[Coolzo]

Post your pictures and impressions here!

 

[Destroysall]

No pictures on my part this time around, hope someone else can fill in for those.

The meet was fantastic with such a great turn out. Had a good time hanging out with everyone and talking about all things audio related.

I will have to say the HD 800 and the Vioelectric amp and the PS1 was the surprise of this meet for me. Such a magnificent combo!

I can't wait for the next meet, which will happen Fall!

 

[ibob4tacoz]

Most interesting moment was prob when (I forgot name already) had his (already forgot model) wooden Fostex's (or were they Denon's?) and had that song on his iPad that dropped reaaaaaal Looooooooooooo[size=xx-small]o[/size]o_www.  I'll get pictures up either tomorrow or later tonight.
 
I miss my M-80s already. ;~; Treat them nice m8

 

[musiclvr]

@ibob4tacos could that moment have been when you were listening to the Alpha Dogs balanced (which has a Fostex headband) with the Liquid Carbon? I really enjoyed my time meeting and conversing of all things audio with everyone. I also appreciated the help I was afforded during the set-up and tear down of my listening station. I really enjoyed hearing the H800, LCD-X, and the HE-X for the first time; it was really a eye/ear opener.

 

[ibob4tacoz]

@ibob4tacos could that moment have been when you were listening to the Alpha Dogs balanced (which has a Fostex headband) with the Liquid Carbon?

I think it was that. I was really spaced out today.
The HD800 + Violectric setup was an eye opener. Hotel California sounded amazing.

 

[ktmracer12345]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[koalapear]

I had a great time! My favorite was also the HD800s through the Violectric V281, absolutely blew me away! Also really liked the modded pair of HE-6s since they're so different from my HD800s. Seeing how different headphones measured was also really interesting! 

 

[ibob4tacoz]

"I'm nutting everywhere." I forgot my pics were taken in RAW, so it'll be up tomorrow.

 

[cskippy]

I had a blast listening to and measuring a LOT of headphones.  I'm not sure if I should post them here or I might just upload them for people to check out on a hosting site?  Either way, thanks to all the cool people and fellow audio lovers that I had the pleasure of meeting.  I can't wait for the one in the fall!
 
Stand out headphones for me were black driver HD600, Joe Grado HP-1000, K550 with stock pads, and HE-X.

 

[funch]

Rats! I forgot to go back and have a listen to the Violectric amp. The joys of getting old. 
 
The meet was great. A big thanks to Jeremy at Garage1217 for bringing all his wares, as well as something pretty cool in the works, and for donating the amp for the raffle.
I will say that Garage has the most heavy duty, rugged looking circuits boards I've ever seen. The same for their adapters. Tuff stuff. Oh yah, and they sound great too.
Very hard to beat for the money.
 
We had a great turnout. More folks than ever I think. Several new faces, as well as the regulars. Can't wait until the next one. 

 

[ktmracer12345]

Impressions:
 
Favorite SS amp: The Violectric was amazing! It's a really nice sounding amp.
 
Favorite Tube amp: Honestly, it's probably the Ember. The price to performance is off the charts! I loved all of the Garage 1217 amps, but the Ember stood out as the top performer to me.
 
Favorite DAC: I really didn't do any A/B testing of DACs, so I can't comment too much. That being said, the Violectric DAC was very impressive. I didn't listen to the Iggy though, and I'm regretting it.
 
Favorite Headphone: After listening to pretty much everything at the meet I'm in love with the HEX's. They have my favorite sound of anything I tried. The Audeze LCD1's are ridiculous though! They sound amazing! Also, the LCDX was probably my favorite closed headphone. The Massdrop Fostex was probably second.
 
Favorite Transducer chair: I'm going to have to give the award for best transducer chair to ilmshab. That chair was awesome!
 
Best surprise: cskippy's measurements! Really impressive.

 

[ilmshab]

  Impressions:
 
Favorite SS amp: The Violectric was amazing! It's a really nice sounding amp.
 
Favorite Tube amp: Honestly, it's probably the Ember. The price to performance is off the charts! I loved all of the Garage 1217 amps, but the Ember stood out as the top performer to me.
 
Favorite DAC: I really didn't do any A/B testing of DACs, so I can't comment too much. That being said, the Violectric DAC was very impressive. I didn't listen to the Iggy though, and I'm regretting it.
 
Favorite Headphone: After listening to pretty much everything at the meet I'm in love with the HEX's. They have my favorite sound of anything I tried. The Audeze LCD1's are ridiculous though! They sound amazing! Also, the LCDX was probably my favorite closed headphone. The Massdrop Fostex was probably second.
 
Favorite Transducer chair: I'm going to have to give the award for best transducer chair to ilmshab. That chair was awesome!
 
Best surprise: cskippy's measurements! Really impressive.

I graciously accept the award for best transducer chair, the competition was fierce. If there were any women judges though, I would probably have won the Best of Show award as well.
 
I also liked the HD800 on the Violectric, but for the price, the Modi/Bottlehead Crack combo is hard to beat.
 
The Garage 1217 amps are really heavy duty. If I decide to get one I will definitely go for the kit as I have a nice soldering station at work and could probably knock it out in a few lunch breaks(or when the boss isn't watching).
 
Also, thanks to cskippy for taking the time to measure everyone's headphones, looking forward to the graphs.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Wow, I have been AFK for maybe a few years now but I had a killer time at the meet, I can't say thanks enough to the organizers (still Joe and Chris?), Jeremy and raffle donors, and everyone else for showing!
 
OTOH notes before I forget:
 
Oppo pm2 - Wish I found out about these sooner, they are like the old DT1350's but super comfy, with slightly less midrange magic, and a little looser bass.  I'd give the nod to the oppo's though.
 
Massdrop TH-X00 - I felt like these and the HEX's (which I didn't get to hear) were the most popular cans present and IIRC there was only one pair of each!  Finally a Denon style can done right.
 
Sony Ma900 - Love at first listen, these apparently measure excellent and are sleeper headphones as in you'd never expect them to sound as good as they look and feel.  I can't believe these never "took off."
 
Audeze LCD-XC - Not sure about these, odd clamp on my head and I was expecting a little more considering their lineage but I may have been fooled by the Liquid Carbon they were plugged into; too warm?
 
SWA built Klone vs Headamp GS-1 - The Klone is a beast of an amp for sure, I actually think the GS-1 held its own pretty well though and probably wins at pairing with more range of headphones.  That doesn't keep me from still wanting one.
 
ECP Black Diamond vs Torpedo III - Tough call, both amps are great.  I want to stick to the story that the BD has a very unique sound to it that I have never heard from any other amps but the T3 is more predictable in performance and in a good way.  While the BD is juicier at times, the T3 comes off as more refined.  Both amps were in top form with HD800's though which I regret letting go of and not having re-acquired yet.
 
Magnum v6 - I still don't know how I feel about these, very fun listen and on a budget they are not bad though.  Absolutely better than the factory Grados in the same price point.  I think I miss the aluminum everything v4 days.
 
Yggdrassil -  Lives up to the hype, it doesn't hurt that it was at Funch's setup which is always the best rig and cabling present.  I believe this was paired with a USB regen and custom power supply.  This dac is almost too good and is the number one stunner for reals.
 
Modded HE-6's - I've had many encounters with HE-6's but none super done up like cskippy's pair.  He pretty much transformed these and got some very respectable sound out of them thanks to his awesome DIY measurement rig.  First time I've ever seen measurements performed in person and super cool to get to see how my phones performed.

 

[kbhenze]

I would like to thank all of you for you time and knowledge at this meet. I learned a lot chatted a lot and got pointed in the right headphone and amp direction.

 

[13713]

I had an absolute blast. It was my first meet.

The bottle head was awesome and now I need to get one. The standouts were the PS1 as a CD player and the Balancing Act. I am glad people liked the Violectric it is my end game solid state now is going down the tube tunnel.