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- May 16, 2013
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It seems there's a general agreement with a lot of impressions that the soundstage of the Layla is bigger than that of the A series, and also that the Layla has better detailing. I'm going to repeat what I said earlier and give my impressions, which are basically the opposite. I found the A12 to have a slightly larger soundstage than the Layla, in all directions, except upward, where the Layla clearly won. This may be due either to my ears, the test tracks I used, or a perceptual trick where vertical soundstage is confused with overall soundstage representation, if that makes sense, or is even possible. I found the A12 to detail better, in fact, than any other headphones I have ever heard, including the Layla, and the HE-1000. I probably spent a good 3 hours total listening to them, split between close sessions going back and forth between various other vendors, at CanJam. A good portion of this time was actually spent scrutinizing the details I heard on the A12, which I had thought at first to be perhaps a mistake, but found out as more critical listening yielded, that it was not. I made special attention to run from the 1964 Ears booth all the way over to the other TOTL IEM tables. The A12 just got my most listening time out of all the others. The test tracks I used were all binaural (hence why my impressions could be significantly different, as binaural recordings work very differently on IEMs compared to headphones, almost just as much as soundstage when referring to headphones does not mean the same word when referring to speakers). I used ones from Naturespace, Dr. Chesky's Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc, Amber Rubarth's Sessions from the 17th Ward, and Ottmar Liebert's Up Close. Obviously, I am judging these headphones in a very different way and purpose, but this information should still have some value.
On a final note, I do find the differences not very large or immediately noticeable. I would probably go with the A12 as my all around performer. I would prefer the Layla for some other scenarios and genres. However, I would be completely satisfied if I had only one of them. I would be satisfied if I could only have the Angie, or the A6, too. Even a Noble 4 would satisfy me, as I feel it has 92% of the sound quality compared to the TOTL.
On a final note, I do find the differences not very large or immediately noticeable. I would probably go with the A12 as my all around performer. I would prefer the Layla for some other scenarios and genres. However, I would be completely satisfied if I had only one of them. I would be satisfied if I could only have the Angie, or the A6, too. Even a Noble 4 would satisfy me, as I feel it has 92% of the sound quality compared to the TOTL.