Thanks to all the organizers and facilitators of CanJam 2015. It was a great event and I really enjoyed my Sunday visit. Here are my thoughts about the booths I visited:
- 1964 Ears – Very briefly tried their top of the line A12. It didn’t do much for me. I am a happy JHAudio JH13 owner, and really no other IEMs I hear tempt me away from them. Not even JHAudio’s own flagships since. I’m either a diehard JH13 fan or the universal fit demo units don’t do the trick for me. Who knows. Good for my wallet in any case.
- ALO Audio – Ken and ALO are always one of my favorite stops. I use the ALO Continental v2 in my primary (transportable) rig and love it. So crystal clear and big soundstage with some tubey lushness. I tried Ken’s new prototype Continental Dual Mono with my JH13s. The sound was a definite step up from what I’m using (the CDM has a DAC as well to replace the Algorhythm Solo in my rig). The sound was more focused and “right there” in comparison to my existing setup, but kept key elements of what I love about my existing ALO tube amp. Ken says the balanced outputs sound even better, and I believe him. The CDM is on my covet list.
- Red Wine Audio - Vinnie was there to help showcase the ALO CDM, since he helped design it. He also brought his new LIO ultracapacitor-based modular system. I listened to the HE560 (I think?) he had hooked up to it, and this amp is a beast! It simply manhandled those cans. So much life and PRAT to the music. Yet so perfectly pure and clear. I was really blown away…I only wish I had a quiet environment to have experienced it. I’m curious if others had a chance to hear the LIO and what they thought, as to me it sounded way better than a lot of the much hyped amp/dac gear I had read so much about.
- MIT Cables / Audeze LCD-XC – I listened to the Audeze LCD-XC through the MIT cables. I like the LCD-XC, and it was on my covet list for a while. It’s off the list now, since I found the much cheaper NAD HP50 to use as my closed-back go to. The LCD-XC sounds better, mind you, but it’s 6 times the price, and likely I might have found it too heavy on the head for long listening sessions. Plus, at this meet I found a new high-price covet headphone (more on that below). The MIT cables which got swapped out for the stock cable, and then a “bass dongle” added, did seem to affect the sound a bit. Maybe it tightened up the sound, but I really couldn’t trust any of the small changes I thought I might have noticed. I would have to live with a certain combo for a couple weeks and get to know it intimately, then swap a cable and see if I could tell a difference. When I learned the MIT cables were $800, I knew they weren’t for me. Show special price was $300. Hmmm…
- Cavalli Audio – Listened to the Liquid Silicon portable amp, which sounded good, then tried the Liquid Carbon next to it, which sounded great. It was being sourced by the Hugo, and this combo really worked for me. It was hard to think about going back to the Silicon after hearing the Carbon.
- Chord Electronics – Listened very briefly to the TT. It sounded good. I had listened to the Hugo at an earlier meet, and I didn’t quite get what the hype/price was about (except for the super cool colorful volume sliders). At this meet, I heard the Hugo being used as a DAC for the Liquid Carbon amp, and the sound was phenomenal. I’m thinking (based on very limited data) that the Hugo’s DAC is amazing but the amp maybe is lesser than some other dedicated amps. Again, all based on very limited listening.
- Hifiman – Heard the HE1000. It sounds very good, similar to an electrostat. Would have liked more time with these, but they were popular and in a high traffic area, and I could feel people waiting.
- Frank Cooter’s Stax amp – Holy cow, what a monster! Sounded amazing.
- JPS Labs/Abyss – I had never heard of the Abyss phones, and randomly stumbled into the chair at the very end of my day. These phones are very, very good. Makes you question what you’ve been doing listening to headphones when these things can sit just off your ears and sound that good. I was almost relieved when I heard the price tag. No need to question my headphone architecture until my dollar spend on headphones is significantly larger.
- Massdrop / AKG K7XXX – Really enjoyed the Massdrop booth. Very nice guy with a good collection of phone/amp combos at great prices. I was stunned by the sound of the AKG 7XXX. I’ve been around a while, and 6 years ago the Head-Fi meets were filled with AKG 701s (or equivalent). Every booth had them. I just never cared for them…too bright I want to say, but can’t really remember. Anyway, I loved the K7XXX with my current source/amp, and had to clarify a few times that they were really just $200 phones. Maybe it was a weird fluke, and they’re not as good as they seemed to me Sunday. I’ll find out, because I just bought a pair from a fellow Head-Fier (would have bought them at the booth or online but there’s no stock).
- Mr Speakers – Heard the new Ether. Sounded good. I listened to it on a few different setups, and it sounded very different on all of them. I need much more time with these on various setups to form an impression, as the sound was different each time I plugged them into something.
- Oppo – listened to the new Oppo portable and thought it was great at its price point. Sleek and functional with very good sound. I also liked the PM3 headphone.
- Schiit Audio – I listened to the Ether out of the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok combo. It sounded really good. I didn’t get quite the same jaw drop as I got from the LIO, but who knows. I would love to A/B these those two combos side by side in a quiet environment.
- Final Audio – Final Audio has in-ear phones that don’t seal in the ear. I tried the flagship. It’s not for me, but I was impressed with how good it sounded given that it doesn’t seal in the ear canal. Funniest part of the day was when I asked what made for the price differentiation between the identically shaped silver colored model ($1000-something) and gold colored model ($2000-something), and the sales guy told me with all seriousness that the flagship was made of real gold. I was taken aback and was forming my next question (how many karats?) when the woman behind the table (designer maybe?) corrected the sales guy that they were in fact made of chrome copper.
- Enigmacoustics – The Dharma was my favorite headphone of the show. It sounded great from their own amp, but I started to get very interested when it sounded excellent from my portable rig. I’m surprised there is not more buzz about these in the impressions thread. Fast as an electrostat, but with some bass oomph missing from electrostats (and no need for special amp). I really fell in love with the sound and this is my new coveted headphone. Only issue I had with them was that the metal at the bottom of the phone touched my neck…I actually thought my neck had gotten wet until I realized it was just the metal housing making contact. I understand it’s not the final housing design, though, so hopefully that gets fixed. Many people at that booth when I was around were raving about the Dharma, to the point where I thought for sure this was to be the clearly accepted giant killer. Reading opinions on head-fi, though, I can see this is clearly not the case. I’ll look forward to listening to them again once a production unit is ready.
I was really excited to see all the new products at the show. Lots of innovation going on right now in head-fi. Good times!
