The SoCal Headphone Gala

[Des-Lab]

I received word of this via AA.

This weekend, over at the Hilton Hotel adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), there was a show/exhibit put on by the folks of "Head-Fi". In a nutshell, it was an audio gathering of sorts. But dedicated to an array of various headphones and other personal gear.

So I decided to take a drive out there and check it out. Finding the LAX Hilton is easy. It's a 20+ story building on Century Blvd a block west of Aviation Blvd. Parking was another story. I had to park in the basement, which involved a series of steep subterranean drops and sharp curves and tight corners. I had to go all the way to the bottom level to find a place. Parking rates were exhorbitant-$18 for the first hour and $6 for every hour after. Needless to say. In light of that I decided that I wasn't going to stay very long. I suppose I could've parked in the Carls Jr lot or indeed the XXX shop that are both less than a block away. But with parking being at a premium and the occassional shady person lurking about, I decided not to chance it. I'd rather pay the parking as opposed to coming out and finding my car broken into or towed.

So anyway. I get to the lobby and see on the event calendar that it's up on the 2nd floor. I simply went up the stair case. And there it was.

To be quite frank. This gathering wasn't really my cup of tea. It was spread out over about 4 or 5 different rooms, all of them being essentially the same: a few rows of tables arranged in a "U" pattern and about 5 or 6 setups in each room. There were a number of different "listening stations" with different vendors allowing anyone who wanted a chance to listen to the headphones. I was surprised at the number of high end players and tube amps in attendance. There were a couple of guys spinning vinyl. But there were no speakers, full-on systems, and certainly not a single tape deck in sight. At least none that I saw.

Personally, while I thought some of the setups were nice, it was serious overkill for the occasion. Headphones????? To me, running a tube amp and system to drive headphones is gilding the lilly a bit, not unlike having a remote control for your car stereo to use while driving. And there were way too many laptops as well for me to give this any sort of serious concern. It was a sort of world clash: The serious Hi-Fi curmudgeons meets the audience from "The Fast And The Furious".. Although many people expressed interest, the vibe I got was that neither "faction" was really comfortable being around the other. I could be dead wrong on that. But that was the aura I felt.

For instance. There were a number of us "old farts" wandering about. And then in one room, there was ayoung Asian couple. Again. They looked as though they came straight off the set from "TFATF". The girl was sitting in the guys lap while he was listening and practically "did" him right there on the spot. I had the good taste to not take a picture. But sheesh. We were in a hotel. They COULD have gotten a room.

http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow11.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow12.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow9.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow1.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow2.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow3.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow4.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow5.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow10.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow16.JPG


Perhaps no other item here that I saw left me scratching my head and asking "huh" than this.

It's a.....are you ready for this......
...a tube powered Ipod/MP3 player docking station. The Manley Stingray Itube it's called.


Why? Why I ask? I would LOVE to know who Manley expects to sell this oddity to. Forgive my cynicism, but I always thought that anyone who can appreciate (and afford) a nice piece of tube gear wouldn't be caught dead even TOUCHING an Ipod, let alone using one in this fashion. And likewise for the Ipod crowd. Why would any of them be bothered with such a prehistoric and expensive piece of electronica?

http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow8.JPG

One other setup that caught my attention was this one. Though the owner didn't exactly endear himself to me when his response to "How are you today" was "wealthy".

Umm...ok... I can already tell that in looking at your setup.

http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow15.JPG

Perhaps the most exotic component in attendance was this turntable. Talk about overbuilt, elaborate, and very expensive. I peppered the owner with a few questions and he indulged me. What really made my platter spin (pun intended) was when he removed the tonearm and revealed that it's held in suspension with liquid.

Yowza!!! Pretty impressive indeed even if impractical and far, far outside my budget.

http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow_table1.JPG

http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow_table2.JPG
http://x-2000r.angelcities.com/images/Headphoneshow_table3.JPG

So as I said. The event did have some curiosity value to it. But as I said in the opening, it really wasn't my forté. I saw nothing to give me the impression that there were any tapeheads in attendence. So I didn't really do any socializing. And I scrammed maybe an hour later as quickly and quietly as I had arrived. As I said. Some of the setups were nice. And it was good to see folks still taking an interest in music and audio, this venue would probably be better suited to the "On the go" crowd more so than the serious in-home audiophile.

[MASTERTAPE]

Hi, thanks for posting all these pictures and the way you described makes me feel like I was there.*check*

[Juan Doe]

Just something about that situation seems strange to me. I don't think I would have handled the situation with the "wealthy" guy as well as you did. I think I would have called him a douche real quick. It would have been nice to hear some of the cans though.

[ferriteman]

Personally, while I thought some of the setups were nice, it was serious overkill for the occasion. Headphones????? To me, running a tube amp and system to drive headphones is gilding the lilly a bit, not unlike having a remote control for your car stereo to use while driving. And there were way too many laptops as well for me to give this any sort of serious concern. It was a sort of world clash: The serious Hi-Fi curmudgeons meets the audience from "The Fast And The Furious".. Although many people expressed interest, the vibe I got was that neither "faction" was really comfortable being around the other. I could be dead wrong on that. But that was the aura I felt.

Hi Des, nice of you to post the review & pictures. From your comments, and correct me if I'm wrong, I detect a bit of "looking down" on headphones, i.e. headphones aren't really "real hifi" gear deserving of a good tube amp? This would be judgemental, great headphones can offer a great level of detail & accuracy. They don't reproduce the soundstage the way speakers can, but then they aren't affected by room accoustics either.

For some, due to living space arrangements, or limitations on loudness (apartments or family members) headphones represent the only route to great sound.

Myself, I routinely listen to my electrostatic headphones (various Stax models) through a tube amp, they sound great. My source? 2-track and 4 track tapes played on my Otari, tapes dubbed from my LPs on my various cassette decks, or LPs played back on my VPI. I'm moving into a house (end of July) so I'll be able to set up my speakers again...looking forward to this, but I will still use my headphones regularly.

I definetly agree with you on the 2 factions in the headfi group. It seems there are the more traditional, older audio hobbyists. Then there is the generally younger "ipod or MP3" crowd which seems to be fixated on what headphones to buy to get whatever sound...yet completely clueless on improving the sound from the source...it is as if they actually believe digitally based audio is so "perfect" and can't be improved.

They are supposed to be having a Headfi meet up here in Toronto this fall, I believe it is a much smaller affair, mostly hobbyists,,I plan on checking it out...maybe I should set up a table with a tape deck or two?

Again, thanks for the review & pictures!

Grant

[hakka26]

Well, they are nice pics of nice stuff. Can't fathom buying an ipod dock that probably costs the GDP of a Third World Nation though.

[4tified]

That just blows my mind. An iPod connected with tube-out. Apparently this crowd isn't going for actual sound quality or they wouldn't have dared attempt this. What a waste of tubes.

Nice gear though.