OneDotAudio Amarantine A500 Review everyone! While there are several ways to do an entrance, One Dot Audio chose to do a stealthy approach. You may have not heard from them, but they will surely be doing their rounds on different social media platforms. One Dot Audio is a Shenzhen-based audio company that opened recently and has three audiophile IEMs on offer, the OneDotAudio Dolphin, Hesperus, and their current flagship, the Amarantine. The OneDotAudio Amarantine A500 Review unit, priced at $399, was sent in direct by OneDotAudio in exchange for my...

A fresh start can be repeated multiple times just like how each school year opens up to a new day. One of the many companies that have been floating around the audiophile scene is taking in the repeated fresh start approach. MoonDrop as an audiophile brand has slowly gained traction with their consecutive IEM hits like the Kanas, Kanas Pro and the KXXS. While I haven’t tested out those mentioned IEMs, my first contact with MoonDrop was with their flagship earbud model, the Liebesleid which showed phenomenal build quality and design. I have since then...

A good introduction creates a stable and sometimes a great ending, while others are caught up and are invested with making sure that their brand barges into the audiophile scene with a good introduction, there are also some that just doesn’t care or its not just a priority or maybe they don’t need it in the first place. Such is the deal with Tri, a new player in the already crowded Chi-Fi IEM game and with not much information to the brand, we could all just rely on their debut IEM to decide if we steer towards it or away from it. Tri’s debut IEM...

It’s an upfront name – or really just another attempt of translating a set of ideals into a word that associates itself with taking a leap, charging head on with little regard to either the gains or the losses. A high risk attempt will also incur either high losses or gains. I haven’t heard of the Fearless Audio brand before within the circle of audiophile communities that I’ve been following so it was a surprise when they came barging in releasing a slew of IEMs, or so I thought. Fearless Audio has been doing most of their wallet damaging moves in...

iFi Audio is a company based in UK launched in 2012 with a vision of improving sound quality and eradicating distortion, noise and hiss from different audio equipment. They are well known for their plethora of DACs, AMPs and a lot more that usually fits in an audiophile’s everyday audio chain. One of their well-known offering was the Micro iDSD which gained them more respect resulting in a fan base which in turn voiced feedbacks on improvements the Micro iDSD could have. With iFi Audio’s mantra of improving sound quality, they were more than willing...

The distinct aroma of Oriental cooking, the finesse and elegance of Parisian cuisine and the vigorous and festive scent of Caribbean barbecue all has one thing common, each represents a cultural and unique process of translating their traditions into the way they treat their food. Such regional and localized processes brought about a sense of individuality which eventually showcased one’s affinity towards having something different from what the other has. The same goes in the audiophile industry where in a time where mass and automated production is...

Origem is the new kid on the block in the ever growing wireless audiophile earphone market. Based off Hong Kong and established in 2014 by a group of passionate people immersed in different facets of the audiophile community with a mentality of “breaking the rules, leading the trend”. Origem happened to reach out to me and offered if I can check out their current flagship wireless earphone, the Origem HS-3 with HDR Audio Algorithm. The review unit was sent in exchange for an honest review and no monetary factors are involved. Priced at $99, the...

A journey always begins with one step and while I have already made reviews more than I have ever imagined I would when I decided to engage in this hobby, it’s nice to come full circle once again with one of the brands that jump-started Audio Realviews. Kinera was one of these brands. They started way back 2010 and have since released a collection of audiophile offerings topped by their flagship Odin IEM. What we have to realview now though is the Kinera Sif, the Kinera Seeds’ sibling and was designed to follow the Yin-Yang mantra, the Sif strictly...

BGVP stands for Brilliant, Grand and Vivacious Products. And yes that wasn’t BGVP actually stands for yet it would seem appropriate given that their roots stemmed from their desire to create great sounding low-cost options to compete with the bigger audiophile IEM names. What started out as SIDY in China now became BGVP and has now started to break the low-cost tier mold with the launch of their $200 IEM. This $200 IEM came in the form of the BGVP DM6, a 5 Balanced Armature IEM with drivers from Knowles, the trusted single BA 22955 and the dual BA...

Communication is an essential component of a community and while we have our own way of communicating via different sorts of languages, other species also have their own particular form of communication. Birds for example communicate with each other by constructing either a sequence of drawn-out melodic or short bursting noises to convey whatever message they want to relay. If you haven’t known it yet, the birds’ reference was in relation to the IEM that we will be realviewing now from Brainwavz Audio, a company that started way back 2008 and has...

There were times when stacking your choice of DAP, DAC and Amp was the “IN” thing in the audiophile community where if you had a stack, you’re cool. While the practice is still common, it has seen a steep decline thanks to the recent surge of DAPs that are either packed with great DACs and Amps or have the luxury of attaching a variety of modules. For the audiophiles that live in the fast-paced world, the appeal of a dedicated transport that doesn’t outright play music has indeed died down. xDuoo believes otherwise with the release of their X10Tii...

Show off a new design - the world glimpses; include fancy accessories - the world still glimpses. But create new technology and the world will watch, such is what Custom Art did. To audiophiles spanning the globe, the introduction of new of a design and the inclusion of fancy accessories in audio gear is a common sight, but the development and introduction of exclusive and singular technology always stirs not only the mind but also the curiosity of hobbyists who are eager to either verify or vilify something new. Custom Art is one of the many...

Dynasties are synonymous to age-old Chinese folklore that doesn’t fall short of granting us with notable Imperial figures spearheaded by Genghis Khan, often referred to as the greatest conqueror of the world alongside Alexander the Great. I’ve had my fair share of being immersed into the Chinese culture after studying in a Chinese school for most of my formative elementary years and have heard the word “Emperor” more times than “King” and after watching Imperial movies, the word Emperor has then evoked a sense of authority dominated by dread rather...

It’s easy to say that most of us remember our 1st time moments, they only not help us have an emotional attachment to the moment but to the things involved in the moment as well. I could still remember when I was younger and joined some local audio meet and have a taste of what audiophile’s love and are passionate about. One of the 1st audiophile brands that I was able to encounter on the said meet was FiiO. A company based off CN that started in 2007 with an aspiration of raising the reputation of the often misunderstood “Made in China” statement...

The universe has a fun way of placing things were they ought to be and sometimes it places things differently than what we have planned for. I was never a PC guy but with PC master race peers, I eventually ended up with building my own rig. One of the tricky things that I found while building my rig was finding a decent if not great audiophile solution for my audio needs which eventually faded and disregarded as I moved on to another hobby. Did I say how the universe places things where they ought and not ought to be? Just when I wasn’t looking for...

Some things just take you by the name, either effectively or ineffectively depends on the individual’s personality towards a particular name. I was lucky enough to grow when the digital age started developing and advancing at a frantic pace. I can clearly remember the 1st time I was asked by Yahoo Mail to create an email username and password and one of the numerous things that popped on my mind was using QWERTY, it’s easy to spot on a keyboard and I thought, yeah, that could work. Until I found out most of my peers used the same password as well. It...

Using a dedicated amplifier for my daily dose of music was one of the things that paved the way for me to even consider diving into the audiophile world, I can still clearly remember the moment I unboxed my 1st ever DAC/AMP in the form of the iBasso dzero mk2 which I still have to this very day and still functions when needed. I’ve then been in bed with different DAC/AMPs and this realview makes no difference for another came my way to satiate my never-ending thirst something new. In comes the XQ-20, a dedicated amplifier from xDuoo, a CN-based...

Shozy, a company based in Shenzhen and Hong Kong has already appeared on this blog with their Hibiki MK2 IEM offering which was also a collaboration with Advanced AcousticsWerkes. They are making their 2nd appearance in the form of their already known earbud offering, the Shozy BK Stardust. It has already gained its own ground and has even spawned a limited edition sibling. The Shozy BK Stardust is spec’d out with a Japan sourced 14.2mm dynamic driver, 10Hz to 20 kHz Frequency Response, 2mW Rated power, 115±3dB Sensitivity and a 16 Ohm Impedance...

Better to be excessive than lacking is a mantra that has been influencing most of my decisions in almost all aspects occurring in my day to day life. A great opportunity came my way to have this mantra be exhibited in this site and if you have been following my realviews, it’s clear that most of my realviews are either IEMs or Headphones that are easy to drive, a case could be made for most of which scales well depending on the source or the power pumped into them. That said opportunity about excessive amounts came in the form of Xtenik Audio...

Everything and everyone have got to blend in with the times and its nuances if they are wanting to stay relevant and even capture the spark that keeps that certain time beaming. There is indeed a reason why a company would pick a name such as “Urbanfun” to headline its line of products and in this particular case, audiophile-grade headphones. A chic and youthful name would right then and there resonate with the younger generation and it’s easy to see the target market it was intended for, I’m not that young and not that aged as well so it was great...