[zen87192]

Me I want that !
funny !

I second that! Brilliant picture! Would look great over my Primaluna Tube Amp! Is that one of your own personal drawings GoldenOne?

 

[GoldenSound]

I second that! Brilliant picture! Would look great over my Primaluna Tube Amp! Is that one of your own personal drawings GoldenOne?

No this was actually done by an artist at Western Electric.

We first saw it in Munich in one of their demo rooms. Was kinda funny, apparently the guy had more people asking about it than the audio gear XD

They were not intending on selling it though, so I got a lower res copy of the image, friend of mine AI upscaled it and I cleaned it up in Photoshop and then had a few printed for myself, DMS and Resolve.

Hopefully Western Electric will sell prints of it in future cause it's brilliant

 

[ThanatosVI]

No this was actually done by an artist at Western Electric.

We first saw it in Munich in one of their demo rooms. Was kinda funny, apparently the guy had more people asking about it than the audio gear XD

They were not intending on selling it though, so I got a lower res copy of the image, friend of mine AI upscaled it and I cleaned it up in Photoshop and then had a few printed for myself, DMS and Resolve.

Hopefully Western Electric will sell prints of it in future cause it's brilliant

I'd actually buy that myself. Great art

 

[Karnicopia]

Yeah! I guess a lot of people listened to it, but maybe they didn't know what it was? It looked like this. Holla at me if you listened to it and have any thoughts. I am only accepting positive feedback at this time however...





Lol you know you sold that amp to me, right?! Then I modded it a bunch and sold it to @Karnicopia when I started designing my own amplifiers. The Glenn OTL is immortal, it still lives.

It definitely lives on I really love that amp it was my first experience with tubes and I fell pretty deep down the rabbit hole of tube rolling but I learned so much doing that about what I preferred in sound. I think also made me an eternal fan of your amps I can't separate what was your work vs what is the original Glenn but the combination is really beautiful and I just call it the LGOTL. I also had a chance to hear your Airmid and then I didn't realize it was your amp at the time but I spent a lot of time with the 45 you made for Zach at can jam Chicago and they were both stunning and two of my favorite amps at the show (I also really liked the Wells audio stuff and then the ZOTL which I did end up getting for planars).

It's been really cool seeing the amps you have built and I'm sorry that they aren't commercially available but hopefully you can work out something because you do amazing work. Would be cool if it could be with ZMF but I saw his post about having trouble providing support for amps so just wanted to mention maybe headamp is a good option? I think they build out Kevin Gilmore designs so maybe you could work out something with them to do a L0rdGwyn design? Not sure if that is a possibility but Justin seems like a really great guy and I don't know that they have an OTL so figured I'd mention it. Just an idea and if you do come out with a DIY amp I believe I am already on board for giving it a shot as I think that would be really fun to learn.

 

[Zachik]

Hopefully Western Electric will sell prints of it in future cause it's brilliant

These prints will sell for $1,000... but will come with 5 year warranty!

 

[Maelob]

Oh fellow Floridian !!! We must band together and demand a Canjam near us

Would like to see Can Jam Miami, but seriously anywhere in FL would be awesome.

 

[wazzupi]

Would like to see Can Jam Miami, but seriously anywhere in FL would be awesome.

Ya anywhere I can drive to without needing to stop at a motel or something would be great

 

[Zachik]

Ya anywhere I can drive to without needing to stop at a motel or something would be great

Buddy, you flew all the way to SoCal... Why not a MUCH shorter flight to NYC?
As much as I would personally love to have more CanJams (in other locations) - I know how much work (and expense) it is for the companies exhibiting... so I would say it is not realistic to add more CanJams (unfortunately).

 

[wazzupi]

Buddy, you flew all the way to SoCal... Why not a MUCH shorter flight to NYC?
As much as I would personally love to have more CanJams (in other locations) - I know how much work (and expense) it is for the companies exhibiting... so I would say it is not realistic to add more CanJams (unfortunately).

I know where you're coming from but I'm not going to debate about it. appreciate your input. I'll voice what I think.

 

[Smallpie]

ZMF Caldera:

WOW. I'm not too sure what I was expecting to hear with these, but whatever my expectations were, these exceeded them.
Take an atrium, give it a deep reaching, flat extension into the subbass, and add quite a significant amount of detail and soundstage, and you've got a caldera. Zach has seriously hit it out of the park with these.

Funny you took a pic when those camphor burl calderas were placed there. I was still looking around and put them there so I had dibs on them. I watched them like a hawk for the first minute until I saw Bevin introducing the headphones to others as the one I’m buying. @BooUrns, I was like:

 

[deafenears]

This was an experiment cable I built (15awg x 8 = 12awg x 4) to determine the relationship between cable gauge and SPL on the Raal transformer box. Not a retail product.

So did it do much or make a noticeable difference with regards to SPL?

Looks nice, even a 15awg x 4 version would be neat.

 

[DenverW]

Funny you took a pic when those camphor burl calderas were placed there. I was still looking around and put them there so I had dibs on them. I watched them like a hawk for the first minute until I saw Bevin introducing the headphones to others as the one I’m buying. @BooUrns, I was like:

You put them down? You're bold and brave. I didn't let mine out of my hands .

 

[eruilluvitar]

Canjam SoCal this year was absolutely amazing and I have had a truly phenomenal week.
This is my first time going to Canjam SoCal (even though I lived in San Diego for a couple years!) and I am already incredibly excited for next year.

I'm not going to be making a video about this trip as for me, this was about spending time with friends who I very rarely get the opportunity to see, some of whom I've known for years but had not had the opportunity to meet in person before at all. So you'll have to excuse the mediocre photo quality as I just took my phone with me.

Pre-Canjam:
Myself, @skedra and his girlfriend Magda took an 11 hour flight across the pond for the event, and we stayed with a bunch of friends at a house on the beach in Newport rather than getting hotel rooms, with another 5 of us in another house just up the road.



Not a bad view to wake up to in the morning! And watching the sun going down over the ocean each night was a real treat too.



We stayed in SoCal together for a week, spending a few days either side of the event doing some stuff together, including going to see Kendrick Lamar and the Big Steppers tour on Day 1, and hiking up to the Hollywood sign on Day 2.





And of course, spending plenty of time on the beach, having some great food, and being a bunch of crazy audiophiles, enjoying some of the awesome gear that had been brought along.







@Danmellinger received the first HM1 unit in the US on the friday, so we were also able to spend some proper time with that over the next few days.


@SpeleoFool also upheld his title as 'King of Roon', outdoing his previous camping setup:

And instead constructing what I think technically qualifies as the world's largest DAP. Fully portable and on wheels, with a built in roon core, display, optional battery backup and both tube and solid state outputs! (Disclaimer: May not actually fit in your pocket)



Canjam Day 1:

At last though canjam day 1 arrived. And unfortunately I personally did not get to spend all that much time trying out gear as I spent the entirety of the morning speaking with people and catching up with friends. Time flew so fast that seemingly as soon as we got in, we were heading out for lunch again.

On the way back I had just enough time to go to Headamp's private room to try out their excellent (and wonderfully quiet!) setup upstairs away from the noise of the show floor.



This was my first time hearing the DCA Expanse and wow, those are a big step up over the stealth in my view. Fixing the dynamics issue I had previously and turning them into a SERIOUSLY good headphone. So good that @Danmellinger bought a pair about 30 seconds after listening!
Definitely something I'm looking forward to spending more time with and hopefully reviewing in future.

Once that was done, I headed to the "Digital Audio 201" talk given by @Rob Watts which was excellent. And afterwards had the fantastic opportunity to chat with him for a good hour and a half over coffee. It was brilliant to get his insight into so many areas and I have to thank him for so much of his time. Absolutely one of the highlights of my week and I'm incredibly excited to see what comes from him in future.

After that, the first day of canjam was already coming to an end, but our group still had some fun to be had. We'd planned a private get together with just shy of 40 people coming. Renting out a venue, getting in some catering (big props to @eskamobob1 for the recommendation, the tacos were AMAZING), an awesome lineup of gear, and a far more awesome group of people.
I'm not going to share any videos/photos of the event with people in it (besides one) as it was a private event and we'd asked people not to film. We wanted people to be able to unwind and not be on camera, but gotta show some highlights of the cool stuff we had there.












Not gonna lie though I'd be lying if I said the Tacos weren't the highlight of it!

Canjam Day 2:

Day 2 of canjam arrived, and this time I was determined to actually listen to some gear. This show was BIG, far bigger than London Canjam and one day definitely would not have been enough to try everything. Two would have been a stretch still.
Especially when some of the items like the Warwick (which was in a soundproof pod! PLEASE more manufacturers do this in future, that thing was brilliant) had a VERY long queue to listen at times.

Luckily though I'd had the opportunity to listen to most of the items before either at home or previous events, but there was plenty of things that were new in general or new to me and I still struggled to get enough time with all of them.

A few highlights for me though and I'll do my best to keep impressions brief:

Warwick Aperio/Bravura:
I've done a full review of both of these, but I just have to say how brilliant this soundproof pod was. There are some things you just can't get a full grasp of on a show floor, and this really allowed the listener to get a better impression of both products. I REALLY hope we see more of these at future canjams.



Auribus Acoustics:

I'd been really keen to try this for quite some time and at last I was able to. Man this thing is fun. Simply excellent for the money with great technical performance, a fun, very dynamic and tastefully done tuning achieved with a combination of traditional mechanical design and analog filters that provide a seriously compelling package for the money. I'll have a full review of these coming.

ZMF Caldera:

WOW. I'm not too sure what I was expecting to hear with these, but whatever my expectations were, these exceeded them.
Take an atrium, give it a deep reaching, flat extension into the subbass, and add quite a significant amount of detail and soundstage, and you've got a caldera. Zach has seriously hit it out of the park with these.
I don't think these actually 'replace' the atrium for me, as their more energetic treble does mean they don't quite fill the same romantic and more laid back yet forceful presentation the Atrium does so well, but boy oh boy are these impressive and I'm certainly going to have to get myself a pair in future.
These were also surprisingly light. I figured given the need for large magnets they'd be heavier than the atrium but to my surprise they were considerably lighter. The concave grille looks beautiful in person in a way that really does not come across on camera too.
We were also lucky enough to try these at home in the quiet on the excellent ampsandsound nautilus which was a simply breathtaking experience.


Woo WA23:

I was a big fan of the WA33, and honestly, I think this is better. This is a wamer, more 'traditionally tubey' presentation that seemed to retain absolutely all of the technical performance of the WA33. All the good stuff with some sugar on top, what more could you ask for? How about a visually stunning design that I'd want on my desk just to look at even if it made no sound at all? Oh right...it has that too!

Post-Canjam:

Once the weekend had passed though, canjam was over, though our trip was not. I can confirm that you've not truly lived until you've been on a wild night out with @Gizmo1k and @ZeosPantera (which was too spicy for pictures sorry!), that was worth the trip in and of itself! But many of our group on Monday took a road-trip down to San Diego to visit Hodads, for what is perhaps the best Burger found anywhere in the world. Though be warned, you may not be able to eat for another day or two if you finish it!

How much audio gear do you need to carry before you need an armed escort?

And probably the best part of the whole trip: Surfing dog!

Unfortunately on the final day a few of us were feeling a bit rough, so we spent the last day relaxing at the house and on the beach, unwinding after an eventful but thoroughly awesome week.
We all had such an amazing time, and I'm so happy to be able to spend time with such amazing friends, meet so many awesome people, try such amazing stuff and see such amazing places.
I cannot wait for next year already!

Until then, cheers!

I'm glad you also enjoyed the WA23! It absolutely blew my socks off, and I couldn't leave that room after hearing it without purchasing one.

 

[Max Choiral]

35 pages of impressions and so little interest in xMEMS

 

[GoldenSound]

35 pages of impressions and so little interest in xMEMS

Mems didn't have a retail product there. They're licensing their tech to other manufacturers.

They did have a proof of concept prototype iem though which was very interesting.

We're certainly going to be seeing some awesome TWS stuff with this tech in future