Bay Area "HiFiCon" July 29, 2023 Impressions Thread

[DeviousEnigma]

Hi all,

Feel free to post your impressions here. I'll be adding mine later when I wake back up.

 

[Bill-P]

This is one of the biggest Bay Area meets I have been to for such a long time. Thanks, @DeviousEnigma for organizing!

Here are some of my notes from what little listening I got to do at the meet.

Campfire Audio table: (please note I used Fiio KA5 as source here)

Andromeda Emerald Sea: warm, thick, bassy but still very airy. Hm... super guilty pleasure for me here since my preference is slightly darker than neutral. I think it's a solid update over stock Andromeda since vocals are now smoother, though still recessed. I'm not sure $1450 is the right asking price for people since original Andromeda can now be found for less than half that price on the used market, but personally, I would do it. Highly considering this pair.

Solaris Stellar Horizon: very balanced, kinda slightly thin for my taste. There's a lot of texture and it's very airy. Details are obviously one notch above Andromeda, although vocals can be a bit on the harsher side. I guess it's just a matter of getting the right tips and fit to smooth out vocals. However, $2670 is a very steep asking price for this, and I honestly would not consider it although it's right up my alley. If this was $1600 or even $2000, I could have justified it, but it's a bit too high right now.

Trifecta: very much like grown-up Atlas. Similar sound too: big warm and boomy bass with massive treble spike. I'm not sure this sound is for me. Especially not for me for $3375.

Supermoon: uhh... what is this? I guess it needs a different amp or DAC or something but it's just a weird listen. It's smoother and the tonality is more agreeable than Solaris but it's lacking the textures and air of Solaris by a very significant margin. Also bass is kind of boomy and muddy here. It's a weird combination of "good enough" clarity with decent smoothness and with boomy bass. I guess... saving grace is it does sound similar to Solaris, except a bit thicker. But anyway, for $1500, hmm... I think I'd rather go for 2nd-hand Solaris still.

Didn't get to try the TWS earphones.

---------------

Stax SR-X9000: out of head, massive soundstage, super airy, very good and pinpoint accurate imaging. Severely anemic and lacking bass or thump but... curiously, FR didn't sound disagreeable to me. This suggests that despite the lack of body and bass here is due to bass having a massive rolloff or the amp is likely the culprit here. T8000 was used to drive them. Overall, I'm quite impressed with the soundstage and I'd like to hear this headphone again on a different setup to form better thoughts.

Audeze CRBN: very nice and even tonality. Upper midrange a bit tipped up, not unlike what I can hear from HD600, but it's definitely a bit north of neutral to me. Bass is surprisingly nice and solid for e-stat. They highly remind of Sennheiser HE-1 in how they reproduce bass. The only drawback here is the closed-in soundstage and lack of breathing room to push any sound out of my head. These sound basically like "super HD600" but not necessarily in a good way. It's almost as if the sound was a wee bit muffled even. I would like to listen to this headphone again on a different system to form better thoughts. As it was, I think... LCD-5 may be a better flagship than CRBN.

Basically, in my honest opinions, if SR-X9000 could have the bass of CRBN, that would the perfect headphone and then... I would not hesitate to pay Stax a high premium for that combination. As it is, both do certain things well, but neither is truly super impressive for a ToTL headphone.

---------------

xMEMS IEM out of iFi Diablo X: sorry... I keep forgetting the name of this IEM here. From my photos, I think these look like the Montara? But please don't take my words for it. I thought... these IEMs were not bad. With foam tips, the IEMs sounded agreeable and I could not nitpick any major frequency response or tone issues, unlike the previous efforts. Of note is that bass seems to lay it on thick and may be a bit too thick here. There's no bass pitch differentiation for me, and I have heard BA drivers doing bass better than this by quite a lot. There's a balance to strike, and I think the current balance may fit me well, but can also be a turn-off for those looking for a bit more clarity and details. Overall, I did not think this IEM was ToTL material. Certainly not up to Andromeda or Solaris level of technicality. But I did think this was promising, and I would like to hear more now.

 

[Bill-P]

More posts are needed for photos...

 

[Bill-P]

And this should be the last of the photos. I think we had a very wide variety of gears at the meet, and personally, I would have preferred for the meet to go on a bit longer to give myself some time to try out more gears. There were very interesting setups that I wanted to try but couldn't because there were so many people queuing up for those setups.

 

[Rebel Chris]

Beautiful photo's! Any impressions on the new mjilonir 3 and the big nitsch amp?

 

[killthrash]

I attended as an exhibitor (hififorall.com) and didn't get to listen to a ton of gear but wanted to post a few thoughts. I'm not a professional reviewer or consider myself an "experienced" listener, so I apologize if my thoughts don't make sense

It was a pleasure to meet a lot of the community in-person for the first time, especially those who helped out in our Beta testing program. I was able to have in-depth conversations and experiences with some of the brightest audio enthusiasts I've met to-date. Already looking forward to re-connecting in Socal soon, and at our next local meet-up as well.

Schiit Yggdrasil / Ragnarök 2 / ZMF Caldera

This setup seemed to work well together. The dac pushed all information in a very realistic, natural way without seeming too over-processed. The Ragnarök 2 amp had plenty of clean power for the headphones, but because this entire setup was new to me, I'm not sure what else the amp was doing. I thought the relay knob was a fun party trick, having so many steps. The ZMF Caldera's sounded in-your-face intimate with a fast, highly-detailed presentation. Soundstage was a bit lacking but there was enough separation where it didn't sound completely blended. They could handle lots of power with zero distortion and the low freq bass presence was clean and controlled at higher volumes. I would say overall the Calderas were fast, accurate, detailed, intimate and balanced. To my ears, they were not natural, fun, laidback, immersive.

Schiit Mjolnir 3 / ZMF Atrium Closed

Tried the Atrium closed on another Schiit stack, I don't remember the dac though. Because both the amp and headphones were new to me, I can't say for sure what the amp was doing but again tons of clean power and I think the pairing here was spot on as the Atrium Closed sounded pleasantly wide and spacious for a closed back. The bass was tight and punchy, mids sounded natural and forward and the highs were perfectly tamed and not distracting. I preferred the more natural and fun sound of these to the Caldera's. I haven't tried the Atrium opens, but I suspect those would be my favorite headphones. I would love to try more headphones on the Mjolnir 3 in the future as I think this amp was helping the closed back headphones sound more spacious.

Huge thanks to @DeviousEnigma for organizing such a cool event. Looking forward to seeing you all in Socal.

 

[Bill-P]

Here are notes on DSHA-3FN: simply the best solid-state amp I have heard ever by a very significant margin. At the meet, there were Modi Multibit and Yggdrasil LIM (I think?) and I could very easily pick out which DAC is which with the amp. If I was not careful, I would have attributed the sound of the respective DACs to being the sound of the amp itself. In my opinions, the DSHA-3FN actually doesn't really have a "sound" per se. It's just super transparent. But if I have to describe it over something else, like Piety, which I know very well since I paired mine with MM for a while, I would say the DSHA-3FN has sort of a much tighter grip or control to the sound. Bass can get wooly and a bit thumpy on Piety to my ears, sort of like someone punching a pillow and me hearing it from one room over. Bass on DSHA-3FN seems quite a bit less like that. The impact and hit is still there but it's not wooly or overdone. There's also no "bleeding" or overly done warmth but instead, it's just an effortless flow and continuity from bass to midrange and then to treble. There's kind of a fluidity to the sound of DSHA-3FN that I can't quite explain. I just know that Piety is quite a bit more grainy when it comes to treble presentation, as if it's just noise with busier passages, whereas DSHA-3FN is very much like how I remember my Zana Deux: smooth, liquid, extended but not peaky or overdone, but with bonus tighter bass.

So overall, just a very nice listen. I'm definitely getting one for myself. Once this amp has come into more people's hands, I think they will realize what a gem it truly is: the chassis is barely bigger than Schiit Bifrost, no extra power supply brick, nothing massive... and yet the sound punches well above its size class and is in fact ToTL in my books.

Headphones used at the meet to demo the amp:
Focal Utopia
HiFiMAN HE5SE

 

[ArkNerevar]

Very nice photos and im appreciating the impressions so far, looking forward to more of the Mjolnir 3, have one specific question regarding the Mjolnir 3 for anyone who tried it, does it have the 128 step attenuator like the Freya?

 

[djentbat]

I have to say that this was an incredible event! So much awesome gear to try out; with plenty of time to listen to everything present.

My favorite of the night was the Focal Utopias (RIP my wallet). I was extremely impressed with the detail and imaging, I have always love the Clears and always said if I could get one with more soundstage it would be my favorite headphone.... well I found it.

Up next was the shear quantity of ZMF headphones we had on hand. VO, VC, AC, Aueter, Caldera. All of them were quite impressive, and I got to test out if the closebacks leak. They do not.. so once again Rip to my wallet...


There were so many great amps to try out as well, that I got to find out what my favorite amp pairings with to my Atriums as well. I am quite happy with a bottlehead crack.

Beyond headphones and gear, I got to meet an awesome group of people with the same hobby as mine and it was really pleasant time to get to meet people.

I'd highly recommend going to Hifi-con and I am grateful for @DeviousEnigma for putting on such a tremendous event.

 

[M3NTAL]

@bill198203 - what is the (what looks to be) 3D printed headband?
MJ3 - where are you hiding? Sooooon! Hopefully it pans out to be a super versatile SS amp.

 

[Questhate]

I just wanted to come in here and reiterate the HUGE THANKS to @DeviousEnigma for organizing this meet. I know he put in tons of work in his free time to pull this together for the community -- everyone buy him a beer or three. Also huge appreciation to Schiit for sponsoring the meet and all the MOT's that attended or donated or loaned their gear -- Schiit, Nitsch, ETA Audio, Hifi For All, ZMF, Geshelli Labs, Campfire Audio, Bottlehead and Stax. Ya'll are rock stars.

I had an absolute blast meeting, chatting, nerding out and vibing with you all. Listening to world class headphone gear seemed to be secondary. I posted some impressions elsewhere, and looking forward to chatting over on The Bay Audio Enclave discord.

 

[tamleo]

Super Beautiful amp. Anyone know its name? Tks

 

[kartk]

Super Beautiful amp. Anyone know its name? Tks

That's get-set-go amplifier. A diy build.

 

[trackrunner]

This is one of the biggest Bay Area meets I have been to for such a long time. Thanks, @DeviousEnigma for organizing!

Here are some of my notes from what little listening I got to do at the meet.

Campfire Audio table: (please note I used Fiio KA5 as source here)

Andromeda Emerald Sea: warm, thick, bassy but still very airy. Hm... super guilty pleasure for me here since my preference is slightly darker than neutral. I think it's a solid update over stock Andromeda since vocals are now smoother, though still recessed. I'm not sure $1450 is the right asking price for people since original Andromeda can now be found for less than half that price on the used market, but personally, I would do it. Highly considering this pair.

Solaris Stellar Horizon: very balanced, kinda slightly thin for my taste. There's a lot of texture and it's very airy. Details are obviously one notch above Andromeda, although vocals can be a bit on the harsher side. I guess it's just a matter of getting the right tips and fit to smooth out vocals. However, $2670 is a very steep asking price for this, and I honestly would not consider it although it's right up my alley. If this was $1600 or even $2000, I could have justified it, but it's a bit too high right now.

Trifecta: very much like grown-up Atlas. Similar sound too: big warm and boomy bass with massive treble spike. I'm not sure this sound is for me. Especially not for me for $3375.

Supermoon: uhh... what is this? I guess it needs a different amp or DAC or something but it's just a weird listen. It's smoother and the tonality is more agreeable than Solaris but it's lacking the textures and air of Solaris by a very significant margin. Also bass is kind of boomy and muddy here. It's a weird combination of "good enough" clarity with decent smoothness and with boomy bass. I guess... saving grace is it does sound similar to Solaris, except a bit thicker. But anyway, for $1500, hmm... I think I'd rather go for 2nd-hand Solaris still.

Didn't get to try the TWS earphones.

---------------

Stax SR-X9000: out of head, massive soundstage, super airy, very good and pinpoint accurate imaging. Severely anemic and lacking bass or thump but... curiously, FR didn't sound disagreeable to me. This suggests that despite the lack of body and bass here is due to bass having a massive rolloff or the amp is likely the culprit here. T8000 was used to drive them. Overall, I'm quite impressed with the soundstage and I'd like to hear this headphone again on a different setup to form better thoughts.

Audeze CRBN: very nice and even tonality. Upper midrange a bit tipped up, not unlike what I can hear from HD600, but it's definitely a bit north of neutral to me. Bass is surprisingly nice and solid for e-stat. They highly remind of Sennheiser HE-1 in how they reproduce bass. The only drawback here is the closed-in soundstage and lack of breathing room to push any sound out of my head. These sound basically like "super HD600" but not necessarily in a good way. It's almost as if the sound was a wee bit muffled even. I would like to listen to this headphone again on a different system to form better thoughts. As it was, I think... LCD-5 may be a better flagship than CRBN.

Basically, in my honest opinions, if SR-X9000 could have the bass of CRBN, that would the perfect headphone and then... I would not hesitate to pay Stax a high premium for that combination. As it is, both do certain things well, but neither is truly super impressive for a ToTL headphone.

---------------

xMEMS IEM out of iFi Diablo X: sorry... I keep forgetting the name of this IEM here. From my photos, I think these look like the Montara? But please don't take my words for it. I thought... these IEMs were not bad. With foam tips, the IEMs sounded agreeable and I could not nitpick any major frequency response or tone issues, unlike the previous efforts. Of note is that bass seems to lay it on thick and may be a bit too thick here. There's no bass pitch differentiation for me, and I have heard BA drivers doing bass better than this by quite a lot. There's a balance to strike, and I think the current balance may fit me well, but can also be a turn-off for those looking for a bit more clarity and details. Overall, I did not think this IEM was ToTL material. Certainly not up to Andromeda or Solaris level of technicality. But I did think this was promising, and I would like to hear more now.

Thanks for the great write up and pictures!

 

[Huntersknoll]

Schiit Mjolnir 3 / ZMF Atrium Closed

Tried the Atrium closed on another Schiit stack, I don't remember the dac though. Because both the amp and headphones were new to me, I can't say for sure what the amp was doing but again tons of clean power and I think the pairing here was spot on as the Atrium Closed sounded pleasantly wide and spacious for a closed back. The bass was tight and punchy, mids sounded natural and forward and the highs were perfectly tamed and not distracting. I preferred the more natural and fun sound of these to the Caldera's. I haven't tried the Atrium opens, but I suspect those would be my favorite headphones. I would love to try more headphones on the Mjolnir 3 in the future as I think this amp was helping the closed back headphones sound more spacious.

Thank you for the impression! I have an AC and am waiting for the MJ3 to drop. Sounds like it takes the sound of the AC and plays to it.