[UJ95x]

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

Yeah, I was not a big fan when I tried them out. Was expecting a more balanced sound

 

[Fidelity King]

Just thought I'd share my impressions.
I tried the dharma and I have to say that it was very neutral up to the upper mids/lower treble. The treble was extremely articulate, fast, detailed, resolving, but it was too much for my young ear and in less than 10 min I just found them too fatiguing for me, but I'm sure treble heads would be more than pleased by the sound of them.
Next up is the stax sr009. Hmm after listening to these and the dharma I can confidently say that I'm not a treble head like I once thought I was. Yes the sr009 sounded very neutral and articulate, but the sound was just too perfect and I found them quite sterile. I'll go as far as to say that they turned me off.
The audeze headphones were surprising. Most people said they were neutral with great bass extension. I really disagree with this and to my ears they were dark and v shaped. Bass on them was massive, I not only heard thumping, I heard rumbling. I'm certain a bass head would fall in love with any of the audeze headphones.
I'll post more impressions later, those will be about the ether, he1000, and many others

 

[billybob_jcv]

At the last show I attended, I somehow missed listening to the SR009. So, they were my first stop. Maybe it was because they were first, but I thought they were absolutely wonderful. The were simply soooo clean and articulate. I was very surprised that I liked them as much as I did. Of course, it could also have been partly due to the gorgeous tube amp they were attached to.

 

[Neccros]

Is there a separate thread for pics??  Or will they get posted here???

 

[wahsmoh]

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".

HAHA omg. Purrin had the Doors on CD with his Theta Data III transport but I was listening to Pixies Doolittle album which sounded fantastic

 

[wahsmoh]

  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.

I agree though on that too. I was happy I did find Led Zeppelin "Coda" and the Box CD collection all in FLAC but I can't exactly recall which setup that was at or who was demonstrating gear

 

[dallan]

I found several different offerings of Led Zeppelin on different computers. Otherwise the only thing i really found was "The Cars" on a few. I was definitely struggling with my musical tastes. Some i could hook up to my AK120 and Hugo though.

 

[money4me247]

great honest opinions all around. greatly enjoyed readin em! thanks to everyone for posting here

 

[bcschmerker4]

Looks as though we had several excellent headsets at the CanJam.  If the Sennheiser® HD 210 was any clue, I've a fairly even field for the auditions to select a headset for my Asus® CM1630-06 as upgraded (see also "Recommendable headphones and/or headsets for Asus XONAR Essence Series?").  The AKG®/Harman® K701 is a known contender.  The MrSpeaker® ETHER™ (Zo = 23Ω), like the Oppo® PM Series before it, has spoiler potential in the planned medium-Z showdown.

 

[babyryoga]

I didn't get to spend nearly as much time there as I wanted to (had from about 1:00 till 4:30 on sat only), but I saw some really impressive things. Got to hear the ygg rag combo and pretty much solidified my decision to buy a ygg to go with my rag, although I probably won't be able to afford it for a few months. Also got to hear the he1000s, which sounded amazing. 
 
I'm disappointed I didn't get to spend more time with ETHERs, they are getting some great buzz. 

 

[RCSI]

CanJam certainty presented an interesting atmosphere. As background, I got bit with the headphone bug for a few months 5 years ago, upgrading from a Sennheiser Hd 280 and stopping at an HD600.  What CanJam did was satisfy one of my long standing curiosities from researching headphone 5 years ago, listening to Hi end audio systems.  Note that my list of products are those that I would not mind to purchase if I had the funds and need for.   I also list these products under impressions based on peculiar circumstances on my end.  I tend to set the volume and gain when listening to systems to low levels.  Generally 45-65 db, not the 80-85 levels many other people are comfortable with and those who need to drown out background noise.  So with the background noise and my comfort level, I did not listen to what people consider their listening levels.  
Some products I tried, which I will not list, I am opinionated about based on my biased views of apparent differences that can be made.  Other products I tried I based on affordability, functionality, and other differences (comfort levels, is there base, is there mids, and is there highs).  Generally not other sound quality descriptions like differences in tonality, decay or other details.  In the end, sound is subjective to me and my view is that apparent differences only come when the technology behind the headphones change dramatically.  Also keep in mind that my impressions are based on lack of experience listening to products.
 
tl;dr: I am still new to head fi, I dabbled in headphones and amps/dacs 5 years ago, and impressions are made based on limited experience.  If it it's not in the list then I have opinionated views on the product, price point was out of this world (for me), or I did not try it.

So without further ado, here's my list of products I would not mind purchasing if I had fund and a need for them:
 
Stax SR-007, Sigma 404s (modded and unmodded), and the idea of minor modifications.  While edstrelow was not selling the use of Stax, but more minor modifications (damping) to make a difference in sound, my impressions of Stax from his station was positive.  The fact I got to listen to my own source was a win.  My other long lasting wish was to listen to Loreena McKennitt's "The Lady of Shalott" from The Visit album on a Stax system, so that was certainty a win when I fulfilled it.  I will definitely look into second hand systems that are reasonably price first and minor modifications I could make to my HD600.

Atomic Floyd SuperDarts and MiniDarts:  I admit, I list these based on my impressions of them in comparison to two other inner ear phones I used (one expense and one that is more affordable).  I liked the build quality and the general impression for sound quality, such as the apparent sound stage.  Certainty changed my view on listening to music on the go.  Before I would not even think about the idea, but now I am interested.

JDS Labs C5D.  I could decrease the volume pot without the channels breaking, finally!  Price is reasonable, based on my purchasing requirements, yes!  Will look into it and similar headphone amps where channels don't break.
 
audioquest NightHawk headphones.  Very comfortable, sounded good (at least in that environment) and reasonably priced (based on other headphones), certainty looking good if I ever catch that bug again.
 
Planar-magnetic - LCD-2 and He560, and others lower than $999, I will need more time with them in a quieter environment to say yay or nay.
 
Any other dedicated amps or dacs (outside of specialized hardware such as Stax systems) I do not have an opinion on yet based on lack of experience.  I am also blanking on a virtual software solution for surround sound, while I thought was very impressive, is not worth it for me.

 

[n3rdling]

Thanks Warren, Ethan, Jude, Amos, and the rest of the people that put this together.  The turnout was massive and I know you guys worked hard.  The brochure was a nice touch.  I basically stayed at my table and in the member room the entire time, but I had a chance to check out a couple things that really intrigued me.  Some impressions:
 
MrSpeakers Ether: I liked this quite a bit.  My typical complaint with most planars is that they sound closed in and congested.  These were one of the few that didn't (others being the Abyss and original Paradox).  The sound was airy, the soundstage was a nice size, and the mids were neutral.  They sounded kind of like an ortho driver with more of a lean towards electrostats.  These were a little light on the bass, but overall a clean and neutral headphone.  Also very comfortable.  This is my favorite headphone by Dan thus far and one of my favorite orthos.
 
HiFiMan HE1000: I have to admit I was pretty underwhelmed.  I was expecting these to impress me but I didn't hear anything special.  They look much better in person than in photos, but they did feel a little cheap.  For that matter, so did the rest of the chain...the scroll wheel on the portable player often took ~7 clicks just to register once, and the pot on the big amp was smooth like a normal pot but sounded like it was a stepper as I could clearly hear jumps in the volume level and couldn't really get the level I wanted.  There were a number of HE1000s there but I only listened to the single ended pair from the big amp.  Like the Ether, it sounded like a planar that was stepping towards electrostats.  There wasn't a ton of impact like a lot of other orthos, and it didn't have the detail I was expecting from a lighter diaphragm.  The soundstage also seemed off...instead of being able to pinpoint sounds from different areas around the head, the headstage on these seemed like a rectangle over your face without much separation.  Almost like listening in mono but with that center image stretched out to your ears if that makes sense.  Overall pretty neutral response.  One person told me he had very similar impressions to mine but then he tried one of the other HE1000s and they sounded completely different.  Fang said they all sound the same though so who knows.  My impressions of this headphone really didn't match what I expected to hear from a "nano" diaphragm, so I asked Fang how thick the diaphragm was and he said "I can't tell you."  I guess it's on the nanoscale, but that could mean anything.  It sounded more like 3,000-7,000 nm thick though so maybe the nano thing is to generate some buzz.
 
Riva Turbo X: These definitely deserve the attention they're starting to garner.  Very convenient and well thought out design, you can tell most of these guys have probably been doing this stuff for a while now.  For being so small it has no business sounding as big and good as it does.  It threw me off guard the first time I heard it because it didn't seem possible.  I guess this is what happens when that application gets designers that are most concerned with the sound quality instead of marketing, etc.
 
Abyss: I listened to purrin's modded set and they sounded better than before.  The treble was a lot cleaner sounding and strings sounded much more 'right' than they do on the stock Abyss.  I had a theory going in about the "speaker like" presentation/bass that this headphone is known for and pretty much verified it in my mind today.  It seems everybody listens to the Abyss with a partial, very weak seal (the designers even encourage this) and I think this is a huge contributor to the speaker-like stuff.  I spent my whole demo kind've pushing the cups in and pulling them out so that I could compare a full seal to the normal seal in rapid succession.  With the partial seal, as with most electrostats and orthos, you get more mid bass kick and less sub bass extension; with the full seal you get a more linear bass response.  This is nothing new so it didn't really surprise me, but there was one other thing that had a surprising result from the different seals: soundstage.  With the full seal, you get a normal headphone soundstage, though these suffer a little from the "3 blob" effect (left/center/right without much fleshing out in between).  With the partial seal, the center of the soundstage basically disappears and you get a "2 blob" headstage with much more crosstalk than a normal headphone.  So ya, definitely "speaker like".  These would be a nice upgrade over the HE1000 if they lowered the price by offering it with a normal or no cable, and implemented some of Marv's mods.  I'd wear them with a full seal, YMMV.
Had a good time chatting with people.  It was nice seeing everybody again, see you all at the next one.

 

[miceblue]

I guess it's on the nanoscale, but that could mean anything.  It sounded more like 3,000-7,000 nm thick though so maybe the nano thing is to generate some buzz.

For those who didn't get that, that's 3-7 micrometers. XD
As a reference, STAX's diaphragms are thinner than that.

 

[zerodeefex]

Thanks Warren, Ethan, Jude, Amos, and the rest of the people that put this together.  The turnout was massive and I know you guys worked hard.  The brochure was a nice touch.  I basically stayed at my table and in the member room the entire time, but I had a chance to check out a couple things that really intrigued me.  Some impressions:

MrSpeakers Ether: I liked this quite a bit.  My typical complaint with most planars is that they sound closed in and congested.  These were one of the few that didn't (others being the Abyss and original Paradox).  The sound was airy, the soundstage was a nice size, and the mids were neutral.  They sounded kind of like an ortho driver with more of a lean towards electrostats.  These were a little light on the bass, but overall a clean and neutral headphone.  Also very comfortable.  This is my favorite headphone by Dan thus far and one of my favorite orthos.

HiFiMan HE1000: I have to admit I was pretty underwhelmed.  I was expecting these to impress me but I didn't hear anything special.  They look much better in person than in photos, but they did feel a little cheap.  For that matter, so did the rest of the chain...the scroll wheel on the portable player often took ~7 clicks just to register once, and the pot on the big amp was smooth like a normal pot but sounded like it was a stepper as I could clearly hear jumps in the volume level and couldn't really get the level I wanted.  There were a number of HE1000s there but I only listened to the single ended pair from the big amp.  Like the Ether, it sounded like a planar that was stepping towards electrostats.  There wasn't a ton of impact like a lot of other orthos, and it didn't have the detail I was expecting from a lighter diaphragm.  The soundstage also seemed off...instead of being able to pinpoint sounds from different areas around the head, the headstage on these seemed like a rectangle over your face without much separation.  Almost like listening in mono but with that center image stretched out to your ears if that makes sense.  Overall pretty neutral response.  One person told me he had very similar impressions to mine but then he tried one of the other HE1000s and they sounded completely different.  Fang said they all sound the same though so who knows.  My impressions of this headphone really didn't match what I expected to hear from a "nano" diaphragm, so I asked Fang how thick the diaphragm was and he said "I can't tell you."  I guess it's on the nanoscale, but that could mean anything.  It sounded more like 3,000-7,000 nm thick though so maybe the nano thing is to generate some buzz.

Riva Turbo X: These definitely deserve the attention they're starting to garner.  Very convenient and well thought out design, you can tell most of these guys have probably been doing this stuff for a while now.  For being so small it has no business sounding as big and good as it does.  It threw me off guard the first time I heard it because it didn't seem possible.  I guess this is what happens when that application gets designers that are most concerned with the sound quality instead of marketing, etc.

Abyss: I listened to purrin's modded set and they sounded better than before.  The treble was a lot cleaner sounding and strings sounded much more 'right' than they do on the stock Abyss.  I had a theory going in about the "speaker like" presentation/bass that this headphone is known for and pretty much verified it in my mind today.  It seems everybody listens to the Abyss with a partial, very weak seal (the designers even encourage this) and I think this is a huge contributor to the speaker-like stuff.  I spent my whole demo kind've pushing the cups in and pulling them out so that I could compare a full seal to the normal seal in rapid succession.  With the partial seal, as with most electrostats and orthos, you get more mid bass kick and less sub bass extension; with the full seal you get a more linear bass response.  This is nothing new so it didn't really surprise me, but there was one other thing that had a surprising result from the different seals: soundstage.  With the full seal, you get a normal headphone soundstage, though these suffer a little from the "3 blob" effect (left/center/right without much fleshing out in between).  With the partial seal, the center of the soundstage basically disappears and you get a "2 blob" headstage with much more crosstalk than a normal headphone.  So ya, definitely "speaker like".  These would be a nice upgrade over the HE1000 if they lowered the price by offering it with a normal or no cable, and implemented some of Marv's mods.  I'd wear them with a full seal, YMMV.
Had a good time chatting with people.  It was nice seeing everybody again, see you all at the next one.

Those were my Abyss . Really glad to be getting them back up north and to get my hands on the Yggy. Your impressions along with some of the others have me pretty certain that the HD800 & Abyss won't be replaced by the HE-1000 anytime soon. Thank you! Very much appreciate your impressions since I've been reading your take on gear long enough to be able to calibrate.

 

[UNOE]

 
Well, I have to say that I was a little disappointed. I feel it was 99% high-end and precious little for the average or below average headphone user which is the category I fall into and I imagine I’m not alone in that.

Yeah same here.  I still don't know what to buy for less than $400 pair of headphones.