I wanted to tell you what this is like straight out of the box because I just got this in less than a week new from hong kong for £70. So this is for anyone wondering about taking a plunge on a dap but not sure which direction to take.
I wanted to post it because I can't believe this is on ebay for £70! It'll surely sell out at that price.
The packaging is bomb proof. It has 6 lots of wrapping around it. You get a set of in ears they look gross. Won't be using them so no idea whether they're bearable. A usb cable a mains plug a velvet sky blue pouch 2 cleaning cloths and a screen protector are provided as well as the beautiful looking cardboard presentation box.
Now onto the c3 itself.... the instructions are in Chinese. It's pretty obvious how to switcch it on. The controls are on the touch screen. Seems easy enough to work for me. There's pre loaded music which is what I listened to to check all was fine.
Through my klipsch x10is I have no complaints. They have put wav and flac files on there for us to try out .There's plenty of depth there. No sibilance is present. The cello sounds absolutely gorgeous as it should do. The vocals are brought nicely to the forefront.
If people are interested I can compare it to my imod 5.5 with rwa lod rsa hornet combo. But let's be serious and state here and now that , being used to that combo which is 8 times more expensive, I am getting a lot of pleasure from the Colorfly C3.
Why on earth don't more out there own it?

BLON BL-01 Budget beating blockbuster


Coiled and ready to pounce

Blon are a company with a steadily building reputation for value for money IEMs. They have been going since 2014, and are, you guessed it, a Chinese company. It seems most things come from that corner of the globe and head into the hands of the subjectivist.
With many thanks from our suppliers, I have the 2nd BLON product to come into our offices; the BL-01. Why 01 is after the BT-03 model is a mystery to me, in much the same way as most Chinese companies seem to name their respective models.

BL-01, showing super shine and memory wire

The BL-01 is part of a huge market. The 01 model retails at an incredibly low $24.99 on Amazon. When I think of the rubbish that was out there at that price level some 2-3 years ago compared to now... Anyway, a few technical things about the 01. It has a low impedance - 16 Ohms, a reasonably low sensitivity of 102 dB and a reasonable frequency range of 20-20 Khz. I say reasonable; there is nothing ground breaking in the latter 2 figures, but with 102 dB and a decent isiolation, an earphone should be loud enough to work ok in a smartphone or a small dap. The frequency response will go below and above the audible threshold for any human being. Google agrees : "While 20 to 20,000Hz forms the absolute borders of the human hearing range, our hearing is most sensitive in the 2000 - 5000 Hz frequency range". So far so good.
The audio set up of these is that they are a single driver design. There is a tiny port for bass purposes. Single driver designs just won't go away. They work very well if only a decent driver is used, in a decent housing, with decent cabling and a sensible tuning. Although I am told that crossover distortion is less of an issue in IEMs, nevertheless, any chance of interference between drivers is eliminated if you only have one...
The design of the 01 is an around the ear design. Exercise fanatics take note ; this means that it might be possible to take these for a run or in the gym, without 1. pulling out of the ears, or 2. being unlistenable due to cable noise, wind noise or outside noises. The earphones take a qdc cable. Again, a step forward for the portable user, because the qdc is a stronger, tighter and more reliable connection than could be obtained using the old mmcx or 2 pin variety. I explain more in the YouTube vid.....


Within which there are things that be not part of this written piece - like EXCLUSIVE content

Memory wire, clearly but discretely marked L and R plug satisfylingly easily into the usual jewel like appearance of the shells. The cable is a twisted braid type, and is stronger than the cheaper looking fixed cables on the BT-03 that I have. What else? Well, there's a right angled 3.5 jack, I have a single button hands free cable, or, for the same price, you can have a non mic version. The shells are an ergonomic design, and you can get an idea of the fit in the video. The tips supplied are grey silicon and there are 4 types. I needed the ML size. I changed the M ones that were fitted as standard. The cables are replaceable, so not only will the diehard cable swappers be satisfied, but the 01's can be used with one of the QDC bluetooth cables that are now available for pretty darn cheap. I bought myself a rather lovely looking balanced (2.5mm) cable, so I can have the benefit of using the (arguably) superior balanced outs on my Fiio M11 and AKG AK380 DAPs. Ooh, and 1 more thing ; you get a cord bag with these..... Let's send you another pic to capture all this

The contents

We've whipped through all the theory, so how does it add up in practice? BLON have made some good headway. THe 01 slipped comfortably into my ears ; the shells are heavy, as is typical of BLON, but the memory wire, shells and tips all serve to lock the earphones into place, and will hold their own when on the move. The wind noise doesn't easily find it's way into the ear canal because the shells have been streamlined in anticipation. The shells fit into most of my ear, so a reasonable isolation results. Microphonics, the noise that comes from the cable hitting your body when you're out and about, is pleasantly minimal. The 1 touch button does it's job. It plays and pauses the music with 100% efficiency and yet...I just wish we had the 3 button cable that the BT-03 has. With the BT-03 you get volume up and down, play/pause and back/next. The 01 is audibly better than it's older cousin but does not have the practical benefits. I should add that I can't even plug either directly into my Xiaomi 3 5G smartphone. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when either cable worked through my USBC-3.5 adapter. Now that was £7 well spent....

Not sure about the phrase, but the shells look mighty fine on opening the box

The sound is a revelation for $25. The bass response is decent. It's fast, it's accurate. Linear bass. The bass decays quickly enough that it doesn't bleed into the mids. The mids have a good vocal presentation, which means that the vocal, or main instrument, is easy enough to follow. The highs are pushed forward. They sit below the pain threshold that initially sounds exciting and dynamic but in time becomes fatiguing and makes one reach for the volume control, or , even worse, switching the music off. For some of you that are sat on the fence and musing still over the 01, let me tell you ; these make take some time to adjust to their personality if you are used to bassier IEMs. Perseverence will pay off. These have a pedigree that put them well above their asking price. I expect even more from BLON during the course of this and next year.

With thanks to CCA who provided these for me to review, I'm pleased to say I have no hesitation in recommending the CCA-C10 10 Driver, yes 10 Driver and hybrid to boot! IEMs.
Fit
Is as close to perfect as I've found for my REALLY annoying ears! They have the classic olive shape that I'm a huge fan of.
Isolation
Is high, it was always going to be with the snugness of the fit. Angled drivers push halfway into the ear canal. Pretty soon one gets the impression of being under water without there being music pumped through.
Comfort
These are metal driver shells and detachable cable terminations, yet they are machined smoothly enough to make them sit very comfortably inside the ear. The around the ear memory wiring works perfectly. The cable is heavy enough to enhance the solidity of the fit without unduly pulling on the driver shells.
Sound
Is first rate! Balanced, controlled, powerful and detailed. For a $41 IEM.... I ran them through the Hifiman Supermini balanced connection, they work just great through it even though they are unbalanced. Don't ask me how the Supermini has some cool stuff going on with it.... If you are worried about harshness or an overly crisp sound signature or the C10 being tuned for the Asian Market and being bass light, there is nothing to concern yourself with. This is fatigue free listening.
There is very little to criticise about the CCA-C10 4BA 1DD IEMs. None of the below are likely to effect a purchase and must be pit in the context of a crazy $41 price tag!

There is no tightening sleeve on the cable which means that it will rather loose below the ears. They are currently not on sale on Amazon.co.uk so will incur a small customs fee, taken at time of purchase, from those outside the USA. They don't come with a carry case. I am of the opinion that if costs and shipping weight need to be cut, these would be the places I'd compromise on rather than the earphones themselves.

KB – EAR LARK HYBRID IEM HYBRID 1 DD 1 BA
$32


The latest IEM to hit the offices of Subjective, these are preceded by many many superlatives on many many online entries. I’ve done all I can to avoid the reviews and thus avoid the hype. I bring this to you being aware of the above but being ignorant of the reasons why and I hope this can give you the insight that you have come to expect from this site. Above all else, we want to give you our opinions. Regurgitating others’ views is not what we do. It’s not smart. And it’s not art.

I find reviews like this real easy. First the good stuff. It’s $32! What would I have expected for something costing that 3 years ago? I would have walked past. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it. No longer, my friends. This end of the market is hot, is rife, with bargains galore. Tuning done with precision. Good fits. Good bass. And so much more. I spent some time with BLON earlier last week. That is a down the ear design, not my favourite, but it was ridiculous for the price.

But the Lark? This is surely the Lark ascending! It is an around the ear design (my fave). It has a chin strap (many don’t and it irks me). It has a very low impedance (smartphones are it’s specialty). And it doesn’t have excessive treble energy (phew!) I compare this to the CVJ CS8 in the vid. Both are unbelievable for the money. But, if you want a bit of excitement in your life, then, sorry CVJ. It has to be K Bear. What happened to K Bear? Suddenly, it seems like they’re collection of IEMs has taken on a rather distinguished look. May it continue to do so. There is a model called Believe which mentions that salivating material Beryllium. Maybe one day I shall get my hands on that…. Until then, if you want a bassy non shouty IEM and your ears are anything like mine, get spending that pocket money!

The TWS market. Where do we start? It exploded. The Wireless World has taken over. Yes, we cling on to the cabled IEMs and headphones and hi-fi's we love, but are we still represenatative? Let's face it - we're not. Audio companies of repute have recognised the need to cater for the growing interest in a life without the need of lots of wires. No-one in the audio industry can afford to ignore what is happening. Everyone eants less clutter - less fuss. Therefore, bluetooth is the way to go. And you and I should encourage it. The reason? Because the more hype there is about wireless, the better the technology will get, the more products will be sold, and the cheaper the tech will sell for. Sermon over, let's get down to business.


Many products that are sent to the Subjective offices are now wireless products. This is where the innovation is coming from. This is where the manufacturer can see the market going. This is where we can see your interests are changing - you, the discerning punter. Why shouldn't you deserve proper audio products without wires, without fuss? It can be done. It is no longer the future. It is now.


Which brings us to the TWS market. I have heard some nice TWS products. Even the Galaxy Buds Pro are a decent sounding set of earphones. But, there is alway compromise. No-one is gonna put a $1000 IEM into a tws shell and try and sell it for $1100. No-one would buy it, becaus it won't sound as good as the wired version, and for that type of money, it would HAVE to be hi-fi. Fiio have had a thik about this. They have come up with this. The UTWS5 contains no IEM or earbud. It is the same as those earhooks supplied to guide your cables around the outside of your ear for a better fit. With a very subtle difference. These contain a DAC and a Bluetooth chip. You can put whatever IEM you want in them subject to them conforming with the MMCX or 2 pin standards, that is.


I took my Meze Rai Penta Flagship IEMs out of their cabled prison and gave them freedom. It was utter madness, I know, but I just had to know how they'd perform with the latest TWS (dongle?) Snapping them into place was a cinch. The fit was as good as the cabled variety. Once out of the box, the Fiio's set to work on befriending my smartphone and we were away. This is how we got on....



First up, features. After all, you have this TWS, it's got to be user friendly to make life on the road smoother to be of any benefit, am I right? The UTWS5 has looked at this issue and has come up with some really good solutions to making life just that little bit easier. First of all, it's a breath of fresh air not having to try and find the button on each of the TWS buds to do stuff. When you're on a run, it's too small and fiddly and it often goes wrong. The Fiio has sensibly put a larger button at the bottom of each of the left and right hooks and they work with more success tan any of the other TWS I've used. 1 button accepts a call, on either the left or right side. 1 button will be volume down on the left or up on the right. 1 button will be play on either side. 2 presses of either side is pause. 3 presses releases alexa, bixby or your chosen companion. 3 presses is a little harder to achieve on the gallop than the other stuff, but is doable for the determined. For those of you less energetic, the Fiio Control App is a must. Download that from Google Play etc. and you can change all sorts, from the digital filtering of the dac chip, to the graduated ambient sound options, which let you listen and communicate with the outside World when needed, but immersed in your own when not.


Seconds up, sound quality. Listen, (and I've done lots of this) I was happy with the Rai Penta on the move. There was a good fit. No cable noise, there's no cable. No movement in the ear discerned, there's less to move, of course. The sound stays stable, brings out the rich, organic qualities of the Penta, and really important, makes you WANT to exercise. Think about that, for a second. This is something that you will want to head outside with. We all know the benefits of being outside. We all know the benefits of exercise. We all know the healing power of music. There is more than a good chance that this sort of device will score a hat trick - outside, exercise, joy. What sort of a price would you put on that? Fiio already know the answer. At all good shops this will retail at £99. I'm a fan of Fiio, I think they make good quality products and they consistently surprise me with what they come up with. I am the proud owner of Fiio M11 DAP and hae previously reviewed the M11 Pro and the BTA30. That being said , no money changes hands here; Fiio have kindly supplied Subjective Reviews the UTWS5 in return for an honest opinion.


Conclusions - and I hate to say farewell, but all things must pass. The UTWS5 is the go to for TWS wannabees with good IEMs. This will beat any TWS I've yet tried. No-one comes close to a Rai Penta through AptX; it's that simple. If it get's you off your chair and into the open air, Fiio have won, you've won and I'm a happier person for it.

Deva Pro just how good is it?





Now you can hear for yourself

Just the other day I got to thinking. How much do people agree or disagree with my words and speech? What happens once I set my thoughts on paper and publish them? Do people believe me? How easy is it to explain what something actually sounds like? And, by doing so, are we putting bias into our cherished readers minds? Well, of course we are.



That is perhaps the purpose of a reviewer. A reviewer can take the marketing information from every company out there and give a more judged opinion of it. If we believed the marketing info was all a person needed to make a purchase, then the 1st headphone they came across they would buy. So given that there are many 1000s to choose from, we have been restricted a little in how we as consumers make our decision. It is impossible to sample every headphone on the market, even for the full timers out there. Let alone cost and storage, time would be a governing factor.

There simply aren’t enough hours for 1 person to do a meaningful listen of every existing headphone on the market. And more are coming out every week. All you can do is research. I’d like to give you another angle on that. I have managed to find a way that you, dear reader, can hear what I hear, or at least as near as dammit you can. I can put the headphones on, press record and what I hear is what you hear. The sound is being recorded next to my ear canal, making things like cup size, open or closed back, on ear or over ear, irrelevant to the success of the sampling.


Which brings us to the Deva Pro. I have been waiting a while to bring you this. I have both the original Deva

and the Pro version.

The original is $299, the Pro $329. For that, you get the headphones, which can be used as conventional wired, but you also get this little bluetooth gizmo, called a bluemini. The bluemini has a 3.5 mm jack which plugs into the left hand cable input of the Deva and Pro. It can then be used as the source for wireless sound. Not only that; the USBC charging port on the bluemini can be turned into a dac/amp for laptops and Android phones, thus turning the headphones into a portable dac/amp. The Deva Pro has an R2R Dac, the Himalaya, developed in house by HiFiMan, in which to do the processing. A versatile set of headphones, I’m sure we can all agree on that.





Why have HiFiMan produced an open back planar wireless headphone, when no one else is doing it? Only Fang Bian can answer that, but perhaps the question has answered itself. Because no one else is doing it… That should be enough. People normally buy a closed back wireless headphone because they are taking it out and about and people don’t want to hear loud music on the bus or the train or in the street. But what if a wireless headphone, like the Deva Pro was something where sound quality wasn’t necessarily secondary to convenience? In that case, might people be prepared to seek out the special places where they could enjoy really good sound without disturbing others? By the same token, that level of privacy may make for a more enjoyable, less noisy, listening experience. Added to that, we can go more serious and plug these into our smartphone using OTG, or even more seriously we can get our top of the line dac/amp out and plug these headphones into the 3.5 mm jack in the more traditional manner. There is no doubt that closed back wireless has a place. I wouldn’t want to spoil these headphones by getting them all sweaty. I run a great deal and I just can’t see myself wanting to take these out in that circumstance. A smaller set of on ears or even better still, TWS, tends to be my go to for such things. But for true musical enjoyment, planar full size open backs aren’t too bad an option.





Just how versatile is each headphone? The Deva has the edge on sensitivity but only by a smidgeon. The 18.5 ohms is contrasted with the 18 ohms of the Pro version. The non stealth magnet original model goes louder than the Pro. It tends to sound louder, even at the same volume, and let me explain that. There is more bass presence and a feel of more treble energy happening, prominent on the bluemini and diminishing in degrees as you up the quality stakes by using the dac/amp and then plugging these into the HM1000 Red R2R Dac/Amp. The OTG Dac/Amp, once I got the hang of it, worked a treat. I kept on getting the error message connected/disconnected until I simply switched off bluetooth on my phone. Following that, thankfully it was a breeze. I was able to utilize the USB Audio Player PRo’s bit perfect setting and I have assembled 6 seperate recordings of the track C Moon Cry Like a Baby by Simple Minds. It is a loud, perhaps thunderous 80s track, full of raw energy and crashing cymbals and difficult to follow vocals. Not an easy track for a headphone. The OTG volume hovered around 85% on the Deva and 90% for the Pro. There was enough there but only just enough. Just enough is ok and I got some good results from both headphones. It is perhaps the true test of each one, as this is the best connection they have available. Beyond that the source is taking up the lion’s share of what is being sent to the headphones.


The sound quality of both headphones is high, especially at this end of the market. There is no in ear monitor that I’d prefer over these full sized cans at this price level. The sound signature of the original has much to like, the Pro has much more. The original is no slouch. It delivers bass slam without the bloatedness of being contained within the cups of a closed back design. The soundstage is wide and this is due to the amount of treble energy and linearity being given by the drivers. When you bring the Pro’s into the mix the originals do show some weaknesses. The stealth magnet design is bringing a level of refinement (smoothness) and dynamics (the illusion of more space between the instruments and of there being more things going on despite that). It’s also got the edge on bass quality rather than bass slam. I’m being subjective here, but that’s what it says on the tin, so I make no apologies. The bass does not take up so much space in the track. It punches and withdraws much faster than the Deva. The Pro has not had the bass boosted as much. Which means there’s not been the need to boost the mids and highs. The clarity of the Pro design is something I found easy to spot. See if you can hear micro details more easily in the samples here. The original has a lot to offer; even for some tracks it may bring more pleasure than the Pro’s, certainly it will lend more instant excitement to some tracks. But for extended listening across all genres they can’t live with the new Pro’s.



Don’t take my word for it. You have all the time you can muster to listen again and again to the samples I have recorded. Please use headphones or earphones, you simply will not get the proper quality by listening to headphone samples from your smartphone speaker or even your hi fi speakers. This demands close attention and concentration. I’m hoping it’ll also be a bit of fun. I’m expecting to be able to post many samples of all sorts of headphones in the months to come, so you’ll be able to build up a virtual library of headphone auditions without getting up from your chair. Now how convenient is that? I am hoping that you can make some judgements on what might be for you using not only words and video but now by adding a listening experience to that. from there hopefully you can narrow down this minefield and make some realistic buying decisions that won’t be a source of regret in the future. How does that sound?

CCA CX10, at all good shops now

CCA are no strangers here. They have crossed my path on a few occasions now. I have dissected a C4, C10, C10 Pro, and a C12. There were parellels to be drawn from all models. All are hybrids. All are cheap for what they offer. All have cheap, bland packaging and bare bones for accesories. There are no frills to be had here. The romance only happens when you push the shells into the ears. I hasten to say, that is not the case for the CCA C4. That was not a great experience. It was too bassy and screechy, and cost about the price of a chocolate bar. Nay, nay and thrice nay! We must push ourselves up the ladder slightly to get a feel for something with some quality.


They sent me these as a review model so I've not paid for them. CCA do 2 different one's - the CX4 and CX10. The 4 being based on the CCA C4 and the 10 on the CCA C10. Needless to say, I have avoided the CX4. I want to give you, kind reader, the chance to experience, at least vicariously, something worth reading about. Perhaps even, something worth a punt. In other words, you might be here because you might want to take the plunge into the icy waters of the Truly Wireless. I can tell you already that you won't be wasting your time here. I'll let you into a secret already ; the CX10 is a TWS worth your time. It is a TWS of it's time, and, for me, the TWS has come of age. At least for specific uses.

Unboxing

Very Important


I must confess to being an utter idiot! When the package arrived, I hurriedly set ot work on it. I have a couple of TWS buds already, so I couldn't imagine there being much difference between at least getting them to work. I had a brief look at the booklet supplied and put the CX10s to work. Nothing. Nowt! They are supposed to instantly go into pairing mode once taken from the case at the same time. No sound, no sign of led. It looked very much like a DOA. After 5 minutes of scratching my head I looked more carefully at the buds. They had almost see through tape over the connecting pins at the back of them. There was no connection reaching the buds and the bluetooth was not going to work like that! I peeled the tape off, put them back in the case and sure enough, on came the lights and the sweet Chinese lady started to whisper in my ear. Then it all went wrong again. The buds would stay on for a second and powered off. So near, and now I was failing again! Sensing a battery issue, I put them back in the case for an hour. Although the buds appeared to stay green throughout this process, clealrly they had run out of charge. After 15 minutes in the case I put them back on and, within a minute, low battery warning was being spoken to me. Please be aware that you are likely to come across the same problem if you buy these. I couldn't find any mention that there was tape to remove and it's quite difficult to see.


The only lights that you get are inside the charging box. This is the same on my 2 other TWS items. Nevertheless it's a pain. It means you have to trust that recharging is taking place. As expected the charging box will recharge the buds several times(4), and a usb charging cable is supplied for the box. The quoted battery life is 4 hours for the buds, in practice it will be much less, depending on the volume, the codec, the quality of the signal etc.




Once out of the box and in pairing mode, it's fairly easy to set up the CX10. I would force the phone to accept AAC, rather than SBC, when prompted that there could a problem with connectivity. So many useful tips for you! In truth, SBC is a poor audio quality codec. It requires much less power to run a stable coonection with, so your phone likes that and selfishly wants it. Bad phone! Naughty phone! I found that AAC is noticeably better sounding. You should not get dropouts from the CX10 if you put your phone in your pocket or are holding it in your hand. Therefore the near lossless AAC codec is for you. The lack of the aptX or LDAC codecs is not a cheapskate move on the part of CCA. Bandwidth is extremely limited on a TWS because the left carries all the information and it has to use a chunk of engine power to sync with the right bud and keep that connection strong. There's not much left over to give us that magical sound we all crave. Thankfully, the sound should be good enough using the twin weapons of AAC and Bluetooth 5.0. The newest Bluetooth tech has much better signal and stability than 4.2, so we are good.


Ok, so here you see a few of the photos regarding the fit. I think you'll agree, they look pretty well squashed in for a set of universals. I have been on a weeks worth of runs with the CCA. Nothing more than an initial adjustment was needed. The rest of the time I was able to concentrate fully on the pain of the run itself...

Sound Quality

I am a fan of the CCA C10 sound. It has bass, whilst not particularly tight, it is pleasant without being ridiculously bloated, and forcing the mids and highs to be turned up in competition, or, worse still, to be muffled and distant. There is a smoothness to the standard C10; so much so that I prefer it to the shinier, punchier C10 Pro. I am pleased to say that, if anything, the CX10 is an improvement on the C10. We have a slightly thinner, tighter bass but the refinement of the mids and highs is still there. I would be pleased if I was to purchase these as an equivalent priced wired model, that's how good they are! I never expected to say that for a TWS, certainly not this early on in the evolution of this genre. It took a budget king like CCA to do it. The sound stage is believably wide. I would be happy to recommend the CX10 for everything from Classical to Club; whilst I'm not a clubber, Eric Prydz' Count on Me conveyed all the excitment necessary. The volume goes to dangerous levels, even when out on the run. The isolation achievable should be enough for relatively quiet listening volumes. It's worth pointing out here that there is no volume adjustment on the gesture control; luckily there is a safety feature here. The CX10, on start up, will be at the 60% volume level. That should be more than enough on a standard walk or commute.

Vs. HiFiMan TWS600 & 800

I have 2 other models to compare the CX10 to.


The TWS600 retails for $49


and the 800 at $299


Sorry HiFiMan. Sound quality loses to the CX10 for both models. Bass in punchier than both the bass light 600 & 800. Detail(this could even be described as clarity) is slightly better on the 600 and slightly worse on the 800, which has been rolled back in the highs compared to the 600. On the 600 the sound signature is bass light, thin and sometimes screechy. This can be toned down with Sony Hybrid tips, but you'll still hear it. Foamies can muffle out some of the detail on the 600 and add some bass, and foamies are an absolute must on the 800 for a half decent bass, but you can do fine with the cheap tips supplied with the CX10 to get a decent all round sound from them. And that's before we even start on the fit issues with the HiFiMan TWS models. I need silicon wings to keep the 600s in, and after 5 minutes of running with the 800s, they're determined to shoot free, especially when they sense a busy road they can drop onto....

Conclusion

There are many erphones on the market. Some look good, but don't deliver. Some look awful, but sound good. Some are for specific tasks, (TWS, for exercising) and fail to do it properly. Some are built poorly or are unreliable. Some fit, but many don't fit well at all. I could go on and on. I often do, that's why this site is chock full of success and failure. Whoever is moving this brand, CCA, forward, is doing a very good job indeed. What criticism I can find of the CX10s are very few; the charging lights aren't very reliable, as they always seem to be on green for the buds. The battery life is small in use; perhaps 3 hours or so using a decent codec and moving about at normal volume levels, the case and box are cheap and cheerful. Everything else, in other words, the important stuff, like sound, fit, connection and looks; all of those can be given a cheerful thumbs up. 5 stars unreservedly from me. CCA has done us hifiers proud once again, and long may this honeymoon period last!

Introduction



I am part of the review tour that @TeamHiFiMan organised for the World. I have been busy; I received the HiFiMan TWS600 Earbuds within 2 days of the Ananda's arriving. I was the first to receive these, I have not burnt them in. I didn't have the time or the patience, sorry HiFiMan! I got them out the box, I listened to them whenever I got the chance. It's that simple, to start with, anyway. I have no affiliation with HiFiMan, I just tend to like the sound of their kit. As you already know, I have given these a 5 rating. I don't give many 5 ratings out. These are not perfect. But they are good enough to be considered as "excellent" in the headfiometer ratings system. So, 5 it is. 4.5 seemed petty. My rating was based on value for money, comfort, versatility and above all else, sound quality.

About the Ananda

The Offer

This is currently for sale for $999 on the HiFiMan site. However, I got an email 2 days ago, and I think you might, with a bit of ingenuity, get them even cheaper.

I wish you the best of luck with that. You have to register with HiFiMan to get this coupon by email by the way. It's not valid in conjunction with other offers, the usual restrictions apply. But, if you're interested, here is a way to seal a slight bargain.

The Headphone



Seen in conjunction with a perfect partner, the Fiio M11, here is the first glimpse of the HiFiMan Ananda. It has a really low impedance, 25 Ohms, compared to similar priced full sized headphones it will match up against. Why is this important? Because headphones with more resistance will need more power to sound good. And if that power delivery is not clean, the higher resistance headphones won't sound at their best. Hence, more money needs to be spent. The result is a lack of versatility. I'm assuming when I state this, that most of the readership own a ridiculous amount of audio product anyway, so will dismiss my previous statement about clean high power amping as being irrelevant to their situations. Wrong! Wrong I say! You can plug these into a smart phone if there is simply no time to spend 30 minutes stringing together 6 products with 5 cables, and you can't find cable 4.... There's always a cable missing.... Obviously, a smartphone is not the market these headphones are being aimed at. The R2R2000 Red or the Supermini perhaps? Both HiFiMan products. The Fiio M11 is what I used with these 90% of the time. I can honestly say that not fiddling around with loads of other Dac/Amps, Amps, Cables, Laptops, Tablets, Netbooks, DAPs, Phones, I mean the list goes on! That was a breath of fresh air between the ears for me, and it certainly meant more time listening to music. The only real fiddling around was my last hour with them. This is where you come in.

You can listen to these- right now

Although it didn't turn out as easily as I wanted it to, and it took me half a day to produce, which was half a day of my life I will never get back no matter how much of a boy scout I become, I cobbled together a really decent recording of the very own HiFiMan Ananda I am talking to you about. Why? They cry! For several reasons. I am a reviewer, I can tell you my opinion on a product. But what I will always always tell you is; TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. Please hear my plea when I say this - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. Am I receiving you? I sure hope so. I have listened to a lot of headphones, from the Orpheus, to the HE1 to the Shangri-La, the Shangri-La little brother, the K1000, HE1000V1 to 20 (I dunno how many there are), all the brands, Stax, Meze Imperial Stormtroopers etc. etc. I've got a crazy number of full sized headphones. I'm, quite frankly, ashamed to even guess at how many. However, what I cannot state is that I've listened to them all. Not to every major full sized can out there. There has probably been a new one released this week. I mean? Why would this week be any different from any other week? And even if I had, I only used my ears. And I only interpreted the sound with my brain, astute though that undoubtedly is....
Which brings me back to this video and the reasoning behind it. It will give you a chance to hear what I have heard for yourself. To make up your own mind as to what the sound characteristics of the HiFiMan Ananda really are. I have used a PCM recorder, a WAV file, an AMI MusiK DDH-1 Dac/Amp and 3 headphones. The headphones I have recorded? The Ananda(of course) which starts the recording. The Sennheiser HD800, a 300 Ohm Dynamic headphone, has been used for the next part of the track, the Ananda comes back in, and then my very own old Skool HiFiMan HE6 finishes off the proceedings. I say old skool; the HE6SE is now out. That has the new headband, but it has the same drivers and the same tuning that has established it's older cousin's legacy as a legend among Planar Magnetic Headphones. The quality of the recording remains good despite it's being posted on YouTube. The differences should be audible amongst the 3 contenders here provided you listen with some decent headphones. Please, not out of the smartphone speaker! It took me ages to make this and that is just sacrilege!



So, what did you think? I have to confess, the Sennheiser HD800 does not compare on this recording comparison, and I believe that is for a few reasons. The recording of the HD800 has been affected by it's smaller cup size. The PCM Recorder was able to relatively sit inside the Ananda and the HE-6. The headband on the HD800 is wider than it's Chinese Rivals too. This meant I could not get the PCM Recorder far enough inside the cup of the HD800 as I would have liked. That said, some characteristics which differentiate the HiFiMan and the Sennheiser can still be heard. The reality is, is that the Sennheiser HD800 is a World Class Headphone. The Sennheiser HD800, even with my modded version, does not isolate as well as the Ananda and nor does it possess the slam of the Ananda. It does have a huge soundstage and a linearity that is stunning, that the Ananda does not have.
Ananda? Could be. A tasteful shot of some Chinese delicacy anyway


HiFiMan HE-6 - frankensteined.

Sennheiser HD800- minijack and heavily modded with felt padding around the metal ring of the drivers

So, is the HD800 better?

The HD800 is not necessarily better, not in my opinion. It comes across as harsh on many tracks. Conversely, the HiFiMan Ananda will stroll up to the same stuff and say "I quite enjoy these actually, old chap". Less of the old, HiFiMan! Well I'm getting on, which probably makes me more prone to piercing treble, but that's digressing. The Ananda is smooth where the HD800 dig deeper and try to unravel more layers of instrumentation. The question is, do we always want that? Tonality! Takeanidea, that's what the people want! In other words, give me a lush, warm sound that is fun, that makes me follow the music without being overwhelmed by it, and I am a happy man. Are you the same? Who knows. Go back and have a listen and see if you can understand where I am coming from here. The HD800 I own has been tamed without taking away the soundstage, and has been supercharged in the bass region. Because, by God, it needed it! Even then, the bass doesn't have the oomph that the Planars can do. Before you ask me whether my HD800s are on sale, no dear Sirs! I have had to hand over the Ananda's to another. And I have, to my ears, the best sounding HD800 out there. All I am saying is this- the Ananda does what an HD800 can't do, and an HD800 does what an Ananda can't do, and sometimes the HD800 shouldn't do it either. Naughty HD800!

Conclusion

That didn't take long did it? I have included much of my content on that video above. I want you to listen to it as it forms much of what I have to report on the HiFiMan Ananda. But, of course, I can't go without detailing just a few more things. The comfort of the Ananda is great. The headband is of the tearband shape, and the yoke on these is twisted. Very pleasant looking and very comfy to wear. The adjustment(for me at the very bottom because I have a diminutive head) is easy and precise. The headphones sound good, real good, through a Fiio M11, one of my latest purchases, and I didn't break them in. I never really thought break in makes a big difference on a full sized. But, of course, the brain has to adjust to a new pair of headphones, especially with the trauma of dropping yet another 1K of one's hard earned.... The versatility of these is real. I had the volume of the M11 set to 55 out of 120 for quiet rooms and 70-75 for louder environments and this was on the low gain setting. The overall impressions for me on these headphones where a rich, laid back experience. And who can argue with that in these crazy days that we live in?

About everything

Hi there and welcome to what I feel is an important chapter in the history of my reviews thus far. Few of us can have failed to see the stories coming out on the KB EAR BE-LIEVE. It's been hard for me to avoid reading too much about these, but, as you know, if there's any chance I can get hold of a pair to review, I really like to abstain from other folk's musings. This way, I give you a fresh insight into what you might be interested in buying. If you just want to know what it's all about, again, at least I should be original. This puts my credibility on the line as a reviewer. I don't mind about that. I want to do my own work. That's important to me. You can use this as a way to evaluate against other reviews out there. Between us all, there'll be a picture emerge.

Do you know about Beryllium?

Beryllium is considered to be an extremely efficient material to use in speakers. It has become a highly desirable feature in full size headphones. The Focal Utopia headphones use beryllium driver. The technology has now made its mark in the IEM sector. What is Beryllium? It's a metal, it's extremely rare, extremely dangerous and extremely strong. This is what it looks like. What you see below is as pure a beryllium as you might expect to see. It has to be extracted from minerals. For every 20 beryllium units there are estimated to be 1 million silicon units in the universe. Once beryllium enters the body it can't be expelled. We all have a tiny amount of this in our bodies. Beyond that amount, even a tiny increase is likely to be cancer causing. Therefore, the manufacturer of this extremely sought after material is strictly controlled and exorbitantly expensive. Whilst brittle at room temperature, once beryllium is heated it becomes strong. Very strong indeed. Not only can it make a fantastic driver, because it can be rolled out to an incredible thinness and yet still be stiff enough to keep distortion down, it makes for 17 times sharper x-rays images and keeps the space shuttle in 1 piece when it's coming home.

This bit of rock is choc full of Beryllium Oxide

Introduction
BE-LIEVE, by KB EAR

The sound, the most important thing, is shaped by a diaphragm made from pure beryllium. This is normally found in much more expensive IEMs, and, even then, there are few models on the market.
There is a single driver per side. Although there is little crossover distortion in earphones with drivers this small, a single design eliminates that issue completely.
Of course, to get a quality sound, you need a decent full range driver, and that driver needs to be tuned just right. To attain as good a response as they could, KB EAR have gone for a Beryllium dynamic driver. The strength and lightness of this metal makes it ideal for a speaker.
The sound signature of the Believe is a thick smooth one, that goes to a good level of detail without sounding harsh and goes very low in the bass with some visceral air being pushed around the contours of the ear.
I compare the IEMs against a number of others; they comfortably outperform the Etymotic ER4XR and the NF Audio NM2+, and compete well with the now discontinued ACS Evoke Studio.
The case is a nice thick leather affair.
The cable and shell designs are gorgeous. The fit is reasonable; some tips will slide the drivers out from the ear canal. The research on the tips has been quite exhaustive. I shall give you my findings and we will see where our opinions have met up, and where they've diverged somewhat.



As you can see, PURE BE diaphragm - cardboard outer

The controversy

A little snippet of what's gone on in my BE-LIEVE journey. It's quite an irony... they've stopped promoting these because some folks have questioned how legitimate the claims of a pure Beryllium diaphragm are. KB EAR have asked for evidence from their Japanese supplier, who have been quite dismissive of them. They can't find anyone who will test their obviously tiny diaphragms without it costing a bomb, so KB EAR are in limbo. The BE-LIEVE has become inexorably tied in with it's own name. Do you believe this is pure beryllium? Or is the cheaper, sprayed on variant? Either way, these should not be overlooked, no way.


The review takes shape - some days in the life of
The Sound, and how tips can make or break these monitors

The KB EAR Believe Beryllium in ear monitors. Day 1 is a tip rolling day, with some insights into 4 of the dozen or so supplied.

This is just the start - these are very tip sensitive

Day 3 and serious testing is now underway. The ACS Evoke is a single driver IEM. It was purchased by myself for £139 2 months ago, this was a 2nd hand price, it retailed for £299 when released. The Believe has a thicker, bassier and less detailed sound. The Evoke has a thinner, more precise sound. The Believe needs more volume than the ACS, as the ACS squash right into the entrance to the ear canal, being much smaller.

You can see the size difference, and bare in mind the Believe is a good fit...

A behind the scenes look at my review process. What you see below is 2 days worth of tip rolling and observations. I continued my head to head comparisons with suitable opposition, in this case, the vintage 4 driver from Sony, the XBA4ip. Still held in high esteem today, these trailed behind the KB EAR Believe in detail, bass, linearity. They would also have been beaten in the fit and comfort category where it not for my custom shells

A 4 driver hybrid from yesteryear - Sony's down from the ear 4 driver model - IP? That stands for iPhone

BE-LIEVE v Etymotic ER4XR & NF Audio NM2+2 more single driver IEMs which are both still on the market, neither we're anywhere near as good as the KB EAR in my opinion. The ER4XR has this reputation of linearity and stunning isolation etc etc. It's uncomfortable, for one. It lacks bass , for 2. And it doesn't the details of the BE-LIEVE. The NM2+ sounds like all the frequency ranges have been turned up compared to the KBEAR. It sounds like it's being pushed too hard, like everything is competing against each other. The NM2+ is far more sensitive, in fact I turned down the volume on my AK380 from 80 to 70 to get a volume match

The NM2+ was by no means a slouch The father of the universal IEM - Etymotic

Many hours later, in I'm now in Day 3 of the Believe. I have now tried and tested every one of the supplied tips. I have been given some advice in the group to try some non generic ones, so when I have recovered from this ordeal I'll try some of those... The best sounding tip was the one I started with! Even the size was the best fit for me.... Hours wasted....Still, it had to be done.And if you're still wondering whether tips make a difference to the sound, try taking the tips off and putting these in your ears

9 tips, tested twice per track, at least - how long did that take?

Spinfit

Day 5 - and on recommendation from an owner, I decided to see for myself whether there was anything in this Spinfit brand of eartips. And this is how it went...
The Spinfit CP145 tips arrived an hour ago. I am a medium fit. The barrel of a Spinfit spins around the outer silicon layer. The outer layer of the Spinfit is thinner than the poshest BE-LIEVE tips. The inner barrel of the Spinfit is more flexible but the same thickness as the posh tips. As you can see there is a significant height difference, but that doesn't translate into the Spinfits making the BE-LIEVE stick out from the ears, or fail to reach into the entrance to the ear canal. How does this translate into the listening experience? The CP145 have more bass, both sub and mid bass are more prominent, with more visceral effects. More air is being pushed around the ear. This airiness is also evident in the mids. The overall volume even seems to be higher. I suspect that this is due to the Spinfits being less rigid. Sometimes, I got the feeling that the micro effects were too much in my face. The upshot? What we need is a Spinfit/posh tip hybrid with the height of the Spinfit and the more rigid outer wall of the posh tip and l, of course, the spinny thing going on. Simple! The posh tips have a tighter bass. The mids and highs are more laid back. There is poise and control here, but at the expense of visceral bass. The track below has it all ; beautiful synth lines, commanding vocals and a raucous bass line to start. It became an excellent candidate for my evaluation.

Almost at the end of my tether tip exploring

Many portable audio fans swear by the Spinfit. I had to try it as I had heard so many people say that these are the only tips they use. The height is much more than the reds, but I was able to squash them in to pretty much the same depth. I've kept the CP145 on for the moment, as I think overall they're a narrow win! I'll try them against the RHAs next....

You get the idea? 25% taller, yet still a good fit - Spinfit is on the right

RHA Dual Density Tips

One of the KB Ear family recommended these, having been surprised (shocked) as to my preference of the CP145 from Spinfit. The RHA are the gent's current favourite. RHA tips? For an intrepid reviewer, no problem! I had some knocking around from a review of their flagship CL1 Ceramic and Dacamp L1. With great expectations I put these on. They weren't as good.... They weren't in the same league, in my opinion. The bass on the BE-LIEVE, when it's setup right, has sub and mid bass viscerality. The bass was not as powerful on the RHA tips. A BE-LIEVE track has rich mids; micro effects are revealed; highs are just short of listener fatigue(think here of cymbals/echo/intentional distortion). The RHA had muddier sounding mids; the sound was less defined, significantly less clear. The tips on the RHA were slightly smaller than the CP145, the inner barrel was much stiffer, the outer layer appears to be the same thickness. RHA tips start at £3.95, Spinfits are £18.95. Ultimately, the choice is yours. One thing I have learned in my week with the BE-LIEVE; they respond to whatever you are doing with them in an obvious way. This is both a blessing and a curse, because you may never be satisfied with your tip rolling on these! It is also a testimony to how much it is possible to achieve from these, rather special earphones.

Spinfit reigns supreme - so far

Sound Quality in a nutshell

The Believe is a seriously good earphone. The bass response varies widely between tips, but is a big feature of the IEMs. It benefits from silicon tips. I felt that the bass was too overwhelming with the comply foam tips. There is some visceral air being pushed around the ear, even with the silicons. That said, the bass was still pretty fast and accurate. I wasn't aware of much bleeding into the mids. The mids and highs sound very clear. The subtle parts of the mix, often lost in other earphones, are fairly easy to pick out. Particularly, percussion is both louder and more realistic sounding than other earphones I compared these too. Only one comparable earphone gave a mid response with more accuracy, at the expense of having less bass response than the Believe.

Are you becoming a BE-LIEVER?

Fit build and cosmetic appeal

KB EAR gave me a decent fit with their entry model, the Lark. These beryllium beauties are a quantum leap from their more humble brothers. The design should go under the flaps of the outer ear of most people. I am now about to get technical, so, stay with me here, you're going to learn something... There are 4 chambers we are concerned about when we put our IEM towards the entrance to the ear canal(that bit is called the external auditory meatus). The cavum is the bottom chamber, the dividing bit is the helix crus, and the top chamber is the cymba. There is a semi circle of cartilage you need to fix the IEM under, to lock it into place. The cartilage that sits to the right of the cavum is the antitragus. For the top bit, the cymba part, that bit is called the antihelix. There now - you haven't wasted your life reading this; you've been educated! Science aside, just how many manufacturers are ignoring all these locking points and just shoving double flanged tips on, or making the IEMs tiny so as they just shove into the ear canal? It's a bone of contention with me. The Sony, Etymotic and ACS mentioned above do not have that ergonomic fit. The newer KB EAR and NF Audio are the correct way forward. They are both trying valiantly to work with the ear's contours, not against them. The result is a nicer looking and a more comfortable fitting earphone. With more of the outer ear covered, there is more opportunity for isolation. With a larger shell, there is less chance of microphonics, that annoying audible thud that comes up through the cable and terminates at the nozzle. Did you know? The Spinfits can add to the luxury of a decent fit too. The inner barrel twists as you turn the shells in your ear, making for an even more precise fit. This is what the Believe looks like in situ.

Technical stuff - KB EAR know what they're doing

The finish of an IEM is important. We buy with the eye, like it or not. Of course, I want to think that you have a little read here to see what the thing performs like, but nevertheless. An IEM that looks nice will sell better than an IEM that looks ghastly. Other than if it has Apple written on it. The Believe not only looks the part, with it's holographic styling, smooth curves, soft copper twin braided cable with a beaded plastic chin strap, a posh as possible jack and 2 pin termination; it also has that practical benefit of staying in the ear without too much effort. I'd prefer a QDC connector, less of a metal termination on the 2 pin, and a right angled jack. I'm being ultra critical here, just to keep you on your toes. It's what I do. I need to point these things out, so you don't have to worry about them. The sensitivity of the BE-LIEVE shouldn't be in question, not at 17 Ohms. Yet, in my Astell & Kern AK380, which is a pretty powerful DAP, being a former flagship, I set my volume at 75-80 in everyday use. I think these IEMs need a DAP to be at their best, and a decent one at that. Something that can throw a bit of power around. Don't put it in a 100W integrated; I'm not saying that. Just something more than your average phone can produce. The BE-LIEVE deserves better.

Showing cable, tips, termination and vents

Conclusion

I hope that KB EAR can find the evidence they seek, and quieten down any dissenters that question the purity of the Beryllium content. Beryllium is a big draw for an IEM and I understand that the Company don't want to lose the trust of their followers. Let us not forget though; these IEMs are pretty special, no matter what they're made from. As a stepping stone to a Custom In Ear Monitor or an upgrade from the sub £100 bracket, of which there are some truly great bargains to be had, I am confident that you would see yourself as advancing your appreciation of your favourite tunes, if you put your faith in the quality that is oozing from every pore of the KB EAR BE-LIEVE. Just....Believe

Thank you for getting this far -I've had a good time


I hope you found what you wanted in
this posting of mine. Stay tuned, I don't think we've heard the last from KB EAR, they're going places


Til the next time


Takeanidea


The Geekologist


Team Subjective

EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT SMSL C200 DSD512 DACAMP​

This will be my 4th look at SMSL DacAmps and I’ve not been let down yet so… here’s hoping.
The C200 incorporates many of the features of the D0 and H0100 stack that I reviewed not too long ago in these here parts. SMSL have taken $100 off and streamlined the stack into a fetching 1 piece, retailing at $219 via this link to my suppliers, https://aoshida-audio.com/products/smsl-c200?DIST=REM=
Whilst I am not paid for my review, or any writing I do come to that, I am, as a rule, supplied items in return for either a written or a video in which I have a little natter about them. This, I’d imagine, is where pretty much all established reviewers find themselves, barring a few professionals who are sent caviar and boats and a ton of money in return for their nod of approval. Crikey, my YouTube isn’t even monetised, and even if it was, I make it it my mission to get a copyright strike on every posting I do there! Ooh, I’m such a rebel!
Aoshida-audio.com have kindly kept me up to date with SMSLs prodigious dacamp output during 2020-2022. They have a habit of doing of doing some nice little packages with plenty of inputs, and plenty of grunt too.

Inputs​

The C200, out today, in actual fact, (if you’re reading this on Monday 29th August 2022), is a willing partner for many of the different dances that are, or were, in vogue. We have the obvious USB input and those most generous Chinese ChiFlyers have included a USB C to USB B connection. This will get you into a laptop or PC, for those others, you’ll have to convert, purchase, beg, borrow or already have a drawerful of cables that are so anxious to see the light of day after your 100th purchase of audio kit that you definitely needed at the time. I can hear them screaming at you – “let me out! let me out!” Onwards please, we’re getting nowhere yet again! So…old skool coaxial. Any of you got any of this stuff? I found coaxial on my Ibasso DX100. It worked a treat and actually only needs a tiny wee cable thingy.



Optical is another helpful input, and the old optical connection is a more abundant fruit growing from the Audio Tree. It can be worth giving it a shake sometimes. Optical is typically found on a Macbook, where those clever Apple people found a way to make a 3.5 headphone jack double up as an optical output. I used a CD Walkman to test out the C200. Yes, before the Apple people thought of the idea, it appears that Sony had realised they could have a dual purposed line out/optical out jack….



We have bluetooth here. The C200 has a cutesy looking aerial supplied that screws into the back and gets you some wireless sounds. Whoo! Beware though, (as we of the ultra skeptical, nit pickingly methodical critters undoubtedly are) , the lossless LDAC codec did not auto default as the acceptable standard when paired with my otherwise faultless Samsung A52 5G Smartphone. I had to suffer the indignity of sub standard tunes until I realised I had to go back into my connectivity menu to set the matter straight. Shame on you SMSL, or Samsung (I dunno which one is responsible) for not offering the cream instantly and forcing your average user to unwittingly put up with the skimmed milk! Hopefully, if you end up as a purchaser you can remember this little ramble and tweak the necessary. LDAC runs effortlessly smoothly so there is absolutely no need to put up with nasty lossy. Lossy be gone! And close the door quietly behind you!



Can I go out on a limb here? I’d have loved SMSL to have put some “get me up and running” leads for the posh TRS input and output bits, and charged $220, or even $230? I’d have liked a nicer box too while we are on the ask.

Built in power supply​

There is a difference in the quality of an amplifier/DacAmp that is quickly apparent to the trained eye. Most of our cheaper stuff comes with a PSU which is known as a switching power supply. They are mass produced and have 2 bits to them – the mains bit and the transformer bit. They are inherently noisy, take up a lot of floor space, don’t look like they belong to the unit you bought, and are prone to breakage and just plain annoying. Companies that supply a switching PSU don’t have to worry about putting a decent power supply into their unit and can save a little bit on the design and get it out there faster. We shouldn’t dismiss every product out there for having an external PSU, we should just be mindful of it. The C200 has a built in power supply and just needs a kettle lead to get it working – easily replaceable. While I’m here – any chance of a longer lead? Or are we near a certain weight limit for transhipment?

Remote and tweaks​

This tiny thing has a remote supplied! SMSL actually gives a remote with a C200…Will you use it? The volume knob can do all the stuff the remote can but, of course, takes a little learning to master. If you’re on a long lead with the display switched off then, for sure, it will have some benefits. I suppose my usage was more about discovery than it will be for those who live with this as their constant companion.
The C200 uses a ES9038Q2M Dac Chip which means you can configure your device to pull older sources into this Century. There is a setting that allows you to lower the clock speed for older TVs and the like, if you’re experiencing a ssssstutter. I didn’t find any issues so I left the setting where I found it. There are 7 filter settings for the C200. A lifetime of enjoyment for those of you who will be keen to hear what they can all do. Perhaps one of you can come back to me with which was best for what in the comments? I can’t hear enough in the time I’ve had to justify anything meaningful in writing other than to say, it’s there, go nuts. Brightness can be adjusted but doesn’t need to be, display can be switched off, that could be nice. Your display will highlight the file size you’re playing. The nerdy part of me always likes that, so I guess I’m never switching my display off….

Outputs​

The C200 has a preference. It wants your full sized headphones. The clue is in the headphone jacks, of which there are 2 on the front. No.1 is a full sized and no.2 is a 4.4 balanced affair. There is happily no prejudice between power ratings for either output. Both boast a 2.6W over 16 Ohms rating. Plenty enough juice to strike fear into the hearts of most of the phones out there, and with 11 dB of gain in high mode, enough to make an Abyss or Susvara raise an eyebrow…. Hooking up to your hifi should be easy enough. Either RCA (so simple, so many spare leads) or TRS (oh god! Not more leads to buy!) and you’re full steam ahead, for those times when only a visceral blast in your nether regions by your bass cannons will suffice.

Sound Quality​

I tested the C200 through a selection of weapons from my armoury. I included no IEMs – this is aimed at full sized headphones folks – and this is what I found.
There is a distinct quality in the sound – it’s tuned well – there’s no hiss on any of my phones. I did a comparison with the much more expensive EF400 R2R from HiFiMan and I did find that $499 gets you a little more insight into the music, with there being a little more resolution being offered compared to the C200 and a leaner, faster bass response. What I also was surprised to discover was that, for some of more demanding headphones, I preferred the signature of the C200.

Using HiFiMan HE-6​

Those of you who have been following this site over the years will know that I am an owner of 1 of the original HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphones from HiFiMan . The HE-6 predates the HE1000 range and was the (non electrostat) flagship for a while. It established a mythical status and continues to have a cult following, mainly due to a fast, punchy, wide delivery, especially when married to a suitably powerful amplifier. The amplification was 1 of several drawbacks to the HE-6. An extremely low sensitivity levels will put many modern DacAmps out of the running for getting decent sound from them. Most portable and many desktop Dac Amps will run out of steam well before the HE-6 has got off the starting grid, and more than 1 HE-6 has been literally blown to pieces when a hastily assembled hook up to a speaker amp has gone horribly wrong. The C200 will not disfigure your HE-6, nor will it deliver so much power that the drivers of said headphones are in jeopardy. However, with 2.6W and 11 dB in high gain under the hood, there is enough to have the HE-6 muscling around the circuit at a hellish rate. The next issue with the HE-6 is a rather dry, crisp character to the presentation, and some ringing effects in the upper mid/lower high frequency tonal range that most of us human beings have an intolerance for. This effect can be mitigated with some modifications, of which, naturally, I have been happy to make to mine. I have tamed the beast somewhat with an open design, and a less tempestuous cable. In fact, the C200 has taken what I’ve done and has added some of its own ingredients. The less linear presentation of the C200 has taken some of that over polished glare off the HE-6s upper ends. The HE-6 is, in short, more liveable. I found myself somewhat surprised on 1 fine Saturday afternoon when I realised I had been listening to the old warhorses for the whole day….. How long had it been since I’ve done that? If ever?

Sennheiser HD-800​

The HD-800 has so much going for it. It started the flagship battle, in my opinion. The HD800 is renowned for its splendiferously wild, wide soundstage. It throws your music into the outer depths of the galaxy; you are encased in a giant bubble of vivid, startling clarity, etc.etc. But… ohh….that lack of bass, that spike in the upper mids! I have summarised several years of praise and scorn here. The criticisms are spread across the pages of audio blogism and forum mongering. The HD-800 IS World Class. That IS the official view of subjective reviews. But…well…we at Team Subjective has tinkered heavily with ours, adding some fairly heavy felt around the driver rings and a little something to the dead centre of the diaphragms. The eccentricity’s of the 800s are still there, but we have added a little, and only a little, to the lower end, and have, delicately, snipped off some glare around the upper mids. We have not created an 800S on the cheap. We still have that sound stage and the HD-800 is not dark sounding like the S. The 800 can be improved further still; in fact a member of Team Subjective has sent his off for further expert intervention, at a not inconsiderable cost. That magic is still prevalent on the C200. The wide soundstage, the glasslike presentation of micro details is all still there on the SMSL DacAmp. It is not QUITE as much as some of my other DacAmps, but, as per the HE-6, I suddenly found myself having been sit with the Senn’s on for hours, and I hadn’t felt fatigue. No – it was hunger that drove me to call it a day and head for the kitchen.

Other normal headphones​

Are fine. The C200 gives at good as it gets. For the money, it delivers bang. More money will get you more linearity, a little more micro detailing, a stronger sense of the rhythm and emotion of your music, provided of course that you choose well. For Planars the C200 has the drive to push when others out there tend to pull back their performance. For Dynamics, the bass and mids are given a suitably solid surface from which to smooth their way along the track. As always, my closed headphones – Mobius by Audeze, Audio Technica’s W1000Z and the on ear H1 from Even came up a little short against the open backs, being bloated in the lower ends, as the bass rattles around inside the cups, desperate for release. They’ve sounder far worse before though, believe me…

Summary​

It is with great pleasure that I bring you the all in one C200. I have had a fine week mastering its ups and downs and ins and outs, but, in reality, it didn’t really need too much fiddling about with. The bits I wrestled with (so you don’t have to). DSD. Yep. Notoriously tricky. This baby can handle up to DSD 512, although Audivarna only recognised it as up to DSD 256. I mean who the heck has DSD 512 tracks anyway? In comparison, HiFiMan’s EF400 can handle up to DSD 64 on Audivarna. If you don’t put the C200 in a dedicated USB socket, DSD will not work. On my Macbook I got a thumping pulsing noise and nowt else. If the cable pulls out slightly on your socket, you’re gonna have to switch off, unplug, restart, the whole works. All the other files are fine, but DSD is a nightmare. The C200 is not alone with this issue, and close attention and maybe you’ll never hear this problem. But, if you do, I’m hoping you remember this article and, being ware, you are prepared. Is it worth all the trouble, just for DSD? I’ll leave that for you to ponder. Other than that, just note that this has a short kettle lead. An awkward person like myself can end up a dangling DacAmp, good for a dongle, potentially catastrophic for a C200…..



All perils aside – (and there weren’t too many were there?) the C200 is a competent, solidly built, affordable performer, a jack of many trades, a good looker and again shows just how much you can get from China for your money. Now, where did I leave that remote control?

Introduction
Just how curvy is good? My first venture with Moondrop. During the course of this review I’ll discuss the new way forward in tuning hybrid in ear monitors. Stay tuned for further thrills and excitement.


With thanks to my suppliers Shenzhen Audio, (link to their website),the latest Moondrop offering, the Blessing 2, is now available to all and sundry. Shenzhen has sent me the Blessing 2 in return for an honest and unbiased written article to be submitted here within a fairly reasonable time frame. To their credit they have not expected to change even so much as one word and trust that I will do my best to give an objective and entertaining article as it is within my power to do.
Although by the time of getting this far you will already know that I am a fan there are far more things that I want to tell you about the blessing 2 than can be ascertained by a few ratings scores.

I'll try and make my review as exhaustive as possible and cover as many areas as I can but as always I'm more than happy for your comments and we can explore this earphone in as much detail as you need.
Below you will find a list of technical details presented in as untechnical a manner as I can write. You will find my opinion on accessories, build quality, cosmetic appeal and practical benefits. The sound signature is a big factor in this IEM, I will give you a brief on that. The relative sound quality is a must of course and this earphone will be compared to several others all of which are in a higher price bracket. I state this now because in my experience in this field I have not come across a hybrid that retails at this price that is comparable.
About the Moondrop Blessing 2

I have to give you an idea as to whether this will work with the equipment you've got or whether you have to invest in bigger and better to run them at their best. The rated resistance of the blessing to his 22 ohms, which means there is very little resistance. The rated sensitivity of the earphones are 122 dB, which happens to be very high. The good news about this combination is that you should get good results even through a smartphone or, if you have invested in a digital audio player, if it has a high gain function or if you are used to having it turned up quite high, please make sure that you have it set to a much lower volume and the lowest gain setting if you want to get the best results from these.
The number of drivers per side are five. The bass is dealt with by a dynamic driver which is considered to be the most effective for low end performance. Four other drivers, two mids, which are a custom make and two highs, made by Knowles are all balanced armature drivers. The official explanation for the custom driver that runs the mid frequency response is that this has been needed to ensure the VDSF Target curve, more of which later.

The Moondrop Blessing 2 as usual these days has a detachable cable. It is the two pin variety as opposed to the newer QDC or the older MMCX. There are advantages and disadvantages to all three types of cables the two pin appears to have become the standard for most of earphones. This means a ready availability of custom cable if that is your passion or even Bluetooth cable is available from several different manufacturers. To thin pins fit into the drivers and a great deal of care needs to be taken to not bend the pins when you were doing this and also that a solid fit is attained. This is just my opinion but once I have put the cable in, I don't tend to dress and undress it each time I wish to use it therefore I keep the number of changes to the cable at a minimum which lessens the chances of me causing damage to the cable, not that this cable supplied is in any way weaker than any other two pin cable on the market. I just want to lessen the odds of making a mistake.

The jack is a right angle jack, which keeps the cable nicely tucked out of the way when in the pocket.
Other materials used; for the faceplate, Moondrop has used a brushed stainless steel which they claim that you can sharpen your nails with and medical grade acrylic has been used as the housing for the drivers.

Accessories
To make this even better value for money, at least on the Shenzhen site, one can get the faceplate the left side driver laser etched with a series of options of drawings available. You could even submit your own offering, and see if they can produce it for you, to make a really unique version. Taking a look through the various options and colours available, seems yet another good selling point, especially at this price.


A large presentation box with an anime styled Moondrop girl on the dust cover. The inner box slides out to reveal a chinese logo. Within said box there is a large leather zip carry case, not too large to fit into a pocket, but large enough that you don’t have to ram the cable and drivers into it.


There is only 1 style of tips supplied, in a white plastic pouch. They are silicons and are in the small, medium and large sizes.
A pair of tweezers, an accessory I’ve not come across before, and several sets of dust covers for the nozzles of the drivers come in another bag. The tweezers enable a very small piece of film to be put over what is clearly going to be a very small surface and stops there being any chance of contact with your thumb or finger.
A Velcro strap to tie the cable and drivers together has been left in the box for you to put where you wish and has lots of length.
A warranty card and booklet is also enclosed, as is the airport adapter, for when we can finally get on board and start going on foreign holidays again.
Build quality/appeal/fit
It's difficult to find compromises anywhere in the design of these. The cable looks flawless. The double braided copper coated affair is well terminated with clear connectors, and has a very strong round black y split strengthener. My only criticism would be the lack of chinstrap to get that even more precise fit especially when out walking, or dare I say it, running or exercising.
There are no discernible microphonics displayed by the cable. The around the ear design, weight of the cables compared to the drivers and quality of the shielding means you should not be able to hear any vibration being fed from the cable into the drivers should the cable slap against the clothes you are wearing. The lack of chin strap mean that there is more cable movement than there could be.

The design that I received is the see-through type at the bottom and I really like being able to look into the workings and see how neat everything is; from the drivers, right through to the three nozzles that connect the driver shell to the faceplate. The fit into my ears is pretty much as good as you can get without buying a custom. The shells stay in place without there being any need to micro adjust their position to keep your music in the sweet spot. Isolation is above average, music doe not need to be turned up to deafening levels, the shells very slightly protrude away from my ears, so a little wind noise can be heard in gusty weather, but listening to classical music on the move is still achievable.
Sound signature/sound quality, with comparisons

Moondrop has developed their own form of the Harman Target Response Curve. The Moondrop name for this is the VDSF. For those techies out there, and those of us who hate abbreviations, this is short for virtual diffuse sound field. Any clearer? VDSF is a curved line that Moondrop has forced the Blessing 2 to conform to. It is what their engineers believe that most listeners will find to be the most pleasant sound signature. There is a lift in the bass and a slight dip in some areas of the mids and highs, so in that respect it is a somewhat more complex tuning discipline than Harman Labs have developed. I think that Moondrop has got something here. I found the signature to have a good bass impact without there being visceral slam, and a smooth mid to high frequency sound which didn’t pull the vocals into a blurred background and didn’t sound obviously rolled off in the percussion and echoey parts of the mix.
Vs. Obravo Erib 2

This has been around for a number of years. It is still on sale and retails at £539 for the aluminium version, shown here. That is over double the retail of the Blessing 2. It has lower sensitivity at 102 dB but higher resistance, at 16 ohms. In practice this meant the Erib’s needed higher volume. The Erib is a hybrid model, courtesy of a 2 driver per side dynamic bass driver and planar magnetic tweeter.

Using the AK380 Meteoric Titan DAP, no slouch as I’m sure all who’ve heard of this will agree, the Erib 2a couldn’t compete with the Blessing 2. The Erib sounded dull and over emphasised in the bass and lower mids. It was like comparing a runaway horse with a donkey that refused to move…
Vs. AKG K3003i

Another older model, but still available around the World, the K3003 was 1 of the first hybrids. It has 3 drivers per side, 1 dynamic (guess where for?) and 2 balanced armatures. It has a lower resistance of 8 ohms and a higher sensitivity of 125 dB. It needed the same volume as the Blessing 2, probably due to the fact the fit was a down the ear fit and the shells fill a quarter of the space that the Moondrop take up.
The K3003i was a more interesting battle. The AKG still sounds good, even up against the newer crowd. The bass was a little tighter sounding in the K3003. It sounded more realistic than the Moondrop. The mids and highs were slightly clearer, yet slightly thinner than the Blessing 2. 99% of the time this did not go out of control on the AKG. But just sometimes, there was a little too much high frequency energy. This was not evident on the same tracks using the Moondrop. Overall, I felt the K3003i had the better sound quality but not by a huge margin. These are on the AKG website for $1299, $1000 more expensive than the Moondrop Blessing 2.
Vs. Meze Rai Penta

The Rai Penta is the flagship IEM in the Meze range. It is a 5 driver hybrid, 1 dynamic and 4 balanced armature. It has a lower resistance of 20 Ohms and a lower sensitivity of 100 dB. It needs less volume than the Blessing 2, which surprised me, as the fit of both feels identical. The cables are different, of course. The Rai Penta has a retail of $1099. It therefore shouldn’t be in the same league as the Blessing 2. The Blessing 2 does not have the clarity, or punch of the Penta. The Penta’s forward nature, or more accentuated mid response, can clearly be seen against the Blessing 2’s smoothing qualities. In the same way as the K3003i, the Penta can, very rarely, overdo it when the Blessing 2 doesn’t wish to take it that close to the edge. Meze, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You have not been embarrassed by a much cheaper rival.
Conclusion

There has been a new standard set in the mid price IEM market with the Moondrop Blessing 2. I have yet to hear anything that can best it for the money. Pretty much all of the boxes are ticked; detachable cable, around the ear, near custom fit, customisable faceplate, case, good looks, sensible tuning with the drivers to deliver it. The lack of chin strap and the wind noise feel too minor and picky to take even half a star away, and I don’t do that very often. This is the epitome of value for money and should appeal to the ears of most of you out there.

The Chord Mojo has arrived. It was an unexpected arrival for me because I thought nothing this size would come from Chord.
At various meets up and down the country I've  listened to the Hugo and Hugo TT half heartedly; I wasn’t prepared to spend £1400 on a portable device. I remained skeptical that my Ibasso DX100 sounded any better through the Hugo than it did through the headphone out. As we all know , in a show setting with the levels of ambient noise and listening to a device lots of people are queuing to hear is not the ideal way to figure out subtle differences, and my Sennheiser HD800s are more than a little open.
 
 
So hence I was delighted to hear that something special was on the way to me that was half the size of the Hugo and retailed at £399 , but with much of the quality. With thanks to Levi who considered me for the review team, here’s what I thought.

 
 
 
Sound quality
 
 
This is the most important criteria for me as a reviewer. I do not know what people have out there as existing systems. I do not know what people can afford. If the one factor what does it sound like cannot be arrived at really quickly, there is a danger that people may turn to Facebook updates in frustration and/or boredom! I cannot take such a risk! Therefore let me whet your appetites and hopefully you can dig further into my adventures with the Mojo.
The Mojo delivers on sound quality. It has a classy sound signature that, as a Dac/Amp, outclasses anything I currently own. 
I tried as many combinations as I could within the time I spent with the Mojo. There is a responsibility to you, the reader, not to make snap decisions based on 1 nights’ quick listen when expectation bias and flavour of the month fever can twist things. I spent many (happy) hours with the Mojo and pitted them time and again against the competition , be it a headphone out on my phone to plugging in my Cambridge Audio DacMagic +, a desktop Dac/Amp which boasts incredibly low jitter and lots of power etc. etc.
 
 
 

 
Here is a list of phones used:
 
IEMs
 
 
Sennheiser IE800 Universal and Snugs Custom Shelled
Flare R2Pro Titanium Universal and Snugs Custom Shelled
Klipsch X11i Universal
Westone UM2 ACS Custom Shelled
RHA M750 Universal
Sony XBA4ip Universal
Monster Inspiration Universal
ACS Encore Studio Customs
 
 
 

 
 
 
Over Ears
 
Sennheiser HD800 Modded
HiFiMan HE-6
Mr Speakers Aloha Dogs
Pendulimic Stance S1
 
Sources
 
 
Samsung Galaxy Note II
Ibasso DX100 DAP
Colorfly C3 DAP
Ibasso D14 Bushmaster Portable Dac/Amp
Cambridge Audio DacMagic + Desktop Dac/Amp
Macbook Pro Retina
 
 
 
 
 
 
The testing
 
 
The differences in sound quality vary according to quality of recording and quality of headphones. 
 
When we talk about the HD800 we talk about the top level of sound quality and a potential issue with Amp mismatching. There is a possibility some headfier’s will be shaking their heads in disbelief at stuff of this size being tried. The Mojo makes easy work of powering up the HD800 to ear splitting volume.The HD800 was able to showcase some of the Mojo’s magic- tighter faster bass, cleaner presentation, micro effects in splendid isolation. Tonally I was hearing a sound which I would describe as lifting a curtain away from the music. The HD800 is a fitting way to compare the sources -  if a little unfair when we consider the headphone out of the Colorfly C3 and Note II which inevitably fall short of the power necessary. 
 
First up was my new shiny Ibasso D14 Bushmaster. It is a Dac/amp with a right angled OTG cable for Android phones. The D14 retains much of the sparkly Ibasso signature sound with not quite the level of refinement of the DX100. After 30 minutes of switching, in disbelief I realised that I had made the decision to sell the D14 after one month of ownership. The Mojo was that much better. I heard the differences in tonal quality accuracy rhythm straight away : I refused to accept this was not a placebo effect. After constant switching even using my cheapest phones I was utterly smitten with the Chord. The only hope for me was that the DX100 would reveal how good it could perform and outperform the Mojo.  As for the Ibasso D14, I sold it within 24 hours of listening to the Mojo. It has gone. The Mojo too, being a review model, has gone on to my good friend and fellow reviewer @dill3000.
 
The DX100 is a wonderful DAP I have had for 2 years now and this has had a huge amount of use from me , so much so it has been back to Ibasso twice this year, once for battery and WiFi replacement and the second time I managed to blow the Dac chip. The stock sound of the DX100 is warm , bassy with lots of detail.I have listened to DAP after DAP, the Astell and Kern AK300 and Tera Player are the only ones thus far I feel improve on the DX100s sound. This is not to criticise anyone else’s DAPs I certainly have not listened to them all, and I like a warm sound too. 
The DX100 has 128 Gb of storage, 6.3 mm and 3 mm headphone sockets, line out, composite out, optical out. It is very big for a DAP and very powerful. I love it. The DX100 gave me the opportunity to compare from the headphone out and volume matching to the Mojo using the optical out connection. I could then tell what the DX100 could do on it’s own and then as a transport for the Mojo. I was floored by  the results! 
Redbooks tried included Adele’s new release Hello. Lots of soaring vocals and a relatively uncomplicated recording for Adele. 
Listened and switching between both units every 30 seconds every minute then the whole track. I got to know that track quite well…. I was convinced after exhaustive backwards and forwards that my first impressions were the correct ones. The Mojo as a Dac/Amp could beat the DX100. And it was an enjoyable engaging refined performance. 
A 3 way match was also set up between the Mojo , the DX100 and the DacMagic + desktop amp. Again , the most convenient connection for fast switching and volume matching was optical using the DX100 as the player. 
 
 
Anyone a Muse fan? 

 
I listened to the Drones album as a 24 96 Flac. Plenty of bass, piano, screeching guitars, despair of course too. Could the Mojo take on the DacMagic + as a Desktop solution when the Mojo is merely the size of a large pebble? The DM + outperforms the DX100 and because it can be battery run using a Power Gorilla Battery Pack tends to go everywhere with me. Therefore, for much of my serious listening DX100 into the DM + then line out to my Fidelity Audio HPA200 SE Head Amp is the way to go. 
The DM+ could not match the Mojo for sound reproduction in mine and 2 other guinea pigs’ opinions. More musical, more going on, more texture to the voices and the guitars, more echo, these were the sorts of comments being traded back and forth in favour of the Mojo.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Value for Money
 
The Mojo is not a cheap device as a portable but by gum it’s cheap for Chord!The Mojo is priced at a premium for a portable device. I was surprised to find that there were no cables offered excepting a tiny micro usb cable. Bearing in mind I bought a 1m cable for £2 on Monday in a large department store that works just fine. An OTG cable cost me £3. When a set of IEMs costing £30 comes with a decent set of accessories why does the Mojo only come with such a short charging cable? 
 
 
Build Quality
 
I have an optical cable, it is quite a thick stiff lead and it falls out of the Mojo at will. As I use optical connections most of the time, this proved to be a problem, and necessitated some swapping around of tv leads. Therefore I must point out that the SPDIF of the Mojo is a weakness to the otherwise solidness of the product. The thinner the cable the better for the Mojo. So huge audiophile cables are out I’m afraid.
When charging  the Mojo and listening at the same time the unit gets hot; great in the Winter! As a Class A , the Mojo is quite warm anyway , I have yet to put it in my pocket and take it out for a stroll to see how hot it would get in my pocket as I did not have the suitable OTG lead or CCK lead or optical lead. But be warned, stuff this good tends to run warm. 
The lights are shiny and beautiful and there is a dimming function for their use at night and to extend battery life. I find them very pretty to look at and they serve the purpose of showing the bitrate of the file. The lights are a cornerstone of the Chord look but the inability to switch them off completely may cause some privacy issues when taken to bed at night for some peaceful pre sleep Beethoven.
 
 
A couple of headphones I used in slightly more detail:
 
Pendulimic Stance S1
 
 
A great sounding wireless headphone which was one of the hits at CanJam. The wired option gave me a chance to have a listen to the HDTracks Rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon . The differences in bass tightness and overall clarity  were much harder to pick out than with the HD800 but they were nevertheless there. I would be hesitant to shell out the money for the Mojo if this was your headphone of choice.
This was the first set of headphones I tried with the Mojo, believe me the Mojo grew on me from here.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Mr Speakers Alpha Dogs
 
As 2 headphones could be run from the Mojo simultaneously, the Alpha Dogs were used to evaluate  by my girlfriend at the same time as the Stance S1s. My girlfriend does not like her music as loud as me so the lower sensitivity of the Dogs gave us an opportunity to both listen to the same track at the same time at roughly the same volume.
The Alpha Dogs are a great closed headphone , they are reference like in their signature and show up micro details, including tape hiss. The phones are ultra revealing, they need lots of amping too. The Mojo’s handle the Dog’s needs comfortably and these sound a joy through the headphone port, with the HD800s in as well , the Mojo does get a little hot.
 
 
 
 
 
Sennheiser IE800
 
 

My favourite IEM with the sweetest of mid and top end reproduction and lots of bass. These shone with the Mojo’s. They stepped up a gear and were the first phones that made me see the beautiful extra clarity and accuracy that the Mojo was bringing. I listened backwards and forwards between the DX100 DacMagic + and Mojo for 25 minutes, got fed up with missing out in the Mojo, and as time is precious, relaxed and listened to track after track for hours. 
 
Flare R2 Pro Titanium 
 

A fantastic IEM with a slightly warmer signature than the IE800s. They  lack very little in any area that I can hear apart from a slightly rolled off treble. I listened to Birdy through my Note II OTG’d to the Mojo and then the headphone out and to me the difference was startling. If you like a bass with real punch you would be well advised to give these a listen. I have now had these customised into full shells as shown above. Much more comfortable, just awaiting the Mojo to get back to their best.
 
 
 
HiFiMan HE-6
 
Bought from the States thanks to @midnightwalker. I have had these headphones for a week. I have unwrapped them simply to check they produced sound from both drivers, and to see whether the Mojos could drive them. Believe it or not, yes they do go loud well before top volume is reached. The results are what one would come to expect from an HE-6 which is significantly underpowered, thus it sounded harsh and sibilant and closed in. It was an interesting experiment anyway. The HiFiMan's are awaiting something very special indeed to be built for me. 
 
 
 
Conclusions
 
I once had an absolutely wonderful DAC, the M2Tech Young from Italy, it cost me a fortune! It sounded as it should having a rich refined ultra detailed signature I have not heard since. During this review I was given the opportunity to remember what that sound was like. So thank you to @It was a great device musicday and Chord for giving me that opportunity. But the Mojo goes further. Because it offers that sound, for much less money, and adds portability and Android compatibility and an 8-10 hour battery. And let's not forget the exquisite styling. The Mojo is a work of art in it's minimalism , yet it has these huge light buttons that just cry out to be touched!
 
If it looks like a Lamborghini and it drives like a Lamborghini.... it's a Lamborghini!


Now we are one

1 year down the line.... and we're still together
The Mojo is still with me .The above model I reviewed, sadly , it had to send it back to Chord . I did get to listen to it later on in the Tour because it went to @dill3000 at a time when he happened to be building a huge amp for me. I applied to Chord to buy the Mojo from the Tour but they wouldn't let me keep it
I had an Ibasso Bushmaster at the time , and had bought that directly from China and waited all that time for the DAC/Amp to be imported. It was a great device. I had only owned it for a week but before my stage in the Mojo Tour was over , I had sold it to pay for the Chord. There then came an agonising wait whilst Chord desperately tried to get the sufficient numbers out there to meet demand. All in all I did well , I think I was only without a Mojo for a month.
The Mojo still goes with me everywhere. It adds life and sparkle to everything from my $32.75 **** UEs to my Bass Heavy AKG K1000 Phones . The AKGs are perhaps the least sensitive headphones ever made ; the Mojo is plugged into my @dill3000 created First Watt F6 Power Amp to give them the power they need. The Mojo supplies plenty enough voltage to make a pretty stunning preamp although it looks a little strange juxtaposed to a giant 50 WPC super amp!



I have had lots of problems in my search for a cheap replacement for my phone, specifically chosen to be used as a longer lasting OTG device than my Samsung Galaxy Note II. I tried the Cubot H1 . This had a battery life (5300 mAh), not kidding , of 2 days... But the OTG was hopeless on it for interference , even in Airplane Mode. My next was a 6300 mAh Leagoo Shark1 with exactly the same problem. Android phone no.3 , the Median Life E5005 5" smartphone seemed like a bargain. £79.99 from Aldi with Android 6.0 and 4G as standard. The OTG was again dreadful.


I have now settled for the Motorola Moto G4. This has some interference compared to the Note II when in cellular mode , but in airplane mode is whisper quiet. It has a full day's battery life supports Android 6.0 , has a Fast Charge facility , 4G as standard and takes a Micro SD card. All for £159.99.


What does the Chord Mojo bring to the party after all this time? When others are bringing Prosecco, Chord brings Champagne.



Some come with a box of Celebrations and are welcomed, Chord offers up hotelchocolat...


The Mojo is an example of when something is simply right. It brings out detail and depth in my music. This in turn creates a clarity and poIish that I find in only the best audio equipment.
I don't use the Mojo for my running. It doesn't take to being jogged about like that. The buttons will sometimes switch on and off at random when they are in a bag . If I'm not careful , one of these my ears will be blown clean off when the Mojo switches back on at full volume! I can tell you I have a shock or 2 over the past year. Not every usb plug will charge the Mojo properly and it takes a long time to charge compared to the newest Smartphone devices out there. It adds a lot of bulk to a phone or a DAP , especially when you see how thick my DX100 is anyway.


Let's face it ; no marriage is perfect. The most important thing is we're still in love.


Amendment Dec 2016 - I have directly compared the RHA DL Dacamp and iFi Micro iDSD BL Dacamp during this month. The Mojo is still the winner for me. The decisive winner. I have some links to some tracks I recorded to side by side compare the iFi and Mojo using a semi pro ART analogue to digital recorder. If you are interested in hearing the difference between the 2 please have a listen. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B41-5ITI_tfbaFVBYU9CWWhqdncThe results I hope you will hear for yourselves. This is not the best that either Dac can sound; there is analogue loss. But it will show you (hopefully) which sounds better to your ears. Surely that is better than any hot air blown in this review or any measurement I could try to baffle you with......

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B41-5ITI_tfbV09lVnllN2hrSGs
This is my latest venture - I wanted to find out for once and for all whether optical or USB is the way forward of listening to my music - what do you think?

[VIDEO]https://youtu.be/jt4b9cLY9vQ[/VIDEO]

CHINA IN YOUR HAND – HIDIZS AP80 PRO DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER​

Fun size & feature packed​

A Facebook find – John Beagley -I bought the complete collection on Bandcamp

With kind thanks from Yihua of Aoshida hi-fi, the AP80 Pro has a retail price of $169.99. In typical Chinese style, it represents a price level that seems way below it’s true worth. Far be it from me to give the game away so early on into my review, but I’m hoping you get the gist of what this is all about.

See what I mean? USBC – for charging or Dac- Standard and balanced outputs AND fixed line out

A tiny piece on what gets onto here and what doesn’t make it​

I don’t like to whinge. I especially don’t wish to waste my time moaning about audio products that don’t reach or exceed my expectations. My time is precious, and I, like your good selves, am holding down a demanding full time job. If I am sent a product that I don’t like, it simply doesn’t get on to these pages. Whilst I may not rave about every product I have reviewed here, there is always something engaging enough for me to warrant the many hours it takes to get the message out there. As always, the devil is in the details, read and research properly and you will find what you desire. I do not read any reviews on products that I am due to receive. This is the way in which I can keep my writing fresh, free from plagiarism, my own views and my own style. I trust that you respect this and take this as the reason as to why each review seems to have so much positivity in it. In a world full of so much bad news, my small part will try and take you
away from that; for a little while at least.

Now; back to business

Can you see it? The USBC cable is terminated in purple in harmony with the volume knob

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About the AP80 Pro​

The question is not what the AP80 Pro does; it’s easier to mention what it doesn’t do! The Pro has no Wi-Fi and no app support. It doesn’t have a massive amp for your HiFiMan HE-6 or your Abyss or whatever crazy big headphone you’ve got. If you’re looking for this, thank you very much for your time so far, and I understand if you want to leave and seek elsewhere. I hope to see you soon. If I still have you with me, let us both take a look at what this thing can do.

I find the screen to be as vivid as my smartphone and just as easy to navigate

You have balanced cables for your posh earphones and need something to try them out on without breaking the bank. Box ticked. The AP80 Pro has a 2.5 balanced and 3.5 jack. A note of caution. Do not try a 3.5 to 2.5 adapter, even if there is one out there. It might damage the amp in the AP80 in just the same way as it would affect any balanced connection. If you want to try a balanced output, get yourself a balanced cable. There are no shortcuts to this. And a balanced cable can be got for $20-$30 (or £). That will look much nicer than an adapter spoiling your new DAP. The AP80 has bidirectional Bluetooth. It can receive a Bluetooth signal, for example, from your smartphone, and it’ll handle LDAC with ease. There is an app you can download and it’ll allow you to control the features of the AP80 on your smartphone, which has a bigger screen than the AP80 so therefore should be easier to navigate. It doesn’t stop there. Bluetooth can be pushed from the Hidizs to a Bluetooth headphone or speaker.

Most As supplied inc OTG cable and silicon case

Other inputs include a DAC facility which has DSD support for 64/128 formats. OTG is supported, so you can strap this to your phone for a wired connection, for example, and output Bluetooth to your wireless earphones. The AP80 has no internal memory but supports a micro SD card of 512 Gb and probably beyond. I can’t yet evidence that capacity but have had no problems with the 128 Gb I’ve been using. The UI on the Hidizs is fast and has plenty of features. There are many clunky operating systems out there for some otherwise good digital players; Hidizs are renowned for a high quality UI and licence this out to other manufacturers.

Another Facebook find – those Groups are treasure troves

In short, they know what they’re doing, and it shows here. The touchscreen and the Samsung display are responsive and sharp. There are side buttons for next, pause and back, and a volume knob that’s both precise and discrete. Within the settings all can be switched off for on the move purposes. In practice, I didn’t find any problems with the AP80 whilst out running and in unlocked mode. I can’t see myself needing to use the app.

The loveliness of the unboxing – never gets old does that

Sound quality​

What, if any, qualities or personality does this little gem bring to the table? Compared to the AK380, or the Fiio M11, is there any discernible difference? I will put some audio clips on and clearly label which ones are from which DAP, then you’ll be able to make that decision yourselves. Bear in mind that the Fiio M11 retails for £449 and the Astell & Kern AK380 is a former flagship DAP. That will set you back £1649…..

Ok, have you had a listen? Good. Now all you need to know is what this will sound good with. Plug in all types of earphones, and some full size headphones will work outstandingly well with the AP80 Pro. I’d suggest you’d be looking at anything with an impedance of 50 Ohms or less would be a good match. For full sized headphones, there is a gain setting within the GUI which needs switching to High Mode. Full sized bluetooth headphones have their own Dac and Amp so are not an issue. I happen to have the Ananda BT which is about as good as it gets with wireless headphones. Of course one must realise that by using bluetooth outputs we are essentially limiting the AP8 Pro to 50% of it’s capabilities, because then it simply becomes a source rather than using it’s analog outputs. The Dac and amp become switched off as those duties are being taken up by the bluetooth headphones.

Andrew Taylor, courtesy of Bandcamp download

Conclusion​

The need for a fast, good looking, feature packed DAP that can communicate with your smartphone and your bluetooth devices and hi-fi is never more important than now. If you want something disconnected from that world, don’t worry; chuck your files onto an sd card and listen in the traditional way. It’s got a clean looking, fast GUI and it hasn’t fallen over on me yet. The AP80 Pro doesn’t have WiFi and apps, which has undoubtedly kept the price level temptingly low. Your smartphone has all that, as has your laptop. So this does the next best thing and uses bluetooth with great efficiency. There is an app to control this from your smartphone when out and about. I can’t see the need indoors with a screen that is this good. My opinion on the sound is that it is difficult to fault at this level; I’m glad they didn’t try and cater for bigger headphones with a bigger amp section, because that would have pushed both the price and the size of the device up into another tier. And who, fellow bargain hunters, would want that to happen?

Reviewed - finally​

The bestest seller ever


I know. I get to talk about lots of HiFiMan stuff. It may seem like I snap my fingers and all this stuff comes winging it's way to me. You just do not know the blood sweat and tears that goes into the turmoil of arranging one of these reviews, just for YOU dear reader! There is not enough space within the confines of these venerable pages to describe the struggle. I hope you find that the pain comes through in the emotion that pours from my every word adds a little something, a little "Trev", to the party. In other words, I am still neither richer, nor poorer, for having had the HiFiMan pallet drop a little something on its way to the rest of the dealers in the UK. Nor am I to be the last person to have these headphones. That honour rests with my brother, Graham, known more famously as "Radiocruncher" (look him up on YouTube). He has had the onerous task of fixing my audio gear, and has had a look at some rather precious items for HiFiMan lately. Being of an engineering background and possessing the family genius seems to give the man an uncanny ability to diagnose and repair faults for equipment he's never seen, has no circuit diagrams for, and no spare parts with which to get them going again. And yet, time and time again, equipment has been saved from the passage of shame back to China and has been kept in the UK, much to the benefit of those who frequent the Audio Shows both here and in the rest of the World. Thank you my brother, on behalf of me and on behalf of HiFiMan. By the time you read this, he'll be unboxing these headphones for himself. Not quite new, but not quite that old eh? He deserves them.

Introductions​

I wonder whether I should introduce myself? There is a possibility you've not read my work before or not come across me in your travels in the audio realm, either virtually or in the flesh. My name is Trev, I am a hobbyist, it is extremely likely that I am older than you, but please don't feel too sorry for me because I have a life full of work and play just like you do. I have been reviewing here for several years, on headfi for even longer and have 130 videos on YouTube as of the latest count. My musical tastes were formed in the 1970s, through the music my parents listened to, when a music centre was still considered to be an essential part of a lower middle class' front room, and in the 1980s, where I spent much of my time with an ear glued to my Aiwa Ghetto Blaster before I bought a Rega/Rotel/Yamaha/JPW setup with my 1st wage packet. My Mum loved Classical music and ballads, my Dad liked anything my Mum said he should put on the record player, my Grandad introduced me to Electronic Music and my brother enjoyed putting his slippers on and listening to Punk Records at life threatening volume on his garish stack system (which I envied to an unhealthy extent). In short, there are not many genres of music that I haven't had a listen to and I have interests in cassette, vinyl, cd, sacd, dvd, blu ray, digital and streaming. I have every available means of being able to play any of these things through either portable or back breaking devices. This is because I am old, not because I am rich. Perhaps I would be rich if I didn't have these things? Actually no, I'd be poorer.


That was all about me. This is all about HiFiMan. I'm going to write this up because the Sundara is the apple in the eye of our Chinese friends. The Jewel in the Crown. The Diamond in the Rust. The glittering prize. Because of this, I believe that some of you will be here because you've been made aware of the popularity of the headphone and want to know what all the fuss is about. It all started in China with a phD... No, I don't really know all of that story too well, but there came a time when headphones started getting really good, which was about the time I bought the Sennheiser HD800. HiFiMan had started with a player but quickly earned a reputation for making planar magnetic headphones at almost every price point you could imagine. The range eventually got the Sundara. When it 1st came out it was $499. The Audio World liked them. A lot. Here was a Planar that there was little to criticise and much to admire. The Sundara was full sized in every way, including the sound stage. Introduced in late 2017, a "silent revision" took place in 2020, and is still with us now. A silent revision occurs when a company changes a headphone, and tells no one. Not a soul. Silence. Then we find out. We are horrified. They come clean. We get an explanation. We are relieved. We are happy. They are happy. We all go off and play again. The revision was that HiFiMan changed the pads. They started getting the pads from a new supplier. The pads however, look exactly the same as on the originals. How to tell an original from a 2020? There are 2 ways I can see. 1 - weigh them. My original is 387g. The 2020 is a whole 3g lighter. The reason that the 2020 is lighter brings us to way no. 2 - there is glue behind the pads of the original Sundara but the new pads are so incredibly super awesome they don't need no extra fixing. This means that when you try and take the pads off the original drivers you are in for a flaky mess, cos all the thin pleather is going to be flexed by the band of glue that was designed to hold them in place for eternity. For the purposes of no glue alone, it would seem like the silent revision made sense.

Looks​

You read it - do you agree? It wasn't love at first sight for me. There is a basic look about this side of the HiFiMan range - I think that the design won't alienate many, but it's plain. Maybe one should look beneath the surface for beauty? Is this the lesson that HiFiMan are trying to teach us. Oh Wise Ones....I'm all for there being more colour in our lives so this is never going to be me oohing and aahing over a matt black and grey finish. Perhaps we should get a diamond version once the Sundara reaches a million sales? Too late you say? It already has?

Versatility​

This is for amps - take the shiny thing at the end off if no want the amp


The specifications of 37 ohms and 94 dB may leave the odd punter in a quandary. Is that enough to work off my smartphone? Will these need an amp to sound at their best? Yes - that is enough to work off your smartphone. Yes - these will need an amp to sound at their best. A man I greatly admire, crinacle, posted an extremely persuasive video with a picture of a $20 apple dongle entitled "You don't NEED an amp". I have plugged these into my phone and I have plugged these into the HiFIMan EF1000(please google this if you haven't heard of it). They sound BETTER through an amp. You don't NEED an amp. You don't NEED a Sundara. See what I did there?

Sound Signature​

The sound stage is wide enough to raise a smile but not cavernous enough to make one fall off their chair in the way that a Sennheiser HD800 grabs you. I could throw some crazy diagrams at you - they're definitely here in my head. But perhaps that's where they should stay. You see, there is a balance between sound stage and thinness or airiness. Even eeriness could describe an unnatural in the ear environment. If you want a speaker like level of staging - why didn't you buy speakers? If you want an intimate experience - closed backs are that way please, move along please. This is in the middle. Where most open back headphones sit. The most important thing you need to know is that sounds appear close to the front of the driver and therefore get to your ears pretty quickly. This seems to make vocals easier to follow and the main instrument stands out from the crowd. The bass has slam and there is visceral subbass, in other words, air pushes pleasantly against your ears at times. The high frequencies are rolled off slightly.

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Sound Quality​

Nothing changed apart from the pads



The Sundara is the best seller for a reason. I find it difficult to dislike the presentation I am given. I miss some of the micro detail I had in the original design (but nothing changed apart from the pads) and the treble is a little more rolled back in the 2020s (but nothing changed apart from the pads). For those of you out there who want to feel their music in a physical way, you'll be ok, you're catered for. And I'm not saying these are Beats in any way. No Sir. They just changed things. I spent some time being re-educated whilst listening to the SACD of Let's Dance with these on. The drumming on any one of those tracks is...Well, I just never realised how good that album was until yesterday.

Conclusion​

I've done many Sundara v this Sundara v that mashups, but it occurred to me that I'd never really looked at it properly. I'd taken it for granted. A piece of the woodwork so to speak. It was a go to headphone because everyone knew about it. But - did I know about it? I assumed I knew what makes the Sundara tick. I think I assumed wrongly and I have enjoyed this re imagining of HiFiMan's top seller. The originals are now in tatters and waiting for replacement pads. They have definitely been overlooked by myself due to ever increasing demand for products to bring to a captive audience. I will give you some quiet time, Mr Sundara, that is a promise. For the 2020s, my brother can get his tape collection ready - they are almost with you. There'll be plenty of shouty stuff that'll keep the Sundara's contended til the end of their days.

Ibasso AM05

Cheeky Chi-Fi Mid Tier Madness

China in Your Hands



This is how they do it


I have great pleasure in telling you; apparently there is still some life left in the wired World of wacky weird wonderful IEMs.


I am the temporary owner of a set of Ibasso AM05 universal in ear monitors. Before I dive into nonsensical whimsical prose about linearity, functionality and banality, I must tell you some facts about me and these here tiny things. 1- I try not to read any material, especially reviews, of equipment that I will be getting my mitts on. This is because I am easily led. Without direction my free mind can work itself into a state of overtime. This is probably the hidden pressure I need to garnish the truth, as I see it, from whatever I'm dealing with at the time. I suspect I am haunted by the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes. That being so, I know I walk the tightrope of becoming discredited and labelled a complete fool. So be it. I like what I like. A certain George Orwell, being a lifelong critic of critics, stated that all us types ever did was to regurgitate the words "I like this", or "I dislike this" into a vacuous splurge of irrelevant waffle. This is my World! Welcome, dear reader!




2 - the Ibasso AM05 is a 5 driver, detachable cable universal in ear monitor. At the time of writing it is on sale for £259 and can be purchased in the UK from amp3, the company who have kindly supplied this to me.

https://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/


3- The cable supplied is a 2.5mm balanced design. Most of the newest digital audio players have balanced in. For those without balanced, an unbalanced adapter is in the box.


It's balanced by design



4- The IEMs will be loud enough from a smartphone. You don't have to use an expensive dap to get good sound from these. A good dap gets you better sound than from a smartphone, so that's why I use one in the video to test it. I use another review model, the Fiio M11 Pro, to put the AM05 through their paces.


The Fiio M11 Pro


Packaging/ build/looks

The goody box. I'm afraid the goody box was not that good! Ibasso have put much of the money on this product into the earphones. The case they come with is bog standard, the box they come with is nondescript and the tips are in small plastic pouches. There are no frills here at all. Considering the outstanding looks of the AM05 and the cable; quite frankly, I was shocked.


A box with a case. And some bags of tips.


Because the AM05 is built beautifully. The drivers are sculpted. They conform to the natural contours of the ear.


The AM05 5 balanced armature IEM, featuring Knowles Drivers


That is something I am a big fan of. There is nothing industrial looking about these IEMs. There is a ring shaped chin strap on the cable. That is made from a metal but would be too small to be able to feel it in use. The chin slider looks discrete but elegant.


Chin strap/slider/cinch

The cable is robustly terminated fore and aft. With see through plastic collars of decent length and girth they should keep the cable in 1 piece unless they go too near a clawhammer or a chainsaw. So be careful with that type of gear around these, please.


Built for bullish insertion


The MMCX connectors are a test of strength to push into their unyielding partners. But they eventually do so with an undignified snap. Such is the sad fate of the MMCX cable. It is less prone to being bent than it's 2 pin counterpart. It is a curse that we must bear, until someone invents an insertion tool. Getting the cables out, wit a decent set of nails, is a piece of cake. I wouldn't bother doing this too much. I like the cable that has been supplied. I wouldn't be feeling the need to constantly cable swap. I'd rather spend my time chopping and changing my music choices. But, for those who have lots it can be done. And you know how to do it.


In their naked glory, ready for those MMCX hooligans


Sound

The AM05 sound as good as they look. For once, I am in the position of saying I can recommend these absolutely without reservation at £259 if you want an IEM to commute with on the bus, take out for a stroll, listen in bed, in your favourite armchair etc. I have not taken them to the gym or out for a run. I will sit on the fence as to their ability to deal with prodigious amounts of sweat.


The sun let me in so you can see the 2 logos.
I'm not sure about the logos; maybe they're a grower


The bass, mid and treble response was compared, by memory, to the £2000 Final Audio A8000 single driver beryllium IEMs.


Final Audio A8000

It was also judged side by side with 2 more expensive in ears, of which I have owned for a number of years. These are the 6 driver Westone W60


Highly customised Westone W60




Highly customised Sennheiser IE800

and the single driver Sennheiser IE800.All 3 comparisons are far more expensive than the AM05. And yet....


The bass on the A8000 was the finest I've heard in an IEM. The low notes could be both heard and felt beyond what I had previously thought was possible in a driver of that size. The bass on the AM05 was not as visceral and was slightly leaner. But the bass on the AM05 is exactly what I want from my kit. Each note sounds right. It sounds natural and has no bloatedness to it. It never becomes tiring, even on old Beatles tracks, which have way too much thud in them for normal headphones to deal with. The bass never gets in your face. The W60 has too much bass. I now know that from hearing not only products like the AM05, but also the Final A8000 and the LarkStudio LSIV, which I have reviewed recently. The W60 have a large viscerality. They push a considerable amount of ir against the inner prt of the outer ear during bass exchanges. You get a feel of depth of sound; much more so than the AM05. But it is simply not a realistic representation of the music. And it can become tiring after a few minutes. The IE800 has 2 air outlets. For the size of the driver shell, the ports are quite large.


Another look at the custom mod and showing the dual air outlets of the IE800

This gives far more viscerality than the AM05, but less than the W60. The bass presence on the IE800 is more realistic than the W60 but less than the AM05. The IE800 bass is more bearable than the W60 but more annoying than the AM05.



Mids. Where the majority of our music lives. When I describe mids I concern myself with how easy it is to hear vocals. Can I make out the words more easily than normal? Vocals, nowadays, are a layer in a multitrack soundstage. Lyrics can swamped amidst all that competition for space. In all but the clearest of receivers there is simply too much distraction. Sound engineers know this and use tuning to try and compromise, or shape the sound to give the mids their own distinctive character in each IEM. The AM05 has a clarity in the mids. Each music track I listened to sounded like it was on point. I was sooo impressed with the way the Ibasso cut through the crap. The sound was neither V shaped or U shaped or banana shaped. It just sounded right. It sounded like the way I want my music to sound. Am I a fan of these IEMs? Yes, by cracky, I am! The A8000 delivered the mids with a degree of precision that I have only really heard in some of the top hi fi systems. It was undoubtedly stunning. The W60 is slightly rolled back, even in the mids, lending to it a bass heavy weight to the sound. Mids can still be heard with a degree of clarity but the sound is more dull than the AM05.


A look at my very own modding of my W60 shells. No logos here......

The IE800 has mids that have an airier sound. There super wide presentation lends a thinness to the sound. The W60 and the IE800 for their own separate reasons, sound artificial in comparison to the AM05.


Treble. This is the bit where space between instruments can be found. Or that space can be taken up by screaming guitars, crashing cymbals, falsetto wails that threaten the integrity of the microphones they are being inflicted upon. The echoey stuff. The Final Audio A8000 is a victim of it's own technical brilliance. It has a glass like presentation, offering the listening a glimpse into the secret World that lies beyond what most music lovers have heard before. Unfortunately glass can cut. And it is simply too much. An hour with the A8000 can become fatiguing. I found myself searching for the volume too many times for this to escape my notice. Not so with the AM05. I am pinching myself that these are coming in at £259. For an IEM, there's nothing I would change about the AM05. The brain says to me; these things are tiny, so I don't actually want a vaste sound stage throwing musical effects against the wall. Sure; I put the HiFiMan Ananda BT's on; a full sized, open headphone, and I get a much larger sound. But I'm expecting that to happen. I want more intimacy from a small, elegant set of in ears. And that's what happens. The W60 is a rolled off IEM. It sacrifices clarity and precision for warmth and depth. The IE800 is lacking the accuracy of the AM05. It adds a sparkle to the treble that somehow misses being fatiguing but still gives the listener the impression that this adding something extra. It is not altogether unappealing. But it loses to the AM05. And I never thought I'd say that in a £259 IEM!

The tip removed reveals a nozzle with 9 outlet ports as opposed to the traditional mesh.
Perhaps less prone to ear wax deposits?

Conclusion

The packaging needs tweaking. I'm such a fan of the AM05, I feel it has to be perfect in every way! I have to grudgingly admit that everything I needed was there. And once I put the IEMs on it just becomes a vanity thing to have those extras. They don't seem important any more. And this is why. It is because, at £259, the Ibasso AM05 ticks every single 1 of my musical boxes, for bass, tick, for mids, vocals or main instrument, tick, for treble, space, echo, cymbals, yes, yes, and thrice, resoundingly yes! They outperformed a £2000 IEM. They outperformed a £929 6 driver IEM from a company who've been making in ear monitors for 30 years. I have even modded the universals into a custom fit that is absolutely perfect for my ear canals. They beat the single driver IE800, a £599 IEM with vanishingly low distortion levels, unique ear tips, no crossovers and, again, a custom fit that locks them into the sweet spot for my ears alone. Up until now, I had thought that the future laid with bluetooth technology. The TWS600 have become a fixture for me. I found the right tips after almost a year of searching. I found a set of silicon wings that keep them in place, and for the times when an IEM seems the correct mode of transport, they seem to have become the chosen vehicle. The cable thing seemed to be a thing of the past. No more flapping about, twisting behind the ear stuff. The AM05 brought me back from the abyss of bluetooth. For that, I curse you Ibasso! But I also thank you too.

The blessed curse

SHARE

In which I thank my suppliers and give a casual introduction and generally set the tone for the musings which will follow​

I got married in 2019. Typically of me it was a laid back experience where things just seemed to fall into place. That is, until HiFIMan came along. The esteemed company started really upping their game. There were headphones, Dacs, Amps coming out of that factory faster than the reviewers could keep up with. I have had a close relationship with HiFiMan for many years, but 2019 was when it got serious. I can remember the date it got real. It was 20th April 2019, 7 days before I was due to get married. The Jade II system arrived. The HE6SE arrived. Both big launches and both building from a huge cult following of previous designs. The items had been in the subjective review offices for a week and I recieved an email requesting their prompt return. Despite working full time and preparing for a wedding the following week, the business on these 2 items was done, they were returned, and, since that time, I have not had a single chance to return to the HE6SE. Now, we are back together again. I have the time to relaunch the relaunch, as it were.

HiFiMan had their arm twisted gently round their back and have very kindly sent me another review sample. Typically, the review samples from them are no different than that which you would get, should you order them. The SE part of the HE6 stands for special edition – it’s important not to confuse that for Stealth Edition. Special Edition, in this case, means the old HE6 has had a facelift. Based on feedback and research from the great brains that work behind the scenes to bring you these endless improvements, the HE6 looks quite different from it’s elder brother. A new headband, new connectors and a shiny new set of cups gives me the distinct impression that this looks like the Massdrop version of the legend.

Why is the old HE6 a legend? Because there is great love for it. Huge numbers of posts have been submitted regarding every aspect of this phone, how good it is, what is needed to bring out it’s best, who has what version, which pads are the best, how and what to mod, nothing has been left untouched. When the HE6 went out of production, to make way for new models such as the HE1000, there was a deep sigh of anguish which could be heard echoing through the valleys of the portable audio clan. How could they discard such a headphone? There were reasons, of course. The HE6 was heavy. The planar drivers were notoriously difficult to drive. Not only that; it was expensive aswell.

The HE6SE now​

The relaunch of the HE6 was a greatly anticipated affair. A new look, a more comfortable headand, a universal connector and a highly polished aluminium styling brought an old design a new flair. What hadn’t been changed were those planar drivers that so many people held in reverence. What remained of the old design was the weight and the inefficiency. Despite a new headband and an adapter to hook these up to a speaker amp, those 2 factors appear to have been stumbling blocks. It’s fair to say that the SE version of the HE6 has not sold as well as HiFiMan had hoped. The HE6SE are now becoming scarce. There are less SE’s around than there are 6’s. When you can find them, such as on the HiFiMan website this week, as per the introductory picture shown, they are on sale for a fraction of the RRP on launch, as illustrated below:

The UK bit of Amazon seems to be the only stockist around at present, although I’m sure HiFiMan would do what they could to source an SE for those of you outside of the UK. Do Not despair! Ok, so we have talked about buying them and how to find one, but are they actually worth purchasing, when there are 100s of other choices out there? That, my friends, is down to you. I can guide you as to what I think, but you really need to give them a listen first. When they’re so scarce that’s going to be difficult. Until now….

The HE6SE in action​

The opportunity to listen to the HE6SE and to compare it to another top class headphone as in the power of your fingertips. This is because I have the ability to bring you the actual sound of a set of full size headphones, as if you were wearing them yourself. All you need is an open mind, plenty of time, and some half decent headphones or earphones. I’ll do the rest. How though? Easy! I have a set of binaural in ear mics – the Sennheiser Ambeo, which I have connected to an ipad. I put these in my ears, set the volume correctly, put the headphones on over the in ears, put the music on and press record. The mics pick up what is going on inside the cups. I record in lossless, 44.1 quality and upload the results into the cloud, and provide a short sample on the YouTube video, as below:



You are closer to the truth now. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly that measurements for a headphone are interesting and important, especially in the design and quality control stages of their construction. But we don’t cannot listen to a measurement, we can only imagine what a headphone can sound like by studying it’s relative performance. Such analysis I will leave to the likes of those that have invested the time and money into doing them, at least for now. The only way you can truly know what a headphone sounds like is to listen to it over time, with different genres of music, different sources of hardware, in different moods. Of course, even I can’t provide you with all of this. My samples are at least a start, a part, of that journey. My observations are drawn over time, and with the different genres and sources, so bear with while I demystify the HE6SE/Arya debate, that is, hoping that you have had a chance to have a listen yourself by now. If not, please head back and equip yourself witha listen or 10. Then you’ll be able to draw your own conclusions.

HE6SE v Arya Organic​

This match is a legend v pedigree setup. The Arya is part of the new styling that stems from that 1st glimpse of the large teardrop design that was introduced for the HE1000 series. The headband for the 6SE is usually seen on the HiFiMan base models, the planar driver wouldn’t fit into the teardrop shape either. The overall aestetic impression is therefore that the HE6SE looks cheaper. I mean, it is now, but it certainly didn’t start out that way. The Arya Organic doesn’t need anything like the amount of power the HE6SE craves, it is happy with a fairly standard DacAmp. The Organic will respond to a bit more juice, as one would expect from a headphone of this class. I make no excuses for putting these 2 headphones into a very special headphone amplifier indeed. Fang Bian, the CEO and founder of HiFiMan has stated that the SE needs 2W at 50 Ohms to make it sing. I can provide 20W of Pure Class A mode with the kit I have used. How does that sound?!

Yes; that should do it. The EF1000 amplifier. A £13 000 slab of valve/transistor amplification that has no compromises. That is certainly a fitting place to plug in a couple of headphones for our little demo, don’t you think?
The results are in. The HE6SE was a punchy, detailed, lively affair, which could arguably be described as a little forward, or hot, or peaky, in the mid to high frequencies. The bass was faster, and leaner, than the Arya, the mids had more clarity, as did the highs, than it’s counterpart. It had to be turned up an awful lot higher than the Arya Organic. The Arya had an effortless, smooth, balanced sound to it, a fuller, richer bass and mid response, that hid some of the detail that was present in the HE6SE. The highs were rolled off somewhat compared to the SE, but tastefully so.

Conclusion​

So,which was best? For detail and clarity – the HE6SE. For richness and tonality – the Arya Organic. For shortish periods of listening to music – the HE6SE. For longer sessions, using lots of different genres of music – the Arya Organic. These are my opinions, I respect if you feel differently, and maybe the measurements will asist you with that. I hope to see more reviews of theHE6SE in years to come. In fact, I shall take a look at the differences between this and the original, and see if there is anything sonically different. I suspect I may be part of a dying breed, but I sincerely hope that I’m not

The HM1000 Red - the base model that is anything but basic is compared to the multi award winning Chord Mojo

Chi-Fi v Brit-Fi - R2R v Delta Sigma - Who will win?​

Introduction​

I have in my hands the 3rd in the HM1000 series of dac/amps. I was the first person to be sent an HM1000 loaner and it feels like a long time ago! I have now been sent a loaner of their base model. This is the Red. The Red is the base model and retails at a slightly more wallet friendly price of $599. The difference between this and the flagship is in the preciousness and sophistication of the R2R chips. The Red has 2 lesser spec'd PCM1702 chips; the Gold has 4 higher spec'd PCM1704 chips. The Silver has 2 PCM1704 chips and sits in the middle of the range. Both R2R chips are no longer in production, having been phased out out in the late 1990s. Since they were phased out the PCM chips have achieved a mythical status, and R2R maintains a solid footing in the Dac market, despite the costlier, difficult implementation. The colour difference is the only way you'll tell the Gold, Silver or Red apart. The Chord Mojo uses a standard off the shelf DAC chip. The implementation of said chip remains a closely guarded secret. The Mojo has 2 outputs, both 3.5 mm, whereby 2 headphones, or iems, or headphones and line out can be used at the same time. The reputation of the Mojo has now become the stuff of legends. The Mojo is revered by Darko Audio. It has been given the Darko product of the Decade status. What Hi-Fi awarded it the best DAC (£300-£500) of 2020, some 5 years after it's release. The Mojo has remained my favourite portable Dac/Amp since my review and subsequent purchase of it on the first week of its release to an eager British public. Until now.

About R2R technology​

R2R is the type of chip that went into the earliest digital audio gear. The chips were a lot more costly to produce than modern DAC chips. Modern DAC chips are easier to work with and are constantly being improved, at least in terms of their technical specifications. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of DACs out there have the modern delta sigma DAC chip. To go much beyond this description of R2R would take a lengthier explanation than would be useful for my current purposes. The research I have done into this describes ladders, resistors, noise floors, oversampling, non oversampling and delta sigma and pulse code modulation. One day soon I will do a short, layman's terms description of what this and all the other weird audio technology is out there. For now, think of this in many ways as a tube amp v solid state amp debate. Some will swear by the warmth of tubes and some will thank progress for the more accessible solid state developments. There are those who will state that the sound of an R2R chip is less artificial sounding than a delta sigma chip, and there are those who say that an R2R is coloured in it's presentation. Perhaps everyone is right.

A view inside showing the PCM1702 chips

HM1000 Red v Mojo​

The Mojo has some features that the HM1000 lacks. The first of these is the ability to power 2 iems or headphones at the same time.



When doing reviews, (of course) this is a great way to compare 2 like minded headphones simultaneously. An audiophile need only take a Mojo and their existing IEM/Headphone to a store and they have an quick, easy, wire free way to check out the products they're interested in. One side can be permanently connected as line out to your big amp, the other side can be used as a headphone amp. And it's a pretty darn powerful headphone amp to boot. It'll run a 600 Ohm headphone and it'll run the tiniest of earphones, with little or no hiss. I have tried and tested a lot of other products and I quickly came to the conclusion that adding a Mojo to a Digital Audio Player would more than likely increase the enjoyment of that product. The Mojo can also take an optical amd a coax connection.


This gives it the edge on wired digital inputs as compared to the USB only functionality of the HM1000. The Mojo is smaller and less chunky than the HM1000. The Mojo is a matchbox to the HM1000 being a cigarette packet. The Mojo has a scratch resistant surface. Although neither dac/amp has a gui, the R2R has a brushed glass window. The back of the device is equally as shiny and therefore extremely prone to smudges and scratches. In a certain light, at a certain angle, you can see those precious PCM R2R chips. Otherwise, it looks like it's a DAP. But a DAP it is not.


The HM1000 is more versatile, and more up to date. The HM1000 Red is a wireless device. It has bluetooth. It is a relief to say that the bluetooth does not need a great deal of mastery. You switch the device on, it flashes blue. You search for new bluetooth devices on your phone, connect, pair and the HM1000 will go solid blue. My Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G is 2 years old now and has Android 9 on it. It automatically accepted the Mi on board with an LDAC output, the highest quality codec bluetooth currently has available. LDAC output is only stable at short distances, so be mindful to keep any LDAC device as still and as close to your source as possible when using it. LDAC is as close as bluetooth has got to lossless sound quality. The HM1000 goes close to being a standalone DAP. You can insert a micro SD card, install HiFiMan remote and sync your files from the sd card to the phone. You haven't physically taken up lots of real estate on your smartphone by doing this. Your phone simply knows the location of the audio is being streamed from the HM1000, rather than the phone itself. The HM1000 Red supports 3.5 mm balanced/unbalanced 4.4 mm balanced and line out.


The Mojo supports 3.5 mm unbalanced and line out. Whereas the Mojo uses the older tech micro USB and needs a decent cable to trickle charge, the HM1000 uses USBC. OTG is less hit and miss than with the Mojo. The Mojo has a separate port for charging. The HM1000 can charge at the same time as it hooks up to your laptop as an external DAC. The Mojo will need 2 of your laptops ports to charge and dac/amp simultaneously. The Mojo has an 8 hour battery life compared to the HM1000s 9.5 hours.
Finally, the UK retail price of the Chord Mojo is £399. The HM1000 Red is £424 + postage + customs as per ebay below.


The end price will be considerably more for the HM1000 Red. But, consider this: the only way for the Mojo to achieve the wireless functionality of the Red would be to add it's big brother, the £499 Poly. Decisions, decisions.....

Sound quality - Chord Mojo v HM1000 Red​

The sound quality was where I believed the HM1000 would be left wanting. The Mojo has been with me for so long now and has always produced the goods, despite being up against DACS with much newer technology. And yet.... The tests were conducted using each device as an OTG device and also by hooking them up to my Macbook Pro Retina. I used a HiFiMan HE1000 SE, Drop HExx and Meze Rai Penta to cover all the bases.






The SE is the most demanding of the above headphones. It is easily run by the Mojo but is near the limit of the Red's output capabilities. In each and every headphone, the 1000 gave more music than the Mojo could accomplish. The finesse that the Mojo exemplifies is outclassed by the HM1000. The HM1000 has a smoother, wider, balanced sound with more micro details evident than the Mojo. When the volume was matched with the devices and I was pushing the limits my ears where happy with, invariably I would need to turn down the Mojo and I could cope with the HM1000. There are three gain switches to the HM1000. Of course, these need to be paid close attention. The HE1000SE needed high gain, the Drop HExx low

The $220Drop HE5xx





and the Penta super low gain.

Meze Rai Penta

The Mojo, a disappointment to listen to - the HM1000 Red, a joy. May I offer a caveat to all this reviewing malarkey for those of you who own and love your Mojo? The only way I knew I was getting better than the Mojo was when I tried it directly against the HM1000. If I'd never tried the HM1000 Red, I'd never have known the Mojo wasn't quite as good as I'd held it up to be. And once this device returns to its makers, or is moved on to another reviewer, I'm sure I'll go back to enjoying life as it was before. There isn't anything inherently wrong with the sq of the Mojo; it's just that there is now something better out there, at around the same price.

Notes of caution​

You've read this, you have a Mojo and you were thinking of getting a Poly. Now you're thinking of chucking in the Mojo and getting it sold tout suite before everyone jumps on the bandwagon and getting an HM1000 instead. Ok, fine. There are two things to consider. The first; the HiFiMan Remote functionality. This takes some perseverance to set up. Put simply; it's a nightmare to set up. Headfi.org has some great hints on how to make it work. The Remote is described as in beta stage only, so HiFiMan won't support you on this. Indeed - take a look at that official HM1000 Red page. "TF card slot (firmware updates only)". There is hope; it can be done! I've got a 512 Gb card happily working in the Red. I also managed to get a card working with the Gold model as long ago as last year. It wasn't without tears, but they turn from sorrow to joy in the end!




The second issue is the current availability of the HM1000 Red. Stockists in my neck of the woods are limited. Buying direct from HiFiMan seems to be the only route currently open. This means customs charges and a little longer shipping time. That means sending back to China or the USA if there's something wrong. I can only vouch for the model I have here, and that's all fine and dandy. Lastly, could the problems people are having with the Remote App result in said company ditching this route altogether and offering an even cheaper option that is more user friendly? One day, we may see a device from HiFiMan that delivers on the GUI as well as on the sound quality. A Hidizs style app and player with this R2R setup? Now that would be something, wouldn't it? Until then, we must content ourselves with real good sound and slightly clunky apps. Once we can get our heads round this, life's not so bad, is it?

I was part of the EU Review Tour of the Airist Audio Heron 5 Headphone Amplifier and as such had the opportunity to listen and compare this with my other kit for 10 days . A lot of listening was had during that time. After extensive and painstaking switching between this and my First Watt F6 Clone I sent the last half of my time listening exclusively to the Heron. By then I was comfortable with the differences between this and my main kit.


 


I was not aware of the Heron until I applied to be put on the review tour. In view of the price point I felt my existing equipment should be of high enough resolution to bring out the qualities both good and bad in the Heron. I came into this review with as few preconceptions as possible although being on the thread I was aware of the impressions others had. However, what is always the case is that others have neither the same equipment I have , the same music or the same ears.


 


The equipment I tested the Airist against were the best I had. I tested the Heron 5 against my finest Amplifier by a long margin - the DIY First Watt F6 Clone Power Amplifier. My friend and fellow headfier @dill3000 meticulously built this around the design offered to the DIY Community by Nelson Pass of Pass Labs and First Watt fame. Dillan has changed out some of the components in favour of some higher quality bits, all plusses for me of course. We have dubbed it "The Mini Beast" because it is huge and it is powerful. The Mini Beast was built specifically for one purpose - to slay the HiFiMan HE-6 which many of you will know needs a lot of power to perform at it's best. 


I had such good results with the HE-6 and The Mini Beast I had no particular interest in changing anything. Then my friend @glassmonkey  suggested I try the AKG K1000 Earspeakers with the Amplifier. So I am now able to bring you a review which exclusively covers my adventures with the Heron and one of the most power hungry headphones ever made - the Bass Heavy AKG K1000.



 


The Heron 5 delivers 5 Watts into 32 Ohms and has a separate 6.3 out for either low or high impedance headphones, this means your balanced cables for your HE-6 or K1000 will need the 6.3 adapter. Let me tell you right now it will drive either of these headphones perfectly well and will produce great results with them. As another teaser to the rest of this review , I preferred the sound of the Heron 5 to the sound signature of the Mini Beast. Now read on for more detailed stuff.....


 


Sound Signature of the Heron 5 compared to the Mini Beast


 


The Heron 5 has a smooth refined gorgeous HiFi sheen to the music I put through it. It was a joy to listen to any and every track. In short I loved it! Let me explain what I thought were the differences between the Heron 5 and my F6 Mini Beast. First of all - price. The F6 Mini Beast DIY build - the cost of that is a matter of a conversation between you and @dill3000 . The retail model is nearer to $4000. The Heron 5 is currently showing as $1995 on their website. The power . The F6 is designed to be powerful enough to run small to medium size speakers and can even run some floorstanders. The Heron 5 is designed to run headphones but with 5 W at 32 Ohms it will run even the most power hungry headphones that I have. The Sound - the Heron 5 has a refined smooth sound, whereas The Mini Beast has a much more lively sound signature. The power and slam of this amp is impressive. It has a crisp accurate attack. No wonder we have named it the Mini Beast!


Power and slam vs smoothness, each person will respond differently to what suits them dependent on their mood at the time their approach to music and what type of music they prefer. For the 10 days I had the Heron , I got a lot of enjoyment using my Chord Mojo as a source and had a relaxing time listening to the wonderful laidback presentation this headphone amp gave. I would be surpised if anyone who bought wouldn't feel any different from seeing this as a piece of audio kit to cherish; especially with something as difficult to get good results with as the AKG K1000s.





The AKG K1000s bass heavy model take even more volume on the Heron 5 than the HE-6 ; significantly more. However before the Heron 5 is maxed out and clipping the AKGs are singing. The difference between the K1000s and conventional headphones is that they are designed to be worn away from the ears. The further away they are from the ears the more spatial the sound becomes although this reduces the bass response. The impression is of a halfway point between the intimacy of headphones and the realism of loudpseakers.

The build of the Heron 5 is solid . It's weighty measuring almost 7 kg on the scales nodoubt due to the power supply inside the aluminium enclosure which is an elegant white appearance. There are the 2 jacks




one for low and one for high impedance phones on the front and a huge volume knob



that has a knotch adjustment that goes up in specific increments. At the rear of the unit is a metal switch that toggles between RCA in and Balanced in Mode.



It looks strange in relation to the finish quality of the rest of the Heron; almost like an afterthought. There is a 110/230 V power selector




which for my model was thankfully switched to the correct setting but at least this being user changeable can be used anywhere in the world without the need for modifying.

I have come to the end of my time with the Heron 5 and would encourage any of you interested in upgrading your headphone amp to one which can take on the best , or should I say The Beast....... to look very closely at the Airist Audio Heron 5

Can a sub £200 do it all and still deliver?​

I was approached by Simgot recently through the hallowed pages of head-fi. The introduction has resulted in my being able to bring you the latest, and greatest, this company has yet built. I bought an EN700 Bass IEM on impulse several years ago. I liked the sound of it, despite it's obvious affinity with lower frequencies. I still have it knocking around the offices, and have customised the body shell, which, although it has my favourite pebble shape, had this urge to keep pushing away from my inner ear. Unknown to Simgot, I can say that this is a company for which I already have a feel. I got the impression that Simgot wanted to push the boundaries, in every direction, of what could be achieved in a budget earphone. The Simgot was the best of several AliExpress purchases made on a slow day between review samples. We all get those days. Such days now feel more like moments as my reviews have taken on a momentum, but, if you've got the time I'd encourage you to do a random dive into Ali and see where it takes you. It can get pretty interesting. Simgot is a Chinese Company, they make pebble shaped single driver in ear moniters their speciality. The EN1000 review sample here came with all the packaging of the retail model. The packaging has been as well thought through as the engineering process. There is a question mark over the title "King Wonder", however, with it being stencilled in every conceivable crevice of the EN1000, familiarity will overcome any initial misgivings. More detailed reactions can be found in my YouTube vid :





The soon to be released EN1000

About the King Wonder​

I'm going to call them the EN1000 from now on I think.... This is a single driver IEM design. The single driver is a dual dynamic. It is housed in a pebble shaped body shell. There are 2 designs for the face plate; the black and gold leaf filligree as shown above, and it's white and gold cousin. The iems are connected to a detachable cable which is terminated with a 3.5 mm jack. I have deliberately given you just the basic facts here; this is the essence, the core, of the EN1000. To each part of the IEM there are various tweaks, which at least deserve a little more discussion.


Single Driver


A single driver is a bold move for an IEM in these driver heavy days. A classic design is never really going to disappear though, is it? A single driver needs no crossover. It needs to be a good driver. That's it. Many years ago, AKG decided to give it's engineers a free reign to create a Flagship Headphone. They came up with a dynamic single driver model - the mythical AKG K1000. The Sennheiser IE800 remains 1 of the best sounding IEMs ever made, despite it's terrible fit, overly heavy cable which (shock horror!) is fixed. The IE800 is a single driver dynamic, and is unashamedly so. This particular design has a few updated things going on compared to the 2 I have described. It is housed in a dual cavity. The wiring connecting the driver to the electrics is pure silver.


The diaphrahm of the driver is stronger than your standard paper cone. It has a beryllium coating. If you have followed my writings over the last few years you'll know that I'm a great fan of the linearity that beryllium appears to bring, having seen this in the KBear Believe and the Final D8000 In Ears. The diaphragm also contains DLC. This is short for diamond like carbon. Diamond, being, of course, one of the hardest materials on the planet. Not quite as tough as beryllium though. Beryllium was used for the shields surrounding the space shuttle, to protect it from melting on re-entry. The body shell is made from CNC Aluminium Alloy, the face plate from crystal, to protect it from scratches. The results of said are all hints of quality. Attention to detail, important selling points yes, but also not only should this produce a better feel than the standard plastic iem, it should provide a better resonating surface for the driver, and thus a better sound quality.


The Accessories


I am pleased to say that, from the tasteful professionalism of the outer cardboard, to the earphone case that comes as a pleasant surprise,


Simgot have sat down and thought extremely carefully about what will keep the customer satisfied. The mark of quality has been cast over the entirety of the EN1000. Other comapnies take note - the gauntlet has been thrown down here. The only thing I can criticise is the eartips. I've got better ones, and eventually I'll start using them. The tips are not quite there; they tend to slip out of the earlobe. A little more grip is called for, be it slightly larger tips or different material, or a patterned finish - I'm not that hard to please folks at Simgot. I'm a medium guy, so those large tips supplied are too large. Everyone's earlobes are different and I have a small ear canal entrance which bends ridiculously away as soon as it gets the chance. The fit, absolutely critical for me, i.e sweet spot or no sound, may not be as bad for you. My advice is to hold onto your existing eartips if you are upgrading to the EN1000 - the fit is everything.


The Cable


This is the showpiece for the EN1000. The previous stuff is all typical of what is being offered in many good IEMs out there in the sub $200 category. The EN1000 comes with an 8 strand silver plated oxygen free copper cable which has a .78mm 2 pin fit and is 1.2 metres in length. It has memory wire and is angled at the end. It has a soft feel, is shiny and is fairly weighty. What I have left til the end is; this cable has a replaceable plug design. The Simgot comes with 3 different sounds before you need to touch your eq settings. The box reveals not only a leather effect carry box - there are 2 plugs contained inside- a blue and a red one. Simply put; you can alter the signature of the EN1000 dependant on which plug you use. This allows bit perfect to be utilised, which, of course, means you cannot use eq. All it takes is a quick unscrewing of the barrel, 2-3 pulls of the male and female bits and in 10 seconds, you have a different plug on.

The test​

For this bit I will give a synopsis of the differences between plugs 1, 2 & 3. I will then go on with the show with my favourite plug, the grey, and tell you about my impression in more length.


The Plugs


I don't blame you for being skeptical regarding just how much a plug can alter the sound from an iem. I am very wary of such claims, having tested the Tri Starsea which had a switch system on the body shell, much more convenient than taking a cable apart. The review of the Starsea is here : https://subjective.reviews/tri-star...-allows-you-to-beat-the-engineer-but-can-you/


In summary, I found the Starsea didn't sound that good unless you kept the switch on default. The switch made the sound worse. The plug design is more radical and does create an audibly altered signature which has good things going for each of the plugs. Good news! Let me tell you a little more as to what I heard when I put these different plugs in.


The Grey plug


This is the stock plug. I reason this because it is the plug they put on to get you up and running. This is what you listen to for the first time while you are checking that everything is working properly. And, as I have preached many times before, first impressions are really important. This is never more crucial in todays blind purchasing scenarios, whereby there is nowhere to try out an iem one is interested in, and the closest you'll get will be from reviews like this. Companies know this and offer (well, it's the law) a 28 day return policy. The most critical part of that timeframe, in my opinion, is the 1st 15 minutes of a listen. A product simply has to perform to it's intended level during those 1st few moments. Therefore, nothing too risky should be tried. The eartips will have medium ones fitted, and they will be the most neutral of any particular grades offered. All goods will be dressed in their best clothes, all middle of the road, all judged to be the least controversial. In the case of the EN1000, the grey plug fits that description to a T. The grey plug has a bit of visceral bass but not overly, has a sweetness in the highs and a clarity in the mids, with the widest of the sound scapes. It is my opinion that this plug squeezes out the best the EN1000 can give. It the sound signature that the engineer would be happiest with. It's my favourite because it's not the blandest sound of the 3 plugs; it technically has a faster bass and more micro details are present in this version than in any of the others. I'd pick the grey plug for rock, pop, and classical music.


The Blue Plug


This is my 2nd favourite plug, although I could find a use for all 3 when the need arose. The bass on the blue is turned up, and to enhance the experience the mids and highs have been tuned down slightly. The lows have real punch and will make a lean track sound fuller. The mids and highs have been toned down, but the iems have a sparkle that won't go away completely, so there is plenty to enjoy, even if you're not an r&b, grime, hip hop or rap fan, these blues have a decent sound stage and clarity, despite it being pulled in slightly compared to the grey plug.


The Red Plug


The red plug is perhaps the way to tune into todays remixed, remastered, over compressed music. It tones everything down, from taaking some of the annoyance from modern bass and subbass tracks and the shrill density of the ceiling of acceptable noise in the mid to high frequencies. The sound stage is more intimate and there is little chance you will be annoyed by too much energy in the upper range. This plug is the least fatiguing of the 3. I'd use this for all day listening sessions, and I'd be quite satisfied.

Frequency Response Curve w Grey Blue or Red Plug fitted

Sound Quality​

The EN1000, on sale in US an Asian markets is retailing at slightly under $200, and that is where I shall set my impressions. If this comes in at under £200 in the UK & European markets, then it's an absolute steal. If you have 2 pin earphones, you may even be lucky enough to be able to transform them with this modular cable. They fell out of my TruthEar Hexa IEMs, so they won't fit everything, and, as far as I'm aware, they aren't claiming to be able to do wonders with any other product than a Simgot. The sound signature, at it's best with the grey plug, is crisp, like a cold bright Winter's morning, and clear, like the crystaline coating on the shell outer of the EN1000. The bass is not understated, instead a fast linearity with a teasing of viscerality is offered. The mids capture the beauty of a husky voice. The highs open the curtains of the sound stage and let the stars in.

Conclusion​

The competition


I have raved about the Truthear Hexa, this is the last IEM I reviewed and I did that less than a month ago. The Hexa is a player indeed, but it sounds thin and lacking compared to the EN1000. The Hexa sets the standard for £79.99, the EN1000 is much better, at what is likely to be more than twice the price. The only thing the Hexa wins out on is the fit. The hexagonal shape actually creates 6 points of contact with the earlobe. Not only that, but the shell has less depth, so it doesn't stick out as much.


The product


Apart from this King Wonder name, which I'm not sure about, and the eartips, which don't keep the shells firmly in my ears without a lot of jostling, there ain't much I can think of to criticise about the EN1000. They're great. They're a man for all seasons. You can go 3 ways with the Simgot - linear, bass or laidback. The EN1000 promises even more in the future. There is scope , and a plan, for Simgot to incorporate a USBC, a lightning adapter, a 2.5 and a 4.4 plug. I would be disappointed if Simgot didn't try to make this into a nice little Dac Dongle. How cool would that be? A little nod to the rest of the cast - used in this review were; courtesy of Amazon Music HD, lots of weird and wonderful streaming tracks, USB Audio Player Pro (in bit perfect mode, of course), Astell & Kern AK380 DAP, Little Bear BX4 Dual Mono Tube Headphone Amp, Samsung A52 5G, unbranded Portable Headphone Amp,


and an open minded reviewer that, after all this time, still gets impressed by the products out there that add the word 'extra' to the 'ordinary' that for so many years was considered the pinnacle of Portable Audio. This is me signing off for now, there are many many more products I am anxious to talk to you about, so please keep your eyes peeled and your ears attached to that which makes you happy.

 
 
 
I got the honour of being part of the C1 World Tour .Thank you for the opportunity Micah and the RHA Team. Selflessly our Tour Organiser , @glassmonkey gave me the chance to unwrap this pretty special bundle of 2 IEMs and a Dacamp.Whatever I did, thank you! It’s not every day that 3 new products from the same manufacturer arrive on your doorstep.
I have the rather daunting task on being the first person to receive the RHA Trio - the C1 IEM, D1 Dacamp and CL750 IEM. I won’t say I drew the short straw - of course , everyone wants to get their hands on these ; let’s just say you are on your own when you write the first review. There is no frame of reference , no bandwagon to jump onto. Therefore, and with some trepidation , I step into the unknown….
 
Introduction
 

 
My journey with RHA began in 2015. I won a pair of MA750s
 

 
 
following a slogan competition organised for the Headfi Cambridge Meet. I then went on to review the T20 for a headfi Tour.
 

 
 
The T20s were not to my liking. Specifically there was an edge to the treble that I could not reconcile with. The MA750s likewise had too much high frequency energy to be exactly what I was looking for. For the many many people that own and cherish these 2 IEMs , I mean no disrespect and I know there were good points to both of these IEMs. Some people are less tolerant to certain frequencies - with the build quality and the fit and the accessories and the value for money , I was desperate to like their products. But I couldn’t. Until now….
 
About the C1
 

 
The C1 is a beautiful looking universal fit IEM. It comes with a balanced cable (mini XLR) that fits it’s companion , the D1 Dacamp , launched simultaneously on November 25th 2016. It has a 2nd cable , an unbalanced 3.5mm , for everything else. The cables are sMMCX terminated and have an extra long memory wire , which is not plastic ; it’s really wire and it stays put. 
The C1 is a dual driver configuration , and  another hybrid design. Another unique one. This one is a dynamic and something called a Ceramic Plate Transducer. The dynamic is dealing with everything below 8kHz, the ceramic - everything above , up to where only bats remain. The C1 will fit into your smartphone. But it isn’t going to work properly. The C1 is for amplifiers. A smartphone is looking for an IEM of 16 Ohms impedance maybe 32 at a push and a sensitivity of 100 dB or more. The C1 is 150 Ohms and 87 dB. When we want our low output devices (smartphones, most DAPs) to work straight from the headphones we need that low impedance. In essence , the lower the impedance the less output is needed to achieve a decent volume level. The more sensitive the headphone , the louder it will be at a lower volume level. So why go for a lower sensitivity higher impedance level? I have the explanation from RHAs Iain from a previous entry on headfi prior to launch -
 
From the makers
 
“The IEMs specifically have the impedance they do because of performance. Our engineers were working on wideband dynamic drivers and found that a config with higher impedance allows them to get better control over the higher frequencies in the extended response. At the same time. they were working on the ceramic driver, and the two techs compliment each other very nicely - piezo drivers have very high impedance, a standard dynamic alongside one wouldn't work very well.”
 

 
 
The competition
 
The Sennheiser IE800 , an IEM I own, has a wideband dynamic driver.
 

 
 
So when anyone mentions that word , I listen. Iain is also a fan of the IE800 so I wondered; have they tried to make an IE800 for the 21st century? You know , one that you can put on and it plays music without irritating the heck out of you? 
I looked at the quote again ; the engineers were “working on wideband dynamic” and had added “piezo drivers” to the equation. I could picture in my mind an IE800 with an extended treble. I was worried because of my flawed relationship with the T20. But I was excited at the same time. This seemed like a huge departure from RHAs endeavours to date.  
I was determined to find a way to have a proper listen to these IEMs. I have an awful lot of in ears. I have ACS Encore Pros. They have 5 drivers and they have the most superb bass response. I have the IE800s - a single wideband dynamic driver they have a thick syrupy sound with sparkle in the detail and therefore a decent soundstage. I have oBravo Erib 2as
 

 
 
- a hybrid neodymium and planar IEM with mids I absolutely love - the mids almost have a punch to them. And a dozen others from Klipsch X11is , Sony XBA4ips
 

 
 
down to Apple EarPods. The EarPods did a shootout with a Final IEM I had on review. I preferred the EarPods. That’s another story of course….
I haven’t yet found something I would consider the perfect IEM for me. I have found the best bass(ACS) the best mids(oBravo) and the best highs and soundstage(IE800). Of course I know I’m extremely lucky to have 3 such IEMs but it doesn’t stop me from dreaming. Maybe there is something out there that can do all 3 elements to World Class levels. Read on , and you will see whether the C1 takes on any of these heavyweights…..
 
Sound Quality
 

 
 
The testing begins
 
I spent the first part of my listening starting not from the bottom. I started right at the top. The pinnacle. The peak. Time is short and I am not here to mess around folks. I got the shiniest meanest looking cable plugged it into that D1 Dacamp thingummy,  chucked the USB cable into my MacBook , and fired up some DSD. That is how I roll. A vinyl rip too. Nothing brick walled here. Not yet.
 

 
 
I sat down and spent a lot of time adjusting my memory wire. I try the IEMs exactly as they come out of the box as a starting point. I figure we are strangers but the engineers know best. What they have put on the ends of the drivers are probably what sounds best in their endless research, I’m normally a medium type of guy, straight down the middle. Up until my reviewing has reached critical mass during the last 2 months this has worked well for me. Having tried so many I have finally realised that my left ear canal is much smaller than my right. With shoving so many tips into ears lately the problem of comfort is becoming more critical than before and the differences in isolation I am noticing more than ever. All IEMs are a different shape and comply in particular can be squashed up to a point where both the same size will fit. The C1 has comply supplied but on the drivers are silicons. When I tried the C1s on first I pushed them in and sat back and they were hollow and treble hot. And imbalanced to boot. I went to the box and swapped a left tip for a small silicon and the problem was somewhat diminished but still there. After a few minutes of pulling and pushing I realised the memory wire had so much flex I could manoeuvre them right by the sMMXC terminations. Minute adjustments to and fro up and down and I found my sweet spot. I don’t know your sweet spot. I don’t know you that well! But let’s get intimate - here’s mine. At least for the C1.
 
The fitting
 
I put them into my ears , push down lightly with my thumbs, and with my thumb and forefinger pull the memory wire gently toward my ear lobes until the bass gets loud. I then carefully pull the memory wire up while twisting the driver up. I then pull the top of my ear lobe toward the memory wire whilst pulling the memory wire toward it. We all have our ways of getting the right fit. With these, you just have to try and work at the fit until it goes right. When it goes right ; I truly hope you will notice what I did. This is why I have taken so much time up in telling you how they work for me. For me , all that work was worth it. 
Up until I started experimenting with every conceivable micro adjustment the memory wire could take, honestly ? I thought here is a shinier version of the RHA stock sound - treble hot , too forward and too fatiguing. The sound , as I neared that sweet spot , started to change. The bass started to get big. The mids and highs started to get interesting. Really interesting….
I dialled the C1s to the perfect angle and didn’t dare move. I was rooted to the spot. There was so much high end action going on. But it wasn’t harsh - it was extended. Extended like I hadn’t expected. It was quite a moment for me. The clarity of this was stunning. Of course I was listening to a DSD rip of Mick Jagger’s She’s the Boss. It was pretty well done as a recording. But this listening session was reminding me of putting on a top set of full size headphones, albeit with a bit more trauma to my ear canal. Over the next 6 hours the trauma became less of a problem don’t worry. There was no way I was taking them off, time as I’ve said before , is fleeting…..
 

 
 
Once I got these right , (and I don’t know how long that might take and what size or type of tips it may take, but bear with them) the C1s will soar. They have bass - good bass that comes from a good dynamic and the extension of that top end made me want to check out everything I’ve got. Immediately. A fraction of a degree of adjustment and I was left with a lacklustre treble hot mess of the rhythm and blues. The sound on the sunny side of the width of a hair follicle is a matter only my ears could tell the full story of. I will try and tell you as best I can what the sound signature is.
 
Bass
 
The C1 aims to kill it in the bass. There is sub bass without the full depth and punch of the bass hitters such as my ACS. Nor does it have the linearity and speed of my Sony XBA4s. The IE800s have a little more bloat than these but still a pleasant oomph to the lower end that resonates merrily around the ear canals. The C1 feels like a compromise between the 3 which really works. While we’re here let’s discuss bass a little more. Bass when you are sat down in a quietened darkened room in a chilled out mood listening to the ambient tones of Megadeth at a sedate volume is one thing. But; here’s another thing. You can take these out to play! Bass is everywhere on the streets, those mean streets. I mean low frequency rumbling really. An IEM with the best isolation out there will still be competing against the sounds of the street. There’s lorry’s out there -there’s wrecking balls to avoid. You wouldn’t want to be hit by one of them….. So bass is needed , and arguably it needs to have a lift and a visible presence. Our ears need to see it when we are out and about. Even when I hit the streets with the C1/D1(very carefully I promise you RHA) I had bass I could enjoy and hear where it was intended to be heard. Kate Bush Running up that Hill - has a constant drum beat that swings from left to right in the mix , much like a soldier beating out a march. What is hypnotic on some systems can get really tough to stomach at decent volume levels on something not right. When Kate sings “let’s exchange the experience” during that track - the bass goes down to subbass levels and is an impressive sound to have got out of the studio. Here it is done justice.
 

 
The Jury have voted almost unanimously with the odd reservation. Which has to be there for the purists who like the fast linear bass and the Utopians and Abyssians who have it all and can’t see why anyone else is even trying.
The bass of the RHA C1 Ceramics(this feels very formal now but it’s a hugely important thing for us all) is reaching down into the subbass and gives a vibration that I personally love to feel in a headphone. The mid and upper bass whilst not being super accurate has a great signature that will greatly benefit following the music whilst out and about without bleeding into the rest of the signature. And that I can’t wait to tell you about….
 
Mids
 
The mids are part of the mix here. They feel only slightly recessed. Vocals are easy to follow and guitars wail away effortlessly enough if you want to fix your ears on them. Male vocals , lower in the FR unless you’re much younger than myself, are slightly harder to follow in the overall mix. Female vocals reach higher up into the kHz and at the ends of the notes have that slight more clarity against the rest of the stuff happening behind , in front, to the sides….. 
 
Treble and Soundstage
 
This is where the wow factor occurs for me. That is , if it’s going to happen. The top end of the FR is where the magic is put. All the subtle effects , the echo, the space between the instruments, the places where the producer has artificially added them onto a virtual stage. When I talk about extension, I am really talking about the extra space that is created when I perceive there to be a higher volume of treble being presented to me. Often the feeling I have is that the treble energy is there to compete with a super boomy bass presence and the treble has had to be turned at an artificially higher level than it should be. Whilst on first listen this may seem to have an exciting live feel to it, it can quickly become tiring. What I get from that type of treble is a shrill ,harsh muddy v shaped sound.  That is not what I am looking for and probably not what any of us are looking for. The analogy of putting a curtain between the music could be used to explain this to you.
 

 
 
 
Bass is quite easy to instantly spot , what is going on beyond that is far more difficult to convincingly describe. Well I find it harder anyway. I find the C1s have that elusive extension, they have the live feel that you get that instant feeling for on a v shape. But the depth of the mix; right out to the edges, the clarity is all there. I listened to a vinyl of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells with all the scratches and rumble and sparseness and the six string guitar and mandolin at the start of the record did grate. I was about to try another track , but the track got busier, the record got cleaner and I felt like I was hearing it for the first time. 
 
Sound quality conclusion
 
The C1 has a bass that is full of life. Some may find it too much; I suspect this may be due to being a fraction too far into the ear canal. For me, the bass is great and gives us something to give us that little pick up on our hugely varied journeys to and from our places of work. The mids are slightly recessed to me; I still found it easy enough to concentrate on the vocal but there is an awful lot of other stuff happening desperate to distract me. The treble and soundstage - they got it right. I love it. RHA done good. 
 

 
 
Build 
 
Cables
 
The cable I have been talking about needs further attention on this review. This is 1 of 2 in the box. It is silver core Ag4x and has that Mini XLR connection. The XLR is there to reduce cross channel interference. The braiding on both cables is beautiful. The joins have all had time spent on making them look robust yet elegant. The Y split is metal . The chin toggle , a cheap piece of clear plastic that could have cut from a lemonade bottle on the Noble Savants(which cost more)here are a thick perfectly machined double barrel that slide up and down the cable with no risk of snagging. The sMMCX terminals are colour coded and fit into the drivers with a click to let you know you’re home. This I found difficult to do with any speed. There is a notch that the terminals find but they sit at the top and bottom of the driver shells. I found that I  got the best chance of success by pulling the memory wires straight and spinning the cable gently around the driver until I got it to snick into place. The drivers have a delicate embossed L and R on them. It’s very tasteful. I would have liked a tiny bit of red and blue on the driver inputs to have helped me a little more. 
 
 

 
 
The braided OFC cable with the unbalanced termination has all the same build quality. It didn’t impress me in it’s capabilities as much as the XLR cable. The OFC sounded a little duller in comparison , it had slightly less of that extension I’ve been raving about. It enabled me to plug it directly into theBIT’s Audio Opus#2 which I had on review at the same time. I didn’t take that out and about but I did take my Ibasso DX100 around with them plugged directly in on high gain. Both units powered the C1s to high enough volume levels. The Opus needed to go into the red to fire the C1s into action , the DX100s took them on with ease, weighing in around halfway. The Opus#2 had a bit more magic to it ; what all in one solution that is. The DX100 still sounded pretty amazing for out and about rig. Neither could stand up to the immensity of the OTG bedecked C1/D1/G4 combo. That was everything was how I needed it. Everything sounded slightly lacking in comparison.
 
 
 
Fit/Isolation/Microphonics
 
The shape of IEMs bugs me a lot. I want all my IEMs to be this shape. Can this be arranged? At least from now onwards? This pebble shape fits snuggly into my outer ear. The shape of the RHAs is oval with a nozzle protruding at an angle from the top of the driver shell. 80% of my outer ear is taken up with the shell. The memory wires do their work and I get the magic. It would be a lot easier with the pebble shape. The isolation has not been reduced by the space within my outer ear. The memory wires have 360 degrees of flex over a significant length and push the tips far enough into the ear canal to make the rest of the World disappear. There is some leakage but it wouldn’t be heard on a bus or train or sat within 2 feet of your partner watching a TV programme.
The cables have lots of weight to them. The driver shells are hefty for their size too. Wearing them over the ear is a sensible way forward and everything is set up for this. As such, the weight of the C1 is non existent. Microphonics, the noise perceived as a thud through the cable knocking against one’s body and reverberating up the cable and into the driver, is not in evidence.
 
Value for money
 
Always a bone of contention when you can get an IEM for under £10 and these are £399. The C1s have the extension worthy of a flagship. Flagships from some companies are retailing at over £3000. Yes, for an IEM. Therefore, a flagship for £399 is a breath of fresh air. This IEM is good value. To get the best from the C1s I would recommend partnering them with the D1. That adds another £399 to the equation. For this you get a balanced Dac/Amp and a balanced IEM that I believe will stand the test of time. 
 
Conclusion
 
Thank you to RHA for giving me another chance with your products. I was excited to hear about the C1 particularly. It felt like it was a departure from what we’ve had before. I’ve had a good long listen and an even longer think about what I need to say about this. My measured response is the C1 is an IEM anyone wanting to spend serious money on a portable earphone needs to have a listen to before they spend their hard earned cash. And if they can’t , and they are willing to part with £800 - take a chance! ***Provided they’ll refund if it’s not to your individual tastes(but please fiddle around with those memory wires first)***
I feel like I’m a part of the next chapter in this company’s history. I’ve really wanted to embrace their previous efforts. Now I can jump on the bandwagon. It’s heading in the right direction.
 
 
 
 
Equipment used:
 
RHA
CL1 Ceramic balanced / unbalanced IEM
CL750 IEM
DL1 Dacamp
OTG cable
 
Chord
Mojo Dacamp
Mini Optical cable
OTG cable
 
Sony
XBA4ip 4 driver dynamic IEM
 
oBravo
Erib 2a 2 driver hybrid Universal IEM
 
ACS
Encore Studio Pro 5 driver dynamic Custom IEM
 
Ibasso
DX100 Digital Audio Player
 
theBIT
Audio Opus#2 Digital Audio Player
 
Motorola
Moto G4 Smartphone 
 
Apple
Macbook Pro Retina 15.6"
 
Music played:
 
 
Mick Jagger She's the Boss Vinyl DSD
Kate Bush Hounds of Love Vinyl 24 96
And many others ranging from Disturbed FLAC to Beethoven MP3s