First off, Big Round of Applause to the Organizers who once again put on an amazing show!! I know how hard these are to pull off and they do it with grace and make it look easy, when in practice it is not.
Second thought is having been to the New York show twice and very early Chicago and LA Can Jams, London has its own unique vibe. Very chill and listening while not always easy is way more possible than the larger US events. This seemed to be because of a mix of less people and less talking between the people that are there.
I primarily went to hit up the IEM vendors and was not disappointed.
The one thing that hit me between the NYC and London show is the qualitative growth in IEMs. IEM quality has grown at a faster rate than traditional headphones over the past ten years. The other IEM specific thought is how good the cheaper stuff is, you can get great sound for $200 and I'd say anything above $2000 is splitting hairs with the exception of the Subtonic Storm. In short it is a great time to be an audiophile and in particular and IEM audiophile.
And now for a few brief impressions of what I heard at the show
Elysian. The
Diva, would say it’s not the best in most aspects but places pretty high in all. Maybe a bit in your head stage constricted. Great great vocals as for me this is the strong suit also Geddy Lees bass is rocking on these. I really like these and if I had the cash readily available they'd be in my stable. Unfortunately another IEM stole my heart and ears at the show.
Annihilator far more open than the Diva with greater balance top to bottom. Wow the drive in Spirit of the Radio (Rush)is impressive. I think people mistake these as being harsh but rather they have insane amounts of PRaT. Not crunchy/harsh with guitars. Great set and agin in a universe of cash abundance they'd be mine
. Nice timbre and dynamics!
QDC Tiger - wanted to hear these for some time. While not bad a bit of a hard top end and timbre is off with that plastic sound. Bummer as I wanted to really like these. Bass just so so. Vocals not natural sounding. these look the business just didn't have the sound to justify the cost
VX nice bass but seconds in to Rush Spirit of the Radio harsh and congested with a slightly unnatural sound. Gave Norah Jones a quick turn on these as well as Santana but all didn't sound natural to my ears. Overall wanted to love but walked away disappointed.
Subtonic Storm - as good as the hype. The thing that got me was the bottom of the bass note resolution. This description may sounds odd until you hear it. The sub bass allows you to hear undertone information along with overtones in the bass region. Vocal are done best in class with you are in the room presence. Total resolution with no etch or harsh downside tone is stunningly accurate Nirvana Lithium guitar was spot on. The loud passages were handled perfectly. Once again the bass is just stunning. While again at the over $5k price point it's a no go for me, I really appreciate the let's see what is possible if we aim for the best matching, tightest tolerances, damn the torpedos approach. The succeeded in hitting a mark that others will have to ow shoot for. I was also very impressed discussing their approach with the designer. He's comments about not strongly marketing and understanding the price is out of most people's reach but hitting this mark allows for trickle down for future lower cost products. I for one will be looking for what comes next for Subtonic.
Eliise Audio Table -
Symphonium Helios SE
Wow very nice shell very comfortable. Articulate without crunchy or harsh sounding. Led Zeppelin Babe I’m Going to Leave you very intimate and natural sounding.
Spirit of the Radio very good but not as propulsive as the Annihilator or Soundz iems. Nice at the $1.2k price. Vocals nicely done bass good not last word. Special iems ut ultimately I chose a different IEM from this company.
Symphonium Crimson Very sweet piece, I auditioned this right after the subtonic storm and I was still impressed. Maybe my show favorite for price to performance. Bass very good not storm good with sub bass resolution but still top flight. Detailed without etch. Tone on Santanas guitar spot on. So impressed that I put my money where my mouth is and purchased a pair at the show. More to come with a Pseudo unboxing as I couldn't resist the urge to open these carefully the night I received them. Upcoming review but unfortunately I like to spend at least a week with something prior to doing a full review. Suffice to say for now, with the Sony M9 and 64 Audio U12t in the collection I laid down my CC for these. Great stage on these and details with leading class layering.
Yamaha YH5000SE pure win on the astestics but amp sound was lacking. I found the sound to not be as immediate with dynamics and tone not up to Hifiman 1000se or LCD-5 standards (I have these two as a reference). Love the look and really wanted to like the sound. Now to be fair maybe with a different dac/amp combo things may be different. I listened in the Yamaha phone booth set up with their amp. At $5000 there is a fair amount of competition that bests this and even below the price say at the $2k mark there are headphones I'd recommend before these. I do applaud Yamaha for jumping in head first into the market and hope future versions will improve on this nice but missed the mark start.
The Yamaha amp in pure direct was good but the different modes were pure fail. The amp itself looks killer. The decision to add home theater like sound DSP features was not smart in trying to appeal to high end headphone consumers. If they come to more shows would like to see the headphone hooked up to alternate amps.
Final Audio D8000 love these. Articulate detailed and right to the line without being harsh imo. Bass is special as are vocals. Slightly splashy with cymbals in rock. These are super coherent, fast, nice tone ... Great IEM but would caution system matching with a source that titled warm or at least not bright.
I did get a chance to look at the new flagship and if they can get that form factor to sound great then I say go for it. Bit of a tease having it to show but not to listen to but I understand protecting the brand if they are still working on final sonic and ergonomic adjustments.
Hedd Audio
The new design rocks! I owned the first version and had to return it due to comfort issues, I have a big noggin and the headband couldn't fully accommodate me.People are going to complain about the headband adjustment scheme in the new version but I think it’s brilliant. Once you get the lateral and horizontal settings locked in it’s supremely comfortable. Very immediate sounding and very fast with great tonality. Took everything that was great in V1 and just made it better, bass is improved as well. People talk about the one factor weight, IMO to a detriment, weight is a factor but how the design distributes the weight is more important (up to a point). These would be one to check out if you love dynamics, leading edge transients with no sacrifice in tone. Not a warm headphone but not a dry one either.
Raal I had owned these a while back and went to great odds to use the resistor box with a rather large tube Cary amp and then a first watt amp and gave up given the corners the set up boxes you into. I had the Jot amp for them and while great for the price I always felt I was missing something.
I had not seen this new transformer box, it turns these from a niche product into on that can integrate into a traditional HP amp system. Powered by the Ferrum Oor it sounded glorious, fast detailed transparent. Didn’t understand the need for the version in a traditional headphone cup housing. Sounded pretty good but for home use in a quiet environment stick with the open version. After hearing these I am super tempted to source another pair.
Meze - Super cool people, I recently spent 6 weeks in Romania and really missed the boat not getting to see the factory. The newer pads for the Empyrean vastly improved the sleight veil I heard when I had them a few years back. Maybe the best headband and industrial design of all manufacturers. For those that want a headphone in the top tier but are willing to embrace a bit of warmth to sacrifice the last word in detail and speed. These are sit in a chair with your beverage of choice and dissolve into the music.
Mems- iems way better than I thought the emerging tech would be. High degrees of presence with a touch of thinness and or brittle feel. Once tone is worked out the quickness of the driver could be a nice step forward. I have a lot of faith in how this tech will develop and hope future generations will improve. Powered by the diablo it did sound good but dollar for dollar were outclassed by some other contenders in the same price category.
Ifi iCan Phantom- literally an amp to power anything and everything. Listened with hifiman Shangri-la. Very good sound in suboptimal listening conditions. What I would say is this should be auditioned if you have multiple headphones with varying power needs. Beautiful design. If I owned electrostatic headphones, planers and dynamics this would be one amp to rule them all. Sounded great with the HiFiman and given their engineering chops I would expect it to mate well with all comers. I wanted to test them with my IEMs and they were game, I hooked up the 64 Audios to them and wow no noise just glorious sound. I am not one for x-bass or the soundstage expander bit it is there if you want it.
Canpur Cp622b wow got pulled in the music with these and some really cutting edge design with the driver configuration. Bone conduction for the midrange!! Check these out if you get a chance. Could have used more marketing at the show as this table should have been crowded based on the sound but had open seats much of the time. I think these will gain traction once people hear them. I would have purchased these but they are above my self restricted € 2000 cap for IEMS.
ZMF Auteur Classic , spent some time with these and walked away quite impressed and could see these in my collection. I almost bought the pair there that I was listening to but after the hit to the credit card from the Symphonium Crimson and no availability of a seahorse case for travel home I decided to wait to pick one up later in the classifieds or at another meet. These just draw you into the music, not technical but supremely musical. There are headphones you plug in and just ease into a long listening session. You won't direct the music but you will absolutely connect emotively with the music.
Caldera I spent some time with these and thought they were stunning but had some concerns with a slightly aggressive tone with rock guitar. This was not a deal breaker just something that I thought could be fatiguing over time. Bevin was awesome and informed me they had a pad filter to reduce just that thing. I didn't have the time to try it and they were super busy so I didn't get the chance to hear it. If you are in the market for a top tier planar these along with the HE1000se and LCD-5 should be on your short list.
I met Zack and Bevin years ago the the company was somewhat new and it is great to see their success!! Even better they are still the same great people I met years ago, super warm and genuine!!
Capper of the show was dinner Sunday night at a great Turkish restaurant with friends!! Thank you CanJam and thank you London for a great weekend full of memories.
