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!
