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.