If they look around enough they'll even discover HD6x0 destroys everything.Yea, but did he also hear the LCD-5 on the dCS? Best and shortest 5 minutes of his life, not so contextual to Audeze.
Shrugs.
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CanJam London 2023 Impressions Thread
- Thread starter AxelCloris
- Start date
This was the ZMF/JDS amp? Always glad to hear impressions of this amp are so good (fairly expected considering where it's coming from but still good to hear)
FWIW here are my impressions of the show. I just went on Sunday, having been for one day last year also. Let me say first off that I don't necessarily seem to hear the nuances or have the language to describe the specifics of what I hear. I just know if I like something or not.
It was great to be able to say hi to the guys at Elise Audio who I've been talking to online, and thanks again to @LoneFurrow for his help.
I took along my iBAsso DX300 with a modded amp12 (12EXN) and 64 Audio u18t. A lot of people appear to be familiar with the u12t but not so many with the u18t. I heard both of these last year for the first time and was going to get the u12t until I saw the u18t for half price ex-demo and bought them. I'm so glad I got that bargain. My mission this time was to see if I could find a transportable dac/amp that would give me better sound quality and which I could also use on a laptop. Plus, I wanted to know if I could get a pair of overhead phones that would give me an improved experience at home. I was listening to a range of music on the DAP - rock, classical, jazz, vocals - all local in 320kbps mp3 as I can't hear any difference from hi-res files. My hearing goes up to about 12khz.
I started on the Elise stand with the xDuoo XD05 Pro. It's a fairly big beast but certainly transportable and I loved the design of it. The version I listened to had an upgraded opamp. We connected it to the DX300 via USB and I couldn't hear a significant difference between the two. That means it's good, as the DX300 is good (IMHO). We did also try the LO from the DX300 4.4 to 4.4 but there was a problem getting that to work. I pulled out my adapter kit and connected to the 3.5 line in which worked, still with the same result (using the line-out/in meant that it was using the DX dac and the XD05 amp). I couldn't hear a difference.
Also on Elise I listened to the Quloos QA390 (I'm not sure which version) and I could hear a difference there. It wasn't a huge difference but I thought it had better clarity and instrument separation. I like it. It can work on battery but it's a bit big even for a transportable.
I moved on, and tried the Fiio Q7 but here there was a problem with the USB-USB connection. It would connect, play a few seconds and then drop, like there was a loose connection somewhere. I tried the coax connection between the two but it didn't work at all. I don't know where the fault is with that. What little I did hear sounded fine, but again no obvious difference between it and the DX300 alone.
I moved on to the iFi Diablo, which was actually a Diablo X switched to normal mode. Same overall result, but I had very little available in terms of volume range through my IEMs. Once it was loud enough to hear then just a small tweak on the volume knob would send it way too loud, and it was still near the low end of where it would go to.
I moved on to headphones.
I've been wanting to try the Focal Stellia for a while (open-back wouldn't go down well at home) and they sounded very good - the DX300 had no problem with them. The way I'd describe it is that sound quality per se was very similar to the u18t with a bit more spaciousness and warmth. Given the plaudits that the Stellia gets that reinforced for me how good the u18t are. The extra spaciousness and warmth wasn't something that I felt merited coughing up the best part of £3k for. TBH there wasn't enough of a gap to warrant a few hundred - others may differ.
Whilst there I also tried the Celestee which I felt were clearly inferior to both the Stellia and the u18t.
ZMF had their own room, and here I tried the Verite and Atrium closed backs. I liked the Verite and didn't like the Atrium. I felt the Atrium sounded a bit.. erm... congested? Going towards muddy.
I also tried the Sennheiser 820 which were probably my favourite closed back. The 820 are half the price of the Stellia - maybe if I sat down and listened again to them both together I'll change my mind. You do get a degree of listening fatigue creeping in. The 820 seemed harder to drive than the Stellia although the DX300 could drive them louder than I'd normally listen at, so maybe the 820s would benefit from an amp with the DX300. I couldn't try the 800S open back as they didn't have a 4.4 adapter which I found surprising. (they didn't have one for the 820 either, but they had a 6.35mm jack on that which I had an adapter for).
Given everything I'd read about how open-backs are so much better than closed back I tried out the Meze Empyrean planars. They sounded good, maybe better than the rest, but it wasn't night and day.
You might argue that with a different source I would have heard more difference between the headphones - and maybe I would. But I didn't have a different source, and wanted to listen on my own gear as that's what I'd be using if I bought anything.
For a final fling I went and listened to the dCS Lina. They were using Qobuz streaming as a source. I listened through both the u18t and Meze Empyrean. The whole thing was clearly better as one would hope for around £30k. But I'm not convinced it was £30k better. It did seem to get even more performance from the u18t. I listened to the same songs streaming on the Lina and locally on my DX300 and yes there was a difference, but probably not one that my wife would detect or allow me to pay for. I didn't come away thinking how desperate I was to own it.
I was somewhat pleased actually to come away from the whole experience feeling satisfied with what I have, rather than slightly anxiously thinking I needed to spend a sizeable wad because I could get something clearly better in an affordable range. At least I've scratched that itch and can move on now.
It was great to be able to say hi to the guys at Elise Audio who I've been talking to online, and thanks again to @LoneFurrow for his help.
I took along my iBAsso DX300 with a modded amp12 (12EXN) and 64 Audio u18t. A lot of people appear to be familiar with the u12t but not so many with the u18t. I heard both of these last year for the first time and was going to get the u12t until I saw the u18t for half price ex-demo and bought them. I'm so glad I got that bargain. My mission this time was to see if I could find a transportable dac/amp that would give me better sound quality and which I could also use on a laptop. Plus, I wanted to know if I could get a pair of overhead phones that would give me an improved experience at home. I was listening to a range of music on the DAP - rock, classical, jazz, vocals - all local in 320kbps mp3 as I can't hear any difference from hi-res files. My hearing goes up to about 12khz.
I started on the Elise stand with the xDuoo XD05 Pro. It's a fairly big beast but certainly transportable and I loved the design of it. The version I listened to had an upgraded opamp. We connected it to the DX300 via USB and I couldn't hear a significant difference between the two. That means it's good, as the DX300 is good (IMHO). We did also try the LO from the DX300 4.4 to 4.4 but there was a problem getting that to work. I pulled out my adapter kit and connected to the 3.5 line in which worked, still with the same result (using the line-out/in meant that it was using the DX dac and the XD05 amp). I couldn't hear a difference.
Also on Elise I listened to the Quloos QA390 (I'm not sure which version) and I could hear a difference there. It wasn't a huge difference but I thought it had better clarity and instrument separation. I like it. It can work on battery but it's a bit big even for a transportable.
I moved on, and tried the Fiio Q7 but here there was a problem with the USB-USB connection. It would connect, play a few seconds and then drop, like there was a loose connection somewhere. I tried the coax connection between the two but it didn't work at all. I don't know where the fault is with that. What little I did hear sounded fine, but again no obvious difference between it and the DX300 alone.
I moved on to the iFi Diablo, which was actually a Diablo X switched to normal mode. Same overall result, but I had very little available in terms of volume range through my IEMs. Once it was loud enough to hear then just a small tweak on the volume knob would send it way too loud, and it was still near the low end of where it would go to.
I moved on to headphones.
I've been wanting to try the Focal Stellia for a while (open-back wouldn't go down well at home) and they sounded very good - the DX300 had no problem with them. The way I'd describe it is that sound quality per se was very similar to the u18t with a bit more spaciousness and warmth. Given the plaudits that the Stellia gets that reinforced for me how good the u18t are. The extra spaciousness and warmth wasn't something that I felt merited coughing up the best part of £3k for. TBH there wasn't enough of a gap to warrant a few hundred - others may differ.
Whilst there I also tried the Celestee which I felt were clearly inferior to both the Stellia and the u18t.
ZMF had their own room, and here I tried the Verite and Atrium closed backs. I liked the Verite and didn't like the Atrium. I felt the Atrium sounded a bit.. erm... congested? Going towards muddy.
I also tried the Sennheiser 820 which were probably my favourite closed back. The 820 are half the price of the Stellia - maybe if I sat down and listened again to them both together I'll change my mind. You do get a degree of listening fatigue creeping in. The 820 seemed harder to drive than the Stellia although the DX300 could drive them louder than I'd normally listen at, so maybe the 820s would benefit from an amp with the DX300. I couldn't try the 800S open back as they didn't have a 4.4 adapter which I found surprising. (they didn't have one for the 820 either, but they had a 6.35mm jack on that which I had an adapter for).
Given everything I'd read about how open-backs are so much better than closed back I tried out the Meze Empyrean planars. They sounded good, maybe better than the rest, but it wasn't night and day.
You might argue that with a different source I would have heard more difference between the headphones - and maybe I would. But I didn't have a different source, and wanted to listen on my own gear as that's what I'd be using if I bought anything.
For a final fling I went and listened to the dCS Lina. They were using Qobuz streaming as a source. I listened through both the u18t and Meze Empyrean. The whole thing was clearly better as one would hope for around £30k. But I'm not convinced it was £30k better. It did seem to get even more performance from the u18t. I listened to the same songs streaming on the Lina and locally on my DX300 and yes there was a difference, but probably not one that my wife would detect or allow me to pay for. I didn't come away thinking how desperate I was to own it.
I was somewhat pleased actually to come away from the whole experience feeling satisfied with what I have, rather than slightly anxiously thinking I needed to spend a sizeable wad because I could get something clearly better in an affordable range. At least I've scratched that itch and can move on now.
Loved my time in the dCS lounge. Thanks for the warm welcome and the wealth of technical detail shared, the team is clearly very passionate about what they do.We caught up with our friends & partners at Audeze, Meze Audio and ZMF Headphones to shoot some new upcoming content at CanJam London, coming to headfi.org very soon!
With 3 hours left to go at CanJam London, there’s still time to relax with your favourite tracks in the dCS listening lounge - Place Suite 11...
And the sound was sublime - for me, it's definitely the ambition on this audio journey. Hopefully see you next year!
Thank you for sharing these photos of the CMA18. What an interesting device that is. Someone please ask the reps at the Questyle booth some more questions especially those pertaining to anticipated launch date and price.CMA18:
No, although some people do. I'm red/green blind, others may be yellow/blue blind. It's not always easy to describe. I'd be able to distinguish a yellow, for example, but there will be other colours I can't distinguish. Some will be ok, others not. Sometimes if two colours are next to each other I can see a difference, but if they are moved apart then I can't. Bottom line either way is that the Hugo as it is just isn't an option because of this. When objects are colour coded I often have to ask someone what the colours are.
@Questyle take note. I'm looking forward to more details. This product captured my interest as well.
What a weekend! Railways wanted a cherry on the top of the CanJam cake, and told us to get out in the middle of nowhere and improvise a way to the airport. Of course, I had to burn the fat I got from that wonderful Indian restaurant we went to after the first day. At least it was a beginner level challenge, we weren't left out in the middle of a jungle.Damn! Stansted Airport is closed. I guess I need to go back to CanJam.
And I for the first time realised how indifferent we all are, all nations of the world, when we need a taxi to the airport. Emotional moments...of anger, rage and desperation. How beautiful it is when we are allowed to show our true selves.
Will I join thr next CanJam? Most probably. Will I take the train again? Most probably not.
But at least I caught my flight on the way back home. I will be thinking about the nice moments of these two days, the nice and kind people I met, and where I will spend the next batch of my hard earned money.
A big thank you to all organisers and everyone that joined this wonderful event. It was a short felt weekend but for sure I will remember it until the next CanJam.
Cheers!
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miketlse
Headphoneus Supremus
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Thank you for the additional context.
What had been puzzling me was that if someone was red/green like you are, when you look at the user manual you will see the red/green transposed, and similarly when you look at the Hugo you will again see the red/green transposed. If the two transpositions are consistent in both the user manual and the Hugo, then you should in theory still be able to use the Hugo - the fact that you see different colours to me is irrelevant, as long as you can see a consistent set of colours on the Hugo/manual.
Or am I misunderstanding something?
At what impedance?
Day 2 for me also... Quick list of thoughts of the day.
Hedd won me over, I simply and easily loved the sound and finally the aesthetic/ comfort too. Congratulations!
That mass Kobo amp really did wonder to susvara... Never heard such a bass out of it, but also it made the susvara almost estat like in the highs, so it was really on steroids, but even too much maybe, maybe I just wasn't ready for that.
In search for a enjoyable easy going but not overdone closed back I got:
Stealth: super reference, miss some oooomp
Aeon 2 noir: my fav, sound and price
Liric: a bit too splashy and bass heavy but ok
Verite closed: super meaty and slammy, a bit... claustrofobic?!
Atrium closed: more open/less oppressive, prefer with suede pads for better bass balance. Rounder bass than VC but I like its tuning more, especially mids to highs
Bathys: lots of sub bass but good with anc and price
Unity: warm but slammy and seems proficient; very innovative wifi ho
Reconsideration from yesterday
Yamaha 5000se... I felt less excitement. I felt like it was muted somehow. Doubts....
Meze 109 sounded just too vshaped, and overall I think meze is just not my kind of sound. I felt the elite quite balanced though, while I remembered it more bassy..
At the end I tried the abyss 1266 TC on the envy... And that combo is nuts. I loved the DCS team but honestly the Lina stack lost vs the envy pretty bad. But Lina + caldera was phenomenal instead...
I'm glad that probably many who are reading did actually makes some queue with me, exchanged a few words and had fun together!
Hedd won me over, I simply and easily loved the sound and finally the aesthetic/ comfort too. Congratulations!
That mass Kobo amp really did wonder to susvara... Never heard such a bass out of it, but also it made the susvara almost estat like in the highs, so it was really on steroids, but even too much maybe, maybe I just wasn't ready for that.
In search for a enjoyable easy going but not overdone closed back I got:
Stealth: super reference, miss some oooomp
Aeon 2 noir: my fav, sound and price
Liric: a bit too splashy and bass heavy but ok
Verite closed: super meaty and slammy, a bit... claustrofobic?!
Atrium closed: more open/less oppressive, prefer with suede pads for better bass balance. Rounder bass than VC but I like its tuning more, especially mids to highs
Bathys: lots of sub bass but good with anc and price
Unity: warm but slammy and seems proficient; very innovative wifi ho
Reconsideration from yesterday
Yamaha 5000se... I felt less excitement. I felt like it was muted somehow. Doubts....
Meze 109 sounded just too vshaped, and overall I think meze is just not my kind of sound. I felt the elite quite balanced though, while I remembered it more bassy..
At the end I tried the abyss 1266 TC on the envy... And that combo is nuts. I loved the DCS team but honestly the Lina stack lost vs the envy pretty bad. But Lina + caldera was phenomenal instead...
I'm glad that probably many who are reading did actually makes some queue with me, exchanged a few words and had fun together!
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I want also to say that I really felt zmf closed backs to be sensitive to amps/pads/wood... I mean, I own them but when I listen at canjam, they are totally different. So if you find e.g. the bass to be muddy, try asking Zach to point you to a proper set of pads and amp and for sure he can guide you to tailor the sound a lot. Really this is a valuable plus from zmf, that you can really tune a lot, and the headphones are like a platform from where to start with.
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Oh don't worry, I have so many. Just need some time! Here's one for you of the Canpur CP622B while waiting:
I hadn't really paid much attention to Canpur until today. A few of my readers and Discord colleagues requested I drop by the Canpur booth to try out this tribrid set that's been out in Asia recently and is releasing elsewhere imminently, if not already as of today. The CP622B, which will hopefully get a better name, uses 6 BA/2 BC/2 EST drivers in a 4-tubing, 5-way crossover. The BAs handle the lows and mids, the bone conduction drivers- the very first such drivers from Sonion- are actually handling the mids, and the ESTs the highs. This makes for an all-Sonion driver set with a very interesting sound signature. Before I even know about the driver distribution, I could tell immediately the BC drivers weren't handling the bass because vocals were in your face and fairly intense with excellent staging for instruments too. Bass dynamics could have been better for the asking price and I did occasionally feel the upper mids were a touch too hot (maybe from the BC drivers) but I really want to have more hands on time with my sources to see how viable this is for the asking price of €3399. Highly worth a demo at the very least.
Edit: Forgot to say the shells can be troublesome fit-wise. There is a very sharp and pronounced indent at the top which might work well for some if it fits nicely, else it will just be an obstruction to a good seal.
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