CanJam NYC 2022

I totally agree about the Red October. A work of art.

What amp did you listen to Susvara on? I had it on that giant overpriced monstrosity at the hifiman table. I turned the volume literally ALL THE WAY UP and it still wasn’t particularly loud. Which is not to say it didn’t sound great, just that the immediate standout to me was “oh yeah, there’s not enough power on earth for these.” lol Maybe somebody hit the “low” setting before I got to it? I dunno. :person_shrugging:

I’m looking forward to hitting the quiet rooms today, checking out the 64 audio & JH audio tables, and listening to CRBN a couple more times. I really think I may end up bypassing totl planars altogether and going straight to estat endgame instead. CRBN just blew me away. I wish they had some Stax I could compare.

I’ll be wearing a white polo shirt, say hi if you see me :slightly_smiling_face:

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I listened to the Susvara on the same amp. They were having some tech issues the entire time I was there. The older guy manning the booth was visibly frustrated about some tech issue. I think someone might have said something about the sound level. A couple listeners before me, the hifiman reps made some adjustment to the amp. That said, it wasn’t super loud, but I felt I got a great sense of the sound. The headphones obviously don’t isolate at all, but they got a pretty good booth placement where external noise didn’t ruin the listening experience for me. Worth stopping by the table one more time? :person_shrugging:

Having missed out on the estats yesterday, I’m tempted to get a ticket for today too. If I end up making it back, I’ll keep an eye out for you.

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Saw pics of this floating around. Kinda looks cool, but I’m not really into having that much gold on an amp or dac. Wonder how it sounds… I think it’s the WA23?

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Day 2:

As suggested by wkesquire, it seems Hifiman was indeed having trouble with their amplifier when I tried to listen to Susvara on day 1, and I’m happy to report that it was working perfectly on day 2 and Susvara sounded fantastic. I got there early this morning and snagged some time with both Susvara and lcd-5 while the floor was still empty and quiet. Susvara is every bit as spacious, detailed, and natural sounding as advertised. lcd-5 is slightly more intimate, and similarly detailed & natural sounding. Bass on them sounded about equal to my ears, but again this was only a brief listen.

I really liked the Abyss Diana TC. It seems much easier to live with vs the 1266 while giving up very little. The mids are still a bit wonky, but you’re not getting a TC for the mids anyway. It’s all about that bass.

DCA Stealth is impressive. If you’re looking for a closed back planar, this is the winner by a country mile. Think Arya but closed back. No small accomplishment technologically, I’m sure.

Absolutely LOVED the Rosson RAD-0. Way more than I thought I would. Definitely on my radar now as a potential eventual upgrade from my Arya.

IEMs: JH Audio Jolene and Empire Ears Legend EVO both impressed. Jolene’s mids are thick and lush with loads of detail. Legend EVO is every bit as skull-rattling as they say it is, and its treble was more extended and detailed than I expected. I couldn’t decide whether I like the Anole VX or U18t more - both impressed with their incredible detail and punch.

Overall, the winner of day 2 for me, once again, was the Audeze CRBN. Paired with the eksonic T2 I can only describe the sound as “transcendent”. This has thrown my whole endgame roadmap into question.

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Sounds like it was an awesome, eventful day. :+1:

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I’m gonna post some overall impressions from the show soon, but this amp was a highlight. On my utopias, I preferred it to the WA33, and probably even my WA5-LE. Of course, the show environment is far less than ideal, but it really stood out. I learned only after listening that it will be priced around $9K, and that seems fair to me given my first impression. Agree on aesthetics, though. Would prefer silver.

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Awesome. I wonder what dac they had it paired with, or is it an aio design?

And how much power it has.

9k seems about right anymore. All the woo amps went up recently.

I regret not taking a picture, but it seemed like a mobile-ish type DAP or DAC. Nothing flagship-y. And that’s why I found it all the more impressive that the amp sounded so good.

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As I was writing this, I noticed your post, and I promise I get to it because I’m in complete agreement since Spirit was at CanJam as well and mentioned Florida.

I managed to get over for a couple hours or so with plans to hopefully try out a few high TOTL models.

I managed to test out the Meze Empyrean for a little as I was curious about how it would fare at a subjective level priced against other TOTL headphones. I thought it sounded pretty good and it was quite comfortable given the massive size (the pads look ridiculous in person), but I understand why people see it as a congested headphone. I didn’t get a chance to try the new prototype model.

Hitting up Dunu’s booth, I tried some of their IEMs, with the caveat that they were the first I’ve ever tried. They sounded pretty good, even their new Titan S which was on sale for $60. I think the Falcon Pro was a good price-to-performance choice and not all that far off of the EST 112, but they sold out of most of what they had by that point.

Following up, I tried the Timeless 7hz at the Thieaudio/Linsoul table, as they were something I was really curious about given how popular they seem to be amongst IEM fans. They were fine to my ears, but heavier on the treble. All in all, I think I wouldn’t ever spend more than about $250 on IEMs since they can feel fiddly to get in and out and I spend more time at my desk than anything, but clearly there are some good and affordable options out there.

The big TOTL I got to try out was the obvious Susvara. It sounds really great, but I don’t know if it sounds asking price great considering you’ll need to dump a few thousand more on gear to drive it. The amp was comically huge. The new EF400 seems underpowered, or it at least was with the with the XS on a non-XLR output (which I didn’t really like the default sound of).

Lastly I came across Spirit Torino’s table. They must have joined up late as they’re not listed as one of the exhibitors on CanJam’s site. They were very nice and I got to try out their demo headphones. The Mistral Pro are fairly easy to drive at 32Ω and 96db sensitivity and they ended up selling me the pair they were demoing for a nice discount, so you may have very well tried this same one. Pad swapping seems very easy as they use the same method that ZMF does, and the headband can be bent slightly to adjust the clamping force.

The Titano were fantastic (to me, a slightly better Mistral) and beautiful in hand and I would have bought them, but they’re about $1700 or so and will be something I probably save up for. Now that I’m home with them, I’ll definitely have to play around with EQ to see what they’re capable of. The FiiO K9 Pro doesn’t need to go past 12 o’clock on low gain.

I also tried the $11,000 Valkyria for but a brief moment, but the sample acoustic guitar track I heard was incredible. I’ve never heard a more realistic sound out of a headphone in my life. One of the people there working an exhibit came up and more or less said the same thing. I don’t know what wizardry is going on, but I don’t think it’s spatial audio or anything because I legitimately heard the guitar note and thought it was a speaker somewhere, and I’ve never experienced that level of soundstage before without it sounding artificial. Andrea seems extremely proud of his work.

If I’d had more time I’d have definitely tried the Stealth and LCD-5, but maybe in the future.

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You said 9k, that has to be the upgraded version, I’d imagine. You’d think this one at its base price would sit in the middle of their lineup.

CanJam 2022 Impressions

I went armed with my Utopia and Hugo 2 so that I’d have at least some familiar reference, where possible. I came away having reaffirmed my preference for the Utopia over other flagships, but came away with many impressions that I didn’t expect based on reading and reviews.
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Standouts:

Woo Audio WA23 - Woo’s newest (and not yet on their site) amp was a pleasant surprise. It’s 2A3-based, single ended, and paired beautifully with my Utopia. Crystal clear, exceptionally crisp transients, and all the holography and air I seek in a tube amp without being bloaty or ringy. Though it won’t come cheap - I was told it will be priced around $9K - I wasn’t put off by that price. I preferred it to the WA33 next to it, and I think I’d probably even prefer it over my beloved WA5-LE (but there was no WA5 on premesis with which to compare). It’s been far too long since I’ve heard the demo DNA Stratus to comment on that comparison, but it seems to be in a fair fight with the big boys.

Ampsandsound Red October - Justin’s new 300B tube amp is a big, beautiful beast. It’s listed at $12K on his website, so it costs as much as it weighs, but it sounded really fantastic. Incredibly well controlled, buttery smooth, and good holography. I loved this and the Nautilus, but definitely preferred the Red October. My main issue was that I would have wanted finer control on the stepped attenuator, particularly for my Utopia. All-in-all, Justin’s booth was in a fairly noisy corner of the show floor, and I would have loved to have heard it with a higher-end source (I forget the exact unit, but it was a DAP) to really feel like I got a good read on it.

Chord Mojo 2 - Rob Watts, you’ve done it again. This is a solid step up from the original Mojo. I didn’t play with all of the filters or crossfeed, but those are non-trivial and appealing additions for many. For me, it was just the added clarity and openness. I compared side-by-side with my Hugo 2, and I’m relieved to say that the Mojo 2 doesn’t render the Hugo 2 obsolete, but it’s a lot closer. The Mojo 2 sits solidly between the original Mojo and Hugo 2, and at just about 1/4 the price of a Hugo 2, is amazing value. The colored-ball-button interface is still stupid, but I’ll trade that for the Chord sound all day.

Dan Clark Ether C Flow - I’m casually in the market for a closed-back headphone. I’d prefer not to spend flagship money, but am open to it if the performance gulf is wide enough. I was really pleasantly surprised by the Ether C Flow - a can I hadn’t even planned on listening to. It happened to be next to a Dan Clark Stealth (more on that later), so I just picked it up, and whoa! It sounded more open than many closed-backs I tried (including the Stealth), with perfectly solid detail and presentation. Super comfortable and lightweight, too. It wasn’t even on my radar, and is now on my shortlist.
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Everything Else:

Audeze CRBN - I was really worried that this headphone might send my future headphone dreams in a totally different direction. It didn’t. I heard it on both rigs at the Audeze station, and both times, thought it was very good - but I never had that “oh, this is special” moment. Maybe it was the upstream chain; maybe not. Exceptionally detailed (probably more than my Utopia) and controlled, and oh so comfortable. Still, there was some magic missing. I think it might have been a lack of the dynamic punch and visceral nature of transients I’m used to in my Utopia, but in any case, crisis averted. I can absolutely see why people would love this headphone, so maybe I’m just not an “electrostat guy”.

Hifiman Susvara - Let me start by saying that something was definitely up with the Susvara rig at the Hifiman station (and others have reported it too). It just sucked. Either the upstream chain was totally botched, or that massive amp had some issue, but it was plain bad in every way I could describe. Dynamics wonky, lack of detail, etc. It was my first listen of the Susvara, so I immediately wondered why anyone would ever drop $6K on that thing. I’m so glad I asked to plug it into my Hugo 2 and play my own music. Despite obviously being underpowered, the Hugo 2 could drive it enough that I could get a feeling for why many feel the Susvara is special. I never got to listen to it on a proper rig, and I don’t think I’d commit to a headphone that needs a nuclear power plant to run it at this point in my audio journey, but I left feeling Susvara-curious.

Dan Clark Stealth - I wanted to love this, but… meh. It sounded a bit congested, even among other closed backs, and while being certainly very detailed and clean, came off as flat in its dynamics and imaging. Most comfortable headphone at the show, though. Still, I actually preferred the Ether C Flow that was sitting next to it (same source and same amp - GS-X mk 2), as the Ether C Flow felt more open with only minimal loss of detail. Bummer.

dCS Bartok (no clock) - I remember being absolutely amazed and enthralled by this unit two years ago at CanJam, 2020. Now that I have much more experience and a DAVE + M-Scaler to compare it to, I must say that I feel like the Dave + M-Scaler is just clearly the superior setup. The Bartok has exceptional detail and separation, but it’s a bit on the warm and fuzzy side in comparison. Also transient accuracy and image depth are definitely not as strong as the DAVE + M-scaler. It’s a fair comparison, too, as a Bartok with headphone amp is $18K nowadays, and a DAVE + M-scaler comes out to just about the same.

dCS Bartok WITH clock - Oh. This is different. Just like the DAVE feels complete with the M-Scaler, so does the dCS clock bring the Bartok to life. It’s not a small change, and the effect is similar to that of the M-Scaler (even though they’re doing different things on a technical level). Imaging and transients are more precise, and depth of image is better. Without having a DAVE + M-Scaler right next to it to compare, it’s hard to really pinpoint the exact gap, but this brings the two much closer. I would need to be able to compare side-by-side in a private environment to really tease out the differences, but I have a hunch I’d lean Chord in the end. However, at $9K for the clock alone, that brings the dCS stack to $27K, and at that price difference, I’ll take the Chord stack alllllll day.

Woo WA33 - So much control and so clean. You just listen and can’t help but think “now, this is a properly sorted tube amp”. Only reason it’s not in the standouts is because I’ve heard it before, and preferred the new WA23.

Abyss Diana TC - Clearly more detailed than the Utopia, lightning quick, and had a really nice openness to it. However, when I listened more deeply, something about the timbre seemed off. I didn’t have enough time to really properly describe it, but the Utopia sounded more natural (on the same source - WA33). I’d like to revisit this one at some point, though - maybe with a different source.

T+A Solitaire P - I ran this out of my Hugo 2, and was not a fan. I found it to be tinny and unnatural sounding, with awkward staging. Some people seem to love it, but I don’t get it.

Torino Valkyria - The 12,000 EURO flagship of an upstart Italian company. I only heard it at their station off of some dinky DAP, and I was utterly unimpressed. The sound just didn’t come off as particularly coherent, exceptionally staged, detailed - anything I’d expect from an incredibly expensive flagship. However, I suspect that might have been a source problem, as @TylersEclectic said he tried it on the Ampsandsound Red October, and it was awesome, so I’m going to just chalk my impression up to a poor choice of source. Why do manufacturers screw themselves like this? I have a hard time believing they couldn’t have found a Hugo TT 2 to borrow…
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Final thoughts:

My main takeaway from CanJam 2022 was feeling super happy with the rig I already have at home - and that’s a lovely feeling to have. I’m mildly curious about future follow up with the Abyss Diana TC and Susvara, but that’s really it. No grand changes in plans, and no mind-bending revelations. Just a really fun experience learning about what’s new (and old) in the headphone world, and some awesome conversations with other friendly and passionate headphone people!

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Awesome write-up. Glad you got to enjoy many setups and it seems like it was a good time.
Too bad the susvara setup was jacked. I’d like to hear the ether c, that’s interesting you liked it. And I’m going to have to check out the mojo 2 eventually.

Oh and I need to get my hands on the Utopia haha. One of the main Focals I haven’t heard.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

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Happiness isn’t about having what you want, it’s about wanting what you have.

Cheers!

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It was amazing seeing everyone. _ Thank you for the support.

It seemed my 2nd surprise got missed.
The Nuatilus has always been able to run KT120s.
We don’t run them hard enough in my opinion so I think of them as a bit darker.
That said they make more power… Ive run the KT150s but don’t include on list yet as we need weeks/months of data logging.

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That headphone[spirit] is off the chain, it feels like they made a chamber or something inside the headphone and like put drivers all the way around or did something to emulate that type of sound.

The only thing that was a ding was the weight of those suckers, they were mighty heavy.

@andris I wonder if that’s the same susvara I heard or this is some QC issue. I was really shocked.

Find it odd you didn’t pick up anything positive on those Spirits, I think maybe it’s oriented towards a speaker enthusiast. In that segment I really liked it, and I believe it didn’t sound like any headphone I’ve ever heard or will again, even though I’m only a bakers dozen in on different phones.

Me too. I truly don’t hold it against the headphones, though. Maybe I just picked the wrong tracks to try, or maybe the DAP they had was just the poor source. Otherwise, those suckers would get universally panned, and that doesn’t seem to be the case. I look forward to trying them again some day, and hopefully with something proper driving them :slight_smile:

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Lots of great takeaways already so I wont’ spend too much time on mine as it would be a lot of repeating.

  1. It felt good to be out among the audiophiles again at a Canjam. While some vendors that were mainstays were missing it still was nice to play with different gear.
  2. “Most Interesting” goes to the Meze 109, that will be the big brother of the 99 (I think it’ll be priced somewhere in the $700-800 range)… Kinda wish there was a Focal Clear nearby to compare it to cuz that’s the vibe I got listening to it.
  3. The 1266 with the Nautilus was some really impressive bass; maybe the best I’ve heard.
  4. Ebbs and Flows: I came away thinking a little better of the Stealth, a little worse of the Meze Elite/Empyrean, and still “meh” about the LCD5 tho I did like it a fair bit on the Red October.
  5. It sounds like some more reasonable priced stuff may come out this year… maybe (at least headphone-wise)… starting with the Meze 109.

I came away happy with what I have and not overly enticed to spend the prices it would take to upgrade.

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It was really great meeting a bunch of you!

Wanted to clarify something… I am no longer associated with or work with headphonesdotcom

I check in every couple of weeks here, just to check in with community members, but that’s about it.

If you want to get a hold of me faster, I’m usually on Instagram or via my YouTube comments

Cheers

Keep enjoying your music!

Tyler

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Great to meet and see a bunch of you guys!

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