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A month ago, I ran into my Russian neighbor in the hall. As usual, he asked me what I was reviewing. (Vladimir likes to come over and listen, then find fault with everything I play.) When I told Vlad I had Stax's new top-of-the-line earspeaker, the SR-X9000, he lit up and exclaimed, "I need to hear it," adding that he has been a lifelong Stax fanatic and owns at least five different models, "dating way back." He told me he'd recently sold his SR-009 to buy the newer SR-009S, but he still has his ragged, 25-year-old Stax Omega "prototype," which sounds "even better" than the 009S. I told him…
We need audiophile audio and headphones at the SR-X9000's level so that we can savor every blessed second of recordings like Yo Soy La Tradición (16/44.1, Miel Music/Tidal), with Miguel Zenón fronting the Spektral Quartet. Compared to LTA's Z10e, the 3ES powering the Stax produced a terser, tighter, more brilliantly lit view of this jazz, which feels like sorcery. Zenón's composition "Cadenas" sounded smarter and fresher, more avant-garde, through the Woo amplifier; it was more lush and melodic—more about Puerto Rico—through the LTA. Through both amplifiers, the SR-X9000 displayed greater…
Presented by Head-Fi, CanJam promotes headphone and portable audio at shows in New York City, London, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Southern California, and Chicago.
I was already planning to visit New York, and NYC COVID levels have now reached a recent new low, with positivity rates in the 1% range following an Omicron-era peak of 23% on 1 January. New York City lifted its general mask mandate in mid-February. CanJam is requiring proof of vaccination for entry, but masks are optional.
This is the first CanJam New York to take place in two years. Attendance appeared…
The buzz was palpable as I stepped off the escalator onto the conference floor at the Marriot Marquis hotel, where CANJAM New York City 2022 was revving up within shouting (or at least screaming) distance of Times Square.
Many of the major headphone (and a few non-headphone) brands—Abyss, Audeze, Cardas, Dan Clark Audio, HiFiMan, Meze—were present, as were some upstarts and less well-known companies: Ambient Acoustics, Auribus Acoustics, BGVP, Denoki Audio, Eletech Cables, Grell, In Ear, Jerry Harvey Audio, Linsoul, MusicTech, See Audio, Soundcore, Strauss & Wagner, and…
Bergenfeld New Jersey’s Dekoni Audio was showing headphone accessories at CanJam, including replacement earpads for major headphone brands, eartips, sprays, wipes, cleaners, and the like. They were also auditioning their new headphones, a reworking of the Fostex T50RP MK3
Dekoni’s comfy, cushy, thick earpads come in multiple finishes and styles including Choice, Elite, and Platinum lines of leather, suede, hybrid, and "fenestrated sheepskin." Their Midnight, Velour, and Jerzee lines offer additional choices. The earpads are constructed of memory foam wrapped in various leathers…
The advantage of a highly resolving music system is that you can hear deeper into recordings. The disadvantage is that you can hear deeper into recordings.
For the last couple of nights, I've been listening to Promises, a recent collaboration between Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Almost the entire 46-minute, nine-movement album is built on two chords, played simultaneously on an acoustic piano and a celeste. The instrumentation swells and wanes—Sanders's intense sax lines piercing into prominence, the large string section turning cacophonous, a…
There’s a new audio company in the headphone/IEM category: Grell Audio. German audio designer Axel Grell recently formed his eponymous company in tandem with Icelandic product manager Gisli Gudmundsson.
Grell is a former Sennheiser design engineer and audiophile product manager who was the mind behind many of that German company’s well-known HD series headphones, including the HD 650. As I reported in Industry Update in the August 2021 print issue, Sennheiser’s consumer electronics division was acquired by Sonova in May 2021. Grell started his company the following September, Grell’s…
Why do the names of some headphone brands sound like they originated with marketing flacks or PR hacks? Some brands have natural, fuzzy sounding names, others a sci-fi bent.
So What do you get from Dan Clark Audio? Obviously, Dan Clark!
In preparation for this show report, I quietly asked for recommendations from my headphone-oriented buddies, from Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg to physicist-audiophile Miguel Barrio. And of course, Herb Reichert. To a man, they whispered "Dan Clark Audio." So into the Dan Clark Audio room I walked to hear their new closed-back, planar-…
I've been on a Kim Gordon kick lately. It began a few months ago with rediscovering some Sonic Youth albums and picking up Gordon's solo record, No Home Record. I recently finished reading her memoir, Girl in a Band, about her life, art, and musical career. I tend to read books rather than listen to them, but this time I listened with the Audible app, and I found the experience compelling. Gordon's delivery is direct, her voice even-keeled, almost deadpan. She's giving us the straight dope. Subtle inflections are detectable: moments when she felt strong and proud; leftover cobwebs of…
Another day, before settling in to critical listening, I had on Kim Gordon's No Home Record (24/96, Matador/Qobuz). On "Murdered Out," around the 1:50 mark, fuzzed-out guitar emerged from the left channel and suddenly grabbed my attention. This snarling, electrifying effect sounded like it was coming from somewhere ahead of and outside the speakers. An impressive and surprising bit of imaging.
As I often do, I started my serious auditioning with phono, connecting the MoFi Electronics StudioPhono phono stage to the Caruso. The source was the MoFi Electronics UltraDeck turntable.…