CanJam SoCal Impressions
Sitting here back at home over coffee & relaxing with my cats on Sunday morning trying to gather my thoughts over what was a thrilling, exhausting, emotional, breakneck, and ultimately eminently satisfying weekend. My heart, mind and spirit are full right now-- and not merely from the fact that for two days I was essentially a kid in the candy store I've been dreaming of for the last two years. On the surface I came to SoCal to demo gear, and indeed that was a pre-eminent highlight of the weekend. But in retrospect I can tell even now that the true magic of this past weekend, besides it being my CanJam deflowering, was the fellowship and community I share with so many fellow enthusiasts this last few days-- something no doubt magnified tremendously by the crushing weight of isolation so many felt over the course of the last few years. It was so nice to attach faces to so many names, to see people light up in person when hearing something for the first time, or to directly share the joy with someone when you're both talking about something you both love.
Regarding the events of this weekend I am reminded of the following quote:
"To a traveler standing near a mountain range many eminences seem to have approximately the same altitude; it is difficult to disengage Everest from its lofty neighbors. But as the range recedes in the distance, the highest peak lifts more and more above its fellows, until it alone fills the horizon."
I imagine something similar will hold true with respect to the community bonding of the last few days.
Following will be my best attempt at an impressions post of the last few days. Before I get going a couple general caveats and points to note regarding my impressions.
1) Most of what I will be talking about are IEMs & sources that I heard for the first time this weekend. As such I will not pretend to be able to be truly comprehensive with anything as my demos in all cases were by necessity brief and done along side the breakneck pace and underlying excitement, noise and enthusiasm of the event. The most I can say now is simply whether or not I liked something and what I noticed off the cuff. Everything I say here is subject to revision pending more time & thought with the gear in question.
2) I try to avoid saying things like "a is better than b" in a general way as quite often a and b don't really compare in an apples-apples way. Is the Aroma Jewel "better" than the Fir Kr5? Well...it depends. They both do totally different things and either could be "better" or totally undesirable depending on what you're looking for and what you prioritize.
3) I have a fetish for single driver setups as I feel the coherence you get is worth its weight in audio gold. Because I put a lot of stock in this something like my Campfire Supermoon excels for me in ways that no hybrid setup, no matter how complex or nuanced, can compete with. This might not hold for you and, well, YMMV there.
4) All listening here, unless otherwise noted, was done through my AK SR25ii.
Started the event of right with one of our custom Watercooler name tags courtesy of
@HiFiHawaii808
Favorite IEMs heard:
The Campfire Trifecta was the show stopper for me. Impressions of this IEM so far have been very mixed—with I would say the majority being less than favorable somehow. I had thought to myself that CFA had at best a bit of a misfire on their hands. That being said I wasn’t even expecting the Trifecta to be at the show given that it’s a limited edition, sold out everywhere, and most importantly that Campfire wasn’t even going to be present. It was then with a combination of surprise, delight and trepidation that came over me when, immediately entering the show floor on Saturday morning, the first thing that grabbed my attention at the Bloom table was the Trifecta in a disembodied hand reaching from the clouds and beckoning me to listen. I wasn’t expecting much and I am ashamed to say that it was mostly morbid curiosity that compelled me to sit down and listen. Trifecta impressed me immediately with it’s massive ballsy sound, impeccable coherence, solid resolution and beautiful dynamic & analogue timbre. This is a sound that completely embraces you with warmth and depth and takes you for a ride. Unlike CFA’s previous DD only units that suffered from some combination of veiled mids, metallic treble, overdone bass or crap extension—the Trifecta, in my brief time with it, gets everything right. Bear in mind that I’m a bass & lower mids fiend, as that is what a lot of my library is, and I don’t listen to a lot of female vocals. I went back to the table 4 times over the two days and gave the Trifecta a good once over and continued to find it utterly compelling with the only false note being treble that is a touch aggressive (but nicely extended and never metallic) at times…but never to the point that I hit skip. CFA’s house sound has always existed along two prongs. You have the highly technical with a dash of fun sound of the Andromeda and utterly perfected in the Supermoon, and then you have the more hair on the beast & what I characterize as a “balls deep in dynamic swagger” type sound that Ken Ball has been obviously been passionate about for years but never quite perfected until now. The three DDs in the Trifecta, positioned as they are, act as so many matches whose intensity increases exponentially when they are brought together give the illusion that one is listening to a full size single DD headphone. Single DD and single driver enthusiasts should give the Trifecta a serious look. Approach it with an open mind, you may be very pleasantly surprised.
Hot on the heels of the CFA Trifecta was the Noble Viking Ragnar. Ragnar may be the closest thing to a bonafide Traillii competitor I’ve yet heard. I was able to hear the Ragnar over a few demos starting with an early peek on Friday night. The sound is pleasantly energetic and immediately engaging with the highlight, I would say, being the midrange. I never had any issues with the upper mids or highs but for those who like a more relaxed presentation this may not be the best option. It’s not exactly a basshead either— I would say it’s between Jewel and Traillii in quantity and arguably superior in quality to either. Recommended for people who enjoy the Jewel but would like something a little more energetic and engaging. I could even see this being a great compliment to the Bird for many. Also build quality is utterly top tier—that Damascus shell is really something. Puts the Jewel to shame in this dept. The cable is excellent too.
Astell & Kern Odyssey. I was eager to hear this IEM because of some private chats I’ve had with some EE enthusiasts I consider reliable. The hope is that it would be something along the lines of an IEM with bass quantity more than Odin but less than EVO and less upper mids than both IEMs. There is nothing at all fatiguing about this IEM so if you’re on the fence because of EE’s prior upper mid tuning (I finally got to hear Evo this weekend and the upper mids there murdered my ears) but really love their sound otherwise this may well be the IEM you’re dreaming of. I will say one thing here about this IEM and EE’s sound in general that I have noticed from my experience with LX, Odin and Bravado II. Empire Ears house sound consists in what I refer to as an “observer oriented” presentation. When listening to their IEMs you’re in the perspective of an audience member watching the presentation about a row or two back. Sony is another company I would say has this sort of presentation and I could see it appealing especially to old school 2 channel enthusiasts. It stands in contrast to what I would describe as an “in your face” presentation where, instead of from the perspective of an audience member, you’re totally immersed in the sound—it’s all around you. Campfire Audio is a company who specializes in this type of sound and my overall preference for it is one of the things that has endeared me to this brand over the year. Fir Audio is another one. I would say the Noble Viking Ragnor is slightly in this category and this, along with its midrange emphasis contrasted with the more bass centred sound of the Odyssey (which is by no means a basshead IEM but whose bass grabs your attention more than the Ragnar, whose midrange & highs are more central) comprise the biggest differences between these two IEMs. Both are top tier—choose your poison.
The Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor was my first exposure to UM’s Mason line and I was impressed off the bat—full spectrum goodness with great BA/BC bass and mids so seductive I wonder how this IEM comes from the same company responsible for the synthetic mids that characterize the whole Mest lineup to my ears. Imagine a Phonix minus a bit of the midrange magic (VE are still among the GOATS here) but better everything else and you have the Mentor. If I wasn’t so inherently averse to BAs (despite how good this is) I would be seriously considering it. Of the other UM IEMs I listened to the Mentor is most like the Mason FS...which I consider to be a slight downgrade.
I was enjoying breakfast with some fellow Watercooler-ers on Saturday morning and I had a chance to hear
@morserotonin's
Aroma Thunder. I didn’t know what to expect at first. Jewel (build quality aside) is a summit fi IEM for sure but it’s too reference sounding for me—YMMV there—and on account of that I’d kind of kept the Aroma Thunder hype at bay. When I put them in my ears I was totally blown away. They’re not the most sophisticated sound perhaps but they’re super engaging with fantastic bass, present clear mids, well extended treble and don’t do anything really wrong that I could detect. Perhaps not the best in any single category but I’m at a loss to find many IEMs that are as much of a fun yet sufficiently technical sounding total package that the Thunder is.
Favorite sources: For me this is a tie between the
Hiby RS8 and the
Sony WM1ZM2.
The RS8 has a beautifully seductive and analogue tonality...it is a perfect match with my Supermoon. Software seems a little laggy and buggy to me at times—the player froze a few times on me when trying to navigate and sweet jumping jebus is the player a brick. It’s the heaviest DAP on the market and for be very hard to pocket given it’s tendency to pull one’s pants down. I don’t have a lot of experience here but the RS8 is just what I’d imagined a TOTL R2R to sound like—a flowing river of analogue & technical sound. On the other hand Sony sexy is a thing. My demo with the WM1ZM2 was not ideal because it wouldn’t let me load my own SD card into it—as such my demo was very superficial and I didn’t get to listen to any songs I know. But damn that player is a work of aesthetic perfection and is probably edging the RS8 for me for just that reason.
Disappointments: The Elysian Diva didn't impress me-- which is too bad because that was the one IEM I’d squirreled away funds for and thought I might buy. It gives you a taste of the top tier treble Elysian is known for, and the mids are decent enough but…the bass does not do it for me. The thing with Elysian so far for me, which is kind of the inverse of a problem with many IEMs that focus too much on bass to the expense of mids or treble, is that while the treble is summit fi the bass often is far from it. On the Diva the bass was too boomy for me on the max setting and on the middle setting the Diva like a low-res Supermoon (which I was a/b’ing with it) with limp bass and marginally more seductive mids. On its own terms the Diva may even be a great IEM but for me having the Supermoon more-or less renders it redundant.
The
Astell & Kern SP3K seemed mediocre coming from RS8 and didn't do the Odyssey any favors to my ears. I didn’t even like the Odyssey until I plugged it into my SR25ii.
I tried the UM Indigo on two occasions. It didn’t really connect with me for the same reason neither prior Mest I’ve heard has fully connected with me—it’s a technical powerhouse with zero emotion in the mids. Once the fireworks wear off there’s nothing of substance for me to sink my heart and teeth into.
I tried the Dunu planar hybrid (in planar only mode) and it was…well...meh. Coming from Supermoon’s stage &, especially, the fantastic bass it just didn’t cut it. Even at the $200 price point I’d probably still take the Timeless. YMMV.
Other random points:
1) The Aroma Ace is a great all BA IEM, as is the Oriolus Mellianus-- both are overpriced though.
2) Traillii may very well still be the GOAT-- it knocked my socks off today, and through my SR25ii no less. I put it in and literally lost track of time for like 30 minutes in lala land.. given the events and surroundings that is noteworthy. Still not sure about the bass in the long term though.
3) The Elysian Annihilator is mostly a great IEM— hearing its treble performance through the Hiby RS8 was a thing to behold. But the bass is too weak and loose for it to be a top tier IEM for me. The tragic thing is this may not even be a tuning problem but a cheap driver problem—if the Annihilator had a bass driver of the same quality as CFA, EE or Sony’s…and less power demanding e-stats…well this could make me want to spend $4K on it. As it stands now it falls short of the mark for me.
4) I loved the Fourte and it's my presently my favourite 64 IEM. Still it’s showing its age on today’s market. I’ve heard rumours of a Fourte MKii possibly on the horizon and I will be watching for tha VERY closely. u18t is just as sterile as I remember and Trio is still too thin and bright for me.
5) Thanks to
@theveterans I heard an OG Andromeda for the first time ever in the form of a Pacific Blue edition and I absolutely loved it. I think I may even prefer it to the 2020...would need to a/b. Hiss free through my SR25ii.
6) I really enjoyed my time chatting with Eric from Eletech—he’s one of the most passionate and kind people I’ve met in this hobby. I tried the Ode to Laura and it wasn’t the best match with my Supermoon-- it totally nerfed the bass but it did a lot of clarity to the mids & highs. Ironically this may have made me a full on cable believer. Talking to Eric about this and we figure the gold plated copper of my Victoria may offer the perfect synergy with Supermoon. We talked about the Jewel and he said it’s the IEM he uses to tune but that he wouldn’t listen to it for enjoyment. That’s basically how I see it.
7) The Stax 009 & Blue Hawaii is the greatest headphone/IEM product I've ever heard. And it's not close. Well actually Susvara is a close second. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to anything else for like an hour after I heard it.
8) Biggest out of nowhere was the EE/Elysian collab Gaea. I picked it up when I had 5 minutes to kill in an idle moment and it totally surprised me. I liked it more than Diva—it’s got much better bass at the very least. It was an enaging & dynamic set but consider this only the hottest of hot takes because of how short it was. I’m fortunate to be part of a tour and should get ears on this again soon. Stay tuned.
9) Perhaps the biggest surprise was this small Singaporean company called FatFreq. I actually met them all in the elevator when I first arrived and was heading out to my room and finally got around to checking out their table on Sunday morning. I tried their Maestro (?) sub-flagship and entry level models. These IEMs have some of most singularly unique and engaging bass I’ve ever heard in an IEM. Impressive still is all the mid-range and top end clarity. I would have bought the $500 mini-Maestro for $500 except there was no vent on the front and the BA was sitting right there. I’d be to paranoid a fleck of dust would get in and wreck it. Still I will be following these guys (and girl) and will be purchasing one of their IEMs eventually. Watch for them.
@HiFiHawaii808 @discord and all the other Cooler members I was privileged to meet are great people. Was a beautiful and exhausting couple days I will never forget.
Also Musicteck/Andrew is the Goat of Goats. It was fun meeting my dealer in person for the first time.
As a plus I got to enjoy some Michelin Star (vegan) Ramen (along with some vegan water LMAO).
As a final gesture this little guy bid me farewell:
It was a slice everyone...thanks for the memories.
it'll be on its way to good ole Hawaii
I appear for about 6 seconds from 6:41 to 6:47.
