Glad to see a BiFrost 2 OG will be there! My main DAC these days, I love it!
3 Likes
With the mini-meet scheduled for less than 24 hours from now, I thought I’d give a last call to see if anybody is interested in attending.
We have about 6-8 folks attending with a wide range of equipment.
Please send a DM if interested for more details.
Regards,
Vic
1 Like
I asked Tyler already and he is unable to make it unfortunately.
2 Likes
That’s a nice size for a mini-meet (I’ve hosted a few).
From experience, if you’ve got four hours set aside, if its anything like most of the meets I’ve hosted, it’ll be:
- 20 minutes of people setting up.
- 3 hours of people enthusiastically talking about music and gear.
- 40 minutes of frantic, last-minute, “shit, we better do some listening”!
They’ve not all gone that way. The last one I did that was more than 10 people had one group that was more about the social aspect, and another that was really focused on listening.
All of them have been fun.
Hope you all have a blast!
6 Likes
I fall into that let’s get a drink and chat for a bit, and then oh crap I gotta listen to something for 5 mins crowd 
but you know that already!
4 Likes
Just got to listen to the new caldera off the folkvangr. Caldera imaging sounded like an improvement over the atrium which was also at the meet, overall seemed more of a forward, grandiose atrium. Not sure if I was shivering or the notes. Folkvangr was overall just insane and it’s a shame they only made 250 of these.
6 Likes
Wish I could’ve come up…16hr round trip drive for me. Though I did consider making a weekend out of it, would have been fun….too much going on this weekend though.
Look forward to everyone’s thoughts and highlights!
1 Like
Overall Thoughts:
I consider the experience an overall success as it achieved the things I wanted it to do (the other participants are free to disagree). Five people showed up out of a potential of eight that expressed interest, though the space could have held maybe 20 people if I moved the furniture. The first two hours were spent setting up, listening to music, and chatting. The next hour was a break for lunch and libations. The last hour was spent listening to music again, chatting, and taking down equipment. Folkvangr ran for 2 hours.
Equipment Impressions:
I didn’t spent a lot of time trying out people’s source equipment, but instead spent most of the time either talking or listening to other people’s headphones on either the Bifrost 2 & Asgard 3 (BF2/A3) or the Gungnir Multibit & Folkvangr (G/FV) stack (depending on what wasn’t being used). I won’t mention what other people brought - I’ll leave that up to them. That said, here are my subjective and unqualified reflections:
Hifiman Susvara on Holo Spring(?):
I was very impressed by the adjustment slider for the suspension strap - very comfortable and a different take on adjustment. What I most remember about this headphone and stack was how clear everything was - extremely resolving and detailed. They’re not something I would purchase, given my use case, but I enjoyed them.
Rosson Audio Designs RAD-0 on the BF2/A3:
I could hear the Audeze DNA in these planar. I liked how comfortable they were with the additional suspension strap. Nothing really seemed out of place or offensive with these on the equipment used. They were headphones that made the music “present” as opposed to allowing it to become a passive experience. I would find it hard to do anything other than listen to music with them - a very active listening headphone.
ZMF Caldera on G/FV:
Maybe this is an example of the next new thing syndrome, but I really, really liked this setup despite being slightly skeptical that they would sound good on the FV. However, I should have known better considering how well the LCD-2 (2022) sounds with the G/FV. These sounded and felt like a better in all the ways LCD-2. They are not 3x better (considering the price difference), but if I could only own one pair of headphones, the Caldera could be them. I would consider them an active listening headphone, but less so than either the Susvaras or RAD-0s - I could just as easily not pay attention to the music while wearing them and go to passive listening mode while working on other things. This experience has complicated my ZMF November decision.
ZMF Atrium of G/FV:
Another setup I really liked. Compared to the Caldera, the Atrium are more of a passive listening mode that could go active if I wanted. I think I used the analogy of sitting near a fire, drinking a Boulevardier, and listening to a jazz quartet. No matter what I threw at it, it sounded good. Maybe less in your face than the planars I listened to today, but still very present if I wanted it to be and very atmospheric if I wanted it to be. I wished I had some Verites to try out, but thank you to those who have owned both to share their experience - I’m leaning more towards the Atrium than either the VC or VO for the Folkvangr.
Lessons Learned:
- Bring one stack not two
- Bring signage so people know where to go
- Bring your own headphones so you don’t have to rely on memory
- Stoup’s child-size pizza is for more than one child so order it instead of the hamburger (which was pretty good)
- Take better photos so you can post them
I’d like to thank everybody who took the time to come out today - this gathering would not have been a success without your participation. I hope to schedule these gatherings once a quarter so the next one would be in January, February, or March.
Regards,
Vic
9 Likes
Hi Vic,
First of all, thanks for organizing this! With all the combinations of gear available, I still had a few things that I didn’t have a chance to try that, in retrospect, I would have liked to.
From a gear perspective, for me, I was wowed by both the Susvara and Caldera. Very cool. With the Caldera being a perfect answer to the question: what would a planar sound like if ZMF did a planar :).
That said, 90% of the value for me was chatting with other enthusiasts. So thanks to everyone else who attended, I learned something from all of you. Let’s do this again, soon.
4 Likes
Just as I predicted above:
I didn’t listen to much and spent too much time rambling on about things. 
@xiaoyaoyou Thanks for hosting and allowing me to meet everyone who I’ve seen post on here or on Discord before for the first time. It was great to see and listen to everyone’s background and experiences and to see the cool gear that you all own.
Those old skool Beyer’s are very cool looking and built like a tank. And love your RAD-0 look! @hk57
The Schiit Folkvangr is really great looking. I didn’t actually get to listen to them, but maybe next time! After seeing it in person, I kind of wish I had known about them earlier. They popped up and sold when I was taking a short hiatus from audio this summer.
And finally, now that you all heard the Caldera, just a reminder, they go on sale tomorrow.
no pressure @xiaoyaoyou
3 Likes
Thanks for coming out and putting up with the rest of the ramblers. 
Oh, I haven’t forgotten. 
I spent this entire day listening to my LCD-X 2021s on the G/FV combo and it’s a very engaging trinity, so I’m still thinking about a Caldera. However, I’m not sure I want to be an early adopter as Nikon has a lens sale tempting my other bad habit and there are still a couple of B-stock cherry Atriums available.
Regards,
Vic
3 Likes