[deuter]

Any information on the ygg from schiit, comparisons etc

 

[starfly]

  I wonder if Sony finally did show their MDR-Z7 headphones on Saturday? On Friday they will not talk about it. I was only there on Friday.

 
I saw and listened to the Z7 at RMAF today. My point of reference is the Sony MDR-7520, which also uses LCP drivers, but the Z7's drivers are 70mm vs 50mm and are aluminium coated.
 
For those of you who know the 7520, the sound signature of the Z7 is overall similar, but with the mids slightly more forward compared to the 7520. The bass is very detailed and textured and extends well, but definitely not boomy or anything. Highs are neutralish. This all from a quick 10 min listening sessions, as there was so much other gear I wanted to listen to and I was personally more interested in all the CIEMs out there as I'm in the market for one.

 

[Jwm48324]

nt

 

[Demo3]

Make sure you go by and see RHA table and check out the T10i... I found it very comfortable and easy to fit, very well built, nice cable, and accessories golore, only $200.

 

[jexby]

Indeed I agree with all the above, after minutes of listening felt these really had some significant bass, even without their bass enhancer knob twisted in.
They must really be bass head IEMs if that tweak is installed.

 

[mikesale]

I was pleasantly surprised at the value of the T10i! A fantastic iPhone accompaniment I'm sure to pick up when it hits the street. The box was chocked full of accessories including what looks like multiple cable options (I didn't ask). 

 

[jexby]

I did ask, only single cable provided.
And cables to headphones are not detachable.

 

[AxelCloris]

Just so it's consolidated into one thread, here's my post from yesterday in the non-impressions RMAF section. If you've already read my day 1 notes feel free to skip past these as they're just copy and pasted. I'll have day 2 impressions written shortly. Spoiler: Day 2 also kicked major butt.
 

Spoiler: Day 1

I managed to make my way through roughly 1/3 of the CanJam room today. I'm taking my time since I'm here all weekend and there's only a few things outside of CanJam that have my attention. Here's what really stood out from my time among the headphone world.
 
As I made my way around the room the first area that really drew my attention was the Aurisonics booth. I wanted to get a little time with the Aurisonics Rockets. Those things are built like tanks and can probably take one heck of a beating while still delivering nice quality sound. I quite liked them. Then I took a little time to listen to the ASG-1Plus and the ASG-2.5. Between the two I preferred the 2.5 thanks to the larger soundstage and, as Dale put it, their "visceral" sound.
 

 
Now, you may be asking what I have in my hands in the photo above. You may not be. But if you're not, you'll probably want to know what they are after you hear this. Next month Aurisonics will be returning to Kickstarter for another crowdfunded headphone. The Aurisonics Rockets campaign raised over $200k and they're aiming to top that with these bad boys. They're called the Aurisonics Auris and Aurisonics is aiming to take the crown for wireless IEMs. That's right, they're wireless. As far as specific details go, I'm allowed to say that they will utilize Bluetooth technology and... that's about it. Heck, I wasn't even allowed to show more in the photograph than what you see, though I wish I could. One thing I can say about the Auris is that the prototype felt extremely comfortable in my ears. Seriously, I wish I could talk more about them because these headphones are going to have some really cool features that I cannot wait to use. If you like the sound produced by the current Aurisonics models then you'll no doubt enjoy the Auris. If you don't like anything in their lineup then these probably aren't for you, honesty up front. But I'm going to be one of the first in line on November 17th to back the Auris on Kickstarter.
 

 
Before the show I was planning to stop by the Pendulumic table after listening to Jude's review on the CanJam preview video. And on Thursday I had the opportunity to spend some time talking with Pendulumic themselves. Now I'll be honest, I was wearing my skeptics hat when I sat down at the booth to try out the Stance S1 wireless Bluetooth headphone. I trust Jude's opinions and he's never steered me awry before, but most of my past experiences with Bluetooth have left a lot to be desired. And I was more curious to hear the Stance S1 after learning the design process behind them but again, I was speaking with their VP os sales and lead designer who obviously loved their own product. But when I sat down at the table and listened I can say without doubt that these are indeed the best sounding Bluetooth headphones I've come across.
 
Bass lovers will welcome their rich low end but that's not to say that these pander to bassheads. The bass was well textured and bodied without being overly aggressive and dominating the rest of the range. Mids were nicely balanced but not quite as pronounced as either the low or high end. The treble was crisp and clean without having sharp attacks or any sibilance that I could detect while listening on the somewhat noisy show floor. Pendulumic stated that they improved the comfort over the original design of the Stance and I have to say that I found these very comfortable. They have both a tension band and adjustable arm lengths so even people with narrow heads like mine can wear it comfortably. In short, I'm predicting my wallet will find itself relieved of several dollars and that I'll be traveling home on Monday enjoying a new pair of wireless headphones on the journey.
 

 
And I'll cap off my day 1 report by talking a tiny bit about LH Labs. Yes yes, I'm sure you already know about the Geek Pulse so I'll keep this portion brief. First, the design. Many backers have been upset with the final design and early photos were less than flattering. Heck, even the one above isn't all that great looking. But in person it looks less DIY design than photographs have shown. It's stacked on top of the LPS in the photo and the two do look pretty nice together. They'll fit in perfectly at home on my desk. If you're not a fan of the design well I have good news. Gavin and Larry from Light Harmonic/LH Labs confirmed for me today that if you want to replace the knob you can at the expense of covering the IR port. If you don't need the remote capability it's a very simple process to change the knob for a larger one. Easy. They also mentioned that we may see swappable face plates in the future in case you don't like the current styling, but that wasn't a promise.
 
Second, the sound. I'm going to keep this brief because the product still has a few more tweaks in the firmware before it's 100% ready so this particular one isn't complete. I listened to a couple of tracks using the Alpha Dogs since that's one of the headphones I have at home and I'm pretty used to the sound. It was run SE off the Pulse Xfi. From my brief time it seemed that both the treble and the bass have nice extension and the sound is very natural across the board. It seemed to pair very well with the Alpha Dogs. I didn't try to mess with the TCM or FRM settings and I can't say how it would sound off the standard switched mode power supply. But from my short time with it at the show I'm starting to get a bit excited for when mine finally arrives. That's about all I want to say on the Pulse until mine arrives and I can spend time critically listening.
 
Then I ventured upstairs to where they were demoing the Pulse/LPS in a dual mono speaker setup. But the Pulse wasn't what I found most interesting in the room. They were demoing their next product which they're calling the Geek Keep. In a nutshell they're looking to save us from our massive mono block amplifiers that can heat a house while still delivering quality power to stereo speakers. They're deep-biased A/B mono amps and fit in an enclosure roughly the space of a shoe box or the LPS you see in the photo above. It's exceptionally small considering the prototype I heard was delivering 120W per channel while remaining exceptionally cool. I will absolutely be keeping an eye out for further details on the Keep and Gavin mentioned we should start hearing more details once the Pulse is in full production mode.
 

 
And before I go, here's a photo of the Blue Hawaii (BHSE) amp from the HeadAmp table. It was powering the STAX SR-009. It goes without saying that they sounded absolutely incredible together. And that purple... so pretty.

 

[NinjaHamster]

Any more impressions of the Geek Pulse X would be very greatly appreciated considering it has been a very long wait ... 

 

[Kunlun]

Could folks try out the new Sony iem line including the flagship xba-z5?
 
Also, say hi to Dale at Aurisonics from New York!

 

[Asr]

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.

 

 

[muziq]

  Also, say hi to Dale at Aurisonics from New York!

 
Man, the new Rockets by Aurisonics were FANTASTIC.  I checked out their 2.5's and such, and while they were nice, the Rockets really blew me away.  I had every expectation, after seeing their diminutive size and structure, that they'd be fairly forgettable.  NO!.  I have half a dozen tracks on my test disk that help me figure out how live, stringed bass sounds; the Rockets, at just a couple hundred smackers and change, sounded like IEMs priced 3x higher.  Totally impressed.

 

[AxelCloris]

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.
 

 
What you see above is clearly not a part of the headphone world but it certainly is a piece of art. This is the B&O BeoLab 20. I adore good sound but I also have an appreciation for interesting and creative design. Obviously these are gorgeous, there’s no denying that. But what are truly interesting are a few of the features that go along with the design. On top there’s a tweeter capable of spreading sound 180 degrees to fill the room. If you’ve seen Mirage speakers before this is a familiar concept.
 
The BeoLab 20 are also completely wireless; apart from a power cable of course.  In the noisy atrium I couldn’t get the best demo but Africa by Kansas sounded excellent when I was listening. Apparently B&O is once again manufacturing a television set for the US market and these pair with it seamlessly. Now that I know there’s a vendor within a couple hour drive of my house I’ll be making a trip some day to hear these speakers paired with their television set. Should be interesting.
 

 
Moving back to the headphone world is Schiit. I sat down and listened to the new Schiit Fulla. This little thing is deceptively small and the sound is pretty impressive. It’s a good deal smaller than a credit card, as you can see above with the Fulla next to my room key. Very unobtrusive since it can fit almost anywhere you’d need. I was using it with a pair of Master and Dynamic MH40 headphones. They’re not hard to drive headphones and the Fulla performed admirably. Don’t expect this $79 device to blow away a dedicated desktop rig but I feel that it hits above its price.
 

 
And we’ll cap off my day 2 report with Ultimate Ears. However, I’m not really going to talk about their headphones. No I’m actually going to share with you something really cool that UE is doing at the show. They have the little black box shown above connected to a pair of 6 driver IEMs. What makes their setup truly unique is that unlike all of the other manufacturers I visited I never once had to remove those 6 driver universal fit IEMs in order to demo the complete UE line.
 
If you look at the laptop you may notice that the different model UE CIEMs are listed on the screen. Basically you connect your source to the black box, put on the attached IEMs and then select what you want to hear. The box enables/disables each driver based on your selection to allow you to listen to everything from the UE5 up through the UE18 into the UERM and UEVRM models. It’s something that makes a huge difference when you want to compare different models in the lineup and I want to give big props to UE for coming up with something so simple for potential buyers.
 

 
So that’s day 2 in a nutshell. I leave you with a pretty photo of some JH designs. Yummy.

 

[thune]

  Any more impressions of the Geek Pulse X would be very greatly appreciated considering it has been a very long wait ... 

I guess they added some Alpha Dog/Prime headphone on Saturday which I didn't listen to, but the demo headphone has been the Hifiman HE-400i, so....there is only so much an amp can do with a headphone whose treble kicks in like a nitrous oxide engine boost.  What a non-"geek-enforcer" comes away with is that it sounds fine and that the software was too buggy for a respectable company demo (either that or you see it as moxie).

 

[john57]

It seems a few vendors are using the Alpha Dog/Prime headphones