I'm going to keep this super-brief for now, as I want to get down to the show for Day Two this morning.
I usually spend more time hanging out and talking than I do listening at our shows, but on Day One I did get to hear a few things that impressed me, and I'm going to try to get around a bit more today, hopefully for more listening.
One of the biggest surprises for me yesterday was the
Elysian Diva IEM at Zeppelin's exhibit (above). What a special IEM from a company whose products I'd never heard previously. I believe the Diva is a six-driver (all-BA) design, and it was an awesome all-rounder. It imaged wide, resolved a lot, and had adjustable bass. As for the adjustable bass, my preference was definitely on the neutral setting -- fairly named "neutral," but with really good body and solidity down low.
Quan Min (of Elysian) suggested trying the Diva with the bass adjustment on a higher setting (just to experiment), and the Diva turned into a good audiophile basshead IEM that way — but I definitely preferred its bass in neutral setting. Definitely give the Elysian Diva a listen today if you haven't already.
I also spent a lot of time talking to Aumkar Chandan at the Altiat / Kaldas Research exhibit, and then sat down to listen to his
Altiat CAL.1H headphone (above). The Altiat CAL.1H is a
very reasonably priced new audiophile over-ear model that uses an electrodynamic driver, as opposed to what seems to me to be the more common planar magnetic driver type in smaller-company audiophile over-ears. The CAL.1H build is impressive, its chassis machined out of billet aluminum and hand-finished. The headband and sizing mechanism is unique, too, which isn't surprising from the maker of the very distinctive Kaldas Research RR1 Conquest electrostatic headphone.
As for sound, I found the Altiat CAL.1H -- certainly guided by Harman's target -- had a neutral, studio monitor type tonality, and a smooth treble response. The first headphone that comes to mind that I want to compare it to is the Sennheiser HD650, but I think the CAL.1H will take the bass advantage here, as the Altiat seems to have wonderful, extended presence here.
If you get a chance, stop by and talk to Aumkar. He's very knowledgeable, and a long-time hobbyist who took it to the next level by stepping into headphone development and manufacturing. And definitely listen to the Altiat CAL.1H and the Kaldas Research RR1 Conquest.
My last stop on Day One was dCS's exhibit upstairs. The
dCS Bartok (above) has served as one of our digital references at Head-Fi, but I'd never heard the Bartok using a higher end external master clock, which they have set up at CanJam Singapore with their
dCS Rossini Master Clock (above). I've always wondered if using a dCS external master clock with the Bartok would be something I'd have to concentrate to hear, or something that would jump out at me.
At their exhibit, the dCS team did Rossini-in, Rossini-out comparisons while listening, and,
wow, it's an obvious difference — an obvious
improvement — the imaging (which I'd actually been completely satisfied with, with the Bartok alone) went into holography mode. The image objects were also meatier and more real. I would
really like to hear this swap done with a good loudspeaker setup, as evident as it was through the Focal Utopia. Incredible. And expensive. I'm going to try to sneak up there today to try the Bartok / Rossini-clocked combo with the Meze Elite, as that's one of the headphones I also use a lot, one that images very well to my ears, and one of the headphones dCS also had at their exhibit. You should definitely give dCS's demo a listen if you haven't already.
Okay, I have to head back down to the show! I really hope I get to listen to more music/gear today, and will post more if I do.
