Reviews by YoYo JoKeR | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Shanling is a well established, but a lesser known Chinese brand specializing in the area of OEM Manufacturing & Headphone/Power Amplifiers. Shanling started operating in 1988, has come a long way since then & currently manufactures supplies parts/products for famous western audio brands.

Shanling have a specific vision in making their products: The products should have a accurate and neutral sonic performance, quality and should have a practical operating aspect. All their products are manufactured in their own factory in Shenzhen. The M3 DAP is the entry level DAP offering from Shanling. The M3 uses a modern and unique styling, design, UI and aims to capture the ears of budding music enthusiasts.

Specifications of M3:

Frequency Response: 20Hz ~ 20kHz

Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.004%

Recommended Headphone Impedance: 16 ~ 300Ω

Output power: 250mW @ 32Ω; 16mW @ 300Ω

Battery charging time: About 6 hours on 5V 2A Adapter

Battery playback time: About 7-9 hours on general plaback

Power supply: Built-in lithium polymer battery 3600mAH

Input: Line in, USB, Optical fibre

Output: Line Output, Optical fibre, Headphone out

Memory size: Inbuilt 8GB, support external TF card upto 128GB

Dimensions (W × D × H): 69 × 21 × 125.5mm

Net weight: about 220g

Can M3 compete with existing mainstream DAP’s? Lets find out,

Packaging and Accessories: The M3 arrives packed inside a plain black cardboard box, packed inside a foam packing. Packaging is minimalistic, but nothing to complain about, considering M3’s high value aspect. But I feel atleast a storage pouch and a cleaning cloth could have been provided by Shanling.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

USB Cable: USB to Micro USB cable for charging and data transfer.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the M3 and other warranty information. (Unfortunately, In Mandarin language)

Design and Build: The M3 has a excellent overall build quality. Its design is very practical, or shall I say modern. & is easy for day-today operation without any confusion or hassle. The entire housing is made up of high quality aluminium, and is painted in matt black/silver, and is resistant to fingerprints. It is rectangular in shape with smoothened edges, the M3 fairly large in size, and just appears to be smaller in pictures. It feels fairly light when held in hand.

At the front we have a analog volume knob (which is rare to see at this price point) which includes a control Joystick, a power button with embedded indicator LED. The circular knob present here, has a dual role of adjusting volume, along with control functions. For control functions, the M3 employs ‘joystick’ style movements to perform (up, down, left, right) as found in common DAP’s .Volume knob rotation is not smooth, but with step interval type ratchet mechanism. The knob has grips on its side for easy rotation. Power switch has a pretty great feel, and is very precise in its job. The LED is embedded right in the middle of the button, which gives it a really attractive look.

The display screen here is again large enough for comfortable viewing, and color/resolution on M3 is one of the best I have ever seen in DAP’s. It’s really good & better than most of the DAP’s. The screen is anti-reflective, resistant external lights, and colour output is very crisp and natural. On the top, there is a 3.5mm headphone out socket, and a reset hole. 3.5mm jack is a smooth operator, which is neither too tight nor too loose. The socket employs ball bearings instead of clips to avoid scratches/damage on the headphone jack. If we look at the bottom side, we can observe a micro SD card slot, a micro USB port, and a coaxial output, and one lineout, both in 3.5mm socket format. All these work without any hassle, and are of good quality.

On the either sides of the M3, recessed curves and recessions in the main body for a comfortable grip for hands (very much like the QA360)

Sound: The M3 in has a very ‘clear’ and ‘detailed’ sonic character. ‘Accurate presentation’ is the key word. In my view, it is essential for a source to be as neutral and as accurate as possible for an optimal sound quality.

Burn in: The M3 audibly improves with time. Let’s say a playback of 100 hours provides few audible improvements, Bass prior to break-in is quite sterile, and eventually it becomes more in body. Mids will sound more open, airy and natural. highs become slightly more clean, soundstage will open up by a margin. DAP’s are known to slightly change their final sonic impressions by using different SD cards. In my case, I have found: Sandisk memory cards provided a slightly rich sound, whereas Lexar’s sounded audibly more detailed and analytical, so that made me choose Lexar card for M3 for best possible neutrality.

Driving Power: There is gain setting Low/High, which if switched, provides an high gain (ideal for demanding cans). Else, will provide a low gain (ideal for low impedance dynamic cans & IEM’s) The M3 has 60 step volume knob, which is quite accurate and precise. I hardly ever cross ‘30’ volume. I can say, this DAP is very powerful when it comes to output power, and can drive demanding cans in low gain itself. The M3 is also audibly dead silent on any give gain and volume pot. It is also totally immune to EMF and other such disturbances.

Lows: are accurate, tight and refined; have a good impact. Depth & extension are really good.

Mids: sound very neutral, clean and airy. Mids are neither forward nor recessed, and are just about the neutral line.

Highs: Very clear and detailed treble with very less grains.

Soundstage: Soundstage is airy, precise and circular. Depth is excellent. Instrument separation & detailing is appreciable. I really liked the way M3 picked out the details.

The M3 portrays music as it was recorded. The M3 is very transparent and neutral in nature. Faulty recordings are not forgiven, and are immediately picked out by the M3. I am fully satisfied by the performance given out by M3, as I firmly believe, sources should be as transparent as possible, and M3 wins in that. Due to its transparency and neutrality, M3 does not sound organic, natural or lifelike. But inturn it sounds like a very detailed & accurate high fidelity DAP.

The M3 can also act as a USB DAC and can give multiple outputs. Performance as DAC is also pretty good, but as expected, performance is not upto mark as compared to dedicated standalone DAC’s. The M3 can also accept input from Line in, SPDIF (hence act as amplifier/interface) I find the M3 DAP is really versatile.

Battery & UI: Battery life on M3 DAP is quite decent, with about average 5-6 hours general playback. Absolutely no heat detected when charging or during playback. But charging time is quite long, (at about 6 hours) even by using a 5V 2A adapter as recommended by Shanling. User Interface is actually very modern, fast, and appealing for our eyes. The UI has all basic and convenience general features. Though there are small bugs here n there, which I believe will be solved by Shanling in upcoming days.

In M3, the control buttons are made to work by operating the joystick/volume knob. Flip it up/down/left/right, and the functions are the same up/down/left/right. The select or ‘centre’ key as we might say it, is not present in M3 DAP unlike other DAP’s. So, the implementation here is: Right key alternatively acts as play/pause, with Left key as back/menu, Up and down keys as scrolling and fast forward and rewind. Actually UI & button layout it’s pretty simple, yet very advanced functional layout, which I quite like. With M3, Shanling has definitely rolled out a very unique, modern yet practical design, which is simple to operate for everyone alike.

The M3 has gain setting, pitch or tone settings, and a software controlled rate upsampling. Ultimately the M3 has an edge over DAP’s to be tried in 300$.

Conclusion: I feel the M3 is a phenomenal DAP in my view. It offers an amazing neutral sound quality, and employs cutting edge design, modern UI and a very neat and easy controls. Build quality is very good, sonic presentation is neutral, transparent, detailed. It can fairly drive any cans upto 300 ohms. I can whole heartedly recommend M3 for any enthusiast who would prefer a very neutral, clean, sonic presentation. I very much prefer M3 over X5 & DX90, making M3 my favourite DAP next to QA360.

Pros:

1) Build Quality: The M3 has a very good all-metal build. No compromise to be seen anywhere in exterior. Analogue volume control is an added bonus.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very neutral, transparent, detailed and spacious, very much appreciable for becoming a good source, which is the base of sonic chain. Probably the most performing DAP in 300$

3) Driving Power: M3 DAP is very powerful when it comes to output power, and it can comfortably drive even power hungry cans to insanely loud volumes. Also, the noise floor is very low, and is audibly silent. Good job!

4) UI, Display & Controls: This where M3 stands out from rest. M3’s display is simply one of the best I have seen DAP’s. Its vivid and deep colour presentation and low brightness capability has impressed me. UI is very much user-friendly, easy on battery, doesn’t warm up. For controls, M3 has just one joystick, from which user can operate the entire DAP. No need to lift fingers at all.

Cons:

1) Battery charging time: Actually not really a con, Infact this issue is common with many DAP’s. The charging time (full) taken by M3 is about 6 hours. Which can be really irritating for enthusiasts who listen for a long session or while in travel.

This was available on massdrop not too long ago.

Excellent review! Also I believe the new firmware V2.0 is worth trying.

what about a photo of the actual UI?

Intro: Brainwavz aftermarket Headphone ear pads are custom made ear pads for HM5 headphones and many other similar sized headphones. In case of HM5, These ear pads will bring a positive sonic change and overall improvement in soundstage, tonality and naturalness. There are two types of ear pads available, one is pleather type other is velour type.

Full review on HM5 here: http://www.head-fi.org/products/brainwavz-hm5-studio-monitor-headphones/reviews/12055

Steps for Installation: (You will need a flat scale or ruler)

1) Detach the current ear pads from driver assembly by giving them a circular twist.

2) Using a flat surfaced scale, remove the current ear pads completely off the base plate.

3) Take the aftermarket ear pads, first insert one end of the pad into the plate, and then gradually slide the edge, along the base plate by using a flat scale.

4) Adjust the ear pads accurately, and fit back to the driver assembly.

Headphones known to be compatible with these ear pads:

- Brainwavz HM5

- AKG Q701

- Audio Technica ATH-M50

- Shure SRH 440

- Koss DJ100 / DJ200

- Takstar HI 2050 and Pro 80

- Ultrasone HF 580 / SH 1 Pro / HFI 780

- Sony MDR V6 / ZX 700

- Fostex T50RP T50

- M-Audio Q40

- JVC S500S

Sonic Changes: We know that there are two kinds of earcup options available on HM5. There are important and major differences in sonic performance by ear pads on both of these ear cups. So I will explain every combination possible on HM5.

1) Stock Closed Ear Cups

2) Custom Semi Open Ear Cups

Exclusive review on semi open ear cups: http://www.head-fi.org/products/brainwavz-hm5-semi-open-headphone-cups/reviews/12261

Let us see how the ear pads perform on both of these ear cups.

Stock Closed Cup with velour earpads, lows are tighter and are well controlled. The overall sound is more airy with increased soundstage. Sounds much more relaxed than the pleather ear pads and provide more neutral sound quality. Increased wearing comfort and ventilation is a bonus. We have to remember that, since these are ventilated, they will leak sound into the surroundings. Apart from that, most of the sonic changes are positive. On pleather earpads, Lows are strong but a little boomy, Highs are a touch smoothened, and soundstage feels congested. Overall sounds dark and muddy when compared to velour pads. Although comfort is good, and high level of isolation is achieved by these. These pads provide much better seal than the velours, and are thicker in width. Stock ear pads sound noticeably inferior compared to the above two, and is relatively uncomfortable, due to its thin padding.

Semi Open Cup with velour pads, there is too much sound leakage, causing almost nonexistent lows and highs, and bloated, muffled mids. With aftermarket foam pads, which provide better seal, the sound is comparatively more balanced, but still sounded more ‘far’. Velour pads are best used with stock closed earcups, and foam pads performed a little better than velours. But still I feel there is a presence of ‘bloat’ and sound feels ‘muffled’, taking away the details. Best match with semi open ear cups was achieved with stock ear pads. I suppose thats due to best seal (flexibility) of the earpads and the drivers being more nearer to our ears, it evened out the ‘farness’ feeling. But the stock ear pads are least comfortable amongst all ear pads.

Comfort:

Pleather Pads: These pads are thicker, and give a more pronounced clamping effect owing to already strong clamp of the HM5. Since these do not have any ventilation; they cause our ears to sweat. These are also comparatively more fatiguing to wear because of reasons mentioned above.

Velour Pads: Velour pads are widely acknowledged as most comfortable pads available and same holds true here. These velours provide good ventilation to our ears, hence we feel less sweaty and more comfortable. The velours are more cushion-y and thus reducing the prominent clamping on the HM5. Also due to the given air movement, sound coming from velour pads is more natural and relaxed.

Conclusion: These ear pads have a great value, comfort and sound to them. For those who already own the HM5’s with stock earcups, velour ear pads are definitely worth considering. I did not quite like the comfort and sound of pleather ear cups owing to lack of ventilation and clamp (effects are clearly felt in tropical climate) For enthusiasts who plan to upgrade to semi open ear cups, stock ear pads are best match; hence there is no need to get aftermarket earcups.

I would like to add that, semi open ear cups + stock ear pads combination provides the best possible sonic performance in the HM5.

Advantages:

1) Sound: Major Improvement in soundstage, naturalness and tonality on stock ear cups.

2) Comfort: The HM5 is now far less fatiguing and are very comfortable, so one can listen to it for longer sessions on stock ear cups.

3) Value: These ear pads cost have a very good performance, and are economically priced.

Limitations:

1) Usability: If you plan to get the Semi open ear cups, there will be no need for any of the aftermarket ear pads.

2) Build Quality: The build is good enough, but not great on velours. Stitches can come out and get loosened during installation. But this is really not an issue since these are very economically priced.

Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Lotoo, is a sub-brand of Infomedia and is headquartered in Beijing. The brand was established in 1999 as a broadcasting systems manufacturer; it has evolved since then to manufacture high end audio recorders, and more recently, its first audio player. The PAW Gold is the flagship (and lone) DAP offering from Lotoo.

Specifications of PAW Gold as per Lotoo:

Headphone Output: 500mW@ 32 Ohms.
+15dB on High gain 0dB on Low gain (without load)
Headphone Driver: TI LME49600
Line Output: 2V RMS +9dB (without load)
Processor: Blackfin 514 DSP
DAC: Burr Brown PCM 1792
Sample Rate: 8KHz-384KHz
Clock Jitter: 5ps
Formats: ISO, DSD, DFF, DSF, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, OGG, CUE, APE, MP3, M4A
Interface: USB 3.0 upto 90 MB/S
Display: 1.8” OLED 160*128 resolution
Storage: SDHC/SDXC upto 2 Tera Bytes
Battery: 22Watt hour 6000mAH 3.7V
Chassis: Aircraft grade Duralumin
Weight: 280g

Let us see what the PAW Gold has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The PAW Gold unit arrives packed inside a outer cardboard sheet, in which a strong plain black cardboard box is contained. The box has magnetic locks everywhere, and can be lifted off to reveal the multiple storage compartments, in which all the included accessories are present. Necessary amounts of accessories included in the package, and again are made up of good quality. I can confidently say that Lotoo has done packaging in a very premium and extravagant fashion.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Charger: 5 V 2A universal charger for charging the PAW Gold. This charger is the sole mode of charging it.

USB 3.0 Cable: Short length cable for high speed data transfer. A disc is also included for drivers installation.

Pouch: Velvet type with strings, provided to store the player.

User Manual & Warranty card: Contains instructions to operate the PAW Gold and other warranty information. (In Chinese, meh)

Design and Build: The PAW Gold has an excellent build quality.

The entire shell is made up of high quality duralumin metal. Duralumin is a very hard and tough type of aluminium used to build aircrafts. The DAP is painted with matt grey colour, which ensures PAW Gold is not a fingerprint magnet. The PAW Gold Is heavy in weight owing to its robust build, but still it can be comfortably operated using one hand itself, since the PAW Gold is actually a small DAP, it just appears large in pictures.

On the front side, four navigation buttons (Up/down Left/Right) are present, along with a central select key. The navigation buttons are used to navigate songs, or forward/backward operations depending upon the situation. A select key is present in the middle of navigation keys, and is used to select or play/pause the songs. Buttons are well designed, and operates flawlessly. PAW Gold has a very ergonomic build, which means everything is placed at right places and is comfortable to operate.

Volume knob, navigation and power keys are 24 karat gold plated. Hence comes the name ‘Gold’

Volume controlling is extremely fine, and works very well with IEM’s and headphones. One can achieve even minute attenuations in volumes without any issues. Volume switching is silky smooth and very gradual, which is a big plus especially sensitive IEM’s. Display screen is good enough, though screen clarity or screen resolution is not impressive, but still it does the job just fine. (This is expected almost of all DAP’s)

File button has the function of browsing the folders on the SD card. Setup button takes us to the settings option for this DAP. List button leads the user to the song playlists. APE/PMEQ button takes us to the hardware coloration and equalizing options. The button named as ‘Fn’ is a key for which we can define the function of our choice. Power button (Press and hold type) is present, with a white coloured breathing light around the button itself. This button is used to power on/off the DAP.

On the left side, a charging port is present, to which charging jack of the given charger has to be connected to recharge the battery of the PAW Gold. High speed USB 3.0 port is also present just above the charging port. This port only handles data, and charging cannot be done with this port via USB.

On the right side, there are no controls present.

On the top side, Outputs jacks are located. Headphone output, Line output both are present in 3.5mm format. These jacks are well built and implemented, and have a good feel to them. A sliding lock button is present, whose function is to lock down all the keys once lock button is activated. A sliding gain switch with Low/High gain setting is also to be seen.

On the bottom side, a full size SDHC/SDXC card slot is present. The slot operates smoothly without any hitches. Insertion and removal of card is fairly easy, with just a simple push. Rubber flap is present to cover up the slot from any foreign material.

User Interface: The current firmware version is V5.0.1.5, and is upgradeable as new versions are released by Lotoo. Startup and shut down happens within just 3 seconds, which makes PAW Gold quite fast in operation. The firmware itself is fast, responsive to browsing and switching operations. No hanging or slowing down whatsoever. I sometimes wish there should be improvement in screen resolution, because as of now the fonts appear pixelized.

Setup key opens up the settings and other options. This DAP is DSD capable, along with one can change many advanced settings like layouts, key speed, DSD settings, playing settings. Volume controlling is available even on Line output, and custom gain can be selected.

The battery indicator accurately calculates the actual amount of battery power remaining, and has stable readings. One undesirable thing I notice about PAW Gold is that, it gets fairly warm during playback. But during battery charging, there is no such issue noticed. Battery life is fairly good. As for me, the battery lasts for about 7 hours, which is quite good. The battery capacity of PAW gold is of 6000mAH. The battery has to be charged by a 5V 2A adapter, and is included in the package. Charging time using this adapter is around 2 hours.

Overall, the firmware is simple, is fairly fast to flip around, is customizable and is quite reliable and stable. But there is room for improvements.

Sound: As for the most important part, the PAW Gold is highly resolving, transparent, Neutral and Detailed sounding with excellent spacious & expansive yet accurate sound stage. Another thing to mention about this DAP is that, there is absolutely no ‘lag’ and sound response is ‘quick’ and ‘fast’

Dynamics are superb, giving a circular spacious sound. Soundstage is airy and spacious, but in a natural and realistic way. I am clearly able to differentiate between FLAC and 320kbps MP3 for the same song. Instruments separation is great, and there is a lot of room and air between the instruments, which again contributes for an immersive experience.

The PAW Gold has hardware controlled equalizers and preset colourations. These are called as ATE/PMEQ, which upon selected, perform their tasks very well. But I feel, to enjoy the ultimate transparency and neutrality of the source, one should always turn off colorations/equalizers.

Considering its neutral sound quality, it can match up with any genre and any headphone without sounding bad in particular. The transparency is really appreciable. PAW Gold is very resolving, transparent. Due to its resolving nature, it is unforgiving towards poor recordings. But feed it with good recordings, it can churn amazing sound quality.

Output power at headphone jack is very good and is sufficient to drive any and all IEM’s and also to drive most of the headphones, to extremely loud listening levels, I always listen to volumes below 60 on IEM’s and below 110 on headphones. Noise floor is audibly dead silent and pitch black. I could not detect any audible disturbance in any form from the PAW Gold. EMI pickup is completely nil, along with no pop sounds on startup or shutdown, which is really appreciable.

Comparing the PAW Gold with HiFiMAN’s HM901, I feel the competition is head-to-head in terms of sound quality as well as build quality. The HM901 is relatively warmer and intimate (depending upon card used), otherwise as detailed. Whereas the PAW Gold is very transparent, neutral, and relaxed. (Of course, we have to remember that PAW Gold costs about 800$ more than the HM901)

However, PAW Gold wins hands down in ergonomics, portability factor and output power. The PAW Gold is way smaller than the HM901, more comfortable to hold and operate, along with support for high speed USB 3.0 connectivity. It also has a more ‘simple and user friendly’ firmware than the HM901. Battery life is also marginally better in PAW Gold.

But one cannot deny the HM901 simply carries a sheer value aspect with it, and if right amp card is matched up, then the sonic quality & value aspect of HM901 will be preferable for many.

Conclusion: Although Lotoo is an unfamiliar brand in the audiophile world, The PAW Gold is an amazing and stellar DAP. It offers top-tier transparency, resolving power along with a greatly neutral sound quality. The sound quality is phenomenal and Build quality is supreme. The sole drawback I find is, it offers lesser price/performance ratio compared to the HM901, which is priced around 1200$. As you go higher up, Law of diminishing returns applies.

The Pros:

1) Build Quality: The PAW Gold has a top notch and extremely good build quality. absolutely no compromise to be seen anywhere. Battery life & UI too are pretty decent and reliable.

2) Sound quality: Top-tier sound quality and is very neutral, detailed, and expansive. Ideal sonic qualities for a DAP, and one of the best I have ever heard.

3) Transparency & resolving power: These deserve a special mention. Transparency and resolving power in the PAW Gold is simply one of the finest available in sub 2000$ category.

The Cons:

1) Heating: The PAW Gold’s chassis warms up little bit during song playback. I did check up with other members, it seems like the warming up is not really an issue. Even the HM901 warms up to this level.

2) Value: The PAW Gold is priced around 2000$ and considering the pricing of many of its rivals, I feel this one might posses a little lower price/performance ratio.

Pardon me gents,

Did not have access to the accessory cable with HM901. The PAW Gold itself is very resolving, neutral with a touch of smoothness and naturalness. Good synergy with LCD2's, a lovely silky smooth presentation on HD600's and not-so-great synergy with MH40's.

Making indians proud brother............kudos!!

Nice review. As a Indian I really get pissed that even today we don't have a place where we can listen and choose audio equipments. Availability is a major concern. As a result I end up buying>regretting>selling(at loss)>buying again. And I don't have so much money to burn to keep that cycle running. It's good to see you can get hands on so many goodies.

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Somic is a headphone manufacturing brand headquartered in Guangzhou, China. Somic was established in 1999, it is one of China’s oldest and largest headphone brand. It has obtained the esteemed ISO9001/2008 and other such certificates for its ability in manufacturing.

Somic currently has a wide range of budget headphone offerings, which it also OEM’s to other brands. The MH463 is their flagship headphone.

Specifications of MH463:

Drivers: 50MM CCAW coil

Rated Impedance: 45 Ω

Frequency Response: 8 ~ 30,000 Hz

Sensitivity: 93dB

Weight: 388 Grams

Plug: 3.5mm with screw on 6.5mm Gold plated

Cable: 1.6 Metres, Fixed & non removable.

Let us see what the MH463 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The MH463’s arrive packed inside a black cardboard box. Once the case is flipped open, The MH463 is seen resting behind a plastic window. Nothing fancy, basic accessories included. But each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Screw on ¼” Converter: To plug in the MH463 in the 6.5mm headphone jacks.

Velcro: An velcro to tie up the lengthy cable when not in use.

Design and Build: The MH463 has a great build quality. The entire housing shell is made up of high quality forged aluminium & fibre. It isn’t painted, but is anodized, which is again a step forward in engineering. These are not light in weight, and feel fairly (but not excessive) heavy on head. Headband is made up of steel, covered by a pleather cushion. Earpads are pleathers. These are fully open, and over ear headphones, and the design/calculations has been extremely well carried out.

Cable has a very good build. It is light, flexible and does not get tangled. I could not notice the presence of any microphonics. Plug is straight and gold plated, and is very well built. The stock cable does a great job in transferring signals along with great transparency. But the cable is fixed & not detachable.

Previously, many users had reported creaking frames or similar issues, and as of now, most of those issues have been addressed & solved by Somic, and I cannot observe any creaking movements.

Comfort: MH463’s are very comfortable to wear in general, owing to its oval earcups and very comfortable clamp, long yokes, the MH463 is literally fits well all enthusiasts. It can be made comfortable for long sessions by upgrading to a better earpads.

The clamping force and headband angling is very well implemented, and clamp force is very adaptive & accurate without exerting undesirable pressure on our skull. The yoke is also long enough to provide a good comfort for enthusiasts with longer/larger heads. Even though MH463’s are fully-open headphones, these leak sound, but not as loud as majority of open cans.

The stock earpads of MH463 lack in ventilation hence are uncomfortable for ears & cause sweating. So in my opinion, it is necessary to switch over to HM5 velour pads, which are very economical at 20$ a pair. This step ensures in a big step up in comfort. The MH463 is quite heavy feeling can when worn over head, because it weighs 388 grams (result of a great build). This is the only real con (unavoidable) in comfort area.

Sound: The MH463 has a neutral character, with a slight emphasis on upper mids. I really liked the way MH463 presented itself sonically. Overall character is such a way that, lows are really accurate and tight; hence focus falls on mids to highs. This helps us to better retrieve the details, pick out instruments and gives us a sense of increased air and soundstage.

Burn in: These improve a lot with time. Let’s say a playback of 100 hours provides audible improvements, along with relaxed and adopted clamping force. Bass prior to break-in is slightly more sterile, and eventually it becomes more in body, Mids will sound more open, airy and slightly more forward. highs which were ‘noticeable and aggressive‘ become slightly more smooth and natural, soundstage opens up by a margin.

Lows: are very accurate, tight and refined; have a strong impact. Depth, and extension is moderate.

Mids: sounded slightly recessed at first listen, but with burn-in, mids open up and get slightly forward and pleasing.

Highs: Very are clear, detailed, and in just about the exact quantity required. I can describe highs not as ‘bright’ but as ‘right’

Soundstage: The MH463’s soundstage is airy, spacious, and 3D like. Depth is excellent. Instrument separation, detail retrieval is very good. According to my observation, these cans sounded good in every genre I tried, but particularly excelled in instrumentals, and classical. Vocals were good if not great. I can say the MH463’s are not forgiving to poor recordings. Hence these are revealing and resolving.

Comparison: The MH463 holds an unbelievably great value and price/performance aspect, it is unmatched by any open back headphone within 100$. Not only that, its performance, build, comfort is very much comparable to sub 200$ headphones.

Hence, I will pick Sennheiser’s HD598 & Audio Technica’s AD900X as MH463’s chief competitors, even though latter ones cost more than twice the price of MH463 at 60$ shipped. All these are low impedance, and easy to drive, open and over-ear cans.

HD 598: By comfort & build, these are really superior, owing to their light weight construction, velour earpads and a softer headband. But by sound quality, HD598 falls slightly behind MH463 in the area of precision, instrument separation, clarity & soundstage. But these are slightly easier to drive than MH463’s. HD598’s are available at around 150$ in amazon.

AD900X: Again, edges out the MH463 in terms of comfort, build, and also sonically outperforms the MH463, but these cost three times the price of MH463. At 170$ shipped, It is one of the best can available in the price range, but MH$63 simple offers a great value and a near-performance in 1/3^rd of its price.

So, ultimately without a second thought, The MH463 has a tremendous value, impressive sonic performance, & reigns as the King of sub 100$ cans, and competes very well with sub 200$ headphones.

Amplification: These MH463’s are rated at 45 ohms, hence are designed to be power efficient, and can be run by weak sources .The need for a dedicated headphone amplifier is comparatively less, although a dedicated amp can improve can sound quality by a good margin. O2/ODAC setup brings out the best in MH463’s. Or even a 30$ homemade cmoy brings out the potential in them.

Conclusion: The MH463 can be considered as a wonderful set of headphones. It has an exceptional price to performance ratio. I am really impressed. The MH463’s are a pair, which I feel everyone should probably try out in their audio journey, because they’re a great pair in their own right. I can whole heartedly recommend them to anyone who loves audio. From a budding music enthusiast to a studio mixer to a veteran audiophile. Nobody can really regret buying the MH463. With these, even an average music enthusiast can afford to listen to quality music.

The Pros:

1) Build Quality: The MH463 has a great all-metal/fibre build.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very neutral, with slight emphasis on upper mids and is very much helpful for critical listening as well as musical pleasure.

3) Value: Sheer and unbeatable value & one of the best price to performance ratio headphones one might encounter.

The Cons:

1) Comfort: This is definitely a downside considering the weight of 388 grams, which is on heavier side. .Also, the earpads needs to be changed/upgraded for a better comfort and listening experience.

Yep, I have listened to HI2050, and its sonic performance is audibly inferior to MH463's.

the 2050's will not be comfortable for longer heads due to limited yoke length, and its slightly smaller in size and lighter in weight compared to MH463. Build quality is pretty good, velour earpads used in the 2050.

So It is quite easy to conclude MH463 is a better can (sonically, and by design, comfort) than the 2050.

so it's a giant killer!

Regarding this statement of yours:
"HD598 falls slightly behind MH463 in the area of precision, instrument separation, clarity & soundstage."
I have both the HD598 and MH463 and I disagree...
To my ears the HD598 has better resolution, imaging, soundstage. Detail is simply in a different league. The only area in which the MH463 are different (not better) than HD598 is the amount of bass which is larger. However the quality and tightness of bass is also better in the Sennheiser...

Intro: Burson Audio is an Australian audio company located in Thomastown, Melbourne. Famous for creating Soloist amplifier, which was popular amongst audiophiles. Burson is well known for employing discreet circuits. What I like the most about Burson is that they leave nothing unturned to achieve best possible transparency in sound chain. Burson takes considerable time to create its products; their product line is very steady & has a strong Research & Development. By hearing the name “Burson Audio” we remember two things in a flash: 1) Soloist 2) Op-amps. Burson Audio is making op-amps for a long time now, The only other renown op-amps were ‘Sun’ ‘Moon’ Earth’ from Audio-GD, but sadly AGD stopped developing them.

Burson sent me a pair for review. I am writing my sincere opinion without any bias, trying my best to convey my readers about its advantages & disadvantages in a clear-cut manner. Headphones used in this review: Sennheiser HD800, AKG K702 & K812. Amplifiers/DAC’s used: Objective2/ODAC, CMOYBB, M-Stage, TCG TRD3, Audinst MX-2

Design: The V5i is a hybrid: Meaning, it has both IC & discrete components in it. This is done to make a cost effective & smaller version of V5. The IC is custom created, & FET components of the bigger V5 are used to create the V5i. There are 2 variants of V5i: Dual op-amp: is a 2 channel op-amp (most audio devices use this configuration) & the other is Single op-amp: is a 1 channel op-amp (Single channel DIP8 slot is present in some higher end devices like Gustard H10 or so on)

Nowadays, all devices are becoming smaller & compact. It’s difficult to fit larger op-amps in tight space. But The V5i has a very small footprint. The advantage is that you can actually use the V5i in every device, not worrying about the space. Previously The V5 could not fit in all devices due to its larger size. The V5i is significantly smaller than The V5. The Size of V5i is very similar to default op-amps. The V5i op-amp is sealed, thus to show the internals, image from Burson Audio website:

Sound: The problem with many other op-amps is that they carry a ‘flavor’. They are either ‘dark’ ‘bright’ ‘thin’ etc. But theoretically op-amp’s function is to amplify signals, & never to alter the input sound signature. But this function is impossible to achieve practically. The V5 & V5i are the one's closest to this function I've ever heard. Only drawback I found was, V5i lacked decent soundstage depth. but width was good enough. Details, instrument separation are strong plus points of the V5i.

Burson has put a significant effort here & it shows: the V5i noticeably the most transparent (next only to the V5) op-amp I have ever heard. So there is no doubt, this is an ideal yet practical op-amp. With V5i, I am able to hear the true characteristics & capabilities of my Amps/DAC’s. The V5i sounded ‘bright & upfront’ right out of the box. I have 'burned' it for about 20 hours (after which I am unable to detect any improvements or changes).

Comparison: Compared to LME49990, OPA627, OPA209 & LME49710HA. Out of all these, I will pick the Texas Instruments LME49990 X2 soldered on converter board (costs about 15$) as the chief competitor for V5i. All other op-amps I tested had a slight ‘veil’ or a curtain of darkness as you might call it. The V5i delivers very good transparency, No more veil. I have installed & listened to the V5i in many devices like TCG Audio TRD3, Matrix M-Stage, Objective-2, Cmoy BB, It worked very well with all of them. No overheating or any sorts. V5i has a metallic outer cover which also serves as heat sink & noise shield. However it’s bigger brother V5 is even better with respect to sound quality. But due to its bigger size, it can’t be installed in majority of the devices.

Affordability: When getting an aftermarket op-amp, cost plays an important role. The V5 costs 70$ and consumed more physical space, which many devices didn’t have. V5i costs 40$, & is small in size. If you have a good performance headphone amplifier or DAC, I recommend that you get the V5i. The 40$ is well justified for the better sound quality it delivers. V5i is by far the most affordable custom op-amp in the market. Far better than the OPA’s or AD’s. Burson Audio provides lifetime guarantee, which I feel is reassuring on durability aspect.

Conclusion: The Burson approach is what impresses me very much. Burson Audio is one of the handful audio manufacturers in the world who focus in bringing maximum transparency out of audio device with minimum or none flavor/coloration in sound quality. Burson has nailed it this time with the V5i. Better than any op-amp in terms of transparency except their own V5 ofcourse. I can whole heartedly recommend the V5i. It is the best upgrade one can do to his amp or dac without any hardware change. Kudos!

You make it sound like the v5i has very poor sound stage is this true? I mean are we talking a subtle difference in sound stage or are we talking omg if your looking for a sound stage look else where type deal here?

Yeah, the sound stage portion of the review concerns me too. Though I do understand some people are sensitive to changes, and that their "OMG night and day!!" difference is just "noticeable at best" to people like me.

I'm thinking of buying V5i for my EHP-O2 amp = Objective-2 amp.
How many and type of V5i dual or single OPS do I buy ?
Is the SQ improvement huge and it is worth the getting it or just buy another amp upto $400?

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Audiotrak is a comparatively lesser known Korean brand specializing in the area of Headphone Amplifiers & Sound Cards. Audiotrak is counterpart amp manufacturer of popular Audinst, they both have offices next door in same building in Incheon, Seoul. Their Prodigy Cube is aimed at beginners for a all-in-one solution without the need for a separate power supply, easy to use and well performing.

Specifications of Cube:

USB Interface: 1.1/2.0

Support: 24 bits/96 KHZ

Headphone Impedance: 16-150 ohms

Op-Amp: LME49860

D/A Converter: WM8776

USB DAC: Tenor TE7022L

Dynamic Range: 108dB

Input: USB, Mic

Output: Headphone, Line, Digital, Coaxial

Let us see what the Cube has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The Cube arrives packed inside a large colourful cardboard box (typical Audiotrak Style), on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is opened, the main unit and all accessories are stuffed inside. Foam protection is not present. Nothing special to mention about either; all accessories have a good quality, build and feel to them.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

USB Cable: Standard black coloured USB A to B cable, 1.5 metres long.

RCA Cable: Audio cable for Line out function, about 1.5 metres long.

Rubber Feet: For attaching to bottom surface of Cube, thus making it scratch and skid resistant.

User Manual: Detailed and informative Instructions about operation, also contains warranty information.

Design and Build: The Cube has a very good overall build quality. The outer case is made up of aluminium, and is painted in matt black; volume knob is rubberized, and has a grippy feel to it. The Cube is quite in compact in size.

On the front side, we have Volume control knob, an output push button switch (between headphone out and Line out) and an output headphone jack is present in both 6.5mm & 3.5mm format. A Mic input in 3.5mm is present too. An active colour changing LED indicator shows the status of operation. The LED turns green once songs/signal start playing from the source, and stays orange incase there is no signal incoming. On the rear side, we have USB input port, RCA Line-out jacks, Coaxial socket & Optical output port.

Speaking of Internals, Cube has a double sided PCB with no wirings. All components used are of premium brands; including all dale resistors, Alps pot, premium caps. The Cube employs a 24/96 Tenor Chip. There is only one user replaceable part on board the Cube: The DAC output Op-Amp (which is by default LME49860 in DIP8 format) other op-amp is AD8397 but it is permanently mounted on PCB. Both Audiotrak and Audisnt has always been a strong contender in the field of Build, interiors, components and PCB. The Cube stays & operates very cool no matter what.

The Cube is powered solely off the 5V USB line. This makes it also to work straight off an android smartphone, which is a definite advantage for travellers. The Cube also has Line out for speakers or external amps, which again works quite well with crisp and clear output. The volume control is functional in this stage too.

Sound: I feel the Cube is neutral, detailed and accurate in sonic presentation. Sound-stage width is moderate. Depth is pretty good. Absolutely zero audible hiss/noise. No channel imbalance, and zero EMI pickup & pops.

Lows are strong and accurate and go fairly deep. Infact, Mids natural and clear, slightly intimate if I must say; Highs are clean, airy and non grainy, just right amount of sparkle to keep the music alive. As per my observations & comparisons, The Cube is going to be the most ‘clear & neutral’ sounding amp/dac from Audiotrak. Its higher end counterpart, the DR.DAC series did not quite please me, owing to their dark-sound character.

Soundstage on Cube is very good, and realistic and to some extent, lacking in width. Depth is fair. The Cube does not give a fully circular imaging, instead gives out an elliptical stage (with comparatively more depth and lesser width) Detail retrieval, and dynamics are decent enough. Overall the sonic presentation is very much neutral. Also, the final sound impressions of Cube can be manipulated by using different op-amps. I have changed to Op-Amps and I could observe that the current op-amp (LME49860) does a very fine job, and I feel there is no need for op-amp rolling to increase sound quality. But the Cube scales very well with any op-amp installed.

Comparison: The only competitor for the Cube is its fellow Koran amp/dac: Audinst’s HUD-Mini (120$), which too has very similar functions, features and circuit design. But the Cube will have slight edge & advantage over the HUD-Mini in terms of features (Coaxial and microphone support) but in terms of sound quality, both are neck-to-neck, with Cube providing a slightly smooth and laidback sound character, and HUD-Mini providing a little more upfront and clear signature.

Conclusion: Cube is a good sounding portable amp/dac in its price point. Infact, the sonic performance is the best one can get in sub 150$ portable amp/dac’s. This device is actually pretty great on features and practical aspects. At the price point of 00$ shipped, Cube stands as best option for travellers with smartphones or laptops. I can recommend Cube for any music enthusiast who wants a compact portable USB amp/dac to drive low impedance easy to drive headphones & IEM’s.

The Pros:

1) Design and Build: Cube has very well designed and implemented build. It can run off 5V source, eliminating the use for a separate power supply. The Cube can also run directly on android smartphones. It is also very compact, with practical features.

2) Sound quality: The sonic presentation on this little unit is neutral and vastly uncoloured. Default op-amps LME49860 & AD8397 perform very well, I can imagine it would pair well with almost any headphones.

3) Value: The Cube unit carries a great price to performance factor, which is hard to beat in this price range. Perhaps the Cube along with HUD-Mini are the best compact portable amp/dac in this price range.

The Cons: None at this price point.

Thanks for the write-up. Which competitive products did you compared it against?

Comparison is made to the similar amp/dac units which are powered solely by the USB line.

Those are Audinst HUD-Mini, also the MX-1 & 2. The Prodigy cube (followed by HUD-Mini) provides most neutral and cleanest sound of all. HUD-Mini has a slightly more detailed DAC, but at the expense of slightly reduced soundstage depth. The Cube has noticeably better and more circular stage while compromising slight amount of details.

Both HUD-Mini & Cube are good options for enthusiasts who are traveling with a laptop or a smartphone in hand.

Wow, what a flashback! I owned one as an S/PDIF converter and it stopped working, thankfully within the warranty period. I didn't think anything at all good about the sound quality from the headphone output from memory, but that is probably because it only runs off USB power.

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: ME-Electronics is an established & popular US brand specializing in the area of Bluetooth headphones and IEM’s. They are based in Los Angeles, CA. Their products are all designed & developed in the U.S, but made in China by high standards.The HT-21 Gen.2 is on-ear Closed-back headphone offering. MEE recently updated the drivers of already excellent HT-21 model and hence the HT-21 Generation 2.

MEE has a specific vision in making their products: Their products should have appreciable clean and clear sound quality & last long must be made up of good quality materials. Their products are very reasonably priced, accessible for a common music enthusiast. MEE provides are a great price/performance ratio on their entire product range.

MEE’s Motto: Music Enjoyment for Everyone .

Specifications of the HT-21 Gen2:

Type: Closed back, On ear with Passive Noise Isolation

Driver: 40MM dynamic

Frequency Response: 10Hz-20 kHz

Impedance: 32 ohms

Sensitivity: 116dB (1mW@1KHZ)

Maximum power input: 50mW

Packaging and Accessories: The HT-21 Gen2 ’s arrive packed inside a strong cardboard box with a removable outer sheet, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is lifted open, The HT-21 Gen2 is seen resting on a plastic board. The cable is coiled off in the storage box. Which is safe yet attractive, nothing to complain about. A pouch is provided to store the HT-21’s.

Design and Build: The HT-21 Gen.2 has a very good overall build quality. Nowhere to nitpick.

The entire housing shell is made up of high quality fibre, and is painted in gloss black (fingerprint magnet). Cans are pretty small, and appear to be large in pictures. These are extremely light in weight. MEE logo is printed on the rear side of the housing shell. Left and Right markings are easy to see, and are clearly indicated. Headband & earpads cushioning are made up of soft pleather materials. The length slider is made up of polished metal, which ensures this area, which is under tension, does not break off.

The HT-21 Gen.2’s are already nimble, easy to handle, wear on and power requirement is very low. Along with all these, these are fold-able, and are easy to carry around. Cable has a very good build. It is light, flexible and does not get tangled. I could not notice the presence of any microphonics. Plug is 45 degree angled and gold plated.

Comfort: HT-21 Gen.2’s are very comfortable to wear. and its yoke is long enough and hence comfortable for almost any-sized heads. On1 is ergonomically designed. But since the earpads are madeup of pleather, ventilation will be less, thereby causing sweating; especially in tropical climate. But it can be continuously worn over an hour without any discomfort issues.

Since HT-21 Gen.2’s are closed back headphones, these will isolate the listener from outside noise. This level of isolation is decent for a traveller. Going by weight factor, these feel extremely light and very easy on head. Clamping force is relaxed and not at all imposing and pressing against ears. Headband has a good cushioning, Also, the HT-21 Gen.2’s housings have high degree of rotation, ensuring a good comfort for any given heads and ears.

Sound: As for the most important part, the HT-21 Gen.2 has a very neutral, clear & airy sonic character. It is very transparent and detailed (given its price). We have to keep in mind that, with on-ear headphones, sonic presentation may feel different with different fit. Therefore fit/angle is the deciding factor for sound being perceived by ears.

Burn in: There is little or no sonic change with time. Let’s say a usage of 5 hours gives us softening of pleather earpads and better clamping force. Bass prior to break-in is slightly looser, and eventually it becomes more accurate, Mids will sound more open, airy and natural. Highs become slightly smoother; soundstage opens up by a margin.

Lows: have sub-woofer ‘effect’ and punchy; not very accurate.

Mids: sound very neutral, airy and clear.

Highs: Detailed yet smooth treble.

Soundstage: Unlike majority of portable cans, the HT-21 Gen.2’s soundstage is airy natural with nearly circular soundstage. Depth is excellent. Instrument separation is very good for its price point. Instruments placement & positioning is great. I wouldn’t call it as natural sounding, but as neutral, detailed, transparent. Low volume listening is pretty impressive. One can hear On1 in very low volumes, yet it retains all the details & elements present in a track. Comfort and fit plays a vital role in sound being perceived to our ears. Especially in case of On1 where the earpads are very compact, if they fit in a wrong way, they will leak sound leading to missing details.

Amplification: The HT-21 Gen.2’s are rated at 32 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence are fairly easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although setup like an O2/ODAC does indeed increase accuracy, soundstage and dynamics, and the difference in quality is definitely audible. Power is not very important aspect here, but a transparent setup indeed does help in increasing SQ;

Conclusion: The HT-21 Gen.2’s are really impressive set of cans, which are affordable to any music enthusiast out there. Build quality is very good, sonic presentation is very pleasing, with fairly good soundstage. I really like to listen to these cans. I have nothing but praises for these. At a humble price of 15$, these are a steal deal & no brainer! No one can really go wrong with the HT-21 Gen.2

Pros:

1) Build Quality: The HT-21 Gen.2 has a good metal/fiber build.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very neutral, detailed, & airy, it is very much like-able and fatigue free for music listening on the go.

3) Power: HT-21 Gen.2’s can run off on smartphones without issues, and still sounding very good. Amplification or source requirement is very less.

Cons: None

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Topping is a popular Chinese brand specializing in the area of Class T Speaker amps & headphone amps. Topping made well performing speaker amps in an affordable price. Later on, they also released their famed ‘NX-1’ portable amp & many desktop head amps, which made them a well known name across the Audiophile World.
The VX-1 amp/dac is the latest release from them. It has headphone amplifier, 24/96 DAC and an 25 watt speaker amp.

Specifications of VX-1 amp/dac as per Topping:

Analog input	RCA input x 1 (L & R channel)
Digital input	USB
Amplifier output	Binding Post (L & R channel), BTL output
Headphone output	6.35mm
Maximum sample bit of DAC	24bit
Maximum sample rate of DAC	96kHz
Net weight	Approx 700g (unit only)
Dimensions	Approx 20CM x 13.2CM x 5CM

Speaker amplifier:
Suitable Speaker Impedance	4-8Ω
Maximum output power	24.4W (RL=4Ω, THD+N=10%)
	13.9W (RL=8Ω, THD+N=10%)
Output resistance	0.19Ω
Minimum THD+N	0.003%
THD+N(@1kHz)	0.019%
Frequency response	20-20kHz±1.1dB
Input sensitivity	420mVrms
Noise	<1mV
Gain(@1kHz)	27.2dB

Headphone amplifier:
Suitable Headphone Impedance	16-300Ω
Maximum output power	140mW (RL=32Ω, THD+N=1%)
Maximum output voltage swing	3.6Vrms
Minimum THD+N	0.002% (RL=32Ω, Pout=50mW)
THD+N(@1kHz)	0.020%
Frequency response	20-20kHz±0.6dB
Input sensitivity	1.1Vrms
Noise	<10μV
Gain(@1kHz)	6dB

Built-in USB DAC:
Maximum output voltage swing	2.44rms@1kHz
THD+N(@1kHz)	0.0082% (96kHz sampling rate)
Noise	<25μV
SNR	101dB

Let us see what the VX-1 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The VX-1 arrives packed inside a box, packed inside a removable foam packing. Packaging is generic, but nothing to complain about. But all the included accessories have a good quality and feel to them.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Power Adapter: AC to DC 14V 4A power adapter EU/US/AU/UK is supplied as per specifications.

USB Cable: USB B to USB A cable for data transfer.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the VX-1 and other warranty information.

¼” Converter: A 1/8” to ¼” converter for headphones with 3.5mm Jack.

Design and Build: The VX-1 has an excellent overall build quality. Its design is very convenient & practical. It is solidly built with no imperfections either physically or by exterior design.
At the front we have volume knob, ¼” headphone output socket & an on/off toggle switch, along with another input selector switch At the rear side of VX-1, we can observe the presence of power socket, Speaker taps & RCA input socket.

The VX-1 is fully Sophisticated and intelligent system. It employs relays to prevent noise/pop’s as well as memory function to remember the choice. Volume knob rotation is smooth and knob has just the right size for fingers. ¼” jack is a smooth operator. Internals quality & layout is again carried out very well. Everything is fixed on the PCB. Soldering & joints are very well done. Volume pot is well known Alps branded, which a plus for both volume control & audio quality. The VX-1 runs really cool at room temperature. The VX-1 has breathing LED behind volume pot which gives an illuminating effect and a calm glow.

(Image Courtsey: Topping)

I also observe a drawback in the power supply, it is not earthed. I am at a loss of understanding why Bravo did not include a third earthing pin or ground to make the amp safe. Since it is a DC supply, few ripples will be present in the final output. These either cause light electrocution/sock or audibly raise noise floor of the amp.

Sound: The VX-1 gives out a very natural, smooth and laidback sonic character. ‘Musical’ is the key word. I find it fairly accurate even then. Presentation is in such a way that, mids are little more intimate, with lows & highs sound tad more relaxed and laid back. Surprisingly, stock op-amp is pretty great and does not necessarily need to be changed/upgraded.

Burn in: I could not notice any major sonic improvements or changes by burn in. But let’s say a playback of about 20 hours provides few minor audible improvements, Bass prior to break-in is quite muddy, and eventually it becomes more accurate and clean, Mids will sound more open & slightly forward, airy and natural. Highs become more alive, soundstage will open up by a margin. Also, the noise floor further went down towards complete silence.

The gain is fixed at 6dB, which is very efficient & safe, and certainly works well even with IEM’s. This amp fairly powerful and can drive low-moderate impedance dynamic headphones with ease. There is absolutely no channel imbalance, thanks to the alps pot.

Lows: are accurate enough, but are refined & smooth with full bodied bass, and this makes VX-1 to have slightly less ‘impact’ or ‘punch’.

Mids: Neutral & clean but a little thick, and is slightly intimate or forward.

Highs: Smooth and refined without grains. They are airy with good amount of space sensation.

Soundstage: feels airy, natural and nearly-circular. Width is very good, & depth is decent enough for imaging. Instrument separation & detailing is pretty good.

The VX-1 sounded good in all genres I tried, and hence I conclude, The VX-1 is decently transparent, detailed but also slightly forgiving to poor recordings. Hence I can say the VX-1 is an all rounder. It does not compromise anything too much to affect any of its characters. Another thing to mention, since VX-1 had an overall smooth sonic character, I decided to try it on the K702, and unbelievably, the combo worked like a charm. I didn't expect a 90$l amp to make K702 sound so good. The combo sounds musical, and removes away the clinical character of K702’s for the sake of music listening. I would recommend this amp for AKG Q701, K701 & K702.

Conclusion: I feel the VX-1 is a well performing desktop setup in its price range. Build quality is excellent, sonic presentation is really appreciable; VX-1 is decently powerful & can drive almost any dynamic cans including IEM’s. The VX-1 performs way better than any desktop amp/dacs one would come across in this price point; it also has a lot of output power as bonus match for slightly brighter or sterile sounding headphones. At 90$, The VX-1 amp is hard to beat.

Pros:

1) Build Quality: even though it is open by case, the VX-1 has an excellent exterior & interior build. No compromise to be seen anywhere. Circuitry is also neat & well built.

2) Sound Quality: Sound presentation here is clean, smooth & refined but yet is detailed, spacious, which is very much like-able for a casual music listen.

3) Value: The VX-1 is one of the best bang for buck desktop setup under 100$

Cons:

1) Power Supply: The default power supply is not grounded, hence a fair change of light electrocution and audibly higher noise floor. Thus one needs to earth it by connecting the input cable to a grounded source (like PC, which will be earthed)

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop. With time, my sonic preferences have very much grown. I avidly admire transparency, accuracy along with neutrality, I mostly listen to full sized open back headphones and my all-time favorite headphones are Sennheiser HD800 & AKG K812, which I run from solid state amplifiers. I prefer & admire transparent solid state headphone amplifiers simply because they provide best possible accuracy, transparency & reliability.

I am an average consumer & a humble enthusiast, I pen down my thoughts, & I love to express my feelings. I do not receive for any sort financial benefits through this review. My articles are a purely honest writeup aimed for fellow enthusiasts here at Head-Fi community. My profound thanks to Yulong Audio for arranging a sample unit of U200 for my evaluation.

Intro: Founded in 2009, ShenZhen YuLong Electronics Co., Ltd, (better known as Yulong Audio) is a company specializes in designing and manufacturing High-end headphone amplifiers & DAC’s. The R&D of the company consists of senior audiophiles and a team with proven experience of electronic product development for more than a decade. YuLong is devoted to produce components that are not only sonically superior to the ear, but also economically affordable on the wallet.
Yulong Audio is a well respected brand specializing in the area of high end solid stage Amplifiers & DAC’s. Even though a relatively newer establishment in the field, Yulong Audio managed to capture attention of the world by their attractive offerings. Yulong Audio made well performing devices to be available in a very competitive price, and by retaining a world class technology & superior quality. This made them a well known name across the Audiophile World.

Yulong Audio’s U200 is a high performance USB DAC and headphone amplifier which is designed for dedicated high end audio. It supports PCM formats up to 32Bit/384KHz and DSD.
The U200 utilizes SaviAudio SA9227 for its USB audio interface solution. AKM 4495, the flagship DAC chip of the Premium Audio series from AKM internal hook ups and filters optimized for actual listening experience rather than measurement. Such details distinguish this chip from other solutions, which are mostly optimized for measurement performance, and make it a DAC chip with music sense in its nature. The power supply in U200 is AC internal regulation which is a step up from the external DC supply on its predecessor U100. The headphone amplifier is fully discrete, class-A construction and paired with a dedicated analogue input, so the U200 can be used as a pure headphone amplifier if desired.

Technical specifications of U200:

USB input supports PCM 16-32 Bit: 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88.2KHz, 96KHz, 176.4KHz, 192KHz, 352.8KHz, 384KHz, and DSD64 and DSD128

USB supports Mac OSX, Linux, and Windows XP to Windows 8, 32 bit or 64 bit system (driver required).

Signal to Noise Ratio: 120dB

Dynamic range: >115dB

Distortion: 0.0016%

Frequency response: -0.2dB @ 20Hz and 20KHz

Crosstalk: -110dB

Maximum line output: 2V RMS

Power consumption: <15W

Headphone output power: 500mW @ 32Ω, 280mW @ 250Ω, 150mW @ 300Ω，60mW @ 600Ω,

Packaging & Accessories: The U200 comes packed in Yulong Audio’s standard white coloured cardboard box having a graphical illustration, there are ample amount of accessories included in the package

Included Accessories:

User manual: Contains instruction about operating U200, aswell as warranty information.

USB Cable: Good quality USB A-B cable to connect U200 to computer.

Power Cable: Plug as specified US/UK/AU/EU

WiFi Module: Which includes a separate DC power cable& an antenna

Rubber feets: 3M branded rubber feets to attach the WiFi module to main body.

Design and Build: The U200 excellent top-notch overall build quality with perfect finishing.

The outer case is made up of aluminium, and is polished & brush finished. Excellently finished surfaces with utmost precision. The U200 is fairly compact in size. Weighs about two kilograms. On the front side, we have Volume control knob, headphone jack is present in 6.5mm format along with a power switch. On the rear side, we have USB input port, power ports a switch for input swapping along with analogue Input & output ports. Power button is very rugged & tough, Volume knob operates in a very smooth & steady fashion. RCA jacks are gold plated, feels good quality platings. Headphone socket is ball bearing type & goes easy on the headphone jack, does not cause scratches on the surface.

Considering the Internal components, U200 has a double sided PCB with no manual wirings. All components used are carefully selected; including all dale resistors, Alps-16 series pot, premium caps. For D/A conversion, the U200 employs SaviAudio SA9227 for USB & 32 Bits/384 KHZ capable AKM Chip. There are no user replaceable/serviceable parts inside the U200. Board is well soldered and has a reliable workmanship. The U200 runs very cool, sometimes gets slightly warm due to being Class-A. It supports 32 bits 384 KHZ & DSD format. Driver installation is a must, & drivers can be downloaded easily on Yulong Audio’s website. It can also act as standalone headphone amplifier when fed with RCA inputs & standalone DAC when output utilized via RCA outputs sockets. DAC output is very powerful & sonically very well performing. When used in standalone amplifier mode fed with external DAC’s, the output power is still ample & plenty, and retains its transparency, with sound signature of the feeding source.

The U200 also contains optional WiFi module which can be connected to U200 main body & have wireless flow of input signals to U200. Smartphone users have to download an Yulong Audio app over Google Play, then can activate WiFi operation, hence avoid hassle of input USB cable. But this is not always useful since U200 is a desktop device & generally we all have PC right beside our amp/dac's.

Sound: The U200 provides a very neutral, detailed & vast, sound character with a touch of ‘naturalness’ in sonic presentation. Sound-stage width is superb & expansive. Overall an amazing performance. Lows are full bodied , very accurate and go very deep. Mids sound clear, slightly sound ‘sweet’ if I must say; U200 has a very slight ‘mellow & sweet’ flavour here in mids. Highs are very clean, airy, very detailed, but slightly smoother in presentation.

Soundstage in U200 is spatial & expansive. It has a fully circular 3D imaging. Detail retrieval, and dynamics are excellent, perhaps one of the best for an Amp/Dac under 500$ (along with HPA-3U). Overall the sonic presentation is very pleasing yet maintains high level of transparency and accuracy. Absolutely zero audible hiss/noise, and zero EMI pickup. But slight ‘pop’ is heard on headphones, when U200 is switched on/off.

Driving Power: The U200 is very powerful when it comes to driving headphones. Drove my AKG K702 (which is a demanding headphone when it comes to amplifiers) well with 25% volume pot utilized. Both AKG K812 & HD800 shined with U200. Also tried my trusty LCD-2’s, U200 drove them very well, but lacked synergy. It anything drives from IEM’s to planar magnetic with ease. Volume pot does a very good job here, volume increase very steady and in a smooth fashion. No channel imbalance, starts right away with both R & L equally.

Overall, the U200 impressed me in sound department, It provided a vast & relaxed listening experience to me for hours together.

Comparison: A very good competitor for U200 we have here is none other than the Matrix-M Stage HPA-3U, which is also similarly priced & has similar functions. Now we have a tough competition, both newly released amp/dac’s, are priced around very well @ 400$ & both perform really well.

The HPA-3U has user-changeable gain 5/10/20X settings, & 230V/110V AC voltage switch to use in various parts of world without any hassle. It also has an internally swappable op-amp for any such rolling. Another advantage the HPA posses over U200 is that the HPA-3U has Alps blue velvet pot, which is simply well ahead of Alps-16 used in the U200. The U200 offers WiFi module for an additional 100$, which I sometimes feel not very necessary.

Whereas the Yulong U200’s gain is fixed, but it drives all earphones & headphones well. AC voltage switch is not present, and can be a drawback for frequent international travellers. In terms of build quality & workmanship, the U200 clearly has an upper hand with superior build inside& out, HPA-3U follows very closely, with slightly inferior part quality & design in few areas. The U200 has a very neutral & expansive sound quality with a touch of naturalness: sweet mids, slightly smooth highs & full bodied bass. Soundstage is deeper & more expansive in U200. HPA-3U has stronger bass with a slight bump, clear & open mids along with clear, & revealing highs, and not exactly ‘natural’ if I must say. I would rather call HPA-3U more analytic & clinical that the U200, but only with a slight margin.

In end of the day, both HPA-3U and U200 have an excellent performance & high value aspect associated with the price paid. Here the decision makes up of preferences only & sound quality almost same on both the devices.

Conclusion: The Yulong Audio U200 is a very well performing USB DAC/Amp combo unit. It impressed me in sound presentation. I can recommend the U200 for any music enthusiast who would like a full size headphone amp/dac with excellent sonic qualities & performance aspect under a decent price tag. I feel the U200, is more suitable for musical pleasure, rather than critical listening. Its workmanship is of high standards, and thus very reliable & robust in operation. U200 also has very good synergy & pairing with world famous high end headphones like HD800 & K812. Sonic presentation was in a very relaxed, expansive and in a natural manner, but without losing out on transparency & details.

Though excellent performing , I will reduce half a star from five star rating, for excluding Alps blue velvet pot & 230/110 Voltage input switch.

Pros:

1) Design and Build: U200 has very well designed and implemented build. Both internal & external build quality is supreme with very good workmanship.

2) Sound quality: The sonic presentation on this little unit is very neutral & expansive but with a touch of”sweetness & naturalness” in presentation. Sonically, performs very well. Powerful enough to drive any dynamic headphones.

Cons: The U200 did not have employ blue velvet pot, which disappointed me slightly. It is well known fact that Blue velvet does indeed provide few considerable sonic improvement than rest of the volume pot’s.

great review,

Good review

Is the dac out volume controlled?
Can you use the wifi from a laptop? iOS/Android?

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: ME-Electronics is an established & popular US brand specializing in the area of Bluetooth headphones and IEM’s. They are based in Los Angeles, CA. Their products are all designed & developed in the U.S, but made in China by high standards. The Matrix2 is Over-ear Bluetooth Closed-back headphone offering from MEE. It also has variety of cutting edge technology such as carbon fiber body, wired/wireless operation, full music controls on headphone itself, rechargeable battery and so on.

MEE has a specific vision in making their products: Their products should have appreciable clean and clear sound quality & last long must be made up of good quality materials. Their products are very reasonably priced, accessible for a common music enthusiast. MEE provides are a great price/performance ratio on their entire product range.

MEE’s Motto: Music Enjoyment for Everyone.

Specifications of Matrix2 as per MEE:

speaker driver	40 mm
frequency response	20 Hz to 20 kHz
impedance	64 Ohms at 1K
sensitivity	103±3 dB at 1KHZ
rated power	20 mW
maximum power	50 mW
battery type	built-in 400mAh Lithium-polymer rechargeable battery
run time	up to 22 hours of talking or music playback time
standby time	up to 350 hours
charging time	2 to 3 hours
Bluetooth version	4.0
Bluetooth profiles supported	A2DP, HSP, HFP, AVRCP
Audio codecs supported	SBC, AAC, aptX
Additional features	NFC pairing, Multipoint connectivity, 3.5mm jack for wired use

directivity	omnidirectional
S.P.L.	-58±2 dB
frequency response	10 Hz to 20 kHz

Packaging and Accessories: The Matrix2’s arrive packed inside a strong white MEE style-cardboard box, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is lifted open, The Matrix2& its case can be slid out. Packaging is safe yet attractive, nothing to complain about.

List of Included Accessories:

Storage Case: Strong fiber storage case to store and carry the Matrix2 headphones.

Headphone Cable: One 1.25M three pole 3.5mm audio cable for wired operation on Matrix2.

USB Charging Cable: Standard black coloured USB cable to charge the Matrix2

User Manual: Detailed and informative Instructions about operation, also contains warranty information.

Design and Build: The Matrix2 has a cutting edge & innovative build with very good quality workmanship. Nowhere to nitpick on.

The entire housing shell is made up of high quality, light weight & latest tech carbon fibre, and is painted in matt rubbery black for better grip and anti-skid feature. These are light in weight. Left and Right markings are a little hard to see, and are clearly indicated. Headband & earpads cushioning are made up of soft pleather materials. The length slider is made up of polished metal, which ensures this area, which is under tension, does not break off. The Matrix2’s are already nimble, easy to handle, wear on and power requirement is very low. Along with all these are easy to carry around.

Since the Matrix2 is a Bluetooth headphone it has internal rechargeable battery, and recharging point is a mini USB, & is expected to be charged from a 5V USB line. The Matrix2 supports Bluetooth V4, & the host device is supposed to support the BT v4 for a pairing to achieve. Battery life is expected at around 20 hours. The Matrix2 also supports wired playback incase Bluetooth is no longer required. The socket for the cable is again a very common and convenient 3.5mm type. It also has play, pause, forward, backward and volume keys on lower side of the headphones.

Functions: When switched on & paired with a smartphone, the Matrix2 works flawlessly in terms of wireless operation. No interruptions or distortions. Clean transmission. The control buttons are very well designed, and are solidly built, and perform well.

Comfort: Matrix2’s are very comfortable to wear, and its yoke is long enough and hence comfortable for almost any-sized heads. Matrix2 is ergonomically designed. But since the earpads are madeup of pleather, ventilation will be less, thereby causing sweating; especially in tropical climate. But it can be continuously worn over an hour without any discomfort issues.

Since Matrix2’s are closed back headphones, these will isolate the listener from outside noise. This level of isolation is good enough for a traveller. Going by weight factor, these feel light and go easy on head. Clamping force is relaxed and not at all imposing and pressing against ears. Headband has a good cushioning.

Sound: As for the most important part, the Matrix2 in overall has a near-neutral & clean sonic character.

Burn in: There is little or no sonic change with time. Let’s say a usage of 5 hours gives us softening of pleather earpads and a personalized clamping force. Bass prior to break-in is slightly muddy, and eventually it becomes more accurate, Mids will sound clearer and natural. Highs become slightly smoother; soundstage opens up by a margin.

Lows: are slightly loose and give a sense of full bodied bass, and are decently accurate.

Mids: sound very neutral clean.

Highs: Slightly smooth treble.

Soundstage: Matrix2’s soundstage is good enough (for a BT can) with nearly circular soundstage. Width & Depth are balanced, decent. Instrument separation is good for a BT headphone at this price.

Amplification: The Matrix2’s are rated at 64 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence are fairly easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although setup like an O2/ODAC does indeed increase accuracy, soundstage and dynamics, and the difference in quality is definitely audible. Power is not very important aspect here, but a transparent setup indeed does help in increasing SQ; It is easy to observe that sound quality audibly increases on wired mode on same headphones, than wirelesss BT mode.

Conclusion: The Matrix2’s are really appreciable set BT of cans, one of the most performing & affordable BT cans to music enthusiast out there. Build quality is very good, sonic presentation is great for a wireless headphone with fairly good soundstage. Matrix2’s functions are also very fine and work flawlessly. At a competitive price of 90$, these offer a great price to performance ratio! Really a option worth looking for joggers, travellers and enthusiasts who are on the move.

Pros:

1) Build Quality: The Matrix2 has an excellent metal/fiber build. Latest tech’s like carbon fiber is employed.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very neutral, clear & detailed. Appreciable sound quality for a wireless headphone.

3) Function: Matrix2 has a very reliable yet wide features and functions in it. It can go wired or wireless, has complete music control including a high quality mic embedded in it.

Cons: Clarity & balance in sound quality could use improvement, but again due to wireless features & wide functions, there will be a compromise in sound quality, which is common for all BT headphones.

I am penning down my opinion about the Brainwavz HM5 Over ear Studio Monitor headphones. I will try to keep this review as simple as possible and I hope it would be easy to read, and help fellow enthusiasts to understand more about the HM5.

Me : I am an 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself an music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs.

Intro : Brainwavz, established in 2008, is an renown brand in the audio world. I always have felt that, Brainwavz excels in delivering quality products in an affordable price.The HM5 is the only over ear and closed headphone offering from the house of Brainwavz. HM5 is aimed to function as Studio monitor, rather than solely for Audiophile listening purposes.

Packaging and Accessories : The HM5 arrives packed inside an typical-Brainwavz-style colourful cardboard box, on which features, accessories and other information have been mentioned upon. The box is sealed by Brainwavz factory. Once the box is opened, the HM5 and accessories are packed inside the hard case. Nice step taken by Brainwavz, considering thousands of miles journey the HM5 has to undergo before reaching its destination. The hard case can be unzipped off to reveal the storage compartment, in which all the included accessories are present.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

1) 1.3M headphone cable: Practical step taken by Brainwavz, The cable is of short length and suits much better for portable use. The cable terminates in 1/8” jack. I find myself using this cable for most of the time.

2) 3M headphone cable: This cable has extra length, same features, and is intended for non-portable purposes in studio. This cable too terminates in 1/8”.

3) ¼” converter: This converter can be screwed-in directly to both short and long cables for plugging in ¼” headphone jack, and is gold plated.

4) Spare Earpads: One spare set of stock pleather earpads.

5) Hard Case: To store the HM5 headphone and its accessories.

6) Zipper line : It is an long cord with hooks to attach to hard case and can be hung around our shoulder while travelling.

7) Warranty: Contains warranty details of the HM5.

Overall, the packaging and accessories gives an positive first impression. Packaging is secure and practical, with accessories provided being plenty and made up of premium quality. They all have the same sophisticated feel as each and every part of the HM5.

Design and Build : The HM5 has an excellent build quality and has been built with professional grade materials. Metal cups, steel headband, high quality audio jacks, reliable overall sturdy construction. Nothing feels finicky. HM5 is a little smaller than how it appears in pictures, thus making it very portable and nimble. Headband is made up of high grade steel. Headband padding is cushioned and is good enough to keep us comfortable for 1-2 hours on an continuous listen. On the top side of the headband padding, The brand name ‘Brainwavz’ is engraved, giving the HM5 an professional look.,

Headphone cable is made up of good quality materials, 1/8” jack terminal is gold plated and feels high quality. The mono jack ending for the headphone, marked red for right and blue for left, The ¼” converter too has a premium quality. The driver housing cup is light in weight, has metal plated outer finishing, and has clearly visible Left and Right markings. Strain relief on the housing are rigid and well implemented. Headphone cable connector design is simple yet reliable and practical, with mono 3.5mm connector. With an simple push inside the socket, the connector sits snugly in its place.The HM5 feels rubbery when held in and has matt finish, which increases the holding grip, and does not it slip off from our hands.

Another thing to mention about HM5 is that, it is completely modular, with user removable and replace-able parts. Headband, earcups, earpads, and even the driver unit can be removed out of the HM5, which increases HM5’s reliability and durability along with ease of maintenance for the user. The HM5 in overall is made up of high quality materials, also, the HM5 has excellent finishing. A 3D Brainwavz logo embossed on the ear cups looks very attractive!

Specifications of HM5 as per Brainwavz:

Drivers : Dynamic, 42mm
Rated Impedance : 64 Ω
Frequency Range : 10Hz ˜ 26.5kHz
Sensitivity: 105 dB @ 1 mW
Rated Input : Power 100 mW

Features :

Over ear Design : Ensures in good fit and comfort, and has oval shaped earcup design to comfortably fit on our oval shaped human ears. Earcups have have plenty of space inside to accommodate larger ears.

Easy to drive: HM5 is rated at 64Ohms and having an dynamic driver, and is easy to drive from most of the portable devices. Which is an plus point of portability.

Detachable cable : HM5 has an simple detachable cable mechanism, which of snug-fit simply push type. Though replacement cable are rare in mono 3.5mm headphone plug, its always convenient to have an detachable cable.

Portability : It is appreciable that, an over ear headphone which is truely portable practically. Most of the over ear headphones are cumbersome to carry around, whereas the HM5 can sit comfortably in its carry case, and is easy to carry around.

Modularity : This feature vaguely reminds me of the HD600’s, just like HD600, the HM5 is modular, with most of its parts user repairable and replaceable. This feature allows us to easily change the earpads, earcups, and allows other modifications.

Comfort : Comfort level on HM5 is good enough. HM5 headphones are very light in weight, does not get dislodged when head is shaken. The HM5 is ergonomically designed, except for the headband assembly and clamping force, which I feel lets the comfort levels down.

Since the HM5 is compactly designed, The headband cushioning is quite mediocre, is very less in length and thickness, and this can cause slight pain or discomfort for larger heads. Clamping was so tight that, I carefully bent the steel supports to suit for my head. But this 'bend' reverses back, to default, once the HM5 is stored back in its hard case. I have to mention, earcup comfort is very good, considering the oval shaped cups suitable for human ears and lots of ear-space inside the earpads.Velour pads may be itchy for sensitive skinned people. The headband screw cover is bare and exposed right besides the headband cushion, and touches my head.

Sound : The HM5 is overall ‘clean and clear’ sounding with very good sound stage depth and decent width, imaging and detail retrieval (for an closed can). Considering the HM5’s overall neutral sound character, It can match up with any genre and with any source without sounding bad in particular. Sound stage depth is very good especially for an closed can, width is decent and good enough. Detail retrieval is excellent. Imaging and dynamics live upto expectations, giving an circular spacious surround sound. Gives an neutral and balanced sonic performance.

The final sonic output in HM5 noticeably changes from different earpads and earcups used:

Aftermarket Pleather earpads : Lows are strong but a little boomy, Highs are a touch smoothened, and soundstage feels congested. sounds dark and muddy when compared to velour pads. Although comfort is very good, and maximum isolation is achieved by this pleather earpad.

Aftermarket Velour earpads : Lows are tighter and are well controlled. the overall sound is more airier with increased soundstage. Sounds much more relaxed than the pleather earpads and is sonically more neutral. Increased wearing comfort and ventilation is an bonus. Though isolation is least in this pad.

Stock earpads : Sounds noticeably inferior compared to the above two, and is relatively uncomfortable, due to its thin padding.

I could imagine that more sonic improvements and neutrality can be achieved with installation of the custom semi open earcups; though I do not have opportunity to try them.

The Downsides :

1) Headband Padding : The head padding provided is minimalistic, and is not very comfortable for larger heads (like mine), causing headaches and sore heads after an hour of continuous listen through the HM5.

2) Clamping : The HM5 has tight clamp force, and my face felt jammed between the earcups of HM5 on the first use. The clamp force did reduced a bit after few hours of use, but not upto to my comfort.

The above two downsides should not be much of an issue for people with smaller or moderate head size.

3) Quality in some areas: Although overall quality of HM5 is very good, but at some places, like inner earcup swing-arm has an hollow appearance. This feels as an compromise in quality. Headband securing screws are completely exposed and have finicky feel to them.

Conclusion: The HM5 is designed to function as an studio monitor, and that explains its closed design to capture every detail in accurate way possible. The HM5 offers very good neutral sound quality along with excellent portability and features, in an affordable price range. The HM5 is an very capable headphone, but one may have to purchase velour earpads and semi open earcups, in addition to the headphone itself, for an more pleasing experience. Headband can be bit of an issue for people with larger heads.

Thank you!

Where did you get the aftermarket ear pads?

Here you go, http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-hm5-velor-memory-foam-earpad-suitable-for-large-over-the-ear-headphones-black

Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Astrotec, otherwise known as Aspen Tsui Astrotec, was established in 2002 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China. "Astrotec" stands for Astro (Sky) and Tec (Technology). Astrotec provided headphone drivers for other brands during its early years, and now it mainly manufactures its own IEM line. Astrotec got particularly famous after it rolled out its ‘AM90’ low cost BA earphones, which was well received by enthusiasts.

GX50 is Astrotec’s latest release, and was released in Jan 2015.

Specifications of GX50 as per Astrotec:

Driver unit: 9.0mm rare earth permanent magnet

Bandwidth Range: 12Hz-25000Hz

Sensitive: 104dB / 1mw (SPL 1 KHz)

Impedance: 16 ohms

Wire: 12m ± 0.3m PU cable

Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated

For-line interface: MMCX

Rated power: 3mW

Maximum power: 10mW

Let us proceed to the review part,

Packaging and Accessories: The GX50 arrives packed inside a small and sleek blue coloured cardboard box, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. The GX50 housing shell is seen resting inside a transparent window, the rest of cable and the accessories are packed inside the pleather pouch. Nothing special to mention about, packaging does its job. However, I feel the GX50 packaging is quite mediocre, packaging technique is poorly implemented and users will have a hard time in pulling off the unit off the box.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Eartips: Plenty varieties of good quality eartips are included to fit almost any kind of ears; pair of foam tips are also included.

Pleather Pouch: This pouch is supplied to protect and store the GX50.

User Manual & Warranty card: Contains instructions and other warranty information.

Cleaning cloth: To wipe or clean the IEM’s.

Design and Build: The GX50 has a fairly good overall build quality. The entire housing shell is made up of good quality fibre. It is designed to look like a gem or a precious stone. Nozzle is slightly longer, considering its shallow fit. The shell is a finger print and scratch magnet. Astrotec logo is printed on the rear side of the housing shell. Left and Right markings are easy to notice.

Cable has a very good build (better build than housings). It is light, flexible, braided and does not get tangled. Cables have almost zero microphonics. Cable slider is embedded inside the Y splitter. Plug is 180 degree angled and gold plated. The cable is remove-able type, and in the top portion there is a memory wire, which functions good.

Connecting mechanism is a simple push and pull. However the connectors themselves are fragile, loose fitting and not confidence inspiring.There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of build quality.

Comfort: Though GX50 did not excel in build quality, it is very comfortable to wear, is ergonomically designed, and its cable is light and memory wire does a good job. Their presence is barely noticeable after wearing them. GX50 particularly provides a good isolation, this will be a definite advantage for a traveller.

The provided ear tips are well designed and are ear-friendly. I can confidently say, these are very comfortable to wear.

Sound: As for the most important part, GX50 In overall, has a warm, intimate and closed–in sound character. Detail retrieval is fairly good.

Lows: are fairly accurate (a little loose) and strong; have a good impact.

Mids: sound somewhat artificial and un-natural, not at all appealing on vocals.

Highs: are smooth, not too smooth to cause a darkish impression and not bright to cause sibilance. ‘Just right’

Soundstage: Closed in natural and circular soundstage. Instrument separation is not upto mark, overall feels congested. This, I believe is a cause for fatiguing listen.

Comparing the GX50 with S0, I feel the S0 definitely outperforms the GX50 in terms of sound quality (soundstage, neutrality, separation and imaging). The S0’s are also more relaxing to listen to; whereas the GX50 is warmer, intimate and closed in. The GX50 wins hands down in terms of cable quality, and ergonomics. The final sound (and comfort) of GX50 can be slightly changed by using different ear tips.The final sound (and comfort) of GX50 can be slightly changed by using different ear tips.

Amplification: The GX50 is fairly easy (not very easy) to drive. They will benefit from light external amplification. An amp like an Objective2 does increases the sound output audibly, the difference in quality is noticeable. Amplification factor is not very important, but cannot be ignored either.

Conclusion: I was not quite satisfied with the sound presentation of GX-50. The build quality too did not live upto my expectations. For me,The only positive aspect about GX50 was the comfort offering. I feel IEM’s like Havi B3 might be a much better buy than GX-50.

The Pros:

1) Comfort: GX-50 is quite comfortable to wear for many hours, owing to its light weight, good fit and ergonomics.

2) Sound Quality: A warm, intimate character with good detail retrieval, but lacks soundstage, feels congested.

The Cons:

1) Connectors: The connectors particularly have a very mediocre build, and may give away with time.

2) Value: At this price point, there are much better performing IEM’s available (Havi B3, Brainwavz S0/S5, RE100, VSD3 etc)

I actually think that the build quality is quite good.

Agree, the one thing is that there are 15$ MMCX cables (USD$13.00 Item NO.: LN004992) from lunashops

Oh, LN004992 wont't fit GX50, but Earphone Cable For JVC HA-FX850 Fidue A83 Ultrasone edition 8 julia USD$13.00 Item NO.: LN004947 will.

Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Brainwavz, established in 2008, is a famous and renowned brand across the world. Speciality of Brainwavz is that, they always deliver quality products in an affordable price. The M3 is the flagship In Ear Monitor offering from M series of Brainwavz. The M3 took back seat for quite some time, owing to release of newer S series.

Specifications of M3 as per Brainwavz:

Drivers: Dynamic, 10.7mm

Rated Impedance: 20 Ω

Frequency Range: 20Hz-20kHz

Sensitivity: 115 dB@1 mW

Rated Input Power: 10 mW

Cable: 1.3m, Y-Cord, (Cu/Ag) PUR

Plug: 3.5mm Gold Plated 45°

Let us see what the M3 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: As usual, the M3 arrives packed inside a typical-Brainwavz-style colourful cardboard box, on which features, accessories and other information have been mentioned upon. The box is sealed by Brainwavz factory. Once the box is opened, The M3 housing shell is seen resting on a transparent plastic, the rest of cable and the accessories are packed inside the hard case. Nice step taken by Brainwavz, considering thousands of miles journey the M3 has to undergo before reaching its destination. The hard case can be unzipped off to reveal the storage compartment, in which all the included accessories are present.

Brainwavz has always been generous in case of accessories, by providing good amount of accessories. Over all the packaging and accessories is nicely done (as usual) by Brainwavz.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Eartips: Plenty of good quality eartips are included to fit almost any kind of ears, a pair of comply foam tips are also included.

Shirt Clip: To reduce microphonics and to secure the hanging cable to the shirt.

Hard case: This case is supplied to store and protect the M3.

Warranty card: Contains warranty information.

Design and Build: The M3 has a very good overall build quality. Feels sophisticated and refined. The M3 has a very practical and ergonomic build.

Housing shells are made up of high quality fiber materials. Nozzle is made up of metal. Housing is painted in black gloss colour, Feels good in hand. The housings shell is actually tiny, light in weight.

One peculiar thing a person can see about M3 is that, there is a arm stretching out of the main driver housing. The function of this arm is to hold the M3’s steady while our head is moving (during jogging) and to not allow M3’s to slip deeper into the ear canal.

Cable is braided and has a very good build. It is very similar to the cables of SoundMAGIC E30 earphones. It is light, flexible and does not get tangled. Cables have almost zero microphonics. Plug is 45 degrees angled. This is again more convenient and easier to use than the 90 degree and 180 degree plugs.

My only concern is the absence of strain relief on housings and on Y splitter. Cable is most likely to wear at these two places. We can see here that a cable slider is too not present.

Comfort and Fit: M3 is quite comfortable to wear, its light in weight, ergonomically designed, and its cable is light in weight and not heavy, stiff like the S0’s. No worries about the stretching arm on the driver housings, as their presence is barely noticeable after sometime of wearing it.

My ears are quite large, and the M3’s fit me well. So I would also presume that M3 would fit almost all kind of ears. The presence of protruding arm does not hinder the comfort. Instead it makes sure there is better fit. The isolation provided by M3 is quite mediocre, owing to shallow fit and insertion.

Sound: As for the most important part, th sound. The M3 has a slightly 'V' shaped sound signature.

Lows: are fairly tight and strong; goes deep enough for a good impact.

Mids: are pushed back a little, not a strong point for vocals.

Highs: are sparky and are a touch artificial sounding. There are a few spikes audible in the highs,

Sound-stage width is a little bit congested. Depth is pretty decent. The overall presentation is warm, intimate and closed in. I also remember M3 sounded a touch processed and artificial. This may make one to feel fatigued even after a short listen. Also, the sound of M3 can be manipulated by using different eartips. Sonic results can vary greatly by different ear tips used. But, I found the default tip to be most balanced sounding amongst all included tips.

Comparing the M3 with S0, I feel the S0 definitely outperforms the M3 in terms of neutrality, soundstage. The S0’s are also more pleasant and relaxing to listen to. M3 is slightly warmer and feels congested sounding, whereas S0 is greatly transparent and neutral, with relaxed and natural soundstage. (Also, S0 costs half the price of M3). M3 clearly wins in terms of cable quality, and ergonomics. One cannot simply ignore the fact that, S0’s have tremendous value with them. I was fatigued by M3 in a short amount of time (Spacious sound of S0 spoilt me)

Amplification: The M3 is very easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although a dedicated low cost amp like a Topping NX100 does increases the sound output noticeably, the difference in quality is minimal. Amplification factor is not important here, but a clean and transparent source is sufficient to drive the M3 to their maximum potential.

Conclusion: M3 is a decent earphone, but I did not quite like its sound presentation. I would instead recommend an enthusiast to consider the popular S0 which costs half the price of M3, with a much more acclaimed and neutral sound quality. The M3 is also comparatively outdated when it comes to value prospect.

The Pros:

1) Build Quality: The M3’s have a very good build quality. Particularly the cables are well built.

2) Sound quality: Sound quality of M3 is relatively warm and intimate. For those who appreciate this kind of sound presentation, they would prefer the sound quality of M3.

3) Comfort: M3 is quite comfortable to wear for a few hours, owing to its light and ergonomic build.

The Cons:

1) Value: I think there are much better performing earphones available within the same price tag as of M3, thus making M3 of having a mediocre price/performance ratio.

2) Not for everybody: The sound quality presented by M3 may not be appreciated by every enthusiast.

Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Master & Dynamic is a new US brand specializing in the area of headphones and IEM’s. They are based in New York. M&D rolled out their first product in July, last year. Their products are all designed & developed in New York, but made in China by high standards. Mr. Jonathan Levine is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of M&D.

MH40 is the top-of-the-line offering from M&D, and currently has flagship status.

Specifications of MH40:

Drivers: 45mm Neodymium

Rated Impedance: 32 Ω

Weight: 360 grams

Plug: 3.5mm Gold Plated 4 pole

Cable: Woven with Oxygen Free Copper

Let us see what the MH40 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The MH40 arrives packed inside a strong black cardboard box with a removable outer sheet, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is flipped open, The MH40 is seen resting. Cables are placed inside the hard leather case in the centre of the box. This layer of foam can be lifted off to reveal another storage compartment, in which pouch and user manual are present.

M &D has done some real premium packaging out here. Each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it. Really a nice and satisfying experience. The attention and perfection implemented here is one of the best I have ever seen, and is really more of a lavish style. Even the small paper clip or a velcro is made up of excellent quality material.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Cables: One short 1.25M cable with mic and volume controls, and another regular 2.0M cable.

¼” Converter: To plug in the MH40 in the 6.5mm headphone jacks.

Leather cable case: This is a genuine leather case, and supplied to protect and store the cables.

Headphone Pouch: This pouch has a high grade jeans-finish to it, and functions as a storage pouch for the MH40.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the MH40 and other warranty information.

Design and Build: The MH40 has an excellent overall build quality. It has a top notch build which is as good as any Summit-Fi headphones.

The entire housing shell is made up of high quality forged aluminium. It isn’t painted, but is anodized, which is again a step forward in engineering. These cans are pretty small, and appear to be large in pictures. These are fairly heavy, but manageable by our neck muscles. M&D logo is printed on the rear side of the housing shell. Left and Right markings are particularly hard to see, since the L/R markings are very small. Headband is made up of lambskin leather. Earpads are covered with cowhide, but actually have pleather material inside.

MH40 has cable socket at both the drivers, but only one need to be used, according to user’s choice. The cable is of very common type, a 3.5mm 4 pole jack. This ensures, even if the current cable breaks, a replacement is easy to obtain.

Wiring for opposite driver is embedded on upper end of headband, like the DT880’s overhead cabling. Personally, I don’t think this is the best mechanism here, and since MH40 have two sockets of jacks, so instead of overhead wire, which will be unreliable over time, M&D could have used both of these sockets to obtain HD600 cabling style.

Cable has a good build. It is light, flexible and does not get tangled. But I feel the cables have slight microphonics. Plug is straight and gold plated. Both ends of cable have same connectors, thus the cable can be used either way: topside down or vice versa. A mute button is also present on right cup, which once pressed cuts off the signals and hence stops the sound generation from drivers.

Comfort: This is the area where I am not particularly satisfied. I feel MH40 is not very comfortable to wear for larger heads, owing to its nimble and compact design.

Though MH40 is ergonomically designed, it is primarily designed for people with smaller head size and ears. Enthusiasts with larger heads and ears may not prefer the comfort of MH40. Length of the yoke and size of the earpads in particular will be far less for a good comfort.

Since the earpads are madeup of leather, ventilation is less for ears, along with lesser accommodating space. Thereby causing sweating, especially in tropical climate. Larger ears may not fit inside the earpads at all, and even if they do fit in, ears will touch inner sides of the ear pads and will cause discomfort.

Since MH40’s are closed back headphones, these isolate the listener from outside noise. This level of isolation is sufficient for a subway traveller. Going by weight factor, these feel fairly heavy, but very much manageable when tried on our heads.

Sound: As for the most important part, the MH40 has a warm, smooth and intimate sonic character. A very appealing sound.

Lows: are accurate, tight and refined; have a good impact. Depth is also good enough (but not very good)

Mids: sound very natural, and appealing, and have a prominent warmth and lush (like the HD600’s) I guess that is in a good way, comes very pleasing to our ears. Strong point for vocals.

Highs: Very smooth without grains, Highs convey an image of smoothened darkness, just like a caramel chocolate.

Soundstage: Closed-in, Intimate, natural and circular soundstage. Instrument separation is very good, but definitely not airy or spacious. I feel MH40’s presentation is like sitting in second row of an opera theater.

MH40 portrays music in such a way that, one feels as if the music is all around him. The sonic character here is so natural and eased that the tonality sounds very life-like. According to my observation, these cans sounded good in all genres I tried, and hence I conclude MH40's are also very forgiving to poor recordings, therefore not resolving, but very musical.

Comfort and fit plays a vital role in sound being perceived to our ears. Especially in case of MH40 where the earpads are very compact, if they fit in a wrong way, they will leak sound leading to missing details. I will not be directly comparing the MH40’s to other headphones since these are quite unique in their own regard. But for the sake of it, MH40's will sound somewhat similar to HD650's.

Amplification: The MH40’s are rated at 32 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence are fairly easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although amp like an Objective2 does increases the sound output audibly, the difference in quality is clearly noticeable. Amplification factor is not very important here, but a decent amp indeed does help;

Conclusion: I feel the MH40’s are a very special and unique set of cans. Build quality is phenomenal, sonic presentation is warm and pleasing, with intimate soundstage. This type of presentation will be useful for casual listen to music, but definitely not for mastering or critical listening. Due to MH40’s compact design, enthusiasts with moderate to large heads will not prefer the comfort in these.

But at this price point of 399$ there are many well acclaimed mainstream headphones like HD600, DT880, Q701, HE400 and many portable/power efficient ones like T51 etc, which sonically perform better and offer good comfort in a handsome price.

So, I will recommend MH40 for those, who would prefer a unique, easy-to-drive headphones which are compact, portable and have a great build with a euphonic warm/smooth/intimate sound signature. Plus, whose head size is relatively smaller inorder to enjoy a decent comfort.

The Pros:

1) Build Quality: The MH40 has a superb all-metal/leather build. No compromise to be seen anywhere.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is natural, and is very much like-able for casual music listening.

The Cons:

1) Comfort: This is definitely a downside for enthusiasts with moderate to larger heads. MH40 cannot accommodate larger heads even with maximum yoke length, and same goes earpads.

2) Value: As per current scenario in Mid-Fi headphones category, there are many better performing and more practical headphones available in the same price range.

I found this a very useful review. I am very familiar with both the Senn HD600 and the Audeze LCD-2, which are my main headphones. Can you give me some comparatives between these headphones and the other two? I'm thinking mostly of amplified use and occasionally portable amplified use.

thanks!

Hey mate,

MH40's bass will be increased in body than both of HD600 & LCD-2 , but at the cost of accuracy. Mids are thick, euphonic( than both HD600, LCD-2) & pleasing (less accurate/detailed). Highs are very smooth and refined. Sounstage is intimate, with a sense of closeness.

So overall, these are good headphones with coloration in their sonic presentation for casual music listening. But definitely technically inferior in performance compared to both HD600 & LCD-2.

Let me know if you have any more queries,

That's consistent with what I've been hearing. Considering these for mobile use, sounds like a good match for non-critical, just-fun listening.

Thx!

Me: I am an amateur musician & avid admirer of music. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop. With time, my sonic preferences have very much grown. I avidly admire transparency, accuracy along with neutrality, I mostly listen to full sized open back headphones and my all-time favorite headphones are Sennheiser HD800 & AKG K812, which I run from solid state amplifiers. I prefer & admire transparent solid state headphone amplifiers simply because they provide best possible accuracy, transparency & reliability.

I am an average consumer & a humble enthusiast, I like to pen down my thoughts, & I love to express my feelings. I do not receive for any sort financial benefits through this review. My articles are a purely honest writeup aimed for fellow enthusiasts here at Head-Fi community. My profound thanks to TCG Audio.for arranging a sample unit of ‘TE300‘ for my evaluation.
Now, Im not really an IEM loving person. But sometimes I do listen to IEM’s via DAP’s. Fidue A83 & Dunu DN2000J are the most performing IEM’s in my inventory.

Intro: Founded in 2009, Listen To Science &Technology Co. Ltd, (known as TCG Audio outside China) is a company is located in Shenzhen economic corridor, China. TCG Specializes in designing and manufacturing budget audio devices ranging from DAP’s, desktop amp’s, portable amp’s, DAC’s and other products. TCG has a R&D team, which designs all of their products.
Even though a relatively newer establishment in the field, TCG Audio has a relative high following in China, owing by their attractive local offerings. TCG Audio’s TE300 is their first low cost earphone priced at 35$ and it will compete with fellow IEM's under 50$.

Technical specifications of TE300:

Impedance: 32 ohm

Sensitivity: 108dB

Frequency response: 20 – 20000 Hertz

Drivers: 10mm neodymium

Cable: Oxygen Free Copper, braided type

Jack: Straight 3.5mm 3 pole

Let’s proceed to the review,

Packaging and Accessories: TE300 package arrives in a meeky cardboard box, a box which is quite weak and unstable. Packaging is not rugged & sufficient enough, and breaks apart easily. I hope packaging would improvise in future. Three pairs of good quality eartips are included as accessories. A pouch would have been nice, but again price is a limiting factor.

Points awarded: 5/10 (packaging definitely needs to improve)

Design and Build: The TE300 has a good overall build quality. housing shell is made up of high quality hard fibre material. These are very light in weight. Left and Right markings are hard to see, owing to their tiny marking. Surprisingly, Strain reliefs are completely absent, making cables prone to getting cut, but again manageable due to its well build cable. Y splitter & jack have aluminium finishing. Cable has a very good build. Wires are braided, and a transparent coating is applied on outside edge. This gives cable a ‘high-end’ look.

Points awarded: 7/10 ( Very good, except strain relief is absent)

Comfort: The TE300 is comfortable enough to wear in general; it is very light weighed & ergonomically designed. These IEM’s are shallow insertion type & does not irritate our ear canals, since the nozzle is quite short. TE300 fits snugly & gives a good comfort even for long time.

Points awarded: 8/10 (satisfactory & comfortable)

Sound: The TE300 has a warm tonality with ample soundstage. Musical in nature, not at all congested & relaxed presentation.

Burn in: These performed well right out of the box, and burn in provided little or no significant audible changes. But on the safer side, Let’s say a playback of 20 hours provides very slight audible improvements.

Lows: are full bodied and refined; not very accurate.

Mids: warm, thick & musical. Vocals sound very pleasant & enjoyable.

Highs: smoother treble, not very detailed or revealing.

Soundstage: Airy, relaxed and circular soundstage. Depth is excellent. Instrument separation is very good.

Compared to Brainwavz S0 & MEElectronics A151P which are a worthy mention under 50$, TE300 has warmer tonality, fuller bass & a musical character. In terms of comfort, TE300 triumphs the former two with its light weight. TE300 is rated at 32 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence is very easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. But volume control requires a notch up, when compared to other IEM’s.

Very good sound quality, & efficient (8/10)

Conclusion: A very nice pair of earphones for causal music listening on the go. Priced around 35$, this is one of the most performing IEM available under 50$. TE300 performs as good as my favourite Brainwavz S0. I love to listen to TE300 whenever Im in bus, train or on the move.

Overall, a very satisfactory entry level IEM, I can recommend this to any enthusiast who wants a musical & pleasant sound IEM in a budget.

Lows: are full bodied and refined; not very accurate.
I thought "refined" and "accurate" had the same meaning

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop. With time, my sonic preferences have very much grown. I avidly admire transparency, accuracy along with neutrality, which has led me to review the prestigious K702 headphones.

Intro: AKG Acoustics (Akustische und Kino-Geräte G.m.b.H) is well recognized, established & one of the oldest audio brand specializing in the area of audio & headphones. They are headquartered in Vienna, Austria. The ‘K’ series line is a very popular and long running headphone offering from AKG. They have a specific vision in making their products: Their products should last long and should employ quality engineering for precise and accurate sound reproduction, with state of art cutting edge technology. All the headphones are designed by their engineers in Austria. Few headphones are manufactured in China. The K702 headphones are one of the best headphones AKG has ever produced. These are studio reference headphones. The pair I will reviewing belongs to latest batch & current year manufacturing.

Founded in 1947 by Dr. Rudolf Görike & Ernst Pless. Originally, their main aim was to provide technical equipment for cinemas: loudspeakers, film projectors and light meters. Their business slowly expanded and AKG started selling car horns, door intercoms, carbon capsules for telephones, headsets and cushion speakers. The first AKG microphone was used by radio stations & Theaters. AKG developed its first patents, the moving coil technology and the principle of mass load membranes, allowing its products to have extended frequency ranges. With the creation of the D12 microphone in 1953, AKG achieved international fame, setting the standard for voice transmissions. Being the world's first dynamic cardioid microphone, it possessed excellent sonic qualities for that time, making its way into radio stations and recording studios from across the world. The product was improved through subsequent upgrades, spanning the famous C414 and C12 microphones. In 1994, AKG was acquired by Harman International Industries, and they later setup AKG USA’s headquarters in California.

In 2010, AKG Acoustics received a Grammy Award for the work the company has done in the recording field.

Specifications of K702:

General

Headphone type	open
Audio Frequency bandwidth	10 to 39800 Hz
Sensitivity headphones	105 dB SPL/V
Max. Input Power	200 mW
Rated Impedance	62 Ohms
Earpads
Detachable cable	yes
Cable Length	3 m
Earpads Replaceable	yes

Audio Interface

Type	Screw-on Jack Combo (1/4" and 1/8")
Gender	Male
Contacts	3-pin
Interface Finish	Gold

Dimensions / Weight

Length	113 mm
Width	199 mm
Height	212 mm
Net Weight	235 g

Let us see what the K702 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The K702’s arrive packed inside a cardboard box. Once the box is flipped open, The K702 is seen resting. Nothing fancy, basic accessories included. But each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Headphone Cable: About 2.5 meters long, terminating in 3.5mm.

¼” Screw on Converter: To plug in the K702 in the 6.5mm headphone jacks.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the K702 and other warranty information.

Design and Build: The K702 has a great build quality. The K702 weights just about 235 grams, one of the lightest headphones by weight available. To achieve this, metal parts are very much avoided, and construction is mainly using high quality fibre, which are light but very strong.

AKG headphones use suspended headband technique, which has its own advantage. There will be no need for manual adjusting as per head size. They are auto adjusting, and avoids a lot of hassle. The headband has a foam-pleather base with no bumps, very accurately angled. It is attached to an elastic thread which stretches the headband up and down.

The K702 is a fully open headphone, hence has vents for air intake at either side of headphone. Driver shell rotates about its own axis to fit various types of human skulls.
The whole headphone is supported on by the two parallel outer headband beams, which are flexible. These also carry wiring for opposite driver (right)

Cable has a very good build. It is straight, flexible and does not get tangled. I could not notice the presence of any microphonics. Plug is straight and gold plated. The stock cable does a great job in transferring signals along with great transparency. The cable on headphone has three pins, and is configured for single end termination; balanced mode mode is not supported.

Comfort: K702’s are very comfortable to wear, even for longer sessions. These feel extremely light on head. Clamp force is very pleasant after few hours of break-in from a new headphone out of box.

The earpads are made up of velour, are high quality ones & does feel plastic and do not cause irritations or itching. The Space inside the earpads is also great, good amount of depth and good sense of space. These provide very good ventilation for our ears even in hot tropical climates. These ear pads are very firm in nature, which ensures in consistency of delivery in sonic performance, and also in durability of the pads themselves. The earpads can be removed to clean or replace with a simple anti-clockwise horizontal twist.

One of the most comfortable headphones both by design and by weight.

Sound: The K702 has a very neutral sonic character. ‘Accuracy, Transparency Details’ are the key terms. The presentation here is in such a way that, emphasis is given on mids and highs for optimal listening, while lows take a backseat.

Burn in: These improve a lot with time. Let’s say a playback of 50 hours provides audible improvements, along with softening of earpads and a relaxed clamping force. Bass prior to break-in is slightly more sterile, and eventually it becomes increased in body, Mids will sound more open, the slight peak in upper mids which was present before, eventually flattens out. Highs which more smooth, soundstage opens already excellent, becomes more airy with precise instrument placements.

Lows: are very accurate, tight and refined; but doesn’t has a strong impact. Depth is moderate. Less in quantity comparatively. But the K702 is a reference headphones, focus and precise attention is required on mids & highs.

Mids: Neutral, very detailed & transparent. With a appreciably natural tonality.

Highs: Very are clear, airy & detailed. Very transparent as per the recording.

Soundstage: The K702’s soundstage is very airy, spacious, and fully circular 3D life like soundstage. Imaging is again spatial, with instruments placements very accurately positioned.Component/instruments are clearly and vividly separated and explained in a very detailed manner. According to my observation, these headphones are very neutral, and accurately represent the given recording. Given its transparent nature, I can say the K702’s are not forgiving to poor recordings. Hence these are revealing and resolving.
Special mention here is about K702’s ability to respond.

The membrane of K702’s driver is extremely fast & responsive. It is very quick, delivers sound without any delay, almost like a planar magnetic headphones. No other headphone around this price range can compete with the speed of K702. Overall The K702’s offer a reference quality and vastly uncoloured and transparent sonic performance.

The K702 headphones are widely used by qualified & experienced professionals across the globe in precise. This may alone vouch for the K702’s highly regarded performance.

Comparison: Let us take a look at other popular & well performing headphones available in similar price point.

Sennheiser HD600: A widely loved and a long standing headphone which extremely reliable and durable. It is fully modular. Sonically it is neutral has a nice quantity bass which is fairly accurate; Mids are forward. Highs are smoothened out with very less grains or harshness. Highs are present in just the right amount to keep the music alive. But when compared to K702, HD600 behaves as more of a musical headphone rather than a reference professional headphone.

HD600 indeed does comparatively lack soundstage width & air, but inturn has fuller soundstage. HD600 does not quite retrieve the detail due to its thicker sonic presentation. HD600 is also one of the most comfortable headphones, is also light in weight & ergonomically designed.

Beyerdynamic DT880: Again a long standing headphone offering from Beyer. Widely used by professionals across the world. The DT880 will be comparatively inferior in design mechanism; do observe the headbands, wiring connection methods and fixed cable. It also offers slightly lesser comfort due to shallow clearance inside earcups making ears to touch the inner surface. Also the DT880 is not modular, it does not have detachable cables, and hence maybe troublesome in long run.

DT880 is also very transparent & accurate in terms of sound quality for professionals aswell as for music hearing. Bass delivery is perfect (for reference) in DT880. But it has a slightly recessed mids and comparatively harsher higher frequencies.

The K702 has greater amount of comfort, relaxed clamping force of all, lightest by weight. Going by sonic performance, the K702 has the higher ability in terms of transparency, accuracy, resolving power, detail retrieval, imaging, and soundstage. The only drawback in sound deliverance is in terms of bass, which is a touch less in quantity than optimal. The K702 requires a good headphone amplifier & is relatively difficult to drive.

The K702 offers overall better technical sonic performance & can be considered as a reference in the whole comparison.

Amplification: These K702’s are rated at 62 ohms and are not designed to be power efficient or run by weak sources and hence need a dedicated headphone amplifier for optimal performance delivery. The K702 very much appreciates amplifiers which are revealing or transparent with powerful current output. Ideal amp/dac with a good match for K702 include: Objective2 combo & Schiit M2 Stack. Matrix M-Stage is also proven to have great match with the K702. All these devices are very much affordable and are easily available.

Conclusion: The K702 headphones are exceptionally performing headphones for the price offered. The K702’s are very neutral & presentation is in such away, and one can easily figure out the flaws in a recording. This type of presentation will be very useful for mastering or critical listening, and utility for musical pleasure is also appreciable.

The K702’s will be my favourite pair of headphones for both leisure music listening aswell as for critical listening. K702 is an engineering marvel by AKG engineers, I must admit. These provide superficial performance considering their offering price. These deliver a breathtaking sonic performance. These deliver exactly what is fed into them, thus making the K702’s a technically ideal headphones.

I would highly recommend K702 to any person would like to truly realize the components of a recording & hence the music itself. I find the K702 to be a technically far more superior than other headphone available in this price point.

Pros:

1) Reference Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very neutral, and is very much helpful for critical listening as well as for casual musical pleasure. K702 is very responsive, with great speed. With sheer amount of transparency & speed, the K702’s are simply one of the best performing headphones one can access get today.

2) Build Quality: AKG K702 is very well engineered and designed. It is wisely built, by using efficient materials which provide a very durable life for the headphones.

3) Comfort: These are feather light, one of the lightest & most comfortable headphones available.

4) Value: AKG K702 puts up an extremely good performance for a fraction of its worthy price. This makes K702 a fantastic purchase for all.

Cons:

Bass: Is a touch less in body and quantity when compared to other headphones. But going by quality, accuracy or deliverance, it is absolutely fine.

Um......sorry to break all this up.......but I like your review! Very nice!
Regards,
Chris

Great review, just got my k702s and I reckon mine sound brilliant with the Aune b1 too! Waiting for my Schiit Vali to turn up now, then I expect 'fireworks' especially when they're burned in. :blush:

I own the HD 600s and love it, do you think its worth buying the K702s?

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop. With time, my sonic preferences have very much grown. I avidly admire transparency, accuracy along with neutrality, & this has led me to review the AKG’s prestigious K812 flagship headphones.

Intro: AKG Acoustics (Akustische und Kino-Geräte G.m.b.H) is well recognized, established & one of the oldest audio brand specializing in the area of audio & headphones. They are headquartered in Vienna, Austria. The ‘K’ series line is a very popular and long running headphone offering from AKG. They have a specific vision in making their products: Their products should last long and should employ quality engineering for precise and accurate sound reproduction, with state of art cutting edge technology. All the headphones are designed by their engineers in Austria. Few headphones are manufactured in China. The K812 headphones the flagship & best headphones AKG can offer today. K812 replaced K712 as flagship headphones in the year of 2013. These are studio reference headphones. The pair I will reviewing belongs to latest batch & current year manufacturing. The K812 is completely manufactured in Slovakia.

Founded in 1947 by Dr. Rudolf Görike & Ernst Pless. Originally, their main aim was to provide technical equipment for cinemas: loudspeakers, film projectors and light meters. Their business slowly expanded and AKG started selling car horns, door intercoms, carbon capsules for telephones, headsets and cushion speakers. The first AKG microphone was used by radio stations & Theaters. AKG developed its first patents, the moving coil technology and the principle of mass load membranes, allowing its products to have extended frequency ranges.

With the creation of the D12 microphone in 1953, AKG achieved international fame, setting the standard for voice transmissions. Being the world's first dynamic cardioid microphone, it possessed excellent sonic qualities for that time, making its way into radio stations and recording studios from across the world. In 1994, AKG was acquired by Harman International Industries, and they later setup AKG USA’s headquarters in California.

In 2010, AKG Acoustics received a Grammy Award for the work the company has done in the recording field.

Specifications of K812:

General

Headphone type	open-back
Audio Frequency bandwidth	5 to 54000 Hz
Sensitivity headphones	110 dB SPL/V
Max. Input Power	300 mW
Rated Impedance	36 Ohms
Detachable cable	yes
Cable Length	3 m
Earpads Replaceable	yes
Foldable	no

Audio Interface

Type	Screw-on Jack Combo (1/4" and 1/8")
Gender	Male
Contacts	3-pin
Interface Finish	Gold

Dimensions / Weight

Net Weight

390 g

Let us see what the K812 has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The K812’s arrive packed inside a very premium and heavy black cardboard box. The box has a magnetic lock. Once the box is flipped open, The K812 is seen resting on the Sieveking headphone stand, which provided by AKG in the box. Nothing fancy, basic accessories included. But each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Headphone Cable: About 2.5 meters long, terminating in 3.5mm.

Headphone Stand: Excellent quality universal headphone stand to display headphones when not in use.

¼” Screw on Converter: To plug in the K812 in the 6.5mm headphone jacks.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the K812 and other warranty information.

Design and Build: AKG’s K812 has a top notch build quality. It employs metal constructions in most of the areas. AKG K812 headphones use suspended headband which can be manually adjusted for precise fit, which ensures in least possible physical pressure on head. The headband has a foam-pleather base with ventilation vents, & is very accurately angled. It is attached to the main headphone frame which holds the headphone together.

The K812 has an extremely sophisticated build with high technology materials & latest scientific designs. The manual adjustment of headband distance can be adjusted by pushing he button and sliding gently as desired. The K812 is designed in such a remarkable manner, that clamping force is almost zero. This is the first time I have ever come across a headphone (along with Sennheiser HD800) which offers such luxurious design & engineering elements.

The K812 is a fully open headphone, hence has vents for air intake at either side of headphone. Driver shell rotates about its own axis to fit various types of human skulls. The whole headphone is supported on by the two parallel outer headband beams, which are flexible and adopting. These also carry wiring for opposite driver (right). The K812 carries all-new and latest generation top notch performance drivers developed by engineers at AKG specifically for K812 alone. This driver carries an extremely powerful 1.5 Tesla magnetic field capable magnet. The diameter is 53mm, one of the largest drivers ever made. The sound waves coming towards out of drivers are treated to ‘air’ by open mesh, allowing air to blend with sound waves for a very airy presentation.

Cable has a very good build. It is straight, flexible and does not get tangled. I could not notice the presence of any microphonics. Plug is straight and gold plated. The stock cable does a great job in transferring signals along with great transparency. The cable on headphone has three pins, and is configured for single end termination; balanced mode mode is not supported. Please note: While inserting cable plug into K812’s socket, carefully align to the indicating red line and gently push in. To remove the cable, gently pull out.

Comfort: K812’s are excellently comfortable to wear, even for longer sessions. These feel really wll designed as per human analogy. Clamp force is almost non existent, and ears have been given an excellent space to reside, do not touch anywhere. The earpads are made up of leather, are high quality ones. The Space inside the earpads is also great, great amount of depth and space. The earpads on K812 are designed such that, the area of contact around the ears or anywhere is made as less as possible, and clamp force is reduced to almost zero: This will result in an excellent comfort.

These ear pads are very soft & flexible in nature, which ensures in better comfort & adoption without compromising consistency, and also in durability of the pads themselves. The earpads can be removed to clean or replace with a simple anti-clockwise horizontal twist. These earpads are called as “Sound Sealer” by AKG. Hence, K812 ‘s earpads seal out & engulf the user’s ears, rather than sitting around the ears. Single downside in this department weight, as the K812 weighs slightly on heavy side with 390 grams (owing to its solid build) feels slightly heavy on worn on. But again the excellent design factor makes up for it.

Overall, The K812’s are one of the worlds most well designed and most comfortable headphones.

Sound: The K812 has a vastly neutral “mesmerizing” sonic character. ‘Accuracy, Transparency, Details’ are the key terms. Emphasis is not given at any particular frequency range; all ranges are completely flat, making these truly spectacular reference headphones.

Burn in: These perform consistently, and I could not observe any major sonic change with burn in. I have heard these from right out of the box till few hundred hours.

Lows: are very accurate, tight and refined; has a strong impact. Depth is excellent, the lows go very deep with authority. They also have an appreciable amount of body & quantity

Mids: Neutral, very detailed & transparent. Special mention is about the naturalness and tonality. The mids of K812 are very neutral, but are presented in an extremely silky manner.

Highs: Very are clear, extended, airy & detailed. Very transparent & sensitive as per the given setup & recording.

Soundstage: The K812’s soundstage is breathtakingly airy, spacious, and fully circular 3D life like soundstage. Imaging is again spatial, with instruments placements very accurately positioned. Component/instruments are clearly and vividly separated and explained in a very detailed manner. According to my observation, these headphones are very neutral, and accurately represent the given recording. Given its transparent nature, I can say the K812’s are strictly not forgiving to poor recordings. Hence these are transparent, revealing and resolving.

Comparison: Let us take a brief look at other popular top notch & excellent performing headphones available in similar price point.

I would like to compare the AKG’s“mesmerizing” K812 to Sennheiser’s “mighty” HD800 & Audeze’s “passionate” LCD-2F. All these three headphones are open backs, over ear. They are also very neutral by sonic response, but presented in different fashions. These are all top notch headphones and one of the world’s finest.

Sennheiser HD800: A Solid performer and a well established headphone, which is sonically extremely good performing. Sonically it is vastly neutral with no emphasis on any frequency range. But highs are very sensitive to the setup & recording used. HD800 definitely feels (and indeed is) Lighter than K812 by weight. The HD800 is also slightly more comfortable owing its design & comfort principles that is compatible with majority of users. After intensive listening, I could observe K812 was comparatively ahead in performance in the following departments: In rest of the aspects, HD800 is marginally superior.

Lows: The K812 audibly has a deeper Lows with more authority without compromising its neutrality. Accuracy, detailing is same on both headphones.

Tonality: The K812 delivers a very realistic tonality which feels very silky & is simply mesmerizing when compared to HD800, which has a relatively vast flat mids.

Soundstage depth & layering: This where HD800 is left behind by K812. The overall depth across depth offered in K812 is simply amazing & spectacular, the stage goes very deep. But when the matter comes to width & height, HD800 performs better.

Amping: HD800 is very sensitive when it comes to headphone amplifiers, and it promptly points out the different between various amps in a accurate fashion. Whereas the K812 is comparatively more steady and accommodating to amps, so it ‘goes along’ with amps without much fuss. Also the K812 is much more efficient & easier drive when related to HD800.

Summary: Both are extremely good performing headphones, and differ by final presentation delivered. Considering overall sonic traits, AKG’s K812 will sound slightly more ‘musical & enjoyable’ but without compromising its technical or reference deliverance aspect. Technically, HD800 is a more suitable headphone for critical listening and mastering purposes. But the K812 is more versatile & stable, proving to be great with mastering as well as music listening.

Both HD800 & K812 are top-notch reference class headphones & perform amazingly.

Audeze LCD-2F: Without a second thought, it offers the most accurate, linear & deepest lows of all headphones in sub 1000$. Mids are presented in a beautiful manner with ‘thickness’ and has a lovable realistic tonality. Highs although accurate, do not have enough details. Soundstage is very good and circular, but nowhere near the capabilities of HD800 & K812. Therefore the LCD-2F is not technically superior when compared to HD800 & K812. LCD-2’s strength elsewhere: In music listening. HD800 & K812 are reference level headphones whereas the LCD-2 is a headphone designed and aimed primarily for music listening.

The LCD-2 is one of the heaviest headphones (by physical weight), and this makes the LCD-2 to make a compromise in comfort department. Although , the LCD-2’s already have a very good comfort & ergonomics (when weight factor is excluded). The strong point for LCD-2 will be primarily music listening, LCD-2 presents itself in a complete opposite fashion than that of HD800 & K812. Hence, it is safe to say, if HD800 & K812 are on one bank of river, then the LCD-2 is on the other one. They are completely opposite& never meet.

The HD800 & K812 are superior reference level headphones whereas the LCD-2 is a headphone designed and aimed primarily for music listening.

Amplification: These K812’s are rated at 36 ohms and are indeed designed to be power efficient, can be run comfortably by DAP’s. But since these are top tier reference headphones, the K812’s scale really well with setups, and an well performing amp/dac is strongly recommended for optimal performance delivery. The K812 very much appreciates amplifiers which are revealing or transparent with powerful current output. Ideal amp/dac with a good match/performance for K812 include: Objective2/Odac & Schiit Magni/Modi Stack, amongst few others. These devices are very much affordable and are easily available.

Conclusion: The K812 headphones are phenomenal performing headphones. It is one of the few amazingly performing top tier reference headphones. The K812 is the flagship headphones from AKG, and the K812 is the absolute best which a renowned brand like AKG can offer. The K812’s deliver a breathtaking sonic performance. These deliver exactly what is fed into them, thus making the K812’s a technically ideal & extremely transparent headphones. Absolutely Mesmerizing & Marvelous pair of superior reference headphones by AKG.

Pros:

Top-Tier Reference Sound quality: “Mesmerizing” Sound presentation here is vastly neutral, with excellent response from across frequency band, and is very much helpful for critical listening as well as for casual musical pleasure. K812 is very responsive, with great speed. With sheer amount of transparency & speed, the K812’s are simply one of the best top-tier performance headphones one can access get today. It performs extremely well and is neck-to-neck with HD800 by performance.

Top notch Build Quality: AKG K812 is very well engineered and designed. It is the showcase of AKG’s engineering. It is wisely built, by using cutting edge technology materials which provide a very durable life for the headphones. These are made in Slovakia with individual attention to each unit.

Excellent Comfort: Owing to their scientific & ergonomic design, including near zero clamping force & engulfing earpads, the K812’s feel very welcoming & comfortable.

Value: AKG K812 puts up an extremely good performance and it is definitely worthy for its offering price. This makes K812 a fantastic purchase for professionals & enthusiasts alike.

Cons:

Weight: The K812 weighs 390 grams, which is slightly on the weightier side. But this factor is mostly not noticed while worn, and is very much comfortable owing to its well implemented & ergonomic design.

Yep - depends on your sensitivity to it. I personally liked the AKG K812, and also really enjoyed the HD800 and my own T1. Mind you I also loved the DT880 and Grado 325i - so I'm a bad one to ask about treble sensitivity :wink:

Aside from the treble - the one thing I couldn't understand with the K812 was the cable. It just doesn't gel with the rest fo the headphone. Yes it works. But it feels cheap, thin, is prone to tangle - I hated it. I'm still on the fence about getting a K812 - they're severely overpriced at anywhere over 1K if you ask me. If I do eventually gte one though - the first thing that's getting replaced is that awful cable.

A fair review. Therefore I still have to watch a chance where I can directly compare HD800 with this.... In the meantime get the money ready.

@Brooko

@Brooko you can purchase a custom cable from lavricables or Stefan audio art or any other brand you would prefer.

Intro: JDS Labs, Is an American company based in Collinsville, Illinois. They make headphone amplifiers & DAC’s. Mr. John Seaber is the man behind JDS Labs. We might remember JDS Labs when they produced the popular cmoy-BB amp & later on, their Objective2 which was a game-changing amplifier. JDS Labs has also manufactures their own products: C5/D Portable amplifier/DAC, Element desktop Amp/Dac along with ofcourse their Cmoy BB amp.

Special mention is about my experience with Mr. John. From my experience & interactions with him, he is the kindest & very prompt person I have ever spoken to in audio world. He answers to all questions in person & makes sure doubts are cleared. I’m a proud owner of JDS Labs O2 amp, (my first headphone amplifier, in early days of my Head-Fi days) Enjoyed it a lot, had a wonderful time with it. O2 holds a special place for my ears.

My profound thanks to Mr.John for arranging a sample unit of ODAC RevB for my evaluation. The ODAC got updated in circuit board. The latest model is ODAC Revesion B, improvised on previous & original design of ODAC. So ODAC Rev.B is basically designed to supplement component shortage & along with few minor yet audible improvements.

About ODAC: ODAC is the DAC counterpart of the famous O2 amplifier, & was released in 2012. The ODAC was jointly developed by NwAvGuy (The legendary engineer who created O2 amp) and Yoyodyne Consulting . Yoyodyne generated ODAC’s circuit board, and NwAvGuy provided performance analysis. Yoyodyne has remained responsible for all production engineering & distribution. ODAC was certified as Objective by NwAvGuy; Yoyodyne generated the design and controls its manufacturing.

The new Rev.B uses SA9023 & PCM5102A, and the Low dropout regulator has been updated to a ceramic stable Analog Devices ADP151 equivalent part. Fixes include: Added 16x vias to USB support pads to improve mechanical strength of mini-USB jack, new improvised circuit board & locked EEPROM to prevent IC failures, fixed USB supply stability, & minor performance improvements.

Technical specifications of ODAC Rev. B:

Freq. Response 20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.04dB

THD+N 100 hz -0.15 dBFS 0.0028%

THD+N 20 hz -0.15 dBFS 0.0015%

THD+N 10 Khz -0.15 dBFS 0.0024%

IMD CCIF 19/20 Khz -6.03 dBFS 0.0015%

IMD SMPTE -6.03 dBFS 0.0015%

Noise A-Weighted dBu 24/96 -103 dBu

Dynamic Range (A-Weighted) > 112 dB

Linearity Error -90 dBFS 24/96 -0.08 dB

Crosstalk -10 dBFS 100K 3.5mm -86.40 dB

USB Jitter Components 11025Hz -112.3dB

Maximum Output Line Out 100K 2.1 VRMS

Audio Formats (Bit/Freq): 16/44, 16/48, 16/88.2, 16/96, 24/44, 24/48, 24/96

Native Driver OS Support: Windows XP & Later, OS X x86, Linux

Distortion: < 0.005%

Inputs: Mini-USB

Interface: USB, Audio Class 1

Output: 3.5mm (or RCA), line level

Power: Self-powered by USB

Packaging & Accessories: The ODAC comes packed in JDS Labs stamped strong black cardboard box. It withstood a rough journey across the globe, yet remained in perfect shape. That explains everything.

Included Accessories

Instructions: Contains instruction about operating the device & some warranty information.

USB Cable: Mini USB cable with ferrite bead, Monoprice brand, has very good quality with 28+1P/24+2C AWG gauge, matches very well with ODAC.

Design and Build: It has an aluminium case, & the ODAC Rev.B which Im reviewing is the RCA version (with RCA connection) The RCA version ODAC is a tad little longer than the regular ODAC with RCA jacks being connected to ODAC via soldered wires. This version also retains its regular 3.5mm jack. The Rev.B physically exactly same as the original ODAC, & has same dimensions. On one end we have both Mini USB connector & 3.5mm output. On the other end (for RCA versions) we have RCA output jacks.

The DAC itself is very small, nimble & has small footprint. Can also be used as portable DAC, as it is self powered. It does not require any drivers & works on low current draw, which is a plus for compatibility with portable android smartphones. The Rev.B has the same (or even better) benchmark reliability, performance than the ODAC.

Points : 10 out of 10, Excellent, very practical, feasible & well implemented.

Sound: The ODAC Rev.B puts out a very impressive performance, especially its transparency & soundstage. It does not any particular coloration of its own. Soundstage is amazing. It has a fully circular 3D imaging. Detail retrieval, and dynamics are excellent. Overall the sonic presentation contains high level of transparency and accuracy. Absolutely zero audible hiss/noise, and zero EMI pickup.

Benchmark performance for the price. It has supreme value for money. In practical conditions, the performance of ODAC Rev.B is perhaps is beaten only by fancy multi-hundred dollar DAC. Amazing clarity & transparency, it completes the objective parameters set for an ideal DAC. Overall, ODAC Rev.B puts up a highly impressive performance.

Points: a full 10 out of 10, Simply amazing. Delivers beyond expectations.

Comparing ODAC with ODAC Revision B: Physically they are both having exactly same dimension. Just components & signal paths in some areas have been updated. Audibly, it is very hard to tell the difference between the two. But Rev.B definitely has slight audible edge over original ODAC. Practical differences are: ODAC Rev.B supports 88.2 KHZ & has higher 2.1VRMS output, SA9023 ensures better compatibility with android & I devices. Redesigned circuit means bullet-proof reliability. The 2.1 VRMS really helps, providing decisively better output. In case of O2 amp, Rev.B helps in more powerful driving of headphones & a lower gain of 1X/3.3X as optimum.

SPECIFICATIONS	ODAC	ODAC RevB
Frequency Response, 20-20kHz	+/-0.14 dB	+/-0.04 dB
THD+N 100 Hz, -0.15dBFS	0.0022%	0.0013%
THD+N 20 Hz -0.15dBFS	0.0017%	0.0015%
THD+N 10 kHz -0.15dBFS	0.0056%	0.0024%
Noise, A-Weighted	-102 dBu	– 103 dBu
Dynamic Range (A-Weighted)	> 111 dB	> 112 dB
Dynamic Range (Un-Weighted)	> 107 dB	> 109 dB
Crosstalk @ 1kHz, -10dBFS (3.5mm)	-80.4 dB	-86.4 dB
Sum of Jitter Components @ 11025 Hz, -1dBFS	-105.8 dB	-112.3 dB
IMD CCIF, -6.03 dBFS, 19/20kHz, 24/96k	0.0027%	0.0005%
IMD SMPTE -2 dBFS, 24/96k	0.0008%	0.0008%
Linearity @ -90dBFS	-0.09 dB	-0.08 dB
Maximum output	2.00 VRMS	2.10 VRMS

(Click to Enlarge)

Conclusion: I consider ODAC Rev.B as an exception DAC, because in my experience I never came across a DAC as reliable, as functional, & as performing, yet affordable as it. The Rev.B continues the legacy & reputation of ODAC forward, with even better level of practicality. Overall it performs extremely well. Highly impressed. The ODAC Rev.B has a benchmark performance. Objective: Completed

Overall, I can award a full 10/10 for ODAC Rev.B owing to its supreme performance in all aspects. My strong recommendation for all enthusiasts who want a truly objective performance.

Which one do you think sounds better this Odac or the graham slee bitzie.

Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Bravo Audio is a popular Chinese brand specializing in the area of Tube Headphone Amplifiers. Bravo was established in 2010. Even though a relatively newer establishment in the field, Bravo managed to capture attention of the world by their amp offerings which had attractive price tag & appreciable performance. The Ocean is a flagship amp offering from Bravo, & it is the only amp to be fully enclosed in a case by Bravo.

All of Bravo’s amps are hybrids, and are driven by Mosfet’s, and are pure class A. This ensures in mammoth output power, appreciable clear sound quality, but heat dissipation is high, and the amp physically gets hot even to touch comfortably. Bravo has been famous since its release of V2 amp, which was budget friendly, yet performing, which won ears of many enthusiasts. The Ocean goes ahead in V2’s line, providing more reliability and performance. Back in 2010, tube/hybrid amps would be expensive, and out of reach of a humble Enthusiast. Bravo made well performing hybrid amps in an affordable price. Bravo was the one who made hybrid amps in sub 100$ category. This made them a well known name across the Audiophile World.

Specifications of Ocean:

Input Power: DC 24V 1.5A

Input Sensitivity: 100mV

Input Impedance: 100KOhm

Headphone Impedance: 20~600 Ohm

Frequency response: 10Hz-60 KHz +/- 0.25dB

Signal/Noise Ratio : >90dB Gain: 30dB

Dynamic range: 84.6dBA (300 ohm) 89.8dBA (33 ohm)

THD: 0.016% (300 ohm) 0.45% (33 ohm)

MD + Noise: 0.045(300 ohm) 0.42(33ohm)

Let us see what the Ocean has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The ocean amp arrives packed inside a general cardboard box, packed inside a removable foam packing. Tubes are included inside the foam socket. Default tube included is a generic 12AU7. Packaging is generic, but nothing to complain about. But all the included accessories have a good quality and feel to them.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Power Adapter: AC to DC 24V 1.5A power adapter EU/US/AU/UK is supplied as per specifications.

User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the ocean amp and other warranty information.

Design and Build: The ocean has a very good overall build quality. Its design is very practical.

The Ocean looks much different owing its blue paint, and stands out from the crowd. Personally, I very much liked the blue case colour of the ocean amp.The entire case is made up of high quality brushed aluminium, and is painted in Matt Cyan-Blue. The ocean is fairly small in size, though the ocean amp weights only 400 grams, It feels slightly heavy when held owing to its good build. At the front we have an On/off switch, volume knob, ¼” & 1/8’ headphone output socket, and a red indicator LED. At the rear side of ocean, we can observe the presence of power socket , 1/8” input, RCA inputs & outputs.

Volume knob rotation is smooth and knob has just the right size for fingers. ¼” jack is also a very sturdy, but is slightly tight. The ¼” socket employs clip mechanism, which may cause scratches/damage on the headphone jack. Power switch has a pretty great operation and strength, and is very precise in its job. The red LED is particularly very bright, and can be disturbing if you look at the amp. So I advise to slightly push in the LED using a small pin, so that it’s brightness is drowned inside the amp.

Internals quality is certainly good, if not very good. The ocean amp has no manual wirings inside, everything is fixed on the PCB. Soldering joints are well done. Volume pot is alps branded, which a plus for both volume control & audio quality.

The 9 pin Tube socket is ceramic type, has a great build. The ocean accepts only the 12AU7 type vacuum tubes by default. The tube is physically protected by a vertical metal arc, incase the ocean amp falls off the table or similar situation arises. To change/replace the tube, one has to unscrew the top four screws and carefully pull up the cover to avoid damage to existing tube in the socket. There are no op-amps in ocean, since ocean is a mosfet driven hybrid amp. IRF510 mosfet is used here, which a widely used & fairly popular one. The only downside I observe here is, top cover has to be removed every time to change tube. This is not really a drawback, but it would be more difficult and inconvenient for tube rollers to do this way.

I also observe a drawback in the power supply, it is not earthed. I am at a loss of understanding why Bravo did not include a third earthing pin or ground to make the amp safe. Since it is a DC supply, few ripples will be present in the final output. These either cause light electrocution or raise noise floor of the amp. It

Sound: Despite being a hybrid tube amp, the ocean has a very clean, clear yet airy sonic character. ‘Balanced & Enjoyable’ is the key word. I find it very appealing and pleasing for casual music listening. Presentation is in such a way that, mids are little more intimate, with lows & highs sound tad more relaxed and laid back. Surprisingly, Stock tube is pretty good and does not necessarily needs to be changed/upgraded.

Burn in: These improve a lot with time. Let’s say a playback of 50 hours provides few audible improvements, Bass prior to break-in is quite muddy, and eventually it becomes more accurate and clean, Mids will sound more open, airy and natural. highs become slightly more smooth, soundstage will open up by a margin.

Tube rolling: One can roll 12AU7 family tubes on ocean amp. Mullard 12AU7A, RCA Clear Tops, long plates, halo getter type tubes particularly match pretty great on ocean and result is a very clear, clean and airy sound with a lifelike 3D soundstage. And the good news is that all these tubes are available within 20$ shipped on ebay!

The gain is fixed at 30dB, which is quite high and certainly not recommended for IEM’s. This amp is extremely powerful and can drive any dynamic/Planar magnetic cans to insane loudness with just 25% of the volume used, that is at 9 o’clock. Anything above 10 o’clock is unbearably loud. This incredible power brings out the best out of a matching headphone. Ideally, neutral or slightly brighter dynamic headphones go well with the ocean amp.

Lows: are accurate, tight and refined; have a great impact & extension. Depth is pretty good.

Mids: Very little forward & sound very natural, and appealing, and have a slight warmth (I guess that is in a good way, comes very pleasing to our ears). Tonality particularly, one of the best at this price point. This character makes ocean a strong contender for classical music.

Highs: Very clear with desirable amount of sparks. They are airy with good amount of space sensation.

Soundstage: Soundstage is airy, natural and circular. Depth is very good. Instrument separation & detailing is pretty good. With the default Chinese 12AU7, tonality is a bit harsh & mids are slightly sucked out, But after burn in, its goes in great with the ocean amp. So replacing tube is not really necessary in ocean amp. The tube in ocean amp seems superior to rest of the generic Chinese 12AU7’s.

According to my observation, these cans sounded good in all genres I tried, and hence I conclude ocean is decently transparent, detailed and also slightly forgiving to poor recordings. Hence I can say ocean is all rounder. It does not compromise anything too much to affect any of its characters.

Comparison: The main competitors of Bravo Ocean are the Little dot 1+ & Schiit Vali along with Project Starlight which are all similarly priced. All these are hybrid amps.

Little dot 1+: Hybrid amp which uses op-amps for amplification. Op-amps have their own kind of sonic touch to them, which feel refined & smoothened out when compared to mosfets. Power supply is Internal type and well made (which results in very low noise floor, and safe operation) But as a disadvantage, Tube rolling is not as economical and convenient as ocean, since Ocean supports a single 12AU7, which are very common to obtain & no hassle for a matched pair.
Summary: Best hybrid amp available in 200$, but lacks punch & power delivery of ocean amp. No preamp out. Not most economical to roll, availability & interior circuit build quality is a concern.

Project Starlight: At 225$ built & shipped this is the most expensive amp of the bunch. But Starlight has best internal build quality (along with Vali). The Starlight is not fully enclosed in a case. Its output power at headphone is quite limited, and is lowest of all these amps. Starlight also has 4 op-amps and support for 6/12V Dual Triode tubes. Starlight is specifically suited for lower impedance & less demanding headphones.
Summary: Best option for DIY’ers. But expensive to roll op-amps, since there are 4 op-amp sockets. Driving power is not the best.

Schiit Vali: Has no rolling options. Everything is fixed in. Output impedance is quite high at around 6.5 ohms and is not suitable for IEM’s. Power supply is again external, but definitely better than Bravo Ocean. Vali uses 16V AC/AC adapter (similar to O2 amp adapter) Vali also has a best build quality.
Summary: Good choice for beginners who don’t want to roll anything. A nice amp for 50-300 ohm headphones which are slightly bright in nature.

The ocean amp has an edge over all hybrid tube amplifiers when it comes to output driving power, delivery & is most economical of all amps to be tried in 200$. Though Little Dot’s 1+ without a second thought reigns as king , considering its allrounder overall performance, Ocean amp deserves to be a runner-up for the position, and performs very well indeed.

Conclusion: I feel the Ocean is a excellent hybrid amp in its price range. Build quality is very good, sonic presentation is very pleasing, it can drive almost any cans & its sonic character can be tailored to meet one’s taste. I can whole heartedly recommend Ocean for any enthusiast who would prefer a slightly musical sonic presentation, yet retaining decent amounts of accuracy. I really liked the ocean amp.

Pros:

1) Build Quality: The Ocean has a very good all-metal build. No compromise to be seen anywhere in exterior. Interior circuitry is also neat & well built.

2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here has a touch of naturalness, but yet is detailed, spacious, which is very much like-able for music listening. Sweet mids deserve a special mention. The ocean amp generally matches up well with slightly neutral to bright sounding headphones.

3) Rolling Capability: Enthusiasts can roll great number of 12AU7 tubes in a minimal cost.

4) Driving Power: The ocean amp has a sheer output power. It definitely can comfortably drive any set of cans from 20-600 ohms. Good job!

Cons:

1) Heat emission: Actually not really a con, it is quite normal for a hybrid mosfet driven amp. But during operation, the ocean amp gets very hot, it becomes very difficult for a user to touch the surface of amp more than 2 seconds. The 12AU7 tube itself is just warm, It is the outer case is hot & is due to heat emission from IRF510 Mosfets.

I own this amp and it is awesome , very powerful clean sound . I am using it to drive HD 700 using X5

Great review !!
Had the Bravo for a while but hadn't been using it. The power supply died. One side of my system I feed a Music Hall 2.2le through a Bellari VP130, then through a passive preamp from which I go between the turntable and a Denon DCD 910 CD player (older I know but works) . I had been using a xDuoo TA-01 HP amp. The other side of my system has a mac mini feeding a dell HD wide screen monitor with JRivers 20, the mac min connected via upgraded cable to a Practical Devices XM6 DAC / HP amp, then from there using my arsenal of HP's Senn HD650, Grado SR325, Cardas EM5813 in-ear speakers, or the ones I use most often Shure SRH1540. With the Bravo still using stock 12AU7 (although have a box of diff tubes which switch out of the Bellari). OK to my original point referring to the Bravo power supply. I'd purchased some time ago a power supply for an older laptop which I no longer use. Decided to use (after making sure I could) the new unused power supply for the Bravo. Blew my mind, what a difference ...........more power, cleaner sound, black background................

Hi Snuffy47, what were the specs of the laptop power supply? 24V 1.5A still, or more amperage perhaps? Also, did the laptop power supply's wall plug have a ground pin?

Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.

Intro: Audinst, is a renowned Korean amp/dac manufacturer. They are based in Incheon, South Korea. The brand was established in 2009. All their products are made in Korea. Amp-HP is their lone offering in portable amplifier category.

Specifications of Amp-HP as per Audinst:

Input: 3.5mm

Output: 3.5mm headphone Jack,

Maximum power output: 300mW @ 32 Ohms

Headphone Impedance: 16-300 Ohms

Output Impedance: 5 Ohms

Input Impedance: 11K Ohms

Battery: 800 mAH 3.6V

Weight: 134 grams

Let us see what the Amp-HP has got for us,

Packaging and Accessories: The Amp-HP arrives packed inside a large colourful cardboard box, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is opened, the main unit and all accessories are put in a typical packaging. Accessories are found beneath a pseudo-bottom compartment. No complaints here. Nothing special to mention about either; all accessories have a good quality, build and feel to them. The accessories are made in Korea too.

List of accessories in the box, which include the following:

Power Adapter: Standard 15V 1A DC power supply for recharging the Amp-HP.

3.5mm Interconnect: Standard white coloured 3.5mm cable, about 20 cm lengths.

iPOD Cable: Audio cable specially for ipods of 20cm length

Pouch: A soft velvety pouch to store the Amp-HP.

Rubber Feet: For attaching to bottom surface of Amp-HP, thus making it scratch and skid resistant.

User Manual: Detailed and informative Instructions about operation, also contains warranty information.

Design and Build: The Amp-HP has a very good overall build quality.

The outer case is made up of aluminium, and is painted in greyish silver. Front panel is black coloured; volume knob is rubberized, and has a grippy feel to it. In pictures Amp-HP looks larger, but in real, it is quite small.

On the front side, we have Volume control knob, an on/off switch and a output headphone jack in 3.5mm format. An LED indicator shows the status of operation.

On the rear side, we have 3.5mm input jack, along with DC power input jack.

Speaking of Internals, Amp-HP has a double sided PCB with no wirings. All components used are of good brands; including all dale resistors, Alps pot, premium caps. There is only two user replaceable parts on board the Amp-HP: Muses 8820 with DIP8 socket other op-amp is AD8397 and is permanently mounted SMD. Audinst has always been a strong contender in the field of Build, interiors, components and PCB.

Battery life on Amp-HP is very good (considering its output power), which lasting about 10-12 hours. And recharging time is just about 2 hours. Its gets slightly warm during charging process.

Sound: I feel the Amp-Hp is neutral, detailed and slightly smooth in sonic presentation. Sound-stage width is moderate. Depth is pretty good. Absolutely zero audible hiss/noise.

Lows are strong and accurate and goes very deep. Infact, it’s rare to see such good quality bass in sub 100$ portable amps. Mids natural and clear, slightly intimate if I must say; Highs are smooth and non grainy, just right amount of sparkle to keep the music alive.

Soundstage on Amp-HP is very good, and realistic and for some, lacking in width. Depth is fair. Amp-HP does not give a circular imaging, instead gives out an elliptical stage (with comparatively more depth and lesser width) Detail retrieval, and dynamics are decent enough. Overall he sonic presentation is very much like-able. Also, the final sound impressions of Amp-HP can be manipulated by using different op-amps. I have changed to Op-Amps and I could observe that the current op-amp (MUSES 8820) does a very fine job, and I feel there is no need for op-amp rolling to increase sound quality.

Comparing the Amp-HP with JDS Labs Cmoy, I feel the Amp-HP audibly outperforms the latter. Amp-HP is slightly thicker and smoother, whereas Cmoy is thinner and feels more transparent, with wider soundstage. Although the Amp-HP clearly wins in design, build quality, utility and features; Amp-HP & LCD2’s have a good synergy going between them, but It is definite observation that Amp-HP lacks power to comfortably drive them.

Conclusion: Amp-HP is a great sounding amp in its price point, especially the sonic performance of lower frequencies is the best one can get in sub 100$ portable amps. This device is actually pretty great on features and practical aspects. At the price point of 99$, Amp-HP stands right in the middle of a 70$ Cmoy and a 130$ O2. Amp-HP like an intermediate between the two. Sound quality is definitely better and well defined than a JDS Labs Cmoy, but not upto the Objective2 level.

I can recommend Amp-HP for any music enthusiast who want a handsome and fine sounding portable amp to drive low impedance headphones.

The Pros:

1) Design and Build: Amp-HP has very well designed and implemented build and intelligent three way on/off feature.

2) Sound quality: I very much like the sonic presentation on this little amp, I can describe it as slightly thick, smooth and pleasing, and might I also mention the intimacy. A very fine sounding op-amp Muses 8820, I can imagine it would pair well with almost any headphones.

The Cons:

1) Output Power: Output power at headphone jack is about 300mW @ 32 ohms, which seems quite good on paper. But in real, it is insufficient to drive power hungry headphones. So, this will limit Amp-HP’s usage to IEM’s and easy-to-drive headphones.

Sure they are, but does the 5 ohm out Impedance make an audible difference in driving the BA IEM's?

To me, BA IEM's audibly sounded fantastic.

My point is not that high impedance will ruin the sound, it will just change the sound signature. IEMs that are good will still sound the fantastic it won't destroy the SQ, just the signature or frequency response due to loading.

Bass will sound more pronounced and punchy on low out-impedance sources than on higher ones whereas recessed mids will be a little forward on high impedance sources compared to lower ones. The sound quality though will remain unchanged.

I did not perceive any such issues. Sound signature and presentation (Lows, Mids, Highs) of the IEM remained intact. The only coloration present in the pair was due to Muses 8820 Op-Amp.