October 24, 201114 yr I went down to Tom Hankins' place last night and hung out with him and his wonderful wife Lyra. We spun some vinyl on Tom's very nice rig and then purk and fitz snuck up on us whilst we were all rockin' out. As Tom had to be at work early the next morning, the three of us headed out, along with purk's wife, and went out for some Chinese. I went from wanting Sweet & Sour Chicken to getting a Lamb Hot Pot, bbq combo (duck and two different pork varieties), some sort of S&S-esque slather bbq pork (fried-ish) that was great. Seemingly Hong-Kong-esque authentic food. Good choice, purk. Woke up today to find Tom sadly ill, but it was good to get to talk a little longer. After a light breakfast and saying adieu to Lyra I headed over to Purk's to listen to the Orpheus for the first time, the Qualias, and the O2s for a bit. 'Twas rather enjoyable, and it sounded great. I dug the Orpheus with the music I was listening to Time Out and Paul Desmond's sax on "Blue Rondo a la Turk" was just spot on. As an alto sax player, I'm not sure if I've ever heard as true of a representation of it as I heard today with the Orpheus. After that, we broke it down and packed up for the meet with the Audio-Video Club Of Atlanta. They do a headphone meeting every couple of years, but will probably bump it up to 18 months after today's successful turnout. (Their club is very interested in helping host a CanJam or large regional meet, if those will exist anymore). Of course, none of my gear is working right, but after an hour or so of fiddling I gave up on the comp rig and just ran the AriPower and M^3 off the Pico DAC out of the iPad. Everyone who heard it either thought it was pretty good or really liked it. I think some were even shocked when, after having a conversation earlier about how AIFF sounded so much better than ALAC, a few were surprised to hear a track I played them they that loved was actually a 256k AAC file. Had a great time in Atlanta with the boys, got to show some speaker guys how the headphone guys roll (even though we're into speakers as well). I heard HD800s in the 7th rig I've listened to them on, and I still have only liked them on one. After 4 hours on the road today, though, I'm about ready to pass out. **BRENT**
October 24, 201114 yr Jacob, sorry for the apartment fiasco Good luck finding another place soon. Brent, that meeting sounds awesome. Were you able to compare the sax tone on the Orpheus and the OII? Same amp? Just curious, sax is one of those damn instruments that rarely get its timbre properly reproduced.
October 24, 201114 yr Dammit, Jacob, that really sucks! Moving is one of my least favorite life activities. I hope it works out soon. Brent, sounds like a nice weekend! That Tom Hankins system looks terrific on paper, must be great in real life!
October 24, 201114 yr Been up since 1.30 in the morning and I'm just now starting to feel the effect of it at work. Less than 4 hours to go.
October 24, 201114 yr Sorry I couldn't help with foobar2000 Brent. If you'd like, I'll send you a preconfigured portable install for you to use with all the plugins you need.
October 24, 201114 yr Been up since 1.30 in the morning and I'm just now starting to feel the effect of it at work. Less than 4 hours to go. I've been up since 4:15 and that feels bad enough, sorry Haj.
October 24, 201114 yr Hmmm, what is it with the East-coasters? I was up at 4:00 today too, needing that caffeine kick around now.....stole into my absent boss' enclosed office to listen to music and have a little privacy (so I can get on Head-Case ) Hope you guys rest well tonight!
October 24, 201114 yr the fuck is 'sleep'? "Sleep" is what people whithout young kids do at night when they aren't night clubbing.
October 24, 201114 yr Brent, that meeting sounds awesome. Were you able to compare the sax tone on the Orpheus and the OII? Same amp? Just curious, sax is one of those damn instruments that rarely get its timbre properly reproduced. Not the same amp. Full Orpheus rig and O2 Mk1s on an SRM-323S. The O2s seemed to do decently well as far as tone, but not quite there vs Orpheus. There was something with the imaging that wasn't quite there, at least on that album. SACD out of purk's Exemplar 5910, fwiw. Brent, sounds like a nice weekend! That Tom Hankins system looks terrific on paper, must be great in real life! Tom's system was great. The front to back imaging was crazy. The speakers were at least 6-7 feet from the back wall, but vocals were coming off the room treatment in the center. But yeah, we had a good time spinning some vinyl. I took a few albums down (all sealed). Wound up opening one. Tom cleaned it and told me it sounded really good/was well recorded (Foo Fighters - Medium Rare). He listened while we were out to dinner and I got back too late to take a listen, but there was some stuff that I was pretty familiar with. 3 heads in the room, all bobbing. I may have to head down again one day. Sorry I couldn't help with foobar2000 Brent. If you'd like, I'll send you a preconfigured portable install for you to use with all the plugins you need. No problem, Scott. I got it working in the home rig great. When I took it to the meeting, NOTHING worked. It took a long time to even get the Pico dac working, and WASAPI never even worked. It was rather frustrating, but oh well... I hooked up the iPad to everything and virtually everyone really dug it. iPad -> pico dac -> aripower -> HD580s... my work rig. It was so crazy at the meet I never even took my camera out. I did get some pics of Tom's rig I hope turned out well. I'll try to check it out tonight. **BRENT**
October 24, 201114 yr Not the same amp. Full Orpheus rig and O2 Mk1s on an SRM-323S. The O2s seemed to do decently well as far as tone, but not quite there vs Orpheus. There was something with the imaging that wasn't quite there, at least on that album. SACD out of purk's Exemplar 5910, fwiw. Tom's system was great. The front to back imaging was crazy. The speakers were at least 6-7 feet from the back wall, but vocals were coming off the room treatment in the center. But yeah, we had a good time spinning some vinyl. I took a few albums down (all sealed). Wound up opening one. Tom cleaned it and told me it sounded really good/was well recorded (Foo Fighters - Medium Rare). He listened while we were out to dinner and I got back too late to take a listen, but there was some stuff that I was pretty familiar with. 3 heads in the room, all bobbing. I may have to head down again one day. No problem, Scott. I got it working in the home rig great. When I took it to the meeting, NOTHING worked. It took a long time to even get the Pico dac working, and WASAPI never even worked. It was rather frustrating, but oh well... I hooked up the iPad to everything and virtually everyone really dug it. iPad -> pico dac -> aripower -> HD580s... my work rig. It was so crazy at the meet I never even took my camera out. I did get some pics of Tom's rig I hope turned out well. I'll try to check it out tonight. **BRENT** I had a great hanging out with Brent as well. The meet was very hectic and I didn't get any listen time with any equipment beside Justin's loaners. IMO, the Audio-Video club of Atlanta Headphone meet will need to be structured differently to be more successful.
October 26, 201114 yr Finally got a haircut (got about 11 inches cut off... it was way too long). Feels great. Also talked to the Physician's Assistant and it looks like the surgery is going to be a go (they say I can travel after a few weeks as long as I don't have to walk too much and have access to a stationary bike). I am sort of terrified. Luckily I have a ton of work to do before then to keep my mind off it. Edited October 26, 201114 yr by shellylh
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