[M3NTAL]

Easiest things to do is thank Joe and others behind the scenes to make this happen.
Schiit Audio is also appreciated for their confidence in us not destroying their gear

Glad to see so many old faces and a few new ones. Everyone gel'd perfectly and you couldn't have asked for a better day. Well - maybe unlimited pizza and beverages



@Mr.Sneis - Apex Pinnacle, Mjolnir 1, Bifrost 2/64, Parasound D/AC-2000, HD650, HE500
@M3NTAL - Modified HD660S2, ETA O2


@Allanmarcus - Transcendent Sound Masterpiece, Utopia, and didn't catch the DAC.



@rollinbr - Schiit Urd -> Sonic Frontiers Processor 3 -> Freya S / Freya+ -> 2 different Eric McChanson amps -> LCR-R / Susvara (best of show material)





@drew911d - Chord M-Scaler -> Chord TT2 -> Riviera AIC-10 -> Abyss 1266 Phi (and @Allanmarcus cameo in the black shirt)


@4udio7ool - Focal Arche -> Focal Clear


@Muinarc - JDS Amp/DAC stack -> AKG K812, K501. SMSL stack -> Audeze LCD-MX4 / Mysphere 3.2




@CrocCap - Holo DAC (Don't know which one) -> Korg NuTube pre -> Mjolnir Audio ES Amp (Guessing KGSSHV??) -> Stax SR007mk2 / ES-1 alpha. Forgot which poweramp it is, but I think it is a Pass design?? -> HiFiman HE-6 modified of-course.



@BzzzzzT - Way too much too list, the photos speak for themselves. I like the pairings he has made. Each of them have their own place.



@Jason Stoddard - Schiit kit always is a very generous way to try everything out. Thanks Schiit.

 

[M3NTAL]

More leftover Schiit

what is this thing? :wink wink:


@BeardSplinter - (my Shanling M0 Pro) -> Questyle M15 -> Symphonium Crimson. Only IEM I listened to - luckily it was a very good listen. Great IEM's that seem well suited for many genres.


@funch - Gumby ? -> custom Decware inspired pieces -> Sennheiser HD800. Funch coming in last on the photos, usually means I sat at his system last and spent time enjoying it. Funch again - never fails to have a knack for ear snacks.



Looks like I ran out of photos to upload - Thanks everyone who made it.

 

[BeardSplinter]

I was a bit nervous to turn my little M15 dac to high gain for my iems, but after trying them on Chip's Hiiby RS8 I flipped that switch.
I wish you could have heard the difference it made...

I also want to get a 4.4mm to xlr balanced so I can try my iems on some of those crazy set ups.

Still planning on staying in the portable world but wow the Schiit Lyr+ and Bifrost 2/64 are very appealing to me now.

 

[M3NTAL]

OH MY LANTA. I'm so sorry @SpeleoFool - I didn't get any photos of your double-sided dil.. ugh.. magnet Mod House Tungsten. Really cool headphone and also very good.

 

[Muinarc]

I had a great time, glad to be able to come back after the mess that has been the past 3 years. Everyone brought their A-game as far as gear goes, everything sounded amazing. So many of the AZ crew are tube-heads, making me want to dip my toes back into that world......

A big thank you to @Jason Stoddard and the Schitt Team for Sponsoring and providing their Schitt Kit™!! Its always nice to see what they've been cooking up lately.

 

[Arz Mael]

What is the beautiful carrot amp please ?
and the little one named « NERD » ?
thanks

a lot of beautiful gears were present indeed

 

[Unseen Aura]

Wish I'd known about the existence of this, would've so come, esp as I've never been before. Alas, c'est la vie init, IA next time.

 

[Muinarc]

What is the beautiful carrot amp please ?
and the little one named « NERD » ?
thanks

a lot of beautiful gears were present indeed

Maybe @BzzzzzT and @funch can chime in with some details on those for you.

Wish I'd known about the existence of this, would've so come, esp as I've never been before. Alas, c'est la vie init, IA next time.

You'll want to keep and eye on the Meets/Get Togethers forum for the announcements but maybe @Coolzo can put you on a list to get a PM heads-up for the next one.

 

[funch]

What is the beautiful carrot amp please ?
and the little one named « NERD » ?
thanks

a lot of beautiful gears were present indeed

Hah! 'Carrot Amp'. Never thought of that name. Maybe have someone airbrush something green on the back.

The amp is a headphone oriented DIY clone of this: https://www.decwareproducts.com/se84ufo25 It uses headphone specific output transformers from Transcendar, who have shut down their website the last couple of years. I also added a Hammond choke (behind the power tranny) to attenuate hum. It uses 47-step mono attenuators from Goldpoint. It's in a Landfall Systems enclosure. The top panel was machined by Front Panel Express.

The smaller 'carrot' is a tube output stage for my Gungnir DAC. I wired it directly from the four DAC chips to a pair of XLR jacks added to the back of the DAC, then to the output stage which uses two of these: https://www.decware.com/newsite/diy/decware/ZKIT4.html which are powered by two of the power supplies as shown in the second PS schematic on the page.

 

[funch]

For some reason the second link won't fully open on my phone, but does on the laptop.

 

[theintention]

dang wish i would have known about this

 

[Arz Mael]

.

 

[Arz Mael]

Hah! 'Carrot Amp'. Never thought of that name. Maybe have someone airbrush something green on the back.

The amp is a headphone oriented DIY clone of this: https://www.decwareproducts.com/se84ufo25 It uses headphone specific output transformers from Transcendar, who have shut down their website the last couple of years. I also added a Hammond choke (behind the power tranny) to attenuate hum. It uses 47-step mono attenuators from Goldpoint. It's in a Landfall Systems enclosure. The top panel was machined by Front Panel Express.

The smaller 'carrot' is a tube output stage for my Gungnir DAC. I wired it directly from the four DAC chips to a pair of XLR jacks added to the back of the DAC, then to the output stage which uses two of these: https://www.decware.com/newsite/diy/decware/ZKIT4.html which are powered by two of the power supplies as shown in the second PS schematic on the page.

Haha thank you
I referred to this : https://carotone.it/
thank you for great explanations and link indeed

 

[M3NTAL]

@rollinbr - Can you remind us - which volume knobs are you using on your $chitt ?

 

[SpeleoFool]

OH MY LANTA. I'm so sorry @SpeleoFool - I didn't get any photos of your double-sided dil.. ugh.. magnet Mod House Tungsten. Really cool headphone and also very good.

Oh, I thought this thread was closed to responses? I neglected to post thoughts right after the meet and by the time I recalled I thought it was too late. But let's see if it allows me to share my modest setup.

I brought my Modhouse Tungsten DS and a little rig to demo it, consisting of Roon Core, ADI-2, Violectric V280, and Schiit / Nitch Piety. This was actually my first time trying Tungsten on Piety, after having heard that the pairing works. It does, and delivers an interesting, smooth presentation. The V280 drives Tungsten with more authority, and I enjoy the bit of richness that amp adds (i.e., I personally find it a nice flavor pairing).

I also didn't get any pics of my Tungsten at the meet, but here's a "stock photo" from when it arrived.

Finally, huge shout out to Schiit and @Coolzo for putting this together. My wife won the Lyr+ raffle, and we have since built out the rest of her stack with a Bluesound Node and Bifrost 2/64 on a Topping SR2 mini rack. The Node has been impressive as a transport for not only supporting Roon over wired ethernet, but also for HDMI ARC input that has enabled us to run Xbox audio through the TV into Autumn's rig. Gaming with LIRIC on this stack is impressive! 3D tracking was outstanding in Assassin's Creed Mirage. So huge thanks from both of us! What an awesome giveaway!