[dmgerman]

I was there today. At arrived at 10:30 and made the mistake of lining up with the people who wanted to purchase merchandise (this was mostly because I could not communicate with the people who were at the reception because they did not speak English). I spent 30 minutes lining up
 
If you have not been there yet, it can be a bit overwhelming. I recommend several things:
 
1. Bring your best source with the corresponding cables (useful for almost everything--see below). 
2. Bring your own portable amplifier (useful for testing headphones).
3. Plan ahead. Is there an specific piece of equipment you would like to listen to? Line up the music you want to use (create a playlist). In some booths you don't have much time.
 
I think it is well worth the visit. It is free, and I would not mind paying an entrance. 
 
It is overwhelming. Soo many brands, soo many options. Soo many things to listen to.
 
Some of the top-of-the-line headphones are connected to their own source and you cannot listen to your music. This includes Stax and the new Black HD800. It basically means that you can't really know how well they sound, specially since you don't know the music and they is wayyy too much ambient noise.
 
It is kind of funny that you can listen to your own music on the silver HD800s  in many other booths --albeit, with the specific amplifier they are trying to push. I guess they are becoming a benchmark headphone.
 
Some booths give you a ticket to comeback to audition their equipment. One of these is Shure. The KSE1500 are attracting a large crowd. ONce you sit on a table a timer starts. I am not sure how long it was, but it felt like 5 minutes. The KSE1500 are amazing. Sean Sullivan and Matt Engstrom were there. They were very humble with the praise and obviously happy that their team work has paid of. Sean also let me let me try the SE846 (a big thank you).
 
I also had a chance to meet Jude, who made good on his promise to let anybody to try his KSE1500. 
 
But in reality this is hardly a place where you can decide which equipment you want to buy. The headphone stores provide a much better environment for testing.
For me, it was more useful to know where things are going. Oh, and I benefited from talking to the Comply staff (Daniel) who looked at the shape of my ear to recommend me what to get. We discussed the merits of different tips.
 
Overall, I would strongly recommend it to anybody who still has a chance to be there. 

 

[AnakChan]

And this is probably the last time HF gets invited to the Fujiya show...

 

[arnaud]

Wow, currawong has lost a few lbs from last spring / year! I wonder if the Shure will take him back to the dark side .
arnaud

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I had a good time today.

Seeing familiar faces was once again the highlight.

I tried more Daps this time than my usual dac/amps, which weren't so prevalent this time.

Tapatalk wont let me upload photos..again.

 

[h1f1add1cted]

I really miss Japan/Toyko (people, food, sights) <3 and I was I "love" since the first entry to E-earphone shop

spent a serious time there...
 
I guess in the next days some of you will share some photos and impressions from the show? Thanks in advance.

 

[webstaa]

  I was there today. At arrived at 10:30 and made the mistake of lining up with the people who wanted to purchase merchandise (this was mostly because I could not communicate with the people who were at the reception because they did not speak English). I spent 30 minutes lining up
 
If you have not been there yet, it can be a bit overwhelming. I recommend several things:
 
1. Bring your best source with the corresponding cables (useful for almost everything--see below). 
2. Bring your own portable amplifier (useful for testing headphones).
3. Plan ahead. Is there an specific piece of equipment you would like to listen to? Line up the music you want to use (create a playlist). In some booths you don't have much time.
 
Some of the top-of-the-line headphones are connected to their own source and you cannot listen to your music. This includes Stax and the new Black HD800. It basically means that you can't really know how well they sound, specially since you don't know the music and they is wayyy too much ambient noise.
 
It is kind of funny that you can listen to your own music on the silver HD800s  in many other booths --albeit, with the specific amplifier they are trying to push. I guess they are becoming a benchmark headphone.
 
Some booths give you a ticket to comeback to audition their equipment. One of these is Shure. The KSE1500 are attracting a large crowd. ONce you sit on a table a timer starts. I am not sure how long it was, but it felt like 5 minutes. The KSE1500 are amazing. Sean Sullivan and Matt Engstrom were there. They were very humble with the praise and obviously happy that their team work has paid of. Sean also let me let me try the SE846 (a big thank you).
 
But in reality this is hardly a place where you can decide which equipment you want to buy.

 
People were lined up from 10am for the general open.  The purchasing room actually got to go up through a separate line specifically for that floor.  Don't know if it would have been a longer wait elsewhere.  People were also let in early to go to the presentation rooms. I showed up early and got in the second elevator up.  And was there nearly all day - aside from lunch break.
 
As to:
1.  A very good idea.  So many DAPs - bring a microSD card with a few playlists on it if you want to try them out.
2. Meh.  If you have a portable setup, this can be handy.  Especially if you're looking for IEMs.  For full size?  Maybe not so much.  Oh wait - there is ONE HUGE EXCEPTION: Audeze had no source at their table at all.  And only an optical input for their amp available.  Nice beautiful LCD-4 on display, but nothing to hear from them except... the noise of the show floor.  A show oversight, but I'm sure they rectified that not long afterwards, hopefully someone who goes tomorrow can see if they had something to play for those beasts.
3. You don't have to.  The show floor is open for 7-8 hours.  If you show up early, you can take a walk around and see what peaks your interest.  I went through and noted some of the things I wanted to see or hear, and then went back (in no real particular order) and listened to them.  The exception is for blockbuster stuff like the KSE1500, or the 800s, or (especially) the Stax booth.  Some booths are also in terrible places (ie Beyerdynamic - couldn't get in to listen to the 1770 or the gen2 T1 due to constant crowd and their booth placement at the back with next-to-no room.)  I went to the Shure booth around 11:30 (30 minutes after open) and there was already a line.  Every time I went back the line seemed worse - so I gave up.  I'll chalk that up to "something I wouldn't buy anyways" to console myself.  The Hugo Mojo line was also pretty long.
 
Some of the booths are way to crowded to do any real listening to open headphones unless you crank them.  I'm guilty of standing behind people listening and talking over them to people in the booth...  Or the Astell&Kern anti-theft modules on their DAPs (secured to stands) going off every time somebody plugged something into them, although the rep got really quick at silencing and resetting them.
 
Depending on the booth/distributor/vendor partnerships, some stuff was in decent sized rooms of their own  - the 6th floor.  I listened to a lot of the iFi stuff (their 2 channel shelf setup is great) and even the Kingsound stats (not something I'd buy, but doesn't deserve the vitriol.)  Talking to the distributors and engineers is a great experience as well.  Definitely helped me pick a few.  And stuff dies down a bit between 12:30 and 2, and some presentations do a good job of emptying the floor (ie Sennheiser.)
 
But in general?  Not a place you can do critical listening.  Definite a couple thousand attendees - and lots of them young portables enthusiasts.  (The target for the show this year, it seems.  Lots of CIEM and universal IEM booths, and just as many, if not more DAPs - some really great, and some not.)
 
I'd love to be back tomorrow.  But unfortunately I decided to go home.  And a comedy of train scheduling later... it's 2am when I walk through the door.  Still, well worth it to meet a lot of great engineers and see their products.

 

[Uncle E1]

managed to skip the line!
 

 

[Currawong]

Impressions here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/785747/2015-tokyo-autumn-fujiya-avic-headphone-festival