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Introduction
e-Earphone is a retail store that has been holding their shows twice a year (used to be one in Osaka and another in Tokyo but more recently both are held in Tokyo) in May/June and Dec. Although initially they were mostly domestic having the distributors represent international products, more recently they've been inviting the overseas makers to participate too. The events are held in the Bell Salle Building in Akihabara.
As it's been growing this Winter event had 3 floors, B1, 1st (actually in the open), and 2nd and spread over 2 days of the weekend 20th/21st Dec '14. Unfortunately it rained on the 1st day and attendance was a little lighter than usual. However on the 2nd day, Akihabara usually has their usual Sunday Hokousha Tengoku (main roads are closed for pedestrians to walk on) and the weather was beautiful as such the event was much busier.
[23rd Dec 2014 News] e-earphone has published the number of attendees to 35,000 the weekend (approx 12,120 on Saturday and 22,880 on Sunday).
Source:
http://www.paudiofes.com/sp/%E3%83%9D%E3%82%BF%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%82%B9%E3%81%AB%E3%81%94%E6%9D%A5%E5%A0%B4%E9%A0%82%E3%81%8D%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E8%AA%A0%E3%81%AB%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A8%E3%81%86%E3%81%94/
1. Astell & Kern & JH Audio
The collaboration between JH Audio and A&K isn't new with the specially tuned Roxanne bundled with 2.5mm TRRS balanced cable for the A&K players were released as a limited edition AKR03 earlier this year. This time however, the relationship was demonstrated to be stronger than a one-off custom tuned existing product with the announcement of the Layla & Angie as continuation of the JH Audio Siren series.Getting straight into it, to me the Layla & Angie sound signatures have very little in common with JHA's past offerings. They have a very monitor-like flat signature. Definitely a new kind of sound that's worthy of further investigation. The Angie shares similar traits to the Layla but to my ears there's a little bit more midrange vocal emphasis.
Meanwhile, with A&K themselves, they've introduced a new blue colour for the AK100 II
A&K Listening Booth, not to be outmatched.
2. V-Moda
V-Moda strikes back! They had been using a few different distributors in Japan and I lost sight of them for the most of this year. It came to a surprise that V-Moda is back having their own display at the show run by friends I've not seen in a long while. Both the XS and M-100 were present along with their faceplate offerings and XL Memory Cushions.On chap even has a custom cable for his M-100 Shadows and hooked it up to his Sony Walkman TPS-L2.
3. VentureCraft
VentureCraft had their suite of Vantams with various OpAmps. The VANTAM was announced in the Fujiya Autumn Festival (see MKubota1's report), but this time they've displayed more OpAmp options. I tried the OPA627SM and the Muses02 and found the Muses02 were somewhat more neutral than the former. Overall quite a decent product that's DSD compatible. They also had their Go-DAP TT Tube Amp :-4. Ortofon
Unfortunately I didn't get to spend anytime trying any Ortofon products. I did notice their Kailas b4 pre-main tube amp which I took a snap of :-5. Musica Acoustics
Musica Acousitcs brought in the Shanling M3 DAP. I have to say it's an unusual DAP...a little wide in the hands and with the paddle that's definitely suited for right handers more than left :-6. Top Wing/ENZO j-Fi (Hifiman, iFI-Audio, Lotoo)
This is one booth I spent a lot of time on. I was particularly keen on the Lotoo Paw Gold, a DAP whose pricing (in Japan at least) rivals the AK240 - in fact, currently even more expensive than the AK240. It definitely scream bling with it's gold push wheel, but I must say I enjoyed its sound immensely. I'm trying to get a demo model to test it properly in a controlled environment. But right off the bat, it's smaller than the HM-901 although not lighter. It has a faster response in starting to play DSD and it's battery life is supposedly longer around the 10-11 hr mark for hires.7. Timelord (Chord, Ultrasone, Audiofly)
I didn't spend too much time at Timelord unfortunately but I did manage to ask them about the new Ultrasone Edition 8 Limited Edition Romeo Red-i that I've seen advertised recently. It seems that it's local collaboration between Timelord and Ultrasone to have a liimted edition custom red colour with Orb cables and only 20 units available :-8. Mixwave (Audeze, Cyperlabs, ALO, Unique Melody, Beat Audio, JHA)
I also spent quite a bit of time in the Mixwave booth initially listening to the ALO cable offerings on the Audeze LCD-3, X, & XC when Kenichii-san asked me to try some of the new Unique Melody earphones that's designed just for Japanese customers - the Maverick (hybrid Quad BA + dynamic), and the new Mason v2.0 beta (12 BA). The Maverick reminded me of the Roxanne, but not exactly the same naturally. The Mason 2.0 beta is still being fine tuned and has a more mid-treble focused signature. The bass is of course still present but rather neutral to my ears.
On the 2nd day I also spent quite a bit of time talking to Stephen Guo about Unique Melody and their offerings (private chat, nothing to be revealed here
). He's a very pleasant guy in life and on e-mails. @shigzeo & couldn't resist picking up my camera.But I got my payback
(who in the world still owns the Shuffle!? I guess @shigzeo does!)His finger enjoyed the Mason v2.0 beta too it seems.
The Maverick
9. Livezone R41
I have to admit I've not heard this company before. It seems their earphones were made in Italy. I tried the LZ12, Gaia, LZ4, and one other that I can't remember. Overall I didn't think they were that bad but I didn't hear anything that grabbed me (as such I actually have no recollection of the sound signatures of any of the earphones I heard from them). However their prices were shockingly memorable.10. Polk
Although Polk's a seasoned audio company, this is the first time they've exhibited a booth in a headphone festival. I tried their Buckle & Hinge. Comfortable but not really my kinda sound signature. They also had a pair of earphones which I didn't try.11. Razer, Hercules, eskuché
I know nothing of these brands but they had rather undeniable eye candy :-Oh you dirty chaps!!
12. Fostex
Unfortunately I didn't get to spend anytime on this booth either. They had a new DAC/Amp PC100USB-HR. I didn't get any specs of it.13. Denon
I've actually never stopped by the Denon booth before in any shows but I really wanted to give their AH-MM series a listen especially after I started a thread about it back in June and it was silent until the Fujiya Autumn show and I missed it then too. I must say the AH-MM400 is a quite a looker and a decent (enough?) sounding headphone.They also had a new desktop DAC/Amp out but I didn't get to give it a try.
14. Dita Audio
Although I didn't try any of the Dita earphones (as I've tried them already) I had to stop by to talk to them as they're such a lovely bunch of chaps who are friendly, easy going, and practical. If I had my AK240 with me I definitely would have given their balanced earphones a spin.15. Acoustune
Acoustune is a Hong Kong company with a manufacturing factory/lab in China. The designs are made in Hong Kong. They had a DAC/Amp AS1001 which is priced around $300 that supports native DSD. What's interesting about this DAC/Amp is there's Cross Diffuse switch which has does a strange crossover of flicking back the L-R channel for some frequencies (sorry, I'm not describing this well as I don't understand it myself). The effect is somewhat unique as with the Cross Diffuse off, it sounds normal almost flat but with the Cross Diffuse on, there's a bit of depth imaging extended to it.In addition, they have a single dynamic driver earphone which I initially didn't pay too much attention but the sales rep insisted I'd give it a listen. To my surprise I liked the sound quite a bit and it's targeted to be less than USD$150. In fact in the whole e-earphone show this weekend, this earphone would probably be my personal "best value for money".
