Official 2016 SF Head-Fi Meet Impressions Thread - July 16, 2016
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Jul 17, 2016 at 1:43 PM Post #46 of 197
Great event and super friendly people. As a casual head-fier who comes to the meet every couple of years, it is always nice to hear the latest and greatest shared by fellow head-fiers and vendors. Glad the community is so vibrant and engaged.
 
But, honestly, the price inflation of all the new gears from old days (8 to 10 years ago) is pretty 'amazing'.  
It is the still same music people listen to at least those used for demo in meets (Adele seems to be the new addition to everyone's play list), but somehow all the new gears always seems to be able to get more out of existing recordings from previous generation is quite puzzling. 
 
Rant aside,  Stax SR-009 still seems to be my favorite. Really thinking about get it.
MrSpeaker Stat lacks clarity and sounds 'weak' when compare it side by side.  The Orpheus clone is interesting, but doesn't sound that impressive honestly. 
Focal was good, but I had no idea it is 4k.
 
I actually thought the Taction headphone is quite interesting from product perspective. It is not for audiophile, but for the right crowd, it could be quite fun and easy sell.
Applaud them to do something out of box instead of just constantly releasing new models with tweaks and a higher price tag.
 
The MQA thing sounds pretty good, but frankly, I doubt the market will adopt to it (even the niche market)...
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 1:48 PM Post #47 of 197
What a great event! I showed up a bit late and wish I spent more time with the Ether Flow and didn't get to check out the HD800S. My highlight was I got to do a nice comparison between the HE1000, Focal Utopia, and LCD-4 on the same equipment in the Questyle room.
 
I was disappointed with the LCD-4, especially for the price. In general they sounded fine but a bit lifeless in the treble compared to the others. Soundstage was immediately compressed compared to the HE1000 and the Focal Utopia bested it in terms of punch and dynamics. The Focal Utopia really surprised me, it sounded like the HD800 I always wanted. Extremely good technicalities, incredible dynamics and solid low end. Soundstage not as wide as the HD800 but I'm one that considers the HD800 soundstage to be unnaturally wide. As good as they are I think they should be $2k. $4k, no way but between these and the LCD-4 it's easily the Utopias for me.
 
My brief listen to the Ether Flow, I didn't realize they were a new model and thought they were the normal Ether. I immediately noticed the increased bass response and thought "Wow. I don't remember the Ether having this much bass". I hope spend more time with them in the future and do a shootout with my HE1000.
 
Finally got to listen to the Massdrop TH-X00 and really liked them. Fun sounding and very fairly priced.
 
Also did a small comparison between the Audeze Sine and the Ether-C. Was surprised how well the Sine held up for a third of the price and a much smaller form factor. The sound signature on both was similar during the brief listen. The soundstage on the Ether-C was better as well as perhaps a touch more sub bass, but other than that and comfort issues with the Sines I felt they held up extremely well. I think the Audeze Sine might be the most honestly priced headphone released in quite a while.
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 2:14 PM Post #48 of 197
Thanks for writing up impressions everyone!
 
Quote:
  MrSpeakers Ether Flow were on just about every table, including mine, so like the Focals, it was possible to audition them on a large variety of gear. Kimber cable also brought a selection of HD800 and MrSpeakers cables which are stunning to look at.  I'll post more detailed impressions later, but the open-backed Ether Flows are a very solid upgrade to the original, with deliciously precise bass. A bit more foam has been added in front of the driver, so that the treble is reduced a bit more from the original. Think a much more detailed K7XX and you aren't far off the mark.  They seemed to be a bit less amp friendly than before, working best with amps that had a fair bit of power.
 
...
 

Woo Audio WA22 prototype.

 
The Ether Flow, a more detailed K7xx? Sounds like a winner to me, will definitely have to give those a shot at some point.
 
And that WA22SE prototype -- looks almost nothing like the WA22! Anyone know why Woo decided to name it the WA22SE rather than giving it an entirely new name?
 
 
Thanks to Jude for bringing the Ebony (and Onkyo DAP). And it was great to have THX measure the Ebony and my Denon D7000's. Siblings, without a doubt.

 
Can anyone please post those measurements, if possible? I'd be very interested to see how the Ebony measures in comparison to the D7000. I'm in the camp that liked the D7000 better than the TH900.
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 2:35 PM Post #49 of 197
Let me echo the price inflation frustration and add that no headphone should be much more than 2k, and then only for the very highest end electrostatics. Ditto amplification and source (Yggy understands this 
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Jul 17, 2016 at 3:11 PM Post #50 of 197
   
Can anyone please post those measurements, if possible? I'd be very interested to see how the Ebony measures in comparison to the D7000. I'm in the camp that liked the D7000 better than the TH900.

 
The kind gent making the measurements said he'd be sending them to me. 3 total... one each and one overlay. I'll post when received.
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 3:17 PM Post #51 of 197
  Let me echo the price inflation frustration and add that no headphone should be much more than 2k, and then only for the very highest end electrostatics. Ditto amplification and source (Yggy understands this 
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Amen to this. As I sit here listening to my HD800S, I can't help but  pat myself on the back for saving the extra $2000 by not going with something like the HE100, LCD4, Utopia, etc. I think that the only thing these super expensive headphones have going for them is expectation bias. 
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 3:25 PM Post #52 of 197
Just got back home after a great weekend at the meet. I wanted to thank everyone for coming out and creating the great atmosphere that makes this community so special! It was really great meeting old friends and making new new ones as well. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped facilitate the smooth running of the event and very special thanks to our gracious hosts, @HuddlerSteph and the entire Wikia crew for letting us hold the meet at Wikia HQ, it made for a very special meet!  
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Jul 17, 2016 at 4:08 PM Post #54 of 197
This was my third meet in my Head-fi career and I've listened and learned quite a lot ever since, and on the plus side it's always been a fun trip to make. This time I brought with me my own trusty portable rigs Aune M2S/Cypehrlabs Duet and LCD X as my guide. My goal is to find if anything is worth upgrading as far as portables go and maybe desktop too. I use M2S and Liquid Carbon as my desktop rigs and also Apogee Duet audio interface with Mac.
 
First off I sat down and listened to the all new Focal Utopia open back paired with Cavalli Liquid Crimson and AK380 as the source. My eyes opened wide my jaw dropped quite a bit as I was hearing something I never heard before. The sound was so vivid, alive with great speed, detailed and it had a large dynamics. The bass was very clean and detailed yet full sounding as good as LCD X in that department. I was not missing anything and I loved what I heard. The sound out of this rigs was so captivating and extremely engaging the clarity and transparency is the best I've heard.
I also listened to Focal Utopia in a different set up with Yulong DAC and AMB 22 and they sounded more aggressive and very much like electrostatic speakers. They are similar to the attributes I described the above but with more forward in your face presentation. The attack and transients was so life like as if the drummer is right in front of you. If you have been to a live band then you know how it feels..it's not subtle at all and that's the way it made me feel.
 
I went around the tables and tried a bunch of new things ie. Ether Flow, Ether C and open, Liquid sparks, AK380 and AK70 then I pulled out my portables and compared.
The new Ether Flow caught my attention, it sounds significantly better that the older series. This has all the missing parts with the same ingredients from the older models, fuller more full bodied, a bit warmer and meatier bass & trebles. The Ether Flow Close version is a bit better to my ears, it's a perfect closed cans. The older Ethers just sound too anemic for my taste.
 
Thanks to @Currawong for letting me messed around with all his portables, what a great collections ! I spend most of my time here listening and comparing between DAPs, IEMs, Ether Flow and Focal Elear. Long story short here are my opinions:
 
AK380/QP1-R/Aune M2S. They were all equal in their SQ with QP1R has a bit better amplifications.
FiiO X7 with AM5 (high Power) is still under power compare to those DAPs above.
Calyx M and Soundaware M1 analog. Both have a very musical nice warm analog sound but don't expect any details or transparencies.
Focal Elear. Sounds really good and similar to TH-X00 the Purple heart edition. 
Audeze Sine. Great on ear on the go! Clear and clean, great balance and tonality and only a bit behind Ether closed. The clam force is somewhat uncomfortable.
LCD 4, HE 1000 and Flow. Compare to LCD X the 4 seems to be an upgrade in terms of clarity, trasparency. The mids are more open and yet thinner than X, The bass is faster and a bit more detailed and I agree with Tyll's comments on the trebles part. However, the sound stage is the smallest compare to HE1K and Flow.
Layla ( all paired with M2S/Duet). Sounds very close to LCD X, nice textured bass, great dynamic and puch, warmer and not so detailed.
Campfire Andromeda. Very transparent, very clear and open mids, smooth trebles but the bass is on the lighter side.
Ifi micro IDSD. Deep punchy bass, metallic-ish trebles and narrow sound stage.
Liquid Sparks. Great portable amp it sounds very transparent, very clean and neutral. It is toe to toe with Cypherlabs Duet single ended not balanced.
 
I have a great desire to own HD800 for a long time. I finally heard both at the same time and...yeah it's still very spicy. My Hd700 is more do-able. Move on.
Wywire Red cables for Audeze. I am somewhat a cable enthusiast and I own 5 different aftermarket cables including Silver Dragon, Q Audio, Pure Silver from Ted, Mogami 
DUY and other Pure Copper. Wywire has a very clean, clear open mids and a smooth trebles. Details well represented and the bass is on the tighter side compared to my other cables.

Also thanks to @aamefford for letting me listen to AGD DAC 19 paired with his Cavalli Crimson and my own AK120II as the source.
Love this DAC. It is very transparent, neutral slightly warm, nice bass and very good sound stage. I am a bit surprised by its size, bigger than I thought.
But however, I know this is a bit silly, compare to my portable rig they sound almost similar. DAC 19 seems to have a bit better transparency and details in general and everything else seems to be similar but I might be mistaken.
 
Finally, I'd like to thank to everyone the vendors as well as participants for making this happen. I wish I had more time to stay but I had to catch a flight back to LA.
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 4:14 PM Post #55 of 197
 

The latest version of the Eddy Current Zana Deux. 

 
I believe this is @velvetx's Zana Deux that was turned into a Zana Deux Super as a prototype model and it not the latest production version. Can someone confirm? 
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 4:48 PM Post #56 of 197
 I would really like to congratulate third_eye and the rest of the organizing team for striking the perfect balance between a well-organized audio show and a wonderfully chaotic meet of headphone geeks.
 
Walking into the Wikia headquarters (thanks for hosting!), we were treated to the A&K/Cavalli/Focal/Kimber Cable/Mr Speakers demo room. It was busy, but relatively quiet at all times. I must have spent a total of 90' in there listening to the Focals, the open Ether Flow, and the Cavalli amps. Every listening station had the same good selection of familiar music and a number of TOTL headphones to choose from, both SE and balanced. Good stuff.
 
Exiting the room and turning the corner the atmosphere changed completely. Must have been the Web 2.0 vibe of the location: the large break room teemed with energy and scores of head-fiers greeting each other, showing off their gear, jumping from one table to the next, and *talking*. It was impossible to listen critically to anything but who cares, socializing is what SF meets have always been about.
 
And of course there were more vendors room, in particular the excellent Questyle room where I spent at least one hour listening to an amazing stack that unfortunately costs more than my trusty Volvo.
 
Last but not least I appreciated the measurement service provided by THX, even though my modded HD800 frequency response was not as flat as I would have hoped!
 
 
FWIW, here are some listening impressions based on my live notes:
 
Focal Utopia and Elear:
I came into this meeting hoping to spend a couple of minutes with the French FOTM. I ended up listening to those for a good hour and comparing them at length to my HD800 and briefly to the HE1K. In short, I believe the Elear may become the HE500 of this decade, as in the best value high-end headphone around.  It is not as musical as the Utopia and it may not image as well as the HD800, but it has an energy, a punch, that puts both the HD800 and the Utopia, as well as a lot of orthos, to shame. And unlike the Utopia it is very transparent. It only takes a few seconds to stop listening to the Elear and to focus on the gear upstream or - gasp! - the music.
 
Coming to the Utopia, I think the best way to describe its sound is to borrow a lot of the adjectives which were used to describe the HE1K when it came out: "beautiful", "high-end", "all-rounder". Its sound is so enveloping that it ends up dominating everything else.
 
Ether Flow
One note about the open-back  Ether Flow, which I heard driven by the Liquid Crimson. Sound was full and very clean with no bloom anywhere. Before listening to the Elear I would have considered it the best value around. 
 
Cavalli SS amps:
When I arrived at the meet, I entered the demo room, grabbed the first open seat and started listening to the Utopia. I was kind of underwhelmed till I realized it was being driven SE off the new Cavalli Audio portable, the Liquid Spark. Soon I was able to hear the Utopia driven balanced by a Liquid Carbon (that I know well) and later by the Crimson. The difference in terms of detail and energy between the Spark and the Carbon was not subtle, the Crimson was more of an incremental improvement. Later on I compared Carbon and Crimson using my HD800 and I heard a clear step up in punch, detail and imaging.

Unfortunately I did not get to spend any quality time with the Tungsten as the one which I attempted to use had some issues with dropping sound.
 
 
n3rdling's electrostat:

what do you do when Sennheiser insists in not making your favourite headphone? You build your own of course! Congrats to n3rdling for his daring enterprise. I am  not qualified to compare his handmade electrostat to an Orpheus, and I don't think anyone could have done that with the background noise in the break room. I will say that the headphone sounded "high-end" and that it was very comfortable. Looking forward to future developments.
 
 
The Questyle stack:
this was comprised of a DAC, a preamp, and two headphone amps in "monoblock" configuration. List price $12K. Good thing I asked about the price after listening to this for 10' otherwise I would have walked away from the best setup of the day, namely the Questyle stack driving a HE1K. I returned my HE1K because I felt it lacked attack and punch. Not at all. What my HE1K was lacking was proper amplification. This combination had it all, detail, neutrality, speed, punch, imaging. Listening to the decay of piano notes in a Prokofiev concerto was unbelievable. And so was listening to Dire Straits "Brother in arms". I listened to many other headphones out of this stack and the only one to possibly better the HE1K was the HD800 when playing Jordi Savall's recording of Bach's "Art of fugue". I own and treasure that recording and it never sounded so dramatic. With lesser recordings the HD800 unfortunately sounded a bit bright, although not in an offending way. I have to say anything I heard driven from the Questyle stack sounded impressive, even my 20 years old AKG K340 hybrid electrostat was really enjoying the "current mode" drive, whatever that means...
 
 
Feliks Audio Elise:
This was a last minute discovery, when most people had left and the break room was almost quiet
 


I got close because of the curious "Christmas tree" of power tubes that DecentLevi rigged in place of the stock tubes. Once I started listening I quickly forgot about the funky tubes. Driving the HD800, this amp gives my Liquid Carbon a run for its money. If I had enough space in my audio cabinet I would certainly consider it as a replacement.
 
Finally, it was nice to meet again or anew a lot of great head-fiers. It's a shame I had to leave at 6PM and had to miss the post-meet party!
 
Jul 17, 2016 at 7:09 PM Post #59 of 197
Any reason so many USB cables have flooded the classifieds tonight from USA Head-fiers,.. Was there a magical cable at the this weekends Canjam that everyone is dumping their usb cables quicker than a plane trying to dump fuel? 
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Jul 17, 2016 at 7:12 PM Post #60 of 197
 
  The Ether Flow Close version is a bit better to my ears

 

 


The Ether Flow C is a bit better relative to the Ether Flow, or did you actually mean it is relative to the original Ether C?

 
Both Ether Flow open back and closed sounds very similar but I get a sensation that the closed version feels a bit warmer and smoother it's better IMO. Please note this was just a quick A/B listening running on Liquid Crimson. I originally want to get Ether close so bad but my advice skip both Ethers and get the Flow instead. I feel this is the "Next Best Thing" in headphone listening. 
 
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