The head-fi.org community has long been a fan of Grado headphones. Jude Mansilla and the Grados have a relationship dating back a few years with two prior limited edition headphones which helped Jude purchase new servers for the HeadFi website and help the community grow while giving members access to a terrific headphone that has sensational sound quality, a win-win for both Head-Fi and the community. The HF3 continues the tradition with a limited edition model designed and manufactured in Brooklyn and designed by John Grado. Priced at $350, with...

  BRAVO ERIB-2A EARPHONE PLANAR UNIVERSAL IN-EAR MONITOR TAKES LISTENING TO THE NEXT LEVEL. oBravo is a company founded in 2006 and located in Taiwan have made air-motion technology a reality. David Teng, the owner and chief engineer, is creating hand made monitors that are one of the kind products that are both revolutionary in design and unique in the world. David has taken Dr Oskar Heil air-motion transformer speaker technology and incorporated planar magnetic drivers to create the world’s first planar-air motion-dynamic 2 way in ear...

  Chord has been on a roll over the last two years introducing ground breaking digital products. The landscape for digital products has made a significant leap in sound quality over that period of time. The introduction of the Hugo portable amplifier and digital to analogue converter was a game changer. Listening impressions of the Hugo had people ecstatic with the purity and the analogue sound of the music. The Hugo was a groundbreaking design from Chord”s legendary Rob Watts.   Rob is the creative genius that keep pushing the boundaries in...

HA-2-with-PM-3-on-stand-small When I was reviewing the PM-1 planar headphone for OPPO I mentioned to Jason Liao (VP of product development at OPPO) how good the PM-1 sounded when paired with the Chord Hugo. The sound was so synergistic that while speaking with Jason I asked if it was possible to get a closed version of the PM-1 to use portably. Jason mentioned they were working on a closed version and may have a prototype ready to show at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest . One of my first stops when I arrived at Rocky Mountain was to visit CanJam and...

Around 2009, the rumbling and chatter at Headfi.org was getting louder… It was beginning to roar. There was mention of a DIY designer who had an amp that would not only change headphone listening but also create an entirely new standard for headphone amplifiers. People were talking about how he was making a difference in the community with his DIY designs. The person they were talking about was Alex Cavalli. Back then, with the encouragement and support of the headphone community, Cavalli decided to go “commercial” and manufacture some of the...

               Alpha Prime-The Final Frontier Prior to attending the Rocky Mountain Audiofest Dan Clark had mentioned that he was working on a modification to the Alpha Dog and the result was significantly better, so much so that it warranted a new model designation.Dan felt that there was still a higher level of performance that was possible with the driver that would make the sound more defined and improve the performance of the Alpha Dog. The research led Dan on another path and his creative genius took over and he developed the technology...

Back in 1997 I visited my brother-in-law in Rochester, NY and not having much to do (because of the frigid weather in the region) we decided to go listen to some high end gear in a few local audio boutiques. Two-channel audio was king in those days and I had been looking for a new amplifier, so we decided to venture out and explore. There was a shop in Rochester that was carrying B&W speakers and Steve McCormick’s DNA amplifiers. We made that our first stop and it became my first introduction to an amplifier designed by Dennis Had. The main system...

      Konsatnzy is located at the western part of Lake Constance in Germany. The area is better known as University City. It is here where a company has been designing high-end audio products since 1986 and releasing them under the brand names: Lake People and Violectric. Fried Reim began Lake People by designing products for the pro audio market. Lake People products are used in television studios, recording studios, and even airports. Fried attributed much of the success and survival of Lake People due to manufacturing headphone...

Hifiman HE560 Planar Headphone.     HiFiman has been building and designing headphone solutions since 2006, and have earned a reputation for making some of the very best sounding headphones on the planet.   The company, located in China, is operated and owned by Dr. Fang Bian.  Fang went to school in the United States.  Over the years and by getting to know Fang personally I have come to admire his commitment to the personal audio community. His dedication and devotion to creating affordable reference level products have always been his...

Viva Egoista- Majestic Masterpiece-     While at the Newport Beach audio show I ran into Dan Muzquiz from Blackbird Audio. We were hanging out poolside with Bob Clarke from Profundo (who distributes some really special products). They both invited me to visit their room to hear a $10,000 amplifier.  Naturally, my curiosity – and my love for everything headphone related – inspired me to contact another one of my fellow enthusiasts to share the excitement of listening to such a world-class product         So, Kevin Venable (a friend and...

Review: Violectric V200 the Smooth Operator   German made products always spike my interest. When I think of products manufactured in Germany usually what comes to mind are precise products that are well designed and usually built well. The Violectric V200 is one such product. Developed and designed by Freid Reim and manufactured in Germany the V200 is a superbly built and designed headphone amplifier. The company Lake People has been building both professional and home use amplifiers since 1986 in Germany. Freid told me he hires educated...

REVIEW PS AUDIO GCHA   Paul McGowan is considered by many including myself to be a legend in the high end audio industry. Ps audio was founded in 1974 by Paul McGowan and Stan Warren who is no longer affiliated with the company. I have heard many of their 2 channel amplifiers over the years and was always impressed with their products so I decided to order a GCHA to see if would live up to my expectations for a reasonable 500.00 solid state amplifier for my LCD2 and Denon D7000. I was also confused as to why it has not been a best seller and is...

LCD2 REVIEW Once in a great while in my 32 years in the hobby I have seen products come to market that can make a significant change in the way the game is played. Rarely if ever does one come to the market that completely changes the game and rewrites the rules such is the case with the LCD2. Audeze is a start up company that has two passionate owners who have somehow managed to bring to market a product which has challenged the majors in a big time way. The LCD2 is a planar headphone that not only competes with the flagship products offered by...

When I ordered the T1 I really was not sure it would be a keeper. I bought a open box unit with full warranty. The headphones were burned in so listening time was much quicker for me as they needed no burn in. The first time I put them on using my Matrix M Stage and Marantz DV6001 was uneventful. There were no wow moments with this headphone.   During the weeks that followed with the T1 I started to realize there were no problems or colorations I could identify. I started to realize that there was something special with the T1. The sound reminded...

I have been  looking at these headphones since I started posting to HeadFi last year and havd  always wanted to try them and finally the opportunity came for me to audition the cans and see if they were  as good as all the hype that I had been hearing about them.  When I first started to listen to the Denon's I really did not like them at all. Out of the box the bass was overpowering, bloated and flabby. They were also very dark. I then proceeded to burn them in for the next 125 hrs using both my Outlaw 2150RR and Matrix M Stage as my primary amps...