Helow.
Firstly, please forgive for not looking as lovely as my pfp.
Now, with much turmoil and rigorous debate on how I would comprise my thoughts, I have concluded I shall only relay standout impressions and differences from expectation compared to what I have read about. As there are multiple number of variables at play such as music preference, sources, beliefs, show conditions, etc. I must stress that most all, with a few exceptions, were serviceable and enjoyed and that no one should take my particular 10 minute opinion seriously without proper context. There was mostly no outright bad, just bad synergies IMO. All can be built upon with some help.
A bit of background on my journey for those uninitiated with my history.. I am a relative newb since 2020 into hobby coming from breakbeat, jungle, dub, hip hop, R&B and previously pop hater to recently lover of pop vocals due to journey. I am also eq and HQ Player enjoyer and very limited tube experience. So, if these offend, feel free to pass on by or ignore if you haven't already.
Lastly, I index heavily on an experience beyond sonics. Where frisson and tears come from the cadence of notes or passage that reaches deep within the heart and amygdala area, emanating goosebumps and inducing the urge to tear up from the sense of heartache but in good euphoric way. Quite the ridiculous phenomenon and does not come easily for me. I can break the effect easily and it can be replicated repeatedly with the specific HQP DSD1024 settings including convolution. Hardly available but I did try the 1024 filters on iDSD Pro and they were unremarkable in comparison by themselves.
With that being said, I shall keep to basics of overall synergy of the show stack and tonality because I didn't feel much else would do justice to each phone or component in such short time.
I came on a mission to find something, anything that would either match or surpass my setup, even for less. This was going to be either a futile endeavor or enlightening revelation on possibilities and was hoping to be blown away but was prepared to be disappointed.
HE1 - Great imaging and first estat heard. Open sequence is by far the trickest as you know and is deserving of the mystique. Well balanced with just a touch of estat airyness I have read about. Very comfortable and along with HD800 headband is one of the better designs I have encountered. I would have liked to try a different dac and filtering though for scalability but an otherwise excellent combination of sonic and theatrics. Thanks again to
@ericpalonen for hosting!
Aperio - Same as above in sonics, second estat and not as noticeable estaty traits that stood out. Great sound signature as an all in one unit. Could be helped with dac or alternate filters but presentation was spot on. A tad clampy but still comfortable. Trading blows for one box stop as HE1.
Bravura - Tried black unit in isolated booth. I think this was malfunctioning as I was maxxed out on the pot and it sounded off. Tried to increase volume on tablet but didn't try my phone.
Maxwell - With Audeze eq it was decent tonality and serviceable for bluetooth. More comfortable than the weight suggests. I could see myself using this for work and might pick one up when available again.
Susvara - Finally got to hear the fabled can and on a modest Lina stack. I can see why they are so well liked with really pleasant tone and presence. One of the better experiences of the show with this pairing. Again, one of those instances where it could use some help but was closest to the sound I am after as a plug and play experience for non eq'ers.
D8KPLE - I tried on CFA3 and HA200, good and comfortable on both, nothing stood out though on this encounter. Wish there was better source.
Nutopia - Tried with Chord Anni and Qutest as well as Lina stack and same as above. Didn't notice any outstanding punch often described with dynamics. Again, would have liked to try on tubes but didn't get a chance.
HD800 - Lina stack, these sounded ok and didn't have the soundstage width often described. Again, no tubes like sometimes suggested.
Atrium - Tried on Lina, Envy and Decware Reference, sounded good overall but could sense the 6k peak although not offensive. Not as incisive as I am used to and presentation seemed to set the stage out but wasn't as cohesive of a result as is.
HD600/650/660S2 -All these were on the HDV 820 and sounded good for the price as a previous 6XX owner, just pick your poison. Usual mid bass presence and noticeable roll off.
CRBN - As this was co-launched with LCD5 I have always wondered what this was like. I heard both units on Z10E but one at Audeze was through Bricasti M3 and one at LTA booth was on DX320 Max. These were the most estaty estats I heard and don’t know if this was normal. The treble tilt was more than I was expecting and read about. Also the bass having been said is good for estat was overshadowed here. These both were disappointing.
X9000 - Metaxas Ethereal amp and Musician Pegasus was pretty good together as far as signature. No brightness as 009S and CRBN. Good bass grip for estat.
009S - Also on Z10E with typical estaty brightness presentation but better balance than CRBN.
Empy 2 - On Lina, SPL Phonitor XE, CFA3 and Z10E, bright tilt compared to Elite that is more balanced. Excellent aesthetics and comfort with build and the best stems in the business.
Elite - On Lina and Velo was a good listen. Preferred Lina stack over Velo. Better tonal balance, bass and clarity over the rest of Meze.
Philphone - Good instance of a bassy dynamic. Had a satisfying amount while retaining good clarity. A great option for bassheads looking for something fun, super lightweight. Much thanks to
@Zerousen for allowing me the opportunity to audition.
Arya - HA200, not sure which version this was but it was all black, immediately noticed the treble referred to as Hifiman sound.
Empy - On CA1000 was mid bass focused and slightly less bass weight to other Meze's.
Liric - On Lina it was fine, had ample bass for closed back wasn't best balance up top. 2nd least techs of Meze lineup I tried but one of the sexiest headphones I have seen.
Caldera - Tried on Envy, Lina, Z10E, Marquis, decent for a planar as far as techs but also didn't stand out in any areas for me at any stations.
Verite Open - Same as above on Lina, sounded good.
109 Pro - Not sure if this was Pro or Pro Primal maybe someone can chime in. I tried on HA200. Decent tonality but lacking in techs and imaging compared to kilobucks. Great comfort.
1266 TC - Fabled apparent bass king on WA33 was also decent. The comfort was ok and better than I imagined but I kinda had to press them against my head for a seal even with the head piece all the way together. The warbly bass when pulled apart was jarring and first time I heard this on a head phone. Another alleged soundstage king but felt this was overexaggerated and needed help in the mids.
Atrium Closed - On Lina and Envy was decent for closed, good sense of closed punch with typical mid bass tilt.
Urd - This was the third Kinera I tried at the table and the most pleasing tonality for me as I think the Loki was suffering from cable or phase issues. The second bone conduction one I didn't catch the name was ok but also the bone conduction was weird. Probably need better examples to really trial before much more.
Odin - Good amount of satisfying bass as graphed but overall preferred Storm.
Storm - First IEM heard since i4 if you count that as one but I know most don't. This was quite good and met expectations. Great bass and touch of inoffensive air. This would absolutely be a contender if I were in the market. Special thanks to
@tamtrum for the opportunity to listen to these after concerted effort to stop him from passing by myself and
@bagofolives .
Legend Evo - This was odd as I read it had some good bass but while it did, it tilted a hint brighter for me compared to Odin.
Raven - This was even brighter than Legend Evo but still a pleasant listen. Preferred Odin out of three Empire Ears I tried.
Spirit Valkyria/Pulsar/Centauri - On Shanling M30S, these all had a similar house sound that was very unique. Sounded like they were trying to tune them to mimic a warm and pillowy sound but came off as kinda grainy at same time. Shallow pads had driver area touching ear. Much different from everything else I have heard but not for me in these instances.
My LCD-5
On Lina stack it was good but nothing standout, still enjoyable and right there with Dave/Mscaler
With the Metaxas & Sins Marquis, same as above
With Dave & Mscaler it was good and comparable to Holo stack in NOS mode or PCM filtering.
On Schitt stack (MIB/Loki/MJ3) it was good and slightly behind the Marquis and Pegusus pairing.
On Rossini Apex, Lina clock and amp it exhibited good bass control and resolve but cycling though the different filters didn't find one that hit the spot.
LCD-5 - LTA provided on Z10E was hobbled by 2 bad cables. I couldn't use mine as it's XLR. Both black single ended mini xlr's there were wonky and I think out of phase and had channel imbalance. I tried one with mine as it was single ended and asked the local cable guy from Prosper Cables for another and he found one of the black Audeze ones and it was fine. When I plugged their LCD-5 with the other same style cable as the one I tried mine with on the Z10E, it was the same thing with phase issue.
Either way, the Velo nor Z10E was not a good paring with theirs or mine with the good cable.
**Tungsten** forgot these...
Since Justin said CFA3 was set to mid gain, I feel these were in line with others with single sided being brighter than double and single was harder to drive. I was maxxed out on CFA3 pot and the pot internals were twisting inside. Overall double was preferred over single but was hardly optimized so it was just pleasant and nothing stand out for me. Finish was good for preventing fingerprints though.
Overall, great first CJ down and looking forward to next whenever it will be. I wish I was better prepared and had more time along with more vendors to try. We shall meet again I am sure. Great meeting everyone including above and
@jude @warrenpchi @joe @Sebastien Chiu @PcChip @driftingbunnies @JacobLTA @dCS James Humble and Kai don't know your handles.
With the amount of time and money spent there, I figured I'd make a profile and write up my impressions, coming in a later post.
I do wish that Headamp was here so that I could compare to their STAX amps.
