12-11-2017

i-Ear Show 2017
by Maarten van Druten
 

This is my impression review of the i-Ear show 2017
The i-Ear show was was helt on 11 and 12 November

This show has a different target audience then the "X-Fi Show" (more design/commercial and less hard-core high-end) but it's still
 a very nice show to visit, it's free, also easy to park, and it was held in the Koning Willem II Stadion, in Tilburg, Netherlands.
 The atmosphere was also very good, also the reception was very friendly


Questyle

Personally never heard about the brand "Questyle" before, but their product line looks very promising
Because there is currently no standard protocol for transporting high-resolution audio between two devices, "Questyle"tries to solves this issue, by introducing: "True DSD"

According their webiste:
"There are now many DA converters that can process DSD. Unique is that Questyle has used True DSD in a number of products. At True DSD, the DSD is processed directly. Others apply DSD over PCM (DoP), which translates the signal to PCM and returns to the actual DA conversion."

We shall see over time if this new "standard" will be mandatory for all future other brands in the future...

My focus was on loudspeakers, so I tried to listen as many as possible...

 


The best sounding loudspeakers at the i-Ear show 2017:

Audio Physic

The German brand "Audio Physic" was demonstrating their newest "Classic 5" floor-standing loudspeaker
 This loudspeaker was sounding amazingly good, with a very balanced sound and personally I found the sound quality
 of this loudspeaker the best of the show.
The woofer is made of Carbon and is specially engineered for Audio Physic by Wavecor. the bass of this unit was sounding very tight, deep and also fast.
The tweeter had also a very relaxed sound and had a good 3D projection, but the most important was that it was very well balanced with the woofer. therefore the music sounded real.
The overall impression of this loudspeaker was that it sounded neutral, the music was a joy to listen too, and the best thing was maybe it's price...
 Because the "Classic 5" is Audio Physic's floor-standing entry level product, and a pair costs only 1790 euro
 for this money I think it's a very good deal.
 




More info: http://www.audiophysic.de/classic05/index_e.html



Dynaudio

Dynaudio celebrated their 40 years of manufacturing loudspeakers by releasing a special anniversary model called "Special Forty"

 

The "Special Forty" is the first product that is engineered in Dynaudio new R&D center in the very big "Dynaudio Labs Jupiter Measurement Room"; the biggest in Europe.
The "Special Forty" has been designed with the best materials, for example the cross-over (XO) is of a "first order" design, therefore the
music was very transparent and the 3D projection was very impressive, the music was projected deep into the room.
This speaker sounded very good, I liked it's neutral and detailed soundscape, this was definitely one of the best sounding bookshelf speaker of the show
 

The beautifull Red Birch High Gloss finish of the "Special Forty", made on a special way of many pieces of parallel veneer!

 

The Dynaudio Contour loudspeakers set also sounded very good, it was sounding more mature, it also had a better bass definition
but personally I liked the lighter character, more spacial sound of the "Special Forty" better.

More info: https://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/special-forty/special-forty?c=redbirchhighgloss

 

T + A

Nice CD player and amplifier combination of the German brand "T+A", I also like the way they look, they remind me a little bit on the "BRAUN A1" amplifiers of the 80's.
They also sounded very good
 

FOCAL

Focal presented their new loudspeakers where the conus material was made of "linen"
This gave the speakers a very natural but also particular sound


 

Sennheiser Orpheus HE 1

Sennheiser showed their new Orpheus HE1 flagship headphone solution, which not only contains a state of the art electrostatic headphone
but also a excelent tube amplifier and dac.
The design is also very functional, the housing for example also gives also stores your headphone, behind a glass door.

The housing is made of glass, and a piece of solid block of Carrara marble.
Also a dac is also very special; it exsits out of 8 (!) internal DACs of the type ESS SABRE ES9018.
Four channels are switched in parallel, to improve accuracy and reduce distortion and noise.
The Sennheiser HE1 accepts High-Resolution digital audio formats through USB (DSD and PCM)


Picture by Sennheiser: © 2017 Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG | Nederland
 

I had the possibility to listen shortly to this nice headphone, and the music sounded very impressive, it was the most accurate
and solid sound stage I ever experienced, very clean, and the headphone is also very comfortable
The bass was also very impressive. this is a very nice solution for those who seek perfection and want to listen to nice music
without getting disturbed by others

 

The iEar Show 2017 show was a great succes, very nice organized and very informative, highly recommended
Till next year!
 

Maarten van Druten (Audio Dandy)



                           


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