[arnaud]

Quote:

... I had to pay the 22,000 yen taxi cab fare with a pair of CROSSFADES bc of my credit card issues!  Priceless memory and amazing times getting to know more about sound profiles and great people...
-v 

For the beer, there must have been a serious misunderstanding . Also next time, let me ride you back to the airport if you're thanking people with M-80s )

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by valkolton /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
arnaud - I would have bought you a beer but my damn credit card wouldn't work in Tokyo and I had to resort to Paypal!  TRUE STORY on the way from the Hotel in Roppongi to the Airport I had to pay the 22,000 yen taxi cab fare with a pair of CROSSFADES bc of my credit card issues!  Priceless memory and amazing times getting to know more about sound profiles and great people...
 
-v 

I can't help thinking of how you almost scored giving away a pair of Crossfades at the show.

 
Good times....

 

[AnakChan]

Actually I wish I tried the M80's off the Go-DAP over dinner. The Crossfades LP won me over then whilst listening to Pacha's VIP Ibiza but that was off the Go-DAP whereas the M80 was straight out of the iPhone. Need to try the M80's again but off the Go-DAP next time.

 

[KANA]

 
Quote:

 

 

 

 
 

 
 
Thank you very much for visiting our booth and takin beautiful pics.

I was not here, but I really totally sincerely hope that you guys enjoy this show and visiting Japan.

 
 

 

[googleli]

Just a really side question - how much does Taxi cost in Tokyo nowadays?

 

[valkolton]

 
Quote:

Actually I wish I tried the M80's off the Go-DAP over dinner. The Crossfades LP won me over then whilst listening to Pacha's VIP Ibiza but that was off the Go-DAP whereas the M80 was straight out of the iPhone. Need to try the M80's again but off the Go-DAP next time.

I ordered 4 Go-Daps for my team, should be fun to experiment and compare amps, PM me I'd love to know the Go-Daps pros/cons and compare.  The second production run of m-80 ships Nov 12 to Tokyo, France and USA - the only change is we shrank the carry case and package.
 
For acoustics I loved the top o the line Stax SR-009 personally at the mega mega store, but didn't have enough time to try it with bass heavy music.  May have to splurge and sell my home system!

 

[Currawong]

My pics are up on Flikr by the way: http://www.flickr.com/photos/currawong1/sets/72157627892685047/

 

[valkolton]

Quote:

My pics are up on Flikr by the way: http://www.flickr.com/photos/currawong1/sets/72157627892685047/

Amazing photos, I wish I could take pictures this well.. oh well I'll stick to my acoustical obessions ;>

 
Quote:

Just a really side question - how much does Taxi cost in Tokyo nowadays?

it's not THAT crazy, except for the exchange rates. But the problem is the airport is VERY far from the city centers in Tokyo.
 
-v

 

[pcf]

Quote:

 
 
Around the corner from the busy ALO table was a single stand manned by a quiet lady upon which was a turntable, an EAR 4 and other things. I've long wanted to try the EAR 4, so I asked the lady if she was the distributor. The answer was an incredible surprise: It was Mrs Yoshino herself. I borrowed back Jude's pair of LCD-3s to show her and have a listen on the EAR 4 with and, suffice to say, that became one of my "best of show" experiences, with such an open and natural sound playing Bill Evans Waltz for Debby, one of my favourite albums.
 
What I hadn't known is that Tim de Paravicini is expanding (or has expanded) into digital CD players and DACs. Not only that, but I gather he will be designing a cheaper headphone amplifier. That will be something to look out for.

I always thought you would only see EAR gears in England- just kidding. 

It would be great if there is a cheaper version of HP4! Exciting news indeed. 

 
 

 

[Currawong]

Glad you liked my photos. I usually suck at photos of things and amp better at photos of people. I had hoped my iPhone 4S would have arrived before I left, but they only called me while I was already there and I picked it up today. Next time I might just bite the bullet and bring the Nikon.
 
Taxis start at 710 yen (~$9). There are two airports, one of which isn't in Tokyo at all. Next time I'll make sure you know how to get on the NEX express. That is far better than catching a taxi.

 

[Love Music]

Quote:

 
My legs are still far from recovered from all the walking we did. Not just on Saturday at the show, but Mike (mkubota1) sorted out a fantastic plan for us involving going to great places around Tokyo the day before. We got back to the hotel at about 11:30 on Friday and caught the last train after midnight on Saturday! I honestly don't know where to begin, so this is going to be in bits and pieces. Friday alone will take me some time to write up.
 
First, the big thanks:
 
Sasaki: He made this happen. He is the Mr Headphones of bloggers in Japan and sorted out getting us in early and introduced us to everyone as well as, very importantly, negotiating the insane subway system (Tokyo alone has at least half a dozen separate subway stations surrounding it and even though I've lived there it still drives me insane).
 
Arnaud: Sorted out the local cuisine for us. I'm vegetarian and eating out is a total nightmare for me, as the Japanese don't get vegetarian seriously at all. He managed to get us all to great places as well as taking care of making sure I could eat something. I'm sure that once Jude and Drew have recovered they will post about the sushi...
 
mkubota1: He knew the places we needed to go and it was his plan that made Friday fantastic.
 
The Fujiya Avic guys: Thanks for putting on a great show!
 
-----------------
 
Edit: In crumpler's pictures in the nearest post above under where he posted the "hungry Head-Fi'ers", that's myself and Arnaud nearest the camera with the Head-Fi t-shirts, Anakchan with the black top and bag and I think it was mkubota1 ahead with the Head-Fi t-shirt outside trying to find somewhere to eat.
 
-----------------
 
Ok, in no particular order:
 

Sony

 

 
I often go into the big electronic stores where I live to try universal IEMs as I'm on the lookout for something good for when I travel. I've tried the AT CK-10s and CK-100s and others and I get why they are popular. I haven't tried the mark 2 models yet, but for the serious listener this is obviously a hot segment. Sony had, as Arnaud described, both a 3 and 4 BA driver model coming out. IEMs don't impress me easily and these really did. What's more, one of their distinguished engineers (that's literally what it says on his business card) was on hand to talk about them, Mr Tsunoda. When I pulled out my Pico Slim he was very interested. Like the ATs, the BA-3 is a bit brighter and the BA-4 a bit darker for classical music listeners. I liked the BA-4 as I'm used to the LCD-2s. I'm very keen to get a pair, though I know I'll have to wait as it will be a while before they will be available.
 
What's more, they have a pair of noise-cancelling IEMs in which each individual earpiece has dedicated circuitry. I gave them a quick spin and the sound was unexpectedly quite good, if not as good as the TOTL BAs.
 

Yoshino EAR

 

 
Around the corner from the busy ALO table was a single stand manned by a quiet lady upon which was a turntable, an EAR 4 and other things. I've long wanted to try the EAR 4, so I asked the lady if she was the distributor. The answer was an incredible surprise: It was Mrs Yoshino herself. I borrowed back Jude's pair of LCD-3s to show her and have a listen on the EAR 4 with and, suffice to say, that became one of my "best of show" experiences, with such an open and natural sound playing Bill Evans Waltz for Debby, one of my favourite albums.
 
What I hadn't known is that Tim de Paravicini is expanding (or has expanded) into digital CD players and DACs. Not only that, but I gather he will be designing a cheaper headphone amplifier. That will be something to look out for.

Hi Currawong,
 
I see that you have tried the ATH-CK100 and the new Sony IEM's. i was wondering which one you liked most. Which one has the smoothest mids and highs out of the ck100 and the new Sony's?
 

 

[Currawong]

I haven't tried them side-by-side. Also, the AT models are now MKII and I've only tried the originals. The Sony models as I understand it haven't been released yet and wont be for a bit yet. I'm going to predict that if AT has improved their line recently, that it might be a pretty close call between them, down to who has nailed the best frequency response. Mr Tsunoda did say that the different FR between the BA3 and BA4 was intended for different listening tastes. The catalogue I have here shows the BA3 improving the treble over the BA1 and 2 and the BA4 improving the deep bass over the BA3.

 

[Love Music]

Quote:

I haven't tried them side-by-side. Also, the AT models are now MKII and I've only tried the originals. The Sony models as I understand it haven't been released yet and wont be for a bit yet. I'm going to predict that if AT has improved their line recently, that it might be a pretty close call between them, down to who has nailed the best frequency response. Mr Tsunoda did say that the different FR between the BA3 and BA4 was intended for different listening tastes. The catalogue I have here shows the BA3 improving the treble over the BA1 and 2 and the BA4 improving the deep bass over the BA3.

Thanks for your reply. Which one of the Sony IEM is the best for female vocals in particular. I listen to alot of  Japanese female vocalists and was deciding between the ck100 and the new Sony BA's.
 

 

[Currawong]

I couldn't answer that without spending some time with both to be honest.

 

[IPodPJ]

Looks like it was fun.  Sure is a lot of gear.
 
That portable discrete amp wasn't fully discrete was it?  Looks like it has a brown dog adapter with some kind of opamp/buffer on it, unless there was a DAC built in.