Sky-bolt (left), Indra (right) Preamble: Introduction to Hakugei I'd like to introduce a brand here to everybody. It's a relatively "small" brand in the reputation it's garnered, but one that has had a pervasive influence in providing us our gears today. This is an introduction to a OEM/ODM wire manufacturing company named Hakugei. I'm sure some of you recognize them from the chi-fi exploratory phase we've all gone through at one point in our journey. But they stand apart as an anomaly as one of the few brands to own (not partnered) a factory to...

Preamble I first heard about this cable from a friend of mine who happened to have an early prototype model back when it was still undergoing production of the final samples. I had heard great impressions left by both revered and experienced audiophiles that I just had to take the chance and contact Effect Audio to see if I can get a demo unit myself. That was a few weeks ago, which was made possible by the grace of @JordonEA who gave me this opportunity to write this review. I’ve now had this cable for a little over two weeks to collectively...

Preamble I’m finally dedicating a review on an IEM after a year long prolonged absence from Head Gear. I think the last time I did this was back during my mid-fi venture, but I’ve moved away from writing reviews as I found it too time consuming of an effort when I can be leaving small impressions on established forums instead. Speaking of which… Come join the Watercooler thread! (shameless promo) You’ll enjoy it if you like participating in thought-provoking discussions. Now, I’ve been swimming in a pool of summit-fi gears for the past several...

PW Audio Orpheus Shielding – TOTL Cable War -- For convenience sake, this will be a short paragraph style comparison review, so I apologize ahead of time if it will sound too anemic -- Preamble - It’s funny I never meant to write a review here on the “head gear” category, as there is this undisclosed expectation to be all formal when formality couldn’t be further from how I typically like to present myself. Maybe it’s all inside my head? But I falter at the thought of writing media centric reviews that’s...

Tldr: A V-shaped iem with spectacular clarity and resolution with no details to reserve. The SE12 is the quintessential bass-centric iem, tuned in favor of bassheads at the sacrifice of mids. This is by the far the punchiest bass I've heard with a high degree of transient attack. Its Achilles heel lies in the technical imagery presentation, where each note lacks space and struggles to distinguish one from another. If you are a natural-born basshead, the SE12 do live up by your alley. If you like "clear" sounding iem or any variant of the Harman...

Tldr: A musical sounding, clean and lean presentation with emphasis in upper-mid and sub-bass. Very good imaging that is comparable to sub-one-thousand dollar iem. One of the more genre specific iems i've listened to. Difficult to call it "balanced" by the virtue of tuning, but a thoughtful tuning catered to today's contemporary audience encompassed by electronic and synthesized instruments utilized in contemporary chart-hitting genres. If you've enjoyed the Blessing 2: Dusk, this is a clear upgrade that keeps the best qualities of the Dusk while...