It was a cool meet. I rode up with two relatively new headfiers and they were fun talking to, especially on the way back home. It is funny how relatively quiet they were going there, but coming back, they were all asking questions and giving their input on gear and we were all just having a blast talking about the gear on the way home and about their first meet experience. I realized that meets truly are bonding experience and I was happy to go with those guys since it was their 1st meet (this is tim359 and his friend).
It was nice to see some of my old buddies again. Steve (audio addict) is awesome since he brought beer nuts and hd800 cookies which I think I had 3. Jason (strohmie) was really cool to hang with and talk to as always. It was nice to see Rob and how his gear has kind of evolved from the last time I saw him, and GLF seems to have upgraded his source to the opus, but his bottlehead was fantastic sounding like the last time I remember. GLF, his friend and myself were doing some back and forth between the HF2, SR225, and HD650 and I think they came away impressed with the HF2. Bowls seemed to be the definitive choice. John (jvlgato) and I were able to have a very nice conversation about the HP1000's and John seemed to show some affection towards them, and I am never shy about sharing what I know about the Joe Grados. Last but not least it was great to see Ray again and especially Charles his son, if anything Ray made sure we were fed by buying pizza which always makes me happy.
Gear? I actually didn't listen to much. I spent a good chunk of time with a DAC/amp from dsavitsk that I brought ove, really fine sounding piece of kit that I just picked up from him the other day. The orpheus off of Ray's A-10 sounded nice. The hd800 was weird - I first heard it on Steve's stealth and thought it was great. On other amps like the B-52 and the Bottlehead I did start noticing a bit of stridency and glare in the highs that became slightly fatiguing to my ears. Even in meet conditions I found myself consistently lowering the volume as an element of brightness became exaceberated when the volume was increased, ah well...
Thanks Andy for the meet. However, I do think your first reply to tigon ridge was a bit harsh and seemed very defensive. Yes throwing a meet is hard work, but do not take it personal that someone did not find the meet enjoyable for reasons outside of your control. He is entitled to his opinion and he does have a legitimate base to his argument. It appears that he rode his bike many miles to the meet, and was so worried about having his bike stolen that he could never just listen to gear and walk about like the rest of us. Also, I was speaking with the Koss rep Andy and even he mentioned that the meet seemed to focus on full size setups and full size cans. I personally did not see any shures, ultimate ears, westones, or other IEM universals, which IME is the 1st meet where I haven't seen that. I wish I would have brought my shure se530's and let tigon ridge listen to them while he was watching his bike, maybe next time. The important part Andy is that you seemed to have fun, many people were appreciative of your efforts, and not to take it so personal if someone has constructive feedback about their personal meet experience. Kudos to Koss for being there as well, specifically Adam and Mandy.
Tigon ridge - next time, maybe post in the meet thread asking if anyone is bringing "hi end" IEM's or if anyone has any to bring them. Sometimes at meets people don't bring IEM's because of lack of interest and or issue with tips. I would have loved to have brought my shure se530's but deemed it not necessary to bring them, and I could have easily gotten some other shures, westones, or ultimate ears for people to check out if I had read there was interest. Also, a big part of meets is the socializing factor. I did not see you really get out of your corner or speak to anyone really, which is unfortunate. Andy's wife was by the window the whole entire time, and all you had to do was go up to her and say "Hi! I am tigon ridge, fellow headfier - would you be willing to keep an eye on my bike please"? I am sure she would have obliged. If you had talked to Andy maybe he would have let you bring it in somewhere, you have to ask. Heck even I would have taken 30 minutes or so to look after your bike if it meant having a more fun meet experience. Considering how many posts you have in this thread and how much your putting in posts in this thread, if you did the same thing at the meet but with real socializing and real adults a lot of your issues would have been appeased. Just my 2 cents, because I do hope you will continue to go to meets, and actively try to have a better meet experience.
