[daveDerek]

[size=large]New York Area Head-Fi Meet Impressions (November 14, 2009)[/size]


[size=xx-small]Photo by Towert7[/size]

i'm surprised that there's not a thread going already so i guess i'll have to start one. first of all thanks to Erikzen for organizing this get together. thanks also to the vendors for showing and for their generosity with their donations to the 'silent auction' (run by Yikes in his inimitable way!) as well as the generosity of all the other donors. the auction was quite successful and paid for the room with funds to spare as well as allowing for a nice donation to Head-fi.
it's always great to see the ny crew as well as the folks who travel from out of town to join us (Wayne even took time from his busy casino schedule to fly in from Monaco

).
i had to take care of personal things earlier in the day not leaving nearly enough time for listening or even for schmoozing (which is at least half the fun of a meet). there were all kinds of cool offerings to be sampled from Ray's Thunderbolt powering Jades & Orpheus to his tiny Shadow (and you thought a Mustang is small!) running his R10s (dark side of the moon sounded very tasty on this rig, which featured a meridian seedie player for source), a bunch of lovely Woo amps nicely running a variety of cans (i briefly got to listen to allison krause and union station via the hd800s, audeze, and he5s being juiced by the ever sweet sounding wa5), Vinnie's cool rig (as described by ruknd), universal versions of some jh audio iems, yikes audio-gd phoenix powering siltech wired balanced denon 7000s, and all kinds of very cool rigs which i didn't have a chance to listen to. Nate always cooks up something interesting. this time it was in the form of a scaled down version of his killer Menace amp (which made appearances in ny and at can jam in florida).
afterwards a bunch of us went out to a local diner to chow down and converse in a quieter environment

. let's do it again sometime guys, and gals!

 

[nycdoi]

not a pleasant day for me.. since i missed it due to delays after work...

 

[ruknd]

It was great meeting you all. This was my first meet and I will say I will not be my last. Maybe I will think about bringing a portion of my home rig next time.

A few things I really liked were in no particular order...

Ray Samuels setups were my first listen. I love my shadow and I really really love the full sized amp he had set up...I believe it was the thunderbolt. WOW. It did teh tube thing so well.

I also enjoyed the Red Wine setup as well...they had the onkyo ipod dock not yet available going into the Isabellina amp/da combo. This amp/da combo had somewhat of a british sound to me so I was a bit partial to it...ok very partial to it. I would attribute the sound to the clean power it provides. The Isabellina is battery powered only. The battery lasts for the whole day running the dock then charges when you turn it off at night. Brilliant.

Also noteworthy at RWA was the onkyo dock...this doesn't have the sex appeal the Wadia dock has but it sounds identical has more features for syncing and integrating and is a fraction of the price.

I was also able to hear the HD800s and do a side by side with the HD350s there. The 800s are leaps and bounds better...they have a better soundstage, better control in the base, better mids, and better rhythm.

HiFiMan also had his offerings and I will say his player sounds great as does his little tube amp. The portable player, not available yet, is a bit large and reminds me in shape and size and feel of a vintage cassette walkman and sounded great. He had his new IEMS attached. They were half price at the show but even at the $199 msrp they sound great for the price point. Needless to say I walked away with a pair and don't regret it one bit! His small tube amp (I cant remember the name) was also a real nice product. He had it attached to the HD800s and his own HE-5s...which were a nice pairing either way.

These are my first impressions and ramblings...I will probably post more later and thanks for welcoming a n00b!!!! And thanks to all of you who worked hard to put it together.

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruknd /img/forum/go_quote.gif HiFiMan also had his offerings and I will say his player sounds great as does his little tube amp. The portable player, not available yet...

It is currently available.

 

[nikongod]

Hello All

What a nice meet as always! I had a great time, and it was great hanging out with everyone.

I had a few nice listens to some really solid gear, but mostly ran around taking pictures of everyone.

Some pics:
link to album

Nate's tabletop wobbler with the menace TC lite

edited AFTER tintin posted:
someone left a nice black CDR (you know, the ones where the writable surface is black to compensate for vinyl-envy) in Nate's rig. I took it. It is of: Unwound "leaves turn inside you" LMK if its yours, and I'l mail it to you.

 

[tintin47]

Did anyone find a 24V wall wart? I can't find it for the life of me which means that it was left at the meet somewhere most likely. It was in the back left corner near vcoheda's rig.

Also, awesome meet. I had a lot of fun today.

 

[563]

Hello and thank you all (especially the organizers) for a great meet. I'm definitely a newcomer, but I really enjoyed this, and am particularly grateful to all for being so welcoming and generous with their gear and advice. Truly a great crowd! Had I only known that no one would bring the Grado PS1000, I would have brought mine to share! That said, I finally got to hear both the HP1 (the polarity control is very very cool) as well as the HP2 - thank you all for sharing them - that was really generous of you!

The WooAudio WES/Stax Omega 1 combination was out of this world - wow, thank you so much (El_Doug) for coming up and letting us listen to your model number 1, loaded to the max, no less, and, of course, the Woo family for letting us listen to all your great gear -listening to your WES prototype with the Stax O2 was my first opportunity to hear electrostats - though Jack teased me by telling me that the WES really shines the best paired with the HE90s(!) Other great experiences (too many to list): Trying out the Sony R10s (both with Ray's great gear - and I haven't forgotten the Orpheus, Ray or your very neat Shadow - you're well on your way to subatomic headphone gear! - thanks a million for that wonderful experience), as well as the Sony R10s, recabled with the Red Wine Isabellina - very, very cool (that's an understatement!) - thanks Decur for sharing those great cans with us. Apropos the R10s, having only seen photos of them before on line, I was amazed how comfortable they are - they don't look that way from their photos - and the sound was sublime - balanced, lush, but defined all the way from top to bottom. Vinny, great meeting you, and hooray for Meriden, Connecticut from a "hick from Norwich." You really are on to something there, creating an amp running on pure DC!!!! A real pleasure meeting someone with such obvious pride in workmanship and a nice attitude to boot!

It was great (I'm using that word a lot I realize) meeting many of you headphone supremuses (I guess that's a word, of sorts!), and others - nice to connect the handles with the person.

I know it's bad form to name some names, only because it leaves out others, but thanks for the advice from Wmcmanus, Yikes, etc., etc..

Also, a special thanks to TinTin47, who first turned me on to head-fi! (yeah, even though I'm a little/quite a bit poorer than when I first met you at Stereo Exchange!)

Gosh, I do believe I'm gushing!

Anyway - it was a day very well spent, and I'm looking forward to the next get together. Thanks again!

PS - I saw many JH13s, and didn't listen to a single one - my bad!

 

[jeremyrp]

This was my first meet, so I have no frame of reference for comparison. However, I must say that everyone was exceptionally welcoming, and having the opportunity to listen to new and different equipment was great.

Since I only own SS, this was my first chance to experience tubes (thanks to cfcubed for the intro), as well as a diverse range of cans. Until I went from a Denon on a tube to a Grado on a SS, etc. I had no idea what everyone was talking about when they referenced “Soundstage”, “Veiled”, “Warm”, etc… I learned so much today, my brain is hurting (but not my ears).

Having the chance to sample the wares of Ray Samuels, Woo Audio, Head-Direct, and Red Wine was awesome. I wish to extend my thanks to them for bringing their selections and allowing us to get the chance to preview them without suffering through sales pressure. I’d also like to thank them all for their very generous donations to the auction.

Also, thanks to everyone else that donated, and special thanks to erikzen for organizing the meet, vcoheda for tracking all the auction items, and yikes for been the auction MC.

Lastly, I blame all of you for showing me expensive amps and cans, and allowing me to learn that I like how they sound. So when a feisty little woman comes angrily knocking on your door, asking “What were you thinking when you let him try those?”, don’t act surprised…

 

[vcoheda]

great meet from start to finish!

HUGE THANKS to erik for organizing the meet, to yikes for running the silent auction, and to the MOTs and other head-fiers who donated substantially to it.

there was lots of great gear at the meet. the WES with the O/O2 and A10 with the HE90 both sounded world class. the WES sounded like a more traditional stat amp while the A10 seemed to give the headphone a dynamic flavor. both amps are 10s in terms of looks and build quality. i think on the whole i am a dynamic guy but i could live with either of these set ups and be quite satisfied. i was very impressed with the orthos - the HE5 and Audeze. i liked the Audeze a bit more. i found the HE5 a tad bright and too forward. i spent a lot of time with the orthos and some with the A10 and WES. i also listened to a balanced R10 on my HeadRoom amp. the R10 is still King - just a gorgeous sound. but i don't want to spend that much on a headphone. if only it were a little cheaper. the RSA shadow was tiny and drove every headphone we tried on it effortlessly - amazing little device. not much else really. chatted a fair deal. won some new IEMs from Head-Direct. can't remember anything else right now.

 

[johnwmclean]

Great impressions guys, keep the pics comin’

 

[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif

"Damn it, why does this sound so good

"

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Believe it or not, I can actually hear those HD800's from here. I mean, right now, from Aaron's apartment in Queens.

 

[tintin47]

^ I think you might be able to hear them from china.

 

[jinp6301]

I thought Fang brought out those mini speakers when I heard that

 

[krmathis]

Hope you all had a nice time. Sure looks like you did!

The Woo WES with SR-007MK2 / SR-Omega looks like the main event. Nice