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Tokyo Headphone Festival Autumn 2016 Report
Every autumn like clockwork, Head-Fiers, manufacturers, bloggers and reviewers from around the world rock up in late October for the Fujiya Autumn Headphone Festival. At least when I started attending the shows, it used to be in Aoyama and in the past few years the show had moved to Nakano Sun Plaza. As I understand it, the show will move again as the building is scheduled to be torn down; making this Autumn 2016 show the last time it's held in Sun Plaza.In my personal opinion, I've found Sun Plaza to be somewhat awkward anyway as it's held across multiple floors into many rooms whereas with the older Aoyama location, it was held primarily in 2 main floors and a smaller 3rd floor - where the 2 main floors were broken up to 3 large rooms each.
Where the new location, as far as I know has not been disclosed to the public yet.
Anyway, moving on to the show itself!
1. Analog Squared Paper and Korg's Nutube
A little background leading up to my stop by Shikada-san's exhibit, I met up with @Currawong and Pete Millett along with others at Starbucks before the show opened and Pete introduced us to this Apex Sangaku amp which was based on Korg's Nutube. At that point, I didn't know anything about nor could even visualise how this nutube looked like. Fastforwarding a little, we left Pete's amp at Korg's exhibit and wandered around and I saw Shikada-san's Analog Squared Paper's exhibit having the Nutube there.
I've owned the TUR-06 hybrid tube amp for a few years now and asked him why he had the Nutube on his table and he took the opportunity to show me on what he was experimenting on. He yanked out his pentode tubes (the TUR-06 normally uses the 1U4/1T4 but I think he had 1U5's on this time), and plugged in his own DIY Nutube leads into the TUR-06 as pictured above. I hooked up my AK380Cu to it along with my Tralucent 1Plus2.2 and boy did the Nutube off the TUR-06 kick some serious bass! With my normal Fujitsu Ten 1T4SF the amp tends to be bass light but with the Nutube, it gave the amp a deep tight thump without sacrificing the highs. Tapping on the Nutube, it's sensitive to vibrations however not as much as my 1T4SF's or 1U4's.
If Shikada-san ever puts the Nutube to production as a separate option, I'd probably consider it rather seriously. I just hope it'll be a plug 'n play daughterboard that'll allow me to switch back to regular pentode 1T4SF's.
2. FitEar
Although this was my 2nd stop, admittedly I didn't listen to the featured Titan until the last day and is something I'm partially regretting. Pictured below is the Titan which is based off their FitEar Air product (one BA and one dynamic driver by Fostex) but this time the Titan is in a 3D printed titanium shell. This was a show special where the Titan was sold only for the 2 days the show was on for a cool ¥268,000 (~USD$2556.30) for CIEM earpieces only. Furthermore, there was a special 10 pair piece set only with cables handwoven by Suyama-san himself for ¥330,000 (~USD$3148.14). Now I've heard the Air, and the Fostex TE100 but somehow these Titans just sound uniquely different despite having the same config drivers but in the titanium shell. They sounded phenomenal - an airy extended treble, nice rumbling bass, a little more midbass bloom than my 1Plus2.2. It reminded me of the FitEar MH334-SR which I heard a few months back (which was an all BA) but with a little more rumble. I was with @Gibraltar and had to go back 'n forth with him if I should have ordered a pair but as fate would have it, the Fujiya store closed and I couldn't oder the Titan anymore even if i wanted to. Fingers crossed they'll have the Titan again in the next show?
3. Kimber Kable
I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Kimber who introduced to me his Axios range of cables. They're a continuous 16x 24 AWG splitting to 8x per channel and (if memory serves me correctly as I didn't jot down notes) came in silver pictured in Ray's hands, OFHC pictured on the right, and a hybrid which wasn't available when I was at the exhibit. I had a brief listen to both the silver and the OFHC with the HD800 headphones from my AK380Cu+amp. Both cables sounded very refined and personally with the HD800 I weighted more towards the OFHC for slightly mellower highs but the silver did very well on the HD800s too. It would have been nice to have spent more time listening and comparing in a quieter environment.
4. Denon
Denon showed off their new flagship AH-7200. I only had a brief listen to them and sadly I didn't find anything special about them. I thought they'd be in the Fostex TH-900, but at least to me, didn't leave an impression on me.
5. Noble Audio
Although John Moulton had been to a Japanese headphone show before in 2016 (e-earphone's summer July '16 show), I missed him as I was away on vacation. So it was good to have a chance to meet him finally at this Fujiya show. I had met Brannan quite a few times in the past though who generously made me my red/gold flaked K10 CIEM. Noble Audio though was doing a "soft launch" of the Kaiser Encore and Sage. The reason why it was a "soft launch" was because it was actually mentioned in Taiwan a week before the Fujiya show but seemed not public till the Fujiya show. I've read on the forums folks have been calling the Kaiser Encore the K10E, however if I didn't misunderstand my conversation with John, I think he was attempting to move away from numerals and numbering so maybe it should be called the KE instead? Anyhow, I had a listen to the Kaiser Encore and it held most of the characteristics of the K10 however the trebles were more extended and forward. It actually feels more tonally balanced than the K10's that I've heard. Noble fans would like this one. As far as I remember, it's really the same configuration as the K10's however the drivers are more "Noble" tailored.
The Sage was also there but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to listen to it.
6. Rogers Laboratory Japan
I have to say I've not heard of Rogers Laboratory Japan before but it seems they've been around for some time mainly in the speaker world. They had their HS-90 magnetic planar open headphones which can have wooden cups that clip on to convert to closed. The drivers are from China however the headphones are assembled in Japan. They didn't really leave any particular impression on me in open form. Nothing positive nor nothing negative. In closed form, they still do need a little more work (even admitted by the sales rep himself) that a little more dampening required. I don't think they were in production level yet.
7. Clarion
Clarion had their ZH700FF digital headphones. I believe their main selling point is the headphones take digital in and as pictured above, optical from my AK380 into the headphone. Sonically, I didn't hear anything too appealing and felt it existed really more to be different than anything else. The battery on the headphones do last an impressive 12 hours though.
8. Fostex
Now here's a little wonderful surprise. I stopped by the Fostex exhibit as with every show as I view the folks there to be my friends too, they're a friendly bunch! They had their single 8mm dynamic driver TE04 for something like only ¥8000 (~USD$76.53) and comes in a multitude of colours. Sonically speaking, these were rather nice sounding for the RRP! If one were on a tight budget and wanted something that sounded good, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these in a jiffy.
9. Brise Audio
This was one place I was dying to stop by. I had read so much about Brise Audio but not tried any of their products. They make some pretty expensive copper cables. The top end cables are Murakumo (pictured on the right with my MH335DW-SR) which can cost up to ¥500,000 to order (~USD$4781.50). Now the Murakumo (along with their Masamune, Shinkai, and Osafune) probably aren't so suitable to be earphone cable due to their girth as evident in the picture with my MH335DW-SR. They are seriously thick however ever surprisingly light. How do they sound, absolutely phenomenal and at the same time absolutely impractical too for earphones. They are more for large headphones and IC's. The photo with my MH335DW-SR was really in jest which sparked a few laughs here and there however they were very very refined sounding. If my understanding is correct, it seems the philosophy of Brise Audio seems to be the isolation of the copper core as such the number of insulating materials.
10. KuraDa
I had to stop by the KuraDa exhibit again to give their KD-P1 a shot again. These debut in the Fujiya Spring 2016 Festival and I talked a little about it then. Now they're in production and costs approx ¥480,000 (~USD$4590.23). It was hard to hear them as they were so open and the exhibit next door was blaring their speakers.
11. DIYers
The DIYers table is always interesting with their crazy and outrageous concoctions. This one has tubes above each cup (and yes, functioning, not just for decoration).
12. The Japan Head-Fi Table
Thank goodness for the Japan Head-Fi table! Not only was it a place to rest, but a place to chat and to monopolise Jude's Sony NW-WM1Z player. George of Japan Head-Fi has done a wonderful job of bringing Head-Fi into Japan and is busy updating the site there. The Wikia table also had had brochures on the upcoming CanJam events in NY, S'pore, LA, and London for 2017.
13. iFI Audio
Just in October, IFI audio sends a teaser of their new iSilencer and iDefender which had left me baffled on where those products lie with respect to their iPurifier. I didn't try their products but luckily they left a chart (bottom left in the pix) on how their products relate to each other. At home I use their Micro iUSB 3.0 and have become a recent convert/believer of their products.
14. Audeze
The iSines made it to Japan! They were much talked about in CanJam that left use in the east wondering about them. To my ears they were somehat headphone sounding earphones which was a welcoming surprise. Being open though it was hard to get more out of them at a busy noisy show. I'd definitely like to spend more time with them in a more peaceful quieter environment.
15. Sennheiser
I heard these before back in the Fujiya Headphone Festival Spring 2016 but had to give them another listen. Actually I listened to the HE-1 twice in this show - on the 1st day it was with their music and on the 2nd day, I decided to sneak in before the rest of the crowd and brought in my SACD. These headphones are sublime as to be expected. For some reason though I think the Esoteric SACD player they paired it up with was a disservice to the headphone. More about this in the Hifiman section below.
16. Hifiman
Now I heard mixed review of the Shangri-La in CanJam but in Fujiya, to me it's clear cut. These were simply superb sounding off a Chord DAVE. The Shangri-La deserves a capable DAC such as the DAVE. The sound signature was full sounding, and engaging. I dare say I actually prefer the Shangri-La over the Sennheiser HE-1 but I think it's because the DAVE had a lot of input into it (no pun intended). The HE-1 sounded more mellow by comparison. I really wished Sennheiser had a DAVE plugged into the HE-1 instead of the Esoteric player for a fairer comparison.
The visual design of the amp though was to me an overkill. Aesthetically speaking in terms of the amp design and the headphone doesn't scream $50,000. At least in my opinion, better decisions could have been made than to carry the design of a $3000 headphone into a $50,000 headphone.
I also tried the new HE1000 V2 but having very little experience with the HE1000, I had no base reference. The HE1K V2 sounded very nice though as did the HE1K.
17. Cavalli Audio
We've seen Cavalli products in little snippets in the Fujiya Show in the past but that's primarily thanks to Dan (Mr. Speakers) for bringing their products over. This time Cavalli was here on their own (well actually next to Mr.Speakers and having the same distributor, Emilai). The Liquid Tungsten finally made it to Japan and what an amp it is! I think this amp is more famed naked than clothed. When this amp is finally in production, the units are better off shipped in its familiar form as I don't think anyone would recognise it anymore if were housed. I had a listen to this with the Ether Flows - how can one put it? "Music to ones ears". I really wished I had my more familiar headphones, and my music going through it.
18. Campfire Audio
Ken and Caleb showed off the dynamic driver range Vega, Dorado, and Lyra II. I had a listen to the Vega which has an 8.5 mm non-crystalline diamond dynamic driver in a liquid alloy metal housing (obviously not in liquid form as above). I was quite amazed of just how full ranged that single driver was able to perform. The size was also small and a comfortable into my ears (but so were the Andromedas, I didn't have fit problems with those).
19. Sonoma
Being an electrostat fan, I spent quite a bit of fair time at the Sonoma table talking to Martin Roberts and David Kawakami about the Model One (or M1?). I think the background of the M1 has already been well covered by many other reviewers but talking to Martin about the single stator design to a 15micron membrane was very interesting. I won't get into the details and 8 yr history of this coming out from Warwick University as I'm sure that's a well known piece of information but I'd like to talk about the sound more. One aspect of the design are the plugs into the headphones. Having a guiding groove or mark may help prevent one from putting in the plug the wrong way and bending the pins. The earpads were soft and supple but didn't fit around my ears too well. That may have been more to do with how the cups swivel on the yoke rather than the earpads themselves.
For the proposed USD$5000 complete DAC/Amp/headphone package, I have to say it's pretty attractive. I won't say it's up there with my SR-009/Electra/Invicta combo (which at time of purchase cost me close to $10,000) however $5000 for the Sonoma M1, I think it's a offering one should look into seriously if they were looking at electrostat.
Again at the show with open cans and with sources I was unfamiliar with, it was hard to compare apples to apples with rigs I'm familiar with. At least in Japan, I think the Sonoma competitor would be the Stax SR-L700 and matching amp as the SR-L700 is quite reasonably priced in Japan. The story may be different overseas as the Stax distributors seem to have significant markups and that's where the Sonoma M1 may make an impact.
20. Re-Leaf
Re-Leaf makes one of the most expensive headphone DAC amps I've ever tried. The DAC portion is a Texas Instruments PCM1792A and the amp portion is current drive based. The local Japan domestic model E1 on the left is carved out of an Aluminium 6000 block with a maple wood base stand for a cool ¥1,900,000 (~USD$18,214.60) whilst the international model E1R is SUS304 Stainless Steel with marble base stand for eye-popping USD$50,000. The assembly involves no screws and the components are all hand soldered on a 4 layer PCB.. Audionote silver/copper/gold internal cabling is used. The amps are hand made and they produce only 1-5 amps per month.
Do they sound good? Well the demo headphones they had were HD800 and for anyone who complains the HD800 doesn't have bass, should have a listen to them off these DAC amps. The listener wouldn't call the HD800 bass light anymore - and it's rather good quality bass too.
One headphone which didn't do well with these DAC amps was the Focal Utopias. They were simply too bassy which killed the finesse of those headphones. More on that later in the Focal section.
21. Miter case
These cases were very supple and decently stitched. I would have considered them if I didn't already have 2 cases for my AK380Cu.
22. Ultrasone
Ultrasone showed off their new ONE Edition 8 EX and their limited edition ONE Jubilee 25. Despite retaining the Ultrasone house sound, over the generations (since the Edition 5??) I've found Ultrasone to be refining their house signature. Gradually there's more and more finesse to the sound they're producing. If we're talking purely about SQ, I do think Ultrasone has quite a bit to offer especially in their more recent Edition 5, ONE Edition 8 EX and ONE Jubilee 25 range however when an audio enthusiast factors in price into the decision factor, unfortunately there are other brands that offer a greater return on value.
23. Focal
Saving the best for last. OK, there's really little to be said about the Focal headphones and more specifically the Utopias for me at least. I want one, I want one, I want one. I heard them at the Tokyo International HiFi Show late Sept and had a chance to speak to Nicolas Debard a little, and this time I had a chance to talk to Romain Vet. The Utopias were full sounding, articulate, very classy sounding even off my AK380Cu+amp. Why was I driving off my portable DAP? At the Fujiya show, there was 2 units, one was off the DAVE which was occupied and I had the one off the Re-Leaf E1 amp + Accuphase SACD player. I'm pretty sure it was the Re-Leaf E1 amp that made the Utopias sound too bassy that I preferred to listen off my AK380Cu and even off the DAP the music was like a velvet glove caressing my ear drums.
The one issue with the Focal Utopias in Japan is the price....it's a whopping ¥563,760 (~USD$5405).
Conclusion
As with the past Fujiya shows, most enjoyable as always but not only because of the products but due to people that attend and make the show too. We're indebted to Makoto-san of Fujiya for ensuring this happens on a regular basis, not only for makers and distributors to show of their products but for enthusiasts from all over the world to get together and meet new friends. I'm looking forward to the next event in a new venue.Currawong, yours truly, Pete Millett
. A2P hasn't used the Nutube yet and I think Shikada-san was prototyping it. I did mention to him though that if he does production-ise it, I'd be very keen on it as an option to my TUR-06.
