CanJam NYC 2017 Impressions Thread!
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Feb 4, 2017 at 7:05 PM Post #16 of 323
  Just came back from CanJam NY. I had a blast! I broke down and ordered the Effect Audio Thor iem cables when I heard what they did to my SE846...phenomenal. The Meze 99 Classics are really good headphones, and the price is right. Got to listen to some Campfire iems. I listened to the bassiest ones I was told, the Dorado and Vegas...really nice. The one that really blew me away was the 1More triple driver. I put them on and my jaw dropped, I purchased them on the spot for a show price of $85. Believe me, these things blow away iems many times the price.
 
The highlight of my day though was after listening to the Cardas A8 and EM5813. Stephen Ambrose was at the booth and wanted me to audition the new Adel in ear monitors. I sat with him for over a 1/2 hour listening to all his different Adel options he's developing with Indiegogo. I had been eyeing the Adel campaign and even posed the question here if anyone knew anything about it. Well, I'm sold. The adels he let me listen to were really good, especially with the cardas speaker. He's a really nice, humble guy, and I was impressed with his passion. He recorded me, took my pic and asked for my permission to be placed on the website. I gave it and told him I would back the campaign. He's going to be selling all different types of adel modules to get differ sound signatures...really good stuff.
 
Daps I listened to:
 
Fiio X5 gen 3 and X7: The X5 gen 3 sounded better. I don't know which amp the X7 had. The new AK chip with velvet sound is really smooth, especially balanced out.
 
The opus II: sound is phenomenal, but no streaming, so not for me
 
The new Sony daps: ridiculous sound. They just look like sex, the build quality, they are so heavy. I don't know what's inside. Musical gold?
 
Heard the iSine 10, Didn't get a good seal so my impressions weren't fully realized.
 
On another note, I've had my new TFZ 5S burnin for over a day now. I like them, but need more time.
 

I wasn't very impressed with the Opus 2.  I liked the x5 and the AR (not sure the model but the higher end one).  Didn't care for the AK daps and def would never spend 1500+ on a DAP cause i wasn't wowed, at all.  To be fair, my sd card didn't work on the device and by the time i rebuilt it on my device i was ready to leave the boothe.
 
It was a fun day but i can't see going for 2 days. 
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 7:57 PM Post #17 of 323
I was blown away by...

1) Mojo. Incredible fusion and power to drive my Ether Flow C (w/ flat pads). Was feeding it HD pcm via optical from my Opus #1. It was super tough walking out of the show without one in my posession; @ 10% off. Only reason I didn't was I assured Mrs. M8o I wasn't in need of any more gear so wasn't planning on making any purchases.

One interesting thing I noticed is while I could take my M9XX all the way up to max volume without distortion, you could -really- make the Mojo distort if you turned on the music and volume was turned up too high.

2) But tho I resisted spending money on that, I would not have resisted spending it on the Audeze iSine 10. But they don't sell at the show. :frowning2: Spent a lot of time with it; ithe kept getting better. The rep said to clip it around the ear then rest the tip on the earhole. BUT I found I had to press it in a bit to get a fat bass. Not sure of the ear clip after a few hours. But I was there listening at least a 1/2 hour at the end and it didn't get annoying.

3) Meze 99. Both classic and neo. Excellent quality at its price point, but you gotta love fat bass; which I do.

4) The new $249 Focal Spirit One replacement (I forget its name). As an owner of the original, I felt compelled to complain about the original's penchant for the headband to crack; min is about to need black gorilla tape to keep the sliders connected to the top of the headband. I was assured this new one was a redisigned and had that problem licked. Hope so. Cuz the sound was really good. Those Focal guys know what they're doing! (But I knew that since the mid 80s when I'd use their drivers in custom speakers I built into customer's media units).
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 7:58 PM Post #18 of 323
BTW, not one Grado either which was surprising being that the company is located right across the Brooklyn Bridge.  
 

I coincidentally drove by Grado Labs in Brooklyn last night, an area of Brooklyn I'm hardly ever in, Sunset Park.  From the outside it doesn't look like much, not the high tech company you'd think it is.  They are located in a storefront building with solid metal doors in front. There's a bakery on one side and a bike shop on the other.  It isn't even a manufacturing area. I had looked it up yesterday because I noticed they weren't listed as a exhibitor and knew they were in my hometown.  Then my wife called and wanted me to pick her up at a friends apartment that was 3 short blocks away. 
 
Anyway, after reading the reviews I think I'll skip it.  I've been to audio shows, Axpona NYC being the last, and always come away unimpressed. I'm not that big a headphone user anyway, my Beyer DT1350s sit in my bag unused most of the time, and I only started using them more the last few weeks because of Tidal MQA. 
 
BeyerDynamic was another company that I didn't see represented.  Were they there?
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 8:14 PM Post #19 of 323
First Canjam here as well along with my 9 yr old daughter, Laila.  Agreed with Akira regarding the sources.  I was there early and some tables had trouble getting their laptops to function properly including Headamp and JPS Labs but eventually they got things sorted out.
 
Got extremely lucky to get into the HE-1 room.  Norah Jones sounded like she was sitting next to me whispering in my ear.  Freaky good.  Is it 55 g's good?  That is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.
 
Really enjoyed the Headamp table.  I preferred the 007's over the 009's on the blue hawaii but as mentioned, not the greatest conditions for discerning listening.  Also had the GS-X MK iI's with a few different headphones but the Stax captured most of my attention.
 
Nice to listen to the 800S as the Sennheiser table didn't draw much attention.  Liked the added bass there but I didn't find the 800's lacking too much at least out of their setup which used their 800 amp.
 
The Schiit table with their top dac/amp and the utopias were a nice setup.  Really wanted to listen more but it was a busy table for sure.
 
The JPS Labs Abyss were also very enjoyable, very weighty, authoritative.  Even the Lotoo player which was on the table next to it drove it nicely and sounded good.
 
Heard the Shangri-la briefly so didn't get much of a feel there.  I think they could have benefited from having their own room.
 
Dekoni audio had this memory foam earpad that was super comfy.
 
Laila loved the VR demo so much she did it multiple times.  That gave me time to slip away and check out some of the other stuff :).
 
Met Jude as well, such a nice guy!
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 8:37 PM Post #20 of 323
The first day was great.

Impressions:

Final Audio: Sonorous III - Very spacious and revealing sound. With a tinge of warmth. I used my Aune M1S for most of my impressions BTW.

AK T5p: Reference type sound. It sounds amazing with the Balanced 2.5mm cable.

iSine 10: Slightly Warm sounding. Wide Soundstage. Very detailed with excellent transparency.

iSine 20: Fuller sound. More detail retrieval. Even wider soundstage. The imaging is more distinct.

Nomad: This IEM is special. It has tremendous amounts of clarity and a hearty mid-range. The vocals carry a decent amount of heft for male vocals. Female vocals have a good amount of finesse. The soundstage is pretty wide for a $400 IEM. the imaging and dynamics are pretty special for these IEMs.

Fiio X5iii: OMG. It sounds heavenly. It has a coherent sound. It also has a smooth and very detailed sound. It wowed me even more than the X7.

OPUS #2: Two words. Hyper Realistic.

Empire Ears Zeus XR: Excellent tonality with neutral sound on the neutral settings.
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 9:53 PM Post #21 of 323
This is my first time and it's amazing so far, can't wait till tomorrow.
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 9:57 PM Post #22 of 323
Ya, I too was impressed by the Opus #2. I own the Opus #1. I brought my favorite evaluation music on USB stick and microsd. So I was able to play the same songs on the two and compare.

I'm very happy to say I felt the #1 wasn't put to shame by the #2. Where the latter shined in comparison was a good deal more clean clear detailed power, ya sure. But it is in the quiet passages where the increased detail, clarity and instrument space was most apparent.
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 10:05 PM Post #23 of 323
I just got back and had a great time!! It was great being in a place were I could be around people who were into the same things as myself. It was real easy to get lost in a good set of cans I know that I would probably never get to hear again like the Hifiman sangria la's. I took my top 10 songs to every station and was amazing surprised with the focal utopia's and the noble katana's. I think I know what I'm doing with my tax return this year. I do have a small complaint about listening to sample songs or music from a subscription from audio companies that make cans and amps worth thousands and not being able to plug in an iPhone but in the scheme of things what can you do. This was an awesome experience and can't wait till next year !!!!!!!!!!!! 
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 10:17 PM Post #24 of 323
Just returned,great time meeting some members,and some Head-fi celebs too.

Met Jude,Zach from ZMF(both very nice cool folks) Fang from HiFiMan and my personal fav of the day, NBA HOFer David "The Admiral" Robinson.

My two favorite headphones from the meet were ZMF Atticus(that bass+stunning mids) and Mr.Speakers Aeon,which was a very pleasant surprise!

Had a great time!
 
Feb 4, 2017 at 10:44 PM Post #25 of 323
Feb 4, 2017 at 11:35 PM Post #26 of 323
Dear CanJam Visitors, I would like to invite you all to check out Cayin's showcase at [COLOR=FF00AA]URIS Room [/COLOR]at the SHUBERT COMPLEX, which is right next to the Broadway Ballroom where the main show was located. If you walk out from the Boardway Ballroom, turn right and then right again, you'll be able to see the signage for the Shubert Complex.



For some reason, the Uris Room is so close to the main CanJam area but can be missed easily if you are not looking for it. We have several customers trying to reach us specifically but they had passed-by the SHUBERT COMPLEX entrance without noticing there are more CanJam rooms inside that area,

Cayin's CanJam NYC 2017 showcase involves:

(1) World debut of our new Digital Audio Player: N3 DAP



(2) Tube Rolling demo for our HA-1Amk2 Tube Headphone Amplifier



(3) Two sets of iDAC-6/iHA-6 fully-balanced DAC and Headphone Amplifier and a iDAP-6 Network Player prototype.




(4) Complete lineup of our Portable audio products: i5 Android DAP, N6/N5 DAP, C5 Portable amplifier and C5DAC DAC/amp all-in-one



MusicTeck, our authorized agent in US, will offer CanJam NYC Show Special Discount and it is only available on-site, so CanJam visitors please don't miss this opportunity to check out Cayin's CanJam Showcase at Uris Room.






PS. We are sharing the URIS Room with Unique Melody, and there will be show discount for UM ear phones as well, don't miss this opportunity to check out the UM showcase if you are interested in latest choice of IEM, including their latest ME1, a planar in-ear-monitor.

 
Cayin Stay updated on Cayin at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://en.cayin.cn/
Feb 4, 2017 at 11:51 PM Post #28 of 323
  And where was Stax? Pretty much nowhere. The 009 was demoed at the HeadAmp booth but no other model. I had hoped to hear the newer 007.

 
Thanks for your feedback. We did have the SR-007 out the entire time. This particular one has had the drivers replaced with the latest ones. So, they will sound similar to the latest SR-007 model. If you can come back tomorrow we will still have them!
 
HeadAmp Stay updated on HeadAmp at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/HeadAmp https://twitter.com/HeadAmp https://www.instagram.com/headamp/ https://www.headamp.com/ sales@headamp.com
Feb 5, 2017 at 12:06 AM Post #29 of 323
Wow. I didn't know there was another room. Yay! More fun. :)


I was surprised too, I didn't aware the problem until my customers complained how difficult if was for them to find me at the URIS room.

I hope HeadFi attendance on Sunday CanJam NYC won't miss our showcase again. :beerchug:
 
Cayin Stay updated on Cayin at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://en.cayin.cn/
Feb 5, 2017 at 12:22 AM Post #30 of 323
Thank you very much. I had a blast. Just filled my lost dreams with my next upcoming purchases. Z1R/Utopia.
And I loved the new MrSpeakers Aion. I think that's how it's spelled. Felt nice inside out. This was truly Walt Disney for the Audioholic.
 
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