Blog: A little bit of Sennheiser and IFA 2016

Beyerdynamic

The other world renowned headphone company was at IFA to present several new products to the world:

The new Byron IEM series with three new IEMS: The standard wired Byron, the wireless Byron BT with aptX and the top of the line Byron BTA which additionally offers the AAC code and a practical fast charging cradle. I have the Byron BT here with me and I’m impressed at how good it sounds connected to my DAPs with powerful deep bass and thick mids.

The full sized DT1770PRO and the DT1990PRO. I have both here with me and the DT1990PRO is my favorite one of these two. If all goes well our DT1990 review will be online next week.

A concept study involving Beyerdynamic and Astell&Kern with two world premiers: A wireless headphone which is the very first Bluetooth model to use Tesla drivers from Beyerdynamic. The second innovation resolves a basic weakness of the Bluetooth standard: even with high-quality audio codecs, only CD quality could be transmitted at best to date. The superior sound of high-resolution audio files fell by the wayside. This restriction now no longer applies with the new aptX HD codec from Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. It transmits the full resolution of 24-bit signals. Beyerdynamic is one of the first manufacturers to integrate aptX HD in an over-ear headphone. The playback device is a modified variant of the Astell&Kern AK 380, which already supports this new transmission protocol

RHA

Our friends from RHA also had three new things to show the world:

The new CL750 which will set you back €125. It has the same shell as the original €99 750 but it has a new driver and OFC cable. If I’m not mistaken it has a 150Ohm impedance.

The new CL1 has a ceramic shell which is 8 times harder. It’s not the first time we’ve seen the use of ceramics in personal audio, just look at Obravo in example. The CL1 also is injection molded and uses a brand new smmcx cable as he stock mmcx cables didn’t fit. That does mean aftermarket cables won’t immediately be available. The CL1 comes with two cables: a single ended OFC and a balanced (mini xlr) silver cable (AG4X). It also has a 150Ohm impedance and just like the CL750 it is supposed to be used with the new DacampL1.  The CL1 is RHA’s new flagship and it will go for about €449,99. In return you get a two-driver universal IEM with one dynamic driver (of the 750) and one ceramic plate transducer. RHA did tell me the tuning wasn’t final yet and that is probably was going to change a little.

The new Dacamp L1 is a portable DAC/AMP unit with a whole lot of in- and outputs of which the balanced mini XLR output is the most surprising. It works flawlessly with iOs and Android and connecting the AK70 to is as source went without any issue. The ESS9018K2M chip made the unit sound very good. It will be available in October somewhere and will cost around €549

Sony

As usual Sony was present in hall 20, yes the full hall, and for us the most interesting were the launch of the new headphone, DAP and amp. I’ve covered a little bit of the new Headphone already in last week’s picture Sunday but they also had the new extremely heavy DAP. The show conditions were far from ideal as there was a lot of noise and and it seems the DAPs had been messed with by the listeners before me. At least I hope they messed up the settings and EQ as the new MDR-Z1R didn’t sound that good at all straight from the new MW-WM1Z DAP.

I hope to listen to the new Sony gear soon at home in better conditions.

Audeze

Sankar himself together with Carsten was present at the Audeze booth to present their brand new iSine inears. I have to admit I was impressed by the sound of the iSine 10 and it reminded me of the first time I listened to the LCD-2, although it’s tuned more like the Audeze Sine.

A lot of people have been talking about the size and looks of the iSine. You can’t deny the iSine is a rather large inear unit but it is extremely light. The finish seen in the pictures isn’t the final yet as these are preproduction samples.  I do like how the iSine looks but I have to admit it reminds me of Spiderman. To “wear” the iSine you can either use the bigger ear clips or the smaller concha “clips” that come in two sizes. I had no issues getting a good seal and with the light weight it was as if there was nothing in and on my ear.

Sankar also showed me the measurements and looking at the graphs you can’t but be impressed with the low distortion level. The TOTL iSine wasn’t finished yet so we didn’t get to listen to it but it looks like it will be extraordinary.

Next show: Canjam Europe in Essen!