[leesure]

great meet today! It was a pleasure welcoming this crew into our home.

I'll give some more detailed impressions tomorrow once I've ad a chance to ruminate,

Thanks to everyone to came!

 

[DeadEars]

OK.  This is the place!  I'll double-post from the other thread:
 
Just got home.  More than 6 hours of driving (whew!).  But at least I had the good company of Paul ("1974") which made the drive easier.
 
Lee did a fantastic job as host, and found places for setups all over the house.  You never knew what room would open unto more electronic treasures.
 
Highlights for me:
* Meeting many of the Head-Fi'ers whose posts I've been reading and admiring
* Getting to hear Ari's vintage Grados, and Shalingang's woodied 325's on my Mapletree Audio amp.  Boy are they a great match with this amp!
* Hearing the R10's for the first time in almost 10 years.  I had forgotten how smooth and rich these guys are.  Too bad SONY dropped them just before the headphone market heated up.
* Ari's homemade transformer-coupled amp, really sweet and crystal clear.  Amazing what a smart guy can do with just a handful of parts, and some decent transformers.
* Seeing all the different takes on how to get good sound with LCD-2's.  There were at least 4 setups at the meet, and a lot more if you counted all the Woo amps sprouting up all over.
* Being able to walk around headphones in hand and listen to all these different setups.  The Isabellina was a treat (once we got it upstairs on a better source).  I thought brasewel's Apache setup was pretty special too.
* Watching Prashant get all bright-eyed over the Shiit Lyr
* chatting with Howard ("lofty") about computer audio and the insanity of high-end gear
 
Good time, and again Lee, you're the best!
 
Frank

 

[baka1969]

Thanks Lee for opening your home to all of us. You and your terrific family were great hosts. I'll post a bit more tomorrow.

 

[gbamboo]

I think I am the youngest guy (maybe) there and the latest one to report to come. You would imagine I am indeed a newbie. So many thanks to Lee for sending me the address after 11pm on Fri. (after I asked you for the address at 10:30pm)
 
Before this meeting I only heard Sennhensier which I always thought was the best match for me, even without good amp and sources. In this meeting I had the chance to try the countless headphones with amazing amps and sources. This was an unbelievable experience for me.
It was so great meeting so many nice hi-fi lovers, and learning a lot from you guys.
 
Frank: Your Mapletree Audio amp is wonderful, with so many tube to roll. I believe it can match well with any headphones, such as my HD800.
 
Jason
 
 

 

[DeadEars]

Jason, it was a pleasure meeting you.  Thanks for putting on the nametag, so I can remember the name <==> face!  I really enjoyed listening to your HD-800's on my amp too.  The best I've heard HD-800's sound was on a Headroom balanced desktop amp at the November meet in White Plains.  I was blown away by that setup, which used a Meridian CD player as source, if I remember correctly.  And the HD-800's are just SOO comfortable!  Nice cans!
 
Frank

 

[gbamboo]

Thanks a lot for your suggestion! Hope I can find one set of good amp

 

[brasewel]

First and foremost I would like to thank Lee for his hospitality and making this meet possible at his home. Secondly I would like to thank the sponsors (Vinnie, Jack, Fang and Norse Audio) for sending their wonderful gear to audition.
I enjoyed listening to everyone's setup and making some new friends. Ari's R10 was the highlight of the meet and reminded me again how special those cans are. It's probably the only headphone that is perfect in every department. Wish I had the money to throw on them. Aflax's Stax headphone was probably the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn period. 
Once again, I enjoyed Howard's incredible selection of music; I will be pming you later for the list 

.
After listening to all the setups there, I thought Lee's LCD-2 w/ Norse Audio sounded incredible on my Apache. Looks like I will have to replace my LAs with the LCD-2 in the near future.
Also enjoyed chatting with Ross, Howard and Prashant on the subtleties of good cuisine, wine and the insanity of religion. 

 Lee I enjoyed the beer you had downstairs. It was hoppy and rich with a bold flavor and bitter aftertaste. 
Looking forward to Lee's pictures from the meet.

 

[fatcat28037]

Where are the pictures!

 

[sphinxvc]

Had a blast hanging out with all you guys yesterday.  Lee, you make a great host and I hope you do it again next year!  
 
Thanks to the vendors who sent out their gear.  The 7n7-equipped Woo 6 is a certain improvement over it's predecessor.  Thanks Jack for sending it down with the WA2 as well.  Thank you Fang for sending out your HE-500.  It's a step above the the 5LE for sure.  Thank you RWA and Norse Audio, your gear made quite a buzz as well.  
 
It was fun going back and forth between setups with you Ross, thanks for your help and advice with how to put my set-up together.  Lookin' forward to that review.
 
Really enjoyed listening to Aaron's Stax SR-Lambda Professionals.  What are they, 30 years old?  I liked them better than the O2s I heard at the New York meet earlier this year (call me crazy).  They remind me of the Qualias.
 
Thanks Paul for letting me walk around with your 5LEs for about half the day.
 
And thanks Howard for driving me down there! 
 

 

[jp11801]

The pictures are in our minds
 
Lee thanks for opening your house to us, you are a great host!
 
Like just about every meet I wound up taking with people more than listening. I did take a moment to check out the basement rigs there was a nice Woo set up that had a W2 pitted against a 6SE. They both sounded very good and very very different sounding amps. The 2 had a more organic sound and tonally I though it was closer to the mark than the 6SE. We were listening to some DMB I think the Radio City cd and the 6 had TONS of shimmer at the top end so I see how someone could really like this amp. I thought though that after hours of listening this tone/sound signature could get old. The 2 did not have the top end of the 6SE but presented in a (to me at least) a more tonally accurate manner. The 2 was not as "exciting" sounding but over time I think it would prove to be the better amp. Neither amp was really topped out tube wise and most likely could see improvements given some upgraded tubes. 
 
Next up was a RWA balanced amp/dac that in RWA tradition was SLA powered. I located some DMB again and fired up the amp with my LCD2s. It was good and it is difficult to measure either the amp of the dac as they are a pair. I did prefer both of the Woo amps to it as I just reacted emotionally to the music to a greater degree. The Woo amps also had a bit more dimension to the headstage as well. Overall nice amp and I love the red knob, just not for me.
 
I had the chance to try the Lawton (sp) audio Denon headphones as well. They were really nice to look at with pretty nice fit and finish. I did not however like the sound they produced from my rig as compared to the LCD2s. They had a somewhat congested sound and the bass lacked definition. I really should have checked these out with other amps as sometimes that can alter the outcome. 
 
Ari brought a carload of meet fun this time and really is a one man meet. He had R10s, k1000s, HD800s, Sonys, Senns, and grados in tow. He also had his solid state transformer output amp that I always try to get a listen to. This meet he had a SWEET Bottlehead S.E.X. amp that was driving his K1000s and that I tried with my LCD2s. This is not the standard SEX amp and has upgraded transformers. This amp sounded excellent with both the k1000s and LCD2s from the speaker taps. He has it for sale and I almost pulled my wallet out on the spot for it. Anyone with LCD2s that is looking for a cheapish way to get great sound this is the way.
 
Ari and I wandered off to Capones beer bar a few miles away and were treated to some excellent beer there.
 
Big thanks to all that attended it was a fun time

 

[jp11801]

ok here are two lame iphone pics
 
Here is the transformer SS amp that Ari brought

 
Here is the modded S.E.X. amp

 

[chris.d.m.]

It was great to hang and meet. Lee, Brasewel, Ari, Frank enjoyed talking.

Many nice sounds. It pretty much becomes a matter of taste when the quality is high.
I reported to Herbert and look forward to hearing any potential adjustments on his new amp.

I'll have to do some pm'ing. Appreciate being with y'all.

 

[DeadEars]

Quote:

It was great to hang and meet. Lee, Brasewel, Ari, Frank enjoyed talking.

Many nice sounds. It pretty much becomes a matter of taste when the quality is high.
I reported to Herbert and look forward to hearing his adjustments on his new amp.

I'll have to do some pm'ing. Appreciate being with y'all.

 
I think Herbert's amp has real potential with a bit of refinement.  It has the rich lushness I crave -- at least with the vocal tracks I heard via my LCD-2's after Ari sorted out the input problem.  I'm looking forward to hearing it in its next incarnation!
 
Frank
 

 

[shalingang]

This my first meeting and I was really enjoying the listening and chatting with all the nice fellow headfiers.
I'd like to thank Lee for providing his lovely home for the meeting, 3 floors full of gears. Also thank Ari, Frank, Paul, Jason, Aflac,  baka1969, Brasewel and other headfiers for the great meeting.
Unfortunately, my ears also lost ability to diffrentiate after listening these many superb set ups, can not tell which one is better.
Thanks to Ari, I had a chance to listen to several of the legendary phones. R10, HP1000 and KK.
 

 
Of course the super expensive Red wine battery powered dac/amp was very impressive with LCD2. When I was listening to the very well recorded Yello album, the sound quality Wowed me.
  
And I really like the RS Appache balanced set up with the modded balanced L2000 set up, the sound can give a run for any high end system I ever listened.
 

 
Lee's Lyr and He4 set up also impressed me, for a set up around 800$ brand new, it is very hard to find something with sound quality like this.  
 
 
 

 

[lofty]

What a day! Lee, you are the man: great house, family and dog. Thanks for hosting and inviting us all into your home. It took a lot of time and effort on your part to put everything together. No doubt everyone who attended appreciates that fact. You are truly a Head-fi Jedi Master.                                                         
 
* The Woo set up in the basement was great, two similar but different amps from the same manufacture connected to the one source. This made for an easy and convenient way for comparing all the great cans present at the meet, in a side by side manner. 
 
* Kudos to Vinnie, Fang and Jack for sending their great products for everyone to demo and enjoy. 
 
* Thanks to to all the guys and ladies who attended for helping make this such a great meet. To Frank, Ross, Prashant and Brasewel for the great conversation throughout the day. We certainly covered a varied number of subjects. I am amazed at how fast the time just flew by.
 
And finally Lee, I want you to know that this was most likely the best time I will ever have in Eagle/Philly Country!