[vsg28]

After FiiO, I was off to the Singaporean contingent sharing a booth. I already covered the Symphonium Crimson before, which now has it's own product page with pending pre-order timer as I type this, so the brands left were Subtonic Audio with the Storm (not new, always worth checking out anyway) and Nightjar Acoustics with the recently released single-DD Singularity, among other things:

Singularity is a single-DD set of IEMs that is smaller than photos made it seem. It's extremely comfortable in the ears and provides an excellent fit/seal with the included Divinus Velvet ear tips. In fact, the Nightjar team mentioned that some people had already mentioned that the Singularity was too small for their ears! Regardless, it's a fun-first set with a lot of bass but implemented well to not be muddy or make for leaner mids. It's not the most resolving set for the money although the accessories are top notch in the form of the upcoming Vanguard cable that itself costs ~45% of the total price if purchased separately.

Project Bass, or the so-called Duality/Doublarity, is obscene. There is so much bass in this dual-DD set which is once again mostly concentrated in the sub-bass. I was reminded of Fatfreq IEMs although I have not heard their IEMs do this sound signature as well. The second DD allows for a sub-woofer and much more detailed mids, and I'll give Nightjar credit for having good extension on both models. Oh, there was also an impedance adapter added for people who need to be locked up. It was paired with the Nightjar Blue Hour cable which certainly feels premium to my cable-newb hands. Then you look above and there's an entire plethora of current and upcoming cables, including an absolute unit called the Sovereign Symphony that can be used with IEMs as a flail in an emergency. There was a hilarious 8-wire version seen above which required custom connector housings to even get the plugs connected.
Below are photos of the more sane (probably still closer to $7k USD) 4W Sovereign Symphony with a couple of IEMs I tried it with:

 

[ThanatosVI]

I am not going to recommend this to someone desiring the best of the best. This is for those searching for the unique, the strange and different, as it is definitely for that purpose

Must be a Spirit Torino trademark

 

[User9876]

I watched the first Rob Watts presentation on the first day. I think it was a good overview. He wasn't afraid to share some of his secret. Only thing that left me feel like "oh, come on" moment was when he repeated the -300 dB distortion hearing story. I wish he would have a setup that he can prove that. If Charles Darwin would be with us in the room, he would be very confused with his explanation that our brain possess the capability to process some information that is not needed for a large predator like us in the evolutionary process, that doesn't need to hear the insects walking on a tree, and that our auditory receptors are also a bottle neck - which can be confirmed with the other predators like cats which need to hear the tiniest of the noises in the wild, with more sophisticated receptors in larger numbers and a more sophisticated auditory system. We didn't evolve to be audiophiles in the end, but to survive.

I should have asked him about this but, maybe next year I will bring it up...

I was there too, small world.

To be fair Rob has stated before that he doesn't lie about anything so if he can and stated others can hear differences then I believe him. I doubt I could hear any difference and neither could his wife apparently.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I was there too, small world.

To be fair Rob has stated before that he doesn't lie about anything so if he can and stated others can hear differences then I believe him. I doubt I could hear any difference and neither could his wife apparently.

I was the one that asked about the R2R hype. I actually said that I have more questions but in the end ended up not asking them

I appreciate that he makes these presentations. They are informative. If he can hear, I think he is a real lucky person. I personally lack the infrastructure to create the test conditions but I am sure I can't hear the difference.

 

[CT007]

I mean I'm not saying that's what happened, but there have been extensive side by side comparisons at Munich, and only the Aperio was tested with another dac. It's also the first instance where I hear anyone prefer the Aperio over the HE-1, so I think this would level the playing field. If I was working at Sennheiser, that's a logical step to crush the rebellion before it gains momentum. LOL.

Sell it with a DAC-less option, for $25K less Cheers to the changes of the future!

 

[netwiz]

Have you tried apps like this one when you don't have someone handy to ask?
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/color-blind-pal/id1037744228

Not that it excuses Chord's inexcusable UI choices (or the use of micro-USB in 2023).

Thanks for the suggestion - and yes, I do have some apps. Whilst they can help sometimes it's not a feasible solution for something I'd be using a lot, but they can be handy sometimes for occasional use.

 

[CammyFi]

I did try this one out.
Indeed sounded very good.
It ran very HOT! but the designer was very tight-lipped about the design of it, calling it a secret. Somebody should tell them, that secret doesn't work over here in the West (he was from Japan).
If I was to pay his asking price, I need to know about the design and technology used.
He said, it was neither Class-A nor Tube based. I asked him because of how hot it was running.
It did drive a pair of hifiman Susvara (very low sensitivity) and my own Audeze LCD-XC (high sensitivity) without breaking sweat.
So he has done a good design, but Secret? I didn't like that!

Secrets only hold back advancement

 

[User9876]

I was the one that asked about the R2R hype. I actually said that I have more questions but in the end ended up not asking them

I appreciate that he makes these presentations. They are informative. If he can hear, I think he is a real lucky person. I personally lack the infrastructure to create the test conditions but I am sure I can't hear the difference.

Yes I remember that question, obviously Rob is not a fan of R2R DAC's and yes there is a lot of hype around R2R at the moment for several reasons I could speculate about that I won't go into here, as it would be off topic.

Rob's goal of reproducing the original sound as close as possible did make me think at one point why not just hire the concert hall and all the musicians and just ask them to perform each time I wanted to listen again. Sadly that isn't possible with a lot of the artists no longer with us now though.

I'm glad you didn't ask anymore questions the talk had already run over, it was almost two hours in the end and I needed to get home.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Post 2/2 is coming soon.

Apparently Zach able to collect infinity stones from so many multiverses.

Great impression @betula and all of you here. Been a fun 20 pages read!

 

[vsg28]

Some "in-the-works" IEMs that merit discussion. First up, a prototype from AFUL Acoustics that stunned everyone when they figured out what's going on:

Relatively small and fit me almost like a CIEM. Would you believe this is a single BA set? There's the AFUL acoustic tubing inside we saw in the Performer 5 and Performer 8 and what looks to me like a Helmhotz resonator as part of some complex circuitry inside. It was well tuned with the same smooth upper mids and treble I appreciated on the P5, and I think pretty much everyone was stunned to note this was a 1 BA set given the nice extension and instrument separation.

Lime Ears also had an updated Anima, which thankfully I can actually fit in my ears unlike the original version that was just ridiculously large and unwieldy. I still struggled to get a perfect seal, especially towards the bottom of my concha, so I suggested to them that they either sculpt that section differently or add ~2 dB sub-bass to help compensate for the minor potential leakage for others. It's otherwise a stunning set when it comes to sound, although I must say I prefered the aesthetics of the original with the blue speckled shells over this version. Lime Ears got some good feedback on the design too so I am eagerly awaiting what comes next for the new Anima.

Noble Audio had a bunch of gorgeous Prestige IEMs, although I must say the show stopper at their booth was the upcoming Spartacus. This is a premium set that uses 2 bone conduction and 4 balanced armature drivers for quite possibly the most fun presentation I heard all show. In fact, I had just come off from listening to the Ronin (impressive in its own right) but the Spartacus is the set that I did not want to put down at all. As with the Nightjar Singularity I spoke about earlier, this is a guilty pleasure and not a technical masterpiece that was just what I needed to remind myself to enjoy the show/music and not just critically analyze everything. I'll definitely hit up Noble for a review sample when they have it ready.

The upcoming $600 Noble Fokus Prestige also made a showing in one of the no-doubt many different custom wood case and shells. It's effectively the Prestige version of Fokus Mystique with potentially some minor changes inside too. I did like the Fokus Mystique (w/EQ courtesy its nice app) for its sound and battery life, and the ambient mode works quite well too. I want to try both of these TWS sets although I'd be lying if I said the Fokus Prestige hasn't left a stronger impression with its design.

 

[betula]

Apparently Zach able to collect infinity stones from so many multiverses.

Maybe he just knows how to time travel to ancient civilizations and trade with them. There must be an explanation for all this beauty.

 

[Cabbages]

I should probably also say a huge thank you to Sennheiser and the guys running the booth on the show floor and the HE-1 suite upstairs - very cool people all around and it was great meeting them! I was lucky enough to win the HD800S raffle and also I now have enough sennheiser merch to cosplay a sennheiser rep

 

[User9876]

I should probably also say a huge thank you to Sennheiser and the guys running the booth on the show floor and the HE-1 suite upstairs - very cool people all around and it was great meeting them! I was lucky enough to win the HD800S raffle and also I now have enough sennheiser merch to cosplay a sennheiser rep

Congratulations, awesome prize.

 

[shez.]

I've got the latest version of them UE18's (3rd version I believe - plus pro's). It hasn't been updated since I bought it, put it that way!

There was a pretty large difference IMO between the demo version of the UE18+ pro and my custom (with perfect fit)

But comparing the demo premier vs the demo 18+ pro, the premier is a clear upgrade, definitely (and it is £1000+ more expensive too!)

UE CIEM version and UE UIEM version are noticeably different, I agree. I like my 18+ (2gen), Live, and RR. Hopefully will try Premier soon by myself. Just curious about what path they chose for Premier. Is it a direct upgrade for 18+ or continues from UE Live. But it seems like hard to judge without purchasing the CIEM version.

 

[deep2285]

After FiiO, I was off to the Singaporean contingent sharing a booth. I already covered the Symphonium Crimson before, which now has it's own product page with pending pre-order timer as I type this, so the brands left were Subtonic Audio with the Storm (not new, always worth checking out anyway) and Nightjar Acoustics with the recently released single-DD Singularity, among other things:



Singularity is a single-DD set of IEMs that is smaller than photos made it seem. It's extremely comfortable in the ears and provides an excellent fit/seal with the included Divinus Velvet ear tips. In fact, the Nightjar team mentioned that some people had already mentioned that the Singularity was too small for their ears! Regardless, it's a fun-first set with a lot of bass but implemented well to not be muddy or make for leaner mids. It's not the most resolving set for the money although the accessories are top notch in the form of the upcoming Vanguard cable that itself costs ~45% of the total price if purchased separately.

Project Bass, or the so-called Duality/Doublarity, is obscene. There is so much bass in this dual-DD set which is once again mostly concentrated in the sub-bass. I was reminded of Fatfreq IEMs although I have not heard their IEMs do this sound signature as well. The second DD allows for a sub-woofer and much more detailed mids, and I'll give Nightjar credit for having good extension on both models. Oh, there was also an impedance adapter added for people who need to be locked up. It was paired with the Nightjar Blue Hour cable which certainly feels premium to my cable-newb hands. Then you look above and there's an entire plethora of current and upcoming cables, including an absolute unit called the Sovereign Symphony that can be used with IEMs as a flail in an emergency. There was a hilarious 8-wire version seen above which required custom connector housings to even get the plugs connected.
Below are photos of the more sane (probably still closer to $7k USD) 4W Sovereign Symphony with a couple of IEMs I tried it with:

I recently got the singularity and would definitely get the duality too. I would love to get my hands on the cables some day. Nightjar is just too good.