CanJam NYC 2017 - Impressions Thread

I probably won't be there for another few hours, but post away your impressions here!

I will be bringing my ZX2, UERMs, Andros, and modded HD800.

Reminder: Campfire Audio booth @ 3pm to hand out golden schlong award, and lobby @ 6pm for dinner.

 

Someone should hit up the Hi Fi Man booth to see if Fang is there and give him regards from SBAF.

 

Someone please try the MrSpeakers AEON, I'm so curious!

 

Don't worry, it will pass. I'm sure the ÆON2™ is already in development and will be out this summer.

 

This place is tiny for the amount of vendors there are. I'm waiting in the seating area if anyone wants to chill.

 

How bad is Edition 6?

 

Any pics of HD650 f*gs huddled up not bothering to listen to gear?

 

LOL yeah but weirdly you were in the middle of the huddle being bukakeed by all of them. Weird!

 

Sounded like it was designed to not be offensive to the type of person dumb enough to spend $6,000 on them.

 

If I saw it there..

 

anything new you guys saw that was cool or nah?

and ya also want to know more about the edition 6 XD

 

It was nice seeing everyone there and was fun giving out the awards. Sorry I couldn't stay for dinner. I didn't listen to that much as the space and tables were pretty crowded at the time. I mostly tried out some different tips for my Andromedas. I did get to check out the new Smyth Realiser A16 demo which was very impressive. I'd be interested in getting one for a home theater setup. I also got to listen to the WM1Z, which I enjoyed, but it's heavy as a brick. I thought it was cool that the guy who tuned the ZX2 and WM1Z sound was there showing it off. Also saw David Robinson (former NBA player) walking around checking out gear.

 

I went yesterday (Sunday):

On the headphone end, I listened to the AEON (or whatever Mr. Speakers' new HP is called), the LCD-XC, the Ether Flow, the Utopia, the Elear, both of ZMF's new things, Campfire Audio's prototype, the ABYSS, the Edition 6, the Sonoma, and probably some other stuff I'm not bothering to try to remember. My impressions of all of these ranged from WTF?!?! to Meh. The only one that made a significantly positive impression sonicaly was the LCD-XC, but it was heavier than an mother...(A lot of the negative impressions were probably the fault of the upstream gear. For example, I was blown away by the Utopia + EC Studio combo at the NY SBAF Meet a couple of months back but both Utopias I heard at Canjam were ice-picks to my brain).

On the Amp/DAC/DAP front, I tried....a bunch of shituff with my Z1Rs. Most of them were pretty unimpressive vis-a-vis even my AK100II. The only things that made a significant impression were the Sony WM1A (though, even on high gain I had to max the volume to get a decent volune in my Z1Rs, which are pretty easy to drive) and the CMA Golden 800R or whatever it is called. There might be something to this Current Mode stuff after all...The Schitt Fulla 2, for it's price, also impressed me. It is the only thing I seriously considered purchasing during the show. I didn't, but I still might.

On the IEM front, I tried the Noble Kaiser Encore, the Zues-XR, the the wierd phallic-looking Russian thing, and Audeze's spiderweb things. As a noted Noble Stan, I loved the KE, though not sure whether enough to buy it. The Zues was good...but there was some wierdness in the sound that bothered me. I couldn't get a seal with the phallic thing because I have tiny ear canals. I liked the spiderweb things, though they are pretty impractical.

The most impressive thing by far was Audeze's VR demo. It was more immersive and amazing than I could have possibly imagined.

Overall, not a bad way to spend a few lazy hours on Super Bowl Sunday. But, given the prices that some of these things were going for, it did not leave me hopeful about the future (or present) of personal audio.

 

I forgot the Dynamat. PM me your address and I will send to you.

 

Are these the prototypes you speak of?
Ken Ball w/ Campfire Audio prototype headphones @ CanJam SoCal 2016 | DAR__KO

 

I had fun, from all the CanJam and from Ethan early confirming this was the highest attended CanJam yet. I was working at the Questyle table and probably had all of three chances to sit down that Saturday.

Sunday I expected it to be sort of dead I was pretty wrong and lots of people did come.

Had a few chances to give some small stuff a listen. iSine 20 I heard a couple of months ago and thought they were pretty impressive even at the prototype stage. Finished version sounded even better, I have a pair now. Planars are my usual go to at home and having a planar in IEM form is great. Hooks are a bit finicky and tips don't really seal but still get plenty of bass anyway. Seems intentional that they don't seal.

The Mr Speakers Aeon for $800 I really dig, on a dap they were alright but running balanced is where they really shine. After day 1 I brought a pair back to my hotel room and just played with it and my QP1R. Comfy and simple, I don't have any issues wearing my Ether all day so I would think the same with the Aeon. Headband slipped a bit easy but just needed a screwdriver to tighten the headband. Cost no object I would still take the Ether Flow open backs but between the Aeon and Ether C Flow I'm not sure, I would need to check.

Kennerton Odin were in the Cayin room and that thing was quite impressive and substantial to hold with all to heavy metal and wood parts. Listening they seemed a tad bright and the weight might get to me pretty fast. Impressive build.


Few neat things about this CanJam. David Robinson was here again. He was at RMAF and taking pics then and listening. When he was at CJNY he was taking pics, signing things for kids, and listening. Nice to see him again, hopefully all the recent attention doesn't keep him away from future events.

I ran out of room in my luggage and brought the LCD-4 through LAX to NY, got lots of looks. Was at BH and an employee said he never saw anything like them while he was literally 5 feet away from a pair of Audeze sine on their rack and the LCD series was on the other side of the store.

Talked with Audeze before the event and asked if they could prepare a balanced cable for the iSine. They made one with 2.5mm and one with a 4 pin XLR. I thought the XLR was silly and fell in love with it. Going to get all my tiny IEM cables made into that now.

I used dumb acrylic anime stands with Persona and Miku, Zeos visited, we talked briefly about about hentai. I can't escape my old job.

Was fun, hope to visit NY again soon if I can or come to the East Coast more. More audio shows in the East Coast would be great.

e. Oh yeah, the Edition 6 was there. Heard it at CES and didn't like it compared to the He1k v2. This Edition 6 was apparently the latest version and from all the people who heard it this time I was hearing much more positive things. Wanted to try it again but forgot, maybe next time.

 

Yep. Ken continues to tinker with it. Cheers