Had a chance to try the X9000 of the BHSE. Wow. If I didn't love bass-centric music so much I would absolutely plunk down the coin for a pair and a DIY T2.
A 009 was plugged into the same amp and in a rare moment where no one was waiting in line I did a very quick AB between it and the X9000. The test track was Kat Eaton - Barricade -- a modern motown-style uptempo track with warm, intimate vocals.
The 009 was brighter and had harsher treble to my ears. The volume was probably higher than I would normally prefer (10 oclock pot). I had demoed this can before on Woo's rig in 2020 and my impression was similar. I was totally amazed by how smooth and more full-bodied the X9000's sounded in comparison. Resolving capability and stereo imaging is better than anything I've ever heard. Especially the sense of stage height and width. I would be willing to say the width approaches the HD 800's but more realistically executed. It's also comfortable to wear so that really contributes to the overall feeling of transparency, which I interpret as the sense of the transducer vanishing and the music just existing all around you. It's like the scenes in the x-men movies where Professor X puts Cerebro on his head and a holographic globe materializes and shows the exact locations of the mutants on Earth.
E-stat bass isn't really my thing but I can see chamber music, acoustic, and jazz being knockouts. That being said, I found CRBN (At Audeze's booth, not in the quiet rooms) to be only mildly better than X9000 in the bass. The CRBN's bass is outperformed by even the DCA Stealth's bass (driven by Formula S), but perhaps that is an unfair comparison.
Now I don't know if the 009 and x9000 have the same sensitivity. Under show conditions I made no attempt to volume match, obviously.
Overall the X9000 impressed me a lot. The total time I've spent with e-stats has been about 20 minutes in my entire lifetime, but I can say the X9000 presents an ultra-refined, simply luxurious sound. It's really something special.
I listened to the Thieaudio monarch MK2 and compared to my Mk1 and found the mids to be fuller, and the bass to have richer tonality and texture, but ever-so-slightly less sub-bass. It definitely justifies its right to exist alongside the MK1. I was about to buy one on the spot, but then I demoed the U12T (M20 module). Whoa. I knew I had to have one. Insane spaciousness, detail and resolution, balanced tonality, nice punchy bass and treble done just right. I never thought an IEM could convey spaciousness so well. Definitely a modern classic. I'm a headphone guy, but between U12T and EE Odin (it puts a subwoofer in your ear!), I can see why these things command crazy prices and are so coveted.
Meze Liric had fun, rowdy tuning but the treble had a little too much bite for me. It's not as open-feeling as the Stealth, IMO. I drove it off my DX160 single ended but if it's anything like the 99classics, then running it balanced 4.4mm/2.5mm would probably help the stage open up a bit. Just a hunch though. Something to consider.
I didn't think the LCD-5 (off the Burson GT) had as shouty a midrange as folks have complained about, IMO. The treble didn't sparkle as much as expected. The bass could have been a little more voluminous. But the entire experience was defined by smoothness. I just kept thinking about scraping a wooden spoon across the top of a cup of Luigi's Italian Ice.
Last thing I heard was the Susvara driven by HFM's big amp (I forget the name). The thing was huge and looked like a hospital's autoclave machine for sterilizing surgical instruments. The volume dial was infuriating. It seemed like the steps had intervals of 5 dB and nothing smaller. I'm exaggerating but truly I couldn't get anywhere close to the intended listening volume. By that point my ears were pretty fatigued so I'll reserve my full judgment. Susvara has more than adequate punch/slam. I don't own a Susvara so I don't know if this amp was making it do anything special. I was expecting a wider soundstage, actually. I recall the HE-400i that first got me into the headphone game had a slightly wider stage than this Susvara. Please, no flames. You can blame these impressions on listening fatigue.
Anyway. I enjoyed the show, listened to gear I would probably never own myself, and walked away without buying anything. Mission accomplished.
(Does Noble's Dr Moulton introduce himself to anyone as Dr. Moulton or Wizard? Not sure how I feel about asking people to call yourself Wizard. There is always a kid in highschool who wants to nickname himself "Knife," and he just keeps trying to make it stick but it just won't. Also ain't feeling that W scribbled all over the Noble promotional material. I may remove this part of the post later once I sober up)