Usually, I'm really skeptical about headphone cables and all related stuff. When we hear the noticeable difference, it's often caused whether by the build quality or by impedance/capacity. But new Meze's cables proved their usefulness. First of all, I'd like to thank Meze for providing me a cable in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. I'm sure, every visitor of this site knows about great 99 Classics and 99 Neo headphones, built by Meze. Combining sound quality, build, look and affordable price, those models became real bestsellers. Of...

Looks like theBit have decided to become a king of the hill, or at least join those who are already standing on the top. After the first successful skill test (I mean OPUS#1) they've come back with really flagship OPUS#2 model that can be considered as one of the TOTL solutions. And now, theBit strengthen their position with great OPUS#3. First of all, I'd like to thank theBit for providing me a sample in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. I'll shorten my work and won't go deep into describing OPUS#3 package, accessories set and overall...

I think it would be pretty fair to call Meze 99 Classics last year's sensation. Appeared early 2016, they quickly prove themselves being an excellent price/quality performer. Meze engineers decided to sustain those achievements and released a more affordable model. First of all, I'd like to thank Meze for providing me a review sample in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. Luckily, Meze doesn't have a big marketing department like some other companies do, so instead of "clipping" their flagship to create it's younger sibling, Meze merely...

Campfire Audio are a perfect example of brand development from scratch. Their IEMs lineup blew the market up, offering excellent quality for reasonable money. First 3 models — Lyra, Orion and Jupiter became a huge success, but CA continued expanding their lineup and offered full range of IEMs with unique single dynamic driver model Vega as a flagship. In this review, I'll share my impressions about Vega. First of all, I'd like to thank Campfire Audio for providing me a sample in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. Usually, at the review's...

Burson Audio's developers definitely hate to be idle, so they always come out with some unexpected ideas. The most interesting thing about those ideas it's their relative simplicity and high usefulness. As a beautiful example, I can mention their hybrid OpAmp V5i I've recently reviewed. Now, their new idea — interconnect cable with an active amplifier. First of all, I'd like to thank Burson Audio for providing me with a sample for review in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. Generally speaking, the idea behind that cable is pretty...

Sometimes I have a strong desire to start a review with a conclusion, and then explain everything in more details. This time I think I'll follow this urge. So, OPUS#2 from theBit became for me one of the biggest discoveries of 2016. Phew, now I've said it, so I don't have to hold this inside anymore, and I can go on to review. First of all, I'd like to thank theBit for providing me with a sample for review in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. OPUS#1 showed that theBit company has the own vision of a sound and can implement it in...

Company 64 Audio (former 1964 Ears) is a well-known maker of top-level multidriver IEMs. They are offering a big range of models, but the most attractive feature of their earphones is APEX technology. As I'm a big fan of different experiments in audio, for quite a long time I was interested in reviewing some of their models. Closer to the end of the year, I've got the chance to review their former flagship U12. First of all, I'd like to thank 64 Audio for providing me with a sample for review in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. Of...

HUM Pristine earphones became for me one of the biggest surprises of 2016, so I've decided to gather my skills and create a review. HUM is pretty well known on the exUSSR market due to their Pervasion DAP, which gathered a group of fans of its unique sound. Meanwhile, other HUM's products (IEMs and cables) remained relatively unknown. First of all, I'd like to thank HUM for providing me with a sample for review in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. HUM came with all diligence to the creation of Pristine and results have turned out great...

Company Meze with their model 99 Classics literally took personal audio market by storm. Offering great price, stylish and functional design and superb sound, their headphones didn't have any option but to succeed. Meze, of course, decided to continue development and recently released two models of IEM — 11 Neo and 12 Classic. Did they managed to repeat the success of elder model? I've tried to find this out with 11 Neo. First of all, I'd like to thank Meze for providing me their earphones in exchange for my honest review. As usual, I won't spend...

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest influences on the audio market was the invention of the operational amplifiers. Compact and inexpensive (mostly) chips allowed to create small and well sounding products. But not always the miniaturization is good for sound quality, and then comes to the aid well-known company Burson. In addition to developing popular DACs and amplifiers, Burson is also known as the creators of the V4 and V5 discrete op amps, but because of the large size of those solutions, not every device is suitable for upgrading with these...

Cayin can definitely organise master-classes "how to succeed on personal audio market". Of course with their experience on serious hi-fi market, taking over portable niche isn't hard, but so many other well-known companies failed there… Cayin started with really good N6, followed by excellent N5, and now they're targeting new niche with model, coded I5. As usual, I'd like to apologise for my english, as it's not my main language. This index corresponds new lineup of players, built with Android and having all related pluses. Of course, 4.4 is a...

Recently, I've joined the crowd of people, using Meze 99Classics as primary headphones (or at least one of them), and I'd like share my opinion and join the praising choir :) First of all, I'll save some of your time, if you'll decide to read a review, and I'll skip almost everything, related to design, accessories and wear comfort. There are few dozens of reviews on Head-Fi, most of them covers this perfectly, and I can't add more to them. Just to summarise, Meze 99 looks great, sits comfortably on your head and has good set of accessories...

In endless pursuit of more and more complex earphones schematics, we began to forget about the joy of minimalism that single-driver earphones can give. Luckily, there are nice companies that remind us about that, and Orion by Campfire Audio is one of those model. Campfire is a pretty new name on earphones market, but they are really experienced, so their starting lineup is very strong and competitive. Single-driver BA Orion, single-driver dynamic Lyra and 4-driver top model Jupiter. Recently they've added two new models Nova and Andromeda, but they...

To begin, I want to say that MEE Audio really managed to impress me, I really liked P1. I'm familiar with MEE Audio products for quite a long time. Actually, they were the company, who led me to world of hi-end personal audio. So, I was always looking at their new products with interest. Last year, on CES they've presented first prototype of their future flagship P1, but fine-tuning took about a year of time. Anyway, P1 is out, and I've spent 2 beautiful weeks with them. Now I'll try to get all my poor english skills together and try to share my...

Cayin N6 is definitely one of my most favourite players. That's why I've waited for their new more affordable model with impatience. Finally, I've got N5 in my hands and spent enough time with it to make a judgment. I won't spend lot of time, describing box, it's contents and players design/menu. There are excellent reviews, covering this in depth. So, just brief impressions, before I continue to the sound. Box is nice, simple and stylish. Accessories set is also good, but I recommend you purchase "leather" case, it's good enough for it's price...

Well, Shanling M3 was really outstanding: lots of connectivity features, great sound, excellent design, affordable price, and so on, and so long… When Shanling decided to create less expensive model, they've really done a great job designing both interface and sound. That's how M2 was created, and I'd like to add my humble opinion to M2 reviews pool. Shanling targeted M2 to really competitive segment, it's recommended price is $240, there are few really nice DAPs in this niche, but M2 have unique features to stand out among them. As usual, I...

I am a pretty big fan of CEntrance's gear. I'm owning both HiFi-M8 and Mini-M8, and I really hope to see full-sized desktop DAC/amp from CEntrance. Meanwhile, company presented very interesting tiny DAC with built-in headphone amplifier DAC Port HD. Of course, I can't resist and get one for review. Here are my humble 5 cents. Package is really basic, it's small black cardboard box, inside you'll find device itself and USB cable to plug it. DACPort HD is incredibly tiny, it's slim and is just a bit bigger then usual disposable cigarette lighter...

So, I continue sharing my experience with excellent Trinity audio earphones, and today it's time for Techne. While Trinity prepares to release their top-notch multidriver models, simpler single-driver models are still interesting. There are not much reviews of Techne on Head-Fi, so I've decided to add my 5 cents. AFAIK, Techne shares same driver with entry-level model Hyperion, but offers completely different sound presentation. Also Techne introduces Trinity's signature sound tuning filters and offers really great design. It's sold on Trinity's...

I can definitely say, that I'm in love with this tiny and inexpensive earphones, made by Trinity Audio Engineering, so once again I need to gather my poor english skills to share my love with you. I won't write much about Trinity itself, they are active participants in Head-Fi community, I can only notice, that most of all I like their passion for experiments, necessary for all companies that wants to succeed. If you are interested in getting more information about company, here is excellent thread. Also, I won't spend lot of time, describing box...

I don't know why, but there is not much information about Audinst's new DAC/amp combo on Head-Fi. So, I've decided to correct this, and write my impressions about this really worthy device. For last 5 years, I've auditioned lots of different gear, from expensive Hi-End DACs, down to small micro-amps. But only few of them stayed with me for all this time constantly, and Audinst HUD-MX2 was definitely one of my most favourite devices. Pretty inexpensive, small, stylish DAC/amp combo with nice, little warmish sound and lots of output power paired...