asr said:

I attended the show yesterday and part of today, and wanted to share impressions of two things for now (more to come later).

- Worst thing I heard: the Pendulumic Stance S1.

These were honestly so bad that I thought "how can this scam be sold for $200?!" I seriously thought my Koss KSC75, which are $20, sound better than the Stance S1. The Stance S1 was so muddy- and unclear-sounding I was in disbelief. It barely reproduced the music on the test source (I forget what it was, but there was some familiar music on it) with much sonic recognition, there was just way too much missing and it totally murked up everything at the same time.

There are absolutely no headphones that I think are worse than the S1, it went straight to the bottom of my all-time dogpile. It brought back memories of Audio-Technica's now-discontinued ATH-FC7, which I had several years ago and sold for $60. That's about how much I think the S1 is worth, tops, and that's being generous.

- Best thing I heard: Noble 8C.

I've been following the threads for the recent California meets in which Noble Audio have been talked about a lot, so one of the things I really wanted to hear was one of their top CIEMs. I asked to hear the 8C, because the price of the Kaiser 10 looked too expensive for me. The rep outfitted the universal demo model for me and I plugged it into my iAudio X5.

My internal thought process as I listened to the 8C, in order: (1) yeah this sounds ok, (2) hrmmm not bad, (3) wait a sec, this is getting interesting! (4) (double-take) (5) (another double-take) (6) this is sounding pretty good! (7) no, it's sounding really good! (8) wait, this is actually great! (9) HOLY CRAP! (10) THIS THING IS AWESOME! (11) THIS TOTALLY KILLS MY JH13!!! (12) WHAT'S THE JH13?

Let's just say that I'm priming my wallet now for a future purchase.  

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kensonic said:

Did anybody hear the Cavalli Liquid Lightning LL2 (T) ?
Comments are very much appreciated !
Thanks !

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axelcloris said:

  Ok everyone, it’s time for my day 2 update. Once again I’ll be focusing on things that stood out to me during my travels around the CanJam areas.
 

 
Let’s start with custom monitors.  I’ve been traveling the floor listening to different custom in ear monitors this weekend as it’s pretty rare to have this many vendors all in one place. Of course I adored the Roxanne, Kaiser 10, UERM, UE18 and Aurisonics 2.5. But what about more budget friendly CIEMs? After wandering around and listening to IEM after IEM I’ve come to really appreciate the sound of the Alclair Reference Custom In-Ear Monitor.
 
At $399 I think they’re reasonably priced and give good value for money. The level of sound that they deliver is in many ways on par, and in a couple ways even superior, to my own 1964-Q. It’s a triple driver two-way design, meaning that you get 2 woofers and a tweeter inside. Bass makes its presence known but it’s not excessively emphasized like you’ll find in many of the fun V shaped headphones. I found the mids to be smooth and silky, female vocals were excellent when I played a 2L DSD album. And the treble had enough energy for me without seeming bright, again like is often associated with V shaped sounds.
 
In a nutshell, if you’re looking for a nice CIEM that won’t break the bank, doesn’t hold a flat sound signature but doesn’t let any of the sound range steal the show, then these may be the ones to consider. Of course, this is simply in comparison to other custom models I’ve heard around the floor.

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muziq said:

Yes.  I compared the tube and ss versions with the same set of Stax SR-009s at the Cavalli table.  The warmth of the tube version was apparent yet subtle; clear and precise, but just a little more rounded-out sound.  The ss version is an outstanding analytical amp and very enjoyable, but if I were of the means to run an electrostatic system, I'd definitely invest the extra amount to get the tube version after spending only about 5 minutes with both using the same test tracks.   

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mikesjc said:

  Morning, Asr,
 
We were very surprised to hear that you didn't think highly of our Pendulumic STANCE S1.
You are the only person that tried them that had a negative experience, from everyone that has come by our booth for the last two days. Our new sound profile, along with other enhancements we incorporated into our S1+,  were made after talking with very respected editors from major headphone websites and blogs, along with input from our own experienced designers and sound engineers.
 
While individuals are certainly entitled to their own opinions and personal preferences, I am trying to think of what could have happened to cause you to trash us so publicly. I know that we don't compare to an Audeze LCD3 or something like that (but we are not trying to),but the only thing I can think of is that you were listening to a very compressed track, rather than a WAV of FLAC file.
 
If you are still in Denver, I sincerely invite you to come by our booth, and give us another listen. I'll personally make sure your source files are fat, and that you get to hear the full dynamic range and sound profile of our product.
 
We would sincerely take your input into consideration, so we hope you stop by today, and introduce yourself.
 
All the best,
Mike Johnson
VP Sales Pendulumic

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mscott58 said:

Agree with Mike. The Stance S1 in my experience are the best Bluetooth HP's I've ever heard. And even compared to wired cans they punched way above their weight for their price-point. While I'm not going to trade my LCD-3's for them, if I had a need for a wireless headphone I would 100% go with the Pendulumic's Stance S1's based on my experience at CanJam this year. I also talked to many other members of the Head-Fi community that agreed the S1's were a great product. And before anyone asks I have absolutely no connection to the company! Thanks

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asr said:

I attended the show yesterday and part of today, and wanted to share impressions of two things for now (more to come later).

- Worst thing I heard: the Pendulumic Stance S1.

These were honestly so bad that I thought "how can this scam be sold for $200?!" I seriously thought my Koss KSC75, which are $20, sound better than the Stance S1. The Stance S1 was so muddy- and unclear-sounding I was in disbelief. It barely reproduced the music on the test source (I forget what it was, but there was some familiar music on it) with much sonic recognition, there was just way too much missing and it totally murked up everything at the same time.

There are absolutely no headphones that I think are worse than the S1, it went straight to the bottom of my all-time dogpile. It brought back memories of Audio-Technica's now-discontinued ATH-FC7, which I had several years ago and sold for $60. That's about how much I think the S1 is worth, tops, and that's being generous.

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barra said:

Wow, what an incredible event! However it can be highly overwhelming given that it is an event within an event. It's sad I only got one day at CANJAM, but Jude really knows how to throw a great party. Thanks Jude!

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zachchen1996 said:

barra said:

Wow, what an incredible event! However it can be highly overwhelming given that it is an event within an event. It's sad I only got one day at CANJAM, but Jude really knows how to throw a great party. Thanks Jude!

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What gear did you get to hear the NT-6 Pro with?

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barra said:

Hey Zach, yes I did plug the nt6pro into the schiit Ygg/Rag stack and it was awesome. The Rag has a high, medium, and low gain and plays very nicely with CIEMs. While the hd800 sounds great with the new schiit stack, the nt6pro even sounds better IMO. The nt6pro scaled as high as I have ever heard it mixing a unique clarity with a touch of euphonics making it very musical as well as revealing. However, the dynamics were out of this world and crushed the hd800, while it was outstanding as well. The Audeze were obviously outstanding on the new stack as they always pair well with schiit with a more lush signature that I love as well.

I also checked out the Hifiman 901 balanced and mini box and agree that it is not the best pairing. While I can see the appeal and the potential, the form factor and ui make it unusable for me so their is no point. The mini box would probably been more to your liking though with more air and treble presence.

Unexpectedly, I fell in love with the AK lineup and will be purchasing the ak100 II to replace my dx90 with my x5 moving to backup. While I would never sell my x5 and lose its unique signature, the ak100 II is a definite step up in fidelity not to mention form factor. Out of the 100, 120, and 240, the 100 is clearly the most beautiful looking imo with the 240 a distant second and the 120 a distant 3rd. The older generation is irrelevant at this point so I didn't even try them. IMO, the 100/120 II and 240 all had the same signature with the difference being a larger amp in the 120/240 that made them a little more lush as and higher powered amp does in the same model. The extra power was irrelevant for the nt6pro so I can't justify double the price for the uglier big brother. However, Audeze sold me on their XC model with makes an end game matchup balanced with the 120 II, so it is a consideration. I could just sell everything a stop there, but the XC is not very portable. The 100 II pairs nicely as well with the XC so I will probably just say good enough. I can only convince the wife of just so much at a time with raising issues.

AK notes - IMO:
1) signatures: they all have the same signature thus sounding almost identical. The only difference is a lager amp in the 120/240 making it real a little more lush and powerful given the right hp pairing and song.
2) 120 vs 240: they sound identical, but if I had to split hairs at gun point, like the person next to me, I would say the 240 was a little smoother thine the 120 a little more digital. I kept going back and forth in my opinion so it isn't really a sq upgrade unless you are a DSD and big memory type person or just like the Art Deco look. The ak reps thought they sounded the same as well with one thinking the 240s extra DSD chip may be active during Pcm output as well, but that sounded more like a guess.
3) DSD: DSD sounds awesome on all of these, but the 240 didn't jump out as different enough for me to notice. However, the bigger amp in the 120/240 made better use of highlighting the DSD with the balanced Audeze XC. As always, the DSD selection sucked.
4) Contradictions: there is a filter in the song selection ui that allows you to use all files, PCM only, or DSD only. In the demo line ups, the 120/240 were filtered for DSD only while the 100 was filtered for pcm only. This made it an unfair fight at first. I found this out after loading my own music onto the 100 were my music blew the others away in terms of sq. Once I leveled the playing field, the sq difference in the lineup was only slight. Lesson learned - it is very important to load you own music that you know.

I also got to hear the Sony ZX1 with the pros which is another outstanding pairing. I am finding that there are no bad daps from the x5 up, the just have different talents appealing to different needs. This make me want to own them all. The zx1 is another beauty. The sq is revealing and big full sized presentation, but lacking in the 3d qualities of the other options. But it really fits well in the hand. I had to rangle the zx1 from a Sony rep as it is not part of the display and will not be available in the us until the zx2 comes out with DSD. Who knows when that will finally happen.

More to come - my son woke up.

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