[FranTBW]

Anything special thay Brainwavz has? Gonna start a bit on the more affordable side of things

 

[asquare3376]

  Does anyone know what kind of discount campfire audio has ?  thanks

Lyra ii - $100 off; Vega - $200 off; Continental V5 - $200 off
 
Tried Vega today.. Unreal bass; loved it 

 

[buke9]

Could someone who went today list what gear schiit has to try out?

I think everything but the new preamps.

 

[Leotis]

The Abyss Phi stole the show for me.

What amp were you using with the Abyss?
Can you parse the amp effect vs the Abyss effect.
Any chance to A/B the Abyss v1 vs v2?

 

[Naugrim]

  Today I had the greatest single hour of head-fi experience of my entire life. I easily passed $100,000 dollars of gear over my ears in 60 minutes.
 
It was glorious. It was magical. It was CanJam.
 
....
 
Not sure I'll make it back for day 2, but who knows? Great time today. Unfortunately the Blackhawks lost to the Kings in overtime across the street. Well at least we made the playoffs.

Great review - thanks for sharing! 

 

[miceblue]

KEMAR says hello. That is all.

 

[audionewbi]

Please guys use spoiler to reduce quoting an entire post with picture, this makes the page more user friendly. 

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

CanJam SoCal 2017 Impressions (Updated 4/9/17 at 13:52 PST with more stuff on Schiit)
 
Great meet. These are going to be a bit chaotic, but oh well. I brought my HE-6 and my K1000, which a few people were able to try out. Glad the above guy liked them; they're a privilege to own—as long as you like classical music as one of your primary genres, or are willing to dedicate a can just to classical music (see my ongoing review on the HD800 thread).  I only listen to classical music, so unless otherwise specified, ignore my impressions if you don’t care about that genre.
 

1. This was the first time I had heard the mighty Ragnarok, and all I can say is WOW. For the price, this is definitely the best amp out there. It might have been show conditions, the weather, what I had for breakfast, etc., but I did not notice any tremendous jump in euphony or transparency between the Ragnarok and Woo’s new WA-33. I heard both of my cans on each of them (both drove them excellently), as well as the HE-1000 on the rag and Abyss and Utopia on WA33. K1000 sounded unusually tactile on Ragnarok, possessing great energy. Its bass is lean, but Rag wrung out every bit that it could, and it was tight and dynamic. HE-6 aficionados make a pastime of schiiting on every amp that isn’t their preferred speaker variant, but I loved the pairing; it had plenty of headroom. WA33 was smoother, though equally powerful. Utopia rarely went above 8:30 on even the lowest gain. Ultimately, WA-33 was too smooth for an all-rounder; though it was pleasing on the dry K1000 (I did not hear HD800 all day, though I wish I had), it did not do its best when it wasn’t “compensating” for clinical cans. 
2. I’ve been contemplating upgrading to Yggy/Rag for a while now, and this has definitely made the case for solid state as well as any amp out there. If my memory from last July serves, oodles more power than Liquid Gold/Crimson/Tungsten, and comparable refinement. As Woo’s amp is going for 8k, sorry boys, but you’re gonna have to do better, or charge less, for your audiophile art to compete dollar-for-dollar with the boys down in Newhall.
3. Utopia is a really special can. I preferred it at the Focal booth to through the WA-33, which I felt added excessive warmth and degraded somewhat from the transparency. The soundstage is less than HD800, but the bass creates a really special tonality that does exceptionally well with piano, my nominee for hardest sound to reproduce acoustically. It’s up there with the very highest tier of piano cans, which IMO are the SR-009 and…
4. The new Mr Speakers Electrostatic Prototype. Wow again. The only bad things I can say are of build quality (the whole Mr Speakers line feels and looks cheap—closer to a $150 headphone than a $1500 headphone, or a $3000 electrostat) and that the 3k headphone (which they strenuously insist they hope to get under 3k) requires the $6k BHSE to sound its best. I played the Grosse Fugue, “Si pel ciel” from Karajan’s Berlin Otello, the Arrau Brahms 1, Vickers’s opening to Act 2 of Fidelio (Karajan Studio)—and it was all oozing detail and transparency, but without the least bit of grain or sibilance. (Rosa Ponselle’s O Terra Addio was a bit harsh, but that’s to be expected of early 1930s sound.) 
5. I heard the SR009 shortly before the new prototype. Unfortunately it was on Woo’s $4500 (I think?) WES, a hideously overpriced amp that smears the sound and is entirely unworthy of Stax’s flagship. They should discontinue it. I did not even try the GES, though I should have.
6. I heard the new Abyss through the WA33. It’s a great headphone! It’s also absurd looking, thoroughly uncomfortable, and outclassed by any number of cheaper headphones (most definitely by Utopia—perhaps also by HE-6, HE-1000, LCD-X…).
7. …which brings me to Audeze. They did not have Tidal, and their iPad setup only had one or two classical tracks. Suffice it to say that I became very familiar with the first movement of Prokofiev’s First Symphony. The LCD line sounded throughly “fine,” though the LCD-4 definitely failed to live up to its price. LCD-3 sounded a bit better than LCD-2. For ~$400 used, LCD-2 is a great deal! The new “LCD-Pro” is going to be released soon at $1200 and sounds like a smoother LCD-X. It’s also much lighter—machined magnesium rather than aluminum if memory serves—and includes the carbon fiber headband. Accurate but still conveying the Audeze house sound. VERY COMFORTABLE!!! We’ve schiit on Audeze’s comfort for years, and THEY FINALLY HAVE HEARD US. 
8. The on-ear Sine is forgettable, in both sound quality and comfort.
9. The iSine—I only listened to the expensive one—has ridiculously good bass. I played “Roar” and then “Call me Maybe” and was blown away by dat bass. Then I played Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major (harnoncourt recording), both out of the cipher cable and via whatever amp they had, and found it quite tinny and thin.
10. The most expensive can I heard was the Orpheus Successor. Wow. What a headphone. Short story, it does no wrong. One could note that the soundstage was not as wide as the K1000 or HD800, but short of that, the tonality was startlingly lifelike. Still, Utopia on good amp gets maybe 90% of the way there. Ether E + BHSE, maybe 95%. The 10 minute sessions were just too short, though, to draw any clear conclusions. I listened to some Mozart thing, and then the guy let me plug in my laptop and I played the Tristan Prelude (Cleveland Orchestra with CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI) and Verdi’s Ave maria from Otello. I wish they’d give us 15 minutes. It would be worth getting a second Orpheus. Sennheiser needs to get a handle on demand. 10 minutes is just not productive.
11. The other $55k headphone, Shangri-La, broke before I got to listen to it. Womp womp. 
12. The EF-1000 amp also broke. Whoops HFM. They had to bust out EF-6 for my Edition 6 excuse me Susvara/HE-6 comparison. Long story short, Edition 6 I mean Susvara has a touch more detail and a touch larger soundstage, as well as a slightly more clinical tone. They are nevertheless clearly tuned by the same ear. My HE-6 is grill-less and uses vegan pads. They used their own portable players as the source and all I can say is What, these things are fat, heavy, and have a terrible user interface. BRING A MACBOOK. GIVE US TIDAL. JFC. All I had to listen to was the raindrops prelude, the first bach cello suite, and some latin sounding big band but kind of orchestral thing. All told, Hifiman’s incompetence and user hostility is stunning. 
13. Their new RE2000 (?)—which retails, YOU GUESSED IT, for $2000—didn’t sound much better at all than my chinese knockoff K3003i, which I got for $312 incl shipping. Maybe I heard an smidgen more detail, maybe I didn’t. Who knows.
14. Sony’s new flagship was nice. Didn’t really separate itself from the herd though.
15. Heard HD650 for the first time out of a FIIO thing. Sounded soft and beautiful. I have HD600 but this is just so exquisite, I might have to get it. I’m sorry I didn’t get the HD6XX. Jude told everyone to get it, but I didn’t listen. I was wrong. Object lesson: Always take Jude’s advice.
16. Mr Speakers have a very nice $700 thing. Fun sounding. The Ether Flow and C Flow sound more neutral but definitely not 2x as good. I liked them. Nice people operating the Mr Speakers booth. Very personable. Took my observation that their products sounded good but looked and felt cheap very politely.
17. Jotunheim was great! HE-6 sounded fine out of it, though not as good as Rag. AKG K7XX sounded surprisingly good out of Jot—not excessively bright by any means. If you like those cans, Jotunheim renders them honestly. Its reputation for brightness has gotten out of hand; it's not bright, it's neutral. Linear. Uncolored. Not harsh, sibilant, or in any way unpleasantly clinical.
18. Valhalla 2 is likewise quite uncolored and pleasant, though it didn't stand out of the lineup for me. Fulla/Vali 2/Jot/MJ2/Rag is where I think Jason's talents are most readily apparent and what I would call the highlights of the line. Mike, of course, has a much smaller line, and I think the DAC side of things is much more straightforward, other than avoiding delta-sigma DACs above the Fulla. Fulla, as it happens, does great stuff with those K7XXs I mentioned. If you can't spend $249 on Mimby, stick with Fulla. Otherwise, figure out what multibit schiit you can afford and buy it.
19. If you need an end-game amp for cheap, GET THE RAG. Yggy is also magical. Had a great conversation with Mike about Wagner, Mahler, Mozart, Donizetti, Furtwangler, Karajan, Bruno Walter, and many others. Met Dr Ivana, who seems like a lovely person. Jason’s signage was world-class as always. I need to get to the Schiitr!

 
Thank you everyone for organizing a great meet! Will update as more comes to me. Still processing, as always. Sorry, no photos.

 

[winders]

  Thank you everyone for organizing a great meet! Will update as more comes to me. Still processing, as always. Sorry, no photos.

 
Nice write up. Anything on Vidar? Eitr?

 

[BoyNamedSue]

What amp were you using with the Abyss?
Can you parse the amp effect vs the Abyss effect.
Any chance to A/B the Abyss v1 vs v2?

The amp at abyss table was a solid state amp from XI Audio called formula S. Joe said it outputs 2 watts. The only noticeable difference was the woo wa33 sounded more holographic than the XI audio on the abyss phi. The abyss phi on both amps projected large, surround like soundstage, was clear and transparent, extended treble with no harshness, and tight impactful bass. I don't have much experience with the v1s so don't know what the improvements are with the phi. Joe did mention though the phi had new drivers. IMO, the abyss phi should be the new standard for soundstage above the hd800sm

 

[Sound Eq]

impressions please on ak Kann ??? 

 

[drbobbybones]

So I spent a few hours at CanJam today. Here are a smattering of my observations from the show. Disclaimer: since your ears hear differently from mine, your mileage may vary. I brought my Z1R, Eikons, and Andromedas.

To establish my baseline: I have been an audio addict for 30+ years, since I got my first Pocket Rocker tape player with a Bangles Cassette (really). I prefer a neutral/reference sound, but I love the sound of tubes and having a little warmth on the bottom end/midrange. But my biggest love is probably soundstage and then imaging—I will take a technically inferior headphone with better soundstage (HD800 SDR) over the converse (Utopia) any day of the week.

Best In Show (for me):
1) Smyth Realizer A16
2) Woo Audio WA33

* Smyth Realizer A16: This was the most impressive display I saw at the event. It is literally like virtual reality for the audio world. After getting calibrated, what you hear on your headphones mimics almost exactly what you hear with speakers in the room. The tracking of your head is incredible, and when you move your head, the sound moves with you, as if the speakers are staying exactly where they are in space. In the demo room, you can take the headphones off, and the speakers turn on and they eerily sound almost exactly the same as what you hear with the headphones. It is absolutely uncanny. So much so that I placed an order on the spot.

* Woo Audio WA33: This is the best tube headphone amplifier I have ever heard. This includes the WA22, WA5, WA8, Decware Taboo III or IV, Liquid Tungsten, Liquid Fire, MicroZOTL, Ampsandsound Mogwai, iFi Pro iCan, Little Dot MkII. So much soundstage and detail in imaging—holographic is the correct term, if a bit trite. Compared to my WA22, the sound was much more expansive but less lush—the WA22 is much “tubier/warmer” to my ears. It will push about 9 or 10 watts out, so you can drive speakers with them (will need custom speaker outputs—Woo will do this on request). I know I am gonna have to get one when it comes out. It will be pricey though—around $8000 or so.

* Abyss Phi headphones: Wow. Just Wow. I have been pounded by the bass stick and I want some more. I'm no bass head, but these headphones might make me change my mind. The bass is thunderous but at the same time has amazing texture and quality. And there is no sacrifice anywhere else on sound quality. Mids and highs are excellent. Transients are quick. There is no "flab" to the sound whatsoever. I just wish the fit was less finicky. They feel heavy and I can never get them to fit my noggin right. But these really blew my mind.

* Sennheiser Orpheus HE-1: I got lucky enough to be the first person to listen to this at the show. The entire experience of the headphone is elaborate. When you turn it on, the tubes appear and make a scene. The headphone feels lighter than it looks. It is very very comfortable and you could wear these for hours. As far as the sound, it was really ethereal and impressive, although the room was not quiet so I can’t comment on it as much as I wanted to. Vocals in particular were impressive. Norah Jones sounded as good as I’ve ever heard her, and each instrument was separated in space appropriately. As a soundstage hound, I was impressed. Imagine the HD800, except with warmer voicing and super fast transients and no harshness of treble.

* Focal Utopia: I’ve had this in my possession before, and I still feel the same way. It is the most resolving headphone I have ever used, including electrostatics like STAX. It has such speed and finesse, and the imaging is sublime. The thing that kills this for me is that the soundstage is very small. Smaller than my Eikon or my Z1R, both of which are closed cans. If you could combine the Focal Utopia’s sound with the HD800’s soundstage, I’d be all in. Sounds great out of all sources I own, but sounded best out of the WA33. Somehow the WA33 gave it a bit more soundstage—which makes me very intrigued to pick up a Utopia again after I get one.

* STAX-009 through Woo Audio WES: Similar resolution to the Utopia. There is a softness to this headphone that the Utopia lacks, which makes it possibly easier to listen to. I think the transients are super duper fast on this—almost too fast as it seems like you’re in a room with no reverb. Bass is a bit light for my taste. Both of the former qualities are typical of electrostatic headphones to my ears. Medium soundstage.

* Mr. Speakers Electrostatic headphones out of a Blue Hawaii SE: These were really stellar. It has all of the best parts of the STAX-009 with bigger soundstage and more bass. It’s a very fast headphone with more realistic decay—sounds more lifelike to my ears. If this is priced right, I see this going into a lot of TOTL collections. I probably will never own one because I don’t want to have another dedicated tube amplifier—or more correctly: my wife doesn’t want me to have another dedicated tube amplifier.

* Mr. Speakers Ether Flow with Electrostatic ear pads through a Mjolnir 2: If you like the Ether Flow but wanted more soundstage—here you go. The new pads have a bigger ear cup so they seem to have a little less bass for more soundstage. Not my cup of tea, but for some this may work. I’ve always wanted to like the Ether Flow more than I do. For me, they seem a bit too relaxed for my taste. But they are ultra comfortable—I could wear these for hours with no fatigue.

* Chord Hugo2: this is a very special transportable DAC/AMP. There are four noise shaping filters on the DAC—two which evoke the DAVE (reference) and two which evoke the Mojo (warmer). I liked the white DAVE filter the best. In fact, when I plugged in my ZMF Eikons through this, I was reminded very heavily of my home setup. Thankfully, they had a demo DAVE right next to the Hugo2 so I was able to confirm my suspicions. No, it isn’t as good as the DAVE, but it is as close as you can get on the go, for one-fifth of the price. The soundstage and imaging on the DAVE is more lifelike than anything I have ever heard, but the Hugo2 is as close as I’ve heard.

* HiFiMan: One hour into the show, and they still didn’t have a lot of things set up. I gave up, even though I was excited to audition the Shangri-La and the new TOTL planar headphone. Sorry HiFiMan—you guys snooze, you lose a potential customer.

* ZMF Headphones through Decware Taboo IV: I brought my own Eikons to the event and I got to meet Zach. He couldn’t have been a cooler or more down to earth guy, and he really cares about his customers and his work. His wife was equally gracious, and you could tell this was a labor of love for both of them. As far as between the Atticus and the Eikon—I am glad I went for the Eikon for me. It is tuned to reference warm, which is exactly my preferred sound signature. The Atticus is rolled off a bit in the treble for my taste, but the midbass and low midrange is really spectacular. Rock music, and especially guitars, sound amazing through the Atticus. The Decware Taboo IV sounds impressive (and very “tubey”), and the Lucid mode knob is really interesting. It is essentially a crossfeed function that changes the soundstage and imaging significantly. This is different from most other crossfeed functions that I have ever heard as it seems far more natural. The newest model has some features that I personally think are mistakes: separate left and right gain knobs (no combined volume knob!), and only a balanced output through 4-pin XLR. It would have been nice to include a 1/4 inch jack as well, like everyone else. Zach did intimate that he is trying to possibly do a ZMF x Decware collaboration, and he would use the same woods used in the Atticus and Eikon for the body. I think this would be a great idea, especially if the above nitpicks were fixed. That said, I think the Atticus really opened up with the Decware, and the Eikon changed to a lesser degree. I still personally think the Eikon sounds the best straight out of the DAVE.

* Audeze iSine 20: I tried these out again to refresh my memory. I stand by my previous comments listed [here] (https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/644n8p/weekly_rheadphones_discussion_8_audeze_isine_10_20/dfzg9ib/)

* Noble Katana and Kaiser Encore: These were both really impressive IEMs. I think between the two, I preferred the Kaiser Encore because the sound was more reference, but the Katana has a really alluring low end and midrange. Soundstage on the Katana was slightly larger to my ear. But neither had the soundstage of my Campfire Andromedas, which is the largest I have ever heard in an IEM. Both sounded great right out of my iPhone 7 Plus. The Kaiser Encore in particular is so accurate and fast—almost like the Focal Utopias of IEMS. They were running a sick deal where if you bought a Katana or Kaiser Encore, you got a Wizard Savant or Sage for free. Might have to go back tomorrow to take advantage of this deal…

* Campfire Audio: I met Ken Ball, the CEO and founder and he couldn’t have been a nicer guy. He saw my Andromedas on my neck and he and I talked about them for quite a bit. I begged him for a Reference 8 cable to be made with a Lightning connector—he says he’s had a few requests so this might actually happen. I tried the Vegas for a bit—this is the perfect IEM for someone who wants to feel some bass. It’s kind of like the Z1R of the IEM world—not perfectly accurate, but very fun and lively to listen to.

All in all, I had a great time. I met a bunch of awesome people who are really dedicated to this hobby and were just as passionate at making the devices we listen to as we are at listening to them. Jude from Head-Fi, Jason Stoddard from Schiit, Dan from Mr. Speakers, and Jack Wu from Woo Audio were some in particular besides the ones I previously mentioned. Can’t wait to go again next year!

 

[1974]

Quick question - is there a WA5 amp at the show? Thinking of going on Sunday.
 
I know Dan from Mr Speakers often brings one along, and it sounds like Woo are only showcasing the WA33?

 

[pervysage]

* Woo Audio WA33: This is the best tube headphone amplifier I have ever heard. This includes the WA22, WA5, WA8, Decware Taboo III or IV, Liquid Tungsten, Liquid Fire, MicroZOTL, Ampsandsound Mogwai, iFi Pro iCan, Little Dot MkII. So much soundstage and detail in imaging—holographic is the correct term, if a bit trite. Compared to my WA22, the sound was much more expansive but less lush—the WA22 is much “tubier/warmer” to my ears. It will push about 9 or 10 watts out, so you can drive speakers with them (will need custom speaker outputs—Woo will do this on request). I know I am gonna have to get one when it comes out. It will be pricey though—around $8000 or so.

* Focal Utopia: I’ve had this in my possession before, and I still feel the same way. It is the most resolving headphone I have ever used, including electrostatics like STAX. It has such speed and finesse, and the imaging is sublime. The thing that kills this for me is that the soundstage is very small. Smaller than my Eikon or my Z1R, both of which are closed cans. If you could combine the Focal Utopia’s sound with the HD800’s soundstage, I’d be all in. Sounds great out of all sources I own, but sounded best out of the WA33. Somehow the WA33 gave it a bit more soundstage—which makes me very intrigued to pick up a Utopia again after I get one.
 

 
Great impressions. Did you ever try the Utopia with your WA22? If so, would you say you prefer the "tubier/warmer" sound of the WA22 with a headphone like the Utopia. Or does the WA33 blow away the WA22 overall?

 

[smial1966]

Are SONOMA at CanJam with the Model One Electrostatic Headphone System? As the M1 is shipping now and I really wonder how it sounds?!?