[arteom]

Was nice to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones. Please post your impressions from the February 16 meet here.

 

[CAMSHAFT]

I enjoyed today. It was definitely worth the drive up from the Springs.

Highlights for me:

- Being able to talk to like-minded people. Also, everyone was super friendly and helpful.
- Being able to listen to my headphones with different amps.
- A company from our hobby joined us (Noble) and let us hear prototypes and give feedback.
- The venue was great and cheap.
- The "selection" of gear brought was extensive, from high-end to low end and everywhere in between.

All in all good times. Hopefully, we can do this again. Next time I will bring some desktop stuff.

 

[bixby]

Had lots of fun today. Just got all the stuff back in position for listening tonight. Glad I got to hear the Senn 800s and LCD3 courtesy of @forcepsmajor (agree I like the LCD3 more as well) and also a chance to hear the LCD classics. Surprise was the Meze Classic 99 - quite nice. Yggy / Violectric rig was also quite nice. And glad I got to hear the Khadas Tone board dac, pretty good job for $100. Would have been nice if I had my OL dac there to compare.

Lots of great sounds, lots of different sounds. At least I do not seem to have a fever to change anything, which is a good thing, haha.

Thanks again Arteom for planning and hosting. The drive back north was a bit tricky with wild snow, but once on 36 headed north things cleared up quite a bit.

 

[forcepsmajor]

Was great to meet everyone, had a really great time, looking forward to the next time, let's try to plans something soon

 

[Voxata]

Was nice to meet everyone and audition quite a bit of gear. Big standout for me was arteom's older amp which was nice and warm sounding combined with some soekris dac I'm unfamiliar with. I rather enjoyed the presentation. The tone board+atom was quite the potent cheap stack and I enjoyed force's 800s even though it was a bit thin sounding, at least compared to my usual 6XX anyways. Wish I could have stayed longer but glad I could give others a chance to listen to the gear I enjoy so much.

 

[Effusion]

Thanks again to @arteom for planning and organizing, had a great time today listening to all the great gear and meeting great local folks that appreciate great sounding tunes!

Many takeaways today, as always, but probably the biggest is just how cool and interesting everyone is, as in my opinion the best part of local meets is meeting the members of this community. As far as gear, I really liked the LCD3s, although I should have tried them out of the Yggy and Violectric setup in hindsight, or the Fireflies, but was still able to see some really great detail in them and most of all, amazing separation and imaging. Only negative I found, on the amp I tried them with, was that while they were very nice and airy, they were a little thin at times and a bit over emphasized in regards to sibilance, when it existed, making certain vocals not as smooth and silky as I generally prefer them, but with the right gear I think this could be tamed. However, the soundstage and imaging of these same vocals was very impressive. I also enjoyed the LCD2 as well as the Classics, not quite the refinement, detail, and especially the separation/imaging as the LCD3s, but nice and smooth vocals as well as just pleasant all around and well balanced. Once again, really liked the Enigma Acoustics Dharmas, just a very well-rounded and pleasant sounding can, but also agree with arteom, they aren't as light and comfortable as the HD650s or many others. In addition, I really liked the Meze Classics and thought not only were they light and comfortable, but that the sound coming from them was well articulated and pleasant, if not just a little less detailed and a bit thin in certain areas at times, but I thought they were very nice for the money. I hadn't heard them for at least about 4 years or so I think, at RMAF a long time ago, when I was first introduced to Meze and I remember really enjoying them as well back then, so it was nice to be able to spend some more time with them today. I also enjoyed the Project Ember amp and thought it did a great job with the cans I tried on it, really liking the HifIMAN 500s in the 560 shells and without the extra cloth filter. I thought this pair was really nice and full, without that certain treble thinness and peakiness that I find many HifiMAN products can have at times. Was also glad to be able to spend some time with the EEMU full size versions again, since I wasn't able to at last year's show. I thought they were nice and full, with a fun edge to them, if not just a bit thick in the lower regions at times and maybe a bit too dark in general as well, but I think certain combinations of gear could really make them shine for the price.

Once again, really enjoyed meeting everyone and chatting about everything from headphone mods to single driver speakers. Thanks to everyone for making the trek out today and hauling all their gear along. I feel bad that I didn't bring my DAC nor my amp today and just my cans and portable unit, it can be a little difficult to lug around my source and I really didn't want to have to raid someone else's source with all my stuff, however next time I'll try to get more motivated and bring everything with me, as long as the weather is nice and I can park fairly close by! If only I had a simple but effective laptop to use as a source and not a huge server like machine with an extra external PSU as well as large monitor, all with many additional connections/wires, etc...

Let's try to gather for another meet again soon, maybe in the summer or at least prior to RMAF as I believe some folks who really wanted to attend today were unfortunately unable to.

Cheers to everyone for another great meet!

 

[Strayngs]

I really enjoyed the meet. The thinks that popped to me is that I thoroughly enjoyed the HD650 and the EM-U. Both of which were a big surprise to me. I enjoyed the Project Ember Amp as well. Hearing the Abyss was great as well. I did appreciate hearing all the Noble equipment as well. Most of all I enjoyed meeting everyone and getting the great advise as I am a newbie!

 

[phase0]

Yes thanks again to everyone who brought their gear out. Everyone attending obviously loves their audio and has a lot of passion. Really enjoyed meeting people and the chats. There's a lot of firsts for me and I picked up a couple tips from folks which I greatly appreciate. My official dive into head-fi was towards the high end and I skipped over a lot of the affordable stuff. People ask me to recommend things and it's really difficult for me to suggest budget gear to people. There were a couple HD650s around there and I keep finding a fondness for these. Probably my favorite Senn HP. I liked that little tone board DAC, project ember, glad to hear the Jdslabs amp as I've been asked about that. I enjoyed the LCD3 (which I've never heard before LOL) and finally the Meze 99 as I knew they had a good rep and well deserved. They really did sound great on that setup. Also happy to finally hear the Dharmas. Those are quite nice. Not the most comfortable or most anything I suppose but seemed quite competent all around and I enjoyed everything I heard on them. +1 on those Modded Hifiman 500s those were excellent. There's a couple things I didn't get a chance to check but so it goes. The NA Khans are brilliant IEMs as were the Encores. Someone needs to bring a Meze Empyrean next time A couple things I missed out on I was hoping to get to but so it goes.

Again thanks to @arteom for setting this up. Great bunch of folks I enjoyed the day and even the big flakes of snow weren't bad. I love the variety and some of the stuff you guys brought I never heard of before so it's great to expand horizons. Name tags might be a good idea. I suck at that part LOL. But you guys are awesome. I had a lot of fun and thanks for sharing the afternoon!

 

[arteom]

Meet was good fun, small group, but a good variety of equipment showed up. Some things that stood out for me were the Meze 99's, it was one of those headphones that you read about in passing (unless you are in the market), but they never really stood out. Spending a bit of time with them, I found them to be fairly well rounded in sound, doing nothing wrong, and well executed in design. I was also really diggin James' set of Darth Beyers. Those were a fun set of cans, had a big bottom end. Also, surprised those things are still holding up so well after they had been taken apart so many times . They made reconsider a closed can with a big bottom end. The Denon's that Daniel had were also pretty cool, stark contrast to the Beyers as the sound was actually fairly balanced. I also was impressed with how light they were. He also showed up a pair of Abyss headphones, it was nice to see them in person and hear them. They were pretty cool in regards to design and sound, though I think they have some road to gain as far as comfort. That being said, I come from wearing headphones, and I guess the Abyss are more or less earspeakers, and aren't supposed to be worn like normal headphones. Anyway, not something I would consider as they are far out of my league price wise. The Violectric amp was pretty impressive as well, I think if you have the money to spend, want balanced, that amp should be at top of your list! There were some other amps that stood out as well, Nick's THX 789 seemed like a no frills, get the job done and do it well type of an amp, worth checking out. The other amp that impressed me yet again was Keith's Musical Fidelity amp, glad you kept that thing man! I stayed away from the HD600's, as the last time I heard it I found myself in the market for one, I don't need that temptation in my life! Was also cool to check out the Project Polaris amp that Drew brought, that thing sound pretty nice, and seems fairly versatile. Those single tube amps are a lot of fun, in my experience. The other thing I liked was the JH Roxanne IEM's, I'm not into IEM's myself, for various reasons, but it was cool to check them out and see how far they've come. That being said, big thanks to Sebastien from Noble for making the meet. I know that while I may not be an IEM guy, others very much are, and that was a really cool part of the meet.

Thanks again to all who made the meet. All the equipment aside, it was great to chat with like minded individuals. There was some interest expressed in a Summer meet, feel free to chime in if that is something you want to see happen.

 

[Effusion]

I for one would like to see a summer meet happen if possible, probably best if we could "try" to work around everyone's summer schedules when doing so, as many tend to leave town or attend other events, etc. and it would be great if everyone who wants to attend is able to.

Yeah, I'm actually really surprised my Beyers are still holding up from all the abuse they have taken lately too!

Went through around 250 iterations of different material mods on them and now I'm finally liking where they are in general. Yes, they are quite boomy at times, track specific, and while I can handle the boom completely, adding additional materials to the inside of the bass ports, doing so seems to always take a little too much life away from everything else. Really a balance at this point... but they are my "fun" cans, so I kind of like the extra boom and deep impact (really great with certain types of music that you want to "feel"). I'm also a bit of a bass-head anyways and they are my "bass" cans for sure! Anyway, I could go on and on about my experiences with materials, but in my honest opinion, after going through so much small tweaking, testing, and then more small tweaking, repeated, etc., using more natural materials that are thin and porous, as opposed to synthetic materials that are thick and/or dense has really made the difference.

First I went through a ton of different types of foams, all kinds, acoustic to common varieties, thick, thin, dense, spongy, etc. What I learned is that while foam is a great dampener when absorbing, reflecting, and filtering, it is almost too great many times. What I mean is that it always seemed to have a much wider range of affect, not pinpoint or precise as I needed, so in the end I've completely written off synthetic foam for use in dampening and have already removed it from my other cans completely with great results. I think foam is just an easy and quick solution, but it is very hard to gauge the wide range of absorption as well as the natural resonance, etc. of it. Same thing with synthetic polyester types of materials, just weird range of affects in general, mostly making things too dark often. Good point to make is that while cotton and paper products where very effective, they really tended to suck the highs out and part of the mids away just too much if they were really billowy, think of cotton balls or paper towels, making this negative even more dramatic and unwanted.

So, in the end I've used non-latex sports bandage material, 100% bamboo bed sheets (cotton ones were not great), and various types of tightly woven yet very open cotton linen, including sling material from a first aid kit even. The real eyeopener was actually the sports bandage material. It is the really sticky self-adhering type, so it "clings" to the driver cage really well and from what I can tell, it absorbs the vibrations of the cage and then vibrates them out off many more nodes than previously, creating much better dispersion, opening up the mids and expanding the soundstage quite a bit, while also increasing the bass impact. Also, the bamboo sheet really takes the glare out of the highs without recessing them and making them too dark, in which I have found no other material that has done such a great job as of yet. Also, Dynamat was a lifesaver! The wood of the cups on my pair resonate at a low frequency, from what I could tell around the lower notes of a cello in general. So, they really want to ring out, which just screws up the mids and bass, encroaching upon a wide area of the spectrum, so Dynamat was key. Also, while placement of the Dynamat did matter, more affect on corners where nodes could form, the amount used was very critical... really a balance that was hard to get to as the other dampening/filtering materials would also affect the ring out, etc., and thus the amount of Dynamat needed.

All in all, it was a very interesting, yet time consuming and sometimes very frustrating venture!

 

[Climber]

Reading this thread is killing me -- wanted to be there -- Aeon Flow Open and a few other pieces in hand -- but that Saturday ended up being Moving Day, unfortunately. So I got a back ache instead of hearing some stuff that I am truly interested in.

Ah well. Hope to see everyone at the next!

 

[Climber]

Actually ... might see one or two of you sooner -- I'm about to post some good stuff over on the For Sale board (you can PM me for a list) and local sales are encouraged!

Reading this thread is killing me -- wanted to be there -- Aeon Flow Open and a few other pieces in hand -- but that Saturday ended up being Moving Day, unfortunately. So I got a back ache instead of hearing some stuff that I am truly interested in.

Ah well. Hope to see everyone at the next!

 

[bixby]

Hey guys, if there are any vinyl aficionados out there in the Denver area, I am liquidating all of my 300 LP collection I have had for decades. I have sold and listed about half so far on ebay. I have 83 items up for sale right now ending next weekend.

You can buy it all locally.
Every auction item is setup so if you win, you can pay for it and pick it up in Longmont, no shipping charges at all. Win 1 or 10 albums and not have to pay shipping at all.
A great way to steal some good stuff!

here is my list of stuff: https://www.ebay.com/sch/cymruroots...&isGTR=1&shqty=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

PM me if anyone has any questions.

 

[arteom]

another meet is in the works, for anyone interested in attending - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/spring-2020-colorado-meet.923970/