[bmichels]

   
I am not sure about the Hugo TT but I did ask the same question about my e20 DAC and they recommended the headphone output and not the line output as the latter provides the voltage to be amped but not enough current to drive a headphone, especially hard to drive ones.

 
Yes, but on the HUGO (the portable version), the line-out RCA and the headphone-Out are the exact same output.  Just different connectors.

 

[Joeybgood]

Can anyone tell me if Ayre Acoustic were at Camjam? I believe they were scheduled to be, but noooooobody has mentioned them at all. Really was anticipating impressions of the Codex 1. Nobody? Anybody? Hook a brotha up! :-D

 

[reeltime]

   
Yes, but on the HUGO (the portable version), the line-out RCA and the headphone-Out are the exact same output.  Just different connectors.

The Hugo rep told me the power stages were different between the two units-- he said the TT goes to class A power sooner than the mobile version.  Other than the connections and power, however, they're identical in sound.

 

[414353]

 
While the majority was high end, there were some very good lower-tier finds as well. The Oppo HA-2 (their portable DAC/amp) was great ($299), and a pretty serious bang-for-buck deal. The PM-3 is a little on the high side of average, but I don't think you could consider it "high end". There were a number of interesting IEMs there, ranging from fairly inexpensive up through a few hundred dollars (the Echobox is one that I'm really looking forward to, I think. In fact, one of the reasons I was able to hold off on biting on a cIEM was that I'm really curious to try out the first run of those mighty mites). Heck, one of the two purchases that I made was a Pendulumic S1+, which was $179 (including the tax).
 
I wasn't really in the market for a multi-thousand dollar amp and headphone combination, but it was awesome getting to listen to some of those. I have a newfound love for planar magnetic headphones which eventually will cost me mucho dinero (but I'm hoping I can get by in the next year with some Oppo gear to get me started). 

I wasn't counting the ear buds or whatever you call them. I imagine there were plenty of affordable ones in those. I personally don't go near them which is why I wasn't looking at them. I forgot about the Oppo PM-3 and HA-2, but I wasn't interested in either of those. I just wanted to see and touch the HA-1.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Great show - congrats to Jude, Warren, Third-Eye and everyone else that worked so hard to make it happen.

I didn't stay very long - only a few hours. I have to admit, I went into aural overload very quickly - and I was having a very hard time listening. Of course, it didn't help that the entire show was stuffed full of table after table of summit-fi gear. How many times could I be expected to say "Wow! That sounds great!" Even some of the headphones that I heard early on, like the Ether, sound different when I went back and heard them again several hours later. That's when I knew for sure that I was burned-out and should stop.

I'm not going to give any "best/worst at the show" awards - there were just too many great headphones there and I didn't listen to *anything* that I would be ashamed to own.

As far as surprising things:

- I was amazed at how many vendors were there that I had not previously heard of. I don't know if that means I'm not paying enough attention, or if new names are simply appearing at a much more rapid rate. Probably both...

- It was really, really good to see so many IEMs there - and they all came prepared with a pile of tips so we could try them. Excellent!

- You know there are TONS of great headphones at the show when you walk by the Abyss table, and both pairs of demo headphones are sitting there unused!

 

[dallan]

   
Chord Hugo + TT - The hype is real...and they know it. I honestly wanted to just stay at the table the entire day with the LCD-XCs. They sounded stupidly good on my Angies as well. I've heard these songs thousands of times...but never quite like this. Of course the money is probably better spent on headphones but...I've heard them paired with almost every headphone at the event...and to me...it's worth the money. I actually have a W4S DAC-2 and Eastern Electric Minimax coming in next week so I'll make a decision after that. The sound on the TT was noticeably more transparent and resolving than the portable counterpart. 
 
Audeze LCD-XC - I wanted to find a headphone that's a bit in between my HD 800 and LCD-3s as far as sound sig goes. I believe the XC met that balance but there's no way I could wear that thing for more than an album. There are many praises for the LCD-X but I definitely prefer my LCD-3s over it.
 
Aurender Flow - I'll be honest, I was more drawn in by the Aurender Girl Right off the bat this thing sounded like a Hugo. It was a bit heavy and large for my tastes but I couldn't complain about the sound especially at half the cost. I couldn't pinpoint the difference but it was about 85-90% of what the Hugo was to my ears.
 
 
 

 
I have not posted any impressions just no time but as i have read a few of the pages, here is yet another quote i agree with. I could have stayed at the Hugo TT table all day. I tried it with several headphones and it was good wit all. My big surprise was that i heard it with the Audeze LCD-XC also and although i normally am not an Audeze fan, I loved it with the Hugo TT, like really loved it. I am up to my ears in headphones and doubt i can justify it though. In addition it was heavy for sure.
 
I also tried the Aurender Flow on a fluke when looking for something else. Owning a Hugo I never would have considered it, however, especially at that price i felt it was a steal. Sounded very good!
 
I also liked the new Mr. Speakers offering (Ether)that was everywhere-very fast sounding to my ears. Not sure about the HE-1000 there was a line behind me and music wasn't by my choice, it sounded good, good enough to buy if i had the money probably but I personally like the electrostats better for the price i think, I ran right to some in the members lounge directly from the HE-1000 and verified that.
 
I bought a pair of iem's because i have problems with iem's generally and these seemed to help my issue. Upon returning home however i found that i somewhat had fallen victim to the who mentality/noise in that they were much brighter than i can really handle. Needing to turn them up in the show the bass came up but at normal listening levels it is low. Maybe i need some brain breakin but it is another show lesson for me.
 
Thanks to all the volunteers and presenters, i caught Schiit's presentation, very good. Thanks also to Drew at Moon Audio who brought me a cable and case i needed. Over all a very fun experience, i missed some stuff but it always happens that way, good times and nice seeing old friends!

 

[414353]

  You know one of the problems I had at the Hifiman station was that they had no good music. I swear where was the Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, REM, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Def Leppard, Muse, The Doors, Rap? no rap?  cmon contemporary music fans I like variety and eclectic music. If you like to hear 70s and 80s music you'll get your Darryl Hall and Oates, Marvin Gaye, Frampton, Rush, Earth Wind and Fire but I swear all they had was boring music.. with the exception of the Metallica (bad mastering) and the Depeche Mode I heard oh yeah and Collective Soul - Shine

The only doors was at the good guy whom brought the analog old school gear and it was Doors on vinyl he was playing!! Yes sir! That's the way you do it in my book!
 
There was no Doors anywhere else as far as I know. There was no Rush, no 70s, no classical, no jazz. I though I saw some Led Zep flash by at one booth, but I could not work the gizmo and did not want Led Zep anyway. The music selections were not good for auditioning headphones in my opinion. That was the other thing I personally had trouble with is the gizmos that had music on them. I couldn't work any of them, so I had to take whatever was playing. Everyone just assumed that everyone knew what they where and how to use them. I was nearly completely shut out. I could not get any help to speak of either on that. They would just watch me struggle, so often times I just listened to whatever was playing for 30 seconds or so and give up.

 

[414353]

 
Boring.. again boring swear you people think that binaural audio test are the only way to test recordings when most people listen to popular contemporary music. Not everyone is a snobby audiophile

They didn't even have any snobby audiophile music. I'm as far away from audiophile as you get, but I am a music lover and in many genres.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I found some Doors on one of the AK DAPs at the Noble table, but when I tried to play it, it said "file format not compatible".

 

[isquirrel]

Not an impression, but if anyone finds a 64 GB Sandisk USB 3.0 flash drive, could you PM me?

Apple Store sells them, I have just ordered a couple.

 

[Mr Rick]

I found some Doors on one of the AK DAPs at the Noble table, but when I tried to play it, it said "file format not compatible".

Didn't they record the Doors on stone tablets?? LOL

 

[414353]

  Wahsmoh, I totally had the same problem, and not just at Hifiman. I prefer to test phones with a mix of rock, jazz, and acoustic, and it was incredibly hard to find listening stations that had solid big band recordings (which push phones way beyond the typical bop jazz, IMO). Kudos to the guys who had TIDAL going as a backup.

They had TIDAL there? Darn, I've wanted to hear that too. I have not tried it due to lack of proper gear to take advantage of it.

 

[miceblue]

There's a lot of Ether impressions. Does anyone know if the headphones were burned in? MrSpeakers himself said that there is a measurable difference pre- and post-burn-in.

[video]https://youtu.be/cd4i3EMKCTU?t=3m38s[/video]

 

[414353]

 
 
That's the MrSpeaker Ether, and it was one of the show's best new headphones.  Sorry if you missed it, it was really special.  
 
Pretty certain Oppo had the PM-3 ($399) there-- and they definitely had the HA-2 -- a steal at $299.  
 
HifiMan had the HE-400 ($399) on the same table as their flagship HE-1000 ($2999).
 
I saw a bunch of headphones of various grades on the Sennheiser table.  I didn't spend time there since I own the HD-800, but their wireless models are hardly bank-breakers, and the HD600 ($300) and HD-650 ($350) are bargains and entry products into the head-fi arena.  Were there a ton of $199 dollar headphones?  No.  But this isn't CES, it's CanJam, so I don't know what price points you were hoping for.
 
Audeze had the nicely priced EL-8 ($699)-- and while we're discussing trickle down-- Both the HD-700 and EL-8 come directly from the higher priced models.  
 
So those are a few of the reasons why I think the complaint doesn't hold water.

At the end of the day it is opinion based on individual experience really, so you can disagree as much as you like, no feathers ruffled or anything.
Yes, I saw a few of those Mr Speaker ones now that I recall. I did try the HD-600s as they were in my range. I also tried the wireless one, but I found it lacking for music use. For TV use it's a clear winner.
The headphones I liked the most (AKG K7xx) is $200.
I already mentioned these things though.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I was surprised at the amount of bass coming from the AKG K7XX - *significantly* more than from the old K701.