[ardgedee]

Thanks to TheChillburger for hosting a pretty great party yesterday afternoon.
 
Drop your thoughts and photos here...

 

[ardgedee]

[reserved]

 

[LNCPapa]

First... thanks very much for hosting this TheChillburger.  I had a great time and toward the end the only thing that kept running through my mind was why don't we do this more often?  I'm really happy that some of us are getting to know each other fairly well (even though I suck at names and might not remember some of yours) I still remember the faces and personalities.  My buddy, Mark, who came with me also enjoyed the meetup.  Afghan Vet made an upgrade since the last meet that has me really jealous - wish I could've spent lots of time with his kit.  Also, hearing the HE-6 on the Auralic gear was pretty amazing - the highlight of the event for me.

 

[Afghan Vet]

Thank you David (Chillburger) for opening your home so that a fairly large group of Head-Fiers could descend on it for an entire Saturday. It was a bit of a shame to spend the day indoors when it was not the typical gross August NC weather outside, but it was a great activity to enjoy if I had to be indoors.
 
I had a great time as usual - seeing those I've seen before at the meets and meeting new folks. This was my first meet that I was able to bring my new equiment......and me and the equipment were sub-par I had some little cold symptoms the day before and ended up taking 2 Nyquil capsules that basically stayed with me the entire day. I set everything up, and I couldn't get the Auralic Aries to 'see' the thumb drive that was plugged into it (first time setting this up outside of my house and outside of Jason's guidance). Well.....after much grumbling, I decided to just spin discs, and then hook up the Mac Air to the Vega - worked fine. I set up everything back in my house today, and it is working brilliantly...just a setting that I need to attend to.
 
I didn't try out a lot of different systems during the day, but I did very much enjoy Shane's Athena plugged into the Lumin with my Fostex and music. This little tube amp put out a ton of power, and with wonderful quality of sound and presence.
 
http://www.enigmacoustics.com/prod-in-finale.asp?idno=98
 
I was very happy to take some time with the Hifiman HE-6's on the Taurus amp. I started with a track that was extremely well recorded, but very quite. I had the volume knob on the Taurus on full, and that substantiated the posts on the Auralic thread saying the Taurus wasn't 'adequate' for pushing the HE-6's. The next track nearly made me jump out of my seat........SMV, Thunder, "Hillbillies on a Quiet Afternoon". This album was produced a bit hot, and the Taurus really pushed the HE-6's. All of the subsequent tracks we played demonstrated (at least for me) that the Taurus had enough to push these headphones to satisfying levels with no evidence of strain.
 
Here are the fairly cruddy pics I took for those who were not able to make it.
 
Rhett checking out an IsoMike recording of a marching band.

Shane's

 

 

ENIGMAcoustics Dharma D1000

Rhett's collection

 

Back to Shane's

 

Wonderful Athena A1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 'MARK' Room!

 

 

 


HE-6 and Taurus

 

 

[TomNC]

@Afghan Vet
 
    No doubt in my mind that HE-6 was driven to a wonderful level by your superior system. I can hardly imagine it can be bettered by much. I wonder about the possibility that others were feeding the Taurus too weal signals when they felt the amp was not adequate for the HE-6. For a moment yesterday, I was having trouble listening to music on my iPhone through the OPPO portable to my Little Dot. Then it was caught by others that I had my iTune at a too low volume! 
 
    What connections were you using linking your DVD/CD player to your DAC (SPDIF, BNC, or something else)? I was impressed by the chain of data flow. Thanks.

 

[Afghan Vet]

  @Afghan Vet
 
    No doubt in my mind that HE-6 was driven to a wonderful level by your superior system. I can hardly imagine it can be bettered by much. I wonder about the possibility that others were feeding the Taurus too weal signals when they felt the amp was not adequate for the HE-6. For a moment yesterday, I was having trouble listening to music on my iPhone through the OPPO portable to my Little Dot. Then it was caught by others that I had my iTune at a too low volume! 
 
    What connections were you using linking your DVD/CD player to your DAC (SPDIF, BNC, or something else)? I was impressed by the chain of data flow. Thanks.

 
Thanks! You listened to the Steph Johnson Trio with the Cambridge Audio Azur 540D DVD player via a coax cable - directly into the Vega. The other tracks were stored on a thumb drive (.flac, .WAV, .dsf files) fed into the MacBook Air playing through JRiver Media Center. I regret that I couldn't get the Aries configured properly - that would have been a superior source to either of the two mentioned. Next time I'll be squared away with that
 
Bernard - I wish I had mentioned you listening to Ben Howard through the Vega/Taurus because I had it on the thumb drive - it would have been interesting to do a source comparison.

 

[TomNC]

It is great to hear that the coax was a decent option for that purpose. 
 
Then what connection did you use between your computer and Vega? If it is an USB cable, is it any special cable rather than generic? Thanks.

 

[Afghan Vet]

  It is great to hear that the coax was a decent option for that purpose. 
 
Then what connection did you use between your computer and Vega? If it is an USB cable, is it any special cable rather than generic? Thanks.

The coax cable used was an inexpensive Tributaries cable that I have had for years. As I relayed to you (sort of....I was still in my funk over the Aries)....I have had this DVD player since 2005, it has some quirks that makes me want to replace it - I was considering buying a Rega Apollo or similar - then a friend asked why I would even have a CD transport in my system.....having the music on the NAS supplied to the DAC with the Aries.......well, I guess it is for this scenario I decided not to spend additional funds on 'upgrading' the transport, but I don't typically use it at home.
 
Though....right now I'm listening to Adele 19, Special Edition that includes live versions in a hotel venue that I wish I would have brought the CD or have put it on the thumb drive. This would have been a fun album to go side-by-side with those cans.
 
I forgot to mention the connection of the laptop. I used the USB cable that was provided with the Auralic gear (the Aries I believe).

 

[TomNC]

Thanks! I have a Gungnir Multibit coming and thereby am starting to consider connection options.

 

[bluecollar]

Great folks, gear & weather. Hitting for the Triple Crown in baseball speak. Look forward to the next Meet.

 

[BTD III]

It killed me that I was unable to come to the meet (moved daughter to school the entire weekend). It would have been my first meet! Have been eagerly awaiting some personal impressions of the Dharma. Thanks for all the great thoughts on this thread and 1 or 2 others. Very, very curious to hear about the Athena amp paired with the dharma compared to some other amps there as well. I'm in the market for triple play (HP, amp, and dac).
 
Thanks for any thoughts anyone may have. It will help me TREMENDOUSLY!

 

[Afghan Vet]

 
It killed me that I was unable to come to the meet (moved daughter to school the entire weekend). It would have been my first meet! Have been eagerly awaiting some personal impressions of the Dharma. Thanks for all the great thoughts on this thread and 1 or 2 others. Very, very curious to hear about the Athena amp paired with the dharma compared to some other amps there as well. I'm in the market for triple play (HP, amp, and dac).
 
Thanks for any thoughts anyone may have. It will help me TREMENDOUSLY!

I wish I had spent more time with the Dharma - especially comparing it to the HD800. I was very impressed by what I heard of it - solid low end, good mid range, and very pleasing highs (from my recollection). I believe I only listened to it paired with the Auralic Vega/Taurus, so a different combo may provide a different presentation.
 
I was extremely impressed with the Athena amplifier - I played several tracks with my Fostex TH900's playing through that amp - great power delivery - extremely pleasant sound - not overly warm nor analytical (if that means anything) - and I thought a good sound stage despite my closed headphones. I believe I would be very pleased with that gorgeous amp......basically the concept I was looking at when I was enthralled with the Naim Headline......power supply, headphone plug, and volume knob. In my opinion, the Dharma / Athena + a dac of choice would be an excellent end-game set up. 

 

[BTD III]

Thanks Afghan, sounds like the pairing of the 2 enigmacoustic products could potentially be very sweet.

 

[Afghan Vet]

 
Thanks Afghan, sounds like the pairing of the 2 enigmacoustic products could potentially be very sweet.

I'm sure you could work it out with Shane(NightDayAudio) to get an extended demo.

 

[Djinnenjous]

Huh. I live in Winston-Salem and I didn't even know this was happening.