[Mortalcoil]

Thanks Asr for the great pics.

 

[Asr]

More Equipment Impressions - Speakers
 
You all knew it was coming. At RMAF, there's no escaping the speakers!
 
That said, I took only a small amount of time to go check out speakers and pretty much just roamed the first floor of the hotel and the 9th floor in the Towers. My impression overall of the speakers in general were that most sounded good, a few were blah, and that most of them were nothing that I'd buy for myself.

 
I headed for the 9th floor in the Towers specifically for Monitor Audio to see what they had, hoping for something in the Platinum line, but when I got there I was disappointed and saw only the Gold-series GX20. The system was sourced & amped by Arcam FMJ components (the newest stuff, the CD37 and A18). It sounded decent, but there was also a heavy bronzy quality to the upper mid-range that made string instruments sound unnatural. I did notice that the treble was really clean though, and the speakers were very clear-sounding.
 
I left the room somewhat unimpressed & discouraged, but still holding out hope for a Platinum-series demo some day. Although it's definitely too early for me to plan a speaker system, I'm hoping to one day own the PL300, with a source component and amplifiers by Plinius.

 
And that ends my equipment impressions from the show.
 
Quote:

I saw you got a good snapshot of the PP6 - did you also happen to listen to them?

 
I didn't listen, I stopped by their table only for the pic.

 

[anetode]

Are you saying you like Hifiman's entry level model better than their flagship? What did you like about the HE400s?

I guess I preferred the tonality on the pair of H400s I heard at RMAF. Their bass was nice and tight, seemingly equal if not better to the HE6s. Their highs were articulate, a bit forward but not harsh. On the other hand I recall hearing a little harshness to most HE6s I've listened to.

It's more of a question of value: at 1/3rd the price I'd easily take the HE400s over the HE6s.

 

[The Monkey]

The Hsu bookshelves sounded great.  And at $300 a pair, sounded unreal.  Add a sub and lord have mercy do you get good sound for next to nothing compared to some of the "high end" stuff out there.

 

[Lee Harvey]

For the past 3 years that I have been attending RMAF, Hsu's room has always been one of the best sounding rooms of the show.  And Dr. Hsu does it with only an Onkyo A/V Receiver, bargain patch cords and speaker wire and his speakers and subwoofers.  Dr. Hsu puts many high dollar rooms to shame.    

 

[TheWuss]

Quote:

Alex (Audeze) + unknown ALO Audio guy

 

 
alex from audeze showed up to canjam this year, having lost a few pounds it seems...
 
 
now, if he could just pull that same feat with the headphones, we'd all be thankful.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
alex from audeze showed up to canjam this year, having lost a few pounds it seems...
 
 
now, if he could just pull that same feat with the headphones, we'd all be thankful.

Zing!

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Zing!

lol i know that its funny to make the joke, but it really is just part of the magneplanar beast. You lots of very powerful magnets to make them work and work well. they are already using neodymium magnets, so they cant really make them any smaller without reducing the overall magnetic force which isnt really an option without sacrificing sound quality

 

[sridhar3]

******* magnets, how do they work?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

How much would an electromagnet weigh in LCD-2 size, and how much power would that need?

 

[Radio_head]

Quote:

 
alex from audeze showed up to canjam this year, having lost a few pounds it seems...
 
 
now, if he could just pull that same feat with the headphones, we'd all be thankful.

I think the real tragedy is Sankar losing the mustache.  That thing is gorgeous.

 

[madbull]

No impressions of the WA7??

 

[jazzerdave]

Quote:

No impressions of the WA7??

 
HeadphoneAddict did give some more extended impressions than he did over on the WA7 thread:
 
Quote:

One big surprise is the new Woo WA7 headphone amp.  It's like, "wow :-o "  It's warm and vibrant but not dark, and open with great detail and soundstage, transparent, and POWERFUL.  Not Schitt or EF5/6 powerful, but at least 3x more power than my WA6 (maybe as much as the WA6 SE?).  I have a maxed WA6 at home, full of Vcaps and Blackgates upgrades, plus the Pseudo Dual Power Supply Mod, with $220 worth of tubes, that cost about $1200 with the upgrades and tubes.  This $777 amp could possibly be better.  I may end up getting one just to compare to the WA6.  I find that my maxed WA6 is great with ALL of my IEM, plus my LA7000, Ultrasone, Grados, HD600 and HD800.  However, although the timbre and tone is great with my HE-500 and LCD-2 it could use a little more power with these orthodynamics which lack a little PRAT with the WA6.  Jack says the cheap volume pot on the pre-pro model will be replaced with the same nice volume pot that I have on my WA6.
 
My DACmini has been sounding a lot like my WA6 but with extra power, so it drives the LCD-2 and HE-500 a bit better, although the WA6 still edges ahead slightly with the HD800 and Grados.  With everything else they are fairly equivalent.  I suspect I might like the WA7 even more than both of those amps - not by a huge amount, but the smile and toe tapping factor are definitely a little higher.  It's got more PRAT than my WA6 and hits a bit harder with the HE-500 and HD800, and with those two headphones I suspect that the WA7 may pass up both my DACmini and WA6.  I wont know for sure until I hear them side by side, and I still don't think the WA7 could ever replace my DACmini, but would rather be an addition to it.  Overall, I think if I was trying to decide on a mid-price amp to buy these days, I'd be considering the WA7 and DACmini over my WA6.  (stupid thing to say if I decide to sell it later).  Don't get me wrong, the maxed WA6 is a fantastic sub $1000 amp, but it's got a lot of competition now.  I wouldn't rule out the Schitt Audio amps in the mid-range price category either, but I need to spend more time with them Sunday.  I'll take a lot of photos tomorrow, sorry for listening to gear more than snapping photos.
 

 
I would certainly echo his first sentence.  It definitely wasn't dark; "vibrant" was a good choice to describe the sound.  I believe I listened with the HE-5 and the HD800 and preferred it with the 800, but normally find that I prefer the 800 on most setups.  I'd certainly recommend that anyone in the market for an amp/DAC combo for <$1,000 attempt to audition the WA7. 

 

[madbull]

Thanks!
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

 
HeadphoneAddict did give some more extended impressions than he did over on the WA7 thread:
 
 
I would certainly echo his first sentence.  It definitely wasn't dark; "vibrant" was a good choice to describe the sound.  I believe I listened with the HE-5 and the HD800 and preferred it with the 800, but normally find that I prefer the 800 on most setups.  I'd certainly recommend that anyone in the market for an amp/DAC combo for <$1,000 attempt to audition the WA7. 

 
It's nice to know someone else agrees with my impressions.  I tried it with Jack's HE-5 and HD800, and my HE-500.  I preferred both the HE-500 and HD800 with it above the V-shaped frequency response of the original HE-5.