.  Silver Ghost is an apt name - it's almost ephemerally quick.
 
I'm also really glad that a number of you got a chance to hear the incredibly underrated Mackie Blackjack.  It just doesn't get advertised for the HiFi crowd, as it's an interface, but they're really done a fantastic job with it, and for what it costs, I'm really not sure there's much competition honestly.  At that range, for an all-in-one, it's certainly got my vote.  When you figure, for $250 or so, you can put together a Blackjack plus SRH840 rig, and have truly excellent sound, I agree with Ari and Tom that it would make for a great little dorm setup.  And I'm glad that people dug my little iPod project - took a solid 6 months to put it together, but I'm very pleased with how well it turned out.  Dropped the AD 4075-2 chip in there, which doesn't put out a ton of power, but it's perfect for high sensitivity IEMs (which is what I always use on the go).  Dead quiet and very accurate, which works well with the warmth of the Wolfson chips.  It's just a nice portable combination.
 
Ah, and last but not least, the vintage speakers are actually the last set of Acoustech 8025s ever made.  They are my vote for the single most perfect midfield monitors in history, and I'm kicking myself that I blew out one of the tweeters on them.  Luckily, Ari clued me in to a way to source some NOS, so they should live again by the end of the week!  Very exciting
 
And, last but not least, I'm incredibly pleased folk enjoyed the little live set.  I realized I completely forgot to mention that the pile of CDs were free to take (and I know I owe a couple of you CDs), so just drop me a PM and I'll ship you one or send a link to the FLACs.
 
Thanks to everyone for coming!  I really hope to do it again soon.

 

[DrusieDJGo]

First and foremost, thanks to you all for coming out to our place and making Saturday a truly enjoyable event!  I had such a blast chatting with all of you, and am glad no one left hungry!  I hope/am glad you all had a good time, and please feel free to come over and just hangout in the future!
 
Most of the pics I snapped were a tad blurry because my camera settings were off, but here's some shots I got when I wasn't pouring beer into Ball jars or telling people to eat more dip!
 
Thanks again for coming out, and I hope to see you again in the future!
 
Best,
Dru