This post will echo some of what I said in my post in the Atticus and Eikon thread last night, but on Saturday I went to my first CanJam and wanted to give some impressions. I've been interested in headphones for several years but have only even owned the Hifiman HE400i and HE5XX, and then a couple years ago I got HD 6XXs and stopped paying much attention to the hobby once I had my setup of those being driven by a Modi Multibit and Vali 2+ with a 1950s RCA 6SN7GTB short bottle. Recently I got the Modi Multibit 2 and also switched to a Magni Piety to simplify transporting the amp, and also to avoid diving into the tube rabbit hole for now. I had also been looking for closed backs around $1000, so I decided to go to CanJam to try some out.
I remember after getting the HD 6XXs years ago I felt that the ZMF Aeolus would probably be the ultimate upgrade for me some day, and that seemed to be somewhat true, as I left CanJam with the Atticus. I got to try all the ZMF closed backs on my amp and DAC, and I found the Atticus and VC were my favorites. I maybe marginally preferred the VC (although it was hard to tell with the quick comparisons), but the Atticus was such a good value proposition for me as a budget-constrained grad student, so that's what I felt comfortable buying. After getting home and putting on the suede Ori pads, I'm even more thrilled with my decision!
Meeting Zach and Bevin was a joy, and needless to say they were extremely kind. Also shoutout to Katharine for helping me quite a bit with finding the headphones I wanted to try, sharing my love of the Atticus, and even setting aside the pair that I came back later in the day to buy. Since I was focused on comparing closed backs and also since the room was somewhat loud and packed, I didn't even try any of the ZMF open backs while I was there. However, based on everything I've read I imagine that the Caldera would be the perfect headphone to complement my Atticus, and I think that would be my ideal collection of two headphones. Hopefully in two or three years when I finish my grad program I can get a stabilized set as a present for myself. Although who knows what else ZMF will have come out with by then!
There were many booths I didn't get a chance to visit, but I did get to try the DCA Aeon 2 Noire and Stealth, as well as the Audeze LCD-2 Closed. The DCAs were super comfy and clearly sounded good, but I wasn't able to try them on my amp and DAC and ultimately just didn't feel the same connection that I did with the Atticus. Since I wasn't able to direct A/B the ZMFs with the DCAs and Audezes, I did find it somewhat difficult to keep their differences in mind. Honestly I think my listening memory is just bad, and there was also a lot to take in. What ended up standing out to me from Audeze was not the LCD-2 Closed, but rather the MM-100. One of the employees and I were talking about our shared love of the HD 6XX series, and he recommended I try the MM-100. I was very impressed with them, and my friend who I brought to the show (who isn't at all part of this hobby) actually had her favorite listening experience of the day with the MM-100! I did hear many of the similarities with the HD 6XX since they have a very natural timbre and are similarly tuned. Of course being planars they had wayyyy better sub-bass as well as imaging and soundstage. The vocals were maybe just a bit less intimate than on the HD 6XX. In almost all ways I found them to be an improvement though, and for the $400 price they'll be released at I don't think someone could go wrong with these. I'd say my ears are on the larger side so when I saw their rather small looking cups I was a bit worried, but I found them very lightweight and comfortable and didn't have any issues with the pads pushing against my ears.
My friend and I also got to try the HE-1, and my impressions are largely similar to
@tvrboy - I couldn't think of any real weaknesses of the headphones and they sounded ridiculously natural, but for me it wasn't the moment of enlightenment that many seem to experience. I listened to Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Radiohead and Wild is the Wild by Nina Simone. I've never heard the guitars on Jigsaw sound so life-like, and the same goes for Nina Simone's vocals and piano. So while the reproduction of the music seemed pretty flawless, I did feel there were quite clear diminishing returns and I can see some people (maybe myself included) preferring a slightly more colored representation of the songs.
It's also fun connecting usernames from this thread to some of the people I saw at CanJam. My friend and I had our HE-1 listening session with
@DeweyCH who let me try the Lithium Alkali headphones he made. It was really nice meeting you and briefly chatting during the listening session. I don't believe I gave any impressions in person since I did my listening while you were listening to the HE-1, so I just wanted to include some of my noob-ish impressions here from the few minutes I had with the Alkali. The TLDR is that I thought they sounded excellent and after getting home and checking them out on the Lithium Headphones website, I was shocked that they were $600 and not $1000+. I only heard a few minutes of Us and Them on them, but they struck me as very natural sounding with a satisfying amount of openness and air. Also, I was listening to these right after listening to the HE-1, and I still thoroughly enjoyed those few minutes with them! The tuning also seemed a good fit for my preferences. I'm pretty sensitive to upper mids and lower treble and didn't experience any sort of fatiguing qualities. If I were in the market for an open back dynamic under $1000, I would feel confident picking these just from that short experience. I hope these get the attention I think they deserve, and it seems like there's been a lot of positive feedback from those who tried them at the show, so that's promising!
The HE-1 sounded superb, and I love the collectability of it. Hoping to spend a little more time with it in the near future before getting an order in. I also really loved the combination of the Headamp Grand Cayman with the Hifiman Shangri-La Sr. I'm frankly shocked I do not see more Shang Sr around for how good they are even if they are fairly costly.
