[LFC_SL]

You have to be pragmatic and acknowledge sponsorship is a necessity as we do not live in a perfect world. Fact is if you charged a ticket price then that changes the entire dynamic in terms of attendees.
 
Judging by the tone I infer people had a different experience of the recent meet but I did not encounter any sales speak. None. Prominent branding yes, but definitely no sales. Just talking about the product. Did not at all think any of the companies were seeking sales.

 

[MarkyB16]

Definitely count me in please as the last one was such a success. Also thanks GSA Rider for taking your time to organise another event.

 

[GSARider]

Good to get the feedback chaps, personally I liked the atmosphere of the last event and id like to keep it similar.

Marky, see you at the next one.

 

[GSARider]

One other thing that I've been toying with trying is a blind test of amps / cables hooked up to a set of decent cans and to measure the responses. Anyone up for helping to set up?

 

[Takeanidea]

Gosh that's a subject very close to my heart nadeem I'd like to get involved in that

 

[GSARider]

Thought it could be a bit of fun that could also confirm / deny some of our ideas on our kit. If you'd be up for it, pm me any ideas on the best way to approach. Now I will stress I'm not out to cause any hassle or insult anyone's kit or ears...! I'm just doing things that I'd like to try and see if I really can tell the difference between a 2k and a £200 amp in a blind test and I hope most will also be curious.

 

[Takeanidea]

And as for the sentiments regarding manufacturers whatever you think will fund this event is alright with me. It may have come across that I was against sennheisers presence and support for April's meet but that was a highlight for me and you're right there was no big sales.
I completely trust your judgement and you have now a proven track record you can pull this event off .
It's so difficult to word things in a way that dont imply criticism and cause offence I wanted to maintain that great asmosphere of 27/4 is all I meant really. There were a few traders there but when it came to it I never got a chance to visit more than a few tables anyway as I was on mine a lot of the time. The tables I did visit though opened my eyes to what is out there.
And shipsups clunkiest phones , wow if only I could get a pair of those.......

 

[Takeanidea]

Apologies was meant to be a pm

 

[GSARider]

Not at all, I'm happy to listen and as I said the format has changed because of constructive criticism on having a range of products available to test and folk on hand to explain their stuff. One of things I've been stressing to interested parties is that they need to send folk that understand the design, performance and characteristics of their products and that they need to be open to feedback. This I see as being a key point and it helps us get the cans we deserve going forward by influencing R&D.

 

[GSARider]

Hi nadeem.
The double blind test is what the scientist's do. You are not shown the kit. A toss of a coin determines which piece is used. The hd800's MUST be used. Simply because it's your show and you own a pair
I propose a quiet room. 1 ipod type device. 1 dap (I won the hifiman 601 or there's the tera colorfly dx100 etc) 1 dac 1 solid state headphone amp 1 tube headphone amp. The hdvd800 HAS to be included.
Someone is the switcher and the coin flipper and each device is volume matched and named 1 to 5. Listeners are invited to say what they liked or disliked and why and to listen to the same track for 1 minute each try.
Results are collated to see if there's a pattern or whether it's random. Also a prize to who ca name all 5 devices successfully from 10 random goes.
What do you think?

That sounds good to me, will need someone to man it though as I won't be able to...two or three folk taking turns would be ideal.

 

[negura]

Quote:

Not at all, I'm happy to listen and as I said the format has changed because of constructive criticism on having a range of products available to test and folk on hand to explain their stuff. One of things I've been stressing to interested parties is that they need to send folk that understand the design, performance and characteristics of their products and that they need to be open to feedback. This I see as being a key point and it helps us get the cans we deserve going forward by influencing R&D.

 
I think the coverage in terms of headphones at the last meet was very impressive. Some of the feedback I've got from several people, some of which very respectable members is that it's very difficult to audition many/most of the higher-end products before purchasing. Meets are one of the potential options for this to happen, but usually only as long as someone owns the gear and will bring it along with them. Maybe for the next meet some additional presence in terms of AMPs, DACs, Interfaces would be wortwhile for folks to hear. Even very meritous but less expensive headphones like the HD600s and HD650s sound dramatically improved (in audiophile scaling 

) by higher-end gear. There are some killer DACs made in the UK (Chord QBD76, Chord Chordette QuteHD, AMR DP-777 to name just a couple). Not too far from here, in the Netherlands there's Metrum Acoustics (Octave MKI, MK2, HEX). In Germany, Vioelectric (V200, V800 etc). If I am not mistaking the latter are Head-Fi sponsors too and word goes this summer they have a few new product updates cooking.
 
Some regular favourites on Head-Fi from elsewhere and in no particular order: Schiit, Headamp, Burson, Woo Audio, PS Audio, Audio-GD.
 
These are just some suggestions, I am sure folks have some better ones.

 

[fihidelity]

I'd be interested in seeing if anyone can tell the difference between USB leads if a quiet room can be organised?

 

[krismusic]

That sounds good to me, will need someone to man it though as I won't be able to...two or three folk taking turns would be ideal.

I might be able to set up a curtain if needed... Great idea.

 

[jr41]

I think having a range of suppliers there is a good thing. They bring along nice gear for people to try, which is what it's all about! Based on my past experience, suppliers don't push their wares at meets as they don't need to. We're all a bunch of rabid gear freaks and so the stuff just sells itself most of the time 

 They are however usually willing to talk in depth about the product so it's a good opportunity to learn more.
 
So long as there's plenty of room for people to setup their own gear, which I'm sure there will be, then the community/social aspect of the meet (which is the most important element) will be preserved.

 

[GSARider]

Quote:

I might be able to set up a curtain if needed... Great idea.

All sounds good chaps - worth a go, I'm curious as to whether I can tell a difference, i'd like to think I can, but we shall see...