If you want to go to Poland’s annual Audio Video Show—or any trade expo, for that matter—it’s wise to plan your trip to avoid the crowds, if at all possible. Doug Schneider, Jason Thorpe, and I judiciously chose to focus our first day on PGE Narodowy, Warsaw’s huge sporting stadium and event center. As I entered the concourse dedicated to exhibiting all things ’phones, I recalled the throngs filling this space at last year’s event, and silently thanked Doug for pushing to go here first. The hall was still nearly empty; I’d have full access to brand reps and distributors as I tested out the latest offerings. Here’s what I found. Take note of the prices, as they are presented here in both US dollars and Polish zlotys.
First, I stopped by a familiar table, that of Ferrum Audio. Ferrum is a relatively new brand, one that is local to Warsaw and whose fourth anniversary coincides with this year’s show. Though I’m quite familiar with the brand’s flagship DAC, the Wandla, I’ve never had a chance to properly hear its headphone efforts. The Oor, at $1995, is a purpose-made headphone amp, and while it was part of the stack I heard, I didn’t use it. Instead, Ferrum had its Erco Gen 2 headphone amp/DAC playing.
The Erco Gen 2, which retails for $1795, is (perhaps obviously) an elaboration on the original Erco, which means that it gets several upgrades that bring its digital performance closer to that of the Wandla. In addition to raising the resolution capability of its digital input to accept PCM data at up to 768kHz and up to DSD512, the Erco Gen 2 gets an updated I/V amplification stage and uses Ferrum’s HQ Apodizing digital filter.
The Erco Gen 2 was powered by the Hypsos Dual Output power supply, which goes for $1395, though the original single-output version is still available for $1195. Customers who want both an Erco Gen 2 and a Hypsos power supply are in luck, as Ferrum sells the combo together for a substantial discount: just $2990 for both. On the business end was a pair of headphones I first heard at the High End 2024 show in Munich: Austrian Audio’s The Composer, which retail for $2699 in the US.
The Austrian Audio headphones, together with the Ferrum electronics, were both immersive and revealing. The Composer headphones lean to the analytical side of things, so I felt I understood the decisions made during the recording and mixing of the tracks I listened to, though all the emotional impact was there, too. To say this setup was competent would be a gross understatement, though one should expect it to be with a combined price of nearly $6000.
I moved on to the HiFiMan table. It seemed only appropriate that I learn about the brand’s ’phones directly from the reps here; nearly everyone else who manufactured electronics here was using some HiFiMan product or other to demonstrate their wares. I was introduced to HiFiMan’s latest model, the HE1000 Unveiled. Priced at $2699 in the US, these headphones were just revealed two weeks ago in Los Angeles. So the pair shown here in Warsaw probably became most people’s first exposure to them, at least in Europe.
The HE1000 Unveiled headphones received their signal from HiFiMan’s EF600 R2R DAC and headphone amp, a device that retails for $799, but at the time of writing is on sale for $649. Together, this headphone-and-amp combo was deliciously natural-sounding, with some roundness at the top and bottom of the spectrum that added some warmth without infringing upon the headphones’ clarity or articulation. And, to top it off, dynamic impact was impressive, too.
The brand rep at the HiFiMan table was emphatic that I check out the Mini Shangri-La setup too, which he said is often overlooked by journalists and customers alike due to its mid-tier pricing. The Mini Shangri-La headphones, which sell independently for $1100, are HiFiMan’s intro electrostatic headphones, so they require a special amplifier. The amp sells for $1500, though the two together can be had for $2300, a substantial saving. I tried these headphones and was impressed, but what is perhaps most impressive is that someone looking to dive into the world of electrostatics can do so with this setup at a price point that’s lower than most other options on the market.
The last stop of my quick tour of the headphones zone was distributor Audiomagic’s table. This Warsaw-based store brought an eye-catching setup that begged me and my fellow SoundStagers to sit down for a listen. The headphones were the GoldPlanar GL1200 open-back ribbon headphones, which retail here for zł7490. The price includes the necessary impedance-matching box for the headphones. What caught our eye was not just the huge gunmetal-and-copper circumaural ’phones, but the fact that they were driven using a huge power amplifier, one that would generally be used for speakers. The upshot is that if you already have a killer stereo setup, you can simply add these headphones using the speaker outputs—pretty cool in its own right.
But coolest of all was the sound. The GoldPlanar ’phones offered total transparency to the source without any of that detail-in-your-face-and-up-your-butt harshness. And they played loud too, which was welcome as—thank the hi-fi gods—these guys actually had some good music to play. I listened to Nirvana’s Nevermind on CD using a TY-50 CD player (zł3690), AD-1PRE preamp (zł5990), and AD-1PA power amp (zł16,490), all from a Chinese brand called Tone Winner. The Audiomagic rep said the brand existed previously as an OEM manufacturer for other hi-fi brands, but decided to spin off its own consumer brand, as it can offer competitive products of its own, like those I heard here.
The GoldPlanar and Tone Winner setup was a super-cool, top-notch system to cap off our tour of Audio Video Show 2024’s headphone zone. But there was still plenty more to see and hear at PGE Narodowy. And that’s to say nothing of the show’s other two locations, which we’ll be tackling later. Stay tuned.
Matt Bonaccio
Contributor, SoundStage!