AXPONA 2024 coverage sponsored by Vera-Fi Audio Part 2

Welcome back to our coverage of AXPONA 2024, I would like to especially thank Puron (https://hifihouse.co.uk/puron/, info@hifihouse.co.uk), and Vera-Fi Audio, manufacturer of fine loudspeakers and clever accessories much of which comprises my reference system, for kindly sponsoring our coverage.

WARWICK ACOUSTICS

WARWICK ACOUSTICS had a brand new isolation booth large enough to house both their classic WARWICK ACOUSTICS BRAVURA Electrostatic Headphone System ($6,795 – Black) and their epic reference system the WARWICK ACOUSTICS Limited Edition 24k GOLD APERIO Electrostatic Headphone System ($50,000) showing what heights personal audio can rise to.

DEKONI AUDIO

DEKONI AUDIO was on hand demonstrating how much difference in sound and comfort custom earpads can make.

EarMen/Auris Audio

Auris Audio was demonstrating how their Auris Audio Headonia 300B Tube Headphone Amplifier ($13,000) is able to drive the new RAAL 1995 IMMANIS Triple Ribbon Driver Headphone (minimum 3 Watt requirement) and the HIFIMAN SUSVARA concurrently as well as most any other hard to drive headphone. And as always the Auris sound was unparalleled. Of course, they also had EarMen’s exemplary products available for a listen to show that you can get the Auris performance at a budget.

ZMF Headphones

ZMF Headphones as usual had a large display allowing attendees to test drive their extensive line of bespoke custom headphones on a plethora of amplifiers. New at the show was a pair of amazing and beautiful tube amplifiers under the intimidating moniker of the ZMF LordGwyn AEGIS Amplifier ($3,999) the difference being tube selection and transformer cage finish, as well as two soon-to-be-released headphones; the ZMF Caldera Closed (TBA) and the ZMF BOKEH Open (TBA). Needless to say the sound with either headphone was spectacular.

ALTITUDE.AUDIO

Showing for the first time was software designer ALTITUDE debuting their unique auditory correction software. Essentially the software performs a hearing test and then corrects for hearing loss, with the intention of working cross-platform to work with any playback device.

TOM CHRISTIANSEN AUDIO

DIYer turned manufacturer TOM CHRISTIANSEN AUDIO was showing his TOM CHRISTIANSEN AUDIO HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier ($999) and his tiny TOM CHRISTIANSEN AUDIO HPA-10 Headphone Amplifier ($499).

KIMBER KABLE

KIMBER KABLE had a booth in the Ear Gear Experience where they demonstrated KIMBER KABLE AXIOS Headphone Cables and a room in the tower where they had a clever demonstration with two identical sets of speakers running two different grades of their speaker cables, the Kimber Kable Carbon 16 Cable and Kimber Kable Carbon 18XL Cable, showing the immense difference in soundstage the upper-grade cable makes.

Technics

In a rare appearance at a headphone event, Technics were demonstrating their line of true wireless IEMs. They offer three models the Technics EAH-AZ80 Premium Hi-Fi Wireless Earbuds with Noise Cancelling ($299.99) which come in black or silver, the Technics EAH-AZ60M2 Hi-Fi Wireless Earbuds II with Noise Cancelling ($249.99) which come in black, silver, or blue, and the Technics EAH-AZ80 True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds II ($169.99) which come in black, silver, or rose gold.

RAAL 1995/RAAL requisite

Danny of RAAL requisite was onboard to demonstrate the brand new multi-ribbon driver RAAL 1995 headphones. The two-ribbon RAAL 1995 Magna features an etched 3-phase stainless steel grill and 29% more surface area than the RAAL requisite CA-1a while the three-ribbon RAAL 1995 IMANNIS offers gold plated grills and almost twice as much surface area as the CA-1. There is also a new interface which doubles as a headphone stand. The bar for ribbon driver headphones has certainly been raised.

Masimo Consumer/Bowers & Wilkins/Denon/CLASSE

Another new face to the Ear Gear Experience was Masimo Consumer who represents B&W, Denon, CLASSE, and many others. Of course, they also had one of the large ballrooms where they displayed the majority of their products but it was nice to see them putting some effort into their wireless headphone lines. In the Ear Gear Experience, they were demonstrating the B&W Px8 Over-Ear Noise-Canceling Wireless Headphone ($699), and the Denon PerL Pro Premium True Wireless Earbuds ($349). In the ballroom, they were playing the CLASSE Delta PRE Mk II Preamplifier ($12,000) and Delta MONO Power Amplifier ($10,999 ea) through B&W 801 D4 Signature Loudspeakers ($55,000).

That concludes part 2 of our ongoing coverage of AXPONA 2024 thanks to Puron (https://hifihouse.co.uk/puron/, info@hifihouse.co.uk), and Vera-Fi Audio, stay tuned for part 3.