With all the talk about my kitchen countertops, which became the watermark in my review pictures, here is the full story of how it all started. I mentioned this before, but here are more details. About 10 years ago when I started to share my reviews, there was this pair of popular $25 Xiaomi...

I have a feeling I know who you are talking about, though that "someone" is not a reviewer ;)

Thanks, bud! It means a lot coming from someone who has 75% of posts on Head-fi promoting headfonia reviews :D

Indeed, it is, and I don't want to sound like a hypocrite. I was reflecting more on Caleb's (FcConstruct) point of being directly affiliated with one particular vendor and how people perceive one's impressions in that case. I had a few discussions like this in the past and have been asked by...

Thank you for the explanation. I was also a bit curious about your write up because it sounded like many of these were just not your cup of tea. So, both the tuning and the 'pricing' were not what you expected or personally prefer, yet you put a lot of effort to make a detailed critical write up...

If you look closer at the picture, the nozzle itself is shorter which, in theory, should leave less room for fitting "errors". It almost looks like custom-uni. Maybe that's how they are confident it could work without a need for redo?

The majority of manufacturers offer entry-level, mid-fi, and summit-fi models in different price categories for audiophiles to pick what they can afford. You don't have to spend a fortune to get a great-sounding DAP, and often the higher price doesn't mean a better product, plus, you have to...

sorry, but to claim that M300 sounds the same as R8ii is either a joke or a clickbait video review. What's next, a M300's built in tiny speaker sounds as good as R8ii with Traillii Ti :p I have both of these DAPs, and M300 is a great $199 source for use as a digital transport for usb-dac...

Yep!

Yep, caught me by surprise as well since DX180 was just announced, so of course I was very curious to hear it. Only got it a day ago, on burn-in now (doing it together with Pilgrim Noir to kill two birds :D) while I'm also doing a battery test. This thing (DX180) has a 14+ hr battery and the...

Sorry, I'm not familiar with this cable, so can't comment on how it compares to other cables. Personally, I don't refer to a cable as something that has a "sound", and I usually describe what I hear when I switch between the cables while using particular IEMs. In this case, I was just making a...

DX180 Elite has a better ring to it :D

how about DX180? ;)

Sorry, I'm yet to try M5U. Might borrow one from Musicteck to check it out. Technicality could (?) be similar, but from my experience, even a warmer solid-state source won't be able to match exactly the textured tonality of the tube-based source. I do have DX180 on burn-in now, just had it...

If you are referring to its looks based on a common paracord type of exterior shielding, UM uses PWA brand name cables with a different internal design, wire material, geometry, and internal shielding. PWA cables vary in price from $600 to $6000 based on the design.

Forget about using Campfire stuff with it and some other low impedance iems, it will alter the sound unless you use iEMatch. I remember how much one of the older Shanling daps with 5ohm output impedance affected the tonality of Andro and Solaris :( The rule of thumb is 1:8 for headphones...

The only problem, and based on getting quite a few similar questions from my readers already, I'm not sure what people mean by "similar"? In the $500 price range or similar footprint? Because if we are talking about the tonality, we are comparing other solid-state DAPs with a pair of JAN6418...

It does look awesome and I love the small footprint, but... 7ohm output impedance from 4.4mm :(

That is the exact reaction I have every week I see Tesla Cybertruck driving down streets of where I live in NJ...

iFi Go Pod would be my recommendation, covered it here.

Just think of it like A&K IEM collabs. EE x A&K Odyssey can't be sold by EE who made it, it is sold by A&K and retailers carrying A&K products. And the same goes for VE x A&K AURA, which can't be sold by VE. Actually, AP was part of an exclusive package with Cayin N30LE AP limited edition...

Looks like that was the first batch, so I'm sure they are working on the second one now :) Plus, I see retailers like Bloom Audio (@Andrew DiMarcangelo) have it listed on pre-order which means it is coming to their store soon. Btw, very happy to see a chin-slider :D

Well, it's not just a different pricing, but quite a different set of features that sets them apart, considering 3kT offers wi-fi/streaming, Bluetooth (Tx and Rx), ROON ready, has internal storage, a more polished advanced interface, etc. But if you narrow it down to sound performance only and...

Put a lot of work into this latest review. Lots to cover in 8k words, though everything is partitioned into separate pages/sections for easy navigation. Enjoy the read about the latest A&K SP3000T dual AMP dap.

As promised, just finished my latest novel, I mean, SP3000T review ;) Enjoy the read!