[khileman]

Hi I'm Kellen, also one of the App State students visiting the event. It was a great experience and I enjoyed getting to meet and talk to all the people who were there. I am pretty new to a lot of this stuff, so I felt like I was able to ask questions, learn a lot, and hear a lot of great things. I also won a pair of the custom single ended cables in the giveaway! Looking forward to implementing those into my setup. I also enjoyed the Teams call with Jason Stoddard coming from a product design perspective. Although I came for the headphones, my favorite part of the event was probably trying out the loudspeakers and talking amplifiers with @Cliffh93. My setup at home currently is more loudspeaker focused and I was able to take away a lot of new knowledge from seeing the set ups at the event.

Coincidentally I had just loaded up an iPod touch with my favorite albums in Hi-Res audio the night before, and I am glad I had that with me to listen to familiar music in a new way with all the gear provided.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible and @edmerklein for inviting me! I am definitely looking forward to the next one.

 

[edmerklein]

Well, crap. I tested and placed out of English so I never had to take any classes in college. Guess I shouldn't have cheated on the test?

But spending the day on the slopes at Sugar or Beech Mountain was way better than sitting in an English class, so there's that.

Snowboard class > English class

 

[Cliffh93]

@edmerklein @khileman Thanks again for making the trip from Boone. Please reach out if any questions about this stuff pop up, always happy to help.

Just wrapped up Merlefest for this year, great music, had a great time even with the Woodstock levels of rain we had (and still are having). Take every opportunity to listen to live music, it informs your ears as to what good recorded music should sound like.

 

[khileman]

@edmerklein @khileman Thanks again for making the trip from Boone. Please reach out if any questions about this stuff pop up, always happy to help.

Just wrapped up Merlefest for this year, great music, had a great time even with the Woodstock levels of rain we had (and still are having). Take every opportunity to listen to live music, it informs your ears as to what good recorded music should sound like.

Ethan and I are seeing Roger Waters perform in Prague on May 25th! Can’t wait.

 

[bcowen]

Ethan and I are seeing Roger Waters perform in Prague on May 25th! Can’t wait.

Nice! I'm jealous. Tell us all about it when you get back.

And times change, I suppose. Prague? Back when I was in college I could barely afford to go to Blowing Rock.

 

[RCBinTN]

Hi I'm Kellen, also one of the App State students visiting the event. It was a great experience and I enjoyed getting to meet and talk to all the people who were there. I am pretty new to a lot of this stuff, so I felt like I was able to ask questions, learn a lot, and hear a lot of great things. I also won a pair of the custom single ended cables in the giveaway! Looking forward to implementing those into my setup. I also enjoyed the Teams call with Jason Stoddard coming from a product design perspective. Although I came for the headphones, my favorite part of the event was probably trying out the loudspeakers and talking amplifiers with @Cliffh93. My setup at home currently is more loudspeaker focused and I was able to take away a lot of new knowledge from seeing the set ups at the event.

Coincidentally I had just loaded up an iPod touch with my favorite albums in Hi-Res audio the night before, and I am glad I had that with me to listen to familiar music in a new way with all the gear provided.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible and @edmerklein for inviting me! I am definitely looking forward to the next one.

Snowboard class > English class

Welcome to Head-Fi, new folks ... it's always great to welcome y'all and especially when you joined in a hands-on environment. The best way to learn the hobby, IMO. And not just because that's how I learned it, many years ago. LOL.

Please ask for advice, any time, and don't be shy. There are a ton of rabbit holes. But, if you're heading for Prague (!) safety is priority #1. I hear the beer is cheaper over there than is the water ... will you please confirm. Thanks, in advance.

 

[RCBinTN]

Sorry, I should have wrote down my impression, I got a peanut brain. But, now I know to do that for the next meet! From memory, my favorite items in the meet was the @golfbravobravo Schiit folkvangr (sorry if I got the name confuse) and @mjstealey ZMF Verite Closed. I can’t tell exactly what I liked from the ZMF Verite Closed, but things sounded “right” in that headphone. The timbre on the Verite Closed was very impressive in my short listening session. Even though it’s a closed back, the soundstage was pretty big and even bigger than some open back like the Sennheiser HD600 for example. Verite resolution compared to the Caldera and D8000 Pro LE from memory is pretty lacking compare to them, but honestly I think with the right equipment, it could get near those big boys pretty easily.

For the Schiit Folkvangr, it was cleaner than I would expect from a tube amp. Didn’t experience any hiss or hum on my Onkyo A800 and that’s a sensitive headphone with 30 ohm. My experience from tube amps around the 1K-2K range was owning the Cayin HA-3A. I do remember vocals sing with the 6v6 tubes, but I think the Schiit Folkvangr resolution was better. Compare to other Schiit amps, the Folkvangr had the cleanest sound, but again it was just 1 test sound.

All my listening was short, like a 1-2 minute and my test song was Metallica “Ride the Lightning”. The other test song is Woongsan “Street Life”. Even though it was short, I don’t know how 4 hours pass so quickly lol. I guess time really do fly when you are having fun. I got to take notes to give any useful sound impressions, will try to remember to do that next meet. If we have a next meet and if I am able to attend it, I want to share everyone the sound of 45 tubes! 45 tubes is known to have the best tone for tubes and gives music a more “realistic” sound.

Took pics, but forgot to take pics on the speaker setup:











Bonus food and live music pics from Sparta, NC:

The breakfast food, especially the omelette, looks great, but please don't set your glasses down on the lenses ... c'mon man!

 

[RCBinTN]

Just wrapped up Merlefest for this year, great music, had a great time even with the Woodstock levels of rain we had (and still are having). Take every opportunity to listen to live music, it informs your ears as to what good recorded music should sound like.

Merlefest - awesome! Was Sammy Bush there? He's one of my favorite musicians.

 

[RCBinTN]

The meet looks like a great success, @Cliffh93 ... well done, mate. I hope your meets can continue ...
Good to hear that another meet is already in the works - with @golfbravobravo organizing a meet down to Chapel Hill. Bravo, bravo indeed.
Looks like North Carolina is the new capital of headphone meets!

 

[r2muchstuff]

The SchiitMeet, with emphasis on meet, appears to have been a great success.
I regret I was unable to attend. I wish to thank all involved for their work and participation.
Hopefully, I will make the RDU event.

 

[bcowen]

The meet looks like a great success, @Cliffh93 ... well done, mate. I hope your meets can continue ...
Good to hear that another meet is already in the works - with @golfbravobravo organizing a meet down to Chapel Hill. Bravo, bravo indeed.
Looks like North Carolina is the new capital of headphone meets!

Seems like lots of places become popular as soon as I leave. I don't have a complex though or anything, mostly.