Music City Meet, 4th Edition -- Nashville, TN -- Fall 2015 (September 26, 2015)
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Aug 1, 2015 at 1:06 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 373

Theogenes

Headphoneus Supremus
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Welcome to the Fourth Edition of the Music City Meet in Fall 2015!! 
 ​
This is the Official Thread for the fourth and latest incarnation of Music City Meet in (or around) Nashville, TN-- welcome!!
 
The Basics:
  1. The event will be held on September 26th, 2015 
  2. The venue is the conference room at the Best Western in Franklin, TN
  3. Venue Address: 1308 Murfreesboro Road, Franklin, TN
 
To get an idea of what to expect, please feel free to check out the threads from our previous meets:
 
Music City Meet Official Thread - Spring 2014
Music City Meet Pictures & Impressions Thread - Spring 2014
Music City Meet - Fall 2014
Music City Meet Pictures & Impressions Thread - Fall 2014
Music City Meet - Spring 2015
Music City Meet - Spring 2015 - Pictures & Impressions Thread
 
 

Frequently/Never Asked Questions: 
 
Who Is Welcome?
Anybody!
 
How Much Does It Cost? 
Not a thing. Just show up, be friendly, and bring gear if you have some to share!
 
What Can I Bring? 
Besides a love of good music well reproduced and a friendly demeanor, you don't need to bring anything at all! If you have some personal audio gear that others might like to hear, though, we would love it if you'd bring yours down (as that's one of the key elements to making the meet great for everyone)! Let me know what you decide to bring by posting below. If something changes, no worries-- just post in the thread and I'll try to keep the gear lists updated so people have some idea what's going to be present to check out.
 
I Don't Have Any Cool Headphone Gear, Can I Bring/Do Something Else to Help Out?
Sure! We can always use extension cables and power strips, and the more the better-- we'll have almost twice as many power outlets (16!) as we did for the first two meets, but as always, we really can't have enough of both! We ended up lining tables along the walls last time and had few enough attendees for it to work with the strips and extensions we had, but if we have a significant increase in attendees this time, we'll definitely need more. Basically, if you have 'em, bring 'em!! :) Also, if there are any shutterbugs among the group (like Eric was previously) who are kind enough to bring along cameras and share their pictures with everyone, that would be greatly appreciated!! Because if there's anything that's almost as great as awesome headphones, it's awesome headphone pictures-- a fact which has been scientifically proven for decades. Don't look it up, just trust me here.
 
One other thing we're going to do differently this time: I'd like to have someone staffing the check-in table for the entirety of the meet to help people get situated, etc, so if you want to volunteer to help out at the door, please let me know below! I won't have anybody at the door for more than an hour, and depending on how many people we have helping, I'd like to keep it closer to 30 minutes or so per volunteer. Duties involve basically sitting at the table at the door, having people sign in, and helping people either get comfortably situated somewhere in the room; going over some brief procedural notes with everybody to make sure everyone's gear is treated well; and generally being a warm and inviting presence for all our friends and attendees!
 
What About the Eats??
Unfortunately, we won't be able to provide snacks or food for everyone. (Although I do have to give Dan Clark a huge shout-out for getting a truckload of pizzas for everyone last time... That may have saved my life.) Since the meet will be held one exit down from Cool Springs, though, there will be essentially every restaurant option known to man within a 5 minute drive. Generally, it seems wise to grab a bite to eat before coming to the meet, and then give yourself a break at some point to duck out and grab something through the meet itself. Just make sure you thoroughly scrub those mitts if you get sticky ribs for lunch :wink:
 
Are There Any Additional Festivities? 
Now that we're onto our fourth of these suckers, I think we can reasonably start using words like "tradition." And it's become a tradition to have a meet up for drinks and dinner the night before the meet at a location TBD. Additionally, after the last meet, a few of us went out for BBQ and beers, and given that there will be SEC football going on during the meet (fingers crossed for an evening kickoff for UT vs UF), I'm guessing a few of us might congregate somewhere with TV screens and food while we give full voice to our various arbitrary tribalisms. Btw: Go Vols!! :D
 
Will There Be Any Vendors There? 
Quite probably! I'm going to reach out to a few, including several that wanted to attend the earlier meets but weren't able to for various reasons. We've had some pretty great companies show up in the past (see the previous Impressions threads), so I'd guess we stand a great chance of seeing some more this time too. As I get vendors on board, I'll post the updates here, so stay tuned!!
 
What Awesome Gear Will Be Present For Me to Check Out?
That depends on what awesome gear you bring! I'll keep a running tally of who's bringing what in the second post, so if you are just dying to hear the new KochleaKrusher 4000, you can see if someone plans on bringing one down to share. I can say that each time we have had some pretty stellar gear available (see the links from the Impressions threads above), and I think everybody got to hear a lot of stuff that was new and interesting to them. Just don't bring your next mortgage payment with you when you come-- you might be draining local ATMs and buying stuff before you know what happened. Which would be Sad Mac. Except for the person selling the stuff, I 'spose. 
 
Do I Need to Let You Guys Know I'm Coming?
Technically, no-- you can just show up! However, I'd like to have an idea of how many people are coming, and what gear they're bringing, so that I can make sure I keep the logistics of this sucker under control. Should we have too many people show up and not enough chairs, for example, we might have packs of stiff-legged audiophiles roaming the hapless streets of Cool Springs... which would definitely be bad news bears.
 
So When Is This Whole Soiree Going to Be Happening? 
We've generally gone with a 10am through 7pm schedule, but it seems like people are generally ready to go around 6pm, so I'm toying with the idea of making it 10-6 instead. (No, not just because of football. Really.) Lemme know your thoughts on this one!
 

 
Other Thoughts:
 
Gear to Sell: If you have some gear you'd like to sell and plan on bringing, let me know and I'll make a note that it's for sale in the gear listings. This seems to be popular in some of the big meets in the Northeast I've read up on, and I don't see why we couldn't do the same thing. Plus, if Jay attends, there's a distinct possibility he would buy every single headphone in attendance and resell them before leaving, and that's a spectacle I couldn't possibly bear missing. (Hugs, Jay!! 
biggrin.gif
)
 
IEM Section: I'm thinking it would be interesting to have a separate table or area for IEMs and portable equipment in general. After speaking with Zach at Aurisonics before an earlier meet, I picked up a bunch of alcohol wipes that can be used to generally clean/sterilize IEM tips. There weren't a lot of people who tried IEMs other than the Aurisonics stuff that was there (which were excellent, btw), but I'll have the wipes here again. Pro Tip: if you plan on listening to a particular set of IEMs somebody mentions bringing, it would be wise to order a set of tips for that IEM in your size prior to the meet, so you can listen to it precisely as you'd hear it with your own two ear-holes-- and you get the bonus of avoiding sharing ear-related heebie jeebies with somebody!! Win-Win FTW!!
 
Vendors to Invite: I'm already planning on reaching out to the guys who were kind enough to attend our previous meets and a few others who haven't yet stopped by. Who would you like to see here? If you have any contacts or compromising photographs that could compel a manufacturer with great gear to attend, please let me know!
 
Your Thoughts/Ideas: After attending a grand total of six headphone meets in my life (including the ones I set up), I'm willing to concede that there are probably a significant number of great ideas out there I haven't stumbled across yet. Got a great idea? Holla at me!! I'm sure we won't be able to do every awesome thing anyone thinks of, but I'm definitely very interested in making this as great an experience as humanly possible for everyone involved, so don't be bashful-- this is the internet, after all! I'm going to dig through a few other threads for good ideas too, and if I find anything brilliant I'll bring it back for the trial by groupthink.
 
Standard Demo Tracks: One thing I thought of after attending a previous meet was how nice it might be if there was a standard album (or track list) of 10-20 songs that were loaded in the same format, bitrate, etc on each setup at the meet. This might make it easier to compare multiple setups, but it also might be a pain in the mule. Whaddya think, is this worth doing? And if so, what tracks should we shoot for having everyone use? (No flame wars here, please-- no matter how much you feel the need to convince everyone that Bieber really is the Mozart of our generation).
 
UPDATE: Okay, so we've decided on The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc from Chesky Records. You used to be able to get 20% off by using the code UHDD20 as a Head-Fi member, but I don't know if that code still works. You aren't required to get this, by any means-- it's just an attempt to make your comparative experience more valuable by providing a common ground for many of us to use when evaluating different gear. Also, you're a dork if you don't get it. (Just kidding. Dorkiness seems to come for free with each download on this one...)
 
Signature Line Advertising: Since few people seem to come to the meet threads, it would be great if those who know about the meet could get the word out to others who might be interested in attending. Besides the normal methods of doing so (posting in boards, sending PMs to members in the area, showing up unannounced at the homes of various members), a few of us did links in our signature lines to let people know about the last one. A few examples might be:
 
  1. See You in Nashville at the Music City Meet on September 26th!
  2. I'll Be There! Music City Meet - Nashville - September 26th
  3. Music City Meet - Nashville - September 26th
  4. Do you really love your ears? Prove it! Music City Meet - Nashville - Sep 26th!
 
Feel free to copy any of these and put 'em in your signature line-- we don't want anybody who would enjoy this to miss it, and you might help somebody find out about it!
 
 

 
Closing Thoughts: 
I can honestly say I've learned more about my own tastes in gear and how I wanted to set up my system from meets than all the reading I've done on the internet-- and that's a lot of reading on the internet. If you've never been to a meet before, GO TO A MEET!! We'd love to have you at ours, but even if you can't come to this one, getting to any meet would definitely be worth your time. And if you're an old hat at these meets by now, why, where have you been while Nashville has needed a meet all these years?? Why am I stuck doing this??? 
wink.gif

 
Seriously, these meets succeed or fail based on the quality of the people and the gear that show up. I genuinely look forward to seeing the guys from the last meet and meeting some new people at this one!! SEE YOU IN NASHVILLE!!!!

 
Aug 1, 2015 at 1:07 PM Post #2 of 373
Tentative Attendees & Gear: 
An parenthetical asterisk, like (*), indicates that the piece is also for sale. Yay!
Also, see the Vendors list below for even more great gear that will be making the trip to NashVegas!!
 
Theogenes
 
Headphones
Hifiman HE-6 (modded)
Beyerdynamic T5p (balanced mod)
Beyerdynamic T1
Mr Speakers Alpha Dog
Ultrasone Signature Pro
Aurisonics ASG-2
Etymotic ER-4PT
Sennheiser HD25-1 II
Sennheiser Amperior
Symphones Magnum v4
Beyerdynamic T51i
Beyerdynamic T51p (60 ohm)
Grado GS1000 (original)
Stax SR-003MK2
Audeze LCD-XC
Music City Meet Custom Grado (a sentimental favorite of mine)
 
Amplifiers
Audio-gd Master 8
First Watt F5 (Rawson clone)
Leckerton UHA-6S Mk.II
iBasso D-Zero
Meier Audio PCSTEP
JDS Labs O2
Stax SRM-252S
 
Sources
Lynx Hilo
JDS Labs ODAC
Netbook (basically Civil War-era)
Dell Venue 11 Pro
iBasso DX50
iBasso DX90
 
Pippen99:
 
Headphones
Audeze LCD-X
Ultrasone HFI 700
Ultrasone HFI 2400
 
Amplifiers
Cavalli Liquid Carbon
 
Sources
Gustard X12*
Gustard H10*
Auralic Vega
 
MattTCG
 
Headphones
Mr Speakers Ether
Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser HD650
Sennheiser Momentum 2
 
Amplifiers
Garage1217 Project Ember 2
Cavalli Liquid Carbon
 
Sources
Schiit Gungnir
 
Kilkil
 
Headphones
Audio Technica W5000 with Brainwavz pads
AKG K550
AKG K501
AKG K7XX
AKG K701 (*)
 
Amplifiers
Dynahi (DIY designed by Kevin Gilmore)
Millett Hybrid, oversized PS (DIY designed by Pete Millett) (*)
 
Sources
NAD M51
 
Phillyd
 
Headphones
Sennheiser HD650
Sennheiser HD600
Sennheiser HD595
Shure SE215
Logitech UE6000
Velodyne vPulse
 
Amplifiers:
Antique Sound Lab MG Head OTL Mark III
 
Sources
HiFimeDIY SPDIF Sabre DAC
iBasso D-Zero DAC/amp
 
Wildcatsare1
 
Headphones
Hifiman HE560
Sennheiser HD800
AKG K7XX
Alclair RSM Quads
 
Amplifiers:
Little Dot Mk.3
Auralic Taurus Mk.2
Apex Glacier
Heir Audio Rendition 1
Amps & Sound Kenzie
 
Sources
Monarchy Audio M22B
Schiit Über Bifröst
iFi Nano iDSD
 
Jibzilla
 
Headphones
Airbow SR-SC11
 
Amplifiers:
Apex Teton
Schiit Mjolnir
KGSSHV
 
Sources
Metrum Acoustics Pavane
 
RCBinTN
 
Headphones
Audeze LCD-X
Audeze LCD-XC
Sennheiser HD800
 
Amplifiers
Bryston BHA-1
Sennheiser HDVA600
Schiit Mjolnir (*)
 
Sources
Schiit Gungnir MB
Astell & Kern AK120 ii
 
Skyline315:
 
Headphones
Beyerdynamic DT1350
HifiMAN HE-500
 
Amplifiers
Audinst HUD-MX1
Garage1217 Project Ember 2
 
Sources
 
rtaylor76
 
Headphones
Ultrasone HFI-650
Vsonic GR07 Classic
 
Amplifiers
 
Sources
Pioneer PL-400 (Ortofon Blue and AT-95E carts)
Cambridge Azur
 
jaywillin
 
Headphones
HifiMAN HE-400S
HifiMAN HE-500
Alessandro MS2i
 
Amplifiers
Gustard H10
 
Sources
Schiit Modi 2 Uber
 
RUMAY408
 
Headphones
Audeze LCD-3F
Sennheiser HD800
OPPO HA-2 
Bowers & Wilkins P5 (v.2)
 
Amplifiers
Headamp GS-X MK2 
 
Sources
Astell & Kern AK 100 ll
Oppo BDP-105
 
Spamateur:
 
Headphones
Sennheiser HD650
Earwerkz Legend R CIEM 
 
Amplifiers
Violectric V220
 
Sources
Audio-GD DAC-19 (10th Anniversary Edition)
Cowon Plenue P1
 
buke9:
 
Headphones
Mr Speakers Alpha Dogs
HifiMAN HE-400
HifiMAN HE-400S
Sennheiser HD-280
Havi B3 Pro1
 
Amplifiers
HifiMan EF2A
 
Sources
Teac UD-301
 
titusbartos: 
 
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro (250 ohm)
AudioTechnica ATH M50x
 
Amplifiers:
Fiio Olympus 2
Schiit Vali 
 
Sources
Schiit Modi
 
cardude: 
 
Headphones:
Fostex TH-900
Denon D7000
 
Amplifiers:
Musical Fidelity X-Can V8 (modified with Voskhod 6H23N tubes and Pink Floyd "Little Pinkie")
 
Sources
MacBook Air
iFi iDSD Micro
 
speedster2333:
 
Headphones:
Sennheiser HD700
HifiMAN HE-560
 
Amplifiers:
Cary Audio HH-1
 
Sources
Schiit Uber Bifrost
 
taxicrab
 
Sources
Simaudio Moon Neo 380D 
 
RiddleyWalker
 
Headphones:
HifiMAN HE-500 (modded)
ZMF Omni Blackwood
 
Amplifiers:
G1217 Project Polaris
 
Sources
Schiit Wyrd
Schiit Modi 2
 
 

 
Tentative Vendors & Enthusiast Companies: 
These are the companies that have committed to supporting our meet! There may be others there as well, but these are the ones who have already gone on record as contributing to what we are doing, and we are very, very appreciative!!
 
Norne Audio: One of the best headphone cable companies on the planet, in my opinion-- not to mention one of the very first companies to actively support our meets from the very get-go. Gorgeous stuff, reasonable prices, excellent workmanship, and top-notch customer service. I haven't worked with every cable company on the planet, and can't recommend all of the ones I have worked with; but I would definitely recommend Trevor and his work to anyone looking for high quality cables. Check them out if you haven't already!
 
HifiMAN: By this point, HiFiMAN needs no introduction. But this may catch your attention: they are tentatively down for sending us the HE-400S, HM-650 hi-res player.... and the HE-1000!! And this may be terribly uncouth, but... DIBS ON FIRST LISTEN TO THE HE-1000!!! 
evil_smiley.gif

 
Headphone Audiophile: Joe at Headphone Audiophile was literally the first person to reach out to me about the Fall meet. For those of you who haven't met him yet, he is basically a raving audio nut just like us who happens to also stock and sell darn near anything your heart could possibly desire. At the last meet, he brought an absurdly long list of gear for everybody to try out, and had a few of the show's biggest hits (ask goropeza about the HD800 on the Questyle amp and watch is eyes just beam with excitement). Joe is one of the most vocal and demonstrative supporters of our meet, guys, so we are very fortunate to have him here!! If you don't check out his table, you're gonna miss out on half the great stuff available at the meet!
 
UPDATE: Joe is bringing the FARM to the meet yet again!
 
AMPS
Questyle CMA800i
Sennheiser HDVD800
Marantz HD-DAC1
Audeze Deckard
Aurebder Flow
iFi iDSD Micro
iFi iCAN Micro
iFi iTUBE Micro
iFi iUSBPower Micro
 
DAP
Questyle QP1-R (hopefully!)
 
HEADPHONES
Audeze LCD-3
Audeze LCD-2
Audeze EL-8 Open
Audeze EL-8 Closed
Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser Momentum 2.0
 
Woo Audio: Mike at Woo has once again agreed to send us some primo amps to check out with all the top-flight headphones we have coming!! Mike will be sharing the WA6-SE finished in black (my personal favorite finish) and the WA22 in silver with a "new smooth volume control," and if you haven't heard Woo Audio amps yet, you simply haven't heard tube audio done right. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm basically a diehard solid state guy-- but even I have to admit that these Woo amps are just something else altogether. Feel free to check out my listening comparison between the WA22 and Audio-gd Master 8 in the last meet impression thread or, better yet, just listen on your own at the meet-- it's made a tube believer out of me!!
 
UPDATE: I spoke with Mike today (29 Aug), and he told me that both of the units he is sending to the meet will be for sale at discounted pricing-- 10% off each unit with no additional taxes and no shipping costs!! For anyone who knows Woo Audio stuff, you know that they essentially never have sales or promotions, meaning your only options are to buy it new at full price plus shipping and taxes, or to pick one up used (and probably still pay for shipping at the very least). This will give you the ability to listen to it with your own headphones and decide whether or not you'd like to take the plunge! Considering that 10% off the WA22 amounts to a $200 discount, that's pretty awesome!!!
 
ZMF Headphones: Just spoke with Zach at ZMF, and it looks like he's supporting us once again by sending over a ZMF Omni Blackwood to check out!! If you haven't heard their stuff yet, definitely take a moment to check them out-- Zach has managed to carve out a pretty interesting niche in the Fostex modification world with some gorgeous (and very enjoyable) headphones. Given their distinctive look, I doubt you could miss them :wink:
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 1:35 PM Post #5 of 373
i'm down !
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 2:24 PM Post #6 of 373
Subbed, down for the Meet and second Matt's vote for Dan to be there, I want to spend some more time with the Ether (& the pizza of course)!
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 2:26 PM Post #7 of 373
I'll be there
 
Gustard X12*
Gustard H10*
Auralic Vega
Cavalli Liquid Carbon(should be here by then fingers crossed)
Audeze LCD-X
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 2:27 PM Post #8 of 373
I'll be there

Gustard X12*
Gustard H10*
Auralic Vega
Cavalli Liquid Carbon(should be here by then fingers crossed)
Audeze LCD-X


Great rig Pippen, really looking forward to hearing your Vega!!!
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 2:32 PM Post #9 of 373
Matt, what is your current system?

Could you cover the Meet in your Audiohead capacity?
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 3:09 PM Post #10 of 373
Matt, what is your current system?

Could you cover the Meet in your Audiohead capacity?

 
Yes, if I weren't so incapacitated. Bahaha!!  Let me check.
 
Ether
hd800
hd650
momentum 2
 
Project Ember 2, gungnir, Liquid Carbon (pre-order) and currently working on an amp for the hd800
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 3:39 PM Post #11 of 373
Here's my list.  I'm looking forward to seeing y'all again.
 
KilKil:
 
Headphones:
Audio Technica W5000 with Brainwavz pads
AKG K550
AKG K501
AKG K7XX
AKG K701 (*)
 
Amplifiers:
Dynahi (DIY designed by Kevin Gilmore)
Millett Hybrid, oversized PS (DIY designed by Pete Millett) (*)
 
Sources:
NAD M51 DAC
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 4:29 PM Post #12 of 373
Yes, if I weren't so incapacitated. Bahaha!!  Let me check.

Ether
hd800
hd650
momentum 2

Project Ember 2, gungnir, Liquid Carbon (pre-order) and currently working on an amp for the hd800


How does the 800 sound with your vintage receiver? Also looking forward to trying the HD800 with the LC!
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 4:41 PM Post #13 of 373
Hd800 kicks like a mule from the Sansui au-717 but is even better from the Fisher 500c...more finesse. The jury is out on the LC and hd800. But there is no doubt about the LC and Ether...sublime. 
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 4:51 PM Post #14 of 373
As of now, I will be attending with the following equpment.

Headphones:
Sennheiser HD650
Sennheiser HD600
Sennheiser HD595
Shure SE215
Logitech UE6000
Velodyne vPulse

Source Equipment:
Antique Sound Lab MG Head OTL Mark III tube amp
HiFimeDIY SPDIF Sabre DAC
iBasso D-Zero DAC/amp
Lenovo Y40-70 (laptop)
Huawei Honor 7 (phone)
 
Aug 1, 2015 at 5:40 PM Post #15 of 373
Spoke to Trevor at Norne Audio, he again will be supporting the Meet. Please let me know if there are any requests, will have a couple of new cables.

My current lineup:

HE560
HD800
K7XX
Alclair RSM Quads

Little Dot Mk.3
Taurus Mk.2
Apex Glacier
Heir Amp 1

Monarchy M22B
Schiit Über Bifröst
iFi Nano iDSD

+ Various Norne Cables
 
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