[ranfan]

Any impressions from MusicTeck's booth? Curious to hear how the new Oriolus Szalayi sound (it's the blue one with glitter faceplate)

 

[Skyediver]

Forgive me, on soap box: Surprisingly low attendance for a CanJam. GREAT for us consumers; I was able to have amazingly extended listening sessions with fantastic gear that’s hard to do without coming to such shows, PLUS have fantastic, engaged conversations with the folks in the industry that are creating these masterpieces we all love, truly leading the cutting edge of what personal hi-fi can offer in 2022… but I worry on how this can sustain if the cost structure doesn’t work for vendors, etc. The market needs more than just us hardcores to really work, especially as we head into what could be a recession putting a pressure on luxury disposable spending for the next few years. Makes me nervous for a hobby I love, is all.

OFF soap box!

Loved my first day! Spent ALL my personal budget on MusicTek offerings (The Bird specifically) to complete my search for a synergistic match for my N8ii purchased at CanJam NYC earlier this year. Spent more money for a cable upgrade than I EVER thought I’d even consider in my life but hey, I can’t deny what I heard. And just had FUN! Lina costs a fortune, but it was a highlight, especially with the Abyss 1266 TC and Diana. Preferred it over the Bartok setup. Also loved Zach’s new Atrium; it’s nothing like the VO, definitely more complimentary than I expected between the two.

So much more to play with on day two, I just scratched the surface with the above.

 

[MacMan31]

Only 7 tubes?! My personal minimum is 10 tubes

That looks awesome. But it would be expensive to upgrade tubes.

 

[Slim1970]

That’s the kind of impressions I like to hear! I already love my Og Auteur, so it will be hard to convince myself to send them in for the upgrade. I really want to hope someone gets to compare a OG Auteur to the Classic side by side in same setup. It’s impressive to heat you preferred the Classic to the Atrium!

Did Zach happen to mention anything about pricing for the upgrade from OG Auteurs to the Classic?

I did not ask him about upgrade pricing of the OG Auteur’s to the Auteur Classics. I owned the OG Auteur’s for a stint and from what I heard the Auteur Classics are indeed worth the upgrade. The bass is cleaned up and is more defined, tighter without the loss of bass volume. The midrange also benefits from the new dampening system as it sounds more nuanced, more involved. The treble seems more extended and clear. The biggest thing I heard is the soundstage expansion in width and depth. The Auteur Classics sound a lot more open with a much better sense of space. I also prefer the Auteur Classics on solid state gear than tubes. Zach had the Auteur Classics hooked up to the DSHA 3F and the combo was simply stellar. I don’t know which I liked better, the amp or the headphones, incredible pairing!

 

[Wes S]

To all who have been to the ZMF booth. Curious if they have the new Decware collabed OTL at the show?

 

[Slim1970]

In the Audeze booth, I finally got to hear the CRBN’s. Where they enough to sway me to own a pair of estats? No, but they did sound very good . They are fuller and have better bass than the Stax offerings I heard, but still not up to my sonic preferences to own a pair. I will say it was the closest I’ve heard a set of estat’s come to sounding like a planar. The CRBN sounds and performs like a planar/estat hybrid. I was ALMOST swayed, haha .

There were two setups for the CRBN; the Mojnir Audio and the Linear Tube Audio Z10E. Both were connected to the Denafrips Pontus II R2R DAC. Of the two amps, I liked the the CRBN on the the Mojnir better. They sounded more edgy and a had better bass response. Funny thing happened to me, when I was going from the LTA Z10E to the Mojnir, the LTA put a little voltage threw me . Me and the Audeze rep got a kick out of it!

 

[Skyediver]

To all who have been to the ZMF booth. Curious if they have the new Decware collabed OTL at the show?

Yup. Sounded amazing with my VO. Gonna spend more time with it today.

 

[Slim1970]

To all who have been to the ZMF booth. Curious if they have the new Decware collabed OTL at the show?

No, there was not a Decware citing at the show unfortunately. There we’re however stabilized wood versions of the Atrium. This stabilized Atrium was on a Glen OTL and I couldn’t stop freaking listening. The Atriums sounded much better on the Glen than the Cayin HA-300mk2. Not to mention the stabilized Atriums with the new purple chassis was a looker with sound qualities to match.

 

[Wes S]

Yup. Sounded amazing with my VO. Gonna spend more time with it today.

Awesome and thanks for sharing the pic! I would love to hear more after you spend more time with it.

 

[Slim1970]

Yup. Sounded amazing with my VO. Gonna spend more time with it today.

Crap, how did I miss this!

 

[Skyediver]

Crap, how did I miss this!

Zach had SO many good amp pairings, it was easy to miss, lol!. My focus today is going to be hearing this Decaware OTL compared to the Glenn OTL Zach also had. Should be some fun listening comparisons.

 

[Slim1970]

Zach had SO many good amp pairings, it was easy to miss, lol!. My focus today is going to be hearing this Decaware OTL compared to the Glenn OTL Zach also had. Should be some fun listening comparisons.

I just posted a pic with the Atriums and Glen OTL. The sound of the pairing was to die for. It would’ve been cool to get a listen to the Decware as well. I’m kicking myself for missing this. Zach did bring every amp he owned it seemed, haha. He had the biggest display by far.

 

[Wes S]

Zach had SO many good amp pairings, it was easy to miss, lol!. My focus today is going to be hearing this Decaware OTL compared to the Glenn OTL Zach also had. Should be some fun listening comparisons.

Can't wait to hear how they compare!

 

[chesebert]

Forgive me, on soap box: Surprisingly low attendance for a CanJam. GREAT for us consumers; I was able to have amazingly extended listening sessions with fantastic gear that’s hard to do without coming to such shows, PLUS have fantastic, engaged conversations with the folks in the industry that are creating these masterpieces we all love, truly leading the cutting edge of what personal hi-fi can offer in 2022… but I worry on how this can sustain if the cost structure doesn’t work for vendors, etc. The market needs more than just us hardcores to really work, especially as we head into what could be a recession putting a pressure on luxury disposable spending for the next few years. Makes me nervous for a hobby I love, is all.

OFF soap box!

Loved my first day! Spent ALL my personal budget on MusicTek offerings (The Bird specifically) to complete my search for a synergistic match for my N8ii purchased at CanJam NYC earlier this year. Spent more money for a cable upgrade than I EVER thought I’d even consider in my life but hey, I can’t deny what I heard. And just had FUN! Lina costs a fortune, but it was a highlight, especially with the Abyss 1266 TC and Diana. Preferred it over the Bartok setup. Also loved Zach’s new Atrium; it’s nothing like the VO, definitely more complimentary than I expected between the two.

So much more to play with on day two, I just scratched the surface with the above.

I believe the reason you liked Lina over Bartok is because the Bartok amp is subpar compared to the Lina amp (not saying Lina amp is SOTA because it’s not). I think Bartok 2.0 is actually the better dac with more precise rendering of space, more fine detail rendering and more natural sounding treble and midrange compared with Lina (still sounds digital however). I will need to confirm my understanding with more listening sessions (initial few impressions especially at a show are generally not reliable - the situation is made worse by the fact you are not using an amp you are familiar with).

The best part about any audio show is actually talking with manufacturers and catching up with friends

 

[chesebert]

what you all think about Spirit Torino’s flagship? Sounded very interesting to me. I haven’t made up my mind on it yet.