[kumar402]

Atrium closed worked so well out of shortest way 51 amp. Everything was good and I felt with Shortest way amp the synergy was better than Cayin amp. Comfort is much better then my ironwood VC and treble has no glaring and has sub bass punch. Mid bass is better in VC and soundstage is bigger in VC

 

[Saberpunch]

The more I see this beast, the more I want it.

Me too! The fact that the Lotoo Mjolnir is battery-powered (IIRC), it's cool thinking of having a cool audio setup right in my backup. I also heard it's pretty lite too.

 

[Mediahound]

The listening environment is not really good at all. It’s hard to accurately assess headphones. It’s just not a good environment at all. I’m really hoping tomorrow is less crowded.

This is why these shows are not really a good place to actually listen to equipment, sorry to say. They're pretty much only good for looking at the stuff and talking with the designers and fellow head-fiers.

I literally cannot tell a difference between a $4,500 Audeze and a $45 Koss at a show.

 

[makan]

I wonder why he is in a table of a direct competitor…

The E-stat builders and aficionados aka Stax Mafia is a small group of people who know, share and respect each other….not competitors in the dog eat dog world.

 

[Mentanalyste]

I listened to all the estat amps today. My order from worst to best would be Viva STX, Woo 3ES, Grand Cayman, T2. The T2 just had a fuller sound with my Shang Sr compared to my 3ES Elite. It doesn’t completely fix the Shang’s relatively weak sub bass, but it’s a noticeable improvement.

Hi

I am very surprised by your ranking and especially for the VIVA STX. Many people rank it ahead of the T2.

 

[joe]

Anyone lose a single IEM? Right side? We have it at the registration desk.

Edit: It has found its way back home.

 

[chrisnyc75]

Just got home from CanJam. I wanted to stay longer and potentially actually meet more of you, but I get antsy in crowded places after a few hours and by 2pm I had had my fill.

A few brief thoughts on my experience…

• Torino Valkyria, $12k. I wanted to hate it. I wanted to be like “twelve thousand dollars my a$$.” But then I listened to it… first jazz, then bass heavy electronica, then delicate vocals, then hard hitting hip hop. 10s across the board on all counts - truly stunning. They had the Pulsar (one-notch-lower model at half the msrp) next to it for comparison, and IMHO it wasn’t even close. Their new planar is amazing, too, though not on the same level as Valkyria.
• Oriolus Traili, “The Bird”. As impressive with vocals as everyone says it is, definitely unlike anything I’ve heard before. Worth $6k? Maybe if female vocals are the core of your music collection.
• FatFreq Maestro SE, the “new kid on the block” in the battle for basshead dominance. Great sound, great bass, but not in the same league as Legend EVO at all. Competitive with Monarch probably.
• EE Odyssey. Gorgeous. Materially better than Legend EVO (or Odin)? Not sure. Would need more time to direct a/b.
• Abyss Diana TC. Loved it. Definite contender for my endgame planar. Loved the prototype Abyss closed back, too. Hits just as hard as TC with nearly as much width.
• Newtopia: unsurprisingly great, but not materially better than the OG for my money.
• Hifiman Shangri-la: hands-down the best e-stat I’ve heard so far. I a/b’d it vs Stax X900, CRBN, & DCA’s new one. It’s hard to say which is “best” because they are all very different - so much so that I’m almost left wondering what the common thread among e-stats really is? But anecdotally without significant analysis, it’s the Shangri-la that I kept coming back to because it just wowed me.
• Raal circumaural: Wowy wow wow! Only $2k for all that resolution?? Sign me up. I’ve listened to Miles Davis “All Blues” a gazillion times, but even in the loud environment that is CanJam I’ve never heard the cymbals sound so lifelike before. The exhibitioner was super nice and we had a really good conversation, too.

I was kinda disappointed I couldn’t find a Warwick Bravura anywhere (unless there was one somewhere and I just couldn’t get close enough to find it?). And disappointed that they brought their quiet booth to LA and not to NYC. I would really have liked to get a few minutes in a quiet booth with these particular hype beasts.

I bought the weekend pass “just in case” I felt inclined to to back tomorrow, though I doubt I will. But I might. We’ll see how I feel about it in the morning.

 

[kumar402]

Tried Utopia, Final D8000 and Susvara out of this cute little amp from Enleum.
Final D8000 had the best synergy with this. Utopia was great as well. The DAC was Mscalar with TT2 so the soundstage was bigger then it would be with normal DAC
I was almost at 2 PM in volume knob with Susvara in show condition. Not ideal with Susvara

 

[adrianm]

any pics of the Abyss closed back?

 

[Mentanalyste]

This is why these shows are not really a good place to actually listen to equipment, sorry to say. They're pretty much only good for looking at the stuff and talking with the designers and fellow head-fiers.

I literally cannot tell a difference between a $4,500 Audeze and a $45 Koss at a show.

Hi

Exactly, when I hear that the VIVA STX is poorly ranked everything is said about the quality and relevance of listening.

 

[Nostoi]

Tried Utopia, Final D8000 and Susvara out of this cute little amp from Enleum.
Final D8000 had the best synergy with this. Utopia was great as well. The DAC was Mscalar with TT2 so the soundstage was bigger then it would be with normal DAC
I was almost at 2 PM in volume knob with Susvara in show condition. Not ideal with Susvara

Good to get impressions finally. Care to elaborate on timbre and technical performance? Authoritve or otherwise? Build?

 

[chrisnyc75]

any pics of the Abyss closed back?

I didn't take any pics, but the guy in front of me (who they claimed was the first non-Abyss person to ever hear them, which I guess makes me second?) took some, so hopefully he will post here. They were really solid and felt very well built. The Abyss team said they're definitely still a prototype, but they should be ready for production this year.

 

[kumar402]

Good to get impressions finally. Care to elaborate on timbre and technical performance? Authoritve or otherwise? Build?

With Final Audio D8000 pro the bass was good and had good details as well, same with Utopia.
Was not so great with Susvara but it was noisy as football stadium and at home May work well with Susvara but with D8000 it was really good and the size is just right. However it was hot to touch. There is jack for current and voltage out so good with Dynamic and planar

 

[Nostoi]

With Final Audio D8000 pro the bass was good and had good details as well, same with Utopia.
Was not so great with Susvara but it was noisy as football stadium and at home May work well with Susvara but with D8000 it was really good and the size is just right. However it was hot to touch. There is jack for current and voltage out so good with Dynamic and planar

Thank you....very curious to compare with the upcoming Bakoon HDA-5520MK2, which the 23RM can ultimately be traced back to.

 

[wbass]

Thank you....very curious to compare with the upcoming Bakoon HDA-5520MK2, which the 23RM can ultimately be traced back to.

There's a new Bakoon amp coming? Didn't Bakoon become Enleum?