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Montreal meet at the SSI, april 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Apr 3, 2011 at 7:23 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 36
papomaster

papomaster

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That was a great meet! However, there were people who told me would come that stayed only for a little while, and others that didn't show up at all.... Anyway, having the opportunity to try the LCD-2 made my weekend. Also, we have had a semi-invitation to go to the Toronto hi-fi show in september! I'll keep you posted with that.
 
Everyone is free to post their impressions here, and photos as well!
 
Apr 3, 2011 at 9:35 PM Post #3 of 36
Well, the inner cloth weave of my HF-2 was scratched during transport. Someone broke the metal piece holding one of the cups of my Hifiman HE-5LE while I was away for dinner. I'm considering myself lucky that neither of my amps were damaged and that my car wasn't stolen.
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Hell of a first meet.
 
Oh well, at least I had fun. I got to listen to the Audez'e LCD-2 (sound too closed for my taste, though I like the earpads) and the Grado RS-1i (more airy than my HF-2, and MUCH lighter and comfortable).
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 12:49 AM Post #4 of 36
Headfi guests at the  Montreal audio show.  First a big thank you to the powers that be at SSI for giving us a room and putting us in the brochure.   And to Jude for giving us t-shirts to wear to promote the community in a more professional/serious manner.   The best way to describe the room is a 50 by 20ft conference room in a hotel.  There was Papomaster's gear setup at the extreme end which did cause some headphone haters to re-think their view on the technology.  He had his home built stand with a turntable on top (PP can fill in the equipment on it).  Beside the stand was a table that we had the choice of albums and cds that folk could listen to.  To listen to this setup was a couch where you could fall into a great listening session with any of the headphones in the room.  Along the two sides were four tables three of which we occupied with equipment.  We had the station with cds owned by Killercrush, across from that we had portable fi using laptops for media servers.  The table beside was occupied by Wyldrage with his equipment. What an amazing setup/location for a meet.  How to improve this meet and expand the world of headphones.  It would have been nice to have had industry cooperation*, Papomaster told me that the director of the show reached out to companies to display their products in our room.  I also approached via e-mail and phone calls pr reps of companies.  I had two responses out of all my attemps, this was a chance for a headphone equipment company to get their products seen by potential customers who would not normally see their potential.  It is a shame that people were not able to listen to high end headphones other than the Senn 800s and the Audieze LCD2 but maybe the other companies do not want their products compared.  What was cool was the amount of people who liked the Shure 840s after comparing them with the two previously mentioned cans.
 
As Papomaster mentioned the SSI group has mentioned that they want to do a similar thing in Toronto, I would hope that fellow headfi'ers would mention to the companies they deal with that their is a great opportunity to show case their products for free. 
 
B
 
*it would also have been nice to have had the people who said they were coming to have shown up, it leaves a bad impression on SSI and the efforts that they have put out for headfi.
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 9:20 AM Post #5 of 36
That's my greatest fear with a meet. Second would be a grease monkey painting my headphone with his juice 
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Quote:
wyldrage said:
Well, the inner cloth weave of my HF-2 was scratched during transport. Someone broke the metal piece holding one of the cups of my Hifiman HE-5LE while I was away for dinner. I'm considering myself lucky that neither of my amps were damaged and that my car wasn't stolen.
confused_face.gif

 
Click to expand...



 
 
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 3:50 PM Post #9 of 36
Quote:
todd said:
Hi Guys,
 
Did you get to use the Peak and Volcano I sent to the show?
 
Todd
 
Click to expand...

 
This is the amp I tried the most when I visited on Saturday. The Peak/Volcano combo pairing with the HD800 is one of the best setup I have heard so far in my headphone journey. The sound was solid, very detailed, a bit sweet and the PRaT was very good. The HD800 treble energy was obvious but I did not feel any harshness. The pairing with the LCD-2 was also very good, it reminded a bit me of my HE-6, but with tighter/faster bass and less openness. It was my first occasion to hear the LCD-2 and I was pleasantly surprised by their overall sound signature after the hundred and hundred of comments I read here. I was expecting the treble to be recessed, but off the Futurtech and Apex amps, it was shining and sparkling enough to be enjoyable. I wish I could have listened to WyldRage's Hagerman Castanet and Cavalli Audio amps but he was indeed always busy with visitors. 
 
Many thanks to Papomaster for organizing all this again with FSI and to all the other volunteers and vendors who generously offered their time and equipment to the public.
 
On a non-headphone related note, it seems to me the room with the best sound was still the Verity Audio / Nagra room, while the room with the best "affordable" sound was the room with Harbeth P3ESR speakers.
 

 
 
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 4:57 PM Post #11 of 36
Yes Todd, they were used for most of the meet, except sunday morning where the source we had for it was not properly set up. The sound of it was very good, it definately had the edge using grado HP-2 but I preferred my antique soundlabs Twinhead using both hd800 and LCD-2. On high-impedance or low sensitivity headphones the 2a3 amp is a total beast, but I think that listening to the Apex/Volcano setup for a longer period of time in a quieter place may make me change my mind.
 
I'll post some longer impressions about the gear we had later, but let's just say I'm eyeing a pair of LCD-2s right now.... if I had the money.
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 5:07 PM Post #12 of 36
Also, we have 3 yellow head-fi bags left, and 4 t-shirts. Everyone who is interested in having a t=shirt and/or a bag should PM me. I will make a random draw amongst everyone who was present at the meet and send them to your place using canadapost. It should cost me less than 5$ each to send them.
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 5:22 PM Post #14 of 36
Also, I seemed to have made a big mistake concerning the LCD-2: I told everyone that they had a 25 ohms impedance with 85db sensitivity, but they are indeed 50 ohms and 91db. It is the He-5le that has a very low impedance with low sensitivity: 38 ohms with 84db.
 
Sorry for that typo. Also, on the Antique soundlabs website, they state the new twinhead has about 68mw of output power through headphones.... which seems rather low considering how much power it was putting in all the headphones we put it with.
 
Apr 4, 2011 at 7:09 PM Post #15 of 36
 

Well the headphone incident would not have happened if the people who promised Papomaster that they were going to be there.  And Peyot keep your nose out of it you were not there, you could have been then you would have the right to comment.  I was there and when it happened Wyldrage left the room to go eat, and there were only 3 members in the room to watch a lot of expensive equipment.  Papomaster had not yet shown up and the room filled with people some actually interested in cans.  Some probably looking to score something or abuse something.
 
 
 
 
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