Seminars & Activities
Join us for some fun seminars and brunch/drinks at T.H.E. Headphonium. Here's what we have in store so far:
T.H.E. SHOW SEMINAR: Personal Audio ~ How the Power of Community is Rekindling Passion for Hi-Fi
Date & Time: Friday, May 30th, 2014 @ 5:00p ~ 6:00p
Location: T.H.E. Show's Seminar Hall @ The Hilton Hotel
Personal audio is uniquely different from traditional hi-fi, aside from the obvious. What truly sets us apart is not the delivery method for the music, but the strength and bond of a worldwide community. This panel explores the headphone culture revolution, and how the passion behind its devotees are changing hi-fi. Will personal audio save hi-fi? Can hi-fi even be saved? Or are we the next generation of audiophiles, taking over hi-fi?
- Michael Mercer: Michael is a columnist and reviewer of music and audio components. He is a managing partner for Audio360.org and writes for Positive Feedback, The Daily Swarm, Part-time Audiophile, Enjoy the Music, and The High Fidelity Report. Mercer is also a brand-building and social media strategist for leading Hi-Fi brands. He also serves as Senior Vice-President of Personal Listening for the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS)
- Warren Chi: Warren is a personal audio enthusiast and evangelist, as well as a managing partner in Audio360.org and a columnist/reviewer for Positive Feedback. He also serves as the Vice-President of Personal Listening for the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS). In his spare time, he is an active member and moderator for Head-Fi.org (the world’s largest personal audio community), and an organizer of personal audio shows nationwide.
- Jason Stoddard: Jason (along with Mike Moffat of Theta fame) co-founded an improbable start-up to offer personal audio enthusiasts the best Schiit possible: high-quality, high-end gear, made in the USA at near-Chinese prices. He got started in audio designing speaker amps, preamps, DACs, and transports with Sumo in the 1990s. Today, Jason’s busy preparing a Schiitstorm of new products, and writes science fiction professionally under his own name and as Brett Patton.
- Alex Rosson: Alex is the CEO of Audeze, a U.S.-based designer and manufacturer of high-end, planar magnetic headphones. In addition to leading the growth of Audeze, Alex utilizes his talents and expertise in the audio recording industry as the owner of independent record labels, Play Me and Play Me Too Records.
- Owen Kwon: Owen had over a decade of experience in personal/portable audio electronics at iriver, before taking on the role of Vice-President of Business Development at Astell&Kern - a manufacturer of leading high-fidelty personal audio devices like the acclaimed AK100, AK120 and AK240 audiophile-quality digital players. He oversees product planning, development and launch - as well as sales & marketing efforts - for all Astell&Kern products in North America.
- Mike Dias: Mike Dias is a writer, speaker, connector, entrepreneur, app developer, music supervisor, in-ear monitor expert and the Director of Sales at Ultimate Ears. He started working with Ultimate Ears over 15 years ago, and from behind the scenes, he's helped grow the in-ear market for both musicians and consumers. In doing so, he has increased the understanding of his industry, and is able to contextualize how all the pieces and players are interconnected.
Semi-Private Head-Fier's Breakfast
Date & Time: Saturday, May 31st, 2014 @ 8:30a ~ 10:00a
Location: Waterfalls Restaurant @ The Atrium Hotel
Hey, we all gotta eat right? Might as well hang-out... grab some grub together... talk about music... catch up on what we've heard at T.H.E. Headphonium... and chill with manufacturers away from the hustle and bustle of the show floor!
And of course, this will probably turn into an ad-hoc mini meet as we whip out our portable rigs.
Once the breakfast is over, we'll all head on over to T.H.E. Headphonium together!
Please post in the thread if you would like to join us, that way we can get some kind of reservation going on to make sure everyone's got a seat at the table. Here are the 27 people we've got so far:
@warrenpchi
@mikemercer
@morserotonin
@third_eye
@Frank I
@jw111
@Tyll Hertsens
@Dean Seislove
@David Pritchard
Raymond Li, Alpha Design Labs (ADL)
Simon Au, Alpha Design Labs (ADL)
Mike Johnson, Pendulumic
Chunbeng Quek, Pendulumic
Alex Rosson, Audeze
Chuck Reynolds (+2), JH Audio
@HiFiGuy528, Woo Audio
Jack Wu, Woo Audio
Dan Clark, MrSpeakers
Jason Stoddard, Schiit
@russtafarian
Alex Cavalli, Cavalli Audio
@gary ocock
@dirtrat
Brannan Mason, Noble Audio
@Ultimate Mango
@65535
@abernardi
@shiorisekine
@Larmeister
HEADPHONIUM-EXCLUSIVE SEMINAR: Are Orthos/Planars the Future of High-End Headphones?
Date & Time: Saturday, May 31st, 2014 @ 10:30a ~ 11:45a
Location: Poolside @ The Atrium Hotel
Orthos and planars (headphones utilizing planar magnetic drivers) are quickly becoming prevalent and widespread, occupying a sweet spot in terms of price-to-performance between dynamic and electrostatic headphones. As technological improvements continue to be made to improve performance, and manufacturing methods are perfected to lower costs, this begs the question... are planars the future of high-end headphones?
- Frank Iacone (Moderator): Frank is a columnist/reviewer with Audio360.org, Part-Time Audiophile, Positive Feedback. He is also a veteran member of Head-Fi.org, the world’s largest headphone enthusiast community.
- Alex Rosson (Audeze): Alex is the CEO of Audeze, a U.S. based designer and manufacturer of high-end, planar magnetic headphones such as the LCD-2, LCD-3, LCD-X and LCD-XC.
- Dan Clark (MrSpeakers): Dan is the founder and CEO of MrSpeakers, a San Diego based manufacturer of popular orthodynamic headphones such as the Mad Dog, Mad Dog Pro and Alpha Dog.
- Fang Bian (HiFiMAN): Dr. Fang Bian is the CEO of HiFiMAN, a manufacturer of a wide range of planar magnetic headphones including the HE-4, HE-5, HE-5LE, HE-6, HE-400, HE-500 and the upcoming HE-560.
- Luis Flores (Reference Sounds): Luis - better known as LFF in the personal audio community - is the founder of Reference Sounds (a.k.a. Paradox Audio) and is the creator of several orthodynamic headphones such as the Paradox, Slant and Enigma.
- Tyll Hertsens (Inner Fidelity): With his own headphone amp design, Hertsens started Headroom. After 17 years at Headroom, Hertsens has moved on to become the online editor of the website Innerfidelity.com, which covers all things related to headphones.
T.H.E. SHOW SEMINAR: When Headphones Get Smart ~ Future Directions for Active Headphones
Date & Time: Saturday, May 31st, 2014 @ 1:00p ~ 2:00p
Location: T.H.E. Show's Seminar Hall @ The Hilton Hotel
Join a panel of headphone experts, audio reviewers, and industry insiders for a forward look at technologies that might appear as headphones with active electronics become more common.
- Tyll Hertsens: With his own headphone amp design, Hertsens started Headroom. After 17 years at Headroom, Hertsens has moved on to become the online editor of the website Innerfidelity.com, which covers all things related to headphones.
- Michael Mercer: Mercer is a reviewer of music and audio components. He currently writes for Positive Feedback, The Daily Swarm, Audio360.org, Part-time Audiophile, and The High Fidelity Report. Mercer is also a brand-building and social media strategist for leading Hi-Fi brands.
- Alex Rosson: Rosson is the CEO of Audeze, a U.S.-based designer and manufacturer of high-end, planar magnetic headphones. In addition to leading the growth of Audeze, Alex utilizes his talents and expertise in the audio recording industry as the owner of independent record labels, Play Me and Play Me Too Records.
- George Cardas: George Cardas is the founder of Cardas Cables, a maker of premium cables and component parts. Cardas has been in development on an IEM and this year released the Ear Mirror 5813, Cardas Audio's first "Ear Speaker."
- Michael Goodman: Goodman is the Managing Director of CEntrance. Founded in 2000, CEntrance develops, licenses and distributes cutting edge home and pro audio products. CEntrance’s product line includes desktop and portable headphone amps.