Same. Very unusual reaction. YMMV strikes again I guess…
Also same. I feel like I’m super sensitive to treble/sibilance and didn’t find them fatiguing
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I did my best to hone in on the general sound of everything I heard, with the generally moderate(sometimes mild, sometimes worse) level of ambient noise in that show room, and I think the light subtleties were what I had the hardest time discerning; general bass, treble, vocals, tone, fatigue were easiest to tell, and light finger touches, quiet sounds in the distance, and general low level detail was probably often too hard to even fully hear. It was a shitty listening environment, except for the Bravura & Aperio. I am hoping CanJam will be a more mature and spread out environment.
I asked a ZMF guy about changing the grills, and he said NO! Lol. But you did it, huh?
I definitely liked Atrium Closed a lot more than Open(and pretty sure it was my favorite of all ZMFs), as I felt it was less romantic and more decisive, but with the stock perf lambskin pads the sound is a little too V-shaped and treble harsh, and the suede pads take away that harshness, but also the nice bass. :\ I was told they are working on a 3rd pad, to achieve a sound blend between the 2 pads. I was amazed to hear they only have 2 pads for it??? I thought every model had like 5 to choose from… I made sure to mention to Zach that the grill color option for Atrium is AWFUL, and needs to be silver or black, or something nicer. He said they are trying to work with a 3rd party to pimp their shit, I believe was said. ~
The mesh is different from the grill. The mesh is on the inside, between the driver and your ear, and it is perfectly fine for you to unscrew the old one and screw in the new one. There are three meshes, which give you different amounts of treble, and the stock Atrium mesh is the middle one (i.e. you can either add or subtract treble). The reason so many people were surprised at your comment about the Atrium being fatiguing is that people who like a darker sound find the stock mesh just right, and pretty much everyone else wants to add treble.
The Atrium Closed uses Caldera pads, but only the Lambskin Thin and Suede Caldera pads are compatible from a frequency response perspective (i.e. the other pads sound wonky). The AC hasn’t even been released yet, which is why Zach hasn’t created more pads yet, but he is working on a new pad that has a sound profile between the Lambskin Thin (extra bass) and the Suede (more linear but still bass-heavy). There will undoubtedly be more pads created over time.
This is down to personal preferences. I tend to dislike silver or black grills LOL
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By Bubinga is Stainless so silver. The regular cherry is black which imho looks great and look better as the cherry ages naturally. The aged cherry he offers goes with the other patina’ed parts. I know he was trying to do less wide variety and instead have better curated color combos, but it is all eye of the beholder.
And yes the mesh is swappable, the atrium grille on the outside is not swappable.
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tee-hee
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AXPONA - DAY 2
I had a pretty big hitlist for Day 2, starting with the most expensive item - the Aperio.
It’s a big, hulking thing - I don’t know what else you expected, ya dummy? My notes:
Fantastic. Great imaging. Extremely realistic SQ like Bravura, but way better sense of space. Extremely fine detail; natural detail. Too large volume steps. Not super expansive, but enough. Focused always. Vivid and realistic/accurate sound. Not relaxed or smooth, just truthful. Probably too energetic for me. Would prefer more separated sound and depth. Too energetic, prefer smoother. Fantastic bass. The Police - Ghost In The Machine sounds amazing. Best electronic I’ve ever heard(previously Bravura).
I felt Aperio and Bravura had very similar core sounds, with Aperio getting some extra polish treatment with staging and some general improvement tweaks. I think it’s a really sad proposal to charge $25K more for the differences between these 2. I found both to be equally too bright and truthful, lacking smoothness. The Bravura is not a good value to my ears(and certainly not Aperio), but there was no other headphone that sounded quite like these, so this extremely electric, “alive” sound may be what you’re looking for.
Up next, the one item I actually had a purchase interest in - Z10e.
CRBN + LTA prototype tube DAC notes:
Neutral-bright? Kind of thin… Smooth enough. Pleasant bass, that can come alive. Not hyper-detailed/realistic like Warwicks. Too bright/treble-tilted? Much smoother than Warwicks, and much duller.
Corina + Pontus 2(non-12th Anniversary):
Smoother, warmer, duller than previous. Duller and poorer SQ. Less definition everywhere. Does not sound bad at all, just not detailed/engaging enough, and too flat/dull. Pretty focused sounding. Fairly solid sound… Good bass balance. (Can’t hear well… noisy)
007 MK2(un-modded) + LTA prototype tube DAC:
Sounds great, but overly energetic treble. Can sound very powerful. Lots of sound change/differences can be heard between different songs/material. Don’t fit that well, but fine(gap at bottom of cups). Very cool to finally hear this thing… There was a guy from Sweden or Denmark or somewhere who was sitting next to me at the Stax table, testing stuff, and he whips out his headphone case with some bulky, boxy vintage Stax, and tells the Stax rep to make them like they used to be, with much better soundstage space! (I have a feeling he’s not an X9000 fan) Also heard 007 on BHSE + Brooklyn Bridge 2 DAC, but do not recall any sound differences.
L500 MK2 + LTA prototype tube DAC:
Good clarity. Brighter than 007. Nice balance. Good bass. Very good sound. Generally very smooth, wet. Obviously less mid-bass than 007. Pretty nice, strong lower bass! Lush. Nice bass elevation/levels. Not hyper-detailed like Warwicks, but better than Corina. Great tone. Too bright w/Rob Zombie. Man, I was shocked by how good this middle child of the budget arm sounded!!! For the most part, I liked it more than 007, and more than all other Stax. This means L700 is officially on my shortlist.
What to say about the Z10e? Hm… It simply sounded great to me. I did NOT listen to the T8000 or the other, lesser Stax amp there, but it seemed that BHSE had a decidedly smoother, warmer, more enjoyable/pleasant/softened sound than all of the other amps, such as Z10e & Grand Cayman. $7K is quite a chunk for that amp, but it seemed worth it. I didn’t get to test non-estats with it, however, so the dynamic amp section performance/sound is still a question mark.
More Stax…
009S + BHSE + Brooklyn Bridge 2 DAC:
Very lively/alive. Decent bass warmth/impact. Vocals kind of muffled and tonality not quite natural/believable. Good space? Very breathable. Not quite clicking with the sound… Neutral-bright?
X9000 + BHSE + Brooklyn Bridge 2 DAC:
Smoother than 009S. Better treble pop. Better sense of space and more engaging. (Hard to hear… noisy…) Strong imaging. Better vocals and tone. Nice spatial depth, yet focused. Bass still rather soft/light/pillowy. Sounds “live”! Not too smoothed. Bright. So, I’ve heard it twice by this point, and it seems good and well-balanced, but it’s really not impressing me in any particular way, otherwise. At least with Susvara, I could tell it had perfect tonality, and seemed pretty flawless, but perhaps too neutral/thin. Sadly, I didn’t feel I got a good enough grasp of X9000(or Susvara?), even though it wasn’t impressing me like I expected.
Onto the rest of the Stax and HeadAmp stuff…
Corina + BHSE/Grand Cayman + Mytek Empire:
Mostly smooth, but lacking some depth. A little harsh in lower treble. Fairly energetic. Dry. Blunted…? A bit splashy?
X9000 + BHSE/Grand Cayman + Mytek Empire:
Good depth. Kinda bright, but not splashy. Too bright. Good balance, but lacking fidelity VS Warwicks. Sounds much smoother on BHSE, more dulled. Too sharp/bright still, but very good. Needs more separation and breathability/effortlessness.
Here, I already did not like Corina, and determined that I also did not like the Grand Cayman, as it seemed to take the sound a little bit outside of my treble comfort zone(and BHSE was clearly a little too far on the overly warm & smooth side). They had power issues with the Grand Cayman on Day 1, so perhaps there was a continual issue here. As far as I’m concerned, I’d happily take the Z10e between these 3 and never look back. But, maybe there’s a better amp out there, for less than double the price…? 
Likely overkill. I met a guy on Day 2 & 3 who already had an X9000 and Carbon CC, and he would run into me here and there and ask for my recommendations. I told him to check out the L500, and he was glad I did - he really liked them! Then I asked if he was gonna buy an L700 and upgrade his amp, but he didn’t seem to like the amp upgrade idea ^ ^ I also recommended for him to hear the EE Odin, and he actually bought one! Maybe a Supermoon, too : o
Back to the ZMF Turbo Warship 3.0 booth…
Verite Open + DCS stack + custom 1-of-a-kind blue amp:
Nice bass elevation and balance; big and bold. Not that dense, though. Romantic sounding tone and richness/vagueness. Not very accurate/analytical. Creamy tonality, but semi-bright. Lackluster spatial performance. Rich mids, vivid vocals. Brash vocals/lower treble.
Verite Open + DCS stack:
Less richness, warmth, weight. Same brashness.
Verite Closed + DCS + custom blue:
Brighter. (no further notes. I think I peaced out on this one real quickly)
Atrium Closed(lambskin pads) + DCS + custom blue:
Nice clarity. Large bass, nice mid-bass. Muted tonality. Added treble edge… Can be fatiguing, and artificial sounding. Semi-romantic. Treble not realistic/natural enough.
Atrium Closed(suede pads) + DCS + custom blue:
Very rich guitar strings & metallic sounds. Toned down bass, and brightness. More pleasant, but less engaging.
Atrium Closed(lambskin?) + Yddrasil OG + custom black:
Nice treble focus. Good bass presence, but fairly pillowy. Plenty of mid-bass. A touch harsh. Decent space, but not convincing space or treble accuracy. Less brightness, more effortlessness.
In summary, the romantic vagueness/inaccuracy of ZMF stuff really annoys me, but Atrium Closed steered away from that pretty well. I certainly wasn’t impressed enough by AC or Caldera to want to spend on one. That one-of-a-kind blue tube amp was pretty cool, though. I think I didn’t bother with Verite Closed and the rest. Zach asked me for IEM recommendations, and I hit him with my Performer5 and Hook-X! I wonder if he is planning to make an IEM…
And now for something extremely special - RAAL… When I got to the booth, there were 2 people in the chairs, NOT listening, just sitting there doing nothing for a good half hour. Like, what… i_i The breakfast lounge is down the hall, people!!!
CA-1a + TI-1b + CEntrance Ampersand:
(I only listened to this setup for a few minutes, until I moved to the other one. Don’t have any notes, but don’t recall any sound changes.)
CA-1a + Jot R + ADI-2 FS:
Very detailed, highly realistic treble. Nice detail. Very clear and clean. Not very bassy = thin. Cool sound, but thin. Fantastic vocal clarity and realism. Wet-ish. Very controlled treble. Tons of shimmer. Mild bass.
SR-1b + Jot R + ADI-2 FS:
Nice tone. Bright. Lacking detail, resolution. OK bass… Fatigue. Poor impact. Effective earspeaker spread/tilt effect, but sound is obviously directly backward instead of only inward/outward/starboard.
CA-1a was my clear preference here, as it had bass and didn’t seem to have any treble issues. As I would discover on Day 3, this equipment is terrible for these headphones, and what I heard here was like a trailer preview of the full movie, or a monster truck with no engine.
Over to Qobuz…
Stealth + Aurender A20:
Great comfort. A bit bright and harsh. Not much effortlessness/breathability! Nice metal/guitar. Bass odd. Unnatural. Bloated. Unsophisticated, dumb tuning. Vocals sound good. Too elevated treble. This headphone was fresh dog terds on a hot Summer day. Go for Expanse or AEON 2 Open, man!
Day 2 winners:
= L500/L700
= Aperio, 007, Atrium Closed
Worst of Show = Stealth
Bonus pic!
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That’s a decent HP showing at Axpona considering it was a 2-CH show from what I understood.
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Ah, so it’s like the 3 filter pads I got with AEON 2! I never knew of this before! :\ When I was at the Moon booth, listening to the RAAL amp, apparently nobody knew how to use the amp right lol. Learned something there, directly from Mr. RAAL himself, Danny McKinney…!
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Yeah… That kept me busy for all 3 days, for sure x_x Work, work, work!
Friday was the lightest traffic day. Saturday the worst. Sunday next-worst. Moon Audio or Audeze seemed to be the most popular, but no idea.
AXPONA - DAY III
With most of my hitlist out of the way, it’s time to clean up the loose ends and scattered bones, and do some re-visitations.
HE1000se + Aurender ACS10 + Qutest + Anni:
Neutral-bright, with bright edge. Fast and thin/clear, with light bass quantity & density. Too shrill/bright-edged. Decent bass impact. Vocals sound too distant. Spacious, but not much depth? I had realized on Day 2 with IEMs the same thing I realized here: Chord = bright! 
Stealth + Aurender A200 + Auris Nirvana IV:
Fatiguing. Awful.
R10 planar + A200 + Nirvana IV:
Unnaturally crisp, slightly edgy. Not very smooth. Grado-like. Very bass light.
R10 dinamique + A200 + Nirvana IV:
Decent fullness VS planar. Less edge and crispness. More dry. Not bad, but needs more bass to balance the treble. Moderate bass; more sub-bassy. Not great definition anywhere. Fairly good sound, but rather dimensionless. Poor space.
Nothing too interesting here. I asked if they had an HE1000V2, and they didn’t. Arya Stealth or Susvara would be my pick over the HE1000se, but they are all probably too thin/lean.
Sennheiser…
HD660 V2 + HDV 820:
Very nice… Warm, detailed. Engaging. More weight, bass, density than HD600.
HD600(blue tag) + HDV 820:
Not too much difference between these 2. 600 is leaner and more neutral/dull, as expected, but this amp really brings both of them to life. Great volume knob. I was really impressed with these combinations, moreso the 660 V2. It seems like a great all-rounder, but I doubt its technical abilities compared to something like L700. I asked the rep when the planar HD900 or 1000 is coming out. 
Also asked him if HE1 is legitimately for sale, or just a show piece that never gets replies for potential customers on the sale form, and he said there was a system and employee change problem that caused that issue, and they sell about 5 per year in USA, and about 20 per year in the rest of the world. I also listened to IE600 and IE900, with a poor showing there.
Back to Moon, to see a special amp…
CA-1a + VM-1a + X-Sabre 3 Pro:
[Ribbon Mode = SR]
(Amp variable knob = Center)
Awesome imaging, tone. Much warmer sounding than Day 2 on other hardware; too warm…
(Amp variable knob = Left)
Less warm, nicer balance.
(Amp variable knob = Right)
Very bassy and warm, but still retaining all detail… wow.
Big differences! Volume also decreases from right to left knob position.
[Ribbon Mode = CA]
(Amp variable knob = Left)
Sounds amazing… Clearer and more balanced, but still obvious warmth. Smooth. Bassy. Bass sounds incredible; speaker-like!
Knob changes now seem to affect volume and positioning.
Ozzy - Crazy Train intro chills!
Incredible job with Rob Zombie.
→ Overly warm…? = Bass fatigue?
Stunning, fluid coherency across FR…
TH909 + Bricasti M3:
Nice imaging! Good balance. Nice space! Somewhat treble edgy; bright spot. Too bright.
TH900 + Bricasti M3:
Much smoother than 909. Better bass. Intimate vocals. A bit more shimmery/wetter/etched than natural. Pretty good overall.
Worst room of the show - Welcome to T+A…
Solitaire P-SE + HA200 + MP200:
Fit is kinda odd. Not snug. Silky/wet. Bass level lower, but quality good. Can’t tell anything… soft jazz playing, in a room with super loud speakers playing rock… Sure, I’ll buy 10 of them, please. 
Day 3 Winners:
= CA-1a + VM-1a
= HD660s2 + HDV 820, TH900
= Stealth
Overall Show Winners:
= CA-1a+VM-1a, L500/700, Odin
= ModHouse Silver/Gold, HD660s2+HDV 820, 007
= Stealth
SHOW SUMMARY…
The RAAL system is incredible. With 1 headphone, using the VM-1a amp, you get SIX distinctly different tunings, with NO silly gimmicks, barely noticeable changes, or loss of SQ to achieve it…!! If you own both current RAAL headphones, you have TWELVE tunings available, plus tube & DAC flavors. It was the headphone that sounded the least like the sound was coming from a given point source. If I was spending ~$8K or more, I would get a CA-1a + VM-1a over any Stax, DCA, or Warwick combination, no question. That much tuning variety, with that level of SQ, for a comparatively modest price, is an astonishing level of value I did not know existed. I would still want a L700, too, of course. The ONE drawback of the RAAL system is that you’re supposed to shut off the amp before changing the variable knob, and wait about 90 seconds for it to power back up… Or you will stress the tubes, and burn them out sooner, supposedly. I was changing the knob with power on, and everything was working fine 
Also, you’re supposed to set the “CA/SR” knob to match which headphone you have(CA-1a or SR-1b), but you CAN use either knob with either headphone to get some very interesting, unique tuning combinations!
For IEMs, Empire Ears Odin was the clear winner, and was also selling the most. But for $3400? Come on…
On the hardware side, I was impressed with the Mytek Liberty HPA + DAC II combo, at a more reasonable cost. For high end, I was impressed most by Holo May(KTE?)+Bliss, then several others like Z10e, BHSE, GS-X Mini. Chord seemed to be a consistent disappointment.
Bonus cat pics:
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The SR mode I believe enables baffle compensation for SR-1A, you can’t produce bass in an open design like the SR-1A vs a closed headphone the SR mode is basically a 6dB bass lift EQ, to compensate for that. Which is why you notice a big volume change, it effectively drops all the other frequencies 6dB’s.
If you use the Ti-1A you have to use separate inline filters or just EQ to get the effect.
I own both Raal Headphones, and I think for the prices, they are a bargain, the TI-1A means you don’t need a dedicated amp (assuming you have a good one with enough oomph).
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Ah. I noted the volume changes from the variable knob, but I guess there is also a change with the “CA/SR” knob! I wasn’t sure how to cut down on the bass from the lowest bass setting with CA-1a… I thought it was still a bit strong. Sadly, I didn’t get to try the SR-1b on the VM amp, to see how much bass would have been present, compared to the crappy Jot R experience, with too much brightness and thinness. I don’t think the SR-1b is worth buying, now that the CA-1a exists.
Does the VM manual explain what exactly the variable knob positions do, sound-wise…? That knob is a hidden treasure lol.