[webbie64]

Yesterday (as it's now past midnight in Australia) I had a mini-meet with two local Head-Fi members, davidw89 and bluey_02.

Both were interested in portable amps and interconnects and, as I had a number of each of these on hand, I offered them the opportunity to try them out.

We got together at a Sydney Cafe, with sufficient table space to lay the equipment out, and spent a good 1 1/2 hours talking and listening.

I'm not sure if bluey walked away convinced of the differences being worth the financial investments in this sort of equipment, but the learning, the sharing and the camararderie were enjoyed by all. David has since contacted me seperately and seems interested in pursuing a portable amp.

For my part, I was quite impressed with the sound quality of bluey's Christmas present, an 8G IPod touch. They really have improved their headphone outs since I last had a listen to an iPod product (60GB Video) a couple of years ago.

Anyway, that's enough from me, I'll leave it to david and bluey to post any impressions they wish to share.

Amps & ICs -

IPod Touch Hornet Combo -

Trying Amps Out -

davidw89 and bluey_02 -

 

[krmathis]

Nice little meeting you guys had there!

 

[dap_pad]

Wow... great amps you have there and I love bluey's t-shirt

 

[milkpowder]

Ah. I'll be looking forward to reading david and blueys' impressions.

 

[NeObliviscaris]

How awesome, thats so nice!

Ian is nice, can't wait to see what David and Blueys impressions are.

 

[ads1107]

@feedmetrance
maybe we should hold a Melbourne gathering!

Though i really dont have any products to share round!

 

[NeObliviscaris]

Hmmm

Yeah - I was supposed to try and organise something.

I don't have much, and the last meet I went to was quite nice, but was all mostly desk amps/tube amps and stuff.

I wish I was as equipped as Mr. Webbie, then I'd be glad to meet people to test stuff.

But I am happy to meet people in city to try my very minimal Tomahawk setup lol!

Just PM

 

[ads1107]

im not really into the amps, dont like the idea of carrying one of them around lol. just more into the headphones, and i only use a mobile these days as my mp3 player..... in the market for some jays q-jays.... gotta sell some jays d-jays and audio technicas first!

any way, good to see others meeting up! sorry to hijack the thread (sorta) lol

 

[davidw89]

Would like to thanks Ian for the awesome meet

but the last photo is way off (i don't recall smirking )

A quality day well spent indeed and was rather surprised by iPod Touch which had a very nice look, user interface and not the mention how thin it is but i prefer to go something more unique.

I bought my new Shure Se530pth (pth=useless imho) so i wanted to try it out with a new amps and see how much of an improvement they really make. Having just missed the last Sydney meet, i was out of luck. Luckily, FeedMeTrance managed to get me in contact with Ian and we then proceeded to organize a suitable time. Nathan (bluey_02) was also interested in meeting up so bang let's give it a shot.

Onto the equipment at hand

Testing out the amps with Ian's mp3 player (all FLAC too), i was surprised at how were the Shure performed. Now describing this would be hard as i don't know the literate term (could someone link me to them) but they sounded more "live", clearer and "full of life". Simply put, amazing. The only conclusion i can make would be that i preferred the larger ones as they sounded more "wide" as preferred to the smaller ones (xin). But then again, it's a sacrifice between size/portability/sound quality so chose your pick. Regarding whether it's worth the financial investment, i'd say yes because you'd rather get a quality audio setup which you can enjoy and last for quite some time than computers (my 2k computer bought 5 years ago is worthless now

)
Also saw the Livewire, very tempted to buy for the comfort. Ouch this is going to blow my wallet. Damn you Ian

Honestly though, we spent more time talking than listening. Very interesting topics discussed, and i am looking into some of the headphones and amps already. I couldn't believe at how far people would go for quality music

Wished i brang my source along to test as well (iAudio 7) but it's loaned to my mate who simply love it (and could possibly get this instead of an ipod). But i guess i can look forward to the next Sydney meet (UNSW every half a year?)..maybe someone might bring along something cooler than IEM headphones and amps

 

[bluey_02]

Yeah I thought the t-shirt was a good choice for the meet. Man, do I always smile like a jackass?

Impressions: The amps (SR71, Tomahawk and Hornet 'M') I tried out with my SE420's didn't seem to make much of a difference to me. When I put on David's SE530's connected to one of the RSA amps with webbie64's (Ian) iriver IHP140 (I think it's called) I was amazed! I was blown away at the detail and handling of the bass. I didn't do as much comparing as I should have but at least I know I badly want those Shures..

Can't thank Ian enough for bringing all the gear along, really helped me in deciding whether I want an amp or not. If my SR80's weren't broken I'd have loved to try them out, hopefully realising a greater improvement from amping than with IEM's. For know I'm happy with the SQ from my iPod Touch though.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm pretty much a novice in the world of high-quality headphones, amps and such. Again, thanks to both Ian and David.

 

[milkpowder]

Thanks for the impressions. I enjoyed reading them.

Shame Ian didn't bring his electrostatic goodies

 

[webbie64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the impressions. I enjoyed reading them. Shame Ian didn't bring his electrostatic goodies

milkpowder, you know me too well, and know how to bait me

They wanted to try out amps for their IEMs - how much would it have helped them if I'd brought out the SR-001s that I also had with me?

There's only so much you're going to discover in 1 1/2 hours with 7 portable amps and a variety of interconnects and sources in front of you. IMHO if you heard a (regretably non-isolating) portable Stax setup at that time you'd probably forget all about what you were originally focussing on in terms of what works with a true isolating portable system. (Besides, I don't have a whole lot of spare tips for the SR-001s and I'd prefer to ensure I had the right sizes for the ears of someone trying them

).

It's fairly obvious that David and Bluey gained different learning from the meet - equally valuable for each of them - and also obvious that should they want to get together with me at another time to explore other equipment (e.g. home or portable electrostatics) the option will always be open to them. (once I get some spare Stax tips!)

 

[stewart572]

Dear Webbie,

Would love to come along and hear some head-fi gear next time there's a Sydney get-together.

Cheers

Stewart

 

[d-cee]

good onya Ian, corrupting kids one by one...

 

[minivan]

ian is always very generous on sharing his knowledges of audio world with others, thumb up for the man