Would not agree with this. I can even drive the Abyss extremely well with the MZ3. Excellent in every way. The Z10e drives them easily and again, good acoustical space, bass and pace. For other phones lines the SR2 and the Utopia, a joy.
Yes, I believe that’s right.
Unclear what you don’t agree with - fully understand your pride of ownership.
Very nice. So you got to compare jewel with orph directly on N8ii and LP6 Gold?Here is a cross post from the Watercooler which is where I normally hang out on Head fi. I have been busy with some other Headfiers including @goldwerger. We've been hanging out and he is very bad for me as he has introduced me to Electrostatic headphones. First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC. It was rendering a 2-channel type experience. This system was spectacular.
So far, I have been pretty restrained from a lot of spending. I did end up purchasing a CEntrance Ampersand portable high powered amp.
https://centrance.com/ampersand/
This little amp is smaller and lighter than all of my DAPs and yet it can deliver 6 watts of power and drive a Susvara and 1266TC very well. This amp would allow me to travel with my Susvara or 1266TC.
Loved finally meeting Zach and Bevin from ZMF. They had well over 20 headphones of all types for sale and they had a lot of tube amps including their prototype collaboration and some custom amps. I already have bought the Verite Closed and Atrium in Koa wood. So, I used those headphones as reference sets and compared them against the new Auteur Classic. It is very nice especially at the $1499 price point. It is very competitive with HD800S and Arya in that price range. It has a nice warm sound and sounds great on their tube amps.
Went to Bloom and heard the Campfire Supermoon and Meze Advar. The Supermoon is technically very impressive and it is tuned pretty well. I can absolutely understand why @Rockwell75 loves it. I think its most noticable strength is its imaging and dynamics. Great resolution and you can hear every instrument with great placement on the stage. The only problem I had with it and the reason why I will not be buying it is that I did not like its timbre. I think this is just a personal preference issue and it was quite surprising to me since I love both DD and Planar timbre in the full sized headphone world. The Supermoon just sounded a bit unnatural to me at the same time I was very impressed with it technically.
The Meze Advar has to be one of the best builds of any IEM in the market today. It feels really nice in my hands. It has the traditional single DD sound and I found it a direct upgrade to my Oriolus Isabellae. I will probably buy one of these in the future for the combination of its great sound and great looks. But I am not buying it now because I have too many IEMs. I will pick it up once I reduce my collection a bit.
Went to Musicteck and got to hear the Fir IEMs again. It's so interesting how listening sessions can change over time your perception of IEMs. This time around, the KR5 was too bright. The NE4 had the best tuning especially with the LP6. I really love the LP6 and I am going back and forth on whether or not to buy it. It sounds a lot like the LP6 Ti 7AE. But Andrew tells me that the 7AE wins every head to head competition with the LP6. They sounded very similar and extremely awesome to my ear. My guess is I will buy one and get on the wait list for the LP7. Andrews says his wait list already has 35 people on it. This DAP is going to be spectacular.
This leaves us with the XE6. I liked it a lot more this time around. This time what I really liked about it is the bass impact. That is what grabbed my attention. All of the FIR IEMs have it. So, any of these IEMs would be great to own to get that sound. I would like to pick one up, but maybe I will wait until the next listen at CanJam Socal. I am very intrigued by the Stax headphones and my finally start going down that rabbit hole.
Also heard the Oriolus szalayi which is a tribrid with a DD, BA and Planer driver. I must admit, I did not like it. It was very bright and the sound was very incoherent. It looks like a Jewel on the faceplate but it's not the same.
The new Dita single DD is spectacular. It is a single DD with a big soundstage. I would like to A/B test the Advar and the Dita Perpetua. OMG. I just looked it up. It's priced at $2999 for a single DD. No wonder it sounded so good. I was really taken by this IEM because normally a single DD has a very small stage. Not the Perpetua. I will have to listen to it again. This would be my dark horse IEM like the Red Halo FE was at CanJam NYC.
I forgot to mention. I did a pretty extensive A/B test of the Orpheus cable with the First Time cable driven by the N8ii and paired with Jewel. My Jewel has the First times and the Musicteck Jewel had Orpheus. I put the same tips on both sets. To my ear, the Orpheus was slightly better. It tightens up the sound and makes it a bit cleaner and tighter. I would give it about a 3% edge at most. I was really worried that I was going to really love the cable. Fortunately, I did not hear much of a difference at all. I am not buying one. The cable is very nice to the touch. In fact, it is almost indistinguishable from the First Times Shielding which looks just like the Orpheus. I can see buying one if you just want a single IEM and you want the best of the best to go with it. For me, I would much rather buy an LP6 than an Orpheus as that DAP is spectacular and does far more for a Jewel than the Orpheus cable does and it's cheaper.
any comparisons on cayin c9 vs ampersand?Here is a cross post from the Watercooler which is where I normally hang out on Head fi. I have been busy with some other Headfiers including @goldwerger. We've been hanging out and he is very bad for me as he has introduced me to Electrostatic headphones. First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC. It was rendering a 2-channel type experience. This system was spectacular.
So far, I have been pretty restrained from a lot of spending. I did end up purchasing a CEntrance Ampersand portable high powered amp.
https://centrance.com/ampersand/
This little amp is smaller and lighter than all of my DAPs and yet it can deliver 6 watts of power and drive a Susvara and 1266TC very well. This amp would allow me to travel with my Susvara or 1266TC.
Loved finally meeting Zach and Bevin from ZMF. They had well over 20 headphones of all types for sale and they had a lot of tube amps including their prototype collaboration and some custom amps. I already have bought the Verite Closed and Atrium in Koa wood. So, I used those headphones as reference sets and compared them against the new Auteur Classic. It is very nice especially at the $1499 price point. It is very competitive with HD800S and Arya in that price range. It has a nice warm sound and sounds great on their tube amps.
Went to Bloom and heard the Campfire Supermoon and Meze Advar. The Supermoon is technically very impressive and it is tuned pretty well. I can absolutely understand why @Rockwell75 loves it. I think its most noticable strength is its imaging and dynamics. Great resolution and you can hear every instrument with great placement on the stage. The only problem I had with it and the reason why I will not be buying it is that I did not like its timbre. I think this is just a personal preference issue and it was quite surprising to me since I love both DD and Planar timbre in the full sized headphone world. The Supermoon just sounded a bit unnatural to me at the same time I was very impressed with it technically.
The Meze Advar has to be one of the best builds of any IEM in the market today. It feels really nice in my hands. It has the traditional single DD sound and I found it a direct upgrade to my Oriolus Isabellae. I will probably buy one of these in the future for the combination of its great sound and great looks. But I am not buying it now because I have too many IEMs. I will pick it up once I reduce my collection a bit.
Went to Musicteck and got to hear the Fir IEMs again. It's so interesting how listening sessions can change over time your perception of IEMs. This time around, the KR5 was too bright. The NE4 had the best tuning especially with the LP6. I really love the LP6 and I am going back and forth on whether or not to buy it. It sounds a lot like the LP6 Ti 7AE. But Andrew tells me that the 7AE wins every head to head competition with the LP6. They sounded very similar and extremely awesome to my ear. My guess is I will buy one and get on the wait list for the LP7. Andrews says his wait list already has 35 people on it. This DAP is going to be spectacular.
This leaves us with the XE6. I liked it a lot more this time around. This time what I really liked about it is the bass impact. That is what grabbed my attention. All of the FIR IEMs have it. So, any of these IEMs would be great to own to get that sound. I would like to pick one up, but maybe I will wait until the next listen at CanJam Socal. I am very intrigued by the Stax headphones and my finally start going down that rabbit hole.
Also heard the Oriolus szalayi which is a tribrid with a DD, BA and Planer driver. I must admit, I did not like it. It was very bright and the sound was very incoherent. It looks like a Jewel on the faceplate but it's not the same.
The new Dita single DD is spectacular. It is a single DD with a big soundstage. I would like to A/B test the Advar and the Dita Perpetua. OMG. I just looked it up. It's priced at $2999 for a single DD. No wonder it sounded so good. I was really taken by this IEM because normally a single DD has a very small stage. Not the Perpetua. I will have to listen to it again. This would be my dark horse IEM like the Red Halo FE was at CanJam NYC.
I forgot to mention. I did a pretty extensive A/B test of the Orpheus cable with the First Time cable driven by the N8ii and paired with Jewel. My Jewel has the First times and the Musicteck Jewel had Orpheus. I put the same tips on both sets. To my ear, the Orpheus was slightly better. It tightens up the sound and makes it a bit cleaner and tighter. I would give it about a 3% edge at most. I was really worried that I was going to really love the cable. Fortunately, I did not hear much of a difference at all. I am not buying one. The cable is very nice to the touch. In fact, it is almost indistinguishable from the First Times Shielding which looks just like the Orpheus. I can see buying one if you just want a single IEM and you want the best of the best to go with it. For me, I would much rather buy an LP6 than an Orpheus as that DAP is spectacular and does far more for a Jewel than the Orpheus cable does and it's cheaper.
Ampersand has sufficient power to drive Susvara. C9 does not. But, C9 has more features such as tube timbre. C9 is great for most headphones especially when paired with a good DAP.
The LP6 was amazing...Here is a cross post from the Watercooler which is where I normally hang out on Head fi. I have been busy with some other Headfiers including @goldwerger. We've been hanging out and he is very bad for me as he has introduced me to Electrostatic headphones. First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC. It was rendering a 2-channel type experience. This system was spectacular.
So far, I have been pretty restrained from a lot of spending. I did end up purchasing a CEntrance Ampersand portable high powered amp.
https://centrance.com/ampersand/
This little amp is smaller and lighter than all of my DAPs and yet it can deliver 6 watts of power and drive a Susvara and 1266TC very well. This amp would allow me to travel with my Susvara or 1266TC.
Loved finally meeting Zach and Bevin from ZMF. They had well over 20 headphones of all types for sale and they had a lot of tube amps including their prototype collaboration and some custom amps. I already have bought the Verite Closed and Atrium in Koa wood. So, I used those headphones as reference sets and compared them against the new Auteur Classic. It is very nice especially at the $1499 price point. It is very competitive with HD800S and Arya in that price range. It has a nice warm sound and sounds great on their tube amps.
Went to Bloom and heard the Campfire Supermoon and Meze Advar. The Supermoon is technically very impressive and it is tuned pretty well. I can absolutely understand why @Rockwell75 loves it. I think its most noticable strength is its imaging and dynamics. Great resolution and you can hear every instrument with great placement on the stage. The only problem I had with it and the reason why I will not be buying it is that I did not like its timbre. I think this is just a personal preference issue and it was quite surprising to me since I love both DD and Planar timbre in the full sized headphone world. The Supermoon just sounded a bit unnatural to me at the same time I was very impressed with it technically.
The Meze Advar has to be one of the best builds of any IEM in the market today. It feels really nice in my hands. It has the traditional single DD sound and I found it a direct upgrade to my Oriolus Isabellae. I will probably buy one of these in the future for the combination of its great sound and great looks. But I am not buying it now because I have too many IEMs. I will pick it up once I reduce my collection a bit.
Went to Musicteck and got to hear the Fir IEMs again. It's so interesting how listening sessions can change over time your perception of IEMs. This time around, the KR5 was too bright. The NE4 had the best tuning especially with the LP6. I really love the LP6 and I am going back and forth on whether or not to buy it. It sounds a lot like the LP6 Ti 7AE. But Andrew tells me that the 7AE wins every head to head competition with the LP6. They sounded very similar and extremely awesome to my ear. My guess is I will buy one and get on the wait list for the LP7. Andrews says his wait list already has 35 people on it. This DAP is going to be spectacular.
This leaves us with the XE6. I liked it a lot more this time around. This time what I really liked about it is the bass impact. That is what grabbed my attention. All of the FIR IEMs have it. So, any of these IEMs would be great to own to get that sound. I would like to pick one up, but maybe I will wait until the next listen at CanJam Socal. I am very intrigued by the Stax headphones and my finally start going down that rabbit hole.
Also heard the Oriolus szalayi which is a tribrid with a DD, BA and Planer driver. I must admit, I did not like it. It was very bright and the sound was very incoherent. It looks like a Jewel on the faceplate but it's not the same.
The new Dita single DD is spectacular. It is a single DD with a big soundstage. I would like to A/B test the Advar and the Dita Perpetua. OMG. I just looked it up. It's priced at $2999 for a single DD. No wonder it sounded so good. I was really taken by this IEM because normally a single DD has a very small stage. Not the Perpetua. I will have to listen to it again. This would be my dark horse IEM like the Red Halo FE was at CanJam NYC.
I forgot to mention. I did a pretty extensive A/B test of the Orpheus cable with the First Time cable driven by the N8ii and paired with Jewel. My Jewel has the First times and the Musicteck Jewel had Orpheus. I put the same tips on both sets. To my ear, the Orpheus was slightly better. It tightens up the sound and makes it a bit cleaner and tighter. I would give it about a 3% edge at most. I was really worried that I was going to really love the cable. Fortunately, I did not hear much of a difference at all. I am not buying one. The cable is very nice to the touch. In fact, it is almost indistinguishable from the First Times Shielding which looks just like the Orpheus. I can see buying one if you just want a single IEM and you want the best of the best to go with it. For me, I would much rather buy an LP6 than an Orpheus as that DAP is spectacular and does far more for a Jewel than the Orpheus cable does and it's cheaper.
Agreed. I got on the wait list for an LP7. I think I am around number 36 on the wait list for the pre order.
Yeah, hoping the same for SoCal. MusicTeck is great; having a chance to test multiple TOTL IEMs in one setting is fantastic. Sometimes desktop setups and full HPs get my CanJam attention, but the ability to focus on IEMs, DAPs, etc is an under appreciated aspect of the show, for sure.
I didn’t like it as much as the Airmid or Glenn OTL that Zach also had on hand. Disappointed too, because I’m looking for an endgame OTL to match with my VO, and the other two aren’t easy to get, unfortunately.
I have not meet Zach and Bevin in person yet, but nobody has ever given me a better buying and communicating experience.
I am going to go ahead and give this photo a name. " Timbre Heaven"MY CANJAM CHICAGO 2022 OVERVIEW
I promised a few folks I'd report on my impressions, so I am going to attempt my first comprehensive write up. I will do it in the order of how I walked the show. This is a layman hobbyist's view, subjective, and all that jazz. It is the story of my experience of the last two days..
My focus has been on headphones and headphone amps. To keep things as directly comparable as possible, I've carried around: (1) my Susvara (to test amps), (2) my AK SP2000, which I usd line-out to either a dual XLR cable or a dual RCA cable. This let me compare headphones and amps using mostly the same DAC. The one exception was where the Bricasti M3 was used as a DAC, which I have at home and therefore can discern the changes in the chain; or in case of a built in DAC.
Before jumping into some great gear, I have to mention that the highlight of the event was reconnecting with friends and making new ones. Including a gathering in the lobby the prior afternoon, an ad hoc conversation ended up slowly built into a gather, and into an eveing-long conversation about head-fi, sci-fi, and everything in between... with @warrenpchi , @third_eye , @joe , @AxelCloris , @Rob Watts , Marshall , @Frank I , and Roger and Adam (Hifiman); and a very memorable night out at the end of Day 1, with @HiFiHawaii808 , @Kerry , Marshall, and @Makiah S
Further below are my impressions of the following gear, which will follow in this order (in case you'd like to quickly scroll down to any one particular you may be interested in). This is not a critical review. Rather, these are my personal impressions and experiences of CanJam Chicago:
- ZMF Atrium
- ZMF Aueteur Classic
- dCS Lina (amp only, followed by the amp/dac/clock stack)
- @L0rdGwyn Airmid (amp)
- Spririt Torino Pulsar (headphone)
- Spirint Torino Sigfrid (amp)
- Audeze CRBN
- Well Audio Head Trip III, Level II (amp)
- Well Audio Commander, Level III (pre-amp)
- RAAL-requisite CA1A
- Dan Clark Audio Stealth
- Ampandsound Nautilus
- Stax SR-X9000
- Eksonic T2
- Rupert Neve's Fidelice Precision DAC
- Abyss AB1266 Phi TC
- Cayin HA-300MK2
- Noble Audio Limited Edition Gold & Diamon Noble Sultan
- Noble Audio Kublai Khan
- Audeze MM-500
- Ferrum Orr+Hypsos
My very first stop was at ZMF. A genuine pleasure to finally meet @zach915m and Bevin in person. Such nice people!
I planned to spend a little bit of time trying out the new Atrium and Auteur Classic. I ended up staying for 2 hours.. They had a magnificent set up with lots of amps to pair with!
I own the VC and Aeolus, which were a reference points. The Atrium provides a real interesting complement to the VC. The Atrium is sound is more lush and "analog" feeling. Lower bass is less defined than the VC, but the sound stage feels much wider. It is very evenly tuned, and it is super enjoyable. Like all ZMFs, it sounds best with tube amps (more below). The Auteur Classic sounds a bit leaner and faster than the Atrium. It will provide a great alternative in its price tier to the HD800s and Arya.
ZMF had lots of limited editions on display for immedite sale. I walked the "wall of shame", bowed my head in submission and awe, and conceded to the fact that I am walking out with an Atrium... some of the options included:
These are gorgeous.
I have not meet Zach and Bevin in person yet, but nobody has ever given me a better buying and communicating experience.
Great people with a top-notch hand made product.
I am going to go ahead and give this photo a name. " Timbre Heaven"
These are gorgeous.
I think I could have spent a whole day at this booth with all of the cans and amps!
Fantastic write up by the way, some great pics and info. I liked hearing about your journey
