Overview:
The RE800 Silver Edition is a revised version of the original gold plated Hifiman RE800. The Silver Edition has a slightly V-shaped tuning, whereas the original had a warmer tuning. The Silvers were also cheaper than the original, coming in at $600AUD (when it was still current, now on clearance at roughly $100), whereas the Original was closer to $800.

Design and Build Quality:
The Hifiman Re800 Silver has a very simple design, designed to worn straight down, they have an unremarkable, slightly light-bulb reminiscent shape. the build quality is good, but the cable is a little on the thin side, and i think it would be better if it was removable. the cable ends in a very chunky gold plated 3.5mm connector.

In the Box:
The RE800 comes in two different types of packaging, the full packaging, (which, as far as I can tell, just changes the unboxing experience, for those who like a nice unboxing) or simplified version, which comes with all the same accesories, just in a small box. With the RE800 Silver comes a small round case, a large selection of single, double, and triple flange eartips. i personnally don't particularly like the supplied tips, the RE800s tend to lose clarity when using them, when compared with Final E type tips.

Sound Quality:

- Detail
The Hifiman RE800 Silvers have a good amount of detail retreal, and i don't ever fell that i am missing out on part of the music

- Imaging, etc. (sounstage, instrument seperation, spaciousness)
The RE800 Silvers have a good amount of imaging, sounstaging and spaciousness, instruments are sound well defined in space, and there is no blending of sounds.

- Bass
The Bass on the RE800 Silvers is impessive It is deep and impactful, and rolls off lower than 20Hz, meaning a flat audible bass response.

- Mids
lower: the lower mids are smooth and rich.
upper: the upper mids is somewhat recessed, meaning that some instruments can lose timbre in some places

-Treble
the treble is well extended, but not to bright. I do not find these IEMs to be fatiging for the most part, but in some tracks things like ride cymbals can be overly energetic in the mix.

Overview:
The Hip Dac is iFI's most affordable portable headphone amp, selling at around $250AUD. There have been two further renditions of the Hip Dac, with the Hip Dac 2, and Gold Edition, each slightly more expensive than the original. The original Hip Dac still holds it's own, however, delivering 400mW in 35 Ohms from the blanced output (4.4mm Pentacon), and 200mW from the unbalanced out, utilising iFI's S-balanced curciutry.

Design and Build:
The Hip Dac has a minimalsitic yet classy design, made to look like it's namesake, a Hipflask. it comes in a petrol blue colour, with a copper coloured volume pot, also acting as the power On/Off switch (a touch that I like, as it allows for a cleaner design). On the top (or front, depending on whether it's sitting on a desk of in your pocket) it has the volume pot, 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs, and IEMatch and X-bass buttons. These are designed to mirror each other, with volume in the center, 4.4mm output to the right, then 3.5mm output beside that, then on the other side, the X-bass button is the same size as the balanced out, the IEMatch the same as the 3.5mm out. the input and charging (two different ports) are placed at the bottom, charging via USB C, and audio input via USB A. Interestingly, iFI have decided to put the male connecter on the device end, fully recesse in the bottom, with the matching female connecter on the supplied cable that slots into the gap. This supposedly allows for a more secure connection, although i find it to mean that it breaks connections, as the cable is very stiff, and doesn't curve around properly, meaning that it gradually wiggles loose. This cable also feels very Cheap and plasticy, although is very heavy duty.

Sound:
the Hip Dac features a Burr Brown DAC, known to have a slightly warmer sound. This is the case on the Hip Dac, but it is very nicely done, without any bleeding of bass in to mids, or muddy bass. The bass on the hip dac is very punchy, and has good weight and presence, while not overpowering the treble, which is very light and airy sounding, but not overly bright. I find that the Hip Dac is better at powering full sized headphones, using normal gain settings, than it is at driving IEMs on low gain, not for a lack of power, but rather I find that in ears sound slightly less detailed and revealing. I pefer to drive IEMs with my FiiO E10K on low gain, which I find has greater detail, and slightly more spacious, whereas on the Hip Dac they tend to be a touch congested, with not as good instrument seperation.

Summary:
The iFI Hip Dac is an excellent budget friendly headphone amp/DAC capable of driving most headphones (minus insanely low sensitivity planars or some of Beyerdynamic's beastly pro cans), while maybe not ideal for IEMs, which can drop in quality due to being held back by gain switching (like driving a pair of bookshelf speakers with a huge power amp).

Overview:
the Elegia was Focal first high end
closed-back headphone, followed by the Celestee and Stellia, selling for about $1400AUD ($900USD). The Elegia features a 40mm Focal aluminium M shaped inverted dome driver (rather than beryllium, which is what Focal use for their TOTL headphones such as the Clear and Utopia models, as well as in the tweeters of their high end speakers). They are reasonably easy to drive, at 35 Ohms, 105 dB Sensitivity, easily driven from all Phones, DAPs or Portable Headphone Amplifiers (even my FiiO BTR3K from TRS (unbalanced) output, Approx. 25mW).

Sound Quality:
The Elegias have an impressive sound, with excellent detail, instrument separation, soundstaging, and overall tuning (even better with a little EQ). I don't find that being a closed back held the Elegias back a great deal, only a little with soundstaging. The biggest issue with the Elegias is the tuning, slightly raised in the 200-2,000Hz range. This is by no means a major issue, with these frequencies only raised by around 2-3 dB, it is merely (in my opinion) the only negative to the Elegias sound (along with the upper mids and treble looking a little all over the place on paper).

Design and Build:
The design and build quality is typical Focal, sturdy and supremely comfortable, with a minimalistic yet luxury design.
The Elegias have a padded leather (or faux leather) covering on the headband, and solid aluminium yokes, attached to the earcups with sturdy supports, which can be the failings of many headphones, including the Hifiman HE400, HE400i, HE4XX, HE5XX, etc, which look flimsy, cheap and plasticy. My complaint about the build is the cable, which is a common complaint - it is very thick and keeps its shape after being coiled, making a zigzag shape. I personally don’t mind this, as it doesn’t affect my listening, as these are part of my desktop setup, but for a headphone designed for travel, this isn’t ideal.

Summary:
The Focal Elegia is an excellent closed-back headphone, with sound to match Focal’s high end open-backs, with the to added bonus of being able to travel on trains, planes or buses, without bleeding sound, or letting in outside noise, these are a premium headphone with sound to satisfy even the pickiest of audiophiles!

Overview

The FiiO X1 was one of FiiOs least expensive DAPs (Digital Audio Players) on the market, originally costing around $150 AUD.
for such a small price, the X1 is excellent value, offering many customisable sound and play settings. It supports most file formats, including WAV, FLAC, AAC, WMA, MP3, etc. the X1 doesn't have bluetooth, but for this price and age, that's not unexpected.

Features and Functionality

The X1 is packed with customisation settings, including theme, EQ, and play settings. it also has playlists, favourites and a handy Library Search function.

EQ:
The X1 has a seven band EQ, with all the basic presets already there, which is good for on the go use, as you don’t have to walk around fiddling with the EQ faders.

Play Settings:
The X1 gives the option to shuffle, repeat, repeat once, play one song then stop, and play through folder (a feature i like, as it allows you to shuffle your whole music library.

Controls:
The X1 has four main buttons (multifunction, back, last track, next track), a multi-function mechanical scroll wheel, volume up/down, a power button, and a select button.
The thing that annoys me about the X1, is the lack of easy to understand symbols/labelling on the device, and information on the website about all the functions. The scroll wheel for example, can be used for scrolling through music and menus, and adjusting the volume (all you have to do is hold the centre (select) button, or press one of the volume buttons until the volume display pops up.). The lack of labelling could a serious problem for some, i’ve even seen other reviewers complaining that you can’t use the scroll wheel for volume, because they didn’t know that you could.

Sound Quality

The X1 sounds excellent, considering the price. The main thing that stuck me about the sound was the bass, this is where it is a huge step up from a phone or computer (this is all i have to compare with, as all my other DAPs are way out of this price range). Not in bass volume, but in bass extension and control, what you may call “punch and slam”.
The soundstage, instrument separation and “spaciousness” are OK, but the X1 does tend to sound a little bit muddled on tracks with lots of different instruments and sounds.

Summary

All in all, the X1 is a good buy for anyone wanting big sound for not much money, with heaps of features, and excellent sound quality, the FiiO X1 is a real Bang for Buck device!

Overview

released in 2015, the AK jr was the most affordable (emphasis on "most" affordable, as the AK jr was by no means a cheap device, coming in $500US, or around $750 Australian dollars) DAP (Digital Audio Player) in Astellnkern's line up (Excluding Activo devices, of whom AstellnKern is the "parent company").
For $750 AK jr has: an all Aluminium body, a physical volume control and a glass backing covered in hundreds of tiny AstellnKern symbols, which makes it look all the better, while blatantly screaming I'M AN ASTELLNKERN. (it also means that there are a lot of sharp edges)

Basic information:
the AK jr supports up to 24 bit, 192Khz resolution, utilizing a single Wolfson CS4398 DAC, and It supports pretty much every format under the sun, apart from some obscure proprietary formats.
the AK jr also (Supposedly) has a 3.5mm balanced output, USB digital output, and the ability to act as a USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier.
the reason I said this is all theoretical, is that it doesn't have digital output, i've never got the USB DAC function to work, and there aren't many (if any) people with headphones ending a 3.5mm balanced cable. (i'm fairly sure AstellnKern experimented with this on their IEMs for a while, but nobody else that i know of have ever tried this, aside from Shanling, which use a system where a 3.5mm socket can be used with proprietary adapters to become balanced).

Features and Functionality
Features:
the AK jr isn't packed full of features, as the entire point of this device was to has some of AstellnKern's magic in a device that A: doesn't cost 1000s of dollars, and B: can be used on the go without having to carry around an Aluminium brick in your pocket, and they acheived this but cutting back on lots of the features in the higher end players. the AK jr only plays music files, no streaming, no video. in my opinion this makes for a better player at this price because it means that it is able to focus on SQ and not compatibility with streaming.

Play settings, EQ, etc:
The AK jr has shuffle, gapless, repeat,and repeat once, all the basic play setting are here, but no option to play through folder, repeat within a selected range, etc.
the AK jr has a 5 band EQ, which is pretty much only useful for reigning in overly bassy or treble forward headphones, i'm sure most people would want more than a 5 band (I know I do), considering that this is targeted at people who willing to spend $750 on something that only plays music (however, in my opinion, if you're going to bother getting a DAP in this price range, you're going to want some headphones that sound good without EQ, so you shouldn't need to do anything other than to do minor adjustments). the AK jr also has a PRO EQ feature, which literally does nothing apart from display a little symbol at the top of your screen.
note: when the EQ is turned on, the volume drops considerably, which is really annoying.

Battery life:
the battery life on the AK jr is enough to get through most long car/plane trips, with a capacity of 1,450mAh, this allows for a up to 8 hours (conservatively).

Sound Quality
The AK jr sounds excellent, smooth, rich and natural. I listen mainly to metalcore and alternative metal - the sort of music that sounds dreadful from a bad source, like a big, thick, distorted metal soup, no instrument seperation, no clarity, nothing worth listening to. the AK jr on the other hand is excellent for this sort of music, open, spacious and fast. i tested this against a cheaper device, the FiiO X1, which is by no means a bad device. listening to All of this is Fleeting by Polaris, using exactly the same file (CD Quality: 16bit, 44.1Khz WAV), the X1 sounded a bit muddled, due to a lack of Instrument separation. whereas the AK jr had a greater sense of overall space and instrument separation.

Summary
in conclusion, the AstellnKern AK jr is a DAP that offers premium sound quality, for prices nowhere near what you'll pay for a top of the line AstellnKern device.
the AK jr, despite a few annoying aspects, is very good value for money, and will impress with it's performance, despite it's comparitively small size.
the AK jr is discontinued now, but usually sells for around $300 -$350 AUD.

Overview
the TFZ My Love 11 is an affordable (approx $75 USD) single dynamic driver, over the ear design IEM (In Ear Monitor), using a 12mm dual circuit Graphene Driver. They are very easy to drive, and have impressive sub bass response (going down to 5Hz). these IEMs have a removable cable, with two pin connectors (no mmcx, sorry).

Build Quality
The build quality isn't terrible, but they have an all plastic construction, making them feel a tad cheap.
The housings themselves are small (these are marketed primarily at the female market, women tend to have smaller ears), and have a semi custom design that i find quite similar to the Fiio JH3, but with smaller housings.
Where the build quality falls short for me is the cable, it feels cheap, with one of the thinnest braided cables i've ever seen. this, along with the stiff earhooks, makes the cable prone to tangling. I would definitely consider an aftermarket cable for these iems.

What's in the box
The TFZ My Love 2 comes with a good selection of silicon tips, a 2 pin 3.5mm cable, and a drawstring bag for transport.

Sound Quality
The TFZ My Love 2 is a good, affordable IEM with good detail, and fairly neutral sound signature. These IEMs sound pretty balanced, but with a slight elevation in the treble (nothing extreme). The sound is fairly neutral, apart from a very slight elevation in treble, making it good for most types of music. I listen primarily to alternative metal, metalcore, and alternative rock, I find that these genres sound excellent on the My Love 2, as they aren't warm, which can muddle fast, heavy music, and they aren't V shaped, which can scoop out mids, e.g. distorted guitar and vocals. I find these are also good for watching movies, as the Frequency response (5Hz-40Khz) give these lots of headroom for treble and bass. The My Loves sound tight and can rumble when required. however, despite having good bass, it is not bloated or boomy on bassy tracks. The soundstage is good, but not Excellent, but i'm comparing to my hifiman re800 silvers, which are famous for soundstaging (for an IEM), and also way out of the price range.

Overall Impressions
overall, this is a good affordable IEM, with good punch, and a fairly neutral sound signature. for roughly $130 AUD, this is a good buy, especially with the few added accesories, the carry bag and the extra tips.

Overview
The Fiio btr3k is a good amp for the money, selling at just $109 AUD (or around $70 USD) this amp can be used as a USB C dongle or a Bluetooth headphone amp. this, combined with it's small form factor (approx 6x2.5mm), make it ideal for use on the go. one thing that makes this amplifier even better value, is that it has 2.5 mm balanced output, so you can use it with all of your headphones, or use a balanced to single ended adapter to get a bit more power, which some headphones will need, as this amplifier isn't all that powerful.

Design/Build quality
this amp is built very well for the money, with a metal casing and glass faces. it feels very good quality, despite it's small size. Especialy considering that this is a sub $110 amplifier. the only issue (in my view) is that the USB C port is at the top, and the Headphone outs at the bottom, whereas i prefer it the other way around (with the headphone outs at the top).

Features/specifications
this is where the BTR3K excells in some areas, but also falls short in others. this DAC/amp is full of features, such as the inbuilt mic, format indicator light, and balanced output. where the BTR3K falls short however, is the small details. It has and independent volume control, to fine tune volume (which is often required, as the BTR3K only has a 32 step volume rocker)
but, this is not optionable in the IOS Fiio Control app, which many would like it to be.


The basic specifications for the BTR3K are as follows:

Power output
Single ended: 25mw
Balanced: 78mw
Capable of driving headphones of up to 100 Ohm's

Bluetooth:
Bluetooth 5.0
Formats:
SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD, LDAC

Power Output
the BTR3K has many good things going for it, but power output is not. one of them. Technically there is nothing wrong with the amount of power that it has, but, seeing as the BTR5 (the next model up) has 80mw single ended, and 240mw balanced, and seeing that the BTR3K is still 3/4 the size, the output power could have been much higher.
this is not an Amp for driving high impedence/low sensitivity headphones.
However, the relatively low power helps to conserve battery life, which i will say is excellent

Sound Quality
the BTR3K sounds, as is to be Expected from Fiio, excellent for the price, especially when using IEMs or highly sensitive headphones, as it has very little noise, and an impressive sound quality, especially at this price and this size. the soundstage is relatively good, though not as wide as the Ifi Hip Dac (though this is an innapropriate comparison, as the Hip Dac costs over twice as much. this is just the only other portable DAC/Amp that i own). The BTR3K has very good detail retreval, and sounds very airy and open.

Overall impression
Overall, the Fiio BTR3K is an excellent portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp, for not much money.
despite some small issues, this is excellent value.