The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
Aug 21, 2023 at 12:00 AM Post #63,316 of 88,254
Aug 21, 2023 at 12:47 AM Post #63,317 of 88,254
I've been meaning to share the remaining part of my trip to Japan this summer. I've got a lot of photos/thougths to share from Potafes and Fujiya-Avic Summer Headphone Festival. This might have to be a series post... I hope you guys don't mind... Let’s take a look!

For my first part of the report, go to this post

Now onto Part 2:

Van Nuys Tokyo Store

I got to visit the "elusive" Van Nuys store in Shibuya Tokyo. The reason I call it "elusive" is because the store is closed most of the time. Van Nuys is actually headquartered on Shikoku island just south of Osaka. The owner picks several convenient days, usually at the end of the month, comes to Tokyo with bags of goodies, and then rewards the visitors with varying discounts.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out @Natesdailies recent purchases. Van Nuys makes excellent durable bags/pouches/cases of all sorts. Ballistic nylon is their signature fabric. A bit like Tumi of audiophile world. Very durable and stays strong and clean for a long time.

As you walk into the store, you are greeted with this wagon of bags... OMG, where do I start... I could have easily spent few hours just digging through this cart!
img7219.jpg

The owner introduced me to this "magic case" which basically is a make-your-own-sandwich-style case. You choose the top flap, bottom flap, attach with velco straps and close it to make a case.
img7225.jpg

I ended up buying a case for myself shown below which houses Mass Kobo 475 amp and SP3000 comfortably. I can also fit DX320Max with 475 in this bag, or keep it small with just LP6 and SP3000. Very flexible. There is a strap to hang it from my belt or a bag.
img7847.jpg

Fujiya-Avic Store

Fujiya-Avic is the other famous audiophile store in Japan. They run a series of canjam style "Headphone Festival" which I will get to later (e-earphone runs the Potafes). They have quite an IEM collection all the way to super high-end headphones, amps, etc. The store is actually pretty small and tucked away in a shopping mall in western Tokyo called the "Nakano Broadway". This mall is quite a character with many specialty stores for anime, toys, collectibles, jewelry, watch, etc. If you have a chance to visit Tokyo and have any remote interest in pop culture and audio, I would make this your next stop after the famous Akihabara (electric city).

Pretty modest storefront I couldn't take any pictures inside but I assure you they have nice collection of new and used IEMs/headphones/DAPs/etc.
img7753.jpg

On this visit, I auditioned the Brise Tsuranagi and Fitear DC Ti. DC Ti is custom only IEM so I really wanted to take this opportunity to hear it because @kiat has been raving about it. It didn’t disappoint. It has a thick and weighty bass with a pretty unique color I have not heard elsewhere (although I found out later that Elysian Anni uses the same Foster DD tuned differently). Despite the midbass weight, the vocals and treble were clear. I might describe it as a generalist Xe6 with Fitear color – beautiful and smooth vocals with excellent resolution. Probably one of the best analog sounding IEM (along with the new Oriolus) I heard on this trip.
img7211.jpg

Here is a comparison of DC Ti (universal) vs Traillii. It is huge...
img7212.jpg


Below is the kind of store you will find around Fujiya-Avic. I believe this is some kind of comic book store. Nearby, you will find stores filled with expensive Rolex/Omega and other exotic watches.
img7752.jpg


I ended up making several round trips between Tokyo and Osaka on this trip. I took this opportunity to see how my IEMs perform under these conditions. LP6Ti7AE + Orpheus + Mentor inflight entertainment system! :grin:
img7308.jpg


What a feeling to fly over Mt. Fuji listening to my favorite tracks by Pat Metheny.
img7589.jpg


Next up - Potafes report :wink:
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 8:44 AM Post #63,320 of 88,254
Ok, so here is a quick overview of how the show was for me.
Disclaimer 1) it was very well attended and the main floor was quite noisy.
Disclaimer 2) All these impressions are my experience and therefore my own preference, my subjective opinion. Please don’t be offended if I didn’t like your personal favourite bit of gear.

Saturday
Booked in for the first session of the day with the Sennheiser HE-1. This was located upstairs in it own listening room.
Wow what can I say? What a way to kick off a CanJam weekend.
I had a 15 min slot of pure audio heaven. The HE-1 was hooked up to a DCS DAC and sounded phenomenal. Obviously I will never own something like this but boy what an experience. I would encourage anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to try this out to do so.

Next stop ZMF again upstairs in the room door. Congratulations to Zach, Bevin and the team for providing such a great set up. I kid you not there must have been getting on for nearly a 100 headphones in that room. All beautiful in design. All set up on high quality rigs. Incredible. I enjoyed all of the their offerings but I didn’t really have a standout.

Next up was the DCS room. Another fantastically well set up room. Oh boy talk about a kid in a sweet shop. My personal favourite here was the LINA stack? Not sure if that’s the right name or how you spell it. I particularly enjoyed this with the Meze Elite.

Next stop was in the main hall. I made a beeline for Vision Ears as I was keen to try out the new VEX and also revisit the EXT.
I liked the VEX but was not blown away by it. The fit was fine but I didn’t really like the design all that much. Kind of looked a bit cheap looking to me. Certainly not the usual high standards that I’ve come to expect from Vision Ears. I had a problem with the fit on the EXT which was no surprise as I struggled with it when I had it on loan as part of a tour. The VEX was probably one of the biggest disappointments and surprises to me. Maybe I was hoping for too much?

Next was Astell & Kern to treat the Aura. This time the VE design was top notch and much more to my taste. Sound wise, again I liked it but it didn’t blow me away. Again maybe my expectations were set too high. It’s hard to say what does 4K sound like but for me it felt overpriced. I came away from both stands feeling more than happy with my Phonix with no desire to add to my stable.

Next was Noble. Absolutely stunning designs, esp some of the wood options. What wasn’t so good for me though was the fit. Unfortunately I could not achieve a single seal with their IEM’s despite trying a handful of sets. Shame because if they sounded half as good as they looked it could have been wonderful.

Next was Campire Audio. To be honest they weren’t really on my radar but I thought I’d try them anyway and I was so glad I did. The Trifreca was extremely impressive. Big, bold, muscular sound almost headphone territory. Hard to describe but a wonderful, engaging experience. I also very much liked the Super Moon. Very enjoyable planar in an IEM.

Next I tried the Raven and the Evo. Again not really on my radar but I enjoyed both very much. The Raven is BIG but to my surprise it was quite a good fit and the EVO fit me even better. Both sounded great. Different but great. If I had to pick one I would opt for the EVO. I just connected with it from the first song to the last.

Next was Elise Audio. They covered a wide range of gear but I was mainly there for the XE6, RN6, Singularity & the Elysian audio IEM’s.
I really enjoyed the RN6 and can see why it’s receiving so much praise. Definitely a very versatile IEM and easy to recommend. The XE6 was brilliant fun. Some songs on this set gave me several wow moments. I’m not sure if I could live it full time but if I was in the right mood to rock out these along with the Trfecta would probably be my first choice to party with.
Next up was the Elysian X.. I didn’t know much about this IEM prior to the show but I really liked its tuning. Great fit and great sound.
Next was the Singlarity. I liked it, particularly the Bass but something about the treble area didn’t quite gel with me. Good but not great is how I would rank it.
Next was the Diva. Loved this one. Particularly when the bass switch was turned to its max setting. I think there were 3 settings/profiles to choose from. I know I will be in the minority on this one but I actually preferred it to the Anilator ( please forgive the spelling) I A/B them for a good 15-20 mins on two separate days and still came to the same conclusion.

Next was the Storm. I really enjoyed this one. Extremely nice coherent tuning. Also the design in the flash was stunning.

I finally managed to audition the UM Mentor. Wow I loved this IEM. Stunning new design and oh boy the Mids. The Mids were to die for. For me this one ticked a lot of boxes. For a couple of £1000 for a used example this is probably going to me next purchase 🤔

I tried lots of other gear but these were the main one’s I wanted to share. I hope it’s not too long 🥺
 
Last edited:
Aug 21, 2023 at 8:59 AM Post #63,321 of 88,254
I've been meaning to share the remaining part of my trip to Japan this summer. I've got a lot of photos/thougths to share from Potafes and Fujiya-Avic Summer Headphone Festival. This might have to be a series post... I hope you guys don't mind... Let’s take a look!

For my first part of the report, go to this post

Now onto Part 2:

Van Nuys Tokyo Store

I got to visit the "elusive" Van Nuys store in Shibuya Tokyo. The reason I call it "elusive" is because the store is closed most of the time. Van Nuys is actually headquartered on Shikoku island just south of Osaka. The owner picks several convenient days, usually at the end of the month, comes to Tokyo with bags of goodies, and then rewards the visitors with varying discounts.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out @Natesdailies recent purchases. Van Nuys makes excellent durable bags/pouches/cases of all sorts. Ballistic nylon is their signature fabric. A bit like Tumi of audiophile world. Very durable and stays strong and clean for a long time.

As you walk into the store, you are greeted with this wagon of bags... OMG, where do I start... I could have easily spent few hours just digging through this cart!
img7219.jpg

The owner introduced me to this "magic case" which basically is a make-your-own-sandwich-style case. You choose the top flap, bottom flap, attach with velco straps and close it to make a case.
img7225.jpg

I ended up buying a case for myself shown below which houses Mass Kobo 475 amp and SP3000 comfortably. I can also fit DX320Max with 475 in this bag, or keep it small with just LP6 and SP3000. Very flexible. There is a strap to hang it from my belt or a bag.
img7847.jpg

Fujiya-Avic Store

Fujiya-Avic is the other famous audiophile store in Japan. They run a series of canjam style "Headphone Festival" which I will get to later (e-earphone runs the Potafes). They have quite an IEM collection all the way to super high-end headphones, amps, etc. The store is actually pretty small and tucked away in a shopping mall in western Tokyo called the "Nakano Broadway". This mall is quite a character with many specialty stores for anime, toys, collectibles, jewelry, watch, etc. If you have a chance to visit Tokyo and have any remote interest in pop culture and audio, I would make this your next stop after the famous Akihabara (electric city).

Pretty modest storefront I couldn't take any pictures inside but I assure you they have nice collection of new and used IEMs/headphones/DAPs/etc.
img7753.jpg

On this visit, I auditioned the Brise Tsuranagi and Fitear DC Ti. DC Ti is custom only IEM so I really wanted to take this opportunity to hear it because @kiat has been raving about it. It didn’t disappoint. It has a thick and weighty bass with a pretty unique color I have not heard elsewhere (although I found out later that Elysian Anni uses the same Foster DD tuned differently). Despite the midbass weight, the vocals and treble were clear. I might describe it as a generalist Xe6 with Fitear color – beautiful and smooth vocals with excellent resolution. Probably one of the best analog sounding IEM (along with the new Oriolus) I heard on this trip.
img7211.jpg

Here is a comparison of DC Ti (universal) vs Traillii. It is huge...
img7212.jpg

Below is the kind of store you will find around Fujiya-Avic. I believe this is some kind of comic book store. Nearby, you will find stores filled with expensive Rolex/Omega and other exotic watches.
img7752.jpg

I ended up making several round trips between Tokyo and Osaka on this trip. I took this opportunity to see how my IEMs perform under these conditions. LP6Ti7AE + Orpheus + Mentor inflight entertainment system! :grin:
img7308.jpg

What a feeling to fly over Mt. Fuji listening to my favorite tracks by Pat Metheny.
img7589.jpg

Next up - Potafes report :wink:

Great post. Haven't seen you around in a while-- thanks for sharing!


the new Oriolus) I heard on this trip.

Curious about this :)

Ok, so here is a quick overview of how the show was for me.
Disclaimer 1) it was very well attended and the main floor was quite noisy.
Disclaimer 2) All these impressions are my experience and therefore my own preference, my subjective opinion. Please don’t be offended if I didn’t like your personal favourite bit of gear.

Saturday
Booked in for the first session of the day with the Sennheiser HE-1. This was located upstairs in it own listening room.
Wow what can I say? What a way to kick off a CanJam weekend.
I had a 15 min slot of pure audio heaven. The HE-1 was hooked up to a DCS DAC and sounded phenomenal. Obviously I will never own something like this but boy what an experience. I would encourage anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to try this out to do so.

Next stop ZMF again upstairs in the room door. Congratulations to Zach, Bevan and the team for providing such a great set up. I kid you not there must have been getting on for nearly a 100 headphones in that room. All beautiful in design. All set up on high quality rigs. Incredible. I enjoyed all of the their offerings but o didn’t really have a standout.

Next up was the DCS room. Another fantastically well set up room. Oh boy talk about a kid in a sweet shop. My personal favourite here was the LINA stack? Not sure if that’s the right name or how you spell it. I particularly enjoyed this with the Meze Elite.

Next stop was in the main hall. I made a beeline for Vision Ears as I was keen to try out the new VEX and also revisit the EXT.
I liked the VEX but was not blown away by it. The fit was fine but I didn’t really like the design all that much. Kind of looked a bit cheap looking to me. Certainly not the usual high standards that I’ve come to expect from Vision Ears. I had a problem with the fit on the EXT which was no surprise as I struggled with it when I had it on loan as part of a tour. The VEX was probably one of the biggest biggest disappointments and surprises to me. Maybe I was hoping for too much?

Next was Astell & Kern to treat the Aura. This time the VE design was top notch and much more to my taste. Sound wise, again I liked it but it didn’t blow me away. Again maybe my expectations were set too high. It’s hard to say what does 4K sound like but for me it felt overpriced. I came away from both stands feeling more than happy with my Phonix with no desire to add to me stable.

Next was Noble. Absolutely stunning designs, esp some of the wood options. What wasn’t so good for me though was the fit. Unfortunately I could not achieve a single seal with their IEM’s despite trying a handful of sets. Shame because if they sounded half as good as the looked it could have been wonderful.

Next was Campire Audio. To be honest they weren’t really on my radar but I thought I’d try them anyway and I was so glad I did. The Trifreca was extremely impressive. Big, bold, muscular sound almost headphone territory. Hard to describe but s wonderful, engaging experience. I also very much liked the Super Moon. Very enjoyable planar in an IEM.

Next I tried the Raven and the Evo. Again not really on my radar but I enjoyed both very much. The Raven is BIG but to my surprise it was quite a good fit and the EVO fit me even better. Both sounded great. Different but great. If I had to pick one I would opt for the EVO. I just connected with it from the first song to the last.

Next was Elise Audio. They covered a wide range of gear but I was mainly there for the XE6, RN6, Singularity & the Elysian audio IEM’s.
I really enjoyed the RN6 and can see why it’s receiving so much praise. Definitely a very versatile IEM and easy to recommend. The XE6 was brilliant fun. Some songs on this set gave me several wow moments. I’m not sure if I could live it full time but if I was in the right mood to rock out these along with the Trfecta would probably be my first choice to party with.
Next up was the Elysian X.. I didn’t know much about this IEM prior to the show but I really liked its tuning. Great fit and great sound.
Next was the Singlarity. I liked it, particularly the Bass but something about the treble area didn’t quite gel with me. Good but not great is how I would rank it.
Next was the Diva. Loved this one. Particularly when the bass switch was turned to its max setting. I think there were 3 settings/profiles to choose from. I know I will be in the minority on this one but I actually preferred it to the Anilator ( please forgive the spelling) I A/B them for a good 15-20 mins on two separate days and still came to the same conclusion.

Next was the Storm. I really enjoyed this one. Extremely nice coherent tuning. Also the design in the flash was stunning.

I finally managed to audition the UM Mentor. Wow I loved this IEM. Stunning new design and oh boy the Mids. The Midd were to die for. For me this one ticked a lot of boxes. For a couple of £1000 for a used example this is probably going to me next purchase 🤔

I tried lots of other gear but these were the main one’s I wanted to share. I hope it’s not too long 🥺

Great impressions thank-you for sharing!
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:08 AM Post #63,322 of 88,254
It’s pretty remarkable nobody has listed a storm yet… I wonder who will be first?

I think a few of them have changed hands. Given how rare and hard to get it is, coupled with the massive interest and hype around it at the moment I'm sure anyone who would part with one has a list of close friends who have called dibs.
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:09 AM Post #63,323 of 88,254
Great post. Haven't seen you around in a while-- thanks for sharing!

Curious about this :)

Thanks! Yeah, was away for several weeks, got behind, and I've missed out on the conversations. Still making my effort to catch on the last bits. :sweat_smile:

Something interesting coming from Oriolus... look out for my headphone festival report after my potafes report. Something for you guys to look forward to at SoCal :wink:
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:10 AM Post #63,324 of 88,254
Thanks! Yeah, was away for several weeks, got behind, and I've missed out on the conversations. Still making my effort to catch on the last bits. :sweat_smile:

Something interesting coming from Oriolus... look out for my headphone festival report after my potafes report. Something for you guys to look forward to at SoCal :wink:
Just say the words...Traillii 2.0...
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:14 AM Post #63,325 of 88,254
Oh the sweet memories. My first iem. Yamaha eph-100.inbound7364155031756201578.png

Nice! I still have this set! I go back once in a while and it's a remarkable dynamic set. Those double flange tips are pretty unique too. I have used it on Andro among others where I needed extra length from the nozzle.
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:44 AM Post #63,326 of 88,254
I came away from both stands feeling more than happy with my Phonix with no desire to add to me stable.
Thank you!, you've confirmed my suspicions and just saved me €4800. :ksc75smile:
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:47 AM Post #63,327 of 88,254
Oh the sweet memories. My first iem (bought in 2013). Yamaha eph-100.inbound7364155031756201578.png
Might be fun to post our first IEMs, the gateway drugs that got us all here. For me it was Campfire Vega OG. Blew my mind as to what an IEM could achieve. First "DAP" I used wwith it was a modded Wolfson DAC iPod... No pictures, alas...
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 9:58 AM Post #63,328 of 88,254
Might be fun to post our first IEMs, the gateway drugs that got us all here. For me it was Campfire Vega OG. Blew my mind as to what an IEM could achieve. First "DAP" I used wwith it was a modded Wolfson DAC iPod... No pictures, alas...
DSCN0903.JPGimod 02.jpg
Westone4 with Rockboxed iMod. Thought it was the best thing since sliced bread!
 
Aug 21, 2023 at 11:28 AM Post #63,330 of 88,254
Might be fun to post our first IEMs, the gateway drugs that got us all here. For me it was Campfire Vega OG. Blew my mind as to what an IEM could achieve. First "DAP" I used wwith it was a modded Wolfson DAC iPod... No pictures, alas...
P_20230821_222246_1.jpg

My longest serving IEM. Shozy Neo CP and my 1st DAP is Questyle QP1R 😁
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top