[gc335]

That was a great meet! Thanks so much for everyone that came out.

This would not have been possible without the support of Schiit Audio @Jason Stoddard, ZMF @BooUrns @zach915m, and Modhouse Audio @Tulon.

Please post your pictures and impressions here.

I’m already looking forward to the next meet.

See everyone soon!!

 

[cangle]

Had a great time on Saturday. I don't have a great picture of what I brought but I did take some pictures of other things that I heard. Was really cool to hear a lot of rare tube amps and see how they pair with ZMFs. Also was great to spend more time with tungsten and compare my single sided version to the double sided.

@Ishcabible had an incredible setup. I didn't get to spend a ton of time listening but I thought the caldera sounded great through the Oliver Sayes preamp and Esoteric poweramp.

On the same setup I heard the new Yamaha Planar which sounded very odd but I kind of liked it. It was just very v-shaped and aggressive sounding but for some genres like metal perhaps I could see it working well.

From @pravous I heard the Aegis and Airmid with Atrium. I've spent some time with Airmid in the ZMF room at Canjams but it was my first time hearing the Aegis. I preferred the Aegis overall, it had a more full and punchy sound while the Airmid sounded a bit more open and clear but lacked some of the weight that I really liked from the Aegis.

The new ZMF portable sounded great. I first heard it in Chicago off of the JDS Labs amp collab and enjoyed it but it sounded almost more cohesive here however I'm not sure if there have been any changes to it since Chicago or perhaps the amp pairing just worked better.

The Vali 2 was a great little amp that had a really pleasing sound with Bokeh and HD800.

@wizzman121 had an awesome setup as always and I really liked hearing both the Auteur Classic and Caldera Redheart on the Cayin HA-3A

@DeweyCH brought some awesome tube gear as well and I really enjoyed the Bottlehead Stax amp but didn't get a chance to spend time with the Ampsandsound I think it was a Mogwai. The L700s on the bottlehead sounded warm and fun, no harshness or lack of bass but they still had that ethereal and fast sound of an estat.

At my table it was fun to compare the Tungsten single sided (purple) to the double sided (orange) off of the Firstwatt SIT-3 that I brought. I thought the SS was a bit warmer with more up front vocals and a slightly punchier sound while the DS had much smoother and airier treble with a more laid back presentation reminding me of Susvara.

I also brought my Mass Kobo 475 and it was fun to hear a bunch of IEMs on it and compare to the Kinera Loki which are my favorite IEM at the moment.

I only heard about half of what was at the meet so looking forward to impressions and pictures of the gear that I missed. It was great to meet everyone and chat about audio and headphones.

 

[DeweyCH]

I didn't have much of a chance to take pictures, but the Airmid was out of this world.

 

[ku1185]

Cool stuff! Hope to see more photos so I can feel even worse about missing the event.

What's going on in that first photo? Why so many tubey boxes?

 

[Ishcabible]

Thanks so much to Schiit for sponsoring and everyone involved in setting this meet up! But an equal amount of thanks to everyone for great conversation.

I tried a bunch of stuff but forgot to write notes for everything. These brief impressions were what I had in my phone:

Modhouse Tungsten double sided: really nice, still a tinge too much 3k like most planars but the timbre sounds less artificial than a Hifiman one. Pretty dynamic too, more than any of the current modern flagship planars I’m pretty sure? Definitely more than Susvara and LCD5. Gonna buy one of these next year. They really are that insensitive though; my Esoteric outputs 45W into 8ohms (unknown what it outputs at >100ohms since I’m sure it’s not linear) but with my adapter, it seemed to clip at louder listening volumes. My half-as-powerful Luxman L550A drove them like a champ though.

Modhouse Tungsten single sided: still nice but the brighter treble passes the threshold of my normal tolerance levels. A little grainy too but I’d take it over a Susvara still. This is the more “fun” version and I can see just as many people preferring the single sided version to the double sided one.

Schiit Mjolnir 3: kind of a disappointment, it reminds me a lot of a bigger Piety—warmish, sorta dynamic but not majorly so, with something in the treble disagrees with me. I tried all the settings and my favorite was single ended class a with no feedback and low gain but I’d take a Bryston BHA-1 still. I don’t think it’s a bad amp, just kinda sounded like another Schiit amp for better or for worse and their priorities aren’t aligned with mine.

Holo Audio Bliss: I only tried this with a Soekris 2541 and I don’t know how adaptive this amp is to DACs but I liked it more than I was expecting to. Warmer than Mjolnir 3 but actually has a slight wetness to it. For the price, it’s not totally aligned with my preferences because it loses information in transients but at $1500 I’d vibe with it and can see a world where if I needed to downsize in physical space I’d be very happy with the Bliss.

Fir Audio RN6 with black module: I expected to think this would be too colored for me but with the Coreir tips I liked it. It inserted deep enough for me to make skin contact with the shell. A fun V shaped sound, way way more satisfying than my Trifecta was.

634Ears 9ine custom tuned: I really liked these! Very relaxing downward sloped sound.

Mass Kobo 475: seemed to augment the best parts of my Singularity—tightened the bass, made treble a little less fuzzy, shame portable amps don’t really work with my use case otherwise I’d very much consider buying one.

Warwick Bravura: My first impressions from CanJam hold up, treble is just a tinge faster than the midrange which makes the timing of everything sound off and confusing. General FR isn’t bad though; maybe would take it over a Susvara?

Airmid: My favorite amp of the day. Reminded me of a more refined, less warm ZDSE. Not quite as lush and wet as the Zana but has what might be an even larger stage than it. I absolutely can’t get another tube amp with the space I have but I want one.

Aegis: Also very good. Stage is less blown out but overall is more technically impressive. I missed the wetness from the Airmid though and would probably pick that over the Aegis for my preferences. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d take an Aegis over an Elekit.

Firstwatt SIT-3: This was a lot of fun. Warm without sounding soupy, but I could potentially see this amp being rather transducer dependent as I felt the top ranges were a bit rolled and the warmth might overwhelm some already warm headphones; my HD580 was right at the border; I liked it more than my Luxman but it gets too hot for me to realistically use in my office.

Utopia out of my setup: Oh no now I want a Utopia—the metallic timbre is lessened and the tubes help add a little welcome wetness/decay.

Asgard 2+Modius: Man, the Asgard 2 deserved more love when it was out; it’s not a technical monster but has wonderful tone, especially for the price bracket it was originally sold at. I can’t believe these were cleared out for under $150 when it reached end of life.

 

[cangle]

but I could potentially see this amp being rather transducer dependent as I felt the top ranges were a bit rolled and the warmth might overwhelm some already warm headphones; my HD580 was right at the border

Yeah I agree, I have to be careful with what I pair with it as it leans quite warm and does have a much softer top end. I think the Firstwatt F8 is a nice compromise but you lose some of that warmth that the SIT-3 has and what makes it a really addictive sound for me. For example I don't think Atrium or Atticus work all that well with it. 650 too but I've also enjoyed 580 precision on it.

 

[Ishcabible]

Cool stuff! Hope to see more photos so I can feel even worse about missing the event.

What's going on in that first photo? Why so many tubey boxes?

That’s my setup! From left to right:
Silver box just out of frame is the Esoteric A100 amp
Oliver Sayes 801A+300B amp (out of commission on Saturday; it blew a fuse)
Power supply for the 300B amp
Speaker to headphone adapter using OPTs instead of resistors (sounds cleaner than my resistor-based one)
Oliver Sayes Type 26 tube preamp
Power supply for the preamp

 

[gc335]

Asgard 2+Modius: Man, the Asgard 2 deserved more love when it was out; it’s not a technical monster but has wonderful tone, especially for the price bracket it was originally sold at. I can’t believe these were cleared out for under $150 when it reached end of life.

This is my stack. I love the Asgard 2. Yeah, you nailed it... Not technical but so understated and enjoyable to listen to. It was a steal for sure during the closeout.

 

[bagwell359]

Liked that Feliks Echo, very natural and capable.

MX-4 surprised me with how good it was from top to bottom, but that KSA-5 clone made everything I put on it really good, the tube next to it was quite excellent with the 800 and 600 I had on it too.

The Schiit Mjolnir 3: warmish with a discontinuity with the treble. Maybe early production, the first Rag 2 I heard was a very early version, and it was kind of wild up high....

Bob's HEK Stealth stood up well against some fierce competition, impressed by that A70 - a real player at the price and power, seemed like a solid Class AB amp, not Class D. Could be a killer home/work office piece.

Liked the single sided Tungsten - more lively. Double sided refined, maybe needed more dynamic music on it for it to shine. Tough to tell in just a few minutes.

The Empy hit me better than other times I heard it, not my taste for a daily driver as the highs lacking a smidge of detail, but nice overall.

Yes, the OG Clear likes the ZMF pads on it better than stock.

Glad I got my CC mod HD-600 on that Gras clone - that mod is the first thing I've seen out of Custom Cans I don't like. Maybe better for other 6**. Really a big bulge at 3k which you'd need a -4.5db at 3k with a Q of ~1.6 to tame that mountain.

Some eye bulging equipment to be sure. Nice to talk to so many clued in folks willing to share.

Kudos to all.

 

[sp33ls]

. For example I don't think Atrium or Atticus work all that well with it. 650 too but I've also enjoyed 580 precision on it.

I went all out on my SissySIT build, which is a modified, and more powerful SIT-3 using big Japanese SITs, and it sounds glorious with my Atrium. In fact, it’s probably the best I’ve ever heard the Atrium.

It’s definitely got those 2nd order harmonics, but the treble isn’t rolled off, but rather silky. Possibly due to the high-nickel Cinemag autoformer I selected— SIT-3 uses a lower Ni content xformer which has a greater impact on extension, but can sound more “tubey.”

I really want to hear the SIT-3 for comparison. I’m so glad Nelson brought VFETs back to the limelight. I use my amp for speakers these days… total overkill as a dedicated headamp.

I’m so jealous as there’s not as many meetups and shows in the PNW. Thanks to all for sharing the impressions!

The Yamaha ortho continues to be an enigma based on all of the varied impressions. Seems to be very much a “try before you buy.”

 

[cangle]

I went all out on my SissySIT build, which is a modified, and more powerful SIT-3 using big Japanese SITs, and it sounds glorious with my Atrium. In fact, it’s probably the best I’ve ever heard the Atrium

Very cool, I'll have to check that out. I'm also looking forward to the release of the SIT-4

 

[sp33ls]

Very cool, I'll have to check that out. I'm also looking forward to the release of the SIT-4

Definitely. I have a feeling it will be well-received. The SIT-4 uses the very same Tokin SITs for output transistors as my SissySIT.

If you give it a listen, I'd love to hear your impressions.

 

[wizzman121]

Once again this was just an awesome event that seemed way too short in the end. Huge thanks to @gc335 for all the planning and dealing with the logistics, setup and breakdown of all the equipment that was sent it. Also a huge thanks to @Jason Stoddard from Schiit for continuing to support this event and for taking time to connect with us via Zoom. It was great to catch up with @Tulon from Modhouse who made the trip up. Comparing the single and double-sided Tungstens was my main focus of the day. And finally a big thanks to @zach915m and @BooUrns for sending in some demo units to float around the meet. Hopefully you can make it to one our future events!

It was great o see @ConnorG who got much better photos than I did I am sure. Also a huge thanks to @DeweyCH for raffling off one of his Lithium Alkali headphones that I ended up winning! I need to spend some time with these.

The highlight for me was finally getting to test out the double-sided Tungsten. I had previously spent some time with the single-sided magnet version and loved what I heard. The differences are subtle but after some time A-Bing them a few things started to stand out to me. The single (with suede pads which were my preference) has a little more wow-factor due to is slightly elevated bass and and slightly enhanced upper mids and treble. I did not feel the mids were recessed but it was a slightly more energetic sound that pops. It is definitely a slightly warmer sound and there can be some subtle bass bleed into the mids on some tracks. Many will probably prefer this as it was both unique and fun. The double (with perforated leather which I preferred) is slightly more neutral and could be viewed as more boring to some. But I found the bass a tad tighter and more precise and overall more natural. Nothing is super elevated but everything just sounds right. The overall sound is a bit more recessed than the single. The bass is so thick but still tight. Both units are very open and airy sounding. Sounds stage is impressive. I did most of my testing on the Bliss fed by my Soekris 2541 at 4v. This was JUST enough juice with the Bliss needing to be anywhere from +3 to max volume. Some more headroom would be nice but very few tracks needed more. Ironically the Cayin HA-3A out of the XLR headphone out worked great with both models and was a fantastic pairing for live and string recordings. Overall I prefer the Bliss however. I think I prefer the double-sided but the single is a really fun listen. I would not buy the Bliss to pair with the Tungsten specifically but I think it should work for 95% of recordings.

One big takeaway for me in the end was just how much I love the Caldera/Bliss/Soekris chain. This is about as close to my perfect sound profile as I have heard. I am so fortunate to have such a setup.





The ZMF Bokeh demo unit was pretty cool. Much lighter than any other ZMF headphone. The build quality and fit was still rough around the edges. The cups didn't seem to sit the way they wanted to against my head. The headband looked rather manipulated so I suspect it was just that. They had a really nice balanced sound with impressive clarity. I will be curious to see what the actual price point is on these. I still think the Auteur Classic is the best value in the ZMF line up. Here is a bokeh portrait of the Bokeh



I spent a good amount of time listening to @pravous 's Aegis and Airmid. The Atrium was the best match for both of these amps to me and sounded better than I had ever heard them out of both. The Airmid was a bit more tubey and a really relaxed spacious sound. I think I did prefer the slightly more energetic sound of the Aegis though. It was hard to go back to my Cayin after listening to the Aegis for awhile. I like my energetic Cayin but I crave the balanced, seductive and organic sound of something like the Aegis. If I can find space for it I could totally see wanting one of these for the Atrium someday.





I am kicking myself for not plugging into @Ishcabible 's monster set up. I am not even sure where the sound comes out!



More pics:

 

[ConnorG]

Was great to see everyone who was still there at the tail end of the event. Only got to hear a couple headphones, but I got some neat pictures of some of the things there that I’ll attach to this post. Looking forward to the next event, hopefully I’ll be able to make it there earlier

The photos I took are too big to attach, so I will link an Imgur album.

https://imgur.com/gallery/VvUXFxe

 

[gc335]

Save the date! We have booked the same space for 10/26/2024 from 10am to 5pm for the 5th Annual Wicked Schiit meet. Please let me know if you have any feedback.