HiFiMAN Jade II Electrostatic Headphone and Amplifier Review: inviting electrostat

Pros: Silky mids, balanced sound signature, fluid and detailed treble, treble that contrasts favourably to other electrostats, comfortable earpads, lightweight, that cool jade green dust-cover on the drivers Cons: Tangle prone flat cable, amp isn’t completely silent and takes several hours to warm up (leave it on if you like listening), not as comfortable as... Continue Reading →

December 2, 2019 0

CanJam London, part three: jamming with cans (HEDD, Raal, Mr. Speakers, Warwick Acoustics, dCS, HiFiMAN, Audeze)

CanJam London is the biggest headphone and portable audio show put on in the UK every year. It is the highlight of the HeadFi enthusiasts calendar and something that I have attended since the inaugural CanJam London in 2015. This year was the 5th annual edition and it lived up to its billing. I’ll be... Continue Reading →

August 16, 2019 0

The HiFiMAN HE1000 v2 – a triumph of engineering and sonic performance

Pros: Beautiful sound, good stage, nice timbre, bass improved over v1, unique styling, super comfortable, price to performance, prefer it to the Focal Utopia Cons: included cables don’t look premium, mediocre cable sound quality, could use a practical carrying case, not the Susvara List Price: $2999 Product website: http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he-1000.html Introduction I’ve been a big fan... Continue Reading →

February 4, 2019 2

Aune S6: warm, thick, impressive low end grunt

Pros: Full bodied sound, nice information display, balanced inputs and outputs, digital numeric volume display Cons: single-ended sound is foggy, soft treble, only DSD128 (DoP), volume control has no feel to it, could have more bass and treble extension List Price: $569 (Penon Audio, affiliate link) Product Website: http://en.auneaudio.com Rating Disclaimer: ratings are subjective. Audio... Continue Reading →

June 25, 2018 0

XIAUDIO (Eleven Audio) Formula S: Power and clarity sublimated

Pros: Crystal clear, exceptional imaging and depth, resolution and detail (especially bass texture) power for HiFiMAN Susvara, grace for Focal Utopia, excellent outputs, built like a tank Cons: not for low impedance high sensitivity IEMs, price List Price: $3499 Product Website: http://www.theevolutionofsound.com/xiaudio-formula-s/ Introduction Alex Twister introduced me to Michael Xiao, proprietor of Eleven Audio, formerly... Continue Reading →

February 12, 2018 5

The HiFiMAN Susvara – a breathtakingly beautiful and breathtakingly expensive headphone

Pros: Detailed like an electron microscope, mostly flat frequency response, excellent sound stage height/depth/width, layering and instrument separation, incisive speed without excess, impeccable attack and decay, like being there (miniaturised) Cons: $6000, $6000, difficult to drive well (I still don’t know if I did) List Price: $6000 Product website: http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/susvara.html Introduction I’ve been a big... Continue Reading →

December 28, 2017 12

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 →

July 5, 2017 20

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 →

June 30, 2017 6

HiFiMAN Susvara: Unboxing and first impressions

Okay, so I've had this thing unboxed for a few days now. I've played it on my Questyle CMA600i and it was loud enough, but boy was that not all that it can do. Holy moly. Some loaners from SCV Distribution here in the UK just arrived to properly drive this beauty: a set of... Continue Reading →