Kamran
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So I finally sit in my own rig, wearing Don’s Cryotone tee with a badge of honor (thank you Don!) and trying to figure out how to make sense of the past two days and moreover, how to capture it in words.
The Approach and the Entry:
I may have been the only dude who flew in (I think). Met up with John at the hotel and after a hurried lunch at Chef Moussa and a pour over at the excellent 3030 cafe, we made our big entry to Decfest, which included me parking in Steve’s driveway and then realizing there was other parking available for attendees (oops). Hurriedly filled up our name card lanyards and entered the lions den! As I entered the listening room, my first impression was that wow, it looks smaller compared to the pictures and YouTube videos! Sarah was hooked up to the house speakers and here the impression was the complete opposite. I was like wow, these speakers look ginormous compared to the pictures and Youtube videos!
After mentally digesting the differences in size of the room vs. speakers, John and I listened to a few tracks, and I started to question my sanity since the polarity of the speakers seemed to be reversed. Was I the one hearing it wrong (reversed) the whole time in my rig or were the house speaker wires not hooked up to the right channels? I eventually voiced my concern and to my relief, John and other people also agreed it was off. Informed Steve and he was quick to thank us and switched the cables. Sanity restored.
The Deckert Fam:
Meeting Steve was a dream come true. He was welcoming, always available to answer questions, without resorting to salesmanship. He let his gear do the selling and I really appreciated that. Hung out with Sarah around the fire-pit and we chatted about our kids. She also made sure to hand me my new Decware speaker cables that I had them hold for me. Devon made sure all of us were taken care of and had set up a tent with food and multiple coolers filled with bottomless drinks. The Pizza on the second night was out of this world, not that I want to take anything away from the hot dogs and chili on the first day! The snack bar was always full of yummy things to munch on. The level of care the Deckert’s took to ensure we were always looked after didn’t go unnoticed. Thank you for being such gracious hosts!
The People:
This is such a lonely hobby. After two years of conversing in various online forums (which frankly, can be dicey at times), it was such a welcome change to interact with people one on one, who are fellow travelers of the same rabbit hole. The conversations we had were enlightening, educational, and beneficial. I can’t recall all of the names/monikers, but thank you Eric, Dan, Don, Tom, Ryan, and Nigel for your feedback. I learned a lot from each of you and hopefully, added some meaningful experiences of my own to the mix. A special shout out to Randy who worked tirelessly both days to accommodate listeners in the shed and move around his gear so attendees could listen to different drivers. I certainly made him get up a few times and change stuff around and he was always happy to oblige. Overall though, every single person was amazing. I frankly didn’t know what to expect being a rookie in a sea of people who have been at this for a long time. The kindness, attention, and warmth I received, rocked me on my heels. The Sunday breakfast with all of you was the icing on the proverbial cake.
Sarah (The Amp)
Came away with my heart pounding, goosebumps, and a realization that I need to save up way more in the intervening months before my turn is up. It felt simultaneously intimate and bombastic (in a good way) with appreciably blacker backgrounds, allowing micro details to emerge, without sounding too analytical/dry. The resolution was something to behold—the words palpable and captivating come to mind. The dynamic range was superb and never fatiguing (but I guess none of Steve’s amps are fatiguing). It paired well with both the Open Baffles and the Decware’s new bookshelf speaker (T6). The latter blindsided everyone on the second day. (More of this in the speaker section). I liked it with both the WE and Cryotone 300b tubes.
All the rest: I listened to the original SE84UFO, the 25th anniversary edition with the accompanying pre, the Rachel, the ZMA and the Torii Mono’s. While there is/was no bad amp in the mix, I just longed to listen to the Sarah when it was not on.
Speakers:
Open Baffle—It was my first time listening to an Open Baffle with the uber popular F-15 Driver.
It was love at first listen…
After considering both the Zen Masters and Randy’s baffles, I ordered the Magnum baffles from Randy and plan to order the drivers soon. Although they are tinier then I would have preferred, I figured it would be a good way to test OB in my rig and decide whether I want to go bigger.
The House Speakers—Initially, I wasn’t impressed, but they definitely grew on me, sounding tight and precise, especially paired with the Torii Mono’s.
Steve’s new T6 Bookshelf—We all expected Sarah and Open Baffles to sound good, but no one saw this coming. The performance of this new bookshelf that Steve has developed (and apparently not even QC’d yet?) was mind boggling. From top to bottom, the sonic output of these speakers belied it’s size. If I was in to bookshelf speakers, I wouldn’t look any further. Perhaps for a second system some day….
The Music:
It was also a very good opportunity to hear other musical tastes and I bookmarked several different tracks and artists who I intend to explore further now that I am back home. That said, I’d request Steve to think about providing a tablet with Roon on it so anyone evaluating multiple tracks can do so without getting up and leaving the room to set or request the next track on the iMac in the workshop. That was a bit jarring, though a huge nod of thanks to the various DJ’s who had our backs during the listening sessions—you know who you are.
All in all, a memorable experience. I long to return.
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Decware’s ZenFest 2022 Takeaways (Read 4154 times)
