[rtaylor76]

Here is the official thread for pictures and impressions for the Music City Nashville Fall 2016 Head-fi.org meetup held on October 29th, 2016.

Here is the meetup thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/821349/music-city-meet-6th-edition-nashville-tn-fall-2016-october-29th-2016

It was later in the Fall season than normal, but at a unique location, the Lane Motor Museum, which is the largest collection of European vintage automobiles in the United States! The location used to be a Sunbeam bread factory, until it was converted to the Lane Motor Museum in the late 1990's.

This post is being posted early, so during the event, pictures can be uploaded in real time! No more waiting until you get home to post your pictures and your thoughts.

 

[skyline315]

Thanks for pulling it all together.  

 

[Dillan]

Good to meet everyone. I had a great time.

 

[kilkil]

Great meet.  Thanks.

 

[buke9]

It was nice to see everyone again and meet some new people who also love this hobby. It was a great meet and the venue was also nice. Big thanks to Ryan for putting this together awesome job ! Lots of really great gear and really liked the Leeloo. I know that I'm not allowed to touch any of Joe's gear anymore; )

 

[pippen99]

I had a really good time Saturday.  Many thanks to Ryan for pulling this together.  The venue was great even though the Wifi didn't quite measure up.  Thanks to Ryan for letting me use his phone as a hotspot.
 
Highlights:  Wells Audio Milo:  Great power!  I hooked up my LCD-X to try it out.  The volume knob started at 7 and  at 8 was all I needed.
 
                  Ampsandsound Leeloo:  I tried this with the Grado PS 1000.  I think this was my favorite combo I heard.  Beautiful sound.  Strange design with the volume and headphone connections on the rear.  I would have to turn it around being paranoid about the cord draped around the transformers and tubes.
 
                   Grado PS 1000:  I have never been a Grado fan.  This is the first Grado I have liked and I liked it a lot!  Very Balanced sound and sounded great on everything I heard it on.
 
                   Questyle QP1R:  I loved this DAP.  I have heard it several times before and have tried to justify  a purchase.  Thanks to Buke9 for letting me try it in my car.  Now I know it works there that might tip the scales.
 
                   PS Audio Directstream Dac:  This is going to cost me money.  Beautiful piece and extraordinary sound.  Not completely sold on the need for the power conditioner.  Thanks to Dillan for letting me hook it up to my amps at the end of the day.
 
                  Jaguar XKE convertible,  Lamborghini Urraco, Lotus Europa S2,  Yamaha RZ 350
 
Dissappointments:  The guys who couldn't make the meet.  Hope to see you all at the next meet.  Especially missed not getting to hear the Ether Flows.
 
                  Audeze LCD-4:  Not so much disappointment as reaffirmation that  the LCD-X is a really good headphone.  Clearly the 4 is better but not so much that I have to sell everything and put in an order.
 
All in all a really good time.  Let's make the next one even better!

 

[Dillan]

Great to see you Pippen!

Youve got an amazing setup and I think a TOTL dac is the last piece of the puzzle. Would be nice to have a pavane and direcstream to plug in your system to compare side by side. And youre right the LCD4 is not a mind blowing experience like you'd expect for the price tag.. The X is one of the best headphones on the market today and its hard for anything to be a huge step up vs that beast. I especially like your custom cable to go with it!

As for the ps1000.. Definitely a standout in Grados product line and a standout at the meet.. one that I hadnt heard before. Wow what an amazing sounding headphone.. With tubes I think I fell in love!

 

[rtaylor76]

So glad to hear you guys had a great time.

My thoughts for the show:

Highlights for me were getting to spend some time with all of the Shiit gear I have been dying to hear...Bimby MB, Bimby 4490, Vahalla, Vali 2, Gungnir, Mjolnir 2. Thanks to bigro for letting me borrow the Magni Uber on my rig. I was surprised (why would I be?) to hear how crystal clear my HD650's sounded with the Mjolnir 2 and I would venture to say it was about the best sounding amp I have paired them with. It's true...those HD series Sennheisers do love some tubes.

Speaking of, I was glad to see my HD650's make the rounds. I know I have probably the most budget setup, so I was glad to see everyone get some good use out of my HD650's.

I also really enjoyed hearing pippen99's rig in a more suitable room. I could not listen for long, otherwise I get too spoiled. That is one heck of a setup though. I am also so surprised how clean and clear kilkil's rig sounds.

On the portable side of things, that DX90 did not disappoint. I really might upgrade from my Fiio X3 II even if the DX90 is geting a little long in the tooth...still a great DAP.

And lastly, I was pretty surprised how well DelsFan's PS Audio Duet added clarity to my rig. I'm now in the market for a power conditioner for sure.

Disappointments include not hooking up my HD650's to the buke9's Bottlehead Crack and not hooking up those vintage Koss electrostatics. I also am still curious to hear my HD650's on that Kevin Gilmour Amp. Basically, as for most meets - more listening.

Also disappointed in the WiFi situation and a power outlet not working and I forgot water...sorry. Maybe next meet I can get a sign up sheet for the refreshments. Thoughts?

And thank you for all you guys for your donations for the space. I've been so busy I haven't even logged into that account until today, so thanks to all to those who have donated. As a person with no extra budget to speak of (daycare for two kids is expensive y'all), it is greatly appreciated.

And very special thanks to kilkil, pippen99, JoeDoe, Dillan, and speedster2333 in assisting me transporting stuff from/to my car.

Any other ideas for our next meet?

 

[Dillan]

I had the PS Audio duet

Next meet I would encourage more people to bring food (ill definitely be cooking up something) and water + Wi-Fi like you said. The amount of outlets was great and the room overall seemed good. I just wish more people showed up so thats one thing we can work on for next time is just dragging more people out.

 

[93EXCivic]

Thanks for the great meet. I had an awesome time and it was great to try out all the gear especially as a newbie. Hopefully next time I will be able to bring a setup.
 
Highlights: The PS1000s. Wow these headphones were just incredible. Loved them.
 
The HD600s with the Woo Audio WA2. I loved this combo. Match made in Heaven.
 
kilkil's setup. It had amazing clarity with every headphone I tried. I also really liked K501s.
 
Disappointments: I wish I had of listened to the HD800S on more setups and for longer.
 
Find out that the transistors for the Dynahi are out of production. I would have loved to build that one.

 

[DelsFan]

Thanks to everyone from the newbie; I'm sorry I had another engagement in north AL or I could easily have stayed the three more hours.  I didn't hear the Grado PS 1000s (with a great DAC and Amp) so next time I'll try and do that.  Missed meeting kilkil; perhaps he came just after I left.
 
Really, thanks to everyone who brought tons of good equipment, and to Ryan for going to the effort to put the event together.
And rmoody, whose system I used to compare a few headphones (so I could compare just the differences between two or three sets of headphones as opposed to the headphones plus whatever equipment accompanied them to the meet).
 
 
Ran out of time:
buke9 had offered to let me/us compare my CD player's transport to his computer (as a source); it will eventually be interesting to see if there is any difference in sound between the two methods of source retrieval.  I definitely see why people with thousands of songs (literally I think, in most cases) have them all on some sort of digital retrieval system.
 
Should have tried the top of the line Grados for comparison, since they were well-received.
 
After trying some really nice headphones on rmoody's system, I think it would have also been good to just listen to different headphones on different systems and see which headphones I liked the best on the equipment people own, equipment which (most likely) brings out the best characteristics of their headphones.  Since I own no equipment, if I liked one headphone with a certain DAC and amp over another which was fed by different equipment, that would still be good information as I can buy, price permitting, most any DAC and amp that would compliment the headphones I like the best.
 
I learned a lot and have, now, even more questions.  I'll look forward to another meet if I don't pull the trigger before then.
 
But, the biggest sad truth I did learn:
I see why almost no one has just one set of "perfect" headphones!
 
 
I look forward to seeing people again; and thanks again to Ryan and everyone who brought their equipment for me/us to listen to.

 

[speedster2333]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I thought I'd take more photos, but ended up listening and talking and didn't get everyone's setup when they arrived.
 
Overall, I had a great time at this meet.  It was enjoyable to walk about and see the cars too!
 
Impressions:
 
I was really impressed by the Leeloo and PSAudio stack. Great linearity, smoothness, endless power and unbelievable control.  The Wells Audio Milo struck me this way too.
 
I too fell in love with the WA2 and hd600, they were a perfect pair and kind of torn now that I bought the WA6SE from JoeDoe for my he-560's (which I'm loving btw)
 
The hd800S always get me with the soundstage, I can't think of a headphone that makes you more spatially aware of the music than that headphone. I do however, like vocals a little more on my he-560 but I may just be a bit biased there.
 
I listened to a lot of great music and many more pairings of headphones and amps and dacs and did enjoy each one.
 
Can't wait for next meet.  Someone please bring the Ether Flow (cough cough)

 

[JoeDoe]

Hey fellas! Will post my full length impressions later this week, but just want to drop a line saying thanks to everyone who participated and who helped organize this event. There's something about these locally organized functions that makes them more personal and less intimidating...

Also since I'm on the topic, just want to drop a line encouraging any who have not donated to the PayPal Nashville meet fund, please do so! Mr. Taylor graciously came out of pocket to reserve the room, and if I'm not mistaken he's only received enough donation to cover about half of what he sunk into it.

And frankly, he's just too nice of a guy to ask us straight up

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=Y21fKiLTnJKyVJ-X6uE0KOj1mMRWd05d2C-1K4FvxCVCqiLg2danFUN9-1QNMRw-d6eiMm

 

[buke9]

Hey fellas! Will post my full length impressions later this week, but just want to drop a line saying thanks to everyone who participated and who helped organize this event. There's something about these locally organized functions that makes them more personal and less intimidating...

Also since I'm on the topic, just want to drop a line encouraging any who have not donated to the PayPal Nashville meet fund, please do so! Mr. Taylor graciously came out of pocket to reserve the room, and if I'm not mistaken he's only received enough donation to cover about half of what he sunk into it.

And frankly, he's just too nice of a guy to ask us straight up

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=Y21fKiLTnJKyVJ-X6uE0KOj1mMRWd05d2C-1K4FvxCVCqiLg2danFUN9-1QNMRw-d6eiMm

Thanks for the link was just about ready to pm him for it.

 

[Dillan]

Thanks for the link!