[purk]

$5000 USD for a portable rig....man...  Congrats! 

 

[altrunox]

AK240, Layla and K10 on the same picture...
 

 

 

[goodvibes]

  Stupid expensive. I've heard you can't lay on your side and use them as they dig into your ears because they protrude so much. Is this true? If I were JH and given that they are not customs, I would have made some sort of over ear support for them, they look heavy enough to warrant it. Probably would be more comfortable as well. 

Apparently you're not familiar with the memory wire that extends from the earpiece and comes standard from most customs makers.

 

[jelt2359]

Awesome stuff. It's really good that you have another TOTL to compare them to, very useful. Two thumbs up!

 

[doublea71]

Maybe the price is so high to cover Clapton's royalties?

 

[Malevolent]

Interesting review, although I'm skeptical of the Layla's abilities to best the K10 this easily. Still, I'm stoked to audition the Layla myself. The K10 remains the pinnacle of TOTL IEMs for me at this moment - if the Layla can outdo them, then they could very well be worth the asking price.

 

[MMJ2015]

if you compare the layla and the shure back to back, is the layla similar but extended? or is your perception that the frequency response is bit different as well?
 

 

[DrSheep]

  Interesting review, although I'm skeptical of the Layla's abilities to best the K10 this easily. Still, I'm stoked to audition the Layla myself. The K10 remains the pinnacle of TOTL IEMs for me at this moment - if the Layla can outdo them, then they could very well be worth the asking price.

This is what I am thinking too.  Also, I know that now the Roxanne is going to lose, but I wonder how bad...

 

[gjc10212]

Please post a picture of these in your ear so that we can see the fit. I'm curious how flush they sit.

 

[Ike1985]

   
Since they have Astell and Kern name on it, it should already be known that they would have a price increase.  Do you complain that the AK240 is stupid expensive?  If so, then sure it's stupid expensive by your definition.   Most people that complain about Astell and Kern products being ridiculously expensive will never buy one. 
 
Anyways, about the weight the Layla is made primarily of carbon fiber with a titanium bezel.  It's quite lightweight for it size.

 
Yes Astell & Kern is stupid expensive and a good deal of that money is spent on the fancy case and packaging, aesthetics, blue tooth and wifi, none of which I care about. If I blindfolded you, put a pair of headphones on you, played the same song through a moderately ($400-$700) dap and then unplugged it and played the same song through the AK120ii.  I am certain you would be unable to tell a difference.  Doing so 20-30 times would only prove my point.  In case you were wondering, yes I have listened to the ak240.  Now headphones and IEMs, I believe money spent on those does produce a noticeable result.  I would buy an AK used because I feel like that is more near the actual value of the dap(assuming 30-40% discount).  How's the battery life on the 240 with hi rez files? rigghhhttt.....You said it yourself.."Since they have the name on it...".

 

[Ike1985]

  Apparently you're not familiar with the memory wire that extends from the earpiece and comes standard from most customs makers.

 
Thanks for pointing that out, no I'm not.  I've never owned a pair of IEMs that came with a memory wire, the JH13's will be my first soon.

 

[Jwm48324]

I went into the Astell and Kern room at CES an listened to the Layla and Angie with my Hifiman 901. I liked the Angie much better. It seemed more coherent to me with the less drivers and more musical. I also heard them with the AK240 and still liked them better with my 901.

 

[Gilly87]

I, too, was impressed with the Layla/AK240 combo I got the chance to hear at CES. I couldn't make any direct comparisons, but suffice to say I had been listening to the renowned Orpheus literally moments before hearing the Layla, and my ears were not offended. Obviously the Orpheus does things that no other headphone can do, but I believe the Layla does, too, albeit in very different ways. In the time that I had with it, I felt that the Layla had a very coherent, noticeably spacious sound. I feel that it was the most overall "realistic"-sounding IEM I've heard to date.
 
The Laylas are, to my knowledge, the most expensive IEMs on the market, custom or otherwise, but it's good to remember that technology is the one area where the trickle-down effect is very real (unlike economics, bleh) - new, cutting-edge stuff always starts out super expensive, and then becomes more affordable. It's also true that JH is doing things nobody else is doing, so it's hard to say what the real value is objectively speaking. I have hopes that, by pushing the world of in-ears forward faster by introducing this kind of tech, that it will eventually become more accessible.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Interesting comparison.

I really hated the roxannes and felt they were unrefined in the sound.

Moved to the K10 and I'm more interested to see how the laylas turn out rather than buying them

 

[Ike1985]

  I, too, was impressed with the Layla/AK240 combo I got the chance to hear at CES. I couldn't make any direct comparisons, but suffice to say I had been listening to the renowned Orpheus literally moments before hearing the Layla, and my ears were not offended. Obviously the Orpheus does things that no other headphone can do, but I believe the Layla does, too, albeit in very different ways. In the time that I had with it, I felt that the Layla had a very coherent, noticeably spacious sound. I feel that it was the most overall "realistic"-sounding IEM I've heard to date.
 
The Laylas are, to my knowledge, the most expensive IEMs on the market, custom or otherwise, but it's good to remember that technology is the one area where the trickle-down effect is very real (unlike economics, bleh) - new, cutting-edge stuff always starts out super expensive, and then becomes more affordable. It's also true that JH is doing things nobody else is doing, so it's hard to say what the real value is objectively speaking. I have hopes that, by pushing the world of in-ears forward faster by introducing this kind of tech, that it will eventually become more accessible.

 
Except for the fact that they patent everything even remotely inventive they put out, thus artificially restraining the trickle down effect for years and sentencing us all to worse more expensive technology.  But they all do this I guess, except for Tesla and props to them.  If it was a free market and patents didn't exist, you'd see new technologies being modified and improved soon after their original release, as it should be.  This works out better for everyone and the creator still gets the first to market advantage for some time.  The often unnoticed side of the coin is that if you don't patent something, somebody else will patent and use the state against you and say you stole it from them(because they were the first to patent it).  IMO the best thing to do in this unfree market is to patent and then immediately release the patents for all to use, thus securing yourself from scam artists who would seek to claim they made it first while not restraining the marketplace in order to ensure technology advances organically without artificial state erected barriers.  This would be better for all, but apparently tesla is the only company to figure this out.