[warrenpchi]

Post 'em if you got 'em fellas!  

 

 

[Bill-P]

It's bad enough that I'm not back on time for this. So... have fun, guys! I look forward to the impressions and photos to follow.

Since it's dawn of the 19th here, I'd bet fun stuffs are happening over there!

 

[aamefford]

Be there by 1 pm!

 

[vocalstrance]

Had to leave early. Did anyone get to listen to the Woo Audio WA8. I'd love to hear how it performed.

 

[bmichels]

Any listening report on the new Eddie Curent "STUDIO" tube amp ? 

 

[Barra]

  Any listening report on the new Eddie Curent "STUDIO" tube amp ? 

I would love the hear about the entire lineup and the steps gained or differences between. Any takers?

 

[enkidu]

Got there early cause I had a bunch of commitments later in the day. I had a great time demoing some crazy awesome rigs. And now I really want a pair of HD800's 

. I went with the cans with which I'm most familiar, my ATH-A900 (no-x) and tried a lot of different rigs, both with the provided phones and my own. I was very surprised by the quality of the Creative amp. Oppo really impressed me, but the HD800's totally blew me away when driven by a the Ayre Codex. Wow, just wow. My own cans sounded like tin cans after that. That and some of the rigs in the Questyle booth were simply out of this world.
 
The other surprise was how I really liked the sound, feel, and over all quality of the Master & Dynamic MH40's. Really great construction and sounded great. They were easily driven from my iPhone without amping.
 
Thanks and kudos to the vendors and the organizers! I had a great time at my first headphone meet and doubled the length of my "would like to have someday" list.

 

[digitalzed]

First off, big thanks to Ethan, Warren, and of course, Jude. This was another great meet up and I had a blast as usual. I really appreciate that you all go to so much time and effort to do this for the community. It was great to see so many makers out and it seemed busier than last year, but I could be wrong.
 
I wanted to stay longer but had family obligations that cut my stay a little short. I really wanted to meet Alex at Cavalli to thank him doing the Liquid Carbon and to see the new portable amplifier. I was surprised at how small the LC is but felt very nice in my hand. I'm really happy with the size and I know it will look great on my desk. I bought the amp without hearing it based on the Cavalli reputation and my past listening experiences with higher end Cavalli gear. All I can say is anyone who has one of these on order will not be disappointed. The LC was driving the new Mr. Speakers ETHER and it was sublime. I was really amazed at the prototype portable amp (seen with a make shift body and no top in my photo). The sound through the Noble 10's was pretty amazing. I don't remember the Noble's sounding that fluid before. Maybe just me? Anyway, what really knocked me back is that the portable amp should retail for less than the LC. 
 

 
I was also impressed with the new Ayre Codex. I stupidly forgot the literature so forgive my lack of details but what I can say is that I was pretty impressed with the neutrality of this headphone DAC/amp. At $1750 it ain't cheap, but it's amazingly well built and sounded really transparent when listening through HD 650's, HD 800's, and the LCD-X's.
 

 
I was happy to also finally hear the Oppo-3. I didn't love the flagship model of this headphone but for $399 I feel the Oppo-3 has to be something people should consider.
 
I tried to get to the Woo Audio table several times to just...listen...to...everything but they were so busy I never had the chance. Their new portable DAC looks pretty amazing.
 


Wish I had more for everyone. Thanks again to all the staff and volunteers that made this yet another great event. Was sad I couldn't stay for the raffle but I'll be there next year. Already looking forward to it.

 

[TMoney]

Just got home after a long day of listening.
 
Thanks to everyone who put this on! The Bay Area Head-Fi scene is as alive and well as it has ever been.
 
I'll post more detailed impressions tomorrow once I've had a chance to decompress, but for me the most impressive amp of the meet (by far) was the new Eddie Current Studio. Dear god it sounded fantastic. Good thing its so expensive or I would have been tempted.
 
The Eddie Current table was a showstopper and I can't say I'm easily impressed. The Yggy Dac dove the Zana and Studio beautifully.
 

 

[Mr.Tom]

Nice show! I took some P&S pics, so please excuse any motion blur or noise. I don't want to spend much time on these, so I'll just post them all(good and bad).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bflat]

Thanks to the Head-Fi crew for arranging the Meet!
 
This was my first meet and it is simply the best way to experience all levels of audio enjoyment. Very cool crowd and all the vendors were awesome! I thought I would only be there for 1-2 hours but looked at my phone at it was more like 5! I came here mostly to experience the event but I had the mindset of finding an amp for my T5P or finding a new set of cans. Here are my quick impressions:
 
AK - very glad to meet Jimmy and I understand AK's products much better. Compared my RWAK240 with AK240SS and AK380. On the AK240s, really close between RWAK and SS. I may be a little biased, but thought RWAK had a bit more lower end but have to swap back and forth to really notice so can't go wrong with either. As for AK380, I thought the wider soundstage was noticeable. As far as sound signature, It's pretty close to SS and RWAK, but also realize the wider/bigger soundstage is affected by subtle tonal differences. If I were buying AK for the first time, I would go with AK380. I must admit my earlier skepticism was just flat out wrong. Just wish it was $2999 or lower! Come on Jimmy tell the boss that we need it! I will be doing more mea culpa in the AK380 thread. All comparisons were via Noble K10.
 
Cavalli - Dr. Cavalli was a pleasure to meet!  I have the LC on pre-order, but heard it for the first time. First I listened via my K10s and WOW just a great sound! In brief, the video review I saw from Can Jam was exactly right - Yes!Yes! LOL. Moving on to my T5P which have been a love/hate relationship. With much EQ tweaking on the low end, T5P can be great, but I've found it to be really picky with amps and had pretty much given up on them. With LC, there is life! I'm not sure I'm going to need much if any EQ. I briefly increased the 200 Hz and lower by 1.5 dB and felt that was plenty to add some warmth and low end. My prior settings were more like 4-5 dB. Also, the highs on some amps I've tried in the past nearly made my ears bleed with how sharp the T5P was. On the LC, very well controlled and smooth. Can't wait to receive! I was more impressed with how great the K10s sounded though. I was really bummed that I couldn't just take an LC home with me today! But the T5P story continues below.
 
Noble - Thanks Brannan! Listened to the Savants and pretty much agree with the early reviews - a very balanced IEM but was surprised by how much bass extension it had. Along with the LC, I can't think of any better way to spend $599. Brannan let me borrow them for a bit to try on another amp which I describe below.
 
Woo Audio - What an experience! I must admit I know next to nothing on tubes and have only listened to the lower end ones so pretty much stayed a SS fan. I really didn't intend to stop by because I thought the amps were out of my league and only work well with open backs, planars, and electrostatic. Surely my lowly T5P would just sound terrible and I would be shamed. Well, Jack Wu is just a super nice guy and waved me over and pointed me to their new prototype portable tube amp. Jack gave me the full run down and it's a glorious 3 lbs of amp goodness and a beautiful design. The amp operates with 2 or 3 tubes and I have no idea why, but 3 tubes = beefy sound and 2 tubes = more balanced. On my K10s, 3 tubes was too much low end bass and still just a tad too much even with 2 tubes. But on the T5P oh my!! 3 tubes baby! I was ready to buy on the spot until Jack told me not until later this year and price is not set yet and no plans for pre-orders. Do'h!! 2 strikes on my poor T5P.
 
Now switching gears for a moment - a thought came across my mind "I bet the Noble Savant would sound great with the new Woo Audio portable". Brannan graciously loaned me a pair to take to the Woo Audio and I tried it out. Indeed it is a sweet combination. You basically get 2 systems in 1 - 3 tubes and you get something close to K10, 2 tubes and you get a slightly warmer version of the Savant. I also learned today that a properly implemented SE output is as good as balanced to my ears. Sure makes buying cables easier!
 
At this point Jack must have felt sorry for me and my tale of woe for my T5P. With a smile, he asked me to try the WA7+WAtp combo. WOWx2 it had the low end of portable (2 tubes) but oh my the highs, separation and sound stage were just spectacular! Soooooo smooth! I gave a thorough listen with my RWAK240 as source. Jack must have seen the look on my face because afterwards he tells I should take these home with me. Talk about being down to my last strike and BAM homerun! Woot for demo specials! HAHA, my wallet was not going to escape today!
 
So here I am at home listening to my new setup as I write:  Mac Pro -> Audirvana -> Wyrd -> Gungnir -> WA7/WA7tp -> T5P. Just awesome and can't stop hearing my favorite tracks over and over again! Tube rolling here I come!
 
Other random notes:
 
Audeze LCD-XC - good grief! feels like an anvil on my head!
Oppo PM3 - much better sound than its' price point suggests
Cavalli yet to be named portable amp - didn't really listen for long but pretty darn close to LC
Linuxworks - great meeting you guys. Gotta really reconsider getting the rust off my solder skills!
 
 
Thanks again to the HeadFi staff, the vendors, and all the cool folks from the HeadFi community!

 

[dusk]

Man, that @FrankCooter amp! Lovely!  I have some pics I'll post up later.. but I came no where near the coverage @MrTom had. Excellent work.
 
Good seeing everyone again, and thanks @gepardcv for letting me post up at your table all day with my Vega and vinyl rips.  I really enjoyed listening to your KG tube amp with the 270s.. I think a pair are in my future.  @jude - great talking with you, man. Thanks @warrenpchi and @thirdeye for putting this on!  I love these.

 

[Mr.Tom]

  Man, that @FrankCooter amp! Lovely!  I have some pics I'll post up later.. but I came no where near the coverage @MrTom had. Excellent work.
 
Good seeing everyone again, and thanks @gepardcv for letting me post up at your table all day with my Vega and vinyl rips.  I really enjoyed listening to your KG tube amp with the 270s.. I think a pair are in my future.  @jude - great talking with you, man. Thanks @warrenpchi and @thirdeye for putting this on!  I love these.

Hey there's another MrTom! your link is not me. That funny!

 

[NA Blur]

First a huge thanks to everyone both on the business and organization sides for helping out!!  Thanks to those who so graciously allowed us to listen to their gear and enthusiastically spoke the language of headphones. Thanks to Alex Cavalli who so very graciously loaned his gear out with a kind heart.  Lastly, thanks to Jude for letting me listen to the new T50RP and for chatting with me about audio.
 
The CODEX from AYRE sounds spectacular, transparent, and fills a gap in the amp/DAC market.
 

 
 
The Schiit Valhalla 2 paired with the Bifrost sounds wonderful.  The smooth and authoritative nature of this pair was something I was not expecting.
 

 
My personal favorite was the HeadAmp GS-X MK2 which delivered some serious speed, power, and accuracy to many cans.
 

 
For headphones the LCD-XC sounded lush, fun, and impactful.  They look and feel high-end as well.
 

 
Surprised a few doubters with the noontec ZORO II HD.

 

[gepardcv]

@dusk - Thanks for setting up your excellent Auralic Vega with my amps! Glad you like the KGST!
 
@FrankCooter - Your electrostatic amp stole the show for me. Amazing work.
 
Loved chatting with everyone. Thanks to @jude, @warrenpchi, and all the other organizers for putting this on. Really, really fun meet! Special thanks to @jude for letting us borrow your SR-009 for so long.