Over the last two days in January, West London became the nerve centre of all things headphone-related, as the new Headroom Show descended on Chiswick’s prestigious Metropolis Studios. While the two studios, two control rooms, corridors, antechambers and café-bar area of Metropolis are too small and too much of a rabbit warren for a domestic audio show, the studio is an ideal (if very purple) venue for headphone-related event.
The Headroom Show was established late last year and is already full to capacity. Attendance was good; perhaps not the thousand visitors expected by the organisers, but attended in the hundreds and exceptionally well attended for a new show. And the hundreds arrived, despite damp, cold weather, little or no off-street parking, and London’s infamous transport and parking charges limiting the number of visitors from outside the city. The show itself was across three levels, with the corridor exhibitors pulled more from the larger mainstream audio brands showing a presence rather than a demonstration, and the mezzanine floor allowing a series of fascinating seminars and a place to buy what was on show at a discount.
And what was on show was extremely fascinating, with a surprising number of ‘first time’ auditions for the public. The show was split between traditional audio brands with an eye on the headphone world, and some of the larger more established headphone brands, although there were a few newcomers too.
Soft-silicone custom in-ear specialist ACS has a number of new products in the pipeline, but not necessarily for the CIEM user. ACS feels it’s able to bring CIEM performance to the off-the-shelf world with its new range of two and three armature IEMs. The company also has joined forces with George Martin and Asprey to release a limited edition Signature Series £2,250 CIEM package, profits from which go to Deafness Research UK, as befits a company that has saved the hearing of so many musicians and studio engineers.
James Strong of Atomic Floyd shows off the company’s bold new range. This new British in-ear company makes a sophisticated and good looking set of models that have already made it to Apple Stores, and its range of Darts to SuperDarts Titanium models are making waves for looking good and sounding pretty impressive too. On show were the new SuperDarts Titanium, which feature, you guessed it, titanium barrels, for £249.
Alpha Design Labs/Furutech was running a small stand, mostly showcasing the company’s £225 H118 closed-back dynamic headphones, and the new £435 A1 portable headphone amplifier designed to work with Android mobile phones.
Fast-growing audio giant Computers Unlimited showed several of its brands, including Audeze and Astell & Kern. Regular readers will know both brands had a lot to show at CES, but this was the first public outing of the £600 Audeze EL-8 open and closed back headphones, a late prototype of the £600 Deckard headphone amp and the £9,000 Astell & Kern AK500N network audio player.
Audioquest had the first public demonstration of its NightHawk headphones. People loved the takes on its construction (injection-moulded wood is universally impressive, but the biocellulose diaphragm becomes ‘bacteria poo’ to accommodate the British sense of humour), but they really, really liked the sound quality. It proved one of the winners of the show.
AudioTechnica had one of the more practical displays at the show, with its range of headphones easy to access through what seemed like a comparator box. Among the products on show, the company showed two variations on the £200 ATH-MSR7 models from its SonicPro range. These closed-back dynamic headphones are domesticated versions of the company’s pro-audio designs, available in funky colours and with a smartphone cable. If you want to hear what Dr Dre actually listens to in the studio, it’s not Beats…
Centrance HiFi-M8 is a groundbreaking product, but is a little ‘big’ for some moble users. The £619 Mini-M8 brings much of the original’s performance in a smaller form factor, which just happens to be ideal for an iPhone 6! Meanwhile GloveAudio is a clever spin-off from the Centrance brand, making product-specific upgrades that fit to their models like, er, a glove. First out is the £495 A1, designed to upgrade the DAC and headphone amplifier stages of the popular but discontinued A&K AK100/120. Given these portable players can be picked up on eBay for relatively small amounts, this is an ideal way to get into high-performance portable audio. The distributor SCV also deals with Fostex, which was showing two in-ear headphones, the dynamic TE-05 and balanced armature TE-07.
Grado was showing its ‘e’ series headphones; the third generation in its Prestige, Reference, Statement, and Professional ranges. Although superficially similar to previous models, in fact almost every aspect of the models have been subtly tweaked and developed. A strange one this; not a crowd-puller at the show, Grado has nevertheless been a consistently strong seller with enthusiasts.
HiFiMAN has been revising its range of headphones recently, but it was the new 240V version of the EF100 valve headphone amplifier that caught the attention of many listeners. This Class AB headphone amplifier can even drive loudspeakers thanks to its Class T power amplifier. With 2W headphone output, it can drive the most demanding headphones around.
Melco was one of the few brands not actually demonstrating headphones, DACs, or amps. Instead, the company was showing its £1,700 N1A and £4,500 N1Z music servers. These library devices, made by the audiophile arm of computer network experts Buffalo, are a lot more than just a computer in a nice box.
Musical Fidelity can always be counted on for taking the pulse of the buyer, and its new £600 MX-HPA headphone amplifier, coupled with the prototype matching MX-DAC, hold great promise. The £250 MF-200 closed back headphone is an ideal match.
OPPO’s stand had an almost constant stream of visitors, making it almost impossible to interrupt to ask questions. However, the OPPO team were showing the a prototype of the new PM3 Planar Magnetic headphone and the HA-2 headphone amp to the public for the first time. No further details are forthcoming (the OPPO UK team had a box with two boxes in it and nothing more) but listeners were extremely impressed.
Pioneer’s upcoming headphone may have a name, but we’re not allowed to know it. The new headphone is expected to cost around £1,300-£1,500, and has been given the Reference-class seal of approval from London’s AIR studios. It sounded especially good through the £700 U-05 USB DAC and balanced headphone amplifier from the brand. The performance was up there with the Sennheiser HD800 level.
Best known as a conventional hi-fi brand, Quad was showing its £1,299 PA-One valve headphone amplifier. This was announced at the end of last year, but shows how even the most mainstream of audio brands are now taking on the headphone world. Parent company IAG was also showing the brand new £400 M-CDT CD transport for the Audiolab LAB-Series.
Sennheiser was showing its new three model Momentum 2.0 range – the £170 on-ear, the £270 around-ear, and the £370 wireless noise cancelling models. These are only the first of a big year for the brand, with more than a dozen new models across the board expected in 2015.
Shure had a small stand in one of the studios. However, it was also showing its new collapsible £50 SHR115 closed back entry-level model complete with in-line microphone. One for the no-nonsense end of the market.
Tidal was once again the big demonstration noise at the show, with so many people accessing the high-grade streaming service the internet connection across the studios periodically ground to a halt. However, the interest expressed by show goers in the premium streaming service showed just how important Jay-Z’s new purchase is going to be for enthusiasts in 2015.
Ultrasone had one of the neatest small stalls at the exhibition, showcasing both its wonderful £2,500 Edition 5 Unlimited, and showing just how close the Edition 5 Unlimited model gets for £1,000 less. Given there are only a handful of Limited models left unsold, the Unlimited offers much of the big one’s unfussy, musically honest presentation.
Yamaha has a substantial range of headphones, from the £40 HPH-M82 on up. The most interesting models at the show; the £240 HPH-PRO500 in its Yamaha motorbike colour scheme, and the £120 HPH-MT220 closed headphone, which is proving popular among studio artists and engineers alike.
There were more, including Chord Electronics showing its new DACs first seen at CES, Chord Company and Vertere running demonstrations of different USB cables, KEF showing its wireless X300 desktop loudspeaker system, PMC showing its Two2 Active speaker system. This last showed the camaraderie at this show, which is all too rare at most events, with many companies using Bryston electronics (distributed by PMC) without need to shout about the products. Rival brands pulling together for the good of the customer – it’ll never catch on!
Tags: FEATURED
By Alan Sircom
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