Appreciate it man! I am also hoping for the same flattening - it seems like it’s calming down a bit, but wouldn’t be surprised to see a new variant going crazy soon either though 
1 Like
I’m sure there are some here that will be going to canjam nyc this weekend so just a bump to let y’all know there’s a dedicated thread eager for any impressions. Have fun!
6 Likes
Valkyria is there for anyone interested
2 Likes
Hello,
What for news give it from Can jam this Year?
I don‘t see anything this year,things who have show it i know it before the Can Jam begins.
That thing was pretty insane, but I guess it should be for 11k USD lol. Looks amazing too.
I will probably post my thoughts later tonight, I will get my notepad out that I took notes with. Tried so much shit I will just never be able to afford, it was really a lot of fun, definitely going to try to go to another CanJam in the future!
8 Likes
Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the upcoming shows https://canjamglobal.com/
2 Likes
The headfi thread for these is sketch… many people are also very protective of pricing making me think they got huge discounts off msrp and they are tying to preserve for used market value.
Would love to hear your thoughts on them as I posted asking on the headfi canjam thread.
2 Likes
Is it really 11k for that? Was that like an elite version or something? Or was that just base model price? And it’s positioned as a “baby” wa33? That’s just strange. Guess if it sounds the part it’s not an issue, but that’s still weird given how it’s seemingly positioned
1 Like
In another website someone said the WA23 is priced around 9k
1 Like
I saw someone mention that here as well I think, not sure. Either way though, that’s still more expensive than a base wa33
1 Like
Spirit Torino Valkyria
To start off, they were powering them off of a portable dac/amp (and not a diablo) which I thought was extremely weird when you are trying to show off a pair of headphones worth 11k. Also some of their lower cans were being powered Geshili labs gear.
Anyways, I thought they sounded great, but I only listened to the music the vendor showed me, so I didn’t get to test any of my own tracks. They had great power behind them and acoustic music sounded really nice; about as close to perfect as you can get I’d say. They are probably one of the most beautiful set of cans I’ve seen or held, exceptional build quality. Had a fantastic sense of space and great imaging with a nice air to them. Strings sounded absolutely gorgeous as well as pianos. They were heavy, but extremely comfortable because of the headband and ear cups.
That’s about all I wrote down for them, but I would honestly take the Ab1266 or Susvara over them for the price any day of the week, but again, the source gear the Ab1266 (Woo Wa-33) and Susvara (Hifimans Ef1000) had were vastly, vastly superior.
7 Likes
My standouts from CanJam NYC are Susvara, Ab1266, LCD-X, Ferrum gear, and all the Woo stuff.
Susvara sounded so natural and I couldn’t find a single thing to complain about. It just sounded so extremely balanced and well separated, like I think this was as close to perfect as I’ve heard thus far. Well okay, I guess one thing - damn these are inefficient af lol. I actually got to test some of my own tracks with it, and was surprised that even EDM sounded great on these. I would prefer to listen to stuff like that on an Ab1266 because the dynamics, slam, and overall tonality just fit that style perfectly, but I would be totally cool with a Susvara for a singular, one and only headphone tbh.
I almost bought the Ferrum stack but decided to pass because I didn’t really want to drop 3 grand and then subway out and then fly home lol. It seemed incredibly transparent and clear with a neutral tonality. It also had a great bass impact whilst not sounding warm. I am kinda debating eventually saving to get a Ferrum stack + Denafrips dac or potentially GSX mini as a better version of my Asgard 3.
Also got to try a bunch of electrostats and I didn’t think I would care for them because I like my bass, but man, they really impressed. Sounded incredibly natural and very airy so orchestral music and math rock sounded amazing.
Tried a bunch of other stuff too, but I don’t feel like I am competent enough to really describe my experience well because of crowd noise and also being relatively new to all this craziness. It was super fun though and I am excited to go to the next convention. Also random aside, but you had to be vaccinated to get in to the venue, but like ~80% of people still wore masks anyways so that was pretty cool. There was hand sanitizer at pretty much every single setup as well, so it felt pretty safe.
9 Likes
Yeah Woo apparently calls it a mini WA33 elite. Maybe thats why it’s priced above the base 33
3 Likes
ahhh that makes a lot more sense then, price is more reasonable too (if it’s 9k, that’s actually really not bad considering the elite 33 is 16)
2 Likes
But it seems to have such a slim profile for an amp with output transformers.
1 Like
True, but there are different sizes of transformers, I’m sure they could source some custom transformers to fit their size requirements for that price. Haven’t been to canjam and not seen the amp this year so no real sense of size, but consider the studio t, that doesn’t really look all that much thicker from pictures, and that has all the associated transformers inside without issue
3 Likes
Remember the WA33 transformers fit in 1/2 of that case, the WA23 looks at least as tall as that.
3 Likes
Size wise, it looks like they took a single box of the wa33 and just extended it to double the length? which is likely enough for all they need to fit
2 Likes
So it turns out I was dumb to cancel my canjam trip when people started pullng out. I just assumed there wouldnt be much interesting to me there but basicaly every amp and transducer im interested in was at the show… Anyways here is an interesting impression post on HF of a bunch of higher end stax amps that i am currently kicking myself for not hearing in person
3 Likes
It’s nice to see someone not suck off the BHSE for once lol. Also yeah T2 builds kill it, awesome stuff. Although I’d personally put a 3es elite up against some of the best T2 I’ve heard. The comment at the end about the utopia and susvara I’d also likely agree with as well (although not heard the new stax so can’t comment there)
3 Likes