Introduction Audiophiles would probably be familiar with the name “Dali” as they have been making speakers for the past 36 years. During that time they offer a range of entry to premium level speakers. However, recently they have taken a stab in making headphones which has resulted in the Dali iO-4 and iO-6, and Dali were courteous enough to offer me a pair of iO-6 for review a few weeks’ back. Specifications and Design Whilst both headphones are wireless, the iO-6 offers noise cancellation with a 30-hour battery life, whilst the iO-4 forgoes...

Introduction Before I start, I’d like to thank Fostex for providing these review pair of TM2 along with the FitEar adapters. Bluetooth earphones are nothing new however they’ve historically been tethered between the left and right channels, and in general have targeted to the standard mass consumer markets. Manufacturers have tuned them to be average warm bass to U-shaped Hifi-ish frequency response which was enough to capture the average listener who wouldn’t want to spend as much as audiophiles/audio enthusiast however is willing to spend a...

Introduction Personal audio enthusiasts of the past 12 years would be all too familiar with the iBasso brand. They started making amps, then to DAPs in the better part of the past 7 years, most notably the DX100. Whilst iBasso made some more mid-tier DAPs such as the DX50, DX80, & DX90, it wasn’t only until 2017 that iBasso finally had a new flagship, the DX200. Paul from iBasso sent me a review DX200 in Feb 2017 however until now I’ve not written up a review for it; instead I’ve contributed where I can in tiny little snippets and little posts...

Introduction V-Moda is one of the prominent brands on Head-Fi that got into Bluetooth early when audiophiles were still very insistent on on wired. Despite AptX and Kleer proprietary wireless protocols were available, not many brands adopted and stuck to SBC for their consumer-grade models. V-Moda released the Crossfade Wireless (CFW1) back in 2015 focused primarily on getting the wired and wireless to sound as close as possible to each other. They did a highly commendable job however the CFW1 were not without some criticism such has no CliqFold...

Introduction Campfire Audio introduced their new dynamic driver flagship , Atlas, in April '18 and was immensely popular at the Tokyo Fujiya Spring Headphone Festival. Ken was kind enough to leave a review pair for @currawong which has now made it to my hands for a quick review. The Atlas pushes the former dynamic driver flagship Vega down a spot, and as with the Vega, the Atlas does not fail to impress. Where the Vega was a the first 8.5mm on-crystalline Diamond dynamic driver, the Atlas is a 10mm diamond dome (ADLC) dynamic driver. The full metal...

Introduction Hifiman is no stranger to personal audio. It has been around for 12 years and doesn't require any introduction. In recent years Hifiman has been producing some high quality sounding headphones such as the HE1000 v1 & v2, HE-X v1 & 2, their top end Shangri-La electrostatics, and earphones such as the RE2000. They also make DAPs and amps. Hifiman has also won quite a few awards as detailed in their Wikipedia page. The Susvara Planar Magnetic Headphone The Susvara was introduced earlier 14th May this year. It was originally named...

Thank you A big thank you to Brise Audio for loaning me this hot-off-the-press cable for 2 weeks for this review. Brise Audio didn't even have the opportunity to perform any product shoots of the cable before loaning it to me.   Introduction   Brise Audio is a relatively new company from Japan but with over 20 years worth of cable experience. They focus on primarily home audio cabling although their roots originated from internal PC cabling in the 90's to internal crossover speaker wiring, speaker cabling, interconnects, and most recently...

Thank Yous A big thanks to Pete Millett for lugging this amp all the way from US for us here in Japan and a further added thanks to Amos/Currawong for shipping it to me from his hometown down south, to me in Tokyo to have an opportunity to listen and review this amp.   Introduction   Apex Hifi and Pete Millett are names that is well known to the veterans of personal audio. Pete doesn't churn out new amps the way Toyota would revise their Prius, however what he does produce are solid proven products such as the Pinnacle and Teton, and most...

Thank you's This pair of Campfire Audio Vega is courtesy of @KB for review and to be passed around to others for their review. I blame @Currawong for putting me onto this 'cos I initially had no plans to review the Vega's at all this until Amos asked me for help to pick them up from Ken Ball at the e-earphone Winter 2016 Porta Fes show and to ship to him as he couldn't make it himself. I used the Vega's as the main earphone to demo the other DAP/Amp products and comparisons to other earphones at the e-earphone Winter 2016 Porta Fes show.   And how...

Introduction   As with the Focal Utopia, the Elear requires pretty much no introduction. Again with great thanks to Focal and to Rocky International, Focal's local Japan distributor, for giving me the opportunity to review the Elear for a few days.   The Elear was released as an alternate offering from Focal with a somewhat slightly different signature from the flagship. One of the most exciting advantages of the Elear is the RRP of USD$1000. For the quality of sound the Elear produces compared to some other brands of the same asking price makes...

Introduction     The Focal Utopia doesn't need an introduction as it's already very well known and probably one of the most popular headphones amongst the audiophiles and audio enthusiasts. I have to thank Focal and Rocky International, Focal's Japan distributor, for lending me the Utopia and the Elear for a few days. They are as popular on the internet as they are in shows, exhibits, and audio events. Rocky International were kind enough lend them to me for a week despite their busy schedule for upcoming shows, and magazine reviewers.  ...

Introduction Does Tralucent Audio really need any introduction? It's been around and well known since 2012 and Gavin (@spkrs01) has been active with the Head-Fi community even before the business started. In fact he's more a consumer than a maker! Tralucent Audio did not start of by making low end products then working their way up. The business wasn't shy in coming up with high end sound from day one with Gavin himself listening and instructing how the sound should be tuned.   In the past few years, Gavin has come up with the 1Plus2 back in late...

The Thank You's  Before I start, I have to give a big thanks to Jack Wu for providing this loaner. In Japan, Woo Audio products aren't easy to come by (in fact almost impossible) to demo. Introduction   Woo Audio is a business that's been the audio scene for a very long time with its roots very established in the desktop amp space. In fact with its WA234 Monoblock product, it's venturing to the floor amp space too. They're also known for their elegantly designed headphone stands.   Woo Audio has come up with the first transportable Class A...

Firstly thank you to Fostex for this opportunity borrow the HP-V8 for a week   Introduction Fostex has made desktop integrated DAC/Amps before with their HP-A8, HP-A4BL and compact HP-A3. The HP-V8 is a different beast altogether. It's a tube amp using 300B, KT88 and E88CC tubes and is as large as some speaker based amplifiers. It's almost like an announcement that Fostex is stepping into the high end desktop amp market and is making a clear statement "We're in the game too".   The HP-V8 comes in very well packed and huge box that weighs 31kg...

Thank You's With big thanks to @shigzeo who's patiently loaned this to me since early this year and I've still hung on to it till now.     Introduction I've not heard of Master & Dynamic until @shigzeo asked if I was interested in giving it a listen. I have to say that I fell in love with its looks when I first googled it up. Aesthetically it's extremely fashionable and would really fit into the fancy shopping districts in Tokyo. But let's get into the product more. The MH40 uses 45mm Neodymium drivers, with lambskin earpads and cowhide-covered...

Thank You's and Sorries A big thank David Maudlin for sending me the Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Trio to me back in late May and I apologise that it's taken me 3 months to put something up about it.   Introduction Cypher Labs as a company needs no introduction. It's been in the portable audio business being one of the first few companies to release an iOS approved DAC back in 2011 which carries the AlgoRhythm name used in most of Cypher Labs portable devices till this day. This AlgoRhythm Trio however is (if I'm not mistaken), Cypher Labs first...

Thanks You's A great thank you to Fostex Japan for graciously passing me this T50RP Mk3 and giving me the opportunity to write this review. Further a great big thanks to @Wallabee for loaning me his T50RP Mk2 for a comparison.   Introduction Fostex T50RP models actually require no introduction as it's been a running model since 2002 (with a revision around 2007). And in 2015, Fostex has done a 3rd revision of the T50RP. The RRP in Japan is 20,000 yen (equiv to USD$161).     Unlike it's predecessor, the Mk3 is more easily identifiable with...

Thank You:  Firstly a big thank you to Stephen Guo for shipping these cables to me for review. I apologise that it's taken me so long to do it.    Introduction   Beat Audio is a brand that has been in the cable business for quite a few years now and is not new to the portable audio industry. It's name is also well known to the mature members of Head-Fi who are focused on the portable audio. For a few years, Beat Audio's Oslo was their TotL and later revised to the Oslo II. However late in 2014 Beat Audio introduced their new TotL named Prima...

IntroductionChina & Korea have been churning out DAPs that it's gotten to a point it's difficult to keep track of. A lot of these DAPs also have a rather idiosyncratic and non-intuitive user interface, and/or slow to react to user interaction, coupled with poor battery life. They may have good sound however their poor user interface and impractical battery longevity is almost a deterrent to take them out for use. Therefore when @audionewbi encouraged me to give the Lotoo Paw Gold a shot, I felt I was doing him more a favour than for the product as I...

Introduction   Despite the existence of DAPs in the past decade, in the recent 2 years DAPs seemed to have skyrocketed with big thanks to makers such as iRiver/A&K having decent quality SQ but more importantly in a more intuitive interface and more practical pocketable sizes. The expansion of DAP options seemed to have overshadowed the portable component market. Early in 2014 Chord came up with the Hugo which breathed life into the portable component are but at a pretty hefty cost.   Along comes Aurender which has made many high end speaker...