CanJam Shanghai 2019 Impressions Thread (November 9-10, 2019)
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Nov 8, 2019 at 11:47 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 94

AxelCloris

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CanJam Shanghai 2019 is finally here, and this is the thread to share all of your impressions from the show. Did you find a new favorite headphone? Discover a new artist? Finally crack and get that IEM you've been eyeing for months? We want to hear your thoughts from the show!

Missed our CanJam Shanghai 2019 preview video? Check it out here.
 
Nov 9, 2019 at 6:21 AM Post #6 of 94
Canjam Shanghai: Day One
Oh boy oh boy it’s finally here! Down in the land of Xi the event I’ve been waiting for the last half a year has finally started. Many things I’ve been eagerly waiting for are finally ready for me to try all I like. The HEDDphone. The InEar ProMission X. The never seen before qdc Uranus. Meze’s (snicker) Rai Solo. Moondrop’s S8. Do you smell that? It’s the smell of blood in the air. So many new virgin products to hear, so many new virgin products to tear apart. I can’t wait to finally judge the sunset of 2019’s greatest offers and see how they truly stack up in the audio world.

I am of course someone not known for their impulse control so the first thing I tried was the star of the show for me: HEDD’s new HEDDphone. I’ve been hunting for a flagship headphone to truly win me over for some months now and the HEDDphone is right at the top of the list of potential candidates to woo me into opening my wallet for. The AMT technology supposedly has some of the greatest bass slam from any headphone while still retaining pristine treble and incredible imaging and resolution, which is enough to pique the interest of a bass fanatic with no compromises like myself. And sure enough, the HEDD lives up to the expectations set for it in bass. The slam is unlike anything I have ever heard, having that visceral feeling of punching in your eardrums that only IEMs have managed to recreate for me. Transients are also fast and technical ability seems good. Staging is expectedly large with excellent instrument separation and presentation. I listened to some of my most demanding tracks on this like Yes’ The Gates of Delirium, Krallice’s Wretched Wisdom, and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, and the HEDDphone did not fail to impress on any count. Dynamics on these are incredibly realistic and jarring, not unlike the Focals are known for. Minor nitpicks are that the lower midrange and treble tonality are not perfectly to my taste but everything else is exemplary. For $2000 USD this headphone is ridiculously good, and is up there with the likes of the Utopia and the Verite in combining realism and detail. Fantastic job well done to HEDD.

Now... enough praise. Time to get into the nitty gritty.

64 audio unveiled a new IEM today sporting an APEX module and a back vent not unlike the N8. In practice this hybrid’s DD is also very noticeable, with absurd amounts of midbass bloat to make its presence well known. Midrange and treble seem reminiscent of the U12t with lower resolution, which is quite interesting. One might be able to make themselves a hybrid A12t if the tuning is consistent between the UIEM and CIEM and they were willing to do a La Cenric vent mod to it. Aside from that the value proposition remains to be seen.

And then we go from potentially decent to just plain bad. AAW’s Halcyon wasn’t nearly as atrocious I was expecting with mocking comparisons to EE’s Wraith being thrown around (both use 4 electret tweeters). Instead of living in the shadow realm the Halycon opts for bloated, uncontrolled boomy bass with wispy thin treble and a weird unnatural midrange. The fit is also possibly the worst on any UIEM I’ve ever tried. It’s hard to be disappointed when you walk in with no expectations but at the same time the Halcyon would have been funnier had it been more of a garbage fire. I don’t know, I kinda wish it was worse than it actually is so it would worth laughing at instead of being a whole pile of nothing.

The InEar ProMission X is something a lot of people in the Singapore circles have been looking forward to with the PP8 being a hugely popular neutral benchmark in the community. The PMX is... different. It’s a warm relaxed V that sounds more like a refined StageDiver than anything else. The PP8 fanbase will probably be disappointed with this, and I don’t think I can blame them. The naming association with their previous flagship is just bizarre, why not just StageDiver X? In either case, the PMX does feel not quite as technical as its predecessor. Midrange tonality may also be slightly off as orchestral stuff doesn’t sound quite right. More hearing will be needed to make a true judgement on this.

I’ll tell you what I don’t need to hear more of though, and that’s the Meze Rai Solo. This thing is a real turd. The bass is bloated, the midrange sounds metallic and the treble sounds like it came from my busted iPhone 8’s speaker. Seems like Meze can’t tune an IEM when they aren’t copying someone else’s shtick, because this thing is really bad. Enough said.

Something that I was really looking forward to was qdc’s Uranus. This year seems to be the year of the hybrid for qdc, with the Fusion earlier this year and now the budget Uranus. Unfortunately the Uranus just sounds like a generic chifi hybrid. Boosted bass and treble for an exciting sound that’s not exciting at all because it’s been done to death. Looks like the qdc lineup to look out for is still their higher end models.

And now something that I didn’t have much expectations for but threw me off anyways. Moondrop is a brand I’ve never been fond of, disliking the Harman target as I do. Yet the S8 is something I find quite decent. It’s nowhere near as bassy as the older Moondrop offerings and has a fairly tolerable pinna gain rather than the shouty 3khz peaks of death I’ve come to despise with Harman. Treble extension is lacking as with most IEMs but technical ability is all around quite good. Pleasing tonality and decently detailed is already a winning combination in this day and age. It’s not going to beat the IER-Z1R even on a good day but you could absolutely do a lot worse for the price. Consider me impressed.

In either case that wraps up Canjam Shanghai Day 1 for me. Wonder what I should try tomorrow.

Score: BUY HEDD/10
Day Two is over here.
 
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Nov 9, 2019 at 10:28 AM Post #9 of 94
Great day! Ready for Sunday!

IMG_20191109_114659.jpg IMG_20191109_113644.jpg IMG_20191109_113659.jpg IMG_20191109_113627.jpg IMG_20191109_113825.jpg IMG_20191109_113617.jpg IMG_20191109_113809.jpg IMG_20191109_095956.jpg IMG_20191109_113712.jpg IMG_20191109_113729.jpg IMG_20191109_113709.jpg
 
Nov 9, 2019 at 11:25 AM Post #14 of 94
Hi everyone ......oh! ....Its/ they .....are now so very, very close...... but no it’s/ they are not at the Shanghai show. On consideration we have decided to launch it/ them or something special at another private event very very soon. This will be followed up with plenty of info from our marketing team as usual.
 
Nov 9, 2019 at 11:32 AM Post #15 of 94
And then we go from potentially decent to just plain bad. AAW’s Halcyon wasn’t nearly as atrocious I was expecting with mocking comparisons to EE’s Wraith being thrown around (both use 4 electret tweeters). Instead of living in the shadow realm the Halycon opts for bloated, uncontrolled boomy bass with wispy thin treble and a weird unnatural midrange. The fit is also possibly the worst on any UIEM I’ve ever tried. It’s hard to be disappointed when you walk in with no expectations but at the same time the Halcyon would have been funnier had it been more of a garbage fire. I don’t know, I kinda wish it was worse than it actually is so it would worth laughing at instead of being a whole pile of nothing.

I’ll tell you what I don’t need to hear more of though, and that’s the Meze Rai Solo. This thing is a real turd. The bass is bloated, the midrange sounds metallic and the treble sounds like it came from my busted iPhone 8’s speaker. Seems like Meze can’t tune an IEM when they aren’t copying someone else’s shtick, because this thing is really bad. Enough said.

Something that I was really looking forward to was qdc’s Uranus. This year seems to be the year of the hybrid for qdc, with the Fusion earlier this year and now the budget Uranus. Unfortunately the Uranus just sounds like a generic chifi hybrid. Boosted bass and treble for an exciting sound that’s not exciting at all because it’s been done to death.

jeeeeeez...:)
 
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