[devwild]

Thought I'd get started on the impression thread with a big thank you to Andrew/Maximo for arranging and sponsoring this meet. It was a lot of fun, the snacks were great, and once again there were a lot of great new people and new gear. It's about time we lured Seattle folks down to our lovely city.

I'd hope no one came out with too much strain on their wallet, but I already know of one unexpected sale, and a crazy hunt for an ATM.

I personally am still comfortable with my own gear thankfully, but it was still a pleasure to finally get a listen to the W5000s and the bleeding edge of DIY hybrids.

Shame I forgot my camera because I know I won't have a clue who half of you are when you post here, because I didn't get everyone's name/nick combo.

I hope we do one like that again!

 

[james__bean]

Yeah I had fun and once again, I left with desires for an upgrade.

I'm really tired, so i'll post my impressions tomorrow. A big thanks goes to Andrew for setting up this whole thing. The meeting location was great, as were the snacks.

 

[Towert7]

Can't wait for some pics!
Hope everyone had a good time.

 

[dBel84]

It was indeed great to meet you all and although I thought 5 hours would be more than enough time, at one point I remember looking at the time and thinking ; What???!!

Devwild had forewarned me

. I had meant to take my camera along too and at least put a face to a name and gear, for the moment the face and gear are still in memory but I am notoriously useless with names. I had a blast and after listening to such a wide range of gear I can second devwild's comment that after all is said and done, I am still happy with the gear I own, however I believe a pair of HD650/600's are in my future. My highlight was getting to listen to the stax - they may not be the most attractive or comfortable, but they sounded incredible IMHO.
I won't try and list all the gear that people brought as I am sure to forget some and I would hate to insult any of you. Being a toob heid, I naturally honed in on the Dared and Bada (The Stax has already been noted) AND I finally got to hear what all the Millet fuss is about. Sadly Snoopy's EHHA took up smoking and confirmed to the rest of us just what a bad habit it can be and promptly joined the daisy pushers. once again - sorry for not warning you that the caps on my amp were hot, I just never expected anyone to explore the insides but a lesson well learned, I will reinstall a bleeder or stick a base on the beast. I had been wanting to explore digital sources too and overall I was underwhelmed, I will stick to an old cdp and the inconvenience of swapping discs for listening to music at home. Well I think I have waffled enough, lets make sure this happens again and Sergei, I do hope you like the amp that I hold very dear to my bleedin DIY heart..dB

A big thanks too to Andrew/Maximo, a vendor who truly does care about the sound of their products. I am interested to see the extremely variable response to the IEM shoot-out

.

 

[Andrew H]

Was great to meet everyone yesterday. The gear was great, especially because of the DIY spirit, with so much homebrewing and modding. When out in the garage as a youngster, whether building a skateboard deck or speaker cabinet or guitar body, more than once my dad asked, "Why build something when you can buy it? But of course I never believed it. I'm not sure he did either, as his career was all about building a better mousetrap (his mousetraps all had wings, btw).

But the most impressive thing of all had to be the overall sense of community. Wonderful to see so much unreserved, open sharing of gear and of ideas in general. (And apologies again to Snoopy, if I did blow up your amp!)

Thanks again for allowing us to test out a few of our products. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and extremely helpful. Below, I'm including the overall survey results. They are not identified by model because (1) a couple of our items are not publicly released versions, and (2) it may not be fair to the competitors that were demo'ed, as they had no control over their samples (how do they know we didn't "detune" them or whatever). So while the actual models used should be held in confidence, I don't mind PM'ing the info to anyone who was involved with the survey, strictly as a reminder for your own reference.

Survey Results 1 (worst) - 10 (best):
Look Fit Bass Mid Treble Sndstage Clarity Isolation Overall
A 53 53 48.5 46.5 47 45 46 53 48.5
B 54 52.5 52 46.5 44 44.5 47 54 48
C 54 52.5 52 46.5 44 46.5 45 54 47.5
D 46 34 34 48 45.5 41.5 47.5 29 41
E 58 50 48.5 47 45.5 47 47.5 49 46.5
F 40 39 40 44.5 43.5 41 46 45 42

 

[sachu]

First off, thanks to andrew for organizing a truly well thought out meet. The venue, free headphones great food and a wonderful host. This event was a guaranteed success from the word go.

It was nice to meet forum members face to face.
I was humbled by the DIY efforts put in by some members. Got to hear to some really awesome equipment. I am afraid i came off pretty worse from this meet financial wise. dBel84's CK2III has convinced me to order a kit from Jeff Rossel and his tube hybrid(wicked with senns

) might follow soon. I may also end up upgrading to a HD650 or a DT990.

One really cool headphone mod that i liked a lot was the KSC75s in a PMX60 headband.
Devild's Presonus Central blew me away with its versatility. I was literally gaping at how good it sounded while being able to drive 3 different sources to 3 pairs of headphones. A handy piece of equipment for comparing amps and sources.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the quality(both build and sound) of one of Maximo's IEMs.
I do hope we get to make this a regular event.

 

[dBel84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew H /img/forum/go_quote.gif Survey Results Look Fit Bass Mid Treble Sndstage Clarity Isolation Overall A 53 53 48.5 46.5 47 45 46 53 48.5 B 54 52.5 52 46.5 44 44.5 47 54 48 C 54 52.5 52 46.5 44 46.5 45 54 47.5 D 46 34 34 48 45.5 41.5 47.5 29 41 E 58 50 48.5 47 45.5 47 47.5 49 46.5 F 40 39 40 44.5 43.5 41 46 45 42

Closer to my thinking than I would have expected

, I can reveal that the stock Maximo's won this little shoot out and that they sound incredible, belying their low cost.

Glad you liked the DIY Sachu, many good things to come

..dB

 

[lhawes]

I registered specifically to post that I am a sad panda that I missed this meet (and because I just needed to). I've lurked through head-fi for some time now learning as much as I can. I love headphones and wonderful sound and it would have been VERY refreshing to meet others who feel the same. Most people I know make fun of me or nod blankly when I explain the wonders of quality headphones. Anyway, I will watch diligently this time for the next meet in the Oregon area. It's awesome everyone had such a great time! Very jealous.

 

[strid3r]

Anyone have anymore impressions of the Maximo stuff? Looks kind of interesting...

 

[Andrew H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by strid3r /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone have anymore impressions of the Maximo stuff? Looks kind of interesting...

We're certainly open to considering requests for review samples...

 

[dBel84]

I will have more to say after further listening and comparing but I can tell you that the im-390 is one hell of a contender in the budget iem category (not considering the likes of the UE11

). Straight out of the box it sounds great and what I have found thus far is that it likes a decent DAP output. comfy too which is a bonus for a 60min commute..dB

 

[sbyers77]

Nice to meet all you guys, I certainly had fun! Some of you have some very nice equipment. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it

) nothing impressed me enough to justify spending more money at the moment, but the meet certainly helped steer my future desires

.

I was a little bummed because I had planned on bringing my SOHA, but last minute case work shorted one of the channels and I didnt find the cause until after the meet. Next meet, which will probably be next year (haha), I can bring the SOHA and several more DIY amps: a CK^2 III, Millett MAX, and a Mini^3. None of which are completed yet, but all are in the works. I was also working on a source/amp switch box which I did not finish in time for this meet... next time though.

Thanks once again to Andrew/Maximo for providing such an excellent venue and food!

 

[krmathis]

Hope you guys have a great time.
** waiting for pictures **

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hope you guys have a great time. ** waiting for pictures **

Unfortunately I think only one person had his camera, and didn't take much in the way of photos of the group at large.

Which, if past meets are any indication, means that at the next meet everyone will have their camera

 

[kramer5150]

No Pics???

oh Noes!!

Welcome to the forum Andrew!! The headphone audio world can never have too many low-cost IEMs.