[mxs1030]

Are those people listening to the cheesephones through the Stealth?

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 seems like a great meet. what gear was present?

Headamp:
Porta Corda
Pimeta/Behringer EQ
Maestro
Stealth
Stax SRM-007
Edgemont
MPX3 -
HR-2
XP-7
SR-71
Moretto HAP-3
Eddie Current Prototype
ASL - I don't recall model but it drives the K1000
Peter Millet -
Gilmore Lite
Gilmore V2-SE
Gilmore V2 - Not from Headamp

Headphones:
Alessandro MS-Pro
Shure e5c
Ety ER-4P/S
K1000 x 3
Grado PS-1
R10
Stax SR-007 -
Audio Technica L3000
CD3000 with Silver Dragon cable
Grado SR-325
Grado SR-325 modded by Comabereni
Alessandro MS2
Grado SR-225
Alessandro MS1
Grado RS-1
Beyerdynamic DT-880 and 990
Sennheiser HD650 Cardas/Zu

Sources:
Sony SCD-NS500V (I guess I got the model right..)
SCD-775 modded
Integra - not know model
Meridian 588 & 508
Matt's Computer setup (very nice, by the way)
Marantz SACD (I don't remember model)
Airport Express > CI VDA-1
Goldring GR-1 tt
Various portables
ACK DAC thru a Denon DVD-900

Speakers:
Magnepan MMG

There may have been multiples of some items and there are probably things I missed.

 

[dshea_32665]

Wow, this is a very impressive list! Those lucky enough to be at the meet, please share with us all the details and comparisons

.

dshea

 

[flecom]

how could you forget the 3x K1000's?

also for sources i had my sonica/behringer ultra curve combo

and you forgot my pimeta

no love

as far as impressions, ive never been to a meet and i was really impressed how cool everyone was... ive been to a lot of different kinds of meets (photography/ham radio/computers/list goes on) and the first meet ive gone to where everyone was just great to talk to and hang out with... a lot of very smar people, and a lot of scary looking stuff! especially to my very slim wallet!

i ended up falling in love with the K1000's unfortunately and i ended up buying a pair at the meet hehe

i was impressed with my pimeta in it actually being able to drive the K1000's decently... obviously not terribly loud (dude some of the people at the meet listen REALLY REALLY loud

)

but the K1000's give me an excuse to start downloading datasheet and looking at schematics again

ahh it never stops hehe

hopefully at the next meet (hint hint) i will have my new DIY K1000 amp that im drawing right now on paper done

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flecom how could you forget the 3x K1000's? also for sources i had my sonica/behringer ultra curve combo and you forgot my pimeta no love as far as impressions, ive never been to a meet and i was really impressed how cool everyone was... ive been to a lot of different kinds of meets (photography/ham radio/computers/list goes on) and the first meet ive gone to where everyone was just great to talk to and hang out with... a lot of very smar people, and a lot of scary looking stuff! especially to my very slim wallet! i ended up falling in love with the K1000's unfortunately and i ended up buying a pair at the meet hehe i was impressed with my pimeta in it actually being able to drive the K1000's decently... obviously not terribly loud (dude some of the people at the meet listen REALLY REALLY loud ) but the K1000's give me an excuse to start downloading datasheet and looking at schematics again ahh it never stops hehe hopefully at the next meet (hint hint) i will have my new DIY K1000 amp that im drawing right now on paper done

Sorry about that it was way too early in the morning when I was posting. Where are the pics? Show us what you and the scary camera of yours can do.

 

[flecom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mxs1030 Are those people listening to the cheesephones through the Stealth?

lol yep, priceless pic eh?

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flecom lol yep, priceless pic eh?

Let's see some more of those pics.

 

[raaj]

Add to the list of gear:

Headphones:

Alessandro MS-Pro
Shure e5c
Ety ER-4P/S

Sources:
Sony SCD-NS500V (I guess I got the model right..)

Amps:
Porta Corda

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raaj Add to the list of gear: Headphones: Alessandro MS-Pro Shure e5c Ety ER-4P/S Sources: Sony SCD-NS500V (I guess I got the model right..) Amps: Porta Corda

They have been added. I can't believe I didn't listen to your MS-Pro's. I completely forgot.

 

[flecom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion Sorry about that it was way too early in the morning when I was posting. Where are the pics? Show us what you and the scary camera of yours can do.

well normally i have a whole work-flow setup for my pics, i run them through neat image, then touch them up in photoshop etc...

but since these are really mostly snapshots they are straight from camera, just a little USM in photoshop and resized to 800 pixles across... click for the larger version which is basically the original resized 50%...

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8816big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8818big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8819big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8823big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8825big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8829big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8837big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8839big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8840big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8841big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8842big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8847big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8851big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8853big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8859big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8863big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8887big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8893big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8896big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8899big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8902big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8905big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8915big.jpg

http://flecom.fragmachines.com/head-...5DD8930big.jpg

 

[tyrion]

Excellent pics, flecom. I apologize for rushing you. I can't imagine they could look any better. Thanks.

 

[rsaavedra]

Wow very large gear inventory. I notice something rather interesting. Only the HD650+Zu were representing the Sennheiser sound. On the other hand, basically the whole Alessandro line-up was there, together with the whole Grado line-up from the 225 up to the PS1, with the exception of the RS2. Rather unusual I would think.

Minor comment, about the Sony player, the model is actually DVP-NS500V, I know because I have one

Wish I had been there, hope you all had a blast. Now pour those reviews and impressions guys!

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsaavedra Wow very large gear inventory. I notice something rather interesting. Only the HD650+Zu were representing the Sennheiser sound. On the other hand, basically the whole Alessandro line-up was there, together with the whole Grado line-up from the 225 up to the PS1, with the exception of the RS2. Rather unusual I would think. Minor comment, about the Sony player, the model is actually DVP-NS500V, I know because I have one Wish I had been there, hope you all had a blast. Now pour those reviews and impressions guys!

Florida is Grado/Alessandro country.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion Florida is Grado/Alessandro country.

Now that you mention it, does seem so. Seeing my own gear, I have Senn's 650's, but also Grado SR60's.

 

[raaj]

First of all, I would like to thank Tyrion and his family for hosting this wonderful meet, and for providing wonderful food and drinks for all.

The surprise element of this meet was Ray Samuels.. Da Man !! For all of us meeting him for the first time, I am sure he came across as an inrcredibly funny man to be around.

Most of the attendees were the regular Florida head-fi contingent - tyrion (our host), Gene (agile_one), Wayne (wmcmanus) and his friend Kimane (possible new head-fi recruit), Guru (gsferrari), Matthew (Nightwoundstime), Mike (mikeg), and Raaj (that's me

). Welcome addition to the attendee list were Frank (flecom), and Steve (Stevio) who flew in from Maryland. Tyrion's neighbor (an audio buff himself) from across the street spent a good chunk of his weekend time checking out all the marvellous head-fi gear, and discussing the design principles behind Ray's amplifiers. And towards the end of the meet, Tyrion's brother joined us and spent some quality time sampling all the combinations of headphones-amps-sources possible. He was very enthusiastic, wanting to try as many setups as possible, and paid rapt attention while listening to each setup. Maybe there is an 'audio-phile' gene, after all..

The greatest surprise I got from this meet was how close the SR-71 sounded to the elite amps like SinglePower MPX-3, Maestro-ZR, and the rest of Ray Samuels Emmeline lineup - Stealth, HR-2 and XP-7. Ray Samuels had an A/B switch with two inputs and one output, and all the attendees took turns doing A/B comparos of the SR-71 with all the big amps. The setup consisted of Meridian 508/588 CD Players, connected to the amps using MIT ICs, and the outputs of the amps connected to the switch box. Each tester used the headphone of their choice while playing tracks of their choice. The volume on both the amps was adjusted to be of the same perceived loudness. Then, the switch was used to select either of the two amps' output with a negligible break in the audio during switch-over.

Using this setup, I, and the others at the meet compared the SR-71 with the rest of the big names in the dynamic head-phone amps.. and the conclusion was that the SR-71 held its own or matched the performance of the amps like the Maestro, MPX-3 and Stealth. I know this is a rather controversial statement which goes against the popular notion of 'The Costlier the amp, the better the sound'.. and there are people here that claim they cannot hear any difference between the SR-71 and the headphone out of an iPod playing 192 kbps MP3s.. but, to my ears, the dimunitive SR-71 matched the big amps stride for stride, and unless you have sources that far surpass the Meridian, the SR-71 represents a superb bang-for-buck that defies the conventional price-reflects-peformance logic.

I went into this meet wanting to audition the big amps for an 'upgrade' to my home rig, and this short A/B test put serious dampers on my 'amp upgraditis'. So, my conclusion is that the SR-71 is a great amp for setups with sub-$1000 sources and headphones, assuming that you don't need features like multiple inputs/outputs, pre-amp functionality etc. This is not to say that other amps out there are not good enough. Depending on your musical inclinations and sonic preferences, you might like other amps, but if the SR-71 sonic signature is your choice, then the SR-71 is as good as it gets, this side of the $1000 barrier.

Another surprise realization on my part was that the Emmeline HR-2 could satisfactorily drive the power-hungry K-1000s. The rest of my time was spent lapping up more of the suhweet R-10 love, and the marvelous Omega-2. Wayne's Rudistor Egmont Signature Electrostatic headphone amp was another highlight of the show.. Though at first, I prefered the sound of Omega-2 running off of the Stax SRM-007t, with some tuberolling, I found that I prefered the Egmont which sounded richer and fuller. I will leave it at that, and let the more qualified head-fiers chime in with their impressions and analysis of the performance of two beasts of amplifiers.

As customary with the South-Florida head-fi meets these days, we followed up the meet with a head-fiers' night-out. We had dinner at a local restaurant, and as usual, the waitress gets intrigued seeing 10 guys dining together. The curious waitress gets to hear the routine story about our fascination with headphones and quest for perfect sound.. this story always gets us a few laughs

The waitress got rewarded with a huge tip for being the sport and apparently trying hard to believe our story without saying something like ' WOW !!! The world is a strange place indeed

' LOL

After dinner, Gene (agile_one), Wayne (wmcmanus), Guru (gsferrari), Matt (Nightwoundstime), Ray Samuels and I spent hours discussing all issues ranging from the recent head-fi controversies to hmm.. world peace ??

All in all, it was a great meet, and I am already looking forward to the next meet, whenever it might be.. Head-fi meets are fun !! Anyone who hasn't attended one yet should definitely attend the next meet..