CanJam SoCal

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by Bill-P, Apr 5, 2018.

  1. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,276
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Was cool meeting you! Overall the show was pretty great, had about 30% more traffic, compared to NYC. Now, regarding headphones, I'm getting cynical. It's either "sounds like shit" or "sounds like headphones", only electrostats still wow me, but I can't get myself to build a system for them.

    As for show highlights, Schiit was awesome as always. Might actually get the Lyr 3 with MB module someday. HD820 was okay in my opinion, but I'm looking at it more as a calibration platform.
     
  2. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,882
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Surprise, it's a bass monster!
     
  3. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2016
    Likes Received:
    10,831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    East Coast
    Sounds like platinum is very promising. It's always good and welcome to have more affordable choices in sub-1k! Will definitely enroll loaner program if it happens.

    Btw, did anybody ask monoprice guys about their estimated release dates? Can they really launch platinum late June (or early July)?
     
  4. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    It says so on the Monoprice page. Next to "Out of Stock" it says "ETA: 6/26/2018"
     
  5. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2017
    Likes Received:
    3,026
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Rapallo, Italy
    I'd like to think otherwise but I suspect it's a bass monster.
     
  6. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

    Staff Member Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,145
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Exit stage left....
    dude asked for "try" not surmise.
    guessing in life gets you nowhere.
     
  7. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,801
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Yeah, I try to be as genuine as possible. Admittedly, I do stay quiet sometimes when I feel like I need to check the gear again at a later time.

    But when it's just... purely bad value proposition (past $2K), it's just hard to stomach that.

    When HD800 came out and got above $1K, people also bitched and moaned a lot but obviously, manufacturers don't listen, or give a damn. HD800S was tolerable for me because it was under $2K still but HD820 is just... too far out.

    Exactly! :punk:

    It takes a true Audio Technica priest to catch the joke!

    Haha, but anyway, yeah... I dunno if these have any modding potential to be honest. Need more time with them but honestly, at $2K, that's not looking likely. Realistically, I think Audio Technica should price them at $700 - $800, and then I may try to grab one to put leather pads on or something. But... at $2K, it gets too close to Utopia and it's not doing as many things well as Utopia (though tonality is better than Utopia to me). The only reason why these don't get thrown in the "bad" bin is because they didn't offend me, and I'm quite easily offended by a lot of stuffs on the market.

    Oh yeah, that one I did try briefly, too. One word: bass.
     
  8. donunus

    donunus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Likes Received:
    138
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Philippines
    hmm looks like a good candidate for an iem in that range not requiring foam tips since the foamies do bring up bass and I don't like their high maintenance factor.
     
  9. netforce

    netforce MOT: Headphones.com

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2016
    Likes Received:
    3,111
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Was manning the tsav booth pretty much the whole weekend so not much listening on my end to other gear.

    Little explanation on the final audio table and the no d8000 even though we had the banner. The president of Final audio had just retired a few weeks ago to open up a restaurant in Tokyo that seats 5 people. The USA distributor was set to do Axpona and wanted to do Canjam socal but didn't have the man power so they approached us and we did their booth.

    Was asking if we could get the d8000 for the show for a few weeks leading up to the show. The distributor has had to use Google translate to talk to Japan and they had to use the same back to talk to him. We weren't able to get the d8000 in time for the show which was a bit unfortunate.
     
  10. monacelli

    monacelli Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,649
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    The Land of Enchantment
    This is for the comet @Bill-P, and not the atlas? I'm surprised that it would be possible to tune a single-BA iem to be too bass heavy. Could you elaborate on your impressions a little bit?
     
  11. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,801
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Well, I listened to it very briefly so I can't tell much... but yeah, it was bass-heavy. I almost thought it was dynamic but then it turned out to be single-BA.

    To my ears, it was kinda bassy and somewhat smooth/decent but not very clean/clear sounding. I'm used to Andromeda, and in comparison, Andromeda has far tighter bass than Comet or Atlas.
     
  12. ald0s

    ald0s Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    110
    Trophy Points:
    43
    From most of the reviews (show conditions notwithstanding) that I've heard the Atlas will most likely not be for me. Its a shame because I adore dynamics but a "bigger Vega" isn't what I'm looking for.

    That being said I look forward to hearing a pair in Australia come July when A2A will most likely get them.
     
  13. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9,589
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Staten Island, NY
    Home Page:
    I spent about 15 minutes with the Atlas and I personally liked it even though I wasnt fond of the Vega.

    I felt that the Atlas had less grain than the Vega throughout the spectrum and was generally smoother in the critical lower treble/upper midrange.

    The bass boost on the Atlas, while undeniably dramatic, felt more localized than the Vega and therefore bled less into the lower mids (though still bled a fair bit, to my ears).

    Dont get me wrong, the Atlas is still a very opaque and colorful listen. But to my (closeted basshead) ears, I can see the merit in it's fun-factor (for its sheer dynamic impact). Definitely content dependent though.

    I couldnt see them being someone's only IEM, but it might definitely complement the leaner BA IEM's around.
     
  14. ald0s

    ald0s Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    110
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Thats just it, I love bass heavy music but I also listen to gentle folk and classical. Im fine with a large bass presence as long as it doesn't cloud the mids when it shouldn't be there.
     
  15. VonAtlas

    VonAtlas New

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2018
    Likes Received:
    21
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Location:
    Simi Valley, CA
    I was similarly let down by the show. I was, oddly, most happily surprised by the products I had only passing interest in. The PSB M4u8 seems like an ideal purchase for travelers. I think the Audeze Mobius could fun for gamers, and certainly sounded better than most "gaming" headsets I've heard. The bass reached deep, but they might be too bass heavy for me. The Campfire Comet was pretty decent for the price. It reminded me of a cleaner, slightly more balanced EDC Velvet, with a little more control of the bass. I was excited to give the Shanling m0 a try, as I don't have a bluetooth DAP, but that functionality won't be added until May, according to a rep at the table. I rather enjoyed the Lyr 3 out of my Ether, and I think I'll be ditching my v200 for it.

    Kind of bummed, I was hoping to see 1more, and give the triple driver over ear a try. I didn't have time to make it to the monoprice booth.

    I was thoroughly unimpressed by all the flagship products I tried. Meze Empyrean seemed "okay" but the track list was limited for testing, really should have been more extensive. At the Audio Technica booth, we wanted to talk to the rep at the table, and he spent a good 5 minutes ignoring us to speak to a rep from another company. We tried the headphones, and I didn't feel like they did anything specially. Went to the high end rooms, and finally heard the woo and blue hawaii amps. Didn't like either. The woo obviously distorted at higher volume. Either the Voce was really boring, or the blue hawaii did it no favors: don't know which.
     
  16. BillOhio

    BillOhio Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    2,396
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Glendale CA
    Home Page:
    Do most DACS need a day+ to warm up? I only have experience with Gungnir Multibit, really. If none of the DACs were turned on before 8AM the day of the show wouldn't that be an issue? I know Mister Speakers, for example, was using an Yggy2 but I have no idea if it had been brought in on an external power supply to keep it at temp during set up.
     
  17. VonAtlas

    VonAtlas New

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2018
    Likes Received:
    21
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Location:
    Simi Valley, CA
    I think it depends on the design and the size. Don't know about Bifrost Multibit and up, but I think Schiit has said the smaller units like Modi Multibit and the internal MB cards in Lyr 3 and Jot don't need that long. And considering the show started at 11, I would hope they had plenty of time to get things warmed up before I had gotten there at noon. It is a valid point though. Delta Sigma DACs don't have that same issue right? Does anyone know what Woo was running in their Stax setup?

    Does the Blue Hawaii also have an internal DAC?
     
  18. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,882
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Went both days, want to give a quick one line impression while it's still fresh. Brought my own Focal Clears/DX200 and Andromedas.

    CanJam 2018 Impressions:
    • Comet - too much bass/ wife thought it was too much bass and she's a basshead
    • Atlas - good balance with a bit of sub-bass, pretty good for $200
    • Focal Elex - 85% of the Clear for near half the price, good job massdrop!
    • Dekoni pads on Clear - both sheepskin pads too bright, velour similar to stock, hybrid are good
    • Cavalli Liquid Spark - a different flavor of the Modi 3, with the signature Cavalli slam
    • Cavalli Liquid Platinum - very good but a tad muddy in the highs, probably tubes or usb source
    • Advanced Planar - balanced signature/same price as sundara but better in every way
    • ATH-ADX500 - hope these were prototype, build quality was super cheap sounded amazing
    • Benchmark HPA4 - best amp at canjam. Very transparent yet meaty. Just ordered mine.
    • Lyr 3 - Hype is real, this is a great value
    • Zmf Auteurs - Should be called an open Eikon, A+ (I like the house sound)
    • Massdrop booth - All their amps sounded great, price/performance ratio is high
     
  19. donunus

    donunus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Likes Received:
    138
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Philippines
    Are you sure these aren't reversed? The Atlas is the flagship and not 200 dollars.
     
  20. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,882
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Yeah.. I wrote it down wrong. Won't let me edit it for some reason.
     

Share This Page