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Up until some 200 years ago, Japan was closed off to the world for a long time, this is called as "Sakoku(isolation policy)" age. Now again we are in the age of Sakoku with no Ninjyas nor Samurais.
However, changes are gradually beginning to take place. One such event is the Headphone Festival 2022mini held on April 29.
The Headphone Festival is an event sponsored by Fujiya-Avic store and has been reported by many Headfiers in the past. Held for the first time in two years, this year's event was limited to just one day and 800 participants to counter Corona. Forty-five manufacturers and distributors participated. Hence the title mini.
Please note this is a one-person report and does not cover all of the exhibits. Following information is JPY and release date is for Japan market.
First, a product development event organized by Final was held in the morning. The new flagship Perpetua from DITA was presented. The drivers, internal wiring, plugs, and everything else were completely redesigned and newly developed. In particular, the driver has been enlarged to 12mm in diameter and the area has been increased by 65%.
Danny Tan came to Japan to attend the event and shared his enthusiasm for the new product, sharing episodes from the time of its founding.
Listening to the Perpetua demo unit, I felt the sound was smooth and warmer than Dream with an even more expansive sounding. The price is approximately 500,000 yen, and the product is scheduled to be released in late May.
Final will begin officially carrying Fir audio products starting with the Frontier series. Neon4, Krypton 5 and Xenon 6(EST employed).
I tried Krypton5 and I felt it delivers unique expansive sound space with impactful bass. The mesh part is bone conduction bass driver.
Final also announced new TWS ZE2000 which is a sibling of ZE3000. Also that resembles the relationship between the E3000 and the E2000. The price is lower than ZE3000.
The size and design of the ZE2000(near) body is almost the same as the ZE3000(far), but it lacks the grained finish of the ZE3000.
Listening to the demo unit, the sound was a little softer than the ZE3000. The drivers are the same, but they have tweaked the inside a little.
FitEar presented and exhibited its new "Silver" product. The Silver employs a 73% silver shell which usually be used in silver teeth. The driver configuration is undisclosed(BTW I see two sound bores).
The main developer of this model has been handed over from the veteran Suyama san to the young Hotta san(shown), who is in his mid-20s, giving the brand a new lease of life. According to Hotta san, the Silver shell was chosen because it is gentle to the human body, and also because it provides a sparkling high frequency range and tightness in the low frequency range.
Listening to the Silver demo unit, the sound was punchy and the depth of space was impressive.
Suyama san, on the other hand, brought a fitear 18K to compete with it 
The inside is DC and the shell is 18K gold. Suyama san said this could be a joke or he might actually make it...
Campfire Audio was also joined. Ken Ball came to Japan to show a number of unknown mysterious new products.
The model Ken san is holding in his hand is the Supermoon. Which is equipped with a single 14mm planar driver. Other new products seem to be equipped with new unknown innovative drivers, but the details will be revealed at a later date.
Meze Advar will be available around June around 100,000.
The unique hole in the shell is a vent hole for the dynamic driver, which is both of better out look and better airflow.
The sound is punchy, resolving, and Expansive. Musicality-oriented sounding.
iFI audio exhibited the first stick/dongle-type DAC called Gobar with USB-C input and a Lightning cable for iPhone(this could be Japan market only because the cable is made by Japan distributer Topwing).
Despite its small size, it is fully equipped with iFI's unique IE-Match and X-Bass functions, and even supports MQA. The price is about 50,000 yen.
Listening to the demo unit, the sound was so smooth and resolving that it was hard to believe it was coming from an iPhone. This is marvelous especially with 4.4mm balanced IEM.
Another interesting product is the Hypsos external power supply from Ferrum audio, which is carrying by Emirai. It is capable of constantly supplying accurate voltage by monitoring with remote sensing technology. There is a wide range of models that are compatible with Hypsos, and at the event, a demonstration was held using the Fiio M17 in DC input mode. Comparing the two, it seemed that the sound quality was even higher and more powerful when using the Hypsos than when using the stock DC input of the M17.
Oriolus reference exhibit Szalayi , developed in collaboration with Jaben. 150,000 approx. BAx1, Planex1, Dynamicx1. I felt deep, musical and rich sounding.
I also notice the increasing use of bone-conduction drivers in high-end models. The Fir audio Frontier series' kinetic bass technology(shown meshed "outside" driver) and Noble's new universal model flagship, the KUBLAI KHAN, have also adopted bone-conduction drivers. Unique Melody also used bone-conduction drivers in the "MASON" in addition to the existing "MEST". All of these uses are of slightly something like a secret ingredient but this is an interesting trends.
Overall, there were more new products and reference exhibits than I had expected, giving the impression of a regular headphone festival, albeit on a smaller scale. Also, it was a lot of fun to see old faces in person, which renewed my impression that real events are a good thing.
The heavy clouds still covers us, but I hope to see you guys in the future event.
However, changes are gradually beginning to take place. One such event is the Headphone Festival 2022mini held on April 29.
The Headphone Festival is an event sponsored by Fujiya-Avic store and has been reported by many Headfiers in the past. Held for the first time in two years, this year's event was limited to just one day and 800 participants to counter Corona. Forty-five manufacturers and distributors participated. Hence the title mini.
Please note this is a one-person report and does not cover all of the exhibits. Following information is JPY and release date is for Japan market.
First, a product development event organized by Final was held in the morning. The new flagship Perpetua from DITA was presented. The drivers, internal wiring, plugs, and everything else were completely redesigned and newly developed. In particular, the driver has been enlarged to 12mm in diameter and the area has been increased by 65%.
Listening to the Perpetua demo unit, I felt the sound was smooth and warmer than Dream with an even more expansive sounding. The price is approximately 500,000 yen, and the product is scheduled to be released in late May.
Final will begin officially carrying Fir audio products starting with the Frontier series. Neon4, Krypton 5 and Xenon 6(EST employed).
I tried Krypton5 and I felt it delivers unique expansive sound space with impactful bass. The mesh part is bone conduction bass driver.
Final also announced new TWS ZE2000 which is a sibling of ZE3000. Also that resembles the relationship between the E3000 and the E2000. The price is lower than ZE3000.
Listening to the demo unit, the sound was a little softer than the ZE3000. The drivers are the same, but they have tweaked the inside a little.
FitEar presented and exhibited its new "Silver" product. The Silver employs a 73% silver shell which usually be used in silver teeth. The driver configuration is undisclosed(BTW I see two sound bores).
The main developer of this model has been handed over from the veteran Suyama san to the young Hotta san(shown), who is in his mid-20s, giving the brand a new lease of life. According to Hotta san, the Silver shell was chosen because it is gentle to the human body, and also because it provides a sparkling high frequency range and tightness in the low frequency range.
Listening to the Silver demo unit, the sound was punchy and the depth of space was impressive.
The inside is DC and the shell is 18K gold. Suyama san said this could be a joke or he might actually make it...
The unique hole in the shell is a vent hole for the dynamic driver, which is both of better out look and better airflow.
The sound is punchy, resolving, and Expansive. Musicality-oriented sounding.
Listening to the demo unit, the sound was so smooth and resolving that it was hard to believe it was coming from an iPhone. This is marvelous especially with 4.4mm balanced IEM.
The heavy clouds still covers us, but I hope to see you guys in the future event.
