Dekoni Audio Choice Leather Earpads For Sennheiser PC37X/HD598

Intro
Whenever we're talking about aftermarket headphone parts, we usually talk about cables.
With dozens of companies to choose from and prices ranging from 'pocket change' to 'holy crap that's a stereo' one can be certain that regardless of what headphones you own and how deep your wallet is, your needs will be met.
But with earpads it's a quite a different story.
Manufacturers don't offer any choice when it comes to material and filling selection. You're stuck with whatever came in the box with only replacement being whatever some other manufacturer put on their headphones that just happends to fit yours too.
This is exactly the niche in the headphones market Dekoni addresses. They offer a wide selection of headphones that fit most mid to high end models on the market with multiple materials to choose from. Whether you own a $100 or a $1000 headphone, Dekoni offers at least a few different earpad models to choose from.

Disclaimer
The earpads were sent over for free for review, no other compensation was offered or implied.
Aside from owning another pair of Dekoni earpads I am not affiliated with Dekoni in any way.
All listening tests were done using either a Fiio M11, Creative X7 or straight out of my laptop (when used for conference calls).

Please keep in mind that this is not a Sennheiser PC37X review and I will only be describing differences caused by earpad swap and not the headset itself. If you are curious about the quality of the PC37X there are plenty of reviews on the Internet (including my own).

Packaging
Earpads are delivered in a small, lacquered cardboard box with a Dekoni logo on top.
Box is durable enough to survive getting dropped on the floor and the magnetic seal prevents it from opening on accident.
I highly recommend not throwing the box away as it is perfect for storing small electronics (such as cables, adapters or IEM tips).

Build Quality
Jump in quality between stock earpads and Dekonis is clearly noticeable here.
Instead of velour which sometimes may feel a little rough to the touch we get nice, soft, silky smooth leather that's delightful to touch. Honestly, I never had a problem with how stock earpads feel when pressed against my head, but after I compared them to the Choice Leather they just started to feel unpleasant. You know, like in that episode of HIMYM where Marshall and Lily went to view a house and afterwards their apartment started to feel cramped and tiny.

Filling material is also different, on stock earpads it's firm and springy whereas on Dekonis it's soft and mushy. Dekoni calls this 'ultra slow rebound memory foam' and while the name may not be the catchiest it does accurately describe how it works. Seriously, after you press on the pads with your finger it takes a good few seconds for the foam to return back to its original shape. And it looks awesome, like watching regular pads in slo-mo.

Comfort
PC37X is already a pretty comfy headset on its own but the earpad swap made it even comfier.
Thanks to softer filling material pressure is more evenly distributed on the skull instead of pressing right in front and behind your ear like the stock earpads do.
However you need to keep in mind that leather earpads have a tendency to cause additional sweating and irritation of the skin in hot weather.
I can't really test whether that happens using this specific pair because, well it's November but it's something you should keep in mind before you decide to swap you pads especially if you live in warmer climate.

Isolation
Softer filling material (and the leather) both contribute to better seal and thus, slightly better isolation. It's not a night and day difference, PC37X as well as HD5XX series are still open back headphones after all, but if stock PC37X was 2/10 when it comes to isolation, PC37X with Dekoni leather earpads is 3/10.

Sound (Games)
Sound signature went through a significant change after swapping the pads and depending on how you use your Sennheisers it may not be a welcome one.
Soundstage is smaller compared to stock earpads which will make locating sounds in 3D space harder and midbass got boosted which will obscure the sounds of footsteps. Not an ideal combination for competitve gaming. However if casual/immersive gaming is more of your thing then added bass may be a welcome improvement as it will definitely make all those 'splosions and engine sounds more fleshed out.
Whether the tradeoff is acceptable is up to you though.

Sound (Music)
Funnily enough, while for gaming choosing between stock pads and the leather ones is a tradeoff with no clear winner, for music it's pretty much a nobrainer.
Bass quantity has been a major shortcoming of the HD5XX series since its beginning and it was one of my only complaints back when I used HD598 as my daily driver. With the Dekoni leather pads the bass gets punchier and very slightly boomier. The pads won't magically transform your headphones into bass cannons, the difference isn't that big but it's a nice tweak. Like turning on bass boost on iFi products. Granted, nobody is going to buy PC37X specifically as a music headphone but if you happen to already own one and don't have budget for another pair then an earpad swap might be exactly what you need.

Recommendations

For 100% Competitive Gaming?
No. If the only thing you use your HD598/PC37X for is pwning noobs then changes brought by the Dekoni leather pads are the exact opposite of what you need.

For Casual/Immersive Gaming, Music Or Conference Calls?
Heck yeah! Comfort improvement enough is the reason to buy those with isolation and bass being an unexpected but welcome bonus. Seriously it's so good I put another pair of Dekoni pads (for my Focals) on my to-buy list. It's just that big of an improvement.

Introduction
I received the Masons V3 as part of the European Review tour. I did not get to keep them and I did not receive any compensation for writing this. My main point of reference for this review were Focal Clears driven by either iFi iDSD Black Label or Schiit Ragnarok. All music was lossless from Tidal. Sorry in advance for the poor picture quality.

Package contents

Unique Melody definitely wants you to feel pampered as soon as you open the box. THe amount of accessories included with the Mason V3 is seriously impressive. Aside from the IEMs themselves we get:

• Three cables
  
  
• Six pairs of ear tips
  
  
• Cleaning cloth
  
  
• A USB drive (which I haven’t plugged into so I have no idea what’s on it)
  
  
• a metal storage jar
  
  
• A keychain
  

The jar is rather heavy and has sharp edges so it’s only ever going to be useful as a stationary case. For throwing into the bag and carrying around town a smaller (and lighter) case would be more appropriate and I wish Unique Melody included one (even something cheap like the cases Brainwavz uses). Aside from that, no complaints.

Pretty much everybody will be able to use the Masons out of the box without first going to a store and buying iems that fit given how many of them are included. Same thing with the cable, UM not only included a regular 3.5mm unbalanced cable and a 2.5mm balanced one, they even threw in a Pentaconn cable in case one of ten people in the world who use this standard buys their IEM.



Speaking of the cable, just look at this thing. It’s beautiful. Silver and copper strands interwoven together to form the most beautiful stock cable I’ve ever seen. Unlike most IEMs the Masons don’t use the 2-Pin connector or the MMCX, rather they use a four pin threaded connector (not unlike the one used Dita Audio Truth cable). This makes ordering custom cables a bit of a hassle as cable makers usually don’t have such connectors in stock. On the other hand though, the cables included with the Masons are so good that you shouldn’t have to order custom ones anyway.


Appearance

The pictures I took with my phone don’t fully capture the beauty of the Masons so you’ll have to just trust me that Masons are a beautiful pair of IEMs. Design is subtle and not at all flashy with discreet Unique Melody logo on the sides. If I could change just one thing about them I’d make the shells opaque and not transparent but that’s just a preference. Overall I really dig them.


Comfort

This is one of few gripes I have with these IEMs (we’ll get to the rest soon). Unfortunately the Masons turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable IEMs I have ever used. When fully inserted into my ears Masons press very firmly against the outer walls of my ear canals causing severe discomfort. At first I thought this was just a personal incompatibility but I asked several other people to try them out and four other people confirmed my findings. After about ten days of daily use the pain stopped. I don’t know whether my ear canals got accustomed to the shape of the Masons or I just became dull to the pain but yeah, not a great first impression as far as comfort goes.


Sound

Here’s the most important part of any audio review. How do the Masons sound? Well, if I had to describe them in one word, I’d say they sound realistic. The vocals are very natural and accurate sounding, even badly recorded ones (looking at you Jeff Mangum). Soundstage is moderate in size, with great sense of depth. Masons easily beat my Focal Clears when it comes to soundstage. It’s not as big as say, HD800 but it’s still pretty large. Overall tonal balance is rather neutral with a small tilt towards darkness. Bass has a lot of detail (when the seal is perfect, otherwise it’s rather thin) but isn’t bloated and doesn’t overpower the mids (despite the darker tilt). I’d say it makes both Ron Carver and Gessafelstein sound pleasant. Detail retrieval is pretty good too but not as good as the Clears. In Leonard Cohen’s Avalanche I can clearly hear the small ripples in the vocals but they are not as big as on the Clears. Similar story with Steely Dan’s Babylon Sisters, the female vocals in the chorus aren’t as clearly (pun unintended) separated but I can still hear that it’s not a single voice. Overall I found the listening experience very satisfying once comfort stopped being an issue for me.

Conclusion

Okay, so we’ve talked about how beautiful those IEMs are, how satisfying and natural the sound is and how rich the accessory set is. If you were to stop reading this review at this point you might leave under the impression that the Masons are a flawless, perfect product worth eating ramen for a year. I wish I could tell you that. Unfortunately there is one glaring flaw with the Masons which in my eyes make them non recommendable and that is their price to performance ratio.

Don’t get me wrong these do sound fantastic, that’s not the issue here. The issue here is they don’t sound fantastic enough to justify $2499 price point. When I compared them (albeit briefly) against Campfire Audio Andromeda I found them trading blows with each other with neither being a clear winner. And Andromedas cost less than half the price of the Masons. At around $1200 I’d recommend them in a heartbeat, hell even at $1500 considering all the swag you get when you buy those. But at $2500 the only thing I can recommend is for you to buy Andromedas instead.

Have you ever felt like the spark that used to be there just vanished? That the world, once bright and colorful became bland and dull over time? That you no longer feel the joy, the excitement and the energy that you used to feel? If you do that means one of two things. Either your marriage is about to fall apart or you’ve caught upgraditis. If it’s the former I strongly advise you to go seek professional help instead of reading this review. If it’s the latter keep reading and I’ll tell you how I dealt with upgraditis after contracting it about two months ago.
After identifying the cause of the symptoms I immediately contacted Andrew Sparks of Sparkos Labs and ordered a pair of SS3602 in order to begin the therapy as soon as possible. I have to give kudos to mr. Sparks here. Not only was he quick to reply to all my emails but also he managed to send the package in less than four hours after I paid the PayPal invoice.  Mr Sparks’ customer service, just like his products, is top-notch.

Packaging​

 
The SS3602 arrived in antistatic bags with pins protected by plastic extenders. We’re far from those cute plastic boxes Burson ships their opamps in but I’m not going to complain since apparently the bags and bubble wrap padded envelope were enough to ensure safe travel across the globe.

Installation​

Just like the last time, align the markings on the PCB with the cut on the DIP-8 slot and firmly push the opamp in. Nothing too complicated. Please remember to double check the orientation before powering on your device. And please, please test the opamps with expendable headphones before plugging expensive stuff in. One can never be too careful.
 

 
 
What you may have noticed in the above photo is that the SS3602 (unlike the SS3601) are too tall to fit under the back cover of the X7. That’s not too big of an issue unless you travel with the X7 a lot. Personally I don’t really care although I would totally understand if you did my dear reader.

Sound​

X7 with Sparkos singles was already a pleasure to listen to but the duals pushed the device to a whole new level.
Soundstage grew so big that it reached lower parts of the stratosphere.
You know that feel when the music starts playing and for a split-second you’re wondering whether You forget to switch between speakers and headphones because the soundstage is so massive? I get that all the time now. And I love it. The soundstage is so ridiculously huge that the quiet clicks audible throughout Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker make me turn my head and check whether someone turned on the light in the hallway (light switches in my house make a very similar click).
 
Instrument separation is also received a tremendous improvement. It’s very noticeable on songs with multiple instruments playing the same, or similar parts. I first noticed it when listening to the Rhythm Future Quartet. In the videos we can clearly see two guitarists, a violinist and a bassist. The violin and the lead guitar are rather easy to pick apart, however on stock opamps the rhythm guitar and double-bass blend together and form an unintelligible mess. Enter SS3602 and this amalgam instantly becomes two separate instruments, clearly distinguishable from each other.
 
Next song, Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I use this song alot to benchmark audio gear due to its complexity and sheer number of instruments present in the mix. I thought I knew this song inside and out, I thought that it will never, ever surprise me. So, imagine the look on my face when I listened to it for the first time after installing SS3602 and I was finally able to hear bass guitar and accordion in the mix. I knew they were supposed to be there, the concert video indicates as much, but I thought the mastering engineer went full And Justice For All… on the final mix. Turns out, it was not the engineer who decided to drop those tracks, it were the stock duals that weren’t able to handle this many instruments at once.
 
In my Sparkos singles review I made fun of the “I can now hear details I couldn’t hear before” audio cliche. The thought that a part of a song could actually be inaudible on lower tier gear seemed rather silly to me back then. And here I am now, nine months later telling You that a pair of opamps made me hear instruments that couldn’t hear before. Either their performance is so great that it caused me to reevaluate my bias or the Stockholm syndrome has finally kicked in. It’s up to You my dear reader to decide which one it is.
 

Final verdict​

So, it’s time for the big question. Are the SS3602 an amazing piece of hardware? Yes, they most definitely are. Are they worth the money? Depends on your definition of "worth". To me they were worth every dollar. Should You buy them? Only if You want to crank the performance up to eleven.

 
I wanted to start this review off with a Swiss Army knife joke but it looks like several Head-Fiers have already did that so in a futile attempt to be both funny and original I’ll start off with a comic.
                                                   I'm 99% sure this is how it went down
 
I’d like to sincerely thank Hoomairah Atchia-Rawat from iFi Audio for choosing me for the Review Tour as well as Mateusz Przychodzień of Forza Audioworks for lending me his personal iDSD BL unit for evaluation. I was not paid to write this review and (unfortunately) I did not get to keep the unit. I did have a lot of fun writing this so there's that.
 
 
So what the iDSD BL actually is? Well, the iFi’s own website calls it “the world’s most powerful DSD/PCM/DXD Battery-powered DAC”. However I feel that calling the iDSD a DAC is doing it disservice as this device can do so much more than just convert ones and zeroes into an analogue waveform. So from now on I’m going to refer to the iDSD as a USTAB, a “Universal Soldier of The Audio Battlefield”. I believe this acronym reflects the nature of the iDSD BL much more accurately than “DAC/amp combo” or a “portable amp”.
To explain in detail the thought process behind this name let’s talk about all functionalities of this little black box.
 

Jean-Claude Van Damme with head-mounted iDSD BL, 1995
 
 
 
 
 
To underline the “Universal” part of the acronym even further, performance of the individual sections of the iDSD BL can be fine-tuned by the user.

1. The DAC has three distinct digital filter and can reverse the polarity of the digital signal.
2. The amp section has three levels of gain (nine if you multiply it by IEMatch settings), bass boost and iFi’s proprietary 3D Sound.
3. The RCA outs on the back can output both fixed and variable volume.

I’ll talk about all of these functionalities in more detail a little later on.
 
Subtle, yet elegant design, with product shots on the top and side of the box with USTAB's specs on the bottom. Aesthetically pleasing, recyclable and stylish. I wouldn’t mind displaying it on a bookshelf like a Lego set for my guests to admire.
 

 
 
More important than the box are its contents and here’s where iDSD BL’s USTAB nature shows up again. A lesser company would include just a USB cable and a 6.3mm adapter but not iFi.
No, the British company wants their customers to be prepared for every type of audio combat scenario and that’s why in the iDSD BL box contains:
 
 

 
 
My only gripe with the USTAB’s arsenal is that it does not include a Micro-USB OTG or an Apple Camera Connection Kit despite being marketed as a smartphone-compatible device. But that is a very minor issue, overall I am really impressed by the amount of accessories included in the box.
 

Oh iFi Audio, you didn't have to
 
Additional 50 points to iFi audio for including this note in the box. It serves no practical purpose aside from making the iDSD owners feel loved by the company. It's a simple gesture but it works.
 
 
Front of the device houses the headphone output, the volume knob, a 3.5mm audio input and switches for the XBass and 3D Sound. Unusually for a portable device a 6.3mm jack is used instead of a more common 3.5mm connection but iFi includes an appropriate adapter in the box so that shouldn’t be a problem. The potentiometer is wonderfully smooth to operate and the switches are sturdy enough to not be turned by accident so overall, great job. One issue that should be pointed out though is that the volume marker on the potentiometer is rather hard to see (a black notch on black background). iFi, please put a dab of paint in a contrasting color on the notch to make it more visible. That’s the only improvement I could ask for.
 
On the back of the device we can find: USB used for connecting the USTAB to a PC or a mobile source, a pair of analog RCA jacks and a combo coaxial/optical input/output RCA plug. The combo RCA plug works as an optical or coaxial input when no USB is connected and as a coaxial only output when USB is connected, thus making the iDSD an USB to S/PDIF converter when the situation calls for one.
USB port of the iDSD BL is unique among portable DACs. While all other products happily use the micro USB type B connectors, the USTAB not only uses a full size type-A plug, it uses a male USB type-A plug! Not gonna lie, I was very sceptical about this. What’s wrong with good ol’ micro USB type B? Well, lots of things actually. Micro USB connectors are unreliable, fragile, and easily broken. Also, DACs which use micro USB connectors require their own custom micro-USB to micro-USB cables.
 
So, how do you connect the iDSD BL to a smartphone? Easily, using a USB OTG adapter (or Apple Camera Connection Kit if you’re an iPhone user). And you know what? This is genius. Think about it. OTG adapters (and CCK) can be found in pretty much any electronics store. They don’t need to be custom made or imported from China. And the connection is much more secure than a micro-USB type B connection.
 

An unbreakable bond was formed
 
Congratulations iFi. I will never, ever doubt your design decisions again. You have convinced me.
 
The right side of the device houses a female USB type A port. This port is used to charge your mobile device. It’s not going to win against a dedicated powerbank but it will save your skin in an emergency situation. As I’ve said, iDSD is a Universal Soldier, able to adapt to any situation.
 
Left side and the bottom of the device is where things start to get more interesting. Here we can find switches used to fine-tune the performance of the USTAB.

• RCA output switch - Used to switch between fixed and variable output. use fixed output when connecting the iDSD BL to another headphone amp, a preamp or an integrated amplifier. Use the variable mode when connecting to active speakers or a power amp. Dunno what else to tell You dear reader, works as expected.
• Power mode - used to switch between three different gain settings. Goes from “reasonable” to “no man shall possess this kind of power” really fast. The effect of the Power Mode on the overall sound quality will be covered in more detail in the part where I finally start talking about sound.
• Polarity - Used to reverse the polarity of the digital signal. Despite my best effort I was not able to hear any difference between the reversed and the non-reversed signal so I just left it at non-reversed.
• Digital filter switch - Used to switch between three different digital filters. Honest to God, I can’t hear the difference in PCM mode. In DSD mode the switch controls analog filters and the difference is clearly audible so I will cover it in more detail in the part where I finally start talking about sound.
• IEMatch - Used to adjust output sensitivity. If you experience hiss even in Eco mode, adjust this untill hiss is gone, otherwise leave at Off.

 
The bottom of the device also has output labels and the spec sheet printed on it but since it’s black writing on an equally black background you won’t be able to decipher it anyway. iFi please make the font at least a little brighter.
 

Yeah, I don't know either what it says
 
I was able to test the iDSD BL on Windows, Linux and Android operating systems. Unfortunately I do not have access to Apple hardware so I wasn’t able to test Macs and iPhones for compatibility. Here are the results:

1. Android - PCM, DXD and DSD playback works using USB Audio Player Pro. All playback modes (Native, DoP, DSD to PCM conversion) are supported. Does not work with apps that use standard built-in audio stack (YouTube, Tidal, Spotify), however that is an Android issue and not iDSD BL issue. If you plan to use USTAB with an Android device please download one of several USB Audio compatible music apps or root your device.
2. Windows - PCM and DXD works after installing iFi’s proprietary driver. DSD playback works in DSD to PCM conversion mode. I followed the Foobar2000 configuration guide but after setting up the plugins I ended up hearing either music in PCM-conversion mode or total silence in native DSD (both indicated via the Foobar interface and the color of the LED on the USTAB).
3. Linux - PCM and DXD works systemwide out of the box (via ALSA). DSD playback works in DSD to PCM conversion mode. Unfortunately after a few hours of intensive cli-fu, googling and reboots I still didn’t manage to force MPD to play DSD natively so I just gave up. According to instructions I found here [TU LINK https://github.com/lintweaker/xmos-native-dsd] native DSD requires replacing the kernel and ALSA lib and/or applying custom patches to the MPD. As far as I know audiophile-oriented Linux distros such as Volumio and APLinux have this modifications built-in but I haven’t tested them myself because the amount of effort required to do that quickly got ridiculous.

 

As usual, my first song is And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope by progressive black metal band Ne Obliviscaris. The violin intro on this song is my go to treble evaluation track. Throughout the entire song iDSD BL remained in full control of the sound. The violin was crisp, smooth and articulate, with absolutely no harshness to it whatsoever. What impressed me the most in this song is that despite the overall density of the mix the violin parts and clean vocals were always clearly separated from the other instruments, never blending with the drums or the guitars.
 
Next up, Kraftwerk’s Sex Object. Probably my favourite track from the Techno Pop album. A clear motive is established at the beginning of the song, composed of violin-like synthesizer melody. This motive is played throughout the entire song, and just like the real violin in NeO, it remains crisp and articulate without ever sounding grainy.
 
Last but not least, Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby by Cigarettes After Sex, an American ambient pop group. Wonderfully detailed, airy with great imaging. The cymbals are deliciously crispy with satisfying decay.
 
To mix things up a little I decided to play Sunyatta album by instrumental progressive metal band Vipassi. The guitar and bass are fast, forward and dynamic with good attack. Drums are clearly separated from the rest of the instruments and remain so for the duration of the album.
Every note is clearly pronounced and every is riff full of life. On Benzeiten, the second track of the album, the USTAB gives the drums much needed impact without sacrificing guitar slam. On Samsara the backing female vocals can be clearly distinguished in the mix despite the very aggressive drum and guitar parts further proving that iDSD BL’s instrument separation is top notch. Frankly I don’t know what else to tell you, this album is a treat to listen to on the iDSD BL (if you’re into metal that is).
 
But maybe you’re not that into metal and you’d like to find out how does the iDSD BL handle more audiophilly correct content.
Let’s fire up Brothers in Arms. First thing you may notice is wonderful decay and pleasant smoothness of the guitar. Second thing you may notice is beautiful intimacy and depth in Mark Knopfler’s voice. It’s not that I’m suddenly hearing additional layer, I’m hearing the exact same voice I’ve heard numerous times before but it conveys so much more emotion than before. I love this song even more now.
 
 
To properly asses the bass quality of the iDSD I must first tell you my dear reader about XBass.
 
XBass is iFi’s proprietary analog filter meant to improve bass response of bass-shy headphones. But do not mistake it for a simple bass boost. XBass makes the bass more present in the mix, adds more body to it and improves impact (within reason, it’s not going to turn your AD700 into XB700). As a result bass-shy headphones become neutral-sounding or even “fun” and bassy headphones become… well, bassier.
 
Test Track #1 - Almost Like The Blues by Leonard Cohen
Great sense of depth on the bass guitar and plenty of detail but the notes do not carry any weight. Enabling XBass adds more weight and body to the bass. It is now as present in the mix as the piano and vocals. My Shure SRH1840 are now closer to being neutral than ever before. If I were to listen to Popular Problems only for the rest of my life, I’d probably never turn XBass off.
 
Test Track #2 - Excursions by A Tribe Called Quest
This song left me a little confused. After massive improvement I heard on the ALTB I expected the bass track to go through a similar transformation. But the difference was much more subtle here. Welcome, but subtle. SRH1840 were never a bass heavy cans and iFi’s analog filter didn’t turn them into such but it added some nice body to the double-bass intro as well as some more impact to the drums.
 
Test Track #3 - What Happened by Dope D.O.D
This is where the limitations of the filter start to show. Lack of sub-bass and very weak impact make this song lifeless using Shures. Despite my best efforts I can’t turn the SRH1840 into a bass heavy headphone. Of course it’s not iFi’s fault, XBass can put make-up and a nice dress on your prom date but it’s no Fairy Godmother. It won’t magically create sub-bass out of nothingness.
 

 
As a last test I enabled XBass on my Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro, just to see how far the bass can be pushed on these cans. As it turns out,with XBass on the lowest frequencies get strong enough to cause the cups to vibrate to the rhythm of the music, in turn causing the bones in my skull to vibrate as well. Dubstep on this sounds like an earthquake deep in my brain. This was a unique experience to me and one I won’t forget anytime soon.
 
iDSD BL also has another filter called which supposedly recreates a speaker soundstage while using headphones. Initially I assumed that iFi’s description is just a fancy name for crossfeed but that seems to not be the case. While yes, the 3D Matrix Plus does seem to mix channels together a bit it also widens the soundstage, enhances the treble (subtly) and moves the sound above the listener’s head. Unlike the XBass I wouldn’t recommend having it on all the time but on some recordings (such as Yosi Horikawa’s Wandering) I really enjoyed it.
 
 
Universal nature of the iDSD BL shows itself again in the Gain management section of the device. Most competing devices do not offer any type of gain adjustment or might offer a single High/Low toggle. But not USTAB, no. Our Universal Soldier is capable of using any weapon he finds on the battlefield no matter the impedance and sensitivity.
There are three different gain levels available with additional adjustment available via a separate IEMatch switch on the bottom of the device. You plan to use 600ohm impossible to drive monsters with the BL? Go ahead, set the gain to Turbo and enjoy over 166mW of power. Oh, you’d rather use sensitive IEMs? No problem, set the gain to Eco and enjoy pitch-black background. What? You can still hear noise? Enable IEMatch to fix the issue. Still can hear it? Well, you might just have tinnitus because with IEMatch engaged the background of the USTAB is absolutely silent with not a single hint of hiss.
 
Last of the (many) switches on the iDSD BL. The digital filter. I’ll talk very briefly about this one because the difference is very, very subtle. When playing PCM files the difference is so small that I wouldn’t be able to distinguish between different filters if my life depended on it so I just left it on Bit-Perfect and never looked back.
During DSD playback the switch toggles between three analog filters and switching between them seems to increase/decrease the volume of the track. I’m not entirely sure why this happens and whether it is supposed to do something more but the difference in volume is obvious. As with PCM, I left it on Bit-Perfect and never looked back as I find the option to change the filters rather redundant.
 
 
Dear reader, if you've managed to get this far you’re probably under the impression that the iDSD BL is a perfect device, devoid of any defects and for the most part, you’re right. But unfortunately the USTAB does have some issues and this is what we’re going to talk about now.
 
The first problem is that for some reason, iDSD BL mutes the first second or two of every track. This happens regardless of the file being played, source device and any of the iDSD settings. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means but it’s annoying enough to be mentioned. Hopefully this bug will be resolved in a future firmware update.
 
Second issue: channel imbalance. At low volume (9’o clock on the potentiometer and below) the left channel is noticeably louder than the right channel. Increasing the volume resolves the problem but people who like to listen to music queitly (or use very sensitive headphone) might be bothered by it.
 
Third issue: Size and weight. The USTAB is advertised as a portable devices that can be easily paired with a smartphone and while that’s technically true the iDSD is too big to fit in a pocket and it weighs a whooping half a kilogram when stacked with my phone. Trust me, I wish I was kidding.
 

Portable device lol
 
 
 
So, after seven pages of B-list movie references, jokes and babbling, what is my final opinion on the iDSD BL? I deeply enjoyed using this device both as a desktop unit and on the go. I deeply enjoyed its powerful headphone output. I deeply enjoyed its rich customization options. If you’re looking for a device that’s excellent in every possible use case, that can adjust to any headphones, any source device and any conditions you should seriously consider buying the iDSD BL. It is a brilliant device and a true Universal Soldier of the Audio Battlefield.
 
Final note
You may be wondering why I bothered to put all the goofiness here. Well, for me audio is all about having fun and I can't have fun if I'm forced to be dead serious.
 

 

 

This review is a repost from the Soundblaster X7 thread. I bought the transceiver with my own money.
 
When I saw the package delivered by the courier I just laughed. One day Creative will figure out how to use bubble wrapped envelopes but today was not this day. Instead they decided to put a device the size of a fingernail in a box that could fit two DualShock 4 controllers. Besides the transmitter itself the box contained standard manual (in bazillion languages), warranty card, and some other papers. 
 
  
 
In order to pair the transmitter with our headset (or the X7) we need to switch the headset into pairing mode, then press and hold the button on the BT-W2. The pairing persists after unplugging the device so there is no need to repeat the procedure everytime we switch between PC or PS4.
 
The setup is really painless. All that's required of the user is a free USB 2.0 port. Transmitter uses built-in Windows drivers and is recognized as a USB Audio device. However it is locked in 16bit/48khz mode. Well, Bluetooth isn't exactly hi-fi friendly so I wouldn't hold that against the device itself. I just thought I'd mention it. Oh, and the microphone works too (if connected to headphones that have one)
 
That's the part You have all been waiting for. Does it work with PS4? Does it work with the X7?
The answer to both is yes.

 
BT-W2 is instantly recognized as a USB headset, and will provide chat audio to the X7 once paired with it. It can also be used to transmit all game audio to paired Bluetooth headset (handy if You just don't want to run any wires and don't want to shell out money for official Sony headsets)
 
So far I am very satisfied with the device. It does exactly what I expected it to, and does it well. However there is one major problem with the device that needs to be mentioned.
 
BT-W2 costs 40 euro. Fourty euro. Let that sink in for a minute. For a USB Bluetooth transmitter. Which is an essential addon for a 400 euro sound card. It should've come default with the transmitter.
UPDATE: X7 is sold on Massdrop with the BT-W2 included. You're forgiven Creative. Partially.
 
Sound Blaster X7 should've came with the BT-W2 by default or should've included analog microphone out. Instead it relies on additional device to function properly, even though it was advertised as console compatible. However, if You use X7 with your PS4 (or plan to) and want the cleanest setup possible the BT-W2 is the way to go.
 
All tests performed on following devices:
Windows 7 X64 PC
PS4 with the latest firmware update
Creative Soundblaster X7 with the latest firmware update
Jabra BT3030 (I do not have a proper Bluetooth headset so this little thing had to suffice)

I received the X1 2nd gen as part of its World Review Tour. After ten days I shipped it off to the next reviewer. No compensation was offered or implied by Fiio.
So, the X1 2nd gen. Fiio’s newest affordable music player. If high-quality audio reproduction is an addiction then the X1 is a getaway drug sold to children at schools. At mere 99$ this little device promises to open the eyes of the infidel to the truth of the Audio God. So how much of the Truth can you learn for 99$? Let’s find out.
 

The player arrived in a nice, white cardboard box with Fiio logo and a picture of the X1 2nd gen itself. Inside you can find:

1. The player itself
2. MicroUSB cable (you can never have too much of these)
3. Clear case
4. Some screen protectors
5. Manual and warranty cards
6. Hi-Rez sticker

 
The case is sturdy enough not to break despite the fact that I dropped the X1ii twice during my time with it. I hope Fiio sells them in different colors for even more customization. So far so good.
 
If you’ve ever used an iPod you’ll instantly recognize the touch wheel controls implemented on the X1ii. Touch wheel is used to scroll through the menus, and the center button selects the currently highlighted option. The wheel also plays a very annoying ding while scrolling which, luckily, can be turned off in the device settings. I’d love the touch wheel to be more precise though, as I often missed the desired item in the system menu.
Aside from the wheel there are seven physical buttons on the device. Volume up, down and power button placed on the side of the player as well as Back Prev Next and Menu placed on the front. They’re a little bit laggy but overall, work as designed. The only downside of the controls I can think of is that for some reason the Prev and Next buttons are inactive when the screen is off.
 
X1 worked out of the box with my 128GB Samsung Micro SD card. Supposedly it supports up to 256GB of storage however I was not able to test that claim.  It took over 20 minutes to scan my full library which is kinda slow. For comparison, my phone needs less than seven minutes to scan the exact same SD card.
 
User interface is unfortunately its worst part and the biggest annoyance. It’s slow, unresponsive and buggy.

1. You want to listen to a song from a different album than the one that’s currently playing? Prepare for a 5-10 second pause between tracks.
2. Listening to a track but want to skip to the next one? Both tracks will overlap each other for a few seconds.
3. Feel like something is missing from the intro? That’s because for some reason first few seconds of every track are muted.

File management is not that great either. X1ii often fails to find files on my SD card. They are visible in the file manager on my phone, on my PC and on the X1ii itself but any attempt to play them results in “Unable to find xxx.xxx file" being displayed. I tried rescanning the library a few times, deleting and copying files again to the SD card. Nothing helped. As if the player had its own mind that refused to play Leonard Cohen and Rage Against The Machine. If that’s the case, congratulations to Fiio for creating first self-aware music player in history which also hates Leonard Cohen.
Moreover if the X1ii fails to find an entire album (which it often does) it’ll display the “Unable to find xxx.xxx” for every song in an album/folder. One by one. Slowly. As if user annoyance was a priority over music playback.

But wait, there’s more! You want to switch the 3.5mm port to line-out mode? No worries, the X1 has your back. Just go to System Settings and switch output from headphone to line-out.
You want to switch the line-out volume to fixed? Just go to System Settings and... WRONG!
For some reason fixed/variable volume switching is not in System Settings where user would expect to find such option considering the fact that this is where headphone/lineout switch was placed. Instead the user must navigate to Playback Settings and look for the volume switch there.
Why is the default lineout volume set to 33% variable? Is there any reason to use X1ii own digital volume control if pairing with an external amp?
 
Dac chip used in the X1ii is the Texas Instruments CM5242. I wasn’t able to track any other devices that use it internally so my ears will have to suffice as a judge here. Compared to the dac in Fiio E18 (which I frequently paired with the player) X1ii is less resolving, slightly less detailed and a tad more smooth. Definitely an improvement over a smartphone though.
 
I feel that the amp section is the weakest part of the X1ii. I understand that it wasn’t build with HiFiMan HE-6 in mind but the built-in amp is so underpowered that even my portable Beyers Custom One Pro needed the volume to be set to 60% for comfortable listening and even then sounded weak and thin.
And these are 16ohm portable headphones, easily powered by a smartphone.  Shure SRH1840 needed 80% volume to even be audible and these aren’t difficult to drive either.
Situation improved somewhat when I used the X1ii with my Porta Pros but I can’t really recommend that pairing either. Frankly, the only headphones that sounded good with the X1ii alone were earbuds. Anything bigger than those screamed for more power. An external amp is a must here if you want to use anything other than IEMs.
Battery
Can’t say a bad word about battery life of the X1ii. During the 10 days I got to spend with it I only charged it twice so that’s about 3 days of daily use per charge. Great job Fiio!
 
Frankly, I don’t really see why Bluetooth capability could be a selling point of a music player. Since all the audio processing is done within the circuitry of the receiving device there really is no benefit in using a music player over a smartphone unless your wireless headphones/speakers support APT-X and your phone doesn’t.
To test the quality I paired the X1ii with my Sound Blaster X7 (which does support APT-X).
I’m not going to lie, I was surprised with the quality of the Bluetooth connection. I expected music to be dull and lifeless but it turned out to be enjoyable and really pleasing. Great job Fiio, keep it up!
 
X1ii product page states that it can be wirelessly controlled via Bluetooth. Great idea Fiio? I don’t need to take the player out of my bag if I want to switch tracks, I can just use my smartphone/smartwatch for that...WRONG AGAIN! Bluetooth remote control works only with Fiio’s own remote control. Y u do dis Fiio? This was supposed to be an amazing feature not an upsell on yet-another-proprietary-gadget.
 
I’d love to be able to tell you that the X1ii is the perfect getaway drug to get your friends/children hooked. But it’s not. It’s really really far from being that.

1. The controls are too unresponsive,
2. Music playback is too buggy
3. The interface is too annoying to use
4. The library scan is too slow.
5. The Amp is too weak.
6. Remote control works only with Fiio's own remote

All of the above give me an impression of a product that was not thoroughly tested and shouldn’t have been released to the market in its current state. I’m really disappointed in Fiio and hope that future firmware upgrades at least partially resolve the playback and interface problems. So, is the Fiio X1 2nd gen an amazing value for the money in its current state? Definitely no. Will it be after a few firmware upgrades? Yes, it will. It has potential to be an amazing product and I really hope that it will live up to its potential one day. It's just not going to be today.

Introduction​

You probably heard of Burson Audio. An audio company well-regarded in the Head-Fi community for their Soloist amp and Conductor amp/dac. You may also know them as the makers of the infamous V5 op-amp, also known as: “The only op-amp visible from the outer space”.
 
                                             
Seriously, that thing is huge. Which makes it unsuitable for devices with little room to spare such as the X7. Luckily, Burson Audio created the V5's little brother, the V5i, aka “Reasonably-sized Burson op-amp”
 

Disclaimer​

Charles from Burson has reached out to me some time ago and offered me a review sample of the V5i single op-amps in exchange for my honest opinion on them. No other compensation was offered or implied.

Packaging​

The op-amps arrived in a small plastic box lined with hard foam. The box itself is small enough not to take more space than necessary, while still providing adequate protection for the V5i during transport. Tight and secure, like two babies wrapped up in a blanket. Great job on the packaging Burson!
                                                                    

Installation​

As is the case with pretty much any op-amp, installation is a breeze. Take the device out of the box, line up the markings on the socket with the markings on the op-amp and just put it in place. Nothing too complicated here. However, there are two caveats I need to mention, one of which is specific to the Sound Blaster X7.

1. The V5i are about 1mm too tall to fit inside the X7. The bottom cover will have to be removed for the op-amps to fit. Not a deal breaker for me but has to be mentioned anyway.
   
2. The second issue is that the V5i is slightly bigger than a DIP-8 socket it is mounted in, therefore it cannot be used in devices with DIP-8 sockets placed right next to each other (2mm clearance on each side should be enough for the V5i to fit).
   

 
After installing the op-amps always remember to test them using cheap headphones first! No matter how well-regarded the manufacturer is, sometimes accidents happen and you do not want one of them to happen to your precious pair of cans. Test the op-amps for stability before you turn on the music.
                                                      

The Sound​

Now that our V5i are unpacked, installed and tested it’s time for some listening.​

 
Leonard Cohen’s Popular Problems is my first choice here. Not only is it a great album by itself, I’ve heard to it so many times already that I can easily catch even miniscule changes to the sound.
First impressions: Damn, that’s smooth. Second impressions: So. Unbelievably. Smooth.
Mr Cohen’s voice has lost of its harshness and replaced it with a bit of brightness I never heard on this album before. While some of the details have been lost, the reduced edge in the upper mids was a welcome change.
The bass guitar in the intro of “Almost Like The Blues” now had more powerful impact and was more audible in the mix, as were the cymbals in “My Oh My”. Overall, I was pleased with the results.
 
Next up, Ne Obliviscaris, my favourite band of all time. Their song “And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope” is to me a pure eargasm, regardless of the source or the phones used. Fourteen minutes of violin solos, clean vocals and growls. Pure bliss. So, how did the V5i do? Here, my reactions were mixed. On one hand the violin sounded more forward and was better separated from the other instruments which is a welcome change. On the other hand though, the guitars were now pushed to the back, no longer being an equal part of the mix.
 
One of my recent discoveries, The Mantle by Agalloch was my next weapon of choice against the V5i. In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion not only blends acoustic guitars with heavier, more overdriven sound, it also uses clean vocals together with black metal screeching.
All at the same time. For fifteen minutes.
And I have to admit, the little Bursons performed flawlessly. Not only was the acoustic guitar well articulated and detailed, it gained this wetness to it, as if the sustain of the strings was prolonged. A very pleasant experience.
 
Last but not least, Kraftwerk. It seems as if the V5i were built with the specific purpose of reproducing the Mensch-Maschine album as beautifully and close to the original as possible. Every note, every single sound and every word were so full of life, and full of detail. Pure magnificence. Among all the albums I’ve listened to with these op-amps Mensch-Maschine paired with them best.
 
And then I was enlightened. The V5i sounds the way it sounds because it was built by true audiophiles for true audiophiles. For the Typical Head-Fier Andy who listens mostly to classical, female vocals and Random Access Memories. With that kind of music the V5i will shine. Play it some jazz and it will sing like a bird. Only average performance with metal is not a flaw, it is part of the design. The V5i were built to turn average human beings into seasoned listeners. This is brilliant! I bow to you Burson Audio for you have outaudiophiled yourselves and everyone else too.

 

Comparison with the SS3601​

A few months ago I’ve reviewed the SS3601 op-amps by Sparkos Labs. Since both the SS3601 and V5i are single, discrete op-amps it’s only natural for potential buyers to want to know how these two compare against each other.

• Price. Pair of V5i singles will set you back 50$ plus shipping. Pair of SS3601 is 80$. Burson is a clear winner here.
• The packaging. V5i are shipped in a box that will surely protect them from harm during transit. SS3601 are wrapped in some bubble wrap and stuffed into an envelope. Another victory for Burson.
• Installation. Both are equally easy to install, however the SS3601 can be used with the bottom cover of the X7 therefore it is a victor.
• Sound. This part will be much more difficult for me because I can't honestly tell you which one is better than the other. There is no clear victor here. They are simply different. SS3601 is a neutral op-amp, V5i colors the sound. If you demand absolute neutrality from your system SS3601 will be a better choice. If you do not mind the coloration but enjoy the occasional brightness the V5i is a better choice. What matters is that neither one will disappoint you.

Conclusion​

What Burson Audio created is not only an amazing upgrade for any op-amp based amplifier, it's also a perfect indoctrination tool that will turn any person new to audio into a seasoned critical listener within weeks, not years by sounding best with 6moons approved content. Personally, I'm impressed with the sheer genius of that strategy. I wish all the best to good people of Burson Audio and all of their customers.
 
*Do not take anything written in this review too seriously. It was meant to be humorous.

This review was copy pasted from the Sound Blaster X7 thread with minor edits to make it appeal to broader audience.
 
First of all, I would really like to thank Andrew Sparks, the man behind Sparkos Labs. Mr Sparks is a really nice and helpful guy who didn't seem to be bothered by thousands of my emails and always replied to them as fast and polite as possible which is much appreciated. I'd also like to thank another Head-Fi member @Jusiz who gave me the idea to try these in the first place.
 
I bought these op-amps with my own money and aside from 20$ price drop I did not receive any kind of compensation (even implied) for this review.
 
Operational amplifiers, or op-amps are integrated circuits used in audio amplifiers to perform various functions related to audio amplification process. Unless Your name is NwAvGuy you know that op-amps do not sound all the same and that they can be replaced in order to tweak the sound signature of an amplifier. This is called op-amp rolling and allows the user to customize the sound signature of an amp to their preferences.
As I've recently found out, the above definition doesn't really apply to the SS3601. Installing them is not a "tweak" and a resulting difference is not a matter of preferences. What we're dealing with here is a linear sound quality improvement across the board. All audio frequencies receive the same treatment of increased clarity/transparency alongside an increase in overall power output.
 
 
There is this often repeated audiophile cliche that a better piece of equipment can reveal details in the recording that were previously unaudible or that a veil is lifted from a song. Sounds like something straight out of Stuff That Never Happens Land, for me at least. But over the course of my tests I did actually notice details I've never noticed before.
In Leonard Cohen's Slow a stopwatch can be heard in the background throughout the entire song. I heard it for the first time yesterday even though Popular Albums is one of my all-time favorites and I listen to it practically every day. How come I've never noticed that before?
So are all other audio reviewers telling the truth when they say that <whatever> device uncovered a new layer of music for them? Frankly, I have no idea but I can still hear the stopwatch. And I definitely couldn't hear it two days ago.
I'm going to skip the usual description of how different audio frequencies are affected by the SS3601. As I've mentioned, the improvement is linear across the entire spectrum. If You really feel the need to read the usual elongated blabbery, you can generate one by yourself using the Audiophile Cliche Generator available here.
 
[EDIT]: I asked mr Sparks about it and it seems that it's not possible for opamp to output more power. They sound as if they did though.
 
Sparkos Labs' op-amps have more power than the stock ones. This leads to two things:

1. X7 gets noticeably louder regardless of the gain setting. On stock op-amps I usually set the X7 to 26% volume in High Gain mode for comfortable listening volume (with HD598). After replacing the op-amps the X7 is loud enough at 14% volume in High Gain.
2. Every now and then I thought that a particular song, or a part, sounded great, but would've been even better if the X7 could output more power. Well, that doesn't happen anymore. While none of the headphones I own are particularly hard to drive, all of them benefit from the replacement.

 
Few months ago I've noticed that headphones sound different when the X7 is set to High Gain. After some discussion in the  Sound Blaster X7 thread we came to the conclusion that it's certainly possible for some headphones to change their sound signature in High Gain. Both my HD598 and COP were significantly fuller and more dynamic with the X7 in high gain mode so I started listening to music in high gain exclusively as for 99% of my music it just sounded better. However one album (Lateralus by Tool) was absolutely unlistenable after enabling high gain. The guitars were so bright that they caused actual pain (not an exaggeration) after a longer listening session. Moreover, Lateralus was the only album that exhibited such excessive brightness. Ultimately problem was solved by switching the X7 to low gain whenever I wanted to listen to Tool. I doubt the issue was exclusive to this one album, however I was unable to reproduce it using any other material.
 
After switching over to the SS3601 I did some comparison between both modes. Mids are still more pleasant in high gain, however the aforementioned brightness is gone so that's a plus. Overall I recommend keeping the device in High Gain mode permanently unless You're going to use IEMs.
 
Drinking game idea: Read this post and have a shot every time "high gain" is mentioned.
 
Sparkos Labs SS3601 are a simple, yet significant upgrade over the stock X7 and I really can't recommend them enough. They require zero technical knowledge and no soldering skills to install but prove to be a clearly audible and measurable improvement in sound quality.
 
I haven't heard the Burson Audio op-amps or the Dexxa ones so I can't compare the sound quality of the SS3601 to these products. What I can compare however is their size. The SS3601 are significantly smaller than both Burson and Dexxa and would be a much better fit for devices with space constraints.

1. Sound Blaster X7 in Direct Mode
2. Foobar2000 in WASAPI mode
3. PC running Windows 10 interchangeably with Windows 7 running as a virtual machine inside Qubes OS

Disclaimer
I received these earbuds from Fiio as a review sample in exchange for my honest opinion on them. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.
 
Intro:
Today’s audio market is kinda like a corporation. Big fat executives in expensive suits calling in meetings to pat themselves on the back and discuss million dollar audio equipment as if it was weather. Young employees with outfits and hairstyles straight out of Vogue suck up to their bosses, exclaiming their eternal love for 512x DSD and cable holders. And then there is Fiio, with his tats and ponytail quietly sitting in the back, refusing to participate in this giant circlejerk. Well, at least that’s how I like to imagine their position on the market. As the voice of reason in a world that descended into madness a long time ago.
Fiio’s latest product, the EM3 is exactly that - a voice of reason. Let’s take a look.
 
Package:
The EM3 comes in a plain, white, cardboard package that aside from the earbuds themselves, contain the warranty card, three pairs of foam covers, and a little bit of clear plastic for additional protection. I’m glad Fiio didn’t spend any more money on additional accessories or an elaborate box. 10$ is not a lot of money to go on and it was clearly spent on the earphones and not the package. Good job Fiio!
 

 
Build
Simple black housing, short cable ending in 4-pole minijack and an inline microphone. It’s easy to mistake the EM3 for earbuds that come with a smartphone or an mp3 player. I’d like Fiio to include their logo somewhere on the earbuds to make them stand apart more but that’s just a minor gripe. They sit comfortably in my ears and have only fallen out twice, which I consider a good score. Aside from that nothing bad can be said about them. Okay, let’s move on to the sound quality.
 

 

 

 
 
Highs
The EM3 does an okay job as far as the highs go. They’re not bad or awful by any means, I just feel like they’re lacking extension. This became apparent the most when I listened to Ne Obliviscaris’ “And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope”. As this is one of my favourite songs of all time, I’ve heard it hundreds of times and pretty much have it memorized. The two minute violin intro is, to me, a thing of beauty and could be used to evaluate the performance of much higher-priced equipment. Naturally I played it on loop in order to test the quality of the EM3. Sadly, I was a little bit disappointed. It’s as if part of the appeal of the violin was gone when listened to through the EM3. The notes sounded just dull and lifeless. The same can be said about Mina Spiler’s voice in Laibach’s We Are Millions And Millions are One. Totally listenable but not really engaging. Reproduction of percussion instruments is also pretty mediocre (most audible in An Infinite Regression and To Sirius). Drums and cymbals sound artificial and caused me to check whether something was wrong with the earbuds the first time I heard them. Overall, I’d rate the highs as 6/10.
 
Mids
You have no idea how surprised I was when I heard the mids coming out of these little things. They aren’t just great as in “great for a 10$ earbuds”, those are actually great mids. Most of my evaluation playlist is composed of rock and metal music and after going through it all I was left deeply satisfied. Tosin Abasi’ guitar in The Woven Web was tight and engaging. Every note was clearly defined and, something I did not expect whatsoever, sounded better on the EM3 than Koss Porta Pro, which are my current portable headphones. Synthesizers on Wild International were just splendid and a joy to listen to. I had no idea something so tiny can produce sound so nice. Great work Fiio!
All things considered I can give these earbuds a well-deserved 9/10 for the mids.
 
Bass
Bass is the trickiest part of the audio spectrum to reproduce on dynamic earphones. Small driver enclosed in tiny plastic housing has a much harder time reproducing those lower frequencies than a full-size driver in a big earcup. In order to challenge the EM3 I decided to use Leonard Cohen’s Popular Problems album. A while ago i’ve noticed that Mr. Cohen’s voice on this album is so low that turning the Bass Boost on in my E18 actually makes the vocals seem louder. Naturally I wanted to check how the EM3 will handle such amount of bass. Unaltered, both the bass guitar track and vocals sounded rather thin and lacking, without a proper punch. The situation changed the moment I decided to turn the Bass Boost on. With Bass Boost engaged both vocals and the bass track sound meaty, with proper impact throughout the entire album. As I feel that all EM3’s deficiencies in the bass region can be corrected with an EQ and are not an inherent driver issue, I’m fine with rating the bass as 8/10.
 
Isolation
If You’d like to isolate yourself from the rest of the world and just listen to music without being bothered then boy, you’re in for a disappointment. The EM3 will stand aside and do nothing while outside noise penetrates your ear canals. Moreover, it will let your music escape said ear canals, and annoy people in your close proximity. Seriosuly, it's bad. The isolation/leakage is the only major gripe I have with these earphones.
They are clearly designed for mobile use and mobile users most commonly use earbuds while commuting. I can’t really imagine people using these buds in the comfort of their own home, where bigger and better gear is readily available for them (lol, that’s exactly what I’m doing as I type this but that’s an exception). The majority of the prospective buyers will use them outdoors and guess what happens if you use them outdoors?
 
Amazing mids I’ve mentioned?
GONE
 
Nice bass?
GONE
 
Mediocre highs?
That’s all you’ll be able to hear on your way to work.

 
I don’t know how loud the public transport in Hong Kong is, but in Warsaw it is pretty bad. As in “sometimes I can’t hear what people standing 0.5m away from me said”. Most Polish people use closed-back headphones for this very reason, to isolate themselves from our noisy buses, noisy subway and noisy streets. Headphones with nice isolation are simply mandatory here and that’s where the EM3 disappoint the most. And it kinda makes me sad because I genuinely like how they sound. But I only like them when I’m alone in my room, not when I’m on my way to work and that’s where they are supposed to be used the most. When I raised my concern about the isolation of these earbuds, the Fiio rep suggested covering the vents with a piece of rubber. I've tried that and found that it helped a little but did not solve the issue, moreover the mid-range sounded as if someone smothered it with a pillow.
Okay, I may be blowing the leakage out of proportion. After all, these are open earbuds so poor isolation was to be expected. I just hate the fact that 90% of the time these buds will perform in sub-optimal conditions that may cause the buyers to misjudge them.
 
Conclusion
All in all, I really like the EM3 earbuds. Despite the isolation problem (which may or may not be such an issue in “quieter” cities) I do enjoy listening to them. I have a small list of improvements I’d like to see in future/higher-priced models if Fiio ever decides to make them:
 

1. For the love of God, please make them closed
2. Over-ear sleeving or hooks would help as they fell out of my ears once or twice
3. Another variant without the microphone and with a regular 3-pole jack

 
And I have a feeling that Fiio will make a higher-priced earbud model. After all, if that’s what they can do with 10$, imagine what they will be able to do with a 100$.