[kilkil]

How is the depth and height of the stage of your M21 if you could kindly compare to M3

I listen to 9 feet tall soundlab speakers mostly, and one of the "disadvantages" of these is an abnormally tall soundstage. With this said, height is always plentiful in my system. Tool - Chocolate Chip Trip is my goto track for soundstage realism. I remember the M3 doing it well without issue. I know the M21 does soundstage well also. The bigger difference for me is that M21 is better with the midrange, better control of the bass, body percussion is more realistic, essentially all the sounds are more realistic, maybe this also means a more realistic soundstage, though i wasn't particularly focused on soundstage.

Assuming @Jeweltopia brings her M3 to the meet next week, we can do a direct side by side comparison. You are more than welcome to take the trek down her for the meet also.

 

[kilkil]

As I'm preparing items for the meet. Below is the list of items I know are going to be at the meet in addition to the items in my signature:
Yggy A2
Chord Mojo
DIY Millett Hybrid (original)
DIY Dynahi

Mytek Liberty
Rupert Neve Designs RNHP Headphone Amplifier
A second Bricasti M21 (possibly with a Roon Nucleus or possibly will link to my Roon)
RME DAC
Audeze LCD-XC Headphones
4 more headphones (Walker told me he was bringing 5 pairs).

 

[MLGrado]

I would love to come, but am short on demo equipment this time.

At the moment, as far as portable stuff I can easily bring... I have



*iFi ZEN DAC V2

*iFi ZEN CAN (regular version; not optimized for 6xx or meze, but I WILL say it exceptionally good with the HD650 I can bring

* iFi ZEN STREAM (my regular 'audiophile' source for everything. Sounds better than any computer I have ever tried as a front end)

*Sennheiser HD650

* Focal Clear MG Pro

-----------------------------------

accessories

Intona USB 2.0 Galvanic Isolator

iFi iPurifier 3

iFi iPower 5v (latest version)

--------------------------------

Misc. If in Demand I will bring along

iFi iDSD PRO w/ 4.4mm Pentaconn connector

RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition



AND POSSIBLY A FEW MORE ITEMS ARRIVE BEFORE THEN FROM SCHIIT, PROJECT, TOPPING, but no guarantee


Also, I have an excellent condition MAC Mini 2014 version, 1 TB HD, 8GB RAM, with the UPTONE AUDIO LPS and FAN upgrade along with a top of the line

ZEROZONE 100VA 12V Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply. IT works exceptionally well, and is a major upgrade over the stock Mac Mini and its switching supply.

I will bring it along in case anyone has been looking for one, or has considered that upgrade to either demo or buy.

If any of this sounds like things anyone wishes to audition first hand, let me know and it will be more than worth it to have a table (if possible) and drive the 2 hours from Knoxville.

 

[kilkil]

I would love to come, but am short on demo equipment this time.

I'm happy to have you join us. Austin (not on Head-Fi) is joining us and he is a beginner in the Audiophile/Headphone world. He won't be brining much, if anything, though I'm sure he would love to hear everything brought.

 

[MLGrado]

I'm happy to have you join us. Austin (not on Head-Fi) is joining us and he is a beginner in the Audiophile/Headphone world. He won't be brining much, if anything, though I'm sure he would love to hear everything brought.

count me it then

Thanks!

Andrew

 

[DelsFan]

I had a renter move out (in North Alabama) and also my mom is limited in driving - so it is likely I'll be out of town Thursday or Friday, through Sunday.
Too bad. Although I don't have a lot of new equipment, it would be great to meet some of the new people.

Let me say, whether you bring equipment or not, @kilkil 's place is fabulous, the food is fabulous, and there is always a lot of good/great gear to listen to. I started with the Nashville meet a year or two before Thom started hosting (around 2016), when I was desirous of a real good headphone system but, at that time, the one piece of equipment I owned was a Linn Genki CD player (left over from my 2-channel system). I now have my end-game system ("end-game", if you will); the guys who attend are super knowledgeable, and always willing to educate those new to headphones. And, if you are really new, it offers an otherwise nearly unobtainable opportunity to compare dynamic headphones compared to planer magnetic, compared to electrostatics; and also (usually) the option to listen to a tube-based amplifier (or two) compared with several electrostatics. @Makiah S (always brings a lot of cool stuff) sometimes brings a real high-end electrostatic system too. But there are low- to mid-priced electrostatics available now also.

If you are new or somewhat new to the hobby, and keen to learn and get a little more serious, this is the best and most productive day you'll spend the rest of this year.

At the moment, as far as portable stuff I can easily bring... I have

* iFi ZEN STREAM (my regular 'audiophile' source for everything. Sounds better than any computer I have ever tried as a front end)

I would love to hear the iFi Zen Stream; when I started my system there was almost no such thing as a stand-alone streamer, that didn't cost $4,000 or more. The iFi Zen Stream (and there are now other options also) seems a great way to build a system without involving a PC, for those so inclined.

 

[MLGrado]

I had a renter move out (in North Alabama) and also my mom is limited in driving - so it is likely I'll be out of town Thursday or Friday, through Sunday.
Too bad. Although I don't have a lot of new equipment, it would be great to meet some of the new people.

Let me say, whether you bring equipment or not, @kilkil 's place is fabulous, the food is fabulous, and there is always a lot of good/great gear to listen to. I started with the Nashville meet a year or two before Thom started hosting (around 2016), when I was desirous of a real good headphone system but, at that time, the one piece of equipment I owned was a Linn Genki CD player (left over from my 2-channel system). I now have my end-game system ("end-game", if you will); the guys who attend are super knowledgeable, and always willing to educate those new to headphones.




I would love to hear the iFi Zen Stream; when I started my system there was almost no such thing as a stand-alone streamer, except for $4,000 or more. The iFi Zen Stream (and there are now other options also) seems a great way to build a system without involving a PC, for those so inclined.

yeah, at first I thought it was going to be a major PITA to setup. The instructions are quite frankly terrible, and unless you are moderately savvy with a PC and networking, you may have trouble with the iFi STREAM.

Other than a persistent issue with getting JRiver PC version 29 setup via UPnp/dlna, everything else I have tried worked absolutely perfect with little to no settings beyond my comprehension.

Setup via ROON was extremely easy, assuming you leave it in DEFAULT mode while doing the setup (don't bother with the exclusive modes are first). It took all of two minutes and I was streaming via Wifi bitperfect DSD up to 256x, as well as DXD PCM and all in between. IT was fast... superfast swiching formats.

Dropouts??? None at all after a system restart following setup. I ran it in for two weeks straight and never once during hours and hours of listening was there any dropout of any kind. Even at DSD256 over wifi. I should mention Roon core was running on a HP All-on-One PC with I5 processor. Nothing fancy, even when it was new 3 or so years ago.

Still having some config issues with Jriver 29 on PC using DLNA/UPnP. However, Audirvana Studio on my Mac Mini worked flawlessly with DLNA/UPnP and setup took less than a couple minutes. Super easy to configure, works perfect, no dropouts. So I am thinking there is more an issue with JRiver than the iFi STREAM.

But I know it can be done. There are users with Jriver who have successfully used the iFi Stream via DLNA. Its certainly a user error on my part. Then again, the iFi documentation is a bit of an embarrassment to say the least.


Other than documentation, the STREAM is a real steal of a product if you don't already have a network bridge in your DAC or system. And unlike a lot of bridges, it can go direct to DAC via USB.

I have to imagine the bulk bad reviews I have seen on the STREAM have been from those who get fed-up with the lack of a usable user manual. Or they stem from a misunderstanding what the device does.

 

[DelsFan]

I take that back, I have made one significant upgrade to my system (for less than $200). Two or three months ago I tried out (and purchased) a new, cryo-ed, "Ebony Cat8 Ethernet cable" from InSound Audio (the same guy who makes the copper ribbon interconnects). It is spectacular.




I also purchased a "purist" BNC to RCA adapter, for the rare occasion I listen to a CD. But I haven't had time to try it out yet.

 

[DelsFan]

yeah, at first I thought it was going to be a major PITA to setup. The instructions are quite frankly terrible, and unless you are moderately savvy with a PC and networking, you may have trouble with the iFi STREAM...

Setup via ROON was extremely easy, assuming you leave it in DEFAULT mode while doing the setup (don't bother with the exclusive modes are first). It took all of two minutes and I was streaming via Wifi bitperfect DSD up to 256x, as well as DXD PCM and all in between. IT was fast... superfast switching formats...

Thom was telling me I need to come and experience Roon, since he has started using it now. I would like Roon (and happily just buy it) for information feature alone. This because, the app which Cary audio provides to control my streamer, utilizing my iPad, doesn't offer any information about the album/song to which I am listening, other than simply what song it is and a photo of the album cover. Many times there are two or three versions of the same album offered, but there is no way to know what is the difference between them (but there is a difference, because almost always one will sound better/cleaner/more real, than the other). Of course, with the Cary app (offered strictly as a remote control for their Streamer/DAC, and it works great for the purpose for which it was designed), there is zero information offered about the musicians/producers involved with the recording.

Sadly (?), my signal path goes directly from my EtherREGEN (switch) to my Streamer/DAC, and to use Roon I'd need to insert some kind of Core in between. Which I am kind of unwilling to do.

My streamer needs to have a Roon Core built in! Or, (much simpler and mostly technologically feasible) the option to access (still for a fee) the informational portion of Roon directly from my Streamer, foregoing the ability to use their music sorting/management features. This way I could get more information about a recording of interest than I'd ever want/need, a legitimate feature of Roon, without altering the signal path of the music (stream)!

 

[kilkil]

Thom was telling me I need to come and experience Roon, since he has started using it now. I would like Roon (and happily just buy it) for information feature alone. This because, the app which Cary audio provides to control my streamer, utilizing my iPad, doesn't offer any information about the album/song to which I am listening, other than simply what song it is and a photo of the album cover. Many times there are two or three versions of the same album offered, but there is no way to know what is the difference between them (but there is a difference, because almost always one will sound better/cleaner/more real, than the other). Of course, there is zero information offered about the musicians/producers involved with the recording.

Sadly (?), my signal path goes directly from my EtherREGEN (switch) to my Streamer, and on to my headphone amplifier, and to use Roon I'd need to insert some kind of Core in between. Which I am kind of unwilling to do.

My streamer needs to have a Roon Core built in! Or, the option to access (still for a fee) the informational portion of Roon, without the music sorting/management features.

When you mentioned the iFi Streamer, I was thinking that you have the Cary.
For Roon, the core would also be connected to your Switch, not really in-between. Think of the core as just a computer(server) on the same network. The core talks to the outside world to get artist info, etc.
The iPad communicates only with the Roon Core
Your Cary streamer/DAC only communicates with the Roon Core

Next time I go to Franklin, I can bring my core with me to put in your system. My core is a mini-PC about the size of a cell phone. Also note that my Roon Core is setup as a Headless system, you plug it in and press the power button, then it logs itself in and starts Roon Server. The only issues I have with this are when it runs a Windows Update and the update requires answering questions, then i need to remote desktop to the core to finish the update.

 

[DelsFan]

Thanks very much; I'll look forward to trying it out.

My thought was (is), the music steam would come from my Switch, go via Ethernet cable to the Core, and then on to my Streamer (which I am unwilling to do, insert another device between my switch and streamer/DAC). Are you saying I would have a different Ethernet cable going from my Switch to the core (accessible/controllable via my iPad), allowing me to utilize the informational aspects of Roon; BUT, the original/current Ethernet cable, the one "carrying" the music, could still go directly from my Switch to my Streamer?

 

[kilkil]

Thanks very much; I'll look forward to trying it out.

My thought was (is), the music steam would come from my Switch, go via Ethernet cable to the Core, and then on to my Streamer (which I am unwilling to do, insert another device between my switch and streamer/DAC). Are you saying I would have a different Ethernet cable going from my Switch to the core (accessible/controllable via my iPad), allowing me to utilize the informational aspects of Roon; BUT, the original/current Ethernet cable, the one "carrying" the music, could still go directly from my Switch to my Streamer?

Roon Core would do all the communications with Tidal, iPad and Cary. The core has its own network cable directly to your switch and the switch sends the data to Cary via another network cable.

Roon is effectively behaving as your own private streaming service, it combines your own music files with Tidal and Qobuz and lets you control the music via iPad, phone, or computer and then sends the music data to your streamer (and any other EndPoints)

Note that to stream Tidal, you are going over many non-Audiophile network cables, switches, and servers, thus adding 1 more server to the path is very minor.

This is my list of EndPoints, it is easy to control all endpoints from 1 controller (iPad).

 

[kilkil]

I just heard that these are also coming:
2022 Focal Utopia
Hifiman Susvara
Hifiman HE 1000
Audeze 5

Enleum Amp-23r Desktop Headphone & Speaker Amplifier​

 

[rmoody]

Sigh, I'll miss it again. I really miss you all. Hopefully next time. Anyone who has not gone and is on the fence, do it.

 

[kilkil]

Sigh, I'll miss it again. I really miss you all. Hopefully next time. Anyone who has not gone and is on the fence, do it.

It has been a while since I've seen you, hopefully you make the April meet.