Wow! What a great 'Jam!
Saturday was pretty much slammed all day and Sunday had a pretty healthy crowd as well.
It was great seeing lots of Head-Fi friends and lots of great new gear!
My Fav's
HiFiMAN Arya ($1599) - Great sounding headphone. It really is a HE1000 V2 (and maybe even a little better) for nearly half its price. Doesn't get much better than than.
Rossen RAD-0 ($2600) - Another great sounding (and looking) planar, it reminded me of an Audeze LCD-X on steroids. And like the LCD-X, it had a more intimate soundstage than most other open-backs but it had a nice density to its presentation that I found quite compelling.
MrSpeakers Ether 2 ($1999) w/ perforated pads ($89) - I was not a fan of the Ether 2's tuning which sounded overly dull to my ears. But the new perforated pads pretty much fixes that! While still a little subdued sounding, the perforated pads made a big improvement over the stock pads for me. I also tried the suede pads and thought they sounded a little better than the stock pads as well and they were super comfy. It's really cool that Dan has given current and future owners of the Ether 2's these extra tuning options.
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO ($599) - I forgot how great these sound! Definitely one of the best bang-for-the-buck open-backs on the market. This was the best I've heard them sound and they were running off an A20 amp. Maybe some magic synergy going on there!
ifi xDSD ($399) - Fantastic SQ from this little guy. And I love the that it uses a 100% analog volume control. I made sure to turn off its bass boost and crossfeed, and it sounded excellent.
Schiit Lyr 3 w/ Tung-Sol tube ($525) - Damn it! I was hoping the Lyr 3 would only be a tiny bit better than the Lyr 2 (which I currently own and love) but it was noticeably better across the board! Now I have to save even more pennies and (eventually) get one!
Schiit Mystery Product ($???) - I don't usually do this, but I'm going to be a total tease! I had a nice convo with Jason and he told me a few juicy secrets but made me swear a blood oath not to post any specifics. So I'll just say this, there are going to be a lot of really happy SchiitHeads a couple of months from now. And I'm definitely one of them!
Campfire Audio Solaris ($1499) - Holy Schiit! These are pretty freaking amazing. I felt like Marty from BTTF when he's standing in front of that giant speaker and strikes that chord that sends him flying! The Solaris are not for the faint of heart. They have a massive, vivid, powerful sound that will knock you back in your seat. I absolutely loved them!
Fiio FH7 ($449) - Definitely the most highly resolving IEM Fiio has ever made. Actually, they kind of sounded like a 'Solaris Jr'. They have a very vivid and upfront presentation just like the Solaris, with no major FR issues, but they lack the Solaris' overall refinement. I can see these being really fun for shorter listening sessions, but they might become fatiguing if you are listing for longer periods of time. Still really liked them. FYI, they only had the Balanced filters available, so that's how I heard them.
Periodic Audio C [Carbon] ($399) - I thought these sounded a lot like the Be but with more sub-bass and a little more natural sounding mids and treble. Unfortunately, I had a serious issue with the driver loudly crinkling whenever I inserted them into my ears, so they won't work for me, but I asked several others who had tried them and none of them had the same issue. They sounded really good once I got them in my ears though.
My Top 3
Moondrop KXXS ($189) - These are the just-released successor to the already great sounding Kanas Pro. The KXXS pretty much fixes all of the small SQ issues that the Kanas Pro has. They seem to have the exact same voicing as the Kanas Pro but with a much cleaner sounding mid and treble range. These really blew me away for what they offer for the money. I'm definitely getting a pair!
Astell & Kern Billie Jean ($349) - Holy crap do these sound good! I honestly wasn't expecting much since they only use 2 BA's but I was shocked by what I heard. Deep, tight bass - fantastic mids - clear, fatique-free treble. Track after track, the Billie Jean's delivered incredible SQ for the $$$. These get my highest recommendation. For a more detailed assessment of them, check out Warren Chi's excellent review of them here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-jh-audio-billie-jean-impressions.878444/
Empire Ears Legend X ($2299) - These are now in my Top 5 List of TOTL IEMs! These are legit fantastic. What impressed me the most about them was that they pull off the seemingly impossible task of sounding both ultra-revealing while at the same time being totally fatigue-free. And their bass is deep and powerful without overdoing it. I have no idea how they pulled off this magic trick but they did and they sound amazing.
Saturday was pretty much slammed all day and Sunday had a pretty healthy crowd as well.
It was great seeing lots of Head-Fi friends and lots of great new gear!
My Fav's
HiFiMAN Arya ($1599) - Great sounding headphone. It really is a HE1000 V2 (and maybe even a little better) for nearly half its price. Doesn't get much better than than.
Rossen RAD-0 ($2600) - Another great sounding (and looking) planar, it reminded me of an Audeze LCD-X on steroids. And like the LCD-X, it had a more intimate soundstage than most other open-backs but it had a nice density to its presentation that I found quite compelling.
MrSpeakers Ether 2 ($1999) w/ perforated pads ($89) - I was not a fan of the Ether 2's tuning which sounded overly dull to my ears. But the new perforated pads pretty much fixes that! While still a little subdued sounding, the perforated pads made a big improvement over the stock pads for me. I also tried the suede pads and thought they sounded a little better than the stock pads as well and they were super comfy. It's really cool that Dan has given current and future owners of the Ether 2's these extra tuning options.
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO ($599) - I forgot how great these sound! Definitely one of the best bang-for-the-buck open-backs on the market. This was the best I've heard them sound and they were running off an A20 amp. Maybe some magic synergy going on there!
ifi xDSD ($399) - Fantastic SQ from this little guy. And I love the that it uses a 100% analog volume control. I made sure to turn off its bass boost and crossfeed, and it sounded excellent.
Schiit Lyr 3 w/ Tung-Sol tube ($525) - Damn it! I was hoping the Lyr 3 would only be a tiny bit better than the Lyr 2 (which I currently own and love) but it was noticeably better across the board! Now I have to save even more pennies and (eventually) get one!
Schiit Mystery Product ($???) - I don't usually do this, but I'm going to be a total tease! I had a nice convo with Jason and he told me a few juicy secrets but made me swear a blood oath not to post any specifics. So I'll just say this, there are going to be a lot of really happy SchiitHeads a couple of months from now. And I'm definitely one of them!
Campfire Audio Solaris ($1499) - Holy Schiit! These are pretty freaking amazing. I felt like Marty from BTTF when he's standing in front of that giant speaker and strikes that chord that sends him flying! The Solaris are not for the faint of heart. They have a massive, vivid, powerful sound that will knock you back in your seat. I absolutely loved them!
Fiio FH7 ($449) - Definitely the most highly resolving IEM Fiio has ever made. Actually, they kind of sounded like a 'Solaris Jr'. They have a very vivid and upfront presentation just like the Solaris, with no major FR issues, but they lack the Solaris' overall refinement. I can see these being really fun for shorter listening sessions, but they might become fatiguing if you are listing for longer periods of time. Still really liked them. FYI, they only had the Balanced filters available, so that's how I heard them.
Periodic Audio C [Carbon] ($399) - I thought these sounded a lot like the Be but with more sub-bass and a little more natural sounding mids and treble. Unfortunately, I had a serious issue with the driver loudly crinkling whenever I inserted them into my ears, so they won't work for me, but I asked several others who had tried them and none of them had the same issue. They sounded really good once I got them in my ears though.
My Top 3
Moondrop KXXS ($189) - These are the just-released successor to the already great sounding Kanas Pro. The KXXS pretty much fixes all of the small SQ issues that the Kanas Pro has. They seem to have the exact same voicing as the Kanas Pro but with a much cleaner sounding mid and treble range. These really blew me away for what they offer for the money. I'm definitely getting a pair!
Astell & Kern Billie Jean ($349) - Holy crap do these sound good! I honestly wasn't expecting much since they only use 2 BA's but I was shocked by what I heard. Deep, tight bass - fantastic mids - clear, fatique-free treble. Track after track, the Billie Jean's delivered incredible SQ for the $$$. These get my highest recommendation. For a more detailed assessment of them, check out Warren Chi's excellent review of them here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-jh-audio-billie-jean-impressions.878444/
Empire Ears Legend X ($2299) - These are now in my Top 5 List of TOTL IEMs! These are legit fantastic. What impressed me the most about them was that they pull off the seemingly impossible task of sounding both ultra-revealing while at the same time being totally fatigue-free. And their bass is deep and powerful without overdoing it. I have no idea how they pulled off this magic trick but they did and they sound amazing.
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