A Japanese headfier's monologue
Headphones show Tokyo 2009 Spring report
The show was a great success.
Intake must be greatly increased from the last show.
Here are some pictures of my booth. Shown are, ALO and Head-direct gears, portable amps, iTransport(ASi tek mod), m902(DAC for HEV70), Black dragon balanced Edition7, HE60(baby O) and HEV70.
Generally speaking I thought portable gears were popular as well as big balanced gears. Especially SR71A was so popular.
Off course HE60 got favorable impressions even compared to STAX gears, it's a Senn sound stats.
The highlight of the show was Senn HD800 and Ultrasone Edition8. The long line for audition was never stopped just before the show close.
The main was HD800 Japan premiere event, many medias came to join the event. When the presenter bring up the HD800, a storm of flash lights was arose.
I asked a question that everyone may wants to know - "Why is the number not 700 but 800?".
They answered that they reserved the 700 for future use
seems like a textbook answer but later of the day I tried the HD800 hands-on and I thought this beast is not on the extension of HD650 for both looks and sounding. So I realized why they named it as 800 not 700. If they named it as 700, people think it is an extension of 650. HD800 is a totally new one..
Anyway the HD800 is accurate and articulate, it is not dark nor have "senn vale" but they are airy and fast. The vast sounstaging is impressive.
I have to find a new Senn cables for HD800 since they no longer employs HD650 type plug..
Another star of the show was a production version of Edition8. The distributor time-load brought some demo cans.
I tried it with my best portable rig that is iHP140/D10 & iMod/SR71A. The sound is stunning, sharp, tight and fast, this is also somewhat different to its predecessors.
I found one more hidden new kids on the block that are PS audio PWT/PWD. PWT stands for Perfect Wave Transport, PWD corresponds D for DAC. PWT is a new generation disk transport that is like a hybrid of PC and CDP. In fact, PWT is an only disk player that have a capability to play 176kHz/24bit high-sampling DVD directly. Both employs touch panel color UI.
For more details, refer to their site.
http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/d...port?cat=audio
I use their Digital link III DAC daily and I think DLIII is very nice for the price.
This time PS audio launched gears for high-end audio world.
I was so busy to manage my own booth, so sometimes I had to switch to my friend to walk around among other booth. However, it's a shame I could not managed to visit all the booth.
KOSS brought a unique ear-clip IEMs employs dual drivers, here is a link to the news page.
http://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/200905/09/23532.html
Anyway for those of you missed the show and our oversea fellow.
Here is a nice HD quality video taken by host Fujiya-avic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdql6rpR1Q
Though the language is Japanese you can enjoy the atmosphere of the show. This video is the first volume and to be followed by another six volumes.
Here is their own video site.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FUJIYAllAVIC
Check this Edition8 beauty in the video
On the right she wears Monster beats tour.
And one more thing ..
Fostex was newly entries into the show this time. They brought complements novelty. That was a free IEM, which is specially crafted for the novelty. No model number written but the label of FOSTEX. On the cover sheet, here is a Japanese text read as "Mimi-moto" - an coined word that can be translated like "on your ears". Mimi is “ears”, Moto is “close to”.
First I thought this is just a novelty goods but I was amazed by the sound. It is open, clear and detailed, very nice IEMs.
This is far beyond complements novelty!
They are known as big OEM vendor so we expect their next move is interesting. I heard they are now preparing a new phone or IEM ..
Next show will be held on this fall, I will let you know when I get the info.
Intake must be greatly increased from the last show.
Here are some pictures of my booth. Shown are, ALO and Head-direct gears, portable amps, iTransport(ASi tek mod), m902(DAC for HEV70), Black dragon balanced Edition7, HE60(baby O) and HEV70.
Generally speaking I thought portable gears were popular as well as big balanced gears. Especially SR71A was so popular.
Off course HE60 got favorable impressions even compared to STAX gears, it's a Senn sound stats.
The highlight of the show was Senn HD800 and Ultrasone Edition8. The long line for audition was never stopped just before the show close.
The main was HD800 Japan premiere event, many medias came to join the event. When the presenter bring up the HD800, a storm of flash lights was arose.
I asked a question that everyone may wants to know - "Why is the number not 700 but 800?".
They answered that they reserved the 700 for future use
seems like a textbook answer but later of the day I tried the HD800 hands-on and I thought this beast is not on the extension of HD650 for both looks and sounding. So I realized why they named it as 800 not 700. If they named it as 700, people think it is an extension of 650. HD800 is a totally new one..
Anyway the HD800 is accurate and articulate, it is not dark nor have "senn vale" but they are airy and fast. The vast sounstaging is impressive.
I have to find a new Senn cables for HD800 since they no longer employs HD650 type plug..
Another star of the show was a production version of Edition8. The distributor time-load brought some demo cans.
I tried it with my best portable rig that is iHP140/D10 & iMod/SR71A. The sound is stunning, sharp, tight and fast, this is also somewhat different to its predecessors.
I found one more hidden new kids on the block that are PS audio PWT/PWD. PWT stands for Perfect Wave Transport, PWD corresponds D for DAC. PWT is a new generation disk transport that is like a hybrid of PC and CDP. In fact, PWT is an only disk player that have a capability to play 176kHz/24bit high-sampling DVD directly. Both employs touch panel color UI.
For more details, refer to their site.
http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/d...port?cat=audio
I use their Digital link III DAC daily and I think DLIII is very nice for the price.
This time PS audio launched gears for high-end audio world.
I was so busy to manage my own booth, so sometimes I had to switch to my friend to walk around among other booth. However, it's a shame I could not managed to visit all the booth.
KOSS brought a unique ear-clip IEMs employs dual drivers, here is a link to the news page.
http://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/200905/09/23532.html
Anyway for those of you missed the show and our oversea fellow.
Here is a nice HD quality video taken by host Fujiya-avic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdql6rpR1Q
Though the language is Japanese you can enjoy the atmosphere of the show. This video is the first volume and to be followed by another six volumes.
Here is their own video site.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FUJIYAllAVIC
Check this Edition8 beauty in the video
On the right she wears Monster beats tour.
And one more thing ..
Fostex was newly entries into the show this time. They brought complements novelty. That was a free IEM, which is specially crafted for the novelty. No model number written but the label of FOSTEX. On the cover sheet, here is a Japanese text read as "Mimi-moto" - an coined word that can be translated like "on your ears". Mimi is “ears”, Moto is “close to”.
First I thought this is just a novelty goods but I was amazed by the sound. It is open, clear and detailed, very nice IEMs.
This is far beyond complements novelty!
They are known as big OEM vendor so we expect their next move is interesting. I heard they are now preparing a new phone or IEM ..
Next show will be held on this fall, I will let you know when I get the info.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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Hi Sasaki thanks for detail about the festival
Have you had a chance to compare UE8 and HD800 in the same system ?Posted 05-12-2009 at 08:00 AM by Turko
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Thanks for the comment.
> Have you had a chance to compare UE8 and HD800 in the same system ?
NO, long lines for both cans anywayPosted 05-12-2009 at 02:28 PM by Sasaki
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Hi, Sasaki:
I think you have make a great contribution to let us know the overall contemporary serious music situation in Japan. The are is a special headphone show in TOKYO means there are a big group audiophiles in Japan.
I am from China. I dan't speaker Japaness. So I can only know the Engligh country's Portable hi fi situation. You know in China, The portable hi fi group is very narrow, much more smaller than the home audio device fance.
I just want to discover the reason why Chiness trend to addict with the home audio system? there almost no one in the street listenning to the full-size headphone in China.
I am a core audiophile, I know from your blogs that there so many portable hi fi fans. I was thinking if the oriental people don't like to be a eccentric person waring a full size headphone walking around the street?
Is that true in Japan?
Fu zhen yunPosted 05-13-2009 at 11:59 AM by fuzhenyun
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Hi yun,
Thank you for the comment.
I think our community is not so well organised like head-fi community in US, so our show is mainly composed by import distributors. So we are in the same boat anyway.
The reason why the portable audio is so popular here is, Japan is a small country We have to commute by train especially in Tokyo. We need portable audio to enjoy in the infamous crowded commuter.
One more aspect is, our community is mainly formed with younger generation who prefer inexpensive gears. Fine portable audio gears that can be found in Head-fi are very high sounding quality though the price is low.
Walking street with wearing full-size headphones are common but it may not be a main reason because most of them use just an iPod.
xie xiePosted 05-13-2009 at 04:14 PM by Sasaki
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I see you have listened to both the HD800 and the Edition 8. While I see you couldn't compare them head to head, any overall thoughts on which one is going to be the killer product.Posted 05-17-2009 at 10:44 PM by Audio Addict
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I tried HD800 for a very short period, two or three minutes. The show was going to close.
So I can not say it at all.. But I think both has similar sound signature. Fast, tight and flat. This could be a trend of the year.Posted 05-18-2009 at 02:10 PM by Sasaki
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