Head-Fi meet in Austin, TX

It occurs to me that many readers familiar with the traditional world of speaker-centric high-end audio systems may be unaware that there is a rapidly evolving, parallel high-end audio universe that revolves around high-end headphones, earphones, and related electronics. The organization that serves as both an information clearinghouse and rallying point for these sound quality-minded headphone enthusiasts is Head-Fi (www.head-fi.org), which is headed by our friend and colleague Jude Mansilla (a headphone visionary if ever we saw one).

Over the course of the year, Head-Fi practice is to stage regional headphone meets where members (and like-minded friends) are invited to gather to compare notes and to show-off their personal systems. Vendors, too, are encouraged to exhibit both to show newly released products and to preview prototypes of upcoming products in order to gather feedback on emerging “skunk works” designs.

The feel of a Head-Fi meet is, then, very different from that of a typical high-end audio show, in that there is no push-push pressure to buy anything or to become a dealer for this, that, or the other brand of equipment. Similarly, there is very little of the snobbish one-up-man-ship that is sadly so prevalent in the traditional high-end world. Happily, there is very little of vitriolic “my widget is better than your widget” posturing that can make the traditional high-end seem a less-than-welcoming place to spend time. Instead, there is much more a sense of shared discovery, a sincere mutual interest in finding out what works, what doesn’t, and to see how products and listening experiences might be made better for all involved.  This blog offers snapshots from a recent Head-Fi meet held in Austin, TX, USA on January 18, 2014.
 

New Products and Novel Concepts

Cavalli Audio

Perhaps the most noteworthy new product release for the meet came in the form of the debut showing Cavalli Audio’s new Liquid Cobalt hybrid valve/solid-state amplifier ($3,250), which is the long-awaited replacement for Cavalli’s then-groundbreaking Liquid Fire amplifier.

The Liquid Cobalt used a dual-triode 6922 valve for its front end with a solid-state output stage. Also on demonstration was Cavalli’s flagship Liquid Gold amplifier (Hi-Fi+ review pending), which was being used to power the amazing Abyss AB-1266 planar magnetic headphone. Dr. Alex Cavalli seemed pleased with reactions to his new Liquid Cobalt amp, which is at present the most affordable of all Cavalli designs.

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Leckerton Audio

Nick Kettman of Leckerton Audio was demonstrating two of his high quality portable headphone amplifier/DACs: the UHA760 asynchronous USB DAC/headphone amp with crossfeed and digital volume control ($439) and the UHA-6S Mk2 slimline USB DAC/Amp with crossfeed and digital volume control ($279). Both units are beautifully made and admirably quiet in operation.

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MrSpeaker (Mad Dog)

Headed by Dan Clark, MrSpeaker is a manufacturer (or perhaps a more accurate phrase would be “modifier/manufacturer”) of relatively affordable planar magnetic headphones. MrSpeaker’s first headphone, called the Mad Dog ($299) starts life as a Fostex T50Rp, but then receives hand-tuned modifications calculated to improve both sound quality and wearer comfort. Despite these modifications, however, the Mad Dog still looks a fair amount like the T50Rp upon which it is based.

More recently, however, MrSpeaker has launched an even more ambitious model called the Alpha Dog ($599). The Alpha Dog is also based on Fostex components, but unlike the Mad Dog it has been so extensively modified that it looks nothing like anything Fostex has ever produced. The Alpha Dog is a vented but otherwise mostly closed-back planar magnetic headphone featuring an enclosure system of MrSpeaker’s design (the enclosure is sufficiently complex that Clark has elected to produce the enclosure housing on a 3D printer). The Alpha Dog claims to offer reference-grade sound quality for what must be considered a bargain basement price.

Clark was showing the Alpha Dog in Austin, but it was interesting to see that Alpha Dogs were showing up with some regularity both in member’s systems and in vendors’ systems. Based on several brief listens, we think the Alpha Dog offers terrific value for money.

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Patrick Sutton at Nice Cans

Patrick Sutton runs Nice Cans—an Austin-based high-end audio shop that focuses exclusively on headphone-based systems. Thus, Sutton was showing a range of the product he offers, including headphones from AKG, Audeze, Beyerdynamic, and Fostex, plus headphone amplification products from Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, and other suppliers. Sutton should be congratulated, first for addressing the real need for a specialty shop where discerning enthusiasts can check out and purchase top-shelf headphones, and second, for understanding that—for whatever reasons—traditional (that is, speaker-centric) high-end shops tend to want little to do with top-tier headphones (which in our view is a mistake on the part of traditional high-end dealers, but a fine market niche for Nice Cans).

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RK Audiology – Westone earphones and music friendly Lyric hearing aids

Paula Rivers and Janet Krueger (the “R” and “K” of RK Audiology) are full-service audiologists who recognise there is much more to hearing health than helping clients to score well on standardized speech intelligibility tests. The big difference, here, is that Rivers and Krueger take a music-first attitude toward their profession and thus want to help their clients not only understand day-to-day conversations, but also to enjoy music as fully and naturally as possible

To this end, Rivers and Krueger offer high-quality hearing protection devices as well as custom-fitted in-ear music monitors and high-quality universal-fit earphones from Westone. At the Austin meet, RK had on display a smattering of Westone’s recently revamped W-series universal-fit earphones, and it was refreshing to see audiologist promoting well-made music playback devices rather than simply dispensing garden-variety hearing aids.

However, for music lovers who may already have suffered some degree of hearing loss, RK offers the fascinating Lyric hearing aid system, which, says Ms. Rivers, just might be one of the few hearing aid solutions on the market suitable for audiophile use. The Lyric is a miniature, in-ear, always-inserted, and always-on device that—get this—uses analogue-only audio circuitry to achieve a natural, organic sound (unlike typical hearing aids which often use well-intended but garish-sounding DSP circuitry to improve speech recognition, but at the expense of sound quality that is not well-suited for music listening). It is encouraging to find audiologists willing to work toward solutions that may help clients stay in touch with the music they have loved all their lives.

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Members’ Headphone Systems

In keeping with Head-Fi tradition, I though I might offer snapshots of several Head-Fi members’ systems, where you will be able to see firsthand some of the rich diversity of the high-end headphone community (the systems will be listed by the owner’s Head-Fi usernames).

BBOPHEAD

BBOPHEAD’s headphone system features an analogue front end and showcased a variety of valve-powered headphone amplifiers.

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DAN1SON

DAN1SON’s features Grado headphones, and Audio-gd Compass headphone amp/DAC, a Fubar USB DAC, with a Sony disc player and a MacBook as primary source components.

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HO1YSWORD

HO1YSWORD’s PC-based system featured popular (though admittedly strangely-named) electronics from Schiit Audio (yes, it’s pronounced just the way you might expect. No, Shiit…).

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KC JAG

KC JAG’s demo table featured an absolutely mind-bending collection of headphones as our photo here shows. His collection of ‘phones raises an important point; because top-tier headphones are relatively inexpensive (at least as compared to top-tier loudspeakers), many enthusiasts—this author included—are able to own and use a wide variety of ‘phones without obliterating their household budgets. Consider this just another plus in favour of becoming a confirmed headphone enthusiast.

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MAXVLA

MAXVLA was the host of the Austin meet and accordingly his system featured several loaner components supplied by manufacturers who hoped he might showcase their components at the Austin meet. Accordingly, MAXVLA’s system featured DACs and headphone amps from Matrix and Violectric, playing through MAXVLA’s custom, black-finished Sennheiser HD800 headphones (not shown), 

Special thanks go to MAXVLA for all the hard work in putting the event together. MAXVLA is a terrific headphone ambassador and throughout the day he went out of his way to make sure that all in attendance felt welcome and were having a good time.
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MORBIDTOASTER

Austin-based audio omnivore MORBIDTOASTER is perhaps representative of a new breed of audio enthusiast—one who cares passionately about sound quality (as do we all) and who enjoys listening through both loudspeakers and headphones. The centerpiece(s) of MORBIDTOASTER’s system are a Kuzma Stabi/Stogi turntable and tonearm fitted with a Dynavector phono cartridge, a Vincent Audio phonostage, and a valve-powered Leben integrated amplifier/headphone amplifier. MORBIDTOASTER is between transducers at the moment, but we understand he favours Sennheiser HD 800 headphones (he has owned them in the past) and is looking, quite possibly, to acquire a set of DeVore Fidelity Orangutan-series loudspeakers. In short, he likes the good stuff.

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Jesse Anderson at SOUND CHECK

Jesse Anderson of SOUND CHECK, who specialises in Nagra, Stellavox, and 2-track analogue recordings, brought along cool system featuring a brace of Nagra reel-to-reel tape decks playing master tapes of recording Anderson had made of the Trinity University Jazz Ensemble and Trinity University Wind Ensemble. The system used a vintage Marantz 2270 receiver as a headphone amplifier. However, experimentation throughout the day convinced many listeners that top-tier headphones often sounded their best when fed directly from the Nagra’s analogue outputs, rather than through the venerable Marantz. As so often proves the case when first-generation analogue master tapes are involved, the sound quality pouring forth from those Nagra decks was stupendous.
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THAILAND

Head-Fi member THAILAND exhibited a system featuring an Oppo universal/Blu-ray player, a classic Cavalli Liquid Fire hybrid valve/solid-state headphone amplifier with Sennheiser dynamic-driver headphones and Audeze planar magnetic ‘phones.

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…and Hi-Fi+ gets into the act, too.

Although we’re not technically Head-Fi members (or at least the author is not), we decided that we, too, would participate in the sharing, free-flowing, “show-and-tell” spirit of the Head-Fi meet. To this end, we brought along two pieces of headphone-related equipment that are destined to become the subjects of upcoming Hi-Fi+ reviews. The products in question were iFi’s recently announced iCAN Nano portable headphone amplifier ($179) and Chord Electronics’ brand new Hugo high-res DAC/headphone amplifier ($2,395).

The tiny iFi amp got passed around amongst various Head-Fi members and the general consensus was that the little portable offered astonishing performance (and thus value) for the money. Many were floored by the amp’s rich, vibrant, full-bodied sound. One member, in particular, tried the iCAN Nano with a set of relatively demanding Sennheiser HD800 ‘phones and was shocked to hear the bold, muscular, and eminently musical sound the tiny portable amp produced. 

The Chord Hugo, in turn, wowed many attendees. One Head-Fi member nicely summed up the sentiments of the majority of listeners who tried the Hugo, saying,  “I went into severe temporary ‘sticker shock’ when you told me the price, but once I heard the Hugo in action everything started to make sense. It really is a viable replacement both for expensive high-performance DACs and for costly desktop headphone amplifiers.” The DAC section of the Hugo, in particular, came in for very high praise for its smooth, clean, and yet highly detailed and resolving sound.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our decision to bring along products drawn from Hi-Fi+ reviews in progress should not be construed as favouritism or bias in favour of iFi or Chord Electronics. Rather, we hoped to show that Hi-Fi+ was not just reporting on but also actively participating in and contributing to the Austin Head-Fi meet. Besides, both the iFi and Chord components have their roots in Europe (and specifically in the UK), as does Hi-Fi+, so we felt it made sense to introduce Austinites to some new components that help to show what headphone-minded audio manufacturers have been creating in our part of the world.

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Summing Up

We had a great time at the Austin Head-Fi meet and, as always, learned a lot, too. If you ever have the chance to attend a Head-Fi meet in your local area, we strongly encourage you to do so. You will be impressed, we think, by discovering audiophiles of all ages and genders united in their passion for great music and for putting together high-quality music systems based on headphones and earphones. Besides, it’s almost impossible to envision a more friendly and welcoming group of music/audio lovers; their enthusiasm is downright contagious!