[zzz]

Totally forgot:

I got to try Meze Empyrean out of the Holo stack and was underwhelmed. However, I can totally blame this on the Holo stack---the things I did not like sounded like what I remembered of the Holo Cyan that I had and sold.

I also got to try the MYSPHERE 3 (caps obligatory). Extremely sensitive to positioning! Does not stay in one place on the head! Quite uncomfortable! Surprisingly good bass when dialed in just right. Midrange is good, but it's Grado HP-1000 good, not top shelf electrostat good. Anyway, I don't see what the fuss is all about, and it felt like too much of a gimmick. In this price range, Abyss, LCD-4, and Susvara are all better and less picky headphones.

Unfortunately, Raal did not make the show.

 

[gearofwar]

Couldn't find Earsonic in this canjam to my dissapoinment. Tried many different iems and at the end of the day, nothing came out really superior than my em10. The most amazing bargain of iem must be the one from Fiio.
Headphone wise, Sundara, meze 99classic are nice bargains and Survara just beat out anything on good setup. For Electrostat, still prefer 007 over any of these Voce and 009s

 

[dleblanc343]

Anyone have any comments pitting up the Empyrean, HE1000SE and the Susvara?

 

[Niyologist]

Another very interesting earphone was the UM Maven, nice extension on both ends, great soundstage and resolution, and the 3d printed titanium shell is a work of art.

The design really reminds me of the Auglamour RT-1. Except that the housing is a bit rounder than the Maven. Also more plasticky.

 

[Watagump]

Day one in the books and time for bed. It was a great day, such an amazing city. I always love meeting the people in the community. Thanks to everyone coming by the booth and giving me the compliments involving my blabbing on these forums. Plenty of candy left get to work on that Sunday you slackers. I hope you people that cleaned us out on our Khan inventory really enjoy them. Met a ton of new people just an amazing day getting to see the CanJam crew again it’s been too long. Hopefully that is going to change from here on out.

 

[singingbee]

Hi guys ... Any impressions from AAW iem's Mockingbird or their flagship Canary? Thanks!

 

[Lookout57]

Sony IER-Z1R: I was very disappointed that they only had the single ended cable for them at the show. Since most of my test tracks are DSD I couldn't try them.

Sony IER-M9: Nice sound but I preferred my Solaris.

RHA CL2: None of the tips that they supplied would allow me to get a good seal. I ended up having to use the tips from my Solaris. Very good details but missing the lows like the Solaris.

ALO Gold 16 cable: This cable really makes the Solaris sing with the WM1Z in balanced mode. The deep bass is there, improved details, improved imaging and smooth as silk. I'm glad Ken did bring them to the show. I liked them so much I ended up buying the only 4.4mm pair they had for sale.

ADVANCED SOUND GROUP: I was impressed with their custom tips and that they were doing impressions for free onsite, so I ordered a pair for my Solaris.

Soekris dac1541: Interesting device, but I wasn't familiar with the headphones they had, so I couldn't make an informed opinion. Next year I want to replace my Benchmark DAC2 HGC. So I'll bring my MDR-Z1R and will check it out further along with others.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Sony IER-Z1R: I was very disappointed that they only had the single ended cable for them at the show. Since most of my test tracks are DSD I couldn't try them.

Sony IER-M9: Nice sound but I preferred my Solaris.

RHA CL2: None of the tips that they supplied would allow me to get a good seal. I ended up having to use the tips from my Solaris. Very good details but missing the lows like the Solaris.

ALO Gold 16 cable: This cable really makes the Solaris sing with the WM1Z in balanced mode. The deep bass is there, improved details, improved imaging and smooth as silk. I'm glad Ken did bring them to the show. I liked them so much I ended up buying the only 4.4mm pair they had for sale.

ADVANCED SOUND GROUP: I was impressed with their custom tips and that they were doing impressions for free onsite, so I ordered a pair for my Solaris.

Soekris dac1541: Interesting device, but I wasn't familiar with the headphones they had, so I couldn't make an informed opinion. Next year I want to replace my Benchmark DAC2 HGC. So I'll bring my MDR-Z1R and will check it out further along with others.

I’m sorry, but why does a single ended cable make listening DSD impossible?

 

[zzz]

I’m sorry, but why does a single ended cable make listening DSD impossible?

WM1[AZ] DAPs can only play "native DSD" over the balanced output. It's a random weird limitation.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

WM1[AZ] DAPs can only play "native DSD" over the balanced output. It's a random weird limitation.

Thanks, I was a bit confused, that makes perfect sense.

 

[kumar402]

Headamp - GSX-Mini impression please

I spent some time with it. I guess they will launch it next month or so.
Setup was Roon bridged to Digione Signature player with Mytek Brooklyn as DAC and HIFIMAN Susvara as headphone.
The setup was very nice. I really enjoyed the music coming out of it. It was relaxing and yet resolving. I was really impressed by it.
I didn’t hear any distortion in lower end and music was organic. But the relaxing sound is inherent of headphone more that of amp.The headphone was not very efficient but still the amp powered it really well as I was around 11-12 o’clock on dial as far as I remember and the headphone got loud enough to curb the noise. In home set up I guess 10-11 o clock on this amp will be more then sufficient for hard to drive cans.
I was not aware of this HIFIMAN cans so as soon as I heard it I googled it and found them like $6K. I really liked it.

Sony IER-Z1R: I was very disappointed that they only had the single ended cable for them at the show. Since most of my test tracks are DSD I couldn't try them.

Sony IER-M9: Nice sound but I preferred my Solaris.

RHA CL2: None of the tips that they supplied would allow me to get a good seal. I ended up having to use the tips from my Solaris. Very good details but missing the lows like the Solaris.

ALO Gold 16 cable: This cable really makes the Solaris sing with the WM1Z in balanced mode. The deep bass is there, improved details, improved imaging and smooth as silk. I'm glad Ken did bring them to the show. I liked them so much I ended up buying the only 4.4mm pair they had for sale.

ADVANCED SOUND GROUP: I was impressed with their custom tips and that they were doing impressions for free onsite, so I ordered a pair for my Solaris.

Soekris dac1541: Interesting device, but I wasn't familiar with the headphones they had, so I couldn't make an informed opinion. Next year I want to replace my Benchmark DAC2 HGC. So I'll bring my MDR-Z1R and will check it out further along with others.

Soekris Dac1541 is R2R DAC but i guess it’s not NOS like BorderPatrol or MHDT DACs. I found it clean but didn’t get the organic sound which I read about from R2R dacs. I heard it with 800s.

[merged]

 

[gearofwar]

Does anyone here think Z1R is hard to drive because it couldn't beat my iem out of balance on Sony dap? I used to think Z1R would put iems to shame but it couldn't touch the line of Summit-fi iem

 

[kumar402]

Does anyone here think Z1R is hard to drive because it couldn't beat my iem out of balance on Sony dap? I used to think Z1R would put iems to shame but it couldn't touch the line of Summit-fi iem

Never tried them with the DAP but with Mojo or my desktop amps like Liquid Platinum or schiit Valhalla2 in low gain I never felt it was hard to drive. I guess they are 100 dB/mw in sensitivity.

But ya I guess a full sized amp will do more justice to it then a DAC

[merged]

 

[PointyFox]

Stuff I liked the best:
Open-back headphones: Hifiman Shangri-la, MrSpeakers VOCE, Hifiman Shangri-la Jr., (and my personal Stax SR-007A with bass port mod)
IEMs: Sony IER-Z1R, Sony IER M9, Campfire Andromeda, Jerry Harvey Layla, Jomo Trinity
Closed-back headphones: Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD820, ZMF Eikon, Meze Classic 99,


Stuff I bought:
QDC Neptune: The cheapest IEM in the QDC line. Smooth sounding and fairly transparent, somehow using just 1 balanced armature. Pretty. I just bought a pair from their distributor www.musicteck.com. They have a sale going this weekend for CanJam.

Random notes:
I was surprised by how little bass the SR-009/SR-009S has. I prefer my SR-007A with the bass port mod greatly. Best Stax ever.

The Shangri-la/Shangri-la Jr. impressed me with how much body the sound had for being electrostatic. Same for the VOCE, but the Shangri-las were smoother sounding while still sounding electrostatic.

The new Focal Stellia sounded a bit...odd to me. I think I preferred the Clear.

The Campfire Andromeda was the clearest sounding in the line, but has very light bass in comparison. The Atlas on the other hand is like a bass cannon.

The Grados there had very little bass, but I found the G Cushion to be much more comfortable than the stock or L Cushion.

 

[gearofwar]

Stuff I liked the best:
Open-back headphones: Hifiman Shangri-la, MrSpeakers VOCE, Hifiman Shangri-la Jr., (and my personal Stax SR-007A with bass port mod)
IEMs: Sony IER-Z1R, Sony IER M9, Campfire Andromeda, Jerry Harvey Layla, Jomo Trinity
Closed-back headphones: Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD820, ZMF Eikon, Meze Classic 99, Focal Utopia

Stuff I bought:
QDC Neptune: The cheapest IEM in the QDC line. Smooth sounding and fairly transparent, somehow using just 1 balanced armature. Pretty. I just bought a pair from their distributor www.musicteck.com. They have a sale going this weekend for CanJam.

I was kinda liking Neptune but its nowhere touching the Fiio new iem for the price. I got this same instant convincing thought trying Meze 99 classic again , and this still gave me the same impression after 2 years.