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Looks like it was fun. Sure is a lot of gear.
That portable discrete amp wasn't fully discrete was it? Looks like it has a brown dog adapter with some kind of opamp/buffer on it, unless there was a DAC built in.
The OPAMP is for DC offset.
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I haven't tried them side-by-side. Also, the AT models are now MKII and I've only tried the originals. The Sony models as I understand it haven't been released yet and wont be for a bit yet. I'm going to predict that if AT has improved their line recently, that it might be a pretty close call between them, down to who has nailed the best frequency response. Mr Tsunoda did say that the different FR between the BA3 and BA4 was intended for different listening tastes. The catalogue I have here shows the BA3 improving the treble over the BA1 and 2 and the BA4 improving the deep bass over the BA3.
Hey Currawong, between the new Sony models and the Westone 4 which do you think have a bigger soundstage and better details ? Thanks for covering the event by the way.
No idea, as I haven't heard the Westones. I do think that perceived soundstage with IEMs will likely relate mostly to their frequency response as well as resolution. This is something though I think I'll have to investigate more.
Some more impressions:
Luxman
I'm very sad to say that they were a disappointment. I have long been keen to try the DA-200, so I eagerly sat down and plugged my headphones in. I simply didn't find the sound involving, nor instruments to sound natural. The DA-200 was being fed by a MacBook Air running Audirvana, with the output set to 24/96 in Audio-Midi set-up. It wasn't working properly either, with the music continually cutting out until I turned that off. I'm not sure if that wasn't Audirvana's fault though.
ALO Audio + RWA
Ken had a long set of tables, shared by his distributor. I was curious about the CLAS, RX_B and Continental. I missed the RX MK3 though, which was easy to do as they look almost the same if you're not paying attention. The RX_B + CLAS was fantastic with the LCD-3s and one of Ken's cables that looks like a long length of silver and copper candy. I've been both curious and dubious about the possibilities of a $1k+ portable rig, so this surprised me. I tried the Continental directly from my iPhone using my Magnums and was very impressed by that too. I'm tempted to get one before I next travel. It did make me wonder how close I could get to my home rig with a portable one (ignoring 'stats of course).
There was a RWA Isabellina fed by a notebook, into which was plugged a huge Locus Design USB cable going to a SonicWeld Diverter, then, very oddly, via a cheap Sony 75 Ohm cable. The headphones were HD-800s, with which I'm familiar. Not being able to use my own music was a problem, but the rig just didn't do anything for me. Granted, a short listen in meet conditions isn't ideal and there was a lot of seriously good gear around, so I hope I can spend more time with one in the future.
Hifiman
I had the chance to try the HE-6s via a CEC HE-53N using the speaker taps to the Hifiman break-out box. I liked what I heard, enjoying the sparkle in the treble and the airy sound. That is another pair of headphones I wish I could spend more time with.
Take-T
I do wonder if I'm crazy living in Japan for years yet never trying to get a hold of these headphones. Unfortunately the supporting equipment was all cheap hi-fi, because these headphones really sounded like they had potential. I also tried the super-tweeter, but with the noise had trouble discerning a difference. There was the odd feeling that something had changed, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
