Head-Direct had a lot with them to this years CES. On the in-ears side they had the RE-242s which is a brand new design that uses a 6 mm dynamic driver instead of the 10 mm driver in the RE-252s and RE-262s. The little new comer will be priced very reasonable according to the owner of Head-Direct and they sounded quite good at the show despite the fact that the booth across the aisle was demonstrating power tools. The RE-242s real force is that they are very small and thus you will be able to get a good fit with them almost no matter how odd the exterior part of your ear is shaped.

Another interesting newcomer at CES for Head-Direct was the HE-6P headphones, which are basically a more efficient version of the HE-6 headphones. The HE-6Ps can be run straight out of a normal portable device to OK results, tried it briefly with the iPhone 4 and was able to get the amount of volume needed. On the HM-801 with the new power module from Head-Direct the performance was better, albeit the listening situation was less than ideal the HE-6Ps will surely be a headphone to watch. Also on display was a balanced amplifier card for the HM-801 which was a prototype, unfortunately we did not get to listen to it.

Head-Direct manufacturer of several in-ears recently launched the radical HE-5 headphones which featured an ortodynamic driver. The HE-5s received tremendous critique after the initial pre-order had been shipped, but issues with the wood cracking and effectivity problems of the driver made the HE-5s a short lived success. Boasted as having audio performance that was on par with much more expensive solutions like the Sennheiser HD800s, when paired with a decent amp propelled the HE-5s to Head-fi stardom, but the wooden cups proved too fragile.

Head-Direct have now made a second version of the HE-5s dubbed the HE-5LE which feature similar specs but the driver coating has been made thinner which means that the new version should have a better low end and perform better across a variety of headphone amplifiers. The driver cups are now made of plastic with a hexagon mesh covering the back ensuring no mid range oddities. Please note the HE-5LEs are still power hungry, and given the low impedance low efficiency driver design be sure to pick up an amplifier that can deliver a serious amount of current. The Head Direct HE-5LE is now priced at US $649.

HiFiMan has come up with a new high-fidelity portable media player, the HM-801. Unlike consumer-ended product appearance and feature-sets of PMPs such as Apple iPod, Microsoft Zune or Creative Zen, this one sits in its niche of audiophile products, emphasizing on audio output quality and support for high-bitrate lossless audio formats.

To begin with, the HM-801 uses a unit design that is uncompromising from a sound perspective, featuring a modular amplifier section and the highly regarded Burr-Brown PCM1704 DAC capable of 24-bit/96 KHz. That, coupled with the OPA627 Op-Amps, which have quite the reputation among audiophiles, is bound to give you world class sound quality on the move. Supported audio formats include WMA (including Pro and Lossless), MP3, FLAC, AAC, Ogg-Vorbis, and WAV (PCM,MS-ADPCM,IMA-ADPCM). Its storage is care of an SDHC slot, that will support SDHC cards with capacities as high as the standard supports.

The HiFiMAN PMP also features an analogue and digital line out (via coaxial SPDIF) so that you can feed your portable DAC or amplifier with a good signal. Uncompromising sound quality on the move is bound to cost big bucks and the HiFiMAN is also quite costly at $700, which is $600 at launch due to discounts that include donating $10 per purchase to audiophile website Head-Fi.org. The bigger charity of course would be that you are getting this with $100 off. And this is even without a memory solution you have to buy the SDHC card yourself.

Experts in making personal audio hardware, Head-Direct, gave us a sneak peak into a new in-ear monitor (IEM) it is coming up with. Yet to be assigned a proper trade name, the IEM packs a clever use of materials that add to its comfort and performance, both of which are imperative in products of its class and market positioning. The IEM features a soft shell casing. It features a dynamic titanium driver with silver voice coils. The materials going into making the voice coil and the diaphragm correct some of areas where older versions of IEM by the company needed improvement. A possible downside of the design is that it manages a relatively less voice attenuation of 20 dBA. A list of preliminary specifications given to us is as follows:

• In-ear design offers 20 dB noise-isolation capability
• iPhone compatible 3.5mm mini-jack plug
• Powerful 9mm Neodymium magnet drivers
• Soft material structure offer same quality comfort as custom IEM
• Cable-fit slider adjust the length of the cables
• Titanium diaphragm and silver voice coil wire

Pricing isn't known as yet, but we don't feel it is going to be overly expensive, looking at the way Head-Direct prices its IEMs.