The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[Leto Dal]

I'm happily semi-retired when it comes to IEMs, but still genuinely curious about two things. 1. Fugaku, and 2. The emergence of new brands whose first offering is already priced 3k and above. Like what gives?

So I attended an audio show nearby after missing out on Canjam Singapore 2025. This is my ultra-fast impressions of notable IEMs during Day 1 of NIAVS (Northern International Audio-visual Show) 2025. It's a far cry from Canjam, but not too shabby either. Opinions are mine alone, don't buy just because I like something, don't bash just because I hated it. Different strokes for different folks. My preferred sound signature is neutral-warm with expansive soundstage. My fave IEM is Traillii.

Test gear:
-AK3000
-Oriolus Traillii for brief comparisons and as a "palette cleanser".

Huge disclaimer:
This year's NIAVS had truly horrible soundproofing. Everything is held in a big hall with tiny walled booths, so it's always noisy. As such, I cannot comment on noise floor, and most IEMs are tested louder than my usual listening volume.


Held in Setia Spice Convention Hall in Penang, Malaysia from 25-27/4/25.


More a hifi event with a sprinkling of headfi.


Heard the best of the best first. Brise Audio Fugaku, the USD17k system.

Holy crap this thing punches so hard. Dynamics especially in the bass are off the charts. The stage and scale is like listening to open back phones. Vast and wide and great amounts of spatial detail. The best thing about this is the realism. It recreates the feeling of being there live. Timbre is spot on, vocals are realistic and lifelike. Bass is the highlight for me bcos of the way it hits so intense and visceral you can feel it. Mids are expectedly good, and the treble is nicely extended.

You can't really say it's overtly technical, because the details are not pushed forward and presented, but the extension both ends must be godlike bcos there's tons of air and detail despite the lush notes. I would rather say this in reverse. Every minute detail is surely there, presented entirely and honestly by the Fugaku. The onus is on the listener as to how much detail we can actually extract and listen to. Cliche but... I'm hearing things I haven't before.


Compared to Traillii, Traillii sounds a bit more closed in and compact spatially. Tuning, timbre and vocals are still as good as can be, and really that's the only thing they can touch Fugaku with.

But the bass loses out big time. Even when cheating with higher volume, the impact and vibration is just going towards the head a bit. Fugaku goes right for the throat and upper chest.

After the first few strums of Hotel California I was ready to dismiss Fugaku as overhyped. Then crap, the bass hit and I'm converted. Truly the best IEM I've ever heard and a religious experience. I stopped after an hour because listening to Fugaku any longer will spoil the enjoyment of my own collection lol.


Nostalgia Audio Camelot. USD3K. 2DD 4BA 4EST.

Has a generic TOTL tuning. Good bass, nice detailed treble, natural mids, wide stage. Tuning a bit too smoothed out and lacking in dynamics. Pleasant and safe tuning, a good all-rounder. But lacking a true identity to stand out on its own, something that's needed at this price bracket.


Nostalgia Audio Durandal. USD2.5K. 1DD 4BA 2BC.

Love the shell design and cable. Midcentric, vocal-focused IEM. Beautifully-rendered instruments and vocals that are pushed forward. Has less bass but clearer mids and treble compared to Camelot. Dynamics are better too, but small stage.

Both lose out to Traillii in terms of stage size, imaging, speed and detail, and of course dynamics.


Hercules Audio Moses. USD4k. 1DD 4BA 4EST.

Holy crap this is a show highlight. Big bold bass with awesome punch and decay. Texturing and balance is excellent. Mids are neutral and airy. Treble is smooth and a bit conservative. Big stage and dynamics. Bass detail and dynamics are highlights. Very very fun sig. Neutral-warm with boosted bass. Bloody visceral.

Traillii is airier, thinner, sharper, more detailed with gentler bass. Stage size similar. Moses better bass impact and dynamics, Traillii better technicals overall, more attention grabbing. Both complement each other well.


Ice labs Spectrumica. USD2k. Quadbrid 1DD 1BC 4BA 2EST.

Thought I should try something priced slightly below the mega-expensive heavyweights. Incredibly detailed and dynamic, but incoherent leh. Warm smooth vocals contrast too much with grainy hyperdetailed treble. Couldn't get into the music. But for detail-heads, do take a look at this.


Aful Cantor. USD1k. 14BA.

Fantastic detail and texture. Good dynamics and air. Bass is deep and impactful. Stage is so-so. Dealbreaker is the mids and treble lean bright and edgy, I'm can't relax with this tuning.


AME Mousa. USD4.5k. 13BA 2BC.

Thick, warm, lush, full, repeat. This is Mousa. Bass is full and impactful, mids are thick and layered, treble is detailed with no harshness. Problem is stage, just enough width and depth to prevent from being drowned in sound, but nothing much outside the head, quite closed in. Also just enough dynamics to keep the sig from being sludgy. Excellent and utterly immersive tuning but so-so technicalities. Very kaw (concentrated)... Like early day Elysian. For fans of thicc notes and warm tuning.


Unique Melody Soleil Tombe. USD8k. 12BA 1BC.

Yet another IEM I wanted to dismiss in a hurry, this actually surprised me. Endgame-tier mids tuning with just the right amount of warmth, lushness, detail and euphony. Vocals and acoustics have amazing texture. The bass hits incisively deep and the treble is smooth and highly extended, but the star of the show is the utterly addictive mids. Also, Soleil Tombe's unique presentation deserves mention. Stage is narrow but compensated by tremendous height and depth, so layering and imaging is in a class of its own. I love hearing how Soleil interprets different tracks. But is it worth USD8k? Nope!


Canpur CP622B. USD4k, 6BA 2EST 2BC.

The disappointment of the day. Sounds like your generic TOTL all-rounder. Does everything alright, but does nothing to stand out on its own. I call this the vanilla TOTL tuning. Good but too safe. I want some character in my IEMs!


Jomo Nautilus. USD800. 1DD 1 Planar 2BC.

Excellent bass implementation. Punchy and full subbass, nice balance between sub and midbass. Very good air, layering and dynamics as well. Too bad the mids and treble are too energetic. Otherwise it competes with higher priced IEMs.


Jomo Serenity. USD1600. 2DD 2 planar 4BA, open back IEM.

Of course stage size is big and airy. The bass is just as delicious as Nautilus, impactful and layered with beautiful DD decay. The treble is clear and abundantly detailed, with just a bit of glare. The mids are safely tuned, have good timbre but slightly recessed. Not bad but I wouldn't buy.


UE Live. 6BA 2DD.

Just curious about this pioneer brand that took a back seat in the IEM world nowadays. What a dud. Dark. Treble shy. Warm and smooth but no dynamics. Soft treble. Sludge. No thanks.


UE Premier. 21BA.

More of the same. Sludge with better treble. Not that I don't like the tuning, just that the lack of air and dynamics in today's day and age is kinda disturbing. They don't listen to their competitors?


Mr Rob Watts of Chord.


Mr Joseph Mou of Jomo Audio.

Show favourites:
1. Brise Audio Fugaku
2. Hercules Audio Moses
3. UM Soleil Tombe

Great write-up, thanks for the insights! Interesting that you perceived Spectrumica as treble energy heavy and technical. I found the tuning very coherant and smooth, with high sub and mid bass emphasis. If I would "fix" anything about it, I would ask for a tiny bit more treble extension and air with the stock cable and sligthly more technicalities. Other than that, somewhat of a perfect warm-fi iem to my ear right now.

 

[statuefiddle]

I'm happily semi-retired when it comes to IEMs, but still genuinely curious about two things. 1. Fugaku, and 2. The emergence of new brands whose first offering is already priced 3k and above. Like what gives?

So I attended an audio show nearby after missing out on Canjam Singapore 2025. This is my ultra-fast impressions of notable IEMs during Day 1 of NIAVS (Northern International Audio-visual Show) 2025. It's a far cry from Canjam, but not too shabby either. Opinions are mine alone, don't buy just because I like something, don't bash just because I hated it. Different strokes for different folks. My preferred sound signature is neutral-warm with expansive soundstage. My fave IEM is Traillii.

Test gear:
-AK3000
-Oriolus Traillii for brief comparisons and as a "palette cleanser".

Huge disclaimer:
This year's NIAVS had truly horrible soundproofing. Everything is held in a big hall with tiny walled booths, so it's always noisy. As such, I cannot comment on noise floor, and most IEMs are tested louder than my usual listening volume.


Held in Setia Spice Convention Hall in Penang, Malaysia from 25-27/4/25.


More a hifi event with a sprinkling of headfi.


Heard the best of the best first. Brise Audio Fugaku, the USD17k system.

Holy crap this thing punches so hard. Dynamics especially in the bass are off the charts. The stage and scale is like listening to open back phones. Vast and wide and great amounts of spatial detail. The best thing about this is the realism. It recreates the feeling of being there live. Timbre is spot on, vocals are realistic and lifelike. Bass is the highlight for me bcos of the way it hits so intense and visceral you can feel it. Mids are expectedly good, and the treble is nicely extended.

You can't really say it's overtly technical, because the details are not pushed forward and presented, but the extension both ends must be godlike bcos there's tons of air and detail despite the lush notes. I would rather say this in reverse. Every minute detail is surely there, presented entirely and honestly by the Fugaku. The onus is on the listener as to how much detail we can actually extract and listen to. Cliche but... I'm hearing things I haven't before.


Compared to Traillii, Traillii sounds a bit more closed in and compact spatially. Tuning, timbre and vocals are still as good as can be, and really that's the only thing they can touch Fugaku with.

But the bass loses out big time. Even when cheating with higher volume, the impact and vibration is just going towards the head a bit. Fugaku goes right for the throat and upper chest.

After the first few strums of Hotel California I was ready to dismiss Fugaku as overhyped. Then crap, the bass hit and I'm converted. Truly the best IEM I've ever heard and a religious experience. I stopped after an hour because listening to Fugaku any longer will spoil the enjoyment of my own collection lol.


Nostalgia Audio Camelot. USD3K. 2DD 4BA 4EST.

Has a generic TOTL tuning. Good bass, nice detailed treble, natural mids, wide stage. Tuning a bit too smoothed out and lacking in dynamics. Pleasant and safe tuning, a good all-rounder. But lacking a true identity to stand out on its own, something that's needed at this price bracket.


Nostalgia Audio Durandal. USD2.5K. 1DD 4BA 2BC.

Love the shell design and cable. Midcentric, vocal-focused IEM. Beautifully-rendered instruments and vocals that are pushed forward. Has less bass but clearer mids and treble compared to Camelot. Dynamics are better too, but small stage.

Both lose out to Traillii in terms of stage size, imaging, speed and detail, and of course dynamics.


Hercules Audio Moses. USD4k. 1DD 4BA 4EST.

Holy crap this is a show highlight. Big bold bass with awesome punch and decay. Texturing and balance is excellent. Mids are neutral and airy. Treble is smooth and a bit conservative. Big stage and dynamics. Bass detail and dynamics are highlights. Very very fun sig. Neutral-warm with boosted bass. Bloody visceral.

Traillii is airier, thinner, sharper, more detailed with gentler bass. Stage size similar. Moses better bass impact and dynamics, Traillii better technicals overall, more attention grabbing. Both complement each other well.


Ice labs Spectrumica. USD2k. Quadbrid 1DD 1BC 4BA 2EST.

Thought I should try something priced slightly below the mega-expensive heavyweights. Incredibly detailed and dynamic, but incoherent leh. Warm smooth vocals contrast too much with grainy hyperdetailed treble. Couldn't get into the music. But for detail-heads, do take a look at this.


Aful Cantor. USD1k. 14BA.

Fantastic detail and texture. Good dynamics and air. Bass is deep and impactful. Stage is so-so. Dealbreaker is the mids and treble lean bright and edgy, I'm can't relax with this tuning.


AME Mousa. USD4.5k. 13BA 2BC.

Thick, warm, lush, full, repeat. This is Mousa. Bass is full and impactful, mids are thick and layered, treble is detailed with no harshness. Problem is stage, just enough width and depth to prevent from being drowned in sound, but nothing much outside the head, quite closed in. Also just enough dynamics to keep the sig from being sludgy. Excellent and utterly immersive tuning but so-so technicalities. Very kaw (concentrated)... Like early day Elysian. For fans of thicc notes and warm tuning.


Unique Melody Soleil Tombe. USD8k. 12BA 1BC.

Yet another IEM I wanted to dismiss in a hurry, this actually surprised me. Endgame-tier mids tuning with just the right amount of warmth, lushness, detail and euphony. Vocals and acoustics have amazing texture. The bass hits incisively deep and the treble is smooth and highly extended, but the star of the show is the utterly addictive mids. Also, Soleil Tombe's unique presentation deserves mention. Stage is narrow but compensated by tremendous height and depth, so layering and imaging is in a class of its own. I love hearing how Soleil interprets different tracks. But is it worth USD8k? Nope!


Canpur CP622B. USD4k, 6BA 2EST 2BC.

The disappointment of the day. Sounds like your generic TOTL all-rounder. Does everything alright, but does nothing to stand out on its own. I call this the vanilla TOTL tuning. Good but too safe. I want some character in my IEMs!


Jomo Nautilus. USD800. 1DD 1 Planar 2BC.

Excellent bass implementation. Punchy and full subbass, nice balance between sub and midbass. Very good air, layering and dynamics as well. Too bad the mids and treble are too energetic. Otherwise it competes with higher priced IEMs.


Jomo Serenity. USD1600. 2DD 2 planar 4BA, open back IEM.

Of course stage size is big and airy. The bass is just as delicious as Nautilus, impactful and layered with beautiful DD decay. The treble is clear and abundantly detailed, with just a bit of glare. The mids are safely tuned, have good timbre but slightly recessed. Not bad but I wouldn't buy.


UE Live. 6BA 2DD.

Just curious about this pioneer brand that took a back seat in the IEM world nowadays. What a dud. Dark. Treble shy. Warm and smooth but no dynamics. Soft treble. Sludge. No thanks.


UE Premier. 21BA.

More of the same. Sludge with better treble. Not that I don't like the tuning, just that the lack of air and dynamics in today's day and age is kinda disturbing. They don't listen to their competitors?


Mr Rob Watts of Chord.


Mr Joseph Mou of Jomo Audio.

Show favourites:
1. Brise Audio Fugaku
2. Hercules Audio Moses
3. UM Soleil Tombe

Great impressions, thanks for sharing! I agree with what you wrote about Spectrumica, based on my first impressions of it

 

[Rockwell75]

Holy crap this thing punches so hard. Dynamics especially in the bass are off the charts.

The bass and noteweight were standout qualities for me as well

 

[tresvigint]

It's a TSU-SC with a much broader sound stage and depth. It also has much better driving power. Drives a Susvara decently well, better than what a EA4 can do for a Sus. Ordered.
The Murakumo 3 is also interesting. Broader sounds stage. Seems like the engineers at Brise is really into large-scale music.

Any comparison between murakumo 3 vs other IC?

 

[Scubadevils]

I've had quite a bit of time now with the Shanling MG800, and fully appreciate how they are loved so much by the select few that own a set - I definitely waited too long to take the plunge!

Some brief impressions - all of my listening so far has been with the balanced filters.

What's immediately apparent is how large and spacious they sound, for what is a very tiny IEM. The open back really does create a massive sense of stage size which is wonderfully captivating and immersive. The tuning is smooth, dynamic, and with excellent resolution - bass has good depth for sub and a decent mid kick, with fantastic mid-range clarity and really beautiful lush/vibrant tonality. The treble extends nicely, nothing harsh and has a good sense of air. Overall, I would describe as a highly engaging set with wonderful timbre, very impressive technical capability and incredibly musical... I would comfortably position in my imaginary single DD 'hall of fame'

Oh and beautiful build quality too, hard to get across how small they are in pictures.

 

[wolfstar76]

I'm happily semi-retired when it comes to IEMs, but still genuinely curious about two things. 1. Fugaku, and 2. The emergence of new brands whose first offering is already priced 3k and above. Like what gives?

So I attended an audio show nearby after missing out on Canjam Singapore 2025. This is my ultra-fast impressions of notable IEMs during Day 1 of NIAVS (Northern International Audio-visual Show) 2025. It's a far cry from Canjam, but not too shabby either. Opinions are mine alone, don't buy just because I like something, don't bash just because I hated it. Different strokes for different folks. My preferred sound signature is neutral-warm with expansive soundstage. My fave IEM is Traillii.

Test gear:
-AK3000
-Oriolus Traillii for brief comparisons and as a "palette cleanser".

Huge disclaimer:
This year's NIAVS had truly horrible soundproofing. Everything is held in a big hall with tiny walled booths, so it's always noisy. As such, I cannot comment on noise floor, and most IEMs are tested louder than my usual listening volume.


Held in Setia Spice Convention Hall in Penang, Malaysia from 25-27/4/25.


More a hifi event with a sprinkling of headfi.


Heard the best of the best first. Brise Audio Fugaku, the USD17k system.

Holy crap this thing punches so hard. Dynamics especially in the bass are off the charts. The stage and scale is like listening to open back phones. Vast and wide and great amounts of spatial detail. The best thing about this is the realism. It recreates the feeling of being there live. Timbre is spot on, vocals are realistic and lifelike. Bass is the highlight for me bcos of the way it hits so intense and visceral you can feel it. Mids are expectedly good, and the treble is nicely extended.

You can't really say it's overtly technical, because the details are not pushed forward and presented, but the extension both ends must be godlike bcos there's tons of air and detail despite the lush notes. I would rather say this in reverse. Every minute detail is surely there, presented entirely and honestly by the Fugaku. The onus is on the listener as to how much detail we can actually extract and listen to. Cliche but... I'm hearing things I haven't before.


Compared to Traillii, Traillii sounds a bit more closed in and compact spatially. Tuning, timbre and vocals are still as good as can be, and really that's the only thing they can touch Fugaku with.

But the bass loses out big time. Even when cheating with higher volume, the impact and vibration is just going towards the head a bit. Fugaku goes right for the throat and upper chest.

After the first few strums of Hotel California I was ready to dismiss Fugaku as overhyped. Then crap, the bass hit and I'm converted. Truly the best IEM I've ever heard and a religious experience. I stopped after an hour because listening to Fugaku any longer will spoil the enjoyment of my own collection lol.


Nostalgia Audio Camelot. USD3K. 2DD 4BA 4EST.

Has a generic TOTL tuning. Good bass, nice detailed treble, natural mids, wide stage. Tuning a bit too smoothed out and lacking in dynamics. Pleasant and safe tuning, a good all-rounder. But lacking a true identity to stand out on its own, something that's needed at this price bracket.


Nostalgia Audio Durandal. USD2.5K. 1DD 4BA 2BC.

Love the shell design and cable. Midcentric, vocal-focused IEM. Beautifully-rendered instruments and vocals that are pushed forward. Has less bass but clearer mids and treble compared to Camelot. Dynamics are better too, but small stage.

Both lose out to Traillii in terms of stage size, imaging, speed and detail, and of course dynamics.


Hercules Audio Moses. USD4k. 1DD 4BA 4EST.

Holy crap this is a show highlight. Big bold bass with awesome punch and decay. Texturing and balance is excellent. Mids are neutral and airy. Treble is smooth and a bit conservative. Big stage and dynamics. Bass detail and dynamics are highlights. Very very fun sig. Neutral-warm with boosted bass. Bloody visceral.

Traillii is airier, thinner, sharper, more detailed with gentler bass. Stage size similar. Moses better bass impact and dynamics, Traillii better technicals overall, more attention grabbing. Both complement each other well.


Ice labs Spectrumica. USD2k. Quadbrid 1DD 1BC 4BA 2EST.

Thought I should try something priced slightly below the mega-expensive heavyweights. Incredibly detailed and dynamic, but incoherent leh. Warm smooth vocals contrast too much with grainy hyperdetailed treble. Couldn't get into the music. But for detail-heads, do take a look at this.


Aful Cantor. USD1k. 14BA.

Fantastic detail and texture. Good dynamics and air. Bass is deep and impactful. Stage is so-so. Dealbreaker is the mids and treble lean bright and edgy, I'm can't relax with this tuning.


AME Mousa. USD4.5k. 13BA 2BC.

Thick, warm, lush, full, repeat. This is Mousa. Bass is full and impactful, mids are thick and layered, treble is detailed with no harshness. Problem is stage, just enough width and depth to prevent from being drowned in sound, but nothing much outside the head, quite closed in. Also just enough dynamics to keep the sig from being sludgy. Excellent and utterly immersive tuning but so-so technicalities. Very kaw (concentrated)... Like early day Elysian. For fans of thicc notes and warm tuning.


Unique Melody Soleil Tombe. USD8k. 12BA 1BC.

Yet another IEM I wanted to dismiss in a hurry, this actually surprised me. Endgame-tier mids tuning with just the right amount of warmth, lushness, detail and euphony. Vocals and acoustics have amazing texture. The bass hits incisively deep and the treble is smooth and highly extended, but the star of the show is the utterly addictive mids. Also, Soleil Tombe's unique presentation deserves mention. Stage is narrow but compensated by tremendous height and depth, so layering and imaging is in a class of its own. I love hearing how Soleil interprets different tracks. But is it worth USD8k? Nope!


Canpur CP622B. USD4k, 6BA 2EST 2BC.

The disappointment of the day. Sounds like your generic TOTL all-rounder. Does everything alright, but does nothing to stand out on its own. I call this the vanilla TOTL tuning. Good but too safe. I want some character in my IEMs!


Jomo Nautilus. USD800. 1DD 1 Planar 2BC.

Excellent bass implementation. Punchy and full subbass, nice balance between sub and midbass. Very good air, layering and dynamics as well. Too bad the mids and treble are too energetic. Otherwise it competes with higher priced IEMs.


Jomo Serenity. USD1600. 2DD 2 planar 4BA, open back IEM.

Of course stage size is big and airy. The bass is just as delicious as Nautilus, impactful and layered with beautiful DD decay. The treble is clear and abundantly detailed, with just a bit of glare. The mids are safely tuned, have good timbre but slightly recessed. Not bad but I wouldn't buy.


UE Live. 6BA 2DD.

Just curious about this pioneer brand that took a back seat in the IEM world nowadays. What a dud. Dark. Treble shy. Warm and smooth but no dynamics. Soft treble. Sludge. No thanks.


UE Premier. 21BA.

More of the same. Sludge with better treble. Not that I don't like the tuning, just that the lack of air and dynamics in today's day and age is kinda disturbing. They don't listen to their competitors?


Mr Rob Watts of Chord.


Mr Joseph Mou of Jomo Audio.

Show favourites:
1. Brise Audio Fugaku
2. Hercules Audio Moses
3. UM Soleil Tombe

Looking forward to hearing Mose and Fugaku this fall at CJSC. I am laughing out when you mention vanilla TOTL tuning, I recently heard a few TOTLs that I cannot nitpick anything wrong with them, but there are something missing that I don't want to use too generic language to describe such as lack of soul. For those TOTL IEMs, I simply cannot find any motivation to own them. For UM Soleil Tombe, however, I actually prefer older edition such as UM Mason FS Halo over it.

 

[Argha]

I reviewed the sexiest IEM from this year, take a look

 

[ezekiel77]

Looking forward to hearing Mose and Fugaku this fall at CJSC. I am laughing out when you mention vanilla TOTL tuning, I recently heard a few TOTLs that I cannot nitpick anything wrong with them, but there are something missing that I don't want to use too generic language to describe such as lack of soul. For those TOTL IEMs, I simply cannot find any motivation to own them. For UM Soleil Tombe, however, I actually prefer older edition such as UM Mason FS Halo over it.

I prefer Le Jardin over Soleil Tombe too, because the mid-centric tuning made the immersive layering/imaging more apparent. Soleil is Le Jardin with moar bass, moving towards an all-rounder signature.

As the exhibitor was saying, Soleil combines the Mentor and Mason sound. But I think it loses some of the magic of previous Masons.

 

[Sifo]

2025 Headphone Festival Mini Spring (Fujiya-Avic)

Really wanted to like the See Audio Kaguya 2 cuz I like the driver config and it's pretty cheap but I thought I heard some coherency issues. Shame cuz the treble was pretty fun, a bit lighter on the bass than I expected, vocals were solid but there was almost a distortion to it on certain tracks. Will give it another chance when the demo arrives to stores but unfortunately didn't have a chance to hear it again (booth was packed all weekend).

Onkyo x FitEar x Gundam 45th anniversary collab, K1 is an old Onkyo model using their Magnesium Diaphragm Balanced Armature, which they've used for a couple of collabs like im@s and Bocchi, but for this collab they introduced the K2 which has an additional tweeter in it, as well as the K3 which is just a FitEar MH334. The K2 sounded pretty bright but I really enjoyed the treble, and it had the vocal magic of FitEar as well. This was the only IEM I heard twice that day. The staff told me the K2 was the most popular of the 3 on that day as well. I'm probably gonna wait for them to recycle it on a different collab, as much as I enjoy Gundam.

Noble Shogun, I saw the graph and was worried, after I listened to it, it started off sounding alright until I tried it with some metal; 0 guitar crunch, so that kinda killed it for me. It was alright for EDM. The highlight is still the 4.4 barrel.

Forte Ears Mefisto, Riccardo has a new distributor in Japan, I saw him but he was busy talking to people so I didn't get a chance to say hi unfortunately. I originally heard the Mefisto prototype back in December during Potafes, not sure what the config was but I quite enjoyed it at the time. The final product on the other hand, I didn't really like it with the stock cable, sounded way too V-shaped with a messy mid bass and unrefined lower treble. Vocals were not as dry as Macbeth but still quite dry. The Temptation cable fixed most of this (aside from the vocal dryness, which kinda adds this pseudo texture that isn't necessarily there) and ended up being an enjoyable listen thereafter. Overall, I prefer this to the Macbeth I think, but Macbeth with stock cable is a close second (I don't really like it with the Ambition).

FitEar headphone was alright. It was created because studio engineers were asking them for a headphone to use for monitoring and mixing. They needed something that sounded similar to the FitEar IEMs that the artists use. So, as someone very familiar with the MH334SR, yeah it accomplishes just that. Not sure if it's just the form factor but as a headphone it's a bit more fatiguing to listen to. The ear cups have a notably small opening, so it ends up practically being an on-ear. Should be a good work tool.

A2P TR17HP, didn't really take any notes but it was a warm, smooth, relaxed listen with 0 noise. Great cost performance value but long lead time (3 months is what they told me right now). Amazing form factor!

Brise Watatsumi (and a bit of the Tsu V2), biggest disappointment of the show tbh. Bass is boomy and airy, snare hits sound really dull, vocals quite forward which was nice but it's kinda smoothed out a bit too much in the mids and affects tone. Treble is too smooth on attack but the decay is alright. Stage overall wide but not a lot of depth, sounds more coherent, much cleaner background, no hiss (vs tsu2). Better center imaging for vocals (vs tsu2). Honestly for the pairing with my stuff, it just did not sound correct. I'm sure if you paired it with a more neutral and/or transparent IEM, it might emulate the Fugaku sound, but otherwise it just sounds off. The major pros are extremely black background, great imaging and positional accuracy. It's a highly capable amp as far as techs goes, but not my cup of tea for tone.

As for how I hear the Tsu v2, it's even boomier in the bass, slightly better snare attack. Guitar tone is overall a bit better. Cymbal attack a little better but it's still a bit soft, decay is much worse than Watatsumi. Hiss is significantly more noticeable.

They're both about the same size, the Watatsumi is a little bit taller in height.

I didn't take notes for this one, just enjoyed myself after listening to the mess that was the Brise amps, though it's not really a fair comparison given that it's a desktop amp with completely different tuning philosphy. Super clean sound, was nice to just kinda detox. I asked Masuda-san if there were any plans to make any new portable amps (successor to 475) but he said no, and that he found making portable amps difficult.

From Wagnus, to my surprise all the different variations do actually sound different, I thought they were just jacket recolors. The Zillion Sheep variations all had big low end with a warm analog-like vintage sound, all while maintaining high clarity, none of that haziness or veil. But in the end, my favourite was the Zillion Sheep Acqua, which didn't have that boosted warmth but instead had some pretty amazing mids, it completely shifted my focus to bring a section from particular track to the foreground, which I am used to tuning out into the background. The ergo is just as ass as they look though, they're like a zip tie.

I listened to some other stuff too but honestly I just can't be assed to take notes anymore during shows, if I can zone out and vibe to my music then the product was good enough to revisit later for critical listening in the comfort of my home, if it doesn't pass that test then I'm probably not gonna want to buy it anyway. I went into this event with like 3 IEMs to try and the rest of my time went to checking out local DIYers amps and cables. In the end, like every other show I've attended for the past however many years, I walked out without much desire to buy anything (that I heard from the show).

 

[audionewbi]

2025 Headphone Festival Mini Spring (Fujiya-Avic)

Really wanted to like the See Audio Kaguya 2 cuz I like the driver config and it's pretty cheap but I thought I heard some coherency issues. Shame cuz the treble was pretty fun, a bit lighter on the bass than I expected, vocals were solid but there was almost a distortion to it on certain tracks. Will give it another chance when the demo arrives to stores but unfortunately didn't have a chance to hear it again (booth was packed all weekend).

Onkyo x FitEar x Gundam 45th anniversary collab, K1 is an old Onkyo model using their Magnesium Diaphragm Balanced Armature, which they've used for a couple of collabs like im@s and Bocchi, but for this collab they introduced the K2 which has an additional tweeter in it, as well as the K3 which is just a FitEar MH334. The K2 sounded pretty bright but I really enjoyed the treble, and it had the vocal magic of FitEar as well. This was the only IEM I heard twice that day. The staff told me the K2 was the most popular of the 3 on that day as well. I'm probably gonna wait for them to recycle it on a different collab, as much as I enjoy Gundam.




Noble Shogun, I saw the graph and was worried, after I listened to it, it started off sounding alright until I tried it with some metal; 0 guitar crunch, so that kinda killed it for me. It was alright for EDM. The highlight is still the 4.4 barrel.



Forte Ears Mefisto, Riccardo has a new distributor in Japan, I saw him but he was busy talking to people so I didn't get a chance to say hi unfortunately. I originally heard the Mefisto prototype back in December during Potafes, not sure what the config was but I quite enjoyed it at the time. The final product on the other hand, I didn't really like it with the stock cable, sounded way too V-shaped with a messy mid bass and unrefined lower treble. Vocals were not as dry as Macbeth but still quite dry. The Temptation cable fixed most of this (aside from the vocal dryness, which kinda adds this pseudo texture that isn't necessarily there) and ended up being an enjoyable listen thereafter. Overall, I prefer this to the Macbeth I think, but Macbeth with stock cable is a close second (I don't really like it with the Ambition).



FitEar headphone was alright. It was created because studio engineers were asking them for a headphone to use for monitoring and mixing. They needed something that sounded similar to the FitEar IEMs that the artists use. So, as someone very familiar with the MH334SR, yeah it accomplishes just that. Not sure if it's just the form factor but as a headphone it's a bit more fatiguing to listen to. The ear cups have a notably small opening, so it ends up practically being an on-ear. Should be a good work tool.



A2P TR17HP, didn't really take any notes but it was a warm, smooth, relaxed listen with 0 noise. Great cost performance value but long lead time (3 months is what they told me right now). Amazing form factor!


Brise Watatsumi (and a bit of the Tsu V2), biggest disappointment of the show tbh. Bass is boomy and airy, snare hits sound really dull, vocals quite forward which was nice but it's kinda smoothed out a bit too much in the mids and affects tone. Treble is too smooth on attack but the decay is alright. Stage overall wide but not a lot of depth, sounds more coherent, much cleaner background, no hiss (vs tsu2). Better center imaging for vocals (vs tsu2). Honestly for the pairing with my stuff, it just did not sound correct. I'm sure if you paired it with a more neutral and/or transparent IEM, it might emulate the Fugaku sound, but otherwise it just sounds off. The major pros are extremely black background, great imaging and positional accuracy. It's a highly capable amp as far as techs goes, but not my cup of tea for tone.

As for how I hear the Tsu v2, it's even boomier in the bass, slightly better snare attack. Guitar tone is overall a bit better. Cymbal attack a little better but it's still a bit soft, decay is much worse than Watatsumi. Hiss is significantly more noticeable.

They're both about the same size, the Watatsumi is a little bit taller in height.




I didn't take notes for this one, just enjoyed myself after listening to the mess that was the Brise amps, though it's not really a fair comparison given that it's a desktop amp with completely different tuning philosphy. Super clean sound, was nice to just kinda detox. I asked Masuda-san if there were any plans to make any new portable amps (successor to 475) but he said no, and that he found making portable amps difficult.



From Wagnus, to my surprise all the different variations do actually sound different, I thought they were just jacket recolors. The Zillion Sheep variations all had big low end with a warm analog-like vintage sound, all while maintaining high clarity, none of that haziness or veil. But in the end, my favourite was the Zillion Sheep Acqua, which didn't have that boosted warmth but instead had some pretty amazing mids, it completely shifted my focus to bring a section from particular track to the foreground, which I am used to tuning out into the background. The ergo is just as ass as they look though, they're like a zip tie.

I listened to some other stuff too but honestly I just can't be assed to take notes anymore during shows, if I can zone out and vibe to my music then the product was good enough to revisit later for critical listening in the comfort of my home, if it doesn't pass that test then I'm probably not gonna want to buy it anyway. I went into this event with like 3 IEMs to try and the rest of my time went to checking out local DIYers amps and cables. In the end, like every other show I've attended for the past however many years, I walked out without much desire to buy anything (that I heard from the show).

Did you get a chance to try Final A10000?

 

[Tabikinoya Cephas]

2025 Headphone Festival Mini Spring (Fujiya-Avic)

Really wanted to like the See Audio Kaguya 2 cuz I like the driver config and it's pretty cheap but I thought I heard some coherency issues. Shame cuz the treble was pretty fun, a bit lighter on the bass than I expected, vocals were solid but there was almost a distortion to it on certain tracks. Will give it another chance when the demo arrives to stores but unfortunately didn't have a chance to hear it again (booth was packed all weekend).

Onkyo x FitEar x Gundam 45th anniversary collab, K1 is an old Onkyo model using their Magnesium Diaphragm Balanced Armature, which they've used for a couple of collabs like im@s and Bocchi, but for this collab they introduced the K2 which has an additional tweeter in it, as well as the K3 which is just a FitEar MH334. The K2 sounded pretty bright but I really enjoyed the treble, and it had the vocal magic of FitEar as well. This was the only IEM I heard twice that day. The staff told me the K2 was the most popular of the 3 on that day as well. I'm probably gonna wait for them to recycle it on a different collab, as much as I enjoy Gundam.




Noble Shogun, I saw the graph and was worried, after I listened to it, it started off sounding alright until I tried it with some metal; 0 guitar crunch, so that kinda killed it for me. It was alright for EDM. The highlight is still the 4.4 barrel.



Forte Ears Mefisto, Riccardo has a new distributor in Japan, I saw him but he was busy talking to people so I didn't get a chance to say hi unfortunately. I originally heard the Mefisto prototype back in December during Potafes, not sure what the config was but I quite enjoyed it at the time. The final product on the other hand, I didn't really like it with the stock cable, sounded way too V-shaped with a messy mid bass and unrefined lower treble. Vocals were not as dry as Macbeth but still quite dry. The Temptation cable fixed most of this (aside from the vocal dryness, which kinda adds this pseudo texture that isn't necessarily there) and ended up being an enjoyable listen thereafter. Overall, I prefer this to the Macbeth I think, but Macbeth with stock cable is a close second (I don't really like it with the Ambition).



FitEar headphone was alright. It was created because studio engineers were asking them for a headphone to use for monitoring and mixing. They needed something that sounded similar to the FitEar IEMs that the artists use. So, as someone very familiar with the MH334SR, yeah it accomplishes just that. Not sure if it's just the form factor but as a headphone it's a bit more fatiguing to listen to. The ear cups have a notably small opening, so it ends up practically being an on-ear. Should be a good work tool.



A2P TR17HP, didn't really take any notes but it was a warm, smooth, relaxed listen with 0 noise. Great cost performance value but long lead time (3 months is what they told me right now). Amazing form factor!


Brise Watatsumi (and a bit of the Tsu V2), biggest disappointment of the show tbh. Bass is boomy and airy, snare hits sound really dull, vocals quite forward which was nice but it's kinda smoothed out a bit too much in the mids and affects tone. Treble is too smooth on attack but the decay is alright. Stage overall wide but not a lot of depth, sounds more coherent, much cleaner background, no hiss (vs tsu2). Better center imaging for vocals (vs tsu2). Honestly for the pairing with my stuff, it just did not sound correct. I'm sure if you paired it with a more neutral and/or transparent IEM, it might emulate the Fugaku sound, but otherwise it just sounds off. The major pros are extremely black background, great imaging and positional accuracy. It's a highly capable amp as far as techs goes, but not my cup of tea for tone.

As for how I hear the Tsu v2, it's even boomier in the bass, slightly better snare attack. Guitar tone is overall a bit better. Cymbal attack a little better but it's still a bit soft, decay is much worse than Watatsumi. Hiss is significantly more noticeable.

They're both about the same size, the Watatsumi is a little bit taller in height.




I didn't take notes for this one, just enjoyed myself after listening to the mess that was the Brise amps, though it's not really a fair comparison given that it's a desktop amp with completely different tuning philosphy. Super clean sound, was nice to just kinda detox. I asked Masuda-san if there were any plans to make any new portable amps (successor to 475) but he said no, and that he found making portable amps difficult.



From Wagnus, to my surprise all the different variations do actually sound different, I thought they were just jacket recolors. The Zillion Sheep variations all had big low end with a warm analog-like vintage sound, all while maintaining high clarity, none of that haziness or veil. But in the end, my favourite was the Zillion Sheep Acqua, which didn't have that boosted warmth but instead had some pretty amazing mids, it completely shifted my focus to bring a section from particular track to the foreground, which I am used to tuning out into the background. The ergo is just as ass as they look though, they're like a zip tie.

I listened to some other stuff too but honestly I just can't be assed to take notes anymore during shows, if I can zone out and vibe to my music then the product was good enough to revisit later for critical listening in the comfort of my home, if it doesn't pass that test then I'm probably not gonna want to buy it anyway. I went into this event with like 3 IEMs to try and the rest of my time went to checking out local DIYers amps and cables. In the end, like every other show I've attended for the past however many years, I walked out without much desire to buy anything (that I heard from the show).

Thank you so much for the Watatsumi impression. I am waiting for someone to give some inputs on it since no demos are available in our country yet.

 

[Nostoi]

Hello all, happy to share some impressions of a new amp from Utsusemi-Works, just released at the Tokyo Spring Headphone Festival, called Type-L. It has been designed to pair especially with Lotoo DAPs. Thanks for reading!

 

[drftr]

Hello all, happy to share some impressions of a new amp from Utsusemi-Works, just released at the Tokyo Spring Headphone Festival, called Type-L. It has been designed to pair especially with Lotoo DAPs. Thanks for reading!

Would you consider the pre-amp stage of PAW6000 to be good enough to drive the amp directly, or would it need a separate pre-amp in the chain?

drftr

 

[Nostoi]

Would you consider the pre-amp stage of PAW6000 to be good enough to drive the amp directly, or would it need a separate pre-amp in the chain?

drftr

You would use the variable line out on the PAW 6000 here. Like the LPG, the Type L would be a significant upgrade on the PAW 6000 because the amp stage on the latter is quite restrained. In short, it would be a good combo!

 

[drftr]

You would use the variable line out on the PAW 6000 here. Like the LPG, the Type L would be a significant upgrade on the PAW 6000 because the amp stage on the latter is quite restrained. In short, it would be a good combo!

I'm mostly asking because the headroom of the pre-amp section is also very important. If the power-amp is asking too much from the source it may have an impact on especially the "ease" the music is reproduced and dynamics. But perhaps the DAPs were designed with this in mind so it could definitely work.

drftr