This Week In Headphoolia #7 (up to 4/11/17)

Welcome to a new edition to “This Week in Headphoolia”, a round-up of some of the action in the world of head-audio. This installment covers 1.5 weeks instead of one week because my Sunday nap turned into a hibernation session 🙂 You can find all previous (and future) installments in the Headphoolia archives.

CanJAM 2017 SoCAL (Southern California)

Headphones don’t have big trade shows like some other electronics products, but they have a variety of local and hyperlocal events and meet-ups. One of the bigger ones is CanJAM SoCal and the 2017 edition took place last week. If you want SPOILERS about everything here’s 1-Hour video from Headfi.

If you’ve never been to one such event, here are some YouTube videos to give you a first-hand look at what goes on, the first two are YouTube-embedded below…

If you only watch one video, this 7-minute video by PhotoTristan gives you a good walk-about feel for the show.

And now a reality TV moment: participant wins Tia Fourte IEM by 64 Audio. This is deep IEMophile territory, Google returns results for “Tea Forte” teas. It is a $3600 IEM, hence the excitement, and then the sticker-shock when April 2018 tax-time comes 🙂 Raffle of course done by tablet.

And some more action:

+ two minute timelapse from the Fong Audio PoV

+ 13 minute walkabout video by BBQ Tech Tips (that’s the YouTube Channel’s name)

+ 1-minute video of the Bach-BM $2000+ binaural in-ear microphones with binaural head

To balance the West Coast bias which counter-balances the ESPN East Coast bias, here’s a 9-minute video of the NYC 2017 CanJam by the AVSForum YouTube channel:

NEW HEADPHONES

Her name was Lola, she was not a dancer, but a hybrid custom IEM! A variety of balanced armature and dynamic drivers highlight this $1750 new model. Here’s a 4-minute video by JH Audio introducing it:

NOTE: this section, just like the reviews section below, features a random sampling of new headphones. It is not (yet) designed to include every new headphone announced. They are so many with more and more companies still jumping in. If you thought AKG and Harman/JBL had too many models already, wait until the Samsung Galaxy product planning team “consults” with them. How does AKG K240 Galaxy Edition sound? Or K3000i S-series MEGA Note Deluxe Edge? 🙂

Speaking of which, they even run out of model numbers, this is a new AKG Foldable Studio ~ yes that’s its name 🙂

If you find most of today’s DAPs a little too thin and flimsy, Astell & Kern has you covered, the new Kann is shaped like an upside down tank (well sort of). Here’s a 3-minute video on it by AudioHEAD along with the product announcement at Le Verge.

HEADPHONE REVIEWS

One headphone that according to some is giving the Bose QC35 a run for its money on the ANC front is the Sony MDR-1000X (and Sony badly needs a blockbuster success) so it is with interest to see what the Grandfather of Headphonalia Tyll thinks about. Here’s his Innerfidelity review (two pages of review, and one of measurements) along with the companion video, Youtube-embedded below. No spoilers here as to whether it made the Wall of Fame or not 🙂

In a world full of hype, exaggerations, and sponsor-worship, Metal571 is perhaps one of the most measured and consistent reviewers, so it’s always interesting to hear his take on a headphone, here’s his 13-minute video on the AKG K712 PRO.

Here’s a few more in lightning round:
+ Mr Speakers AEON closed-back by Headphone Guru

+ Cayin N3 DAP review by the Headfonics
+ Cayin i5 DAP review by the Headphone List

+ Oriveti (not to be confused with Italian IT company Olivetti) Basic IEMs by PortaFI (6 min video)

+ on the Zeos front, there were videos about the NightOwl and the BeyerD DT1770 among others. There’s even a … cat review 🙂

+ first look at the Meze 99 Neo closed over-ears at Innerfidelity

GENERAL

Chi-fi is hot, a combination of price, features and the boldly-going feeling of discovering the next-big-thing [among other things]. The Economist profiles the Shenzhen region in China. This is not headphone-related but it’s the home of a lot of chi-fi.

Who says Beyerdynamic is buttoned-up and serious? Here’s a 21 minute video recapping some of the action at their 2016 Asia Sales summit…

LEARNINGS

If you need a handy deciber audio safety chart mapping dB numbers to “real world” sounds, here’s a colorful JPEG picture I found at Amazon while posting deals.

Shure earphones have their fanclub, and prices are accessible with the popular SE-215 that find themselves in a variety of recommendation lists. So Shure did the PSA thing, two short videos explaining how to properly wear them, and how to properly change eartips/earsleeves.

OTHER SEGMENTS NEXT TIME

With CanJam taking most of this round-up, the “Forums” and “Streaming” sections will return next time around. I would say “next week” but these are no a floating schedule 🙂