Disclaimer: Before I go any further I want to clarify that I'm in no way affiliated with this shop (or any other). I don't receive anything for you clicking on links or anything else. My sole motivation for writing this is to explain how useful these shops can be for you and why it's worth taking advantage of & supporting them.
This is my first feature on a headphone showroom and hopefully the first of many. For a while now I have wanted to talk a little about the importance of listening to headphones when looking to buy. As much as I like and value sharing my thoughts in these reviews I don't think any amount of words can replace first hand experience. If you want to make your next purchase really count then I highly recommend visiting a showroom like this. Shops like John Lewis, Selfridges, Apple stores, Currys etc. can be useful for playing with a few brands, but their environments are noisy and their staff's knowledge can be overly generalised. One thing that these gadget/electronic stores often lack is a comfortable listening environment and the importance of this shouldn't be underestimated. Demo rooms really come into their own when looking for a more high-end experience too. They often have various other high-end equipment to combine headphones with, making them great for easily switching combinations and ultimately helping you decide where to best spend your hard-earned cash.
With an extensive selection, reliable advise and a more personalised experience the phrase 'buy once, buy right' comes to mind. This often ends up saving you time, money and stress by making sure you're as informed as possible and that you avoid purchases that are wrong for you. As portable devices (capable of good quality audio) have sky-rocketed in recent years with phones and tablets, so has the demand for higher quality headphones. Despite heavy competition online and from general chain stores, dedicated headphone stores are available. For those of you in the UK here is one close to London - Custom Cable is based in New Malden (20 minutes by train from Waterloo). They specialise in headphones, DACs, headphone amplifiers and of course - cables. There are many interesting things to play with in two nice and cosy demo rooms. There you can experience the equipment of your choice for as long as you wish (well... as long as they're open).
Here is a selection of equipment that I chose to play with:
Bowers & Wilkins P7
Sennheiser HD700
Sennhesier HD800
Beyerdynamic T1
Resonessence Herus
Resonessence Concero
Resonessence Invicta
Burson Conductor
Astell & Kern AK100
Astell & Kern AK120
Sennheiser HDVD-800
I like to bring my own laptop along and play my own music through one of their high-end DAC/amp combos (they have many) and they are very well set up for this. However, if you come completely unprepared that's no problem too. The laptop you see (above) is available and comes fully loaded with lots of great music (in various qualities like: CD, HD & DSD). NOTE: This is not their entire stock by any means. If you are interested in going along to demo some things I suggest either emailing or giving them a call before hand, so you know what they have available.
As you can see here they also have a lot of other hifi equipment. This is because they're a partner of Unilet Sound & Vision and share these premises with them. If you're interested in headphones and speakers (who the hell isn't?) then you'll be like a kid in a sweet shop here!
The above shot is from their second demo room. I'm sorry I didn't get more angles of this one. This room also has a nice big screen TV for surround sound speaker demonstrations :).
Sennheiser's flagship headphone (intentionally ignoring the rare Orpheus) - the HD800, with newly released USB DAC and headphone amplifier that's designed specifically for it. These puppies are capable of delivering some impressive detail!
On the more compact and portable side - here is the new Resonessence Herus DAC, running directly from a Samsung Galaxy S3. This set up is even more impressive when you realise that the Herus has no battery. This means that the DAC is getting it's power from the phone's USB. The Epiphany E-DAC also manages this, but it doesn't quite reach this level of sound quality. It's just a shame that the Herus can only be run from the 'USB Audio Recorder Pro' app on Android. This is not the most easy way to navigate your music library, as the image somewhat shows, but it does work*. If you have an iPhone (ios 6/7) then you can also run the Herus and that seems like an even nicer option. * Note: Not all Android phones support digital audio out via USB
The Flagship HD800s next to their little brother - the HD700.
The mini Herus DAC running the Sennheiser HD800s. Believe it or not the Herus is capable of driving them loud and well. Not to take the thunder away from the larger two Resonessence machines here, which are both awesome in their own right. Here are some photos of the other headphone related gear that Custom Cable have in their shop:
Finally, here are some shots of the other hifi toys that they have downstairs - enjoy :)
If you have a headphone demo room, or know of one that you would like me to write about then please let me know about it in the comments.
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