NorCal/SF Bay Area Meet 8/8/2009

[guzziguy]

Stacy and I are at the Doubletree. Stacy is crashing. I'll be heading down to the restaurant here in a few minutes. Is anybody else here yet?

[jp11801]

Justin is around somewhere and Craig may also be there with the family.

[guzziguy]

Justin gets in at 10 am tomorrow. However, if you have a set of electrostatics, I happen to have a decent amplifier to drive them.

[jp11801]

I spoke to Justin just after he arrived at SFO and believe he was trying to reach you at one point today, weird??

He's most likely at In and Out Burger or the Red Roof Inn sleeping

[guzziguy]

Then I must have misunderstood his 10:30 am PST to mean tomorrow when it really meant today. I'll give him a call.

[matt fury]

I land about 9:45am tomorrow, so see ya'll sometime after that!

[Augsburger]

Never mind.

[guzziguy]

I finally ran into Craig and his family. Steve (ASR) came by while we were talking. Now it's time to rest up for tomorrow's full day of fun.

[Augsburger]

Williams Selyem says g'night Ken.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Packing up now. Will be there bright and early!

[guzziguy]

Williams Selyem says g'night Ken.

Good night Greg and WS.

[matt fury]

Got time for a 45minute nap before getting up for the airport. Tomorrow's gonna be...interesting.

[Grahame]

Got time for a 45minute nap before getting up for the airport. Tomorrow's gonna be...interesting.

Pah!

[Icarium]

Packing up now. Departing around 8:15/8:30.

[n_maher]

Have fun today and take lots of pics.

[The Monkey]

Impressions, gang?

[blessingx]

I was impressed.

[The Monkey]

How many DACs did you bring?

[matt fury]

Good times!

[Grahame]

Cut-N-Paste from the other place

First off, mad props to meet meister jp11801 for making this happen, and going the extra mile to ensure that there was enough room for everyone.

Several bags of kudos to the vendors for bringing some impressive products, and supporting the community.

This felt like a mini can jam, with another chance to experience some of the best our hobby has to offer, both in equipment, and the people that make it so rewarding. It also felt like can jam in that there was an embarrassment of riches, and still not enough time to sample all the gear, or spend time with everyone you wanted to.

The photo's give you an idea of just how much high end kit was around, and yet it was just as much fun to catch up with people, put faces to names, and help the meet first timers.

On the transducer side, the two highlights were the same as at Can Jam. The JH-13's and the HD-800's

Iron Dreamer was doing an excellent job making sure that people experienced the JH-13's to their full potential. I was impressed with them at Can Jam, and I was not disappointed here. I described them as "Stupid Good" as it is just ridiculous how good they sound. They are impressive from a Sansa Clip playing flacs, as a minimalist rig, and were more impressive yet from the usb pico dac/amp from a laptop. Not only on the usual audiophile suspect tracks, but also on a wide variety of music, which I think is telling. They shine in meet conditions due to the isolation, which lead to the surreal experience of being a few feet away from JP involved in a spirited conversation, seeing his lips move, but hearing nothing. Life imitating the art of his "Problem Solved" T-shirt.

I wonder how long it will be before someone comes up with a balanced system that pairs with the JH-13 ... :veryevil:

Thanks to Voltron, for allowing his HD-800's to be tried out the systems at the meet. I managed to spend some quality time with Fallen Angel's β22 allowing me a chance to enjoy this quality paring.

At a recent BBQ, a non head-fi'er on being informed of the HD-800's existence and their cost responded "$1400 headphones? How is that even possible:confused:". It is possible, and we should rejoice in that possibility. I did

Al is also to be commended for the mini Van Jam recreation as we headed out for the near obligatory In-N-Out run. No smoke or fire this time, but there was a curiously large amount of liquid for no discernible reason. I dread to think what Chicago holds for us.

Other highlights from the blur that was the rest of the meet included (but were not limited to)

• Frank Cooters gorgeous tube based works of art
  
• AMB, the man, the designs, the builds, and the cryptic comment to "watch this space"
  
• Fallen Angel's impressive collection of Amp's and Headphones, glad we managed to find sources for them all
  
• Linux Works DIY control systems
  
• Seeing double with two Reel to Reels in the same room
  
• Engaging people who recognize a broken protocol when they see one, in conversation
  
• Blessingx's attempt to corner the market in out of production Parasound DAC's
  
• Matt Fury - for making it in from Vegas, Baby!
  
• Seeing all the new faces - which bodes well for the future
  
• Old Pa's tasty treats - always good to end a meet on a sugar high!
  

Here's to the next Bay Area Meet!

****************

Additional pic's would be redundant

[Aura]

Thanks for the impressions Grahame . Sounds like a ballin' meet, keep the impressions coming.

[morphsci]

You guys have the best meets. It really does look like a (slightly) mini CanJam, almost as big as that mini-mega-LA meet.

[guzziguy]

I think that this meet was bigger. So that would make it a mega-mini-mega meet.

[matt fury]

We didn't have a power-cable shootout tho.

[penger]

What we should have done is compare the metric halo (I think at ironbut's table) to the sonic studios of jp to see what differences branding makes.