[kilkil]

Thanks everyone for making this a great meet. The next meet is planned late May/Early June.

 

[Makiah S]

Big thanks ofc to @kilkil for once again opening his home for a meet! Honestly I feel his place has simply the best view and host of any of the audio meets/shows I've been too

Non the less looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts

 

[DelsFan]

Thom, thanks so much for hosting - I had a great time and learned a lot, as usual. I was amazed by how great your (better) amp sounded. A couple of people have told me: the best way to get a "really" good amplifier - that suits one's own tastes or requirements - is to go the DIY route. I do have some ideas about implementation, gleaned from talking to a few guys/experts/builders on the phone. I always look forward to coming; finally I was able to bring something to share.

It was great seeing everyone, and we had a new visitor; we were glad Steve from Colorado came by, as he was in town on business and had the good sense to come out and hear some interesting gear. My goal next time will be to leave the same day I arrive. Or, just be sensible and plan to stay the night...

 

[kilkil]

I didn't listent to too much as i host the meets mostly to hang out with friends and enjoy a drink.

I'll start with my favorite sounding headphone, the MySphere. If feels a bit weird to wear these, any movement of the head moves the headband and i feel like i have to be competely still to enjoy these HPs. I love the detail, particularly the midrange. After hearing this detail I went around seeking detail in other HPs, this bringing back the AKG K501. The K501, is such an amazing HP, beautiful mids, amazing detail, it begs for acoustic music and vocals.

I have a Pass labs XA30.5 driving Quad 2905 in my main system, thus i was looking forward to hearing the Pass HP amp. I thought it is an excellent amp, I think the best commercially available solid state amp i've heard. Of course this brings in the requirement to directly compare my Dynahi with it. The Dynahi does win out, with a more precise and impactful base. i thought the midrange was quite similar between the two, though i definitely preferred the Dynahi.

One comparison i thought about but didn't perform a direct side by side is the Cary streamer DAC that Jeff has vs the Yggdrasil DAC. After using the streamer as a dac over many songs, it enjoyed it quite a bit.

The big treat for the meet was listening and touching the 1903 Columbia Graphophone. I was shocked by how small it was, i was expecting at least twice the size, like some of the horns in Avant=Garde speakers. Looking at the pure mechanical mechanism of the disk, needle vibrations creating the sound.

 

[kilkil]

My goal next time will be to leave the same day I arrive. Or, just be sensible and plan to stay the night...

As you know, you are welcome to spend the night. I don't even know how you were able to drive home that late and still be able to get up early enough to go to church. My church doesn't start to 11, so it was quite easy for me.

 

[Makiah S]

The real highlight for me at this meet was hearing the Dynahi with the Carry Audio DMS 550 and Linn CD Player, while a smidge warmer than I like the overall detail, blackness and precision within the sound stage where phenominal!

I will say I've found many fully unfolded MQA Masters to be rather bright so this set up was perfect for them!



Hearing the HD 650 with the Production Auris Etuerpe was another memorable moment! The brighter expansive sound of Euterpe pair'd nicely with the beautiful tone and density of HD 650.



I also enjoyed hearing an OG Abyss once more, I was really amazed at how well this set up drove them! Khadas Tone Board DAC fed right into an OG Liquid Carbon clean, powerful with a beautiful dense tone an expansive imaging!



It was good to hear the My Sphere again tho I couldn't get quite past the comfort... it really dig into my lower jaw something I've not experinced before so I didn't listen as long as I would have liked



I also had a listen of the Pass HPA-1 but it couldn't quite stand up to the Dynahi at least not with my HD 800, while I felt the slightly harder presentation of the HPA 1 was a better match for the Cary DMS 550 the HPA 1 couldn't match the speed and sheer resolve of the Dynahi. An honestly the HPA 1 grew a bit tirsome after a few tracks anyways...

 

[kilkil]

I found a lightning to usb micro cable at my place, is anyone missing their cable?

 

[kilkil]

Last week I was in Denver and met up with @anti-monitor . I was great talking to you, he recommended an audio store that i visited and i wanted to hear the Sanders Sound System.

Sanders sound system, it sounded good, but was missing the magical midrange i love. Roger was adamant about this is equalized to be perfectly flat and can be changed to any sound you want, the sweet spot was extremely narrow, i was about 9 feet from the speakers and if i moved my head about 6 inches, it was quite noticeably not balanced sound.

At the audio store, I listened to WIlsons and Harbeth. I really only listened to the Wilsons because when i heard them before, they didn't do anything good, and it was hard to understand that people liked them. After listening here, a completely different impression, they are quite impressive speakers, powerful, impactful, detailed, though non-magical midrange and kind of boring.

Harbeth, C7 was almost completely opposite, a much softer, less impactful, pleasant, musical feeling, amazing midrange.

After this experience, I'm tempted to replace my office speakers.

 

[Cool Jazz]

Glad to hear you got the chance to get out and around and hear some things! It's always good to get out and hear things. Some surprises and sometimes some listening reinforces opinions from previous sessions.

That's why I'm so glad we've had such great sessions at these Mid-TN get togethers. Just wonderful times and some really cool gear. And great bunch of folks. Lots of chances to hear some good stuff. Just really good times.

CJ

 

[kilkil]

Thanks,
I love our meets also, I know i just had one a month ago, but i'm already ready for another meet...

So i now want the power of a wilson speaker with the harbeth midrange. I actually loved hannigans voice in "I don't know" better in the harbeth than my quads, though overall the quads definitely sound more natural.

 

[DelsFan]

...I'll start with my favorite sounding headphone, the MySphere. If feels a bit weird to wear these, any movement of the head moves the headband and i feel like i have to be completely still to enjoy these HPs. I love the detail, particularly the midrange.

...It was good to hear the My Sphere again tho I couldn't get quite past the comfort... it really dig into my lower jaw something I've not experienced before so I didn't listen as long as I would have liked...

I've emailed with Mike (Woo Audio) a couple of times and he says they do have a way to customize the headband for people who might like/need a bit of modification in order for the headphone to best fit their head (send a selfie taken while wearing the headphones, they'll do the rest - sounds interesting). I've not inquired further but I will, if I think I want to end up with the MySpheres for the foreseeable future. In theory the headphones are light enough and the design with the headband "should" work well - no complaints about excessive clamping force from my wife with these! They do sound great; I'll report back if I get more info (I believe what they do is, technically, customize the padding on the headband rather than the headband itself; it seems a simple solution/customization, and if they get it right should also work like a charm).

 

[kilkil]

I did replace the speakers in the office, though not with what i planned. I moved the Quads down to the office.
In it's place I found some big Sounds Labs. Initial impressions it's an amazing mid-range and overall better than the Quads.

 

[phillyd]

Wish I had gotten to make it to this meet! I think I'll be able to make it to the next one, it's been a while since I've been to one! (4 years I think)

 

[kilkil]

I hope you can make to the next meet, likely end of May.

 

[RCBinTN]

I did replace the speakers in the office, though not with what i planned. I moved the Quads down to the office.
In it's place I found some big Sounds Labs. Initial impressions it's an amazing mid-range and overall better than the Quads.

And, rearranged the living room. Looks great!