PART 2: Osaka Yodobashi Camera
During my meeting, I asked some of my Japanese hosts what other headphone stores they could recommend. One of them said I should go to Osaka Yodobashi Camera. It was located in Umeda, 2 stations away via subway from my current location of Shinsaibashi. My meeting finished at around 5 pm, and my friend said it closed at 9 pm, so I had plenty of time.
So I rushed to the Subway station and got my arse to Umeda. Yodobashi was easy to find as it was just outside Osaka Station:
(note: The next two pics are grabbed images, I forgot to take a pic of the store in my haste, hehe)
The audio section was also on the 3rd Floor, but I also noticed the Watch Section on the 2nd floor and passed by quickly. I left the 2nd floor after buying a Gshock I’ve been having my eye on for a while (pardon the momentary audio diversion)
When I finally reached the 3rd-floor Audio Section, a SEA OF HEADPHONES greeted me. Literally the most cans I’ve ever seen gathered together in my life…ALL AVAILABLE FOR AUDITION…
But I didn’t spend much time sifting through this cornucopia of cans. A few meters away, I spied dedicated audition booths, with actual CDs and an assigned Marantz CD Player and headphone amps…
There were a total of SEVEN (7) audition booths. For the first 6 booths, there were six to eight (6-8) cans each, with each can connected to a Fostex amp and a Marantz cd player. The seventh booth had just one can (I think you could request other cans but I didn’t bother) but multiple amps (the legendary Luxman amps among them)
The first 6 booths had these for source, amp, and CDs:
The choice of CDs (i used mostly the Miles Davis and the Sgt. Peppers CDs as audition CDs)
Each Can in each booth was marked 1-8. To audition a can, you put in your CD of choice, and raise the volume pot with the corresponding number of the can you want to try
The First Booth contained assorted Senn and Ultrasone Cans. Unfortunately, the Japanese dude auditioning here never stood up the whole time I was here, so I wasn’t able to enter this booth
The second booth was the AKG booth. I was able to do a comparo of the 702 and the 601 briefly, but having already tried these cans in the past, I quickly moved on to the next booth.
Booth 3 was the Denon – JVC /Victor booth aka CAMP WOODY. It was by far my favorite booth, as it offered for a shoot out and audition the D5000, D7000, DX700, and DX1000!
First off, I did a shoot out between the JVC and Denon flagships….DX1000 vs D7000
No contest, the dx1000 won hands down. Huge Soundstage, excellent detail, nice tight deep bass, sounded really cavernous in a good way. The d7000 was no slouch but had a more uncontrolled Bass and tighter soundstage. The d7000 and the d5000 were almost the same, and I couldn’t discern a difference.
I own a dx700, so I did a dx1000 and dx700 shoot out….and I was presently surprised. Despite costing almost double, the DX1000 was not that far above the dx700. In fact, they sounded very identical with similar bass, soundstage, and detail, more or less mirroring Skylab’s opinions on these two JVC cans.
Maybe if I had more time, more varied music, and a better source, I can discern why the DX1000 is better, but based on my brief listen, the difference is hardly discernable. Yay for my DX700! Time was running out, so I moved to the next booth…
The fifth booth was the Audio-Technica Booth. Cans 7 & 8 were the current AT flagship woodies, the W1000X AND THE W5000, and I just HAD to do a shoot out!!
Both cans were awesomely detailed, airy, and had expansive soundstage. But the W5000 was slightly thinner and drier, with less bass. I preferred the w1000x by a sizable margin. Plus the Lacquered finish is to die for!
The sixth booth contained various portable AT cans…the es55, es7, esw9, and es10.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try any of them since I was too excited to try the 7th and the last booth, containing an AT W5000 and numerous desktop and portable amps
Obviously, there were way too many amps to try on my borrowed time, so I concentrated on the biggest and baddest amp available: The Luxman P-1u. I remember reading in Head-Fi this sucker costs 3000 USD and had a very favorable review from Skylab. So I put on the w5000 and fired away from the sample Chopin CD
WOAH, the w5000 was now a different beast from what I auditioned in the booth! The airiness was still there, but the music had more meat and heft. I guess amplification DOES make a difference, especially if that amp costs 170,000 yen hehe.
By this time, I had only about 30 minutes left of store time, with the Japanese PA system incessantly reminding me of this fact. I then realized that I haven’t seen or tried the Stax yet!!
I quickly ran to the high-end audio section of the store and saw the Stax Glass Cabinet. I zeroed in on the top shelf, and saw, from left to right, the SR-507, the limited ed SR-600 amp, the SR-007 aka Omega mk2, and lastly, THE NEW FLAGSHIP SR-009!
But WAIT, the 009 wasn’t there!!
Now usually, for these ultra-expensive, high-end cans sealed off inside glass cabinets, a request from the staff is needed to audition them. Since I had very little time left in the store, I had given up all hope of trying any of them. I figured, with all the cans I’ve tried so far, I’m pretty much set, and could go home now.
But wait, as I was about to leave…I entered this area of the floor and saw this…
WAIT, the 009 was OUT IN THE WILD????
I quickly scanned the area, and there…I caught a glimpse of it…EXCALIBUR! THE GRAIL OF GRAILS! ROSEBUD!!!
I genuflected before the Flagship of Flagships, whispered a little prayer of thanks to the headphone gods, and snapped away with my NEX-5:
At this point, some Osaka Yodobashi staff were fiddling with the 009 and auditioning it for themselves, and I was reduced to a spectator. I was DYING to audition it, but these salespeople were constantly fiddling with it and testing it
I drew up the courage to ask the staff if I could try the can, but the guy in blue simply shook his head and said wait, or not yet, or something like that.
That was when this caucasian dude behind me (who I thought was a spectator like me) talked to me and told me that the 009 was HIS and that he was returning it because there was an intermittent signal problem, causing channel imbalances. He told me this was common with this first production-run 009s, and he was trying to return it for a new pair.
I quickly introduced myself and discovered he was a member of Head-Fi. (Sadly, I forgot his name, username, and did not take his picture. The darn 009s addled my brain and I weren’t thinking straight). He said he was an American, but based in Japan. Based on the fluency with which he conversed with the staff, explaining his problem, I figured he must’ve been in Japan for a while now.
His problem now was he could NOT recreate the problem in the store, and the 009 was working PERFECTLY. Now I REALLY had to try it!!
The headphone gods heard my desperate plea, and the two boys in blue stepped out to get a NEW pair of 009s to compare with this returned 009. As they left, the 009 was FREE!!!! I asked the dude if I could try the 009s, and he said, be my guest!!
Oh be still my trembling heart, I put on the 009s…and sweet sweet music (some Japanese audiophile Jazz CD) flooded into my brain…
See that smile on my face? it was plastered on the whole time I was listening to the 009s. I’ve listened to Sir Ken’s Omega mk1, and this 009 had all the air, space, soundstage, and uber-detail of those, but with a fuller bass with more presence.
Of course, it would never achieve dynamic bass ala dx1000 or d7000, but it was there. The music was floating, palpable, and oh-so-detailed. Instrument separation was the best I’ve heard. And of course, the trademark “where is the music coming from?” and out-of-head sensation of Stats were present.
Alas, my time with the 009s was short-lived. Soon, the boys in blue arrived with a new stock of 009s, plugged that in, and I was reduced to spectator yet again.
My OsakaVerdict
I finally left the Osaka stores after that, knowing my trip to headphone mecca was complete. It was past 930, and I was one of the few remaining customers inside the store.
I could not count how many cans I auditioned ( I tried on probably 3 times the number of cans I have pictures with), with numerous rare and flagship cans, topped off with an audition of THE best and most expensive in-production can (no, the Edition 10s don’t count)
All this in one day!! Talk about your complete days!
If you reached this far, thanks for reading! Hope you had as much fun reading this as I had to experience them personally.
