[DrunkSaru]

   
Yep, her reaction was a bit over the top - 
 
 

So that's what the commotion was all about. I was at the Sony Booth and everyone started looking over and no one had any idea what was going until someone said I think someone won something. 

 

[reeltime]

   
You're saying the WA33 is the best tube amp you have heard, after the Studio 6, and you own the WA5. Do you think the Studio 6 is better than the WA5? Can you post some impressions please

Allow me to clarify. My apologies for any confusion.
 
The WA33 is the first valve amp to leave a lasting impression on me since ALO introduced the Studio Six. Both amps made an instant impact and changed my perception of how well a tube amp can reproduce sound accurately and with emotional impact.
 
I believe the WA33 is better than the Studio Six, based on what I'd heard on Saturday (hardly a scientific or ideal listening environment). I bring up the Studio Six as a point of reference because of its quality. I would love at some point to A/B the two amps, because I believe both the Six and WA33 fairly represent the bleeding edge of (non-electrostatic) valve amp technology for headphones. 
 
If you go way way back to page 1 of this thread, I posted some impressions of the WA33, along with a bunch of photos.
 
I believe a base Studio Six is a better amp than a base WA5.  I believe the Studio Six is inferior to a WA5 with fully upgraded tubes. I wouldn't knock anyone who believed different, these are both exceptional summit-fi amps, as is the WA33. 

 

[reeltime]

 
No. I wanted to but they literally turned me away because I didn't have an appointment. I guess they were trying to be like Sennheiser with their HE-1 and making it 'oh so exclusive'. 

I walked in, sat down, started listening. Then someone told me it was by appointment only and if someone showed up, I'd have to move along. 
 
Fine by me!
 
I was actually disappointed by the quality of the digital source. At a table with a Blue Hawaii and a Mr. Speakers electrostatic, I'd want high resolution files to showcase the sound. The laptop was loaded with 44.1 kHz files, and I think it did a disservice to the headphone. Everything I heard was kind of muddy, which was vastly different from the Sennheiser HE-1 room, which custom picked tracks that (they felt) brought the best out of their rig. 

 

[remosito]

   
Re: 7BT vs. 9BT - to me, during the 10-15 minutes I played with both, and at the conditions at the show floor (not ideal), 9BT was definitely better, but not by a huge margin. Is it worth $100 more? Yes! Is it worth 70% more? hmmm..... I am not sure...
 
As for Sony 1000X with LDAC vs. 9BT with AptX HD - to me personally, that would not be a useful comparison.  IF I get any of those, it will be to stream BT from my iPhone 6S, which supports none of those BT improvements... No idea if Apple would ever introduce any of them.  Again - that's for MY potential use case.  YMMV...

 
 
Gonna be real hard for me between the 7BT and 9BT if it comes to that. 350ish is my usual range and 600 is quite a bit outside my comfort zone. Though not impossible to make room for. Hopefully some store will have both to listen to. Though I am not hopeful in my neck of the woods...
 
 
As for the Sony versus the Aths. I guess my mileage will vary quite a bit. As I am putting the cart before the horse. Get the best cart/cans with repect to wireless sound quality, comfort, build, battery life for a given price. And then buy the horse/phone that can pull that chosen cart/cans to the best of it's abilities...

 

[ByDesign]

Hello All Canjamers,
 
This is Marlon from Brainwavz Audio, It was great being at my first Canjam Socal. I had fun chewing the fat with you all. (Special shout out to LoryWiv). Thank you to all of you who stopped by the Brainwavz booth to try out our products. See you at the next Canjam Socal!

 

[Mkoll]

 
The baby THX amps were impressive as heck.  Looking forward to seeing what comes of those.

 
Yeah I was blown away by these too. A "quiet amp" is a bit of an oxymoron, but that's the only way I can think of describing these. The lack of noise was something I've never heard before. 

 
 
Too bad it doesn't look like they'll be selling them as standalone headphone amps, based on this website. 

 

[jeffhawke]

   
Slight slip on that one: It's actually their new DAP under the name Onkyo which is a collaboration with them and Pioneer (Japanese made with US input). It was a prototype of their soon to be released DAP called Onkyo DP-X1A, which is due out in around 2 months, MSRP about $899. I must have spent nearly half of the meet comparing performance of DAP's and IMO this one knocked them all dead. The FiiO X5 v3 and Opus DAP's sounded artificial and flat soundstage by contrast. The Sony Walkman NW ZX100 came close but fell short of on the overall refinement / realism for me. The Questyle QP1 may have been comparable but didn't get the chance to A/B the two. Overall I was mesmerzied on every good full size can and IEM I paired this upcoming Onkyo DAP with, with everything from dynamics to sub-bass, clarity, realism, soundstage, etc.
 
NOTE: I was only comparing this to other low-to-mid tier DAP's at less than $1,200. That is to say I had not tried the pricier Sony,  FiiO, etc. DAP's above this price point.
Well kudos on that but I feel those aren't worth the money. The sound for me is overtly muddy, non-detailed, rolled off and rather limp. I guess the Z1R is expensive just for the technology / design but they don't tick any of my sonic boxes. And I've tried them on a variety of rigs and source tracks.

Have you been able to compare with the A&K Kann? Pretty much same price tier. Thanks

 

[Mkoll]

 
I was actually disappointed by the quality of the digital source. At a table with a Blue Hawaii and a Mr. Speakers electrostatic, I'd want high resolution files to showcase the sound. The laptop was loaded with 44.1 kHz files, and I think it did a disservice to the headphone. Everything I heard was kind of muddy, which was vastly different from the Sennheiser HE-1 room, which custom picked tracks that (they felt) brought the best out of their rig. 

 
If I remember correctly, the guy running the HE-1s, Wally, told me that some parts (or all?) of the custom tracks were recorded on Sennheiser's own $25,000 microphone. That might partly explain why the vocals were so fantastic. 

 

[reeltime]

   
If I remember correctly, the guy running the HE-1s, Wally, told me that some parts (or all?) of the custom tracks were recorded on Sennheiser's own $25,000 microphone. That might partly explain why the vocals were so fantastic. 

Not a $25,000 dollar microphone, but Neumann mics were used in recording, presumably the U47 and U87, which are Neumann's best. Sennheiser purchased Neumann in 1991. 
 
"In the Ghetto" was the oldest track, it was released in 1969. I was 2 years old!

 

[ranfan]

  Hello All Canjamers,
 
This is Marlon from Brainwavz Audio, It was great being at my first Canjam Socal. I had fun chewing the fat with you all. (Special shout out to LoryWiv). Thank you to all of you who stopped by the Brainwavz booth to try out our products. See you at the next Canjam Socal!

Hey Marlon, nice meeting you at CanJam SG. I thank you for letting me try.

 

[Mimouille]

When will we have a Canjam Beijing or Shanghai. There are like millions of clients here.

 

[Shure or bust]

 
I walked in, sat down, started listening. Then someone told me it was by appointment only and if someone showed up, I'd have to move along. 
 
Fine by me!
 
I was actually disappointed by the quality of the digital source. At a table with a Blue Hawaii and a Mr. Speakers electrostatic, I'd want high resolution files to showcase the sound. The laptop was loaded with 44.1 kHz files, and I think it did a disservice to the headphone. Everything I heard was kind of muddy, which was vastly different from the Sennheiser HE-1 room, which custom picked tracks that (they felt) brought the best out of their rig. 

You ever heard of Tidal ? If you played tracks from the laptop, I feel sorry for you.

 

[AxelCloris]

When will we have a Canjam Beijing or Shanghai. There are like millions of clients here.

 
I'm still waiting for CanJam Aruba. Maybe one day, right Ethan?

 

[longbowbbs]

 

When will we have a Canjam Beijing or Shanghai. There are like millions of clients here.

 
I'm still waiting for CanJam Aruba. Maybe one day, right Ethan?

+1 to that!
 

 

[miceblue]

miceblue - awesome photos of the event! It's always fun to get pictures of events and relive the magic that is CanJam. It was cool seeing Kareem Abdul Jabar around the hotel as well! I used my tried and true dB measuring application at the event, and I agree, it was indeed around 70dB; not too loud at all (not anywhere deafening like an event such as NAMM, I mean, my goodness gracious!) Looking forward to hanging out with you again at the next CanJam! Are you going to London for CanJam 2017?

I don't think I'll be able to make it to CanJam London this year since I don't know what my job search will bring, but maybe next year!

I got my STAX measured at the Audio Precision rig upstairs, and since I was able to adjust the level the headphones were playing with the electrostatic amplifier, it turns out that I listen to music at around 70 dB SPL. Interesting to note.

^ free-field compensated

@miceblue
Are you serious this is real? Did you try the 'Bertha'?
[/URL]

It exists, and that's what I was surprised about. I thought the one shown in photos was a Photoshopped rendition or something, and the one Andy was holding in the video was a stunt item/prop. I don't know if it actually functions though.