[HiFiGuy528]

A shout out to @HuddlerLuis for helping me unload my car.  (y)  It was a lot of fun chatting with you about why we love high-end audio.  
 

 

[DecentLevi]

Can somebody here tell me which Denon model this is? I looked on the Denon website and it's not available. Also if you have tried this, any impressions would be great (frequency range, dynamics, soundstage, etc.). It looks like a nice on-ear gem.
 

 
EDIT: Oh Ok these seem to the be the AH-MM400

 

[bluesaint]

Can somebody here tell me which Denon model this is? I looked on the Denon website and it's not available. Also if you have tried this, any impressions would be great (frequency range, dynamics, soundstage, etc.). It looks like a nice on-ear gem.




EDIT: Oh Ok these seem to the be the AH-MM400

I brought these to the meet. Jude, billp and a few others heard it and can share what they recall. Imo its one of the best cans denon produced as of late despite being a closed portable can. It's similar to oppo pm-3 but more lively and wider soundstage than the pm3.

 

[aamefford]

I brought these to the meet. Jude, billp and a few others heard it and can share what they recall. Imo its one of the best cans denon produced as of late despite being a closed portable can. It's similar to oppo pm-3 but more lively and wider soundstage than the pm3.

I brought PM-3's. I spent maybe 5 minutes with the mm440. Just long enough to get the impression they were a pretty good pair of headphones in the same general range as PM-3's, but I didn't get a feel for them at all.

 

[DecentLevi]

Hi guys, thanks, anyway if somebody who's coming to SF CanJam in July can bring the AH-MM400, that would be nice so I can try it. I'm looking for a portable headphone also... tried many but it seems the quest for good sound from a smaller can is the most difficult one.

 

[Bill-P]

I brought these to the meet. Jude, billp and a few others heard it and can share what they recall. Imo its one of the best cans denon produced as of late despite being a closed portable can. It's similar to oppo pm-3 but more lively and wider soundstage than the pm3.

 

I brought PM-3's. I spent maybe 5 minutes with the mm440. Just long enough to get the impression they were a pretty good pair of headphones in the same general range as PM-3's, but I didn't get a feel for them at all.

 
This may just be because I spent some brief minutes listening to either headphone, but from what I can tell, both headphones are comparable. The Denon has a bit of a forward upper midrange/lower treble, that gives more of an impression of space, but upon closer listening, it isn't necessarily more spacious than PM-3. I think it was more in my face, and that the closeness of certain instruments makes others seem further away.
 
PM-3 has a more even tonal balance to my ears. With a bit of a peak in the mid treble somewhere. Hard to say, but it was more laid-back, relaxed than the Denon for sure.
 
Both headphones are more similar than I'm letting on, though. Perhaps the biggest difference (though this may very well be related to source/amplifier) may be bass, where the PM-3 is a bit tighter/more well defined on the bottom end. The Denon, being a dynamic headphone, still has the infamous bloom that most dynamic drivers produce. In that respect, the PM-3 may potentially be more detailed/cleaner where bass is concerned.
 
But honestly, again, they're both very comparable. And I'm probably just nitpicking. The Denon is closer to my modded ATH-ES10, which I still do like, so I'd personally choose the Denon. But it may just be me. 

 

 

[Bill-P]

I still owe folks some photos, so... here they are:
 
@jude and @baronkatz as captured by my "more awesome than Jude's" camera. 

(seriously, though, Jude, you should get a Fuji X-Pro1 and join us camera freaks!)
 

 
And here's Jude with @Mr Practical.
 

 
Took this portrait as a personal request from Mr. Practical. But it was more like I wanted to show off how good I am at taking portraits. 

Here's my "artistic" rendition of how the portrait should look:


And here's one for @warrenpchi. He seems pretty excited!

 
Now for some meet shots:
 
The awesome food-bar (initially hi-jacked to be the IEM area by @moedawg140)

 
See? Bwahahaha. C' mon guys. There should be a limit to how "pirate" you can be! 

 
IEM porn for those who are into it: 

 
And facing that area is the meet area: very very lively! (psh... @HuddlerSteph saw me taking the photo, but @joe didn't know!)

 
Craig Uthus checking out the Paradox Slants. He loved it! Everything at his table was a highlight of the meet for me!

 
That LCD-XC!!! I didn't get a chance to try it...

 
Here's Ethan at his table with the DNA Stratus. One of the highlights at the meet IMO.

Hey, it's @Mkubota1! 

 It was nice to see you, man!

 
Eddie Current Black Widow hooked up to Schiit Yggdrasil here. Another highlight!

 
Central table... that I shared with @aamefford

 
Dat Little Dot amp! I should have checked it out.

 
And that's it! I wish I took more photos, but I was too much of a gear whore at this meet. Too many juicy things to check out!! So... sorry guys. I promise I'll take more photos next time. 

 

[HellaSteph]

Hi guys, thank you all for the warm shoutouts! It was a pleasure to host the Bay Area HF Community. We loved having you guys here and couldn't be happier with your impressions. I wanted to let you all know the "casualties" of attending a Head-Fi meetup:

Craig - TBA

Was - He ended up buying a pair of the Beyer Dynamic DT 880 600 OHM and the Schiit Fulla. He's currently working on a hack to make the Fulla totally mobile and usable on an iPad and iPhone using a solar energy source. Maybe he'll post up his hack once he gets it down. :wink_face:

Luis - He's still working on finding "the pair" but he's definitely excited to have met you all for inspiration!

Me - I'm a victim of the ATH-MD50s in the limited edition red color. I actually got raging pissed when someone thought they were Beats from a distance. How dare they!?  Anyway, I tried my cans on Was' Fulla and I'm about to be fulla Schiit. I'm still doing research on what dac/amp combo would work best. I'll keep you guys posted. (I'm also open to suggestions if anyone has them. - PM me!)

I want take the time to thank @jude and the rest of the Head-Fi officers, our organizer @Bill-P, volunteers, supporters and community members for making this the meet that we're still talking about in the office to this very day. Again, on behalf of Wikia, I want to thank each and every one of you who made this possible.

We hope to see you all at the July 18th meet-up in SF!

 

[Barra]

Can anyone tell me which version of the GO V2 everyone was raving over at the meet? Was it the Geek Out V2 or the V2+ Infinity edition?

 

[CEE TEE]

V2:  instantly sounded more "open".  Spacious with some additional information.  But since I often juggle my Geek Outs and that big Apricorn cable and one of my Anker batteries???  That V2+ is looking like a mighty nice option.  

 
(That or using an Adafruit little board for USB power ($19) with a little battery in a custom case for the V1 series...)
 
Yes, I think V2 is more detailed with more "air", but I am going to have the prototype this Thursday on loan and can compare to my 450, 720, 1000. I am not selling my current Geek Outs yet and my want to keep them for their character or give them to family/friends.
 
There is something to be said for pairings with certain phones...or for preferences...or applications.  Or the price- the V1 450 is like the deal of the last few years, IMO.  An HD600 with a GO 450 is a great little system. 
 
I'll post some more notes and impressions when I have more but I'm pretty excited about the V2+ for use with my phone and MacBook Air.  Would like to get some velcro on that. 

 

[Barra]

  V2:  instantly sounded more "open".  Spacious with some additional information.  But since I often juggle my Geek Outs and that big Apricorn cable and one of my Anker batteries???  That V2+ is looking like a mighty nice option.  

 
(That or using an Adafruit little board for USB power ($19) with a little battery in a custom case for the V1 series...)
 
Yes, I think V2 is more detailed with more "air", but I am going to have the prototype this Thursday on loan and can compare to my 450, 720, 1000. I am not selling my current Geek Outs yet and my want to keep them for their character or give them to family/friends.
 
There is something to be said for pairings with certain phones...or for preferences...or applications.  Or the price- the V1 450 is like the deal of the last few years, IMO.  An HD600 with a GO 450 is a great little system. 
 
I'll post some more notes and impressions when I have more but I'm pretty excited about the V2+ for use with my phone and MacBook Air.  Would like to get some velcro on that. 

Thanks for the feedback, I am looking forward to hearing your further impressions when you get the prototype. Where are you going to post them - here?

 

[longbowbbs]

  Can anyone tell me which version of the GO V2 everyone was raving over at the meet? Was it the Geek Out V2 or the V2+ Infinity edition?

They only had the V2 at CanJam LA. That is the one I wrote the review on.

 

[CEE TEE]

  Thanks for the feedback, I am looking forward to hearing your further impressions when you get the prototype. Where are you going to post them - here?

I'll make a post here, I need to make some notes from what I heard at the meet and how the meet helped me figure out what I was gonna do with some purchases. 

 

[CEE TEE]

My very late, late night follow-up to the very high quality Wikia Not-So-Mini-Meet…
 
I had some specific targets:

1. Drop off a couple of older amps that needed some work.
2. Re-listen to TH900 in the hopes of upgrading closed cans due to late-night listening near family.
3. Listen to any FitEar IEMs that might be there since I still wanted TG!334 and that could also solve the closed phone need (plus I have Focal Spirit Pros that I place on my jaw so the clamp doesn’t bite).
4. Listen to the JH Audio Angies.
5. Hear the new Geek Out V2.
6. Give the Geek Out V1 Special Edition and Lisa Triad III loaners back to zerodeefex.
7. Pick up Sonic Frontiers TransDAC and Yggdrasil loaners from zerodeefex.
8. Take new Eddie Current Black Widow Solid State amp loaner home to test.
9. See my friends in the hobby and real life…

 
Bonuses:

1. That new Riva speaker thing
2. HiFiMan HE1000
3. New Eddie Current “Studio” TOTL amp prototype
4. New version of the Eddie Current Zana Deux- now the “Super” version.

 
Results:

1. I dropped off amps that came back better than new.
2. The TH900 is still too “boomy” for me.
3. Jude nicely brought a lot of IEMs and I got to hear the FitEar FitEar.  Not what I was looking for, so I ended up on a quest and bought some TG!334 from a very nice Head-Fier after the show.  Closed HP option found.  
4. People at the show I trust found the Laylas better than the Angies so I listened to them and was happy to finally hear another IEM tuned more like the UERM.  Won in extension and a full-sound, lost to UERM in imaging and sheer size of the Laylas.  Good overall tonal balance and signature.  Happy to see this direction.
5. New Geek Out V2 was really surprising and I posted a comparo here.
6. Gave back the very nice GO V1 SE and Triad to zerodeefex.  THANK YOU, ZD for the great loans of so much cool gear.  The Bay Area is a library of the coolest stuff and people.  We get to try almost all of the stuff out there.
7. I bought an Assemblage One which is the US version of the Sonic Frontiers TransDAC.  Not sure that I will keep it, I need to roll some opamps and spend some more time with them now that I have auditioned the Yggy and V2. That is next on the list to try and return.
8. New EC Black Widow?  Have to have one.  SO good with my old PWD and FW 2.02.  Ordered and should be shipping soon. I consider PWD > BW > Modded HD800 an endgame rig for me.  $1200-$1400 for the amp depending upon power supply?  No-brainer.

 
This meet was a crazy meet since I only showed up after 12pm and made all kinds of gear changes based on what I learned from the meet and got to take home and try.
 
Oh yeah, regarding the "Bonuses":

1. Riva Speaker: Yeah, probably will get one of these.  VERY portable and surprisingly good.
2. HiFiMan HE1000:  Didn’t know what was Yggy, what was EC Studio Amp, what was HE1000 on the uber-rig I heard them on, but I was very hopeful for these phones based on what I did hear.  Will borrow some later for another listen.  Thanks, Jude for bringing these!  How big was your suitcase??
3. Eddie Current new TOTL amp “The Studio”:  certainly reference.  Really fast and resolving and liquid.  Not bloomy, controlled and linear.  Very different from Balancing Act.
4. Eddie Current new version of the Zana Deux, the “Super”:  Kept coming back to this amp and the new "Studio".  Lots of bass slam with Yggy, very linear, not quite as defined as the Studio but definitely moving towards more linear and drier than previous Zana Deux.  Closer than it should be for less than half the Studio cost I think!  Slightly less resolving than the Studio so potentially a little more forgiving.  Not a mushy or euphonic amp but also not analytical or harsh.  No peaks like previous Zana Deux and a little less “wet”.  Damn high performance especially for the money and compared to other amps that I have heard.  It’s a good time with good choices available right now.  I happen to have a prototype tube amp right now plus Black Widow on the way or I would be looking at this Zana Deux version.

 
Really late, I know...THANK YOU TO BILL P & Jude Team/Wikia for throwing this special meet.  Was really important for me.  And I really appreciate everyone taking and posting pics.  As a previous Pro Photog and Meet Organizer, I didn't have to do either and so it was all-play, no work.  Doesn't mean that there wasn't a LOT of work being done by everyone else, though.  Almost everyone there brought/set-up gear or helped set-up/break-down/organize.  Some follow-up notes is the least I could do.  

 

[CEE TEE]

UPDATE:  Eddie Current Black Widow detailed impressions here.