I don't see anything posted regarding DECFEST 2015.

Watch the third video from the left at the top of the Forum Page and it says the first Friday in October.

As always, all of the gear on the Decware site will be here and available to listen to in dozens of combinations including those where you pair it with or against non-Decware gear should you elect to bring any.

Some of the new things this year will be the TORII JR. which will no doubt get a lot of play time.

The SE84UFO, TABOO, SE34I.4, SE84CKCS will all have the new UFO output transformers!

I can demo the 6C33 Monoblocks this year, as I feel I'm done with the voicing and happy with them.

There will be also be a chance to listen to my latest project, the "DECWARE PILL" aka Precision Audio Clarifier, which is certain to blow some peoples minds....  It's what every audiophile has wanted since the beginning of the hobby... a simple passive device that largely fixes sound quality issues.

And we should be able to at least look at the production prototype of the new balanced preamp I've been working on.

Also with any luck there will be new speakers to listen to, including Randy's if he brings them again this year!

Source components will be the ZDSD and the ZCD240, ZP3 with my best cartridge (a DECFEST 1st) and my Tape machines.

There will also be a couple new Tube Boxes that we intend to put into production.  They are used to store your favorite input tubes.  A product for tube rollers.

Naturally there will be lots of good beer, food, the bond fire and plenty of room for tents should anyone want to just pass out after a late night of listening.

We genuinely look forward to everyone's arrival and if you can't make any of those three days, we will be broadcasting live at 320bps all three days.

Steve

Great idea.  I have a mobile kitchen I use when I sail/camp.  Let me know if you need me to bring anything and what $$ you need.

When we get closer to October - make up a list of things you might need help with, and I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure who or how many I'm bringing down with me. So I don't know if I'll have a lot of space, or very little space in my wagon - but I'm happy to help.

I am stoked about the fest this year.  Better make sure my hall pass is still valid.

Loads of options to listen to.  Love that we can just bring music on a SD card.  Add in some barbecue, sprinkle in some good ol audio bs'ing and you have a fest to beat the rest.  

Plus the stone man cometh.

PS. I may consume some wine.

Yes, there will be some LP's spun I'm sure. When you want to hear vinyl just come and find me and I will spin it for you!

In past years, I have always limited the risk of loss to that of a $350 Grado cartridge since vinyl and too many people don't mix well, especially when alcohol is involved

That's why when we played vinyl last year side by side with the tape machines the comment was made "When can we listen to the tape some more?"

This year, I'm going to use my best cartridge to show off how good a ZP3 really is, and the difference between the tape machines and turntable will be less than last year.  Tape machines are solid state, Vinyl rig is all tube, so the playing field is somewhat leveled now.  Next year I hope to have the tape machines all tube as well.

Steve

Quote:


Sure, no problem.

Wow, that's a little close for comfort.  Could have taken out the shop!

Are you going to be running your mac as a source again?  I am assuming in addition to LPs, we can bring music on an SD card and CDs?

I must say thanks for the uplifting timer at the left of the videos.  It helps me to realize how soon and special Zenfest is.  Just a bit more than 4 weeks and all can be right in an audio world!!!    ;)

Wow, Steve! That's mighty close to the shop! I hope you were kidding about the amp being stolen... Anyway, I'll be flying in from DC early Friday morning than driving from O'Hare. Will be spend all day and fly out Sat. morning. I'll have a few LP's in my carry-on  ;)  Haven't decided if I'll pitch a tent in your yard or stay at a hotel (since I'd have to buy the tent and all the other gear, the price is about the same. But let's see, if I have a tent, I can stay up late drinking more craft beers...  ::)

Cheers! Looking forward to meeting you in person Friday, Oct. 2nd!

I think Saturday will have more people.  I am doing Friday night Saturday day but that is out of necessity.

my Zenfest experience... Saturday afternoon is the busiest time.  If you want "alone time" or semi-alone time for extended listening.... come early(Friday) or stay late(Sunday) as far as Friday night and Sunday night... listen very early in the morning... i.e. sometime between midnight and 9 a.m.

Steve posted :

"Also with any luck there will be new speakers to listen to, including Randy's if he brings them again this year!"

Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for your graciousness in allowing me to bring my speakers to the Zen Fest .....

I was extremely happy that they worked well with the Decware amplifiers at Zen Fest 2014 and the Zen amp / Caintuck Audio speaker combo was very well received at the recent Capital Audio Fest in MD.

I have been working on a few new things and they will be ready for the trip on Friday.  Based on what I'm hearing in my listening room with the venerable Zen B that I took to the Capital Fest, I think the new stuff will work very well with all of the fine Decware amplifiers that are currently in production .....

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday .....

Best wishes,

Randy

Wohoo...!  

I finally got the feed where I want it!  It's always a huge task to get the audio right not to mention the video for the stream.  This year I purchased some new hardware to handle the microphone feed.  It cost 4 times more than what I had, but just sounded like complete shit.  I finally had to pull the plug tonight and go back to what I know works, and boy does it work!  The audio broadcast of the fest will be better than ever this year, with a minimum of 24 bit 320 bps and as high as 640 bps it's getting the room really right.  You are listening to the room more than the speakers, which is actually more telling of how a speaker or amp  sounds compared to another speaker or amp.  

Once again I would like to thank Apple for costing me almost a grand and 6 hours of my time by by changing shit that worked perfectly until they changed it.

So as you can see I am putting the feed up at the top of the forum in video header.  It will also appear on the fest page as usual.  Unless I have issues with it in the forum, I will leave it in both places.

I'm getting pretty pumped

I like the idea of a fairly "set" room.  Less setup time = more music.

It always made me nervous carrying those heavier amps as well.

Last time I checked it looked like the weather is going to cooperate.

+1

Had a great time at Decfest yesterday. Thanks Steve for the wonderful laid back hospitality. Lots of great conversation and so nice to meet some of the forum superstars!
It was really nice to check out the differences between my Tori III, the IV, the Jr. and the ZMA. Most intrigued by the ZDSD.
Also, Palomino, you are hardcore. I saw you on the feed this morning at like 6:30. And you are still there at 10!

I've got my issues sorted out on the homestead, and I'm heading down your way soon. Will need to check into the hotel, then head to East Peoria.

See you all later this afternoon!

I was able to spend 24 hours at Zenfest.  I slept around 6 hours, but all the rest of it was spent talking, listening, drinking and eating - in that order, I think.

A few general thoughts and then I will list my impressions for whatever they are worth.

Devon and Steve were gracious hosts as always.  I wanted for nothing.  Devon even went back to the house and brought me something to eat after I missed dinner Friday night

The new somewhat fixed room layout really worked.  It was easy to switch out amps and speakers.  There was also a space in front of the amps to put your own gear.  All the cords still reached.

And just to plug this fest in general, where else can you go to shoot the audio bull with a large group of genuinely nice, helpful,  and knowledgeable people, hear some great music, evaluate gear and drink beer?

I believe Steve has had a prolific year, coming up with multiple new things that make a big difference.  Sitting around the campfire, he simply told me it comes in waves.

So I set out with these equipment review objectives:

1. Tori Jr
2. DNA horns with the MarkAudio drivers
3. Rachael with UFO transformers
4. Zen CDP/DSD

I'll list my impressions in no particular order.  Keep in mind that in order to control the review environment, I brought my own front end and I have my own version of the Monoliths.  For the most part, this limited other variables to the room/gear.

The Tori Jr delivers as promised.  Raven told me after he heard it that it sounded like the ZMA and I was looking for more information.  Well, there is not much more to say.  It sounds like the ZMA.  In fact, I stepped out and they switched amps and it was several songs before I figured out they had switched to the ZMA,  I had one concern and one thing that I want to hear more from others about.  One was the dual volume control.  I like a single volume control, but see the value of having two.  Just not what I am used to.  The other thing is that I found the Jr easier to overdrive.  I think the ratio of output from the DSD and/or my DAC to the volume controls on the Jr need some careful attention.

I was impressed as well with DNA horns.  After hearing these and the larger brother to the 10P, I feel these drivers have a distinct signature and its one that I think I like, but it may not be for everyone.  They are crisp, punchy and have great defined bass in the DNA cabinets.  

The best emotional connection I made with a combination at the fest was with the Rachael UFOs and the DNA horns.  I don't know if it was because it was the first combo I heard early Saturday morning when I had the room to myself or what, but I was entranced for about 30 minutes.  So I can say that the UFOs benefit both the Zen and the Rachael.

The surprise performer at the fest for me and I think a few other people were the El Caminos.  These debuted at the last fest and Eric and I built a pair with Bob's direction, but the pair in Steve's room simply sounded better.  Chris also has a pair on loan from Bob and he said the pair in Steve's room also sounded better.  Anyway, as the fest progressed I found these speaker figuring prominently in the rotation.  

Unfortunately, my digital front end spent a lot of time in the mix during the time I was there.  When Chris was out of the room, people were a little timid about using the CDP/DSD.  This did give me a good feel for how my gear compared to this combo.  I was also able to put my SD card into a USB adapter and play my music through both.  In this configuration, the CDP pulled the files and passed them to the DAC in the DSD.  Balanced output from the DSD fed Steve's conversion box to RCAs out the amp.

Anyway, I felt that my Mac Mini setup did fairly well.  It was hard to match the output in order to really tell, but in the end with matched output levels, the CDP/DSD combo puts out more density.  Not thick and slow, but rich and fast.  Also, I heard more detail from the DSD.

I failed again this year to adequately hear Randy's open baffles.  I heard about two songs, but it was late and I had to get some sleep.

I was impressed by the copper beeswax caps in Marcocolo Tori Mark III that he had plugged in for a few songs.

I was disappointed that my front end was in as much as it was and thus my music was listened to a lot.  I am pretty bored with it.  I did, however, shazam a good amount of music and will be searching for it today.

The systems all sounded really good.  There were no disappointments this year.  I think the UFO transformers and Steve's new sources raised the level of play.  I consistently heard things in familiar music that were both new and very pleasing.  A good, short fest for me.

The "new" standard driver for the DNA is the MarkAudio Alpair 10P I believe.  Not an expensive driver if you are DIY oriented.

I can see how the dual volume controls can help.

I did the "I am back from Zenfest and need to see how my room/equipment compares" test.  It faired pretty well.  I really liked how expansive Steve's image is in that bigger room.  Mine is large but mostly generated via diffusers.  Steve's is deep and wide and has more "air".

In terms of my system sound, it sounds pretty good, but I think there is an additional level of detail that I heard - primarily in the bass definition - that the ZMA/Jr/UFO Rachaels get.

One other test I did but forgot to post about.  I did a regen comparison in vs out on my rig.  I think there were only 3 or 4 people in the room.  I definitely heard the difference and I think Paul did too.  John would have to weigh in on what difference he heard.

Well, what can I say... this was my first DecFest - caught a 6:00 a.m. flight to Chicago from D.C. Friday morning, drove 2.5 hours to E. Peoria, arrived at Steve's around 10:30, met wonderful people, listened all damn day until 2:00 a.m. (while sampling craft beers), slept in Steve's yard, got up at 7:00 and listened some more until I had to drive back to the airport around 8:30 a.m. -- whew! What a whirlwind of about 32 hours -- I'm still on stimulus overload!!! Too much to take in in too little time!

Before I give some impressions, let me start by thanking Devon and Steve for being such gracious hosts and providing a cozy environment and making me feel right at home (not to mention plenty of good food and drink).

Secondly, I would like to say I met a hell of a bunch of really nice guys:

Chris - I have to start with you - a big thank you goes out to you for spinning all my vinyl and swamping amps in and out for me to compare - I really appreciate your gracious willingness to help out in so many ways, including lots of good discussion.

To all the other guys, sorry I don't remember all your names, but the few that I do:
Palomino, I enjoyed listening to music from your collection, great discussions, and listening to Holly Cole sing "I Don't Want To Grow Up" 7:30 Sat. morning with the Tori Jr was magical.
Tim, the recording engineer, I enjoyed our discussions about the biz
Marco, enjoyed listening to your hot-rodded Mk III and discussions about digital and you proved to me that digital can sound damn good!
Mike, enjoyed our discussions about ALL your gear – wow, what do you “not” have…
Randy, thanks for demoing your speakers, really nice presence for vocals
Bill, enjoyed learning about your speaker cabinet building adventures and seeing your work – exquisite!
And thanks to the guy who offered me his spare tent – I enjoyed our conversations
To the other guy that brought vinyl, I enjoyed talking with you and seeing pics of your turntable rig.

My impressions:  I came to DecFest to audition the ZMA, the Mk IV, and the Jr. Chris spun my vinyl and switched amongst all three amps playing the same set of songs so that I could compare. To my ears (and we all know listening/hearing is subjective, right guys?), the ZMA and Jr. sounded very clear and detailed, but there was just something missing as far as sound stage and warmth – then I heard the Mk IV, and bam! It was all there… it had plenty of detail but backed it with the girth and warmth that I thought was missing when I auditioned the ZMA and Jr.  When Chris spun up my Decca first pressing of The Who’s Tommy on tracks The Amazing Journey and Sparks, with the Mk IV, I not only heard soundstage width, but depth… something I’ve never experienced before! Keith Moon’s drums were dead center stage, BUT… they were located about 20 feet back from where I was sitting – it sounded as if he was playing them right in front of the leopard carpet hanging on the back wall of Steve’s listening room! I was transfixed and astounded to say the very least.

That was it as far as I was concerned – the Mk IV was my Holy Grail and knew at that moment that would be the Zen amp I would be purchasing. Later that night I asked Steve why I didn’t hear the deep depth on the ZMA and Jr.? Steve explained that the ZMA and Jr. were designed for linearity and detail; the Mk IV was designed and tuned for depth and a really big sound stage. So, I had a logical explanation and that sealed the deal for me and told Steve I’d be putting in my order for a Mk IV. Case closed.

Early Saturday morning, Palomino was listening to the Rachel, and knowing that I had to leave in about 90 minutes to drive back to O’Hare to catch a flight, he very graciously asked me if there was an amp I wanted to listen to before leaving and I told him I’d like to try the Jr. one more time. I listened to his front end playing the Holly Cole track IDWTGU. Well, besides being able to hear her every breath in and around the mic, the very delicate and light buzzing and rattling of the upright bass which was being plucked very lightly, this amp, as opposed to the day before, had the warmth that I accused it of lacking… What the hell! Chris came in and joined our listening session and said, “That amp grew a pair of balls overnight!” We all agreed but couldn’t figure out why. Then Chris remembered that with all the back and forth comparisons on Friday, a couple of the amps were left on and the Jr. idled for about three hours, and since it was a new production unit, those three hours were apparently crucial to completing part of its break-in cycle. Damn! By then, I had to leave to catch a plane and didn’t have time to spin up my vinyl of The Who so I could use my reference tracks so it would be apples to apples.

So now, I’m in a quandary… and yes, I am losing sleep over it! My gut instinct is to go with the Mk IV because a holographic image is important to me even if it means giving up some detail, but I just can’t get the sound of that last listen to the Jr. out of my mind. Uhg!!! Lesson learned:   fellow Zen’ers who have never gone to a DecFest but plan to:  don’t try to do it in one day… Next year I plan on at least two days! As Chris would say, “The second day is usually when the “magic” happens!”

Anyway, I just want to close by saying even if I owned every piece of gear that Steve produces, I would still come to DecFest just because I have never met a bunch of nice and generous guys to hang out with, drink beer, listen with, and discuss audio engineering all damn day and night! Hope to talk to you guys online between now and next year’s DecFest!  Cheers!

DecFest 2015 was certainly not a disappointment .....

As always, the Decware family hospitality was over the top and it was a pleasure to visit with some old friends and make a few new ones.

In years past, I was never 100% happy with the sound of the bass in the demo room ..... but Steve pulled off a serious miracle to make the bass in the room wonderful this year.

Tight, deep and tuneful ..... it was simply top shelf .....

I had a chance to spend some time with almost every Decware amplifier and loudspeaker.  Impressive ..... one and all.
Picking a "winner" would be a very difficult thing because everything I heard was very, very good.
On Sunday, after everyone else had cleared out, a couple of gentlemen came in and Steve treated them to some wonderful music via his reel to reel tape machine and the ZMA amplifier.
That was as close to a live performance as I have ever heard.
The scale, sound stage and tonality were truly a wonder to behold.
I have been in this hobby a long time and have never heard anything better. Anyone wanting to hear what is possible and looking for a "benchmark" to reach for should make the trip to Peoria to experience this system.  You will not be disappointed .....

Late on Friday night I tried to set up a pair of the speakers I brought to the Fest.
The way everything was laid out, the speakers were in a seriously "nearfield" position in relation to the listening seat and I was severely disappointed in the sound .....

However, on Saturday I moved a few things around to give them a little breathing room and the Rachel amp brought them to life .....
I was also able to hear them with the Mini Torii and the SE84UFO.

Wow .....
Steve is not just woofin' about how good the new transformers are.
That little two watt amplifier can really sing .....

Once again, thanks to all those who contributed to make this year's event a real treat.

Looking forward to DecFest 2016 .....

Randy

Hopefully a couple simple questions...

1) About how loud was the music playing in the room?  I'm sure it varied throughout the weekend, but did anyone take any measurements?  It seemed fairly loud on the video feed.
2) About how far were the speakers from the listening position (couch)?  How far were the speakers from the front wall?  Is  the room treated?   You can't see any treatments from the video feed.
3) Were the digital sources being fed directly to the amps via RCA or was there something else in the signal path?

The 6c33c monos were played briefly. I don’t think they were on long enough to fully warm up, however their sound improved all the time they were on. I think they started to show some of the magic of Steve’s OTL towards the end, but it’s hard to tell as I have only heard the OTL once a year ago and everything has changed since then (music, room layout, DAC etc.) I remain very interested in them as there is a quality to the sound that is just wonderful, and unfortunately hard to put into words. I’m looking forward to hearing them again, hopefully a finished fully warmed up version, at next year’s Decfest.

I’d also like to thank Steve, DeVon, and everyone else involved for putting on another wonderful Decfest. It would be very hard to exaggerate how valuable, educational, and enjoyable this event is.