Another excellent day today! Shout out to the iFi Audio team for indulging my little experiment today!
My highlight listen was the full iFi Audio Pro Stack! Sounded phenomenal with the LCD 4. I demo'd with both Rebecca Pigeon's Spanish Harlem and a lovely vinyl rip of Epica's Divine Conspiracy.
I have mixed feelings about the LCD 4 as when I've heard it previous I haven't been super impressed with it... I feel the same about the iCan Pro as well actually. Both to my ears were a little soft and almost lifeless. However, what I found is with the full iFi Pro stack the iCan Pro had a lot more linear response than what I'd heard in the past! Namely;
My highlight listen was the full iFi Audio Pro Stack! Sounded phenomenal with the LCD 4. I demo'd with both Rebecca Pigeon's Spanish Harlem and a lovely vinyl rip of Epica's Divine Conspiracy.
I have mixed feelings about the LCD 4 as when I've heard it previous I haven't been super impressed with it... I feel the same about the iCan Pro as well actually. Both to my ears were a little soft and almost lifeless. However, what I found is with the full iFi Pro stack the iCan Pro had a lot more linear response than what I'd heard in the past! Namely;
- Clearer instrument seperation
- What was previously a some what soft and smoother over presentation, now had a more vivid transients and a more defined envelope
- Better texture and impact in the lows
- Previously, I again found low end impact to be some what diffuse, how ever with the iDSD Pro the initial hit was more better defined and more powerful
- Nice top end sweetness without a loss of detail
- Previously hearing the iCan Pro with other DAC's such as the iDSD Nano, it was always too smooth up top for me
- Deeper more cohesive imaging
- Vs a wide but often shallow staging I experienced in the past.
Now I did have the Amp set to Medium Gain and I listened with the none "+" tube setting,
Given my immense pleasure with the iFi Audio All in One portables I'm starting to appreciate how well their house tuning builds upon it self. An with their all in one system I felt it made the difference for me with the LCD 4. Compared to previous system this one had both a combined naturalness with an almost explosive sense of dynamics! With Epica I found that it;
- Seamless transitioned from the very natural classical sections to the heavier more distorted metal portion
- Presented both the beauty and delicacy of Simon's voice again'st her husbands deeper very chesty rough growling
- Easily defined both the stringed electric bass and the deeper notes of the stringed instruments
- Consistently balanced the grit and sheer force of the band without overshadowing the more natural instruments they often feature as a quiet back drop against the metal riffs
An for me the beauty in Symphonic Metal is the contrast the musicians create. Quite with loud, soft with hard, natural with metallic. An the LCD 4 with the iFi Pro Stack really captured all of that perfectly! Both the iCan Pro and LCD 4 really come to LIFE with the iDSD Pro dac behind them!
An shortly after my listen with the LCD 4 I took the time to compare my little USB Cable to their full sized Mercury USB Cable with the Stax SRL 505 and the iFi Pro iESL.
Upon first listening with my generic USB I felt the SRL505 was a little flabby in the low end, with good clarity and exceptional detail in the mid-range and up! An when I switched to the Mercury I was able to not only shed some of that flab but also gain some texture. While I personally use Coaxial input on my dacs with a dedicated isolate converter, for many the convince and overall quality of this USB Cable is very much comparable to the cost of my own Coaxial solution. In a world with many solutions to the problem of digital noise, once again iFi Audio seems to have an effective and very str
Next up is Audio Technica's AT - HA5050H which is a tube buffered Dac fed into a Class A Amp with my HM901 as the source and the A1000Z as my headphone.
This time around I did my listening with the Eagles Live Rendition of Hotel California. Overall the A1000Z was;
- Fairly balanced with a slight mid bass hump and some mild forwardness in the mid range
- So the big drum at the intro had a very full body but also nice extension as it resonates after that initial hit
- Stunningly beautiful timbre for each and every guitar in that track
- The individuality of each strings fundamental note was evident, as was the overall harmonic beauty that they create together
- Top end was slightly sharp but also sweet,
- Whistles from the crowd were very vivid but not too rough
My only real gripe was that it added a little too much texture to the singers voice, while he has a roughness present's there's also a smooth from the chest warmth as well. With the A1000Z that warmth was quite as evident as I'd have liked. Though with female vocals and brass horns the A1000Z is a real delight!
I also did a little portable Dac/Amp shoot out with my modded ATH ES10. Featuring the Geek Out v2+ the iFi xDSD and the Chord Mojo!
Overall the xDSD and Mojo had different presentations but similar detail overall. How ever the Geek Out V2+ was a smidge more resolving than both and had a presentation that drew from the strengths of each with the Green Filter. Namely it was;
- Equally natural and vivid
- So there was equal focus on both the initial attack/decay of the envelope of instruments as well as the sustain/decay
- Better defined with a more cohesive image
- Both more spacious and with offering slightly better instrument separation
- Sharper dynamic presentation
- Micro dynamics were easier to distinguish again'st a very black background
Now the problem with the GO V2+ is that it's no longer in production. However both the Chord Mojo an xDSD are! An each is supported by an excellent team.
Overall the Mojo was;
- Slightly more natural
- Smoother with a more relaxed presentation
- good micro dynamics but macro dynamics are sometimes a bit too relaxed as the sustain and release of instruments have a slight emphasis
- Offering a very cohesive image
- but can become diffuse with warmer headphones
Really and truly the Mojo finds itself pair'd better with cans like the DT 880, Aeon Flow Closed or anything that's tuned a little drier.
The iFi xDSD on the other hand actually offers a drier presentation that pairs nicer with more relaxed or darker headphones.
- Offers a spacious vivid presentation
- No lack of discernment between micro and macro dynamics
- Vivid with a more textured presentation
- maintains a pleasant slight forwardness of presence and immediacy
Now the one BIG advantage the xDSD has over the Mojo is it's physical interface! BluTooth is already built in without any additional modules and the analog volume pot clicks allowing you to pause and play your music! This make single'd handed operation very easy. So in terms of function it's a bit more convenient and robust
Just WOW! The Meze Empyrean was a very resolving but in your face listen! For my impressions I was using the softer more spacious "alacantra" pads, an forgive me if I've misspelled it as I couldn't quite discern how to spell that how ever from the young lady at the booth.
Tons of low end power and slam with a nicely balanced mid range and top end, I also found that compared to the Well's Audio amp the Meze Team had at their station Cayin's HA-300B offered;
- A more spacious sound without any loss of clarity or impact
- Brought a slightly more balanced sense of texture to the mid range in particular
- I felt sometimes the with the Well's the Empyrean was very vivid but almost too smooth
- Resolved some amazing low end detail I'd not heard before
So all in all, I found myself very impressed with how much the HA-300B brought to the Empyrean! Though to be honest I was slightly more impressed with another amp at the Cayin booth.
So Cayin's iDap and iDac-6 were very impressive but their i HA-6 was PHENOMENAL!!! Holy smokes! Actually the entire Stack was immensely impressive. It was easily my favorite solid state system not only today but ever! I did my listening with my ES10 from the low output with the voltage gain set to low but the current gain set to high. With my Modded ES10 I found switching to High Current gain opened up the sound stage!
I also used the tube buffer out of the iDac-6. And honestly I had NO complaint's with this system at all! Compared to my heavily modified home Tube Amps this stack had
- Equivalent speed and slam with far less noise
- A more open and precise imagine
- with better precision and instrument seperation
- Clearer more decisive micro dynamics
- A black background which yielded better resolve and micro detail
More or less I've been presented with a very difficult decision to make, I've been on the war path for a new DAC for my system and ideally a new Solid State amp as well. As I have an all in one system. And I feel really the iDac and iHA-6 would be everything I've wanted/needed! An the price is very aggressive. I'll certainly need to hear some other options before hand before I make my finial decision but I'm very tempted to just pick this up and continue to enjoy it!
Also appearing for the first time is the Kennerton Thror a new Planarmagnetic from Kennerton.
I have to say not having much to reference it again'st I did find it to be amazingly aggressive. Very much like the Mango Wood HE 4 I had previously, and I'm personally a big fan of aggressive planars. And again, with the full Cayin Stack is was quite good! I also listened to Epica's Divine Conspiracy and I found that it had;
- Thick, heavy visceral low end
- Ton's of power and slam but also good texture
- Able to highlight the delicacy and beauty of Simon's voice
- slightly smooth with a touch of upper mid emphasis which gave her voice a slightly airer more delicate presentation
- Presented male vocals with excellent authority
- Her husbands growling was a lot more aggressive than I'd heard in the past, it was slightly un-natural in that his lowest registers were a little more powerful than what you'd expect in reality
- Overall aggressive envelope without detracting from a more natural sustain/release
An to be frank, this is MUCH more aggressive and just POWERFUL than the LCD 4 I heard earlier today. Where as the LCD 4 was explosive when necessary and far more balanced overall, the Kennerton Thror was... beautifully explosive almost always and just a visceral kick to the face when needed, and I frankly like that kind of presentation! That slightly faster than life kind of vibe is what I go for when I listen to Heavy Metal or watch movies! Though I imagine the two Planar's would likely compliment each other and each is presented with beautiful wood cups!
Though there is a single monkey wrench that I feel both have to overcome.
Hearing it now for the second time I feel an even stronger desire to own the Abyss Phi! This time around I got to enjoy it with a KimberKable out of the extraordinary Woo Audio WA 33.
Sadly I had no metal to enjoy this with only some Red Hot Chili Peppers, and honestly when I reach for my planars it's because I want a bit more impact and slam. I like planar's with more exciting genres, and the Chili Peppers old school Funk meets Punk sound on their Blood Sugar Sex Magik Album served as a nice show case.
What I feel it does different from both the Thor and LCD 4 is;
- Presents and even deeper faster more controlled deep bass
- Low end textures are slightly more emphasized with the Phi than it's counter parts.
- Overall faster presentation with a more spacious natural cohesive image
- Able to convey both an amazing sense of immediacy in the attack of instruments but also a more natural and well extended release as well and it does so lighting fast with NO loss of clarity of control or precison
- Slightly drier airier top end
- While in no way harsh, it wasn't quite as sweet as the previous two are up top
An sadly, without being able to listen to music I was familiar with it's hard to gauge how the mid-range compares to the other two that I heard today. Still the Phi remains the only clear upgrade to the HE 4 that I enjoyed for many years previously. As nothing posses it's uniquely almost hyper aggressive presentation and very natural imaging! But it's also incredibly finicky and does require a some what extensive head adjustment each time you listen, which isn't very convenient.
Audeze has also launched their new LCD 4Z which is an even more efficient model of the LCD 4, I would encourage you to speak with them directly to get a better understanding of the technical benefits but when I compared it to the LCD MX4 I found that it;
- slightly wetter and darker without any loss in resolution or texture
- presented a mildly more cohesive image
- bass impact was a bit thicker in comparison to the MX4
- an this was the only double edge'd sword I felt the 4Z had, in some cases it was an advantage sometimes a minor draw back
Overall I felt the 4Z was an even more refined take of the super efficient MX4 while also having the slightly darker and wetter presentation found in the classics LCD Series Headphones.
Getting to meet with Zach of ZMF was another highlight of the day! Additionally the now out of production DNA Amps he had, the Stratus and Sonette were also exquisite! I think at this time ZMF has the most well balanced open back headphones you can purchase! Truly as master of all trades, out classed only by a very specific tuning that falls in line with your own personal tastes, this is certainly the only headphone I'd own if I was forced to have just one.
Additionally the DNA amps he had were quite phenomenal, they had a level of clarity, spaciousness and naturalness matched only by yesterday's Sonnare performance! An thankfully unlike DNA, Sonnar are still producing and building amplifiers.
Another excellent tube amp at the show was the Cayin HA-1A MK2, while I found it to be a little to intimate with closed back headphones it pair'd beautifully with the HD 800. Adding a slightly sweeter top end and a little more body and extension on the low end without much loss of resolution in the mid range. An once again I was able to listen with Cayin's exception iDac 6, except this time I used the solid state/transistor dac output over the tube buffer.
Today I got a chance to hear the Ether C Flow out of another amazing system! This time it's the Yggy Gen 2 with the Liquid Glass Hybrid Tube Amp featuring a pair of Tung Sol 12SN7s.
What has impressed me the most about the Ether C Flow is how much it changes from system to system! This time it was with a full silver cable, and rather than sounding a little hard like it has with the Solid States I'm used to running it with, with the Liquid glass it was very smooth. So I'm impressed at how much the Ether C Flow takes on the character of the system it's running in! As that is really the mark of a truly high fidelity headphone.
An while I feel the HD 820 still does better with the solid state systems I've heard it on, it's very clear that judging the Ether C again'st anything else need's to be done in the very same system! So until then I continue to be impressed with it and feel I should reserve any comparisons until I've got it in my own system with some other options.
The Voce, unlike the Ether C Flow, had a beautiful personality of it's own while still being very high resolution. Though overall it wasn't quite my taste as I found it to be just a smidge too romantic, highly resolving for sure, but again not quite my personal performance.
Ahh and finally the Holy Grail of headphones these days, while I certainly enjoyed my time with the HE-1 I wasn't familiar with any of the music and had a hard time really gauging it's performance. It's certainly an exceptional headphone with by far the best vocal presentation I've ever heard, but without anything to reference it to it's hard to gauge just how much better than everything else it is.
