[protoss]

   
The parts that I touched felt like metal, but I'm sure there are some plastic parts hidden somewhere. It definitely felt noticeably lighter than an LCD-2 or LCD-X and on my head it was very comfortable during the time that I listened to it.

Great to hear. I notice they have that $200 headband strap install on it. Now all they have to do is install that $200 strap on all their product lines and the Audeze LCD products will be nice 

 

[RamblerBoy]

I'm looking forward to getting more time with both of those.  From the 5 minutes I had with each, the Lola felt a little more smooth and musical and the Encore had more technical chops without being too dry and analytical.  Both very good, hard to choose just one without spending more time and hearing them back to back.

thank you.. which one did you feel had clearer mids and more sparkly highs?

 

[Stillhart]

thank you.. which one did you feel had clearer mids and more sparkly highs?

 
Best guess from memory... the Lola had very nice, liquid mids and the Encore was more clean and sparkly.

 

[BassicScience]

  Reading the variety of thoughts here in this and other such threads, it seems as though I may well be the only one at these events that listens to the music instead of the equipment.  It is just a simple observation but all the same a valid one.
 
 
ORT

So why go to all the trouble and expense when you can listen to music at home?

 

[RamblerBoy]

Best guess from memory... the Lola had very nice, liquid mids and the Encore was more clean and sparkly.

Thank you so much.. that was exactly what i was looking for.. the encore if it sports clearer mids and more sparkly treble..

 

[reeltime]

Which is better sounding between blue Hawaii and woo audio wa33?

This is an apples to pears comparison. The WA33 is a dynamic driver amp, the Blue Hawaii is an electrostatic amp. You can't have a constant (a single headphone) for the basis of a neutral comparison to detect differences in each amp. 
 
The proper comparison would be the Woo WES to the Blue Hawaii, which in my opinion, the Blue Hawaii would be the preference.
 
That said, if you offered me the option of owning the Blue Hawaii with a Stax-009 or the WA33 with an Abyss, Utopia, or HE1000, I'd take the Blue Hawaii / Stax combo.

 

[Muinarc]

  So the whole body is made out of metal? No plastic? And its lighter? I think this is a great direction for Audeze. Instead of the crack woods..

 
It is a magnesium housing and it is very nicely finished. If the full productions models look like the one on the show floor (hoping it's not a cherry-picked unit) then it is imo the best feeling, build quality wise, LCD headphone I've used.

 

[BassicScience]

 

 
So why go to all the trouble and expense when you can listen to music at home?

I enjoy meeting new people and I all so enjoy looking at new, and to me attractive, equipment. That is why.
And yes, I under stand why you asked that. 
 
And I do listen to music at home.  And in both of my cars.  And on both of my motor bikes.  And some times at work.  And some times in an aero plane. But mostly at home.  Where I all so view and listen to movies.  I all so attend auto and motor bike shows.  Some times motor home shows.  Even when I am not going to buy one in the near future.
 
Do you only go when you are ready to purchase?  I doubt that.
 
 
ORT 

I'm a heck of a lot more likely to attend a show when I'm in the market for something, yes.
Different strokes...

 

[RamblerBoy]

People get offended often too quickly these days!

 

[zeleknot]

How come no one from the camp Audeze contributes to this news...? If the build quality is better than just good (there were some comments on this tread that they felt cheap) they will be mine as well as many others first Audeze headphones. I was dead sure that in a matter of few hours that the first comments about them were made, Audeze would shine some light and details. Honestly never pulled the  LCD-X trigger just cause i had a feeling they would be re-made with better design. These look superb! 

 

[obsidyen]

LCD PRO certainly looks interesting... 

 

[miceblue]

Did anyone get a business card from Brüel and Kjær by any chance?

They got my email address to send measurement data, but I haven't received anything yet.

 

[cskippy]

Well, they have to fly home, get their ducks in order and then send out measurements. It will probably be this week.

 

[csglinux]

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Many thanks to all the organizing staff and all the exhibitors and attendees I had the pleasure of talking to. There's so much cool stuff going on and so many clever ideas in development. I always feel like a kid in a candy store at these events [/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]My overall impression was that there seems to be a widening gap between the best- and worst-in-class products. While high-end gear is sounding better and better, there was a lot of low-end gear that sounded truly terrible. I mean worse-than-Apple-earbuds sort of terrible. And by high-end and low-end, I'm not talking about price. There's definitely a correlation with price, but I also heard some fairly expensive kit that sounded pretty bad. (I won't embarrass any of those vendors by naming them here.) Here were some of my happier - or at least marginally more memorable audio experiences:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Darin Fong Audio:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Clever stuff Darin! This is what soundstage depth/width, etc. is really supposed to sound like For anybody that missed his demo, here's a bump to the link to his video: [/color]https://youtu.be/3Gk5Tw6yWGo I liked this enough to buy a license.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]JH Lola:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]These sounded great! Side-by-side comparison with Layla - I'd take the Lolas any day. I had an opportunity to ask Jerry Harvey about this and he told me he prefers the sound of Lola also. I don't entirely understand the logic of using dynamic drivers only for the mid-range (the highs and lows are both handled by balanced armatures), but it clearly works. I expect to see a decent number of Laylas on eBay over the next few months. They were really that good.[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Noble Kaiser Encore:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Fantastic mids and highs. Nice treble extension. The lower end sounded a little off to me, but that might just be my own weird sound preference. One thing I never understand though is how people get these Noble IEMs to fit and stay in their ears. Huge nozzles and a strange-shaped bulky design that just doesn't fit in my conchal bowl. Sadly, their ergonomics just don't work for me at all [/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Tia Fourte:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Yes, it sounds good, but I wasn't blown away and I wouldn't swap my KSE1500 (or even my FLC 8S) for these. I do think 64 Audio have hit a home run with the Tia Fourte's pricing strategy though. That alone has created an awful lot of buzz and expectation bias. Unfortunately, 64 Audio have an uncomfortable history of "scientific" claims such as the protective/restorative-hearing properties of ADEL, and now (with TIA+apex) the claim that sound tubes create resonant modes and distortion, whereas other types of semi-sealed enclosures don't. If I were to suggest these marketing claims were based on alternative facts (a less-charitable person might say lies) I could probably get sued for libel, so, of course I won't do that Suffice to say, I passed on the opportunity to order these.[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Campfire Audio Andromeda:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]I had a great chat with Ken about why I felt the Andromeda (although a nice headphone) didn't quite work for me, but it turned out he was two steps ahead of me. He let me test out a prototype modified Andromeda that fixed pretty much all of the issues I had with the sound and the (previously) short, stubby nozzles. Andromeda II looks very promising [/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]P.S. The Vegas are nice too, but just a little too bass-heavy for my tastes.[/color]
 
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Atomic Floyd Superdarts:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]On @Stillhart's recommendation I went and listened to a new prototype Superdart. The previous Superdarts were good, but these prototypes sound tons better. I love the design of these things too. So happy to see there are still IEM designers out there that understand the importance of ergonomics and isolation.[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]A&K Kann:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Meh. In fairness, I was A/B-ing against my QP1R and there aren't many DAPs out there that beat a QP1R. But even in the noisy-ish CanJam environment the Kann wasn't even close. It also pailed in comparison to the other A&K DAPs it was sharing a table with.[/color]
 
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Lotoo Paw Gold:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]This is not a new product, but this was the first time I'd given it a proper listen. It sounds great. Lovely build quality too. Too much background noise to pick a winner out of this and the QP1R - they both sound really good and I suspect this would just come down to personal preference.[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Chord Hugo2:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Well, this was a surprise. I had no idea I'd end up placing a pre-order on a Chord product. I'd had a love/hate relationship with Mojo that ended badly and we went our separate ways. I also didn't (and still don't) believe her lies about why 760 kHz sampling rates matter. Admittedly, this wasn't the ideal listening environment - even with isolating, non-ported IEMs - but Hugo2 sounded amazing. I just couldn't fault it. A big thanks and shout-out to @jude who let me - temporarily - run off with his own Hugo2 to a dead silent room to see if I could hear a noise floor with my more sensitive IEMs (I couldn't). Many thanks also to the friendly Chord staff who let me hog the Hugo2 for a very excessive amount of time [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Beyerdynamic Xelento:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Wow. I totally wasn't expecting that either. A single dynamic driver with a fancy name. Has to be more marketing hype, surely? I approached these expecting to find yet more audio snake oil.... But they truly sound fantastic! Great extension at both ends, all tastefully done. They're also small and have wonderful ergonomics. These were the other surprise hit of the show for me. How is it that nobody else on this thread has even mentioned these?!?[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]My only concerns are that there was an earlier incarnation of Xelento that was marketed through A&K and it's not clear 1) what the differences are in the tuning and 2) why a change in tuning justified adding $200 to the price. Ooh - and also that 3) Beyerdynamic have not offered me a free sample in return for an extremely favorable review that would in no way be skewed or biased or in any way influenced by the product sample that would be mine to keep - gratis - after the review. Feel free to pm me about that though @beyerdynamic![/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]RE-2000:[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Dang - I can't believe I missed this one! Now @Hifiman are also going to have to pm me and then send me a free product sample for yet another completely fair and unbiased review [/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]P.S. I agree with those praising the MrSpeakers' Ether electrostat. Wow, it's good. It whips the SR-009. And it seems like it's coming out at a reasonable price too. Definitely one to watch for...[/color]

 

[Stillhart]

  [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588235294118)]snip[/color]

 
Great seeing you again, Paul.  I always appreciate your consistent objectivity even when our tastes don't line up.  When they do, it's a pleasant surprise.  And speaking of surprises, you liked the Hugo2 and didn't like the Mojo?  We'll have to chat about that sometime.