Well, folks, where do I begin to recap what I experienced after I posted my last entry over lunch? How about with what happened right after that
, namely revisiting the
Sennheiser HE-1. Remarkably, it had been about seven years since the only other time I'd experienced it, also for ten minutes at a CanJam. My memory was that I had been highly impressed with the HE-1, but that I had a minor quibble with limited soundstage dimensions which made me hesitate to proclaim it the unequivocal "king of headphones". For some reason, I wasn't really expecting my opinion to change much after today's session. There were three of us booked for a 30 minute slot, and I went last. When my time arrived, I played a minute or two from all of the same test tracks I've been cycling through since I got here, and the HE-1 was just jaw-dropping on
everything I threw at it. Today I had no quibble
at all with the size of the stage, and the layering and precision of images within it were
sui generis. The adjectives that kept popping into my head were:
majestic, authoritative, correct, pure, limitless, nuanced. I didn't want to cry so much as laugh at the technical virtuosity on display. If I'd had more time to luxuriate and just listen to entire songs, I might have wanted to cry too! Yep, the HE-1
is the king... to these ears. I figured it'd be all downhill from there, but...........
After I walked back up to the main venue, I headed over to
Raal 1995 in hopes of getting an
Immanis audition. Surprisingly, I only had to wait a couple of minutes, and was able to plug my laptop into whatever DAC (sorry, forgot to ask) was feeding the VM-1a which drove the Immanis. Danny was his usual jovial self, and as I waited I
wisecracked that I had just auditioned the HE-1, so it was going to be a rough comparison for Raal, and we shared a laugh. But then I started listening, and the joke was on me! The Immanis is just a hugely impressive headphone, and the first Raal headphone I've heard that really doesn't involve compromises (for me). The quantity and quality of its bass surpassed any estat I've ever heard, and I found it highly satisfying. This was a surprise after
@chrisnyc75 had mentioned earlier that he found the Immanis on the leaner side. He may have had different fitment, or maybe he played some even bassier tracks than did I (?). The HE-1 was a bit more
opulent overall, but technically the Immanis didn't give up much at all to the Sennheiser. Like the German flagship, the Immanis stage was big and airy, and its imaging was pinpoint. I kept looking for some rough tonal edges or "ribbon artifacts", but there simply weren't any. The only demerit to the audition was a clearly audible noise floor from the VM-1a. A bad tube, perhaps? The Magna was in use and also had a guy waiting for it, so I left without hearing it. Shortly thereafter, I bumped into
@goldwerger , who mentioned he loved both of the new Raals, and that the Magna was similar, but with a more intimate soundstage. Given that, I'd almost certainly pony up the extra cash for the Immanis, but I hope to audition the Magna tomorrow to verify that hunch.
Quick takes: I listened to the new
Meze Liric 2 briefly at the Upscale Audio booth. I don't recall the DAC or amp, unfortunately. A couple years ago at this very show, I had a great first audition of the original Liric, but on second listen I noticed how small the ear cavities were, as well as some previously undetected peaks in the midrange, which grated on some material. The Liric 2 improves on comfort a bit, although the cups still contact my ears, and the frequency response seems more even than the Liric, although not as smooth as many open-back cans in its price range. Still, it's nice to see that Meze is about technical advancement, and not
just style. I wish them success going forward! I also listened to the new
Heddphone Two off a Benchmark DAC3/HPA4 stack. Comfort is markedly improved from its predecessor, but it's still a bit heavier than I'd prefer. The Two also has a more even frequency response, and although I couldn't find any glaring weaknesses, it also didn't really capture my heart or imagination in any way. Sadly, it's a pass for me, as there's simply too much great competition in its price bracket these days.
Right across from the HEDD table was
MASS-Kobo, and the guy listening to the $17k
Model 465 amp was clearly fixing to split, so I moved with purpose to insure snagging the vaunted seat he was occupying. Once ensconced, I whipped out my trusty Susvara and my laptop, and prepared for........ I wasn't really sure, to be honest. I've heard Susvara on so many different amps and chains over the last few years, but none have turned it into something
entirely different, only better (or worse) versions of itself. But if any amp could induce Susvara to transcend itself, surely it would be this one!! And I'd love to tell you that it did, but I'd be lying.
I can see why people praise it. It's detailed, nuanced, musical, and throws a large, 3-D stage. But ultimately it just didn't distinguish itself
enough to (remotely) justify its price. To these ears. YMMV.
Walking past the Mimic Audio table at the end of the row, a
Mod House Tungsten caught my eye. I had gone into the Headamp room on a few occasions during the day to try and audition the Tungsten (and Susvara) off the CFA3, but each time there was a server issue, or a line of people, or someone else was using the common front end. Finally, I'd given up the idea, but here was an opportunity to hear the double-sided Tungsten driven by the same MASS-Kobo Model 465 I'd just listened to the Susvara on, and with a Meitner MA3 DAC/streamer to boot. A dream chain on which to have my initial audition! My expectation was that the Tungsten would bear some sort of sonic resemblance to the Caldera, although I'm not entirely sure how I arrived at that. I hit play on the first track (
These Chains, again), and immediately I started looking at the equipment to figure out how the bass got turned down!! I cranked the volume a bit more, which helped a bit (thanks to Fletcher and Munson), but the last thing I expected from the Tungsten was recessed, non-authoritative bass. I quickly tried another bassy track, but had the same impression. I shifted to an Eric Matthews acoustic guitar/vocals track, and suddenly the Tungsten seemed to be on song, with beautiful midrange timbre and sparkly guitar picking overtones. Then I went to a jazz track,
One Finger Snap by Herbie Hancock. Again, the bass seemed like a weak point here, and when I focussed on the cymbals, I wanted more presence there as well. The sound I was getting reminded me of a young, immature wine where one senses inherent greatness that needs time to develop. The makings of excellence were there, but they weren't in full flower. I found myself wondering if the MASS-Kobo just wasn't up to the task, but that seems preposterous on its face. People I trust have really praised the Tungsten, but on that chain, anyway, I was quite disappointed. I'm hoping to try it off my speaker amp before I leave New York. We shall see.
By now it was approaching 5pm, when I had an appointment for a private audition of the
Audio-Technica NARUKAMI headphone amp, a unique (for the moment, I was told) piece on offer for a cool $108k. I went over to the AT table, from whence I was escorted to a room on about the 50th floor of the Marriott. The east-facing view was quite spectacular, as was the sight of the amp in person. The amp features a complement of four TA-300B and four ECC83S-gold tubes, as well as various Lundahl transformers and other high quality parts. There's really beautiful wood along the lower front control panel, and beautiful grill work over the tubes and transformers. I thought the amp looked even better in person than in photos. Unfortunately, it was impossible for me to use my laptop with this setup, and the streamer in the system had an
absolutely abominable user interface that had me cursing under my breath a lot. I plugged my Susvara into the amp, and buckled my mental seat belt. As was custom, I began with the Hot Chip track (but from Tidal), and it was immediately clear that this amp was the unicorn that
actually could transform Susvara into something I'd not heard before. The soundstaging, imaging, and resolution were just a level above what I'd ever heard Susvara produce heretofore. The sound wasn't quite as
pretty as what I'd heard from the HE-1, but it was probably even more impressive technically. I tried to queue up the Eric Matthews acoustic guitar track, but the search function couldn't find it on Tidal, even though I'm 100% sure it's there. Exasperated, I just selected
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, since it was one of choices when I exited search mode. It sounded great, as expected, but it's a bad demo track in the sense that it generally sounds at least very good on pretty much any competent system. I decided to move on to
Joshua by Miles Davis, and......... search couldn't find it. ARGH!!! But it did locate another Miles track,
Pfrancing, so I went with that. Houston, we now had liftoff! The NARUKAMI was in its element with acoustic jazz, big time!! The timbre of horns was
otherworldly realistic and nuanced, and likewise the imaging of upright bass was as good as I've heard on a
headphone. While the track was playing, I fiddled a bit with the streamer and located
Joshua after all. But I didn't want to interrupt the 8-minute track I was listening to at that moment. It was just that compelling of a listening experience. The next Miles track was as great as the first, and just confirmed that acoustic jazz was meant to be played on this amp driving a Susvara. I really wish you could have heard it, and surely a lucky group of you did. Huge thanks to
@goldwerger for setting me up with this audition.
I got back to the main floor right around 5:30 and decided to listen to the
Feliks Envy 25th Anniversary Edition amp at the Headphones.com exhibit. Mind you, I've never even heard the standard Envy, although I know of its reputation. There was a guy in the listening chair, and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave, but I decided to wait it out. About ten minutes later, I sat down, plugged my Susvara into the Envy 25, plugged my laptop into the Chord DAVE driving it, and caught myself flashing back to my Immanis audition immediately after hearing the HE-1. Surely the Envy 25 would pale in comparison to the transformative experience of hearing the NARUKAMI. And then a funny thing happened: history repeated itself! Just like the Immanis, the Envy 25 completely blew away my comparatively meager expectations. It simply sounded phenomenal on all of my test tracks. Full-bodied and soulful, but also technically impeccable. And above all, muscially involving. It didn't have the vastness of stage of the NARUKAMI (nothing does, really), or the preternaturally accurate timbre, but damn if it didn't come closer than it had any right to at one-sixth the price. I think I want one.
Sorry about all of the explanation marks and (what probably sounds like) hyperbole. I didn't get quite enough sleep last night, and today was a bit like a vivid dream, with peak experience after peak experience. Just completely surreal.
I've stayed up way later than I wanted or intended to, but I wanted to record my impressions while they are raw and fresh. I'm beginning to think this reviewing fetish must be some kind of therapy for me. So thanks for reading........ but I guess my hour is up.
