Singapore June 2014 Meet
Jun 23, 2014 at 1:24 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 41

kchew

100+ Head-Fier
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The Singapore Head-Fi meet was held at Scape on 22nd June. Besides members who brought their audio rigs, we had vendors who were only too glad to showcase their latest and best offerings. I brought a Dynalo amp, desktop O2+ODAC, Audio Technica AD2000, Sony MDR-CD900ST and Astell & Kern AK120.
 
Now let's have some photos!
 

First few tables to set up
 
 

Little Dot Mk.VIII SE
 
 

Tube goodness
 
 

Auditioning, start!
 
 

Vendors setting up
 
 

Vendor with Audexe, Hifiman, Burson Audio and UE Customs.
 

Audeze
 
 

iFi Audio and Sennheiser setup. Very zen-like.
 
 

Presenting the Noble Customs
 
 

Packing heat
 
 

Flasher!
 
 

Wooden and metallic headphones
 
 

DIY hands-on in session
 
 

Some of the headphone parts were 3D printed.
 
 

Carefully...
 
 

Frankenphone with Grado headband and pads, Magnum drivers and 3D-printed cups, pretty cool
 
 

Schiit and Alpha Dogs
 
 

Dita Audio booth
 
 

Utterly engrossed
 
 

The Audio Technica HA22Tube Project
 
 

Go-Pro is watching
 
 

Audio-Gd brothers: NFB-10.2 and DAC-19
 
 

Leica shooter
 
 

Leica Beauty
 
 

Getting crowded
 
 

Gorgeous Audio Technica woodie
 

Shiny metal
 
 

Limited edition woodie
 
 

A tube to power them all
 
 

McIntosh!
 
 

McIntosh man! McIntosh!
 

Denon sounds good
 
 

So do the Ultrasones
 
 

Not to mention the HD800s
 
 

Trying out the Rhines customs
 
 

Dear Santa, I'll be a good boy if you get me these JH Roxannes
 
 

Customs represent! Rhines, Noble, 1964-Ears, Custom Art, Vison Ears and Ultimate Ears
 
 

Dual-wielding headphones
 
 

Valhalla 2
 
 

Schiit stack: Lyr 2 and Bifrost
 

Oppo HA-1
 
 

Smiles all round
 
 

LCD-X
 
Some meet impressions:
 
Audio-Gd DAC-19, Little Dot Mk.VIIISE and modded HD800
 
The HD800s had a stock cable, but additional padding was inserted and the mesh screen removed. As a fellow HD800 owner with TWag v2 cable, I wondered what such mods would do. Well, I was treated to a very sweet and luscious midrange, with the immaculate soundstaging and clarity untouched. Color me very impressed. Sometimes I feel that the HD800's midrange is a bit too neutral for my liking, but this mod cures that.
 
Oppo PM-1 and HA-1
 
There is a lot of hype surrounding these new products from Oppo. The planar-magnetic PM-1 were light and comfortable, and the HA-1 impressed me with its sheer flexibility and wide range of inputs. I hooked up my AK120 to the HA-1 via optical output and had a go. Together, they put out a very smooth, detailed and immersive performance. This setup really excels at jazz, R&B and soul with a dark, smooth signature. However PRaT and treble were slightly reigned in, as a result guitar riffs were somehow lacking in bite and presence. The HA-1 with my Sony CD900ST sounded similar as well. Still, for the price it put out a great performance that made me want to kick back and relax.
 
Chord Hugo
 
Can something this tiny put out wold-class performance in a portable package? I was sceptical when I saw it hooked up to the LCD-X with no amp, but all preconceptions were quashed when playing the DSD version of Lee Ritenour's Six String Theory. Man this thing can drive the Audeze really well! Bass was authoratative and well controlled, the treble was just right and the detail retrieval was top notch. The Hugo is a pricey little thing, but the end result really justifies the cost.
 
McIntosh MHA100
 
Six months ago, I had the pleasure of trying out the D100 digital preamplifier from the same company at last year's Head-Fi meet. This time the MHA100 arrived. One really cool feature it has was selectable output impedance in 8-40, 40-150 and 150-600 ohm settings, meaning that it'll handle almost anything you throw at it (we had no AKG K1000s to try). And what a show it put on. Whether it was my AD2000, CD900ST or the HD800, the MHA100 drove them effortlessly with world-class performance. And those two blue power meters were mesmerising to watch as they dance to the music. Fed via USB from a Macbook Pro, I was struggling to identify any sonic faults with this setup, but gave up. The McIntosh truly was the star player in the meet.
 
And that's a quick report. Hopefully the rest of the attendees can chime in as well. I was glad to see fellow attendees having similar interest in cameras as someone brought a Leica M8 with 35mm Summicron, and I had a good chat with a fellow film shooter. Watch-Fi was represented with a Rolex Submariner, two Panerai Luminor Marinas, an Omega Speedmaster Professional Pre Moon and a Seiko Tuna 6159 "non m". As Singapore Head-Fi is hoping to host biannual headphone meets, look forward to the next one at the end of this year.
 

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