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This was my very first audio show, and it was a pretty decent experience! I have been on a very long and disappointing journey to find a headphone that sounds good enough to buy, after experiencing what the recent IEM explosion has had to offer, and so my sole purpose at the event was to find a worthy headphone(or continue trying to, anyway). There was certainly a good selection of headphones & equipment there, and even a handful of IEM companies! The bad news? As I had mentioned to @jude at the end of Day 2, the noise level there was simply too high to capture satisfactory enough impressions of what each headphone sounded like. But I suppose this isn't his show, is it? I can only hope CanJams offer a quieter experience, more suitable for the listener!
Oh, and there was basically no internet, so song selection was terrible to just OK, depending on what each booth had already downloaded or set up.On Day 1, I stumbled into the nearest Renaissance Hotel(Schaumburg, Illinois) entrance at 10 AM, found my way to the Pre-Purchase ticket booth, and got my 3 day pass. From there, the Ear Gear room was just to the right, so I was nearly there! The room was fairly large, about the size of an indoor basketball court, with a nice, high ceiling full of great, golden chandeliers. The room had booths along both sides of the long walls, and a partial divider wall running down the center of the room, with additional booths on both sides of it, and lounge chairs & tables in the center of the room.
Attempting to recall all of the booths from memory... Along the left wall, from front to back of the room, was Moon Audio(the largest or 2nd largest booth), HeadAmp(I got to chat with the builder of the BHSE, and Justin, the owner), Mytek, Volumio, ZMF(largest or 2nd largest), Campfire, and Empire Ears. Along the left-facing divider, from front to back, was Qobuz, RAAL-requisite, Sennheiser. Along the right-facing divider, from front to back, was Audeze, Black Ice Audio, Etymotic, and another IEM company I can't remember. Along the right wall, from front to back, was Astell&Kern, some company I don't recall, STAX, LTA, and possibly another forgotten company between LTA and the Warwick booth(which was sadly the only booth with a sound-isolated private listening chamber). Booths I forgot: iFi, Feliks-Audio, PSB, Atlas Cables, Upscale Audio, Aurender, Westone, and something next to Upscale Audio.
I needed all 3 days to get through just the portion of items(about 50% of everything) I was interested in hearing, so it would be a hopeless endeavor to attempt listening, seriously, to everything in this timeframe. After entering the room, I walked toward the center and scanned around a bit. My first booth was Black Ice Audio, with both an unfamiliar headphone I hadn't seen before, and unfamiliar equipment. This was one of my favorite items of the show, the upcoming "Silver" from ModHouse, to be released within 6 months or so. There will also be a "Gold" model, with option for single or double-sided magnet, if I remember correctly. The Silver will be priced around ~$1200-1400, and the Gold around ~$1800. I recall a notably smooth, pleasant, warm-ish sound, with pleasant bass, strong L/R imaging, and treble that was handled very well. Very good with no problems, but lacking in the spatial department. I predict these models will be winners!
Next I went to Audeze, and had to hear the Holo May(KTE?)+Bliss, that was just sitting there on the table, challenging my soul, and bank funds. I decided to use LCD-3 and 4z for this test, and I must say, the magic was there.
At Moon Audio, I listened to several heavy-hitters I had not heard before, such as Susvara, HE1000se, Arya Stealth, Expanse & Stealth, with mixed impressions. I found Susvara to be tonal perfection, but perhaps bass light. Expanse had much poorer tone, and unimpressive bass, but was good otherwise. HE1000se was wildly detailed and moderately bright, with decent bass levels, though too bright-edged for myself. Stealth didn't do me wrong the first time I heard it, but the next 2 times it was consistently the worst headphone of my show experience. Arya Stealth was nice and crisp sounding, with good all-round detail, treble control, and bass that was surprisingly present and impactful. I thought DCS Bartok was a little better listening experience than the DCS stack. Sadly, HE1000v2 was not there; I wanted to hear it more than HE1000se, Arya, and Susvara. 2 other headphones I was sad to see didn't to make an appearance - ADX5000 and D8000 Pro. I had my first experience with Black Dragon cables, and I thought they were top-notch quality! Super rugged.
At HeadAmp/Mytek, I listened again to Susvara and Expanse, now from a GS-X Mini and Liberty HPA+DAC II. The Liberty hardware sounded great, and impressed me. Susvara sounded very nice from both hardware, but Expanse had more bass. My impressions of both headphones = good.
At the ZMF Warbooth, I tried Caldera, Atrium, Atrium Closed, Verite Open, and Verite Closed, with sub-par impressions. The romantic, rounded sound of ZMF just isn't my taste, but happily I found Atrium Closed to stray fairly far away from this sound. It had nice clarity, large bass, nice mid-bass quantity, a semi-romantic sound flavor, and muted tonality. I felt the treble came off a bit edgy and artificial, but changing from perforated lambskin pads to suede took that edge off. It also toned down the bass too much. I talked with one of the ZMF Soldiers about it, and was told they are working on a 3rd pad that will offer a sound blend between the 2 current pads, which was great to hear. I didn't know this until after the show, but apparently Atrium has 3 tuning meshes inside the cup, just like the filter pads with some DCA headphones! I have no idea what meshes I heard.
Caldera had nice imaging, space, punch, detail, air, sparkle, but I felt it was perhaps unremarkable overall, and wished it had some more bass and smoothness. Atrium was highly dynamic, with nice sense of space and smooth, clear vocals, but I felt it suffered from a lack of definition, bass impact, and had some lower treble fatigue. Verite Open had nice bass elevation and balance, with a big and bold sound. Romantic tone & richness; not very accurate or analytical sounding. Could use more bass density and spatial performance. Rich mids and vivid vocals, but perhaps somewhat brash in the vocal/lower treble area. Verite Closed = brighter. Again, I wish the noise level in the room wasn't so high, so I could've gotten a better impression of these famously unique sounding & looking headphones. I chatted with Zach a little, and gave him some IEM recommendations. (I wonder if he might be working on designing & making one. . .
)
I listened to all wired IEMs at Campfire & Empire Ears, with Odin being the stand-out model, and Supermoon being my #2 choice. I was surprised that every Campfire IEM sounded good! (this never happens with 1 company, and wasn't the case with EE) Odin had great mids, great balance, great clarity, great sense of centered space, great bass, and no flaws whatsoever. It was the top selling EE IEM by the end of Day 1 & 2, at least. Raven was a bulkier, warmer, bassier, smoother, less clear Odin, that I felt was a departure from Odin. Supermoon offered very solid bass, more detail & clarity than Andromeda, good space, a very breathable sound, very wet/shimmery texture, with extra sub-bass. Super engaging! It was great to finally hear a high-end planar that's doing it right, as a long time fan & user of Hook-X and Timeless.
At LTA, I tested the Z10e amp(the one item I had a prior purchase interest in) with CRBN, Corina, L500 MK2, and 007 MK2(un-modded), with an LTA prototype tube DAC. CRBN sounded neutral-bright, kind of thin, smooth enough, with pleasant bass that could come alive. Not hyper-detailed/realistic like Warwicks, but much smoother and duller than them. Too bright-tilted, I felt. Corina was smoother, warmer, and duller than CRBN, with overall poorer SQ. Less definition everywhere, but did not sound bad, per se. Too flat/dull. Good bass balance, and pretty focused sound. 007 MK2 sounded great, and could sound very powerful. Different music material offered lots of change in how the headphone sounded, which was very interesting. The fit was too loose, and I felt the treble was a bit overly energetic. L500 MK2 had good clarity, nice balance, good bass, and very good sound overall. Brighter and less mid-bassy than 007. Generally very smooth, wet. Strong lower bass! Lush. Nice bass elevation. Not hyper-detailed like Warwicks, but better than Corina. Great tone. L500 was my 2nd favorite headphone of the show! L700 was not there, strangely.
Of course, I also heard X9000 and 009S. I felt 009S was very lively/"alive", with decent bass impact & warmth, vocals kind of muffled, and tonality that was not quite natural/believable. Good space? I didn't feel I was clicking with this headphone. X9000 was smoother, with better treble pop. Better sense of space, and more engaging. Strong imaging. Better vocals and tone. Nice spatial depth, yet focused. I felt the bass was still rather soft/light/pillowy. Sounded "live". Not too smoothed. Bright. It sounded much smoother and warmer on BHSE than Z10e and especially Grand Cayman, which I didn't quite like. I didn't feel impressed by X9000, but felt it had a better balance and tone than all other estats.
At Warwick, I was keen to hear the elusive Aperio. I had already heard Bravura about a month ago. My impressions: Fantastic. Great imaging. Extremely realistic SQ like Bravura, but way better sense of space. Extremely fine detail; natural detail. Too large of volume steps. Not super expansive, but enough. Focused always. Vivid and realistic, accurate sound. Not relaxed or smooth, just truthful and electric. Probably too energetic for me. Would prefer more separated sound and depth, and smoothness. Fantastic bass. The Police - Ghost In The Machine sounds amazing. Best electronic I've heard(previously Bravura).
Overall, I don't feel the difference is that much from Bravura, outside of spatial performance and some general sound polish. Especially not enough to warrant the exorbitant price increase. I think the core sound of both systems are basically identical, and if you are able to hear the Bravura, you'll know what 90% of Aperio will be like. The Warwicks sound unique, like no other headphone at the show, so they may be a sound you're looking for. For me, I found them to be too treble energetic at the end of the day, and not something I'm interested in investing in.
At Sennheiser, I tested HD660s2 and a newer HD600 revision(blue tag), off of HDV 820. I also tested IE600 and IE900, which sounded OK, but too thin and neutral for me, I think. Both headphones sounded great, with HD600 sounding obviously lighter, more boring/soft, and more neutral. This amp really brought them to life, and really impressed me. Great feeling volume knob. Worth every penny! HD660s2 sounded very nice... Warm, detailed, and engaging. More weight, bass, and density than HD600. Overall, not too much difference between these 2. It would be hard NOT to pick HD660s2 over HD600, though.
I asked the booth rep when the planar HD900/HD1000 will be released. The rep told me that about 5 HE1's are sold in USA per year, and about 20 outside of USA per year. The issue with Sennheiser not replying to HE1 order request forms was due to a system and staff change recently, I was told, and that HE1 is indeed legitimately for sale to the public.
Back to Moon Audio, I tested R10 planar & R10 dynamic with Aurender A200 and Auris Nirvana IV, and TH900 & TH909 on Bricasti M3, with decently positive results. R10 planar sounded unnaturally crisp, slightly edgy. Not very smooth. Grado-esque. Very light bass. R10 dynamic had decent fullness compared to the planar, with obviously less treble edge and crispness. More dry. Not bad, but needed more bass to balance the treble. Moderate bass, with a sub-bass focus. Not great definition anywhere. Fairly good sound, but rather dimensionless. Poor sense of space. TH909 had nice imaging! Good balance. Nice space! Somewhat treble edgy; bright spot. Too bright. TH900 was much smoother, with better bass. More intimate vocals. A bit more shimmery/wetter/etched than natural. Pretty good overall. I think TH900 is a good option to try, if you have not heard it yet.
I made sure to venture to one of the individual speaker show rooms, as I had spotted T+A on the way to the restroom. This room was by far the worst listening experience I've ever had, as the headphone CD player was playing soft jazz in a small room full of overly loud speakers playing Rock. I could barely hear anything, and left in frustration. So much for driving 6 hours and buying tickets & hotel room to get to hear the Solitaire P/P-SE. (They seemed cheap, anyway)
And now for the shining star of the show, RAAL-requisite..!
Like the Warwicks, this is a headphone system that sounds like no other, but in a far smoother, liquid-like way. I heard the CA-1a ribbon driver headphone on both of the following systems, and the SR-1a only on the first system; Jot R + ADI-2 FS, VM-1a + X-Sabre 3 Pro. The Jot R system did them no justice; the VM-1a amp is what you really want here! It's an incredible tube amp by RAAL that has an operational switch for each headphone("CA/SR"), and a 3-way variable tuning knob in the center of the top side, that provides obvious changes to placement within the music. If you own 1 of these headphones, that means you get SIX distinct sound tunings, which are NOT cheap gimmicks or mere, subtle changes, and if you own both RAAL headphones you get TWELVE distinct tunings. There is an unbelievable level of value with this system, all of stunningly good SQ. This system(CA-1a + VM-1a) was the only thing at the show that gave me chills to hear, and gave me some hope again in the headphone world. This was such an emotionally powerful system to hear... It handled the bright intensity of Rob Zombie like a dream. I could have listened to this system for the entire event(and wish I had!).CA-1a is very nicely detailed, with awesome imaging and tone. Highly realistic treble. Very clear and clean. Fantastic vocal clarity and realism. Wet-ish. Very controlled treble. Tons of shimmer. It can become very warm(overly?) with very strong bass at certain tunings, yet still retains all detail and imaging! It sounds so smooth and cohesive... The bass sounds incredible; speaker-like! This thing sounds amazing... This was also the only headphone where the sound didn't seem to be produced from a given point source, but was just there, all around you without boundary or limitation. Oh, and I got to meet Mr. RAAL himself, Danny McKinney..! He informed me that you shouldn't change the variable knob on-the-fly like I was doing, but you gotta power the amp down and back on each time, then wait about 60 seconds for the amp to boot up - the one drawback of the system. With the VM-1a, it's like a monster truck; on lesser amps, it's like a monster truck with no engine.
Visited some very special Von Schweikert(Model 7) speakers way up on floor 16, on Day 3, playing off a reel-to-reel!
It's Chicago, right..?
If anyone has better pizza/food recommendations around here, that would be great! I tried Giordano's and Lou Malnati's with poor results; JJ Twig's was better, but not better than what I've had from Jet's!
I ran into this guy, who asked to get a selfie with me on Day 2:
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. There was so much to see and hear it would’ve taken me 5-6 days to hear everything at Axpona. I also missed some of the seminars that I wanted to attend. 
