[DecentLevi]

  Oppo Pm-3, planar magnetic closed portable headphone. pretty nice. should have been at canjam. 

Oh, the OPPO PM-3. Yes that's right, I tried it yesterday at canJam. I thought it was analytical, yet sterile and not musical enough because of what was perhaps a slightly narrow frequency response.

 

[Sam Edwards]

High point for me was the presentation on the Hugo. I didn't understand everything Rob Watts said, but the man is brilliant. And John Franks said things about audio design that can be applied to anyone striving for excellence in any field. These guys are the real deal. I've been marveling at and enjoying their product for over a year, great to finally shake hands with the makers. Way to go. I can't wait to hear what's next. 
 
Audeze headphones continue to impress. Possibly my next purchase. If they'd had a show special I'd probably be listening to LCD-XC right now. 
 
I had fun getting my ears digitally scanned by UE, and I may have another crack at the UERM and see if we can finally get the fit right. 
 
I was shocked at how long AK has gone without coming out with a new flagship. I've been hoping to skip the AK240, but it's still the king of portables. Still sounds great. No regrets spending the money on the Hugo last year, as the AK120 is fine for the noisy situations where I use a portable. But it doesn't keep me from wanting one. 
 
Overall it was hard to evaluate the headphones with all of the noise and commotion of the show floor. Especially the open backs. I know everybody's having fun, but we come to listen, at least in theory. 
 
Sony's offerings were better than I'd expected. Lots of fun factor and deep bass. 
 
I would like to offer my deep thanks to the organizers. My only suggestion would be to have a 'quiet day' for the truly serious. 

 

[adorable]

Oh, and the weird thing is that people tend to think $$$ = quality. Design, manufacturing, engineering - these are all aspects the Chinese can and will copy, which only means that once they get their hands on a nice headphone or player, they'll copy it. So, today A&K at $$$. Tomorrow, some Chinese clone that does it for 1/2 the price, or this is what CES is all about - what the consumers can get at a reasonable price outsourced to China.
Headphones, too. Nighthawks hint at this already. Yesterday, had to CNC or machine the metal parts. Today? Just 3D laser print it!
Bad? Nope. iPhones, Laptops, MP3 players, etc. are already made in China. SO just a matter of time before us lower-end consumers will get today's high-end headphones & pocket amps for cheap =D
And the talk about $$$$ headphones having a nice 'soundstage' and all - Just listen to: http://www.head-fi.org/t/223165/legally-download-able-binaural-recordings-links (scoll down to the flute samples and listen to http://messagesofhope.net/mp3s/TLB/flute_on_trade_st/flute_on_trade_st_track_11.mp3)
versus any stereo album you have and you'll understand why movies with 7.1 surround sound tracks pushed through Fong's software, even over $100 headphones, sound AMAZING versus stereo music (2.0) pushed through headphones from $ to $$$.
What music producers should do is to spend some money recording binaural recordings rather than us trying to get that impossible to reproduce 'open soundstage' of real life with stereo recordings... because stereo recordings simply will never reproduce the full environment that binaural recordings do.
Anyways, very nice event, highly recommended, wonderful guests and companies! =)

 

[VisceriousZERO]

CanJam is not supposed to be enjoyed in an hour... because in the end you get this:
 

 
I arrived at 4pm... Show closes at 5pm!
 
But at the end of the show you get to see some really strange stuff... Like this
 

 
Yes, an HE1000 on a Ponoplayer. I tried it. It needs more juice but it still sounds good.
 
Some of my better pictures:

Darin Fong booth, with the very interesting technology for "simulating" soundstage on headphones
 

Listening to the SS, putting it beside my Blue Note
 
 

Huge-go!
 

Noble Speakers... Want.
 
 

Vinnie Rossi Modular system, wasn't able to listen to it but the modular system is very interesting to me.
 
 

MrSpeakers testing the Ether
 
 
 
A huge thanks to the CanJam guys, it was great to meet you guys, a huge thank you to Dan over at MrSpeakers, as well as Brannan over at Noble!
 
Hope to attend more and test more gear soon! Hopefully with more time on my hands

 

[Trager]

Speaking of the organization of the event -- serious kudos to the organizers for the bingo-style drawing entries, which introduced me to a bunch of people and products that I might otherwise have skipped over. The one suggestion that I might offer for future events would be to codify some "tracks" for new attendees that would make it easier for them. For example, it would be great to have a budget can track, a budget IEM track, a high end cIEM track, and a full-system track, where you highlight which vendors would be a really good stop for people looking for certain things. I think that would've helped with some of the issues raised earlier in this thread about the meet being too focused on high end (which I didn't agree with, but I'm an IEM junkie). 

 

[Allanmarcus]

They had TIDAL there? Darn, I've wanted to hear that too. I have not tried it due to lack of proper gear to take advantage of it.

You don't need any special gear for tidal.

 

[matt8268]

where can we see results from the 5pm raffle drawing?

 

[mscott58]

You don't need any special gear for tidal.

All you need is an internet connection and their web-page and/or app. From there you can play directly over an iPhone or other device or a computer. If you don't have a way of connecting your computer system to your audio rig then there could be some changes you might need to make. Cheers 

 

[mscott58]

  where can we see results from the 5pm raffle drawing?

Primary result = Axel Cloris once again did not win anything! 
 
But more seriously, would expect Joe or Ethan to post the results once they recover from the show! Only about half of the winners or less were actually during the drawing. 

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Here's what we're up to after the meet:

 

[Trager]

Until I see otherwise, I'm just going to assume that Trager won an Audeze LCD-XC in the raffle. 

 

[UNOE]

There really was only one headphone under $400 that caught my attention immediately and that was the Oppo PM-3. I already own the K7XX and those are just very hard to beat at $200.

Am I the only one that though the EL-8 sounded really bad? The open version was ok but at $700 there is no way. At the Hifiman table there were a pair of headphones labeled HE-500i @ $499 but I am not sure if that was a typo and it was supposed to say HE-400i. Anywho those sounded a lot better than the EL-8.

Also don't get the Ether hype. While they did sound good and were quite neutral I just can't see myself paying $1500 for them.

My favorite semi high-end setup of the show was the Enigma amp with the HD800. The sound those two made was so damn good.

The Nighthawk with Woo amps I found to be quite mediocre.

I own K7XX too I was looking for closed back headphone under $400.  I'm trying to decide between momentum, and PM-3.  Those are both over what I would want to spend though $250 would be more like what I want to spend.
 

  I'd take a look at the AKG K7xx for a start at least. If you like a warmer sound you can't go wrong with a pair of Senn HD518s. I don't yet know what the HD598s sound like. I tried the HD600s and found them too lacking in bass and I am not a basshead.
Of course I'm strictly talking the around the ear models. There is a wider choice if you can do on ear as well. (I can't do on ear).

Just I have those looking for closed back pair now.
 

  I have the NAD Viso HP50. They're very good closed dynamics and can be had for 249.00 USD.
 
The Sennheiser 600/650 are very good open dynamics for less than 400.00 USD.
 
Looking forward to trying the OPPO PM-3 closed Planar's for 399.00. 

I will have to look into those. 

 

[Trager]

  I own K7XX too I was looking for closed back headphone under $400.  I'm trying to decide between momentum, and PM-3.  Those are both over what I would want to spend though $250 would be more like what I want to spend.
 

I only tried the BT Momentums, but I was unimpressed. The sound just didn't engage me -- I found the Pendulumics much better to listen to, and significantly cheaper, to boot. The Momentums were too laid back for me (and I didn't feel like there was enough detail or soundstage).

 

[mscott58]

  I own K7XX too I was looking for closed back headphone under $400.  I'm trying to decide between momentum, and PM-3.  Those are both over what I would want to spend though $250 would be more like what I want to spend.
 
Just I have those looking for closed back pair now.
 
I will have to look into those. 

Try the Focal Spirit Pro's - seriously good for the <$400 price. 

 

[wahsmoh]

Can anyone tell me if Ayre Acoustic were at Camjam? I believe they were scheduled to be, but noooooobody has mentioned them at all. Really was anticipating impressions of the Codex 1. Nobody? Anybody? Hook a brotha up! :-D

They were there and I listened to their integrated system that was Sabre based. It sounded really good and used a custom filter designed by Ayre as well as some kind of low noise power source he tried to explain to me with engineer language I couldn't comprehend. All in all it sounded really good and I think it was an apparent stab at the Yulong DA8 as far as SQ goes they are equals