[mikeymad]

Fuzzy Nautilus picture - I guess that I was just too excited. But the sound was far from fuzzy.

The evolved BA was very nice to hear again (production around the corner?):

Beverages were in supply, and in the glasses... Cheers.

The Gilmore and the front of the pile of digital goodness.

checking out the HD2:

The couch was well used...

Foo_me and the highly moded cans from AST.

End of the day photos.

Still working hard.

Cheers,

 

[penger]

Great pics and impressions! Wish I could have been there.

 

[Spektrograf]

Big props and thanks to Dan for being a great host and having us all over at his house for the day! I was only able to stay 'til 3pm, but really had a great time chatting with everyone.

I got a good schooling from Adam on DAC's in a long conversation that had me picking dusting off my old EE circuit design memory banks to keep up.

From that convers, I have changed my entire approach to what DAC I'm looking to pick up... what I thought would be easy has now turned into what's probably going to be a protracted, long search for the right DAC to go with the ZD and Senn's—especially after taking a good listen at his heavily modded Assemblage DAC (ridiculously sweet, that one is—definitely a work of passion and dedication).

I enjoyed everyone's company through the day and at lunch! Special mention to Craig for coming up all the way from SoCal for the day. His warm presence is always enjoyable.

Cheers to all!

 

[purk]

Wow...nice very nice. Would love to hear more impression guys.

 

[foo_me]

Just some more thoughts...
Thanks to Dan, Ast and Mikeymad for all the beer and scotch...should be a requirement for future meets!
And thanks to Mr. and Mrs Bigguy for those pecans and brownies.
Remember the pecans from the san mateo meet.
With food, alcohol, and friends, this meet was definitely a fun time! (and all the gear helped too)

No critical listening as with most meets, but there was plenty of gear that I just wanted to listen to.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Mikeymad's Cary SEI 300b amp. I'd be interested in listening more carefully to it in the future.
The WA5 was excellent as I expected.

Filburt's dac was amazing. I heard this before so wasn't surprised.
Did a quick comparison with the pico and it was no contest.

Still didn't like the GS1000. Something about it doesn't feel right to me.
It has soundstage, lots of bass, but didn't seem to mesh well together. Vocals seem recessed as well.

JP's stax sr-x/srd-7 was pretty cool given it's way low cost and performance...plus with the adapter, you can connect to any power amp.
Thanks John for letting me borrow it for a little while...it'll be interesting to hear how it sounds out of my zanden 300b.

I listened to the AD2000. They're good, but wasn't wowed by them. They remind me of the 650s in bit. Perhaps I spend too much time with the RS1s anything with different presentation would sound weird. I wouldn't mind spending more time with them in the future though.

My main goal of the meet was to compare the Nautilus with the BA since I was looking for one or the other to replace the Zana and an amp that could really drive the RS1s with authority. For the zana, I believe that it's perfect match is with the senn 600/650. but with the BA, I think it loves low impedance cans like the RS1. From low volume to high, there was a smooth presentation of the music. The one thing I noticed about the BA with the RS1s is that you could listen to it at low volume levels and still hear everything in balance (highs + midrange + bass). with other amps, in order to hear vocals, you'd have to raise it higher that other characteristics were out of balance...resulting a in a sound that's too agressive or too bassy.

When comparing the BA to the nautilus, they're both excellent at driving the RS1s, however, with the BA, there was that xtra rich, smooth vocals that I remember listening to during my previous days. As JP#s described it, the BA has a richer tone that I think you really come to appreciate not in meets, but when you're home with the amp, with some beer/wine/or other beverage of choice, and just listening to music.

And this is just the prototype! With the improved power supply, can't wait to hear it when it's in production.

Anyways, nice to meet new head-fiers Spektrograf and aaron 313 as well as the old guys. And looking forward as always to the next meet later this fall. Hopefully, craig's new creations will be ready for everyone to hear.

 

[Icarium]

Thanks for people who showed up! Brought food/beverages and gear! Special shoutouts to team Bigguy for the pecans and brownies and Mikeymad for bringing like 4 rigs. And most of all Craig who drove up from Socal (6 hrs each way) to debut some products at a mini-meet!

This meet was a bit of an experiment to see how many people my place can support for a meet and sadly the answer is ~8 unlike the 15 that showed up but ahwell was fun nevertheless.

Was fun chatting with peeps until 10:30 pm (5.5 hrs after the proposed meet end time ;p).

Impressions:

Brown Band RS-1s
Finally intriguing Grados. The best sounding I've ever heard... slightly edges out the HP1000s for me anyways as they are more of a fun sound than the absolute neutrality of the HP1000s. Still it has that weird Grado upfront soundstage that really makes it so Grados can only be "fun" headphones for me.

Balancing Act/Nautilus/HD2
My main goal at this meet was primarily to determine how well the Balancing Act compares with the Nautilus. I loved the Nautilus at the San Mateo meet. I thought it edges out the Millet 307A as a "fun" amp. Though if I were still in the market for a neutral amp the 307A is a clear winner in that department. Both amps are incredibly detailed with good imaging but where the Nautilus has a more involving/entertaining sound the 307A has a sound more neutral/laidback and suitable for critical listening/evaluation. I then heard the Balancing Act prototype and was pretty impressed but was unsure that it could solidly match everything the Nautilus does for me.

To clarify if I put the Millet 307A at one end of a spectrum (A narrow spectrum as the two amps share more strengths than differences) and the Nautilus at another end. Where does the Balancing Act fall? If it was ~where the 307A was then I have no need for it as my SS1 is my critical listening amp.

Well at this meet my fears were put to rest. While the Nautilus is still an amazing amp I will not miss it (Much) if I were to (And I am) buy Balancing Act.

Honestly I haven't heard many amps that can even be placed on the level of any of these there amps. The Millet 307A certainly is, but it's 2x as much in cost but STILL imo fairly priced compared to say the B-52. Sound stage amazing... resolution amazing.. tone amazing... imaging.. amazing... it's the whole package and balanced to boot. A solid upgrade on the Zana Deux which already was a damned good bargain even after the price increase. I would like to see Craig release the Nautilus as well as it would be on a different price tier and is a hell of an amp at the prices he was talking about. Moreover the Nautilus can push 8W per channel which is prime for a K1000 or efficient speakers which the Balancing Act cannot do...

O2 Mk1 + ES-1
Sound great. ES-1 is as good as I remember it and the Mk1 O2 is far less congested sounding to my ears than the Mk2. It tempted me to step back into the electrostatic road but I have sworn not to... Soundstage was wide enough through the ES-1 and things didn't sound too "dark" as some people say the O2s sound. I finally felt a little bit of what Spritzer talks about when he pimps the O2 bass. Not bad at all.

Audio Technica AD2000s
I never really gave these things the credit they were due even after hearing how awesome they were through ironbut's ZD and reel to reel rig with the master tape. I attributed that sound to 70 percent the source 30 percent the amp and conveniently left the headphone out of the equation. But then I heard it through my Singlepower SDS sourced by Mikeymad's Marantz player and through the Balancing Act sourced by the EMM labs SE stack and with Filburt's amazing modded dac and hey? It sounded amazing still! I will have to nab a pair when my money regens a bit. I wasn't sure before if I needed them as I have AT W5ks and Qualias which both incorporate some of what I hear in the AD2000s, but turns out I do.

ast's modded SA5000
This was his attempt to bring the headphone closer to Qualias and he definitely has made some progress. Again i was impressed by how nice the soundstage is and how fast/detailed the sound is. Unfortunately it's been too long since I've heard the thing stock so I don't remember exactly how it compares to his modded version, but the bass was quite impressive. I have the feeling that that is due in part to the mods. Still not quite Qualias though ;p

Filburt's DAC
Well what's there to say? This thing is amazing and competes evenly with any other high end source out there. Arguments can be made that the EMM SE stack is a notch higher, but shrug I've never liked the EMM stack that much personally. As much as I love Ori, this thing isn't simply something like a modded Zhaolu... it's a beast. The imaging/soundstage/fullness of sound while retaining massive detail with perfect decay is really impressive as hell. We compared it (I did briefly and Filburt did for a longggg time) to Craig's uber Moth DAC (Would have sold for 2k but he only made one) and there were a lot of similarities in sound where Filburt had the edge in detail/width of soundstage but the Moth DAC had the edge on bass.

The unfortunate side effect of this meet is now there are certainly a few more people besides me and JP combing Audiogon and Ebay for the stock dac ;p Ahwell... I've already snatched up some Parasounds which have the same potential and already in their stock forms destroy crap like the Lavry DA10/Benchmark DAC1... Gotta realize that these 90s DACs are not only schematically similar to something like my Esoteric UX-1 which retailed for 13k but share the same parts/DAC chips as well. There is not only great potential in them, but even in their stock form they really just eat the lunches of a lot of modern "cutting edge" DACs. Standards just aren't the same anymore

A positive side effect of the meet involved putting Craig and Filburt together on the balcony. This sparked a fast paced and very technical discussion about DAC design! It was like seeing two black belts going at it via a friendly but spirited spar that ends with some bows of mutual respect.

 

[ironbut]

Ok, Ok,.. I give up! I searched around and I have to confess, I don't have any idea what "Filburts Dac" is. I've always be a little behind on the digital curve so I guess this isn't any big news. But, if someone could point me out to a thread or site or,.. well, you get the idea.

 

[ast]

.... has been caught up by Olympic at Beijing, especiall Michael Phelps !!!

Yes I echo others that Dan is really cool to open his place for such a great mini meet -- I can get much more gears to audition in depth, hang out with fellow head-fiers more, ....


foo_me's EMM Labs stack is really awesome. It is definitely on my shopping list now.

Mike's Woo tube monster amp is amazing. Well all his gears are

I got another chance to listen to O2 on ES-1 (it has been a while) and I found it is much better that what I remembered.

First time I got a chance to listen to Dan's Qualia 010 extensively. The detail is shocking to say the least. The mid range tonal signature is almost perfect. The high can be a little more emphasized than I perfer, so much so I had to turn down the volume quite a bit and as a result, the bass power couldn't be fully demonstrated. My highly modded SA5000 sounds much more powerful in bass, in comparison, and highs are more balanced. The mid tonal signature is not as good, e.g. there is a hint of nasal emphasis when I listened to female vocals. Details are not as 'surgeon's knife' like sharp as 010 but they are all there. 010 is a technology marvel indeed, too bad SONY stopped producing and improving it.



Can't wait for the next Nor Cal meet, big or small.

 

[ast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironbut /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, Ok,.. I give up! I searched around and I have to confess, I don't have any idea what "Filburts Dac" is. I've always be a little behind on the digital curve so I guess this isn't any big news. But, if someone could point me out to a thread or site or,.. well, you get the idea.

this is it:

 

[aaron313]

^

Or more importantly, what is inside...

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaron313 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ Or more importantly, what is inside...

What *IS* inside anyway? Stock 2.6 DAC has BB 1704 DAC chip with op-amp output stage, which one could have upgraded with:

"The Assemblage/Parts Connection upgrade kits available for the DAC 2.6 are intended to extend the performance of the DAC 2.6 without being terribly expensive. The $50 DF 1704 24/96 filter upgrade replaces the stock HDCD chip. The $50 Turbo op-amp upgrade replaces the stock op-amps in the output stages of each channel (four op-amps total). The $159 Signature parts kit provides higher-grade parts to replace some of the stock items in the voltage-regulator circuits and in the analog output stage of each audio channel."

Does Filburt use some kind of discrete output stage instead of opamps?

 

[jp11801]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif What *IS* inside anyway? Stock 2.6 DAC has BB 1704 DAC chip with op-amp output stage, which one could have upgraded with: "The Assemblage/Parts Connection upgrade kits available for the DAC 2.6 are intended to extend the performance of the DAC 2.6 without being terribly expensive. The $50 DF 1704 24/96 filter upgrade replaces the stock HDCD chip. The $50 Turbo op-amp upgrade replaces the stock op-amps in the output stages of each channel (four op-amps total). The $159 Signature parts kit provides higher-grade parts to replace some of the stock items in the voltage-regulator circuits and in the analog output stage of each audio channel." Does Filburt use some kind of discrete output stage instead of opamps?

to my knowledge it has matched 1704k chips and upgraded opamps for starters. Filburt can chime in but the dac underwent multiple mods when described to me sailed right over my head. I own his previous sonic frontiers trans dac and absolutely love it. It was better than the cosecant and Kora Hermes I had in the house at the same time. The assemblage has held it's own against plenty of stiff competition at this meet and the previous San Mateo meet as well.

 

[aaron313]

I listened to Filburt's DAC at the full-size norcal meet, up against neilvg's NWO beast. It held its own phenomenally. I did hear a slightly more restrained sound out of the Filburt DAC, but it was a subtle difference. The room was quite loud, so that was the only difference I heard. But nevertheless, when you are talking about a $30k price difference... can you guess which one is the better value?

 

[mikeymad]

Okay I have not written up much for this meet, I am sad to say I don't have much to say.... I had a great time. My back is still a little sore from lugging heavy equipment around... (thanks for everyone for hauling my stuff in and back out to my car, it helped a lot).

You might not see too much impressions from this gathering. It was way too loud for me to evaluate pretty much anything at this meet. Too many loud converations in a small space. Not your fault Dan, just that there was a lot of great equipment there that did not get evaluated.

I did play with Dan's Pico DAC+AMP (Picture in thread) As a possible work replacement for my current ASL MG Head MKIII. I liked it a lot. Very simple run off the USB port. Gave a good overall sound to my ETY 4P's (work cans) (35+db isolation helped a lot) (soundstage was okay, speed was okay, resolution was good). It did not blow me away, but I really liked it. At a lower price point I might think about it harder. Since this is for a work setup not really for a portable rig. I might look into other DAC+AMP combos. I don't need the smallest in the land.

I did put other cans on my head and ran them through other amps. But there is nothing I could really say about them at this point. Didn't get a 'good' listen in on anything.

I must say that I am falling in love with my WA5 and K1000's again... they sound great. Thanks AST for dragging them out.

Cheers,

 

[Filburt]

I'll post some impressions later...

aaron - DAC config changed since San Mateo. Did you try it at Icarium's meet? I managed to fix some stuff that was bugging me a bit (including some stuff re: 'restrained' I think).

The DAC underwent a variety of modifications, including k-grade 1704s, different op-amps, different filter caps, modified bypassing scheme with different caps, and cleaning up some miscellaneous non-optimal things. I don't have a discrete output stage in it at the moment. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure to what degree it'd actually help at this point without a ton of r/d work due to how optimised it is. I had some pretty heavy duty instrumentation coupled psychoacoustic theory to help me out on that. I'm not saying it isn't doable, but it would probably take a lot more than just slapping together a good looking (schematically) discrete stage and sticking it in; e.g. trial and error, so a lot of time and $$$ (neither of which I have in abundance at the moment). I may just save that for a later, complete design.