Any word on a price for the new RSA amp?
The people there said it will be around $10,000 USD and no official release date. The chassis itself took 7 months or so to make so Ray is trying to find a more reliable source to make the chassis.
3 Likes
I was going to do like a full impression post, but I feel so lazy. The Sennheiser HE-1 is pretty good, but nothing to really talk about since nothing really stood out for me. Everything sounded pretty good with no exaggeration. Just a little disappointed that the HE-1 couldn’t melt my heart like the HD600 did when I had them. I remember first getting into audio, my first pair was the HD600. I also remember my heart melting and that made me go into audio a little harder than I thought I ever would. Thought I could recapture my first love with the HE-1, but I guess I’m too phased out. But, at the same time, I had my heart melted by the SW1X DAC IV. Idk, I guess I am more interested in equipments and vintage gear than headphones.
I’ll just keep it short on my entire 2 day’s experience at CanJam Chicago 2023.
Favorites Moment in order:
- SW1X DAC IV from the mimic audio booth
- Shangri-La Sr on the Grand Caymen
- Sony MDR-R10 on a CD transport
- Plugging my Onkyo A800 on the Viva Amp
- Comparing the K1000 to the Mysphere on the Viva amp. (Get to cross the K1000 from my bucket list of headphones to try)
- Sorry that’s it
. Everything was pretty good, but not my cup of tea.
(Also realize I just listed from Day 2. Day 1 was just knocking headphones off my bucket list. Plus, Day 2 had less people from the already not so crowded Audio Show, meaning more time with the equipments and quieter session since the floor wasn’t busy).
Surprise appeal to me is the Hifiman Arya Organic. I use to own the Edition XS and like that headphone a lot. Just hated the headband and sold it. The Hifiman Arya Organic from first impression in show floor, it’s sounds pretty dang good with a nice bass response. Couldn’t really gauge the soundstage since it’s open back and it was noisy around me. But from memory, the Arya and Edition XS have great soundstage, so I think the Arya Organic should have great soundstage as well. The test songs was from their like LMS equipment and I choose LOTR fellowship of the ring OST, “The Black Rider”.
Other surprise was the K1000 and Mysphere 3.2. The Mysphere was the weirdest headphone I ever put on my head. Was pretty confuse at first glance, but I figured out how to wear them. Comparing the K1000 to the Mysphere at the Viva Amp on show floor… The Mysphere was a more detail headphone and I understand the praise now. Honestly, I think the Mysphere was just a better K1000, but it was a short session. Not only it’s still a highly detail headphone, it had enough bass for me. It might be because of the Viva tube amp since I noticed it raises a nice bass and soundstage buff to my Onkyo A800 as well. I also only did classical orchestra, so I don’t know how well it does on other genres. Overall, I really enjoy listening to one of my favorite psychopath love letter musical score, Movement 4 Marche au supplice - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Les Siecles). Keep in mind it’s a 20 minute session, it was pretty slow on a Sunday. 10 minutes for the K1000 and 10 minutes for the Mysphere.
Very good show, don’t know if I will come back next year since I listen to a lot of the headphones from my bucket list, but only time will tell. Hope everyone had fun on their own adventures at CanJam Chicago.
8 Likes
@SaberPunch Glad you got some items ckd off your list. Curious…you’ve used
the Berlioz several times, I see. Which version do you like/use? I enjoy the
Dudamel/LA album, tho I also have the Munch/Boston on my albums list.
2 Likes
I use the Les Siecles / Roth, Francois-Xavier album:
http://open.qobuz.com/album/ey523vdy1xdrb
The main reason Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Beethoven Pastoral, and De Falla: Nights of the Garden of Spain were my main 3 choice is because those were my favorite 3 from last year live symphonies, so the live memory is still fresh in my head.
Other 2 links:
http://open.qobuz.com/album/0002894794876
2 Likes
3 good ones to have heard live in one year, 
2 Likes
@SaberPunch Thanks to you and the others for writing up your impressions. I wish I’d been able to go and meet you all but some things came up this week and I had to cancel at the last minute. Maybe next year.
2 Likes
My 1st CanJam(Chicago):
It was a smaller, more claustrophobic/cramped room, with less headphone variety(but likely more quantity), but more IEM stuff, than AXPONA 2023. Disappointing overall, because the best things I heard at AXPONA were not there(RAAL CA-1a/VM-1a and Empire Ears Odin, nor Warwick). I was also looking forward to hearing IEMs from Linsoul/ThieAudio, which I was pretty sure I had seen on the booth listing, but nowhere to be found at the show… On a positive note, there was less noise than at AXPONA, but it was still too loud to get a full grasp of the headphones in that environment. Soundbooths, soundbooth, soundbooths!
I spent about 75% of my time(2 measly days is not enough for this!!) listening to all the IEMs I hadn’t heard, that weren’t at AXPONA, and a decent chunk of time re-listening to X9000, 1266, L500, and some new ones: L700(L500 FTW; best Stax of them all), Spirit Pulsar(surprisingly good! super “dynamic” and clear, what Focal Clear was probably trying to do), T+A Solitaire P(better than I expected, but pretty soft/mushy treble), AEON 2 NOIRE(wow, I liked it even more than AEON 2 Open, and X9000; basically perfect!), Spirit Mistral(just bad), Spirit Centauri/Pro(sounds like a wooden cave), VOCE(I liked what I heard, before the annoying guy started flying his damn drone in the room), and D8000 Pro LE(pretty good, with notably high quality bass, but perhaps more thin and cool than I want).
On the IEM side(and overall at the show) 64 Audio U12t with number 10 or 12 filters was the best thing I heard. I was really surprised how much sound change there was between the number 20 and 10 filter, and how the quality of all technical aspects also seemed to increase along with the spatial expansiveness as the filter number decreased. Really impressive. Nothing at Ultimate Ears did anything for me; lots of missing detail, and overly smoothed tunings. At Westone, the W60 was the winner. At Etymotic, I liked ER2XR most, but W60 was better. At Kinera, Loki was the best, but I found their house signature to sound a little too emphasized in the ~lower treble, and too enclosed. Nanna was not there. hIfImAn Svanar was pretty solid, but too clean and clinical, and lacked dimensionality and resolution, especially at its price. FiR RN6 was really loose fitting, with strong bass, nice treble detail, but overly wet and cold-toned in the treble. From Noble, I wasn’t super impressed with any of them, especially not the huge shells, but I felt Ronin was probably best, then Ragnar, then Kahn at a more distant step down, with overly prominent treble.
And then there was this, of course(duh):
My prepared 10 minute demo tracks, on USB stick, on the demo laptop:
The demo was quite rushed, but whatever. I felt it sounded “right”, but through a metal filter that made the sound thinner and cooler than natural/organic. Vivid and punchy, not too fatiguing. A bit distanced. Not super spacious(I later found out crossfeed was set to Low, and didn’t think to test it at the demo). Nice, moderate level bass, punchy and pleasant, but not so dense. Not super electric and sharp and fine detail focused like the Warwicks. Metallic tone, slightly thin/cool. Sound still present at 0% volume knob. A little fuzzy in the treble; cymbals didn’t seem right. More technical than natural/organic, opposite of HD600, oddly. It was better than the Warwicks(unless you want Godlike electronic capabilities), but it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever heard. If they could cut out the sharpness on Bravura/Aperio, HE-1 sales might stop.
So, I didn’t get to meet 2 of my Audio Gods, RAAL and Odin, but I did happen to meet another one(you might spot him in an above photo, showing someone how to install headphones). I was listening to the Solitaire P or something, when all of a sudden there is some ruckus at the end of the table, where I hear mention of MySphere…! I see the commotion heading to the Vivo table I was just at, and tell myself I need to be the NEXT person in line to hear it! So I walk over and chit-chat with the handler, as he demonstrates to a Boothie how to wear it, asking pointed questions like, “So, how did you decide on 3.2 over 3.1…?”, met with replies like, “Well, the 3.2 matches better with a wider variety of amps. … Unlike Utopia, which is only good on 10/100 amps, and amazing only on 1/100 amps”. This kind of talk was all too familiar. . . 
And then, only moments later, I find out I am talking with the 3rd Audio God, Sir @Draaly himself. 
I’m sure I didn’t get the fit right, so I can’t really comment much on the MySphere. Heavier than expected! They seemed pretty bright, but the treble quality seemed quite good.
Gotta say, I was more impressed by my hotel, and the cars outside, than the MySphere
12 Likes
@CT007 I wasn’t able to make it, so thanks for the tour pictures. Gave me a
better sense of the show and the place.
4 Likes
Nice post and pics of CanJam Chicago. I like your taste of the Stax L700. The Stax L700 II was hook up to the Viva Amp to the SW1X IV DAC. It wasn’t the most detail, but was the most musical setup and my personal favorite setup in the entire show including the HE-1 and Shang Sr.
If you wanted a thick and weighty sound, should have dm me. I brought my Onkyo A800 to CanJam. The Onkyo A800 on the Viva Amp was Bass heaven for me and is thick sounding from a lot of sources. Honestly, almost every headphone on the Viva Amp had a good bass boost from the Mysphere (can feel the ear speakers rumble), my Sennheiser HD580 Jubilee (which was weird, but cool at the same time lol), and my Onkyo A800.
3 Likes
Don’t skip AXPONA Day!!!
1 Like
I heard you and the A800 were around! But it was too late in the show at that point. :\ I did see the Shang at one point, but I thought it was someone’s personal model? At the Headamp main booth.
Yep, I definitely had to hear that SW1X 4! I avoided the Stax amps at both shows lol. I couldn’t really pinpoint what L700 was doing differently than L500, but I definitely didn’t like it. I was also expecting more resolution/detail from it. I barely got to hear it, but VOCE could be the best estat I’ve heard so far. L500 is like a killer $300 IEM lol.
2 Likes
It was someone personal headphone.
1 Like
Had a fun time this past weekend, it’s all a bit of a blur but I feel like I had the chance to hear everything I wanted to and even some things like IEMs that I was planning on skipping over. I’ve gone through my pictures and saved the ones that were highlights for me and I’ll include those below separated by day. Most are audio related but some are just of the city that I got to explore on Friday and Sunday evening.
Saturday
Brought the Utopia around with me on the first day of the show and got to hear it on a lot of really cool amps. Also I discovered the ZMF Atticus based on the recommendation of an online friend and ended up buying a pair because I enjoyed them the most out of all the other ZMF models.
Tried some honeydew bubble tea in the evening after deep dish with Chris and TJ from Audio along with Eskamobob and a few others:
Sunday
Brought around the Aurorus Borealis with me on Sunday and enjoyed seeing people try them as they’re not really well known but sound like a warmer less detailed Utopia to me. Got to try them on a bunch of amps and source chains too.
Sunday Evening and Monday
Spent some time in Chicago after helping the Mimic Audio team get some stuff back into the city. And also took some cool shots of the drive home.
Highlights from the weekend were hearing Utopia and Borealis on a bunch of amps and still finding that I am quite happy with my home system. Letting people try the Borealis and hearing what they thought. Trying the new Ray Samuels amp with x9k, 1266, and Borealis. Hearing the Sony R10 for the first time. Discovering the ZMF Atticus. Hearing the Kinera Loki which I’m interested in buying. But mostly was fun to reconnect with people and meet some new ones as well.
14 Likes
Jealous of the bubble tea. Btw i always forget, is that a Prion you have for the Utopia?
1 Like
It was a prion4 but it’s not mine. I borrowed it from Chris who was working at the Mimic Audio table. I was also using a prion4 xlr to 1/4" adapter which was mine
1 Like
How’d you like the Prion4 with Utopia? I was contemplating getting ultrashort adapters from Pete and use mine
1 Like
Hard to say. I like it for the ergonomics and looks. I didn’t hear any huge differences or anything but to be fair I wasn’t listening for anything. Just wanted to know how it sounded on different amps and I didn’t go back and forth between the prion and the stock cable on these different amps.
2 Likes
Just finished a Schiit Meet in North Carolina. It was nice to meet Jason in the flesh! I tested some stuff, but mostly spent most of my time showing people how to wear the Mysphere 3.2 and telling the history of the ATH-L3000. I also won a free Wine board and Wine opener.
1 thing I realized when letting people try out the Mysphere 3.2. People seem reluctant to try the Mysphere, I usually have to offer them to listen just because it probably looks really weird. And then I usually tell them how to wear it and not wear it straight. When I see people try to wear them, I come to a realization. I think I have a fat head. Because, a lot of people wearing the Mysphere, I see there is still a gap, and the really not fully on their head. Then I tell them to diagonal it, but I think their heads are too small or I got a really fat head. I also fit the D8000 Pro perfectly, so I came to the conclusion I got a fat head. I think some people weren’t too impressed with the Mysphere probably because of the weird fit and the low-level equipment. I still think it sounded pretty good on the Schiit equipment, just not as magical compared to my current audio chain. It’s also really noisy and they have no isolation, so the Mysphere was probably not a good headphone to bring in meets. I just have a different experience, I fell in love with it at CanJam Chicago, so I guess it depends on the person.
Driving there to Pittsboro, NC was hell on earth. The same day for the Schiit Meet, a hurricane hit North Carolina. I couldn’t see the highway for the entire 2 hours driving there. Luckily I am a careful driver, so I made it there in one piece. Driving back was more relaxing since the hurricane passed. I was reminded that driving in NC is pretty relaxing and it’s nice driving with a bunch of trees around you. Wish it was October so the color of the leaves would change making the driving experience more magical. One funny thing is that during the hurricane at the Schiit Meet, we saw a porty-potty just flying around outside lol.
Notable headphones and gears I tried:
Headphones:
ATH-ADX5000
ZMF Verite Closed
ZMF Atrium Closed
Beyerdynamics T1
Some Grado headphone
Final D8000 Pro
Hifiman HE6se
Gear:
Schiit Mjolnir 3 connected to the Urd connected to the YG DAC
Schiit Ragnarok 2
Schiit Folkvangr
PassLabs HPA-1
ACP + Class A DIY (Amp Camp, Nelson Pass design)
Gave ZMF headphones a third try and honestly think their best headphone is the ZMF Verite. Atrium Closed was boomy and the midrange didn’t really make up for it for me. Also came to a realization that no headphones are going to powerful as a real subwoofer. So, now I’m going to ignore headphones for subbass and just focus on buying a higher-tier subwoofer for my speaker.
ATH-ADX5000 were pretty nice headphones. Try to compare them from the AD2000 from memory and honestly is a technical step up for sure. But to me, the AD2000 sounded more unique and bass were pretty nice on the AD2000. Vocals were also more forward on the AD2000, but the ADX5000 sounded way more natural than the AD2000. Thats not saying much because classic Audio Technica never sounded natural to my ears, but always has a unique sound. But I think if you have a collection, the weird tuning and unique sound signature of the AD2000 is always something nice to have.
Schiit Mjolnir 3 is probably the highest technical headphone amp from Schiit. It sounded like it has more clarity than the Schiit Folkvangr and the bass is way nicer compared to the other Schiit amps, even the Ragnarok 2. What I like about the Mjolnir 3 is that its not supposed to be a technical amp, it’s supposed to be a “fun” amp. Just having a nice touch of clarity was a lucky bonus. I like pairing the ATH-L3000 a lot with the Schiit Mjolnir 3 as I get more bass quantity and the bass sounds pretty dang nice. If I needed an amp about the 1200 and under retail, I think the Schiit Mjolnir 3 is really fun and nice amp to have. Jason mentioned you will get hum with sensitive headphone, but I didn’t have a sensitive headphone on me.
Wanted to mention that the ACP + Class A DIY (Amp Camp, Nelson Pass design) was pretty dang good. I actually liked how the Mysphere sounded on that setup. Midrange was a little sweet and smooth. Hearing it was only like $200 is pretty mind blowing giving that that amp sounded pretty awsome with the Mysphere 3.2. I believe it only gives out 1W as well.
Schiit news:
Jason mentions the following:
- Schiit Mjolnir 4 is already in the works and they are aiming for similar sound quality of the Schiit Mjolnir 3, but half the size to be more desktop friendly. Honestly, the way Jasno talk about Mjolnir 3, he seemed genioune surprise people actually like the Mjolnir 3 lol. I don’t know why, it’s a really nice-sounding amp for price to performance ratio.
- Schiit Mani 2 will be announced maybe the end of September. It will be priced around $300 and Jason really like the way it sounds.
- Schiit is working on moving to Texas, but its not final. That mean East Coast shipping is less days now!
- They talked about chassis and DAC chips, but don’t really remember anything worth pointing out.
Conclusion:
That was a fun Schiit Meet. Everyone that went to this one was pretty different from the last Schiit Meet. There were probably 3 returnees not counting me. Talking to new people is always fun, but it’s like a similar experience from the last meet where I tell them the same story about my headphones and why they are so awesome. Schiit is always making some cool stuff, so maybe if the next product is interesting enough, I might go again for the next Schiit Meet.
13 Likes
I got a big square noggin and the Final headphones fit like a glove. So nice and snug!
1 Like