[Zoide]

www.stanford.edu/~aodio/HFM/MVI_1135.AVI
www.stanford.edu/~aodio/HFM/MVI_1136.AVI

'nuff said.

 

[Thaddy]

No way, that was awesome. Is NeilPeart holding the T-Amp too? Haha, great video guys

 

[Zoide]

Yup! PCDP + Overture DAC + T-Amp + AKG K1000s + No Shame + Neil....

 

[NeilPeart]

That portable rig was fully functional - I was listening to it as I harassed the San Mateo shoppers! It consisted of a Sony Discman->optical cable->HeadRoom Overture DAC->Cardas HPI mini-mini IC->stock T-amp w/batteries->Stefan AA Equinox->K1000. I was macking it HARDCORE with the K1000!

And by "hardcore" I mean "not at all."

I had a great time and met tons of cool people (and I saw some old friends). I will post more detailed impressions later, but some brief thoughts:

1. The SuperMacro is incredible and I cannot wait for its arrival; the improvement it achieves is unbelievable.
2. The M-cubed is the best non-balanced headphone amp I've ever heard - it was smooth, dynamic and powerful - it really is a PPA-killer and ya gotta love the MOSFETs!

3. I prefer the Blockhead to the Gilmore Balanced Reference by a wide margin with the HD650.
4. I prefer the Gilmore Balanced Reference over the Blockhead with the Qualia 010.
5. The difference between the balanced HD650/Zu and single-ended Zu/HD650 is not subtle at all.
6. The HeadRoom Overture is a great DAC.
7. The Bel Canto DAC2 is smoother than the DAC1 but not as resolving and less functional (no built-in headphone amp). Meridian fans would prefer the Bel Canto to the DAC1 but Cary fans might prefer the Benchmark.
8. The RudiStor amp looked impressive and I'll leave it at that.
9. The Sensaphonics and UE canal-phones look much better in the ear than out.
10. The K501 sounded suspiciously like the HE90 - I'm not fibbing.
11. The Grado PS-1 is soooo fun, even though the HP-1000 is better. I couldn't detect a difference between the HP-2/UWBC and the HP-2/standard cable, but my gut says the UWBC was better due to its more impressive title.

12. I still don't like the Qualia that much. Meh.
13. The HE90 is still my favorite headphone by a fair margin.
14. Alex has WAY too much $$$ gear.
15. I suck at double-blind tests.

 

[ayt999]

we're (raif, toor, and I) still doing a meet at my apartment. lol

 

[utep10]

First off, thanks to Gundam91 (Frank) for getting the place for the meet. Enjoyed the BBQ pork dumplings and tea. Also, your son looks like a handful.

Thanks also to Alex (ayt999) for bringing HELLA stuff. HE90 is da bomb. The Blockhead / HD650+custom cable combo was superb. A great balance of full bodied and detailed.

Heard very little difference between the DAC2 and the Rotel RDP-980 with the Gilmore Lite as the amp. The DAC2 being a little more refined in certain passages but the two were very similar for the most part. Maybe limitations elsewhere in the system.

Stoggs' computer setup was something else. Combined with the tube amp he built (design??), it was a very detailed and enjoyable system to listen to........that Manfred Mann tune.

The Rudistor amp was OK. I think it needs more burn-in (~6-7 hours so far) and minus the t-connector. Want to take a listen more after burn-in.

NeilPeart's HD650 balanced (DAC1) versus HD650 unbalanced (DAC1 headamp) was no contest.

Ti's M3 amp was a real eye-opener with the HD600s. Just took my breath away. I was really impressed with Ti's prototype amp at the last SJ meet and the M3 beats it by plenty. I'm not sure I can explain it but the Gateway Trio never sounded better. Congrats to Ti for a great design.

Enjoyed talking to Xin, Frank, Mike, Leeav, Alex, Ti, Stoggs, Lindrone among others. Another great meet was some great people.

LA thanks again for the company.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide www.stanford.edu/~aodio/HFM/MVI_1135.AVI www.stanford.edu/~aodio/HFM/MVI_1136.AVI 'nuff said.

LOL you just made my weekend with that one guys!!!

 

[Aman]

NeilPert is one brave man

 

[bln]

Oh man, those videos were hilarious. Nice work.

 

[NeilPeart]

1. The K1000 is not the chick magnet is reputed to be...

2. Meets are terrible places to listen to the K1000 - it loses its magic and the bass disappears in the din of the environment (I've never heard it sound worse)

3. Bruce is the coolest Head-Fier ever

4. Alex will never give up on headphones

5. Justin has many addictions

6. Ti, Morsel, KurtW and Xin are invaluable to our community; their presence injected this meet with an element of expertise and engineering/acoustics knowledge

7. Zoide will never work at Lockheed Martin

8. Clarke still has my SR225

9. Frank and his cousin were far too gracious (thank you so much for the hospitality and the fine tea)

10. This will be my last Head-Fi meet...maybe

 

[ayt999]

raif and toor just left. that was a long meet.... thanks for coming over guys, was very fun.

I'll post some pictures and impressions later on, though it'll probably be tomorrow.

and thanks to all that came to the meet in San Mateo. it was a blast!!

so many people came that it was insane. one of the best meets I've been to, at least in the Bay Area. (but the socal meet last summer was something special so it isn't really a fair comparison.)

toor's borrowing my grado HP2 headphone / grado HPA1 amp combo so hopefully we'll hear some detailed impressions on that (didn't bring the HPA1 to San Mateo... sorry about that), and raif and I are doing a temporary exchange between his DAC1 and my grace 901 so we'll probably have some detailed impressions regarding those too.

 

[strogg]

here's my impression

HE90's were so detailed and natural that it was unnatural
Gilmore reference is extremely impressive and can drive the K501's like none other
I honestly can't tell the diff between the old M3 and the new M3, but both blow away the PPA
HD650 + non-stock cable = dynamic and almost completely unveiled
SR71 is detailed... yeah
Supermacro isn't as detailed as the SR71, but it is much more dynamic and has a heck of a lot more features
Rotel and the DAC2 are godly... i never realized a rotel can output something so sweet
The qualia and r10 and cd3000 were really good with a great soundstage, but the extreme highs killed them all imo
The Sony F1's sounded incredibly good for such a small price, and it doesn't have the extreme highs like the other sony's
The Grado PS1's and the HP1000's are sometimes comparable, and sometimes not. but they're pretty upfront. i have a feeling i've been too accustomed to my k501's
There really isn't a big diff between the HD580 and HD650. well, sure it's there and it's in-your-face different, but the source will make a bigger diff
SR225's are still SR225's... ok, that doesn't really say anything
K1000 + modified T-amp + whatever it was plugged into on the left side of the room == godly. K1000 + modified T-amp + whatever it was plugged into on the right side of the room == bright and zero bass
The DHA-3000 is one of the best amps ever made. The tonal balance and the impedance controls were very very good. unfortunately, i never made any ab tests with it.
D77 eggos are decent for the price, but they can probably sound better
The hybrid amps were just impressive. It can neutrally drive pretty much anything thrown at it
The ipod shuffle is TINY!
I need a good dac... this computer doesn't cut it anymore
The K501's really does sound similar (signature-wise, of course) to the HE90... it was scary
The DT990 is an interesting specimen. i honestly don't think it's truly dark and murky. it might be a little... but not to the point people claim they are. the extreme bass of those things only give people that particular illusion
The 271's were... not too akg-like. the soundstage is narrower than the 501's, the detail doesn't seem to be quite all there, and the feel wasn't akg-like. But nonetheless, it sounded good.
The A900's have a really bad case of mid repressions. I take my a900-overly-bright comments back (my source/amp probably sucked at the time i originally used it), but i still say the A900's aren't worth the $200 price tag
L3000's sound suspiciously like the A900's for good reasons. although the mids aren't so sucked out, the cans still seem unbalanced. i takes a while to get used to them, so i'll stop commenting on it now
the Sensaphonics were awesome. they sound similar to the ER4's... almost the same, but then, the Sensaphonics didn't exactly fit in my ears, and the ER4's weren't all the way in my ear, so yeah.
Long kevlar tube + er4 != happiness. in fact, those two combined sounded like the detail and the excitement are gone. oh well
Alex needs to donate some money to me

Sorry if i left everything out. this is all i can remember off the top of my head in the last few minutes of typing this.

now onto some comments on my stuff that some of you may be wondering about:
some of you may have noticed a volume control problem. apparently, the ground line connection came off the volume control, and i didn't figure that out until i tugged at it just 20 minutes ago. it's all fixed now, but that means nothing since it was still broken during the meet
my amp is basically this: http://s5electronics.com/gpage1.html
The mods i put on it are mainly 1) biased into triode mode, and 2) uses a stepped attenuator found here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5741866435
the EMU 0404 uses 2 opa627's

thanks to Frank and his family for hosting us.
Thanks, everyone, who made this a great, extremely fun meet. It was a big eye opening experience and a great intro into the world of audiophilia. I don't know how many of your realize this, but this is actually an inspiration for me to get through college... hehe, funky, but true

And finally, thank you, Xin, for giving me a ride to and from and also for a great dinner. I really really appreciate it.

So yeah... that's all i gotta say for now. cya's

 

[amb]

It was great meet... some familiar faces and a few new ones. Had a blast checking out all the rare and impressive gear, and thanks for another fantastic meet. I am especially happy about the praises for the M³ .

It was a pleasure to finally meet Xin in person. Very nice guy!
Looking forward to the next meet, whenever/wherever it is.

Some pics from the meet at: http://www.amb.org/ti/audio/headfi0205/

-Ti

 

[Edwood]

ROTFLMFAO!

Go, Neil, go!!!!!

That is ********* hilarious!

-Ed

 

[aznsensazian]

HAHAHA!!! Neil, you got some balls!!! That was sooo funny