CanJam 2009 Impressions

[Jasper994]

Originally Posted by Edwood

Whew. CanJam went by so quickly. Wish it was longer, yet I'm so glad CanJam is over at the same time.

So awesome to meet friends old and new. And especially meeting the real people behind the usernames I've known for so long.

Need to recuperate, I'm on babysitting duty today, giving my wife a break.

Will post better impressions later, but I really didn't get a chance to listen to as much gear as I wanted.

Thanks so much to all my fellow organizers, volunteers, vendors, family, and members in general.

Wanted to give you all a list of the Organizers that made CanJam 2009 possible.
Along with running around all the time during the meet helping out everyone and everything, we all had our specialties in the preparations and planning before the meet as well:


jp11801 - "THE Man".
Our lead organizer, leading the charge, taking all the big complaints, and adding piles and piles of stress into his life, and deflecting it with a big smile. Helped keep the budget straight, dealt with the hotel and vendors. And made several trips down to LA to scout out the hotels. Every CanJam starts with a single person. A person that steps up as Lead Organizer, and gets the ball rolling.

909 - "The Visionary".
Had a clear vision of the look and feel for this CanJam from the beginning. Without whom, the overall theme, and especially the T-Shirts would never have existed. He also dealt with the hotel, and spent a lot of time negotiating rates and scouting hotels as well. And did I mention he spent a lot of time helping getting those T-Shirts looking so awesome?

velogreg - "The Closer".
Can sell refrigerators to eskimos, and then get them to sign up as a vendor at CanJam. Signed up so many Vendors to come to CanJam, including many first time Vendors that I had no idea what their company made until the show. We had no fewer than 34 Vendors this year at CanJam. Not a single empty table.

Jasper994 - "The Printer".
Did you like that badge you wore around your neck? Or perhaps the brochure map you used to look up where that Vendor and gear you wanted to check out? Or even all those sweet signs in the halls and on the rooms that help point the way for you? Well thank this guy.

Iron_Dreamer - "The Traveler".
Probably logged the most highway miles driving up and down from NorCal to SoCal. Even came down the weekend before CanJam and stayed to whole week to help with logistics, setup, and printing. Also managed the Member table sign ups and layouts.

LFF - "The Ninja".
One of the most understated members of Head-Fi, and amazing music afficionado. Our behind the scenes guy and filled in the blanks to help out, particularly the days of the event.

Thanks also to our Volunteers, who helped out with running CanJam this weekend, and spending time sitting in the Badge Pick Up Registration instead of having extra time to listen to gear.
Thanks you, Morphsci, cetoole, zippy2001, jjhatfield, naamanf, Frank Cooter, grawk, guzziguy, bhd812(Pretty Princess), and all the other "Green Shirts" I may have forgotten.

Also a special thanks to our CanJam Mentors:
Voltron, Tyrion, and immtbiker.
They imparted their wisdom from their experience with past International Head-Fi meets. We, the organizers of CanJam 2009 look forward to doing the same for the organizers of CanJam 2010.

And let's not forget:

Edwood - "The Designer".
Who brought the high-end look of CES and E3 to Head-Fi? Why the man that never misses either show, and whose dedication to all things headphone is virtually unparalleled. He is the artist and designer that created all of the wonderful graphics adorning the t-shirts, posters, signs, and brochures you all enjoyed so much.

[Jasper994]

First and foremost, I want to thank JP for quarterbacking the whole event.

Ed, and Peter, you guys ROCK! Thanks so much for all your help. The printing would have never gotten done in time without all the hours you guys spent helping me.

Dave, the t-shirts came out awesome! Thanks for all the other hard work you did as well...

Greg, man, I thought I could sell stuff... Amazing work getting all the vendors to come out!

Luis, thanks for being everyone's right hand man!

[Audio-Omega]

Somebody was watching House of Flying Daggers.

[amphead]

Well here I am at CanJam rocking out to fugue in D minor. Thanks Vicki for letting me try these!

















Seriously though I just got back from a long drive home from CanJam. I'll post some impressions tomorrow. ;-)

[paddo]

I see very little impressions about the new Shures. Did they get put on backburner as HD800 and HF2 came out? Also would like to know if anyone listened to the Zune from Ultrasone.

But otherwise, keep them coming!!

[apatN]

Originally Posted by amphead

Is that who I think it is?

+ YouTube Video

YouTube - Might Putty Dub!

[SiBurning]

nevermind

[SiBurning]

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer

Hehe, well that was me, and I didn't put it quite like that. More like I was wondering who was using an f/3.5-5.6 lens and no flash, and whether they expected to get anything usable. Looks like you did ok.

Wait until you see the picture of you from dinner!

Can't wait. Just remember, this is a family site.

And, of course you didn't say it like that. But that's how I was feeling. Was trying to play with the camera settings to see what happens, but I have a lot to learn. Just to show some of the better ones...

The King of Bling...


... get up there so often and so fast, he's just a blur...


the semi-invisible audiophile

[jp11801]

Well, it's the morning after a long drive back from L.A and wanted to share some quick thanks and impressions.

I can't thank the team enough there is no way a single person could have pulled this off. Aaron, Dave, Ed, Greg, Luis and Peter you guys are the best! Ed thanks for saying what was in my head but am too burnt to state clearly.

Al thanks for getting Steve Hoffman and Joe Harley to the event and kicking that off and then being Steve's DJ. That talk was one of many highlights of CanJam for me. You may have future in the MC business as your introduction of Steve and Joe was stellar.

Vicky, thanks for your help during Kathy Peck's talk I know Kathy really appreciated it. I'm sorry I had to run off to an emergency as Kathy knows her stuff and is a fun listen.

All the volunteers that stepped up and helped with registration and were the overall eyes and ears of the event, this is what our community is about and my heartfelt thanks to all.

To all the vendors that either came to the event or donated merchandise my deepest thanks and appreciation without your support this event is almost impossible.

Attendees, many new faces and lost of familiar ones as well. These events for me are first and foremost about connecting with fellow members. I had a blast meeting folks and having a beer or ... at the pool party and event at Father's Office.

Lastly, Jude thanks for countless hours on the phone working out all the details with me and for giving L.A. the opportunity to host.

Ok I didn't get to listen to much but what I did hear did really impress me.

Audeze Headphones Wow I did not know what to expect as I had never heard of these guys prior to them contacting us to attend. This was the surprise of the meet for me and I want a pair of these when the get released. Fast headphones are right up my alley and these were fast with nice tone. I'll be interested to see how they develop. You can tell that Sankar and his partner are passionate about sound and have put their all into these.

Head-Direct First off I have to state that Fang and wife are a total class act and it is clear he loves what he does. The HiFiman, Fang hooked me up with a quick listen at vendor check in Friday and I was really impressed, total audiophile sound quality in a small package. I like the digital card aspect as it helps not having a HD spinning for battery life and internal memory would have limited the units capacity. I also got a listen to Fang's new planar headphones and thought they were great the bass stood out for me in a great way plenty of definition and speed on the low end with nice mids and highs. I wish I could have heard these and the Audeze side by side and with better amps but I'm sure in the next year that will happen.

TTVJ Todd's room was a blast with so many great headphones and amps. I briefly listened to the HD800s with the 307a and WOW, nice combo and backed up my thoughts that the HD800s would scale well after hearing them at CES with the benchmark. The Grado PS1000s were winners perhaps besting the PS1s that I love dearly, weight was less of an issue with the PS1000s as the bagel pads distribute the weight better than flats or bowls. Lastly were the HF-2 from Grado awesome headphone and what a cool thing for Todd and John Grado to do for the community. I'll need some more time with these but yes the mini PS1 thing is pretty close IMHO.

Woo Audio The Woo folks are great people and build some of the nicest stuff out there. I only got to listen to the Woo5 with Jack's new digital device with some HD800s and all the stress I was feeling vanished. Great sound I have always liked the Woo 5 but I need to keep an eye on this new digital player from Woo as it is a next level device and sounded outstanding.
I also listened briefly to the Woo 2 and man oh man it is still a favorite of mine and it is my recommendation for a tube amp in the under $1500 category.

JH Audio Everything that has been said about the JH13s so far is true and then some. I've liked alot of the previous IEMS that are out there but these are taking the custom IEM segment to the next level. Again the stand outs for me are the tonal texure and detail, one of the things I look for is drum sounds. DO you just hear the thack of the stick hitting the head or do you hear the shell and decay of the strike? Well the JH13s passed every test I could throw at it. Jerry is going to be a busy man making all these beauties.

I know I heard a few more things Sunday night and there is more to say but gotta head out to return to the real world (work)

[Audio-Omega]

Did anyone listen to HD800 powered by a portable amp ?

[Edwood]

Originally Posted by Audio-Omega

Did anyone listen to HD800 powered by a portable amp ?

Yep, tried them with my HeadAmp Pico at both CES and at CanJam. Sounds good. Didn't really get enough time to do any head to head comparo, but I will this Thursday.

[ironbut]

Originally Posted by Edwood

Yep, tried them with my HeadAmp Pico at both CES and at CanJam. Sounds good. Didn't really get enough time to do any head to head comparo, but I will this Thursday.

I'd like to add that the HD800's have a fantastic fit (at least with my melon). They're super comfy and for full sized + headphones, are snug and secure with a real "put 'em on and forget they're there" comfort. Very similar feel to the K701's in that they're very light with a large diameter earcup.
I don't know if I'd wear $1400 cans to the skatepark and do 360's, but you probably could.

[Lil' Knight]

That Sonic Weld USB to S/PDIF converter looks interesting. Anyone tried that one?

[ironbut]

Since a couple of folks wanted some details about Craig's new tube phono preamp I sent him an email and here's what he said;

"The phono pre harkens back to my first days with vinyl, 1963 it was the Beatles invasion. My Dad was an electrical engineer for Bell Telephone, and I asked him to help me make a Hi Fi. Back then it was still mono. He had an old Garrard turntable, and we built the phono pre, and amplifier with parts from the ham shack. The pre was a 12AX7 based amplifier with passive eq. The power amplifier was a 2A3 with a Fisher output transformer. The speaker was a 12" Electro Voice full range mounted in the wall between my bedroom, and storage room in the basement. This is how vinyl sounded back then. Years later, 45 to be exact, I finally realized I was not going to get that little bit of nostalgia back without re-visiting the past. Several iterations later, about a year of messing around with different pre's, solid-state FET, transistor and hybrid, the classic 12AX7 passive eq was the only one that sounded right, enter the ECPP. The pre uses two gain stages, two passive eq's for the RIAA curve, and a cathode follower buffer, three 12AX7's in all. It will come with the new Russian made Mullard 12AX7 which is remarkably quiet, and has that classic sound. I recommend the pre looks into 100K or higher, but it will still sounded good loaded with 50K. The ECPP is a two cartridge phono pre with user selectable loading. There are two gas tight barrier strips on the board allowing the user to set the input resistance, and capacitance loading for moving magnet cartridges. There is also a plug in board option for moving coil transformers. The power supply is a classic passive RC type filter, and is external. The basic pre with tubes and power supply is $900.00. The moving coil transformer plug ins are $150.00 for each stereo pair. I was using the Denon 103 cartridge at the show which has an average to low moving coil output. The throughput gain was on par with my DAC. I will post pictures and full spec's, as the pre gets closer to production.

Great sounding and just like other his other pieces, it has a great retro look. I was kinda shocked that at the low price and I think it sounded better than units costing more than twice what he's initially thinking about selling it for. In fact, I don't think there's any serious contenders for under $2k.

[krmathis]

Thanks a lot everyone, for all the great impressions and pictures.
Sure looks like you all had a blast!