[Gromu]

Yes, of course, Diva Price is 2000-2500$ and waiting time is 6-8months up to a year or in some cases more.
It sounds exactly the same As Elysian Acoustics x Effect Audio Gaea, BUT Gaea has better Bass extension thanks to very special and hard to find in Iem Foster 9mm Driver which I liked.
So, basically, in my opinion:
1) same signature with better bass
2) no waiting time and great collab cable PLUS abetted shell and artwork (just prettier looking iem on top to all that)
3) and Yes I played with tuning, still like Gaea More
PS
Annihilator is still the Summit-Fi iem. But in its price bracket Gaea defeats Diva for me

Thank you for the quick and thoughtful response!

 

[ayang02]

I was most impressed by this XMEMS prototype. It’s a new type of all silicon driver. I think it has the potential of setting benchmark of accurate sound reproduction in the IEM market. I am really impressed with how real it reproduces upright double bass sound. Many headphones and IEMs can’t do it.

Can’t wait for actual XMEMs products to launch. Have they confirmed any product launches in the near future?

 

[daijobudes]

Thank you for the quick and thoughtful response!

Are You attending?

 

[mere11di]

Got to try the susvara finally, excellent headphone. Maestro SE surprised as being very clean whilst having a ton of bass slam. Atrium closed was great, very soft presentation just like the atrium open. Meze liric was a bit underwhelming. Overall, got to try quite a bit of stuff for my first canjam. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

 

[GoldenSound]

Day 1 finished and phew am I tired!

A few highlights for me:

Headamp Grand Cayman:
Ohhhh boy is this thing good. Estats for me have always been impressive in some areas but needing the very best source gear to fix some of their issues, particularly in the bass region. Simply put the Cayman provided the best experience I've had with the Shangri-la SR and Stax X9000 thus far. Absolutely incredible. I'd love to compare it to the T2 at some point but they didn't have an X9000 at the booth.

ZMF Atrium Closed:
@zach915m has knocked it out of the park with this one!
I think if I had to pick between the two I'd go for the open atrium. But it's immensely impressive how close this sounds to the stock atrium and is for sure one of the best closed backs I've heard.
Also, if you try these, do ask to try them with the caldera suede pads. IMO that made them considerably better than the stock pads.

Modhouse Tungsten Prototype:
These aren't on demo at a booth but Ryan gave me a demo and oh goodness.... These are SERIOUSLY good.
These are honestly knocking on the door of some seriously high end cans (I'm talking Susvara etc) but for less than half the price.
The downside at the moment is they're just about the hardest to drive headphone you can get (dCS Lina amp and Holo Bliss could sit maxed out at slightly less than listening volume). Ryan is working on sorting that though. Definitely keep your eyes on this one!

Enleum 23RM:
This is the portable offering from Enleum. I did a review recently for the Enleum 23R desktop amp which was a little mixed. But this is a very impressive device. Not only in sound quality but also in features.
Its additionally one of the only current-drive amplifiers on the market. Not sure there are any other than the ones from bakoon which are hard to find.
Id quite like to do a full review of this. The Sennheiser HD800S with current drive is quite special!!


Tomorrow I'm gonna be doing some interviews with a few people and ticking off a couple products I want to hear (UM Mest MK3 is top of my list!). Also booked in to demo HE1.

Gonna be interesting to have compared Aperio, several top tier Shang SR chains and the HE1 within a short timespan.

Ill also be around the headphones.com booth a fair bit if anyone wants to come say hi!

 

[msing539]

Tomorrow I'm gonna be doing some interviews with a few people

 

[Gromu]

Are You attending?

Unfortunately, no. Though I'll probably be at the SoCal one later in the year.

 

[msing539]

Wife wanted this shirt. I said, "Name one ZMF headphone." She replied, "The ones with the twirls on them."

Wife successfully named the Atrium hours later and insisted I update everyone on her progress.

Also, dCS is just "the DAC room" if anyone is looking for it.

 

[552609]

Wife successfully named the Atrium hours later and insisted I update everyone on her progress.

Also, dCS is just "the DAC room" if anyone is looking for it.

But did you try the mentor?

 

[msing539]

But did you try the mentor?

We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And you feared to be in my debt.

Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day.

 

[552609]

We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And you feared to be in my debt.

Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day.

Not the godfather, the mentor

 

[Ciggavelli]

@Ciggavelli did you ask Woo about their 3ES amp and their false advertising?

I did. He confirmed it’s not a 300B output. He said the 300B isn’t powerful enough so it needed a Mosfat for the output, but I’m not really sure what that means.

 

[BassicScience]

I did. He confirmed it’s not a 300B output. He said the 300B isn’t powerful enough so it needed a Mosfat for the output, but I’m not really sure what that means.

A MOSFET is a type of transistor, and is not uncommonly used in power amp output stages. They have the reputation of sounding more tube-like than BJTs (bipolar junction transistors), which is the most common transistor variety.

 

[ampsandsound]

Quick Thoughts

It was my first time going to an event like this. I've had this desire to try some high end tube amps for some time now. and I've wanted to compare the sound difference between the Elites I own with other flagship models to see if the grass was really greener.

The experience with the different tube amps is lovely. I tried the Wa33, Wa23 Envy, and and ampsandsounds amplifier (The audeze rep didnt know which it was but from looking at the website it's the nautilus or red october).

The wa33 had my entire head enveloped in sond and my headphones were thumping like never before. Everything about every song I listened to was like I rembered but just MORE. Idk how else to explain it. Everything felt like it was louder but it couldn't of been since I tend to get pain/ringing if music is too loud/sibillant/hifiman). The Wa23 was similar. I feel like the wa33 was sligthly better sounding but I cant really pinpoint why. I hope to try with my music tomorrow so I can play music I'm more familiar with to make a better comparison

I had a similar experience with the Envy and Elites, audio bliss. However, I got the chance to try out the Susvara. It's an amazing sound, it gave such a lifelike sound it felt like I was transported into the front row of a prince concert. However, there's something about the hifiman headphones (arya's, ananda's, now Susvara).I've tried that makes my right ear hurt like crazy

The Audeze setup allowed me to try the LCD-5's with a May/Bliss combo, it sounds similar to what I have at home with my May/v590 and Elites. However, they have a setup with this ampsandsound amp that I tried while waiting for the May/Bliss. Holy fk. It felt like I was being fed sound models through my ears. I thought I understood what holograhic sound and layering meant. This was another level. They allowed me to swap my headphones and a pair of 4z's to check the differences. My Elites were a touch below the 5's in everything I experienced with the same setup. The 4z's came in far behind, they felt similar to the 5's in what was going on. However, the punch of the 5's came like they were from a heavyweight boxer and the 4z's came from a middleweight.

I also wanted to sell my 590 for a pure headphone amp so I tried the nimbus, and it led me to believe what I have is on a similar level. So I may not need to do anything on that end and just start diving into tube world now.

Edit: Also the new Elite colorway looks sick and I wish I could swap the colorway lol

It was a ampsandsound - Nautilus in red. The color choice confuses everyone. Hope you enjoyed.

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

Any impressions on Hifiman ef600 and CEntrance dacmini2?