Show Report Page 3

Forte Ears + Eletech Cables

Forte Ears is a new IEM brand started by a former HIFIMAN employee who still shares the brand's general love of classical music. Its debut product, the Macbeth, is based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera, for example. While the Macbeth was originally being trialed and tested at various audio shows as the Eletech Romeo, the Forte Ears Macbeth has now taken its final shape as a $4000 flagship set which uses a 5 BA/2 BCD/4 EST tribrid configuration, including a novel "Diablo" customized bass driver that manages to get the Macbeth hitting harder and reaching deeper than many dynamic driver sets do! The overall tuning felt plenty bassy and warm with some 5 kHz "excitement" to my ears, followed by recessed upper treble and then some air in the higher frequencies. This is a deliberately colored tonality which sounds about right for expensive IEMs, in that those who can usually afford such sets already tend to know what they want, and prefer to have a specialist set rather than an all-rounder. Aesthetically, the Macbeth is likely going to be divisive—I personally preferred how the pre-final version with an all-silver faceplate looked in photos, but it's hard to say with the show lighting being less than ideal. Given this was at the Eletech table, I figured I should also share a photo of the new $3500 Fifth Ode flagship cable which uses a blend of OCC copper, gold-plated copper, and graphene OCC. Audio shows are about the worst place to try and discern cable effects given the ambient noise and other factors involved, let alone the limited time on offer, but I could appreciate the engineering work and artistry involved here.

Penon Audio

Penon Audio is another online audio retailer, similar to SHENZHENAUDIO, and thus I was surprised to see them at the show given they are competitors in the true sense of the word. But I also appreciated this show being more than just for Leiyin Audio brands, and it allowed me to try out a brand-new release that many have been raving about—the Penon Rival. Yes, it's another $4000 set and, to be fair to Penon and most other brands, they tend to have limited space on a table so it's usually occupied by the latest and greatest for obvious reasons. The Rival aims to, well, rival other flagship IEMs that cost even more. It does so by having a few tricks up its sleeve, including a bass knob you rotate for variable amounts of mid-bass and sub-bass, as well as multiple dampers which affect the upper mids and treble alike. This allows for a near-infinite tuning potential to suit the Rival to your liking, but also can be overwhelming for many. The good news is that these are not used as a crutch to adjust poor tuning out of the box. In fact, the Rival in its stock configuration is already excellent with a very balanced tuning complemented by excellent detail retrieval too. It may not look that special with the shells and faceplates, but I'd arguably pick the Rival over many other sets on this page. Also here were a bunch of Tansio Mirai IEMs, and once again with time being scarce I had to go for the latest offering called the TSMR Halo—an 8BA/4 EST premium set costing $2000. The clear shells offer a nice preview of the drivers inside and tonality here is less balanced than on the Penon Rival. I found the bass to be on the boomy side with the lower mids getting slightly muddy, but otherwise this was shaping up to be a nice set for lovers of metal/rock music with relaxed upper mids and unfatiguing treble.

Feaulle

Going around the show on multiple days, you tend to see a lot of things. Some catch the eye enough to where I decided to eventually sit down and try out the products. Feaulle is a Chinese-only brand, in that it does not sell its headphones outside China at the moment, which shocked me with its amazing value headphones. The open-back Century and closed-back Feature are not new releases as much as simply being new to me. With excellent comfort and high build quality, down to the use of aluminium and carbon fiber for a low weight, and using a fairly neutral tuning which is mid-forward for vocals and generally easy on the ears, I tried to convince them to sell these ~$200-250 headphones outside China too. They have huge potential to be market disruptors at this price, although the brand reps mentioned they do not have any plans to step outside the domestic market for the foreseeable future.

Sivga Audio

Sivga Audio has been covered multiple times here before, and the brand had a few new products to showcase. Some have been out for a few weeks, including the P2 Pro headphones, whereas others have been around for a while now as with the Sendy Peacock from its sister brand. While the booth was in a particularly busy section to make testing the open-back headphones not easy, I might well get those in for review since I saw potential in both. Then there was the Que, a single-DD set using a 10 mm beryllium-plated diaphragm. Treble extension could be better here, which in turn meant the overall tonality shifted to be more bassy than I personally like. At the same time, I get why it has become popular with audiophiles given this tuning is accompanied by a solid wood faceplate and zinc alloy shells for $75.

Vision Ears

Vision Ears is a German IEM brand that has had a lot of hits over the years. It's VE10, for example, is one of the best IEMs I remember trying at CanJam London last year. The Vision Ears EXT is one of its more successful products, although was hampered by comfort/seal issues owing to an ungainly nozzle. The new EXT MK II was at the show and, despite another long and angled nozzle, fixed the comfort issues and provided arguably the deepest and most secure seal of any universal-fit IEMs I have ever tried. This is a 6-driver flagship set using two dynamic drivers and four EST tweeters, and the tuning is again colored to where it offers an incredibly wide and deep soundstage. I felt there were some timbre issues and the treble felt wonky with the transitions, and the $3400-4200 price point based on the model chosen meant this was about the most I was going to try this set ever.

Noble Audio

Noble Audio's booth was almost always fully occupied, which is not a surprise given the brand tends to make some exclusive IEMs for Hong Kong and a few other regions. They were all present at this show and thus made it possible to try out some products which will never be seen in the West despite Noble Audio being based out of Texas, USA. First up, the Viking Ragnar Prestige+ edition—a stunning set that uses the Viking Ragnar IEMs as the base but swaps out the aluminium shells and Damascus steel faceplates in favor of stabilized wood/resin and with a matching cable too. These are one-off pieces to ensure everything matches and can also be custom-made to your preference based on the wood available. The "Plus" part comes in the form of the cable used here, but otherwise you will notice Noble Audio tends to do such "Prestige" versions of its other flagships too. Also at the show is the limited production Chronicle (2 DD/2 BCD/4 BA/2 EST), which uses stunning titanium Damascus shells and matching cable hardware. The Chronicle has had only 118 units made and they may all be sold out already by the time you read this, and yet I have to praise its exceptional bass quality with the 10 mm + 7 mm dual DDs which rivaled, or even bested at times, the PMG Apx SE I had with me at the show—upper mids and treble were not as refined though. Also at the show was the regional-exclusive Qilin, which felt like the Noble Spartacus on steroids. This is also a Prestige+ set and can be paired with a matching wooden pen if you so desire. It uses 2 BCD + 8 BA drivers and the wooden shells are again exceptionally made. My issue here was that the shells felt too thick, and I didn't really get the bone conduction driver effect I had with the Spartacus and Chronicle. It also had too much bass for me, and not always well textured, with some female vocals being overly forward. I can see why this may not come outside Asia, but I appreciate it has an audience nonetheless.

Unique Melody

If you were to ask me about which brand is best associated with overpriced IEMs, Unique Melody would be at the top of the list. I have yet to be impressed with anything the brand makes, especially for the asking price. Take the Mason FS Nuit Étoilée, for example, which looks like an art piece but sounds like it should be a tenth of the $8500 asking price. But then Unique Melody put out a $1800 set just a week before the show, and it looked like the new Maven II might well buck the trend. With a 2 DD/4 BA/4 EST tribrid configuration in titanium shells and a fairly clean, natural sound, I did think the Maven II felt worth the asking price. But then I kept listening and the mid-treble fatigue hit me. There's a lot of 5-8 kHz energy here which takes away from the listening experience after around five minutes, so once again Unique Melody did what only it can do. Oh, and there was also the part where the first sample on hand had massive channel imbalance and apparently no one had even noticed until I brought it up. Okay then, moving on.

Jomo Audio

Singapore-based Jomo Audio has never shied away from trying things, to the point where its sister brand MMR is famous for some of the most wacky looking, feeling, and sounding IEMs on the planet. At the show, Jomo Audio had its latest release which would not be out of place in an Arab gold souk. The Nautilus is decidedly marine steampunk themed and uses gold-plated brass shells with mother-of-pearl inlays. It uses a 1 DD/1 BCD/1 planar driver configuration and, I'll be honest, I really liked how it sounds with its deep and punchy bass, slightly intimate vocals, and smooth but detailed highs. I even thought the aesthetics were cool, appealing to my own steampunk desires. I get the whole "20000 leagues under the sea" inspiration ongoing, and having a matching theme for the unboxing experience also helps. It's absolutely not for everyone, and yet for $800 it feels far more premium than many other sets on this page.

QDC

I did try out a few other products and the show, but did not photograph them owing to just too many people around (Melodic Artification Alter Ego and Softears Enigma, for example) or just found them average at best. I am wrapping up here with QDC, which is one of the most established audio brands today. It's more famous for its parts used in various other IEMs and cables, especially the QDC cable connector, but has made its name with its own branded IEMs over the years too. Many have been quite eccentric, although its current flagships have become popular among a certain subset of the IEM audiophile base. The Emperor and Empress are two sides of the same coin, offering different tunings and designs but using the same 15 drivers—1 DD/10 BA/4 EST in a tribrid configuration. The designs are markedly oriental on purpose, with the Emperor going for gold and abalone on the faceplate and the Empress gets white pearl. The shells are quite thick and will protrude out your ears, although the fit and seal were a non-issue for me. The Emperor has a V-shaped sound with oodles of mid-bass and extremely forward mids to where vocals feel quite shouty at times. The Empress retains the mids and highs of the Emperor and goes for a flatter bass profile, making it sound even more nasal and honky to me. The treble is easily the star in both sets, offering good extension, minimal fatigue, and working well for some instruments. But overall I don't feel either set is worth the asking price, and I'd probably skip both even if they were half the price.

Bonus

Shenzhen was a surprise to me even beyond the show. I went in expecting a city known for its megafactories, only to find a lot of greenery everywhere! As it turns out, the local government has been cleaning up the city's image in more ways than one. Nearly everything on the road, and the sidewalks, are electric now. There are also mandatory parks and fewer building permits, although the number of high rises and the cyberpunk-style LED lighting at night continues to impress. There's also the part where Shenzhen is now simply too expensive for a lot of people, so manufacturing has been moving out to neighboring cities instead. Attending the show was a great time to finally meet a lot of people whom I've only spoken to online, and also catching up with fellow media members at the same time. It goes without saying that a lot of delicious food was had, so I feel compelled to finish with some photos of said food. If there is another visit to this show next year, I do wish to see a larger venue or at least more space opened up. Three days, 200+ brands, and thousands of visitors feels like more a showcase of what can be done rather than actually getting people to properly try out your products. Overall I did have a fantastic time and will thank the organizers again for helping arrange everything.