[reddog]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing them.

 

[bozebuttons]

  This was the first meet for my wife and I.  I'd like to personally thank bozebuttons for organizing such a fantastic event and doing such a wonderful job as host.  I'd also like to extend a very warm thank you to all of the awesome vendors, all of whom were beyond gracious with their time, their conversation, their expertise, and, of course, their awesome gear.  
 
We were truly appreciative of how inclusive and accepting all of the attendees were...Thanks for showing us the ropes and educating us as we circled the room.  It has been said numerous times by many, but the attendees are truly what make these get-togethers as special as they are.
We learned a great deal, made some new friends, and heard a lot of spell-binding gear.  There's a lot of wonderful magic in store for all of us here at Head-fi in the next couple of months.  I'd especially like to point out the great work done by Audio Zenith on the neutral as can be PMx2.
 
Lastly, I couldn't possibly have written an impressions post without thanking my trooper of a wife, who allowed me to frantically jolt around the room with absolute glee until her eyes were crossing and she could finally take no more.  She hung in there infinitely longer than I had any right to expect

Your Welcome.
 
 This is why I keep organizing meets,I am happy you & your wife where able to enjoy the day .

 

[Blu99Zoomer]

Hey, thanks to everyone who tried out my "earspace" things.

It was kind of a major thing for me to have made something and have other enthusiasts give feedback.

 
And thanks for introducing me to the music of the group Morphine.  You said they are from Massachusetts, right?  Good luck on your project.  
 
Best,
 
Blu99Zoomer

 

[inertianinja]

   
And thanks for introducing me to the music of the group Morphine.  You said they are from Massachusetts, right?  Good luck on your project.  
 
Best,
 
Blu99Zoomer

yep, Cambridge! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine_%28band%29

 

[AOmega X]

Thanks for the Great Time all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[decur]

I want to thank bozebuttons "tom" for another fine meet
And for all his efforts in putting together such a fun time for everyone.
So,i really enjoyed the he-1000 hifimans! Finally a planar that has a HUGE soundstage! And is EXTREMELY comfortable!
Yes,the frankenstein abyss has a large soundstage,but comfort???hhmmm
I enjoyed the maxxed out wells headtrip solid state amp,but $7.5k hhmmm ouch...
Shiit yggy & raggy combo,was like being in a pizza shop in the summer with no a/c eating next to the pizza oven,wow does this combo get HOT. But,it sure sounded nice.

 

[decur]

Oh,and really liked viinnies,LIO modular amp,i would have loved to have heard it with some of my cans i left at home,darn!
And wondered how the speaker amp portion sounds? Next meet vinnies gonna have to bring along his baby harbeths.
Also,the autoformer volume control! oMG transparent,simply outstanding

 

[Mullet]

Unfortunately I don't have as much as I'd like to report from the meet in terms of headphone listening impressions. As usual, I ended up doing more talking than listening. I do have a few highlights at least:
 
My favorite headphone listening experience goes to (Joe's) ESL-1's Stax SR-X Mk3 Pro bias version. They were smooth like butter across the frequency range The timbre in the mids were gorgeous. I had barely listened to SR009s and 007s in the past, maybe 10 minutes on both, but I now know the magic of the electro-stats.
 
My second favorite listening experience goes to Tyler (DutchGFX) and his current tube amp creation. A few tweaks to his chassis need to be made and he has something of a winner. The amp sounded really nice with his LCD-2s.

I got about a minute with the Ethers on my EHHA. Unfortunately, I couldn't do my best assessment with the limited time I had. They sounded good though for the two minutes I had them.
 
Also listened to the HD800s for about 10 minutes on my rig. I have to say I'm not sold (at least on my current gear). I tried about 3 or 4 tracks and I can hear what people usually say about them being source dependent. I could hear that edge in the upper mids +.
 
Finally... I had been looking for a replacement to my venerable KSC75s for gym use. I had heard and read a little bit in these parts that the Aurisonics Rockets were the ticket because of their durability and water proof-ness and that they sound pretty damn good. Without taking a listen, I decided to join the fray and bid on them in our not-so-silent auction. Well I won and they do not disappoint! The next day I went on a hike and I am known to be one sweaty mofo especially on my head. I've ruined Shures in the past from getting sweat in them. These ear phones held up like a champ, most likely because of the rocket tri-tabs. No fuss, no muss. And they sound pretty damn good. They have a nice flat response. Not a ton of bass, but it's there when it's called for. The highs are there but they're definitely not sparkly up top like the ER4Ps. I'd say they're a little warm and mid centric. Overall, I'm happy.
 
See you guys this fall... time to start planning!

 

[Gopher]

Great event, all!  It was really cool catching up with some folks I haven't seen in years and meeting some new ones.
 
I'm glad a few of you mentioned the LampizatOr rig as among your favorites.   The kudos are appreciated!
 
Tom, once again you organized a great meet and it was cool to chat it up with you in person.
 
Take care all,
 
Fred A.

 

[FFRESPONSE]

This was my very first public appearance as "Audio Zenith" where PMx2 was presented in its final production form. I am extremely happy to report just how nice and easy everything went right from the start. First was my pm to Tom aka "bozebuttons", dated less than a week before the meet. I was asking for permission to join and his reply was something like: "Sure thing, come on over we will be happy to see you and there will be plenty of space free of charge for all". Tom must be a very nice guy, I thought to myself (I mean we are a brand new company, pretty much no one knows our product and my track record on head-fi is close to zero . Honestly I was even hoping for a NO; I mean first public appearance to be thousands of miles away from home in NY I have never been to, with gear I wasn't even sure will be received on-time (Schiit Yggdrasil just came out that same week and Ragnarok was completely out of stock .

Despite all aforementioned issues the response I received from Tom simply gave me strength right from the start and from that point on everything just went smooth like a butter. Both Yggy and Rag were received three days before the meet, tickets were purchased the very next day for a well discounted price, banner was finished the night before the flight and shockingly I was even able to fit both amp and a dac inside a carry on bag which was surely taken as another sign of a good luck .

Saturday morning I came to the meeting place at 7.30am, needless to say I was first. Location, size of the room and layout were absolutely perfect. This gave me another boost of confidence and I ran to a nearest "Subway" for some breakfast. Less than one hour later I was back and finally met with Tom. What a great man, amazing organizer and host so I questioned myself: does he only look like Santa or maybe we deal with the Claus himself .

The meet went through like a Japanese speed train thanks to all the headfiers who were kind enough to not only listen to our headphones but also took time on hearing all the product info I was anxious to share . I would not be able to name you all but it was the absolute pleasure to meet and talk to so many great people at once, what a blast! Quite a few comments on sound quality of our Audio Zenith PMx2 were already posted in this thread and I am Endlessly Thankful but also realize that since signature of our set is quite neutral not everyone will dig it right from the start. Our banner said: Hear the Truth, though to be heard it first needs to be spoken and I am confident, those who isn't afraid to voice their opinion on a brand new product are Always Appreciated by the community! I am also hugely thankful to each and everyone who simply tried our cans and hopefully had some fun during the process . You Guys ALL Rock!

I only slept for about four hours the night before and surely was exhausted by the end. My plan was to go back to the hotel and crash but Tom was kind enough to invite me to a dinner afterparty. Honestly despite all the charm of our host I still wasn't going to go but Max134 and olegausany whom I met just that morning and shared my demo table with convinced me to go (power of the head-fi community at work). Needless to say with all the talking I was the last one to leave and had some time to look around. What did I see? The room was left in the EXACT SAME CONDITION I found it in the morning, of course except for a couple of large garbage bins filled to the top (what did I tell you Tom . Never have I seen the show floor left this clean. You Guys ALL ROCK!

15 minutes later I was already seating at the long table of fellow audiophiles and vendors in a very nice local diner. Got the menu and there came another shock, for $13.99 I could order a full dinner consisting of a large bowl of soup (choice of five) large salad (choice of five) and a steak with a choice of five sides! What a nice place, there was so much food I could barely finish 2/3rds and they even gave me a bottle of "Heineken" free of charge (well, they forgot to bring it in the beginning, so . Everyone at our table was extremely nice, relaxed, friendly and I don't even know what else to say but few hours later around 10pm I felt like brand new again!

What a day, what a meet, what a community! I had the best first meet ever and will remember this for the rest of my life! This COMMUNITY ROCKS!


Not a very silent auction took place on the center stage right by our demo table. I guess coming in early had its advantages .

 

[bozebuttons]

Great impressions Alex.
 I'll give you  the garbage can suggestion.
My family thinks I am Santa Clause too

 

 

[cat6man]

One of the most enjoyable meets yet!  The time just flew by.
 
Carpooled up with Alan and Carl (head-fi virgin) listening to my car system (same OdroidU3/geekout/2TB hdd as my table) and Carl chose Willie Dixon for the drive out to Long Island...
at least after we hit radio shack for some headphone adapters which we both forgot to bring.
 
We had a Fostex and two different Sennheisers in the car, and Carl was comparing them in the back seat (blood sweat and tears) about half the drive up there, going back and forth between phones and with/without a portable headphone amp..............good practice for the rest of the day to follow..............then we turned the car system back up and (I am not making this up) Willie Dixon goes into "I went down to the insane asylum" which we all agreed was spookily prescient and appropriate given our destination.
 
First, big thank you to Tom for coordinating the show this year and all the great folks who shared their passion for music and sound.
 
My favorites?
1.  HE-1000 was really something else.  I am a Stax lover and this is the first (ever) non-electrostatic that I felt could play in the same ballpark.  Ton of detail, great soundstaging AND bass.  As usual, the music, DAC and amplifier were all unknowns to me so an absolute comparison re: other equipment isn't possible but these have the potential to be something special with a good amp and source driving it.
Definitely magic territory.  At closing time, I also tried the HE-1000 with the my music server and GeekOut 450 but found that 1/2 watt couldn't get much of a grip on the HE-1000.  It was able to achieve reasonable volume but not much control.  That first watt is necessary but not sufficient.
2.  Lampizat0r with HE-6 were really wonderful also.  Very fine sound.  A little late now, but I wish I could have heard the HE-1000 on that setup.
3.  Stax 009 and BHSE are always fabulous (and my home system).  No more words needed, though Justin would benefit from a higher quality DAC than the Ayre.  The 009/bhse combo is capable of much better sound than the Ayre can hint at.........on the other hand, the Ayre is small and easy to pack up for shows.
 
Just when I think my wallet is safe, I find a new road to explore.  I've been thinking, over the past year, about upgrading my travel rig which I use mostly on airplanes and business trips and was leaning towards a balanced setup.  Therefore, I brought my trusty old Etymotic ER4 with me for comparisons.  I haven't yet settled on anything, but the JH13pro are a possibility I want to explore further.  They were nice but I need to spend a lot more A/B time with them and others.  I listened to the TOL RHA iem and was amazed at the bass, particularly the definition and not-single-note-ness which really highlighted the relative lack of low end with the ER4.  The RHA had a smooth and not too much detail sound to the mids and uppers, so didn't hit the mark for me.  Their rep told me they are working on a new model that will rectify this for audiophiles like us.
 
On a more personal note, I was really happy to be back in my music appreciation mode and among like-minded folk after missing last spring's meet.
This time last year I was experimenting with what the Brits refer to as "valve rolling", in my case a mitral valve where the original stock unit was replaced with a bovine (NOS?) unit that is clearly superior, better resolution, no leaking, solid gains in stability.  As an engineer I believe in both subjective and objective evaluations: the subjective improvement is a no brainer and the objective measurements have been verified by EKG and echo tests.  But music is the key..............when I got home exhilarated at 3am on a work day after the Allman Brothers Band's last show at the Beacon a few months ago, I knew that stability had been restored.
 
Next:  Santa Clara in June.
 
See you all next fall.

 

[mimart7]

As promised here are pics of the headphones Zach donated for the auction, which I was fortunate enough to win:
 

 

 

 

 

 

[ESL-1]

This was my very first public appearance as "Audio Zenith" where PMx2 was presented in its final production form. I am extremely happy to report just how nice and easy everything went right from the start. First was my pm to Tom aka "bozebuttons", dated less than a week before the meet. I was asking for permission to join and his reply was something like: "Sure thing, come on over we will be happy to see you and there will be plenty of space free of charge for all". Tom must be a very nice guy, I thought to myself (I mean we are a brand new company, pretty much no one knows our product and my track record on head-fi is close to zero . Honestly I was even hoping for a NO; I mean first public appearance to be thousands of miles away from home in NY I have never been to, with gear I wasn't even sure will be received on-time (Schiit Yggdrasil just came out that same week and Ragnarok was completely out of stock .

Despite all aforementioned issues the response I received from Tom simply gave me strength right from the start and from that point on everything just went smooth like a butter. Both Yggy and Rag were received three days before the meet, tickets were purchased the very next day for a well discounted price, banner was finished the night before the flight and shockingly I was even able to fit both amp and a dac inside a carry on bag which was surely taken as another sign of a good luck .

Saturday morning I came to the meeting place at 7.30am, needless to say I was first. Location, size of the room and layout were absolutely perfect. This gave me another boost of confidence and I ran to a nearest "Subway" for some breakfast. Less than one hour later I was back and finally met with Tom. What a great man, amazing organizer and host so I questioned myself: does he only look like Santa or maybe we deal with the Claus himself .

The meet went through like a Japanese speed train thanks to all the headfiers who were kind enough to not only listen to our headphones but also took time on hearing all the product info I was anxious to share . I would not be able to name you all but it was the absolute pleasure to meet and talk to so many great people at once, what a blast! Quite a few comments on sound quality of our Audio Zenith PMx2 were already posted in this thread and I am Endlessly Thankful but also realize that since signature of our set is quite neutral not everyone will dig it right from the start. Our banner said: Hear the Truth, though to be heard it first needs to be spoken and I am confident, those who isn't afraid to voice their opinion on a brand new product are Always Appreciated by the community! I am also hugely thankful to each and everyone who simply tried our cans and hopefully had some fun during the process . You Guys ALL Rock!

I only slept for about four hours the night before and surely was exhausted by the end. My plan was to go back to the hotel and crash but Tom was kind enough to invite me to a dinner afterparty. Honestly despite all the charm of our host I still wasn't going to go but Max134 and olegausany whom I met just that morning and shared my demo table with convinced me to go (power of the head-fi community at work). Needless to say with all the talking I was the last one to leave and had some time to look around. What did I see? The room was left in the EXACT SAME CONDITION I found it in the morning, of course except for a couple of large garbage bins filled to the top (what did I tell you Tom . Never have I seen the show floor left this clean. You Guys ALL ROCK
What a day, what a meet, what a community! I had the best first meet ever and will remember this for the rest of my life! This COMMUNITY ROCKS!


Not a very silent auction took place on the center stage right by our demo table. I guess coming in early had its advantages .

Alex, congratulations again on an excellent product, just your description of what work went into yhe design of the ear pads was amazing. I regret we never quite got my Stax amp over to your table so that you could hear the 35 year Stax SR-X Mk3 do their thing, I think you would have been impressed. If you make it to the Spring meet I will bring them again and you can check them out.

Best of luck on a solid performer and compliments to your enthusiasm.

Joe

 

[ESL-1]

Alex, congratulations again on an excellent product, just your description of what work went into yhe design of the ear pads was amazing. I regret we never quite got my Stax amp over to your table so that you could hear the 35 year Stax SR-X Mk3 do their thing, I think you would have been impressed. If you make it to the Spring meet I will bring them again and you can check them out.

Best of luck on a solid performer and compliments to your enthusiasm.

Joe

Oops, SR-X Mk3 Pro, the high bias makes all the difference in this model......

:rolleyes: