[gopanthersgo1]

I had a ton of fun meeting everyone and just listening to the gear that we spend so much time talking about! I can't wait for more pictures!

Gear highlights: LCD-4 :atsmile: , SR-009, ZMF Blackwood [Omni], the treble of the Grados I tried (can't remember which ones), the Austin Audioworks Black Swan and that whole chain of gear...

But mostly...

It taught me that I'm REALLY happy with the gear I have! There was nothing I tried that I just hadto have, and that's a great feeling, knowing that I can come home to something that I know is getting me exactly where I need to be!

I found out I'm happy with my gear too! I didn't listen to the LCD-4 though. Also, thanks for the picture Hsubox!

 

[zilch0md]

Couldn't make it.
 
What was driving the HE1000 that everyone seems to have enjoyed so much?  (Source, DAC, amp?)
 
Thanks!
 
Mike

 

[Maxvla]

Heard the HE1000 on the Ayre/GSX2 setup and enjoyed it quite a lot. I'm happy with my setup, though, so no changing for me. I also checked out the enigma Dharma and thought it was pretty interesting. Certainly some bass distortion when playing louder, but I could see the merits. Nice phones. After those 2 headphones I was done with auditions. It was nice to be available to meet and help people rather than have phones on my head all day.

Thanks to Dan for hosting us at his company, Dropbox. What a great venue. We will miss it next time.

Thanks to everyone who showed. We ended with a total attendance of 65 plus some Dropbox employees (who didn't have to sign the sheet). The room was busy all day but never too crowded.

I will probably do another meet next year, so if you are interested in helping, let me know.

 

[bbophead]

The HE1000 that I heard was fed by Woo WA5.  Of course, I'm a Woo fan so I was happy with that set up.
 
Here are a few mediocre pics.
 

 

[garcsa]

 

After a year hiatus, the band is back together again! Texas is coming together on January 23rd, 2016 at the Dropbox office in downtown Austin. There will be ample space for comfortable and quiet gear evaluations. Meet new people and talk shop, renew friendships from the past, hear the gear you've been dying to try! The meeting will begin with setup at 8AM, official start at 9AM and closing at 5PM.

This meet is open to any members, their friends and vendors. Unlike the past two years, we will be able to bring our own snacks and drinks, and there is a dedicated area for these. Please consider bringing something interesting for everyone to munch or sip. We will likely order pizza, sandwiches or something around noon, also. You will need to bring a power strip for your gear. Please also bring a 20-50 foot grounded (3 prong) extension cord with you if possible!

If you are coming from out of town and need to book a hotel, I recommend booking early as many of the downtown hotels are quite spendy. If you are willing to drive a bit (10+ minutes) there are some cheaper alternatives further out.

The meet will be held at the Dropbox office located at 501 Congress Ave (5th floor) in downtown Austin. See below for directions and parking and loading instructions.

Admission is FREE (Thanks Dan! (MonumentSquare)), but please sign up below so I can prepare tags for people and tables!

Sign up form is here: http://goo.gl/forms/NPFkJaZrtq
 

Spoiler: Directions

Address: 501 Congress Ave 5th Floor. Just West of I-35. Be mindful of the MANY one-way streets!!!

Spoiler: Parking + Entrance Instructions

The entrance to the parking garage (costs money - credit card only) is on 5th street (one way) on the left side. There is an underground passage to the Dropbox building. However you would need to be with MonumentSquare (Dan) to use it. Plan to go to street level and walk around the Dropbox building to the right once you get to Congress. The entrance is on this side. Take an elevator up to the 5th floor where there will be security guards that will have you sign in.

Spoiler: Loading Zone Instructions

Pull up to the building on the left side of 5th (one-way), there is a long loading zone where you can park temporarily to bring up boxes.

Confirmed Vendors:

Cavalli Audio - Liquid Gold, Liquid Crimson, Liquid Carbon, New Portable

-

Headamp - GS-X MkII, Blue Hawaii SE, SR-009, SR-007mkI, HE1000, HD800, LCD3f

-

Double Helix Cables -

Schiit Ragnarok
Woo WA5 with EML Meshplate tubes
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Chord Hugo DAC
PS Audio P3 Powerplant

HD800
LCD4
LCDX
HE1000
Ether
Ether C
Enigmacoustics Dharma
Beyer T1 Gen 2

All DHC flagship cables

-

ZMF Headphones

-

Austin Audio Works

AAW Sounami HP amplifier, AAW Black Swan phono preamp, Audeze LCD-X, Technics SL-1400MK2 With Denon DL-160, Iconoclast cables.
A new Black Orpheus headphone amp (all current and no feedback) and possibly my new BlackDAC.

Gear List:

Schiit Yggdrassil
Schiit Ragnarok
Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser HD600
Sony MA900
Koss PortaPro

-

WA5-LE v2
PS Audio DirectStream DAC
Aurender X100L
AK380 with Amp
ALO CDM
Abyss AB-1266
HE-1000
LCD-3
HD800
AK T5p

-

Lawton Audio LA 900
Burson Conductor SL (1793 chip) Amp/DAC)

-

Hifiman HE 500
Hifiman HE 300
V-MODA Crossfade Wireless
ZMF Vibro MKI and MKII
Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00
Schiit Gungnir Multibit
Cavalli Liquid Carbon
VE Zen Earbuds
Voxoa Btunes w/3.5mm plug

-

Ray Samuels Audio Apache
Schiit Audio Gungnir and Lyr
HD650 with BTG balanced cable and stock cable
Grado SR60

-

Aune T1
Asgard 2
HE-400i

-

Sennheiser HD600
Grado SR80i
Bottlehead Crack w/ Speedball and upgrade tubes
Objective2 headphone amplifier
AMB gamma2 DAC
AMB gamma1.5 miniature DAC/amp

-

HE 500 with Jerg Mod
Emotiva Mini-X a-100
O2/ODAC

-

Amps/DAC: Audio-gd Compass (dac/amp), Oppo HA-2 (dac/amp), maybe my Fubar2 with DYI dual buffered amp.
Phones: Grado HF-1, Grado HF2, Oppo PM-3, KSC-35
Sources: Macbook air, DVD/CD/SACD player,
Vinyl: Technics SL-D1 with Shure M97XE into an ART DJ Pre2 if anyone wants some "entry level, but quite good" vinyl to try.
Minidisc Player

-

Sennheiser HD800
Centrance Hi-Fi Mate
Noble U6

-

Questyle CMA 800R Headphone Amplifier
LH LABS Geek Pulse DAC
LH LABS Geek Out

HiFiMan HE-500
AKG Q701

-

ATH M50x
Q701
DT 880 Pro (250)
Aune T1 MK2

Which reel to reel deck on the upper photo? Thanks!

 

[bbophead]

Nagra but that pic is from the two years ago meet.

 

[garcsa]

I thought...

 

[Limniscate]

Thanks for organizing Chris!  Thanks to Dan for the awesome venue.  I was really impressed with the HE1000 and the Fostex TH-X00.

 

[GLXLR]

First time ever going to a meet, but it exceeded expectations in almost every way. Thanks to Chris and Dan for organizing it! Here are some pictures of the event
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jbmorrey]

Enjoyed the meet as well, able to meet a couple of great guys. Thanks to Joel for letting me hear the Fostex and Audiofly headphones. I was really impressed by the ZMF Omni's, I was apprehensive because I did not care for the modded T50rp I have owned before but obviously these were a far cry from those, great headphones. Listened to some music at the turntable table and it made me even more excited about my "new" vintage turntable. I look forward to the next meet! A huge thanks to the organizers for doing such a great job.

James

 

[bbophead]

Thanks for the pics!
 
HE1000, my thoughts egg-zaklee. 
 
Killer.

 

[jodgey4]

Thanks for the awesome pics @GLXLR! Nice meeting you as well, great photos of me XD!

 

[BlainD]

Had a great time! Thank You: to everyone who brought their gear, the venders, and especially the organizers.

 

[jjshin23]

What pads are those on the Fostex Thxx in the last couple of pics? Are they stock?

 

[noisyscott]

What a great way to spend a day, and what a great space!  Thanks Chris for organizing everything and to Dan for hosting.  I truly had a blast!  So much variety and so many flagships all in one place, plus the opportunity to meet up with the passionate and friendly folks who make this hobby so rewarding.  Can't believe it took me so long to make it to my first official meet up.
 
My impressions:
 
Sathyam's Enigma + WA5-LE v2 = O.M.G. DAT BASS!  I kept having to pick up my jaw from the floor and put it back into a stupid grin the whole time I had them on.  Here's a pic me mid jaw-rearrangement:
 

 
Sathyam took me on a personal tour through his library and we had a nice moment.  Binaural tunes, some stanky rap, sweet and lovingly recorded acoustic indie, etc. I finally asked to swap phones with him, come to find that the LCD-3's he was wearing turned out to house the new LCD-4 drivers, on loan from Peter of Double Helix Cables.  (sneaky!) Good-lord, another total revelation.  Sweetest and smoothest treble I have ever heard.  I've never found Audeze cans comfortable (at all) and never considered owning a pair, but that new driver was so phenomenal that they are now on my radar.  I'll have to listen to them side-by-side one day, but my initial impression was even more favorable than the HE-1000s (!)
 
Pic below is Sathyam the man listening to the stealth LCD-4s. (And just an aside, good-lord those tubes are $weet!)
 

 
Stax 009 + HeadAmp's Blue Hawaii.  Another complete stunner.  Holographic imaging.  Detail for days.  Smooth and effortless experience every time I put them on and listened.  I returned to listen to this rig many, many times (I am sure Peter from HeadAmp got tired of seeing my silly mug) and was rewarded each time with a deeper sense of why someone would spend such stupid money on a headphone rig. If I had it to spend, I'd have ordered that setup right then and there.  Pic of the amp below -- I was too involved in the experience to dimly see anything other than the 3 feet in front of me.  The rest of the world just melted away...ahhh....
 

 
Austin Audiowork's Barry Thornton showed off his prototype but soon-to-be-real products; the "Black Swam" phono pre-amp and the "Sounami" headphone amp (which I reviewed an early prototype before here).  The immediacy and control of the all-analog rig (look, vinyl!) was very impressive.  There was a robustness and speedy control of his gear that kept everyone who listened hooked, plus it was a great way for people who may have never even heard vinyl to get a taste of what they're missing in this predominantly digital age.  Also, chatting with Barry is a blast.  His attitude, experience, exuberance, and overwhelming intellect always make for great conversation.  Finally, he's an incredible engineer to boot.  His gear sounds baller and offers a unique circuit; he's doing things his way and I'm looking forward to seeing his products take shape and flight.
 

 
Maxvla's (Chris) Uber Schiit stack (Yggy+Raggy) was a revelation.  I too have HD800s but have never heard them so lovingly controlled as with that setup.  Whoo-boy I may have to start saving up for some upgrades if I stick with the Sennheisers.  It was of course even better to have a chance to thank him in person for putting this whole show together.  Cheers Chris!
 

 
And of course, the best thing was to see all the happy faces and tapping toes.  This solitary and isolating pursuit can really bring people joy and, yes, even togetherness.
 

 
Just look at how much this little girl loves those HE1000s!!!
 

 
Shout outs to Al, Gio, Zack and anyone else I chatted with that I didn't take pics or mention here.  It was all a little overwhelming and exhausting, but I'm already looking forward to the next one.