CanJam SoCal 2022 Impressions Thread (September 17-18, 2022)
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:16 PM Post #226 of 638
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:23 PM Post #227 of 638
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:25 PM Post #228 of 638
Just left from day two at CanJam SoCal 2022. Best in show for me:

Over ear full size
ZMF Caldera. Wow just like I new it would sound. I do not have a use case for open back right now, when the closed back arrives (Zach said it will come after the Atrium closed back) I will definitely own one of them.
Runner up: Focal Newtopia. To me it sounds richer, fuller and a good amount wider and slightly smoother in the treble.

IEMs
Tie- 64 Audio Nio and U12T. One of these will be my next IEM. I think I prefer the Nio very slightly (dynamic bass), but without hearing them side by side I could not say for sure that the U12T was BA.

Runner up: Symphonium Helios. Wow. These are BA only? Really. So coherent and smooth, yet detailed. The cables that come with these are so nice too. Two Problems. One- way too big. Two- way too power hungry for an IEM.
Honorable mention: Symponium Meteor (I think that was the name, it is brand new (not even on their website as of this morning). This sounds like a dynamic driver. So punchy, so smooth. And way smaller than the Helios.

Biggest surprise of the show? I like the Auteur Classic better than the Atrium. Just sounds more natural and tighter to me. Side note- everone seems to say "you gotta hear these ZMFs on an OTL, so amazing". etc. Meh. I realized today after hearing many over the years, I don't like any OTL amps. They all (regardless of price or pedigree) sound flabby to my ears. Give me my RME ADI-2 PRO FS R or if it is gonna be tubes give me an Ampsandsound Mogwei or Nautilus or maybe Woo Audio WA33.

Second biggest surprise- Focal Celestee. I have heard all of the other Focals (owned a few) and after owning and quickly returning the claustrophobia inducing Radiance, I thought I was done with Focal closed backs (still love the Stellia). But the Celestee sounds downright spacious copared to the congested sounding Radiance and way better than the measurements suggest.

Third biggest surprise- The Hifiman Sundara closed back looks pretty good in person and from early impressions, is the best sounding closed back I have heard under $500 (a little EQ certainly helped).


PS: I reserve the right to amend this post after my CanJam high wears off. 😀
Listening to my Meteor right now. I dig it.
 
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:29 PM Post #229 of 638
I was not expecting day 2 to top the first…

Then It did 🤣

16B5EC24-555F-49B7-B1E1-8F63528AEA9E.jpeg

B7AE6485-E86A-4DEE-A9E0-AB0E46F4CE21.jpeg
8275527A-2F14-478B-8648-115482262C16.jpeg

B85ED68E-F439-4310-8368-826162E39C7D.jpeg
 
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:31 PM Post #230 of 638
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:31 PM Post #231 of 638
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:33 PM Post #233 of 638
I was not expecting day 2 to top the first…

Then It did 🤣




Ah yep, the HE60, was hilarious talking with you the whole time while they were there and being listened to. Ah, Senn, if they could ever bring back some of the legendary stuff they stopped making :p.
 
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:45 PM Post #235 of 638
For anyone here at the Irvine Marriott for Canjam SoCal, I will have the full Empire Ears lineup including the new EMPIRE EARS X ASTELL&KERN ODYSSEY in the lobby starting around 9pm tonight, I'll probably be down there for a about an hour or two, just shoot me a pm if you need help finding me.
 
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:46 PM Post #236 of 638
Non-believers are going to throw a hissy fit lol.

That really is unfortunate, luckily when I listened to his amps at the nyc show, there didn't seem to be any power issues. Amazing sounding amps, red october was my favorite.

That would be unfortunate I agree. I was really hoping to hear how well the Red October extracts the magic out of those 300 B tubes but couldn't stand the gremlins unfortunately. It was literally like listening to 10-30% THD at that point and all magic just completely vanished.

One quick trivia though: SoCal is notorious for power grid crisis especially during peak summer season
 
Sep 18, 2022 at 11:49 PM Post #237 of 638
That would be unfortunate I agree. I was really hoping to hear how well the Red October extracts the magic out of those 300 B tubes but couldn't stand the gremlins unfortunately. It was literally like listening to 10-30% THD at that point and all magic just completely vanished.

One quick trivia though: SoCal is notorious for power grid crisis especially during peak summer season

Can certainly confirm that as a resident haha. We have a generator at the house as a just in case after we got power knocked out for nearly a whole week a couple years back.
 
Sep 19, 2022 at 12:03 AM Post #238 of 638
20220917_170245.jpg


20220917_150528.jpg


20220917_160853.jpg


20220917_151023.jpg

20220917_134606.jpg

2nd Canjam in the books! Ton of fun, thanks to everyone who helped set this up. I made it a point to try out all the flagships this go around. I'm still pretty new to this hobby and I will say I don't have the best ear, especially on a noisy show floor. I saw many people taking notes in their phone or in a journal and now I can see why. Very difficult to go off memory as I tried a ton of stuff and a wide variety of amps. Music I mostly tested is Rock, Metal, Electronic, Reggae, and some Pop.

LCD5 - I tried the LCD5's multiple times on different setups and I enjoyed it the most on the DCS stack (this is a trend). Very amp picky as I remember not enjoying it much out of one of the tube amps. It was a very intense listening session to say the least, resolution on these through the DCS stack had me dumbfounded. Not my favorite tuning unfortunately and was kinda clampy on the head (maybe had the older headband).

Susvara - Heard these also through the DCS stack and was probably top 3 for me in the entire show. Incredibly well balanced and enjoyable to listen to. I think what I liked most about these is if you want to sit there and analyze a song you can, and if you want to zone out and relax you can. The LCD5 was much more in your face and a bit fatiguing. Susvara with more low end/punch would probably be my dream headphone.

Abyss 1266 - The setup for these at the Wells Audio booth was ridiculous. Weird tuning and absolutely terrible comfort but holy hell are they incredible for metal. I tried a few different genres, but basically ended up listening to half the Metallica black album with a smile on my face. I had these cranked uppp on the volume, I think the person next to me wasn't pleased.. sorry!

New Utopia - As far as build is concerned, The Utopia's and the Meze Elite's are in a league of their own. I remember just staring at these in my hand and marveling at how gorgeous they are. Listened to the Utopia's through the Benchmark HPA4 and they were enjoyable but I didn't absolutely love it like the Susvara's. Susvara sounded more natural to me, although the Utopia's punchy low end were fun. Not sure what was updated vs the OG utopia but still a great headphone in 2022 albeit the price increase is disheartening. Wish I tried these on tubes.

HD800S - Not for me. Crazy soundstage but low end was dead and too much treble for my liking.

Audeze MM500 - Amazing headphone with neutral tuning. I listened to these for a good while on an M Scaler and walked away very impressed. Super comfortable (not clampy) and incredible build quality. I thought it did everything pretty well. If these slammed just a bit harder I'd be in love but I understand that's not what their purpose is haha. If Audeze can bring their house sound to this new design.. sign me up!

Meze Elites - Most comfortable headphone and 10/10 build. Heard these last year at Canjam and was impressed, but I'm less impressed this year after hearing the rest of the flagships. Ima sucker for warm headphones and while the Elites have a fun tuning, it's definitely a tier below the LCD5/Sus/Utopia. Meze's cables were the best from the flagships however. The Susvara's were laughably bad..!

ZMF - Caldera out of the Nautilus was a lot of fun. Warm planar goodness. Wish it had a bit more oomph in the low end, but mids and treble were well balanced and was an enjoyable listen for Rock/Reggae. I briefly tried the Atrium and Verite Open from some Cayin tube amps at the end of the show. I think I enjoyed the Atrium's a bit more, and were probably my favorite dynamic driver headphone at the show. They had a number of different headphones setup on some shelves for purchase.. Simply stunning craftsmanship, I need to own a ZMF headphone in the future

I also tried the Expanse briefly but I really cannot remember what they sounded like. I think I cut it short because there was too much surrounding noise.

IEMs - **I am a total IEM noob** I tried the helios, meteor, blessing2, monarch mk2, trio, legend evo, u12t. U12t was hands down my favorite and can see why it's always recommended. It just does everything well. Comfort was the main issue for me when trying the mk2 and symphonium IEMs (too bulky). Evo's were amazing for electronic music!

My main complaint was the constant wifi issues at some of the booths using Qobuz and the like. I wasn't able to always use my own source and having to pick from a smaller offline music collection was a bit frustrating. Other than that, it was an awesome Canjam and I kinda wish I went the 2nd day. Thankfully my wallet stayed in my pocket the entire time. Can't wait to see what's in store next year!
 
Sep 19, 2022 at 12:05 AM Post #239 of 638
For those who were at the headphones.com booth, thoughts on the SMSL VMV D3 DAC? Very little written about this DAC.

I'm not very good at writing about how things sound, but I figured I would chime in. The D3 was paired with the Enleum 23R. I spent a good amount of time with this setup over two separate sessions. I was using the LCD-5, which I own so I am familiar with the sound profile. The amp clearly had the LCD-5s under control, but it seemed ever so slightly lacking in the treble detail and separation. I was impressed, but not blown away like I thought I would be with the 23R. We are talking 9.5/10 instead of 9.9/10. I thought it might be the DAC holding it back so I also spent time at the Audeze booth with the Holo May, Soloist and at the LTA booth with the Z10e, Pontus II. Both with the LCD-5. In both cases, I was more impressed with the LTA and Audeze setup from a 'wow' factor. It had the treble extension and/or separation that the 23R setup was slightly missing. None of the setups were harsh. The 23R and LTA setup took the win on bass quality and quantity. Holo setup had something special about it that I couldn't pinpoint.

At the end of the day I will still likely go with the 23R but with the Holo May. I liked the form factor with the D3 and 23R, but it was perhaps a bit too laid back for my taste. I prefer a very detailed presentation, but without harshness, and with plenty of bass control. I wish I could have A/B with DACs while keeping the amp consistent. If you're going for a smooth and perhaps a slightly laid back presentation the D3/23R would be an excellent stack. I'm going to take the risk that the 23R will pair more to my taste with a different DAC basically because I love the 23R size, design, and capability.

One major point is that it was definitely noisier at the headphones.com location than my other two comparisons sessions. This likely played a role.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1751.jpg
    IMG_1751.jpg
    3 MB · Views: 0

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top