[kazsud]

Most amazing sound? Sound coming from way behind you on Realizer 16 after profiling your ears. It really does simulate an Atmos system using just Sennheiser 800s.

Oh man!

 

[Deftone]

Sounds like Elear was the most favourable headphone out of the bunch but which iems?

 

[zeissiez]

I had limited time on Saturday, and sadly probably won't make it back today (we developed a sick kid last night, sigh).  Some quick impressions of just a few things:

Etymotic ER4 SR & ER4 XR

I've been a huge ER-4 fan for literally 13+ years, and using ER-4S amped for 12+ of them.  The ER4 SR is just what I wanted from a new Ety: the same sound, but more so.  Even more clarity, even more realism, and surprisingly strong (yet to me "correct") bass presence and slam.  The SR is an absolute winner, and my next earphone purchase. 

I am impressed by what's been done with the ER4 XR: I think it's the Ety that many people have been asking for for years: the ER-4 sound but with a bit of a bass boost.  That said, it is not for me.  (But I'm in the minority when it comes to bass preferences.)

Listened to 16/44.1 tracks out of a Mojo.  Listening straight from an iPhone 5S I found the SR still more than acceptable, but IMO nobody should bother buying this earphone solely for unamped use.  It wants to be fed from a good DAP or DAC/amp.

I also liked the suppleness and reduced microphonics of the SR & XR's new cable.


Flare new earphone prototype

This was great!  It took some work for me to get a good seal (it probably gets easier with practice).  But once properly inserted, it was superb.  Full-range sound, really clean, really clear.  Voices sounded amazing.  All emerging from blackness, by which I mean somehow the Flare seemed to suck away some of the "isolation is great but now I'm just hearing the sound of blood moving through my head" noise (that's not just me, right?) that I experience with other IEMs.

I was talking with @ClassicalViola
, who has the Flare from last year, and it sounds like this year's shares the same sonic character.  Versus Etymotic, I think those that like one will like the other, though the sonic presentations are somewhat different.

I will be watching for the start of the Kickstarter for this.  (The prototype is sonically finished, but the gent at the booth told me they weren't satisfied with the cable attachment and were expecting a new fitting for that in the next week or so.)

It really likes the Mojo.  Fed straight out of iPhone 5S, it was honestly a bit ordinary sounding and wouldn't have captured my attention.


Ether C Flow

Just, just, absolutely great sounding.  I can't compare it with Ether C, because that's a year-old memory (but from memory I thought it was great, great sounding too).  I guess I'd say this is exactly the closed headphone to get if you're an Etymotic lover.

Superb out of a Mojo, BTW.


Warwick electrostatic drivers / Sonoma Acoustics DAC/Amp

This is the electrostatic technology that can be manufactured in quantity that you may have seen Tyll's write-up of earlier this year, built into a system from Sonoma Acoustics, who seem to be a gang of people with Sony R&D backgrounds.

It sounded great!  Clean, detailed, full, from high to low (maybe not ultra-low) I felt the whole range was there, beautifully represented and in correct proportion.  They said it was "85% done," so if this is just 85%, I'm sold.

...well, I would be sold, but while pricing hasn't been decided yet, it sounds like it's not going to be down where very very good dynamics are.  I guess we'll see.

But if you have a chance to hear it, do give it a listen, and give them your feedback while it's still only "85% done."


Meze 99 Classics

After all I've read about these I was expecting great things.  And they certainly are articulate, and have very good (and not overblown) bass presence and slam.  And the mids were good.  But to me the overall sound was slow and thick.  Not hugely so, but "Sennheiser veil" plus some.

Meze lovers, help me out:  this wasn't what I was expecting (and I've gone back and reread reviews in case I'd remembered wrong).  Is this just how they sound (and perhaps I was projecting my hopes onto them a bit too much)?  Or was I listening on a pair that weren't broken in?  Or ... ?  (Listening via Mojo, so amplification wasn't a problem.)


Brainwavz pads and headphone hangers

I love the Brainwavz angled pads on my K550s.  (If you have a pair of K550s lying around that you never use because of difficulty getting a seal, or insufficient clamping force, get a pair of the angled pads, which really could fix those problems for you.)  Those are now being made in real lambskin as well, and the first of those should be showing up in the UK shortly.  They also have a nice line of headphone hangers in various configurations.

Brainwavs also have a line of earphones including Bluetooth ones, but unfortunately I didn't get back to listen to those.


Bendy Head headphone stands

At the Headamp booth.  They really are bendy, and conform to your headphone band while your headphone band is conforming to it.  A really nice option if you have headphones you want to treat nicely.  http://www.bendyhead.com/


Focal Listen

Ending my impressions with this one, which I think may have been passed by by many.

This is Focal's moderate-cost (they said £149) sealed headphone. (You'll have read plenty of other reviews of Elear and Utopia by now, right?)

This is a perfect office headphone to recommend to your friends.  Maybe even yourself.  The sound was very nice and very full-range, but a little too thick to be a daily driver for me (again, Ety lover here, but I could almost like it).  Earpads feel like nice plastic leather surrounding comfy squishy memory foam.  Good isolation, very good comfort, with a thin and supple cable that gets out of your way.  It really feels like the perfect office headphone for someone who doesn't want to spend £200 or £300.  IMO a winner in its category.


Also, thanks much to @ClassicalViola
for the meetup and the chance to peruse/buy your CDs!  Looking forward to keeping in touch.

You are not alone, the 99 were the most over-hyped headphones I heard in recent years.

 

[Rlocksley]

Hello, you do know that Sennheiser use and recommend Acoustic Research DAPs / DACs and used them for demo at CanJam. I have Sennheiser IE800s and they sound fabulous with the AR-M20

At 1200 bucks, these are out of my price range, my max is around 700 , so I can stay married.

 

[AR-Voice]

At 1200 bucks, these are out of my price range, my max is around 700 , so I can stay married.

Pah! Trade-in the wife (-: Coincidentally the AR-M20 is $700 USD

 

[BartSimpson1976]

At 1200 bucks, these are out of my price range, my max is around 700 , so I can stay married.

maybe you are setting the wrong priorities! 

 

[AR-Voice]

   
Heard these on the Senn stand with my JH16pros and having heard the Arm2 for a couple of weeks when that first come out it was nice to hear the M20 have the same type signature and sound quality yet fix the just left right soundstage  experience of the M2 had.
 
I know this has been streamlined and adjusted in design a lot from feedback you have had from users but was surprised there was no line out included still as great a standalone player this is it should still of had this and also with these sort of daps now maybe balanced which is now becoming more common place found on daps going into this price territory.  
 
Still all positive as despite that if one was for sale on the day with the improvements in been made smaller,slicker and lighter with better battery life as well been cheaper than the first model with still a great sound and plenty of power I would of been very tempted to of purchased one! 
 
That in mind is there any plans for a higher model soon if this one is coming  in at the £600 mark? 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
A&R M20 dap _ despite not having a line out is a seriously good sound with power as a standalone dap especially at it's new price point when it comes out. 
 

We build the AR players as standalone DAPs and it's because we don't go nuts on rarely used features, that we deliver a compellingly musical sound for the price. Try comparing the sound with Onkyo, Pioneer even A&K 240 and see what I mean. PS the M20 headphone out at max is a very good line-out.
 
Q: any plans for a higher model soon if this one is coming in at the £600 mark? Not at this time, the M2 continues and happily challenges players at 3 times the price

 

[darveniza]

It's gonna be a lot of folks favorite portable AMP/DAC option ..ANDROID users no doubt.
Love the heck outta mine.

I wonder if you need a rig like this if you have a phone like a HTC 10,ZTE Axon 7 or Vivo 5. The simplicity of the package and no other cables is really awesome

 

[FortisFlyer75]

 

   
Heard these on the Senn stand with my JH16pros and having heard the Arm2 for a couple of weeks when that first come out it was nice to hear the M20 have the same type signature and sound quality yet fix the just left right soundstage  experience of the M2 had.
 
I know this has been streamlined and adjusted in design a lot from feedback you have had from users but was surprised there was no line out included still as great a standalone player this is it should still of had this and also with these sort of daps now maybe balanced which is now becoming more common place found on daps going into this price territory.  
 
Still all positive as despite that if one was for sale on the day with the improvements in been made smaller,slicker and lighter with better battery life as well been cheaper than the first model with still a great sound and plenty of power I would of been very tempted to of purchased one! 
 
That in mind is there any plans for a higher model soon if this one is coming  in at the £600 mark? 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
A&R M20 dap _ despite not having a line out is a seriously good sound with power as a standalone dap especially at it's new price point when it comes out. 
 

We build the AR players as standalone DAPs and it's because we don't go nuts on rarely used features, that we deliver a compellingly musical sound for the price. Try comparing the sound with Onkyo, Pioneer even A&K 240 and see what I mean. PS the M20 headphone out at max is a very good line-out.
 
Q: any plans for a higher model soon if this one is coming in at the £600 mark? Not at this time, the M2 continues and happily challenges players at 3 times the price

Thanks for explaining, sure, balanced is more an icing on the cake if it happened to have it for me.
 
Just think a dedicated line out is a feature a lot of people still want and need as this is the most I have heard from others talking about the new arm M20 regarding this omission.  
 
I have to agree this M20  it does sound detailed and musically involving than players out there that cost more and at end of day if it sounds good enough it will not stop me getting it but just to use into my speaker hi-fi for example via my Hugo would of been easier with the normal line out that are found in daps. 
 
Will try the hp as a line out all the same if I decide to get this.  
 
What sealed it for me was the sound staging correction over the M2 yet kept the same detailed sound and signature. 
 
Look forward to this coming out whenever that is??....

 

[WCDchee]

Thanks for explaining, sure, balanced is more an icing on the cake if it happened to have it for me.

Just think a dedicated line out is a feature a lot of people still want and need as this is the most I have heard from others talking about the new arm M20 regarding this omission.  

I have to agree this M20  it does sound detailed and musically involving than players out there that cost more and at end of day if it sounds good enough it will not stop me getting it but just to use into my speaker hi-fi for example via my Hugo would of been easier with the normal line out that are found in daps. 

Will try the hp as a line out all the same if I decide to get this.  

What sealed it for me was the sound staging correction over the M2 yet kept the same detailed sound and signature. 

Look forward to this coming out whenever that is??....

What do you mean regarding the soundstage?

Also, just curious how they compare to some other top tier players you've tried?

 

[glassmonkey]

Any thoughts from the Mr speakers stand
Flow and Electrostats.... Hope it was a good day for all....

Buy the Ether C Flow. Just do it. It was one of the best headphones I heard. Of course I was listening out of the Cavalli Liquid Tungsten, sooooo...

 

[WCDchee]

Buy the Ether C Flow. Just do it. It was one of the best headphones I heard. Of course I was listening out of the Cavalli Liquid Tungsten, sooooo...

To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of the ethers (all 4 versions), and I would go for the staxes any day, but to each his own!

 

[m17xr2b]

I agree the Ether C was amazing with Liquid Tungsten, one of the best from the show although not quite as good when running the Ether C from the GOV2 directly.
One thing that puzzled me is the difference between the two LCD-4 at the show. One was very detailed and balanced, the other much darker when running from the same gear/songs. Really says something about the product variance.
Highlight for me was returning home with the GS-X MK2 even if I did not plan on buying anything. I just could not resist after auditioning it with the HEK.

 

[mark2410]

so, photos of the notes i made at the time, note that i didnt make notes on everything i heard for reasons, not bad reasons, more that im fairly sure ill be getting in for review giving any opinions on a 10 min listen in a noisy hall without tip playing, more song testing etc etc.  so that also means take everything written (if you can actually read them, again writing deliberately scrawwly for reasons) that you should take with a pinch of salt.  really i view these listeneing sessions as indicators for me know what stuff i really want to get in and what im perhaps not so fussed about.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan]

Mark,

I'll read fully later, however, must ask, were you a doctor in a former life?

Hehe, you know I jest! Hope the ear plugs worked for you??