Empire Ears Athena – unboxing and initial impressions

Introduction At the recent Canjam London expo, I had the privilege of spending some time with @Jack Vang and the team at Empire Ears, working my way through their current and unreleased IEM range. As an owner of the Zeus-XR, I was interested to find out what the rest of their lineup offered in terms... Continue Reading →

Jackpot77’s Canjam Impressions

Canjam London will always hold a special place in my heart - this is the first portable audio festival I ever attended, and provided my first taste of true high quality portable audio, and what it could sound like. I was lucky enough to make the Sunday of this year's Canjam London, and while making... Continue Reading →

RHA CL750: excellent value, assuming you have a decent amp on your portable gear

Pros:  Stellar build quality, excellent price, comfortable, fantastic quality cable, excellent clarity, good bass control, balanced signature Cons: Hard to drive, average soundstage List Price: £99 ($129) Acknowledgment The RHA CL750 was provided to me in exchange for running the UK leg of the RHA world-wide tour for the release of the DACAMP L1, CL1,... Continue Reading →

Massdrop x MEE Audio Pinnacle PX: the MEE Pinnacle P1 gets even more affordable

Pros: Stellar balanced sound, an absolute steal at $113.99, top of the class instrument separation in the price tier Cons: Difficult to drive, your phone won't do it justice, abandon all hope ye' iPhone as source people. Average soundstage. List Price: $113.99 Acknowledgement The Massdrop x MEE Pinnacle PX was supplied to me by Massdrop in exchange... Continue Reading →

Flares Pro: Unboxing and initial impressions

So, I'll get this off my chest right off. I'm very very impressed with the Flares Pro. This is the only Bluetooth headphone that I've ever heard that is distortion and noise free. I don't know how they do it. I know what the claims are: incredibly simple balanced amplification and distortion cancelling earbud design... Continue Reading →

Audio Primacy – Quarter-Final 1: JH Rosie vs CustomArt 9-driver (custom tuned CIEM)

The general concept One of the downsides of being an IEM enthusiast and amateur reviewer is an ever growing collection of in-ear gear, and only two ears to listen to it with. While pondering the gear mountain that was building up in my man-cave after a few frosty beverages, I set to working out the... Continue Reading →

HiFiMAN HE-1000 v2: unboxing and first impressions

Getting the HE-1000 v2 required some skill, bad luck and good luck. In the recent HiFiMAN HE-1000 International Photo Contest our photo took top place, which won us an EF-6 amplifier. We were stoked. However, when that EF-6 came, there was something wrong with it. It is also the case that HiFiMAN didn't have an... Continue Reading →

TheBit Opus #3: stellar sound, Android features still under construction

Pros:  Excellent tonality, good soundstage width, very detailed, balanced output with good power, solid build quality, leather case (not included by default everywhere) Cons: Horrible app implementation, navigation niggles, DLNA music app sounds substantially worse than standard music app, tiny hardware buttons, wobbly volume knob Price: $899 (€899) (Haven’t found UK shop with it yet)... Continue Reading →

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 →

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