Canpur Audio is a hot topic around here lately. Their flagship iems (CP622b and CP54b) have been causing quite a fuss, particularly the 622b with it’s out of this world bone conduction bass performance. I get the feeling having read so many comments about it that the 622b may be about as good as any other flagship iem currently out there. It was this buzz that piqued my interest in their number 3 sett, the CPBA7 which retails at $999. I grabbed a set from Andrew at Musicteck and have been thoroughly impressed by it’s overall performance. Quickly...

So, I‘ve owned a lot of dongles. I’ve had the L&P W2 and W4, the Cayin RU6 AND RU7, Shanling UA5, AK HB1, Lotoo PAW S2 and the Questyle M15 to name some of the big ones. They are all fairly mind blowing considering how close they get to top tier DAP sound quality with the portability of a pack of gum. I think the Shanling UA5 came the closest to the sweet spot for me, so much so that I purchased it twice. But in the end I decide to try one more….enter the Dita Navigator. Upon receiving the Navigator from the wonderful folks at Musicteck I was...

I'd never really taken much notice of Faudio. I'd certainly seen the Mezzo and had heard wonderful things about it but it didn't really connect that it was an Faudio set. I've also never been a great fan of single DD sets although I did enjoy the Oriolus Isabellae. I really just took a stab at this set as it's price is very reasonable and l'd read a few good things and obviously knew about Dark Sky's reputation. So I hit up Andrew at Musicteck and ordered one up! As always, a pleasure to deal with Andrew. I received the Spring and was impressed...

This review is going to be a love fest. I’ll just go ahead and get that out of the way. I’ve owned a lot of high end open back headphones since I started this lunacy. My all time favorite for years were the HE1000V2. I’d had Ananda, Arya V2, and then moved up to the hekv2. It’s still one of my favorites ever. But i was messing around on the classified board one day and lucked into a trade for a gorgeous pair of XTC 1. I figured…why not? I’d had John help me out with some Kennerton issues In the past and he was extremely friendly an efficient despite...

Ok, so I’ve had a lot of IEM‘s. Like, I probably couldn’t come close to remembering every set I’ve had in the last 3 years. Recently, I’ve been on quite a tear though. Since July I’ve purchased or traded for the likes of: Nostalgia Camelot UM MEST MKiii Elysian Diva 23 7th Acoustics Supernova Noble Kublai Khan 64 Audio Trio 64 Audio Fourte Noble Spartacus most recently So, some really really excellent sets. Like, some truly wonderful monitors. The two that have really blown me away are the Spartacus and my all time personal favorite set ever….the...

John Massaria’s talent tuning headphones is no secret here at headfi. He continues to produce some of the best sounding headphones at any price. His latest closed back design, the XTC 2.5 has introduced to me to something I never thought I’d fall in love with…..a closed back headphone. Until I purchased the XTC 2.5 I hadn’t found a closed back that I kept for more than a week. I generally find that they sound artificial, very claustrophobic and severely lacking in the natural and gloriously huge sound of great open backs. I have to admit that I had...

I’m not a pro. I have listened to a ton of headphones though. This all started when my dad wanted to sell a set of headphones. We put them up on the board and quickly there was a trade offer or a like new XTC open back Bio wool. I had been interested in this headphone for some time and John had helped me out with a defective Magni and a Modded gh40. I accepted the trade on my dad’s behalf and away we went! I received the XTC at my house and opened it up and was struck by how gorgeous they were. Build quality is very impressive and aesthetically...