CanJam New York 2024 Impressions Thread (March 9-10, 2024)
Mar 10, 2024 at 12:49 AM Post #137 of 709
Man, great times indeed... so happy to see an event can brings a get together like this! Such a heartwarming picture, have a great times guys!
Keep posting for the impressions and gatherings, it feels as if I am there. :beyersmile:
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 12:53 AM Post #138 of 709
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 :relaxed: , 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. :relaxed:

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.
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 1:01 AM Post #139 of 709
This is the single best Headphone AMP I have ever heard. It's not even close. I got to hear it with the Audio Technica ATH-AWKG and Susvara. It is so good that you need to be aware of the source files you feed it because it will render bad music as it is. The subbbass nuance is amazing.

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Imagine if you fed it a reference source! Looks cool. What model is it?

$7k skulls!

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What is that? Where can I find the spec list? 😂

Heh, that's me (bald head, black T-shirt) sitting down at the Headphones.com booth on the far right. I finally got to meet @GoldenSound (standing, to my left) after enjoying so many of his videos over the last few years. That was my first stop upon entering as I (finally) had a chance to hear the Bravura and Aperio (sans phone booth, unfortunately). They were having some server issues, but allowed me to plug my laptop into the GS Special Edition Wandla that was feeding the Bravura. I played a couple of upbeat tunes with potent bass in the mix, and the Bravura handled them beautifully. That was one of my issues with the original Sonoma (anemic bass), and they've clearly resolved that. The Sonoma was also too clampy for me, and the Bravura, while still snug, is far more comfortable. I concur with those who say it's a lot of headphone for the money. I didn't hear any clipping, but I did run out of gain on some other tracks I played which were mastered at lower volume. That was really my only niggle with the Bravura.

I wanted to then just move my laptop over to the GS SE Wandla feeding the Aperio for an apples-to-apples comparison, but they had the server back up and preferred that I play tracks off of that. Unfortunately, there was no Qobuz or Tidal, so I ended up playing a couple tracks (by Alt-J and Pliny) from Cameron's playlist, neither of which I was familiar with. Clearly not ideal, but I might be able to play my own tracks on the Aperio later this afternoon. TBD. In any case and under the circumstances, the Aperio didn't sound like that much of a step up from the Bravura, and certainly not something I'd pay 5x the price for!

From there, I decided to mosey around and make a general accounting of the wares on offer. The first room I entered was Mimic Audio, who had a few different Viva amps, all tubed of course. This included an estat amp (retailing for $23.5k) that wasn't even on my radar. Plugged into said amp was a Shangri-la Sr., with a STAX X9000 waiting off to the side. As an added bonus, all this was being fed by the variable volume version of my own DAC, the EMM Labs DV2 V2, with an Aurender something-or-another in front of that. I listened to a couple of tracks on both the Shang and X9000, and those cans sounded roughly on par on that system, both hugely resolving, but maybe not the absolute best I've heard them (although close). Unfortunately, I had no way to add a bass shelf.

Across the room were a couple of Viva amps for standard cans. The flagship amp was occupied, so I down at the "budget" model, which is still rather large and imposing. I will try to report prices and model numbers later if someone hasn't in the meantime. This amp was being fed by the Meitner MA3, which is the baby brother of the EMM Labs DV2 V2, with integrated streamer, and at a far lower cost. There were four headphones available: Caldera Closed, Atrium Closed, Valkyria, Diana MR. The CC was plugged in already, so I started there. In a word, fabulous! The midrange peakiness I heard on the Caldera (open) was nowhere in evidence. The staging was also very open for a closed-back can. I'm quite looking forward to following up with this headphone. I then moved on to the Valkyria. It looks better in hand than in photos, but I'm still not in love with the aesthetics. Unfortunately, I also didn't find the headphone particularly comfortable, but maybe I just needed to adjust it more. The sound was good, but on first blush, I preferred the Caldera Closed. I was listening to modern electronic pop (These Chains by Hot Chip), which is probably not the sweet spot for the Valkyria. I'll feed it some classical when I revisit it later in the show. Finally, I tried the Diana MR. Easily the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn from Abyss, and I really liked the tuning as well! Definitely a headphone I plan to re-audition at some point this weekend.

I wanted to try the Atrium Closed, but @chrisnyc75 had been waiting to listen for several minutes, and so I yielded the seat. It was great to meet him, and we briefly discussed our limited impressions so far.

Right next door to Mimic was the ZMF room, which was predictably already fairly packed. I'm planning to postpone my auditioning time there until Sunday morning, when the crowd is typically most sparse, but my Susvara stock pads have noticeably chipped away along the edges, and ZMF just released Susvara replacement pads, which fortuitously are available at the show. I introduced myself to Zach (who comes across, to me, as more of a Zen master in person than on video), told him I wanted whichever of the two pad options sounded closest to stock, and he handed me some perforated lambskin, told me to install them on my Susvara at my leisure, and see if they worked for me. After surveying the rest of the exhibits without listening to anything, I headed back up to my hotel room to do the pad switch. I've been listening to the Susvara with the ZMF pads while typing all of this, and they do indeed sound quite similar to the stock pads. Bass may be ever-so-slightly diminished, which is rarely a good thing in my book, so I plan to try the other ZMF variant before finalizing the purchase. Will update later.

Anyway, this is the definitely the most insane CanJam I've yet attended, by quite a margin!! Time for a quick nosh, and then down to hear the HE-1 at 2pm. Later.......
As a person that is fortunate enough to own a Viva amp, they are the real deal.

Unless I came across a desperate need to come across revenue, I can't see myself parting with it.

If I got a penny every time I heard that remark here on head-fi....
Best tube amp I have heard is the Viva Egoista 845.

Best solid state amp I have heard is the Enleum 23r.

What is your favorites?

Bokeh Closed and Open…
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Crazy how different the open is from the closed. What did it sound like?
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 1:15 AM Post #140 of 709
Any OAE1 impressions from day 1?
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 1:51 AM Post #142 of 709
Another great start to the CanJam 2024 season beginning in NYC!
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Wow, vast array of vendors and representatives. This is my second CanJam and same as last year my interest is mainly desktop-type gear and headphones.
On day one I was able to handle a lot of the gear that catches my attention. Also same as before, the crowd noise does make it difficult to get critical listening but at least you get a tactile feel of the items.

Started at Bloom Audio this time to get a nice swag bag. Very nice team out of Jersey that I've ordered with before and they like to give you KitKats!
Over to ZMF and right away had to purchase a pretty Bokeh in the natural Limba wood. Doing some late night listening with it and loving this closed back.
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While at ZMF was able to try a Caldera Closed on the new Cayin HA-2A. Nice sized tube amp for a desk setup and looks sweet. Caldera closed also looking great and seeming to perform well as best as I could tell but again hard to get a good sound impression with crowds. Will revisit on day 2 with some other amps.
The Verite Open was next to it paired with the HA-3A, and with a quick listen, I can appreciate why the 3A does get a lot of praise from ZMF dynamic owners.
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And the new Aegis. Very nice and awesome to behold. ZMF also had some the Homage amps there with new stabilized front/rear face plates that looked nice. Will try and get a few photos of those tomorrow.

My next target was Linear Tube Audio. Super nice guys and LTA is based in Maryland. Their Velo amp is on my short list. Paired it to my DCA Noire I brought with me and tried the new Meze Liric II. Each sounded nice and the Macassar Ebony wood is gorgeous.
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Mimic Audio was nearby and I checked out the Tungsten. I think it was the double-sided I tried paired to a large Black Ice Audio Fusion amp. It did seem to immerse me into the music like the singer was right there with me on a track I listened to, but again being open back, the noise is distracting. It was nice to meet Ryan there too.
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Mimic also had the Austria Audio Composer HP which I read is developed from the former AKG engineers. Very nice build but the connector location seems odd on the sides. They also had the Auribus Acoustics Sierra which I had not heard of before. The Composer states it is a reference/monitor HP and I did get that monitor-like analytical impression. The Sierra was interesting, very open and spacious. It is all 3D-printed in build and super light.

First time trying the Abyss Diana. This was the MR version. The design does not appeal to me but sounded really nice and it was light.
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Then over to to see the Violectric, Lake People and Fostex table. They had the V281 Limited Edition that I've been tracking since I own the V222. Hooked up a Fostex 616 and whoa. This amp packs a punch. I think the gain DIP settings may have been adjusted for a different HP beforehand since I barely turned the volume and it was too loud.
Will need to revisit again.

Stopped by the FiiO table and enjoyed the R9 all-in-one with the FT5 planar HP. Nice little setup if you were looking for a compact desktop system. It uses the Android OS like a lot of other DAPs.

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Finished up at the Meze table and hooked up the Empyrean II and the 109 Pro straight to my DAP. Pretty good but would likely be better on amps. I do appreciate the Meze build quality and comfort.
Capped off the day at the seminar with Zach and Bevin and enjoyed their presentation. Looking forward to day-2!

Here are the Day-2 notes: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/can...-march-9-10-2024.971988/page-17#post-18013017
 
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Mar 10, 2024 at 4:14 AM Post #143 of 709
What is that? Where can I find the spec list? 😂

https://www.metaxas.com/

The small skulls are $7k headphone amps. The torsos are for stats and start at $43k?

They're solid machined aluminum, weigh a ton, despite looking like injection molded plastic.

Nippies are for (I think) balance and volume. The partial torso has a swiss clock in the head.

I couldn't really focus on what the guy was saying to me. As soon as he nonchalantly said $43,000, I started mentally bridging the gap to the ATH Narukami. Then I looked over at my wife and walked away.
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 4:17 AM Post #144 of 709
https://www.metaxas.com/

The small skulls are $7k headphone amps. The torsos are for stats and start at $43k?

They're solid machined aluminum, weigh a ton, despite looking like injection molded plastic.

Nippies are for (I think) balance and volume. The partial torso has a swiss clock in the head.

I couldn't really focus on what the guy was saying to me. As soon as he nonchalantly said $43,000, I started mentally bridging the gap to the ATH Narukami. Then I looked over at my wife and walked away.
That’s an expensive set of nipple piercing. :k701smile:
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 5:31 AM Post #146 of 709
This is the single best Headphone AMP I have ever heard. It's not even close. I got to hear it with the Audio Technica ATH-AWKG and Susvara. It is so good that you need to be aware of the source files you feed it because it will render bad music as it is. The subbbass nuance is amazing.

ATH.jpeg
Considering how great the reviews were for this 108K USD amp, I realized this Amp put out only 1.6W 32ohms per channel. So all the talk about power as indicator for driving Susvara well kinda fell flat.
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 6:07 AM Post #147 of 709
Over to ZMF and right away had to purchase a pretty Bokeh in the natural Limba wood. Doing some late night listening with it and loving this closed back.
That figuring looks incredible - great choice.
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 6:54 AM Post #150 of 709
Wow, I love you guys. Creating some of the best memories I’ve had in a long time. What a community, this is such a blessing. Family and friends. Kindred spirits.

This is Watercooler.

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