Darkblade48
100+ Head-Fier
Just flipping through the booklet now...
Japanese companies have really got to work on their product names....
Japanese companies have really got to work on their product names....
Tokyo 2014 Autumn Fujiya Avic Headphone Festival Impressions
- Thread starter Currawong
- Start date
Quick note on Fujiya-Avic Tokyo Headphone Festival for Fall 2014.
Four floors of music madness. Quite a bit of new gear and plenty of familiar stuff. Relatively loud environment and quick sessions so take this as more of an inventory of some items I liked, NOT a review. There was plenty of junk but I will bypass that for the sake of being positive.
I am considering a new desktop amp and there are 5 units in the running (in no particular order):
1. The Mass-Kobo Model 394 desktop amp is sweet sounding. There is some wizardy behind the volume controls and this is a powerful unit. The founder designs microphone preamps for NHK and other music producers so he has a different angle on the intersection of music and electronics. I quite like his tuning. I also listened to his portable Model 395 and a few other misc products. All had different signatures but I liked them all.
2. Audio Design DCHP-100 desktop headphone amp with a trick stepped attenuator. Engaging even with the poor HD700. Around Y225.000
3. Aurorasound HEADA desktop headphone amp with wood cabinet. Did an enviable job even with the always challenging HD800 and the Beyer T1. I also heard with the Abyss last spring and it was an excellent pairing. Y225.000
4. RE-Leaf E1 desktop DAC/Amp was biggest "discovery" of the day. $15,000 worth. Smooth, exciting and correct with the picky HD800. Maybe the best and most expensive headphone amp I have crossed. Listened twice for total of 15 minutes. Available for sale next month.
5. The McIntosh amplifier combined with their upcoming closed headphones was an impressive duo, albeit expensive. Those headphones were very airy sounding; didn't notice they were closed when the music played. I've heard their amp a few times and think it works best with their own headphones. Much less expensive than the RE-Leaf and a bit more fun sounding. Still expensive.
I also own a pair of excellent sounding Bottlehead SET monoblocks which I just thought about wiring up to some headphones. I'll have to check those out as a first step...
----Other amps----
Libra-16 gets the prize for best value. $100 desktop DAC/amp with balanced and SE output that sounded bloody decent for the price. There is also a DSD version for those who care. www.kibanhonpo.com
Conisis PD901 desktop amp. Selectable gain and impedance. Plus a very well implemented bass boost potentiometer; I would like to know what the equalization curve they are engineering in there. I think I have an idea. I heard this amp before and like it just as much as I did before. Worth checking out and reasonably priced.
KA Power (Kasuga) has a relatively large desktop tube amp called the ECC88 mkII. It is sold as a kit or assembled for about $325 and $525, respectively. Well done amp.
I listened to the NU Force HA-200 in balanced mode. That requires one to purchase two amps and constantly adjust 2 potentiometers. Sounded nice but running balanced would be too inconvenient.
BMC has a decent sounding DAC/headphone amp. Up against stiff competition.
----Portable amps----
I listened to the CEntrance HiFi M8 portable DAC/AMP and spoke with the founder Michael Goodman for 10 minutes about life in general. That is a versatile and powerful package which I see frequently. The upcoming smaller model was also on demo. It is less powerful than the M8 but not weak. I found it more enjoyable and organic than the M8 so there is a trade off. I couldn't tell it was a prototype as it worked plug and play with my iphone and was in good shape. I think I saw and heard an early prototype in the spring. I have plenty of portable gear, but this + phone may be my daily kit for 2015.
Venturecraft is coming out with new portable DAC/amp called the Vantam. Smaller and slimmer than current lineup and priced at Y60.000. I think this is their best piece of equipment but not most expensive. Similar to the upcoming CEntrance product. Will consider purchasing this. Competition!
Jade Orb has a new portable brass amp that I liked a lot. The rep said it was the same electronics as the standard Jade Next model. But the brass unit was heavier and the light units sounded thin. Maybe the innards indeed are different. I have a brass amp by Kojo Technology and believe that their is something to the extra weight but don't know what it is.
First listen to the Vorzuge Pure II portable amp. It is indeed powerful despite its small weight and compact size. I listened to it with my JVC FX850. Smooth and balanced. I understand why people like this. Some might complain this is just the slightest bit boring maybe the highs are just the slightest bit scratchy. But that is being too picky.
Aurender makes a "portable" DAC & headphone amp with 1TB storage. Just too big but I give them credit for trying to push the market forward.
----Headphones----
I listened to the Sony Z7 headphone again. I agree with a lot of Amos' comments and think this would be a great headphone to modify. I am tempted to try putting the drivers into an extra MA900 frame I have. Or make my own open cups. The MA900 uses some trick felt filters and ports to keep bass reasonable. That would be difficult to engineer so an open Z7 would probably be a bit light in bass. One headphone which I wanted to like but just didn't.
Sony will debut its high-end Sony Just-Ear brand of custom 2-way hybrid IEMs soon. I tested the prototype which has three tunings (dance, listening, monitoring). The monitoring tune was well done but fit needs to be customized. The listening tune was terrible. I didn't listen to the dance tune. I don't like BAs (I think I am hypersensitive to crossover issues) in general. But I look forward to trying the final version as the prototype was impressive.
The Stax 009 was very competent but still a bit boring. I really want to like this (like the Sony Z7). I asked the rep if a new top-end amp would be forthcoming and they said but that if that were the case it would be well into development and would be a secret. I think this headphone could be much better with a competent amplifier. It is comfortable.
TakeT H2 headphone uses some TAT driver technology. The pads are designed not to seal as far as I can tell so I couldn't get them to fit right. They also have some ultra high frequency drivers outside the headphone but I ignore that feature. Sound was unique and smooth but just not for me. Check them out if you have a chance as they stand apart from everything else on the floor.
Fostex has some fun looking iems. One can apply design a custom paint scheme via theinternet site www.kotori.fostex.jp.
----Other----
Mimi Mamo makes some cloth covers for your earphones to protect the pads and drivers. One can wear the covers whilst listening although I doubt they are acoustically transparent. Good idea nonetheless.
Buffalo is pitching their new MiniStation Air which pushes the limits further. Not quite sure what this does but it seems to be some type of cloud networking box.
Four floors of music madness. Quite a bit of new gear and plenty of familiar stuff. Relatively loud environment and quick sessions so take this as more of an inventory of some items I liked, NOT a review. There was plenty of junk but I will bypass that for the sake of being positive.
I am considering a new desktop amp and there are 5 units in the running (in no particular order):
1. The Mass-Kobo Model 394 desktop amp is sweet sounding. There is some wizardy behind the volume controls and this is a powerful unit. The founder designs microphone preamps for NHK and other music producers so he has a different angle on the intersection of music and electronics. I quite like his tuning. I also listened to his portable Model 395 and a few other misc products. All had different signatures but I liked them all.
2. Audio Design DCHP-100 desktop headphone amp with a trick stepped attenuator. Engaging even with the poor HD700. Around Y225.000
3. Aurorasound HEADA desktop headphone amp with wood cabinet. Did an enviable job even with the always challenging HD800 and the Beyer T1. I also heard with the Abyss last spring and it was an excellent pairing. Y225.000
4. RE-Leaf E1 desktop DAC/Amp was biggest "discovery" of the day. $15,000 worth. Smooth, exciting and correct with the picky HD800. Maybe the best and most expensive headphone amp I have crossed. Listened twice for total of 15 minutes. Available for sale next month.
5. The McIntosh amplifier combined with their upcoming closed headphones was an impressive duo, albeit expensive. Those headphones were very airy sounding; didn't notice they were closed when the music played. I've heard their amp a few times and think it works best with their own headphones. Much less expensive than the RE-Leaf and a bit more fun sounding. Still expensive.
I also own a pair of excellent sounding Bottlehead SET monoblocks which I just thought about wiring up to some headphones. I'll have to check those out as a first step...
----Other amps----
Libra-16 gets the prize for best value. $100 desktop DAC/amp with balanced and SE output that sounded bloody decent for the price. There is also a DSD version for those who care. www.kibanhonpo.com
Conisis PD901 desktop amp. Selectable gain and impedance. Plus a very well implemented bass boost potentiometer; I would like to know what the equalization curve they are engineering in there. I think I have an idea. I heard this amp before and like it just as much as I did before. Worth checking out and reasonably priced.
KA Power (Kasuga) has a relatively large desktop tube amp called the ECC88 mkII. It is sold as a kit or assembled for about $325 and $525, respectively. Well done amp.
I listened to the NU Force HA-200 in balanced mode. That requires one to purchase two amps and constantly adjust 2 potentiometers. Sounded nice but running balanced would be too inconvenient.
BMC has a decent sounding DAC/headphone amp. Up against stiff competition.
----Portable amps----
I listened to the CEntrance HiFi M8 portable DAC/AMP and spoke with the founder Michael Goodman for 10 minutes about life in general. That is a versatile and powerful package which I see frequently. The upcoming smaller model was also on demo. It is less powerful than the M8 but not weak. I found it more enjoyable and organic than the M8 so there is a trade off. I couldn't tell it was a prototype as it worked plug and play with my iphone and was in good shape. I think I saw and heard an early prototype in the spring. I have plenty of portable gear, but this + phone may be my daily kit for 2015.
Venturecraft is coming out with new portable DAC/amp called the Vantam. Smaller and slimmer than current lineup and priced at Y60.000. I think this is their best piece of equipment but not most expensive. Similar to the upcoming CEntrance product. Will consider purchasing this. Competition!
Jade Orb has a new portable brass amp that I liked a lot. The rep said it was the same electronics as the standard Jade Next model. But the brass unit was heavier and the light units sounded thin. Maybe the innards indeed are different. I have a brass amp by Kojo Technology and believe that their is something to the extra weight but don't know what it is.
First listen to the Vorzuge Pure II portable amp. It is indeed powerful despite its small weight and compact size. I listened to it with my JVC FX850. Smooth and balanced. I understand why people like this. Some might complain this is just the slightest bit boring maybe the highs are just the slightest bit scratchy. But that is being too picky.
Aurender makes a "portable" DAC & headphone amp with 1TB storage. Just too big but I give them credit for trying to push the market forward.
----Headphones----
I listened to the Sony Z7 headphone again. I agree with a lot of Amos' comments and think this would be a great headphone to modify. I am tempted to try putting the drivers into an extra MA900 frame I have. Or make my own open cups. The MA900 uses some trick felt filters and ports to keep bass reasonable. That would be difficult to engineer so an open Z7 would probably be a bit light in bass. One headphone which I wanted to like but just didn't.
Sony will debut its high-end Sony Just-Ear brand of custom 2-way hybrid IEMs soon. I tested the prototype which has three tunings (dance, listening, monitoring). The monitoring tune was well done but fit needs to be customized. The listening tune was terrible. I didn't listen to the dance tune. I don't like BAs (I think I am hypersensitive to crossover issues) in general. But I look forward to trying the final version as the prototype was impressive.
The Stax 009 was very competent but still a bit boring. I really want to like this (like the Sony Z7). I asked the rep if a new top-end amp would be forthcoming and they said but that if that were the case it would be well into development and would be a secret. I think this headphone could be much better with a competent amplifier. It is comfortable.
TakeT H2 headphone uses some TAT driver technology. The pads are designed not to seal as far as I can tell so I couldn't get them to fit right. They also have some ultra high frequency drivers outside the headphone but I ignore that feature. Sound was unique and smooth but just not for me. Check them out if you have a chance as they stand apart from everything else on the floor.
Fostex has some fun looking iems. One can apply design a custom paint scheme via theinternet site www.kotori.fostex.jp.
----Other----
Mimi Mamo makes some cloth covers for your earphones to protect the pads and drivers. One can wear the covers whilst listening although I doubt they are acoustically transparent. Good idea nonetheless.
Buffalo is pitching their new MiniStation Air which pushes the limits further. Not quite sure what this does but it seems to be some type of cloud networking box.
nntnam
Head-Fier
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Has anyone tried the new FitEar fitear?
alvinmate
100+ Head-Fier
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same here would love to hear from someone who had a chance to test the new FITEAR and how they compare to parterre
georgelai57
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The FitEar Fitear is going to lead to. Lot of exasperated conversations for buyers at the shops.
"I'd like to buy the Fitear"
"Yes which model?"
"The Fitear"
"Yes I heard you. Which one?"
And so on ...
"I'd like to buy the Fitear"
"Yes which model?"
"The Fitear"
"Yes I heard you. Which one?"
And so on ...
alvinmate
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Maybe our Japanese headfi colleagues can assist in translating the below video by FITEAR....
....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvOvUlQkfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvOvUlQkfQ
Sony has announced the Justear brand of custom in-ear monitors. I had a quick chat with their lead engineer:
Michael M. Zirkel, the COO of Ultrasone, takes us through their new Performance models. These sounded quite good, and they are reasonable value at around $400-600 (very roughly). Spacious and detailed but each with a different tuning from different driver coatings.
Michael M. Zirkel, the COO of Ultrasone, takes us through their new Performance models. These sounded quite good, and they are reasonable value at around $400-600 (very roughly). Spacious and detailed but each with a different tuning from different driver coatings.
JHern
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I am going to the show today, I will arrive before lunch then heading out by mid-afternoon. Definitely not enough time to get a comprehensive taste, but hoping to get a nice overview of this event and sink my teeth into a few things I wouldnt otherwise see around the major stores in Tokyo.
Occy
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I'll be going today as well. My first can jam, but I'm in Tokyo anyways on holiday and I've brought my portable rig with me so it'd be a shame to miss this! Well be there arounaround 12-1pm
Darkblade48
100+ Head-Fier
Maybe our Japanese headfi colleagues can assist in translating the below video by FITEAR........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvOvUlQkfQ
A bit much for me to absorb, and a lot of work for me to do a blow by blow transcript --> translation, but as a summary:
Introduction
Summary of why Fitear's brand and product name is the same
History of Fitear
How it differs from other products
Sound quality
Construction
Difficulties of developing universal earphone from custom IEM (mainly talks about physical difficulties)
A message to custom IEM users/fans (talks about how they shouldn't be quick to dismiss this product, etc)
A final message about Sugiyama-sensei's outlook for custom IEMs
Let me know if there is any specific section(s) that you want translated and I'll try my best.
Don't forget to check out Fujiya-Avic on the 3rd floor of Nakano Broadway. If you have time, E-Earphone in Akihabara is (from what I've read) excellent too.
alvinmate
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Hi Dark,
Thanks for breaking it down so nicely. Mainly sound as to what kind of sound signature the creator was trying to achieve with this new IEMs....as with all his universals he has tweaked something to cater for specific crowd....
Thanks for breaking it down so nicely. Mainly sound as to what kind of sound signature the creator was trying to achieve with this new IEMs....as with all his universals he has tweaked something to cater for specific crowd....
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Amos, fujiya 2004?! It took you some time to report on the sonys 
Darkblade48
100+ Head-Fier
Yeah, that was essentially the gist. I'll try to get a more accurate translation in a bit.
JHern
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Well, I'm really glad I took the time to go, the venue is easy to reach by train, and a delight for audiophiles. Every exhibitor was so eager for me to try their gear...I'll post more impressions and photos later. For me the McIntosh amp and cans was definitely the highlight...wow!
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The show just ended for me, that was fun as heck thanks to everyone who exhibited and thanks to everyon I had a chat with! Hope to be able to go again some other time
Manila Hi Fi Show next!
thanks to everyone who exhibited and thanks to everyon I had a chat with! Hope to be able to go again some other time Manila Hi Fi Show next!
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