CES 2017

I think all headphone innovations should be covered whether they appeal to audiophiles or general consumers. Even if it's just a post every 6-12 months it can bring awareness to the change that is happening. At some point the audiophile world is going to overlap with the consumer market as shown by headphones like the AKG N90Q.

I don't even see the point of just covering 2 channel (meant for loudspeakers) audio. It's a stagnated world that only sees minor improvements and will never offer anything otherwise without DSP.

DSP is required for high fidelity on headphones whether that is basic equalization to your unique HRTF or fully-fledged binaural synthesis for out of head localization. Headphones offer a different experience to loudspeakers but it is still spatial distortion of a signal meant intended for a good loudspeaker setup. No headphone will be neutral out of the box due to unique differences in our head/ear geometry.

So yes cover 3D audio because it's an area of innovation that can radically change headphone listening. This can be either getting as close as possible to a loudspeaker setup or creating convincing synthesized audio of virtual environments. You can create the most convincing 3D visuals in VR but if sounds fake then it will feel fake. Getting Presence in VR requires convincingly real audio.

I just don't see how you can ignore it when major players like Dirac and Sennheiser are in on it. It's like ignoring the rise of bluetooth headphones.

I have zero interest in VR googles, to me it's like 3D stuff at a movie theater, you get out with all the symptoms of the flue. it's impressive but not what I would call enjoyable in the long run. the audio side of things is just following that trend(because I've never seen the audio industry doing anything on its own, many are still not really ready for internet to this day). so not too sure if it will become the standard way to listen to music, even less so if the googles never make it big.
also do we really want the lead singer to go monkeying around in 3D just because we can? let's not forget the earth is flat (I couldn't resist).

now I'm thrilled that people are working on all this because ultimately the only way to get a really good result is to make use of personal HRTF, so I pray holy Stevie Wonder that more and more brands will start working on it to find a way to measure more and more variables from individuals, rapidly, everywhere, cheap. ideally a visual scanner so that we don't need an acoustically isolated room.
that I expect to change the headphone experience for good. at least for all the unlucky bastards like myself who aren't the perfect average ize and shape, and have an absolutely rubbish experience with standard effects for panning, surround, crossfeed or anything meant to turn headphones into better than speakers(that they technically can be) instead of a tool for defective stereo we've had to call hifi for all those years and pretend that 24bit makes a night and day difference, but having the singer inside my skull allegedly isn't noticeable or problematic.

whatever loss we'll get from digital manipulation(not much if we don't ask for zero delay) will vastly be masked by the benefits of moving on from headstage to soundstage. and then we'll be able to go back to fapping about the sound like the artist intended in something 5 times the resolution of DXD if we so please.

so yeah I'm all for that 3D crap ^_^.

You're the only one covering stuff with Marketplace Relevance.

JA should send that wonderful new Video Girl & Mr.Iverson to assist you.

Your stuff is happ'n stuff, the Excitement side of Audio, You're the leading Journalist for 21st Century gear!

Of course Mr.JA & Staff know this but need to admit it. This CES should make it obvious. Jana's video of Old Walruses ( like me ) paints a rather clear picture. That young musical lad ( they brought ) was the only young face in any Snap!

Book your rooms at the Tuscany ( just around the corner ) for an easy, relaxed stay, enjoy their wonderful Pool & Hot Tub. From there you can walk behind the Strip.

The Brick & Morter Dealer Network is mostly gone, CES Audio is for Dealers only.

The Internet has conquered.

Tony in Michigan

ps. Can you do TEAM?

...I think it really is in the best interest of this blog to cover emerging technologies like VR related products, but perhaps not the lowest common denominator "gamer" ones which feed on the hype to deliver garbage. I think this largely because spacial audio is quickly becoming a emerging field as commercially viable VR draws near and public awareness of it grows exponentially.

The products that seek to push boundaries of tech+sound and aren't tied to a focus group alone are the ones that will be making a real impact in the coming years in this field. There is so much potential and the tech is ripe for innovation; each new commercial implementation of HRTF based spacial reproduction in a headphone system seems to make a new clear benchmark for what can be done while the path beyond it still remains clear.

Thus, the first company to nail implementation/sound (front localization, realistic space, accurate changes in depth of sound, ect.), ease-of-use and price in one product will likely have a home run on their hands. Then, once we have that "90%" perfect product for spacial audio as the commercial standard, the game may change into copying that one product with slight improvements/changes.

Boom, were back to what we see now in the "analog" headphone market; where the ability to comprehensively reproduce audio is taken for granted and the subtle(occasionally not-so-subtle) differences in reproduction are the meat and potatoes of what different companies sell for different amounts.

Of course, this is just my view as a starry eyed undergrad in engineering. Regardless, VR and spacial audio is still something worth consideration while it is currently relevant.

I personally have no interest in VR or (from this source) headphones used as hearing aids. While I wouldn't object if you covered it, the problem is that time spent there is time not spent covering headphones for music listening. the measurements and listening tests you make on 'regular' headphones is great. I want you to continue with that good work and not too many distractions.

TLDR: It's not so much a "Do you want fries with that?" kind of question as it is a "With what melange of spices would you prefer your frites be seasoned?" kind of question.

IMO providing coverage of nascent differentiated audio formats is, to some extent, going to become practically unavoidable. Consider: The industry stalwarts that you've been covering for years wrt 2 channel audio are now (or soon will be) pursuing these formats and experiences. If nothing else, coverage of their efforts into branching audio disciplines should provide a reasonably natural entree to the topics of VR, 3D, Listening Assist, etc.

Similarly, from a broader market perspective, I suspect that consumer expectations will develop to favor those products that are capable of offering a quality "converged" audio experience capability.

It may well continue to make sense for diehard audio enthusiasts in the home to maintain a selection of different headphones, with each offering distinct strengths in a particular audio format; much like it is today across varied musical genres.

Emphasis continues to build, however, wrt to a strong focus on mobility. Audiophiles of any stripe will not be immune to the undeniable benefit of toting but a single set of headphones at any given time, and I expect we'll see demand build around products that prove themselves to be good "all-rounders"; again, just like today.

There are decisions to be made on how the transition is addressed; there's a lot to learn about the nuances of these divergent formats; there definitely will come a point when you'll need to make that first in-depth post really focusing on a divergent format. But if it's approached as a natural progression (kind of like moving from your first motorcycle up to the touring class cruiser that you're putting on the pavement these days), my guess is that the proper flow will reveal itself.

You've got a tremendous depth of knowledge on 2 channel audio; you have terrific industry relationships (read: resources) with many of the players who will be focused on developing kit for these use-cases; you have unparalleled chops in both the analysis of product and the journalizing of that process. And you have an excellent set of well trained discriminating ears, in both objective and subjective realms.

Again: It's not so much a "Do you want fries with that?" kind of question as it is a "How would you like your spuds to be spiced?" kind of question.

To be able to learn about these upcoming capabilities is intriguing to me.
And I'm probably not going to buy one of these systems, perhaps ever, because hi-end head phones are reaching degrees of sonic and acoustical realness such that it captures my full attention.

But I figure if it grabs your attention it would grab mine and I figure others as well, at least enough to want to learn more.

Mostly because if there is niftyness embedded within these new fangled gee-gaws it would be good to learn about them and watch as they mature…

JJ

In my comment immediately above, I don't mean to suggest or imply that adopting a new focus on these divergent formats will be easy, or some Sunday walk in the park. There will be a LOT of time and effort that will go into tackling new stuff like this.

Unless you've mastered control over the manipulation of space-time, something will have to give. That "something" inevitably is a reduced focus on 2 channel audio, and a consequent reduction of output pertaining to 2 channel. Physics is Physics; ask any pilot.

The best you can do is to scout for a nice clear, hopefully harvested, un-tilled bean field and plan your approach. Because there will be trade-offs (which I presume everyone involved is savvy enough to understand).

In audio music reproduction sound quality is foremost important over all else. Any development that progresses to reach a higher quality of music reproduction true to the original recording is welcomed and fair game for the industry to explore.

Sonics exploring other aspects are enjoyable and can enhance the experience only if the music sound quality does not suffer at all. The very extensive list of these enhancement-type developments goes back many decades in loudspeakers, amplifiers, preamps, outboard devices & pro-studio gear.

Now the time has come for headphones to enter into thia arena even though we have had some glorious past products such as Stax ED-1 Monitor & Signature and then some other much lesser devices, those often written off wrongly as novel, even simply such as decades-old hybrid-driver headphones, now back in vogue currently with new technology.

Creative thinking in science & engineering leads to more interest in the hobby, and more researchers willing to develop, which drives a good competition. The best of the lot results in progression of the art.

Any achievement is fair game to consider, but of utmost importance in these new future explorations is to retain & progress the purest music reproduction most true to the recording without compromise, while allowing enhancement to further our aural experience.

but I think the site should actually review that hardware.
With luck it brings new blood to the community.

It is rather surprising that it has taken so long but active and wireless headphones are the future for mainstream consumers. While there will always be an audiophile and purist market for traditional passive headphones, the potential of active headphones is undeniable. The ability to tailor the amplification and dsp to the driver and earcup can give us a very desirable frequency response. Add TruNote calibration and you really can see how far this can go. I do think manufacturers need to be pairing high-end drivers with good implementations of AptX and amplification. Imagine the beyerdynamic Tesla drivers with matched amplification and dsp. Could be an outrageous combination. The Sony MDR1 active and wireless headphones are getting there. So much potential...

As wireless is most of the time Bluetooth, it might be interesting to cover Bluetooth headphones featuring aptX HD.
It is lossless 24 bit / 48 kHz over Bluetooth.
Not the first lossless codec (KLEER comes to my mind) but one that might get some traction like its lossy brother aptX

I think wireless, noise canceling, etc., will always cost more. If the best headphones are $4,000 even without these features, it will take a lot to bring that down to the sub $500 market.

I have no interest in gaming, but the audio technology being pushed (primarily) by the 3D/VR applications does have interesting potential for music as well. Even if it evolves into something separate from a more "pure" high fidelity presentation, there will likely be times when that experience is preferable. One question is how does one test such gear? As the signal becomes dependent upon the listener's HRTF, how do we know whether what works for the reviewer will work as well for a given consumer?

if it's portable and plays music YES. (but only if it is any good for music)
once in a while a wonderfully exceptional 3d thing could work, even if it is a mediocre music player, maybe it is an exceptional home theatre on your years, but even so it should play well music.

One benefit of offering high quality VR video/audio is that more people may be motivated to actually spend time in dedicated listening sessions (rather than listening to music as a background to other activities.

My experience is that only a tiny percentage of music listeners make time to sit through an album. We audiophiles spend on equipment to produce the perfect soundstage and instrument seperation. VR promises to improve the illusion multi-fold.

If CES is dead to the High End it is due to the High End being more of a rear end toward normal folk.

The outrageous attitude (or perhaps, "altitude" of the subjectivist fed High End is responsible for what is happening to them. Headphone related businesses, take note. If you price your self out of the realm of the hobbyist/enthusiast and into the obsessive-compulsive/devotee set, the market for your wares will likely decrease.

This is a pleasurable hobby for most of us, not an OCD fixation. Given the amount of nerds (and I am a nerd, albeit an Alpha Nerd) I have seen at the few soirees I have attended I think it safe to state that I would cater more to the music/equipment oriented "Schittites™" than to the "it is all about the equipment and music is secondary" group of bitter manlets that so permeates the so-called High End.

ORT

ORT

Sony had its dongles, Apple has its Walled Garden, so I predict the future of DSP in headphones will attempt to be proprietary systems. That means we enthusiast consumers will need objective assessment more than ever, because now it is not just a choice of one headphone but of an entire supporting system that likely affects our phone and TV choices as well. (What if Netflix were only on iOS and HBO were only on Android and each required a different HP system to listen?)

Seems to me Apple is prepared to leave optical digital output in the same junk heap ( no longer on Apple TV) as the HP jack. I suspect HDMI micro and "nano" for smart devices are on the way and may share output with digital data akin to USB-c. Headphone enthusiasts will need help navigating all this regardless of whether our content is 2 channel or multi channel.

Please be there with your "objectivity first" approach because it has meant a lot to us.

Tyll, man, I need a set of headphones. 99 Classics don't really cut it for me visually. I'll go have a listen though. But would you start coming up with reviews?!
I might be an "a ss", but really I want some reviews. specifically around 300 euro :P
otherwise I might get a new pair of HP50's, althoughI had a horrible experience with their build quality.
L-R cable broke twice.
yours' truly now drunk

P.S. I really like your reviews, I took some poetic freedom writing the stuff above, but basically that covers what I am really after an 300, max 350 euros great headphone for phone and computer.
Cheers, and thank you!

Tyll, man, I need a set of headphones. 99 Classics don't really cut it for me visually. I'll go have a listen though. But would you start coming up with reviews?!
I might be an "a ss", but really I want some reviews. specifically around 300 euro :P
otherwise I might get a new pair of HP50's, althoughI had a horrible experience with their build quality.
L-R cable broke twice.
yours' truly now drunk

P.S. I really like your reviews, I took some poetic freedom writing the stuff above, but basically that covers what I am really after an 300, max 350 euros great headphone for phone and computer.
Cheers, and thank you!