Some scattered impressions from the gear I heard this weekend:
I was most impressed by far with the Kennerton equipment, especially the Odin. I'm absolutely addicted and kept coming back to listen some more. I tend to like fairly flat, analytical sound signatures; the Kennerton tuning manages to preserve the accuracy/mids that I like while imparting a little bit of musicality/warmth to it. The Odin sounded great with Shanling's DAC/Amp combo, but paired exceptionally well with the Auris tube amps (which are gorgeous designs, by the way). I talked to the CEO, Valentin, for a while about their upcoming stuff and also got the chance to try out a few demo units. There were two sample variants on the Odin, one which ran a little bit warmer than the current production model and didn't quite have as much snap to it, and another that was colder and absolutely sucked the fun out of it. According to Valentin the FR graph for the cold model is pretty much perfect, which goes to show why actually listening to headphones is important. Apparently next up for the company is a dynamic headphone with 38 drivers in it (I saw a picture of the inside; it looks very sci-fi), and a lighter version of the Odin, which some people find too heavy even though I think the weight distribution makes it still feel comfortable. The lighter version is going to utilize kevlar (so still no plastic!) and come in at a significantly cheaper price. They're also going to start offering parts so that if you're a current Odin owner and want a lighter grill, for instance, you can pick it up online. After talking with them, it's pretty clear that Kennerton has two priorities: get a kick-ass sound, and treat the customers right. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend checking out the company, and can't wait to get an Odin for myself.
There were a few times when I preferred the 'little sibling' headphones to the top of the line. For instance, I preferred the HE-1000s over the Susvaras, which I thought were too trebley. Similarly, I much preferred the Elears over the Utopias. While the Utopia is technically amazing, I found the soundstage to actually just be too wide for the most part. It generally made rock sound too impersonal, whereas the Elear sounds along the same order of magnitude technically and somewhat more intimate. I did
not feel this way about the HD800/s vs the HD650, however. The HD800 was so wide open and crystal clear without managing to sound scattered like the Utopia. The HD650s were a clear step down in this case.
I came into the event really wanting to listen to Mr. Speakers headphones because I thought they'd be up my alley, but I found the tuning to be consistently off. The Aeon played awfully with my QP1R; the mid-treble range was extremely screechy and discordant. On other gear it was somewhat better, but the Aeons, as well as the rest of the line, turned out to not be to my taste.
I got to listen to a bunch of electrostats for the first time. Since I like clarity and don't tend to care too much about bass, I figured that they would be something I'm into, but for the most part they didn't elicit an emotional response from me. I spent a while with the Mr. Speakers version, and found them to be... pleasant? Briefly listened to the Shangri-La and thought they were extremely clear but didn't fall in love (in all fairness, I purposely didn't give myself enough time to fall in love with the 50k headphone system
). I also listened to all the Stax pairs that were around multiple times, and I think the SR-007 (which if I recall correctly was being powered by a BHSE) was my favorite electrostatic that I listened to. Unfortunately, none of the Stax systems seemed set up to use my own source/listen to music I was familiar with, so it was pretty hard to judge. I'd like to give electrostatics another spin sometime later, but all-in-all left feeling like they're not my cup of tea.
Tried the Sony Z1Rs- super comfortable and lightweight, which was an amusing juxtaposition to the Walkman player which I'm pretty sure can be used as a blunt-force weapon in a pinch.
The Final planar prototypes had nice mids and a well controlled bass, which I liked.
I listened to a few pairs of Fostex headphones, but consistently found them to be too bassy and muddy. A/B tested the TH900 against a pair of Ultrasone DJs, and found the Ultrasones to be way clearer.
I tried a few Audeze headphones such as the LCD-4s and XCs, and generally found them nice to listen to but not particularly noteworthy. Similar feelings about the Pioneer open headphones I listened to (not sure on exact model number).
I heard the Mojo (and the Poly) for the first time, and found them not for me at all. I can't put my finger on what exactly it was, but the sound from the Mojo didn't sound pleasant. Did a little A/B testing between it and the QP1R and would choose the latter any day. Also, the combined unit is quite big.
Gave the Zeus XR a listen to- they have a nice sound, but I prefer the more analytical tone of my JH-13v2.
Speaking of my JH-13s, I got the chance to try them with some Effect Audio cables. They definitely made the headphones sound warmer, but it's unclear to me whether that's just because I use the stock cables with the bass pots all the way down, and I think cables without the pots are equivalent to them being turned all the way up. Regardless, I don't think they made a significant enough sonic difference that I want to go down that rabbit hole.
The Meze 99s were fun-sounding but obviously there was a pretty big gap between their technical capabilities and a lot of the other headphones at the show.
There was a small company called Meters with a pair of ANC headphones that I quite liked called the OV-1. They have three modes- EQ boost, passive, and ANC. EQ boost makes them sound boomy and awful, passive mode is still much too warm for me and cuts out clarity in the mids, but with ANC on for some reason the sound signature opens up quite a bit and it sounds way more clear. The noise cancelling worked pretty well for eliminating background noise, but I actually never heard noise cancelling headphones before so can't offer a comparison to other ANC systems. The headphones have a VU meter built into the side, which looks very unique and a bit steampunk. I picked up a pair to use as travel headphones; excited to explore them more.
The Shanling M2s was really impressive; if it had a second SD slot I'd be regretting getting the QP1R. I can't believe they got that much sound into such a tiny player.
Speaking of tiny, I heard the Kuos Realamp prototype and I thought it did an excellent job with the Utopias they had paired with it. I was also shocked by how light it was. Apparently it's going to get a fair bit heavier when they start making metal bodies for it- I think they should stick with lightweight materials since it would be great for the transportable market.
I probably missed a few things, but I think this about sums up where my weekend went.
