[Compassionator]

2 surprises for me. First was that my lcd-xc sounded better with wywires cable than current. I always felt change of cables are great for ergonomics, aesthitics, and terminations, better sound is a bonus, these changed my mind. Second was that my universal roxannes never fit quite right, I stopped at the comply booth and they fixed my up. Medium silicone tips have always been perfect for my but not with the unirox., nothing ever seemed quite right. Appropriate comply tips have made these new and enjoyable although still really big.

More later
Jim

I've never been a big believer in cables myself, so how did the wywire cable improve the sound of the lcd-xc?

 

[AxelCloris]

Sound is very personal, because i honestly dont remember the RSM from alclair. I do remember the JH13 though and i will agree it was better sounding than noth the 300 and 500 but it is also 1100 dollars and the 300 is $450. And i like the 300 enough that i would rather get that over the 13s, but i like the 13s as well.

 
It's funny, in the price range of the CT-300 I would actually put my money towards the Alclair Reference at $399. The CT-300 isn't bad by any means, but the Alclair caught my attention more. Just goes to show that everyone has their personal sound preferences.

 

[drgajet]

I've never been a big believer in cables myself, so how did the wywire cable improve the sound of the lcd-xc?

It seemed more present and engaging, I wanted to tap my foot more.

Jim

 

[Nomad Girl]

 
It was awesome hanging out with you and Scott! One of my show highlights for sure. 
 

Yet another amazing person I met at CanJam! Just realized that I met you because I saw a comment you posted on Facebook...and then I had to stalk you and hunt you down and corner you in an elevator just to give you a VPI Scout shirt!!  Jeezzz, I can't believe I didn't get arrested this weekend lol...sorry guys, it was my first head-fi meet and I was absolutely beyond excited and hyper.  I promise I'll try to be a little less excitable next time....unless Audeze debuts a new pair of pink headphones...then you're all screwed!!!  It'll be all cartwheels and backflips and high pitched squeals of excitement! 

 

[longbowbbs]

 

 
It was awesome hanging out with you and Scott! One of my show highlights for sure. 
 

Yet another amazing person I met at CanJam! Just realized that I met you because I saw a comment you posted on Facebook...and then I had to stalk you and hunt you down and corner you in an elevator just to give you a VPI Scout shirt!!  Jeezzz, I can't believe I didn't get arrested this weekend lol...sorry guys, it was my first head-fi meet and I was absolutely beyond excited and hyper.  I promise I'll try to be a little less excitable next time....unless Audeze debuts a new pair of pink headphones...then you're all screwed!!!  It'll be all cartwheels and backflips and high pitched squeals of excitement! 

I do look good in my new VPI T-Shirt!

Mat Weisfeld, Jane Cai and Eric Neff

 

[Compassionator]

It seemed more present and engaging, I wanted to tap my foot more.

Jim

Thanks, just what I needed/wanted to hear, but what my wallet didn't.  You are referring to the "red" cable, correct?

 

[Vinnie R.]

All,
 
CanJam was a lot of fun (but it was very cold where our table was - the air conditioning was jacked up!!! 

) - and I want
to thank everyone who came to over to listen and chat it up with us!  It was nice to meet so many new faces and see
a bunch of familiar ones as well.
 
Big thanks to Jude, Joe, Warren, and EVERYONE ELSE that make this year a big success!  
 
And thanks for posting your impressions!
 
Next up... the NY Headfi Meet (in Stamford, CT!) on Nov 15th.  Hope to see many of you there. 

 
Vinnie

 

[amudhen]

I visited Oppo at CanJam RMAF and spent time with new prototype PM-3 closed cans powered by HA-2. VERY NICE!!

 

[shiorisekine]

It's funny, in the price range of the CT-300 I would actually put my money towards the Alclair Reference at $399. The CT-300 isn't bad by any means, but the Alclair caught my attention more. Just goes to show that everyone has their personal sound preferences.

Me and you are like me and Warren on opposite sides of the spectrum haha. You like the Alphas, I like the Mad Dog Pros, you like a more refined reference sound and I like fun headphones, I guess we both agree on the HE400i.

Edit: Oh we can also agree the Prime was effing awesome. WP mrspeakers

 

[0MoUsE0]

Great review !
Learnt a lot from it !

 

[Asr]

Hey, I hear you brother, and for sure you should be comfortable offering your opinion, but I also feel that being as tactful and polite is also important. I would also say that you should also offer positive feedback, doing so isn't just piling on glowing reviews, it is adding your unique perspective and I personally like to read as many points of view as possible. As well, if you only chime in with negative impressions your opinions may start to be unfairly tuned out as people will assume you are always negative and thus not take you as seriously as they should. Anyway, I totally support your right to voice your opinion, but I also see the issue from the perspectives others have raised and I feel the same critique could have been delivered with a little more empathy. After all, I'm sure those people work very hard and are likely proud of what they have accomplished so such seemingly harsh criticism might be overkill.

 
Points duly taken, will definitely keep all that in mind in the future.
 

---

 
Moving on, my last set of equipment impressions:
 
- Oppo PM-1 and PM-2 | (source: Oppo HA-1): Another set of headphones that I really wanted to hear at the show, the PM-1 and PM-2 both sounded really good to me and there wasn't anything that I could really nitpick much, at least in the show environment. I did find it a bit annoying though how similar they looked to each other, as I couldn't tell them apart. They both had nicely deep bass and good clarity, and I was left wanting to buy at least one or the other at some point in the future, if not both.
 
- Fostex TH500RP: Didn't sound bad, but there was something funny/weird in the treble for me, almost like it enhanced metallic "gnashing". Fairly open-sounding too. I was left sort of neutral on this one, as it didn't sound terrible but nothing about it caught my attention either. I've previously owned the TH900 and briefly had the TH600—not sure if the TH500RP really sounded similar to the TH600, but I could easily be wrong on that.
 
- Monitor Audio PL200 (loudspeakers) | (sourced & amped by Cyrus electronics): The only pair of speakers that I was interested in hearing at the show was a pair of anything made by Monitor Audio, and I got the chance when I walked in and saw the PL200. I forgot to bring my CD collection with me so I had to listen to unfamiliar music, but the PL200 seemed to have really good clarity & treble and projected a convincing soundstage. I asked the rep to crank up the volume a bit and the PL200 served it up loud equally well too. The bass seemed a bit lacking in quantity but that was ok—if I ever buy a pair I'll probably just add a separate subwoofer for bass anyway.
 

---

 
And my first installment of pics. Click any for a larger version.
 
Concert Fidelity XHP-5

 
CTM's digital info display

 
CTM's color palette

 
Woo Audio WA8 prototype

 
Noble shell options

 
Atrium area - Burson Audio

 
Atrium area - Simaudio

 
Atrium area - The Audio Nerd

 
Micromega CD-20 and IA-180

 
NAD Viso HP50

 
The reps at Comply

 

[mikemercer]

I had SO much fun this year!
Full reports coming at EnjoyTheMusic.com and Audio360.org!
 
Shouts to @warrenpchi @shiorisekine, @bearFNF
@third_eye Eric Neff, Harmony Hicks, Scott Hicks, and more peeps I can't name as I'm fried right now!!
 
Will write more after more REM sleep (I literally slept like 4-6 hours from Fri. to Sun.) - but in the meantime:
 
The Woo Audio WA8 portable prototype was a BLAST to listen to w/ my Audeze LCD-XCs & Moon Audio Black Dragon cables,
and finding out that it had output transformers - therefore not a hybrid, made lots of sense to me! As I was thinking: This thing sounds like a mini-version of my E.A.R HP4! It had far more dynamic slam than I expected (BANGED The Chronic on this lil BEAST) air, and wonderful presence and sense of space and dimensionality.

 
I got to hear the Fostex TH900s for the first time - and WOW! I fell in love - told the man from Fostex that I would sell my HD800s for a pair if my pair didn't belong
to a dearly departed friend (Lee Weiland of Cryoparts - former sponsor here) before me and my serial number wasn't #501!! They were silky, dynamic, airy, and smooooth!

 
The new Cavalli Liquid Crimson was also a sheer sonic treat! We were very lucky to get a chance to rock the amp in our hotel room before RMAF kicked off! I also brought it up to my room for Friday and Saturday night! It was worth carrying it up there and back down in the morning!!
 
We tried it w/ my LCD-XCs and Double Helix Molecule SE cables - that was outta sight! Owning an LAu (and its my #1 reference headphone amp) I have to say the Crimson is like the LAus little brother! It had the same magically transparent midrange, extended highs and slammin' low-end. It just didn't goto the frequency extremes like the LAu - which is shouldn't for the price - but, I'm reviewing this amp for Headphone.Guru ASAP (on the way to me after Lee Shelly gets some great shots of it) and Audio360.org w/ Warren!

 

 
Much more impressions coming - but also loved hearing the Alpha Prime w/ the Cavalli Liquid Crimson & Nordost Heimdall 2 cables - that combo was one of the highlights of the show for me! Sonically enrapturing, and FUN! I couldn't get enough of it! I was psyched to hear the Prime on other amps too as I had just reviewed it for Headphone.Guru before RMAF!!

 
Another highlight was the CEntrance i5! It's a DAC/Amp for the iPhone 5/5S + battery-charger! I was SO psyched that Michael Goodman had music on the demo iPhone that I gave him when I worked there so I had terrific reference material that I knew very well. The sound was engaging, soundstage width and depth were beyond my already high expectations, and, it had that magic Goodman detail retrieval! 

 
I was also lucky enough to get a chance to hear this new RAL battery-powered Amp/DAC at Drews booth/Moon Audio (also USB-bus powered for computers as a USB DAC) - it handles DSD, iDevices, and as mentioned is also a USB DAC for computers - ALL for $350 bucks!! It's got a unique balanced output - via dual-2.5mm for left/right as well as a 3.5mm stereo output. I got to take it home for review - and I've been GLUED TO IT! With my Alpha Prime and Audeze LCD-X and XC the sound is so colorful and excitable I can't stop listening to the damn thing!! Review coming!!
 
 
 
 
The Schiit Audio Fulla was also amazing! SO much of everything coming from that lil' thing! From top to bottom!

 

[drgajet]

Thanks, just what I needed/wanted to hear, but what my wallet didn't.  You are referring to the "red" cable, correct?

Yes the red cable. $299 for 5 feeet is not a bad price especially compared to others and 20% off at canjam allowed me to purchase a few adapters also. $35 per foot over five, I got six, can't wait.

Jim

 

[drgajet]

All,

CanJam was a lot of fun (but it was very cold where our table was - the air conditioning was jacked up!!! :eek: ) - and I want
to thank everyone who came to over to listen and chat it up with us!  It was nice to meet so many new faces and see
a bunch of familiar ones as well.

Big thanks to Jude, Joe, Warren, and EVERYONE ELSE that make this year a big success!  

And thanks for posting your impressions!

Next up... the NY Headfi Meet (in Stamford, CT!) on Nov 15th.  Hope to see many of you there. 

Vinnie

Great to met you Vinnie at canjam. your LIO impressed the hell out of me and modular to boot, what a great design.

Jim

 

[muziq]

Great to met you Vinnie at canjam. your LIO impressed the hell out of me and modular to boot, what a great design.

Jim

Dogpile:  the LIO made a big impression on me, too.  Looking forward to the release.