Got no complaints using this product. everything is working. The build feels premium with no creaking and reinforced by a metal headband. Click adjustment is tight and precise. My only nitpick is the position of the Power/Play-Pause button (at the front of the right earcup). It takes some getting used to but that's about it. Most importantly, it sounds great! LDAC is perfect! The tuning is definitely audiophile. Bass, mids, lows are well-balanced. Soundstage is decently wide. You can EQ to shave off that mid-forward nature. Imaging is very...

THE STORY I started falling in love with music since I was a kid. Back in the day, we're talking around 1995 onwards, been buying tapes and CDs, collecting music. Enjoyed the old Walkman, the old Discman, the old iPod, the old Fiio X1, a hi-fi smartphone, and now my old and trusty Fiio M11. Burnt all my music to a drive and now they're in a couple of SD cards and a laptop. Been loving good sound since those days too, with my old JVC boombox and with our old JVC component system. With headphones however, it did not become serious until the early...

NiceHCK DB3 - New Year's Resolution BACKGROUND I wanted a small gift for myself last Christmas. Well it was November so it's an early Christmas gift. And since I haven't bought anything audio for quite some time, I decided to check around Youtube for some budget finds. The reviewer Zpolt put out a soundtest of the Nicehck DB3: I liked what I heard. Now before anyone gives out a violent reaction, I know that Youtube sound tests are not representative of the earphone's actual performance. But still, if you like what you heard, you ought to give...

Let me change my review style for a bit and get right down to business. These IEMs sound boombastic! Bass is definitely emphasized. And as the tuner KopiOkaya confirmed, they are bassier than what he actually intended. Apparently, management decided on a bassier tuning than recommended for the final production unit. The result? A signature that leans towards darkness and warmth BUT...this is the right kind of darkness. This is the right kind of bassy. They remind me of my late KZ ZS3 (gave them away). They have less bass than the ZS3. Bass here is...

BACKGROUND It is Fiio’s 12th Anniversary and they were giving away prizes for everyone. Yey! Being the unlucky person that I am when it comes to raffle prizes, I decided to join not expecting anything. I shared my public greeting to Fiio in Facebook and voila! A few days later, I received a message from Lily at Fiio telling me that I won grand prize! It is the Fiio M11. Yes, I am that “lucky” guy. As I told Lily, I’ve been supporting Fiio for years now, having owned and reviewed the E11K (A3), X1, E12, EM3, K1, and now the M11. They are a company...

BACKGROUND I wasn’t planning to go back to the hobby this early. Then I saw this tempting ad from a local online store and a small audio shop is offering some custom earbuds for an affordable price. The reviews are good. Customizations are minimal – just the color combination of the cables which are full SPC, the letter or number beads that you put into either channel, and the color of the earbuds. The type of 3.5mm plug that you choose depends mainly on availability. One important detail that really caught my attention is that they tune their own...

BACKGROUND It was my birthday a few months back and it was Christmas time back then. I decided I needed a gift for myself. Something new. Something interesting. And the only luxury (if you call it that) that really makes me happy is music gear. I never had a studio monitor before. And I thought, since they are branded as “professional” gear, they should sound great, right? Or at least they should sound the part. And more importantly, I never had a Shure before. In the world of professional studio gear, I cannot think of a single name more respected...

BACKGROUND After having all over-ears for a while (for the good duration of 3 years or more), I kinda missed IEMs. Checking reviews online for the best budget IEMs, I came across Knowledge Zenith (KZ). Reading good reviews about their IEMs, I started researching on what their best offering is at that time (2017). Most reviews pointed me towards the KZ ZS3. I’m a sucker for good soundstage and reviews seem unanimous, it has good soundstage for an IEM so I decided to buy one online. Does it meet my expectations? Let’s find out. ABOUT ME I listen to...

BACKGROUND I found that the stock S-Cushions on my Grado SR80e are uncomfortable when you start hitting the 1-hour mark of listening. At 30 minutes, you start to feel the pressure “on” your ears, especially on the area where your glasses’ temples are (I’m wearing glasses). It starts to become painful. Originally, I bought generic replacement G-Cushions online. They are not as expensive and though they fit nicely, they fit loosely too. Long story short, I found a local store that sells genuine G-Cushions and went for them. How are they? Let’s find...

BACKGROUND After selling my Fiio E11k and my Fiio E12, I missed having a portable amp. Not that majority of my headphones need it, but one in particular need amplification – the JVC HA-RX700. Needless to say, it’s still my favorite headphone. With a smartphone, you need to get to more than 70% of the volume to at least get some needed impact. Otherwise, they’d sound lazy. Yes, lazy. Given their low impedance, you might think they’re easy to drive. They’re not. With a DAP like the Fiio X1, they could be. But even then, I feel the need to add some...

BACKGROUND I enjoyed my Superlux HD-330 for several months. I always had a closed pair, an open pair, and earbuds at any given situation to cover all my needs – isolated listening, awareness of surroundings, and extreme portability for the commute home respectively. However, when I sold my portable amps and relied solely on my smartphone (Lenovo K4 Note with Wolfson 8281 Audio Hub) for all my listening needs, I found the need to crank up the volume a little bit more (70% or higher) due to the higher impedance (150 ohms). So it’s time for a...

BACKGROUND My wife gave these to me as a gift and… Oh my God. That’s it. My review could’ve ended with “Oh my God” and I could’ve been happy. But the rest of you won’t be since reviews are intended to inform, not just to praise. This review will be a little bit different though. At first I wondered what the hype is all about. Then I understood. And by God, did I understand! PACKAGING The most basic packaging you’ll ever get: Plastic bag container The earbuds 4 pairs of foams (2 pairs red and 2 pairs blue, total of 8)...

BACKGROUND I needed a pair of mobile headphones. I wanted to use something while walking to the transport station or while commuting. I needed something that are not very isolating so I’m still aware of my surroundings. I value safety more than sound in this case. I also needed something with at a mic button so I can take in calls while listening (this pauses the music of course). With these considerations, an earbud fits the bill. And among the budget earbuds, the Fiio EM3 may be the best choice at the time of this review. I owned the X1, A3...

BACKGROUND I needed something to power my Superlux HD330. My smartphone back then is a Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8. Audio from the phone is quite clean and decent but I did not think that it's powering the 150 ohm HD330 properly. It's loud enough at close to max volume but "loud" is not necessarily equal to "properly driven". Long story short, I sold the A3 (E11K Kilimanjaro) a few weeks earlier and upgraded to the E12 Month Blanc. Mind you, it's twice the price of the A3 but is it worth it? Find out below. PACKAGING The E12 comes in a...

BACKGROUND I needed a pair of headphones for office use so I won’t need to bring my JVC HA-RX700 every day going to work. They take a lot of bag space and inconvenient to carry around when commuting. Secondly, I wanted to own a pair of open back headphones. Or at least semi-open ones. I read a lot about the sonic advantages of an open back and of course the isolation advantages of a closed headphone so owning a semi-open one looked like the best option since it may provide the best of both worlds – an open sound and some amount of isolation. Given...

BACKGROUND I used my smartphone for playing music for years. Though most smartphones can play most of the music formats nowadays, including flac (with the exception of Apple devices), there’s one thing lacking – resolution. Though the sound quality is very good, as a music enthusiast, you sometimes feel that you can push the envelope a little bit more to get the most out of your music. Thus, you need a hi-res player. To cut the story short, here’s a brief review of the capable X1. I won’t be posting pictures anymore as this product has already...

BACKGROUND I'm a portable user and I have a Fiio X1 + Fiio E11k (A3) stack. The E11k came with a stock Fiio L8 interconnect. I would say it sounds pretty good but lasted only a few months of normal use. I only take it off once in a while when I need to use the X1 on its own while charging the E11k. I know I can use both while charging but I'd like to optimize battery life by not doing so. After a few months, I noticed a constant channel imbalance, either I can only hear faint vocals like coming from a tin can or only one side of the headphones...

ABOUT ME I’m an audiophile on a budget, always searching for best value audio gear. As my username suggests, I’m also a big fan of passionate and dedicated audiophiles, especially here in Head-Fi. I’ve owned a few headphones and I love portable gear as I mostly listen in the office and a few times at home while my little toddler sleeps. I rarely listen through my laptop. Gears I own: Fiio X1 Fiio A3 (formerly E11k Kilimanjaro, stacked with the X1) Samsung stock IEMs for Galaxy Mega 5.8 (included here since they sound pretty decent, now broken...

First and foremost, this is not an expert review. You may call it amateur if you please. But it's more of an owner appreciating his gear and sharing his thoughts and opinions about it. After reading multiple reviews, mostly here in head-fi, I've decided to purchase the JVC HA-RX700. It struck me as a hidden gem since it has been compared multiple times to headphones several times more expensive. I bought it for $30+ in B&H and had it shipped here in the Philippines. We don't have that model here so it's safe to say that I was not able to test it...

First off, let me say now that I am not an audiophile. I am a fan of audiophiles though and I learn a lot from you guys. I'm more of a budget-audio-enthusiast and I'd like to keep it that way. Some parts of this review will be to re-affirm some of the observations with this product and probably add some recommendations for the benefit of our budget-conscious members like myself. So let's begin, shall we? Update --> I purchased the latest version (2017) since I sold the first one some time ago. I am now pairing it with my smartphone (Lenovo K4 Note)...