ChiUniFi 8 meet impressions and pictures thread
Jun 21, 2014 at 5:33 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 59

Skylab

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Thanks again to AudioAddict / Steve for organizing another great event! The meet was VERY well attended, and it was nice to have some manufacturers as we'll as so many head-fires. I had a great time...nice to see a bunch of old friends again, and I met some great new folks as well.

As usual I did more socializing that listening, but I did hear some stuff that caught my ear. The new Oppo PM-2's sounded very good, as did their headphone amp. I want to spend more time with these. The new HiFiMan HE-560 also sounded good and were so nice and light!!! I need to spend more time with them as well. The PS Audio DAC I heard via the Ray Samuels A-10 and Stax 009 sounded terrific. Can't recall the model number of the DAC, unfortunately. And speaking of Ray Samuels, his F-35 Lightning sounded absurdly good driving the LCD-3, given how small it is.

Anyway, that's just a few little highlights, now a few very random and not so great pics...









 
Jun 21, 2014 at 8:56 PM Post #7 of 59
Looks like a cool meet - is that kayandjohn's mannequin head and can collection I see in a few of the pics?
smily_headphones1.gif

 
No, that was one of several other mannequin heads that people brought. Have never seen so many as this year.
 
Jun 21, 2014 at 9:06 PM Post #8 of 59
I'll upload pictures tomorrow. Power's out at my place (did anyone else have trouble getting home?). It was great meeting so many people! Shame I had amp problems the whole day. And I'm pretty sure that was kayandjohn's. I didn't get to talk to him because I was scrambling to find a power cord the first hour I was there though.
 
Jun 21, 2014 at 9:45 PM Post #9 of 59
Folks, this was my first meet, and I had a Great Time! 
 
I apologize for my unexpected early disappearance (more importantly, for my stuff's unexpected early disappearance).  At lunch time I got a message that stomach flu had just struck at home, with all its cataclysmic associations, and I HAD to get back, so I packed my stuff in my tiny red FIAT Abarth, turned tail, and retraced the 4 hour drive I had started at 5:00 this same morning!  All is OK at home now.
 
I did manage to (loosely) recreate my "can collection" that I had set up for practice at home and posted a picture of... here it is at ChiUniFi...
 

 
A very apt metaphor of this experience for me was found out in the parking lot, where a beautiful black Italian sports car reposed in stately grace, owned by someone who at least doubled my knowledge about headphone audio in 5 min of discussion.   So I HAD to position my own (red) Italian sports car next to it, emphasizing the contrast between beginner (me) and Master (him)!
 

 
I went with several goals in mind...
 
1) Hear the Sennheiser HD 800, properly amplified and with source to highlight its capability... done!  I really did hear a clear distinction of of "you-are-there" presence never heard on any other headphone.  It was already on my shopping list, but I wanted to hear if there was a clear difference with even the best of my own headphones (HiFiMAN HE-500).  There was.
 
2)  Hear the Audeze LCD-3, again in best conditions... done!  I can now understand the analogy that the Sennheiser is "clinical" -- it is EXACTLY as if you were there... no "signature," no extra bass... all clean glass and mirrored metal to hear.  And the LCD-3 has a personality, a warmth!  It is the example of why people do not build furniture of glass and metal, but of wood and colors.  Absolutely beautiful to hear.
 
3)  Experience the Sony HPA-2 headphone DAC and amplifier... one of the few that actually captures the digital signal from the iPod/iPhone rather than relying on it being converted in the Lightening connector with a DAC and then obtained.   Clear improvement in soundstage and presence!  It goes on the shopping list too.
 
4)  Hear the Shure SE846 that was scheduled to be there.  As I LOVE my Shure SE 535 IEMs, but find them a bit light in the bass, and with SomeGuyDude's recent review suggesting that the Shure SE846 did not simply increase the bass like turning up the knob on an equalizer, but actually made it as though each bass instrument was playing louder....  Not Done.  I did not find the Shure SE846 there.  Guess I'll (eventually) buy sight-unseen (sound-unheard?)
 
5)  Meet Claritas... done!  We had great exchanges comparing our headphones, which were of the same family but not identical.
 
6)  Meet ThePianoMan... not done.  Had a number of great conversations on head-fi.org with him.  Casualty of my abrupt departure.
 
7)  Meet jude.... DONE!  What a wonderful host and leader we have in him... most knowledgeable and free with advice and great to just talk with.
 
8)  Talk with and learn from Ray Samuels, and from jude and him about how he began the crafting of the Emmeline headphone amp (not a goal in advance but an opportunity not to be lost);
 
9)  Sell my AHA (Automated Headphone Auditioner, the black-haired mannequin at the right of my setup mimicking my avatar on the left).  Not done, but almost!  Its first enthusiast was so excited that she wanted to buy 4 of them, one for each family member, but I only had the one... she wanted all or nothing and I could not give all!
mad.gif

 
10)  Give folks a chance to sample all the way from consumer headphones (Beats, Yamaha) through really-good headphones (HiFiMAN HE-500, Grado PS500).  Done!!  The variety of IEMs (ranging from the Shure SE 535 through Fidelio L2s and T-PEOS H-200s and beyond) didn't get much play, though.
 
I think I did a fair job of concentrating on my goals rather than trying to sample everything there.  I did suddenly become aware of the Chord Hugo and want to learn more about it, and I was happy to see the novel idea embodied in the decibull IEMs.
 
Of course, talking to the folks was great!  As a newcomer not knowing persons by face, and having put together the lists cross-referencing people and equipment they posted that they planned to bring, I had many conversations with myself of the following nature: 
 
"Hmm... Sennheiser HD 650 at his spot.  Lessee... four people were saying they were bringing the 650, which one is he?  Oh look, there's a Fostex T50rp as well.... let's go to the other list, equipment by person, and find which of the folks bringing HD650s also have the Fostex... "Oh, Hi, FraGGler!!""

(of course, that was the Engineer in me.  A real person would have just walked up, offering his hand, saying, "Hi!  I'm John of kayandjohn!" and have gotten a response that included the other's name!)
 
All  in all, a wonderful first meet.  Thanks, all, for making it so!
 
Jun 21, 2014 at 10:25 PM Post #10 of 59
Rob, Love the selfie!
 
 
The tornado warned cell passed right though my path on the way home so I diverted to get around it. I did end up having to quickly park and head into a store for a bit when it became impossible to see through the rain. I hope everyone made it home safe.
 
Awesome meet! Huge thanks to all who made this possible. Now I need to find some starter LOD cables so I can use my RSA Tomahawk raffle prize with my iPod photo and HTC one. :)
 
Here are the couple of photos I snapped.
 
My son helped test out the DT 990's before I packed them up.

 
My humble setup.

 
Room shot1

 
Room shot 2

 
:)
 
 
-Joe
 
Jun 21, 2014 at 10:31 PM Post #11 of 59
Sorry I didn't get a chance to see you kayandjohn, I got there a little late, sorry to hear you had to head home so soon!
Will meet another time - your display made quite a splash!
Love the fiat-lambo picture. Ray's car was quite the statement! Will post more impressions in a bit. I already posted my impressions of the HE-400i on that thread.
 
Jun 21, 2014 at 11:05 PM Post #12 of 59
First let me say thanks to all the Head-Fiers for coming out today. It was a great turn out. Also I would like to thank the vendors who came out and gave us an opportunity to listen to their great gear. It really is the mixture that makes these events work so well.
 
Finally I would especially like to thank the supporters of our raffle. This includes those generous raffle tickets purchases as well as the ChiUniFi vendors and manufactures who support our event. This ensures the success of the event as it was a resounding yes for a ChiUniFi IX on June 20, 2015,

 
Jun 21, 2014 at 11:30 PM Post #13 of 59
Here are some pictures I took.   For cost no object, I must say the RSA A-10 / PS Audio DirectStream / Stax SR009 was a standout to me.  I have not really be smitten by the whole electrostatic headphone thing but this pairing really seemed to bring the music to life.  I also enjoyed my HE6 when paired with both Allnic Audio amplifiers, a Calyx FEMTO DAC with all wiring from WyWires.  I still didn't spend as much time listening as I would like but one of these days, maybe there will be enough hours in during ChiUniFi.
 
As evidence, I missed the whole ChiUniFi 8 car show and launch party going on right outside the room in the parking lot.  I heard rumors there is a video so maybe it will make its way here.




 




 
 












 
Jun 22, 2014 at 12:25 AM Post #14 of 59
 I heard rumors there is a video so maybe it will make its way here

I saw the launch, which was incredible, but I didn't manage to film it. Sorry.

Anyway, this was my first meet and will most likely not be my last. My friends and I had a wonderful time testing everything out and meeting all the other Head-Fiers there. I definitely need to go buy some new stuff to compliment my HD600's now because I heard the hidden potential that is just waiting to be unleashed with a good amp. 4 months into the Hi-Fi community and I am already falling down the slippery slope of throwing money at more and more equipment.
etysmile.gif
 It is a good thing I was extremely impressed by the Schiit Vali, which is probably the most expensive amp I could buy on my high school/college student budget.
 
My favorite setup was definitely the HD800's with the Smyth Realiser. It just blew my mind how immersive that system was.
 
Hope to see you guys next year!
 
 
 
Cars

Room Shot

OPPO table

Our Setup

 

Room Shot

 
Jun 22, 2014 at 1:07 AM Post #15 of 59
Power's back on, but too tired to do a full writeup, so I'll just give a really abridged version for now and save the rest for Headfonics.
 
Kojaku/Sean's Fazored LCD-3 was my favorite of the meet, besting the SR009 for my preferences. The non-Fazored LCD-3's and LCD-X were kind of disappointing in comparison.
 
really liked the HE-560 and I liked the PM-2 more than the PM-1. I'm probably going to end up buying an UERM.
 
The Allnic amps were pretty cool, but I'd have to get a better listen to have any concrete opinions...too bad they cost so much.
 
I finally got to try my AD2000's balanced out of (I'm pretty sure it was Dubstep Girl's, nobody was around me to ask when I tried) the GS-X. I didn't really love the pairing, but I could see people liking it.
 
But the standout to me was probably ImmersAV's binaural demo. I walked away with a demo disk and I can't wait to fire it up.
 
Thanks for a great time! I'll try to come back next year, but I might stay in Boston next summer.
 

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