[Tyll Hertsens]

What a fine meet. And I got to start the impressions thread!

Jacob (EdipisReks) has managed to pull of something, something quite extraordinary that no one else has managed, and that is to lure women to the meet!!!!

One!

Two!

Three!

Amazing! But more than that, he invited every friend he had an a fair few of them came! This meet was attended by more civilians than HeadFidos. A major feat, and it paid off: they all had fun, and all expressed surprise and interest in the quality of sound they were hearing. Are they all going to join Head-Fi? Oh, no, I doubt it. Are they all going to walk away thinking that headphones can sound pretty darn good, and I oughta get me a little of that one day? Yeah, I think so. It makes me think we ought to try to start having a few meets in very public places where people can walk by and check it out.

Anyway… the meet was in a very nice coffee shop.

Digitalbill came. One wonders how a guy selfnamed Digitalbill ended up with the single-ended tube set-up to lust for: an R10 and a Cary 300SEI. I know it made me want to hurry up and make our 300B amp.

Mikey01 knew right what he was after: lush and quick. His Eddy Current and self-recabled Beyer DT990 had me listening pretty good. He took them apart and showed me the whole enchilada. Nice work that.

Here’s one a Jacob’s friends saying, “Hey man, you know this sounds pretty good!” Yeah, we know.

Wally came. At least that’s what I remember his name to be. He was new to the whole headphone thing and just had a pair of Grado SR60s. But he really was interested in what the heck was going on, and asked a lot of great questions (which really means that he was brave enough to ask a bunch of seemingly simple questions, and interested enough to listen to long answers). I think he was having a good time. Then he asked if he could bring his gear in. I said, “Sure, man, that’s what this is all about.” and he brought in this!

A strange piece of gear, for sure, BUT! it had a toslink out. So we hooked it up to a Micro Amp and DAC. He was digging on it then!

Even the shootout table got a workout. Right to left: a Corda topped by a Desktop Amp, a Sugden HeadMaster, Pete Millett’s K1000 strange amp, A Grado HA1, pimped-out Desktop, and then a Grace 902 and a Benchmark Dac1 on top of the Meridian 588.

A lot of folks have asked about this in the past, and I was certainly interested in the comparison. (Actually, I drug over the Desktop Portable intead of the pimped Desktop as that was a more realistic price comparison.) I thought the Grace was a bit dry; the Benchmark was very nice and punchy; but the Desktop Portable had such a nice organic midrange that I preferred it. I’m undoubtably biased though, I’ll let others comment for the record.

Well that’s it for photos. I doubt I’ll ever get amother meet photo post up on the same day of the meet, but it was over fairly early and my campground wasn’t too far away.

Thanks ever so much, EdipisReks, for a great meet!

 

[Welly Wu]

Wow! The very first (in my short term memory) of a public Head-Fi meeting attended by "regular people!" Did you pass out the freebies so they can hook up with your company and our community? I think this is a novel and excellent idea: have more meeting in public places with regular people. Everybody loves music. Anyone can love music more through Hi-Fi equipment. This is axiomatic. The "problem" with "traditional" Head-Fi meetings is that a coterie of like-minded folks get to have all of the fun. It's great for strengthening our community and those quasi official Head-Fi contribution auctions are splendid, but if we don't lure people into our devotion, then we won't grow as fast as big...period.

I hope that future Head-Fi meetings incorporate accessible public venues (that provide a high degree of security). This is simply an idea whose time has come.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

I'm glad you like the idea, Welly Wu. Yes, I did hand out freebies. To be straight about what happend, though Jacob should tell the story, the coffee shop was actually closed and it was arrianged that we all chip in $5 and the guy behind the counter just kind of opened the shop. Most of the folks were Jacobs friends.

HOWEVER!

I remember one other guy sticking his head in the door, actually it was two guys but his buddy just walked away, and then walking over for a listen after I prompted him a bit. I lost track of him after a while, and then, as I carried the box of odds and ends in from the car, I saw him and asked about his time on the Wadia, Max Balanced, and HD650. He said, "I've never heard more natural reproduction." In those words, and he was smiling pretty hard. He liked it. I was happy!

Look, this is a great activity to have out in the open. People do dig music, and they will dig what we're listening to. Heck, half the time they could just plug their iPod into a system and freak out on the music. I do think it would be possible to have a type of gathering that happens out in the open; and I do think it could work very well. I also think that, to be complete, tis activity has to have its meets in a variety of places. The cost of Hirschs' stuff! You have to meet occasionaly at his house---and it has to remain comfortable to him. The NY meet has to happen as an intense viewing of stuff that takes some very confugurable open space. But there was a friggen' gillion dollars worth of stuff there and it would be pretty sketchy to have in Time Square. I think the coffee shop today was killer. and I think it might have worked because it was a quite, out-of-the-way coffee shop.

HOWEVER!

It was a blast today, and I do think some meets could work, if well thought out, in more public places.

 

[Jahn]

Brain...cannot...comprehend...three women at a meet doing some critical listening with headphones at a meet? *head explodes* I think we have three women on Head-fi, total! Long live the General Public!

Anyhow, way to bring it to the masses guys! Great pics!

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn ...three women at a meet doing some critical listening...

I actually do think they were doing some serious listening! It's like Billy's meet in Chicago: that girl there was diggin' on it.

Now THERE'S the answer for audiophiles: figure out a way to market the stuff to the wife or girlfriend.

Then it's us guys just begging, "Honey, do you mind if I listen to the R10s on the Cary 300 SEI tonight?"

"NO!" she says, "I just got that. You'll listen to those 650's on the Micro Stack tonight, and you'll like it!"

"Yes, dear.", you'll say.

 

[Mikey01]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens What a fine meet. And I got to start the impressions thread! Jacob (EdipisReks) has managed to pull of something, something quite extraordinary that no one else has managed, and that is to lure women to the meet!!!!

Well heck, everone in Cincinnati knows what a great "chick magnet" he is. It's to be expected of him.

 

[Edwood]

So which coffee shop was it?

If you can't say, just say which part of town it's in.

-Ed

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

What!? Are they going to let you out of your cage to come check it out?

Here's the link, Ed.

 

[Mikey01]

Well again, I had a very good time seeing everybody and making new friends. Having those pretty young girls floating around really classes up the meet. I shoulda shaved and used some pit spray before I went. It was also nice seeing Tyll, a manufacturers rep, also. I find it hard to believe all those ridiculous things I heard about him, to be true. Although some of them could be. All kidding aside, I learned a lot from listening to his conversations he had with everybody.

Girls girls girls, how wonderful to have them there. Ya know what I think about that? Well I’ll tell ya. I really like the way they (Content deleted by administrator. Not family oriented material.) and so on. There you have it.

As for equiptment, I really liked Tyll’s top shelve equiptment. The Peter Millet hybread amp was good too. Tyll’s DAC, I a/b’d with the Grace 902, was of superior quality over the Grace unit. The Blackgated MPX3 of Woodcan’s had a very clean output with every frequency well represented in good form. Ah! Digital Bill’s 300B Cary. Simply put, “It’s to die for”. The K1000 headphones were too bright for me but all else with them seemed OK. The Sony SA5000’s need a better cable which may open them up some, otherwise they did not impress me. The Senn 595’s with a recable sounded plausible. I may have to try the 595’s that way with one of “Minnie’s Rat Tail cables” on a pair someday. The AT 3000’s, or were they 5000’s?, sounded just OK but not worth $2000.

Well that was the most notable part of my list. Just casual listening otherwise.

I would like to thank the very good HeadFier Eddipus Rex for bringing just some of his girlfriends. If he had a fault with the organization of this meet it’s that he ONLY invited SOME of his girlfriends and not ALL of them.

LOL lol lol.

But thank you Jacob, for doing this. Also a big thanks to Roh’s Coffee Shop, for letting us populate the place. Anytime you are in the UC area of Cincinnati, stop by there and have a cup of Joe. They are delightful people.

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

First off, yes Wally is correct.

Secondly a big thank you to everyone who helped make this possible, and if we were supposed to chip in five bucks than I have to apologize for stiffing you. I walked out without contributing a penny, except a tip to the coffe guy.

I'd like to give my impressions as a newbie, b/c I was kind of anxious about coming not knowing anything:

If you are a newbie like me (if so, you're probably not reading on this forum - oh well....) IT IS WELL WORTH YOUR TIME TO STOP BY ONE OF THESE MEETS. Everyone was exceedingly friendly and open and generous in letting me sit down with whatever CD I wanted and using their stuff. People asked if I was liking things and what my thoughts were - very friendly and not at all intimidating.

I drove about two and a half hours to get there and I wondered if I would end up thinking the day was a big waste of time if I ended up just sitting in a corner with my walkman and SR60s feeling like a dork, but that's not at all the atmosphere. People were answering questions and offering suggestions and really making me feel part of the crowd.

Tyll was very open to my many questions and I probably took up well over an hour of his time asking whatever questions I had - even if I probably only understood a small fraction of what he was telling me. Thanks very much Tyll for all your attention and "hand-holding".

Beside the fun social part, it was really valuable to hear all these different amps, headphones, sources, and cabling and what-not. Now I think I can read the headphone forum with a great deal more understanding of what people are talking about.

If I could do one thing different I wish I had asked people listening to any given headphone to describe to me the sound as they heard it. I'm still not sure I understand what all the terminology (recessed, veiled, seperation, soundstage, etc) means - I wish I had asked people to help me hear a good example of soundstage or something so I had a better description of the sound to attach to the different headphones I tried.

All said, I think I came away being a Grado man. I just loved all of the Grados I heard. I had the impression they were a "rock" headphone, but my opera sounded just gorgeous on them. I wish, however, I could take the DT-880's and HD650's home for a month and listen to them b/c I didn't like them so much right away and probably listened to each only about 20 minutes altogether. I wonder if I spent a little more time listening to them, the sound would start to appeal more. Well, next time I guess, eh?

I came away happy with my SR60's if only for the sound quality I currently get at the price I paid. I liked some other headphones in that price range, but I like mine the best.

Thanks again to everyone and if you're like me and are thinking about going to something like this, but feel unsure - my advise is its time well spent and, really, a unique opportunity.

Thanks again to all of you for making my meet experience so positive!

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Hey, Wally! Nice to see ya!

I'm glad you came and got to check out all the gear. I did notice the label of your disc and had a brief glimpse of a listen to it. I've got some choral Christmas music on the same label, and my dad is a big opera fan. (Me? I can't stand it.)

Anyway, glad you came by. Sorry, to hear you are a Grado guy. I'm not. But, that's okay. You should have a listen to the Alesandos sometime. They are a modified Grado. I've liked them when I heard them.

Would you please tell us what that player was you had?

Cheers!

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

Oops, Tyll. edited!

I don't actually know anything about my Sony CD player. It's just part of one of the "bookshelf" stereos I got at Circuit City a couple years ago. It has two matching speakers that I left at home.

Yeah, the Grados did it for me, but who knows....? They just seemed to have a "punch" (?) the others didn't give me. What a blast listening to them all, though.

I'm not really an operaphile like some people. I just tried to make myself start listening to it to broaden my horizons or whatever (being a boring probation officer makes you want to reach out some days, especially after talking to clients sometimes.....). It's kind of grown on me and it impresses chicks at parties - don't mention to my wife I said that

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

I should try to get a few reccomendations from my Dad. He listens to stuff like Italian funeral music and such. I bet my Dad's even got stuff that will impress your wife. I know his paintings impress my wife. In fact, the old codger took her out to lunch last week while I was out of town. Well, I oughta ...

 

[tyrion]

Very cool meet. I had thought about hosting my first meet a my favorite coffee shop but I would have been too small, considering my house ended up being too small. I can think of a couple of headfiers that would've had a great time at the meet considering there were more females than at any 3 other meets, I've attended. I am sure they know who they are.

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens I should try to get a few reccomendations from my Dad. He listens to stuff like Italian funeral music and such. I bet my Dad's even got stuff that will impress your wife. I know his paintings impress my wife. In fact, the old codger took her out to lunch last week while I was out of town. Well, I oughta ...

Ha! This from the guy who's posting pics of the babes he hung around with today while out of town on "business"!

Sure, ask your pop. I'm always interested in finding some new gem. Italian funeral music, eh? Well, why not?

You know, I thought about dragging my beautiful wife along, but after reading these comments from you reprobates, I think I'm glad I didn't