It's raining IEMs left right and centre. No one wants to miss out. There is a fear of missing out and one of the brands that is giving FOMO to other brands is Penon and its sister brand ISN. Penon started by making some high quality cables. When Penon arrived with their IEMs they were already high quality. I still remember the Orb, its cohesive timber and tonality was addictive. Their ISN H40 and D10 were some of the most loved bass head IEMs till date. Soon after that Penon decided to jump into EST and flagship IEMs. They too were received well. I...

There are a lot of brands I haven't worked with. In this booming world of audio products it's hard to keep track of brands. I know, I know Hidizs is not new but they haven't been able to capture the imagination of the market like other chi-fi brands. But it's seems like this is about to change. They used to have a good range of DAPs but it's limited to AP80 series now. What they have been improving with are their USB dongles and IEMs and their new planar based IEM, MP145 housing a 14.5mm planar driver has taken the industry by storm. Currently...

Ollo Audio, Not many are aware of this brand, they are not a huge brand with a lot of wave behind them but they are something. Originating from the beautiful country of Slovenia, surrounded by the Alps, Ollo Audio is the home to one of the best headphones for under $500. Ollo have been in the market for a few years but have not caught a lot of attention, they do not ride the hype waves. Their headphones are not aimed towards the mass market with a thumpy or fun oriented sound. All of the Ollo audio headphones are aimed at studio use and for more...

INTRODUCTION: Hailing from China Sivga is known for their high quality headphones with a touch of wood in them. They raised their head a few years ago and have a handful of headphones under their belt. Sivga has been delivering eye-catching designs as well as intriguingly equipped headphones since their arrival. The Phoenix reviewed by Ryan has been one of their most popular headphones and their budget headphone SV021 Robin, which I reviewed last time, can be considered as one of the best headphone under $200. What I am reviewing here is the SV023...

Intro: From being one of the prolific online seller in the world to a cable then IEM brand, Penon has ventured deep into the Audiophile market. They have been making good amount of IEMs for various type of consumers. They have single DD to multi BA and multi hybrid IEMs under their belt and the Penon Serial is their latest addition. It's an unique kind of IEM with 3 dynamic drivers in a 3 way crossover. The tech is not exactly new in the market but the implementation of the UM 3DT wasn't exactly excellent. Penon has a different strategy here. They...

INTRO:- Not all of us are aware of Burson audio. They don't push their products through fancy sellers and barely do much promotion on their own. But this is supposed to change as I have got a review unit from them. Hailing from Australia since 1996 their inception and they started their sales from 2005. Critically acclaimed by all the reviewers I personally hadn't heard a lot of buzz about their products before I got a message from them Through Bhav. They make a lot of DACs and Amps and DAC/Amps but what I have here with me is the Playmate 2, the...

INTRO: I don't think there is anyone in the audiophile community whi is not aware of Moondrop. Being a chi-fi brand they bring a lot of stuff to the market and are one of the rare brands who have IEMs in nearly every price ranges. Then have flagship IEMs at $1000+ and budget friendly IEMs ar around $15. This is a brand which keeps up with the market trends offering products according to demand. As the IEM market has a demand for DD based IEMs with tuning capabilities Moondrop came up with the Kato with a similar kind of fundamentals as the DUNU...

INTRO: CCZ is an entrant in the budget audiophile marker. They do have a few IEMs under their belt, most of these are cheaper entey level IEMs while they have a more expensive $200 IEM too. But that's not what I am here with. What I have here is one of their more budget offerings, CCZ Emerald. It's an interesting and impressive IEM. It's priced at just $24 and comes in two color options. One can opt for Mic or without Mic cable. It is a hybrid IEM but doesn't go the KZ or TRN way. I used to have the TRN V30 which I loved but I can say that this CCZ...

Intro: Lotoo, well known for their Paw 5000 and Paw Gold daps had jumped into the USB dongle market early last year. What's great about a dap maker making a dongle is, they know what the consumer likes and their tuning abilities are much better than those without much experience in the source Market. The Paw S1 is a very good looking, well equipped user friendly dongle. It has an AKM 4377 DAC chip, even though it's an entry level chip it can do more than what all of us use on daily basis. Keep in mind the DAC doesn't produce power or anything, DAC...

INTRO: KBear is a well known IEM maker, this chi-fi brand has a whole lot of IEMs in the budget region. KBear too has a couple of IEMs priced over $100 but they make some of the most capable entry level IEMs. Most of these IEMs are hybrids which always pair a DD with some BA drivers but what I have here is not something KBear usually makes. Neon is an excellent looking IEM, its straight barrel design resembles the more premium Etymotic ER series IEMs but this is different. Housing a single BA driver it steps away from the bassy and boomy shadows of...

INTRO: Panther Audio, even though they are not new in the market, most of us haven't heard about them. Based in Hong Kong Panther Audio started operation in 2018 and have an healthy set of IEMs under their portfolio. They start with the Aura D2X, which is a dual BA single DD hybrid IEM and is priced at $254 or 1980hkd going as high as 22500 hkd or around $2900 for their Flagship Aura 2LVE. They have an EST based IEM, Amethyst 132, priced at around $1550 or 11900 hkd. What I have with me here is their only all BA based IEM, Legend K8. As the number...

INTRODUCTION: Tri audio is an extension of KBear but unlike the parent brand Tri brings more innovative and expensive IEMs with various setups and configurations. They start as low as $70 for the i4 and go as high as $800 for the Starlight. What I have here is revision to one of their most popular models i3. The outgoing model has the same driver configuration as the successor but this time around the shell is petite and is more rigid. The price is only $20 more at $189 and the same chrome finish on the shell lives on. No doubt this IEM looks...

INTRODUCTION: All of us who are interested in budget chi-fi earphones must have heard about BQEYZ, pronounced BQ eyes, they are one of the most popular chi-fi brands in the market, especially in the sub $100 region. With earphones like KB100, KC2 and K2 they have a very good reputation when it comes to price to performance, among budget audiophiles. They have not been introducing a lot of IEMs, mostly because of the pandemic but they still managed to push out a revision of their most expensive IEM Spring 2, named as "Summer". Summer basically is...

INTRODUCTION: Kinera, one the most prominent Chi-fi brands in the market has been making some excellent IEMs lately. They have been making plenty of waves. I hadn't been able to get my hands on Kinera IEMs, thanks to Pulkit bhai who took me in his Hifigo review tour. The Norn I am reviewing here is priced at $449 at the time of writing. It houses 1 7mm dynamic driver and 4BA drivers. Even when Kinera has been tight lipped about the crossovers I think we have at least 2 here. I am comparing it with DUNU EST112 and Shanling ME700 lite in this...

I have reviewed the Burson Audio playmate with their V6 Vivid Super sound Op-amps few weeks ago. It is one of the best op-amps in the market and provides a comprehensive upgrade over the default NE5532 chips that comes pre installed inside the PlayMate. Just like the V6 Vivid, the V6 classics are their top of the line chips with a different type of output. In their words "The V6 Classic deviates further from its V5 foundation. With an entirely different output stage design, it is intimate, exquisite and very engaging. With the V6 Classic, Norah is...

Just like some other Chinese stores Penon had also jumped into the IEM market a few years ago but the recently launched ORB has been making plenty of waves in the audiophile market. After the success of the Sphere which was received well both critically and commercially they had to up the ante and added an extra dynamic driver to a full range BA driver. The Penon ORB has only one color option, clear and is priced at $259. It faces tough competition from DM7, DK2001 and ISN H40. Let's find out what is so special about this piece of earphone. Get one...

With a lot of brands coming out into the IEM scene buyers have a lot of options these days and the budget to mid range price range is dominated by Chinese brands that provide excellent value for money. ISN audio made a wave with their H40 hybrid earphone, both buyers and consumers were impressed by its lower end thump and good amount details. Riding on the success of the H40 ISN audio has come up with a single dynamic driver IEM D10. It houses a 9mm dynamic driver to do all the hard work in the world of multi driver IEMs. It doesn't have any fancy...

Burson playmate is a fantastic DAC/Pre amp in its own, it is one of the best sounding DAC/AMP with ESS9038 chip at the center but I still had a couple of basic complains about the imaging and stage. The mid range is like a fairytale with exceptional amount of details and clarity which is helped by the huge stage presence. There were a couple of tradeoffs too, the bass didn't had a lot of life, treble was suppressed and both were fighting for stage presence. I looked into a few possible solutions. What can I do.. I changed the input from USB to...

There are a few Chinese brands that have left a mark in the market lately with their tuning and fantastic value propositions. Tansio Mirai or better known as TSMR has been one of them. TSMR has been very precise and careful with their earphones. The solid build quality has been consistent since their inception. They started with the TSMR 3 back in 2017 and now they have some of the best IEMs which are equipped with tuning switches to provide some variations of the base sound signature. The TSMR 4 pro is one of the most promising earphone for under...

INTRO:- Not all of us are aware of Burson audio. They don't push their products through fancy sellers and barely do much promotion on their own. But this is supposed to change as I have got a review unit from them. Hailing from Australia since 1996 their inception and they started their sales from 2005. Critically acclaimed by all the reviewers I personally haven't heard a lot of buzz about their products. They make In their words:- "Burson Audio is an Australian audio manufacturer making products with no op-amps and all discrete circuitry for a...