[Rob N]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ServinginEcuador Me.

What options has your SDS got?

The power supply is shorter than on mine with the positions of mains transformer and choke swapped over.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB180 I really like this photo sdbuik? Im not sure which head fier it was exactly, but the equipment was an Ipod mini, a sandwinder Sky blue mini version 2 and the SR-71, Im not biased just because he was using the cable at the time but the photo itself captured the essence of head fi gear, its a perfect picture of a head fier, relaxing, and just enjoying the music, the best part is his foot, if anyone noticed, his foot was tapping with the music my fav pic posted so far.

Yep that's me.

lol .. Yeah, I had a good time. My ears are burnt out.

BTW, Ray Samuels is a chracter, and BRBJackson is an extremely cool guy in person. I asked him his age and it turned out he's as old as my dad... that offended him but it shouldnt have! I'd be honored to have somebody like him as a dad

 

[BRBJackson]

nah, I wasn't offended, Devin, and it was great to meet you as well. I had an absolute ball hanging out with all the Head-Fi'ers yesterday, plus getting to spend time and chat with Ray and Tyll was a big bonus. If they are typical of the passion for and commitment to our hobby, the future is very bright indeed.

I focused on portable gear primarily, and will post impressions once my head clears up. Made my way through a slew of small amps, along with some future potential IEM purchases. I did get to audition Ray's Raptor, though, and came away very impressed.

Currently trying to meet some family obligations, in order to get back to Irvine today. Wish me luck

edit: nope, not gonna happen

Have fun, y'all!

 

[akwok]

Any more impressions on the K3000?

 

[Jetlag]

ummm.... is Tyll putting money in or taking money out?

 

[Nospam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB180 ...

Hey, that's my back

Thanks to LFF, Edwood, and anyone else that helped organize this meet. It was my first one, and it was nice to put a face to some of the regular posters.

My friend (standing to my left in the picture) isn't a Head-Fi member, but he had a good time. He was very impressed with the Shure E5c, but he said he would probably buy the UE-10 Pro. Jasper994 and I also convinced him to eventually dump his CD changer and go with a computer+DAC setup. I love how his place keeps encouraging people to spend more and more money

My main goal for the meet was to listen to the various IEMs. With Jasper994's assistance, I got a pretty good feel for the E4, E5c, Super.Fi 5 Pro, and UE-10 Pro. When all's said and done, I've decided to buy the E4.

Listening from my iPod and GoVibe, I see why people complain about a "lack of bass" from the E4. However, not being a total basshead, I don't mind it all that much. The rest of the sound is so well balanced, I feel it more than makes up for a slightly weak bass.

The Shure E5c definitely has more bass. However, the upper range seems slightly thinner than the E4, and I don't feel that the sound is quite as balanced as the E4.

The Super.Fi 5 Pro has tremendous bass, but almost to a fault. I feel the bass overwhelms the mids and highs.

If money wasn't an issue, the UE-10 Pro would be my first choice. It has the bass, the mids, and the highs, all in a very well-balanced presentation. Unfortunately, I just can't justify spending that much money on headphones

In the end, the lower price and slightly better balance of the E4 makes it my top choice over the E5c. I'll be purchasing it after I finish moving (have an HD TV to buy first

).

I did get a chance to try the popular HD-201. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that impressed. However, when you consider that they only cost $20, they are a great buy. Compared to the Bose Triports, which Tyll was so kind to offer up for comparison , I'd say the Triports just barely beat them out. Others seemed to feel the Senns sounded better... there wasn't too much Triport love at the meet

The thing I was most impressed with, was that Tyll recognized the ancient Sennheiser headphone my friend brought. I think the headphone was older than half the people at the meet

 

[DigiPete]

It being my first head-fi meet, I must say I was very impressed by the great people firstly, and secondly by the great hardware

LFF: thanks so much for asking your employer to have the meet, and to Edwood as well for helping organize. You guys are great

See yall at the next gathering.

DigiPete out.

 

[third_eye]

I want to thank LFF and Edwood for organizing the meet, it was great fun. Being my first meet, the hardest thing was trying to prioritize my objectives since there was way too much gear there to properly listen to everything. Some impressions from the meet, for reference I pretty much only listened to my DT880 as my main objective was to find a suitable home amp for it.

Day 1:
The Hornet is an absolute winner IMHO. With it's tiny size, huge sound, and 3 position gain switch it can really do double duty with a home amp and should not be considered a pure portable. As many have already posted, most people, myself included, were unable to accurately tell the difference between it and the Raptor at the same volume level playing through Ray's Meridian.
The XP7 is a tad smoother than the Hornet which is slightly brighter but plays to pretty much the exact gain level.
The SR71 is also somewhat smoother than the Hornet but cannot play to its volume level and I found myself having to turn to full volume with my DT880; I would imagine that for most headphones it's perfectly suitable.
The Raptor - I did not want to spend too much time listening to the Raptor/Meridain combo since it will probably be quite some time if ever that I can afford it but needless to say, wow!
All of Ray's amps are beautiful pieces and I will chime in by saying that Ray is a great guy and I hope to someday join Team Raptor.
The next revelation for me was listening to the UE Super.fi 5pro out of my Ipod mini; these are the first IEM's that are actually comfortable to wear and have good solid bass; I would describe the sound as being very fun and as IEM's for me are for the gym, I will be acquiring these as soon as I can find a good home for my E3's.

Day 2:
Arnaud shows up with the Prehead and I was able to put it through it's paces. But first another of Ray's switchbox tests comparing the Prehead with the Hornet and then the SR71. The fact that these portables can run head to head with the Prehead is pretty amazing; and yet I feel happy that I was able to pick out the Prehead correctly on both of my 2 tries. In the end the Prehead won out due to it's 0/120 sockets, crossfeed, and pre-amp capability. Due to it's AD6810 chip it's on the warmer side and was a perfect match for the DT880. Needless to say, being able to audition something that's for sale is a luxury and I happily purchased the Prehead from Arnaud. So end's the journey for now........or at least until the Raptor starts calling!
Once again, thanks guys it was great.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok Any more impressions on the K3000?

Benchmark DAC-1 internal amp, Cute amp, and some speaker tube amp that I forgot the name of (looked kind of impressive, though).

I thought it sounded better out of the DAC-1 amp than the tube.

Jon L's impression was similar to mine, I think (judging from the expression on his face).

Hopefully your experience is better than mine.

-Matt

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jetlag ummm.... is Tyll putting money in or taking money out?

We....really...don't...know

.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyfrenchman27 Benchmark DAC-1 internal amp, Cute amp, and some speaker tube amp that I forgot the name of (looked kind of impressive, though). I thought it sounded better out of the DAC-1 amp than the tube. Jon L's impression was similar to mine, I think (judging from the expression on his face). -Matt

Hm.. wonder if it will fare better on a Dynahi or high powered SS..

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok Hm.. wonder if it will fare better on a Dynahi or high powered SS..

Don't know...all I know is that I did not like it.

I was surprised by how different it sounds from K1000. I like the K1000, for the most part.

-Matt

 

[ivandal]

will post more later, but for now I must say I <3 the super.fi 5 ebs.....

 

[RnB180]

more pics from day 1

 

[RnB180]

I spent most of my time with the portable amp units,

I found myself going back to the micro amp more then the others,
I really enjoyed the sound of it, very musical.

the sr-71 sounded a bit more fun, but I couldnt critcally listen to it, because the volume pot needed cleaning, I never had the chance to listen to the new sr-71 ray brought along though,

the raptor, was really nice for how small it was, I liked it, though I think Ill need to get a better source then my muvo slim to match the raptor

I will definately be picking this amp up as my dedicated portable amp and pc amp.

the portaphiles had some rather disspointing issues in its design, layout of the front panel, the RA connectors would constantly switch off the portaphile since as the switch seems to be rather long and very close to the jacks, the jacks on the v2 would not accept the any switch craft mini plugs, which is a big problem and it may have been due to low battery? but they could NOT drive my senns properly, I was getting some underpowered issues.

I didnt get to try out the super macro 3 because I was informed that the battery was low, and I didnt know where the adapter was :/