As synchronicity had it, by then my deskfi remodel was complete.

For headphones it meant this setup of Win10/64 PC, Singxer SU-2 bridge and iFi Pro iDSD Signature clock-slaving the Singxer. Local files dispatch through Audirvana Origin in exclusive access mode. Its 64-bit R8brain upsampler is set to 176.4/192kHz to conform to the S/PDIF limit. The DAC applies another x 4 upsampling to 705.6/768kHz on its FPGA. Cloud files come in over Qobuz Sublime via Wasapi Exclusive Mode. I mostly remain in PCM but occasionally resample on the fly to 1'028 DSD on iFi's Cassiopeia chip. Headphones tend to be Final's D8000 planarmagnetics but HifiMan's Susvara borrow occasionally from next door.

Next door would be my second test station for Oleh's headphones. It's our main system of exclusively local files via iMac/Audirvana, Soundaware D300Ref bridge, Sonnet Pasithea DAC and for headphone drivers, either a Kinki Studio THR-1 or Enleum AMP-23R. This is the usual home of Susvara. Alternate source is a Denafrips Avatar CD transport.

By May 29th after the Munich show had closed its doors, I had the long-awaited email. "Your samples will ship next week." By then I discovered this sonic comment from Delacaff on Headfi.org: "…digs into the bass down to sub level with ease. Sensation of impact….highs reach peaks to incredible levels but brightness is not constant… super resolving… probably the most resolving headphone I have experienced so far… doesn't push tone like lots of planars do… soundstage is insane… depth and relief are phenomenal… super articulated with lots of air but I always heard a very coherent musical message. Lots of liquidity… what's funny is that you just don't expect such light and fairly compact headphones to deliver so much." This makes for a good first impression to see how my own will track.

Personal preference honed into these aspects: sub bass; exploded treble; "doesn't push tone". I had a clear sense what Delacaff meant by the latter. I refer to it as extra fat and resultant texturization. With my early LCD-2, I'd described it as a chocolately richness and density which I then discarded as being too cloying and opaque. Compared to Raal's ribbons, most planarmagnetics still fall well behind on treble clarity and in the bass are bloomier/thicker. That extra resonance obscures infra bass. Here was first anecdotal suggestion that the Binom-ER wouldn't come up short on my personal trigger score.

As an unapologetic silver guy meanwhile—I dislike black and always buy silver where available—comments on appearance had to wait for the real thing. In the photos the black Binom-ER didn't seem as sexy to me as this original render; and I wasn't sure about the two-tone Alcantara headband yet versus the leather ear pads. Would seeing be believing? As to hearing, here's some invisible tech: "To our ultra-thin polyethylene terephthalate diaphragm we apply an aluminum conductor. The process however contrasts with the classical solution which applies its metallic conductive paths by spraying. Instead we first apply an ultra-thin electrical aluminum film across our entire PETE membrane with special adhesive. Photo etching then removes the areas we don't need to leave just the conductive paths. This has a huge advantage. Our electrical aluminum made specifically for this purpose and followed by rolling has far superior electrical properties than sprayed metal."

Because the USB-C terminated Y cable runs both channels in each of its legs, it doesn't matter how you connect them. And whilst judging sound quality over Youtube and computer speakers is a fool's errand, the musical choice of this Munich 2019 show snippet, of Oleh's small monitors, still drives home their unexpected bandwidth. It previews how expecting the unexpected also from the Binom-ER was proper protocol.

Oleh's DHL shipment dropped off the radar for five days after exiting German airspace. That's because on our end, Irish AnPost took over. Being purely domestic, they can't track anything inbound until it actually lands in their jurisdiction. That happened 11 days after DHL in Germany first received electronic shipment data. Camerton might want to switch to a carrier with constant global tracking like FedEx or UPS. It'd give clients who buy direct from Berlin greater peace of mind to see that their cargo is currently held up in customs somewhere, missed an outgoing flight, got rerouted, lost its value declaration or requires other intervention by the recipient. With luxury goods, just dropping off the radar is a bit worrisome.