Bay Area Meet Jan 27, 2024

Hi everybody! We are at it again in the Bay (https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/bay-area-meet-january-29-2023.12979/). If you are interested in bringing your gear and getting a table spot, please join the discord (link below) and fill out the sign up sheet. I will follow up with you in the coming weeks to give you details on the event, etc. That being said, if you have headphones or IEMs (or even DAPs) that are portable, feel free to bring those with you and carry those around to test out all the cool stuff that will be there. So here are the details:

Important notes:

1. If you are selected to bring your own setup, please arrive 1 hour before the event to set up. There will also be 1 hours after the event is over to break down and pack up.
2. Gear list to come.

We are sponsored by Schiit Audio!!! Please thank them for helping us put together this meet and be able to enjoy this bigger venue and the space needed to bring more of us together! Also for sending us awesome gear.

Note: Please be conscious of your manners and hygiene. If there’s a line growing behind you or for the table, limit your listening time and come back when the table isn’t as packed. Let’s let everyone listen. Also keep in mind you will be demoing other people’s gear. Please be clean, wash up, don’t put products in your hair, clean your ears, etc. Be respectful. There’s a lot of cool gear here.

List of contributing manufacturers/companies (gear to be announced):

1. Schitt Audio: Sponsor and sending SchiitKit
2. HIFI FOR ALL
3. ETA Headphones
4. NITSCH
5. Ampandsound
6. STAX
7. ZMF
8. Wells Audio
9. Enleum
10. Modhouse

Location and Date/Time:
Saturday January 27, 2024
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM PST
Guildhouse
420 S 1st St
San Jose, CA 95113

Discord link for our Bay Area community:
https://discord.gg/CzuXVkE2Rx

Eventbrite Link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hificon-jan-2024-tickets-776572006777?aff=oddtdtcreator

Gear List (work in progress):

Schiit:
Jotunheim 2
Ragnarok 2
Bifrost 2/64 and Lyr+
Syn
Magni Unity

HIFI FOR ALL:
WA6, Lake People G108 + Mojo 2, HFA headphone project, HD800S, Ether 2, HFA cable system

ETA Headphones:
Ada: A new 16 Ohm, Biodynamic Open back headphone
la Dolce Audio Allegro UA2.5
System Dump Associate Amplifier

NITSCH:
Pietus Maximus + Bifrost 2 OG
Pietus Maximus with internal ESS Card
Pietus Maximus with internal Multibit Card
Piety + Modded Modi Multibit 1
HD58X Stock
HD600 Stock (Marble)
HD600 Stock New Production
JAR600 v1 New Production
HD6XX Stock
JAR6XX v1
HD660S2 Stock
Focal Elex
Focal Clear
Focal Utopia
*NITSCH will also have Piety Maximum Black Volume Knobs and Brass Piety Volume Knobs available at the event if anyone is interested.

Ampandsound:
Kenzie

STAX:
SRM-T8000 amp with SR-X9000 and SR-009S headphone
SRM-D10 ii (new launch of an upgraded portable amp) with SR-L500 MKll and SR-L700 MKll headphone

ZMF:
Homage
BOKEH
Atrium
Atrium Closed
Caldera

Wells Audio:
Milo headphone amp with outboard LPS
A new V8 OTL tube amp
A Level II V8 Otl amp
A Gruve DAC
A Level II Gruve DAC

Enleum:
HPA-23RM

Modhouse:
Single sided Tungsten

From the community:
Xi Audio Stack, AB1266TC, he6sev1 modded, denafrips gaia ddc
Pi2AES > Gustard R26, Schiit Mjolnir 3, ZMF Atticus, HD800 (modded)
Ferrum Hypsos, Wandla, Oor stack, Focal Utopia, HD800S, Hifiman HE1000V2, Moondrop Variations, Fiio FX15
Aurorus Borealis, 6XX, Symphonium Meteor, Q5K
HD 800 Chord Qutest Violetric V280 Shure 1840
ES1A, HD580, CD900ST, HD600, Audial Aya 5, Gustard R26, Woo Audio 3ES, Mono price LauX, RD-4, Modded Woo Audio WA3, 6C45pi Spud amplifier, Gustard U18, Hydra Z clone
Bifrost 2 --> Jotunheim 2 / Eddie Current ZDT Jr --> LCD-X (2021) / Meze Empyrean
Yggdrasil gs -> MJ3 -> AC
Bravura, LCD-i4
Bottlehead Crack w/ Speedball, XDUOO XD05+, Modded HE6SE v2

Photos from the prior event:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3vWJe6tNMhfXryaP8

Giveaway:
There will be a giveaway to take place at 2 PM. Entrance should grant you a raffle ticket and stick around for the giveaway. ZMF is giving away a BOKEH. Schiit is giving away either a Bifrost 2/64 or a Lyr+ (winner's choice).

 

Sorry that I can't make it, my DeLorean is in the shop. Issues with the Flux Capacitor.

 

Ha, fixed my mistake. Also added new info!

 

Sorry I can't make it this year!

 

There's still July!

 

Added ETA info

 

Unless my Mjolnir 3 ships in time, which seems unlikely at this point, I won't bring my gear (Pi2AES > Gustard R26, Schiit Mjolnir 3, ZMF Atticus, HD800 (modded)).

Last I saw, the shipping time was pushed back to the end of the month.

Next time, though.

 

Cool. It'll be fun to meet some of you characters in person. See you guys on the 27th.

Organizers, please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can help out with. For example, I'm happy to bring my camera gear and take photos.

Cheers.

 

Bring what you have anyway? I have plenty of tables still. Trying to fill it up.

 

Hey yeah, photos would be awesome! And if you have any audio gear you want to bring, hit me up and I can get you a table.

 

With respect to audio gear, I'm good, so no need for a table, thanks. I'll bring my Fujifilm X-H1 and my standard zoom. Cheers.

 

I’ll be there. How could I not? I hadn’t used headphones as anything other than occasional studio tools for years, then a couple weeks ago I randomly decided to just sit and listen to music, and was immediately reminded of how much I Iove headphone listening. Now this is happening within driving distance of me? Surely the universe is telling me to go, and who am I to say no to the universe?

 

Gear list and participating manufacturer's has been updated. Also the giveaway has been updated. I'm working on the table layout now. Looks like it's going to be an awesome one again!

 

In addition to my gear listed here,

Pi2AES > Gustard R26 > Schiit Mjolnir 3 > ZMF Atticus, HD800 (modded)​

I'll also be bringing my stupidly overmodded Crack, a Shanling M8 DAP, and my Andromeda 2020. And my trusty little xDuoo X10T II portable digital transport.

(many many thanks to Derwin in the Discord for offering to bring his Mjolnir 3 to add to my stack)

 

Huge thanks again to @vzamayoa for organizing this awesome meet for us to get together. I know there's a TON of work that goes into making this go smoothly. I'm also glad there's such a great vibrant community here in the Bay. It was great to meet new folks and reconnect with old friends.

I had to leave early so I didn't get to do a ton of listening, but some newish things I enjoyed (I won't really talk about stuff I didn't like).

• RD-4: this is my first time hearing a @rhythmdevils modded headphone and this shit was bananas. Tonal balance is on point, and it slammed so hard. I'd love to spend more time with this at some point.
• Pietus Maximus: finally got to hear this! I loved the BF2 OG --> Pietus --> Empyrean 1 chain. I've been trying to find a good pairing for my Empy 1 (without dropping 3k on a good tube amp), which is a bit hard to synergize with. It's dark sounding but the mid-upper treble is a bit hot and can be problematic. The Pietus has a great mix of control while having the rounded off leading edges that makes this one of my favorite chains I heard.
• Modhouse Tungsten singled ended: overall impressed. They were very technical and even sounding. Decent dynamics. Possibly some mid treble weirdness/compression/peak(?) that may have been the chain (Rag 2). Would love to spend more time on this in my own rig.
• ETA biodynamic prototype: it's really hard to have impressions of ETA headphones because they are just so ridiculously well-rounded and balanced. Tuning is spot on, timbre is natural, and things just sound "right" with these, and I just find myself sitting back and enjoying. Could they be more resolving or have more bass extension? Sure, but for the price they're spot on.
• Hifi For All Prototype: heard the mostly final tuning of this and was pretty impressed with the package. It's based on the Peerless driver, so similar performance to the Borealis and Nectar Ambrosia. This one had a touch more upper mids than I like, but switching to the warmer tuning discs should fix that. Really polished package -- comes with 3 tuning discs that modify the airflow on the ear pad side to tune the sound to your preference, as well as a nice case. This thing was also super light and comfortable.
• Caldera + Mjolnir 3 combo is one of the best things I've ever heard in this hobby. It's strength on strength, and feels like you're jumping into a Lamborghini when you put them on. Extremely fast, detailed and resolving.
• Atrium Open / Auteur Classic: got to finally hear and compare these. Both are excellent and balanced. Based on impressions of the Atrium that they're very relaxed (which they are), did NOT expect them to be so punchy. The mid-bass can really slam on those. Not totally sure which one I like more, the Auteurs seem more neutral and the details are more upfront and center while Atriums have more depth and nuance in the staging. I probably want to end up with one of these + a Caldera and call it quits in this hobby (again).

 

This was my first meet, and it was a great introduction. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, and coming from the 2-channel show world, it was great to see such a diverse group of people. Another refreshing difference: there was zero attitude from anyone, including the manufacturers in attendance.

Obviously there was a lot of cool stuff to hear as well. My ears gave out after about 3 or 4 hours, so I didn't get to hear everything I wanted to, but that just means I'll have to go to the next one to. As we shall see below, I learned something important about myself - my suspected preference for planers is confirmed. I'm a planar guy. Who knew?!

Some standouts for me:

• Caldera + Mj3. Clarity, speed and detail without any sense of etching or hardness - I can't imagine this would ever be fatiguing. This system exhibited a certain lightness - not lean, not thin nor bright, just a lightness that was very compelling and seemed to provide an open window into the recording. Very comfortable too. I'm with @Questhate these and Atrium would give you everything you could ever need.
• ES-1 Alpha + Woo 3ES. Superb sound, maybe the best I've heard. I had never heard estat before, thought I've owned and loved electrostatic speakers. Completely natural, smooth but without being smoothed-over, nothing out of place. Honestly, this combo has made it's way onto my 'systems to consider owning' list despite being very more expensive than my self-imposed spending limit. Okay, maybe these + Caldera + Atrium would give you everything you could want.
• Stax SR-L500 mkII + SRM-500T. I'd never heard Stax before, and I had this idea that they would be overly bright and lack all bass content. That turned out not to be true. At all. Now, reading some stax threads over at headcase, some aficionados would argue with me, but hey, give me a minute to enjoy these things before I get all jaded and can't enjoy anything less than the SR-X9000, okay? While I appreciated their comfort, I was surprised at the plasticky nature of them.
• Atrium Closed - my brain was slowly melting by this point, but I think this was coming out of Jotunheim. Having heard the AO, I expected the same thing but even more in-your face - resonances and all that. Instead, the AC was like a slightly tamed AO. It's like the group of friends you go clubbing with after a decade of partying, compared to the group of people you start out partying with - less crazy, less wild, still exciting and up for anything but a little less hectic, knees hurt a little more so maybe you find a couch to sit down for a while every now and then instead of dancing for 10 hours straight through. Something like that.
• RD4 + Enleum HPA-23RM. At this point my brain felt like one of those little fuzzballs with googly eyes you get out of the quarter machine in front of the grocery store, but I am pretty sure it was a fantastic system - resolving and detailed forever, but again without any wonkiness in the upper mids, and plenty of punch. Would very much like to hear this again.

There were at least that many systems I didn't get to that probably would have also sounded great. Next time.

Many many thanks to everyone for putting it on, to people bringing the systems they love, and to the manufacturers and vendors for taking the time and for supporting what is an awesome community. Shout out to @CEE TEE for taking the time to walk me through DAC pairings for my soon-to-arrive PM, for what I'm sure was the 1000th time, but with absolute enthusiasm anyway.

 

I showed up extremely late and didn't get to listen to as much as I wanted to, but it was a still a good time and great to put faces to names. Next time I'll also be late, but less so.

The highlight for me was @uniqusrname 's ES-1a out of the massive Woo tube amp. I wouldn't listen to anything else if I had that setup.

I also loved the Mjolnir 3/Caldera combo. My time with it was very short, but I do have a Mjolnir that is shipping any day now, and I'm on the list for the local Caledera/Atrium Closed tour so I'll get to spend a lot more time with it in the future. This is probably a bad idea and I'll end up spoiling my ears with something I can't afford, but so be it.

Mjolnir 3 + Auteur Classic sounded 'just right' for me. I need an Auteur Classic.

People seemed to dig the Moondrop Venus so I'm glad I brought them.

I ended up bringing a new friend to the hobby who was totally overwhelmed but had a good time anyway. I gave her a few short lectures on the drive but not nearly enough. She'll get there eventually, I've encouraged her to look into getting a few good cheap IEMs and get a taste for what kind of sound she likes. Unfortunately the IEM section was swamped the whole time we were there and she didn't get to try any of those, but I know she had a good time with the full sized headphones.

 

I wanted to thank @schiit for sponsoring this event.
And @vzamayoa for organizing and all the volunteers!

It was great to meet @Puma Cat truly awesome conversations.

Hearing a full HQP setup was pretty awesome, thank you @ohshitgorillas

As always some fun toys with @uniqusrname was fun to show people what old Yamahas can do, and some duct tape!

 

Huh! Interested to see the reports on the ES-1 Alpha.

When I toy with the idea of getting into electrostats, that's one I ponder. Was it the amp pairing that made it shine?

 

Great meeting and chatting with you guys, as well! Cheers.