I'll start since I'm home and finished my homework.
First and foremost it goes without saying that Team Chicago was on their game and delivered, to my perception, a seamless meet. Easily the best hotel I've canjammed in, in terms of great rooms, great on site amenities (large bar, coffee shop, consistent airport shuttle), great proximity to at least one tasty Italian restaraunt, great rooms, and friendly staff (Elma at the front desk totally flirted with me). The convention facilities were great, I liked the way the rooms were laid out.
Though it takes a lot of manpower to put together an event of this magnitude, I always try to make it a point to shake the hand of the head dude and thank him personally. I neglected to do this in person. Ryan, thanks for selflessly contributing so much of your time so we could show up and play. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope we get to hang out at a future meet when you aren't working on keeping a convention running.
Gear wise, the big winners were the JH-3A / JH-16 Pro and the Audeze LCD-2. Thats why they are in bold.
Audeze LCD-2: After Tyll said it was the best headphone he'd ever seen in terms of measurements, I went and checked it out. Source was just an iPad I think, connected to a Woo Audio amp of some kind. Of course most of the music they had available was worthless bullshit no one but assholes would listen to. They did have DSOTM though, and a Buena Vista Social Club album, so I did my listening from those two. I didn't read much about the LCD-2 before Canjam, but today I was browsing the old threads here at HC and came across some impressions Wayne posted this past Fall. He said they reminded him of the O2 in that they get out of the way of the music. This is exactly what I said to the Audeze guys after listening, who by the way were extremely friendly and socially competent, not at all the assholes you would expect based on the music selection.
The cans felt accurate and natural across all frequencies, without being overtly "remarkable" in bass/mids/highs. What was remarkable was the headstage, which felt very large and spacious. I knew the asking price ($950), but in the spirit of conversation I asked the Audeze guys anyway, and he told me $3,000. He then quickly said, "nah just kidding, but what would you say if I told you that?" and I told him I'd buy a brand new O2 first. Which isn't totally true since the O2 isn't PJ head friendly...
...which brings me to the next issue, comfort. Personally I found the LCD-2 quite comfortable. The rods stretched out at max fit my head perfectly. Make no mistake, these are heavy cans, but to my head not too heavy. I actually like the heft, it gives the impression of quality. Having said that, I would advise potential buyers to attempt to try a pair on before buying, because they could be to heavy for some. The pads seemed comfortable, but it was hard to gauge if/when the sweat factor would kick in.
I am a big fan of headphones coming in fancy storage boxes, and the LCD-2 comes in a very fancy box, wood lined with satin or a satin-like substance. Very nice touch at its price point.
In summary I found the LCD-2 a very interesting can. It's unfortunately hard to say with 100% authority if its all its cracked up to be, but what was so exciting about it was it reminded me so heavily of the first time I was listening to the O2. And with the O2, it took a long time of listening to many different recordings before I started to comprehend the magic coming out of the cans. It is this "O2 factor" that has me seriously considering a purchase.
For the sake of completeness, the LCD-2 was recabled with something from ALO, just like every other can at the meet.
JH-16 Pro / JH-3A: OK so I didn't listen to the JH-13 last year because IEMs are stupid, right? If I would've known prominent members of the hobbyist community would start dumping high end rigs left and right in the following months after catching Jerry Harvey Fever I might have paid closer attention at the time.
Well I still didn't listen to the JH-13, but I did listen to the JH-16 Pro. First listen was on an iPod with the Rx amp, by ALO or Red Wine or somebody. Surprisingly enough the iPod was full of an entirely unique array of bullshit only an asshole would listen to, not your typical audiophile vendor bollocks. However, the audio gods were smiling upon postjack this day, as their was an old Allman Bros SBD off what must be a collection called "Dreams". I listened to "You Don't Love Me No More" and it was simply magical. I had an almost immediate emotional response to the music, I mean tears really did start creeping up into my eyes, it was wild (caveat, this is a fairly regular reaction I have to music I love, but I can't recall it ever happening at a meet, or so suddenly and unexpectedly, or as the result of a first time listening to a piece of gear). Luckily I didn't weep openly, because then I would have had to challenge Jerry to a fist fight to reclaim my masculinity in front of his lovely assistants.
How to describe the sound? To people at the meet I just kept mumbling how "magical" it was like a tired dumbass. The bass was outstanding, the midrange was fracking awesome. It didn't have the absolute perfect realism my ESL-63's have, but what it did have was a creamy delicious richness with just the perfect amount of peakiness to tickle the audiobone in my brain. In general I love the way Grados do electric guitar, and these beat the shit out of any (John) Grado I've heard.
Then dude asked me if I want to hear them balanced, and I said sure. Listened to the same track, but apparently I didn't get the fit right because it sounded very different, the bass was way bloaty.
Later at Vicki's insistence I went to listen to the JH-3A with the JH-16 Pro. For those that don't know how this thing works it is very interesting. Basically there is a laptop and a iPad and an amp with a DAC in it and an ADC and a black box underneath the amp and there is a USB running from the laptop to the black box and then a line out dock running from the iPad to the amp and the headphones are connected with a proprietary plug which allows postjack to get confused and a little scared. Luckily JH is a super nice dude and his calming charisma put me at ease. Right before I stepped up his iPad died and was replaced with another iPad. No ABB on this iPad, in fact there weren't really enough recordings to get a good feel for the rig. I would go so far as to say it was mostly worthless bullshit no one but assholes would listen to. Of course I found my saving grace and listened to Metallica's Master of Puppets. While I love this record its not the best at judging rigs. Everything sounded great as best I could figure with unfamiliar recordings, but I definitely wasn't having the same emotional response I had with just the iPod and the Rx. I'm chalking this up to unfamiliar source material and possibly another bad fit.
You can get the whole kit n' kaboodle for $1750. Considering you just need to add a transport and you are good to go, it is a true hi-fi bargain. Even though I didn't get the full experience on this particular listening session, my first experience with the JH-16 proved to me their potential, and I'm assuming the amp/DSP makes them even better.
thats all the energy I have for impressions. I will say KG's T2 rig with the 404LE was outstanding, a real delight to listen to, toasty hot pot and all.
