[sheldaze]

Date : Saturday, May 20, 2017
Time: 10am to 2pm
 
Arlington Public Library / Westover Branch
1644 North McKinley Rd
Arlington, VA 22205
 
Zoinks! Another one?
 
Figured it was a good idea to kick off the Summer, the right way! Last meet before the break...
 
Please post the list of the gear you can bring, and don't forget your extension cords, power strips, and adapters.
 
Meet Rules
 

1. Please treat fellow head-fiers and their gear with the utmost care and respect.
2. Please don't unplug headphones without asking permission from the owners first.
3. Please don't turn anything on or off without asking permission first.
4. Please don't move anyone's gear from their established area without asking permission.
5. Absolutely no food and drink will be allowed near any equipment including your own.
6. Please have courtesy and ensure that your hands are CLEAN before handling others' equipment.
7. Be mindful of the time you are spending listening to others’ gear especially if there are others waiting in line.
8. Be mindful of personal hygiene. DO NOT use hair gel or other product that may damage or stain a headband or earpads.
9. If you can have the five songs listed below on your system--it'll help everyone audition unfamiliar gear.

 

[doctorjazz]

Aw, you keep scheduling these when I have conflicts, generally with work (the week before or after would have worked OK...)
Oh well...

 

[sheldaze]

Sorry about that 

 
A side topic, and as a fan of Cavalli - have you been out a little West to Music to my Ear? They're the East Coast dealer for Cavalli products, and seem to have a few other things of interest.

 

[doctorjazz]

Sorry about that 

A side topic, and as a fan of Cavalli - have you been out a little West to Music to my Ear? They're the East Coast dealer for Cavalli products, and seem to have a few other things of interest.

Googled them-is that the store in Pittsburg? That's the East Coast dealer for Cavalli? From my house in Central Jersey, it's about a 5 1/2 hour drive there (just to Pittsburg, not the store). I think twice about driving to Manhattan or Philadelphia these days (though I have been getting out a bit more recently. Started getting into more live music again, not much happening in Westfield NJ, aside from our symphony, which isn't half bad. We also have a summer jazz fest, on the streets of the town Tuesdays 7-9PM for 8 weeks, mostly not 1st tier but many fun performers and an occasional really great one. For the most part, have to travel for good live music).
Had to send my Liquid Carbon back to Cavalli-v1 was mostly designed for balanced headphones, most of mine are single ended. At one point it developed a channel imbalance on the single ended output. They have it now.
Did upgrade/modify my MicroZOTL2, went the Mojo Audio route, sounds nice.

My current work schedule is lighter on weekends than it used to be, but I still work the 3rd Saturday each month. I'll try to keep an eye out for future meets...

 

[gandhisfist]

We seem to be on a roll here in the DC area.

 

[SuperDuke]

It's been a lot of fun.  I may be out of town for this next one.  Hope to bring the Balancing Act to one of the meets in the future.

 

[willsw]

I regret not coming to some of the recent meets, but this one I'll be sure to make it to. 
 
Talked to The Audio Guild guys and they'll be sending out a 535SE amp for the meet, and we'll also have it in the shop for a couple weeks for anyone who misses the meet. I'll try to arrange a preamp shootout with it at the shop. 
 
At Axpona now and Frank from Headphone.guru has been really enthusiastic about participating in stuff down here; I'll see if he wants to send anything or bring anything in person. Also a few other leads that I'll follow up on to possibly bring some interesting things. 
 
With the power of Jriver zones and input switches, I'll plan to set up a MZ2-S with a couple of DACs for easy comparison. The Denafrips Ares from the Gaithersburg meet is now fully burned in and ready for another audition. 
 
Ether Es? Probably Ether E. Also Ether Flow.
 
Also, I'm still making cables for not much money, so if anyone has any ideas for custom cables they want I'm happy to make and bring them to the meet. 

 

[doctorjazz]

Getting sadder and sadder I can't get to this meet
That's my birthday weekend yet... Oh well.

 

[100VoltTube]

Ether Es? Probably Ether E. Also Ether Flow.

I was unsure about going to 3 consecutive meets, but now I am not. I'll be there with a friend (I think) with my usual gear:

Edit: I might not be able to make it

Cans:
T70 w/ pleather pads
HD480II

Amps:
Magni Uber
DIY OTL (like a crack) I hope to have the humming fixed

[edit]
Dac:
Modi MB
[/edit]

My friend has a pair of MDR-V6's he might bring, if he can make it

I might have a pair of DIY staxes by then. I'll make it my goal, so I can compare them to the "probably ether E's" an whatever other e-stat's might be there, along with all of the other cans around
Edit: the DIY stax project never took off. Maybe next meet. Unless I go for Edcor step-up trafos. (they usually ship within 6-8 weeks of order)

 

[SuperDuke]

  I regret not coming to some of the recent meets, but this one I'll be sure to make it to. 
 
Talked to The Audio Guild guys and they'll be sending out a 535SE amp for the meet, and we'll also have it in the shop for a couple weeks for anyone who misses the meet. I'll try to arrange a preamp shootout with it at the shop. 
 
At Axpona now and Frank from Headphone.guru has been really enthusiastic about participating in stuff down here; I'll see if he wants to send anything or bring anything in person. Also a few other leads that I'll follow up on to possibly bring some interesting things. 
 
With the power of Jriver zones and input switches, I'll plan to set up a MZ2-S with a couple of DACs for easy comparison. The Denafrips Ares from the Gaithersburg meet is now fully burned in and ready for another audition. 
 
Ether Es? Probably Ether E. Also Ether Flow.
 
Also, I'm still making cables for not much money, so if anyone has any ideas for custom cables they want I'm happy to make and bring them to the meet. 

WillSW thanks for canvasing the field to drum up interest in the DC meets.  I love the retro look of the Audio Guild amp and hope to hear it if not at the meet then at your shop.

 

[Psalmanazar]

I'll hopefully be there with my current rig and maybe something new.

 

[GrindingThud]

Jeebus, what happened to the site!

 

[willsw]

An update on the Ether E: we had to give Dan back the latest version he had loaned us, as he needs it for shows, and he'll be sending us an earlier revision to work with. I'll want to check with him on whether he'd be OK with them going to a meet, as they don't represent the current state of the headphone.

We put in an order for the iBasso DX200, so I should also have that available - feel free to bring your own memory card if you want to give it a serious audition with your own tunes. The ZMF Eikon will also be present, in case gandhisfist and his gun case don't make it.

 

[doctorjazz]

 

[sheldaze]

Listening these past few days, back and forth between Eddie Current Black Widow and Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon, I'd still thought it might be interesting to bring these together to a meet. Let people decide for themselves, which was more suited to their palette. Both are sort of each company's representative salvo into anti-tube warfare via solid state artillery. Neither is neutral, but approach the "tube" like sound in a different way. And pricing of the 2nd generation of the Carbon made it much closer competition for the BW.

But then I was thinking these are also no longer for sale...what a tease

So how's about I bring two neutral solid state offerings, which are still being sold by their respective manufacturers? No, these are two not anywhere close to the same price bracket. But it would still give people a sense of TOTL neutral and how it compares against entry level neutral. Amplifiers I plan to bring are:

• Arcam rHead
• Headamp GS-X mk2

I'm still waiting for other things, like headphones, to arrive. So a listing of headphones will need to wait a couple weeks.

Let me know what you guys think. I could certainly switch to either.