Friday, October 6, 2017

RMAF 06Oct17

It was a fine crisp day in Denver for some festivals. The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest was my 4th I think and it was very good again. I spent more time this year, before the show, researching what I wanted to hear and getting source material organized to listen and compare high fidelity and consistently. I got the t-shirt but its not nearly as cool as last year's IMO. I spent the first half of the show in CanJam and then showed Jason and Scott some of the cooler stuff.
True Wireless... I really wanted to try the $200 true wireless Sony WF-1000X iems (since Kanoa failed) but Sony didn't bring any headphone stuff to the show... grrr. PSB wasn't demoing their true wireless iems either, although I saw and touched them and they're weird with behind the ear batteries - and other vendors Bose and Jaybird weren't at the show... grrr. I did try untrue wireless versions at Shure, via a bluetooth cord set for $100 - compromised audio quality is noticed using this accessory. I heard Bedyerdynamic Xelento Wireless for $1200 and Sennheiser HD1 for $500. The Shure cord worked as advertised but won't stream HD; the Xelento's were excellent but the cords and dongle parts are problematic I think and the HD1s are decent but suffer similarly. For this segment I need to try the 3 mentioned (Sony, Jaybird & Bose) before I settle.
Electrostatics Baby... I was on a mission to hear the electrostatics this year and did so including the cool Shure KSE 1500 electrostatic iems here for $3K. They are really good but too expensive and don't thump like my 846s.
I also tried the Stax 007s, the HiFiMan ShangriLa ($50K!!), the Sennheiser HE1 and MrSpeakers, still prototype, EtherEs. Sonoma 1 wasn't even at the show - weird. I'm showing only the somewhat affordable MrSpeakers stuff. That's him in the background - we had a good chat; the EEs are due to be out soon @<$3K.
Close 'Em Up... My Audeze planar magnetic full size cans are awesome but do bug people if they are nearby while I'm listening. I therefore have been looking at closed designs in search of a great set but which keeps me quiet. Can't say what happens when I sing along really. The best of the best IMO are the keen MrSpeakers EtherC Flows @ $1800 list (15% show discount - hmmm). I also partook of the Ultrasonne 8EX @ $2.2K, EMu Teak for $500, Fostex MK900U for $1300 and partially closed Klipsch HP-3 $1K.
Other CanJam Stuff Is Good Too... I tracked new product announcements and listened to that stuff too at CanJam. The Focal Clear dynamic cans are good but don't rival their spectacular Utopias. The odd looking Audeze LCDi4 planar magnetic iems were great - as were the new LCD 4 PM cans (not shown). The HiFiMan Susvara PMs @ $6K (not shown) were good but too expensive and similar to my Audeze's. The Crosszone CZ-1 headset was cool in that it was acoustically spacial but it was not high fidelity enough.
Upstairs We Go... Again I focused on electrostatics in speakers too and we heard and liked the Sanders Model 10e which bested the Martin Logan stuff and was better priced. We spoke to the man who's sold 1200 pairs lifetime. Woo Audio wasn't showing the new WA5LE in which I was interested and I didn't have time for DACs. While my DAP was a great tool for using my source material, and despite the EtherC Flow as a highlight for me, with the missing items for listening and the weak t-shirt, it was not the best RMAF/CanJam that I've attended. 

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