CanJam 2009 Impressions - Page 17  

PS-1000: Awesome but too high asking price, does improve on the GS1000 in all its weaknesses. Still had a little bit of sibilance.
HF-2: Not very impressed (or at least as impressed as people put it out to be). However, were substantially better than the sr325i.
K1000: Amazing, one of my favorites. Kind of defeats the purpose of using headphones though.
HD800: The impressions of this can being the best... in my opinion is right. NEEDSSS ALOOOOT OF POWER though, so I wont be buying this anytime soon.
Orpheus: Way too overpriced. Great cans though.
SRH840: Great closed headphones for the price. However, the SRH440 beats this can (as Matt Engstrom told me) with the 840 pads IMO.
RS1i: Better than RS1!
HD650: Great sounding cans, I personally prefer the RS1i though. I can see what the hype is about though.

What the heck is this supposed to mean? the 440 is a better value or the 440 just flat out sounds better when using the 840s pads? If the latter is the case then why even sell the 840s, why not just sell the 440 using the 840s pads and charge accordingly for what its worth... maybe around 150 (in between the 840 and 440 price)

It would be great if someone from shure could explain this on this thread

Indeed, rather interesting when a Shure spokesperson says the cheaper ones are better than the more expensive ones.

Sorry I should have clarified.

So both of these headphones are actually very good. The 840 is actually the more fun and "better sounding" per se can. It has that smile curve like frequency range and the bass and highs are a bit more forward than the mids. The 440 however has a more neutral/flat/accurate response with the 840 pads on IMO. Both are great headphones and there is a reason the $200 one is a $200 one, and the $100 one a $100 one. The build looks and feels more solid on the 840, the headphones have the pads already with them, they do provide a more fun sound.

But PERSONALLY, after listening to both, I'd rather get the 440s with the 840 pads

A few more impressions now that my gear is all taken down.

Just got done listening to AMB's DIY speakers and B24 speaker amp. This was some of the best sound I heard at the meet. This guy makes some fantastic stuff.

I listened to the Planar from the other manufacturer (not Fang) out of the AMB Beta 22 and I can really see why some people love these things. The dynamics were startling on some songs and everything sounded very good.

Frank Cooter's stat amp had fantastic sound to match the excellent aesthetics. This was a very cool set up and I can see why everyone was so impressed with his previous work.

The best part of my day happened when I want to Cetoole, who had won four raffle prizes yesterday, and asked him to rub my tickets for today for luck. I ended up winning the Headroom Ultra Micro Dac, Shure SE530s and Yuin OK3s. And he won another amp, the Rudistor. 8 Tickets and 5 were winners. That guy is like a shaman or something.

The last highlight for me was the Friday night Glenrothes Scotch Whiskey presentation. This was a bit of a surprise but I am glad I could attend. The Glenrothes representative gave us a complete rundown of the process and a lot of interesting information on the region the Scotch comes from. The multiples bottles of 1985, 1991 and Special Reserve he provided us for the demos was fantastic and a great way to start of the weekend. The CanJam 2009 custom etched Glencairn glasses are also awesome and the coolest souvenir I am taking home with me. Thanks to Glenrothes and Greg for setting this up.

I also have to thank JP and everyone else for pulling off a fantastic meet.

True.. Headphones that wow you on first listen, tend to fade over time, while the blue color headphones just let the music do the talking, & not trying to impress you..

No, they don't beat the 840s. They hugely improve the 440s. And offer a separate upgrade path for when the owner wants to move up without ditching the cans altogether. The 840s have other unique qualities, and come with the pads default.

Hello all. It’s been a while since I’ve posted as my system turned from headphones to 2 channel which has been an obsession for the last year. This year’s meet was great and well put together. You did a great job guys! The hotel was well suited as were the room sizes. Not too big and definitely not as small as San Jose. The best part was meeting up with old friends and making new ones. There are too many names to list but it was good to see you all again!

Here are a few impressions and truly nothing but my opinion so take it for what it’s worth!

Give I sold all of my cans off I went into the meet with fresh ears eager to hear a few of the new offerings. The Senn HD800’s were fantastic and at the top of my short list of cans to own. They are comfortable and really can shine in the right system. There were so many pairs there that it’s hard to believe they just came out! Two systems stood out above the others to my ears. The first was in the HeadRoom room. These 800’s were driven using a Wadia transport to their balanced DAC and amp with a separate power supply. With Tyle’s (spelling?) sample CD this was my favorite rig for listening to them. Great highs, well controlled and ample bass with a midrange that captured you attention and held you in the chair!

The second system was in the Woo Audio room. Jack had a WA5 with the 50 year anniversary Treasure 300B. Having heard the WA5 a couple of times in the past, this was the best I’ve ever heard it. The bass was very controlled, the highs crisp with great attack and decay all the while giving you the goodness of tubes and that wonderful 300B magic! Jack and his family run a first class company with customer service hard to come by in this or any business. They also had great T-shirts free with a donation to Head-Fi.

Next up was the Steve Hoffman & Joe Harley talk. I missed this at San Jose two years ago and still kick myself in the pants for it! Joe had a great presentation and played original Blue Note records and their new reissued versions for us. The system was top notch with most of the gear supplied by Manley. The difference between the two mastering jobs was not subtle with the reissues sounding significantly better than the originals. They sounded so good I subscribed to the series upon returning home this evening. Steve played some amazing original takes and was a great speaker. I look forward to hearing his presentation again in the future.

Fang and his wonderful wife from Head Direct had two great new products. The first is a orthodynamic set of cans that sound great. Let it be known that I hate electrostats no matter what the model (yes, especially the HE90’s). These are a planar type headphone and really sounded nice to me. Second was the HiFi-Man which was in prototype stage at the meet but will be a great product at the price point. I had a quiet moment first thing on Sunday to A/B the internal DAC against a Meridian 508.20. The HiFi-Man had midrange to die for with a wide soundstage and I’ll be excited to hear it when finished.

Steve (Ironbut) had a superb reel to reel rig playing a Tape Project tape. Hopefully my r2r rig will sound as good someday.

Last and IMHO the show stopper was the Smyth Research multichannel surround experience through headphones. I’m not well versed enough to explain the details of it but everyone I spoke to who had the set up completed in the large room was blown away by what the system could do. In short you experience life like realistic surround sound from headphones without the need for a multichannel set up. The system can be set up in any room and will mimic the acoustic signature of the system is such detail that you could hardly tell the difference from wearing the cans to listening to their 5.5 surround system. Simply this was an amazing headphone experience! This was the first time I’ve EVER enjoyed Stax cans and they were SR 202’s! The HD800’s can wait and will for a while. The Symth Research system will be my next major purchase!

I’d like to close with another thank you to David, Edwin, Peter, John, Aaron, Luis, Greg and the rest of the volunteers who made this year’s meet possible. You guys outdid yourselves and set the bar for next year’s meet!

First, I have to say that this meet has been great. It has been wonderful to meet so many friendly head-fiers. I was a little overwhelming at first because there was so much gear!!! I was able to try a lot of gear in the first day but then I got sick so I was not able to try as much out today.

Here are some of my thoughts (it is hard to remember everything I tried):

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the R10's. I tried them out the blubliss's setup: APL NWO 3.0 SE + SP SDS-XLR + R10 (balanced). I was blown away by how real these sounded (at least in this amazing setup). I have never tried anything that came close to this. Unfortunately, I will probably never own a pair unless someone wants to sell me one REALLY cheap for some reason.

HD800: I loved them as well (just not as much as the R10's) and will be keeping my pre-order. I was able to try them in very amps (including WA5 which is the amp I own and some balanced amps) and they were really good, very balanced. I am looking forward to hearing them in my setup. I am hoping that they might be the one to rule them all (at least in my setup).

HF-2: When I first tried them, I wasn't sure that I liked them. I can't remember what amp/source I was using but I was hearing some somewhat strident highs that I didn't like. But then Boomana lent me her pair for the night (thanks Vicky) and I wasn't hearing that harshness. They were quite nice in fact, leaps and bounds better than the SR-225, very smooth, maybe not as detailed as the RS-1 but not as harsh. Of course, they don't really have any soundstage (as most other Grado's).

PS1000: Liked them the first time I heard them (Drew's Cary Xciter setup), didn't really like them the second time I heard them though (TTVJ 307A + Luxman Universal Disk player). I cannot really pinpoint what I didn't like the second time around though. Something just sounded strange.

WA22 and other Woo amps: Fantastic amp, I loved it. I still liked the WA5 better though. I tried most of the Woo lineup. It was the second time I heard the WA6SE and it was still fantastic. If anyone wants a ~$1000 amp, this is the one I would recommend. I tried the WA2 and did not like it as much as the WA6SE but this is probably because of the type of music I listen to. If you just listen to classical, you may prefer the WA2. I assumed that the WA22 was a balanced version of the WA2, because of the name, so I was pretty surprised on how much more I liked it than the WA2. However, after talking to Jack, I learned that WA22's circuit is closer to the WA6SE. Anyway, I really liked the WA22. Jack had his new DAC+Digital audio player prototype hooked up to the WA5 and the setup was phenomenal. I can only imagine that the DAC had something to do with it. The DAC+Digital audio player looked fantastic as well. The last amp I tried at the Woo table was the WES fully balanced electrostatic amp which was GORGEOUS! It sounded very good but since I don't know that much about electrostatic headphones (I have never owned any), I won't say much more than that.

TTVJ 307A: I finally got a chance to listen to this today. I tried it with the HD800's and the PS1000's (both balanced). This amp is truly amazing and very very very transparent. If you like a bit of warmth to your setup, it is probably not the amp for you but if you want to hear every detail in the music then this is the amp for you.

More impressions and pictures later.

Hi shellylh, What pads were you using with HF-2? bowls or flats?

+1, I'm looking forward to some WES impressions with O2s. Also like to know if Jack said anything about pricing?

so you do not agree with myk7000 that the 440 with 840 pads are more neutral sounding cans than the 840s?

No. The opposite. 440 + 840 pads gives a very euphonic and balanced sound that will be easy to translate with many pieces of gear. The 840 is less coloured/more neutral, but with more details and a higher-end sound. Can't comment more til I get mine!

I tried both bowls and flats (I actually tried the HF-2's several times at the meet). I preferred the bowls to the flats. The HF-2's have plenty of bass without the flats and I think have a little too much bass with the flats. I also personally don't like the feel of the flats.

Holy crap, Jeff. Did you check the bottom of your shoes to see if you stepped in anything, on the way from your room?