[DecentLevi]

Greetings decentlylevi! It was I who lent you the On1's at the show.......nice little warm yet detailed enough portable with an engaging sound. I'm glad you liked them. Ironically, one of the other favorite headphones that was in my bag was the K7XX. It's a terrific phone and a ridiculous bargain for the sq. Wish I could make it tomorrow but may not be in the cards. Look forward to any more impressions you have if you return as we seem to have very similar taste in phones. Cheers!

Wow that's quite cool to know someone with similar sound signature tastes as me! I suppose you are also more of an analytical Lister than a bass head... please send me a PM.

For the gentleman above and for everybody else, I seriously recommend you to go to page 17 of this thread to read my revised initial impressions of the meet. I seem to somehow etch out a different angle than most on sound and I found some audio products with gleaming synergy! Come on guys please give it some love!

 

[Stillhart]

Wow that's quite cool to know someone with similar sound signature tastes as me! I suppose you are also more of an analytical Lister than a bass head... please send me a PM.

For the gentleman above and for everybody else, I seriously recommend you to go to page 17 of this thread to read my revised initial impressions of the meet. I seem to somehow etc he out a different angle than most and I found some audio products with gleaming synergy! Come on guys please give it some love!

 
We all hear things differently, which is why it's great to have to many different impressions here.  There were a few of us discussing with  @Bill-P for quite a while why he didn't like the HE-1000.  He was questioning whether it was himself or whether he maybe heard a bad unit.  But at the end of the day, his impressions are no less valid than anyone else's (even though he's in the vast minority!  

).

 

[Joeybgood]

Is this a "stock" MDR- R10 or one that was modded by n3rdling? I know there are several iterations of the R10. Would LOVE to hear what you heard so need to know which one you're specifically referring to. Tks!

 

[Joeybgood]

  Best in show for me was n3rdling's Sony MDR-R10... when he finally completed the last tuning at around 4:40PM, which was teardown time, so only 3 people aside from n3rdling himself got to hear it.
 
I thought it sounded fantastic. I never understood the whole cult behind the R10, because I could not believe that there exists a closed headphone that could perform to that extent.
 
But now I am a believer. To me, the Sony MDR-R10 is easily the best headphone I have ever heard. Without a doubt. Soundstage is beyond just "expansive". It sounded realistic. There was not a single headphone that I listened to up to that point that managed to create that illusion for me, which was why I took up modifying headphones in the first place. That Sony MDR-R10 simply makes everything else I have ever heard sound like... headphones, while that R10 in itself sounds like reality, presented without the visual contents. And just in case, all of that was achieved with a portable tube amp and a smartphone as the source. The R10 didn't need a crazy Yggdrasil system to shine.

See... the thing with high-end headphones costing more than $1500, as I look at them now, is that they are just about 5-10% better than the stuffs that can be gotten at around $1000 or lower. Some arguments can be made that maybe 10% is an underestimation, but... honestly, I think the R10 with its presentation is 1000% better than anything that even tries to compete with it. Open-back or not. It simply sounded like... "real life", and not like "headphone listening" or "speaker listening". It was not just an audition for me, it was an experience.
 
Second best in show for me was purrin's system. The Yggdrasil 1.0 > Eddie Current 2A3 > JPS Labs Abyss modified by Purrin himself was among the most tonally correct headphones I have heard. That tonal accuracy makes it sound very speaker-like when the right fit is achieved for the Abyss. Simply amazing. Although the R10 does better than that to me. The Abyss has the bass, and the weight necessary to convey certain types of music, though.
 
Third best in show for me was Frank Cooter's SR-009 setup. Simply amazing. Very musical, very relaxed, very easy to listen to, but without sacrificing the SR-009's technical capabilities. Frank did an amazing job with this setup, I think, and it looks stunning to boot!
 
More impressions on other gears to come...

Is this a "stock" MDR- R10 or one that was modded by n3rdling? I know there are several iterations of the R10. Would LOVE to hear what you heard so need to know which one you're specifically referring to. Tks!
 

 

[DPogster]

Apparently the portable amp is NOT the Liquid Carbon:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/665398/new-cavalli-audio-portable-amp-officially-in-the-works/315#post_11448029

Thank you for the clarification. I don't feel so bad now

 

[FullCircle]

Considering the vendors the thieves picked, it makes me think that the scum might actually be from our own ranks. Who else would know those names or that their products carry such high prices? I hope I'm wrong, and it's bad enough even if the items picked were just based on opportunity, but if it was someone that knew what they were doing, that makes me even sadder and more angry.

 
 
I have to agree, considering the K10U looks rather benign, no MFG logos on them etc etc. 

 

[steffi]

Do they have CCTV at these events?

 

[billybob_jcv]

Do they have CCTV at these events?

That's unlikely. Those vendors were outside in a pavilion tent.

BTW, I absolutely get the previous "intimidated" comments. I feel the same way, and this wasn't the first meet I have been to, and I've been to many, many similar shows in other disciplines. Everyone is (of course) INCREDIBLY friendly and welcoming, and I know the anxiety is entirely in my own brain - but it's still there.

I will even share one of my nightmares - that actually came true:

I sat down at the Audeze table to listen to the LCD-XC. I've been listening for a couple of minutes when I notice one of the Audeze guys trying to talk to me. I pull off the headphones, and he proceeds to tell me I'm wearing the headphones backwards... :redface:

What's even worse is that I *had* looked at the headphones before putting them on, and I *had* seen the "L" & "R" markings, but I still put them on backwards. :blink:

Still I think it was worse that the Audeze rep thought I was some noob that didn't know how to wear headphones. They *did* feel better the right-way 'round...

 

[DPogster]

Awesome show! Thanks to Jude, Warren, Ethan and everyone else for organizing such a great meet.

I was really bummed I was only able to be there for the 2nd half of Sunday. There were so many people and gear I wanted to see. Oh well, hopefully next time.
I also wanted to thank everyone that stopped by our booth to check out Out Of Your Head software. If you missed a chance to hear our demo, I posted our demo video on our website: http://fongaudio.com/demo[/URL

Just wanted to say I was very impressed with your software. Was a total surprise for me and had to get it. Can't wait to get the license and start a movie marathon thanks for the wonderful product.

 

[414353]

That's unlikely. Those vendors were outside in a pavilion tent.

BTW, I absolutely get the previous "intimidated" comments. I feel the same way, and this wasn't the first meet I have been to, and I've been to many, many similar shows in other disciplines. Everyone is (of course) INCREDIBLY friendly and welcoming, and I know the anxiety is entirely in my own brain - but it's still there.

I will even share one of my nightmares - that actually came true:

I sat down at the Audeze table to listen to the LCD-XC. I've been listening for a couple of minutes when I notice one of the Audeze guys trying to talk to me. I pull off the headphones, and he proceeds to tell me I'm wearing the headphones backwards...

What's even worse is that I *had* looked at the headphones before putting them on, and I *had* seen the "L" & "R" markings, but I still put them on backwards.

Still I think it was worse that the Audeze rep thought I was some noob that didn't know how to wear headphones. They *did* feel better the right-way 'round...

Ha ha... Yes, everyone was very nice and no sales pressure what so ever. Yes, the timidness in us non-audiophiles is in our heads. 
My only issue is that nobody ever showed me how to operate the sources. They would just watch me struggle until I gave up and walked away. I don't know why they could not take a few seconds and help me out. It's not as if they needed to do a half hour training session. Just show me the very basics like how to get to the music and change it and make it play. 
As for putting headphones on backwards, hell I still do that at least 25% of time and I too did it once at this can jam, but I caught myself.

 

[BoyNamedSue]

Very appreciative of headfi community. It is a privilege to try out all this great gear in one place. Felt like a kid in candy store. My highlights are:

1. N3rdling's Sony R10. When I first joined headfi, the R10s was the holy grail of headphones. I've attended several meets in the past and this was my first R10 sighting. The R10 lived up to hype. Sounded so natural and pleasing to the ears. This was my wife's best of show.

2. Stax 007s on the Blue Hawaii. This is another setup that lives up to the hype. This is the second time my wife and I listened to this setup donning and swap comparing the 007s and 009s at the Headamp table. First time was at The SHOW. We both enjoyed it just as much, and preferred the 007s over the 009s each time. The 007 and BH combo breathes life and emotion into music like nothing else. This was best of show for me.

3. Sony M7 balanced from portable amp. I was very impressed with this setup. Imaging was coherent and clear (but not as resolute as other flagships), handled complex passages well, and made me lose myself in music. This is a great headphone for everyday use. Price to performance ratio is very high.

Entering the event, I was looking most forward to Hifiman HE1000 and the new Schitt Yggdrasil dac, and TBH was underwhelmed by both relative to the hype.

HE-1000s. My first reaction to the HE1000s was, "these sound like my modded HE 6's" with slightly more solid and stable imaging, about same soundstage and resolution, and less 3D. A big caveat here is that it took me a lot of effort and time to get the HE-6's to sound right. Also, my home DAC (Audio-gd Master 7) driving my HE-6's should be better than the portable source feeding the EF1000 at the event. I think it is safe to assume that the HE-1000s with proper matching of components and tweaking will sound superior, but in the meet environment, it was only slightly better than my modded HE-6's.

Schitt Yggdrasil. Listened to one setup at Schitt table and Purrin's, with the LCD-3's, HE-560's and HD800's. There were too many variables to discern the sound signature of the Yggy. My general impression was that it was detailed and organic sounding, but not jaw dropping. I have to mention that I was only listened to them the first day, which may have not given it enough time to warm-up.

I understand meet conditions are limited. Not only the environmental noise and music selections, I wonder about the noise in the power line with all these devices running at once. I am also a strong believer that one needs to live with gear to get most out of it and appreciate it's strengths, so I am open to my impressions changing.

 

[Stillhart]

I will say that my Fiio X5 was the most useful tool I brought with me.  It has headphone out, line out and digital coax out.  I brought enough cables to use any of the three.  This let me have all my own music as well as a source to be able to test anything from headphones to amp to DAC (to all three) with music and sounds I'm familiar with.  Nobody had any issues with letting me plug my device into their equipment as a source and nobody made fun of me for walking around with a RCA cable draped around my neck all day.  :-D  
 
It was absolutely invaluable in being able to get better understanding of subtle sonic characteristics; how do you know if something is colored when you're listening to unfamiliar music or source files of unknown quality?  How do you know if a DAC is revealing without being intimately familiar with the test tracks?  Etc.
 
I highly recommend something similar to anyone going to a meet.  If nothing else, it meant I didn't have to fiddle with the variety of sources and figure out their use.

 

[DPogster]

@billybob, lol. I've been there and saw plenty of people make mistakes with the left and right. I think it's quite common and the vendors know that not everyone attending knows their products well. I remember struggling myself with my first over the ear iem just could not figure out how tha sucker was suppose to fit in. Very embarrassing but I think of it as a right of passage to audiophiledom . I myself try to be as discretely helpful as possible when I see a fellow peer struggling with an unfamiliar product.

Happy listening all.

 

[UNOE]

  They weren't at Canjam, but the $200 HP100 is my choice right now for closed headphone under $400 (pending the PM-3 loaner program).  I brought mine to both CES and Canjam to use as a baseline when comparing gear and it has never ceased to amaze me how well it holds its own against the big boys.  One of my goals for canjam was to potentially find an upgrade for the HP100 and all I did was convince myself that it's not possible under $400.

Hmmm thats not a bad price?
 
what do you mean PM-3 loaner program

 

[Vinnie R.]

All,
 
I want to thank the SoCal CanJam 2015 Team for all their hard work in putting on a great show as always!  Coming out from cold and still snowy New England was a treat.

 
And thank you to everyone who visited the table shared by ALO Audio and myself!  I was there to support ALO on their new Continental Dual Mono (CDM) portable tube amp / dac (as
part of the design team), and to show the Vinnie Rossi LIO (ultracapacitor-powered, modular system). 
 
[ALO started a new thread about the CDM in their sponsor forum here on Headfi, and I have a thread about the Vinnie Rossi LIO on the Sponsor Announcement/Deal forum --- so feel
free to post in those!].
 
As for the thieves, it is sad that it happens and it is easy to get caught up in talking with people and not paying attention to all the things on our table (especially when there are so many
people in a small space).  We all need to keep our eyes open for each other, and hopefully can prevent a lot of stolen property.  The HeadFi community already like a close knit family,
so if we step up our vigilance a bit more (including me!) we'll be in better shape with that...
 
On a good note - it was great to see so many familiar faces and meet new ones as well.  There was lots of enthusiasm and excitement in the air, lots of smiles, and it was a lot of fun!
 
See you all at future shows!
 
Vinnie