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

Campfire Audio Ara – American Muscle



Introduction

Welcome to you, and may I also welcome myself ; this, remarkably, is my first experience with a Campfire Audio product. Notwithstanding a brief taste of an Andromeda in Harrods back in February, which I admit to as much for the sheer glamour of the experience as much as for the sake of disclosure. February’s audition was somewhat hampered by the hour I spent with Sennheiser's HE1 prior to being shown the Campfire brand. As good as they may well have been, the HE1 is a hard act to follow!



With many thanks for his support to myself and the headfi community in the UK, I’d like to extend my thanks to John of KS Distribution for supplying our intrepid reviewer posse with the Campfire Audio Ara, their latest flagship IEM. The views on the earphones are mine and come to you completely without any outside influence. I have read no previous reviews on the Ara. This is a method I always use, and is a way in which I can try and give you my own opinion, rather than regurgitate someone else’s. Whether you love me or hate me as a reviewer, that, dear reader, is how I roll…


Ready to wear – Beryllium MMCX connections and unobtrusive memory wire


About the Ara

Retailing at £1299, the Ara is not for the penny pinchers. This model costs significantly more than many very capable custom in ear monitors, having very little in the way of extras, and has a somewhat understated finish. So, what do they have to offer?


The Ara has 7 balanced armature drivers. And, if you like your bass, you’ll be interested to know that 4 of those are providing the low frequency energy. Now, a multiple driver setup needs a network of crossovers. The crossovers tell each driver at what frequency they should stop producing sound. The use of crossovers has an inherent problem of distortion to contend with. Campfire Audio have not used crossovers in the Ara. They have somehow found a way of shaping the body in such a way as to eliminate the need for them. Don’t ask me how they’ve done this; I’m baffled! I thought you always needed to have the little wires in between. The rules are constantly being rewritten when it comes to IEMs.



The aluminium body shell showing off it’s straight edges


The Ara has a somewhat low sensitivity at 93 dB. However, this IEM needs no external amplification. In a shootout with my Meze Penta Rai IEMs, the Ara had to be turned down. It has that much firepower. You can use these on your smartphone. Yes, I know that means getting little workarounds to connect the 3.5 mm jack to most new phones, but at least you won’t need a Hugo 2 and the like. It’s possible that someone reading this only has a smartphone, after all! Please do not for a moment think I am saying that you need to discard your Lotoo Paw Gold or your Ibasso DX220 or your AK380; far from it! Good amplification will always benefit even something as diminutive as an IEM. The Ara doesn’t need lots of mW or high voltage to perform at its best is what I’m trying to illustrate here.
The Ara's, now stripped of their tips, yet still displaying a touch of elegance under the hood.



Accessories and build

If you thought this was an advert for Campfire Audio up til now, pay close attention. There are good things in this bit, for sure. There are also some disappointments I wish to share with you. As I’m a fairly positive person, I shall start in a dark corner and finish in glorious sunshine. There will be some controversy in this next bit, simply because when I look at the cosmetics of a piece of audio gear, it is it entirely subjective. I must, therefore, confess to be underwhelmed by the appearance of the Ara. These lEMs are angular, brushed silver, with black screws, black tips, and a cable which looks pretty ordinary to boot. Although there is nothing that particularly annoys me about their design, there is equally nothing that wows me either.


The Ara from the top; what do you think?

I also wonder what people may think about the accessories that come with the Ara. At the risk of seeming petty, if a customer is willing to part with £1299 for an IEM, just how special should the product feel? I would be looking for a touch of luxury. Perhaps a balanced cable, as well as the unbalanced 3.5mm which has been supplied. Even a cable made with different materials, which may offer slightly different results. That wouldn’t go amiss. A nice case for it all to go in, some felt, or leather here and there. Just those extra something’s that add a little opulence to the occasion. Campfire Audio have instead gone for the approach of demonstrating that you don’t need a huge box to hold an IEM and a carry case.


Am I being too harsh? The package- left to right- leaflet, wax removal tool,2 pouches for tips, safety leaflet, cork carrying case, pouch for the drivers, tips, warranty card and badge.

What you do get is well made. The terminations on the driver and cable are made from super tough beryllium and copper. They are MMCX connections. These are my favourite type because you can swivel the driver shell around on the cable to get a really good fit. The pins are much stronger than the 2 pins and are less likely to snap or bend. The fit is a satisfying snap. A 2 pin is much quieter when it connects cable to drivers. It leaves me wondering whether got a loose connection. Not so with MMCX.


A close up the MMCX and also the attention to detail with the nozzle vents.


The build quality is as expected for a flagship. Attention has been made on both strengthening the usual weakspots in an IEM whilst also not being overly showy about it. The Y split, the chin strap, the jack collar and the MMCX ends are all robust and solid. The difficulty in capturing this on film goes some way towards proving my point.




The carrying case is a snug fit for the iems and tips. Being made of cork there is plenty of flex. The driver shells get pushed into a separate left and right pouch which then sits inside the case. The cork that is used is apparently completely sustainable so praise should be had here.


The shape of the shells is not as problematic as the hexagonal design would suggest. Straight lines can often mean sharp edges. Sharp edges are not a friend to an ear, especially for prolonged listening sessions. The angular cut is mercifully soft enough to fit comfortably into the ear. The sure fit tips don’t look much. They look decidedly cheap and cheerful. And yet they make a good team. They work in harmony with the Ara's and got me a really good seal, deep into the ear canal, blocking out a decent amount of ambient noise. I was not needing to micro adjust the shells in my ears during my wearing them. This is a sign of a sensibly thought out piece of kit.



Sound Quality

Comparison with Meze Rai Penta
With apologies for taking so long to get to the most important part, here comes the most important part. Of course, this bit might disappointment you so much, you wished you’d not spent all that time reading all the preliminary stuff. I have done a little reveal anyway, so I make no further excuses and we can move on to the good stuff.



Vs Meze Rai Penta

The Meze are my own purchase, which was completed through the headfi classifieds last month. I’d wanted them for a long time, having heard them at the Bristol Audio Show in February 2020, before everything went horribly wrong. The Meze retails at £999, reasonably in the same league price wise, and class wise, as their American rivals.
The Meze has is a 5 driver balanced armature/ dynamic combination. 4 of the drivers are balanced armature drivers. The dynamic driver is the bass driver. 2 drivers for mids and 2 for highs complete the audio spectrum. The approach to the Penta and the Ara couldn’t be more different. The Ara has 4 drivers for bass and the Penta is using 1 driver to achieve the same thing. On this occasion, theoretical differences are immediately proven.
As soon as I put the Ara's on, I could hear a warm smooth sound that had appreciable bass impact. There is an evident low end grunt to pretty much everything you throw at the Ara. I didn’t find the bass response to be linear. It was not tight and fast. It was a more laid-back presentation. Whilst it would be unfair to say that it swamped the rest of the music, make no mistake; it’s always there. Foot tapping stuff.



The bass on the Penta was more linear. The bass sounded more realistic and was faster, but had less punch, you couldn’tfeel the ear moving against your eardrum, and that happens with the Campfire's. I think there was slightly less character to the bass on the Ara.

The mids and highs on the 2 earphones are just as different. The Penta is a real show off. It pinpoints subtle effects and the stereo image are presented in stunning clarity. The Meze Rai Penta is a technical wizard in this respect. The Meze Rai is proud to display is mastery of all things hi-fi. The Ara has taken a different approach entirely. The precision is not there. The soundstage; by which I mean how far apart the band appear to be and how clearly each instrument can be heard, the soundstage is much smaller. The overall feel of the Aras’s makes them no less intoxicating. The Ara has put the vocal, or the main instrument firmly into the foreground of the soundstage. Vocals are easy to follow. The Penta falls behind in this regard. The Penta makes the vocal more distant in the mix. There appears to be more work going on with the Penta. The Ara doesn’t feel like it’s working very hard at all. The Ara’s have that effortlessness that doesn’t force you to take a microscope into the mix of each song. Instead you get permission to sit back and let it wash over you. There is much less of a wow factor with the Ara. They won’t blow your mind compared to the Rai Penta. But they might just be easier to live with over a lifetime of listening. With the build quality of both the Meze and the Campfire, I suspect that either will last the course, if they are cherished in the way they deserve to be.



Many people reading this will have had lots of time with some really classy IEMs. Some people aren’t that fortunate. Some will have had a negative experience with a £1000 IEM and found it wasn’t the right match for their preferences and have been left wondering what the hype is all about. Others still will have far more common sense than me and are perfectly happy with their chifi bargains. The question remains however – what makes an IEM worth this sort of money? When I listen to an IEM of this price bracket, I am looking for effortlessness, easy to follow vocals, individuality and supreme comfort. Without comfort all the rest of the effort is wasted. If I experience discomfort after 15 minutes then I won’t be able to concentrate on the music. Both the Penta and the Ara score highly on my hi-end Trevometer test. Both IEMs are different flavours. The Ara has its niggles. It looks industrial. It’s lacking that extra touch of finesse in terms of extras. The 3.5 cable could have a balanced adapter, as a minimum. It’s just enough, but without the wow factor. That may come when you put the Ara’s on. The Ara may be just the taste you are looking for. And who am I to stand in the way of that?

SCV Distribution
X35 - AKA Cocktail Audio AKA Novatron

You may not have heard of this South Korean Company yet. These people have possibly thought of everything an audiophile could want in their pursuit to rid the World of boxes

Introduction

I have seen the future. It lies within this box of gadgetry.
All in ones have come of age.

You like vinyl but want the convenience of a digital interface, to play back your records as if they were streaming on Spotify? Check.
You like all these dacs, headphone amps, tidal players, cd players, phono pre amps but you have a full size setup but don't want all the fuss, expense or ton of gear? Check.
You want a powerful headphone amp that'll run anything you throw at it? Check.
You want a speaker amp that'll run big speakers? Check.
You want a CD ripper that's fuss free? Check.
You have a massive collection of hi-res and you want it all instantly accessible. Check.
You love your streaming and you have Tidal MQA/Amazon/Spotify/Apple/Qobuz/Deezer? Check.
You want to run things from your armchair? Check.
You want to play anything on your PC without having to upload it? Check.

With thanks to Matt Esau of SCV Distribution, let me introduce you to my Adventures in Onederland, courtesy of the Nova Fidelity X35.



Features

Have I got your attention yet? If, like me, you are still open minded that there are some innovations out there that are worth a look at, I suspect you are waiting patiently for me to jump into the rabbit hole and see whether this could be worth all this engineering.

Analogue In/Out
Moving Magnet stylus is supported for this feature. You can listen and record your records onto the hard disc, which will be offered at the time of purchase. Of course if you have one already, just pop it in. The default format for all recordings is WAV. The vinyl can be recorded at up to 24/192 resolution. So your record collection can either be archived, or used as normal through the X35.
You can hook this up to an integrated or power amp and simply use it as a source.
Digital In/Out
This can be pushed to a posher dac, if that's what your inclination is. USB,SPDIF and coaxial are all catered for. Altern for a simplperatively, you can hook your phone or pc up through the USB in, for a simpler network.
Dual mono Class D speaker amp
100w peak per amp, delivering enough for most rooms below concert hall size. The Class D means the unit is reasonably energy efficient too.
Headphone amp
100mW+100mW@1Khz, 600 ohm, 0.1% THD. It's potent.
DAB+/FM/Internet Radio
Which can be programmed and recorded.
Built in streaming apps
Everything from Amazon to Tidal MQA is supported here.



Build Quality

All within is solid and well machined. A Cocktail Audio logo is displayed and stays on for some while whilst the dual core processor gets itself ready for action. If you have a lot of files to drag and drop onto the X35, be ready to accept the limitations of a dual core machine. It will take several hours to upload your hi res collection. It will also take 6-10 minutes to rip each of your cds. Occasionally a cd will fail to rip to the X35. I found invariably that the next go was successful. For the odd cd in a 1000 that the X35 didn't like, it was damage to the cd that was at fault here,rather than the disc itself. The CD loading is nice and discrete, just a small slot rather than a tray. Once you've put your disc collection on you'd hardly notice it was there.
The X35 does suffer from the occasional freeze. This happened to me, surprise, surprise, during cd ripping duties. It was not frequent enough to worry about, but often enough to mention to you, dear reader. It is, after all, a rather posh dual core computer with audio stuff in it. If it freezes, switch if off at the back and then switch it back on. All is not lost, and at least there is no hard reset sequence to remember.
The GUI that runs the all in one is easy enough to follow. The number of features and how to do it all is written down in simple English in the manual supplied with the X35. It is 115 pages long, and not for the faint hearted. Needless to say, I have not tried every feature on this device as of going to publishing. It may take years....
What I have tried is the following:

The X35 in use
Do all the bells and whistles blend harmoniously together, or is this a Jack of all trades and a master of none?


Headphone Amp
The Headphone Amplifier makes me wonder why I have the Benchmark Dac1. It is that good. For full size headphones, it shows the class of the components and the power it has, and makes even my power hungry AKG K1000 earspeakers come to life.
I have tried the Campfire Audio Ara flagship IEMs(pictured above) with a 6.3mm adapter. There is a deal of hiss which would bother many of you. The volume on the Ara's was at 30. Whilst it didn't stop me from immensely enjoying my music, even with Classical, again it's worth mentioning. Using the digital out facility to my Chord Mojo, the hiss was gone.
Speaker Amp
Whether the X35 could deliver through the speaker taps; this was the make or break for me. I recently purchased a £1000 Arcam FMJ SR250 Class A/D Integrated Amp with Dirac Live built in. It takes analogue in, but as far as streaming goes, it only accepts Spotify. The difference in sound quality was reassuringly small. The SR250 has more linearity than the X35. The SR250 uses Class A for the first 25% of it's output, then switching to Class D when more is being asked of it. The X35 has a smoother, less wide and more bassy sound signature. It is actually a little more forgiving of many of the more modern recordings out there. It is by no means a slouch to the Arcam. The Arcam was tried with a Lampizator Dac4(£5500 originally) and was then connected with the X35 as a source.




In terms of using the streaming, this works like a dream. Once your stuff is on the hard disc, again, no problems, you can run the thing just like any other music app, shuffle, play next, make a playlist etc. Tidal Masters works fine, although I still found it a bit hit and miss as to what they have in their repertoire. But that's Tidal for you.

Conclusion

I have used SCVs collection of Nova Fidelity streamers at various audio shows a number of times now, so much so that I had taken them for granted. They were simply used as a quick source for checking out their numerous headphones. It was only when I met up with Matt in Bristol just before the World pretty much grinded to a halt that I had considered looking in more depth at these boxes. The dive in to all that is network streamer has not been as daunting as I thought it would. And it leads me to this question? Why have I got so many boxes? Because this does it all, and it pretty much does it as good. It just has a slightly different flavour, but not one that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. This is a tea party without the Mad Hatter. And I'm most certainly glad that I was invited

HiFiMan TWS 600 - the ugly duckling which can be turned into a beautiful swan

This is a brief description of the first 6 months with my first TWS earbuds. HiFiMan sent me these for my opinion. In the true nature of headfiers to headfiers, there has been no influence on what I write here; good or bad.

Introduction

The TWS market has really started to spring into life. As we all must realise by now, wireless is the future of the audio industry. Consumers are more than happy to not be trailing wires and stacking components on top of each other to listen to music. Most of which is now being streamed, of course. Headfiers don't yet, in the main, fall into that category. Many of us have enough cables to open our own stores. The question is- in 5 years time, will cables cease to exist?
The manufacturers are turning to wireless streaming devices in their droves. For the portable market, the revolution has already started. TWS is now here to stay. Samsung and Apple and Beats are well on board, and a few of our favourite companies have also jumped on board. HiFiMan was one of the first. I met up with the TWS 600 in a hotel in Canvey Island. Of all the bars in all the joints, and you had to be in mine... well, I was invited by Mark, of HiFiMan and Headfi fame.
At the time, the TWS had been on sale in China for less than a week. @dill3000 and myself were subjected to a bewildering number of top, middle and cheapy cheapy products from our Chinese friends. We went from the TWS 600 to the Susvara over the course of a busy few hours of work. Ahh....all work and no play. What a chore it must have been, I can hear you say!
My first impressions of the TWS 600? It worked functionally well, the buds and case looked splendiforous, all resplendent and shiny and new. But the sound.... I wasn't sure on that. The sound was detailed. But, it was thin and crisp. The bass sounded lean and artificial, there was some evidence of harshness in the upper mid and treble region, certainly to my ears.
I was subsequently sent a set. Eventually, my ears got accustomed to the eccentricities of the buds. While I was out running, as you can imagine with me gasping away and pounding the tarmac, certain frequencies were a little more muted. This made the whole experience a little more forgiving. I could appreciate the clarity of the vocal, or lead track. I had been working on eq to alleviate the bass issues and pulled some of the higher frequencies back.
I also had a few problems with the fit, my ears did not really like these buds, and had a particular dislike for the left one, attempting to dislodge it with any chance it got. I crushed a different sized tip into my ear canal and with a few micro adjustments on the hoof, I was able to safely transport them within the lugholes from a to b. The 2 problems had been slightly resolved, but I confess to putting the TWS 600 to one side for a few months.
My Wife did 2 things just after Christmas, both of which took me completely by surprise. 1 - she took up running. I never saw that coming again. 2 - she started using the TWS 600 for her runs. Jo swore by them, and, in fact, still swears by them. Jo is not an audiophile. She thinks we are all stark raving mad. She will think nothing of turning her nose up at a £1000 set of IEMs. The whole thing is nonsensical to the missus. And yet, she has made these buds her own. Jo was using stock tips, no eq and was happily playing internet radio through the phone, happy as Larry! I had not witnessed such behaviour. Jo hates wires. This was obviously the first attraction. Yet the sound signature that I had experienced didn't seem to faze her at all. These aspects caused a great disturbance in me. I clearly had to take another look at one of the few HiFiMan products I have disliked.



The above video explains my journey. I spent a long time working through the huge stash of eartips I have collected over the years. I would feel too guilty on these pages to confess to how long that time was. You know the score, you've been there too, right? If not, think in terms of way too long. You'll be halfway there. But, in my journey, I learned some things about what different types of tips do to the sound, certainly in my ears, and certainly for the TWS 600, which, incidentally, responds very differently to whichever hat you give it. My first thought, and Mark of HiFiMan's first suggestion too; the obvious, the good ole foamie. Yep, the Complys was always going to be the first port of call for a bud lacking a bitta bass. Trouble was, when said squishy was applied, things weren't perfect. There was more bass; it sounded less anaemic but it sounded too thick and artificial and the clarity of the upper mids and highs were too rolled back. The tips supplied by HiFiMan were of a very thin and flexible silicon. I contended that a thicker silicon with a foam insert might just the match I was looking for. I was right. I now have a bass that has a slight punch and have lost the harshness, or glare, in the upper frequencies, whilst retaining the clarity and detail that held a clue to the potential of the TWS all that time ago.
The next step was in finding a way for my strangely shaped ears to lock the 600s into place. I had been sent a big bag of tips from Venture Electronics to go with their Zen Dice LL earbud. 1 of the sets was what I can only describe as a silicon wing. The Dice LL would fall out of my ear. But with these wings in? Happy days! All good! I wondered whether such a set could be found that might fit around the bottom of the TWS shells. A few minutes of web trawling and I got my catch. 2 weeks later a set of wings arrived at my door. Without by chance or design, it appears that the TWS 600 has a protrusion around the middle of each shell. That shell will comfortably hold the silicon wings tightly into position. Once inserted in the ear, there is no need for any adjustments to the earbuds, no matter how much you sweat, no matter how hard you run. They don't move. And they are not in any way uncomfortable.
I have spent some time with the TWS 600 getting it right. I know there have been those before me who have just sent them back. It has proven to me, as I have been shown time and time again, that it's not over til it's over. Things can be done to make a product personal. And effort is always rewarded. Talking of which, is it time to lace up those trainers that are gathering dust under your shoe rack? Let's go running, people!

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

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

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!

introduction

For some reason, the BT One has not made an impact on headfi as of yet. Curious..Are you curious? I have been sent a pair by Justin of Status, so that's about to change now.
Released in Spring 2019, the Bt One is a US Headphone. It is an on ear model. That is, it doesn't have deep cups and deeper ear pads that your ears will fit inside of. Instead the earpads will provide a soft clamp around the outer edges of your ears. You can still fit a fairly decent size driver into a design of this size. In this case, Status has opted for a 40mm driver. The headphone has 97 db of sensitivity, 20 hZ to 20 kHz of frequency response, 32 ohms of impedance. The on ear seal, with the tech spec, translates into a headphone that needs roughly 50% volume on my Samsung S7 indoors, and needs turning up to 75% outdoors.
At £99 in my country, the UK, the headphone can be at your door the day after you order it, and is available through amazon. Status also sell them direct from their New York offices, a link for which can be found here.




About Status and me

The Bt One is the only current on ear wireless product by Status. The company make in ear wireless models, the Status BT Transfer, for which I have made a review previously, the link is here.



This is a dual driver wireless iem and it has some innovative earwings that have certainly helped out with a decent lock during my many runs with them. If you've not got time to read the article, needless to say, Status did enough with the Transfers to show me they know how to make a solid performer. The gauntlet was thrown down; let us see what they can achieve with their £99 flagship!



The BT One

This is a bluetooth 5.0 headphone, it is backwards compatible with older smartphones, like my Samsung S7, for instance. It supports the aptX codec. It doesn't do LDAC, which is a lossless bluetooth codec. aptX is near CD quality and the ins and outs of that can be left to double blind tests etc. before my ears can differentiate too much between the codecs, at least at this price-performance level.
What bluetooth 5.0 brings with it, are instant unlocking of my phone, a longer range, less battery drain, longer battery life, and multiple pairings. What you can do with these is to connect the Bt One to a smartphone and a DAP, like my Fiio M11 for instance. I can be listening to the M11 but if a call comes my way, it will mute the M11 and route the call straight through to me. Or if I want to watch a video on my phone, I can press stop on the M11 and the video will instantly play through the headphones. Clever eh?
Included in the packaging of the On Ears is a quick charge cable. It is USB C and will charge the Bt One in an hour. The Bt One will then run for up to 30 hours on that charge. There is a 3.5mm cable to connect the headphone directly, should your battery die on you. There is a travel case supplied with a separate pouch to store the cables. The case is a hard case with a soft look. The case is surprisingly small. How? Because, dear headfiers, these Bt One's are hinged; they fold down to half their size.



The Bt One's come in at 155g, and are light and comfortable to wear. With the caveat that you need to readjust your glasses to deal with them clamping against your head and the back of your earlobes. You will soon notice just how much the headband is pushing against your temple without this warning if you are a spectacle wearer. I have reading glasses. Pulling the tips away from the temple relieves the force from the pads completely and I can still see fine, but I can't say how it would affect other users. You'll all know anyway. As I'm sure most people would realise that on ears use that clamp to get a good seal around the ears for decent bass and passive isolation.
The lightness of the Bt Ones and the softness of pads and the headband mean that they should be comfy enough for hours and hours of use.



The cups are solid, look pretty durable, (although only time will tell about, of course) and have all the controls arrayed around the sides of them. The usual volume up, down, pause/play are included on the side of the right cup. Rather than a smaller on/off button, Status have considered this and decided on a switch. The switch makes things altogether easier to work your way around, especially if you're clumsy, like me. The earpads come out from the cups a little, disguising the whereabouts of the buttons as much as possible.




I hope you can see how little is visible on picture 3. I have turned the headphones upside down on picture 1 and 2 to show you a) the on off switch and b) the 2 volume buttons, play/pause/receive call button and 3.5mm plug on the right cup and the usb-c in on the left.

The Sound

Bass

Status have explained in very simple terms on their website that they are not interested in turning out Beats style headphones. That I am very pleased with! Beats have improved their sound signature but they still don't do it for me, and there are many other consumer brands churning out cheap and cheerful stuff for the masses. The diagram I have culled from the Status website tells all...



So with that in mind, what to expect from the Bt One in terms of low end, the driving pulse of music? The bass is big in the Bt Ones, much more so than I was expecting having come from their IEMs. The mids are not swamped because the emphasis is more on a sub bass feel than a mid bass slam. The modern recordings - George Ezra and Ed Sheeran are 2 of my particular favourites, use lots of synthetic bass in their mix, and the Bt One does it's best to keep up with it. There is a touch of bloat there, a product of closed cans and on ear design. A lift in the bass can be quite pleasant for more anaemic genres, Classical Symphony's benefit from a lift in that region.



Mids

Vocals are easy enough to follow and come reasonably high in the mix. Guitars sound pleasantly airy. The bass shows it's presence throughout. However, the bass does not completely win the battle. Strolls and runs outside of the inner sanctum of the household environment bring out the benefits of a bassier headphone.



Highs

The space between the instruments , the width, height and depth of the sonic picture outside of the circumference of the drivers is well within acceptable parameters. The treble is rolled back and the cymbals are toned down as a result, but the energy, ladies and gents, is down below. If there was the same energy in the highs, I would be running for the hills! Thankfully, these are not too fatiguing.



Conclusion

There is still a market for on ear headphones. They are light. They isolate well. They are portable. They don't suffer from the type of fit problems that plague many an IEM or earbud. I can wear these out for a run and know that unless a tiger has got loose and I need to move rather more rapidly than I am truly capable of doing, these are going to stay rock steady. There is some wind noise that hits these when out and about. Wind, like water, finds a way in. Not too off putting, but you heard it here first. The price tag gets you a decent sized driver which is capable of some big hitting bass, reasonable mids and highs and a decent enough sound stage. The Bt One folds away to next to nothing. It will complement some genres in need of some warmth. There is some viscerality in the low end. The mids and highs have to take second stage to the lower end. I hope, armed with this information, Status can get some more customers under their belt and it'll be really interesting to see where they go with their next models.

Introduction

Purchased by myself from VE directly. Retailing at $158 for a limited time, as of October 2019. Wild Lee, owner and force of nature behind the legendary VE brand, has said that you are basically getting the cable and paying nothing more for the Zen LL Earbuds. Existing Zen owners can upgrade for $88. All for a limited time, much in the tradition of VE's philosophy.
Wild Lee wanted to make the "most comfy sleep earbuds" there are. He also wanted a pair of earbuds that would satisfy the most demanding of all day gaming sessions. Here they come, ready or not! I had previously contacted Lee one Sunday a few weeks ago via the Facebook VE Official Club, and was interested in a Zen Odyssey Edition. To his credit, Lee told me to hang on and wait for a product he thought would suit my exacting standards better. He said he would be back in touch. With the numbers of customers he has, I didn't expect to hear from him again. Sure enough, a man of his word, Lee was back in touch with me about the LL Dice. I took him up on his offer, and the result arrived at my door 2 days ago. I can now share with you my most recent purchase.


That's me!!!!

About the Zen and it's siblings

VE is most famous for the VE Monk range. Earbuds that have audiophile quality for $5? Yes! Surely everyone reading this must know by now, but if you don't; let me tell you - the dream is real! You can buy a decent sounding earbud from VE for $5, still to this day. You want proof?


Taken from the Veclan.com website tonight... You see? I wasn't kidding!

And how do those $5 earbuds sound? For goodness sake! Buy 1 and find out! As Wild Lee would say - they're screw***** $5 man! What you got to lose?!! Ahh, the rants....we, the clan, (I'm a clansman I think), live for those outpourings from the Wild One! Suffice it to say, this is not the marketing strategy we have become accustomed to. But, it seems, for VE, they have found a nice little gap in the ever so solemn world of portable audio. How? Because people are seeing a very different approach here. It is zany, wacky, has a great sense of humour, and VE does not take itself too seriously, until it comes to value for money.....
A visit to the VE site and the Facebook page will give you an idea of what I'm talking about. There are a few choices on the pages therein, and AliExpress also support this Chinese brand, as you'd expect. The choices range from the $5 VE Monk to the CIEM Grand Duke which is made to order at $1298. So far, I have discovered that you get what you pay for with VE. I haven't any idea how the Grand Duke sounds, but for a company that gives so much listening pleasure for so little (in terms of the Monk), how good must the Duke sound?
The Zen LL is the latest in a range that was started back in 2015. The LL has plenty high enough sensitivity, 109 dBs, to sound loud through your smartphones. It has a relatively high impedance, 150 Ohms, to start to scale well when partnered with a DAP, such as my Fiio M11. Not every DAP is created the same, of course, but Lee has given his seal of approval to the Fiio M11. The Fiio gets the LLs going with plenty of juice at 82/100 on low gain. I mean, that is pretty loud, but being in my 50s, I wanna hear it. Just below the Android volume warning and the Zen's start to sing from my Samsung S7.


Loud enough- it would need a bit more volume outside

Packaging/accessories/build

Packaging? Not much! You get a tin case which is tough enough to travel anywhere without causing damage to your precious possession


Tough enough

An EX pack, which holds a variety of solutions for keeping these darn things from falling out of ears, something they love to do. This is why time and effort will reap it's reward in getting to the right comfort and fidelity that these earbuds can bring. There is everything from solid foam to foam donuts, rubber O rings and, what suited me, rubber commas I'm gonna call them. I have one large for my left ear and one small for my right ear. Crazy, but true nonetheless.


$5 if bought separately

There's a black box which holds the tin, which holds the earbuds....


The black box, glam'd up with a posh bit of copper

And that's yer lot. No fancy foam inlaid pleatherette jewel boxes which end up in the loft, as fetching as they are. Simple eh?
The build and finish of these Dice Editions is a mix. The cable has a purple glow to it when caught in the right light, it is gorgeous, it is reassuringly heavy, and sure to put a smile on my face when it catches my eye. All the terminations look super strong and are terminated at the jack and the Y split. But there is no chin adjuster, or strain relief on the cable. The weight of the cable does tend to create an extra strain when worn on the inside of my coat, for instance.
The styling of the Zen is the self same as the $5 Monks. No influence on sound quality, but the VE's long straight down driver shell is beginning to look a bit plain and dated, at least to my eyes.




The Sound

Don't expect an IEM punchiness from these, that's lesson 1. These are open earbuds. They work on the principle of a large driver, with good components and precise tuning. Taken from a Facebook message today from Lee : "we are the only company in the world who has proper acoustic chamber on earbuds". What does this all equate to? An excellent sounding, airy signature which has some super wide headstaging effects on some of those micro effects that only we headphone users no lots about. Let me explain further. I don't wish to blow smoke up anyone's behind and lose you all in a load of flowery hyperbole that means nothing without taking on board some mind altering substance. The cymbals can be heard at the sides of the buds, as if they are not coming directly from the drivers. That's what I mean by a wide headstage.


VE Zen LL Dice Edition - their working day is over - til tomorrow then

You and I know when those little bits of magic are coming in the song, don't we? The LL has some of the sparkle that evokes HD800 and IE800 signatures. This is what can be achieved with a really decent earbud. I am not saying that the Zen is an HD800 rival. What I'm saying is; if you like what the Sennheiser HD800 can do, but taking them out for a walk seems to attract a lot of unwanted attention, then maybe this is a mini me solution to your problems. There is no hint of harshness in the mid or high frequency range of the Zen LL's. They have a balanced sound signature, which is not bass light, nor has the bass been boosted. It has not got the slam of an iem and has not been artificially enhanced to make it sound like it has. Don't worry; you'll get used to it. There will be owners of the VE Monk, Monk Lite, Zen and Zen Lite that read this and wonder whether this is something they should be trying out. Zen people, you will get the chance for these at $88. I paid $158 and you can see what I think about them. I'm very glad I made the investment.



Conclusion

Earbuds let the outside World in. They are open. Walking in our towns and cities with the Zens and most noise can be heard pretty clearly. That may make a person feel safer. The earbuds leak, but in a quieter environment shouldn't be particularly intrusive beyond the person sitting next to you. Where the Zen's really perform is in your own personal space, be it rolling countryside or killing aliens online. That's where the magic lies.

Introduction

It's been a while. But don't worry, I'm back In this latest episode I shall bring out some of the big guns. I will pit the best midChiFi against some pretty amazing competition. You may ask..why? I may answer...because I can, and I was fed up with writing the same old reviews. Thus, the Lark Studio LSIV 4 Balanced Armature Driver IEM becomes the guinea pig, allowing myself to indulge and showcase several IEMs, several of which have become legendary in the annals of Head-Fi. The review is a complement to the YouTube epic I have put out, it can be read without needing the film, but the film was made first. Which, I guess, gives the film a bit more credibility. Although there should be a few less glaring errors in this piece.
The LSIV IEM Tour has been set up by Micah, aka @Glassmonkey on the forum. He persevered and after a year we finally saw what Lark Studios were capable of. Even that seems in the distant past now, as our final tour member puts these earphones through their paces. Phil Wannell of Audio Concierge is the UK Distributor and has been heavily involved in the project, formerly of Audio Sanctuary, Phil has some amazing bespoke products at his disposal. Without the company themselves taking a leap of faith in head-fi we wouldn't be able to introduce Lark Studios to the World. So my gratitude goes out to their generosity.


A close up of the design our review team were sent -
brushed ebony by the looks of it


About the Lark Studios LSIV

The LSIV is the 4 BA driver model of the Lark Studios range. Lark Studios are a Chinese Company hitherto unknown to myself, but the company, based in China, has 18 years of experience behind it, albeit from engineers who worked elsewhere in the Industry. The LSIV is available in both Custom and Universal variants. Interestingly, the universal model has much in common with it's Custom Brother. The universal model has a shell which looks very much like any custom out there. And the shells are customisable - for free. You can add hundreds of designs and colours together to create your very own masterpiece, for no extra charge. Nowt! Did I say the design is part of the price? The LSIV retails at £369 in the UK. I am expecting several of the audio giants out there will be looking nervously over their shoulders at this attention to detail. The website reveals plenty more models on offer, primarily we are talking about either a 4 driver or a 10 driver IEM. The LSIV is their base model. The LSX is the flagship and has been tuned to various flavours.
The LSIV, in brief, is a 20 hz to 20 hz, 15 Ohm, 102 dB sensitivity, 4 way crossover design featuring a low, mid, high and supertweeter driver setup. Lark Studio have paid a great deal of attention to the shape of it's universal IEM, and the LSIVs are a far cry from the normal bland fare we have come to expect. The small olive design with a medium size nozzle should produce a really good seal for most ears out there. Coupled with the tips provided, particularly the Comply Foams, there is a great deal of isolation available. Even very quiet classical pieces can be heard clearly when out commuting. The cable, a twisted braid design, is a 2 pin connection, and is detachable. It is made solidly enough. The connection into the shells is just right, and the memory wire loops around the back of the ear admirably. I think the design of the cables diminishes the look of the LSIVs considerably. They look so...normal. Ah well, each to their own. Something a bit less visible would accentuate the beauty of the shells; after all, there is a lot more cable than there is IEM.

Unboxing


The Box - perhaps more elegant for it's space between each item, has pretty
much what you need to get you up and running

With the sheer luxury of being able to specify your own design for these IEMs, I had great expectations for loads of goodies, more than one could ever need, to be crammed into a very large cloth bound leather box, or wherever my imagination was going at the time. What we have here is not quite up to that level, but it's ok. There's no manual or glossy brochure, and a precious few tips are provided. Is this an issue for headfiers? I have 100s of tips. I keep finding them. I could spend months rolling tips and still be opening up drawers full of them. However, my motto is - you can never have enough Comply tips. I would have like a few more Comply Tips included as spares, even if they had to charge us a few more quid.


The box - closed. Nuff said. Let's move on

So, we know what you don't get in the box. But what do you get? A closer look reveals a few gems tucked away inside. There are 2 rubber straps with the embossed Company Logo in the box on the bottom right, which in itself could be used to take the LSIVs safely away on your hols. There is a small velour bag with a drawstring; just large enough for the IEMs, but a bit of a squeeze nonetheless. A nice shiny flight adapter, of which I'm not too sure of the need for nowadays. A 6.3 mm adapter, although these IEMs need no amping, they go plenty loud enough through a phone , so any DAP should be suitable. My playing was done with my Samsung S7 or my Fiio M11. There is 1 2 pin cable. It has a velcro band to coil up the loops of cable, which saves them from being rammed into that tight jewellery bag.






Listening session inevitably spawns a Supertest

I had such mixed feelings about the Sound Quality and signature of the LSIVs. For the first 30 minutes I was gobsmacked by the clarity and fullness of the mids, especially the vocals were really vivid. The bass was linear, but sub bass was slightly subdued. There seemed to be a pinch of too much forwardness in the upper ranges, it gave me the impression that I needed to adjust the volume down on some of my more lively tracks, think Metallica and fast rock tracks. I did a side a side comparison between these and a pair of HiFiMan RE2000 Silvers I had nearby. I plugged them into the Chord Mojo and swapped with the LSIV at regular intervals. My Wife, part of the experiment, felt the LSIV was head and shoulders above the RE2000 Silvers, who she described as "boring" in comparison.



Those thoughts must have come from the realms of madness of course Another week went by of grabbing bits and bobs of listening whenever I could. The isolation, looks and poise in the mids were a definite wow factor and made it quite difficult to pick apart the sound, which is pretty normal for me when I know I'm on a deadline. It's a sort of writer's block, where my brain is unwilling to articulate the sound characteristics I'm getting. How on earth did I get into this craziness?!! I came to the realisation; throwing all of my IEM collection at them was the only way to figure it out.



The Competition

I have an extensive collection of earphones, many of which you will find unrecognisable. Simply put, the fit for the vast majority of IEMs out there, does not suit my ears. The problems are exacerbated when I take the earphones out for a run. The solution? To customise them. The problem with that? That costs a lot of money, and hassle too. The solution to that? Do them yourself of course! So, on my video don't be surprised to see a variety of quite different designs. These are necessary to overcome some of the unique shortcomings of the original bulkiness or otherwise awkward shapes of many high performance earphones.



I went through 30 pairs of earphones before I was able to narrow down the contest to more manageable proportions. I ended up with the following. The AKG K3003i, Sennheiser IE800, OBravo Erib 2a, HiFIMan RE2000 Silver, JH Audio Roxanne Customs, Trinity Audio Master 6 with custom cable, Cardas EM5813 Earspeaker and ACS Encore Studio Customs. Some of those choices suggest the Lark Studio LSIV is punching well above its weight - the JH Audio Roxanne retails at £1600, for instance. The IE800 is £599 new. I was more interested in finding out just how close the LSIV got to some of these models. Before you dismiss these IEMs as being unrealistic because they retail at a higher price, please take a look at the research I did in my video-you will be quite surprised.




This is where the review cuts off and the video kicks in - the results of the supertest I have covered on film in detail. To see what happened on that fateful day when I had a floor full of IEMs you need to watch it. The testing was all done sat down. It was all done through the Fiio M11. The M11 was set to low gain. The IEMs were hot swapped halfway through dozens of different tracks. The Fiio has 2 512Gb cards full of music, and is set to endlessly shuffle through my collection at present. In total I must have spent 6 hours supertesting. Only when I was satisfied I know the answers to the questions my ears were asking me did I take the last set off and commit my findings to film.



Conclusion

I am glad to be back. I have not directly compared all of these IEMs before. It was quite an experience and the LSIV came a lot closer than the price differential would suggest. The winner of the supertest did not turn out to be the LSIV, not for me. For another pair of ears, of course, the answer might be different. I hope you find it as interesting as I did, and, if not, please use the comments below

Introduction



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

About the Ananda

The Offer

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

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

The Headphone



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

You can listen to these- right now

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



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


HiFiMan HE-6 - frankensteined.

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

So, is the HD800 better?

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

Conclusion

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

Introduction

The latest product, of many, coming my way, (I am keeping up, but only just!) is from a USA company called Status Audio. Their web site has a clean, minimalist approach and is mirrored in the Facebook page, which has over 7000 likes. Up until a week ago, I confess, I had not heard of the Company. Status are all about the direct approach; they are keeping their costs down by cutting out the middle man, in other words, they are a direct sales company. They have a shopfront on Amazon, here is the US one and here is the UK one. The usual Amazon no quibble within 30 days guarantee notwithstanding, buying direct from the website gives the expected guarantee of 30 days if you're not satisfied and 1 year warranty if something goes wrong. Physical damage is not covered; for that you get a 50% discount.

The Company Logo

The Company motto

I was approached by Justin through this very forum, and here we are, pondering just how much Wireless product is to be released in 2019, and what will win in the battle between Wireless with cable, or Truly Wireless.
Before you click away thinking this is another pointless bluetooth product, let me push a rather alarming figure into your grey cells; by 2025, the wireless audio market is estimated globally to be worth $37.5 Billion..... Therefore, we simply have to take these products seriously. Hitherto, Bluetooth has been considered the poor relation of the Audiophile, who like to surround themselves with a bewildering jungle of cables and connectors. The consumer, it would appear, thinks somewhat differently....

About the BT Transfer

The BT Transfer sells for £55.19 on their website, plus a 10% new customer discount if you subscribe, considerably cheaper than Amazon which has it for £69.99. The BT Transfer bought direct for US customers would be clearly more of a benefit than for the rest of the World, who I am presuming would have to post them back to the USA at their own expense if they didn't like them, as well as the customs and shipping charges may offset the difference between direct and Amazon.
This is a Bluetooth 5.0 IEM. Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest iteration. For compatible devices, 5.0 offers longer range, longer battery life and less dropouts, it can receive a lot more bandwidth than it's predecessors. For non compatible devices, it offers backward compatibility so is at least as good as the older stuff. Do you have a 5.0 compatible phone or device? My Samsung S7, Fiio M11 and Shanling M0 are not 5.0 capable. The S8 and Iphone 8 support the new standard, so expect most new phones to be likewise ready.
The BTT is IPX5 rated. This is a waterproof rating; the higher the number, the more waterproof the device is. A 5 rating indicates that although you can't take these for a swim, you can run them under a tap to wash the sweat off them when you've given them a workout.
The audio setup is a dual driver design; 1 balanced armature and 1 9mm dynamic. It has been tuned with an emphasis on sub and low bass and levels out through the mid bass and beyond. Here's a diagram from Status. People like diagrams.

The red curve is the competition - BAD SOUND! The black curve shows what the BT Transfer has been tuned for, which is a non bloated mid bass response.
The BT Transfer has a cable that connects the left and right drivers and it has a 3 button function control two thirds of the way along the cable. This we have to accept and move on with. These are not truly wireless earbuds. Truly Wireless is cool, I can't help but think that. But, I suppose, with the fact that cabled bluetooth devices benefit from the advantages of a well established format and can receive relatively high quality signals. TWS products are in their infancy and have bandwidth limitations.

Build

The BTT2X is designed to be worn while out and about, no two ways about it. Therefore, they have to be able to take lots of abuse. By abuse, we are talking sweat, rain, cables flapping about and pulling on the drivers as they are trying to stay in the ears. That's off the top of my head, and is based on the trials and tribulations of taking my various earphones out for a run. I run 25 miles per week. That equates to 7 runs every week. My bone of contention,with so many designs of IEMs, Earbuds and Earpods, is that they simply do not stay in place whilst running. You can have the greatest sounding IEM ever made, but if the reason you got it is because you want to use it while exercising and it doesn't stay put, then you have wasted your money, and the product is flawed.
Status Audio must have been listening to me. They have worked on this problem. There is another silicon accessory included in the packaging. There is an entire accessories box devoted to some curious looking things Status have named as fit-wings. These fit in front of the nozzle on each driver and then the tips are put on after. The fit-wings are shallow fitting and extremely light and flexible. They curve away from the entrance to the ear canal and go underneath the fold of the earlobe and finish just before the top of the inside of the ear. Let me show you....





A close up of the fit-wings

What's more-they actually work. The fit-wings are successful in getting a really strong fit into the ears. They never feel like there is any danger in the BTTs coming out and no micro adjustments were needed on the run. There are 2 types of fit-wings supplied and 3 sizes of each. The Comfort fits have a wider surface area. For me, they were a better fit and gave more isolation than the sports. I suspect that was because a greater % of my ears were covered.
This design is a real thumbs up for me. It does not beat the modification I made to the other bluetooth IEMs I received last month. I have used soluble plastic around the shell of the Rock Jaw Audio T5 Ultra Connect IEMs to keep them in my ears. They would not stay in my ears at all while I was running. As you can see, there is much more surface area that sits inside the fold of the ear than the BT Connect. This means the weight of the driver and shell is being supported by more material. The T5 has little or no driver flex, but I'm pretty sure most people will prefer an off the shelf design that works, rather than going to these lengths.

They do look a lot nicer than this in real life,honest!



Sound Quality

The SQ impressed me. The BTT had a richer sound signature than either the TWS600 or the T5 Ultra Connect, without losing overly to detail. Modern music sounded great through these. George Ezra's Staying at Tamara's is a fairly cranked up to the rafters mix with plenty of bass, plenty of life full stop. It proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that the BTT has lots of bass where it's needed. I cannot accept that these are bass shy in any way. I have read a few reviews that have stated this. These are shallow insertion, well tuned, well designed IEMs that don't have any particular flaws in the sound at this price level.

Vs TWS600

The HiFiMan sound signature is leaner than the BT Transfer. The bass is lacking in comparison to the Status Audio IEMs. The tonal quality of the BTT2X is richer and thicker sounding. The TWS600s have a crisper top end and vocals and strings stand out in the sound stage.

Vs T5 Ultra Connect

The T5 is a more linear presentation than the Bt Transfer. Again, in comparison, I felt the bass of the Rock Jaw was lacking the slam and excitement of the Status Audios. The tonality of the BTTs beat the T5s across the spectrum, although the T5s have a perfectly decent sound quality.



Conclusion

The question as to whether there is life left in the non TWS bluetooth market has been answered for me. The glamour of the new and bold aside, the bluetooth development has gone way past what TWS can handle for the moment. There are some good value products to be had, and this is surely one of them. I liked particularly the attention to detail on the fit-wings and the exciting sound to be had on the run. The connection was simplicity itself. Maybe we haven't heard the last from these good folks from Brooklyn

Amazon has this for next day delivery as of 5th March 2020 at £52.49






Introduction

This latest offering from Rock Jaw has been sent to me in return for a review in such prestigious places as headfi. I have had them for a little while now and feel it's time for me to send my opinions out to the masses.
I must confess, it has been a little while since I auditioned a pair of Bluetooth IEMs. I have a Bluetooth cable for my detachables, and several full sized, including the Audeze Mobius, which many will know. I have also had a sneak preview of some TWS, or Truly Wireless In Ears,from HiFiMan. The Sennheiser Momentum TWS is pretty good too. No cables, as opposed to a weighted cable that sits on the shoulders for a conventional Bluetooth design, like the T5. So, which is better? This is the age old problem of balancing features, convenience, quality and value for money. Anyway, food for thought. This is Rock Jaw's first venture into the World of Wireless, and we can only assume that they are not ready to take the plunge into TWS just yet.



Features/build

A magnetised gatefold box opens up to reveal a decent enough set of accessories. A 4 page booklet is the instruction manual and tells you in nice quick simple terms exactly what you can do with these and how to do it, from pairing your smartphone or DAP to using Google or Siri. There is a 3 button touch pad on the left side of the cable. Volume can be adjusted with 1 quick press left or right to adjust up or down accordingly. Long press and you will skip tracks back or forward. Middle press is for pairing mode, switching on or off, answers and stops your phone calls, pauses your music, redials the last number, or activates your untiring assistant. That is a lot of functionality for 1 button, but in practice it is easy enough to get used to and works as it should. The volume buttons, whilst out running, aren't particularly easy to adjust more than one step up or down, and USB Audio Player Pro does not pause with the middle button. Amazon Music works fine with the pause and skip functions, so I'd assume all the regular streaming software won't present too many problems either.
The Bluetooth lanyard is a stiff rubbery affair. It has a weight to the right hand side which balances the cable equally across the shoulder. The cable is a fixed design, the fittings look reasonably sturdy enough to support plenty of flex. The design is a down from the ear one, and necessitates an amount of work in choosing an ear tip that will keep these IEMs in your ear canals, especially if you are into vigorous workouts. I am a 20 miles per week runner, of average weight and skill. I run heavily, so I readily admit to being a match for portable kit when I'm out and about. Running lends itself to music; the rhythm and monotony is much helped by a decent setup, as long as it is up to the stresses that it will have placed upon it. This is where the design of a set of IEMs becomes so critical. Every step can dislodge the driver from the ear canal, send a vibration up through the cable, or cause dropouts with the wireless connection. I didn't find the T5's ideal for this task. The barrel size is reasonably long and wants to stick out slightly from the ear. It is also rather fat, and the nozzle is the same diameter; all things which are not helping the ear tips to stay in place when they are being pushed to the limit. Comply foams have been included, and as most readers will know, these will give a little extra grip when they expand inside the ear once pinched and pushed into the canal. The down from the ear design meant I was not able to wrap the cables around my ears. Around the ear designs can alleviate much of the weight and the strain of the driver shells. Many of the designs out there sit precariously in the middle part of the outer ear with no support towards the upper part of the ear lobe. The T5 is one such design.



Because of it's metal construction the shell is weighty for it's size; inevitably this tugs on the cable when things start to get serious. Thankfully, the cable is not microphonic, so no noise is transferred to the driver. The cable is pulled together with a small plastic clip that can be slid up and down the centre of the lanyard. This creates an oval shape which between the shoulder blades. The lasso shape can cause a decent bit of flapping against the back of the head when running hard. Ultimately, I have taken the T5's out for several runs. The Comply Foams have mitigated many of the above issues. The drivers have fallen out of my ears once or twice, and the vibrations may have caused 1 or 2 seconds of dropouts in an hour. I felt some flapping against the back of my head but soon stopped being aware of it. The Ultra T5s are sweat proof; in fact they are IPX4 rated, so please don't blame me for putting them through their paces, quite literally! I know that this particular piece of long winded analysis will not be relevant to many of my fellow headfi brothers out there. But let me tell you this; the only time I saw no other runners out there when I am on the road is when I do a run on my night shift, and that is because it's 3 am. I hope that I can tempt at least some of you to put their own IEMs, or perhaps these T5s, to the ultimate test, and tell us what happens...
Isolation is average for an IEM. The barrel shape does not completely cover the inside of the ear. So some leakage is going to get in there. The comply foams help to mask some of this effect, some quieter classical tracks were lost amidst my groaning and puffing and panting (no, I was running before your minds start wondering!) and the articulated lorries not only obscured some birdsong; they made Meat Loaf flinch a bit as well....
We learn here that the Ultra 5 uses BT 5.0 technology. This is the newest Bluetooth update, reportedly more efficient, needing less power to run, resulting in a higher battery life, 11 hours in the case of the Rock Jaw Ultra. I am also assuming that the Ultra part of the brand name comes down to the battery life. The 5.0 also gives a higher range, said to be 10 metres. There is no way of me telling whether the Ultra 5's are running out of battery - I have put it on charge for an hour or so every so often, when I remember, it simply hasn't run out of battery yet.
The charging is done by USBC, and a reversible short cable is supplied as standard, as is a fetching looking padded black mesh drawstring carry bag. 3 sizes of silicon and comply tips are provided, all of which will affect the isolation and sound signature of the T5. A more radical tuning of the T5 Ultra's sound is possible; 3 different filters are available out of the box.



Sound Quality

Silver (Bass) filter
This bloats the bass and turns these into a set of Beats earphones, maybe even bassier! Needless to say, they were not for me. For running, where the feet are causing constant low frequency vibrations a little extra bass is always welcome. The silver filter was unlistenable, even in those circumstances. These may suit a basshead, or someone into drum and bass, hip hop or club, but I'm afraid I can't answer for you, because these are not genres I enjoy.

Black (treble) Filter
Not discouraged, I tried the black filter. If there were any sacrifices to be made in a sound signature, then I would choose more detail in my music over more beat or power or rhythm or whatever. What I don't do, is harsh. And these push the upper range into the danger zone for me. Simply put, these filters produce too much treble energy.

Gold (natural) Filter
The Gold Filters are the nicest looking ones and these are what come pre fitted to the T5 Ultra. I am happy to relate that the Gold Filters sound just great! There is a balance to the sound, with a slight lift in the bass, enhanced with the Comply tips, and higher mids, which give an airy, spacious quality to the sound whilst retaining a warmth overall. More importantly, there is no steeliness or ringing effect in the upper frequencies. Loud metal, busy passages where everything is in competition with everything else, all can be tolerated with the Rock Jaw T5.
I have no wireless IEM to compare these to. This makes comparisons with other IEMs problematic. One has to accept that all the technology packed into 1 of these devices encompasses a large proportion of the cost. One of my favourite budget IEMs is the Venture Electronics BIE. This retails at $20. It does nothing other than to be a listening device through a 3.5mm headphone jack. If sound quality alone is what you would choose above all else, then you would have to spend more money than the £70 that Rock Jaw will charge you for a T5. What I am saying is that I prefer the sound of the BIE as compared to the T5. The BIE gets more resolution from the music; it hits harder in the lower regions and has a hint of magic in the upper frequencies that belies it's retail price. For running, it's a no no. But if we are talking about sound quality, then it's a yes yes! Not to say that the T5 is any slouch with those gold filters, it has a good sound for a wireless, in my opinion.



Conclusion
I have given these wireless debuts from Rock Jaw the thrashing of their lives! Thankfully, they survived. I was able to get everything working very quickly, it all seemed like I would be things us headfiers would be using regularly enough to remember how to do it when we needed to. The T5 has a balanced sound through it's Gold Filters, I found the other 2 over the top with their alteration of the sound. You can work out with these; they are better suited to the gym than to the track, but they can, with perseverance, handle both. You can also sit down and listen seriously with these; they don't have the resolution of some wired IEMs, but if you've got this far you are most probably looking for a wireless product that approaches rather than surpasses that level. So in those terms, I am sure the T5 should do the trick.

HiFiMan Jade II Electrostatic Headphone System – the return of the legend


Disclaimer

I am part of the loaner tour for HiFiMan’s new Jade II system. I don’t own it, more’s the pity! I’d love to tell you that once this article has been written, I shall be able to retire in comfort on the proceeds of the huge sum of money that HiFiMan has paid into my Swiss bank account. Sadly that is not the case. As always, this undertaking is purely for love, not for money. As you can guess, sometimes I imagine I am a superstar in the audio world with company executives kneeling at my feet, where I can name my fee and it is paid without question and I jump on and off planes with an army of assistants clamouring for my attention. This is all a fantasy, sadly. I work full time. Money, space and time are all constraints on my quest for audio perfection.

Introduction

If I could choose only one brand for my Audio Equipment, (although that would, of course, be a tragedy) I would choose HiFiMan. They aren’t perfect, thank goodness. There would be no new gear to lust after, if every product a Company made was so good that it marked the end of the road ; the mythical endgame.

My first HiFiMan product was the HE6, purchased from a headfier from across the water. It sounded a little off. My Subjective colleague Dillan had a listen and diagnosed a polarity problem. He believed the positive terminal had been soldered to the negative terminal on both drivers. He soldered the terminals and, hey presto! I had a world class set of headphones. I know that Team HiFiMan will want me to tell you this is not the HE6SE, just launched, that I am talking about. It is the old HE6 model, and I have had this for 5 years, and would not part with it – unless HiFiMan graciously offered to do a straight swap for the Jade II. In that instance, I would reluctantly accept that deal, as painful as it would be. The HE6 is a hard hitter. It has slam and punch in all the right places. It has a realistic mid range and a live feel to the high frequencies that is stunning. The HE6 is a demanding beast. It needs amounts of power that would make a normal headphone enthusiast shudder. Give these phones a knee up with a speaker amp and they leap into action, pushing serious amounts of air into the old lugholes.

As followers and fans will be aware, I have reviewed the RE2000 Silver IEMs 2 weeks previously. Utilising the same driver as the RE2000 Gold, I found these to be little marvels, with the typical HiFiMan sound signature; smooth, forgiving, yet with subtle mid and treble detail that many others strive for, but just cannot reach. Incidentally, they are still available for $800, reduced from $1500, on the HiFiMan website. At that price they are a bargain indeed.

I purchased the Massdrop RE00 model; I still cannot believe the sound quality of these IEMs for the retail price I paid for them. They are a tiny bit bass shy, but make it for those shortcomings with a great mid presence. I have had on extended loan the HE1000 V1 from my Subjective friend Tom. I became increasingly fond of the HEK’s. They had an uncanny ability to make, pretty much, any recordings sound good. It was a wrench to send them back. They will be missed.

The Jade II is HiFiMan’s first sensibly priced electrostatic headphone and amplifier. There are 2 other electrostats in the HiFiMan range; the Shangri La Jr and the Shangri La Senior. The Shangri La Senior remains the finest sound I have heard from any headphone system. This includes the original Orpheus and its successor, the HE-1. They were very good, don’t get me wrong. Yet my ears preferred the signature of the Shangri La to the HE-1. I was able to listen to both systems within a 1 hour timeframe on a show I attended in London. HiFiMan had the Shangri La on full display and were approachable and friendly, being only too happy for us to play our own music through the system. Contrastingly, I had to book a listening spot for the Sennheiser HE-1. I found the whole experience unnecessarily stuffy and overhyped, quite frankly. I can also reveal I have had the chance to do a side by side comparison between the Shangri La Jr and the Jade II Headphones. This opportunity came up on Friday 19th April, and the demo was courtesy of a mini meet between Team HiFiMan's very own Mark Ramos, Team Subjective’s Dillan and Trev(AKA me!)


Electrostatic Technology

Dynamic drivers rely on a centuries old system of stuffing a load of wire into a magnet, gluing the magnet to a cone and putting a current through the magnet. This pushes and pulls the centre of the cone back and forwards. Not much voltage is needed for this. Electrostatic drivers do not have a force directly applied to them. No magnets are used. Electricity is created near a membrane which resonates across the entire surface at the same time, with the same force. The end result should theoretically create more efficiency and less distortion than a dynamic driver of the same size. There are portable solutions available which don’t need this, but for normal circumstances, a large voltage is needed to agitate the driver membrane. Typically we are talking 580+ volts. That requires a specialist electrostatic amp incorporating a power supply of that magnitude and the special outputs that ensure you don’t accidentally plug a conventional set of headphones in. Presumably, as headphones, they would not be happy bunnies if they had that much current put through them. Typical isn’t it? If you want the posh technology, you have to get a specialist amp to run it. The only other solution would be to get an energiser. That is a smaller, less expensive piece of equipment. It has the right connections. The electrostatic headphone plugs into the energiser and then plugs into an amplifier. The affordable energisers are getting old now; the newer ones that I have found cost far more than the Jade II amp, which would seem to be one of the cheapest electrostatic amps currently available. I read an article recently which claims that the best dynamic driver Loudspeaker in the World has 30x the distortion of a standard pair of Stax Electrostats! If nothing else, that goes to show just how much difference a decent pair of headphones can make to one’s listening experience. And when you take away the ringing effects caused by walls, furniture, doors, windows… With all these problems overcome, and no neighbours being disturbed, who needs speakers?!




Build

Due to the lack of magnets required, the Jade II headphones are light for their size. They retain the teardrop shape of the original Jade design. The pearlescent finish is somewhat a departure from what HiFiMan have previously tried - and it works. When shown to the light, the headphones positively shimmer with green and blue. The cables are fixed – cable swappers can keep their money in their pockets, which is wonderful news. The headband is standard HiFiMan – it is robust enough and flexes, but the cups don’t swivel like the Shangri La Jr, for instance. In use the headphones are light and comfortable.
I would have liked to see a display box for the Jade II headphones. HiFiMan sell a headphone case on their web store for $6; it is an essential item for something of this value. It needs looking after, and I can't imagine someone not using either a display stand or box to keep these safe. Most IEM's above $30 from China come with a velour bag or case, and this headphone system is $2500; I believe it deserves even more care than a $30 Earphone.

The amplifier is much weightier, at 6.5 kg. It has plenty enough power to run the Jade II’s, 1200 mw @ 10 kHz. A 2nd output is offered, meaning the hobby need not be quite as isolating as it usually tends to be. It also allows for comparative testing, more of which later. The amplifier is based on an opamp design. There are 2 inputs at the rear; rca and balanced. I have several more bits that could be hooked up if there were more inputs available; cassette decks, cd players, dacs and the like. But I’m probably unique in that respect, like the rest of you lot…


Sound


I did plug in the Lampizator DAC4 and headphones and switched on the Jade II system and was very pleased with the results. But it struck me that such musings don’t really have much meaning unless they can be compared against something of (at least) equal value or reputation or design. Whilst I have owned Stax Electrostats in the past, I have none at present. I had a quick think. I decided to try the HiFiMan legend, the HE6, against the Electrostats. I have a Benchmark DAC1 which I have tuned up to a 10V output on both headphone sockets. The DAC1 will also output to RCA line out simultaneously. This will allow at least the same track to be listened to, at the same volume and at the same time.

Comparison with HE6

The HE6, already described herein as having slam and punch, is at least worthy of comparison with the Jade II or pretty much any other headphone, come to that. I would describe it as a World Class Headphone. I have a customised WyWires cable, a comfier headband support and have open grille modded it. It does look like it’s been frankensteined, but I’ve seen worse, believe me! The sound stage of my HE6 is not super wide like the Sennheiser HD800, which I also own, and doesn’t have a silky upper mid range either. But it has a tonal quality which is linear and a dynamic presence with enough viscerality to give a real excitement to the music.

I sat with my wife to be for 45 minutes and we swapped between the HE6 and the Jade II every minute or so. We played completely random tracks. The reason why I no longer use test tracks is because life is too short. I spend a fair proportion of my listening time whilst I am reviewing stuff, there would be little time for music, arguably the most important part of it. Having listened to everything from 60s to Classical Music, these were the differences as I heard them.

The bass on the Jade II goes lower; there is a larger soundstage of the Jade, part of which is created by the sub bass presence, as compared to the mid bass slam of the HE6. The viscerality of the HE6 is not present in the Jade II; the presentation of the electrostats put no edges on the music; yet there seems to be very little missing despite of this. The signature is linear but also smooth. The Benchmark DAC1 is a solid state digital source and is noticeably rougher sounding than my loaner DAC, the Lampizator DAC4. The Lampizator, as all Lampizator’s, is an R2R source with a valve output stage. I found that I preferred the sound of the DAC1 over the DAC4 as I felt the Jade II’s were slightly soft through this combo. The HE6’s, of course, love the Lamp. They still have plenty of impact, reducing some of the low end decay present in the Lampizator. Further burning in, either of my ears to the sound signature of the Jade II, or of the possibility that the drivers need time to mature, has made the Lampizator my preferred mode of transport for the electrostats. The Lampizator is a special piece of kit; it combines exceptional r2r clarity with the softness of valves. When pitched against the very best competition, the Lampizator DAC4 can sound slightly laid back, particularly in the vocal region. Careful partnering is necessary, especially when listening to fast, congested rock and pop music. The HE6 was not the winner for me against the Jade II. The excitement of the HE6 made it a very close contest, using the Lampizator as a source. I suspect that not everyone will agree that the Jade II outperforms the HE6. HiFiMan has introduced the HE6SE, which will retail at a higher price point than the Jade II headphone but at a lower price point than the Jade II plus amp. I am told that the driver in the SE model is the same driver in my original HE6. Given that HiFiMan is pitching the SE in a similar price bracket to the Jade II, clearly they believe that many will prefer the liveliness of the Planar to the smooth refinement of the Electrostatic.

I pondered that the 2 headphones were very different in their signatures and this made it difficult to state categorically that 1 was better than the other. If I was able to set up 2 electrostatic headphones and hot swap between them, that might give a better indication as to how the Jade II compared to it’s own kind. Little did I know that the chance would come around so soon. 2 days after I received the Jade II system, I was on my way across the bottom of the Country. I travelled from Devon across to Canvey Island, nestled in the bottom corner of Essex, to meet up with Mark Ramos, the man behind the Jade II loaner tour from Team HiFiMan. Dillan, also from Essex, was collected en route, and we met up with Mark for a mini meet. Mark had brought along 3 suitcases worth of kit. Among the gems was a Jade II system, and a Shangri La Jr. Electrostatic Headphone…..

Comparison with Shangri La Jr.



The Shangri La Jr. is a beautiful headphone. I was assured by Mark that the Shangri La Amplifier would upgrade the sound of the Jr. still further. Nevertheless, I was smitten by the sound, even being played through the Jade II amplifier. The clarity of the Jr. is such that it draws you into the music with even more insight than the Jade II. The difference between the 2 was stark. The Jade II sounded slightly muffled compared to the Shangri La Jr. Bear in mind that that Shangri La Jr. is $4000 for the headphone alone; the Jade II is $2500. I preferred the Jade II over the HE6, a headphone I have enjoyed without reservation for several years. To outperform the Jade II in such a manner was astonishing, but it doesn’t mean the Jade II is not worth bothering with. Of course not! If you use the argument that the Shangri La Jr. was a better sounding headphone as a reason not to look at the Jade II, why not go the whole hog, and get a Shangri La Senior? That’s better again! So this is about being sensible about what you can actually afford, rather than what is the absolute best out there.


Conclusion

My time with the Jade II System has been short but sweet. It is a welcome addition to the sensible end of the Electrostatic Headphone marketplace. I hope this will encourage ever more electrostats from other manufacturers, maybe from HiFiMan itself. The Jade II has a realistic price tag and sits comfortably against the standard planar dynamic offerings. The standard planar dynamics need not be thrown on the scrapheap just yet. They do offer a different type of sound than their Electrostat cousins. Some will prefer the sound of the Planar, the HE6 for instance had a livelier sound signature than the Jade II. For a laid back listening experience, this may satisfy some of the kit swappers amongst us. Maybe some will settle for the Electrostatic experience and call it quits. At least until the Jade III comes out….

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.

I must first explain that one of the two cables was sent to me free of charge in return for my comments and feedback. The product is not currently available on the UK site. It took 6 days to arrive from the States and customs fees were prepaid. Each cable cost £34 including expedited shipping. You can have a look at te official information here
I have produced 2 YouTube videos which give a detailed insight into the unbalanced 2 pin and the unbalanced MMCX cables. I thought both were worth the money and were an obvious upgrade from the stock cables supplied. Build quality and finish were excellent. I would have liked a chin cinch, as I don't think this would have added an exceptional cost to the overall production costs and would have made the cables even more comfortable.
Microphonics were all but non existent on the 8 cores. There was a marked improvement on replacing the CCA C10 cables; the sound became softer without there being a noticeable loss in dynamics. The **** EN900 stocks weren't as markedly different as the 8 core upgrade. There was a lesser smoothing of the harshness and ringing effect in the upper mids and highs. But there was definitely some improvement here

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.

Ruizu X02 Digital Audio Player
A review sample sent via Amazon

I was approached by Ruizu following my last review of the AKG K1000. I agreed to write an honest appraisal of a product of my choice. So here goes....

Intro
Who are Ruizu?

They're a Chinese company. They have been going since 2010. They can make everything from recording pens to jump starters. They can chuck out 6000 items a day. The products available on Amazon are very cheap indeed.





About the X02

This costs a measly £22.99. Prime members will get this delivered free the next day they've ordered it. Thus the price of a double CD if anyone buys such things anymore. Or a single LP. So It's cheap. That's that bit done. You don't like it, you can send it back. You do like it; you've got an audio bargain by headfi standards. A bargain by any standards in fact. So let's see whether this thing is any good, What it does and doesn't do and what it sounds like more importantly.
The X02 will handle mp3 flac and wav files but will not handle hi res files beyond 16 bits. It takes a micro sd card. My 256 Gb was recognised immediately.
The player also has 8 Gb flash memory. The gui is extremely simple. It looks very outdated. It's simplicity means you get up to 80 hours of playback on a charge. It displays album artwork, lyrics and even videos if formatted to a suitably low level. You have ebook reading functionality here; even fm radio via the cable of your earphones which are used as the antennae. A pair of earbuds are enclosed, a usb cable, a manual and of course the player itself.


The question is; all well and good on the features list but does it all work in practice and does it work well?

Build

The player looks cheap. It's made of plastic. It looks like the old iPods from days long gone by. Looks aren't everything thankfully but this dap would greatly benefit from a newer look. Cosmetics aside, this plastic shell makes for a strong player. I've got a feeling that it will look exactly the same in 10 years time as it does now. It has curved edges, a screen protector factory fitted and the X02 is non touchscreen.
A discrete switch at the bottom of the unit will boot this player up in 3 seconds flat. The sd card was similarly recognised. Everything is accessed through the rocker control at the bottom. You can have the presses as silent or a beep. What is about to be selected is highlighted. A long press of the volume button will allow a volume change. Left and right adjusts either loudness or sub menus back and forward. All very easy to get to grips with.
There are eq settings to tailor the sound. Believe me for this player you will be using them. The rock setting is where my ears are at their most comfortable.


A quick flick through the contents supplied- a manual, written extremely well for a Chinese document, this spells out exactly how easy it is to use the various bits and bobs. There is a calendar and alarm, stopwatch and record function I havent yet mentioned. They may or may not be an important part of your daily routines as an audiophile or music lover; but I've told you so you're now suitably enlightened.
The earbuds supplied say they are high quality. That is a reach. A big reach. They didn't fit in my ears for one. When I pushed the buds in I didn't like what I heard so I put them back in the box rather quickly. Yet the earbuds reveal a clue as to what might align themselves with this device...



Sound quality

I had a preconceived idea that this mp3 player was going to sound absolutely awful. I put on a pair of self customised obravo Erib 2 hybrid planar dynamic iems and my worst fears were realised. The sound was shrill and thin, compared to my smartphone or my latest acquisition, the Shanling M0...well,there was no comparison. I packed the whole lot up after enduring 10 minutes vowing to not get involved in these cheap Chinese creations again. But then I got to thinking....



Sound quality part 2

The next day came and I had come up with a cunning plan! I had pondered the problem; I hadn't ruled out that the X02 sounded awful. Sure, it sounded awful through the obravo's. But was it the earphones that sounded awful, or the player? Could there be a mismatch here? I considered the problem; shrill and thin sounding was what I'd heard. Could there be a mismatch at play here? The obravo's have a detailed treble and mid section,although on most other devices they were bassy too. Earbuds they are not. I rummaged around and tried on the Simgot iems, again customised. These are dynamics which are more rolled off and have a more visceral bass impact than the Erib 2. In contrast, the Erib 2 has a more linear bass presentation. I put on the Simgots and braced myself for another pounding and...to my surprise, the sound was actually presentable!



I listened to 10CC's immortal reverse psychology song "I'm not in Love"


and in a quiet listening environment, where my concentration should be able to discern chalk from cheese, I was impressed. There was an emphasis on vocals and synth effects. The X02 was bass light but not excruciatingly so anymore. The soundstage of the Ruizu is actually slightly better than that of my Galaxy S7 and us less muddy sounding. With the caveat that one must be careful regarding matching up a suitable earphone or earbud. When out for a run with the Ruizu, further modification is needed. The pounding of feet will inevitably remove what little bass there is. Raising the volume simply highlights this. Utilising the bass function on the sound settings within the player takes a great deal of edge off the mids and highs and adds some much needed lower end depth. It makes the X02 perfectly listenable on the move.



Comparisons

The Shanling M0 is a stunning dap for the money. I bought it for around £70. That is 3x the price of the X02. The M0 sounds richer through all iems and looks and feels more gorgeous. It has far more features than the Ruizu. The X02 wins on simplicity,speed of operation and in being bomb proof.




Conclusion

I was wrong to jump to conclusions about the Ruizu X02. With the right set of iem's or buds, (I'm anxious to get a get a set of VE Monks or Zen's on this), the X02 represents incredible value for money. You will get some texture and some soundstage and you should be able to follow the vocalist wherever they are bound.



A little experimentation is called for when you're dealing with the Ruizu X02. I am fortunate enough to have many many different options available to me. The bass function will tone down an iem that is too lively, but it's best to start with a set that will bring out the attributes in this dap. The correct match for an in ear is a bassy rolled off sound signature; put a lean forward sounding monitor in your ear and be prepared to grit your teeth..... I would be extremely interested in what this company could produce for £70 given what they've achieved for £23. I'm also glad that I found plenty of positives to talk about when i started so far on my back foot that I thought I was gonna fall over!

The AKG K1000 Bass Heavy

now fully restored to it's glorious best
.....and maybe even better

This is a brief story. I shall attempt to explain to you how the impossible was not only dreamt of, but subsequently asked and then, to my amazement, was achieved. Perhaps the quirkiest headphone of them all; the AKG's earspeaker design, their flagship model for many years, of which much hype has been written. Having these now, back with me, believe me folks; these headphones are a sight for sore eyes indeed.



There is much love for the AKG K1000. Much information can be found about this headphone on headfi - specifically the design parameters, the evolution and production and the differences between the earlier models, dubbed "bass heavy" and it's later variant, the "bass light". The forum thread is a journey in itself. The History of the AKG K1000 starts with just 2 sentences from @mikeg and for some 8 years the interest in the thread runs out of steam. A post made in Feb 2004 suddenly becomes answered in Sep 2012. Our mysterious poster is known as @hrklg01. I will quote this post because it marked the start of an even more incredible journey than my bass heavy headphones. The post simply read : "Yes, we was influences by the STAX design too. However, it was the idea just to get nothing disturbing in front of the ear. So we created a huge membrane very light weight only..."




This post, if genuine, could only have come from one of the original team behind the K1000, of which so little information was available at the time. Imagine if that was true! What a find this person would be.... After some more questions were put to this poster a picture began to develop. This was a man called Heinz Renner. He was responsible for developing the AKG K1000! Heinz had left AKG in 1989. He had since gone and made his fortune in the cell phone market, developing micro speakers by which we listen to our loved ones whispering sweet nothings in our ears or singing their version of "99 Problems" to us on facebook... No more work done on headphones. A lost genius. Yet somehow, the lure of headfi had brought this audio engineer back into the fold. Having joined headfi way back in 2012, my research eventually got me to that very same AKG K1000 thread and I was enthralled at what I was reading. The next step, listening to a pair, would take many more years to come to pass.
Before I finally had the chance to put a pair on my ears, I went through many other headphones and even a few earspeakers. The Audeze LCD2v2 being my first, Sennheiser HD800, Beyer Dynamic's T1 Tesla's and then inevitably into the earspeaker world. At one point I had 3 separate Stax models: the SRX Mk3 Pro, the Sigma Pro and the 4170 system. A brief spell of making sensible financial decisions had momentarily confused me into selling much of my collection a few years ago. The Stax were sold, as were the LCD2 and the T1 as well as many other amps dacs psu's cables, you know the thing. I kid you not; I turned up to the 2014 Headfi London meet with an Ibasso DX100 and a pair of in ear monitors and bought nothing while I was there...



A hobby such as this does not rest for long. On the 25th April 2015 2 dedicated UK headfiers, @smial1966 and @pedalhead organised a meet up in Cambridge. On the night of the 26th, a frenetic micro meet took place in the hotel room of the Travelodge I was staying in. There, finally, I got the chance to listen to a pair of AKG K1000's. I now know these to have been the bass light version of the K1000. The gent who was kind enough to bring them alas I do not remember your name and I have not seen you since! Let's hope this review will prompt someone to recall the gent's name and we can get back in touch. Even though the cable on one of the driver's was damaged and had to be held into place, my few minutes with the earspeakers were magical. The listening experience was done with the earspeakers pulled out to their furthest position. That enables everyone in the room to enjoy what you are listening to, so make sure it's not The Wurzels...... I didn't realise at the time but I was listening to the later version of the K1000, the bass light version. The listening fraternity on the night were divided between those in love (myself and @Ithilstone and of course the proud owner) and the non believers. A switch was pressed in me. I had to find a pair.



Fast forward a few months and myself and a team of willing helpers had tracked a few pairs down across the World. I say a few because these earspeakers are becoming very rare and highly sought after. The manufacture of the K1000 was irretrievably stopped back in the late 1990's. In short, the lathes that had created so many wonderful models had grown old and tired and were humanely destroyed. The earliest models(bass heavy, please keep up),were introduced in 1990. If you have 1 of those it could be 28 years old! I, of course, had a look on headfi's classifieds for a model. No chance! They were snapped up within a day of advert and the last one added was a year hence. I found one on sale in Finland. It was a reasonable enough price and the seller was a German chap who I talked with at length on the phone. We trusted each other, a deal was set, and a few days later a wooden box arrived at my doorstep. The day had finally come! I had my earspeakers! The day was full of promise as I unpacked and made myself comfortable for a marathon listening session. I listened with breath held waiting for the magic to unfold. As it did. However.... not all was rosy in the garden. I had found a thorn! The right driver had a buzzing effect on subbass tracks that was subtle but noticeable. I had built myself up over the course of 3 months waiting for this moment and certainly that exaggerated the disappointment I felt. I wallowed in self pity beneath my red headband contemplating my next move.
My next move was...I did nothing. I listened and listened. The buzzing was something I was prepared to put up with. If in the future it couldn't be fixed there was too much wonder between these drivers to even think of returning them and asking for a refund. What if I never found another pair? What if the price doubled yet again, as it seemed to do every few years as these got more and more precious. My decision had been made; this was a marriage of the audio kind, in sickness and in health...



That was back in 2015. I referred back to the headfi thread to ascertain that my model was one of the earlier models. To quote Heinz once again:
"I do not know much about the K1000 resonance frequency variants... Sorry! But it's very clear: the older the better! Like an old good wine!"
About there being 2 versions of the K1000 Heinz has this to say:
"About "bass heavy" and "bass light" versions: I remember back that the original ~ 5000 pcs was shipped with a black bright box. This version - I'm sure - was produced with the target 25Hz f0.
There was no additional changes at least during the first 5kpcs.."
I have now seen the difference between my version and the later version that was produced. Heinz has since added the first production batch was up to the number 10,000. An easy way to see the difference: bass light models have a lighter wooden box and a different colour speaker connection cable. I am fortunate enough to have listened to a bass light and a bass heavy version of this amazing earspeaker. If you are up to date on what I have written so far you will recall that I fell in love with the sound of the bass light version. I purchased the bass heavy version without consideration of which variant I was ending up with. Suffice it to say I would have been delighted with whatever came through my door as long as it looked something like a deerstalker hat.



While we are on the subject of Heinz Renner and his friendship with headfi. Did you know that this very forum ignited in Heinz the idea to produce a successor to the AKG K1000? He must have seen so much love for the old model and so many ideas were being put forward regarding how the K1000 could be taken to another level on the thread that he decided to come out of the shadows and step back into the limelight once again. Heinz Renner was going to go back to the drawing board and come up with something even better than the AKG K1000. In October 10th 2015 you can read a fateful post from a headfier called @Nomax:
THE HISTORY WILL BE CONTINUED in LATE 2016!!!!!!!!!!
REGARDS NOMAX and many a follower of that thread drew their breath in. Could it be possible that the original team could reform and do it even better?


The team are here from left to right: Ewald, Helmut Ryback - and to quote Heinz once again: "one of the 3 K1000 "Musketiers" as he was the main head for headphone design in the previous AKG years", Heinz Renner himself and-the man who created the dream of a K1000 supercharged as far back as Oct 2015, the face of Nomax With a huge thanks to all of you reading this here that made this idea germinate and hatch and mature and flourish, the dream of a K1000 for the modern age has come true. Incredible!



There is a big thread now on the MySphere on our very headfi and at the time of writing it had got to 54 pages. Well worth a read it can be found here with a click of your mouse. The latest entry, as of August 6th 2018 states simply:

miketlse said
Is there a waiting list for the week long borrow? Or is one readily available and able to ship to the US?

"No waiting list anymore!
This is also true for the regular product to buy.
http://mysphere.at/shop/

BR heinz"

We have come a long long way from Feb 2004 I think you'll agree....




I digressed a few lines ago. I was meaning to tell you about my little adventure. Then I realised that there was an even bigger tale to tell. That told(sort of), let's get back my Bass Heavy Buzzer dressed in red in a black box. The head turner of yesteryear; the K1000. I decided about 6 months ago that the time was right to get the earspeakers buzzing problem fixed once and for all. I did my research, which was primarily the posts on this forum made by Heinz Renner regarding the problem of the buzzing and the solution to fix it. It appears that the glue around the membrane that surrounds the drivers is prone to coming loose in humid conditions. Often all that is needed to eliminate the rub and buzz so called is to use a particularly high quality brand of waterproof white glue. Allow that to dry over a day or so and all should be well. In the course of inspecting my K1000's, my friend found not only a glue problem. The foam inserts, being very fragile anyway, had all but disintegrated. I made enquiry after enquiry for 80 PPI reticulated foam. In the end, we decided on a compromise which was to experiment with other grades of foam inserts and see whether we could get a decent sound. I got a phone call from my friend; he felt he was onto a winner. He observed the bass response seemed deeper without noticeably damping the higher frequency response. I told him to proceed and to get the glueing done. I got the K1000's back. I still had the buzz. It was less. But it was still there. So back to my fixer of all things. In the process of taking apart the earspeaker, disaster occurred. There is a wire that connects driver to the voice coil and it happens to be the thickness of a human hair. The wire snapped. My buddy was straight on the phone to me and we discussed our options. Given the scarcity of the K1000 and it's pricelessness(to me at least) he was reluctant to go any further without the backup of spares. I hold no grievance with him for attempting the fix and breaking the wire. It could have happened to anyone and he was kind enough to get some really good foam in there. I haven't mentioned the amazing recabling he did on them either..... I made various enquiries via email and telephone call. I found no one selling spares or offering a repair service. I couldn't understand why. The headphones were only 28 years old for goodness sake! In desperation I plucked up the courage and sent Heinz Renner an email and asked him where I could try and get them repaired. I knew Heinz would be working flat out trying to get his MySphere 3.1 and 3.2 to market so I didn't hold out much hope. To his credit and my undying gratitude, Heinz offered to assist in the matter. He asked for pictures of the problem so as he could see whether it was possible to fix the damage. It seems that if the wire is snapped near the centre it might be possible for a very delicate resolder. If the snap was at the start or had pulled out from the voice coil or driver a fix would be impossible; that would spell the end for the AKG's and they would have to be thrown in the bin! My friend sent some pictures. It looked like the split was in the centre to my eyes. Heinz agreed. He asked me to send them to his house and he would try and fix them but with no guarantee of success. I completely understood that as anyone should; if someone is doing this as a favour there can be no cause for complaint if all goes wrong.
Off went the package to Italy. It arrived in 3 days. Heinz immediately confirmed delivery and asked us to wish him luck. This is the transcript of the email that I shall never forget:

Hello Trevor and Dillan,
I worked almost 3 hours – but finally it was successful.
I had to change the coil and membrane. Luckily, I had these parts from the very first 0-series = still bass heavy
Today I stop to mount everything together, because my old eyes became tired.
My questions:

1. Did you repair the rub and buzz on the left side already, or have I to open this as well.
2. Can you please send me the full data (name, address) where to send it finally back please.

Not only had Heinz repaired the K1000's and used up 3 hours of his own time in the process but he was now asking me whether he could do any more work on them! The man must be a Saint. A subsequent email was sent the following day; Heinz had done so more work on the rub and buzz and eliminated it. He also did one final thing:
"I do of course a certain “burn in” with a unique test signal, as I changed important parts of the damaged driver. This signal simulates about 2 days continuous normal playing the headphone."
I assume the same method is used for the MySphere Headphones.

I received the K1000's a few days later. I unpacked them and had a listen. A miracle had happened! The earspeakers sounded perfect; let's say that straight away. But more than that; the rub and buzz had of course disappeared; but the bass was deeper and richer and more visceral. I must add that the bass on the K1000s can be increased by putting the speakers closer to one's ear, by sitting with your head against the cushions of a fine chair, or by eqing more bass through software or hardware adjustments. Indeed, Heinz uses a subwoofer in conjunction with his K1000s. I always listen to my K1000s with the speakers as far away from my ears as I can adjust them. That way I get the spatial cues similar to the reflections of a loudspeaker. What I also get is the intimacy and micro detail that only a headphone will give me. Thus, I get the best of both Worlds. You get the picture anyway.
Many of you will want to know how these earspeakers compete against their more modern counterparts. I can compare these to 2 other flagship headphones I happen to own.
The HD800 by Sennheiser. Modified by @dill3000 and myself.
The HD800 has a wide sound stage. Most of you are aware of this. The original model has a trace of steeliness in some of the higher frequency range. It was also slightly less visceral in the bass department for many people's taste. I did a felt mod having researched other's ventures into this. I went my own way and found the felt I liked the sound of. @dill3000 improved it further. Thus I have an HD800 with bass, smooth highs and the original sound stage. The K1000s are my favourite over the HD800. I prefer the linearity of the K1000 and the sound stage is wider than the HD800. The bass of the HD800 is harder hitting and slightly richer sounding. But it still comes behind the AKG in overall terms.
The HiFiMan HE-6 with comfy headband and open grill mod
The HiFiMan HE-6, when partnered with a beefy enough amp, is a world class headphone. I have a First Watt F6 power amp which I use these with. It is a 25 WPC speaker amp, and it (again) has been created using the DIY talents of @dill3000. It hits hard at the bass and has linearity right through the frequency spectrum. It makes music come alive. The tone is just right. The sound stage is more intimate than either the K1000 or HD800. Whether the HE-6 beats the AKG K1000 to my ears will take more time for me to be sure about. Some tracks come alive with the spatial attributes of the AKGs; I'm thinking about perhaps large orchestral pieces, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Enya, Enigma, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd and the like. Rock music, Pop music and acoustic music are such a delight to listen to on the HE-6.
I am a happy man. I have my beloved AKG K1000 Bass Heavy Earspeakers restored to their original greatness and arguably even beyond that. Ok; I've not got the latest and greatest MySphere 3.1 or 3.2 earspeakers. I haven't even heard a pair yet. Heinz was not able to make CanJam London 2018 as he was so busy getting things together. When he gets to the UK you can be sure I shall be there in person to lend my ears to the debate. The debate being; have they pulled off the ultimate and beaten the K1000? With Heinz and the original team at the helm I'd put money on it that they have. In the meantime I shall have to content myself with owning the antique version. I'm sure there is room in my life as a headfier for all 3 headphones. And maybe, one day, we shall see a 4th addition to the happy family? I wonder, dear reader, what that headphone might be?


Heinz Renner
Thank you for everything you have done for me. Thank you for your loyalty and affinity with the headfi community. And thank you for stepping out from the past and taking a leap into the future.
Much respect

The Dac battle Part II

HiFiMan HE-6 with open grill mod



Another week another Dac…



With many thanks to Søren Kristensen I have managed to get my hands on the Soekris dac1541 R2R dac/amp. This has been at the same time as I happened to have 2 other extremely proficient Dacs at my disposal, having finished a previous article on Portable v Desktop.

The debate can now move to an even wider area. I can now include R2R technology against, well, normal digital conversion technology in my comparisons between 3 remarkably different Dacs.

The Soekris 1541 was with me for a 2 week run during which I put it to the test for many hours using both headphones and a floor standing speaker system. These tests were conducted using myself only, with one notable exception being an afternoon spent in the man cave with a couple of willing victims and a roomful of CDs.

I’ll spend the next few minutes guiding you through what I think I know about R2R converting and whether Søren’s creation sounds any different from either the Chord Mojo or the AMB Gamma Dacs I happen to have here.

Soekris dac1541


What is R2R?
And why is it relevant?

I warn you now… I am almost out of my depth with this…. At least that means I can explain in layman’s terms

R2R is a Digital Technology describing how a digital signal is converted to an analogue signal that we can hear. We must now travel back to the dawn of the CD era in the early 1980s. Computer chips at the time were so expensive that an alternative was sought. Instead of a micro processor , the 1s and 0s bits that made up the digital waveform were put across a ladder. Each rung had a resistor which captured the sine wave(which was all those 0s and 1s) that went through it and sent the information through as a measurement of voltage. At the end of the ladder everything was gathered up and the result was the the stuff that we listened to in wonder from these shiny new disks. Passive resistors were used to push the voltage measurements through at the speeds necessary. Passive means no interference. Thus , R2R has no processing of the original signal. But micro processors……. The clue here lies in the name.

Showing Mode 1 with option for advanced mode 2 USB USB Mode 2 seamless with OSX and requiring downloadable drivers for Windows




The quality of the result lies within the accuracy of the voltages measured which depends on the complexity and quality of the resistors used. The early Phillips TDA 1541 Dac being the first ladder Dac was expensive to produce and had the characteristic flaws that a technology in it’s infancy would inevitably suffer from. The ladder has to be manufactured to an incredibly high standard to maintain accuracy over all of the resistors.

Micro processing needs a cheap little chip (or a few) and some analogue filtering for our analogue signal. The micro processor has long ago been the norm for Digital to Analogue conversion. The reason? It’s cheaper and it’s simpler. Not necessarily because it’s better. When were we audiophiles ever interested in cheap and simple? We want to see what happens when you put your foot to the pedal. We’re not interested in parking. We want to drive to the parking space with as much style as we can get our filthy little hands on!

Engineers like Søren have realised the potential of a really well designed Ladder Dac. If it was engineered well enough it could be the most accurate way to present digital music. In other words, an R2R Ladder Dac could be more ‘musical’ than a micro processor Dac. He’s not the only one out there either. MSB will tell you all about their crazily specced (and priced) Dacs, so do pop along and have a read.

There’s been a cult following of R2R Ladder Dacs for years. In truth, there are many other aspects that contribute to making a Dac. But the conversion process is the engine room. Compare a 1 litre car with a 4 litre car. The thing will only go so fast no matter how big an exhaust you put on it….

Pioneer BDP - LX54 Blu Ray 3D DVD SACD CD Media Player

Are you baffled yet? Bewildered and bemused? I certainly was. I do not profess to know as much about what lies underneath the screws which house the workings of my audio equipment. I have been listening to music for years across all ranges of devices. I listen for enjoyment most of the time and listen more critically in order to write articles some of the time. I shall now put the 2 things that can help me more than anything else to good use. Those 2 things need no further explanation. They are my ears. I can at least begin to delve into an area I am more comfortable with - a subjective comparison based on the music I had been listening to through the Soekris 1541 , the Chord Mojo and the AMB Gamma 3 Dac.

Having introduced the Mojo and Gamma 3 at length it is only fitting to talk briefly about the Soekris 1541. The Soekris has been out since July 2017. It is the flagship model of the Soekris range. It has a powerful balanced headphone amplifier and a preamplifier section which is useful for my own purposes. I do not possess a preamp and have a power amp, the First Watt F6.

The inputs are the usual USB (with cable supplied) Optical

There’s no need to go over the trials and tribulations of the Mojo /Zeta battle. Needless to say if you read the article my opinion says the Desktop Goliath slayed the Portable David. The former had more clarity over every genre of music and was able to extract more information from the music. I had not been able to have a test using loudspeakers at the time. I have now been able to test all 3 Dacs out at length and at some decent levels of dB. The results make for some interesting reading.

Real World Test


Equipment Used

Eltax Symphony 8.3 Floorstanding Speakers

Pioneer BDP LX54 Blu Ray/SACD/CD Player

First Watt F6 Power Amplifier

Plus tons of cables and loads of Dacs


I wasted no time in getting this all set up in my man cave. Freshly re wired, the room has been setup for me and by me with one thing in mind above all else - the pure enjoyment of the audio experience. All my headphones are ready to go. Drawer after drawer of cabling and CD/Blu Ray/DVDs are within my instant grasp. Everything is plugged in and ready to go. A detached house with a large gap between either neighbour and a well soundproofed room to boot, this really is a dream come true for an audiophile.


After an hour or 2 of switching between genres Dacs and cables it became apparent to me that the Soekris had a noticeable bass emphasis compared to the Mojo and the AMB Gamma 3 Dac.

The track I recalled this heaviness in particularly was Paranoid, Black Sabbath’s earliest triumph and still most well known song. It sounds as if was recorded in a swamp on any Dac! There were also some pretty weird artefacts coming from some guitar distortion that was not evident initially in the other 2 Dacs. Most strange but most impressive…..

Which Bass is Best?

Rear of dac1541 and passive preamp attenuator


My preference for bass tends toward the visceral element of the low frequency range. How much the bass can physically hit me. I don’t want to be punched in the face per se, but the occasional feeling of being in a concert and the kick drum moving my chest in slightly is quite pleasant. I felt the Soekris didn’t achieve the bass impact I’d ideally look for. I think the output of the Dac as a preamp to my First Watt was a possible reason for this. I had it switched to the 0 setting which, although very loud indeed maybe didn’t have enough. There was lots and lots of bass response with the 1541 more than enough to satisfy the needs of the discerning audiophile.

The bass was tighter and more linear sounding through the AMB Zeta, which still lacked the viscerally I was listening for. Again, the preamp section of the Zeta was perhaps lacking quite enough power to get floor standers jumping around.

The Mojo had lean tight bass with sub and mid bass impact. That really surprised me compared to my headphone testing between that and the Zeta. Nevertheless, the feeling of being physically involved in the power of the music was more present in the Chord Mojo than the competition.
For those who appreciate Classical Music this is all, of course, meaningless. Bass, and particularly subbass are often artificially enhanced in the recording studio.


Mid to Highs

R2R - yesterday’s technology ? Or today’s ultra high end?




The more interesting area of the music for me is where most of it takes place. Voices strings and keys are all washing around the mid and high frequency band. This can also be an area where any unpleasantness in a piece of equipment can present as a harshness or thinness to the sound. The Soekris was a full sound with some lovely natural sound to vocals and strings and keyboards alike. Some shrillness was evident within particularly some of the older recordings I had. Not all recording I hasten to add where top quality DSD files. So was it the limitation of the Soekris or within the recording itself?

The Mojo sounded slightly blander than either the 1541 or the Gamma Dacs. There was evidence here that the Mojo, as good as it undoubtedly is, was playing against some fairly heavy opposition. Nevertheless there was still a decent soundstage and nothing unpleasant in the top ranges.

The Gamma was able to extract more detail, with more clarity and no harshness when compared to the other 2. There was an accuracy within that took the Soekris’ linearity and went slightly further again with. The only feeling I had was that the AMB Gamma sounded slightly strained when being pushed to the volume levels I was giving it. I put that down to the preamp not being enough for what I was using once again and it will be interesting to see what others out there achieve in ear shattering levels when they get the Soekris with their own systems.

Chord Mojo - crazy to think this pushes out more power than the competition



Headphone Testing

Using Sennheiser HD800

HiFiMan HE6

AudioTechnica W1000Z

The Soekris 1541 is tailor made for listening via headphones. It has single ended and balanced connections. All at the front and in a neat little package. I had a brief listen to the balanced output over the course a couple of hours. I plugged my HiFIMan HE6 headphones into the Dac. HE6’s, in case you don’t already know, are notoriously difficult to drive. They are extremely inefficient and many owners have taken to using them through the headphone output on an integrated amplifier. I use mine using a specially built cable. There is a balanced connection one end and 4 jack plugs on the other. This connects directly into the speaker taps on my First Watt F6 Fully Modded DIY built power amplifier carefully designed by founder member of Subjective Review, our very own Dillan. Likewise the 3 metre speaker to balanced cable was crafted by the very same. The results of the balanced headphone output, whilst not in the same territory as using RCA out to my First Watt, were still pretty impressive. The HE6’s were driven to extremely loud levels. I began to get a feel for the various qualities of the Soekris as I was now in a far more intimate place with the Dac. The bass response had a pleasant warmth to it. The bass, compared to the Mojo(which has a headphone amp) and the Zeta(which doesn’t), was a little bloated. Of course, if you have no other means than a headphone amp and you possess set of HE6’s this observation is rather tongue in cheek. The Mojo cannot run the HE6 to decent output levels whereas the Soekris can. The mids and highs for the headphone out had more tape hiss prevalent than the Mojo, also portraying a decent accuracy to voice and strings. I won’t dwell overly on the balanced headphone out; I have top quality alternatives to this and in the space of time allotted I needed to enjoy the R2R to the maximum.

The Soekris alongside the passive preamp attenuator the AMB PSU and the Gamma 3 Dac

The vast majority of my fortnight was spent on what will be the final chapter of my R2R adventure. Utilising the best headphones (HE6,W1000Z,HD800) I gave myself a thorough fix of the differences made by changing headphones, connections or Dacs. The characteristics my ears picked up on from indulging myself unashamedly in disc after disc and track after track began to show themselves more clearly. I describe this as a reveal because, for my ears, I do not perceive the replacement of a Dac which has sufficient output to drive a set of headphones to produce an immediate night and day difference when compared side by side with another reasonable quality Dac. I can therefore understand that people who read this will be wary of huge investments in a product they’ve not listened to. Reviews such as these are a guideline which can narrow down from the vast range available. Once you’ve set your heart on a product it is difficult toot bite the bullet and buy without auditioning.My advice to you ; have a listen first. Any manufacturer that is genuine will find a way to give you a chance to do this. Lecture over : this is what I found out about the 1541 having put the cream of my equipment into it.

The bass response is just below excellent. It has a thickness to it and is at times, compared to the Gamma and the Mojo, lacking in tightness and I lost some of the finer detailing in the recordings especially during some of the heavier rock tracks I listened to.

The mids I would have to put into the excellent category. There was a natural feel to vocals especially that really appealed. Strings and keys shimmered through the mix and micro details were relatively easy to pick out.

The highs on the 1541 were not rolled off in any way. There was a slight harshness to the presentation. That must be judged against Mojo’s blander presentation and the AMB Gamma’s lush presentation. The Gamma’s soundstage is vast and almost artificially so in comparison to the more realistic feel to the Soekris. The Mojo has a clean , refined , smooth feel overall which pulls you into the music. Only when you listen to the excitement of the Soekris or the brilliance of the Gamma would you think you are missing out on anything.

HiFiMan HE-6


Conclusions

The Soekris Dac has given me a fine introduction into the cult of R2R ladder Dac technology. The 1541 model shows that top of the line specs; a powerful headphone amp and DSD compatibility, can be married up with the latest developments in a vintage technology brought bang up to date. Power hungry headphones can be handled by the 1541 for those who do not have the luxury of a higher quality dedicated headphone amp. It pushes plenty enough power through the balanced out to keep any audiophiles happy. The Soekris has a natural feel with plenty of bass. A headphone with a rolled off treble response(but not too much!), such as the Audio Technica W1000Z, will bring out the best in this Dac.

It’s a big thanks to Dillan for setting this meeting up and to Søren for not only supplying this to the team at Subjective Review but for creating and believing in R2R and making it much more affordable for the masses.