Hi Everybody,
I had a great day at CanJam today. Thanks to all the people who organized it and everybody who contributed to it. There seemed to be a greater showing of vendors as opposed to individual members, so I felt the presence of headphones outside of the well known stuff (e.g. HD800, K701) was small. I really wanted to hear some of the more esoteric headphones like the 2003 DT880, DT48, etc.
Here are my opinions of the various headphones.
Ones I liked the best.
Beyer T1- Beyer did a good job of getting the treble and bass right. There is enough treble sparkle that everything sounds detailed and clear, but not so much that your ears start hurting. The bass quantity is nice (there is a good amount of punch), but it’s definitely not a basshead can. The T1 has a lot of clarity without sounding sterile.
JH Audio 3X? The one with the DSP+Amp - This was just an incredible sounding IEM. The mids and the treble are just astonishing. The treble is smooth but it doesn’t sound muted, rolled off, or anything of the sort. The bass is adjustable and this is a great thing. Since the mids and trebles are so great, you can adjust the bass (I had to turn it down) to your liking. Definitely better than a lot of full sized cans.
Westone ES5X – I liked this a lot. If I had to describe this in one word, I would use clarity. It has a lot of clarity – much more than any other Westone, including the ES3X. Good treble presence and extension. The bass is pretty neutral (IMO, not much impact) and I had to EQ it up a bit to my liking.
Audeze LCD2 – The bass on this is great. Great punch, extension, with great control and quality. I found the treble to be a tiny bit quieter than I would like but I’ll listen more tomorrow. It’s a great sounding headphone! I actually found them to be fairly comfortable. I was also able to drive them from a Mini3!
Hippo VB – This is a really inexpensive IEM with ports for tuning the bass. I thought it had a really nice sound, the fit was decent, and you have everything from neutralish (minimum bass port) to bass head (maximum bass port).
Biggest disappointments:
Beyer T50P – I don’t know where to begin. More than anything, it doesn’t sound right. Everything sounds “tinny” and weird. Ever heard a nasal saxophone? I can’t recommend this to anybody. I’ll bet some people who preordered are going to be very unhappy.
Sensaphonics (3X?) - I found it to be a really dull sounding IEM.
Grado PS1000 - TERRIBLE ergonomics and I won't say what I'm thinking about what you get in terms of sonic improvements from the typical "Grado sound" as you move up with Grado line.
The Rest:
HD800 – Not enough bass impact, a little too much treble. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great sounding headphone but there’s just too much energy in at the top for my liking.
HE5 – I did not like the bass presentation and there was a little too much energy at the top. Overall though, it sounds good.
HE6 – This sounded like a refinement of the HE5 and so the treble was not as hot. It was a nice sounding headphone but I felt they money for is ($1300?) could be better spent elsewhere (JH3X, T1, etc).
Radius DDM – Good sound with a comically bad fit. What were they thinking?
JH16 – Too much bass for my liking.
JH13 – Great bass quantity and a fantastic sounding IEM overall.
I listened to many other headphones (e.g. HD800) that are covered extensively on Head-Fi so I won’t review them.