Hello and welcome to my review of Havit's Bluetooth On Ear Headphone. These were sent specifically for review purposes after I was kindly picked as a member of the headfi review team by Gary Zhang of Havit. Thanks Gary 

 
 
 
 
Havit HV-H2555BT Bluetooth Headphones
 
How much cheaper can you get for a pair of on the ear bluetooth headphones! These retail at £24.99. And what’s more- they work! With even a few extra touches, or should I say, sweeps thrown in.
 

 
 
 
 
Features
 
 
There are touch switches normally found on a bluetooth headphone on the left and right cups which control volume , take and end phone calls, pair to your device and switch the headset on and off.
 
In addition there are sweep gestures on the outside of the left cup which pause and play, skip and reverse and volume up and down.
 

 
A few hours of use and this quickly becomes the easiest way to control your music and offers even more convenience over the conventional limitations of a wired system with a phone in your pocket or in an armband.
The wireless function of the Havits work as an NFC device or as Bluetooth. My Samsung Note II works as NFC. Activating the function in the settings of the phone and sweeping the phone over the headphone soon gets things working, 
 

 
 
Alternatively Bluetooth was equally as painless to set up on my Macbook. Once pairing had taken place there was no need to repeat this process.
 
Sound quality
 
 
Given that everything worked successfully , I proceeded with some trepidation into proper listening sensing the sound would be the fatal flaw. Something offering so much for so little was too good to be true. I have been a casual browser of the headphones available at HMV to try and keep up with the flavour of the month stuff out there and have been appalled at some of the sub £100 gear.  I am pleased to tell you that despite some flaws, I can give the sound of these little things a thumbs up. What a relief that there’s stuff like this out there for those on a limited budget. 
There are a few preconceived ideas I have about budget headphones and how their sound will be tuned. I assume there will be huge bass , muted mids and shrill highs, the V of vengeance for the high end headfier……
 

 
 
The bass
 
 
The low end was strident and glaring on all the tracks I tried using the normal eq I have set up for all my current headphones. What suits an HE-6 does not suit the Havit - not one bit!  I made the bass so much better by taking 3 db off the 3 bands.
 

Vox Music Player for Mac
 
Still plenty enough there with no pushing into the mids and no fatigue to listening to the drummer or the producer putting a bass wash around everything.
 
The Mids
 
 
 
The mids found their space once I had pulled the bass where it belonged. Voices were easy to follow. I left the mids fairly flat across the EQ and thought they were perfectly acceptable at this price point.
 
 
 
The Highs
 
 
When I first put these headphones on I honestly expected a shrill noise instead of cymbals strings and echo. Instead I found the highs to be pleasantly rolled off with no hint of harshness. I eventually turned up the 4k 8k and 16k bands very slightly to get more detail and texture.
 

 
 
 
The soundstage
 
 
The soundstage was somewhat closed in compared to more expensive models out there but what you get is perfectly good enough for £24.99. Instruments can be followed in the mix with concentration and the highs and mids being so good for the price offset any small loss of airiness in the presentation.
 
 
Overall impression of the Sound Quality
 
 
Straight out of the box I would not expect many headfiers I know to be happy with the sound the Havits produce. But with some time on the EQ these phones can be easily tamed and their positive attributes can come to the fore with the over zealous nature of the lows can be quietly moved into the corner.
 
Field Testing
 
 
The final testing was less about sound quality and more about field testing the HVs where they were designed to be used (and abused). So I took them for a run to see whether they would fall off. How they fare when being pushed against a sweating head is a good way to separate the men from the boys in the headphone world. Let’s get them working….. 
Bluetooth headphones are more comfortable to run with. For me I dislike the constant movement of a headphone cable slapping against my chest when I run. I have also had problems with sweat running down the cable and into the unit I’m using as a source. Not to mention the ever present evil of microphonics. So in my opinion , wireless headphones were made to run with. And I intend to put these to the test with my longest medium paced run in 25 years. Stand by…..
 

 
 
Wireless Reliability
 
 
I found the Havits dropped out on average once every 2 minutes for the first 10 minutes of my run , only for a split second each time. I had my phone approx 6 feet from me. After 10 minutes I experienced no dropouts in the sound at all and had 81 minutes of uninterrupted music.
 
Isolation
 
 
The isolation was not the last word in noise cancellation , ballads were wrestling with my pounding feet, the whirring of the treadmill and the gasp of my rather loud breathing (especially after an hour). The volume I set by default to maximum, more than loud enough to follow any song and distract me from the pain I was going through!
I am heavy footed and although the Havits clamp well enough I was experiencing a movement noise from the left pad of the HVs. This disappeared after 50 minutes and at the 75 minute stage I got a minor vibration noise from the right pad. All vibrations , breathing, pounding, whirring etc disappeared once the music got going on any particular track.
 
The Music - it's all about that Bass
 
 
Only 2 tracks were problematic from a listening point of view in over 90 minutes of hitting the treadmill. Road Tripping’ by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers
 

 
- wow the bass guitar on this was unlistenable at full volume and was tamed with a 50% reduction in volume. This was done in a fraction of a second using the sweeping motion on the left ear cup.
 
Stan by Eminem featuring Dido
 

 
- again the bass on this is ridiculous - that’s hip hop for you I guess. The synthetic drum and bass sound was not as painful as the Chillis so I listened through. A disturbing song in more than one way….
I did not believe that the irritation of these 2 songs was the fault of the Headphones or my EQing - some tracks have certain traits that I find grating, I’m sure we all have particular songs we can’t listen to without wincing. The new type of scrunchy ultra low synthetic bass found in “Stan” is not something I would need to change my EQ settings for because it wouldn’t be something I would listen to often enough for this to be a problem. 
 
Survival
 
 
The Havits survived the 90 minute run intact, I survived too more importantly. The sweat on the headband and the pads and the cups was wipeable easily enough and had not intruded into the middle of the inner pads. This is where the drivers are situated.
 
 
Conclusion - are they worth Having? 
 
 
Retailing for one fifth the price of a ticket to a reunion ELO concert
 

 
I had very little expectations of these bluetooth phones. The last phones I bought were slightly south of £600 and that was second hand and I was apprehensive to say the least that I no longer had my feet in the budget market enough to properly evaluate a £24.99 headphone. I was pleasantly surprised that I had not become some sort of an Audiophile Snob who sees no good in anything under £100. 
Are there things I would change? Yes , I would make both ear cups twistable to the left and right as well as up and down, I would  put a little more material for the pads to try and absorb any extra vibration and I would tune some of the bass down. Whether this could be done at the price level is debatable. And none of these issues are major issues ; they would not affect whether to hav or to hav not in my opinion. I could live with all of these issues no problem. 
 
I recommend these Bluetooth Headphones unreservedly for the price…… well, providing you have the patience to tailor the sound to your personal preference , this is, after all, what EQ settings are all about.
 
And one more thing before I go......
 


https://www.prohavit.com/
 
Don't say I don't do anything for you.....

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?

The ultimate IEM? The Final Audio A8000

May I thank you for at least reading these first few words, in a World where everything seems like it's taking too long or is out of date before it's on the shelf. Bear with me, if you will, for a 15 minute dip into the thoughts of a like minded individual just like you. You are caught up in a maze of choices, all of which seem to good to be true, and too tempting to avoid. I'm here for you. Stick with me, let us see where the journey takes us and welcome to my first written article for some time.
First of all, shout outs to the people behind the scenes who made this possible. @ostewart - Oscar, a great great reviewer and an asset to this hobby. A man of integrity, something to be admired in this day and age. Oscar introduced us all to a distributor, John Creigan of K & S Technology, who has supplied the tour model and been kind enough to cover our postage costs. Why have a distributor, a middle man between us and another company? I hear your cry. And I am extremely glad you have asked the question! Take the company in question here, Final Audio, for instance. Final are based in Japan. Without a UK distributor, it's a direct from Japan deal. No auditioning of said item, outside of the usual audio shows. Customs charges. Yes! And handling charges! And delays. Oh the wait! It can be agonising! And what if it gets lost in the post? Or damaged? Or goes wrong? OMG! This is putting me into a cold sweat just writing about this! A distributor solves all of these problems. They send them out to shops. The shops have them available for demo. You put your card into the machine, they hand you over the box. Any problems, you go back to the shop, the shop sorts your problems out. Simple. Stress free. In a life where trouble lurks behind every click on the "Buy Now" button of our souls, redemption can be found through the distributor. Distributors; what's not to love?

About the Final A8000

The Final Audio A8000 is a flagship IEM. It is the best 1 they do. The statement product, against which Final are willing to compete with the best of the best. Make no mistake, flagships are a tense business. They are serious. And they tend to command an equally sobering price tag. The A8000 are available in the UK, in all good outlets, for a cool £2000.
Let us look at what you get for £2000. The A8000 is a single driver design. It has a detachable cable feature. It is sensitive enough to sound half decent from the headphone port of a smartphone, but ideally would look for something with a slightly better amplifier. How could a tiny little thing like an iem justify such a lofty price tag? Final Audio informs us that they have spent a great deal of money on the materials used in the A8000. The flagship has a special driver in it. The driver is made from beryllium. Beryllium is expensive to make. It needs some of the most stringent quality control standards of any factory. It is extremely toxic when being produced. Don't worry; once it gets to us, it is as safe as any other iem for sale. The manufacturer takes all the risk. We just have to bear that risk in the retail price.
This metal is incredibly strong, and can therefore cope with being stretched. This creates the right conditions for a driver to keep to low distortion levels. Low distortion levels are what we seek in our journey to find the best in the World. Most every iem at this price level will have more than 1 driver doing the work. A driver in an iem is tiny. Most drivers would not be capable of really decent full range reproduction. To overcome this, a manufacturer will put in drivers for bass mid and high frequencies. More drivers, bigger sound. Each driver will have a cut off point, or a come alive point, in the frequency range. Each driver will need a crossover. Crossovers create distortion. There is a trade off. If a full range driver with low distortion could be made then just maybe it could outperform the rest of the pack.


This is where Final Audio come in. They believe they have created just that; a single driver that will conquer them all. You may be reading this and thinking; so if I get these, I can hang up my hat and say I'm finished; I've got the best IEM and the curtain is closed once and for all and no other will ever compete. No my friend! No! Never! There will always be more innovations, more claims to greatness. Even Final will not rest on their laurels for long. Something else will force us out of complacency and get us back looking at these reviews. I am not aware of anything being made with kryptonite yet! There is much left to do!
A driver is, of course, a very important part of what makes an iem great. However, there are other factors involved. This is where I come in. I will take you on a journey. We shall scour every detail I think is important. Then you can see whether this is truly the object of your desire.

Accessories/build

The Final Audio A8000 is a relatively simple affair. You get a cable. You get the iems. You get a small box of tips. You get a metal pouch to carry them in. Apart from a few odds and sods, that's it. No frills. No interchangeable filters. No posh booklets. No certificates of frequency response curves etc. I didn't know what I was expecting. But, for £2000 I was underwhelmed. You will say, who cares? If it's got the sound quality I want, I'll do without all the paraphernalia, they can keep it! And you might be right. Let's see. But let's go through this stuff first. Because, it can make a difference.


We start with the box. Cardboard outer sleeve, cardboard box inside. Typical iem size. No leather swankiness. Let us move on.


First layer protects the contents with silk paper.


Then wax paper follows.


And we open up said paper to reveal this metal pouch. It is a brushed steel affair and looks like it cannot be scratched. It's a weighty thing. It has more than a passing resemblance to a pebble in both size and heft.


The A8000's are opened from the bottom. 3 soft clasps keep the iem tightly under wraps.


The pouch is open and we can now see the A8000s. They are tastefully coiled together to get the iems neatly tucked away. There are no bands or wires to keep the cable from doing it's own stubborn thing and it takes some practice to get these in the box. A bit of patience and they're safely away for the night.


The rest. At the bottom we have a set of different size tips. Top left - a cable detachment device. It looks cheap and cheerful. But it does work really well. A bag of black dots is in the top right. These are replacement dust filters. The filters are presumably easy enough to change, because those dots are tiny. So it must be child's play. I didn't spend much time deliberating over this, my apologies. Lower right we have a set of silicon ear hooks. They look cheap and would detract from that silver braided cable for sure. Why didn't they make the cable with some memory wire attached? Each to their own. There'll be a reason.


A shot of the twisted braid cable. It looks lovely doesn't it? It's quite heavy. But then, so are the driver shells.


A close up of the terminations. Not a blob of solder or silicon to be seen. As you'd expect from a flagship. And no hand need ever pull at these to prise them out of the respective drivers, thanks to those tweezer/plier things.


A side view of that stainless steel finish. Almost like 2 pieces of jewellery.


The underside offers the only clue to the untrained eye that these are made by Final. The laser etching is nicely done, but mysteriously absent from the front.


A view of the unbalanced jack plug. Some strengthening here and some plastic alas is forced into our picture. This right angled plug has to be pulled out of the socket by hand and stainless steel gives way to slightly lighter, cheaper material, although it is almost transparent. There are some advantages of plastic over metal, though, of course, not normally in the lustre of the finish. Put these down on a glass table outside on a hot summer's day for very long. I'm sure your ears might regret that decision! Safe to say; keep these tucked away in that pouch if you're not using them.


As we admire the beauty of these iem's, we must also bear in mind that beauty needs function as well. Can you see the right hand edge of that driver? That had the nasty habit of giving the cartilage of my left ear a good seeing to after 30 minutes of use.


The flawless lines of these stainless steel drivers are difficult to argue against. But stainless steel is heavy and smooth as silk. With only a small eartip to keep these trapped in the ear canals, they were often trying to sneak out.The shells had a habit of sliding out of my ear canal, more so when I was leaning to one side.

The sound

I admit to not giving the most positive impressions above regards the lack of accessories and problems I had with the fit. All this will pale into insignificance if we can get the sound quality right. Headfier's can put up with some hardship if they are transported when they press play. That is a known fact. Let us now get to the nitty gritty.

Bass

I am pleased to tell you that the bass that comes out of the A8000 is the best bass I've heard from an iem. I will do my best to explain why, in as jargon free a manner as I can summon. There is subbass, the type of bass that you can feel more than hear. There is air moving against the ear. The sensation is almost fleeting at times. It stays there just long enough for you to wonder if it was really there at all. So it is fast and tight. The mid and upper bass has that similar viscerality. It just sounds right. I know the bass must have been tweaked to achieve this impression. I remained enchanted and enthralled throughout my time with them.



Mids/highs

I had a mixed reaction to the rest of the frequency range. The driver did do some great things. There was a delicacy and poise to the sound, in many tracks. Even some of the older numbers showed an ethereal quality to them. Albatross by Fleetwood Mac, with it's minimalist approach and the way in which the guitars ask and answer each other in harmonic bliss. Yes, we definitely have something here.
The longer I listened for, the more I became aware that many of the tracks have too much going on in them for them to properly benefit from the approach of the A8000. The fact is that the driver is very close to the eardrum and nothing is left out on the A8000. I found that fatigue was starting to set in after several loud rock tracks. There is more in my YouTube presentation shown below:





Conclusion

With much to like about the A8000, a bass that underpins the pedigree of these flagship iems, and a mid and high presentation that can bring out the very best in acoustic and orchestral music, there remains some question marks as to whether these can justify the £2000 price tag. I know that some have already bought these. They are absolutely delighted with their purchase. If you can, please try these out for yourselves. If you can get a satisfaction or your money back, even better again. Please keep in touch with the growing numbers that are showing interest in these products, as your opinion as an owner has an equal validity to mine. Thank you for your time, keep listening, keep reading and keep headfi'ing!

The best of both Worlds? Or a War of the Worlds? Can tube and solid state truly live in harmony together?



Last month saw a newcomer to myself; a hitherto unknown streamer, the X35 from Nova Fidelity. The X35 contained lots of mouth watering goodies for the completist amongst us. Power in spades, wi-fi or ethernet connectivity, crazy amounts of storage possible, Deezer, Tidal MQA, Amazon or Spotify HD, CD ripping, DAB radio, FM radio, Phono preamp and recorder, Headphone amp, DSD capable DAC, analogue amp, speaker amp, preamp; it's mind boggling what they've put in it. To my delight it all turned out to be well made and most importantly, sounding really decent. decent enough to make me think that perhaps it was time to start getting rid of some of the real estate on my ever expanding hifi unit.

The HE-6 from HiFiMan - the old with the new
Nova Fidelity are being distributed through SCV in the UK. If they can do a streamer this good, what else are they capable of? Naturally, my email, almost automatically, got back in touch with Matt Esau retail sales manager of SCV distribution, and we exchanged ideas as to the next product to which we could introduce our readership.


6 weeks later and I am ready to unveil the next in what is likely to be a mini series of Nova Fidelity audio gear. Ladies and (mostly) gents, I bring you the HA500H. H stands for headphone. In fact this is a Dac with analogue in and preamp out, as well as a headphone amp. First of all, let us tell you what this is not. It isn't a speaker amp, streamer, recorder thing; it is designed as a bolt on to the X35 , for those who wish to start squeezing; for those who to start extracting the last drop of the streamer's capabilities and take it to another level and aren't afraid to splash out a hefty wad to get their Meze Empyrean, Focal Utopia or HifiMan Susvara working to their full potential.

Here we have HA500H on top of an Arcam SR250
As you'd expect; for £2199, there's a little something to tempt you to part with your cash. Nova Fidelity are offering to distinct sound signatures under one hood. Not content with the usual filter adjustments or eq options, Nova have gone one further by offering a solid state, or tube sound with the switch of a button and the patience to wait 3 seconds for the transformation to take place. There are not too many of these hybrids available in the marketplace. I'm scratching my head to think of one, come to mind! Cayin have pitched their stake on the DAP market with a dual mode N8 that costs a fortune and now have an N3 with solid state/tube in one little box at $500. Of course, what we have here, is a larger experience altogether...

X35 & HA500H Nova Fidelity together
Different strokes for different folks. Some like it hot. Driving, punchy, black backgrounds. These are adjectives synonymous with solid state lovers. Warm, lush, creamy. Likewise these words capture some of the ingredients which put a fellow music lover into the camp of the tube output stage fans. And never the twain shall meet. No one can agree! If 1 of the folks says tubes rule, there follows a 1000 reasons why it doesn't perform technically as well as solid state. If the solid state buffs start dismissing the tube sound as a relic from the dark ages, then their technology is accused of putting a digital "'brick wall" to the music which sucks the life from it. What if there is music that benefits from either tube or solid state, dependent on the harshness of the recording, or perhaps even the nuances of one's mood on any particular day? What if you have a closed headphone which benefits from both the need for the partner to watch TV while you are doing something much more fun, but in the same room? Could this be a solid state choice, compared to the edginess of the HE-6? Could it be you have 2 headphones because they complement each other? One perhaps being a bass monster (Abyss) the other being a detail monster (HD800)? There is an inherent difference between the 2 within the confines of this box, of that I can assure you. A quick press on the control panel and we are presented with the softer, more coloured sound of the Tubes. Switch back and we are reminded of the dynamic sound of the solid state circuitry. Could there be a place for both in your musical tastes? If there exists that possibility, then here is a solution.


The dual solid state/tube option is the first audio product I've had the opportunity to spend a decent amount of time with. I wonder if, like me, you'll spend time listening to your favourite stuff and endlessly cycling between tube and solid state, just to see if that particular track sounds better in it's tube clothing? Nova have offered yet more ways to waste even more of our precious leisure time! Maybe with so many of us now working from home, there are a few more moments to be snatched, what with the commuting going from 1 hour to 10 feet across the apartment.....


What else can I tell you about the HA500H?






It has a small remote from which everything can be tweaked. The front panel has a few more buttons, and given we are talking headphone amp are likely to be in much closer proximity than your standard hifi gear. The Nova can almost instantly switch between tube and solid state. There is a low or high impedance setting. The only headphone that the HA500H had a problem with driving was the AKGK1000 Bass Heavy. If you have something like this you know already that we are talking stupid amounts of power; a full size integrated or power amplifier will do nicely, thank you. There are some headphone amps that run it; Benchmark Dac/Amps can be fiddled with internally to push the AKGs hard. Thankfully there are very few of you out there who have this unique beast of a headphone. Another famously hard to drive Headphone, the HiFiMan HE-6, is around in rather more plentiful supply. I happen to have 1 of those too. How did this fare? Tube was the way forward. 76 volume(from 100) was as much as I could go to. High impedance, of course, was the setting.


The usual abundance of input options are available, I suspect Nova have done much research in attempting to please every potential punter by offering everything they could think of. Toslink, Coaxial, AES/EBU, USB, HDMI, Analogue in both balanced and unbalanced, even bluetooth is here. Outputs are RCA or XLR and can be tweaked to fixed or variable output depending on whether you go for integrated or power amp as the end stage. As much as time permitted I tried as many variants as I could; all worked as they should without the need of too much shouting or making threatening gestures with a claw hammer, as expected from my experiences with the MUCH more fiddly X35 and it's 130 page instruction manual.


The build quality is without fault, as befits a product of this price. A brushed black metal interface has an understated finish. A decent sized 5" display can be configured with a variety of options, such as analogue or digital output display. We are catered for balanced or unbalanced outputs from the front of the 500. The balanced has twice the power and a superior signal to noise ratio than it's 6.35" neighbour. The frequency response, as expected, goes so low and so high only aliens could really be able to tell you what those bits are either end sound like. It's there if you ever become one.


Thus ends part 2 of my adventures in hi-fi with South Korea. I hoped you enjoyed it as much as me, and stay tuned for more musings, mutterings and mumblings from deep within my Darkest Devon home.

A glimpse of a shiny blue tube

This is my take on the SUI version of the Flat4 Dynamic driver IEMs from Ocharaku of Japan , and is taken from my review on earphonia.com .
 
Ocharaku Flat-4 SUI – In Ear Tech Is Driven Further Forward
by Takeanidea

Flat-4 Sui Ocharaku Earphone

SOUND SIGNATURE 8.5/10
BUILD QUALITY 7/10
VALUE 8/10

PROS
Bass in the realms of a full sized
Sub and mid bass punch and warmth
Mid range detailed clear not particularly veiled
CONS
Treble sometimes slightly too energetic for some tastes
High end sources required for larger sized soundstage
Could be more robust build
 
 
Pairings Equipment
Hidizs AP60
MacBook Pro Retina
First Watt F6 Power Amplifier
Chord Mojo Dac
 
Intro
Just how many different ways can an IEM be made to look? Somehow, a Japanese Company has made their new line look like a fleet of V8 muscle cars. With a pipe running the length of the driver I  had no doubt in my mind that whoever designed these things wants to shake things up a bit in the in ear world.

 
 
The industry is moving very fast with hybrid technologies of the many descriptions jumping in at mid tier pricing levels. There are many tiny shells out there within which lie some truly astonishing achievements in what can be done with so little space.
The paradox is ;
Which one of the many patents out there is truly a new technology bringing something new to our ears?
Are we paying for the new technology or for the sophistication of the sound signature?
Armed with this rather critical approach to the radical new design in front of me , I set to put these diminutive monsters through their paces. I have some in ears which have been with me for a few years. I know the sound signature of these without putting them on. For a fair fight and of course for the pure joy of slipping into something comfortable I made some direct comparisons.
earphonia.com Ocharaku Flat-4 Sui Review
I did side by side A/B testing using my trusty Chord Mojo , put the Flat4 through a smartphone, a Hidizs AP60 soon to be reviewed on earphonia.com, also a completely over the top 50 Watts per Channel Modded First Watt F6 Power Amplifier – with an ultra revealing setup.
 
The Twin Equalizer Element Explained
 
Where many IEMs win or lose in the perceived sound quality is in the mid range. The mids produce the vocals, the strings, the keyboards ; it’s what’s left over after the drummer and the bassist have had their say.

The depth and space between the vocalist and the instrumentation is a problem that faces any tiny driver and has plagued sound engineers for many years.

In this case , Mr Makoto Yamagishiof Ocharaku , owner and head engineer , has put his unique slant on overcoming these shortfalls – he has designed a series of IEMs , each of which has their special characteristics to suit an individuals sound preferences.

All of these new designs have a pipe running from one of the driver shell to the other – creating a visible connection between the 2 drivers and leaving a chamber in the middle.

Bold thinking – but does it work?

The next stage was for me to go from research to practical. The first stage for me is to put an IEM with the tips supplied , into my ears and see what happens. From there , I can tell whether I have the right type and size to move on further at this stage to some serious listening.

This stage can sometimes take a while with some of the more exotic fits out there. For instance , an IEM I shall no doubt talk about in a different article that arrived at my door today needs one small silicon hybrid in the left and one medium hybrid tip in the right ear. Such experimenting undoubtedly reaps it’s rewards.

 Build quality

Microphonics and isolation are inherent problems with IEMs above all other types of headphone out there. Due to their lightness and proximity to the ear canal , a poor cable will produce it’s vibrations against the body and this can be transferred as a thumping sound straight into the drivers. A £1000 can quickly be turned into a £10 Earbud and it’s a humbling experience.
Thankfully , the cable does not produce microphonics ; the Flat-4 Sui earphone with a bit of working out can be worn over the ear so the weight of the cable pulling on the driver shell is almost non existent.  The isolation particularly with the Comply is first class. They are really long comply and they get right tucked in and snug.

All good so far but, hang on…
It would have been nice to have seen a mid tier cable provided with these. The cable is reminiscent of the Klipsch X11i and the Sony XBA4ip. It is perfectly functional but tends to twist in on itself easily. The discrete R marking on the driver shell is tasteful and easy enough to spot in daylight conditions. Colour coding on the cable is always welcomed but seldom done and no markings have been put on the left or right.
The pipe protrudes out from the shell , of course this is part of the design feature. The shape is not my favourite shape but the Flat4s stay in well enough. The Westone style pebble shape is what manufacturers need to be trying to implement into their design criteria.
There is no clasp after the Y bend of the cables to pull the cables tighter together under the chin , or a clasp to fit the cable against your shirt. Both of these things can help keep things from catching , essential when you are out and about. And you will want to show these Muscle Cars off to the World…
There is no hands free cable supplied – many phone users are going to be impressed with the clarity these phones will produce. At 104 dB and 18 Ohms they can go loud enough. Without hands free they will have to be disconnected to take a call on your smartphone. However these deserve better than a Smartphone though!

The first testing

The silicons supplied with the Flat4 were a reasonable fit for me but I could notice to my ears an overly airy somewhat thin sound. I quickly moved to the Comply’s in the Ocheraku Tin. They are quite long and Comply’s being what they are , they can be squeezed down to svelte proportions so they were a great fit for me and I could tell straight away that I was hearing what my ears were expecting. This appearing to have done the trick now called for some serious music listening.

First up , my review model of the Hidizs AP60 , a remarkably tiny but extremely pretty Digital Audio Player which can play up to 24/192 files. Legend by Bob Marley , in High Res 24/192 was my first stop, straight from the headphone out of the DAP.

Here we have mostly bassy tracks and male vocals with a female backing band – Redemption Song being a notable exception as a solo acoustic guitar male voice number. Bass warmth depth punch and linearity would give me my first glimpse of what success Mr. Yamagishi had achieved.

Bass

The bass was big through the Comply’s , big enough to be thinking at times I was wearing full sized headphones. The Comply’s put a slight slowness to the bass but I find this signature to give a pleasant warmth to the overall feel of my music – some purists may not agree but I find in Classical and Acoustic Music I like a slight mid bass lift to give a low end depth that isn’t present in most orchestral instruments.

Mids

The mids of the Flat4s are my favourite part. There is some real class to the depth and accuracy of the mids – the main part of the music. I could follow vocals and instruments were easer to pick out than I was expecting. There did not feel like a veil had been thrown over the mids ; there was hiss when there needed to be and enough space to pick out the odd mistake in the engineering of the track ; even on a DAP barely larger than a matchbox.

Treble/Soundstage

The higher frequencies are taken up by cymbals , peaks in the energy of a chorus , echoes either natural or produced using the magic of the mixing desk. The Flat4s have plenty of treble energy , even with being toned down by the Comply’s (which is after all part of their job). I did not find Legend to be a fatiguing album and my Karajan recording of Beethoven’s First Symphony was equally enjoyable. Treble presence is an absolute must to achieve a decent sized soundstage , where we can get a feel for where the musicians are placed within the recording. This gives us a feel of “being there”. Too much treble energy and the whole thing falls apart because in the worst case scenario I as the listener will be forced to switch the music off!
I decided to try some newer stuff. What could be newer than the Grand Tour? The Amazon Prime Series is into it’s 2nd week already. Needless to say with a budget of £4.5 million it’s well recorded. The Flat4s were plugged into the output of my MacBook Pro Retina. The sound of screeching tyres and revving engines was awesome. The audience was very loud and this too was portrayed with good clarity.
 
Having got a feel for the sound signature the Flat4s can now be plugged into my Chord Mojo and hot swapped between some similarly priced competition. First up – the Sony XBA4ips.

They have a subwoofer bass mid and high frequency driver setup. The Sony’s have a more linear bass signature without the visceral impact of the Ocharakus. The mids of the Sony’s are more forgiving than their competitor. There is less hiss present and the Sony’s still have plenty of detail to offer. The Flat-4 Sui steal the show against the opposition in the mids and there is simply more going on in the mix to focus in on and enjoy. The Sony’s had a pulled in soundstage and a nice sparkle in the higher ranges. The higher ranges were not as detailed and extended as the Flat4s.

The Klipsch X11i , now superseded by the X12i , is a tiny single armature IEM ; certainly the smallest I have come across. Klipsch has managed to get a whole lot of bass into their earphone and bass , using silicon hybrid tips , was on a par with the Flat4s. The Ocharakus had slightly more punch in the mid bass region. Mids were muffled sounding on the X11is in comparison and rolled off at the top. This makes the Klipsch a forgiving IEM for poor recordings and MP3s and they are often my go to earphone for my Ipod Classic. It can’t live with the finesse of the Flat4 SUI’s – they are good but they’re not great.

Supertest

The First Watt F6 Power Amplifier was designed for driving loudspeakers. It is very expensive indeed , retailing for $3500 back in 2014. My model has been modded heavily from the original design and has an extra power supply and far more caps and higher quality components where a difference was worth the cost. It was made specifically to get the most from my HiFIMan HE-6 Headphones. The HE-6 are extremely hard to drive properly.

The First Watt amps are acknowledged as perhaps the best solution for them. The builder of this power amp is at dill3000 from headfi.org and he has a bright future ahead of him in the world of headphones and probably full size systems too. Dillan made me a special balanced to single ended plug that comes from the speaker taps to run unbalanced headphones. With a great deal of care, even IEMs can be run from this monster of an amp….
The Flat4 and Klipsch understandably well overpowered exhibited some hiss through this setup, but musical refinement was what I was looking for in this comparison. The Sony XBA4ip didn’t have too much hiss at all in the test. The Sony’s revealed themselves as being slightly veiled in the mids, the X11i’s less so and the Flat4’s undoubtedly retrieving the most detail. Although this is hardly the sensible match for an IEM it is something towards an ultimate test and it’s always fun to spend some time with.

Conclusion

Ocharakus have produced an IEM that can push the boundaries of what we can expect from the mid tier end of the market.

The Flat4 SUI has a balanced poise with enough bottom end to keep contemporary music enthusiasts engaged and enough detail in the mids and space in the highs to keep classical fans excited.

The balance is always difficult to achieve ; there are many more models on offer out there which will bring different attributes. The SUI could be the middle ground many earphoniac’s are searching for.
 
Retail Price: 

30,650 JPY (approx £220/$270/€255)

Specifications:

Element	010e001 Φ10 mm dynamic x 2 (per single channel)
Sound method/Driver Type	Twin equalized element
Output sound pressure level	104 dBSPL/mW
Frequency Response characteristics	3.5 to 45 kHz(HiRes-ready)
Max. input	400 mW
Impedance	18 Ω
Mass	About 17 g
Plug	Φ3.5 mm gold plating stereo mini-plug
Code length	1.2 m (type Y)
Attachment	ComplyTM foam ear tips T-200 size L (Size M is attached to the main unit.) Ocharaku Can, Instruction Manual & Guarantee

 

This has been supplied to me for review purposes. I ordered this with customs fee paid to the UK and expedited shipping and it still came in at under £20. That is less than I would previously have considered for an IEM purchase so the question is- is it worth spending so little?
Answering the question takes a little while, just over 15 minutes actually I have lovingly crafted (hashed together) a first impressions video for my YouTube channel.

I find this a good way to confront myself with on the spot observations. The end result is not quite as watered down as my written reviews often are. There is no time for reflection. This review is of course a week or so on from the first moments I spent with the C04, so therefore it can be described as a deluxe version

Build
The shape of the CCA C04 is a snug fit to my ear contours. To the extent that my skills as a custom reseller are not required. There is simply no space left around my ear in which to put even a pinch of hydrothermal compound on to secure the earphones inside my earlobes. These are the first earphones I can think of where I have come across this. I therefore have near custom fit advantages, such as isolation, comfort, no constant micro adjustments as I lose the sweet spot when the driver tips become slightly lose, and i am able to play music at a slightly lower volume due to the reduction in background noise levels. Not to mention the fact that I have not had to interfere with the cosmetics of the design, and the consequent loss of warranty should the IEM stop working in its first year. When the C04 arrived and I unboxed it, I realised that, if nothing else, they looked very attractive. The cable was of a cheaper design than the C10. The terminations were plastic. On the C10 the terminations are metal. The cable itself looks the same. The shape of the termination on the C04 creates a tighter bend around the ear from the plastic tubing. This creates a better fit than the C10. There is much less cable flap when out running with the C04. Neither model has a chin strap to adjust this issue. With a little imagination and ingenuity, a chin strap could be added for those who wish to work out with them. For the cost involved it's a shame that this hadn't been considered. It could be a sales opportunity for those of us who don't want to take their more expensive earphones out to the gym or the beach or the track etc.

Sound

The signature of the C04 is slightly rolled off in the highs and mids and bass heavy. A few years ago I felt that many of the cheaper IEMs were anaemic sounding and bass light and quite shrill in the highs. This seems to be a thing of the past if the tuning of the last few cheapies is anything to go by. A serious listening session tells me that the bass is boomy and bloated and gets mixed into the mids. This results in a loss of resolution. Bass light sources therefore would be suitable for the C04. I have a Colorfly DAP, the cheap C10, that is a good example of something that needs a boost. Otherwise, for serious listening I'd recommend eqing some bass until it becomes a little more linear sounding. For noisy environments with lots of low frequency sounds, such as running in the streets or on a treadmill, the pounding of the feet create havoc with the bass and rhythm of a track. For commutes on the train or bus or the tube there is a similar but smaller need for accentuated bass. For those who prefer a warmer sound signature, an accentuated bass is not too much of a problem with Classical Music. It may even add to the enjoyment.
My evaluation on the video was done with both the C04 and C10 connected to the Chord Mojo at the same time. The difference between the two was instantaneous, and swapping between the 2 was about as quick as you could achieve. For more information about that you can have a look at my video.

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.

No.2 product from Aoshida HiFi, with grateful thanks to Yihua, my newest convert to the Subjective mantra, who has supplied me with the little bar of Chinese goodness, the M100 DAC. Available at places like this


Or this


Or even from their main store


I know. I surely have come across SMSL before. But, I'm struggling to remember when I have reviewed any of their stuff. No, having had a quick flick around t'internet, it appears I am a newcomer here. I've seen much but heard little, it would appear. They've been going since 2009, a long time in the Chinese side of the Industry, and specialise in making nice looking bits at fairly attractive prices. The M100 itself is a dinky little thing. It cries out to be part of a cute little stack of components, such as are part of the M series. It's tiny form factor means it'll slot in just about anywhere. It doesn't feed off your smartphone's power if you're using OTG. It needs an independent suply but only needs a side order of Micro USB, so hoping that won't interfere with it's prettiness by having too many cables hanging around. For inputs, the M100 takes Digital only, naturally, and it'll accept coaxial, optical and USB OTG and Asychronous. RCA outputs send the analog result to another speaker or headphone amp to finish off the proceedings.

The Olympus PCM Recorder sits atop the SMSL, almost dwarfing it
Perhaps what we are aiming for here is the audio lover who has no use for a DAP, everything is on the phone or the laptop or PC and it just needs a bit of help when he or she has time to sit down and really indulge and savour a bit of extra quality. Without breaking the bank. This unit costs roughly the price I paid for my last micro SD card, which was wht I needed for my rather more expensive Astell & Kern AK380 digital audio player. I've put the thing through it's paces, and it's easy enough when you get the hang of things. There is what appears to be a power on switch at the front of the M100. In fact it is also works as a switch between the 3 inputs, all of which are numbered on the rear of the unit. In 1 is USB, 2 is optical (full sized) and 3 is coax. A short press and 1,2 or 3 will show up. Be ready with the volume well down on your amp for when this happens!

The recordings​

I will not over eleborate on the sound quality of the SMSL DAC, because you can have the opportunity to take a listen yourselves. I felt it was a competent little performer, improving on the outputs from Macbook or Smartphone, and I took the opportunity to sample a couple of sound files for you. I have clearly labelled them. They've been recorded on an Olympus digital recorder which I use from time to time for such occasions. Yes, the recordings are lossy, but the loss should be equal amongst all recordings.




Now I hope you've had the chance to listen, perhaps you can revisit a few times and decide for yourself; does it sound better? Truly, such auditions, over less than perfect conditions, are not easy. The Macbook Pro Retina is a pretty good sounding Laptop in it's own right, but perhaps you can tell a difference between part 1 and part 2 of the YouTube upload. I have put a high quality CD Rip of 1 of my own collection, Synthesizer Greatest Vol II, and I hope you like the track. It's a cover version of Vangelis' Theme from Antarctica by a little known chap called Ed Starink...

Conclusion​

I hope you've enjoyed participating in this review. For once, it's not just been all about me. I'm sure you'd like to know my opinion on the SMSL M100 MKII DAC after all this. However....I'm going to give you all a little while to make up your own minds, and maybe, just maybe, I shall revisit this little write up and put my 2 pennorth in. Until then, you have been charming company, and I look forward to seeing you again, very soon.

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]

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 time has come. Never before has a headphone received such bad publicity before it has been officially released. For the reasons why, we need to open our history books. Let me tell you a story....

Sony MDR-R10

Some 30 years ago, Sony was at it's creative peak. It released a flagship Headphone. That headphone was the MDR-R10. The launch date was 1989 and just 2000 were made. The limited numbers are just 1 of the elements that have combined to create an almost mythical status to these cans. The headphones had a distinctive appearance. The cups were extremely large. They were wooden. In fact, the wood was taken from a 200 year old tree, Japanese Selkova tree. The tree is revered in the Far East. There are some of these trees still with us after 1000 years. Arguably the first example of a headphone designed using predominantly computer based technology, they were uniquely angled. They start as a dome shape but are flat on the edges. A picture will be the best description here.









They had a closed back design, whereas their closest competition at the time considered open cup designs were the only suitable option for flagships. The AKG K1000, launched the same year, was an attempt to make the most open sounding headphones yet produced. 2 other flagships of the time, the Stax Sigma Pro (1987)and the Sennheiser HE-90 Orpheus(1991) were electrostatic headphones, although Stax felt their product so unique they called it an earspeaker.

No one else put a bio cellulose driver in their phones. At least at the time, Sony's driver appeared in only a handful of their top designs. Perhaps the implementation of the drivers in this instance has established the MDR-R10 firmly into the history books as one of the best headphones ever made. Sadly, to date, these are 1 of the few flagship's I've never experienced. In all my travels I've never seen 1. I'm acquainted with 1 owner in England. Perhaps, after the Pandemic, I will finally get a chance.

Sony made their 2000 MDR-R10's, and sold them all for what was at the time a pretty steep $2500. The patent on the design expired a long time ago. The cup shape (near enough) made a welcome return with the launch, quite recently(2017) of the Sony MD-Z1R.



The conical shape certainly has overtures to it's older cousin, don't you think? This is the closest anyone has gone in recreating that highly unusual look. Until now....


The HiFiMan HE-R10

The wooden cups and the flattened ends are back! HiFiMan have taken a 1989 design ( which looked retro back then) and reintroduced it in 2020. It is a daring move. It has sparked an outcry. The alleged "blatant copying" of a cherished memory has caused a small contingent of headphone purists to turn on HiFiMan in an alarming turn of events. Notwithstanding the obvious allusions to their original counterparts, are there any further similarities?

HiFiMan have made 2 versions of the HE-R10. There were 2 iterations of the MD R-10, the bass light and the normal version. However, Sony produced the MD R-10, and not a version 1 or 2. It is only with careful research that either version would be differentiated. The driver, cup and tuning is the same as far as I can ascertain. It is only a subtle change in materials that have altered the sound signature.

The retail price remained unaffected by any changes made. HiFiMan have a "cut price" R-10, when released officially it is rumoured to be $1500. That model is the D. D standing for the implementation of a dynamic driver. The MD R-10's bio cellulose driver was also a dynamic, but, it is entirely different from the HiFiMan dynamic. For reasons I have not been able to deduce thus far, these types of drivers were used by Sony from 1989 and into the 1990's but have not been used since.



HiFiMan HE-R10D Review

The D has been with me for 2 weeks now. I received it and unboxed on exactly the same day, and at exactly the same time as the P version. I can show you that experience below.




You will quickly realise that I was a little underwhelmed by the HE-R10D. I listened to that having tried the £6000 HiFiMan Susvara as a base and then putting on the HE-R10P. The P model is $5500, $4000 more than the D version. Perhaps in hindsight, even though this was pretty much a live unboxing, a somewhat fairer match up could have been arranged.

Compared to it's more illustrious brother, the R10D sounded compressed and boomy. Seduced by the Planar, and with much of the outside interest being generated by the more expensive model, it's easy to see why the Dynamic had little air time for a week. With the pressure of a new release of this importance, and a sizeable number of eager ears from all corners of the globe anxious for me to complete my part, I simply had to spend proper time with it on week 2. And so here we are. I happen to have a dynamic headphone or 2 in the Subjective Review offices, (Sennheiser HD800 anyone?) and I'm not afraid to use them, if I have to!

To get a feel for how the D competes against its own kind, I happen to have a closed back Audio Technica ATH W1000Z. It has cups made from solid teak wood. It's impedance is a reasonably low 43 ohms and it has a high sensitivity of 101 dB The D and the Z share a lot in common, other than the price. The Z did retail at £1000 up until a year or 2 ago, but, where available, it's £599, or even less. At the time I bought these, I had 1 closed back headphone, the Alpha Dog Prime. I sold the Primes in favour of these. I've yet to be enthralled by any other full sized closed back, so the Z has been with me since 2017. I have several other full sized closed phones, but these aren't in the same league at the ATH.

I put the Z and the D to a duel. The Z has a thinner, more distant sound, with a less linear bass response and a less prominent sub bass. There was less visceral air being pushed against my ears compared to the D, which has a low bass presence that you'd kind of expect from a large cupped design. . Where the Z went slightly into harshness, the D was able to step back from the edge. Where synthetic bass sounds slightly annoying on the Z, the D was able to get some control. Taking the P and the Susvara away from the audition was a way to make me realise some of the qualities that the lesser model has.

Taking on the HD800 would be an altogether more difficult match. I have modded mine, and I've had the original pair, from new, for over 8 years. The famous wide sound stage is still there and I've managed to add slam and reduce much of the ringing around some of the frequency range. These are very much an open headphone but the retail price stands at £1099 which puts them in the same bracket, pretty much, as the RE-10D. The HD800 does outdo the RE-10D, it is simply a more capable headphone in terms of resolution, dynamics, sound stage, linearity. The D bested the bass response of the HD800. It has more bass presence and slam. Many of you reading this will not be surprised in the least at these findings. I should mention that the HD800 leaks quite a bit more than the RE-10, as we're on the subject of the bleedin' obvious!

What appears to be the conclusion from all this? I believe that the RE-10D performs well as a closed back, but...dont expect it to compete with a World Class Headphone. That challenge must be taken up by it's bigger brother.

HifiMan HE-R10P

The Planar version of the HE-R10 looks pretty similar to the untrained eye. A darker colour to the cups and a lighter presentation box hardly give the game away. The clue lies in the weight. Wow! It's weighs a ton! I feel sorry for the Knights of old in their armour with those helmets they had to wear. I know how they feel! If you can get round this; if you don't possess a tiny head(c'est moi); then you may well be in for a treat....



The P can hold its own with the open back brigade. There, I've said it. So much so that I have used all my comparison time between the R10P and the Susvara. This is the league that I believe the R10P is in. You may disagree with me. You may be enraged by this statement. But, at the time of going to press, I am all you've got. Others will follow me and all opinions are needed to form some realistic evaluation of the R10P. These are mine alone, and are influenced by my time being pushed down by the vertical force of these monster cans.



The R10P has all the ingredients needed for a special headphone. As well as all the usual technical stuff that we reviewers bleat on about incessantly, I am looking for a personality. I am interested in what makes this thing different from other flagships. The video below feels like it was made months ago.



In fact, it's less than a week old. I have spent many hours on these, both before, during, and since the Part II of my vlog. The P is a very nice sounding headphone. I hear visceral bass. It resonates just the right length of time for me. It doesn't interfere with the rest of the mix. Those cups do not appear to adding additional reflection; if they are, it only seems to improve the feel of the music. The bass will, I hope, be what people notice about the R10P. The bass from a closed back should be a different sound than comes from an open back. The bass has something to properly push against with the seal from a closed back, and an open back can often be heard as having a tighter, faster low end. Quite how much the wooden cups have shaped the bass from the R10P remains a mystery; whether some of that weight has had an influence is entirely likely. The feeling of the sound stage being kept inside one's head is a feature of these phones. The subliminal messages being sent by the clamping force and the downward pressure no doubt are contributing to this. But, is this a bad thing. The sound stage is precise. The image is really clean. That characteristic mid band thing that HiFiMan do, where even poorly recorded, loud, shouty music is tolerable, is present on these cans just the same as ever. Vocals are right in front of your face, and are distanced further away on the Susvara. I noticed when I swapped between the 2, that there was a subtle "squashing in" of the sound when I went to the R10P. It took a few A/B comparisons to understand what was happening. I'd describe it like a wind noise. The music's all there, and once back in the groove, it's not noticeable. The Susvara has that effortless delivery. Nothing is left out. The sound stage is wide but not surreally so. The bass is more preferable on the R10P, but the warmth and finesse of the Susvara does edge the R10P. I will say this; the R10P, being listened to, for an hour, beside the Wife while she was watching TV, and at that level of quality, was something I urge each and every one of you to get the chance to experience. Try that with a Susvara!

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

​

​

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?

FIIO M11 PRO V FIIO M11 – THE NAKED TRUTH



The Fiio M11 in action
Hi to you all. Dillan and I having just come back from the Bristol Hi-Fi Show have made some new friends and have reacquainted ourselves with some of our long term pals.
Advanced MP3 players joined forces with our friend Mark Ramos, of HiFiMan. Mark provided some bling in the AMP3 room on the 2nd floor at the Marriot Hotel, adorning the tables with Ananda BT, HE1000SE, the very new Deva, and the Sundara headphones.
I knew both Mark and Chris from amp3. They have been in the audio business since 2001. We have met for short chats at various shows. Over the course of the Friday and Saturday, Team Subjective formulated a plan to both push our output up and put amp3’s huge collection of portable kit firmly on the map.
It seemed like I had just set foot through the door of Team Subjective’s offices and a large parcel was waiting for me. Let us now waste no further time and tear open said packaging!



YouTube offering from my alter ego – Headphones HiFi Reviews
By the time you have worked your way through the above video I hope you will have a fairly good idea of what Subjective Reviews believe to be the most important aspects of a Digital Audio Player. There are technical aspects in respect of the M11 which I have not dwelt on. This is for very good reason. Time is short. Each minute I witter on for leaves the potential for you, dear viewer, to lose interest and become distracted by far less important things, like doing the washing up, or feeding the cat etc. So I have to tread lightly. Is 23 minutes as brief as I could make it? I hear you cry! Well, this is my legacy, of course, and I want it to have some kind of depth.
The author with the most expensive headphones in the World, the HiFiMan Shangri- La, and Mark Ramos of HiFiMan in the background
The technical stuff; as I see it…. well, If I can’t hear the technical stuff happening, should I, or you, be concerned about it? I believe, quite passionately, that there is too much emphasis on specifications and not enough attention is paid to what the darn thing actually sounds like. I can look at oscilloscope diagrams as much as the next man. They’re fascinating. But then, I love to spend time sitting outside watching the weeds in my garden grow. Let’s have another nice picture of this DAP. I’ve hardly said anything about it yet!
A tastefully fuzzy shot of the posh connections for balanced and unbalanced and USB-C
There are specifications that matter; of course there are. For me, when I was looking for a digital audio player and I was prepared to spend some serious money on it, storage was a really important consideration. I have Amazon Music HD too. Therefore, anything that I bought had to justify the subscription cost of Amazon Music HD and also had to house as close as possible the entirety of my music collection. Believe me; the number of CDs I own go into the 1000s. The Fiio M11 has 2 micro SD card slots and a sort of version of android. Fiio has an app store allowing Netflix, Amazon Music and Fiio Music to be installed and personalised. A few other apps needed apk download and installs. This is a bit hit and miss and is clearly inconvenient compared to having google play store on tap. There are plusses. I can bypass the Android OS music handling by using Fiio Pure Music Mode. I can also upscale all to DSD at the press of a button. The M11 Pro is sensible, and has retained exactly the same features.
One of the few visuals that differentiates the Pro from it’s brother
The M11 Pro has just the 1 SD Card slot. There were apparently some issues with Card Slot 2 when using some of the cheaper micro sd cards on the market. Overheating issues. I have san disk cards in mine and have never had any problems with them. However, the change has been made by Fiio and I doubt they will go back to engineering a DAP with 2 card slots. Such is life. Take it on the chin. Move on. Let us talk about the good bits. The sound quality. As promised, from my YouTube vid, I am going to provide you with 2 60 second soundbites made via the line in socket of my Olympus digital recorder. They are here, you can make up your own minds as to whether I am talking nonsense when I say I detect a difference in sound quality, for the better, in the Pro version.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yC3hz2PP4R7LfqZSvZa7zua7YKS2j2Bb
The M11 Pro Link is above
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DC-TIqXOkKKQa0hdm8PigAazKg3EvA03
M11 link is above
Ok. We are all but done. A simple look at a couple of quite complicated pieces of engineering. For us, however, that doesn’t really enter into it. What we need to know is, does it fit our requirements? Is it gonna sound good? Will it last? Does it look good? And where do I sign? Well, the last question is more about how much is it gonna cost me and can I get it real quick? Thankfully, the questions above have all been handled by your trusty subjective reviewer. No thanks are necessary; I do this for the love

 
 
 
 
Kindly sent to me by Gary Zhang of Havit , a new company to headfi that have added an awful lot of decent headphones to the budget market.
 
This is my 3rd review for Havit , previously having tried the HV-H2555BT More Hav than Hav not
 

and the HV-H91DJ C'mon - £20? Havit - I lovit!
 
 

 
The HV-H930BT 
 

 
Is their Bluetooth 4.1 spec Sports In Ear Water Resistant model
 
It is inexpensive to say the least
 

 
And is worthy of a listen - even for headfi 
 
The Design
 
The 930 is a solid IEM with as small a cable leading from left to right ears as you could imagine. With a 200 hour standby time , a 6.5 hour talk time and a 6 hour music time these Monitors are recharged through the usual micro usb cable method in 2 hours. They can be connected to 2 devices at the same time ; useful for listening to a Macbook and taking calls from a smartphone for instance. They are sold in the UK through amazon.co,uk
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Headphone-HAVIT-HV-H930BT-Smartphone/dp/B018HVZ5XU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451364805&sr=8-1&keywords=h930bt
 
and retail for £16.99. 
 
 
Using the IEMs is relatively easy for the tech savvy 
 

 
Pausing the music is as simply as pressing the middle button , taking and ending calls on Android or Iphone is the same button press and works absolutely fine. Long button presses when the music is not on will call back the previously dialled number, something I have done more than once, so if you're like me be prepared to strike up a conversation when you least expect it! As always,hands free dialling must be treated with respect and caution.....
The cable is tangle free and the IEMs are small enough to fit into any pocket and do not need a bag as they are sweat and waterproof and I have not managed to scratch them so far.
The Bluetooth range is described as 10 metres with no obstacles ; in practice I found the phone needed to be in my pocket and my Macbook Pro had to be in the same room as me i.e 20 feet to avoid dropouts, Once I had the range correct there were no subsequent dropouts.
 
These phones are designed for the active, they are not aimed at the Audiophile sat listening in a comfy quiet environment to chamber music through their SACD player. They are a tool to help you work out harder and are made to resist as much sweat and water as you can throw at them. Which is exactly what I did and is exactly how I shall review them.
 
The Sound
 
Bassy presentation , smooth in the mids and highs , the Havits need toning down very slightly in the lower end when I am walking and doing chores. In a noisy environment particularly when I'm running the bass is needed and can easily be lived with. Although I have mentioned chamber music through your SACD as not quite the market the 930 is aimed at , classical music is given a pleasing artificial warmth with these phones I am pleased to say. Rock and Pop is treated with a forgiving signature which should make it listenable through most genres and bit rates from MP3 to ultra hi res. 
The sound signature alters drastically with the depth and angle of the drivers and tips and significant time needs to be spent to achieve good results for my ears. We are talking  few millimetres and a few degrees causing tinny or boomy sound .
 
The Fit
 
This I found an issue for my ears . The IEMs memory wire is designed to fit around the ear and drop the tips in just the right place for the best sound quality . I achieved the best results with the wires pulled away frpm around the ears and pushed against my head a few cms higher up. I am sure this was due to the ergonomic design of the driver shells which I think will fit plush inside an awful lot of ears out there. Just not mine....  The net result of a slightly imperfect fit is the trial and error involved at the start of a workout. This needs to be setup before you start pounding the streets or hitting the gym and can take a couple of minutes to get right even when you have found the sweet spot, Not a huge sacrifice but worth noting if you unlucky with your ear contours like myself. 
 
Isolation
 
The isolation has to be sacrificed in favour of the best sound signature. I have no qualms about doing this as I have numerous IEMs which shut the world out completely for me. Cyclists , road runners and pedestrians still need to have some grasp on what is going on around them in busier and busier city streets, I found all road noise is only marginally quieter than without wearing any earphones with the 930s on. It encouraged me away from the city and into the country which is no bad thing for my lungs. Wind noise is not something I found obtrusive.
 
Microphonics
 
Cable noise is all but non existent - the cable is short and hangs down behind the ears onto the shoulders. It is not heavy cable and phone conversations are the same as holding the phone to your ear. Nothing to worry about with the old bugbear that affects many IEMs costing  even up to £1000.......
 
 

 
 
Accessories
 
A decent enough length micro usb cable and couple of sets of tips are supplied with the H930. I think more tips might mean a slightly better fit but 95% will be happy with either the small or large ones provided and I have a load of other tips from other IEMs purchased should I ever be tempted to experiment further. 
 
The Look
 
I think Havit have once again scored a winner with the sculpted contours of the driver shells, the colour coordination along the cable and eartips. These simply do not look like they cost £16.99 and put many others £100a more expensive to shame. They are eye catching and sporty looking and I like their looks. 
 
 
Conclusion
 
Tough, smooth sounding , safe to wear and eye catching IEMs under £17 which are quick to charge , are built to last , and will fit into a pocket when not needed. The Havit has lots to offer and are another recommendation from me 

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.

​

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

Introduction
I am part of the RHA T20 Tour and received my IEMs on Monday.
 
I have listened to them a WHOLE lot since then and here are my discoveries.
 
The listening took place sat down, on the move, on the run and any way I could think of to put these Scottish Gems through their paces.
 
They were plugged into my DX100 shown above as well as my Note II, Macbook Pro, Colorfly C3 and Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus. I have other kit but this felt like a good cross section.
 
I will go into the music I listened to in more depth as I go along, the tracks ranged from Full Orchestra to angry men playing guitars extremely loud.
 

 
The Package
 
RHA has some wonderful eye candy for the Headfier to enjoy and I unwrapped this with anticipation.
 

 
Opening up further the usual touches RHA owners will be familiar with, and the filters shown clearly. A diagram on the inside sleeve explaining new dual voice coil technology innovation in the drivers.
 

 
 
 

 

 

 
The accessories are what we have come to expect from RHA and now even more. A manual with everything you thought you needed to know about the T20 complete with graphs safety info i.e don't turn them up too loud!
 
A cable clip which is really tight on the cable so needs to be fitted in the right place to start with and can't easily be slid up and down cable of this thickness. If you're out walking or running this clip will definitely be needed because there's a significant length to the multicore copper cable and it'll swing everywhere or use up a pocket with the excess being stuffed in there.
 
10 sets of tips in silicone or memory foam should ensure a good fit for most ears. The mouldable ear hooks and smoothness of the driver housings should get most ears sorted after a few tries.
 
The carry case will house the T20, it's ear tips and clip and filters when not in use and is the same as my 750 case which has lasted well and slides in and out of my pockets really well as well as looking black and stylish.
 
For even more customising RHA has introduced a 3 filter option for their flagship model. Bass will boost the lower frequency range , neutral will keep bass and treble under control and the treble filter will boost the upper end of the spectrum. The filters screw into the drivers and are a doddle to fit , so you can interchange according to mood , music or for the sake of change.
 
The build
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
The build as you can see has been looked at with great care . Every stress point on the cable is reinforced in steel or tough plastic. The cable is thicker than most IEMs I have come across on the market. The design is now all in black which is a cosmetic improvement over the previous grey and black. The design of the driver housing , in the same way as the T10 , means that more material is going into the ear than previously on the 750. The T20 is a far better fit in my ears than the 750 which occasionally can slip out slightly but noticeably. The T20s, under normal use, are a solid fit for hours as they power through track after track. Anyone having any doubts about the build of these should be made aware that RHA are offering a 3 year warranty, not every manufacturer is doing that .....
 
 
 
The Comfort
These are heavy! Made of metal injection moulded stainless steel there's nothing flimsy here, and I had a sense of foreboding when I went to put them on for the first time , being aware of the fit issues I have with my Sennheiser IE800s which are half this weight. Thankfully the memory wire hooks with the around the ear design hold most all of the weight away from the ear lobe. I experienced the tiniest of aches in my right ear on the fit and I could certainly tell there was quite some weight in my ear but I was able to wear these for 6 hours at a time and soon forgot they were in.
 
Walking needed careful placement of the cable clip , the cable produced no noise and there was the odd noise caused by the ear hook part of the cable bouncing up and down very slightly.
 
Running needed a tightening of the chin strap to minimise the bouncing vibration caused by more pronounced bouncing of the ear hooks.
 
A comparison between 2 similar priced IEms I own; the Klipsch X10is are a thinner design and have to be inserted deeper into the ear canal, they are far less comfortable to wear , they can't be worn over the ear, they have lots of cable noise and don't isolate well enough to even consider running. When it's windy outside it's no place for the Klipsch.
 
The Sony XBA4ips have just as large a housing as the T20s but have a much shorter fit and are designed to be worn down from the ear. They are difficult to wear even walking , they stick a long way out of the ear lobe and have to be squashed in pretty tight to get a good seal and need constant readjusting when walking. Running is out for these and I can't wear them for as long as I could wear the T20s.
 
The Sound
 
My first listening was through my Note II headphone out. Most people will buy these for their Phone , Iphone or Ipod I reckoned.
 
Neutral Filter, All Around the World Oasis, Played through Note II:
 
9 minutes of Oasis at their overblown best. The bass on these IEMs was in evidence straight away, they gave a low end oomph beneath the track , the chorus of this song has a lot thrown in there and the mids and upper range sounded slightly harsh. There was a full feeling to the sound.
 
The Sony XBA4ips did not have the low end oomph but the instruments were easier to pick out and there was more width to the sound and Oasis sounded more natural , if not quite as exciting.....
 
The Klipsch X10is sounded significantly thinner than the T20s although there was oomph there it was not as much . The mids and treble were less strained than the T20s
 
Spring The Four Seasons Revisited Vivaldi recomposed by Max Richter, Played through Note II

This time I put the T20s through their paces with a Chamber Orchestra and synth with Daniel Hope the principal soloist on violin.
There shouldn't be much low end on this piece and it builds to a flurry of violins complementing each other and spacing themselves between the left and right channels.

The T20s sounded nice and full through this track and found some low end from seemingly nowhere as the piece built; there was just a little strain in the sounds of the violins and there was a hint of congestion in the busy part of the section.

The Klipsch in comparison sounded thin and as good as they are could not really keep with the T20s unitil the busier part of Spring came fto the fore.

The XBA4s sounded natural and were controlled through the busier part of the track.

Hotel California The Eagles HDTracks, Played through Ibasso DX100

Less treble problems with this track , the bass sounds great once again ; if I had to be ultra critical the opening of the song with the guitar sounds like it's slightly too pronounced.

The Sonys in comparison sounded more natural , the bass could be followed more accurately and there was more space between the instruments.

Carnival De Paris Dario G, Played through Macbook Pro connected to Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus

Had to put this one in because of the bagpipe solo! Not what I normally listen to but a track many will be familiar with. Dance tracks seem to work extremely well with the T20s. Again , the bagpipe in all it's naked glory was slightly too shrill for my tastes. On balance I think the T20s were the more enjoyable listen for this track compared to the XBA4ips. The Klipsch by this stage has been relegated from the comparison because in my opinion I don't think they sounded as good as the T20s.

The 3 Filters

I tried the neutral filter for the first 5 days of my review period thinking that this would be the obvious choice for my listening tastes. I am not a basshead although I like a full sound and I listen to rock music primarily. I am not keen on sacrificing treble for the sake of more bass or sacrificing anything to boost mids or treble.

However given that I was finding the mids and trebles a bit glarey I tried the bass filter. The results surprised me. The bass was huge of course, but there seemed to be a toning down of the treble , whether that was because of the bass creeping into the mids I'm not sure , but there was a noticeable improvement in the treble.

The treble filter was not my preference, it knocked some of the bass response off and made the treble even more prominent. The presentation became too congested and loud.

Comparisons

Westone UM2 with ACS Custom Sleeves

The addition of the custom sleeves make this a price match. Performance of the UM2 is superior at low listening levels with better isolation - Classical Music would be the obvious example here. For rock and pop; the UM2 has more harshness in the upper range and less warmth in the lower ranges.
For comfort either pair fare well.

Klipsch X10i / X11i

Both IEMs have the same driver the difference is in the cabling and reinforcements of the X11i. The sound quality in the treble of the Klipsch is less harsh, but the thinness of the sound overrall means the T20s beat them convincingly for me.

MA750

Significantly less in price. Part of the RHA stable so therefore worthy of a listen side by side. These IEMs did not disgrace themselves against the T20 and had less noticeable treble boost. The bass was not in the same league. The fit of the 750 was much more problematic compared to the much larger driver housings of the T20.

Sony XBA4ip

The Sonys had a leaner signature with a wider sound stage and a natural sounding frequency response. It did not isolate anywhere near as well and was nothing like as comfortable as the T20.

Conclusion

The T20 is a solid built IEM capable of some good sound whether on the move or at home. The musical presentation overall is an exciting one , with tons of bass ; useful for masking the sounds of commuting on a train or the thud from running or walking.
I have decided to update this review in the light of so many competitors coming onto the market recently at a similar price level which do not have the treble fatigue that these IEMs suffer from. The treble on the RHA T20 is simply too harsh for extended listening and once over the honeymoon period of the deep bass and warmth of that and the lower mids I suspect some will struggle with these. There are other more subtle presentations available for similar money but each has their individual drawbacks and careful consideration is needed before you make the jump.
If your choice sways towards the T20- enjoy!
 
[Mod Edit: Improved the formatting.]

Aune S6

 
 

Introduction

Thank you to Shelly from Aune and thank you to @glassmonkey. The Aune M1S Digital Audio Player
 

 
 
came my way and under the intense scrutiny of my reviewing gaze it came up trumps. It was really fast and sounded as good as many far more expensive players. No sooner had that gone than I got the S6 Dac/Amp, a desktop Dac/Amp commanding a mid tier price bracket and with a whole lot more electronics packed into it. I got 7 precious days with the S6. Before you think that is an adequate time to get to know a piece of audio equipment let me tell you ;  a lot more time is needed when you’re having this much fun and when there are so many things to try out. Honestly , I didn’t try everything but I covered the bases as well as I could in the time given, and I wanted to at least get to the stage where I could adequately explain the differences in the sound quality and signature of this against 2 other Dac/Amps I happened to have with me ; the Fostex HPA4 BL and the Chord Mojo. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Unboxing

The S6 was packed in a beautiful black box and was a heavy package indeed.
 

 
 
 
The term reassuringly heavy rings true here. Aune were extremely kind to supply a set of VE Zen Balanced IEMs.
 

 
The Zens are a homage to accessories. These VE people have gone crazy! There is every sort of accessory and converter included here. 
 

 
 
 
The box opened and my first touch of the S6. The all important first few seconds… The Aune has a brushed black curved appearance and is an elegant smooth slab of electronics.
 

 
 
 
 
A good first impression that I felt was sure to turn into a decent sounding piece of kit.   Included with the S6 ; a mains cable of a decent thickness but finished off in an EU 2 pin. I immediately set off to the shops and got the appropriate travel adapter. A shaver adapter would fit but would not be safe for dealing with this many amps. It set me back 1 english pound. The USB cable is a nice looking gold terminated affair. It’s well in keeping with the overall style of the main unit. 
There are many connections to the S6 ; single ended , balanced input and output, RCA line outputs, optical and coaxial input and outputs.
 

 
 
 
It would be nice to have had cables supplied as standard for all these options but this is not standard practice within the Audio Industry so cannot really be counted as a negative for Aune. At least what is in the box looks and works well. 
 

The S6 in use

I tried the balanced out using the VE Zen IEMs first. Well known for the $5 VE Monk in headfi circles, the Zen represents my introduction to the brand. The Zen is an earbud and I find them difficult to wear. Luckily VE have thought of this. There are 2 ways your VEs can fit. The first was standard coloured nylon ear cushions.  Those made the Zens fall straight out of my ears. The silicon collars got the Zens in exactly the right place and locked them in there.  
 

 
I put on Enya’s Dark Sky Island
 

 
on my phone and hooked up the OTG C cable supplied with my Mojo cable pack. The USB C fitted a treat into the S6s cable and the connection was recognized instantly. I was somewhat surprised as to how loud I had to turn the volume control on the Aune to get a decent level but when I got there…. The Zens are amazing! I was shocked at how something this bargain basement looking could sound so authoritative. They had bass and mids and plenty of space. A sure sign of a good sounding device is when you drift. When I find myself sitting back , closing my eyes and relaxing. When I can truly unwind and concentrate on just the music. That’s when I know I’m dealing with something worth talking about. The combination of the humble Zens and the rather larger S6 created a few such moments. It was a Sunday too, I’m sure such days of the week lend themselves to these occasions. Before anyone poo poos the benefits of playing music through an Android phone using OTG, I really have found this a way of freeing my music up. I have several really decent music players (USB Audio Pro, Hiby Music Player, Onkyo Music Player) and 256 Gbs of stored tracks and albums of every genre and bit rate I can stomach, from Classical to Metal.  In these days of instant my phone is always with me and logically the first thing I hook up to a new USB dac/Amp to test it out.
I hooked the USB up to the Macbook Pro Retina running OSX. The Aune S6 was recognized instantly. That wouldn’t have struck me as particularly spectacular apart from the fact that I am having a battle with the Fostex HPA4 BL. I have the Fostex recognized on OSX but with reduced functionality at present. My playback is currently limited to a max of 32 192 non DSD through the HPA. The S6 in contrast played everything my MacBook could throw at it. I am fortunate enough to have an @dill3000 balanced cable for my lambswool and resonator modded Sennheiser HD800s.
 

 
I listened extensively to the HD800s on the S6 as I felt the Aune Dac/Amp was a good match for headphones of this quality. For those who don’t have a pair or who are wondering what the fuss is all about, the Sennheiser HD800 shook up the headphone world when it came out. The size of the speakers the futuristic styling and the immense sound stage created a hype train that is still going now. There limitations in the bass response and a noticeable ringing effect in the upper frequencies. These 2 weaknesses I have addressed with my mods. Knowing the character of my headphones so well , I tend to use the HD800s as a reference point. 

Sound Quality

I almost don’t want to reveal what I thought about the sound quality of the S6. I have taken a track(Crucify – Tori Amos)
 

 
and recorded it 3 times in it’s entirety. I have volume matched the S6 , the Fostex HPA4 BL and the Chord Mojo. I then plugged a jack into the headphone out of each device and recorded the output. I used the semi professional ART USB analogue to digital recorder to capture the sound.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
This was relayed through USB back into my Macbook and recorded using Audacity – a freeware app. The raw files were saved in 44.1 WAV format. I have them available for anyone interested in hearing the differences in each of the devices. I want others to take part in my reviews and to seek their own truths from my words. When we come to the subjective nature of defining what makes good sound quality I believe music speaks louder than words. The link will enable you, dear reader, to participate in this great debate in a meaningful way. At the risk of guiding your own judgements, this is what I found when I spent a day going endlessly back and forth between these 3 Dac/Amps. I used the Sennheiser HD800s as the reference. Due to the lack of balanced output on the Chord Mojo I was forced to use single ended. I have a rather fetching 3.5 mm terminated cable bought for use with my Chord.
 

 
 
 
 
This did the trick for the day although the Fostex and S6 needed a ¼ inch adapter. 
The differences in the 3 devices struck me fairly quickly. The Fostex has an energetic , forward, punchy feel to the sound. The Mojo has a detailed linear  signature. The S6 was mellow. The Aune has a presence of a deeper sub bass. The mid bass and mids have a longer delay. The upper frequencies are slightly more rolled off than the Mojo. The signature created is convincing. There is a refined laid back effortlessness going on here that is difficult to resist. Juxtaposed to the accuracy of the Mojo and the attack of the HPA we have the tranquility of the S6. Don’t worry; I tried this midweek too. It wasn’t just the Sunday effect. 
 

 
 
There are differences between the sound signatures of the Chord Mojo and the Aune S6. These characteristics should not be viewed as a better or worse sound quality. It’s like asking which is a nicer sunset – orange or red or yellow? There are no straight answers and therefore no clear winner between the Mojo and the S6. Whilst apologizing for sitting on the fence I found this conclusion came as a surprise to me. I have owned the Chord Mojo for 18 months and have struggled to find anything below 1000 pounds that comes anywhere near the sound quality it dishes out.   
As I write this I am acutely aware that for all the words covering these virtual sheets there are very few taken up with the most important thing of all ; of course, the sound quality. This is what governs our beloved hobby with a power to topple both good and bad manufacturers. The need for the best there is overtakes many a decent design initiative before it gets a chance to evolve. So I, as many of you, show an interest in a product and come here to look for an idea of what something sounds like. And that is such a difficult thing to explain. How to explain in words what you hear. How to remember what you have just heard and compare it to what you are about to listen to? It is a tough task.  The differences in source equipment are more subtle than those found in headphones.  There are many distractions that our brains use to take us away from discerning critically what we are listening to. This makes the task even harder and results in more time being needed to spot smaller differences. This is one of the reasons why I decided to start recording the outputs of the various equipment that come to me. That way I have an easier reference. 

Conclusion

 

 
The Aune S6 looks the part. From the moment the box is opened. Even the touch of the surface of the unit has a special feel to it. Sat on the table the smooth curvature is pleasing to the eye. Switch it on there’s a clean display. It’ll play all the different files out there with no problems. Through the USB there is power on tap to push most headphones balanced and unbalanced with headroom to spare. The OTG functionality works well with a slight question mark over how much volume some of my players could give a full size headphone.  Onkyo music player seemed significantly louder than both USB Audio Player and Hiby Music Player was the quietest.  This was more noticeable  on the single ended connection. Listening to the S6 , Fostex HPA4 BL and Chord Mojo Dac/Amps side by side I was able to discern subtle differences in the sound signatures of the 3. Neither the Chord Mojo nor the Aune S6 was conclusively the victor of this supermatch. Aune’s mellowness was contrasted against the Mojo’s linearity and detail. 
 

 
I have recorded a track to help each and every one of you to decide for yourself and I look forward to your findings.  The track was taken from a fine quality recording. The process of recording from a digital source to an analogue has lost much of the quality of the track. The loss is equal across all 3 sources and has been volume matched to the best of my abilities. Enjoy the challenge of working out the difference between them. 

My time with the S6 was short but sweet. Another review is over, another new kid(for me) has appeared on the block. I wish Aune a prosperous future, they are clearly capable of making products that can hold their own with some out there.