[msing539]

I met a guy demoing stuff and spoke with his wife.

She said she gets all his hand-me-down audio gear (iems, dacs, daps, bt adapters, etc.)

I asked the guy if he would marry me, too... never saw them again.

 

[javertim]

Top items of the show for me are: Campfire Trifecta, Raal Magna (preferred it to the Immanis), Modhouse Tungsten Double-Sided, and (oddly enough) the Grado GS3000x and the xDuoo XD05 Pro.

Also, I think 1/4 of the people I observed listening to full-size headphones had them on backwards. It was obscene.

 

[NiGHTS4EVA]

Sometime the stars align and you happen to be in the right place at the right time with the right people and you’re afforded a chance to try out one of the most exclusive piece of equipment in the audio world. This alone made the trip from Florida worth it. Listened to Nothing Else Matters by Apocalyptica and I had to hold back emotion, it was that awesome. It’s still a closed back headphone so no it’s not going to stage like an open back, money can’t break physics, but what it COULD do, hot damn! Outside of the sound just hearing (puns!) about the type of wood used, the the 10+ years of development, the design choices, the colab with ZMF with the pads, it was clearly a labor of love and the final result shows it. Oh and the “normal” version of these headphones… freaking awesome too! If anyone has 4k they wanna give me so I can buy them…

 

[Cotnijoe]

Also, I think 1/4 of the people I observed listening to full-size headphones had them on backwards. It was obscene.

Lol agreed. I was working the show so I just quietly watched and died inside

 

[chrisnyc75]

Lol agreed. I was working the show so I just quietly watched and died inside

Funny story: when I first got into all this years ago I bought a HD800S and wore it backwards for 2 days before I figured it out.

 

[kumar402]

Top items of the show for me are: Campfire Trifecta, Raal Magna (preferred it to the Immanis), Modhouse Tungsten Double-Sided, and (oddly enough) the Grado GS3000x and the xDuoo XD05 Pro.

Also, I think 1/4 of the people I observed listening to full-size headphones had them on backwards. It was obscene.

Just goes on to show that headphones should mark R and L clearly on earcups or put cable with red ring or something.

 

[geoffalter11]

Have to leave the show mid way due to work and all but got a chance to listen to these with Abyss 1266TC powered by Riveria 10 amp. It was playing some Audiophile grade music unknown to me but it sounded great but little too splashy and energetic in highs. Bass was great but highs were little hot for me. Very open sounding.


Tried the new CFA-3 with Tungsten but again music was shared and control was not with me. Better experience with Tungsten today compared to yesterday. Good body and layering. This amp has more than enough power for it.

Below is finished one

how hot does it get? 25 volt rails creates some serious heat. That is why my CFA3 has an external power supply and keeps the amp from frying eggs.

 

[kumar402]

how hot does it get? 25 volt rails creates some serious heat. That is why my CFA3 has an external power supply and keeps the amp from frying eggs.

I think it will produce lot of heat which will be dissipated by metal fins across chassis.

 

[XERO1]

Funny story: when I first got into all this years ago I bought a HD800S and wore it backwards for 2 days before I figured it out.

I think we've all done that at least once or twice in our headphone journey!

This scene popped into my head when thinking about you wondering what all the fuss was about while listening with your HD 800S on backwards!

 

[geoffalter11]

So, I made a beeline to the Raal booth as soon as I got there, like 10am, and Danny was still setting up the chain. He had an ipad plugged in with like 15 tracks downloaded on it and no wifi for streaming anything else. I only knew 2 of the tracks, and I didn't know either of those particularly well. It's very hard to judge a new headphone - particularly one of exotic tech - using tracks you do not know. I should have asked to plug in my phone, but tbh he seemed like he had so much going on trying to get set up I didn't want to add looking for a usb-c cable to his plate. lol I'm glad you liked them, though! And to be clear, I didn't NOT like them, my comment was really just to highlight my only nitpick with an otherwise mind-blowing experience. At that level we do want to pick apart every nit, you know. Also, even at 10am it was far too loud to get a reliable impression of these EXTREMELY open headphones, so please take my impression with a grain of salt.


I spent some time with the Egoista 2A3, which I found particularly interesting as a 2A3 amp owner myself, and was really impressed. Really wish I had my Utopia with me to plug in for a true 1-to-1 comparison. In any case, I love seeing more 2A3 designs on the market and I really like the Viva aesthetic!

I have a 2A3 amp as well. I love looking at my 1932 Single Plates in that amp. The beauty of 90 yr old tubes...

I think it will produce lot of heat which will be dissipated by metal fins across chassis.

Could this be why it hasn't been released yet? Still figuring out how to dissipate all that heat? Because it looks like a finished amp by the pictures... I am speculating and mean no disrespect to headamp. Just a question from a curious onlooker of this amp...

Bit surprised they bring out the rossini dac apex, that thing is heavy as heck.

Best DAC I've ever heard. Flat out fantastic and for $33,000 it better be.

 

[benjifx19]

Thank you @MusicTeck for the Unique Melody MKIII experience. I ordered them right after the show and will get them Tuesday

Just mind blowing honestly

DCA E3 was so good i actually started crying hearing them for the first time. I told myself only IEM's from now but i will be purchasing these.

 

[grit45]

I thought this was a great event! Very well organized. I greatly enjoyed the talks by Dekoni and ZMF.

This is my rough, quick hand ranking of my personal preference of the headphones I listened to at CANJAM NYC 2024. I could see this ranking change some if I was listening to each of them in a quieter environment. They are all very amazing headphones, and would not be disappointed to own any of them. My daily drivers are a Modhouse Argon Mk3 and a AKG K712 on a Schitt Hel. My top two favorite headphones ended up being virtual successors of my daily drivers. This would probably not be surprising to others, but was very surprising to me as I have been looking forward to a big upgrade.

1. Austrian Audio The Composer (Bought) (Waiting for their Amp to come on the US market)

2. Modhouse Tungsten (Got to speak to Ryan, who is a very nice person) (I have and love the ModHouse ArgonMk3 and was expecting a lot from this headphone already after seeing Zeos' video. It lives up to a lot of the hype, feels very nice to hold.)

3. Abyss Diana (Sounds is not better than AB1266, but close enough as well as being more comfortable, looking much nicer, and being easier to store)

4. Abyss AB1266 Phi TC

5. STAX SR-700MK2 (Very pleasing, I just wish it had a wider soundstage)

6. Warwick Acoustics Bravura (I was expecting to like this a lot more, and was even expecting to buy it after hearing it, but I think my expectations were too high after seeing all the reviews. I blame DMS for his high praise, JK.)

7. ZMF Atrium (Very fun listening to Zach and Bevin's talk about starting a Headphone Company)

8. ZMF Verite Closed

9. Sennheiser HD800 (On Shcitt Stack, with the Loki stack tuning to Mids and Highs a littler lower to boost the bass)

10. Sennheiser HD600 (On the ZMF Homage Amp) (Very awesome combo)

11. STAX SR-007 MK2? (This is what it looked like, but not sure) (I think the amp I was listening to it on was not the best as the SR-700MK2 sounded much better on the same amp)

 

[MatW]

Funny story: when I first got into all this years ago I bought a HD800S and wore it backwards for 2 days before I figured it out.

Not crazy. I still have to look at the cups every time I put it on.. Front and back are far from obvious on that headphone.

 

[LXMc]

Any Bokeh Open impressions? Don't think I saw any mentioned yet.

 

[mattiastomas]

Any Bokeh Open impressions? Don't think I saw any mentioned yet.

Didn’t get to spend too much time with it but was definitely getting Mini Atrium vibes from it. It was a very fun listen. Assuming it’s gonna be priced similar to the closed one I can see doing really well