[Dixie Flatline]

Finally, a chance to sit down and reminisce about the meet! This was my second, and once again, a great deal of fun. Many thanks to Steve (thrice) and his wife for opening their house to a horde of wild-eyed enthusiasts.

I'm still at the relative newbie stage, and although I know a lot more technical details than I used to, thanks to Head-Fi, my ears are still in training and aren't quite up to appreciating the subtleties of the higher-end amps. I spent a lot of time wandering around plugging my A900's into some of the "budget" amps, which are more my speed. (Not that I didn't grab the R-10's whenever they were free, and slip into a blissful stupor for a few minutes while I fantasized about taking out a second mortage on my house.)

The one thing that really jumped out at me, though, was the SR-71 -- even hooked up to a low-end portable source (my Rio Karma line-out), it really stood out for detail and pacing. Actually, it's the first time I really appreciated the concept of PRaT -- pacing, rhythm, and timing -- because the SR-71 has it in spades. A couple of minutes after I started listening, Ray Samuels strolled into the room, saw the big grin on my face, and said, "What are you smiling about?"

When Ray says that he would put it up against any other amp at the meet, including his own Stealth at ~6 times the price, I believe him -- even the other Emmelines didn't catch my attention the way the SR-71 did. I love my Xin SuperDual for its size and what it does at the price, but I have to admit that as far as sound (and construction) goes, it's severely overshadowed by the SR-71. My only problems with the SR-71 are that its size and weight make it less convenient than I want in a portable amp, and the battery-only operation, with no AC adapter or built-in recharger, makes it a bit of a pain to use as a home amp. Still, I'm very very tempted...

I also got a kick out of the Gilmore Lite and thrice's home-cooked PPA as amps that brought some good performance out of the A900's. It's nice to find that you really don't need to spend a mint to find an amp that makes a difference.

It was a great meet, and a pleasure to meet some folks who weren't at the last one. In particular, it was a real treat to meet Ray Samuels -- he's a charming fellow, he's a lot of fun to talk to, and he speaks with great passion about amp design and audio in general. He obviously combines that passion with great rigor in the design and construction of his amps, as one look at the insides will show.

At any rate, it seems like a good time was had by all (except possibly Ray, who complained about the ongoing lack of dancing girls.

)

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Ray, who complained about the ongoing lack of dancing girls.

Yeah, we spoiled him after the last Grado meet in NYC

.

 

[CD44hi]

Looks like you guys had a blast!! I really wanted to make the meet, but had other compromises this past weekend. Next time!
CD.

 

[gaboo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dixie Flatline At any rate, it seems like a good time was had by all (except possibly Ray, who complained about the ongoing lack of dancing girls. )

The girls came after you (and I) left. Isn't that always the case?

 

[Ray Samuels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg Yeah, we spoiled him after the last Grado meet in NYC .

Thank, jpelg, they must have come in after I left...
what can I say...
Ray samuels

 

[Jahn]

By the way folks, regarding burn-in...at the Fall meet you'll get to try out my fully burned in SR-71. This baby has been put through some serious paces, especially right now as it is my temp home amp. I've run through countless charges of plainviews and a whole costco stick of duracells. It's been through two Qualia meets, and has even powered the mighty K1000 (yeah it was at max volume and was pushing it, but it did it!)

So for folks who want a taste of some portable current Ray Samuels-style, come on down to our porta-shootout at NYC this November! BTW it rules with my Alessandro MS-2!

 

[taylor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrice Exactly! It was defintely small shades of grey between the SR-71 and the Stealth that Ray had me A/B before the meet. (when it was quiet and I could listen and concentrate). Now I know I'm not the most experienced audiophile out there, but the last 48 hours of listening have been very revealing to me. I'm already working on building another PPA that's identical to mine so I can roll opamps and A/B them. taylor: Testify!!!!!

I was comparing the Gilmore Lite to the Stealth. I couldn't tell them apart.

 

[Ray Samuels]

I packed all my amps in two boxes & taped them for the trip but then realized that I forgot my two best screw drivers, flat head & philips + set of allen wrenches, with out thinking I droped then in my carry on luggage that goes on board, at the inspection, they opened the carry on & found those dangerous weapons & took them away, it was the last time I would see my favorite tools. But made it to DC where the host himself was waiting to pick me up, what a great friend, it took 30-35 minutes to get to his place.
The meet was a great one, I got to see Canman again, a great person to chatt with, with a great gear. I had the pleasure of talking to Hirsch again, we had a lot of fun as we both love this hobby so much, we spend great time Abeing amps & enjoying our time.
One of the greatest thing that happened to me was meeting this very quite young man who came with a very nice gentle man who turned to be his father, many amps were brought in that looked so great in workman ship & the care that went into making them, I was very impressed later to find out that this very shy person happened to be Justin, the manufacturer of head amps, I could not believe that a person that young has the capability & the know how to do such impressive work, I saw my self in him, but I was not shy or quite like him, & turned to his father & said, you should be proud of your son, his work is top notch. I really used to think that Justin was an older person but was I wrong, I had great time talking to him & may his school prepare him for much higher goals than what he is doing now.
I would like to thanks the host & his lovely wife for inviting us into there home & making us feel at home, if only I knew who ordered the two large cheese pizza's & jumped & ate my favorite suasage & onions then I would known what to do, but it is in the past.
All amps had thier own flavors to offer, they all sounded very pleasent each with its own signature, it was a blast, got to meet very friendly headfiers for the first time & made feel very welcomed, I thank you for all that.
At the end of the meet again the host Steve went that extra mile to reserve a room for ma at Holiday Inn, drove over there & came the next morning to drive me back to the airport, this is what headfi is all about, people caring about thier own community & walking that extra mile to make thing right.
thanks to all & Steve, until we meet again.
Ray Samuels

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Samuels I saw my self in him, but I was not shy or quite like him

LOL, no that's not at all how I think of you Ray!

As a matter of fact, I can't think of a more diametrically opposed description of you...

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

 

[archosman]

I'm afraid I too have to disagree about the questions on the switchbox tests. At the Nashville meet I thought it was a great way to A/B between different amps. In fact to make sure it was a complete blind test I turned around and faced the other way so I couldn't see when Ray was switching between amps... and I could absolutely tell one amp from another. I have to admit when I first saw the plumbing nightmare that Ray had between all of his amps being fed by the Meridian my first thought was that signal was going to degrade when it got down to the last amp. But let me tell you... it didn't.

But you know different strokes for different folks. We all don't hear the same... but I know what I heard!

 

[gaboo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman I'm afraid I too have to disagree about the questions on the switchbox tests. At the Nashville meet I thought it was a great way to A/B between different amps. In fact to make sure it was a complete blind test I turned around and faced the other way so I couldn't see when Ray was switching between amps... and I could absolutely tell one amp from another. I have to admit when I first saw the plumbing nightmare that Ray had between all of his amps being fed by the Meridian my first thought was that signal was going to degrade when it got down to the last amp. But let me tell you... it didn't. But you know different strokes for different folks. We all don't hear the same... but I know what I heard!

Well, Canman could tell the difference between the Gilmore Lite and one of Ray's amps (I forgot which one he was testing) through the switchbox. So the box is usefull. But the difference between SR-71 and the Lite was quite obious to me w/o the box, so a switch box would have to be *really* bad to hide that difference.

The is question is wether the box can mask more the more subtle differences that you'd expect from the better/pricier amps...

 

[archosman]

I think it's a clever idea. You're able to hear 2 different amps with the same source without having to quickly switch plugs between 2 amps. Almost interrupted music...

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, the other issue that I have with it is loading/warm-up -- what sort of loading does the switchbox provide to the amp that is currently not being tested? Some amps don't take too well to not having a load on them at all times. Also, think about how your amps sound when you first plug in a set of phones -- is this the same as how they sound later? If not (if they need to "warm up"), then there's another bug in the test.

I'm not saying the test is completely useless -- if you can hear a difference, then by all means, it's working. My criticism is when you cannot hear a difference (or if the difference is subtle), I'm not sure you're getting a fair comparison.

I wish I had thought of my test (two exact same players, two exact same amps, two exact same headphones, etc. -- one set with switchbox, one without) at the time, because we had some pretty high-end gear (there were at least two G08's and two sets of R10's in the building) and could have conducted this test.

 

[gpalmer]

After having tried Ray's switchbox, I have to admit to some reservations about using it. Actually not about the switchbox per se, but rather over the methodology that most folks seem to favor with it, which is to switch very often between amplifers. I have heard two amplifers that are very different sound very close to each other in rapid switches. Switching quickly does show gross differences between amplifiers frequency responses, but I personally feel that when I used it that the "switch it several times per second" methodology hides other differences that take longer to note. (The people operating the switch couldn't keep from toggling it constantly). I personally prefer to listen to an entire song with one amplifer and then listen to with the other amplifer instead of the "let's see how fast we can switch back and forth" test.