As far as the whole "big meet before the national meet thing" goes, in my case, it is partially what got me to Can Jam. I had such a great time with the whole Florida crew at MOA that I decided it would be worth the trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Prior to that meet, I really wasn't much thinking of going. It turned out to be what I would have wanted and more, a real blast!
So much thanks to Tyrion and the whole Florida contingent for making Can Jam the most fun I've ever had at a Head-Fi event. From the instant that we got in the car with Johnny Flowers at the airport, the excitement never let up. This had the feeling of a true Head-Fi all-star game, as the core membership really came out to have a great time. Shoot, just between Edwood, lan, and myself, we had over 32,000 posts in one hotel room (better known as the AV processing center
).
The band Saturday night was great fun, and I think live music should be a permanent staple of future national meets (heck, even large regional ones, if it fits). Major kudos for pulling it off, and in the hotel to boot! Thanks to Voltron and agile_one for keeping party central up and running, and Tyll for providing refuge from the fuzz that night in the Head-room (perfectly outfitted for a party with a nice speaker rig).
Between shooting photos, helping wmcmanus set up his new camera rig, and drinking, I kept pretty busy most of the time. I never found the time I would have liked to seriously listen to the speakers from Let There Be Sound, nor Nate’s “menace” super DIY tube amp, or the UE11 demo before the UE guys blew out of town. Among others, but such is how these large meets tend to be; there are so many things to do that one can never do them all, no matter how little you sleep
Speaking of not sleeping, it was great getting to know a whole posse of new head-fiers (at least new to me). Philodox and GlendaleViper were a blast to hang out with; too bad the latter had to leave so soon. Though disappointed not to see sugarfried from Shure, I had a good time with his minions. Ray Kimber was also very nice to talk to, and apparently quite convincing, as I walked away with his IsoMike recordings.
As for the actual gear, I didn't spend that much time listening, as I've generally learned the game by now, which isn't to say I didn't have some fun with the gear. I learned that the HE90 is just not my flavor, even as good as it sounds (and looks) with the Aristaeus. I also found the new TTVJ/Millet 307A to be one heck of an awesome sounding amp, with both the RS1 and K1000. I doubt there is a dynamic headphone that this amp can't manhandle, and wisely paired up with the monster Meridian 808.2, it did just that to everything I plugged into it. The flavor of each headphone came through strong and clear, without a hint of harshness, and quite low coloration, especially for a tube amp.
I did spend some time listening to IEM's, just because there were so many I'd not yet heard. The Klipsch Image is startlingly small and fits very nicely, though it doesn't isolate as well as I would have imagined, for as deep as it goes. The sound overall was okay, nothing particularly wrong with it or fantastic, with a fairly even overall balance. Not surprisingly, the bass didn't quite have the depth or punch of the multi-driver units I am used to like the E500 or Triple-Fi. The Custom 3 on the other hand, didn't fit terribly comfortably, and I couldn't get one side to seal, no matter what, without holding the earpiece in place. They had a bit too much bass, which wasn't as well-defined as the Image's, so I didn't spend too much time listening to them.
The Sennheiser IE7 was a major disappointment. The rather stiff cables combined with a somewhat hard and angular body made fitting them rather uncomfortable. Isolation was among the lowest I've experienced from an IEM. And unfortunately, the sound was nothing to salvage it, as the bass was both shallow and somewhat boomy, the mid-midrange on up suffered from numerous peaks and valleys in frequency response. Hopefully the IE8 does a bit better, or this might be a rather embarrassing entry into the high-end IEM world for Sennheiser.
The IEM's which stood out to me are the Sleek SA6. They have better bass extension and impact than any single-armature IEM I can recall hearing. The midrange and high end were smooth and fatigue free, and the ability to tweak the sound by changing parts is somewhat revolutionary. They also did better in the fit and isolation department than any of the other new IEM's I tried at Can Jam. I'll have a more in-depth review of these coming up later.
I really loved the time I spent with the OIIMkII and Headamp Blue Hawaii SE prototype, and I can see why several members have already shelled out for it. I certainly would have, if it were at all practical for me. I’ve always preferred the OII (driven properly) to the HE90 and the BHSE just takes the OII to the greatest heights I’ve heard from it yet. I just wonder how nice it might have sounded with an APL player, Meridian 808, or Lavry Gold DAC behind it (not slamming the SCD1, it’s an incredibly nice CDP, just not the crème de la crème). BTW what was up with Lavry’s presence this year being a box and a sign? I was disappointed for the other members, as it really was a pleasure to talk with Dan Lavry and sample his ultimate DAC at last year’s Head-Fest.
Philodox really has a rig to be proud of, and certainly with all that he’s gone through to put it together, he should be. I’ve not, without a doubt, heard the K340 sound any better than it did from his massive (pun intended) amp. I did not heard it with the dying E5 on Saturday, but once he had the Moon Audio modded Original CDP hooked up on Sunday, he had a rig blasting out great tunes from the K340 and balanced RS1. This is a very nice one-two punch for classical/ambient music and rock/amplified music. I’ve rarely heard the RS1 sound as smooth as it did here. The K340 had a very precise soundstage, but after listening to the OII rig immediately prior, it sounded a bit small (no fault of its’ own).
The dueling balanced B22’s of Voltron and ASR certainly showed my why it is my favorite dynamic headphone amp. Plugging in a myriad of headphones from the W5000, AD2000, RS1, HP2, HD650, and R10, it was very nice to have an instant view into the specific flavors that make each one their own. The Bel Canto CDP that ASR had driving both at the time did a very nice job and is extremely well built, a la their DAC3 model.
I can’t really say anything much that hasn’t already been said about the Smyth surround technology. It’s just as cool and awesome as everyone else has already said it is, and it will be extremely nice to have WHEN (not if) it replaces the relative garbage that is Dolby headphone.
I can’t go on without mentioning the Headroom audiophile desktop, whose amps have come along in production nicely since I last experienced this setup last summer in LA. I enjoyed it quite a bit more this time, due to the larger model of Amphion Ion speakers Tyll had brought along. They had a much fuller, more satisfying sound than the smaller models he’d shown in the past. Those had a gee-which level of precise imaging, but were not as full or natural sounding, even with the subwoofer he hauled around for those smaller Ions.
That’s all I can scratch up at the moment. Thanks again to everyone that made Can Jam the very best it could be. I would have posted earlier, but I figure people would be more interested in the pics than what I had to say anyway, so I spent my first free time post-CanJam on post-processing.
For those that wanted to know, I used a Nikon D200 w/ SB800 flash, 35mm F2, 180mm F2.8, and Sigma 10-20mm lenses. It should generally be obvious from the angle of view which lens took which shots, if you don't have an exif viewer. The first three were taken with a Nikon 17-55 F2.8 I was checking out which belonged to another member.
