(apologies for the length of this review, but I wanted to cover as much as possible)
Hi All,
This was my second CanJam experience after attending last year's expo in Costa Mesa. Last year's venue was a collection of smallish rooms with high end gear and a very large tent area with mostly IEMs, portable players, and software. The main room this year was quite large and had high ceilings, which led to reduced ambient noise compared to last year. In contrast to a previous poster, I had no problem auditioning gear with volume set to "realistic" (but not ear-splitting) levels. Parking/accessibility was probably better last year, but I liked the buzz of LA Live and also the superb restaurant options within a stone's throw. I arrived on Saturday a bit after 10:30am and there was still a line of folks queued for badges. This led me to wonder if the hall would be overrun, but I was pleasantly surprised that I rarely had to wait much once inside. The walkways were ample, which made it easy to get around the hall. Kudos to the organizers for putting on a great show overall!
My main goal was to audition the various flagship cans that have been released since last year: Focal Utopia/Elear, Hifiman Edition 6 and HE-1000 v2, Sony MDR-Z1R, ZMF Eikon, and MrSpeakers Ether Flow. My home rig for the awhile has been Denon AH-D7100 phones driven by the Questyle D192 Gold DAC feeding a Benchmark DAC2 amp. At work, I use Denon AH-D600 phones driven by a Questyle 800i DAC/amp. I've actually been very happy with the AH-D7100, to the point that the only phones that had tempted me to upgrade last year were the HE-1000 v1, but at $3000 I couldn't quite pull the trigger, particularly since I wasn't sure if I'd have to lay out even more to upgrade the amp. But given all of the new cans available of late, this seemed like it might be the time for the upgrade. Secondarily, I was open to upgrading my office phones, but those would have to be closed back. Lastly, I kept an eye open for possible amp replacements for the Benchmark, although I should make it clear that the Benchmark's combination of neutrality and superb ergonomics make it a highly capable unit.
I got my badge and walked in. Directly ahead was the Focal table, and right in the center was the blinged out Utopia ($120k with gold and diamonds!) driven by the TOTL Questyle gold stack. The blinged version sounds identical to the standard Utopia, but it does weigh an additional 200g. Since no one was using it, I sat down and pulled up a Steely Dan track (Lunch with Gina) on Tidal. (NOTE to exhibitors: Providing a laptop with Tidal should be considered mandatory henceforth!) The Utopia has a reputation for startling dynamics and a reference FR curve. The raps have been that it's somewhat bass shy with a narrow soundstage. Since I need adequate bass and appreciate a good soundstage, I wasn't necessarily expecting to be bowled over. Man, was I wrong! Within about 30 seconds, my jaw was on the floor. The Utopia has the best bass I've ever heard on a headphone: supple, fast, beautifully nuanced, and perfectly integrated with the rest of the frequency spectrum. The soundstage width is roughly on par with the majority of cans (excepting the Sennheiser HD800), but the image precision and holographic layering makes for quite a magical spacial presentation. Sounds that are panned hard to either side do seem to originate a good distance from the ear. The net result of all of this was that I was bopping in my chair like nobody's business to the Steely Dan track. That's sort of the acid test for audio gear for me: does it move me emotionally and physically (as in toe-tapping)? By the end of that first track, I was getting a strong hunch I'd be buying a set of Utopias. Next up was a Ray Brown track (can't remember which), which sounded equally fabulous. This track brought out the fantastic treble on the Utopia. Cymbals had beautiful shimmer and air. Everything was just so right, probably helped by the synergy with the Questyle gear. Right out of the gate, a very high standard had been set. How would the other contenders stack up?
While I was listening to the Utopia, I found myself wondering how close the Elear would come to it at 25% of the price. Unfortunately, the Elear wasn't cabled to interface with the Questyle monoblocks and the other listening stations were occupied, so I'd have to wait a while to find out. Later on Saturday, I was able to do that comparison with a Questyle D192 DAC feeding a Questyle 800R amp (non-gold versions). The amp has a couple of standard 1/4" jacks, so it was child's play to plug in both Elear and Utopia and just slip them on and off to compare during tracks. While the Elear is quite good (and likely my favorite headphone in its price range), it doesn't have the same magic as the Utopia. The most notable difference is less air in the treble, which makes the imaging a bit less holographic. The bass is slightly less nuanced. I also preferred the feel of the Utopia pads and its overall build quality with carbon fiber, etc. However, the Elear is a lot of headphone for $1k! Kudos to Focal for absolutely nailing their entry into the headphone arena on the first attempt!
Next stop was HifiMan. As mentioned earlier in the thread, the Shagri-La amp was out of commission and there was no technical person on staff, so I never got to hear it. The Edition 6 was being driven by a large custom amp and a small player with a very limited music selection. Worse, there was something wrong with playback as I kept hearing subtle glitches. Someone came to look at it, did some fiddling with the amp, and handed it back to me. Still had glitches. What I did hear in-between glitches didn't come anywhere near to involving me like the Utopia had. Ditto with the HE-1000 v2, which I was able to audition with the same TOTL Questyle gold stack at the Source AV booth later. The HE-1000 v2 dynamics just weren't sufficient to involve me as the Utopia had, especially in the bass region. The ergonomics and appearance of the HFM cans are also lacking in comparison, in my estimation. I mentally crossed HifiMan off the list of contenders. Side note: I did like the sound of the HE-400i straight out of my Samsung Galaxy S7. The midrange was quite detailed and airy on the Garbage track I Think I'm Paranoid. The downsides were the bass wasn't quite as incisive as I might have wanted, the efficiency was such that I was all the way up on volume control to get reasonable volume, and I didn't love the texture of the pads against my skin. An outboard amp would probably be required for these.
Next up was the Kitsune' table, where I ended up spending a lot time on multiple visits. They had a fantastic collection of cans (Utopia, Stax SR-009, HifiMan HE-1000, Sony Z1R, Sennheiser 800S) being driven by their Spring DAC feeding the nifty iFi Pro iCAN amp. The iFi had a complementary energizer unit for driving the Stax cans. It's a great amp for auditioning phones as it features a few gain settings, switchable solid state and tube stages, and an XBass switch which bumps the bass 12dB centered at either 10, 20, or 40Hz. There's also a switchable 3D effect. For auditioning purposes, I went with solid state, no 3D, and lowest gain (except for the Stax, which required the highest gain setting). I generally turned XBass off, but played around with 10Hz and 20Hz on the Utopia, Stax, and Sennheisers. Although I had no opportunity for direct A/B comparisons, this DAC/amp chain sounded very good indeed. The Utopias didn't quite have have my toe tapping as furiously as it had been on the Questyle stack with the Steely Dan track, but that's somewhat anecdotal perhaps. All of the phones were cabled with Norne, which were quite nice ergonomically. Too many variables to say what their sonic contribution was. In any event, this was my first taste of the Z1R, and I was able to compare it directly to my Denon AH-D7100, which I had brought to the show. The net of it was that I found the tonal profiles and overall presentation of these two closed headphones surprisingly similar. The Sony had perhaps a touch more resolution in the midrange, which was counter-balanced by a tad less sparkle in the treble. I must say the bulkiness of the Z1R was not a positive for me. The circumference of the cups is large enough that I was aware of them touching my neck. The bottom line was that even if the Sony is an incremental improvement on the Denons sonically, its ergonomics coupled with the inflated (in my opinion) asking price made me decide rather quickly to stand pat.
I should also mention that the Stax SR-009 quite impressed me through the iFi gear. It had its own brand of magic, not to mention probably the best quality of build and comfort of any cans at the show. The bass, while excellent for electrostatics, lacked the tautness of the Utopia. Furthermore, I had a minor epiphany when re-auditioning the Sennheiser 800S with XBass engaged at 10Hz. These cans are quite enjoyable with a bit of bass equalization (and perhaps a bit of tuning via cable choice), although again the bass clearly failed to approach the standard set by the Utopia.
Next I crossed to the other side of the room and had a listen to several of the rigs set up at the very long Schiit table. I have to say I love this company's attitude, sense of humor, and commitment to providing hifi products at realistic prices. However, I don't particularly care for the design aesthetic. I guess I've reached the the stage of life (and income level) where I'm happy to pay extra for premium casework, etc. I started about midway down the table and don't remember the gear, except that the electronics were maybe $500 in total driving a set of planars (Audeze?). The sound was a minor revelation given the size of the gear. The volume was most of the way up and the knob was very warm, but nonetheless an impressive performance given the price and footprint of the electronics. I decided to go straight to the TOTL Yggy/Ragarok combo. I listened to both the HifiMan HE-1000 v2 and the Denon AH-D7100 I had in tow. I guess I'd sum up my impression overall as highly competent, but not game-changing. I understand the theoretical arguments for multibit DACs, but the best Sigma Delta designs are so good now that it really boils down to implementation details in either case. I thought the clicking of relays when one adjusts volume on the Ragnarok was kind of cool, although the momentary audible silences are a bit distracting. A case where whatever sonic benefits are achieved are offset by an ergonomic downside.
I subsequently auditioned the open back MrSpeakers Ether Flows and ZMF Eikons. Neither really got my juices flowing. Nothing wrong with either per se, but just not my cups of tea. The Eikons have the same downside for me as the Sony Z1R, namely too much bulk. But they are beautifully finished!
Final note on the Z1R: I auditioned these cans with the matching Sony amp at both the Source AV and Sony tables. I hate to be overtly negative, but what's up with that amp?? Pure mid-fi sludge to my ears, which I confirmed by also plugging my Denons into it. Anyone who crossed the Z1R off their list based on hearing it with the Sony amp are highly encouraged to re-audition on better electronics.
To wrap up this rambling essay: I took advantage of the 10% show discount through Source AV and am now the proud owner of a set of Focal Utopias. I listened to them for a few hours last night on my home rig, and they really are fabulous. Bravo, Focal!
Thanks to all who participated and organized Canjam! I had a blast and hope to return next year.
