[ecwl]

@ecwl yeah I've got a DSHA-3FN which was designed with Focals in mind, so the Utopia would be great, thanks!

Sure. I don't have balanced cables so just make sure you have the correct cable/adaptor (which I know you almost always do)

 

[Beefy]

Sure. I don't have balanced cables so just make sure you have the correct cable/adaptor (which I know you almost always do)

I'll be bringing my Clear with the stock balanced cable, so that should cover it.

 

[rifi]

Hey All, please post any food/drink restrictions so everyone knows what to avoid if they plan on bringing anything to share. I will make sure we have a few drinks (Ginger ale, tea, coffee) on hand but feel free to add to the mix.

 

[zoobabwa]

Woo I think I'll make it to this meet! Sounds like there will be a lot of gear so I'll just bring my laptop, RME ADI2 Pro, and Verum One.

I (Blair) have not attended a Winnipeg meet before either. The 2channel stuff is too hard to move, but I can bring a Jot2 and/or BF2, Shanling M6Ultra, Andros, HA-FDX1 and 7Hz Timeless if anyone is interested in any of those.

I'd be interested in trying some IEMs! My current pair just died I think so I'm figuring out what to get next...

 

[Beefy]

Woo I think I'll make it to this meet! Sounds like there will be a lot of gear so I'll just bring my laptop, RME ADI2 Pro, and Verum One.

Oooh, I'd love to hear the Verum.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

I'd be interested in trying some IEMs! My current pair just died I think so I'm figuring out what to get next...

Will do.

 

[Armaegis]

@Velomane just told me he can't make it tomorrow unfortunately, but I will still bring his stax headphones to listen on the iESL.

Is anybody else interested in knives? I have a few "damascus" blades that are new to my collection if anyone is interested.

 

[Armaegis]

Awesome to meet everyone today! Best turnout we've had in a while, and great to meet a couple faces for the first time.
Thanks to @rifi for hosting again. Nice to see @Beefy and @Kernel Kurtz for the first time. Of course also @ecwl @Rubin @zoobabwa @dscythe . Hope I didn't forget anyone.

Some general impressions that I think we all shared:
Nitsch DSHA-3FN + Focal was indeed great, but ouch that price. Too bad we didn't have a balanced cable for the Utopia.
Stax 007 > 009 seemed unanimous
ZMF Verite Open was kinda meh for most, especially given the price.
Dan Clark Stealth was weirdly dry.
Poor little Piety didn't even get plugged in lol.
Those egg tarts were awesome.

Also, my wife and I won our house bid tonight! (just found out an hour ago).
So um... looks like I'll be selling off my stuff sooner rather than later. If anyone is interested in anything, let me know.

 

[rifi]

@Armaegis congrats dude!

 

[Velomane]

@Armaegis Congrats! What part of town?

BTW, the 007's have the blu tack mod.

 

[Beefy]

@Armaegis, congratulations! As they say, happy wife, happy life!

This was the first meet I attended in 15 years, and it delivered in spades. An absolute orgy of headphone goodies to try. My goals were:

1. To prove I exist.
2. Listen to lots of phones on my own DIY Soekris/M3 rig.
3. Listen to my Focal Clear on other rigs.

Impressions of phones from my rig:

• Focal Utopia. I didn't think I would like them from the descriptions I've read, but I did not find them too dry, edgy, detailed, bright or anything versus the Clear. Just so great from my rig. Whether I would spend to upgrade Clear to Utopia? Unlikely.
• Dan Clark Stealth. Super weird. Thin, dry, a bit of a damp squib. But I'm very unfamiliar with closed headphones, so maybe this is what I should expect from *checks notes* HOLY HELL, THESE ARE $4000 HEADPHONES? No, thank you. These are NOT for me.
• LCD-X (2021). Hmm, not bad, I don't mind the sound of these. But why am I getting a headache? Why does my neck hurt so badly? Too heavy.
• Verum One. Bloody hell, these deliver such a fun, warm, enveloping sound. Like getting a big warm hug, while eating dark chocolate truffles, and sipping sweet sherry. I think they'd be WAY too much of a good thing for long term listening, and would need to be toned down with a crisper and cooler DAC/amp combo.
• Verite Open. I was super excited for these. I almost bought this exact pair before @Armaegis grabbed them. I have to say, I was disappointed. They sounded sort of thin, distant, no engagement factor. Although, my M3 does the same to the HD650, classic Sennheiser veil, so I wonder whether my Crack would have been a better pairing.
• JAR 660S. Only had a brief listen at the end. Pretty nice, but not super WOW. Again, think the Crack is a better match for these high impedance phones.

Impressions of the Clear from the DHSA-3FN: It was nice! All the fun, energetic sound I expect from the Clear. But under the caveat of meet conditions I wasn't hearing the heavens parting and the angels singing versus my own rig. I think I'd have to spend a lot of time with this amp to appreciate the subtleties, and that seems like a lot of effort given the price.

Impressions of Stax loaned by @Velomane from the iCAN/iESL combo: The SR-009 were a bit bright for me. First time I've been bothered by female vocal sibilance since I owned Grados. The SR-007 were funny; I put on Bjork Hyperballad, and there was so much bass it was was almost shaking my bowels loose. I was very WTH, until @Armaegis pointed out that someone had turned the X-bass thingo to maximum. Reset everything to default, ah yes, these are nice and clean now! But the setup just didn't wow me, versus my own SR-Lambda. I think I really want to hear these all from a big boy electrostatic amp.

Regrets:

• I didn't listen to any Schiit. The Piety seemed unnecessary, and I somehow skipped @Kernel Kurtz with his Bifrost/Jotunheim rig. Maybe next time.
• Didn't have a custard tart.
• All the young whipper snappers who are unfamiliar with DIY. This is a hobby-wide phenomenon where DIY has disappeared because it just makes no sense versus the plummeting prices of awesome commercial gear. But it still makes me sad. On the flipside, I was glad I could bring something completely new for people to listen to!

So anyway, thanks to @rifi for hosting duties and everyone for bringing gear, it really was a great show. And now we can all look forward to wrecking up @Armaegis's new house in the summer......

 

[Armaegis]

I believe my first thoughts upon meeting @Beefy were "I wasn't expecting a guy with an accent" lol.

My favourite pairing with the Piety was the JAR 660, and the DSHA-3FN with the ETA Mini-S. Unfortunately I don't think we had either combination out at the meet (both headphones were kinda forgotten about until near the end).

@Velomane is the blutak mod mostly to bring up the bass response? I wish they were able to put the 007 drivers into the 009 frame which was much nicer (though actually the headband on the 007 seemed comfier). Now I'm assuming your X9000 knocks them both out of the water?

@dscythe if you're still thinking to mod your Sextetts, let me know and you can have all the parts of my attempted AKG transplants from years ago

@zoobabwa is ever our resident basshead and was the one who cranked the Xbass setting on the iFi. Psst, wanna buy the amp?

@ecwl where did you get those tarts?
also for knife display these magnetic wooden wall mounts are also nice: https://www.amazon.ca/Acacia-Magnetic-Findking-Kitchen-Organizing-Kitchen/dp/B08CXW7FW5
the cheaper non-wood ones are fine, but could scratch your knives if you care about that sort of thing

 

[ecwl]

Listen to lots of phones on my own DIY Soekris/M3 rig.

Your rig is very cool.

 

[ecwl]

@ecwl where did you get those tarts?

The tarts (Pasteis de nata) are from the Portuguese grocery store Viena do Castelo on Sargent, slightly west of Arlington.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Thanks again to @rifi for the hospitality. I don't hang out here much, mostly at the other site, but nice to be able to put some faces to some of the names. Also great to be able to listen to a whole bunch of headphones I would otherwise never get to try. Impressions on the web are handy but nothing beats getting to have a listen for yourself.

I'll echo much of what @Armaegis and @Beefy said.

Stax 007 was better than 009. They both sounded good, but I was not blown away enough to consider the cost and complication worth it for either.
LCD-X was good, but not worth 10 times the price of my HE-5xx
Verum was quite impressive out of several different sources. Looking at the price of that and noting they are made in Ukraine I think I'm going to order a pair.
Nitsch DSHA-3FN sounded good with anything I plugged into it, but for that price I would hope it would be. Still, that with the Clears was probably the best sounding combo of the meet for me. Too bad did not get to try it with the Utopias.
I was not as impressed with the Verite Opens as I expected to be, though they were certainly the best looking headphones of the lot. Perhaps just did not have the right synergy with the limited number of sources available.
HE-6 obviously needs lots of power. Don't think any of the available sources did it justice either.
The JAR and the ETA were both pretty decent, can see why they are well regarded by reviewers.

Congrats on the new house Armaegis and all the best for 2024 to all of you. Look forward to doing that again sometime in the new year.