Introduction I’ve always been intrigued by Campfire Audio and have had a few listens to their gear. A couple years ago I met Caleb Rosenau at CanJam London. At this point I finally got to try the Atlas and the Andromeda. I loved both for different reasons. The bass on the Atlas was just delicious. The Andromeda had an easy to love fairly balanced signature. I chatted with Caleb about future offerings coming up for Campfire and kept the communication lines open while the development cycle progressed—or didn’t as it may be. The Ara is my first Campfire...

Acknowledgment The WAVAYA Octa was provided free-of-charge by WAVAYA. I have received no compensation for this review. All thoughts in this review are my personal opinion. List Price: $1590 (€1590) Product Website: WAVAYA Octa This review originally appeared on Audio Primate, but we are nothing without HeadFi, mother to most headphone blogs. This is still the best headphone community in the world. Introduction My blogmate, Jackpot77 was contacted by WAVAYA asking if he’d like to do a review of their gear, and kindly introduced me to the company...

Pros and cons are for HiFiMAN RE2000 Silver, value rating reflects full retail price. At time of publication RE2000 Silver was on sale for $799. Acknowledgment The HiFiMAN RE2000 Silver and Gold were provided by HiFiMAN for review. I have received no compensation for this review. The opinions expressed here are my own. This review was originally posted on Audio Primate. We share on Head-Fi because most of the blogger community doesn't exist without it. The Head-Fi community is vital to the world of headphones and IEMs. Introduction I’ve had a...

Introduction I didn’t know anything about Lark Studio until I was asked if I wanted to be put in contact with them by a friend in the review world over at Simply Audiophile. He tried to put me in contact with Lark Studios via Head-Fi and my email, but I never got any messages. Then the European distributor for Lark Studios contacted me to ask if I wanted to run a tour, and I noticed that I had an old friend request from someone with Lark Studios in their Facebook ID. With that we were off to the races. I’m the first up on the tour, in a change of...

List Price: $800.00 (¥90,000 JPY) Product Website: http://www.kumitatelab.com/kl-sirius/?sl=en Rating Disclaimer: ratings are subjective. Audio quality and value do not mean the same thing across all prices. A headphone with a 5 rating on audio at $5 does not have equivalent sound quality as a 5 rating at $500. Likewise, value at $5 is not the same as value at $5000 dollars. Acknowledgment The Kumitate Lab KL-Sirius was provided to me free of charge by Kumitate Lab. I do not have to return the unit, but I cannot sell it or give it away. I have...

List Price: £3499 (UK, Audio Sanctuary), $4000 globally Product Website: https://www.focal.com/uk/headphones/home/utopia Acknowledgment Thank you Matt, at SCV distribution, for supplying a Utopia on loan. I really wanted to compare this to the Susvara, you made it happen. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and in no way influenced by SCV distribution or anyone else. This review was originally published on Audio Primate. Introduction The Focal Utopia is widely regarded as one of the best headphones on the planet for technical...

List Price: $69 Product Website: https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-iematch2-5 Introduction I’ve been wanting to get an iEMatch ever since the first one was released. I was surprised that iFi didn’t send me one to review, given how much we’ve worked together. I’ve got a few hiss monster DAPs in house, including my favourite DAP, the QP2R. Beyond the QP2R, the HiFiMAN SuperMini and the HiFiMAN MegaMini are hiss cannons. When iFi sent me the press release for the 2.5mm version of iEMatch, I had to get it. So, when I saw them at Sound &...

List Price: $3499 Product Website: http://www.theevolutionofsound.com/xiaudio-formula-s/ Acknowledgment The XIAUDIO Formula S was provided on loan by XIAUDIO. The length of the loan was not specified. I have received no compensation for my review, and the opinions represented are mine. I’d like to thank Michael Xiao for giving me the opportunity to experience this amp. This review originally appeared on Audio Primate. Now we are sharing with our friends and fans on Head-Fi. Introduction Alex Twister introduced me to Michael Xiao, proprietor of...

List Price: $759.00 (at Musicteck) Product Website: http://en.uniquemelody.org/detail_185.html Acknowledgment I’d like to thank Unique Melody for loaning me the ME.1 for review. The opinions expressed here are my own. This review originally appeared on audioprimate.blog. I'm now sharing it with the awesome community on Head-Fi. It's the place to be. Introduction My first interactions with the Unique Melody brand were on Head-Fi. I had seen several reviews that basically said that the original Merlin and Miracle were awesome. Then I saw that...

List Price: $6000 Product website: http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/susvara.html Acknowledgment Thanks to HiFiMAN for providing the Susvara on loan for this review. The views expressed here are my own. This review originally appeared on my blog, and I'm now sharing it with my HeadFi readers. This community rocks. Introduction I’ve been a big fan of HiFiMAN for a while. My first legit headphone was the HiFiMAN RE0. My very first post on HeadFi was a silly three way ‘review’ that included that HiFiMAN RE0 against two pairs of cans. It did...

Acknowledgment I’d like to thank iFi for loaning me the Nano iDSD Black Label and a pre-production unit in return for my honest opinion. It was a lot of fun being one of the first folks to get their hands on a retail unit, though I wish I could have been at the launch event. I still haven’t tried Johnny Walker Black. This review was originally posted on my blog, and I'm now sharing with the wonderful community on Head-Fi. You folks rock. Introduction Anyone who’s been following me for a while knows that I’ve reviewed two full sheds of iFi gear. I...

Pros: Beautiful, a bit more airy and detailed than stock cable, smoothed some sharper treble on Kaiser Encore, perfect size pins, precise tight bass with good impact, bigger stage than stock Cons: chunky, a bit heavy on the ear, paint wears off easily, 2-pin connector shell is glued List Price: $219.90 Acknowledgment I received the Effect Audio Ares II+ through a giveaway on HeadFi. I was not required or asked to write a review. I wanted to. Introduction I’ve been aware of Effect Audio for a while. I saw their cable designs around on HeadFi...

List Price: $399 Acknowledgment Thanks go to FiiO for organizing a worldwide tour of the X5iii and letting me join it. After this is all over, this player will be heading back to ea audio, FiiO’s UK distributor. You can buy the player there too. This review originally appeared elsewhere in the blogosphere. Introduction I have done a little bit of FiiO listening in the past at shows. I liked the X3ii. I thought the X1 was excellent value for money. I wasn’t really into the sound of either the X5ii or the X7. When I last met FiiO folks I was...

  Acknowledgment   Thank you Lear for providing this review sample in exchange for my honest opinion. This review may also be viewed on my blog, here. List Price: $65 at time of review plus shipping Introduction I took an interest in the BTC-01 as soon as Lear announced it on HeadFi. In the last year and a bit I’ve reviewed more Bluetooth headphones than I ever thought I’d even listen to. After all, Bluetooth sound quality is definitely exceeded by wired sound quality. When I enquired about reviewing the BTC-01, Apple hadn’t yet put out...

Acknowledgment   Thank you Eric at Effect Audio for making the HeadFi tour of the Arthur and Excalibur pairing possible and letting me join in. I was provided the Arthur/Excalibur on loan in exchange for my honest opinion. This review was originally published on my blog. Introduction I’ve had the recent privilege of getting extended listening with some truly excellent IEMs. In my listening there seems to be an almost continuous forward progression toward infinite expenditures. The Effect Audio Arthur and its bespoke Excalibur cable follow this...

Acknowledgment Thanks @BangkokKid, otherwise known as Brannon Mason, for sending this review unit to me in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks @FullCircle, otherwise known as Dr. John Moulton or the Wizard, for making this piece of art and all the other magic you do. This review was originally posted here. List price: $1850 (£1699) Introduction I’ve been watching Noble for years, mostly from the sideline, silently admiring the many creations of the Wizard in the Wizard Returns thread on HeadFi. I haven’t read every single page, but I’ve...

Acknowledgment   Thanks iFi for lending me this review unit in exchange for my honest opinion. It was a good few weeks. This review was originally posted on audioprimate.blog. Introduction This is my fifth review of a piece of iFi gear. I’ve previously reviewed the Micro iUSB3.0 (own it), the Micro iDAC2, the Micro iDSD Black Label and the iPurifier2 (extreme value for money and good performance) (links are to the reviews). I’ve also had brief listens to the Micro iDSD and the Micro iCAN, so I feel like I’ve got a good idea of what iFi has to...

14/02/2017 14/02/2017 List price: £399.00 ($499) Acknowledgment Thanks @RegularIan (formerly known as @RHA Iain) and Niketa of @RHA Team for sponsoring this wonderful tour and giving me the honour of overseeing and organizing the UK leg. Thanks to all the people on the tour before me for putting in such wonderful performances. I was provided the DACAMP L1 as a sample at the end of the tour. This review was originally published here.  Introduction I first met Iain, formerly of RHA, at the Cambridge UK HeadFi meet. Iain joined us for a...

Acknowledgment Thanks Mike Diaz at Ultimate Ears for supplying these as a review sample, with special thanks to David Guitierrez for his excellent customer service. These are going to kick butt and take names in lots of upcoming reviews. They already have in a few. This review was originally posted here. Introduction Ultimate Ears and Capitol Studios strike gold again! I’ve never heard the original Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor, but I hear tell that it was a beauty. I’d never had an experience with custom in ears, so when my buddy ejong7 on...

Acknowledgment This review unit was provided to me in exchange for my honest opinion by Penon Audio. This review was originally published here. Introduction I’m a regular watcher and poster on HeadFi’s Facebook page and when I saw Penon Audio announce that they had the M1S available for presale, and when I saw the stats for $249 in what I thought would be a small player, I was more than intrigued. I had to hear it. Penon Audio graciously made this happen. Penon Audio is a store based out of Hong Kong that sells gear worldwide. They’ve been around...