Ω image is taking a good look at Antelope Audio's Zodiak Silver DAC/headphone amp/pre amp. Silver is the entry Zodiak model but still supports a host of great input and outputs.
ohmage to the Woo Audio WA7 fireflies
The lubberly hernia I sprung lifting the massive cardboard box off my doorstep was 70% covered by Japanese national health insurance. No worries; I’m not in debt. Yet. I half-expected the parts to a WWI land mine for my pains. Can’t say I was disappointed after prying open the cardboard to find the WA7, the first of Woo Audio’s new breed of neutered steampunk. Sat next to a WA6, it reminds one of a 1980‘s ‘Volvo’: boxy, but good. Jack calls it ‘fireflies’ and it’s pretty awesome.
Specifications
Single-ended, class-A, transformers output
Linear external high-performance power supply (remote-controlled power switching)
Two 6C45 driver/power tubes
C-Media 6631 USB chip
TI PCM5102A 32-bit DAC chip
Headphones impedance : 8-600 Ohms
Input impedance: 100 Kilo-Ohms
Sampling rate: up to 32-Bit, 192kHz
Inputs: 1 Asynchronous USB2.0, 1 RCA
Outputs: 1 1/4" and 1 1/8" headphone outputs, 1 RCA (same connector as the input)
Max output: approx 1 watt @ 32 ohms
Frequency response: 11Hz to 27kHz, +/-0.5dB
Distortion: <0.03%
S/N: 95dB
Power consumption: 25W max
Mains supply: 100-120V, 220-240V, 50/60Hz, user selectable
Finish: Anodized aluminum
DC cord length: 4.25 ft or 1.3 m
Dimension: AMP: 4.8" L x 4.8" W x 5.1" H with glass
PSU: 7" L x 3.5" W x 2.2" H
Weight: AMP - 5.3 lbs / 2.4kg, Glass - 3.3 lbs / 1.5kg
PSU - 2.8 lbs / 1.4kg
Woo Audio WA7 - 999$ USD
ohmage: DAC functionality
Fireflies sports analogue RCA inputs as well as this decade's Ubiq, USB. The latter is plug-and-play simple for OSX and iPads. iPhone and iPod touch users will have to jailbreak their devices to enjoy the WA7. Windows users will have resort to using Woo Audio’s drivers.
The RCA jacks at the back serve dual purposes. When utilising USB input, they double as analogue outs. Otherwise, they are analogue in. Clumsy, yes, but functional.
ohmage: haptics
I’m staking whatever I’ve got left (about 507¥) after a trip to the beer store (and that hernia operation) that Jack Wu knows about Knob-Feel. The WA7’s got a great knob. Camera folk: it’s like using a properly greased Zeiss 35/2 Biogon ZM: rigid and well-damped. Unlike the Japan-made Zeiss, however, there is no play in its revolution. Control freaks will love its long throw. Earphone freaks will appreciate its noiseless operation. Twiddling it with two fingers is best.
Let’s get back to what put me under the knife: weight. With its glass guard in place and valves installed, fireflies tips the scales at almost 4 kilograms. Side by side with CENtrance' DACmini, the WA7 is a fat man in tight shoes. It is smaller but much heavier than Antelope Audio's Zodiac DAC/headphone amp. Unlike either the Zodiak or the DACmini, it won’t flirt around your desk as you complacently attempt to stuff its jack with your headphone bits. Weight, my friends, is as much desktop audio’s bedfellow as it is hernia’s.
Fireflies’ arse bristles with doohickies: power switch, hi/low Z selector, input selector, input panel, and a puckering power inlet. The hose connects to a proper power supply that is practically as big as the WA7. And yes, it is stitch-popping heavy. Ditto the hose, which for the same reason boasts a sturdy screw-in ass-ring that ensures the amp stays coupled to its power source.
ohmage: kitsch
The first litmus test for any piece of desktop audio gear is ‘what the wife thinks’. No amp has ever passed my wife’s litmus. The good news for Woo is that she didn’t exactly turn her nose up at fireflies. She likes polite. She married a Swedish-born Canadian for god’s sake. I eat pizza with a knife and fork, burp into my elbow, double flush. When she saw the WA7‘s clean, 80‘s Volvo-esque lines, she saw polite. She might have seen me for all I know.
Woo Audio don’t beam you with fireflies branding. They’ve kept the WA7 logo small. No gold bling anywhere. Even the top glass hides the glowing valves and the beautifully etched ‘Woo Audio’. This is probably Woo Audio’s most understated design to date. I think it will have many fans, though there are a few out there, who like me, love steampunk. Everyone has their weaknesses.
By the way, WA7 looks and sounds great with the love-it hate-it Fostex TH600.
porridge: build quality and polish
Talent for inducing hernia is one thing; hardware follow-through is something else. The WA7 isn’t by any means, shoddily made. No. Its quirks, however, are several, and poignant. The first is the glass top. It slides around at the smallest earthquake (and not every earthquake around here is small). Even when the ground isn’t quaking, simply typing at the same desk the WA7 is perched on is enough to cause the chassis to rattle.
The culprits are many. The worst is the wiggle room open between the the valves and the glass slab. The fit between metal and glass is poor. Coupled with the sheer weight of the melted sand roof, the resultant wiggle room is enough to break the valves. Woo Audio are now shipping rubber feet with every WA7. Good on them. But I’d rather support the valves with metal rings.
The second issue is less egregious, but belies the WA7‘s 999$ price tag (plus shipping and earthquake insurance). It’s the unanchored, wiggly woggly RCA connection which is reminiscent of a MUCH cheaper amp. Carefy do, carefy do.
The final complaint is even more riddled with holes. It’s WA7’s half-arsed USB plug ‘n play software. The good news is that it works as advertised. But, the USB receiving chip has many functions, including SPDIF input and a multitude of outputs. What shows up in your preferences panel for the WA7 is: Speaker and SPDIF Output. ‘But my computer already has speakers, and SPDIF output’ you say. If you are used to browsing your computer’s audio output devices, simple deduction will get you to the WA7. If not, trial and error is the road you’ll have to take. In its current form, USB plug and play reminds one of the care a knock off vendor puts into their products.
ohmage: sound
Fireflies boasts lower noise levels than Centrance’ DACmini while adding the goodly harmonic bits valves are known for. The long-throw volume pot ensures all but the most sensitive headphones tracking headroom even at low volumes.
ohmage: Noise at a 100% turn of the WA7‘s volume pot is less than the ALO Rx at low volume levels.
Woo Audio is rather an icon among valve headphone aficionados. They make superlative interfaces and chassises. If you want tubey sound, they’ve got an amp for you. Ditto non tubey sound. Ditto all-out power. Fireflies trends towards the latter two, blending clear, far-reaching highs and excellent upper midrange timbre, with a meagre, but healthy dose of harmonic distortion and decent stereo separation.
If there ever was a desktop equivalent to the godly Portatube+, the WA7 would be it. It’s the wonderful, grain-free timbre- no, it’s those violin-loving upper mids that do me in. Upper midrange ring is well controlled, but vestiges remain, adding sweetness to your concertos and jazz ensembles. Comparisons don’t stop there. Both Jaben’s amp and Woo’s exhibit slight signal-warming harmonic decay artefacts. Fireflies’s midrange comes away more a little more active while Jaben’s treble comes away with a bit more sparkle. Overall, the two share rather compatible voicing.
ohmage: WA7’s penchant for mid-high voiced strings makes it one of the best desktop amps for classical and jazz.
Pairing the WA7 with your favourite warm headphone is glorious. On the portable end, Audio Technica’s ESW11LTD is a heavenly match. In a worst-case scenario, the WA7 is able to push over 65dB stereo separation into the likes of Audio Technica’s ESW11LTD while keeping THD and IMD quite low. The results don’t change much when pushing the ES7. Easier to drive headphones such as Sennheiser’s HD600 exhibit less load on the WA7. Even at harsh volumes, headphones like Fostex TH600 remain mostly sizzle free. Of course, easy to drive cans such as the DT880 600Ω are chicken soup and can be driven stably at any turn of the volume pot. One thing you may notice, however, is channel imbalance, especially with sensitive headphones.
porridge: WA7’s volume pot exhibits up to 2dB of channel imbalance at all volume positions.
When comparing output across several different headphones at varying sensitivities and impedances, I rounded out a semi-quick conclusion: WA7 is most at home above 80Ω. Semi-low sensitivity is also favourable. The likes of Heir Audio’s amazing Tzar 350 and 90 earphones still stymie the WA7‘s output. While their impedances fall into the WA7‘s comfort zones, they simply don’t get enough low-voltage current to remain 100% stable. Still, they run much better than stage monitors like Earsonics’ SM2 does.
Ringing in at 25Ω, the Fostex TH600 weighs in at the very bottom of the WA7’s semi-comfort zone. The errors it forces are minor: slight low frequency fall off and rise in IMD. Despite these issues, the couple make a great pair.
porridge: WA7 has a semi-high Ω output. It is best paired with headphones with impedances of 80Ω or more. Low-Ω headphones will force various signal errors.
Like many good hybrid valve/solid state designs, the WA7’s best frequencies are its upper mids and lower trebles. Both boast flavour of their own and ring beautifully. Violin timbre and detail is toast-worthy. You owe it to yourself to check out Bach’s Sonata for Violin #3 with a pair of woodies and this Woo.
While you won’t get record attack/decay speed from the WA7, channel separation and stereo artefacts are low. Combined with the right headphone, headstage can be surprisingly good.
The WA7 is Woo’s most interesting departure from its steampunk roots. Its quadrangle design invites wifal approval. Its plug and play simplicity invites the newbie. Its power invites long time headphone users. Awkward USB driver branding, pliable RCA jacks, and the slippy glass roof describe a Woo Audio that may have rushed production. Which is a shame. WA7 is a great product. It sounds great. It looks good. And it works. But it doesn’t really feel like a 999$ product from an American company - particularly after springing a hernia.
ohmage: 6
porridge: 3
音茶楽 Flat4-玄 - Ocharaku Flat4-Kuro
Ocharaku's excellent Flat4 series is about to get another entrant. Kuro is the latest Twin Equalised Element. Like Sui, it will also utilise aluminium in its central cabinet. The best news is that it comes at a much lower, audio folk-friendly price.
It will be released in June and demo'd at Fujiya's upcoming headphone festival on May 11.
For more information as it becomes available, please visit Ocharaku's earphone home page.
Press materials below:
(NOTE: Press release is in PNG format. Links can neither be copied nor clicked. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
UPDATE: Flat-4 KURO has just got some ohmage.
ohmage to the Fostex TH600
From the country of endless kitsch comes a headphone that’s almost laughably stodgy. Its aniki, the TH900, dresses to the hilt in Harajuku-bright urushi blotches and swigs, glinting in even the dimmest listening room. Outwardly, the two could not be more incompatible. Despite bringing up the caboose in the foundling TH series of headphones, the Fostex TH600 plays things cool as 1980’s TV dramas. Think Night Rider without the Hasselhoff: KITT for a new, living-room bound age.
Specifications
Type: closed-back dynamic
Driver: 50mm neodym magnet / biodynamic diaphragm
Frequency response: 5-45.000Hz
Impedance: 25Ω
Sensitivity: 94dB/mW
Maximum Input: 1.800mW
Weight: 370g (cable not measured)
Cable length: 3 metres (y split)
Plug: straight 6,3mm gold plated stereo plug
Price: 850-1300$
ohmage: comfort
The TH600‘s cups are made of light-weight die-cast magnesium alloy. Almost any sized ear should comfortably be able to tuck itself inside - with very little hanky-panky. That said, the pads are low profile and the the mounting flanges sit flush with the inner protective mesh. If your ears are even slightly mousey, you’ll feel the inside of the cups, but nothing too adult. The pads are made of an interesting concoction of egg protein, padding, and a lot of marketing imagination. To the finger, they feel surprisingly like leather. To the ear, they're mostly bearable. Egg protein, like every dead animal skin wannabe, feels strange once your ears start to sweat. And sweat they will. Despite coming in lightweight magnesium, the TH600 is heavy. Plus, egg pleatherette has the habit of jettisoning your offerings of sweat and oil back at you. It’s a humid road thereon in.
However, let’s be honest, headphones have never been completely comfortable. Pain and pleasure are old bedmates. Fostex’ newest headphone may be half scrambled, but it lays a lighter yoke than many cans.
porridge: fit
Here’s where my PC-ness hits the fan. Designed in Japan by a group of suave engineers with Japanese heads, the TH600 traces a thin line for narrow-noggined folks. Even with its headband compressed to its smallest size, the TH600 still sits heavy on my ears. It’s not meat-head-only Audio-Technica sloppy, nor is it as woefully oversized as Ultrasone headbands are; but in the end, the entire headphone sags past my ears' comfort zones. Suffice it to say, if you’ve got a mouse head, you may want to add a bit of sponge to the headband to keep the headphone from dripping to your shoulders.
Normal to wide-headed people will get along nicely with the TH600. We mousers envy you.
ohmage: kitsch
If the TH600 has any of this stuff, it’s buried beneath layers and layers of second-child psychosis. It’s freaking KITT for God’s sake without the Cylon eye thing, an ‘up yours’ to the gaudy TH900.
The cables are wrapped in nylon filaments and joined in a sturdy Fostex-branded y-split. There on down, the cable gets thick and reaches over 2,5 metres to a large, no-nonsense 6,3mm plug. Plug and phone-side stress relief is taken care of by thick rubber friction tubes. Overall, the cable is excellent. The TH600 is a big-arse black headphone and its cable a garrotte, but it rocks. No frills to attract the watchful eye of your spouse and thus, no sweaty ‘chats’ about price, yadda yadda.
The TH900 is pretty much the same thing but with urushi scaling, dabbing, and a shiny veneer over the top. Next to each other, the TH600’s colour scheme is Scandinavian in simplicity. The TH900 is Hawaiian-shirt-clad-Manitoban-evangelical-preacher in ostentation. (And as nice as that shirt may be, you have to be in to Hawaiian shirts to get it.)
Fostex, you’ve done your listeners (and believers) a service by offering something for Zeno as well as Zane. Thank you.
porridge: build quality
If you’re even slightly handy, you’ll enjoy the no-nonsense approach to construction Fostex have fostered into the TH600. If something breaks and you’ve got the parts, you can replace it. That’s good news, too, as the TH600 needs kiddy-glove treatment more than its direct competitors. Its weakest points are the mounting fulcrums on either side of the headband. Both the band and the yoke will develop wobble in Ikea time. This lax tolerance will cause the yokes to scrape the headband. That’s when the paint chips fall. Aside from that (and the egg padding), there’s little to complain about. But then again, for the price, we should be able to expect better.
ohmage: Sound
Build niggles be damned, the TH600 walks away proud because, primarily, its sound has no real flaws.
Crispness
Underlining every frequency is crisp timbre. The TH600 isn’t an analytical headphone, but it renders every frequency distinctly. At its heart are clear, unstrained vocals that take durst not encroach on their surrounds. Crisp is the name of the game. It makes sense. Japanese is a precise language full of sharp chirps and clacks with nary a vowel slide to offend the rhythm. You will encounter neither fleshy lisps, nor splashy ‘s’es anywhere in this headphone's repertoire of unoffending effects.
Conversely, the TH600’s penchant for full-spectrum crispness leaves lush female vocals to flounder among percussion, pianos and guitars. Beyer’s T1/5 series places vocals front and centre. If you don’t like them, be damned. The TH600‘s `What you get is a mastering mix rather than a whisky-and-crackling fire feel good listen.
Space
While undeniably a closed-sounding headphone, the TH600 delivers sublimely wide instrument placement. Fostex’ approach to percussion is perfect: central placement with supporting instruments undulating in concentric circles around it. Vocals hover near the back of the ear, drifting near the black hole when needed. The magnesium cups are used to full effect, engaging the sense of space where there really is none. Where other closed headphones produce flat, regular spatial cues, the TH600 flourishes tangible rises and troughs that are great for music, and perfect for movies.
Speed
The TH600 derives is crisp, spacious sound from speed. Notes decay in no time, front edges of every instrument are tight and grindy. Not too tight, however. In no way does the TH600 approach AKG's K70x series levels of knife-edged austerity. This speed does wonders with cymbals, no matter what slays them. Sibilance: no; splotch: no again.
Bass vs. Mids
Were I pressed to choose a winner, I’d choose bass as sound pressure heavyweight. Both are clear, strong, and detailed. Bass throbs through with more pressure, though, but neither ever gets summery. The gotcha to this presentation of course, is that vocals never step too close to the mic. Trance fans may rejoice, but small ensemble jazz fans and live aficionados are bound to bemoan: 'oh the humility!' Get over it, I say. It’s just not your typical audiophile headphone; the TH600 feels more at home in a monitoring environment - (though again, not too at home).
Bass vs. Highs
Like its bass and midrange, the TH600’s highs are nimble and detailed. Sibilance-inducing tracks make off with nothing more than a weak shimmer. To be honest, this trance-head could do with slightly more aggressive highs. Bass and treble balance each other well. Too well, perhaps. With the slightly withdrawn vocal range working as a rudder, there’s almost too little accent, too little splash, too little ‘gotta have it’ in the TH600. But then again, that is probably the mark of a good headphone as opposed to an accented headphone.
Discerning listeners will detect a petite V sound curve that suits classical recordings and studio work well. Emotion is there when needed - but nothing's sappy, ever.
The TH600 is the mostly harmless, nerdy younger sister who writes people’s essays for fun. If she’d take off her glasses for a moment, you’d get to see her eyes (which are big); if she’d let down her hair for a moment...
(BTW, if you want to take her glasses off, wait a few hundred hours. I'm not talking burn in - I'm talking cracking the eggs. The protein pads are soft from the get go, but as they soften up, the bass really starts to come out... and it's glorious.)
Whatever. I’m a fan of the TH600's sound. It compliments my all-time favourite DT880 well. It never steps on any toes. It never plays favourites. For some, it will be boring. For treble or bass haters, it will be mildly V shaped. It’s... it’s... it’s that hard to find jack-of-all-trades headphone -the equivalent of a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, but without the requisite chest hair, cologne, and hanky panky of the same decade. And I’m down with that.
ohmage: 2
porridge: 2
Equipment used:
Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies
Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear
Mating the Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies and Fostex TH600 - it's about whuffie, good looks, and good sound
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the Chan. It's why I've highlighted his review here at Ω. Anak's a delightful and energetic fellow that just so happens to have a great eye for material beauty. He drives a Porsche. His wife is a supermodel. And, he has mated the WA7 Fireflies with the TH600 in an iconic post at Headfi. They are a striking pair.
According to him, the combination sounds great. It's actually straddling my desk and ears at the moment. I've got agree with Sean, but I've also got to say that Graham Slee's SOLO Ultra Linear also is an excellent match for the TH600.
But, it's not black. The WA7 is, and it looks great without its top.
And damn, it looks good with the TH600. Yes, a shigzeo review will hit the net in a couple of days, weeks, or years, and yes, it will be verbose. Probably, your time will be wasted. The couple thousand words I use to spread impressions and jack up my whuffie just won't do justice to the pictures that are popping up in the TH600 and WA7 Headfi threads.
Check them out.
Then check out my review.
Here's the beautiful couple.
a-morning-at-fitears-factory
How is a company that holes up in a Ginza spire supposed to leg its way up a ladder dominated by industry heavies like Ultimate Ears, Jerry Harvey, Westone, Sennsaphonics, and ACS?
Titanium.
Yup.
But I'll get to that after I finish tooting my own horn.
I had barely toed my way across the threshold of FitEar's Chiba factory when Mr. Keita Suyama - easily FitEar's best-known face - shot a polite duck my way. "You are the first journalist to come here."
Dear me. He called me a journalist. I ducked back politely, then basked for a few seconds in some sort of self-satisifed chemical pick-me-up. Weee! Looking back, I should have realised who I was talking with. Mr. Suyama is perhaps the politest chap I've met. Ever. He buys - not serves - tea for guests, treats them to sweet-spot chairs in his listening room, smiles eye-to-eye through entire conversations, and introduces as many as he can to one of life's guiltiest pleasures: anime songs. Listening to Mami Kawada through a pair of ToGo! 334 while sipping hot vending-machine green tea is something every geek should attain to.
I’m a sucker for politeness. I almost believed that Mr. Suyama actually considered me a journalist. I still savour that moment. Whatever I am, evidently I am the first of my kind to enter FitEar’s Chiba factory. Practically the entire FitEar family showed up to show me around. FitEar is one part of a greater Suyama dynasty. It was birthed from the Suyama hearing protection business, which is fathered by Mr. Suyama’s father, Mr. Suyama. The Suyama kids run sundry areas of the business.
If you’re in the market for a hearing aid, you can get impressions done at the Ginza spire. Your impressions are then sent to Chiba where long-lasting moulds are created. There’s a bit of acrylic to be ground before experienced technicians place tiny balanced armature speakers inside. Voila!
Of course, ohm-image readers are probably more interested in FitEar’s line of universal and custom earphones. And you’d be daft not to be. Be it build or sound, FitEar’s customs have always pushed the envelope. They were the first acrylic custom earphone maker to fill their shells with resin, the first to fit police-sanctioned coaxial connections to their housings, and the first to shunt titanium into earphone sound tubes.
They’d be daft not to.
Titanium has as many benefits as a metal can: it resists corrosion, it is chemically inactive, it is low maintenance, and it doesn’t rust. The problem is that it is expensive and harder to work with than most metals. Much harder. It requires more skill than a mage can shake a stick at. Fortunately, FitEar attract mages.
Mr. Suyama showed me around his shop. There was drilling, moulding, shaving, smoothing, and a pretty girl by the name of--- The intensity of concentration in his shop buzzed. No one danced or sang. Their level of focus makes the shochu I’m drinking now blush.
After going through individual introductions and bowing half a dozen times, I turned to face a wall of work: dozens of earphones, hearing aids, and customs housed in thick plastic work boxes. Each sported a name, a date, a model number, and probably some secret code that only FitEar know. Mr. Suyama grabbed one at random. “We have so many orders now,” he said. “Sometimes we get a little behind.”
I recognised the name on the box: Baptiste Sevin. He’s a mate of mine from Headfi, a gentleman, and a seafood scholar. Before moving back to France, Sebastian accompanied me to the Spire to get impressions done and to enjoy the sweet spot. We spent about five hours with Mr. and Mrs. Suyama, talking shop, talking music, talking anime, and talking way deep koto stuff that I generally lied about. I mean, who knows koto? Sebastian does. While my cultural spots may have shone through, Mr. Suyama’s didn’t.
He kept up with Sebastian, proudly displaying his wares (including a couple unreleased earphones that have me counting my beans). Sebastian went to work deciding which earphone he would go for. He chose the MH335DW, an earphone that reminds me of the Private 333, but with a tinge more midrange sweetness and a lot more price.
I imagine that by now, Sebastian has the earphones in his ear and is trying to tune out his wife’s protests. At the very least, his 335’s are going through final testing at FitEar. I expect to see him on Headfi's 335DW thread soon.
No company operates flawlessly. There are cracks here, missing drivers there, a lack of holiday leave there. FitEar are a Japanese company. They do things as much as possible by the clock. But, they are also Japanese. They try, as much as is possible with the current technology, to perfect a product before sending it out. And, they are honest about what they can and what can’t do.
Artwork is still something they can’t do. But, not one of the hundreds of artists and engineers that sport FitEar customs seems to mind. Surprisingly, very few audiophiles do. Mass production is another. FitEar may have thirty full-time employees. The number may be fewer than that. What they do with that number is amazing.
Like titanium.
FitEar insist on squeezing titanium shunts into their universal and custom lines. For all its non-gummy plusses, titanium also has an audio plus: it’s inert. It will keep its shape no matter the sound wave passing through it, making sure that the sound jumping from the drivers is as pristine as possible.
In the back of FitEar’s shop is a case of teethy-looking things. Had I been more attentive in the 1990’s to blockbuster films, I’d have wet myself as I recognised the telltale filaments, the metallic tendons. The teethy things are a portent of things to come: The Terminator. Polished Titanium mesh, gleaming cold in the early March Chiba air. Two rows of four, queued up with robotic precision. Mr. Suyama assured me they were just dentures. Sure, I nodded.
In the 1990’s I was a wannabe skateboarder with no time for movies. Still, the dentures mesmerised me. I didn’t think to ask who they belonged to, or if I could touch them. Instead, I went to work shooting.
It must have been cute to have a foreign ‘journalist’ leaning over a box of dentures because my next stop was a step behind me: a workbench crowned by a tabletop softbox and a handful of titanium bolts. “These are what we make the dentures out of - and our earphones.” And that was how Mr. Suyama nudged earphones back into the morning. I resumed shooting, a little less mesmerised, before being lead downstairs for another round of tea.
We sat down in a well-lit conference room kitty-corner to Mr. Suyama’s father’s office. (Remember, it is a family business.) Another large box lay semi-open before me. The FitEar staff around me grinned in their lab coats before opening it all the way. Inside were three grey motorcycles and a miniature giant robot. Cool. I’m not into motorcycles. I think the world could do with more robots though.
“These are titanium models,” said Mr. Suyama matter-of-factly. Whoa. “We cast them from plastic models and built them in titanium.” Holy...
It was strange to handle the otherwise impervious metal so gingerly. “They aren’t for sale. We made them for fun - to see if we could do it.”
“You sure did,” I said. “You sure did.”
All five fingers of the robot’s hand moved independently. Individual joints curl around model guns, pens, spoons, chopsticks. Legs, arms, neck, torso - each works independently. Titanium is weightier than plastic. I didn’t ask if it was a Gundam or not. Having failed one cultural test already, I should have. Whatever it was, I could imagine it lumbering around Tokyo, dragging its tonnage to the nearest flatbed lorry and asking for a lift to Odaiba. The motorcycles were no less impressive. One had plastic bodywork. Each sported rubber tyres. But everything else, including the kickstands, were titanium. Everything plastic models can do, FitEar’s special one-off titanium models can - and double as bricks to send through windows in the case of a fire.
I did quick maths in my head: “I guess these would go for tens of thousands of dollars.”
“Not for sale.”
“Hmmm.”
I finished my tea and said my goodbyes. Mr. Suyama drove me to the nearest station, where I lumbered to the washroom as quickly as my heavy work bag and bladder would allow. It was a lot of tea.
On the way up the stairs to my train, I tucked my ToGo! 334 into my ears and enjoyed Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. By the time I arrived back in my office, I was on to New Order. Mr. Suyama had heard of neither. He’s a jazz and anime man. And, while his competitors dabble in plastics and carbon fibre, he whittles away with a much more difficult substance: titanium. I think he has no delusions of attaining best sales among custom earphone manufacturers. He probably has the most skilled team of technicians under him, not to mention the technical drive and history necessary to perfect a niche that is fastly being overrun by startups.
FitEar
T: +81 03-3549-0755
〒104-0061 東京都中央区銀座6-16-12須山歯研銀座ビル
104-0061 Tokyo To, Chuo Ku, Ginza 6-16-12 Suyama Dental Laboratory Ginza Building, Japan
Camera in use: X-Pro 1 with ZM Zeiss 35/2,0 Biogon
Fujiya Avic's 2013 ポータ研 - coolest portable audio out of Japan
You can count on two things in Tokyo: earthquakes and audio festivals. The latter is made possible by rabid fans and manufacturers who just love to connect. The former sometimes makes it hard to get to the latter.
Last week's 2013 Winter ポータ研 went unhindered by quakes, tsunami, and other disasters. And the show? It was anything but disastrous. Billed as a smaller option to historic meets in May and October, the February meet blasted through all my expectations.
Sun Plaza's 14th floor was packed by hundreds of sweaty audio fans. I joined the fray, milling around some of the coolest gadgets I've seen in a while. Usually, manufacturers wait until May or October to release the cool stuff, but this time, they pulled out all stops. As a Japanese event, kitsch was there in full force, too. Kitsch in the lights, in the booth layout, in the wardrobe of the fanatics. But hey, what is Japan without overwhelming kitsch?
Below are the items that caught my eye.
hippo ProOne earphones
Historically, hippo audio have had a few problems with follow through. By consequence, their products appeared cheap in comparison to others in a similar price bracket. Those days are behind us. Their new earphone is a fine machine. Its low profile allows it to disappear in the ear, making possible side-sleeping, desk-kipping, and the like. But it doesn't give up sturdy fit and build. The earphone is solid and gives up a forward, softly aggressive sound that does rock proud. The cable could use a little work but it seems to fit the bill of purchase. Expected release early in spring.
Musix Cables Wagnus
Wagnus cables are for the fashion-conscious portable audiophile. Garnished with glittering plastic gems and sporting twinkling cable sleeves, they truly are eye catching. And, it seems their CEO, mastering engineer Haruyuki Kume, has a thing for Russian legends.
Centrance HiFi M8
I've been told that its debut is only a little ways off. From what I saw Saturday, it is ready. The HiFi M8 comes in several flavours, each of which is a delectable delight. No surprises from Centrance: the M8's noise floor is low and there is power to boot.
Fostex TH600
I had a hard time deciding where to put the Fostex TH600 in the line up. It is a fantastic headphone, clear, even-timbred, and mid-grounded. It's been a long time since the live music aficionado in me has been intrigued by a closed headphone. It comes at a more agreeable price, too, and for the chronic collector, its black matte surface will provoke less spousal interest and ire.
Ω image has since reviewed this wonderful headphone.
3D printed headphone kits
By far the most interesting gear to me were the new 3D headphone kits. Kits are purchased at 5.000¥ for starters, and go up to 12.000¥ with drivers included. The audio engine is driven by SONY's well-respected CD900ST studio headphone speakers.
My interest in 3D printing began with Jerry Harvey's custom earphones and was incremented as I first read Cory Doctorow's Printcrime. The fact that today, you can hold in your hand a headphone that began its life in someone's printer stresses the bounds to which democracy stretches. And yes, you get to build them yourself. Damn straight.
There were many other interesting products but these were were the most interesting to yours truly.
