[reddog]

After reading the whole thread I feel like "being there", although I am a thousand miles away. Thank you guys.

+1 what he said. Thanks everyone.

 

[Tsujigiri]

I came looking for just IEM's and DAP's, but ended up seeing a lot of interesting things I wouldn't have expected, partly due to the scavenger hunt. My favorite IEM that I tried was actually one not displayed by the show, but lent by moedawg140. Thanks again to him for letting me try his Shure SE846's. I found that the low-pass filter in them made a bigger impression than the obscene number of drivers in some of the other IEM's. Also, I found that Noble's universal IEM's in particular were uncomfortable and didn't sit right in my ears, same thing to a lesser extent with JH Audio. When I tried out the laser scanner at UE, the techs mentioned that my ears are unusually small and have an odd bend in them, so I suspect that might be the reason why I don't find many IEM's that fit well. Speaking of that laser scanner, it's really a neat system. Painless and pretty quick; you can see the scanning process as well.
 
Biggest surprise for me was the Riva speaker. I had dismissed small bluetooth speakers after being subjected to some of the more popular models on the market, but these were actually quite good. The sound may not be audiophile level enough to satisfy some people here, but it's pretty enjoyable if you're not doing critical listening. And more importantly, the sound they produce is truly amazing for something so small and battery powered. Not tinny at all, and they could easily go head to head with most full sized consumer (not audiophile) speakers. They mentioned that they have plans in the works to allow the user to hook up more than one of these units for more stereo sound, too.

 

[billybob_jcv]

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.

 

[414353]

 
Hate to say it, but an event like CES is probably better if you want to check out the consumer and midrange phones. Something like CanJam is awesome because you can find out about synergies and talk shop with some fantastic people.

Yes, but how many regular non-industry folk can even purchase a ticket to CES, let alone be allowed to attend? None as far as I know.

 

[doublea71]

Hearing about thievery going on there makes my blood boil. Mike is one of the nicest, most enthusiastic people in these forums and I'm sure the vendors who had their stuff nicked are all good folk, too...some people learn right from wrong and decide they just don't care. I hope they get busted big time.

 

[414353]

   
On this point, I totally agree! Last year was smaller, and the vendors brought more low-end gear.
eg. Sennheiser brought their lower-end consumer headphones in the $100 range to start all the way up to their $$$ HD800 series.
You could hear a Koss, lower-end Grado, etc. and find other lower-end headphones, DAQs, etc.
This year, it was like the BIG guns came out and it was an all out shoot-out show. Sure, only $300 for that, $1000 for this, $1500+ for those, but when there's little from the big vendors to look at at the low-end, it's was disappointing for me.
I would have liked to see, for example, Sony bringing everything from their $10 earbuds all the way up to their $300+ armature earbuds, $10 headphones to their $$$ HD models just out. This would benefit the community greatly because you would get a chance at comparing not just A+ to A- headphones, but the C- headphones as well.
I was smart enough to bring my $10 Sony ZX110 headphones to try out on the various portable amp, sometimes vs. silly things like $1000+ Audieze LCDs.
 
 
   
 

You make a good point here. I sometimes think that the companies don't realize how many potential customers they shut out when they only focus on the very high dollar stuff and fail to bring at least a fair mix. Do they not realize that a new "repeat" not to mention upgrading customer starts with something on the lower end of things due to budget constraints? In other words, a customer who can not afford the big ticket item, but is able to get something that helps them or sounds great to them at first has an extremely high potential of coming back to the company for another product or upgrade. It also plants the seed to allow said customer to save up for the big dollar item they may want.
The Schiit booth knew that going in because they brought almost everything. They had product from $100 to multi thousands there. They even encouraged me to just get the lowest price dac instead of the bitfrost or something and I never mentioned anything about money and such!

 

[doublea71]

Any and everybody who took video should look and see if they accidentally recorded one of the swipes. It's a longshot, but crazier things have happened.

 

[wahsmoh]

  It is shame to hear that the incident of getting ones good stolen in the hifi community has increased, this must be one bad year as I cannot remember such event taking place so orderly and frequently. 

 
This is kind of the reason I didn't want to leave my gear in the executive board lounge. People were so busy going from place to place if you didn't have another buddy Head-fi'er watching your gear anyone could come through and swipe it. I left all of my gear in a stack of boxes and put some leather chairs in front of it to hide it and I was hoping that some members would spill over to the Head-fi lounge for some extra listening. But everyone was a bit too busy with the exhibitors and member's showcase. Always have a  buddy!!! God I can't even wrap my head over why people wouldn't have a significant other or buddy head-fi'er to watch their gear. You have to remember that not everyone who came to CanJam 2015 was a Head-fi'er with a reputation worth risking. Seriously though guys, IEMS are small and have tremendous value much like a Sennheiser HD800. There should be people watching and maybe even a hired security guard or off-duty cop.

 

[414353]

   
 
 
After Mr. Speakers, I went to the Cavalli table. Seriously, anybody looking for high-end amps in my opinion really should just buy Alex Cavalli's stuff. Pretty much all of the amps I listened to (Liquid Crimson, Liquid Gold, Liquid Carbon, and that really small portable amp for IEMs) were excellent. All of them have just enough warmth to make it sound pleasant and in my opinion realistic, but still able to convey gobs of detail. The Liquid Carbon was especially impressive - I don't think I've ever heard my HE-400i driven to that level of sound quality (especially in balanced mode). I honestly can't believe that it's only going to cost $500 to $700, because it sounds like it's worth a lot more. Their little portable amp for IEMs was also really great - again, I don't think my Klipsch X10's have ever sounded so good. And thanks to Alex Cavalli and all of the staff at Cavalli Audio for being really nice people, and thanks for their patience as I listened to the Liquid Carbon with my HE-400i for quite a long time, and for helping me find the cables so I could listen to my own smartphone as a transport.

 
 
 
 
 
After that, I pretty much just hung out and chatted to people. Ok, I also went back to the Cavalli table to listen to their amps more because they were that good.
 
 

Are you saying that one of the Cavalli amps was $500 to $700? Wow, I missed that whole table because I thought it was the $30k table or something. The girl even warmly beckoned me over there as I was slowly walking by. I did not stop because I thought it was the biggest ticket items at the show, for I all I knew the sign might have said caviar instead of Cavalli. However, as it turns out I had already discovered the solution to my situation by the time I got to the Cavalli booth and a headphone amp was not the solution. A dac is the solution for me according to the folks at Schiit and I trust their judgement on that one. Now I kind of feel bad for at least not stopping there for a few seconds, just to acknowledge the rep.

 

[wahsmoh]

  Are you saying that one of the Cavalli amps was $500 to $700? Wow, I missed that whole table because I thought it was the $30k table or something. The girl even warmly beckoned me over there as I was slowly walking by. I did not stop because I thought it was the biggest ticket items at the show, for I all I knew the sign might have said caviar instead of Cavalli. However, as it turns out I had already discovered the solution to my situation by the time I got to the Cavalli booth and a headphone amp was not the solution. A dac is the solution for me according to the folks at Schiit and I trust their judgement on that one. Now I kind of feel bad for at least not stopping there for a few seconds, just to acknowledge the rep.

If your cans are already adequately powered a DAC will always make a bigger difference in your setup.

 

[paulchiu]

  Biggest surprise for me was the Riva speaker. I had dismissed small bluetooth speakers after being subjected to some of the more popular models on the market, but these were actually quite good. The sound may not be audiophile level enough to satisfy some people here, but it's pretty enjoyable if you're not doing critical listening. And more importantly, the sound they produce is truly amazing for something so small and battery powered. Not tinny at all, and they could easily go head to head with most full sized consumer (not audiophile) speakers. They mentioned that they have plans in the works to allow the user to hook up more than one of these units for more stereo sound, too.

 
have you ever heard the Ultimate Ear Boom?  How would the Riva compare....

 

[DPogster]

On this point, I totally agree!
Last year was smaller, and the vendors brought more low-end gear.
eg. Sennheiser brought their lower-end consumer headphones in the $100 range to start all the way up to their $$$ HD800 series.
You could hear a Koss, lower-end Grado, etc. and find other lower-end headphones, DAQs, etc.
This year, it was like the BIG guns came out and it was an all out shoot-out show. Sure, only $300 for that, $1000 for this, $1500+ for those, but when there's little from the big vendors to look at at the low-end, it's was disappointing for me.
I would have liked to see, for example, Sony bringing everything from their $10 earbuds all the way up to their $300+ armature earbuds, $10 headphones to their $$$ HD models just out. This would benefit the community greatly because you would get a chance at comparing not just A+ to A- headphones, but the C- headphones as well.
I was smart enough to bring my $10 Sony ZX110 headphones to try out on the various portable amp, sometimes vs. silly things like $1000+ Audieze LCDs.

And what did I realize?
1. It doesn't matter much what headphone you use in a noisy environment unless they're sealed and sound-proof. You simply can't hear all the details because of the noise level. Thus, while I could hear what was missing from my ZX110 vs the LCD on the Cavalli portable amp, it was a 90% vs 100% rating in this environment. I'd be happy using my $10 ZX110 all day long in a noisy environment. This is one KEY reason the ZX100/110 is so popular and highly rated on Amazon - everyday users find it very satisfactory in these noisier everyday environments.
Earbuds like the UE do block out a ton of noise and would be far better choices in any train, outdoor, etc. listening environment.
2. CanJam should be held right next to a Sound & Vison/Stereophile/etc speaker show!
The silliness of spending $1600 on a LCD-X, $$ on a Cavalli tube amp, $$$ on the USB DAQ, all made me realize, if you have the $10k and the room, might as well look into buying a nice $10k 7.1 stereo system. That way, everyone visiting can enjoy great sound vs. a single listener - parties, get-togethers, etc. Headphones become such a solitary thing once you've gotten past a few hundred dollars.
3. Even though most phones can flatline 20-20Khz decently well, and THD/distortion really isn't much of an issue for most 'everyday consumers', plugging in a pair of $1000+ headphones most likely won't be all that great. You'd really need HD sound, a quiet environment, HD player, etc. to really bring out the best from these expensive headphones. For the everyday MP3 + cellphone listener, about $300-400 is the most you should spend for a nice pair of headphones (eg. Sennheiser 650). Lower priced, excellent options include the $100-200 range Grados and $100 Koss PortaPros. These headphones also match well with the consumer-level portable players' power output whereas the $$$$ headphones often require powerful amps to make them shine. No way we're going to be carrying player + portable amp + $$$ headphone + mess of cables for long.

I would have been nice to A/B test $10 phones on up at a table across a major vendor's range (eg Sony). That way, one could easily determine how $$ one needs to go before it's 'good enough' and no need to look at more $$$$ headphones.
Also, next year, it would be nice to have true isolation booths to listen to headphones in. Total silence, nothing but the music and a few pair of headphones to compare. I noticed that with all the open headphones in the $$$, I was cranking up the volume quite a bit to be able to head the details and such over the background noise.
What would also be great is to have a nice $1000-10000 7.1 audio system setup in a room along with pairs of top-quality headphones to compare against. Then we'd hear easily - headphones? speakers? Which would be the better buy for the price?

You make some valid points. I had actually brought a non audiophile with me and she was blown away by $$$ of the equipment being presented. She was somewhat intimidated and hence was a little apprehensive to try things out just because she knew she would not be making a purchase at all due to price. I to would like to see more of a spread in $ from low to sumitfi from the various vendors to help those beginners in headphone technology. I do agree with you in that meet conditions are not conducive for testing out open back phones but having dedicated, soundproof listening rooms would require a lot of work nd would drive up entrance costs drastically and deter most people from attending. As far as the speaker vs headphone issue I think we are talking apples and oranges. I myself have a decent 5.1 system at home but rarely get to use at my preferred listening level due to noise complaints and hence have moved over to headphones. I would agree that speakers are more for friends and family. Headphones are for a solitary situation which is the majority of the day for me. Not everyone around me likes the music I like and even at home I would not have my my speaker system on while watching over the air/Hulu/Netflix movies and shows but I do want better sound quality and hence find myself using headphones and a splitter if anyone else were to join-- quite intimate indeed

Happy listening all.

 

[Tsujigiri]

   
have you ever heard the Ultimate Ear Boom?  How would the Riva compare....

That's actually the one that turned me off of bluetooth speakers. Someone showed me one once and was bragging about how loud it was, but it sounded bad and tinny at all volumes. The waterproof part of it impressed me, but the Riva sounds much better. Riva actually had a Bowers and Wilkins and Bang and Olufsen speaker for comparison while they were showing their speaker, and they had the same problem as the Boom.

 

[414353]

What in the f...?! I just read about all the theft that happened there! Are you kidding me?!!!!
Man, that just really !@#$#% pisses me off! No wonder I have such a dim view of humanity most of the time. If someone isn't trying to rob someone else with a fountain pen, they are robbing them in a more direct manner.
I'm very saddened to hear of those thefts and it don't matter if the item was $1500, $5k or $1. It's all equally disgusting!

 

[doublea71]

  What in the f...?! I just read about all the theft that happened there! Are you kidding me?!!!!
Man, that just really !@#$#% pisses me off! No wonder I have such a dim view of humanity most of the time. If someone isn't trying to rob someone else with a fountain pen, they are robbing them in a more direct manner.
I'm very saddened to hear of those thefts and it don't matter if the item was $1500, $5k or $1. It's all equally disgusting!

Probably the same guy or more than one working as a team.