Mini-Meet - Saturday 9/3/2016 Sherman Oaks 11 to 4

I'd like to thank @Marvey for setting the meet up, and for the participants for a great meet. As usual, I tried to get things in before the alloted time limit, and failed. Focused on listening to my own HD650 in certain situations, but also the Focal Utopia on pie in the sky (for me) rigs I'll probably never afford. The amb gamma 3 dac -> ECP Torpedo 3 rig from @Jh4db536 had a pretty nice sound along with @Marvey setup, but @RKML0007 rig of the Yggdrasil -> (no, I'm not listing this) -> EC ZDS blew me away with the Utopia. Now I know why it took him about an hour to set up his gear. Clear, concise, strong sound all the way through. I've only come to listen not buy. Thank goodness.

Leads me to @schiit and the mystery products. That place never seems to rest, and seeing what could come in the future is great.Jason has always been meet friendly, and eager to discuss stuff that doesn't concern people asking him about when such and such is coming out in black, and when schiit will put remote controls in everything.

Best part is the people. I learn things new from people in the hobby who have better knowledge of things and rigs every time I go. And sometimes it does affect what I do in the future. But it's just fun to be with people who share the passion, and for newbies in this meet business, be able to share it back.

Trade shows have its place. But meets are where it's at. Those who've been to these know what I"m talking about. Early November won't be long.

 

Thank you for setting up the meet and those who were able to show up and make it a great event.

 

Dang that's a lot of Jotis.

 

Awesome meet! Thanks to @Marvey for organizing it.

Pretty cool that there were 3 pairs of Utopias there. But no Elear's, hmm...

It was really great to be able to hear the Utopias on so many different systems. Credit to the Utopia for being able to resolve the differences between the systems.

The best Utopia system was, for me, a close call between @RKML0007 crazy Rednet/Mutec/Yggdrasil --> EC Zana Deux and @Marvey Marantz CD -> Gungnir Multibit -> EC 445. Clearly my Gungnir Multibit -> Rag system was totally outclassed.

It was great to have plenty o time to listen to everything I wanted to. I was just amazed at how good all the systems sounded. This SBAF crew sure knows what they're doing.

But thanks to everyone for bringing all the gear and coming to the mini-meet. As always, the best part about these meets

I will update impressions soon, but for now, here's some photos.

(Too bad anyone who wasn't there will never figure out where the @schiit "Mystery Item" is in the photos. But there IS a photo of it...)

Spoiler: Open spoiler to see the rest of the images.

 

More photos:

Spoiler: Open spoiler to see the rest of the images.

 

And the last photos:

 

The hunt begins mateys

 

One thing this meet inspired in me was the desire to get a truly excellent CD transport. I've thinned out my physical CD collection over the years, but the ones I have left I hold dear and having a great transport can make a huge difference.

 

OK, I have an interesting story which came up when @OJneg and @Marvey were at my table discussing electrostatic vs. dynamic drivers. Since were standing in front of my rig with the Gungnir Multibit -->Ragnarok --> SRD-7 (pro bias mod) --> Stax SR-009 and
Gungnir Multibit --> Jot --> Utopia (balanced)
They did some comparison.

So I had this song playing:


About 40 seconds in and throughout the song there is a somewhat quiet percussion instrument that sounds like a wood block or something like that in the left channel.
When we listened on the Utopia's, you can clearly head the wood block. But when you switched over to the SR-009's, you could barely hear it. At first we thought it was completely gone from the music, but you can hear it, BARELY. Then switching back to the Utopia's, the wood block was very clear.

WTF? That was crazy. I was in disbelief. Marv and OJ contend that Stax just don't have any low level resolution.

OK, before you all get in a tizzy about how Stax sucks, read on...

I had to try again when I got home.
I tried the same setup, except this time I had to use the Rag for both headphones.
Sure enough, I hear what I heard at the meet. Barely any wood block on the 009's. (I did hear them a little more since it's a lot quieter here than at the meet.)

Anyway, I decided to hook up a much more powerful amp to drive the SRD-7/009s. Using the Carver m4.0t, the Stax sounded MUCH better. All of a sudden the wood block was clear and I think sounded closer to the Utopia in terms of detail. The Utopia was still better for sure, but not the crazy difference when driving the 009's off the Rag.

So, I am definitely going to have to bite the bullet and bring the Carver amp to the Nov. SBAF meet if anyone wants to compare.

I am going to try my other Stax amps (323S and Vostok ES-31) to see how they fare compared to the SDR-7/Carver combo.

 

I just listened to the song with my L700 + Modded SRM-007 with 6S4A tubes. The percussion is audible, it was soft but not until the point it was completely muted. Nice song though!

 

It's interesting for sure that I thought the systems without USB sounded better like @OJneg 's Theta CD player, @Marvey 's Marantz CD player, or @RKML0007 's Rednet system (The Rednet interface allows you to get digital audio from you computer via ethernet instead of USB.)

Then I also tried @neogeosnk 's Singxer F-1 XMOS USB to coax bridge off my laptop and ran coax to the Gungnir Multibit. Even that sounded better to me than straight USB to the Gungnir Multibit.

I didn't get to try the Mutec 3, but after Marv's "easter egg" comment about it, I skipped it...

 

Did you guys had a chance to make a direct jotunheim comparo? I mean against rag for example? As @Marvey hinted it is the best amp from schiit for him, am myself very curious.

 

Just tried two "extreme" Stax setups :
- Yggdrasil + BHSE + SR-009
- HDMI + RCA output of my Sony TV + entry level 90's Yam speaker amp + SRD-7 + SR-5

Guess what : it's very distinct and clear on 009, but this specific sound is more audible on the low-level setup. But there are so much more things / meat on the bone with the hi-end system. Reminds me neverending plankton discussions. For me, plankton is easy to get. But plankton AND meat on the bone that won't mask it, that's another story.

Ali

 

Can someone who attended this meet give me a hint about Schiit's mystery product? Is it analog or digital or something crazy in between? Thanks in advance

 

Darin:

Thanks for something to do on a Sunday afternoon. I reached out for my 009 and gave the song a listen with my Yggdrasil > KGSSHv. Could/can hear the wooden block clearly (as with my 007 mk1). I think the amp has a lot to do with the distinctness; having said that I think I enjoyed this song the most from my modded HD 800 (SDR+cork mod + rug liner).

 

Since you're not getting any sort of answer here, I suggest you (or any rando) ask this fine poster on head fi. He seems to know Schiit's plans before they are announced and I can vouch for him being a nice guy IRL:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/807600/cav...rce-av-s-summer-series-2016/315#post_12817276

 

Any impressions of the Ether Flows forthcoming, apart from the one mention of it being better than the non-Flow version?

Also, what is the Mutec "easter egg"?

 

This was my first member driven meet that I've attended and it was awesome to share the experience with everyone. Being a rank novice in these gatherings, I had no idea what to expect but I prepared for the mini meet as best I could. That meant consolidating my systems and network so that it would work portably untethered. This wasn't a minor task since I use Tidal/Roon without a lot of local music files. I won't bore everyone reading with the details but I spent the night before sorting out the temporary meet configuration and was pretty tired the next day. I had to constantly infuse caffeine, luckily the hotel had ample supply on hand.

I was amazed at the level of experience and listening skills the fellas have to be able to articulate so efficiently what they heard. It was awe inspiring to witness. You could feel the energy in the air, especially when @Bill-P walked in. Observing his talent and enthusiasm for the hobby was quite a learning experience for me.

I will be better rested for the next event so I can be a more effective listener. Thanks @Marvey for organizing this mini meet, it was the best!