Hey Bill. Don’t worry about Andrew. It is only because there isn’t enough coffee in the world to satisfy him. 
2 Likes
HRTF = Happy Resolve Test Factor
2 Likes
11 Likes
Btw, Herr Zähl said the baby HM1 is coming at the Munich Hi-End 2025. Same as HM1 basically, just one headphone output section instead of two, no EQ section, power transformer built into the main chassis, and (hopefully) more affordable price.
5 Likes
I expect nobody from Zahl is watching but everything that was described for a baby HM1 is the opposite of what I’m looking for. How about a EQ1 and IM1 in a single unit that doesn’t require me to package those into a 500 lunchbox and instead, output those to a preamp or multiple headphone amps. I have little to no need for amplification for Zahl. I want the effects to apply to the rest of my system.
Here are my Munich High End 2024 show impressions. I’ve had the chance to listen to some of the new products already before the show so I’ll mainly focus on the ones I hadn’t heard. Keep in mind as well, show impressions are extremely fallible, do not take any of this as indications of actual performance in more careful listening environments.
Meze 105 AER - Kind of in between the 99 classic and 109 Pro. It’s definitely a lot warmer, richer, with a lot more bass and impact to it. I think Cameron and Taron liked this one quite a bit but I found it wasn’t for me. I much preferred the 109 Pro. There was something in the treble that didn’t sit quite right for me and caused a kind of ‘warmbright’ character to the whole thing. Very light and comfortable though.
Meze Alba - This one was quite surprising to me, in a generally positive way. It’s not a very expensive IEM (they didn’t say the price but likely under $200), but it has similar capabilities to what I’ve heard from mostly high end $1k+ IEMs. So for the intangibles, subjective qualities for detail/resolution, this thing was insane. Everyone kept guessing much higher price tags for it.
Overall I’d say it’s got kind of a U-shaped sound signature, so definitely not one for @listen_r, but the rest of the response was also competently tuned. I found there to be a bit much energy around 5.3khz for my ear, but the designer told me this feature would reduce with different tips. And that makes sense given this would entail a change to the air volume, and you can see this effect when measuring at different insertion depths and with different tips, so that’s also encouraging. One of the better single DD IEMs I’ve heard, and definitely looking forward to getting this one in.
Abyss Diana DZ - I thought these looked quite cool but they’re still still not quite for me. I do feel it had some improvement over the Diana MR, which I felt had a good midrange but suffered a bit of timbre weirdness in the treble. The DZ sounded slightly less weird in the treble, so maybe an improvement there, but I could still hear some sharp edges in my test tracks that I wasn’t too keen on. I think maybe this is one to try off of some higher end tube amps, as I was listening out of an A&K player or DAP they had there. Also, they really need to move away from the yoke-less design and try something different with the mechanical design because they are still so uncomfortable at the temples.
ZMF Caldera Closed - This was easily one of the better experiences of the show for me so far, and they also had it running from one of the Feliks Envy tube amps. It’s not at all neutral, but it did a warm and relaxed, lush kind of sound signature very well. So quite relaxed in the ear gain but not in a way that detracted from its overall sense of resolution and incisiveness. I think my only critique would be that the mids were occasionally a bit too ‘gooey’, but then again it’s unclear if that’s just a characteristic imparted by the tube amp. But I can definitely see people liking this one.
ZMF Bokeh Open - Keeping in mind that we didn’t really have control over what pads were provided (one can assume this was just the default pads for the headphone but I don’t know if that’s the best option), the Bokeh Open definitely wasn’t for me. Despite the fact that it was quite punchy and impactful sounding, I also found it a bit shouty and harsh for the upper mids. Like it sounded to me as if the balance was meaningfully focused towards certain regions of the ear gain, and then there were also some treble features that didn’t work for me.
EDIT - I’ve since been told that this was a prototype and not necessarily the final form. Take these impressions with that in mind.
ZMF Bokeh Closed - I thought this one was great, and I liked this one a lot more than the open. It wasn’t as incisive or distinct for the images as the Caldera closed, but the tonality I felt was quite well done overall. So none of the issues I had with the open version.
HiFiMAN Shangri-la Mini - Very resolving. I think a bit of excess energy in the lower treble for me, but this had the typical HiFiMAN estat sound signature, just seemingly with a bit more bass. I think this was one of the more subjectively impressive experiences at the show - at least with respect to the intangibles, but at the same time the headband was the somewhat maligned one found on the lower end HiFiMAN headphones and so it didn’t look or feel like a premium product, even though the sound quality definitely did.
DROP + GRELL OAE1 - I have immense respect for Axel Grell, the man is a legend. I was able to chat with him at length on a number of topics which was very cool. With the OAE1, it feels like he’s going for spaciousness at all costs, and there were a number of people who I talked to for whom this really worked well. But sadly for the way it fit on my head, I just couldn’t get it to sound right. Yes, it has ‘the soundstage effect’, yes it sounded spacious as all heck. But to me it came at the cost of timbre and what I consider to be a natural presentation.
It’s highly position dependent, since the drivers are angled from very far to the front of the cup. But when it was at the default wearing position for me it sounded somehow muffled and bright at the same time. Still, this one is probably worth trying for yourself if you get a chance, since as mentioned I spoke to a number of people who thought it was the best thing at the show.
Final Audio X8000 - This was just a prototype, and wasn’t using the eventual pad design. It was definitely weird, but I kind of liked it? Like nothing came across as offensive, it sounded punchy and dynamic… I’m more just curious what the final result will end up being. It’s apparently using a Halbach magnet design, which I’ll need to research a bit.
I have to say, the Final Audio R&D presentation was one of the most vindicating moments for what I’ve been saying about the importance of timbre in stereo headphones for some time now. And they referenced Gunther Thiele’s paper on psychoacoustics, which was another massive thumbs up in my view. These guys are really dialed in with audio science, the importance of HRTF and all the other extremely nerdy stuff I love about this hobby. They also scanned my ears to create a digital version of me. So that’s a thing.
Raal Immanis - Another unique concept that just didn’t do it for me due to some treble oddities. I feel like some sort of lower treble feature and then also some upper treble quirks. I know some were saying this was one of the best experiences at the show, and I suppose some of its treble colorations may be perceived as imparting an extra sense of detail and resolution to the experience, but I guess for me they were just in the wrong spots.
Sennheiser HD 620 S - I have mixed feelings on this one. So, I have already had a chance to spend more time with this one before the show, but I figure I can give some additional commentary on it since it is being shown. We’ll have a full review of it coming out soon.
On the one hand, its probably Sennheiser’s best closed-back so far. But on the other hand its got some quirks. It has this forward feature around 400-500hz that sometimes gives the headphone an odd kind of ‘boxy’ sound at times. But then on other recordings it can sound great. It does also sound quite good for the intangibles, and so in that sense I suppose it’s reasonably to put it in the HD 6 series. But then again, it doesn’t use the 6 series’ mechanical design. Someone else said this was the most “it depends” headphone, and I have to agree!
Aune AR5000 - I quite liked this one! It was slightly warm and midrange focused, with maybe a slightly relaxed ear gain presentation, but I found I could get into it quite easily. They had it set up with a bunch of binaural recordings, which kind of felt like cheating - but they did sound amazing. Still, even with regular stereo recordings I thought this was one of the better tuned headphones at the show. This is definitely one I’m looking forward to getting in for review at some point. It’s also lightweight and inexpensive, so this is one to put on the radar for anyone looking for a great value proposition.
Stax SR-X1 - I’m a big fan of the L700 and SR-007 (MK2s), so I was very curious about this new one. Sadly I feel it was just too bright for me. I think maybe for those more into the 009s would have an easier time with this one, but it sounded to me like a lot of the rest of the tonality was overshadowed by some notable excess energy throughout the treble.
Dunu x GizAudio Da Vinci - I was finally able to find it over at the Fosi Audio booth, and they actually had some really nice sounding inexpensive speakers set up there as well. I will be doing a full review of the Da Vinci shortly, but my initial impressions was mostly quite positive.
It has a generally warm but balanced sound signature with a truly exceptional midrange presentation, similar to that of the Dusk DSP. So this is yet again a signal to me that there’s something good about doing mids this way. I did hear a bit of a treble peak though, but I was only able to test with the one set of tips I had on hand, and I’m not sure what the default tips would end up being. So take that with a grain of salt. Regardless, first impression of this one was quite positive and I expect it’ll be the IEM to beat at around its price point.
As of writing this, I’m about to go to the final day of the show, so I’ll update this with additional impressions as I can.
17 Likes
Did you get a chance to try the Raal Magna? I compared the Immani and Magna a couple of different times at Axpona this year and both times preferred the Magna by quite a bit.
From memory (which is a bit hazy), I thought the Magni had richer vocals and a fuller bodied sound, and was less obsessed with delivering details.
1 Like
I also found it to be less objectionable but neither really did it for me.
1 Like
Thanks for your impressions and pics…
Glad you got to hear Da Vinci! Hope the rest of the trip is good and ya get home safe 
2 Likes
Even better that there will be a full review of DaVinci, which means 5128 squigs 
2 Likes
8 Likes
Thanks for sharing! What’s the last set of headphones? Kinda looks like something from Kaldas Research based on their other headphones.
Just doing a photo dump as posting from my phone! We have an early flight to Poland tomorrow as we are visiting the Feliks Audio brothers. Will post proper recap in a day or so.
13 Likes
That’s Stax SR-X1. I added captions to the post above.
2 Likes
Very nice photo dump. I wonder if I can fit those horn speakers in my office. Did I catch a glance of the eartip that ate Germany?
2 Likes
My thoughts exactly. Insta-meme. They surely knew that in publishing it. Tin foil hats…
3 Likes
Were the new Shanling over ears phones sighted and/or sampled?
1 Like
This must be how GS can hear those Ultrasonic wavelengths
4 Likes