[Bill-P]

So, first off, I'd like to thank the very awesome @donkeywalker for organizing this meetup today. It was nice to get to make new friends just as I came back for to the Bay Area for Spring Break.

The meet was a great success, I think, and for the first time, I did not feel the need to walk around and take photos and try to race against the clock listening to gears. It was very casual, and I enjoyed the company, the people, much more so than the gears. So thanks again for organizing the meet, @donkeywalker, and thanks to everyone who attended this meet.

Here are some of my thoughts on the gears I got to try: (in no particular order)

Campfire Audio Cascade: I thought this one was very interesting. Definitely not as "stuffy" sounding as other closed-back headphones in the same "class" (size). They have a pretty easy going sound, safe for some "tizz" in the upper midrange frequency (I'm especially sensitive to that area, by the way). I think overall, they sound pretty good, except for the bass sometimes sounding like it's just a tad too much. For me, personally, I find the bass to be... just right in terms of quantity, and maybe quality could be better, but I'm not complaining since the current tuning sounded pretty good to me. It also doesn't suffer from the usual "hollow" sound of other closed-backs so that's a big plus in my books. Soundstage could be better, air and instrument separation could be better, and smoothness/refinement could be better, but I'm just nitpicking at that point. Note: I listened to this one out of my Sony ZX2. I think the pairing might have helped the treble because I keep seeing people complaining about the treble of the Cascade being a bit on the "too much" side.

Fostex TH-00 Purple Heart w/ Lawton Audio Tuneups: this had a surprising clear sound that was not harsh or grating. Overall very refined. I would have personally preferred more warmth and more midrange body, but for the sound overall, it's fairly balanced. Overall this was a pretty good headphone. I also liked that it had removable cable, too. I always found the stock cable to be a bit... cumbersome because it would get tangled up very easily and being not replaceable, there was no easy way to untangle it.

Kennerton Vali: driven by iDSD, I think. Overall very balanced and smooth, but the midrange was a bit shouty for my tastes. I quite like the overall tonality and sound, though. Bass was very impressive. Headstage was deep and fairly coherent, not three-blob like the usual planar. This was a very decent headphone.

Mr. Speakers Ether Flow Open: I thought this one was neutral-ish with good tonality and frequency response. Absolutely nothing stood out and made me want to rip them off my head. That said... they sounded a bit thin and lacking in body. Bass was very deep and extended but somewhat lacked weight. I found myself liking the sound but couldn't really "enjoy" it, if that makes any sense. I would have preferred a bit more dynamism with the sound (bass a bit fuller, treble a bit sharper), but overall, not bad at all. Vocals and such were a bit up front and too intimate, but then again, I guess that's what most planars do anyway. Hm... maybe it was the amp (Cavalli Liquid Carbon?). I think I should have tried this one on my MCTH, and then maybe I would have liked it more. My MCTH was tuned for more "meat on the bone" (those who have listened to it can probably chime in there), and that's how I generally prefer things.

Stax SR-Lambda w/ SRM-007T: very transparent and clean sounding system. I found myself quite engaged in this system with some classic rock. I think the DAC (SMSL bluetooth thing?) is holding the system back quite a lot and may be the reason why I'm hearing some tizz in the upper end (around 10-11KHz?). A better DAC may work better because I remember the Lambda sounding quite a bit smoother than this, and the 007T couldn't have been that bad. But overall, aside from that little niggle, I found this system quite nice and engaging, despite the sound being a bit bass-light and on the thinner side compared to my usual tastes. Must have been that PRaT thing or something like that. Amazingly, despite lacking some bass extension, these had pretty good bass impact, and so I found myself not wanting more bass with certain songs.

The rest of the time, I spent talking to other folks, so I didn't get the chance to listen to much else. But those are what I remember thus far.

 

[Josh76]

Thank you @donkeywalker for organizing! This was my first meetup and I had a great time. Also thank you everyone for sharing your gear, going from one great setup to another was so much fun.

Nothing beats trying equipment in person. I should do more of this rather than waste money reselling on eBay.

Equipment I tried:

HD-800 modded and HD-800S: WOW! In forums these seem to be divisive headphones but I loved them. Voices (especially female) were so clear and emotional, all the instruments were so clean and detailed. I can see how these could get boring for some genres (I found them less interesting with some rock). Still, I think these are my next headphones, I have other fun headphones for rock. They paired really well with the La Figaro 339 and the Massdrop/Cavalli CTH and I have both of those.

LCD-3: Second favorite after the HD-800(S). A bit more fun, much HEAVIER, not quite as clean and detailed. They're pretty close but considering the price difference, the HD800S makes much more sense for me.

Campfire Audio Cascade: I was surprised to find I like the bass better than my TH-X00 PH. Less V-shaped and more laid back than the Fostex too. I could buy these, I like them much better than my Aeons which are my current commute headphones. I should mention I still like the TH-X00s and plan to keep them. I think the Campfires could complement them rather than replacing.

Kennerton Vali: These were good but not quite for me. I didn't spend enough time with them to figure out why but the tuning wasn't quite right.

Stax SR-Lambda w/ SRM-007T: Very clean but was a bit anemic for my taste. The issue could be the DAC as @Bill-P mentioned. I also didn't listen for too long.

Schiit Yggy + Jot: Tried these two with my HD-6XX's and I liked both. So CLEAN and impactful. Looks like I need the Yggy. That's gonna take some saving...

Schiit Yggy + Violectric v281: Only listened briefly but was also very good like the Yggy and Jot combo. I would have needed more time to explore the difference between this and the Jot.

Auralic Vega + Massdrop/Cavalli LCX: Very similar impressions as I had to the Yggy combos. Apparently I needed to spend more time with the solid state amps to differentiate better between them.

IFI iDSD BL + BH Crack: I'm not a fan of the ifi dac, I've used it on other amps and found it flat. As a portable system I like it fine, especially with the integrated amp (this is my commute amp/dac). I think this may have colored my impression of the Crack but I needed something to listen from my phone. The Crack was a bit too forward and muddy for my taste. I may have found the sound more fun as it's supposed to be (especially since I tried with the HD-6XX) with a better dac.

Audio-GD R2R-11: Sounded off to me. I'm definitely more into the Schiit R2R dacs instead. Wasn't bad but not quite right.

 

[DMck2000]

Darn it! I missed this meet. I Didn't even know it was happening lol. Hopefully everyone had a great time though!

 

[tuckers]

I'm in San Francisco, and I'd like to attend any CanJams or meets that happen in the Bay Area. How can I be informed of these events?

Thanks

 

[Lurk650]

A thread was started in this section, keep an eye out for them. This was a member organzied meet. I believe last summer was an official Head-Fi meet at Embassy Suites in Burlingame. Hopefully that will happen again this year since I didn't get to make it last year

 

[Alcophone]

Bit late, but I wanted to add my impressions, too. This was well organized, in a nice venue, with very nice people and a loooot of gear to try. Too much, in fact, for the short time that we had, I would have loved to try a lot more, and try it for longer. On the other hand, coming from San Francisco by Caltrain, this basically took up my entire day already

Of the headphones that I tried, the most compelling was the Fostex TH-00 Purple Heart. They clearly are not trying to be neutral, instead showering you with some pretty tight bass that simply put a grin on my face. Fun! Wouldn't be my daily driver, but a nice occasional indulgence.
The Stax SRM-007T intrigued with clarity and sound stage, but were too lacking in the bass department.
I think I tried the LCD-3, too, but nothing stood out - which is better than what I can say about most cans. I'd love to use one of the better Audeze cans for longer, to really get used to the sound.
I have tried the MrSpeakers AEON Closed several times before and found them very similar to my Focal Listen - and therefore, vastly overpriced. So I was curious to finally hear them in my current system (Yggy / Jotunheim / Lavricables, all balanced) - maybe they scale like crazy? But no, they sounded like baby Ether C Flows. I.e nice tonal balance, but weaker bass, less bass extension and not as punchy. The Focal are better on the go (foldable, rugged, very easy to drive), and the EFC are better when the only necessary compromise is isolation.
I did not really like the Campfire Audio Cascade, nor the Kennerton Vali.
Both were preferable over the Audeze Sine, though - they sounded pretty cheap to me.

The Violectric HPA-V281 sounded a bit faster than the Jotunheim to me, which is good. But the bass impact was slightly reduced. Based on other comparisons, I'm starting to think the Jotunheim is exaggerating here, rather than other amps being weaker. I definitely want to spend more time with the V281 - if @donato allows

The Audio-GD R2R-11 didn't give me the sweet cymbals that the Yggy produces, but I didn't try it for long.

Basically, if we repeated the meet with the same gear, it would still be interesting to me

Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to @donkeywalker for setting it up!