Went on the tail end of the second day. No photos but I expect plenty from the Head-fi media corps. Who'd have thought there are so many reviewers with enough of a following to justify flying down for the show.
Impressions:
Rosson MPL-0 - new, more affordable Rosson Audio Labs headphone, priced at $1,699. Rosson was the CEO of Audeze before starting his own, smaller-scale brand. They depart from Audeze with a smaller, 66mm driver. Seems like there's a tad more low treble but more rolled-off high treble than the RAD-0 I've tried before, which had a significant 5-8kHz depression. That's a compromise I can deal with. 1699USD MSRP. I very nearly contemplated breaking the piggy bank for this. They went for maple cups with what seems like one of those fancy nitrocellulose finishes you see in guitars - glossy yet hardy.
Audeze MM-500 - the new headband and earcup design is miles ahead for ergonomics from the old Audeze design. I especially love that the 2-4kHz range is spot-on now, but I think it needs a gentle +1dB high-shelf from 6K because it is slightly dull. Wow, just Audeze planar performance, plus pinna gain, great build quality, and a whole heap more ergonomics, with a distinctive industrial design to boot. There is a reassuring heft that is a lot more well-distributed. I hope the design trickles down to the LCD-2 price range.
DCA Aeon 2 Noire - the sensitivity to seal that led me to sell my Aeon 2 Open is still present here. I was surprised that I didn't find the full pinna gain sibilant, as I usually go for 1-1.5dB below Harman's peak while the Noire closely tracks it. With a broken seal from worn pads, glasses and hair, the bass had a tubby quality to it.
Meze 109 Pro - Best comfort, and a close second to the MM-500 for industrial design. I think this is very well-priced for a clear step up in build above the HD650/600 range. It had a touch better power handling than the HD650, but seemed to lack some slam at 120Hz down. It also stays flat at 1-2kHz instead of adding pinna gain, and this gives a slight hollowness to the sound. But definitely a worthy contender! I only wrote it off because of bass; IMHO headphones already lose out to speakers in bass, so what bass there is should exceed what speakers can do. And great planars give such bass performance.
InEar StageDiver 3 - a slight metallic edge around 8kHz and slightly more bright than neutral, with a rising response in the last octave.
InEar Black Bronze - supposed to be an entry-level crossover product for the gaming market by this German boutique IEM firm, rather than it's bread and butter, but surprisingly very pleasant! The top-octave roll off was noticable but not objectionable. Just a bit recessed around 400-800Hz for my liking. Lovely build quality as well. I was very close to buying these in CIEM form, but I could never justify spending full-sized headphone prices for IEMs. Especially when multi-BA setups still lack the displacement of a well-engineered mass-produced dynamic driver - my Moondrop Lans are still much better in the 50-400Hz range.
FitEar Aya - A bit of edge at 4kHz and lack of presence at 2kHz. I had heard so much about FitEar being this brilliant Japanese boutique brand but this was disappointing. The 4kHz emphasis starts to grow on you after a while as it emphasises the trailing edge of vocals, but the lack of energy at 2kHz is hard to ignore. Generally I found the midrange to low treble transition significantly more natural with the InEar.
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