CanJam@RMAF 2011 Listening Impressions Thread - Page 24  

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac 

 Everyone's in this to make money, no?

not IMO . But Jason has a good thing going, allowing him to make good solid entry level products that he can keep selling at reasonable prices. If they were to move into the higher end, making bigger power supplies etc their costs would similarly increase. ( it was refreshing speaking to him at RMAF and understanding his philosophy ) ..dB

Or they're making everyone "Schitt-heads" and weaning them into the concept of needing a desktop amp before springing their real money makers with a 3K statement amp.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac 

While this may very well be true, it could also just be that they've taken a lower margin-higher volume strategy to moving their wares.  Everyone's in this to make money, no?

I guarantee they aren't doing Schiit out of the goodness of their hearts.  They, IMO, employed a solid business strategy from day one...that is, make a solid product and a very fair price...industry leading value...and build a large and happy customer base eager fr your next release. Expand into new categories and expand the base further.  THEN, start releasing new better products and slightly higher margins to which some will upgrade and which will appeal to a higher-end clientele. THEN release a 'Statement' line (likely at an even higher margin) for the high end crowd.  If they price and market right, each 'tier' will make similar gross profit despite selling radically different volumes all while satisfying all levels of the target market. 

Solid business marketing plan. So far, they have delivered in Spades on the 1st phase with the Lyr being considered a giant-killer at <$500 and the Asgard being almost untouchable at $250. The Bifrost DAC is getting (very) early raves. They expect to announce the tier 2 products before the year is out. 

I applaud their efforts and would love to see some of the other small amp companies use a similar forward thinking approach. 

Of the hundreds of components at the show a few stood out.  For me, the Stello Exima dac / headphone amp/ pre sounded very nice.

And believe it or not these Sony SS-AR1 speakers provided some of the most pleasing and natural sounds at the show, even amongst the $60k- $100k crowd.  Just goes to show you what a big company can do when they hand the reins to a talented designer.

And funniest marketing goes to Totem acoustics, whose speakers were nice as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duckman 

Any impressions of the Mytek 192 DSD DAC?

Sounds better than my old Benchmark Dac1.  I am not a big fan of Sabre chips and it did sound good, yet not enough for me to put it on my shortlist.

Some impressions from over at audiocircle

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=98219.msg1002474#msg1002474

Did anyone hear Audeze's monitors, and if so did the tell you what they will be selling for? Also, I see Bottlehead was there what did people think of the smack?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcg27 

Did anyone hear Audeze's monitors, and if so did the tell you what they will be selling for? Also, I see Bottlehead was there what did people think of the smack?

$10-11K for the monitors.  4 Class D amps, active crossover and some kind of DSP.  Sound excellent in the sweet spot at the desk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcg27 

Did anyone hear Audeze's monitors, and if so did the tell you what they will be selling for? Also, I see Bottlehead was there what did people think of the smack?

$10k is the estimated price...interesting sound, but not sure of whether it can compete with real nearfield studio monitors at this price point.  They did kind of sound like headphones though.

$10K :(

well i could always sell my kidney...

While others have pointed this out about AKG's and some of Senn's medium-priced offerings, I think the point behind all that is NOT that pricing is necessarily spinning out of control -- it's marketing, hype, and people here feeling like they need the absolute "best" latest and greatest thing ... otherwise they suck and might as well not be an audiophile at all. 

It's this sentiment that causes people to feel that all is lost if they can't afford LCD-3's for $2k or whatever else. Now, I know that many here are sensible and not obsessed over having what is considered tops ... but there are many who also complain or get discouraged because they feel there is no way they can ever afford the "best" stuff. 

It's not the inflated pricing so much as it is the insecurity that if you don't have the best, you're less than others in some way .....

But it's just insane to think that way -- again, as many have pointed out -- you can get some older Sennheisers or Beyers or AKG's, a great DAC and amp for under a thousand dollars that absolutely brings you 80-90% "there" in terms of immersion/realism/SQ ... and yes, you pay up to 10 times more for that last 10-20% improvement with BHSE/009 and the likes ..... but there is no reason to feel bad or that all is lost if one can't get a BHSE + 009 or Apex + LCD-3 and so on. 

It's great to want the best, I too want to know what the most awesome sounding gear is (regardless of price), but I'm really glad many of the impressions here have also covered some of the mid-priced gear that delivers amazing value in $$$/SQ. 

Agreed ^

Whoa 10k? I can definitely cross those off my list lol.

Does anyone happen to know who makes those headphone stands?
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dminches 

 

Quick shot of the LCD-3s.