[GiullianSN]

Chromecast Audio. Now I can stream lossless hi-res music (up to 24/96) from my Plex server (or Tidal, or UAPP) over my local Wi-Fi network via optical to the Sony TA-ZH1ES. Why Google discontinued this ingenious little device is beyond me.

Is this still for sale here?

I gave mine when I sold the LS50W. Much better solution than the internal wireless system.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Hello. I am at CanJam Chicago. Sorry I haven't been posting at all. I have been busy with some other Headfiers including @goldwerger. We've been hanging out and he is very bad for me as he has introduced me to Electrostatic headphones. First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC. It was rendering a 2-channel type experience. This system was spectacular.

So far, I have been pretty restrained from a lot of spending. I did end up purchasing a CEntrance Ampersand portable high powered amp.

https://centrance.com/ampersand/

This little amp is smaller and lighter than all of my DAPs and yet it can deliver 6 watts of power and drive a Susvara and 1266TC very well. This amp would allow me to travel with my Susvara or 1266TC.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

There are not a lot of attendees here, so it is extremely easy to hear anything you want. There are several break out rooms for Headamp, Abyss, ZMF, Dan Clark audio and Eksonic.

Loved finally meeting Zach and Bevin from ZMF. They had well over 20 headphones of all types for sale and they had a lot of tube amps including their prototype collaboration and some custom amps. I already have bought the Verite Closed and Atrium in Koa wood. So, I used those headphones as reference sets and compared them against the new Auteur Classic. It is very nice especially at the $1499 price point. It is very competitive with HD800S and Arya in that price range. It has a nice warm sound and sounds great on their tube amps.

Went to Bloom and heard the Campfire Supermoon and Meze Advar. The Supermoon is technically very impressive and it is tuned pretty well. I can absolutely understand why @Rockwell75 loves it. I think its most noticable strength is its imaging and dynamics. Great resolution and you can hear every instrument with great placement on the stage. The only problem I had with it and the reason why I will not be buying it is that I did not like its timbre. I think this is just a personal preference issue and it was quite surprising to me since I love both DD and Planar timbre in the full sized headphone world. The Supermoon just sounded a bit unnatural to me at the same time I was very impressed with it technically.

The Meze Advar has to be one of the best builds of any IEM in the market today. It feels really nice in my hands. It has the traditional single DD sound and I found it a direct upgrade to my Oriolus Isabellae. I will probably buy one of these in the future for the combination of its great sound and great looks. But I am not buying it now because I have too many IEMs. I will pick it up once I reduce my collection a bit.

Went to Musicteck and got to hear the Fir IEMs again. It's so interesting how listening sessions can change over time your perception of IEMs. This time around, the KR5 was too bright. The NE4 had the best tuning especially with the LP6. I really love the LP6 and I am going back and forth on whether or not to buy it. It sounds a lot like the LP6 Ti 7AE. But Andrew tells me that the 7AE wins every head to head competition with the LP6. They sounded very similar and extremely awesome to my ear. My guess is I will buy one and get on the wait list for the LP7. Andrews says his wait list already has 35 people on it. This DAP is going to be spectacular.

This leaves us with the XE6. I liked it a lot more this time around. This time what I really liked about it is the bass impact. That is what grabbed my attention. All of the FIR IEMs have it. So, any of these IEMs would be great to own to get that sound. I would like to pick one up, but maybe I will wait until the next listen at CanJam Socal. I am very intrigued by the Stax headphones and my finally start going down that rabbit hole.

Also heard the Oriolus szalayi which is a tribrid with a DD, BA and Planer driver. I must admit, I did not like it. It was very bright and the sound was very incoherent. It looks like a Jewel on the faceplate but it's not the same.

The new Dita single DD is spectacular. It is a single DD with a big soundstage. I would like to A/B test the Advar and the Dita Perpetua. OMG. I just looked it up. It's priced at $2999 for a single DD. No wonder it sounded so good. I was really taken by this IEM because normally a single DD has a very small stage. Not the Perpetua. I will have to listen to it again. This would be my dark horse IEM like the Red Halo FE was at CanJam NYC.

More later.

 

[gLer]

I'm talking about Chromecast V3, which has an HDMI connector. Probably the successor, this one seems to be widely available.

Is this still for sale here?

I gave mine when I sold the LS50W. Much better solution than the internal wireless system.

Yeah the current Chromecast is widely available. Sadly Google discontinued the Chromecast Audio in 2019. They were being flogged off for $15 back then, to clear stock. Now you'll be lucky to find them used for under $100 on eBay.

Strange how their real value (as a lossless wireless streamer) was only properly embraced after they were canned. We should petition Google for a V2 with digital USB output! Kill the market for digital streamers with a sub-$100 digital puck!

I'm thinking of getting another one to use with a pair of powered speakers (out of the 3.5mm analogue out). It has a built-in Sabre DAC for this function, although I doubt the quality would come close to what I'm getting from the optical digital bypass into the Sony DAC.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I forgot to mention. I did a pretty extensive A/B test of the Orpheus cable with the First Time cable driven by the N8ii and paired with Jewel. My Jewel has the First times and the Musicteck Jewel had Orpheus. I put the same tips on both sets. To my ear, the Orpheus was slightly better. It tightens up the sound and makes it a bit cleaner and tighter. I would give it about a 3% edge at most. I was really worried that I was going to really love the cable. Fortunately, I did not hear much of a difference at all. I am not buying one. The cable is very nice to the touch. In fact, it is almost indistinguishable from the First Times Shielding which looks just like the Orpheus. I can see buying one if you just want a single IEM and you want the best of the best to go with it. For me, I would much rather buy an LP6 than an Orpheus as that DAP is spectacular and does far more for a Jewel than the Orpheus cable does and it's cheaper.

 

[SLC1966]

I have been spending time in the HP and HP amp/DAC world. Yesterday I picked up a shielded PWA 1950 to commemorate my re-entry into IEM love! I also have a Noble Kublai Kahn and a Jade coming to take me back over the edge.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I have been spending time in the HP and HP amp/DAC world. Yesterday I picked up a shielded PWA 1950 to commemorate my re-entry into IEM love! I also have a Noble Kublai Kahn and a Jade coming to take me back over the edge.

I am going to listen to those IEMs today. I have never heard a Noble Audio IEM and they are here in Chicago.

 

[fzman]

I wonder if this works with the I2S port on a Holo May?

I2S usually uses an HDMI socket, as it is a readily available, off-the-shelf solution for a connector having enough contacts. It is not wired the same as an HDMI connection. The cable will fit, but it will not work. I think that some vendors that use HDMI-connecotr based I2S do different pin-outs, so you have to make sure the 2 units will be compatible. (I had a Singxer I2S concerter that had dip switches to configure the wiring of the HDMI-based I2S connection.)

 

[goldwerger]

Hello. I am at CanJam Chicago. Sorry I haven't been posting at all. I have been busy with some other Headfiers including @goldwerger. We've been hanging out and he is very bad for me as he has introduced me to Electrostatic headphones. First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC. It was rendering a 2-channel type experience. This system was spectacular.

So far, I have been pretty restrained from a lot of spending. I did end up purchasing a CEntrance Ampersand portable high powered amp.

https://centrance.com/ampersand/

This little amp is smaller and lighter than all of my DAPs and yet it can deliver 6 watts of power and drive a Susvara and 1266TC very well. This amp would allow me to travel with my Susvara or 1266TC.

Watching your face light up as you heard those first notes on the X9000 was worth it

I’m definitely getting that one as soon as they become available. What a remarkable headphone!

 

[goldwerger]

@Kerry awesome listening again to your remarkable K2. I fall in love with it again every time I see it (a must for any estat fan!)

These are the EL34 tubes I use on my Auris Nirvana. I have no idea how they’ll do on your T2, but I guess there’s only one way to find out..

https://sophiaelectric.com/collections/kt88-and-el34-tubes/products/pages-se-el34

 

[GiullianSN]

Yeah the current Chromecast is widely available. Sadly Google discontinued the Chromecast Audio in 2019. They were being flogged off for $15 back then, to clear stock. Now you'll be lucky to find them used for under $100 on eBay.

Strange how their real value (as a lossless wireless streamer) was only properly embraced after they were canned. We should petition Google for a V2 with digital USB output! Kill the market for digital streamers with a sub-$100 digital puck!

I'm thinking of getting another one to use with a pair of powered speakers (out of the 3.5mm analogue out). It has a built-in Sabre DAC for this function, although I doubt the quality would come close to what I'm getting from the optical digital bypass into the Sony DAC.

Yeah… I used to use mine with the LS50W on optical out.

 

[Scubadevils]

Stoic cat pondering his feline existence and various other important topics...

 

[DanielListening]

Chromecast Audio. Now I can stream lossless hi-res music (up to 24/96) from my Plex server (or Tidal, or UAPP) over my local Wi-Fi network via optical to the Sony TA-ZH1ES. Why Google discontinued this ingenious little device is beyond me.

I have four (4) of them.

The 3.5mm is also optical if you didn’t know.

 

[Frankie D]

First heard the CRBN and didn't like it and then after the show, we got to hear to Stax SR-X9000. To me, this headphone is the star of the show, especially when hearing it paired with the electrostatic tube amp from Eksonic, the T2 and the M3 Pricasti DAC.

If you can, see if you can demo it out of the Woo Audio Wes. This is essentially their WA33 made to be an electrostatic amp. It was one of my stars in NY. Enjoy!

 

[Frankie D]

I forgot to mention. I did a pretty extensive A/B test of the Orpheus cable with the First Time cable driven by the N8ii and paired with Jewel. My Jewel has the First times and the Musicteck Jewel had Orpheus. I put the same tips on both sets. To my ear, the Orpheus was slightly better. It tightens up the sound and makes it a bit cleaner and tighter. I would give it about a 3% edge at most. I was really worried that I was going to really love the cable. Fortunately, I did not hear much of a difference at all. I am not buying one. The cable is very nice to the touch. In fact, it is almost indistinguishable from the First Times Shielding which looks just like the Orpheus. I can see buying one if you just want a single IEM and you want the best of the best to go with it. For me, I would much rather buy an LP6 than an Orpheus as that DAP is spectacular and does far more for a Jewel than the Orpheus cable does and it's cheaper.

Yes, but did you try the Orpheus on the Traillii? That is where the features of both line up.