Had a very busy day today, and can barely move my body now. My son kept falling asleep after we got to our room before we'd even got ready for bed. Whew!
We got up at 7:45AM for breakfast, and then headed out to CanJam area. We first visited CEntrance and spent some time with the HiFi-Skyn driving a pair of Audeze LCD-2 with iPhone 5 as the transport. This had no problem driving these demanding headphones, and the sound was very good. I had to run off before getting a chance to compare it to my HiFi-M8 which is going to be better, but the HiFi-Skyn is a big step up from the iPhone's built-in amp. I ordered one in January with the crowdfunding effort, and I'm excited to get it someday...
Next we stopped at V-MODA and spent even more time with the wireless M-100 and also tried out the Zn IEM (zinc liquid metal). The Impressions of the wireless M-100 were the same, and when wired they sounded better than the wired version of M-100 that we each bought a few years back. When wireless they sounded very similar to the old M-100, but with slightly improved treble presence and a slightly bumped upper bass/lower midrange response too. So, I prefer them wired, but the wireless performance was still better than any other BT wireless phones I've tried in the past. The extra upper bass/lower midrange isn't an obstacle to buying them, because you have the convenience of wireless, and the upgrade when going wired passes up the old M-100. In fact, my son plans to set up an account at V-MODA and order his wireless M-100 as soon as we get home.
The Zn IEM (zinc liquid metal) were a noticeable improvement to my V-MODA Vibrato IEM that I bought a couple of years ago - the bass is quite strong but much tighter and better controlled than before, the mids are slightly more transparent and much fuller (not recessed), and the treble slightly smoother - gone is the V shaped frequency response, and it's now a curve that's still bumped in the bass but flatter in the mids and treble.
I tested the microphone in the noisy CanJam room by calling my son's phone, and he was wearing his M-100 and didn't hear any of the ambient noise in the room surrounding me and the Zn microphone. The volume control on the IEM cable worked flawlessly, and the center control button worked for Siri when held, pausing and starting music with one click, while double and triple clicks worked for skipping forward and backwards. For $180 I think they are a worthwhile investment if you don't already have a mobile phone universal fit IEM headset.
We made a quick stop by the Westone booth in the CanJam room, just to confirm that they had my Nuforce iDO digital dock properly set up and feeding a pair of RSA amps for passersby to try out. The plan was for us to go to the Westone room (#404) at 12 noon for a panel of audiophiles and reviewers to compare a $70,000 GamuT speaker rig vs portable rigs consisting of A&K 380 players with ES-60 Custom IEM. Both rigs had the same music playlists, and most people listened to 4 specially chosen tracks (and some to 5), taking notes. I'll report on this 2 hour event soon.
Then we stopped by JH Audio to order an iPhone microphone cable for my son's JH16 Pro. They were very helpful and took care of the online ordering for us, keeping it trouble free. (They had mic cables for newer IEM connectors, but not the older 2 pin connectors.) We're all set for now for Custom JHA IEM, but we'll still try to go back tomorrow to try out their newest universal fit IEM.
Then we stopped by HiFiMan, and spent some more time with the Edition-X, HE-1000 and HE-560. We already own the HE-1000 and HE-560, and I like that they can scale up as the source and amp improve with each upgrade in the chain. The HE-1000 don't pair well with all amplifiers and sources, which I find to be the case with most hi-end headphones. Overall, via EF-6 amplifier, the HE-1000 has a more balanced response with fuller midrange, and more refined treble than the HE-560 which are still excellent phones with great 3D soundstage - bass between the HE-560 and HE-1000 is on a similar level with a few minutes of listening.
But overall I was more immersed in the music with the HE-1000 out of the EF-6 amp. I have this rig at home, and love it. I could not choose between my HE6, HE-1000, and HD-800 as my one and only headphone, using just my Eddie Current ZDT amp and EF-6 amp. I'd have to keep them all, and the HE-560 would be right up there in that group too since they work great with almost all of my portable gear (especially my HiFi-M8 and RSA Lightning balanced amps).
Via the EF-100 amp the HE-560 warm up noticeably and offer a more balanced performance than on the EF-6 amp, while on the EF-100 amp the HE-1000 lose a tiny bit of micro-detail and ambience. So, with the EF-100 amp being the lowest common denominator it's brings the two headphones closer to each other. I could be very happy with just an EF-100 and HE-560, but the EF-6 and HE-1000 or HE-6 headphones take things to another level.
We played with the Edition-X again and confirmed our findings from yesterday, that the Edition-X is perfect for an un-amped iPhone 6 or 6+, and are likely our favorite headphones to use un-amped via iPhone, but we didn't find them to scale up with a more powerful amplifier like the EF-100 or EF-6. If you don't want to buy an amp to drive a high-end headphone, the Edition-X are the ones to get, IF you don't mind a fairly large but fairly lightweight headphone that doesn't fold up.
I'd love to see the X stay in the HE-560 price range, but I don't think they can reach that low with all the R&D they put into them. To make the cheaper HE-560 sound better in a portable rig than an un-amped Edition-X, you'd have to spend an extra $500-800 on a DAC/amp over and above the cost of the headphones. So, the Edition-X may end up costing almost as much as the HE-560 plus a decent DAC/amp, but without the extra size and weight of hauling around the extra DAC/amp. There is a lot that remains to be decided with the Edition-X, and they're still prototypes. Regardless, my son is VERY excited about possibly owning a pair someday, and he's already got a pair of JH Audio JH16 Pro for portable un-amplified listening.
By this time it was 11:30AM and time to head up to room #404 for Westone's "Speaker VS IEM" audiophile/reviewer panel. As I said before, I'll go into much more detail on this later, as it's too late tonight and I still have 8 more booths to cover here. I took detailed notes though. One thing I can say now is that the Westone ES-60 Custom IEM kick ass. After participating in the Westone IEM vs Speaker panel we headed down for lunch but made two stops along the way on the 4th floor.
We hit the Stax room by the elevators, and I tried out the SRM-323S with some SR-307 and SR-407, and I think these sounded better than the SR-507 I heard a couple of years back. They might be on a similar level to the previous HiFiMan model HE-500 via $600-800 amp, with the SR-407 clearly having a little more treble sparkle while the SR-307 were a little more laid back in the highs - but neither had the lower treble etch of the SR-507 that I listened to last time (the 507 were terrible last time I tried them). I didn't bother with the 007 and 009 since I sold mine last year to help finance a semester at Duke University for my daughter (I kept my Sennheiser HE-60/HEV-70, as well as SR-Lambda Nova Signature). I was thinking an amp upgrade for my LNS and HE-60 is in order, and I'm considering the 323S now, at $600 it's not terrible.
Then across the hall was Audioengine and we stopped there to check out the new A-6 speakers, since we love their B1 and B2 bluetooth DAC's and speaker so much (as well as the D1, D2, and D3 DACs). We have the older version of A-5 with AC outlet on the back for Apple Airport Express, and the older A-2 without the USB DAC that we also love.
We were surprised that the A-6 didn't offer a big upgrade in sound over our A-5, but we were excited with the addition of both a Bluetooth DAC and Optical digital audio input (to connect to the output of a TV that is fed by HDMI, or a Macbook optical out). These would be great for a 2-channel rig centered around a TV and Blue-ray player or cable box with music coming from your BT enabled phone or iPad. In fact, may buy the A-6 for my daughter when she moves into a new apartment in January, along with an HDTV and Apple TV.
We took a break for Lunch and then visited the CEntrance booth again right outside of the hotel restaurant. He had to return his borrowed Audeze mini-plug to 1/4" jack adapter to Audeze, and I just happened to have an Audeze adapter in my backpack to loan him instead. He was busy so we moved on to ALO Audio looking for a nicer mini to 1/4" adapter, but none to be found. I tried their mini-hybrid tube amp with our HE-560 and Ken's prototype closed headphones. Build quality of the amp was impressive, and I think he said it's fully balanced? The amp runs a bit warm, but you can hold it in your hands and it is dead quiet with no ringing of the tubes when the amp is struck. And sound quality was very good for such a tiny powerhouse. Volume levels with the HE-560 were quite loud, and they're not the easiest to drive. Unfortunately the price at just under $1500 is a bit steep, when my guess was going to be $900-$1000. This is still desktop level amp quality.
His closed headphones sounded a little like a very slightly more aggressive version of the V-MODA XS that I brought with me, so not dark but not fatiguing, maybe more like mixing an SR-60 with an XS. He hasn't set a price yet, as they're still in prototype phase.
We moved on to Woo Audio to try the new mini-tube amp (sorry, forget the model) and WA7 which I loved last time I tried it. This time I got to try it with the tube stage power supply. It seemed to pair a little better with our HE-560 than the HD-800 at the table, and was also a lot of fun with the HD-600, which is saying something.
After woo we visited at the head-fi booth with Mike Mercer and others, traded a few war stories, and then hit Cavalli Audio to try the Liquid Carbon amp. I liked this amp using an iPad with camera connection kit as the transport, listening via balanced HE-1000, HE-560, and some Mr Speakers Alpha Dog 3D closed headphones. It certainly wasn't lacking for power, and external cosmetics looked well built. I neglected to get the specs on the amp, sorry.
The Mr Speakers Alpha Dog 3D are still a great bang for the buck in closed headphones, and you can save a ton of money buying them vs the Fostex TH-900. The red metallic flake paint job is also top notch. While there Neil from head-fi (sorry forgot last name) stopped me and sent me off to the Pioneer table to try out their new flagship SE-MASTER1 headphones via their U-05 desktop DAC/amp. So, I neglected to try out the Alpha Prime today, although I'd heard them last year and appreciated the upgrade in sound, just not the hike in price (at the time). I'll try them tomorrow.
So, Pioneer's headphone is very nice looking and feeling, with an aluminum driver that is ceramic coated for rigidity, and they're apparently hand assembled at the rate of 1/day. They claim a frequency response of 5hz - 85,000Hz, and I believe the price is $2,500. Build quality was exemplary, and on par with my Sennheiser HD-800.
I was prepared to skip another "over-priced major manufacturer trying to jump into the high-end headphone race", but I'm glad I listened to the Pioneer. I'll start off by saying that I don't think they're for everyone, like maybe a Alpha Dog 3D or Fostex TH-900 would be, but they have many good points. Despite the 460gm listed weight (without cable and tension rod) they were not uncomfortable to wear in any way, and the bass is quite punchy, tight and fast. The treble is also smooth and extended, and enjoyable. Where I was a little worried was that the midrange seemed a bit forward, so that if you crank them up to enjoy the thumping bass and rock out, then when the vocals kick in they're right there in your face. Electronica and instrumental jazz will be a bit more enjoyable with these, unless the midrange tames down with break-in/burn-in.
I plugged my HD-600 into the amp's 4-pin XLR with an APS V3 cable, and plugged our HE-560 into the 1/4" jack, on either side of the Pioneer plugged into the dual 3-pin XLR jacks, and did some switching between them with the output selector switch. The HD-600 were really nice with the U-05 but they seemed a bit more laid back than the SE-MASTER1 or HE-560. The HD-600 bass was not nearly as strong as the Pioneer or HE-560, while it's mids were flatter and more neutral than the Pioneer or HE-560, and the treble was slightly diminished in comparison to the other two (the famous Sennheiser "veil"). The HE-560 bass was just as strong as the Pioneer bass, but their mids seem a little recessed in comparison to the HD-600, while the Pioneer's mids were clearly more forward than the other two. So, the HD-600 and HE-560 retained their basic nature on the U-05, and so the sound of the SE-MASTER1 was not being tainted by the DAC/amp.
I wouldn't mind owning the SE-MASTER1, but maybe not at $2,500 with 2 kids in college. I'd probably stick with the Sennheiser HD-800 and use the savings to buy a nice cable and punchy sounding amp. If you collect flagship headphones like some people collect haute horology watches, and money is no problem, then add these to your collection for slipping into your rotation.
Thinking about high-dollar headphones, we decided to go to the Audeze booth and check out the LCD-4, and see what al the fuss is about. We briefly listened to the EL-8 closed and open phones, and they seem like a great bang for the buck. But that wasn't my main reason for being there and I listened in more depth to the LCD-X, LCD-2, and LCD-4. The LCD-X and LCD-2 have more in common with each other than the LCD-4, being an exciting and energetic sounding headphone, but I did prefer the more expansive soundstage and balanced frequency response of the LCD-X over the LCD-2 (and I own the LCD-2 rev2). When I listened to the LCD-4 I didn't have the LCD-X next to me for comparison, as it was the end of the day at 6Pm and gear was being put away.
In comparing the LCD-2 to the LCD-4 my first impression was the LCD-4 treble is much more refined, laid back, and relaxing. Maybe too laid back at times, but it ruined the LCD-2 treble for me. Next was the sense that the LCD-2 have a much more aggressive upper midrange than the LCD-4, which have a much more transparent midrange. The LCD-2 seemed to offer a little bit of added upper midrange reverb from sound bouncing off the magnet structure, while the LCD-4 would go dead silent between notes. Therefore, the LCD-2 were more forward and on-stage while the LCD-4 were more 1st thru 5th row of the performance. The LCD-4 bass performance also shined over the LCD-2, extending deeper and sounding more flat than the LCD-2 which felt to me like they had an upper bass peak in comparison. I wanted to compare the LCD-2 bass to being more like a pair of 8" or 10" woofers in a sealed enclosure vs the LCD-4 being like a 15" woofer in a ported box.
On their own I hadn't noticed these things about the LCD-2, until I had the chance to get acclimated to the LCD-4 sound and then switched back and forth. But I had noticed the more aggressive nature at home when I realized that I really only like to listen to my LCD-2 with my Eddie Current ZDT tube amp, but not so much with my EF-6 or CEntrance DACmini. In my budget, I'd consider selling my LCD-2 rev2 for an LCD-X, but not sure I'd splurge $4K on the LCD-4. For those with an unlimited budget the LCD-4 should be in your collection, to put in your headphone rotation. I'd need to spend a lot more time with them to decide if they could be my one and only headphone.
With everything shutting down for the night we headed out to dinner with HiFiMan and Unique Melody, and I will be heading to the UM table first thing tomorrow morning (now today). I also want to visit Aurisonics again, and meet with Dale to try out his IEM too. I hope I didn't miss too many typos and errors here, as it's pretty late and I'm exhausted, but i knew if I put this off that I'd forget something.
