Wes Phillips

I'll soon be heading off to the Second Annual International Head-Fi Meet in San Jose on April 21 and 22. I went to the NY Meet last year and I had a ball. This year's event is going to be bigger and, I'm betting, better.

What's a Head-Fi meet? I'm glad I asked: Essentially, it's one of the ways headphone enthusiasts respond to the solitary nature of listening to headphones. Many can do-ers have already created an online community through the Head-Fi forums and the annual Meets and the smaller regional meets are chances for them to get together and create a real-world analog to their online community.

And, since headphone rigs are portable (at least compared to those involving 200lb. loudspeakers), participants frequently bring along their systems, allowing one another to experience a much larger cross-section of what's out there than most "normal" audiophiles can. (Yes, I know "normal audiophile" is an oxymoron.)

And, lucky me, I get to moderate a panel discussion with headphone amplifier manufacturers on Saturday night. Last year's panel with headphone designers got pretty lively.

For more info, go the the HeadFest page at Head-Fi.