Acknowledgment    Thanks, @Tony-Hifi at HiFi Headphones, for organizing this tour and graciously allowing me to join. My honest opinion of the Fidue A65 follows.   Introduction I always start with a bit about me. More details are below the fold, but here’s a little insight into my grading. I grade primarily on sound and value. Coming with 20 pairs of tips won’t help a headphone, and coming with a stupid awful case won’t hurt it unless there are other cascading detractors.     Vital Statistics (specs from manufacturers and distributors) Tony and...

Acknowledgment    Thanks Airist Audio for organizing this tour and producing this brilliant amp. I was the last stop on the tour and bought this amp directly from Airist Audio (without sending it back) with a small discount. Introduction First, I’ll tell you a bit about me, below the fold. Every reviewer is biased, but we all have different flavours of bias. I think my flavour is maple walnut, cause I’m the sweet mildly complex stuff with a bit of crunch and overall neutral visual tone that is an ironic reward for a trip to the dentist in the winter...

Acknowledgment     Thanks @ejong7 for organising this tour, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Also thanks go out to the mysterious unnamed provider of the ERIB-2A. Mysterious benefactor, you redefined Easter for me. I’m not religious, but these headphones make me want to be a little blasphemous—altars built in high places only to be struck down by some highfalutin prophet and all that old-religion jazz.   Introduction “Drip drip drop there goes an eargasm.” -Big Boi   Why!? For the love of God, WHY!? Why did I have to hear these aluminum...

Acknowledgment     Thank you Meze Headphones for allowing me to participate in your European tour in exchange for my honest opinion of the Meze Headphones 99 Classics. Introduction Meze Headphones is a relatively new headphone manufacturer. The 99 Classics were funded through a Kickstarter campaign and are now out trying to conquer our ears with lush mid-range overtones. When I write reviews for items that I didn't buy, I use the lower price of Amazon.com or list price. The conquest proceeds after the break, but first here's a little bit-o-junk...

Acknowledgment The iDAC2 was provided on loan to me by iFi along with the iPurifier2. Thanks for the loan! I love reviewing. That said, the thoughts here are not for sale. They are my own. I own them.   Introduction This is my third iFi product I’m reviewing. I own a Micro iUSB3.0 and borrowed the iPurifier2 that was used during this review.  I write this review now with the iDAC2 and the iPurifier2 sent back to iFi with thanks, postage and a small sense of loss. Yesterday, a fourth iFi product, the iFi Micro iCAN SE arrived. With similar timing...

Acknowledgment The iPurifier2 was loaned to me along with the Micro iDAC2 by iFi for the purpose of this review, and I previously won an iFi Micro iUSB3.0 in the launch contest for the iUSB3.0. The opinions in this review are my honest opinions. Introduction Last year I won the iUSB3.0 in its launch contest. I have had the iUSB3.0 for about 6 months and have used it with several DACs: LH Labs Geek Out 1000, LH Labs Geek Out V2, Schiit Yggdrasil, LH Labs Geek Pulse X-Infinity, and the iFi Micro iDAC2. My observations in my iUSB3.0 review were that...

Preamble     I received these as part of Havit’s roll-out of review units. This is the second Havit unit that I have received as a review sample. I was provided voucher codes that made these free from amazon.co.uk. I think that is a really clever way to send review samples and I applaud Havit for their ingenuity. The views in the review are my own and not for sale.   Introduction Havit is a Chinese manufacturer of electronic goods, making a variety of items from Bluetooth headphones to elaborate and fancy looking backlit gaming keyboards and mice...

Introduction First, I would like to say thank you for RHA Audio providing the s500i headphones as a review sample. The opinions are my own, and not supported by any review sample related euphoria, even though these were the first review samples I ever received.   This is a dual review of the RHA s500i and the RHA ma750.   Fit and Finish As they always do, RHA audio sent a loaded up sexy looking package for the s500i. They even gave me three windows to see into that beautiful cardboard house, two for the headphones, with a tastefully placed...

Acknowledgement I’m very happy that I was chosen to receive a review sample from @Ausdom Audio. Whilst I didn’t pay for this unit, it doesn’t influence my thoughts on these headphones. These thoughts are mine. I own them.   What’s in the tin I’ve been slow as molasses getting this review out, but trust me, these headphones are as tasty as blackstrap organic. The cookies are worth the wait. If you don’t know how good molasses cookies are, ask some Americans, somebody will set you straight. We’ll get to that in a moment.   The packaging for the...

Acknowledgement Thank you, Gary Zhang of Havit, for providing this review sample. Havit provided an Amazon coupon code that made the headphones free, I just paid for shipping (£3.99). The opinions expressed here are my own and not influenced by this being a review sample. A box and some characters The headphones came in a box inside a box that showed the color of the ear-tips, that little blue dot in the corner, and thanked me for my choice. You are very welcome, Havit. Inside the box were the headphones; “technology from the Uk.”, apparently, with...

Acknowledgement Thanks to Tony at HiFi Headphones for the opportunity to join in the Lotoo PAW 5000 UK tour. I was loaned the Lotoo PAW 5000 for one week. It wasn’t enough. The opinions here are my own, and are not influenced by the tour status of the player.   Inside the goodie box When I opened up my box of joy inside a DPD bag, I didn’t expect to see such a diminutive player. I can say with confidence, that it isn’t the size of the DAP that matters—unless you need something that will strap perfectly to a MoJo—it’s the emotion of the music, and...

Like many folks who've had experience with LH Labs, I was sold on the company by their Geek Out line of dongle style DAC/Amps. I own the Geek Out 1000, and have since purchased an Geek Out V2, several of their USB cables, and a desktop amp, the Geek Pulse X-Infinity. I have generally been impressed by their value proposition and the high quality sound that their products produce, if not their communication, lack of marketing tact, and overloaded crowd-design schedule and inevitable delays associated with the process. A search on most any audio forum...

I bought these headphones because I thought that closed cans were getting a bit fatiguing (pressure on the ear-drum from closed environment), because I wanted a can that could adapt to a balanced cable well, and because I wanted a neutral sound signature. I got all of those things.   These are great all around performers and one of the best bargains that you can get in Head-Fi if you are willing to buy them used. I live in the UK and searched around for these in the UK and Germany used (always good to look at prices in several countries). I ended...

I'll start off with an intro to me. I'm a 33 year old long time audio enthusiast that has only really started to get seriously involved in the audiophilia hobby in the last year. In that time I've picked up almost my entire collection of audio gear (more on that below). My music tastes are very broad, but don't include much main stream country music, EDM, or mainstream tween pop. It would not be an unusual listening session to for me to have Frank Sinatra in the morning, Amon Amarth at noon, with some Pink Floyd, Aesop Rock, Beck, Charles Mingus, and...

About me and my setup (including this Elise): I've been lurking on Head-Fi since 2009, but only officially joined in 2012. Since 2012 I've made the transition from redbook only to being a big fan of high definition music, including DSD. My collection of audio gear has exploded in the last year from being a Cowon D2+, a pair of HiFiMan RE0 IEMs, and some KRK KNS8400s to everything that is now in my profile, and it is glorious! Headphones: Primary: HD600 (tights mod) with HD650 cable, also have run HD800, HiFiMan HE-500 and HiFiMan HE-6...