Ouch on the AK120 still though. Will have plenty of chances to check it out here, I'm pretty surprised by the AK100's small footprint though I can never justify putting that much on something I would take out and about. Any rough comparisons to the bigger dacs?

Interested in the news on the Schiit amp, really looking forward to seeing it in production. The attenuation method is an old thing though it is still interesting to see at what price point Schiit will put their amp in.

Yeah, I was expecting the 120 to sound like a blatant cash grab and middle finger to psychotic audiophiles.  Nope, it sounded real good via UERM.

That is a genuine surprise. Does it have the current and/or voltage to handle thirsty 32 Ohm phones or high impedance phones, or is it still mostly suited to IEMs? Any thoughts on how it compares to the 901?

Edit: if the HPA section is the same that would seem to answer the first question...

I caught Marv awkwardly staring at me when I was listening to the HD800 at the Schiit booth. Maybe I was making some sort of face. Sometimes I do that when my brain drifts off. Was going to introduce myself, but I couldn't find him after that.

Oh that was you. That was the force speaking to me.

What else do you want to know?

Jason made it seem that the new statement stack  would have every sort of I/O you could ever want. He mentioned the statement amp would have balanced/unbalanced in and out. I can't remember what else explicitly.

... So, here is the panel I got to experience:



Like I said, Mercer was way out of control... Notice the dark glasses. My notes:

• Mike is acting weird.
• Cardas is a bit quiet.
• Cardas no longer quiet... Seems to think IEMs are easy to make and be technically competent ... yet they suck... ... Did he designed his stuff?
• Mike is smoking... All things DSP are evil.
• WTF is it with Mike's random Audeze/Alo shilling ...

I was sort of expecting some analysis of what makes a good and a bad headphone. Did not happen. Tyll did discuss a little of what he feels the future is... but he discussed most of those points in his IF article Headphone News: April 29, 2013 already... Some random dude did ask some decent questions about cross feed, headphone and speaker limitations, and I think Tyll covered that very well!

Now... Speakers

Sony

Very nice. Saw some good Xmax movement on the woofers there. Seemed like good off-axis response. Liked the mids. Some Nat Cole stuff was playing and it did sound a little metallic, but that could be the recording.



Nice bracing on the cabinets:



Voxtavix

I didn't get to hear their BK16 look a like. But their large squares sounded pretty good... with their material of course. Seemed like good balance, but a little bright (just a little... I was in no pain) with what they were playing. Beautiful coherence but to be expected from a single driver deal. A little narrow sweet spot tho.



Kef LS50

I got very curious about these after looking at Stereophile's reviews. Seemed like the tweeter and woofer well very well integrated, good off-axis response, and smooth FR. Maybe it was bias, but I loved this setup. Remarkable bass for it's size. Indeed good off-axis response. Highs seemed very nice (did not perceive brightness or rolled off stuff there.) Loved the intelligibility... Something I absolutely hate about my Mirage Nanosats (Have to constantly press movie subtitles due to FR aberrations.)



Perfect8 "The Point"

These looked interesting given their glass frame... and their "modest" $149,000 price tag as SG puts it. Very nice presentation, but IMO not neutral... A bit bassy.



Emotiva

Someone needs to tell these guys to turn it down. The 5.0 setup I heard had some giant "bookshelfs" there. Quite a bit of bass. Not too bad, but too much for such a small room. I had to take a picture of this amp... This transformer was the size of a frying pan. I' m very sorry for the back of the guy (or gal) who had to move this thing from point A to point B.



Studio Electric

Very interesting retro looking monitors. They sounded pretty nice with the material they had going on. Very nice and smooth tremble, mids and lows!



Vanatoo

Absolutely loved this speakers. Very practical and very nice sound. Good bass with very little apparent distortion. It seemed to have good balance and integration of the tweeter and woofer. WOW!



Some of the components:













Cabasse

Nice soundstage and balance. They admitted to have compensated for room modes. They had a Berhinger mic . Their "heads" package seems to ship with a sub. The sub is supposed to be able to room compensate and ships with the mic and stuff. I really like their set up.



Magnepan

Ok. WTF was that about needing a "reservation"? Anyway, got in, not impressed.

Waterfall

They sell this at Amazon. Sound-wise I expected utter failure due to the glass enclosures. Well, they did not SUCK that much...



Anthony Gallo

Was very interested in these since some years ago I was considering the similar Orbs. IMO... way too bright. These CAN be painful. Good dispersion though.



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