Thank you for 2024

Author: Sword of Damocles

Another year of Kuulokenurkka is behind us, so let's make a small summary of everything that has happened. For a while now, my goal has not been to push out the maximum number of reviews after quick testing, but rather I try to approach the work a bit more relaxed, so that it doesn't just become repetitive performance. In 2024, however, 30 articles were eventually published, which is still about every other week. Many may have noticed Roderick writing quite rarely nowadays, which is due to other life commitments. Nevertheless, content from him will still be seen in the future.

Towards the end of the year, Kuulokenurkka moved to a new, faster server, which hopefully streamlined the browsing experience and reduced response times. At the same time, the future of the site was secured for as many as four years ahead, because when changing service providers, the price for a new customer always remains affordable, similar to changing phone operators. Staying with the previous web host would have cost more annually than what I paid for four years to the new service provider.

Otherwise, I didn't have time to significantly renew the concept during the year, but I did launch the headphones' wall of fame, which has already managed to attract a good number of visitors. As another update, in addition to frequency responses, I started measuring the impedance curve of headphones. This provides interesting information about how headphones behave with different amplifiers. Regarding frequency responses, Kuulokenurkka's Squiglink database currently has measurement results for 105 headphone models, and more are coming.

I visited the Helsinki Hifi Fair again, but this time I didn't write an article about it, because most of my time was spent chatting with acquaintances, and I didn't focus much on testing headphones or other new products. I had actually already heard most of the headphones on display, except for example Hifiman Susvara Unveiled and Mini Shangri-La, as well as Meze Audio Liric II, Audeze LCD-5, and STAX SR-X1, which were new to me. Perhaps some of these will end up for my review in 2025. Next time, I'll probably have to attend the fair for two days to have enough time for everything.

One of the highlights of the year was testing Yamaha's 10,000 euro headphone set (HL-L7A & YH-5000SE) at home and generally getting it on loan directly from the manufacturer. In the same way, I received many other expensive products on loan, so I am truly grateful for the trust and willingness to cooperate from various parties. I will express my thanks to each of them separately at the end of this article.

As something not directly related to Kuulokenurkka, it was interesting to participate in the further development and DSP correction of Kaiku Tone headphones in the role of a sound designer. Although I am not otherwise involved in the manufacturer's operations, at least for now, it's nice to note that its products have found resellers in Finland.

As one highlight, I also want to mention that I wrote a review of Palma Audio's DHS-1 headphones for AVplus magazine (5/2024). In the spirit of our small-scale cooperation, similar content may be found in the magazine in the future. All such things bring variety to life and hobbies.

Information on visitor numbers

Kuulokenurkka was visited by 70,000 people during 2024. Page views, in turn, amounted to 133,000, or 11,000 monthly. The site was clearly quieter in the summer, while during the November sales, it was, as expected, busiest with 10,000 visitors. The number of visitors grew by about 25 percent compared to 2023, but due to partially incomplete data from the previous year, the growth might have been even greater in reality. 100,000 visitors per year could be an optimistic future goal, but I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to achieve it by writing in Finnish, other than by increasing the share of noise-cancelling headphones. Speaking of which, the 10 most read articles this year were:

1. Valco VMK25
2. JBL Tune 770NC
3. Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless
4. Comparison of affordable (100-200 €) closed-back headphones
5. Sony WH-1000XM5
6. Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2e
7. Valco VMK20
8. Bose QuietComfort SE
9. Sennheiser HD 660S2
10. Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X Limited Edition

The list of products that most interested visitors is increasingly clearly made up of noise-cancelling headphones, among which only affordable headphone models and, somewhat surprisingly, Sennheiser's HD 660S2, which in my opinion doesn't even offer much improvement over the older HD 600 series, are wedged in. However, I am at a point where I can quite accurately estimate how many readers each article will reach. In addition to noise-cancelling headphones and affordable products, well-known manufacturers like Sennheiser always attract interest. For new manufacturers to break through here in Finland would require significant investments in marketing, regardless of how good their products are. On the other hand, sometimes a huge hype is generated around individual products, making them temporarily interesting to almost everyone, until another new product, in turn, captures consumers' attention.

What's next?

For my part, 2025 begins with a trip to Helsinki, from which a small travelogue will follow. Regarding headphones, there are many interesting models in the 200–400 euro price range in the review queue, which I believe will interest readers. For example, the article on Sennheiser HD 620S is already well underway, and I have also had time to form an opinion on the Sony MDR-M1 and Audeze Maxwell. I will also be reviewing the Fiio FT1 Pro planar headphones and the rare Modhouse Audio Tungsten. Also worth mentioning are the Ferrum Audio OOR high-end amplifier and the Moondrop x Singer Edge noise-cancelling headphones from the under 100 euro price range.

Cooperation with various manufacturers, importers, and retailers will certainly continue as well, as soon as I have time to borrow more products. It is important for me to stick to the agreed schedule, so I try to avoid borrowing multiple products simultaneously. So far, this tactic has worked excellently, and we have been able to publish the articles on time. Someone else might borrow more products, which would, however, increase scheduling pressures, especially if testing is not a full-time job.

Finally, I would like to thank all the 2024 partners in alphabetical order. Thank you AK-HifiSystems/Audiokauppa, Aune Audio, Dyson, Hifi.fi (now AudioForum), Kaiku Acoustics, Kruunuradio, Kuulokehemmo, Kuva ja Ääni, Mareksound, Simex, Sony and Yamaha!

Special thanks also to every reader and a happy new year to all!

Sincerely, Aapeli from Kuulokenurkka