Pune HFV Meet 2011

[sonosphere]

Dear HFVians,
Generally speaking when things get repeated it gets boring, hence the 2nd meet this year turned out to be :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo: FANTABULOUS !!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

What a "repeat" !!!... I might as well copy-paste last year's post with update (in blue) as follows:

What a whole day we had! When I came back home in the dead of night, I was dead-tired, yet felt a sense of elation that is difficult to describe.
- For the 2nd time, I had auditioned so much gear, across all price-ranges, in a single day.
- For the 2nd time, I discusssed audio for such a long time and exchanged experiences face to face with fellow audioholics. It felt so good to bond with audio-buddies, in a single day.
- For the 2nd time, I had so many pleasant surprises regarding audio gear and audio facts.
- For the 2nd time, I met a host like Viki who literally had us believe that the place was ours... for audition till eternity. I think if we would have had another 10 setups, we would have continued till dawn

For all the "repeats" above, there was one barely noticeable tiny difference in the latest meet >> IT WAS BIGGER AND BETTER !!!hyeah:hyeah:hyeah:
(I wonder how some people can do such unabashed "self back-patting" :lol: )

The above copy-paste amply demonstrates that I've run out of words to describe my feelings regarding the latest meet so I'll let a few images substitute a few thousand words.

(Hey this look's suspiciously like "repeat" of last meets photo... Ok, Sono already said there's "barely noticeable tiny difference")

L to R > Viki, U Da Man !!!, Dwayne, Flash, & Mubeen

(Sonosphere and Sridhar seated on floor... why they have to "repeat" the same sitting posture as in last meet pics?)

As happened last time (someone will kill me if I use the word "repeat" again... aaaarrrrgggg!) It's getting late... got to hit sack now... more details tomorrow...

Regds,
Sonosphere

A new thread for thanks.

One more thread can be created for the Demos (it deserves)

Yes Santy, this time I will be creating separate thread for Demo-observations.

 

[Flash]

Ahhhh ....... Nostalgia

 

[sridhar-v]

Dear HFVians,
Generally speaking when things get repeated it gets boring, hence the 2nd meet this year turned out to be :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo: FANTABULOUS !!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

(Sonosphere and Sridhar seated on floor... why they have to "repeat" the same sitting posture as in last meet pics?)

Well - just realised I had repeated - was wearing the same pant & shirt. Can assure everybody I had washed them & taken a bath in the intervening yearhyeah:hyeah::clapping:

 

[Mubeen]

Great writeup Sonos, as always. You the man!

May be we should try launching a monthly HFV ezine with audio reviews, articles etc. Sonos already fits the shoe for an editor

 

[Santy]

Yes Santy, this time I will be creating separate thread for Demo-observations.

Sono where are you? Guess it is double the workload for you this time eh?
:lol:

 

[sonosphere]

Sono where are you? Guess it is double the workload for you this time eh?
:lol:

Yes, the forms are almost double the pages, since the members and demoes both had increased in this meet.

 

[Brajendu]

I was privileged to be part of this meet :yahoo: which was altogether a very unique experience for a novice like me, it was hugely informative and entertaining as well. I was so eager to see such well experienced people that I landed in Viki's residence right at 9:15, that to Sunday morning hyeahwhich rarely happens for me). I met Sridhar who was already there.

I was so surprised and elated to see Viki's warmer welcome and as if we know each other. Viki is such an wonderful host, that friendly... I almost settled in few minutes. Looking at his personal gears... I was just numb...ooohh .. I just fantasized abt the moment when all other would arrive and we BEGIN our auditions ...:yahoo: ... while we were having nice coffee :licklipsffered by Viki and all other friends arrived (with 'ek se bada ek' audio gears) and soon it was a nice gathering, all exchanging their HiFi knowledge.

Audion took some time but slowly the eminence was building up. Being a non-smoker I was kinda suffocated but it was ok, I started getting lot of info abt Audio Gears. Then it went on... an on.. and on.. with one by one all interesting music/gears. Yes then came the Pizza...:licklips:... (I was so hungry by then.. I finished the medium Pizza which normally I never been able to finish alone)... Though I couldn't stay longer for some personal work, I left around 4pm... my most memorable gear was the most minimalistic one from Sups (Supriya). His tiny Topping amp + User520 bookshelves combo was just jaw dropping... I could feel everybody in the hall slowly settled on sofa and even on the floor just to hear the musical ambiance the combo was rendering. I was surprised to see such an entry level combo sounding so wonderfully. Though I was eager to hear the B&W bookshelves, but due to shortage of time I had to run. Overall it was one of my best sonic experience in life so far.

I clicked some snaps in my cell to remember the audition tracks, here are the pics:

One of my valuable take away from this meet was that FLAC files ripped from CD 'can' sound better than the original CD. It was unbelievable to my logic, but Sonosphere explained me patiently, why this is so....Thanks a lot Sonos for your guidance. Once again thanks a lot to ALL friends I got to meet.

 

[sonosphere]

... there was one barely noticeable tiny difference

For those who were wondering... the barely noticeable tiny difference

...(Part-1)
Unico Hybrid Integrated Amp (Bottom), Yamaha S-2000 SACD player (Middle) The one at top is no-difference... it is the same Arcam CD17 of the previous meet.

 

[sonosphere]

This looks like a electrostatic insect trap to me

...(Part-2)
Or is it ELECTROSTATIC XXXX? in a humble city like Pune????

 

[sonosphere]

Stairway to Heaven, or rather tower to Heaven...

...(Part-3)
Krell at the top... GASP! This noob is about to faint from gear-overdose... so ooo mo r e de tail s t omo rro wwwwwwwwww

 

[sonosphere]

Hi,
I believe lot of guys are waiting for the demo-report to be published. My work-front continues to be hectic and to worsen matters my physical batteries are down since yesterday. Will put up the 1st demo report at least by weekend.

To all the meet-members, who submitted the "dreaded exam papers" :lol:... I assure that the effort won't go waste.

Regds,
Sonosphere

 

[askii2]

Hey Sono,
No problems. We're all patient. Hope you "recharge" yourself real fast.

Hi,
My work-front continues to be hectic and to worsen matters my physical batteries are down since yesterday.

 

[sonosphere]

Ok guys, before I resume, I thank Mr. Anand and Mr. Amit of AVXellence who took pains to shift loads of gear so the local HFVians could see and hear what so far they could only read about.

BTW that's Mr. Amit below standing proudly besides Unico amp and Yamaha SACD player. Juicy details on that later...

For those who were wondering... the barely noticeable tiny difference

...(Part-1)
Unico Hybrid Integrated Amp (Bottom), Yamaha S-2000 SACD player (Middle) The one at top is no-difference... it is the same Arcam CD17 of the previous meet.

 

[sonosphere]

Report from Ground-Zero: HFV Meet Date: 06-Nov-11

The meet started under familiar circumstances, as previous meet. All members assembled, including the ones from far distances, and I, demonstrating remarkable consistency, again was the last to join the gang. I was really elated with my late arrival since it looked like a good omen... as a indicator of another great HFV meet in offing ...

I exchanged quick intro's with new faces and hi's with the old ones and observed Viki's Music room... It was so full that it looked like a HiFi goods godown. And the range??? I saw mouse sized speakers to 4 feet Floorstanders, plethora of DAC's, humongous pre and power amps... my music pc (a first time, on the second time!)... so much has changed in one year???

The best shot I've seen in a long time, having a collection of rear ends...hyeah:

Don't you wish you could take em' all home?

Going a little back in time, While the gear-list put up on internet was getting filled up, it appeared that each member's gear-combo would get demo'ed as reflected in list. There could be some inter-change of gears, depending on a member's personal curiosity about someone else's gear. While discussing sequence of demo's I suggested continuing previous meet's approach that entry level gear-combo should be first in sequence leading to better ones. With everyone agreeing to it, we worked out the first gear-combo >> My Asus Xonar Soundcard as source, Santy's Norge-1000 as amp and Mubeen's Wharfedale 10.1.

The second aspect to be decided was music-selection. The general consensus favoured that all demo's should have 2 common songs and 2 different songs from demo-member's choice or a special request by anyone from "audiences". A round of quick discussion resulted in the two common songs being Hotel California by Eagles and "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff.


As some of us went about setting up the connections for the first combo, the distribution of Observation-forms started. For those haven't read the previous meet's thread... see here what the observation form is about >> https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0...EyOTItYWFiY2ZiNTZlYTRi&hl=en&authkey=CI2L5P8H
I had used this form in previous meet to gather feedback from meet-members. The format was designed to enable quick responses and quick compilation into a sort of statistical report, that could be used to assess general opinion about various aspects of a gear-combo. Unfortunately the form also looked like a "Objective-type" question paper. Not surprisingly when some of us were distributing the forms, we recieved replica of a exam-student's mixed expressions of horror + disbelief, from new members to this meet. I wish I could click Miroflex's expression (his jaw half-dropped, and eyes staring blankly at me) when I handed over the form to him saying "PLEASE FILL THIS UP AFTER THE DEMO IS OVER".

The "dreaded" exam papers being reviewed by members

Ok, Mubeen (in striped T-shirt), this pic clearly shows you stealing Miroflex's (in pink shirt) observation notes. Brajendu, sitting next to Sridhar, seems have no clue and is staring at wall :lol:.

Oh and I should tell you about the frenzy to search for pens... we were about 14 members holding 14 forms (in trembling hands) but had only 3 pens!!! What a mess!!! Here we had a ship-load of gear and ONLY 3 PENS!!! An embarrased panic call went to Viki and very soon Viki came back with all the pens he could find in the house (he probably ransacked his kid's geometry boxes too ) Talk about abusing hospitality. Well all is fair in love and... audiophilia:lol::lol::lol:

Ok now with the last piece of gear held betweeen our fingers, everyone took position with bated breath to hear the first Demo....

 

[sonosphere]

Guys, don't hold your breath... the demo report comes tomorrow... Goodnight!

 

[hemantwaghe]

Guys, don't hold your breath... the demo report comes tomorrow... Goodnight!

God morning!!

Waiting!! Feeling breathlsess!!hyeah:hyeah:

 

[sonosphere]

A new thread for thanks.
One more thread can be created for the Demos (it deserves)

Hi,
Created new thread under "review" section. Waiting for Mod's to publish it (due to a quirk in process, actually only the intro part will be visible initially... will add Demo 01 as soon as the thread gets published)

Update:
Description of Demo# 01 posted as Mini-review here >> http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/2...ons-various-gear-combinations.html#post310109

Regds,
Sonosphere

 

[sonosphere]

Hi,
Update:
Description of Demo# 02 posted as Mini-review here >> http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/2...r-st-soundcard-norge-1000-amp.html#post312162

Regds,
Sonosphere