nigel801
500+ Head-Fier
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I do have Focal Elear and preferred the sound of Ether C Flow, my Elear were collecting dust, if AEON not at par or better than Ether C Flow than I am at loss.
CanJam @ RMAF 2017 (October 6-8, 2017) Impressions!
- Thread starter joe
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Regarding the mysphere: interesting sound. Bass is all wrong, both mushy and too pronounced. Mids totally sucked out. Novel, but meh.
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I recorded a song in binaural when using the MySphere. Closed, open, half-way. I'll see when I can upload it. I definitely really liked it a lot and I had a nice chat with the designer of it.
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RMAF attendees, the “Beyond Off-The-Shelf DAC Chips” seminar with Rob Watts of Chord Electronics starts at 5:30 p.m. today in the Aspen Ampitheater.
DESCRIPTION: When there are no off-the-shelf DAC chips that meet your vision of fidelity, you just have to engineer your own digital solutions. Rob Watts from Chord Electronics has been doing that for two decades. Join him as he details the many fascinating discoveries he’s made along the way, on his to completely redefine the portable DAC, and to reach a million filter taps and beyond.
DESCRIPTION: When there are no off-the-shelf DAC chips that meet your vision of fidelity, you just have to engineer your own digital solutions. Rob Watts from Chord Electronics has been doing that for two decades. Join him as he details the many fascinating discoveries he’s made along the way, on his to completely redefine the portable DAC, and to reach a million filter taps and beyond.
odanovich
100+ Head-Fier
Did someone say there was a closed back LCD-4 on display from Audeze?!?!
Pics please!
Pics please!
The only closed back I saw was the LCD-XC.
Just got back from my short, one day visit to RMAF/CanJam. I at least tried the flagships for everything there, and honestly felt like the hd800 S ref w/ the new sennheiser 820 amp were in a class of their own for me. Which is super surprising, because I just would never have expected for their amp to be a first rate contender, let alone a 'winner' for me. And that's really unfortunate, because at $2400 it's just not going to happen for me, ever, lol. I could rave about how it sounded and what it achieved, but that becomes pretty lengthy. It's honestly a little hard for me to understand, how the whole sound signature is achieved. And I'm not sure how much credit goes to the amp or the headphones. But if I had that setup, I would just disconnect from the hifi community, content. If I'm being completely honest, even though the price points are far away from what I can do right now, I am beginning to wonder about, and figure out, how cheaply I could come upon this setup if I found both parts used and also sold what I already have.
I had my first listen to some Utopias and was pretty strongly reminded of a pair of edition 9s I used to own. They were suuuper resolving and fast, yet pretty lush. The way texture was being resolved by these cans might have done more justice to some Infected Mushroom tracks than any cans I've ever heard. My gripe, and why I'd probably never spend that much money on them, was that I found them to have a little bit too much impact, in conjunction with a pretty forward sound signature. Overall, it wasn't that bad - and I think the edition 9s are worse offenders about kind of hitting you with too much force or punch across the whole presentation, but I still felt like after just a few minutes, I could tell that the lower end punch on these would ultimately cause fatigue and force me to prematurely end a given listening session. Really, really fun, amazingly responsive and resolving, full and warm cans. If I had a pair, I'd definitely be inclined to play around with other parts in my chain to see if I couldn't tone back my one complaint. And, in any case, these are just my ears. I would highly recommend that people try these out, because if you can listen to these for a long time, because of differing tastes in music or just having different ears - these had some world class characteristics. And I didn't actually listen to these for an extended period of time. If Focal wants to loan me a pair to put em to the test, I'd actually love to. They were just so much fun.
Early on I found a couple of stax 007 and 009 to enjoy with a Blue Hawaiian, an amp that had long eluded me in past conventions/meets. I had a really good time listening to Alanis Morisette off of these, but wasn't as impressed by the cans as I had been in years past - and I didn't feel that it was likely the fabled amp, either. I think I've just learned more about, and focused in on, the kinds of presentations that I most enjoy and consider to be relevant to me, and which make the music fun for me. One big, overall thing I noticed was that the headphone community seems way more fond of, or saturated with, solid state amplification. And, overall, I just don't like that sound as much anymore. I grew in to tubier sounds and I think that the amp selection for a lot of vendors did much to detract from how I might have otherwise enjoyed and been driven to spend more time getting to know a lot of the wonderful flagship cans around the place.
I didn't even bother with IEMs, but man were there more IEMs here than at any headphone meet or convention that I had been to before. I guess the times are a changing, huh? I remember going to RMAF back in 2008, this Stereophile article about a friend and I basically touched on how the climate there, and in the greater hifi world as a whole, was only beginning to change to include an increase in younger people.
Also changing was that the headphone community was coming in to its own, and had just one room rented out at RMAF, in 2008. I believe it was headroom who rented it out. I mean, it wasn't a Can Jam, of course, but still. It was a literal beginning point. I've got a picture of me making a ghoulish face with some, at the time, fresh Denon 5Ks they let me bring out for everyone to demo. Things were really different for us, then! I also lugged a few amps in for different vendors, to add to the meet. Fast forward to now and these vendors are actually there, with their own booth and several employees, their whole product line-up etc. Hell, we even have hot booth babes, now.
It's pretty awesome. RMAF felt more like an audiophile meet for me, finally. I elsewhere enjoyed (once again) the Nordost power cable gradation/sound quality demoing - a very reaffirming experience, which left me secure in the knowledge of these components making meaningful differences, yet utterly disheartened by knowing that I could never own any of the nicer Nordost cables. I also managed to recognize a wild @jude after not having seen his face for probably a decade. Things felt weirdly old, and familiar, yet new, and bigger. This was definitely an opportune time for me to get back in touch with the hifi audio world and start learning about what I've been missing.
I'm a little tempted to go back again tomorrow, but I'd just end up really sitting down to geek out and review other cans and amps at greater length. And I'll bring my camera this time and.. and then I would want to come back home and spend hours writing about every last nuance. And nobody is paying me for this! Although I'm honestly considering starting a review blog/site dedicated to hifi headphones, because it is sincerely fulfilling to be revisiting my 'ears' and these analyses. Then I could get back to having access to all this amazing gear. Is paid reviewing a thing yet, here? Any vendors want to coax me back out tomorrow? (Please somebody enable me LOL) Otherwise I'm going for a hike while still dreading the implications that this meet has on my future monies.
Anyway, thanks for listening to all of the ramblings. I hope everyone else has a really good time, and I'm sure I'll stick around to see what other people thought of everything there. If anyone has any questions that I might be able to answer - feel free.
I had my first listen to some Utopias and was pretty strongly reminded of a pair of edition 9s I used to own. They were suuuper resolving and fast, yet pretty lush. The way texture was being resolved by these cans might have done more justice to some Infected Mushroom tracks than any cans I've ever heard. My gripe, and why I'd probably never spend that much money on them, was that I found them to have a little bit too much impact, in conjunction with a pretty forward sound signature. Overall, it wasn't that bad - and I think the edition 9s are worse offenders about kind of hitting you with too much force or punch across the whole presentation, but I still felt like after just a few minutes, I could tell that the lower end punch on these would ultimately cause fatigue and force me to prematurely end a given listening session. Really, really fun, amazingly responsive and resolving, full and warm cans. If I had a pair, I'd definitely be inclined to play around with other parts in my chain to see if I couldn't tone back my one complaint. And, in any case, these are just my ears. I would highly recommend that people try these out, because if you can listen to these for a long time, because of differing tastes in music or just having different ears - these had some world class characteristics. And I didn't actually listen to these for an extended period of time. If Focal wants to loan me a pair to put em to the test, I'd actually love to. They were just so much fun.
Early on I found a couple of stax 007 and 009 to enjoy with a Blue Hawaiian, an amp that had long eluded me in past conventions/meets. I had a really good time listening to Alanis Morisette off of these, but wasn't as impressed by the cans as I had been in years past - and I didn't feel that it was likely the fabled amp, either. I think I've just learned more about, and focused in on, the kinds of presentations that I most enjoy and consider to be relevant to me, and which make the music fun for me. One big, overall thing I noticed was that the headphone community seems way more fond of, or saturated with, solid state amplification. And, overall, I just don't like that sound as much anymore. I grew in to tubier sounds and I think that the amp selection for a lot of vendors did much to detract from how I might have otherwise enjoyed and been driven to spend more time getting to know a lot of the wonderful flagship cans around the place.
I didn't even bother with IEMs, but man were there more IEMs here than at any headphone meet or convention that I had been to before. I guess the times are a changing, huh? I remember going to RMAF back in 2008, this Stereophile article about a friend and I basically touched on how the climate there, and in the greater hifi world as a whole, was only beginning to change to include an increase in younger people.
Also changing was that the headphone community was coming in to its own, and had just one room rented out at RMAF, in 2008. I believe it was headroom who rented it out. I mean, it wasn't a Can Jam, of course, but still. It was a literal beginning point. I've got a picture of me making a ghoulish face with some, at the time, fresh Denon 5Ks they let me bring out for everyone to demo. Things were really different for us, then! I also lugged a few amps in for different vendors, to add to the meet. Fast forward to now and these vendors are actually there, with their own booth and several employees, their whole product line-up etc. Hell, we even have hot booth babes, now.
It's pretty awesome. RMAF felt more like an audiophile meet for me, finally. I elsewhere enjoyed (once again) the Nordost power cable gradation/sound quality demoing - a very reaffirming experience, which left me secure in the knowledge of these components making meaningful differences, yet utterly disheartened by knowing that I could never own any of the nicer Nordost cables. I also managed to recognize a wild @jude after not having seen his face for probably a decade. Things felt weirdly old, and familiar, yet new, and bigger. This was definitely an opportune time for me to get back in touch with the hifi audio world and start learning about what I've been missing.
I'm a little tempted to go back again tomorrow, but I'd just end up really sitting down to geek out and review other cans and amps at greater length. And I'll bring my camera this time and.. and then I would want to come back home and spend hours writing about every last nuance. And nobody is paying me for this! Although I'm honestly considering starting a review blog/site dedicated to hifi headphones, because it is sincerely fulfilling to be revisiting my 'ears' and these analyses. Then I could get back to having access to all this amazing gear. Is paid reviewing a thing yet, here? Any vendors want to coax me back out tomorrow? (Please somebody enable me LOL) Otherwise I'm going for a hike while still dreading the implications that this meet has on my future monies.
Anyway, thanks for listening to all of the ramblings. I hope everyone else has a really good time, and I'm sure I'll stick around to see what other people thought of everything there. If anyone has any questions that I might be able to answer - feel free.
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Heard the Auteur on both the Valhalla 2 and Massdrop Cavalli CTH. Congratulations on the incredible sounding headphone. I wasn't there particularly long, but it was easily the best thing I heard.
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It's been a while that I have attended any audio shows. For Rocky Mountain, this is my first time in Denver here after 14 years later.
I really did not have much time so I only could visit headphone area only, which really only matters. The condition of the meet was way too loud to make reliable judgement unfortunately.
1. Focal Clear : It's.... ok I guess. Actually bigger thing is that Focal has decided to up their game with accessories such as additional cables for this new headphones. That is welcoming change. Overall the sound of Clear was rather neutral but relatively well detailed.
2. Koss : I don't say often to a corporation. But Koss is a corporation that deserves better. There were some unfortunate incidents that nearly sank the company several years ago. With current lineup, all of the Koss's new headphones are decent, if not a bit too warm. I really miss A250, and Michael told me something big is coming within months. That is very welcome to hear.
3. Advanced Sound : I never heard this company, and they just come out and released two planar headphones. Semi-open one is below-average sounding, but the full-size one, called Alpha, sounds incredibly good for its price. It is currently available at massdrop and I recommend everyone to check it out. The sound resembles Audeze but without its strong bass. A bit more sound like MrSpeaker's.
4. Ultrasone : Sigh, OK. Performance series headphones sound not bad. But for the price it is asking... They are just.... And no comments on its Studio lineups.
5. Crosszone : A Japanese company with headphone, using three drivers on each cup for surrounding sound. The sound itself was surprisingly decent, but I really could not hear any surround effect, if at all. The shape of the headphones is very very weird and interesting.
6. Audeze : The real winner is LCD-2C, which many people actually prefer Audeze sound without fezer. The price is surprisingly tame (600 dollars) so this is within the reach of a lot of people. MX-4 sounds really good. But I wish it'd had the bass of LCD-X.
7. Klipsch : HP3 is incredibly balanced headphone, but I did hear some veil on sound. The high is not clear enough for me. Maybe it is due to the DAC/amp combo they are using. Otherwise, the whole package is just incredible and the headphones are simply beautiful.
8. Schiit : Gadget is very, very weird. I cannot even describe the effect, and to be honest I cannot even sure whether this changed sound can be called as improvement. But it is very interesting audio piece and it is no brainer I will get this one as soon as it comes out.
9. Pioneer/Onkyo : Sigh, their both top headphones are unfortunately harsh and most likely not worth for money even based on typical audiophile equipment pricing. They really messed up high. Their DAPs feel solid though.
10. AR : AR-H1 is, despite nearly non-expectations, sound very good. Again this is one of the cases I wish I could get quieter environment to evaluate headphones.... But at least I could not sense anything fatally wrong with this headphones, and the whole tonality is well done.
11. Audio-Technica : Wow.
So... it seems they decided to give up their typical Audio-Technica house sound on their top flagship X5000. Sound is incredibly tight, but I don't see any funny sounding/coloration which happen on most of high-end AT headphones. Even more bonus point that they also gave up that 3-d wing headband and overall headphone is incredibly light. Price is 2K usd, which is not that insane in today's flagship pricing. Oh, and that package box really brings me the memories of old Sony flagship headphones.
12. Fiio : My first time touching their newest X3, and the build quality alone really defies the price tag. Sound is also good.
13. ZMF Auteur : Wow. They just look like home-made headphones, but in positive way. The sound of this headphone is a bit warm yet very clean enough.
One thing I noticed is that companies finally realized there is a gigantic empty space at 500~1000 dollar range. Nighthawk and HD700 are just not going to cut it, so it is good to see several headphones are priced at 600 dollars to feel the gap.
Finally, it was pleasure to talk to Jude and Joe. I look forward to meet you guys again in future meetings.
I really did not have much time so I only could visit headphone area only, which really only matters. The condition of the meet was way too loud to make reliable judgement unfortunately.
1. Focal Clear : It's.... ok I guess. Actually bigger thing is that Focal has decided to up their game with accessories such as additional cables for this new headphones. That is welcoming change. Overall the sound of Clear was rather neutral but relatively well detailed.
2. Koss : I don't say often to a corporation. But Koss is a corporation that deserves better. There were some unfortunate incidents that nearly sank the company several years ago. With current lineup, all of the Koss's new headphones are decent, if not a bit too warm. I really miss A250, and Michael told me something big is coming within months. That is very welcome to hear.
3. Advanced Sound : I never heard this company, and they just come out and released two planar headphones. Semi-open one is below-average sounding, but the full-size one, called Alpha, sounds incredibly good for its price. It is currently available at massdrop and I recommend everyone to check it out. The sound resembles Audeze but without its strong bass. A bit more sound like MrSpeaker's.
4. Ultrasone : Sigh, OK. Performance series headphones sound not bad. But for the price it is asking... They are just.... And no comments on its Studio lineups.
5. Crosszone : A Japanese company with headphone, using three drivers on each cup for surrounding sound. The sound itself was surprisingly decent, but I really could not hear any surround effect, if at all. The shape of the headphones is very very weird and interesting.
6. Audeze : The real winner is LCD-2C, which many people actually prefer Audeze sound without fezer. The price is surprisingly tame (600 dollars) so this is within the reach of a lot of people. MX-4 sounds really good. But I wish it'd had the bass of LCD-X.
7. Klipsch : HP3 is incredibly balanced headphone, but I did hear some veil on sound. The high is not clear enough for me. Maybe it is due to the DAC/amp combo they are using. Otherwise, the whole package is just incredible and the headphones are simply beautiful.
8. Schiit : Gadget is very, very weird. I cannot even describe the effect, and to be honest I cannot even sure whether this changed sound can be called as improvement. But it is very interesting audio piece and it is no brainer I will get this one as soon as it comes out.
9. Pioneer/Onkyo : Sigh, their both top headphones are unfortunately harsh and most likely not worth for money even based on typical audiophile equipment pricing. They really messed up high. Their DAPs feel solid though.
10. AR : AR-H1 is, despite nearly non-expectations, sound very good. Again this is one of the cases I wish I could get quieter environment to evaluate headphones.... But at least I could not sense anything fatally wrong with this headphones, and the whole tonality is well done.
11. Audio-Technica : Wow.
So... it seems they decided to give up their typical Audio-Technica house sound on their top flagship X5000. Sound is incredibly tight, but I don't see any funny sounding/coloration which happen on most of high-end AT headphones. Even more bonus point that they also gave up that 3-d wing headband and overall headphone is incredibly light. Price is 2K usd, which is not that insane in today's flagship pricing. Oh, and that package box really brings me the memories of old Sony flagship headphones.
12. Fiio : My first time touching their newest X3, and the build quality alone really defies the price tag. Sound is also good.
13. ZMF Auteur : Wow. They just look like home-made headphones, but in positive way. The sound of this headphone is a bit warm yet very clean enough.
One thing I noticed is that companies finally realized there is a gigantic empty space at 500~1000 dollar range. Nighthawk and HD700 are just not going to cut it, so it is good to see several headphones are priced at 600 dollars to feel the gap.
Finally, it was pleasure to talk to Jude and Joe. I look forward to meet you guys again in future meetings.
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Nice show. Picked up a couple of SACDs.
Kneel2Galvatron
Head-Fier
Anyone get to hear the Aeon Flow open?
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2007
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Oh my god I sold my Ether C Flow last Thursday based on reviews of Tyll and Steve Gutenberg, what have I done, I sold it for half the price
Yeah, that was a mistake. The Ether c Flow is my second favorite Mr Speakers if cost of amplifying them is not a consideration (then its th electrostatic, if I don’t care about the amp cost or lesser bass impact). And it’s one of my favorite closed headphones.
However, if you have the cash in hand now, maybe you should just buy the HiFiMan Edition-X mk2 which I think is a better bang for the buck anyway.
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- Joined
- Aug 18, 2007
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- 839
So my son and I arrived Friday afternoon, and mostly spend the first day introducing ourselves to people we knew and getting acquainted with what was up for demoing this weekend. We did spend some time listening to the CEntrance BlueDAC that first day, and compared it to our old CEntrance HiFi-M8 and more recent DACportable via lightning to usb connection.
Everything Michael makes sounds fantastic, and the BlueDAC is no exception. Using HiFiMan Edition X Mk2, the BlueDAC punches well above it's weight, and is a match for the excellent sound we’re used to via the HiFi-M8 and DACportable. Switching from lightning cable to wireless, you’d be hard pressed to hear a drop in performance vs wired connection directly to the iPhone 7+ I brought full of ALAC music.
We also tried the BlueDAC with another customer's pair of Mr Speakers Ether Flow open and a demo pair of Aeon c Flow closed headphones. They were all good, but the Ether were a step up from the Aeon and more enjoyable. They were both a little less efficient than the Edition, but still easy to drive, although I, my son, and the Ether Flow's owner agreed that we thought the amp pairing was best with the Edition X.
We also tried the Sennheiser HD800s with their 820 amplifier and were impressed, until we pulled out the CEntrance HiFi-M8 and got nearly the same performance out of the 4-pin XLR! Yes, the Sennheiser amp was impressive and better, but the differences were not $1600 worth of improvement. What did impress me was the lack of grain or etch with the combo, where after switching amps I decided the improvement was in the headphone.
The Sennheiser HD569 wins the prize for best “budget over ear closed headphone”, beating out our V-MODA M-100 gen2 wireless but with using it wired. At $179 it’s a bargain and easy to drive - it was more detailed, spacious, and transparent than I expected, with strong bass that wasn’t overdone. If you are in the market for something in this category, check it out.
We spent some time comparing my son's Westone W50 with the W60 and W80, and made a few discoveries. While the W80 may sound the best of all of them all when amp'd, the W50 & W60 are more easily driven by the Bluetooth cable or the iPhone 7+ Lighting adapter. The W80 have rightfully earned their place as an audiophile flagship IEM, and even sounded as good or better than the UM Mason V3 (16 driver) that I’d tried just moments before (maybe not as bright as well). I’d venture to say the W80 also compete with my ES60 custom IEM from westone, and my custom JHA 16 Pro freqphase (or the new 16 Pro V2 demos).
But if you’re going to use them un-amp'd or with Westone bluetooth then the W60 are easier to drive and still quite impressive, while the W80’s very stable but low 8 Ohm impedance make the BT cable work a little too hard at high volumes. Regardless, the W80 are still a bit easier to drive than my JHA Roxanne that really need an amp to maximize performance. The W60 and W80 are real audiophile quality “compete with customs” IEM when wired, but they can also be extremely fun and lively to listen to, and not clinical or sterile by any stretch of the imagination.
The W60 lose very little when used wireless, and still impress me, but like the W80, if they’re wired you’ll squeeze more detail and performance from them. As far as price/performance ratio, I can’t imagine anyone regretting the decision to save a little $ and getting the W60. They could be the last IEM you’ll ever need, sounding fantastic wired, or wireless with an iPhone that lacks a headphone jack. Also, my son finds the W80 a little too fat for a good fit in his small ears, so he prefers the W60 even though he thinks the W80 sound a little better too.
The W50 on the other hand are pure fun, wired or wireless - it's like being in a nightclub and getting pummeled by tight clean hard bass, while still having full mids and a more forgiving treble, regardless of wired, amp’d or wireless, they’re sound is very similar. However, I would not use them as a reference IEM if I can afford the step up to W60, which are still fun with strong bass but more balanced sounding, I think the W50 May be aimed at those listeners who loved the W3 bass but had trouble taming the highs that peaked with the wrong fit or tips (my son).
We went to a quiet room on the 5th floor, Mojo Audio, where they have some incredible sources and amps, demo’d with HiFiMan HE-1000 Mk2, and an assortment of Mr Speakers Ether Flow open and closed, and Mr Speakers Electrostatic headphones. In that room I preferred the HE-1000 rig with better bass impact and better high volume performance, but at more moderate volume levels the Mr Speakers electrostatics were much closer - quite spacious and detailed with good extension in bass and treble. But the stat amp or headphones were not able to cope as well when cranking up the volume, and the HE-1000 could hit quite hard when loud while the stat rig started to break up.
We compared our Edition-X to the HE-1000 in the Mojo Audio room, and found the Edition X to be quite close, but less ruthless with certain program material. The HE-1000 are like an electron microscope with the music vs a 200x light microscope for the EdX. They dig deeper, but don’t hide anything either.
When we back down to try the HiFiMan ShanGriLa after the Mojo Audio demo, we found that ShanGriLa to also break up at loud volumes. We figured out that the portable HM-901 source’s output voltage/gain probably isn’t enough for the stat amplifier, and tomorrow we're going to try a preamp to boost the source voltage to closer to 4v instead of 2+V.
I’ve kinda become anti-electrostatic lately because they always seem to require a “nothing less than flagship price’d” amp vs dynamic and planar magnetic headphones. Its the only way to get any bass impact and volume from stats, unless you know how to build an amp instead. I needed a $3000-$4000 modded custom KGBH to get the proper sound out of a Stax SR007/009, and that’s a big investment to not be able to use it to listen to the other 99% of headphones out there.
And even when I had a fantastic Stat amp, my 007 still sounded dark vs my HD800 or HE-6, and my SR-009 still sounded grainy and shrill sometimes - and neither could compete with my discontinued HE-60 Baby Orpheus which grew balls with my KGBH (bass impact they said wasn’t possible with He-60). I’m just not convinced that anything less than a T2 amp (or even that) will suffice with modern day flagship stats when it comes to high volume listening with the desired bass impact at even medium volume levels.
Maybe I’m expecting too much, but then how am I so happy with just my Edition-X mk2 and a $400 portable DAC/amp on my iPhone 7+, And why do less costly IEM like my W60/80, ES60, JHA 16 Pro, and JHA Roxanne bring me so much joy ???
Everything Michael makes sounds fantastic, and the BlueDAC is no exception. Using HiFiMan Edition X Mk2, the BlueDAC punches well above it's weight, and is a match for the excellent sound we’re used to via the HiFi-M8 and DACportable. Switching from lightning cable to wireless, you’d be hard pressed to hear a drop in performance vs wired connection directly to the iPhone 7+ I brought full of ALAC music.
We also tried the BlueDAC with another customer's pair of Mr Speakers Ether Flow open and a demo pair of Aeon c Flow closed headphones. They were all good, but the Ether were a step up from the Aeon and more enjoyable. They were both a little less efficient than the Edition, but still easy to drive, although I, my son, and the Ether Flow's owner agreed that we thought the amp pairing was best with the Edition X.
We also tried the Sennheiser HD800s with their 820 amplifier and were impressed, until we pulled out the CEntrance HiFi-M8 and got nearly the same performance out of the 4-pin XLR! Yes, the Sennheiser amp was impressive and better, but the differences were not $1600 worth of improvement. What did impress me was the lack of grain or etch with the combo, where after switching amps I decided the improvement was in the headphone.
The Sennheiser HD569 wins the prize for best “budget over ear closed headphone”, beating out our V-MODA M-100 gen2 wireless but with using it wired. At $179 it’s a bargain and easy to drive - it was more detailed, spacious, and transparent than I expected, with strong bass that wasn’t overdone. If you are in the market for something in this category, check it out.
We spent some time comparing my son's Westone W50 with the W60 and W80, and made a few discoveries. While the W80 may sound the best of all of them all when amp'd, the W50 & W60 are more easily driven by the Bluetooth cable or the iPhone 7+ Lighting adapter. The W80 have rightfully earned their place as an audiophile flagship IEM, and even sounded as good or better than the UM Mason V3 (16 driver) that I’d tried just moments before (maybe not as bright as well). I’d venture to say the W80 also compete with my ES60 custom IEM from westone, and my custom JHA 16 Pro freqphase (or the new 16 Pro V2 demos).
But if you’re going to use them un-amp'd or with Westone bluetooth then the W60 are easier to drive and still quite impressive, while the W80’s very stable but low 8 Ohm impedance make the BT cable work a little too hard at high volumes. Regardless, the W80 are still a bit easier to drive than my JHA Roxanne that really need an amp to maximize performance. The W60 and W80 are real audiophile quality “compete with customs” IEM when wired, but they can also be extremely fun and lively to listen to, and not clinical or sterile by any stretch of the imagination.
The W60 lose very little when used wireless, and still impress me, but like the W80, if they’re wired you’ll squeeze more detail and performance from them. As far as price/performance ratio, I can’t imagine anyone regretting the decision to save a little $ and getting the W60. They could be the last IEM you’ll ever need, sounding fantastic wired, or wireless with an iPhone that lacks a headphone jack. Also, my son finds the W80 a little too fat for a good fit in his small ears, so he prefers the W60 even though he thinks the W80 sound a little better too.
The W50 on the other hand are pure fun, wired or wireless - it's like being in a nightclub and getting pummeled by tight clean hard bass, while still having full mids and a more forgiving treble, regardless of wired, amp’d or wireless, they’re sound is very similar. However, I would not use them as a reference IEM if I can afford the step up to W60, which are still fun with strong bass but more balanced sounding, I think the W50 May be aimed at those listeners who loved the W3 bass but had trouble taming the highs that peaked with the wrong fit or tips (my son).
We went to a quiet room on the 5th floor, Mojo Audio, where they have some incredible sources and amps, demo’d with HiFiMan HE-1000 Mk2, and an assortment of Mr Speakers Ether Flow open and closed, and Mr Speakers Electrostatic headphones. In that room I preferred the HE-1000 rig with better bass impact and better high volume performance, but at more moderate volume levels the Mr Speakers electrostatics were much closer - quite spacious and detailed with good extension in bass and treble. But the stat amp or headphones were not able to cope as well when cranking up the volume, and the HE-1000 could hit quite hard when loud while the stat rig started to break up.
We compared our Edition-X to the HE-1000 in the Mojo Audio room, and found the Edition X to be quite close, but less ruthless with certain program material. The HE-1000 are like an electron microscope with the music vs a 200x light microscope for the EdX. They dig deeper, but don’t hide anything either.
When we back down to try the HiFiMan ShanGriLa after the Mojo Audio demo, we found that ShanGriLa to also break up at loud volumes. We figured out that the portable HM-901 source’s output voltage/gain probably isn’t enough for the stat amplifier, and tomorrow we're going to try a preamp to boost the source voltage to closer to 4v instead of 2+V.
I’ve kinda become anti-electrostatic lately because they always seem to require a “nothing less than flagship price’d” amp vs dynamic and planar magnetic headphones. Its the only way to get any bass impact and volume from stats, unless you know how to build an amp instead. I needed a $3000-$4000 modded custom KGBH to get the proper sound out of a Stax SR007/009, and that’s a big investment to not be able to use it to listen to the other 99% of headphones out there.
And even when I had a fantastic Stat amp, my 007 still sounded dark vs my HD800 or HE-6, and my SR-009 still sounded grainy and shrill sometimes - and neither could compete with my discontinued HE-60 Baby Orpheus which grew balls with my KGBH (bass impact they said wasn’t possible with He-60). I’m just not convinced that anything less than a T2 amp (or even that) will suffice with modern day flagship stats when it comes to high volume listening with the desired bass impact at even medium volume levels.
Maybe I’m expecting too much, but then how am I so happy with just my Edition-X mk2 and a $400 portable DAC/amp on my iPhone 7+, And why do less costly IEM like my W60/80, ES60, JHA 16 Pro, and JHA Roxanne bring me so much joy ???
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Another great day at Audio Fest! I had a blast checking out all the stuff I missed yesterday as well as enjoying lunch, including a ton of very interesting conversations, with many of you as well as a few great vendors. I've been attending the show for many years, yet I still tend to get a bit fatigued come Saturday afternoon, so it was nice to wind down a bit and digress; there is just so much to see, do, and great folks to talk to.
Below is a few more pictures I took today for you to feast your eyes upon... impressions soon, I hope.
Sonoma Acoustics
Model One DAC/Amplifier
Model One Electrostatic Headphones
Model One Complete System, minus the stand
Diagram of the Model One's HPEL (High Performance Electrostatic Laminate) Planar Transducer and sample hardware at the bottom
Technics
EAH-T700 Premium Stereo Headphones paired with a Chord Hugo
SOtM
iSO-CAT6 Ethernet Signal Isolator
sMS-200ultra High End Mini Network Server & Player
sMS-200 Mini Network Server & Player
sCLK-OCX10 10MHz Master Clock
Madisound
Frequency Generator for hearing tests - I personally dropped out right before 15,000, maybe right above, hard to tell. They had someone earlier in the day that was over 18,000! Or, at least they said they were... It probably wasn't the best environment for a true test, with other rooms pounding the tunes, some talking going on, and various distances from the drivers, but very cool and nice guys at Madisound for doing these tests for folks that were interested!
E-MU
Purpleheart plugged into my Cowon Plenue D.
Ebony
Teak
Klipsch
Headphone Amplifier
HP-3
I removed the magnetic pad on the ebony pair to get a better view of the driver
Schiit
Modi 2, Loki Mini, Magni
RHA
MA350 "new all metal version" paired with my Cowon Plenue D
Hard to believe there is still one more day of this stuff left... so much to see, so much to do, I must go on...
Until then...
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