RHA CL1: the Richard Dawkins of IEMs: insensitive, brilliant, and not everyone’s cup of tea

Pros:  Excellent clarity and treble extension, good quality and quantity of bass Cons: intimate sound-stage; recessed mids; some mids details fade, veil or disappear; underdriven by many DACs and DAPs; need forward mids to sound totally right List Price: £349.95 (on RHA’s website)($449.95 from Moon audio in USA) Acknowledgment The RHA CL1 was provided to... Continue Reading →

Blue Microphones Ella – the new first lady of planar magnetic headphones

Pros:  Crisp and detailed sound, good dynamics, excellent sense of musicality for a “neutral” tuning, exceptional spatial cues, good comfort, onboard amp circuitry to make the driveable by just about anything, ON+ mode for a more “analogue” sound Cons: Unusual headphone construction leaves you feeling like an extra from Dr Who, could do with a... Continue Reading →

Mee Pinnacle P1: breath rarified sound in this price bracket

Pros:  Clear, transparent sound, detailed, tight measured bass, sveldt and sexy metal shell, top tier price to performance ratio, brilliant accessories Cons: power hungry to get full performance, can be a touch bright List price: $199 (£139) Acknowledgment Thanks Tony at HiFi Headphones for letting me participate in the UK tour. It was fun as always.... Continue Reading →

Audio-Opus Opus #1: a transparent reference quality DAP and a great start for a promising company

Pros: Uber transparent black background, balanced out, easy operating system, build quality, up to 432 GB of storage, battery saving mode, nice leather case Cons: Android in name only, did not successfully scan all tags, operating system not fully featured List Price: £399 ($399), available from HiFi Headphones in the UK, Musicteck in the USA.... Continue Reading →

FiiO X5iii: the giant killer that wasn’t

Pros:  Size is nice in the hand, solid build, 2 micro-SD slots for tons of storage, Google Play Store, minimal skinning on Android, good functional interface, Quick Charge, excellent USB DAC function, full-featured Cons: Sound is very mid-fi, hiss with sensitive IEMs, button layout not terribly ergonomic, weak/poor Bluetooth, limited amplification, crowded bottom end, coaxial... Continue Reading →

Effect Audio Ares II+: Smooth shimmering heavy metal value

Pros:  Beautiful, a bit more airy and detailed than stock cable, smoothed some sharper treble on Kaiser Encore, perfect size pins, precise tight bass with good impact, bigger stage than stock Cons: chunky, a bit heavy on the ear, paint wears off easily, 2-pin connector shell is glued List Price: $219.90 Acknowledgment I received the... Continue Reading →

Unique Melody Miracle: a smooth operator

Pros:  Smooth pleasing signature, laid back, isolation, deep rich bass, detail retrieval and imaging Cons: Soft tonality, slightly diffuse bass, soundstage merely average, like some amplification to sound their best List Price: $1049 (musicteck.com) Acknowledgment I’d like to thank Lawrance of Unique Melody for loaning audioprimate.blog the Miracle V2 in exchange for honest opinions. You... Continue Reading →

Sonus Faber Pryma 0/1 – darkly fashionable

Pros:  Quality build, unusual look, rich sound with a smooth and velvety midrange and warm, enveloping bass, decent layering Cons: Can sound veiled / rolled off in the treble compared to other over-ears in the same price range, slightly closed in soundstage Price: £399.00 (PRYMA) Acknowledgment I acquired these over-ears in a trade deal with a... Continue Reading →

iFi iDSD Black Label: Swiss Army knife utility, top tier sound and flexibility that does everything extremely well, so much value it’s just unfair to the competition

Pros:  enough power to drive an HE-6 while having enough finesse to feed a Kaiser Encore, plays everything natively, flexible inputs and outputs, flexible sound through XBass and 3D that leaves the core of the mids alone Cons: 3D can sound artificial on some tracks, black on black fonts, difficult to see volume knob level... Continue Reading →

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