CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => The Meeting Place => Topic started by: Marvey on July 20, 2015, 05:25:16 AM
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Safely back home now. Once again, Warrenpeachy and Ethan put on a great show. A good change of pace this year was that the hobbyists were inter-spaced with the vendors, unlike least year were some hobbyists with some great gear (e.g., the guy with the Lampi) were stashed away away in some idiot room that we only noticed at the last minute.
Wow, so many years have gone by and it was good to see members of the old Bay Area crowd I used to hang around with when I lived up there. On the drive home, I nostalgically went back in time to the meet that CEETEE put together in 2011. I see the many of the same faces, except now our faces, necks, and bellies are all puffed up. Getting old sucks.
I recall CEETEE "Hey, you are Purrin?" at the entrance to the DoubleTree. I remember Whitney (Rhythmdevils) walking up to my table and dumping a dozen vintage headphones from his backpack. pcf dropped by with his HP1000s (a very memorable experience). Jason and Mike Moffat were there with the Asgard 1 and Lyr 1 (I didn't care for those amps - haha). Met n3rdling with his STAX setup which was like OMFG. And Frank Cooters' blue toob (mercury vapor rectifers) SE stat amp setup which IMO is still the most slamming stat amp I've heard to this day, including the one he brought to this year's meet. At the end of the meet (2011), a small group of us gathered together, disturbed and disappointed at the LCD2rev1 considering the rabid hype at HF about it. We quietly discussed if we should even say anything negative or against the grain on HF. Doc Bottlehead overheard us and said something to the effect of "At my age, if it's garbage, we call it garbage." I ended up taking those words to heart for myself.
Jump a few years later at the SofiTel meet, and there's this handsome brown dude with big huge eyes (zerofeedex) that I could tell had "rascal" written all over him. And then maybe a year back to the LAX Hilton were this kid, not even in high school (maccat) had this awesome setup with the HD650, a turntable, a Jolida phono-pre, and a Bottlehead Crack. I was like wow, this kid put on a better setup than 90% of the others with 25% of the budget.
The awesome thing about these meets is how many enduring friendships are made with people who have similar interests.
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Oh my god. I was a lurker at 2012 and brought the TEAC and RWAK100 in 2013. I was so embarrassed by the casing job on my beta 22 and dynahi single ended that I never brought either.
I've met so many wonderful people and made so many friends at the meets. Genuinely wonderful guys with families and lives and hardcore day jobs and concerns that take up 90% of their time and they pour everything else they have into making this hobby and community amazing.
So, after the last meet we put on in Feb 2014, how many friends have you made at the Judemeets™ since?
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Oh my god. I was a lurker at 2012 and brought the TEAC and RWAK100 in 2013. I was so embarrassed by the casing job on my beta 22 and dynahi single ended that I never brought either.
You realize that while I enjoyed speaking with you, I didn't bother listening to your POS setup. :-) I totally ignored it.
So, after the last meet we put on in Feb 2014, how many friends have you made at the Judemeets™ since?
Can you give me a minute to think about that? Let me go through my Rolodex to see if I can find a match.
P.S. Dammit, how much more crap have you owned that I didn't know about?
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Marv,
anything of note by way of new gear ?
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Let me post pictures and we shall discuss. I am prohibiting myself from talking about amps, but I sent Ravi (zdfx) to listen to a few that I think he would have found "interesting". (zdfx, let me post pix first).
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That Norcal meet a couple years back was epic. That's the only time I've mustered up the energy to go to a NorCal meet but it left such a positive impression that I'm still tempted to go everytime I see them having another meet.
I could've sworn I met you before that...I'm thinking one time at GoldenEars' house in Venice? I think we did a shootout between his Wadia and my Accuphase via the BH and SR-Omega. Good times.
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P.S. Dammit, how much more crap have you owned that I didn't know about?
Oh god. CEE TEE has heard about half the list. I've owned the 580, 600, 650, a newer 650 and a newer 600. And that's JUST the HD580/6XX family. Now explode that out over all the gear out there and cry for me.
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That Norcal meet a couple years back was epic. That's the only time I've mustered up the energy to go to a NorCal meet but it left such a positive impression that I'm still tempted to go everytime I see them having another meet.
I could've sworn I met you before that...I'm thinking one time at GoldenEars' house in Venice? I think we did a shootout between his Wadia and my Accuphase via the BH and SR-Omega. Good times.
My memory blurs. The Goldenears meet... where I met Craig and Anaxilus. Anaxilus' first question to me and my face: "soooo..... what do you think about the LCD2?" (probably his test of whether I was an idiot or not).
That 2011 Doubletree event was indeed an epic meet. Just the energy. CEETEE skillfully arranged vendors and hobbyists to be mixed in together. Mostly hobbyists and probably a half-dozen vendors. I can only remember Jason, Mike, and Doc Bottlehead. Different feel. They didn't seem like vendors at all.
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Some seriously unobtainable or expensive amps here.
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CEETEE has the best look when listening to headphones.
Across my table... the Schiit stuff. Jason and gang didn't personally make it to this one. I don't blame them. Hitting meet after meet is hard work.
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AK Jr.
Not bad... not bad at all. (That's high praise)
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Some seriously unobtainable or expensive amps here.
Oh fuck you. Marv walks up to me with an excited look on his face and says: "You have to hear this amp!"
I see the $7000 Wells amp and think "wtf, is this legit?"
I put on the Abyss and 10 seconds later want to barf in my mouth. Sorry compressed stage, no top end air, and a warm sound like a dying LCD-3 out of a leben. Super dick move, Marv. Worst surprise of the meet.
The questyle DAPs, the new BW PSU, and the Ether's consistency were the positive surprises.
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gepardcv's stuff:
That is the best dynalo (dyna-mid or balanced dyna-lo) build that I have ever heard. TBH, I find most dynalo builds to have "difficult" treble, but this one was special. The KGST an quite involving and engaging sounding stat amp. Very tempted to pick this one up: http://www.head-fi.org/t/770412/kgst (http://www.head-fi.org/t/770412/kgst)
The SR-207 is very normal sounding in terms of frequency response. The more expensive SR-407/507 are screwy in terms of FR, but not more technically proficient enough than the SR-207 to win me over. The SR-207 should be on the Leaderboard here. It's a steal.
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The long awaited AMB Gamma 3 DAC. I know many of us have been ruined by the Yggy - and this is a delta-sigma DAC. But still, I thought this was a pretty darn awesome achievement from Ti Kan. Plankton galore. Lots of attention paid to power. Hopefully will see details on this on his website soon.
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Here are some photos that CEETEE took. That's zdfx and me; and some closeups of the EC The Studio.
That's it folks. The only thing I missed that I wanted to hear was the Final Audio Design metal full sized headphones, but they didn't have desktop amp or DAC at their table, so I didn't bother. The Questyle room was totally full every time I peeked in there. There was nothing really new.
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Is that the correct polarity setup on the Headtrip? Possible reason for Ravi's impressions?
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AK Jr.
Not bad... not bad at all. (That's high praise)
This thing should replace Sony ZX1 on the leaderboard.
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Here are some photos that CEETEE took. That's zdfx and me; and some closeups of the EC The Studio.
Marv,
how were you NOT tarred and feathered for wearing a pyrate shirt to a HF meet?
hell, i don't post anything for months on HF and they take over my account (email and passw change) with no notice....
)(
Ravi is better looking than I imagined!
:)p13
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@zero How was the ui on the questyle dap?
Last time it was laggy and missed button presses galore. The ui was a bit of a mess too
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Marc, AMB 3 versus the reDACted?
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Marv,
how were you NOT tarred and feathered for wearing a pyrate shirt to a HF meet?
hell, i don't post anything for months on HF and they take over my account (email and passw change) with no notice....
)(
Ravi is better looking than I imagined!
:)p13
I dunno. I tend to wear a lot of crappy T-shirts and my wife packed it for me (she is totally innocent and doesn't know anything about Changstar, HF, etc.). Honestly, I didn't even realize what I was wearing. If I did, I probably would not have worn it. (It was probably a subconscious thing.)
After the meet, a few people confided with me that some people thought Changstar was making the meet into a dangerous environment or something like that, as if I was going to walk up to Jude from behind and deck him, turn the meet into a West Side Story, or something ridiculous like that. That's just stupid talk and reflects the paranoia of people who actually think that. Changstar folks had been organizing Head-Fi meets in SoCal (yes Head-Fi meets) since 2011, with the last one in February of 2014.
The fact is, Jude and I should be good friends (albeit with different approaches to the hobby); but we are not. And it's not for my lack of trying. I've said time and time again that I would be willing to bury the hatchet because this CS vs. HF thing is stupid. Things were pretty cool / cold / stable, but the last straw with me was when he publicly started shitting on me and making straw man arguments about my views on measurements at the Ann Arbor meet (and also some other stuff which I cannot say).
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Marc, AMB 3 versus the reDACted?
Hard to say. Need own amps to be sure. I definitely think the Gamma 3 is a worthwhile build. Not easy with the fine pitch surface mount. Ti is very much an engineer, not a magic stones person. Interesting stuff on keeping the power clean.
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hell, i don't post anything for months on HF and they take over my account (email and passw change)
It's now my understanding that has happened with other people as well, with no reason, explanation, etc. I don't exactly remember you going out and saying anything outright anti-HF or anti-Jude. I apologize because I do feel somewhat responsible for these "hidden bans" given the recent heated feelings between CS and HF, so anything... anything can be taken the wrong way, especially given the level of paranoid on that side.
Just to be clear, and I think all of you guys know this, I don't want sycophants or minions. I want you guys to think for yourselves. So please, don't get into trouble unnecessarily or on the account of me.
P.S.
And in case people are thinking Light Harmonic is paying me $10,000 per year. They are not. LH gets the ad banner for helping us find a free place and paying for the tables and chairs for the last meet. That's it. I've thought about taking serious money from MoTs, but have always refused. Taking money kills the fun.
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And in case people are thinking Light Harmonic is paying me $10,000 per year. They are not. LH gets the ad banner for helping us find a free place and paying for the tables and chairs for the last meet. That's it. I've thought about taking serious money from MoTs, but have always refused. Taking money kills the fun.
:insertbeatingdeadhorseemoticonhere: that's been discussed already. Subscribers money isn't dirty money.
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Marv,
Please Feel no responsibility for the HF mods being AHoles.
Am certain no member would claim you have any fault in this area.
I have seen no provocation on HF related to CS, basically they are banning HF accounts for ANYTHING they find on the inter webs.
Pyrates handle our business and conflicting opinions in adult ways, unlike the juvenile methods (and members) HF employs.
In many ways feel I have graduated to CS, happy to leave elementary school behind.
:)p4
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Marv,
how were you NOT tarred and feathered for wearing a pyrate shirt to a HF meet?
hell, i don't post anything for months on HF and they take over my account (email and passw change) with no notice....
)(
Ravi is better looking than I imagined!
:)p13
When Marv first met me, I was still climbing/lifting all the time and had a lot higher hair density, haha.
@zero How was the ui on the questyle dap?
Last time it was laggy and missed button presses galore. The ui was a bit of a mess too
UI was shit. Sounded good, but I am not purchasing it based off how bad the user experience is. Sometimes scrolling would reset, button presses would miss, things were laggy, and the layout of the UI was nearly incomprehensible.
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Shit that was my biggest problem with it too. $600 headache damn it I really wanted to buy this too
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Leaving/getting banned at Head-fi isn't really a bad thing. It's like the Reddit of audiophile anyway.
Jude is a arrogant little condescending d****ebag who runs Head-Fi.org a "audiophile" and high-end audio gear review/community website.
He makes his money through sponsor advertisments on his websites from very well-known big and respected companies like Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic along with many others.
NOTHING wrong with this per say. But here's the problem...
The reviews are extremely biased, one-sided, full of excessive hype and the community is extremely censored.
You will get banned from this forum even if what you say about a sponsor is 100% completely true and you prove it.
source: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Head-Fiorg/internet/Head-Fiorg-Jude-Head-fi-is-a-EXTREMELY-Biased-Community-That-Over-Hypes-High-End-Audio-Ge-1045504
more ban story:
http://www.totallydubbed.net/being-banned-at-head-fi/
http://bannedfromheadfi.blogspot.com/
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Here are some photos that CEETEE took. That's zdfx and me; and some closeups of the EC The Studio.
LOL. The buddy pic has been viewed twice as many times as the the Studio glamour shots.
Cynical explanation: To be fair, I can't be alone in having no true aspirations to the Studio, but a stable curiosity in the widely-reported beauty of Ravi...
Uplifting explanation: Evidence that interpersonal interaction is more popular than the whoring of gear.
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Hilton Hotel ? One may prefer Sofitel (http://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/ronfl.gif) (http://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/3/woody-wood.gif)
Ali
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(https://41.media.tumblr.com/582ff57bfe5c830cfdb76654aceccd82/tumblr_moywposBmZ1s7i90xo1_500.jpg)
Seriously, though. Even I haven't been targeted by admins at HF, but I don't like what I see happening to you guys. The folk over here have stuff to say that's worth hearing; the other side(s) simply don't.
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forgot to ask did anyone hear the cavalli portable?
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It was solid. Great tonality.
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It was solid. Great tonality.
nice
any leckerton a/b or paradox paring?
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It was hooked up to the Hugo and there were K10s and Ether's there.
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It was hooked up to the Hugo and there were K10s and Ether's there.
the portable? oh well I'll give it a listen soon enough.
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Here may be the right place to ask: anyone heard Noble Savant? Or assuming no one's talking = meh?
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Here may be the right place to ask: anyone heard Noble Savant? Or assuming no one's talking = meh?
All I know is at The Show in So Cal, Brannan said the only Savant he brought was already in the hands of a reviewer pretty much from the start of the show.
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Here may be the right place to ask: anyone heard Noble Savant? Or assuming no one's talking = meh?
I assume you've seen the reviews on HF? They seem pretty good if you trust any of the reviewers.
I am hoping to get a pair soon, but Brannan says they're selling so well that they are sold out most of the time.
I'll let you know when/if I get them and have a chance to listen.
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Here may be the right place to ask: anyone heard Noble Savant? Or assuming no one's talking = meh?
It was really good. Say.... more balanced/refined version of old UE TripleFi Pro.
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I assume you've seen the reviews on HF? They seem pretty good if you trust any of the reviewers.
I am hoping to get a pair soon, but Brannan says they're selling so well that they are sold out most of the time.
I'll let you know when/if I get them and have a chance to listen.
The Savant reviews on HF that I've read sounded more like new toy syndrome or fanboyism than a review so I remain suspicious.
It was really good. Say.... more balanced/refined version of old UE TripleFi Pro.
This is high praise...what's your usual reference point?
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First post here.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed listening to the EC table at last weekends SF meet. The Zana and Studio are both fabulous. I put my full meet impressions over on HF.
Oddly enough, the EC table sold me... on the Yggy. Hearing what it can do with the EC amps made a believer out of me. It should make for a nice compliment to my Oppo BDP-105.
I may also have to snag one of those EC tube amps in the future if the price is right. They worked magic with the HD600s I was testing with.
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HI Tmoney.. your HF post to give your meet impressions was absolutely great. Thks to take the time :money:
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My pleasure.
Someone had to put up a post who was familiar with higher-end gear.
As much fun as it is to read everyone's impressions I only really take them to heart when they come from people who know what good gear sounds like. Some of them are here, some of them are at HC, some are at HF.
It is always amusing listening to people dump on electrostatic rigs who do most of their listening out of the headphone out on their PC.
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It is always amusing listening to people dump on electrostatic rigs who do most of their listening out of the headphone out on their PC.
Music Alchemist...
It's more amusing to see people rave/bash the products they've never listen to
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It is always amusing listening to people dump on electrostatic rigs who do most of their listening out of the headphone out on their PC.
Oh, we do that here too. Mainly to mess with n3rdling. I think he's figured that out by now.
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Thou shalt not disparage SR-009 jesus for he is the chosen one.
Or he is at least among the chosen ones :).
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Thou shalt not disparage SR-009 jesus for he is the chosen one.
Or he is at least among the chosen ones :) .
N3rdling is our selfproclaimed Messiah. Fake one though.
Everybody here knows Merv' is the only Messiah.
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forgot to ask did anyone hear the cavalli portable?
any news on pricing or planned availability of the cavalli portable?
or hell, even photos of the front/back?
wondering about the amount of audible improvement for the $ if hooked to GOV2+Infinity in future....
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N3rdling is our selfproclaimed Messiah. Fake one though.
It was listening to his 'stat menagerie back at the SF meet back in 2010 or 2011 that got me hooked on stats in the first place.
Given the amount and variety of the headphones he owns he is more like "Noah."
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Noah, the first captain, whose vessel of truth is trying not to get taken over by pirates. Follow me, my sons, and I shall show you the way to the Holy Land! :wheel:
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Lead on thou Father n3rdling....I am following with the Yggy, KGSShv and Stax 009 in tow.
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That rig sounds familiar. I'll soon be running the exact same thing.