Believe High Fidelity 95.99% RMAF coverage

BruceD

VIP/Donor
Dec 13, 2013
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Hi B HiFi, Thank you for the Photos and look forward to your observations. That is a superb camera and especially the Nocti lens--if I may be so bold as to say

to make things possibly little easier for you next show --I'd try--

Up the ISO to say 400/800--this will give you a better shutter--trying to hold still at half sec is no mean feat;)! plus will allow use of say f8 or so for superior depth of Field.

The increased ISO will allow a tad more detail into the darks also--especially with shooting in camera Jpgs which colour process with the file as shot.

With your time to post constraints I fully understand no post manipulation was possible here.

We whom are unable to attend these shows are exceedingly grateful for the effort to bring these Pics and comments to the Forums.

Grateful thanks again

BruceD
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
Nov 19, 2015
1,665
318
355
Hutto TX
ibelieveinhifi.com
Hi B HiFi, Thank you for the Photos and look forward to your observations. That is a superb camera and especially the Nocti lens--if I may be so bold as to say

to make things possibly little easier for you next show --I'd try--

Up the ISO to say 400/800--this will give you a better shutter--trying to hold still at half sec is no mean feat;)! plus will allow use of say f8 or so for superior depth of Field.

The increased ISO will allow a tad more detail into the darks also--especially with shooting in camera Jpgs which colour process with the file as shot.

With your time to post constraints I fully understand no post manipulation was possible here.

We whom are unable to attend these shows are exceedingly grateful for the effort to bring these Pics and comments to the Forums.

Grateful thanks again

BruceD

Oh Bruce you are so right. I didn't want to do any editing in post and shooting in jpeg left little to no room anyway for it. Was concerned going up in ISO would be more challenging to get a good shot in less light without having to look at them until after the day was done and see a lot of noise. Couldn't make any adjustments for it on the fly since I had some sort of alcoholic beverage the whole time I was going room to room :)
 

BruceD

VIP/Donor
Dec 13, 2013
1,509
576
540
Oh Bruce you are so right. I didn't want to do any editing in post and shooting in jpeg left little to no room anyway for it. Was concerned going up in ISO would be more challenging to get a good shot in less light without having to look at them until after the day was done and see a lot of noise. Couldn't make any adjustments for it on the fly since I had some sort of alcoholic beverage the whole time I was going room to room :)

Ha!--Alcohol--"The more the Blurrier":eek:

--considering the light extremes or lack of you did pretty well but I'd look at upping from Half sec if poss next time:p

No Noise is not a problem much anymore with the latest Cameras ( don't EVER switch on NR or similar if your camera has it inbuilt!!)

400 ISO you will be fine..

Good shooting,

BruceD
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
I thought the photos were exquisite, but I don't know the first thing about photography :) I just thought they were impressive. Some looked right out of a professionally produced brochure/catalog.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
3,899
2,141
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Nice pics, thanks!
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
Nov 19, 2015
1,665
318
355
Hutto TX
ibelieveinhifi.com
It was an interesting show to say the least. Attendance is not as heavy as I remember it to be, but all in all that allowed for a lot of space in the rooms to sit as indulge in the music.

Naturally as an industry participant I am expected to back my own horse and I do :) However, I will let the press do the talking on that one and will give you my impressions of the rooms outside of any of my influence that I enjoyed at least once or twice (if not more). I will refrain from any negative feedback on rooms as there were a lot of good/great sounding ones for me to comment on. If you want to know about a room that wasn't included you can pm me and I will do my best to give you some feedback on it. Be adults and realize it is just my opinions and not to be taken as gospel in any way.

Sanders Sound - While not delivering huge dynamics or tremendous staging it did what it did very well. Tonal clarity was excellent (as with most well setup dipoles) and the designer placed chairs in a single file row to give everyone a great opportunity to hear what the speakers could do. He played a instrumental track with drums and there was definition to the instruments and thwacks were nice and tight. For the price this was a very good value in hifi.

Tidal Audio/TheVoiceThatIs- I was very impressed day 1 with this room when I walked in hearing an exciting jazz combo that had plenty of energy and life to the music. We talked for some time about the challenges of the room and in spite of its almost perfectly square layout there was no noticeable bass hump or booming and the imaging was spot on. A lot of depth to the sound and the look of the electronics and speakers are among the most sexy and classy as I have seen. I spent at least 2-3 songs in this room across 2 listening sessions.

Ayon Audio/Lumen White - Another great room. Very surprised by this one as it was using the long wall and not much space between the seated spots, but they pulled it off very well. They played some London Grammer that really opened up the stage way beyond the walls of the room. Really engaging tonality and accurate sound with very fleshed out vocals.

PS Audio/Focal - Chatted with Bill Leebens about the lack of bass they had using line arrays and outboard subs at the prior show. Not this time. Using some heavy duty REL subs and their setup expertise the Focals and PS audio electonics really came alive. I often debate the JL VS REL subs and I am seeing REL pull away more and more as a clear winner in the high end sub performance. Soundstage was nice and wide and the BHK gave a full depth to the music while retaining a very relaxed 2/3rd row presentation. Very good tonal quality to the BHK amps and solid tight bass.

Vandersteen/AQ - There is something about that midrange driver!!?? I had the pleasure to use the Model 5A Carbons at Newport last year and having a whole year of not hearing them I really is obvious they have developed an amazing driver. They front end didnt help really make it shine, but there was enough there to make for an enjoyable listening session

Constellation - Like the Vandersteen, the Continuum turntable was just awesome. So much meaty....everything to the sound. It was so obvious in this room since the vast majority of the rooms were very thin and hollow. I heard the Alexia II in this sound much better than the Nagra room, but still not as much full range room filling sound as I was hoping from this model

Lampizator/Salk - Of course I needed to hear the new Pacific DAC while at RMAF. Lucaz was kind enough to give me a private demo and afterwards we discussed our other hobby of cameras and he pulled out his big boy full frame. The sound was really engaging on tracks and not some much on others. Listening for the quality of the DAC it was clear that this is a very good dac and I thought very limited by the speakers. The 4in/5in? woofer was good but you could tell there was more that wasn't being delivered on better speakers. Still, giving that limitation I stayed for 3-4 songs and overall left very satisfied.

Von Schweikert/GTT Room - This room sounded excellent on the main system with the Kronos TT, but it was the back room that impressed me more. The integrated Audionet amplifier on the less extravagant VR speakers was so musical in a smaller room. Not nearly as much stage and depth to the music but tonally knocked it out of the park

Avalon/Spectral - They did an amazing job of fixing a hotel room to sound as good a custom built room using very exotic helmholz resonators and traps to a very neutral and quiet space to make music. They did not permit attendees to use their own cd's during the 30 min time slot, but I managed to convince Keith and Neil to allow it before the next group came in. Keith's Reference Recordings were obviously great and showcased the strengths of the full system, but was also very dry and lacked tonal quality and weight to the music. If this were not the case it would have been among my top 3. Maybe if they used Aries Cerat gear......? :)

Raidho/Aavik - The new XT speakers were very good and the song selection was also excellent. Stayed for about 3 tracks and on the 3rd got the sweet spot. Lot of depth to the music with fast transients on the highs and smooth midrange with a fairly wide soundstage. Bass was pretty tight and full blending well with the speaker.

Gamut/Pear Audio - This room had some great R2R music using their own R2R card which allowed them to bypass the pre in the deck. I loved listening to it. 2 songs in and I was having a ball. It wasn't doing anything extremely well, but as a whole it was very well rounded and very musically satisfying.

Larsen/Dr Vinyl - Another room using the Pear Audio TT and weird corner designed speakers that I had a preconceived notion would be utterly terrible. Boy was I wrong! This had HUGE Stage and WAYYYYY deep 3D sound. I discussed with the host Jose Ramirez and if only the dynamics were not the only limiting factor it would be an easy ballpark homerun. As a former panel lover i wouldn't find a need to consider stats given the have the same sonic limitation on the top end, but sooo much better on the midrange.

Headphones - I did get a chance to listen to a few cans while I was there. Large majority had horrible digital glare, but in the end I found three solid offerings from Final (both open and closed back), Mr Speakers, and Hifi man. Would take any of them home with a good front end.

Cheers
 

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