[austinpop]

   
 
Hi 'austinpop'
 
Glad to read the question of noise is now beginning to be talked about !!
 
You post the comment "Maybe it's cultural, maybe it's just me, but I'm not going to apologize for at least hoping for some improvement in this area. 
 
Let me state,I for one,totally support your view !! Not only that,I know many others do to. BUT it seems many are reluctant to post this view.I believe this may be due to the fact that the comment may be seen as negative and a direct insult to those who organise the event.

 
 
I realize this, which is why I subsequently posted this:
 

   
Yeah - I realize I made my comment without any overall context - and which, upon reflection, does sound churlish. This was not my intention.
 
I still really enjoyed the event, and have nothing but the highest praise and gratitude for all who either volunteered their time to setup and run the event, or the manufacturers who showed up with their amazing gear.
 
The key point I was trying to make was that even small steps by organizers and exhibitors to reduce, not eliminate, noise would be really helpful. I think we all understand eliminating the noise is impossible.

 
I should also add that it wasn't uniformly noisy. Some rooms seemed to have established an atmosphere more conducive to listening. These were mostly on the 3rd floor: the Stax room, the Woo room, and the Questyle/Westone/Enigmacoustics room, which were all quieter at least the handful of times I stopped by them.
 
For a largish room with only 2 manufacturers, the Cavalli/MrSpeakers room was one of the noisiest.
 
Most of the other rooms were too densely packed with exhibits, and very noisy.
 
However, as the Liquid Tungsten room demonstrated, even the best laid plans can be undone by noisy individuals, whom neither the organizers nor exhibitors control.

 

[mithrandir38]

I was really impressed with your products especially the Spartan and Hermes. I'll keep my eye and wallet on you guys in the near future

 

[mikemercer]

I gotta say I loved the Modwright tube amp - using my ETHER + DHX Xtreme cables (my reference) it just served up the music with such warmth and character it was intoxicating for me. Dan Wright built a headphone amp stage into his integrated amp years ago, and it was great - but this, man, I'm PUMPED to live with that some more!
 
It handled everything from Radiohead and Nosaj Thing to Elbow and WAVVES with grace, fluidity,
and the overall presence of sound was as engaging as some of the finest tube amps I've heard. BRAVO Mr. Wright
 

I mean - how often am I this quiet?!?!?!
 

Harmony a.k.a Headphone Princess (how can we get her tag changed to that fellas) also know as Nomad Girl here
ROCKIN' my portable rig w/ her special customized Headphone Princess-style LCD-Xs (done by Alex Rosson - so it ain't all cosmetic - they sound better than mine - GRRRR and LOVE it at the sam time) - this was very special  - Harmony really loves music, and when I was down, she would help inspire me to keep writing.
GO GIRL

The Cavalli Tungsten rig I set-up.  This was taken end of the day Sunday - so I grabbed my HigherFi magnetic levitation shelf (YUP, had it under the LAu at the big Cavalli table downstairs all weekend) and put in under the AudioGD DAC - I was pumped to get this rig BANGIN'!!!

Hearin' my AK380 + Mojo as DAC feed the Tungsten on Fri night was special @Hansotek and I were hoggin' the cans I believe..
 

These Audio Zeniths were smooth and silky w/ my AKjr!!
LOVED em with Recondite's "Baro" - which is becoming one of my favorite headphone tracks & I reviewed that record 2 years ago I think,
so re-discovering it is AWESOME - I highly recommend it - minimal tech-house - but just crank it, sit back, and listen... They use ALL real analog synths and drum machines - it's so textural, and their panning skills are INSANE, seriously even if you're not a fan of underground electronic music - check it out! 


and: WOH - FINALLY got to hear the Shure electrostatic IEMs - thanks fellas for bringin' em up to the Tungsten Room!
W/ my AKjr - and that Shure DAC/Amp - man were these FUN.  Clean, articulate, thumpin, and WIDE!!
 
more comin!!

 

[jude]

I'll post more impressions later, but I wanted to post what was my favorite moment at any CanJam so far.
 
My wife is deaf in one ear. Many years ago, she was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, which is a relatively rare, benign tumor on the acoustic nerve. It had been radiated, but grew after a few years, and eventually had to be surgically removed. Unfortunately, the surgery required the sacrifice of her left acoustic nerve (vestibulocochlear nerve), leaving her 100% deaf on the left side.
 
(We're quite the pair: She used to be an interior designer, and I have significant colorblindness. I'm a headphone audio enthusiast, and she's deaf in one ear.)
 
I'd seen a couple of videos about Stephen Ambrose's Active ADEL, and spoke with Steve (@Canyon Runner) from 64 Audio at CES about Active ADEL (aka "bubbles"). Here's one of the videos I saw:
 

 
Some key differences: The young lady in the above video has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. My wife's right ear is outstanding, but her left side is, again, 100% deaf.
 
A key similarity: My wife's response was a lot like the lady's response above.
 
My wife loves music, every bit as much as I do. Her personality is one of serenity, calm, acceptance, so she has literally never complained of her situation, and has simply learned to enjoy music (and life) through her one good ear. Stephen and Steve placed the earpieces in my wife's ears. They asked me to pick some music on my phone, so I played Pharrel's "Happy." She immediately started crying happy tears, mixed with emotions from having forgot what it was like (for over ten years now) to hear music the way she used to. She said it was like the music was filling her head again--like she was hearing from both ears. (This is not what's happening, and I encourage you to watch the videos about it and/or read more about how it works.) We switched to stereo microphones, and tested directionality. While she'd have to be trained to localize perfectly, she was sensing changing direction as I walked around the table talking.
 
Stephen then asked her (as we were running late for a dinner reservation) if she wanted to hear it again, and she jumped at the chance, and asked me to play "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning," performed by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks on God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson, which is one of her favorite songs right now.
 
The music started, and the tears started flowing again. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
 
Stephen asked her if she wanted to be involved in their ongoing work at Vanderbilt, as they continue to develop, perfect, and productize the technology. Of course, the answer was YES. I'll get her down there as often as they want to see her. It doesn't hurt that Nashville is such a groovy place, especially for two music lovers like my wife and me. Before we left, my wife practically jumped out her chair to hug Stephen. I had to hug him, too.
 
Thank you to Stephen, Steve, and 64 Audio for your work on this, and for letting my wife hear music rather like she used to more than ten years ago. We'll see you in Nashville.

 

[Canyon Runner]

Truly our pleasure, @Jude. It was the perfect way to end CanJam for us as well.

 

[fuzzybaffy]

I had to regrettably miss out on this meet.  
 
I had planned on going, but I realized that I just don't have the budget (unemployed at the moment), and therefore am not in the market for any big headphone purchases in the near future, so I couldn't justify the cost of grabbing a hotel, etc. 
 
So glad I could read all these impressions, though. The Cavalli audio equipment, and the HD-800s have definitely captured my curiosity. Maybe I'll check them out in the next meet! I look forward to reading more impressions... 

 

[adpo]

Oh hey, looks like I won the Puro Labs wireless headphones 

 Thanks to all the organizers for putting together such a fun event

 

[gr8soundz]

  I had to regrettably miss out on this meet.  
 
I had planned on going, but I realized that I just don't have the budget (unemployed at the moment), and therefore am not in the market for any big headphone purchases in the near future, so I couldn't justify the cost of grabbing a hotel, etc. 
 
So glad I could read all these impressions, though. The Cavalli audio equipment, and the HD-800s have definitely captured my curiosity. Maybe I'll check them out in the next meet! I look forward to reading more impressions... 

 
Same here. Not the most fun club to be in but things could be worse......
 

 

[LoryWiv]

Fantastic time at Canjam SoCal. I'm interested in learning more about balanced output sources. Auditioned some great gear, 3 where I felt balanced output difference was audible and favorable were Onkyo DP-X1 DAP, Questyle CMA600i dac/amp & the WooAudio WA22 tube amp:
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

[mikemercer]

  I'll post more impressions later, but I wanted to post what was my favorite moment at any CanJam so far.
 
My wife is deaf in one ear. Many years ago, she was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, which is a relatively rare, benign tumor on the acoustic nerve. It had been radiated, but grew after a few years, and eventually had to be surgically removed. Unfortunately, the surgery required the sacrifice of her left acoustic nerve (vestibulocochlear nerve), leaving her 100% deaf on the left side.
 
(We're quite the pair: She used to be an interior designer, and I have significant colorblindness. I'm a headphone audio enthusiast, and she's deaf in one ear.)
 
I'd seen a couple of videos about Stephen Ambrose's Active ADEL, and spoke with Steve (@Canyon Runner) from 64 Audio at CES about Active ADEL (aka "bubbles"). Here's one of the videos I saw:
 

 
Some key differences: The young lady in the above video has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. My wife's right ear is outstanding, but her left side is, again, 100% deaf.
 
A key similarity: My wife's response was a lot like the lady's response above.
 
My wife loves music, every bit as much as I do. Her personality is one of serenity, calm, acceptance, so she has literally never complained of her situation, and has simply learned to enjoy music (and life) through her one good ear. Stephen and Steve placed the earpieces in my wife's ears. They asked me to pick some music on my phone, so I played Pharrel's "Happy." She immediately started crying happy tears, mixed with emotions from having forgot what it was like (for over ten years now) to hear music the way she used to. She said it was like the music was filling her head again--like she was hearing from both ears. (This is not what's happening, and I encourage you to watch the videos about it and/or read more about how it works.) We switched to stereo microphones, and tested directionality. While she'd have to be trained to localize perfectly, she was sensing changing direction as I walked around the table talking.
 
Stephen then asked her (as we were running late for a dinner reservation) if she wanted to hear it again, and she jumped at the chance, and asked me to play "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning," performed by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks on God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson, which is one of her favorite songs right now.
 
The music started, and the tears started flowing again. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
 
Stephen asked her if she wanted to be involved in their ongoing work at Vanderbilt, as they continue to develop, perfect, and productize the technology. Of course, the answer was YES. I'll get her down there as often as they want to see her. It doesn't hurt that Nashville is such a groovy place, especially for two music lovers like my wife and me. Before we left, my wife practically jumped out her chair to hug Stephen. I had to hug him, too.
 
Thank you to Stephen, Steve, and 64 Audio for your work on this, and for letting my wife hear music rather like she used to more than ten years ago. We'll see you in Nashville.

Jude this touched my soul - and it was so great to finally meet your wife and boy brother.
Thanks for everything. Especially this story - 
 
I was born with major hearing issues. Thanks to my ENT doc (who later went onto being a leader in the field) and a few surgeries, I had normal hearing by age 5 or so...  Harry Pearson actually thought I got so heavily into music and sound because I was subconsciously making up for lost time!
I used to think it was kinda nuts - but it makes sense.
I still can't review gear when I'm sick (as I suffer some hearing loss - so I have to test it often).
 
That's incredible.
Warmed my heart - and the line about you bein' colorblind - and she half-deaf: PRICELESS BRO!

 

[Pazz]

*snip

 
Did you record the reaction? That'd be awesome to see I think.
 
The inflatable ADEL was personally one of the coolest things I saw at the show, and Stephen is getting a lot of support from various places you wouldn't imagine (or perhaps you would, Jude). It's moving to see these kinds of magical discoveries being made possible, and it kind of reminds me of when I was at the show, and showed VR to someone who couldn't see in 3D. What happened was that he actually perceived 3D again through the VR headset! And you know, I think it's about time technology really and truly made some strides like this again. The future is bright. 

 

[musicman59]

I am back to "Reality Land" from "Headfi Heaven" now. This was my 6th CanJam and the most fun of all of them. Thanks to Ethan and the Headfi team for the great experience.
It is amazing the explosion of new brands and new products in the headfi market on the last couple of years but to me the number one asset of this community is the people (vendors and members). I have been an audiophile for over 35 years and never had the community experience that I've been having for the last almost 12 years since I joint Headfi. The relationships and friendships I've been blessed with in this community are invaluable. Thanks for that (you all know who).
 
My main objective coming to CamJam SoCal was to have a great time with friends and on that regard my expectations were exceeded easily. After that I was interested on listening to the Liquid Tungsten, the Ether electrostatic and a better iem than my UE 5 custom.
 
I had the opportunity to listen to the LT. This is going to be a great amp. It has all the power to handle any dynamic or planar headphones with no problem (well, I did not test it with the HE-6 so not sure about those). It has the sweet tube sound but at the same time it is very dynamic and with very nice top end and control across all frequencies. I think once again Cavalli has a winner.
 
The Ether electrostatic are very nice sounding headphones. They were connected to a LL Hybrid. Dan had two of them with different ear pads. There was a clear difference on the presentation due to the pads. IMO the flat pads presented a more open and bigger soundstage while the thicker angled pads presented a more cozy and intimate presentation. Both headphones provide IMO a deeper base than the SR-009 without missing anything in the midrange and high frequencies. This was a very nice surprise from Mr Speakers!
 
I did a tour of IEMs hitting the JH Audio, Noble and Audio 64 tables. I was intrigued on the ADEL technology from Audio 64 because my current UE5 create a vacuum in my ears that bothers me and causes me some fatigue. I listened to the Angie, Roxanne, Savanna, K10, A5 and A10. To me the winner was the A10 to the point that I placed an order on the spot (thanks Chuck from Audio 64 for your help). I told my friends Bob and Jim about my finding. They listened to the A10 and the placed an order too 

!
 
On desktop amplifiers I was very impressed with the Wells Audio Milo prototype. That thing can really push out some juice and sounded great. At $1,499 I think that is going to sell like hotcakes!
The other very nice surprise was the ModWright Tryst tube amplifier. I tried it with Ether C, Ether and HE-1000. With all of them it did an excellent job. It is death quiet, very musical and showed great control of the headphones. I think it will be a great contender in the market. 
 
ALO will come out soon with a new hybrid portable amp and a new pair of over the ear headphones. Both in my opinion will be winners. I really like my PM-3 but as soon as the new ALO headphones are available they will replace my PM-3. The little brother of the Continental Dual Mono and the Cavalli Liquid Spark IMO are the best two options in portable amplifiers at the moment.
 
A big surprise to me was the very affordable iems from 1More. At $99 retail (15% discount until the end of the month) for the triple driver iem and the way they sound they are just hard to beat. Check them out.  

 

[Gilly87]

   
Did you record the reaction? That'd be awesome to see I think.
 
The inflatable ADEL was personally one of the coolest things I saw at the show, and Stephen is getting a lot of support from various places you wouldn't imagine (or perhaps you would, Jude). It's moving to see these kinds of magical discoveries being made possible, and it kind of reminds me of when I was at the show, and showed VR to someone who couldn't see in 3D. What happened was that he actually perceived 3D again through the VR headset! And you know, I think it's about time technology really and truly made some strides like this again. The future is bright. 

 
Preach!

 

[Pazz]

   
Preach!

 

 

[Canyon Runner]

  I'll post more impressions later, but I wanted to post what was my favorite moment at any CanJam so far.
 
My wife is deaf in one ear. Many years ago, she was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, which is a relatively rare, benign tumor on the acoustic nerve. It had been radiated, but grew after a few years, and eventually had to be surgically removed. Unfortunately, the surgery required the sacrifice of her left acoustic nerve (vestibulocochlear nerve), leaving her 100% deaf on the left side.
 
(We're quite the pair: She used to be an interior designer, and I have significant colorblindness. I'm a headphone audio enthusiast, and she's deaf in one ear.)
 
I'd seen a couple of videos about Stephen Ambrose's Active ADEL, and spoke with Steve (@Canyon Runner) from 64 Audio at CES about Active ADEL (aka "bubbles"). Here's one of the videos I saw:
 

 
Some key differences: The young lady in the above video has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. My wife's right ear is outstanding, but her left side is, again, 100% deaf.
 
A key similarity: My wife's response was a lot like the lady's response above.
 
My wife loves music, every bit as much as I do. Her personality is one of serenity, calm, acceptance, so she has literally never complained of her situation, and has simply learned to enjoy music (and life) through her one good ear. Stephen and Steve placed the earpieces in my wife's ears. They asked me to pick some music on my phone, so I played Pharrel's "Happy." She immediately started crying happy tears, mixed with emotions from having forgot what it was like (for over ten years now) to hear music the way she used to. She said it was like the music was filling her head again--like she was hearing from both ears. (This is not what's happening, and I encourage you to watch the videos about it and/or read more about how it works.) We switched to stereo microphones, and tested directionality. While she'd have to be trained to localize perfectly, she was sensing changing direction as I walked around the table talking.
 
Stephen then asked her (as we were running late for a dinner reservation) if she wanted to hear it again, and she jumped at the chance, and asked me to play "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning," performed by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks on God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson, which is one of her favorite songs right now.
 
The music started, and the tears started flowing again. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
 
Stephen asked her if she wanted to be involved in their ongoing work at Vanderbilt, as they continue to develop, perfect, and productize the technology. Of course, the answer was YES. I'll get her down there as often as they want to see her. It doesn't hurt that Nashville is such a groovy place, especially for two music lovers like my wife and me. Before we left, my wife practically jumped out her chair to hug Stephen. I had to hug him, too.
 
Thank you to Stephen, Steve, and 64 Audio for your work on this, and for letting my wife hear music rather like she used to more than ten years ago. We'll see you in Nashville.

Posting Stephen's response as requested...

Dear Steve K (canyonrunner),
 
Thank you for forwarding Jude's very gracious and most humbling comments regarding his and his wife's gratifying experience with the inflatable ADEL prototype. I feel fortunate indeed to have had the privilege of their impromptu participation into our hopeful new research into hearing loss, especially since the whole family was already on their way to celebrate their beloved mom/wife's birthday!
 
Having witnessed many such responses, I have to say that I was personally extremely moved by the love this very special family exhibited toward each other. As Jude mentioned, each of them shares a true love of music and they enjoy knowing each other's favorite songs. But after learning that her imminent surgery could deafen her in one ear, instead of complaining, Jude's wife simply committed her favorite recordings to memory so she could continue to replay them to herself in the fullness of her own experience.
 
And upon her so unexpectedly beginning to hear a few of these favorite songs again (through some intentional but truly fortunate property of ADEL still not fully understood or documented), my witnessing of Jude's beaming smile and her 11 year old son reaching over to comfort her was almost too moving for me to control myself - so for once (as emotions tend to run high in these ADEL videos) I happily received a little of my own medicine so to speak, although no one brought any undue attention to my tears.
 
These folks are the very kind of people for whom I invented ADEL and who make my research and work so tremendously gratifying. And I thank you Steve for your very expert assistance in conducting these tests.
 
Not only do I continue to be blown away by all the new audio heights and achievements displayed at every successive CANJAM that Jude has so kindly been administering for us all for years (and believe me this year's CANJAM SoCal enjoyed a real abundance of breakthrough, stellar audiophile products from everyone) but to top it off, I got to briefly attend part of a touching birthday party which will no doubt enrich me for life!  
 
I'm looking very much forward to continuing our research with Jude's family in Nashville, as well as the chance to know these lovely people better - pledging all the while to do my utmost to work together to restore as much hearing experience as we can through our new found technology (if only to try to make up for some of the hearing loss many devices based on my first 1965 IEM invention may have caused.    ).
 
Again, I am truly honored and humbled to have the chance to conduct this new research together and to get to work with such a great family! I look forward to their participation in future studies at Vanderbilt and to the hope and promise of our efforts bringing better hearing and listening experiences to everyone we and Vitaliy at 64 Audio might possibly help with ADEL.
 
Thanks Jude!
 
Sincerely, 
 
Stephen Ambrose