Bangalore Hifi meet 2011?

[captrajesh]

I'm finally back to Chennai and got access to a full fledged computer.

Firstly, a big thanks to Anutone for providing their facility and also sponsoring lunch & refreshments to the participants and Raghu for overall conduct of the event.

I thank the main organisers, Santosh, George, Ramesh (hifipalforall) for conceiving the idea, working out the agenda and toiling hard for making it happen. Kindly pardon me if I left out anyone else, it is purely unintentional.

I thank the commercial members Akash, Abhishek and Jochen for lugging all the heavy equipment to the show to enable the participants to sample gears at different price points.

I thank members GVenu, T.Anthony, Abhi Pani (Dr.Bass) & Santhosh for taking the risk of lugging their beloved gear for the benefit of other participants.

I thank Arun, Madhu, Anthony and Sud98 for their efforts in recording the event for posterity.

I thank Santhosh, Navin, George, Anil and Anthony for taking efforts to impart much needed hifi gyan to the participants.

I also thank all the Bangalore HFV members for letting me participate in the eventful event.

All in all, a wonderful event that I cannot forget. Kudos for the Bangalore folks who made it happen.

 

[sud98]

The main videos for the event

Agenda for the event
The Agenda - YouTube

Presentation on Room Acoustics - Santosh and Naveen (Anutone)
Part 1 - Room Acoustics - 1 - YouTube
Part 2 - Room Acoustics - 2 - YouTube
Part 3 - Room Acoustics - 3 - YouTube
Part 4 - Room Acoustics - 4 - YouTube
Part 5 - Room Acoustics - 5 - YouTube
Part 6 - Room Acoustics 6 - YouTube
Part 7 - Room Acoustics - 7 - YouTube
Part 8 - Room Acoustics - 8 - YouTube

Presentation on DIY - George and Anilva
Part 1 - DIY - George and Anilva - Part 1 - YouTube
Part 2 - DIY - Part 2 - YouTube
Part 3 - DIY - 3 - YouTube
Part 4 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K54HgBXg8Pc


Videophile [vid-ee-uh-fahyl] - One who takes a video of an audiophile event

 

[rikhav]

Hi all
When can we read the review of the setups on demo?

Eager to know about the DIY tube pre and the Einstein amp

 

[reignofchaos]

Hi all
When can we read the review of the setups on demo?

Eager to know about the DIY tube pre and the Einstein amp

6moons audio reviews: Einstein's The Last Record Player & The Absolute Tune

 

[reignofchaos]

Another more definitive review according to Jochen
SoundStage! Equipment Review - Einstein The Absolute Tune Integrated Amplifier (10/2007)

Measurements
SoundStage! Measurements - Einstein Absolute Tune Integrated Amplifier (10/2007)

Personally I've heard the Einstein amp before and I can say without any doubt in my mind that its the best tube based amplifier and probably the best ever amplifier I've heard in my life. The soundstage it projects is huge and with good classical recordings on vinyl, its the closest thing to actually being there. It renders absolutely clean backgrounds with no hiss or noise that is normally associated with tubes even when silent. They have tremendous drive for a 50W amp. If the specs were not mentioned to me earlier, I could have easily mistaken it for something much much more massive.

This is one amp that has to be in everyone's audition list, no matter what budget one is looking at. Its truly reference level.

 

[sud98]

RoC, the Einsteins we heard in the meet were hybrid amps and not tube. They had a tube based input stage and a solid state based output stage.

 

[reignofchaos]

RoC, the Einsteins we heard in the meet were hybrid amps and not tube. They had a tube based input stage and a solid state based output stage.

Yup front end tube and the driver stages are solid state. Its the same amp I'm talking about - The Absolute Tune.

 

[sud98]

I tried a small experiment which I felt it would be useful for all audiophiles and experts.

Since we had 4 different systems, I recorded using my Sony Handycam, the same song - Allan Taylor's 'The Traveller'. It would be a good challenge for people to identify which recording belongs to which system.

System A - NAD/PSB Image
System B - Blumenhofer Fun/Einstein
System C - Anthony's DIY Speaker/AP pre-amp/amp
System D - Heco/Thorens

Recording 1 - 1 - YouTube
Recording 2 - 2 - YouTube
Recording 3 - 3 - YouTube
Recording 4 - 4 - YouTube


Caveats
1. As Ajay had predicted there is a lot of noise at the start but generally was quieter after around 30 sec
2. The song was not a very complicated one so may not be very revealing
3. The SPL's are not consistent, so loud may not necessarily be better
4. The camcorder mic is not an audiophile quality so do not fuss if you couldnt make out the difference or picked the wrong one

Videophile [vid-ee-uh-fahyl]- One who makes a video out of an audiophile event

 

[prasun.gera]

Is track 2 -> system C ? :lol:

 

[square_wave]

@ Sud 98

Interesting experiment and thanks for sharing it !

To be of any use for an audiophile, I think you will need to do this experiment in a recording studio using professional grade microphones of which the placement for each system will need to be professionally calibrated for such an experiment.

The above statement is a very rudimentary one though. There are far too many variables involved if ones aim is to figure out the best system or anything like that. Usually no one does it this way! The ear and personal preferences are a far better way to understand this.

 

[sud98]

I agree square wave.

However, nobody put in reviews or comparisons, so I thought this would give a feeler to those who didnt attend.

Here are the track details

Track 1 - DIY
Track 2 - Blumhofer
Track 3 - Heco
Track 4 - PSB