The Empyreans might be the best headphone on the planet right now depending on your tastes. I was fortunate enough to review them a little while ago on the channel and have been in love ever since. I tend to use the leather pads almost exclusively because I love the extra bass presence they provide and I find the velours to create a slightly less realistic overall sound due to a slight upper-mid emphasis, but they still sound great overall. Here's the full review I posted to YouTube: Full Meze Empyrean Review

As a long-time music lover and regular reviewer of gear here, on my old blog and now on my YouTube channel, I listen to LOTS of gear. The AF1120 Mk2 are one of the first pieces of audio equipment to really grab my heart in a very long time. I've completed a thorough YouTube review on these, but wanted to share a summary of my thoughts and a few highlights here as well because I believe the AF1120s deserve more attention. At the time I first listened to these, I had the Noble Audio K10 customs (original version K10), Campfire Audio Andromedas, and...

I recently reviewed the 99 Classics on my blog page so I thought I'd share a brief summary here and my video review. The 99 Classics are made by Meze Audio out of Romania. Retailing at approximately $300 they are at the lower end of the mid-price range of headphones and compete with many long-standing stalwarts of the industry, but they do it a bit differently. To summarise my thoughts, the 99 Classics look amazing - they are one of the best looking headphones on the market and they are supremely comfortable thanks to the very soft ear pads and...

I recently reviewed the Amiron Home, having previously owned the original T1 and DT1350 as well as auditioning countless other beyer models. I have always appreciated the beyer house sound, but have learned over time that my tastes lean towards a warmer overall sound. The video review above contains greater detail, but here is a summary of my thoughts about the beyerdynamic Amiron Home: What I loved: The sound is really clean and clear, but not harsh The bass is excellent for a neutral-style sound signature The headphones are beautifully made...

I was fortunate enough to have the V5 lent to me by fellow Head-Fier, @d_marc0 and I really enjoyed the time I spend with it. I'll post my full video review below, but my summary points are: Fantastic sound quality Beautifully made Very compact Plenty of power for all headphones Slight hiss on earphones Very noisy when used near a mobile phone (on earphones only, not noticeable on headphones) At $800 USD I think I'd probably look elsewhere as I am more of an IEM user when I'm out and about so I'd buy a desktop amp for my headphones with this kind...

Campfire Audio have been churning out some beautifully designed and crafted IEMs lately - machined aluminium in gorgeous industrial, but somehow ergonomic shapes, unique resonators in place of the more common sound tubes, beautiful and high quality cables with MMCX connectors and sound tuning that is equal parts varied and consistently enjoyable. Admittedly, their dynamic driver-based Lyra model didn't wow me, but the balanced armature-based Jupiter and Orion models were both great.   I was excited to see what magic Campfire Audio wove into the...

I recently reviewed the Campfire Audio Jupiter earphones and really liked a lot of what I heard and saw. Next up in the tour are the Campfire Audio Orion, a single-driver IEM cut from the same cloth as the Jupiter.   Before I talk about the Orions, I need to rectify an oversight in my last review by expressing my sincere thanks to @d marc0 for arranging this for local Australian and New Zealander Head-Fiers.   Overview   Frequency response:  10-16,000Hz Impedance:  14 ohm @ 1kHz Sensitivity:  113dB SPL/mW (@ 1kHz)   One of the common...

The Jupiters are a stunning looking set of universal, multi-balanced armature IEMs fashioned out of aluminium and packaged with some of the best accessories I've ever seen. They employ a quad balanced-armature design with claimed frequency response extending from 10-28,000Hz!   Design & Comfort The Jupiters arrived in a compact cardboard box with colourful, but classy branding. Upon opening the box I was greeted by a gorgeous leather carry case which contains the earphones themselves in the plush, lamb's wool (or similar) interior. Also...

Overview Unlike most companies, Noble choose to not overwhelm buyers with piles of specifications, preferring instead to accurately describe the sound and allow the decision to be about subjective choices which are far more relevant to the purely personal experience of enjoying music. While specifications can help make decisions sometimes they can also influence our decisions in ways that might not result in the greatest enjoyment of the music. Because of Noble's marketing philosophy, there's not much to tell you about the Savant's specs other...

I got into music at a young age and my love of all types of audio gadgets stemmed from the joyous experience of hearing great music reproduced to its maximum potential. Along the way I have gotten lost at times and fallen into the trap of pursuing the technicalities over the musicalities. As Head-Fiers, the term 'musical' can sometimes be seen as a negative - a polite way of saying "Technically these aren't very good, but they make my music sound fun" but I want to pose a question to you: what do you think headphones are meant to do? Recognising that...

CustomArt started out as a manufacturer of silicone custom IEMs and rapidly made a name for themselves with beautifully tuned and crafted IEMs. Piotr, the founder of CustomArt was a fan of IEMs before he became a maker of IEMs so you know that anything he makes will be built for both enjoyment and performance.   Overview The Ei.3 is CustomArt's first venture into acrylic IEMs and is priced at an insane sub-$300!! At that price it competes directly with brilliant universals like the AudioFly AF140, various DUNU and FIDUE earphones, and plenty of...

I received the Aune B1 for this review direct from Aune at no cost to me and may be given it for free or will be able to purchase it at a reduced price as part of the terms of the agreement Aune made with the 10 reviewers selected. Either way, the chance to get things for free doesn't influence my reviews - if it's no good, I wouldn't want it anyway and if it's good, I'll gladly say that regardless of the possible gain.   Overview   Based on their products thus far (like the S16, T1, and M1), Aune seem focussed on making affordable products with...

The unit I'm reviewing was provided courtesy of FiiO and Head-Fier, Brooko, as part of an Australia / New Zealand tour so thank you to both FiiO and Brooko for this opportunity! This unit is clearly marked as a review unit, but appears to be 100% production quality.   Overview   For a retail price of roughly $260 here in Australia, the X3K (as the 2ng gen X3 was known for a while) is a genuine bargain for a native DSD capable DAP boasting a comprehensive feature set. The biggest question for me though was how it would sound, but before we get to...

The Advanced Acoustic Werkes A3H hydbrid IEMs were lent to me by fellow Head-Fier, @anupong, so I am very grateful to him for allowing me to complete a full review of these little beauties.   The A3H has a recommended price of roughly $500 Singapore Dollars and is available in either a custom or universal style. On the AAW site there is an A3H-V model which is slightly more expensive and is tuned specifically for vocals, but the model Anupong lent me was the standard A3H.   I've completed a full review with plenty of images over on my blog so...

HUM is a new player in the audio world as far as I can tell, but they've started strong with the Pervasion DAP. I've written an extensive review here: http://passionforsound.lachlanfennen.com/?p=1414, but here's a quick summary.   Overall I'd say that the Pervasion is an excellent DAP for those looking for great sound quality with all range of 16-bit audio files. It has its quirks in terms of extra features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but when it comes to audio quality and interface, the Pervasion is bordering on perfection - particularly on the...

Introduction   Brainwavz are making another push on their M series earphones and that’s good news for those of us looking for a well-priced, high performance earphone. The M1s use a single dynamic driver in a compact plastic and metal shell to deliver a tiny, lightweight earphone with sound that’s reminiscent of their more expensive R3 model, but in a much more comfortable package. They're not as good as the R3s, but for their price they’re impressive nonetheless.   A big thanks to Audrey and the team at Brainwavz for sending me this pair to...

Overview   The Alien is a well-priced (~$250 AUD), compact, screenless player that plays only WAV and FLAC files – no MP3, no AAC, just the two major lossless options. For some people that will be an instant turn-off, but others may realise that this dedication to limited formats means a possible emphasis on playing those formats flawlessly – that’s what I was hoping for.   Specifications   Recommended headphone impedance:  8 – 32 ohms Signal to noise:  >98dB Power:  2 x 55mW (into 16 ohms) Battery life:  8 hours Charge time:  2 hours   The...

Overview   In the world of personal audio, the ultimate sound experience generally comes from custom molded in-ear monitors (CIEMs). In recent times, top of the line (TOTL) CIEMs have gone from 3-6 balanced armatures per side to 10 and even 12 BAs per side. The Kaiser 10 is an example of a 10 driver CIEM and has 10 individual drivers in each ear-piece – a pretty awesome piece of spatial design, but also a challenge of epic proportions when it comes to ensuring that all of those drivers are delivering their frequencies in time with and in support of...

Overview   The Urbanite XL is a new addition to the Sennheiser range and was offered to me for review by Head-Fi user, White Lotus, as part of an Australian review tour made possible by Sennheiser so thank you to ‘Lotus’ and Sennheiser for making this possible.   I’m not sure what the plans are for the Urbanite (on ear) and Urbanite XL (over ear) models – they may be intended to replace the existing Momentum range or they may be intended to offer an alternate style of headphone and therefore be a completely separate line so I’ll review them...

Thinksound is a company that’s focussed on sustainable and environmentally conscious headphones. In fact, they even offer a recycling program for headphones with a bonus if you recycle their headphones, but I doubt you’ll be doing that any time soon with the On1s – you’ll be hanging on to these puppies with everything you’ve got!   Overview   Thinksound’s On1 headphone is a foldable, portable, closed, on-ear design that retails for roughly $350 (AUD).   Frequency response:  5 – 22,000 Hz Impedance:  50 ohms Drivers:  40mm dynamic Cables:  4.5...