A Brief Stroll Through the Headphone Garden: CanJam 2021

[Ron Resnick]

I drove down to CanJam 2021 in Irvine, California, today to hang out with Marc Meisner, a friend from the San Francisco Bay area who is a very long-time and experienced audiophile, and who happened to be in town, and to take Jason Lord, the owner of The Source AV, out for dinner. Jason has a very large and elaborate headphone and headphone amp demo facility in his large and beautiful store in Torrance, California.

I figured Marc and I would just have drinks at the bar, but he actually wanted to audition some headphones. Go figure! He recently ordered the Audeze electrostatic headphones, and he wanted to audition a few more.

I used to use Sennheiser headphones for weak signal work on amateur radio. I have never in my life put on high-end audio headphones until today.

I think I tried about seven different headphones today, including the Audeze electrostatic, the Raal SR1a ribbon headphone (which positions itself off of the ears), a top-of-the-line Stax electrostatic, the HiFiMan Shangri-La, the Dan Clark Voce and the Dan Clark Stealth. Most audition set-ups included a very serious-looking tube headphone amplifier by HeadAmp called the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.





My tentative conclusions:

I like the headphones that are open (not fully closed) on the sides.

My favorite headphone was the Dan Clark Voce. My second favorite was the HiFiMan Shangri-La. None of the headphones before the Voce really did anything for me. When I listened to the Voce, I recognized what is to me a more natural sound, and, somehow, a sound that I am familiar with. Very quickly I felt that this was the headphone for me. For the first time all day I wanted to continue listening to music on this thing. It sounded natural; it sounded "musical" and tonally "right."

The Stax sounded a little bit sterile and threadbare or skeletal to me. It totally reminded me of the sound of the Martin-Logan CLS.

My favorite headphone amplifier was the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.

I learned today that the best headphones and headphone amplifiers offer a musically complete rendition of music. However, for me, they offer no suspension of disbelief.

I am not going to buy anything. This is because I can't figure out how I would use headphones. I have never used headphones to listen to music. I don't want to use headphones to listen to music.

But if I had to buy a headphone set-up I would get the Dan Clark Voce and the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic. That is a pretty sweet pairing.

And I would use vinyl as my source component.

 

[thomask]

I drove down to CanJam 2021 in Irvine, California, today to hang out with Marc Meisner, a friend from the San Francisco Bay area who is a very long-time and experienced audiophile, and who happened to be in town, and to take Jason Lord, the owner of The Source AV, out for dinner. Jason has a very large and elaborate headphone and headphone amp demo facility in his large and beautiful store in Torrance, California.

I figured Marc and I would just have drinks at the bar, but he actually wanted to audition some headphones. Go figure! He recently ordered the Audeze electrostatic headphones, and he wanted to audition a few more.

I used to use Sennheiser headphones for weak signal work on amateur radio. I have never in my life put on high-end audio headphones until today.

I think I tried about seven different headphones today, including the Audeze electrostatic, the Raal SR1a ribbon headphone (which positions itself off of the ears), a top-of-the-line Stax electrostatic, the HiFiMan Shangri-La, the Dan Clark Voce and the Dan Clark Stealth. Most audition set-ups included a very serious-looking tube headphone amplifier by HeadAmp called the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.


View attachment 82274


My tentative conclusions:

I like the headphones that are open (not fully closed) on the sides.

My favorite headphone was the Dan Clark Voce. My second favorite was the HiFiMan Shangri-La. None of the headphones before the Voce really did anything for me. When I listened to the Voce, I recognized what is to me a more natural sound, and, somehow, a sound that I am familiar with. Very quickly I felt that this was the headphone for me. For the first time all day I wanted to continue listening to music on this thing. It sounded natural; it sounded "musical" and tonally "right."

The Stax sounded a little bit sterile and threadbare or skeletal to me. It totally reminded me of the sound of the Martin-Logan CLS.

My favorite headphone amplifier was the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.

I learned today that the best headphones and headphone amplifiers offer a musically complete rendition of music. However, for me, they offer no suspension of disbelief.

I am not going to buy anything. This is because I can't figure out how I would use headphones. I have never used headphones to listen to music. I don't want to use headphones to listen to music.

But if I had to buy a headphone set-up I would get the Dan Clark Voce and the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic. That is a pretty sweet pairing.

And I would use vinyl as my source component.

The Stax does not sound sterile if you use right ampliifier for it.

I would have driven there if it is within 4 hour's drive from my home.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The Stax does not sound sterile if you use right ampliifier for it.
. . .

I am confident that The Source AV was using an appropriate amplifier.

Apparently, this is a respectable combination:

Listening to the Stax SR-009 and Great Headphone Amplifiers Conclusions

Conclusions A week with some of the world's best headphone gear is merely a taste. I think readers should take my thoughts here as simply one data point in your personal search for sonic Nirvana. There simply wasn't the time during this audition to do anything more than develop some personal...

www.stereophile.com

 

[Ron Resnick]

I see David Robertson also liked my favorite combination:

Blue Hawaii Electrostatic Special Edition Headphone AmpImpressions: The HeadAmp Blue Hawaii Electrostatic Special Edition Headphone Amp & MrSpeakers VOCE Electrostatic Headphones - Positive Feedback

Blue Hawaii Electrostatic Special Edition Headphone Amp

positive-feedback.com

 

[Addicted to hifi]

stax headphones have always sounded abit lean and sterile to me .I perfer planner headphones
and looking at getting a pair of the new audaze lcd5.

 

[Nemal1]

Each to their own, just like everything else in this hobby….
I’m quite partial to my 8000/009s combination.

 

[thomask]

Each to their own, just like everything else in this hobby….
I’m quite partial to my 8000/009s combination.

I have Raal Sr1a in addition to HD 800s / Stax 009s.

No more desiire to get another headphones.

 

[LL21]

I have Raal Sr1a in addition to HD 800 / Stax 009s.

No more desiire to get another headphones.

I did not realize (or forgot) that you have the HD800. How do you drive it? We are using the EAR Yoshino HP4.

 

[thomask]

I did not realize (or forgot) that you have the HD800. How do you drive it? We are using the EAR Yoshino HP4.

Tiny hybrid amp with tube.

I have to find ouit the name.

 

[cjfrbw]

I find the older low bias Stax to have more body and less of the audiophile skeleton ultra detail paradigm, while still being plenty detailed. However, what I have heard a couple of times from Stax 009/blue hawaii, I concur they sound a bit too thin.

 

[Mikem53]

I am not going to buy anything. This is because I can't figure out how I would use headphones. I have never used headphones to listen to music. I don't want to use headphones to listen to music.

I concur.. I bought a pair of HD650’s several years ago, nice tube headphone amp , with some sweet sounding 6922 NOS bugle boy’s.. Probably has 10 hours or less on the whole setup after more than a decade.. just seems “contained” sounding and unnatural to me.. music under a microscope..
I need openness and space for my music.. otherwise I find it detracts from the music, but I enjoy attending the can-fests when they are in town..

 

[Alrainbow]

I owned the blue H amp and an older stax009 before they sold the company.
I sold the Blue H and use a woo wes
the Blue H is hybrid only uses tubes for output. It’s a fine amp but woo can use many tube types so it’s more adaptive to your like. over all stax is more neutral and I can see why ron felt as he did. others are to me less accurate and warm of neutral. But this is my view.
planners are my first choice but not the ones who color or warm too much.
if use the hd800 and then go to my stax
it’s obvious there slower and seem fuzzy if I go back to them fast. It takes me a few minutes to adjust. But this is me others may feel different. Even the 007 stax seem muddy compared to 009

 

[Nemal1]

I’m off to collect my 9000’s tomorrow after a 3 month wait. Together with my 8000 amp, that’s enough headphones for me. Whilst it’s all down to personal taste, buy what you like and enjoy

 

[Fred Crane]

I drove down to CanJam 2021 in Irvine, California, today to hang out with Marc Meisner, a friend from the San Francisco Bay area who is a very long-time and experienced audiophile, and who happened to be in town, and to take Jason Lord, the owner of The Source AV, out for dinner. Jason has a very large and elaborate headphone and headphone amp demo facility in his large and beautiful store in Torrance, California.

I figured Marc and I would just have drinks at the bar, but he actually wanted to audition some headphones. Go figure! He recently ordered the Audeze electrostatic headphones, and he wanted to audition a few more.

I used to use Sennheiser headphones for weak signal work on amateur radio. I have never in my life put on high-end audio headphones until today.

I think I tried about seven different headphones today, including the Audeze electrostatic, the Raal SR1a ribbon headphone (which positions itself off of the ears), a top-of-the-line Stax electrostatic, the HiFiMan Shangri-La, the Dan Clark Voce and the Dan Clark Stealth. Most audition set-ups included a very serious-looking tube headphone amplifier by HeadAmp called the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.


View attachment 82274


My tentative conclusions:

I like the headphones that are open (not fully closed) on the sides.

My favorite headphone was the Dan Clark Voce. My second favorite was the HiFiMan Shangri-La. None of the headphones before the Voce really did anything for me. When I listened to the Voce, I recognized what is to me a more natural sound, and, somehow, a sound that I am familiar with. Very quickly I felt that this was the headphone for me. For the first time all day I wanted to continue listening to music on this thing. It sounded natural; it sounded "musical" and tonally "right."

The Stax sounded a little bit sterile and threadbare or skeletal to me. It totally reminded me of the sound of the Martin-Logan CLS.

My favorite headphone amplifier was the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic.

I learned today that the best headphones and headphone amplifiers offer a musically complete rendition of music. However, for me, they offer no suspension of disbelief.

I am not going to buy anything. This is because I can't figure out how I would use headphones. I have never used headphones to listen to music. I don't want to use headphones to listen to music.

But if I had to buy a headphone set-up I would get the Dan Clark Voce and the Blue Hawaii Special Edition Electrostatic. That is a pretty sweet pairing.

And I would use vinyl as my source component.

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your take on some very special head gear. There are ways to suspend your disbelief but are difficult to do in a store setting. We use the Bach-SP to do some pretty amazing things with headphones. For instance, we can put you in your listening chair, and within 15 minutes, have you thinking that you're listening to your traditional loudspeakers, when you will in fact be listening to your headphones. (okay, the headphones being on your head is a give away, but trust me, Edgar's done it time and again.) This may be of no value past amusement, but for someone who prefers loudspeaker listening but doesn't have the space, or doesn't want to disturb family members past a certain hour, it's a viable option. (and there are those who prefer headphone listening...hard to believe, but they're out there : )

Regarding headphone amps, Dieter Mallach (Mal Valve) makes some pretty compelling designs as well. He actually makes a full compliment of tube gear, a turntable and even magnetostatic speakers...including magnetostatic bass drivers. He also runs HiFi Deluxe across the street from the Munich show. He has very singular views about transformer design (essentially all of our OPT's are undersized for their task). So in his valve amps, (all push pull) the OPT's are designed to sit on the floor, near the loudspeakers. This way, they can be over 90 pounds per channel...after a listen, it is a convincing argument where push pull amps are concerned. They are also the best way to run the RAAL headphones that I've come across...electrostats too. Anyway, his headamp design has been otherworldly since 2013 or so when he came out with an amp that could power electrostats, dynamic cans and everything between. Way back when, it won the award, 'best headphone amp in the world' from Steve Guttenberg. Now there are three to choose from, and there's no drawback for their versatility that I can hear. And yes, you can add his big honking floor transformers and have a monster integrated, headfi/loudspeaker listening space. Anyway, I've run on...forgive me. Here's a shot of my Head Amp Five. it runs kt-170s (a vast improvement on all KT tubes (KT-66, KT-90, KT-100 etc etc) sonically-I could care less about the power...they just sound better-flesh and bone and blood) It runs the pro electrostatic output for pro-Stax, a traditional electrostatic output for other ESL's (adjustable voltage), balanced outputs for regular and planar magnetic cans, and a 1/4 inch jack for same...it can be run as a preamp, and with the additional OPTs on the floor, power just about any loudspeakers (and the RAAL headphones) This along with my single ended Trafomatic Head Amps, has my headfi bases covered. Anyway, a super-fun listen.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your take on some very special head gear. There are ways to suspend your disbelief but are difficult to do in a store setting. We use the Bach-SP to do some pretty amazing things with headphones. For instance, we can put you in your listening chair, and within 15 minutes, have you thinking that you're listening to your traditional loudspeakers, when you will in fact be listening to your headphones. (okay, the headphones being on your head is a give away, but trust me, Edgar's done it time and again.) This may be of no value past amusement, but for someone who prefers loudspeaker listening but doesn't have the space, or doesn't want to disturb family members past a certain hour, it's a viable option. (and there are those who prefer headphone listening...hard to believe, but they're out there : )

Regarding headphone amps, Dieter Mallach (Mal Valve) makes some pretty compelling designs as well. He actually makes a full compliment of tube gear, a turntable and even magnetostatic speakers...including magnetostatic bass drivers. He also runs HiFi Deluxe across the street from the Munich show. He has very singular views about transformer design (essentially all of our OPT's are undersized for their task). So in his valve amps, (all push pull) the OPT's are designed to sit on the floor, near the loudspeakers. This way, they can be over 90 pounds per channel...after a listen, it is a convincing argument where push pull amps are concerned. They are also the best way to run the RAAL headphones that I've come across...electrostats too. Anyway, his headamp design has been otherworldly since 2013 or so when he came out with an amp that could power electrostats, dynamic cans and everything between. Way back when, it won the award, 'best headphone amp in the world' from Steve Guttenberg. Now there are three to choose from, and there's no drawback for their versatility that I can hear. And yes, you can add his big honking floor transformers and have a monster integrated, headfi/loudspeaker listening space. Anyway, I've run on...forgive me. Here's a shot of my Head Amp Five. it runs kt-170s (a vast improvement on all KT tubes (KT-66, KT-90, KT-100 etc etc) sonically-I could care less about the power...they just sound better-flesh and bone and blood) It runs the pro electrostatic output for pro-Stax, a traditional electrostatic output for other ESL's (adjustable voltage), balanced outputs for regular and planar magnetic cans, and a 1/4 inch jack for same...it can be run as a preamp, and with the additional OPTs on the floor, power just about any loudspeakers (and the RAAL headphones) This along with my single ended Trafomatic Head Amps, has my headfi bases covered. Anyway, a super-fun listen.
View attachment 92303

Very interesting, Fred! Thank you for the introduction to Bach-SP, and for the description of the Mal Valve products and transformer design philosophy. I like the idea of those giant output transformers sitting next to the amplifiers!

Finally, I am a huge fan of Trafomatic. If I ever win the lottery I will be ordering Drinas!