As an aside, it would have been nice for our Head-Fi usernames to be on the badges rather than just our names. I've started using my real pic in my profile here now too, which can help.
So many people I saw and even talked to at CanJam, I didn't know who I was talking to until they said their username and then I was like - 'Oh yeah, I've seen your posts on head-fi and even sold stuff to you/bought stuff from you before' etc. And a lot of folks I spoke to didn't know that I'm Mediahound on here...
Dang, didn't realize you were there. If we chatted, I didn't realize it was you. I'm sure there were plenty of other head-fi'ers that I know that I missed. That said, I did meet a lot of lurkers who knew who I was so that's the opposite side of the coin. It was great seeing old friends, meeting some headfi-ers in person for the first time (
@brencho and
@Zachik come to mind) and making new friends as well! I agree with
@miceblue: a huge part of the Canjam experience is the people! I was helping out The Source A/V and Cavalli so I was "stuck" behind a table most of the show. But that didn't stop me from having a great time during and after the show.
Nobody has a criticism of anything, not even constructive. I've seen more honesty at a faith healing.
There's nothing wrong with being critical. But calling everyone who isn't critical a liar is out of line. As others have said, there are ways to experience the equipment when it's less loud (e.g. come at less busy times or get a demo off the show floor) and there is plenty of equipment that doesn't need silence to be able to evaluate (e.g. most IEM's, closed headphones, and DAC's/Amps used with IEM's and closed headphones). And for me at least, if I don't like something, I'm not going to waste time on it when I only have limited audition time. If it's a pre-production unit, I'll try to give constructive feedback to the mfr and leave only brief feedback on the forums (this is mainly because when info is scarce, people pick at every teeny detail and discuss it to death and then some).
@miceblue Are you serious this is real? Did you try the 'Bertha'?
They are real in that they exist, but I don't believe they actually make sound. They are made from a mold of someone's actual ears though... I believe Andy said it was the sound monitor engineer for Duran Duran?
Anyhow, as I said, I was behind the
Cavalli table for most of the show so I didn't hear much. I may be biased, but I am really excited about the new Cavalli amp prototypes. Both look to be cheaper than any previous Cavalli amp other than the Liquid Carbon. One is a fully balanced, miniaturized version of the Liquid Crimson for half the price (~$1500 estimated) and the other, codenamed Liquid Ambiance, sounds like a mini Tungsten (my guess is ~$2k but Warren is being tight-lipped about it other than saying it'll be "way way less" than the Tungsten). I'll let others speak more to the sound of those.
I made sure to check out the
Lolas and yeah, they sound good, but that's not the most impressive thing about them. That "lightning strike" carbon fiber is pant-sullyingly sexy! It has strands of copper wire interwoven with the CF weave and it's absolutely stunning; you have to see it to believe it. I honestly think my sonic impressions of them are colored by how much I lust after their physical form. lol
The new
Atomic Floyd Super Dart update (can't recall the exact name but they'll be out in a few more months, hopefully) was very good. They may end up replacing my venerable
Echobox Finder X1 as my carry-everywhere small, light, good-sounding, cheapish universal IEM.
The
ZMF Eikon sounded good on just about every setup I heard it on, including the Cayin desktop amps, the Wells reference unit ($15k of insanity!), the new
Cavalli prototypes and Zach's own
DECware amps. I am extremely impressed at how well they scale! The
Atticus is of course awesome as well, but as the successor to the classic ZMF sound, it's less "new" feeling. Still if you like the classic bassy ZMF sound, this thing is up with the best he's made.
I didn't make time to try the
KANN this time because, frankly, it is a little big for my tastes. For my uses, I'd like my portable player to be as small and light as possible (lookin at you, MojoPoly!).
The baby
THX amps were impressive as heck. Looking forward to seeing what comes of those.
Everything else I've either heard before or didn't have time to go check out. I do want to say that I thought the venue this year was a step up from Costa Mesa. It was MUCH quieter than the previous venues and there was more space to maneuver. Certainly it was less than ideal for perfect listening, but it was a step up and I'm down with that!
I had an awesome time on Saturday night getting Koren BBQ with a bunch of Head-fi'ers, mfrs, press, etc. There were over 30 of (!!!) us and it was a blast. We then went to the Audeze thing, which was hilarious. Like 30 people in a giant empty lounge listening to music at deafening levels and watching Moe dance. It was a great time, thanks to Audeze for hosting it! Thanks to Ethan, Jude, Joe and Brian for hosting another great Canjam.
