Seattle/Bottlehead Meet 8/4/2012 Impressions thread
Aug 5, 2012 at 1:52 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 52

BIG POPPA

Headphoneus Supremus
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This meet was pretty effing awesome. Got to listen to a lot of rigs. That new Schiit Mjolner set up was very nice. Got to audition the Jolida prototype hybrid tube headphone amp. Was great with senn 650's, not really enough power for the thunderpants. Would like to see what that amp could do with some tube rolling and some cable upgrades. Nice to see asr again. The weather was awesome for the meet. My wife even came and had a good time. Sachu put the icing on the cake figurtively.. He brought a new cavelli amp and brought a box of VOO DOO doughnuts. Those were a hit. Having a brewery next door was pretty handy. There were a few growlers filled. Thanks again to Doc B and the Bottlehead crew for making this a great meet to attend. Can't wait for the pictures. I know my wife took a few.
 
Aug 5, 2012 at 12:21 PM Post #2 of 52
Yeah, it was lots of fun. It is really hard to get a really good idea how things sounded with all the completely different music everyone had, though people did end up dragging headphones back to their rigs. Those Stax were super comfy (and sounded great). I shouldn't have put those on :). I was most surprised by the ATH-M50's on the violectric stack, pretty damn nice. The HE-500 was really popular, I never got a chance to grab that one. Nice meeting everyone.
 
Aug 5, 2012 at 12:54 PM Post #3 of 52
Great to meet everyone. Wish I hadn't been delayed. I heard a lot of interesting cans and rigs. Not enough time to really tell anything specific other than I enjoyed everything to which I listened. Several had it right, being on a mission, A/B comparing one new thing to can+rig and music both of which very familiar. Being new I wanted to sample everything. I do think I want to hear the Audez'e LCD-2 again and that Jolida headphone amp again. Also would like to A/B compare BigPoppa's WA3+ to mine. Cheers all.
 
Aug 5, 2012 at 3:02 PM Post #4 of 52
Only took a handful of photos..
 
Great meet. Thanks once again to Doc B for being the gracious host that he always is. Gil, Stan (Big poppa and curbfeeler) thanks for putting this together yet again and for the delicious beer!
 
Equus's LF + BADA rig driving Audeze LCD2 Rev2
 

 
Equus (Ethan) listens closely to the Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning and Stax O2MK1
 

 
Liquid Fire

 
Aug 6, 2012 at 1:54 AM Post #6 of 52
Oh, the meet was so much fun! Big thanks to Bottlehead and all them for letting us use their place for our big nerdy get-together!
 
Man, Sachu, I gotta thank you a ton for hooking up the Liquid Lightning back up before everyone left so that I could take a last listen with those Stax! It sounded awesome. Thanks for the donuts, too...
 
My dad was really, really impressed with those HE-500s, so I'm pretty sure we'll have a pair of those in our collection soon! I'm a little sad to see the D7ks go, but still. Super excited for some new gear! Besides, I still have my D2ks, so it's all good.
 
Honestly, though, the LCD2s and LCD3s... they were probably my favorites. I think I've liked them at pretty much every (well, all three) meet I've been to. They're just so... lovely. Agh~ I hope I can own a pair someday.
 
And I don't remember what they were, but I also enjoyed those really light headphones. They were at the setup right next to mine (if you can call my setup a setup at all, haha), and they were super-light, and red and black in colour. I wish I could remember the name of them, because they sounded pretty good for what they were!
 
In any case, it was really fun. Thanks again to everyone for letting me listen to your gear, I had an awesome time. Man, I am so glad I stuck with my dad when he got into this, haha. Great people, great hobby, great sound... rock on!
 
(And on a side note, just me being annoying: Impressions in the title being plural, I don't think that apostrophe should be there... sorry, just be being my grammatical self... ;w; )
 
Aug 6, 2012 at 5:50 AM Post #7 of 52
I'm on a tablet PC so I have to keep this short for now. 
 
It was a great meet, big thanks to Gil and Doc! Thanks to Sachu too for those Voodoo doughnuts. All the snacks and beer at the meet was awesome and it was great to see everyone and meet new folks. I actually listened to some gear too, which I'll write about later.
 
I get back home in 8 days from now, when I'll be able to post my pics and impressions. I took a lot of pics, including some of Bottlehead.Going to be off the grid for a while as I visit some other areas around Washington. So, more to come after 8-9 days!
 
Aug 6, 2012 at 2:56 PM Post #8 of 52
Thanks so much to everyone who came and thanks to Gil and Stan for the very kind gift of a fine adult beverage. It was great to see such a diverse crowd, both age-wise and gender-wise.
 
Aug 6, 2012 at 3:33 PM Post #9 of 52
Yes, thanks to Doc B, Gil, and Stan for a fine meet. The highlight for me was the quality time spent with the HE-500 - something I've been looking forward to for several months. Thanks Bob, I ordered a pair of my very own today!
 
Shortie, the lightweight headphones you listened to were the Superlux HD 681. Yes, they were surprisingly decent!
 
Aug 6, 2012 at 5:54 PM Post #10 of 52
Quote:
The highlight for me was the quality time spent with the HE-500 - something I've been looking forward to for several months. Thanks Bob, I ordered a pair of my very own today!

 
fdshajgfksgbfhvckaserg eeeee
 
Aug 6, 2012 at 7:32 PM Post #11 of 52
Quote:
Need more pictures
smily_headphones1.gif

 
I took some photos of people's gear. I apologize in advance if your name isn't listed with your corresponding rig; I'm bad at remembering people's names.
 
*I will post my impressions in a later post when I get the time*
 
Sunny weather in Seattle! :D



 
Smeggy modified Fostex T50RP (AKA "Thunderpants")

 
Jolida's prototype hybrid amplifier


 
Sachu's Stax SR-007

Sachu's Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning solid state amp and Cary 306 24/96 HDCD player

 
KingStyles' Eddie Current Balancing Act tube amp

 
Part of Wharfrat's rig (Marantz 2275 receiver, HifiMan HE-5, Denon AH-D7000, Sennheiser HD650)

 
Palmfish's rig (Oppo BDP-83 BluRay player, Carver MXR-130 receiver, Denon AH-D7000)


 
ShortieFish's Front Panel Express portable amp and Sansa Clip Zip

 
m2man's iPhone 4 with Fostex HP-P1 portable DAC/amp

m2man's Schiit Audio Mjolnir balanced amp

 
atomicbob's HifiMan HE-500

atomicbob's Audio Technica ATH-M50, Sennheiser HD600, Woo Audio WA3 tube amp (my Shure SRH940)

 
Ham Sandwich's iPod Classic with Front Panel Express portable amp

Ham Sandwich's Pioneer PD-4550 CD player, Panasonic DVD player, Schiit Lyr hybrid amp, Schiit Asgard amp

 
Ham Sandwich's Audeze LCD-2, Grado SR325is, Sennheiser HD580 and HD600, a second Audeze LCD-2

 
DAC 1 PRE

 
Audeze LCD-2

 
Sunset on the way back to Seattle.





 
Aug 6, 2012 at 11:45 PM Post #12 of 52
Ah yes, the Seattle skyline is great when viewed from the ferry and hit by the afternoon sun. Here's a slightly different angle -
 
 

 
and another -
 

 
Aug 7, 2012 at 12:51 AM Post #13 of 52
Yes this was one of the best meet's in awhile. Everything just clicked. A little more stress that Cheryl my wife was coming. But that was OK. It kept me from coming too early and worrying about the meet. It was great having a bite at the Harbor Public House with Seth and his wife. Cheryl knows my favorite place now to get a bite on Bainbridge. Yes I know I will have to throw down some food for one of these up coming meets. With competitions and my schedule it has been a little hectic. Bringing my wife was a trick. I'm cool for a while now. Next meet is looking like the last week of October or the first week of November. Feedback would be great. Will post pic's in a bit. Wharfrat my wife mentioned your name. That was cool. She is starting to get it.
 
Aug 7, 2012 at 1:07 AM Post #14 of 52
Ditto the thanks to Doc & Poppa - glad people are willing to put in that extra effort to organize and host these.  Grateful to whomever sent out the Stax (was it cavalli themselves?) was a lot of fun to get to try that.  
 
It was super fun to talk headphone speak to other actual human beings rather than just over the internet!
 
As far as impressions go:
  1. Was awesome to try a prototype amp!
  2. Learned about some great recordings from everyone
  3. Was really excited to try Stax. The resolution was incredible, would love to hear some really pure female vocals in that thing.
  4. Really loved the fishies' Denon D7000s - thanks for letting me try it on my Raptor. Sad that they're being sold and I'm not ready to get them! I don't have any regrets on my LCD2 purchase but man, listening confirmed them as choice 1B. One of the more aesthetically beautiful headphones out there as well.
  5. Was fun to also hear the HE-5s very lively
  6. All around a really nice, fun group, thanks for sharing everyone.
 
Aug 7, 2012 at 1:24 AM Post #15 of 52
Quote:
  1. Really loved the fishies' Denon D7000s - thanks for letting me try it on my Raptor. Sad that they're being sold and I'm not ready to get them! I don't have any regrets on my LCD2 purchase but man, listening confirmed them as choice 1B. One of the more aesthetically beautiful headphones out there as well.

 
I agree the D7000's are terrific headphones. I'm glad you liked them. And thank you for letting me listen to your system as well, your LCD-2's are beautiful and I was very happy to finally listen to a Rev 2 on my amp!
 
And if you really are interested in my D7000's, don't count them out. I will probably hold on to them for a while yet. Maybe we can work something out in the fall/winter...
biggrin.gif

 

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