First, a big thank you to @VanHai, @jtnt, and everyone else who brought gear. I arrived a little later than I planned but thankfully there was still plenty of time to get some listening in.
Impressions and photos below:
Dan Clark Audio Stealth
This is not my first time hearing the Stealth, and I'm still not a fan hearing it again. Male vocals come across as bright, strained, and yet somehow slightly muffled. Guitars sound thin and treble extension is very limited. The worst part for me is the limp, clicky bass.
Dan Clark Audio Expanse
This was my first time hearing the Expanse, and I liked it a lot more than I liked the Stealth. It comes across as audibly less dampened, and the bass response sounds much more natural. It is still a little lacking in impact, and percussion is not as crisp sounding as I would hope for at this price point. The midrange also sounds more natural, and male vocals sound a lot less weird. Midrange clarity and instrument separation are excellent. The Expanse also has much better upper treble air than the Stealth. I thought could hear a mild mid-treble peak, but it wasn't egregious.
Sennheiser HD 580 Precision
Despite its age, this is still a really compelling and competitive headphone, with excellent rendering of distorted electric guitars. The bass response was also surprisingly great, well-articulated with great impact. Vocals have good body but average clarity, and treble extension is limited.
Benchmark DAC3 HGC
I used this as the source for the above three headphones. It didn't stand out much to me, which can be viewed as either positive or negative.
HiFiMan Susvara
I enjoy listening to the Susvara every time I hear it. While not the absolute best headphone I have ever heard, it is ironically the most "reasonable" ultra-flagship I'd consider purchasing (my dream setup is the Stax SRX-9000 with the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE energizer, more on that later). The detail retrieval is nearly unmatched, and it pairs that detail retrieval with a preternatural to render dynamic range. This is very evident when listening to a song like Strobe by Deadmau5, which starts faintly but builds layer upon layer of synthesized instruments until reaching a crescendo nearly seven minutes into the song. The Susvara also just sounds tonally correct across the full frequency range to me, with no obvious tuning issues.
ZMF Auteur (modded)
This unit sounded more tonally correct to me than I am used to ZMF headphones sounding. I have been perennially underwhelmed by just about every ZMF headphone I've come across and have typically found them dark-sounding with limited resolution. This unit sounded brighter than most ZMF headphones, perhaps a little too bright, especially in the upper midrange. Male vocals were very forward and a little thin-sounding, as were guitars. However, analog percussion sounded excellent.
ZMF Auteur Classic
While not modded, the Auteur Classic is still brighter than what I am used to out of ZMF's offerings. With that said the midrange sounded a little off, almost scooped, with male vocals coming across as very nasal. The Auteur Classic had very good detail retrieval, and percussion, again, sounded great. However, sub-bass extension was limited.
ZMF Aeolus (modded)
This unit had very good treble extension but a little too much upper midrange and presence for me to listen to it for long at high volumes. It was also very sensitive to positioning on my head. At lower volumes, this was probably my favorite of the three ZMF headphones I listened to at the meet.
Woo Audio WA22
I am not the biggest fan of tube amps and the WA22 did little to change my mind. The distortion was audible and interfered with my ability to gauge detail retrieval. Just not my cup of tea.
Audeze CRBN and HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE
This energizer is simply magical. I had heard the Audeze CRBN before, but I enjoyed it a lot more out of the Blue Hawaii SE than I remember enjoying it the last time I listened to it. The energizer does get pretty warm though. As for the CRBN, it is a very detailed headphone that exhibits the characteristic "papery" electrostatic timbre just enough to be noticeable. This seems to result in slightly muted transient delivery. Tonally, the CRBN is solid across the board and is similar to the Susvara in that I didn't have any major frequency response-related complaints. On the other hand, the CRBN's dynamics were significantly worse than the Susvara's.
Moondrop Para (and "slam stack")
I brought my own Moondrop Para with me, and I was shocked at how well it held up against some of the much more expensive headphones at the meet, particularly when I was driving it with @gandhisfist 's Bryston BHA-1. The BHA-1 is probably my favorite solid-state amplifier ever. @antdroid referred to the setup below as "slam stack" once, which is accurate in my opinion. Anything I ran through this setup packed a harder punch than it would have otherwise.
Sennheiser HD 8XX
The Sennheiser HD 8XX is another very detailed-sounding headphone, and I don't quite understand why these are so hated after listening to them. They seemed more similar to the Para in terms of overall tuning than most other headphones at the meet. They both have what I call a "midrange forward, but correct-ish" tuning. I also noticed that by this point in the meet, the crowd noise was a lot lower, which helped me appreciate detail retrieval a little more. I wanted to compare these directly to the HD 800S, but by this point, people were starting to pack up.
Stax SRX-9000
Only got to listen to this one long enough to confirm that it is still my favorite headphone ever. The detail retrieval is absolutely unmatched, and I am willing to live with the slightly bright tuning and electrostatic timbre to get it.
Thanks again to the organizers and everyone that brought gear. I hope to see some of you at CanJam NYC next month.
Impressions and photos below:
Dan Clark Audio Stealth
This is not my first time hearing the Stealth, and I'm still not a fan hearing it again. Male vocals come across as bright, strained, and yet somehow slightly muffled. Guitars sound thin and treble extension is very limited. The worst part for me is the limp, clicky bass.
Dan Clark Audio Expanse
This was my first time hearing the Expanse, and I liked it a lot more than I liked the Stealth. It comes across as audibly less dampened, and the bass response sounds much more natural. It is still a little lacking in impact, and percussion is not as crisp sounding as I would hope for at this price point. The midrange also sounds more natural, and male vocals sound a lot less weird. Midrange clarity and instrument separation are excellent. The Expanse also has much better upper treble air than the Stealth. I thought could hear a mild mid-treble peak, but it wasn't egregious.
Sennheiser HD 580 Precision
Despite its age, this is still a really compelling and competitive headphone, with excellent rendering of distorted electric guitars. The bass response was also surprisingly great, well-articulated with great impact. Vocals have good body but average clarity, and treble extension is limited.
Benchmark DAC3 HGC
I used this as the source for the above three headphones. It didn't stand out much to me, which can be viewed as either positive or negative.
HiFiMan Susvara
I enjoy listening to the Susvara every time I hear it. While not the absolute best headphone I have ever heard, it is ironically the most "reasonable" ultra-flagship I'd consider purchasing (my dream setup is the Stax SRX-9000 with the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE energizer, more on that later). The detail retrieval is nearly unmatched, and it pairs that detail retrieval with a preternatural to render dynamic range. This is very evident when listening to a song like Strobe by Deadmau5, which starts faintly but builds layer upon layer of synthesized instruments until reaching a crescendo nearly seven minutes into the song. The Susvara also just sounds tonally correct across the full frequency range to me, with no obvious tuning issues.
ZMF Auteur (modded)
This unit sounded more tonally correct to me than I am used to ZMF headphones sounding. I have been perennially underwhelmed by just about every ZMF headphone I've come across and have typically found them dark-sounding with limited resolution. This unit sounded brighter than most ZMF headphones, perhaps a little too bright, especially in the upper midrange. Male vocals were very forward and a little thin-sounding, as were guitars. However, analog percussion sounded excellent.
ZMF Auteur Classic
While not modded, the Auteur Classic is still brighter than what I am used to out of ZMF's offerings. With that said the midrange sounded a little off, almost scooped, with male vocals coming across as very nasal. The Auteur Classic had very good detail retrieval, and percussion, again, sounded great. However, sub-bass extension was limited.
ZMF Aeolus (modded)
This unit had very good treble extension but a little too much upper midrange and presence for me to listen to it for long at high volumes. It was also very sensitive to positioning on my head. At lower volumes, this was probably my favorite of the three ZMF headphones I listened to at the meet.
Woo Audio WA22
I am not the biggest fan of tube amps and the WA22 did little to change my mind. The distortion was audible and interfered with my ability to gauge detail retrieval. Just not my cup of tea.
Audeze CRBN and HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE
This energizer is simply magical. I had heard the Audeze CRBN before, but I enjoyed it a lot more out of the Blue Hawaii SE than I remember enjoying it the last time I listened to it. The energizer does get pretty warm though. As for the CRBN, it is a very detailed headphone that exhibits the characteristic "papery" electrostatic timbre just enough to be noticeable. This seems to result in slightly muted transient delivery. Tonally, the CRBN is solid across the board and is similar to the Susvara in that I didn't have any major frequency response-related complaints. On the other hand, the CRBN's dynamics were significantly worse than the Susvara's.
Moondrop Para (and "slam stack")
I brought my own Moondrop Para with me, and I was shocked at how well it held up against some of the much more expensive headphones at the meet, particularly when I was driving it with @gandhisfist 's Bryston BHA-1. The BHA-1 is probably my favorite solid-state amplifier ever. @antdroid referred to the setup below as "slam stack" once, which is accurate in my opinion. Anything I ran through this setup packed a harder punch than it would have otherwise.
Sennheiser HD 8XX
The Sennheiser HD 8XX is another very detailed-sounding headphone, and I don't quite understand why these are so hated after listening to them. They seemed more similar to the Para in terms of overall tuning than most other headphones at the meet. They both have what I call a "midrange forward, but correct-ish" tuning. I also noticed that by this point in the meet, the crowd noise was a lot lower, which helped me appreciate detail retrieval a little more. I wanted to compare these directly to the HD 800S, but by this point, people were starting to pack up.
Stax SRX-9000
Only got to listen to this one long enough to confirm that it is still my favorite headphone ever. The detail retrieval is absolutely unmatched, and I am willing to live with the slightly bright tuning and electrostatic timbre to get it.
Thanks again to the organizers and everyone that brought gear. I hope to see some of you at CanJam NYC next month.