Cons — Lacks macrodynamic punch and sub-bass rumble
– Notes sound smoothed over at times
– Lower-mids are somewhat recessed
– Imaging is hazy

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. Elle Zhou of BQEYZ was kind enough to send me the review sample.
Sources used: Sony NW-A55, Questyle CMA-400i
Price, while reviewed: $200. Can be bought from HiFiGo

INTRODUCTION

The folks at BQEYZ are best known for their hybrid and multi-driver efforts. Their popular models such as the Summer or Spring had DD + BA + Piezo configuration. In fact, BQEYZ is one of the few manufacturers who still use Piezo drivers and has extensive know-how about this driver type.

The Autumn, being a single-dynamic offering, mark a shift in BQEYZ’s approach. Simplifying the driver count allows for easier tuning but also makes maintaining technicalities a challenge.

Do the BQEYZ Autumn pass the hurdle, or do they fall by the wayside? We’ll find out in the following.

PHYSICALS

Accessories

The BQEYZ Autumn come with 6 pairs of eartips, a 4-core silver + copper mixed cable, and the proprietary tuning magnets along side a tool to remove the magnets. A carrying case is also included which gets the job done without being flashy.

Build

General fit and finish are excellent here, with the BQEYZ Autumn having a polished aluminum shell. The shell is a two-piece design with the seam between the pieces barely noticed.

There are three vents on the inner-side of the IEMs. The nozzle is also metal. Lastly, BQEYZ has opted for 0.78mm 2-pin recessed connectors, which I personally prefer over flush or raised connectors.

Comfort and isolation

Comfort is very good but isolation is lacking due to the vents placed on the inner side of the earpiece.

Internals

BQEYZ went for a 13mm single dynamic driver here, with not much being told about the diaphragm material. Elle Zhou confirmed that they are using a 6 micro-meter ultra-thin PEN diaphragm.

The driver is housed in a dual-cavity structure which is becoming pretty standard lately.

BQYEZ Autumn Sound Analysis

Listening setup: BQEYZ Autumn with normal filter + stock cable + Radius Deep-Mount tips + Sony NW-A55

The BQEYZ Autumn have a slightly V-shaped tuning with emphasis around mid-bass and lower-treble. What makes them stand out is how relaxing the signature is, as the transients are rounded and leading edge of notes are softened out.

Bass here is mostly characterized by the mid-bass bloom that adds some extra decay to bass notes. Snare hits also get extra thickness and body as a result. This tuning works well for moderately paced tracks but leaves you wanting in fast metal tracks.

Sub-bass rumble is lacking, so sudden bass drops lack the physicality you expect. Macrodynamic punch is lacking as well, so the BQEYZ Autumn isn’t really suited for portraying the energy in tracks.

Mids are fairly well tuned. Lower mids are recessed but doesn’t sound drowned out. The recession gives a sensation of laid-back vocals that is devoid of shout or shrillness. If you don’t mind midrange recession, the Autumn won’t be disappointing. However, for those seeking more forward or energetic vocals – this ain’t it.

Then comes the treble, and here we have perhaps the only tonal oddity of the Autumn. The 5kHz peak is quite prominent and makes leading edge of cymbal hits sound a bit brittle. This presence region emphasis is needed to keep the Autumn from sounding overly dark but this also leads to over-crispness at times.

Upper-treble is well extended with resonances being heard well until 15kHz. The airiness is kept in check though so it doesn’t lead to fatigue.

Before getting into technicalities, let’s talk about the filters. The filters only increase or decrease the amount of bass but due to how we perceive sound, this change in bass markedly alters the presentation.

The normal filter is the one I found the most balanced, with the bass filter making things too bassy and the treble filter making the 5kHz peak even more prominent.

When it comes to staging, I found the stage width to be quite good. Everything is well separated, and the Autumn don’t sound cramped. However, stage depth is limited.

Imaging is also average with positional cues often being hazy. The saving grace here is the reproduction of microdynamics that allows you to delineate between instruments playing at differing volumes.

Finally, resolved detail is above average for a single dynamic IEM but the Autumn will be bested by a number of multi-BA or hybrid offerings in this range.

Compared to Final E4000

Final E4000 have been one of my default recommendations for a single dynamic driver IEM under USD $200.

In terms of build, the Final are no slouch with a similarly solid aluminium shell. Final went for a barrel shape and mmcx connectors but both IEMs are at equal playing field here.

Comfort and Isolation wise I think E4000 wins as they block more noise than the Autumn. Accessories are about par on both.

As for the sound, E4000 have a similarly bass-boosted, warm tuning but Final has even less emphasis in lower treble. This results in a tad darker tuning than the Autumn. Another noticeable change is the staging and imaging where the E4000 sound more expansive and accurate respectively.

Resolved detail is a bit better on the Autumn due to better upper treble extension. Macrodynamic punch is better on the E4000 meanwhile. Mids are also more engaging on the Final IEMs.

One advantage of the BQEYZ Autumn is the filter system that isn’t available on the E4000 at all. So if you want to change the tuning on the fly the Autumn will be better suited. E4000 are also more difficult to power, requiring better amping.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

BQEYZ have tuned the Autumn fairly well. They didn’t just try to copy-paste an existing target curve and instead went for their own flavor of sound which is rarer to see these days. I do wish that the Autumn were a bit better in terms of technicalities, esp the imaging department. BQEYZ’s previous offerings were better in this regard so this one is a backward step. 

Other than that, the Autumn are a solid pair of single dynamic IEMs, and on sale price they warrant a closer look.

MY VERDICT

4/5

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DISCLAIMER

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The post BQEYZ Autumn Review (2) – Incremental Improvements appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — Relatively high impedance…benefits from amplification.

Executive Summary

Introduction

BQEYZ made themselves a name back in 2018 with one of the first neutrally tuned budget iems, the $30 2DD +2BA BQEYZ KC2, at a time when budget meant V-shaped. The KC2 is still available and has a dedicated following.

The company continued a class higher with the $139 1DD +1BA +1 EST BQEYZ Spring 1, which had wonderful vocals but a somewhat pillowy bass. The subsequent 1DD +1BA +1 EST $169 BQEYZ Spring 2 improved the bass somewhat. All of the above were metal built.

The subsequent $129 1DD +1BA +1EST BQEYZ Summer deviated with its translucent resin shells and finally featured the desired punchy bass.

We have collectively analyzed all of the above to the hilt, including Durwood’s study of the effect of nozzle mesh on the Spring 1’s frequency response.

The latest BQEYZ model is named “Autumn” after the third season of the year, hence “Tre Stagioni” (three seasons). With their BQEYZ Autumn, the company reverts to metal shells being essentially identical in shape to the Summer’s.

New is the driver configuration which is a single DD. BQEYZ also offer maximum sonic flexibility by including three sets of magnetic tuning vents at the font of the shells. Each of these pucks constitutes a different front vent with its very own bass response.

It is an interesting approach contrary to the JVC FDX1, the perceived bass response of which is dosed by screw-on nozzles containing different filters. Although these alter the JVC’s upper midrange response, the effect is only heard at the low end, as the human ear registers the whole frequency spectrum in context.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the 2 earpieces, the cable, 3 pairs of tuning pucks in a holder, the magnetic tuner pole, 2 sets of eartips (S/M/L), a brush, and a carrying case. The three tuning pucks (“bass”, “normal”, “treble”) are actually the inner earphone vents (also called front vents). They come in different openings: the smaller the bassier. We describe the relevant physical principles in this article.

The metal pucks are inserted and removed with the included magnetic pole. This takes as long as a tire change during a Formula 1 race. The magnetic fit guarantees minimal wear and tear even when swapped frequently. Very handy.

The earpieces are made of CNC machined metal and are built very well. The overall haptic of shells and cable is great. BQEYZ have addressed the criticism of the BQEYZ Summer’s resin shells.

Fit and comfort are very good, isolation is rather poor for my ears. The cable has silver-coated copper and high-purity copper strands. It is loosely braided with minimal contact area between the strands for minimum interference. I find the cable rather pliable and light – it has no microphonics.

2 sets of eartips (S/M/L) are included, one wide bore and the other narrow bore. Note that the nozzle diameter exceeds the usual 4.5 mm so that many third-party eartips will not fit. You may try the SpinFit CP500 or any Azla SednaEarfit models if going for third-party tips.

Tonality and Technicalities

A universally valid assessment of the BQEYZ Autumn is difficult as tonality and technicalities depend on the interplay of several factors: magnetic tuning puck + eartips + source (in any combination). This versatility allows to you pretty much to create your own favourite sound.

Considering its 46 Ω impedance, the Autumn benefits from amplification, although it works surprisingly well with my iPhone SE (1st gen.). For example, the powerful Apogee Groove produces a much cleaner and better defined image than the weaker AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt.

Using the JitterBug FMJ with the Apogee Groove makes quite a difference in that it ads definition to the image. The difference is actually considerable.

With the wide-bore stock tips, the “bass” vents generate more…yes…bass…which drowns the vocals out somewhat — and the “normal” vents bring voices more into the foreground without sacrificing bass impact. But this latter combination may be bassier than the combination of “bass” vents and JVC Spiral Dots.

I played with the stock eartips but got the best results with the JVC Spiral Dots that disperse some of the mid-bass and produce the tightest possible low end. Bass generally digs deep but the vocals move into the foreground with the JVCs. Signature becomes brighter but notes also cleaner and more articulate.

I also experimented with the vents, and the normal ones yielded the best result (in combination with the Spiral Dots). The bass vents “overthicken” the low end, move the vocals back and therefore remove intimacy and detail.

My favourite combination therefore is the normal vents with the JVC Spiral Dots.

So, how does the BQEYZ Autumn sound, actually (with “normal” puck and Spiral Dots)? It has the classic slightly warm single-dynamic driver sound with a rather crisp attack adding some edge.

The low end is on the tight side, it is well extended and remains focused to the lowest frequencies. There is no mid-bass hump as emphasis is on the lower frequencies, just above sub-bass. Drum kicks in the mid bass are not as pronounced as they could be but they are nevertheless hard as a rock – and dry.

Lower midrange is standalone without bass bleed. Male and female voices are somewhat recessed, of medium note weight, energetic, and natural. There is no shoutiness but we are getting there, although that 5 kHz peak is not irritating to my ears.

Midrange temperature is a bit cooler than in the bass region but still not quite neutral. Midrange resolution is very good, everything clean and clear there. Note definition is very good.

Lower treble rolls of substantially. Cymbals are a bit back and don’t have the best definition – but they are still ok. Resolution is better in the midrange than in the treble region.

Stage is average in width, height and depth. Spatial cues is very good. Attack is sharp and crisp without being aggressive. The dynamic driver is rather nimble. Stage positioning and separation are also good. Timbre is good.

I am a bit short in my sonic description as it mostly applies to this very particular setup.

BQEYZ Autumn compared

The dynamic-driver competition in the $200 region is tight. The Tanchjim Oxygen (which I don’t know) and the JVC HA-FDX1 are standard staples on our Wall of Excellence (also count the 1+1 IKKO OH10 in). The Moondrop KATO is arguably the company’s best dynamic-driver offer.

To disappoint you, it is impossible to tell which is the best of the lot as they are very close in terms of (sound) quality. But they differ quite a bit in ergonomics.

For example, the IKKO OH10 is very heavy in one’s ear, and so – but to a lesser extent – is the KATO. The Oxygen have short nozzles that may not fit everyone and the JVCs have a weird shape altogether that may not be the most comfortable for many either. In this respect, I prefer the Autumn’s compact shells.

But what I can say is that the Autumn sound more refined than the brighter $139 BQEYZ Summer, particularly in the midrange. The JVCs are not as crisp as the Autumn, they are smoother, dampened, with more rounded notes – but not as deep. The Autumn are rougher around the edges, more dynamic/energetic, and they have more midrange body and a much better sub-bass extension.

The Moondrop KATO are brighter than the Autumn (in my setup), with a wider but shallower stage. They have a smoother bass and vocals are not quite as intimate. They also have more sparkle with more air in the midrange. And they are more prone to shoutiness. How graphs can deceive us. Voices are a bit thicker and more rounded in the KATO. Treble resolution is similar between the two.

As I tend to say (well I stole it from Alberto): pick your poison!

Concluding Remarks

The BQEYZ Autumn are well built and good sounding single-dynamic driver earphones that fit their price category well – and that can prevail against their tough competition.

Whilst it is difficult to rank the large crowd of $200 single-dynamic drivers, the Autumn stick out in two aspects: comfort/fit and sonic versatility through the included tuning front vents. They are, in my opinion, the best offering in BQEYZ’s 3 season series.

Tre stagioni? Quattro stagioni! Now we are ready for “inverno”. No, that’s not what you think*…learn Italian…

Until next time…keep on listening!

*Italian: winter

The post BQEYZ Autumn Review (1) – Tre Stagioni appeared first on Audio Reviews.

The BQEYZ Autumn remidies all previous issues and is the best and most mature sounding iem of the series. In fact it is a very good and enjoyable single DD iem. And it is flexible, sonically, as you can adjust the bass response with the three included front vents.

Before you read my Autumn review, you have the opportunity to check out the Autumn’s physical features. Is the nozzle length right for you, will the shell fit your ears well? Sound quality is only one aspect of an iem’s functionality. And the best iem is the one we use most. Don’t you agree?

Specifications

Images

Get the BQEYZ Autumn from aliexpress.

The post PhotoGraphed: BQEYZ Autumn vs. BQEYZ Summer appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Instead of first impressions, we offer completely flavour-neutral optical treatments before following up with our exhaustive reviews of the products’ performances.

Current Photography

1. BQEYZ Autumn vs. BEQYZ Summer (Jürgen Kraus)
2. Hidizs MM2 (Jürgen Kraus)
3. IKKO OH2 vs. IKKO OH1S (Jürgen Kraus)

Vintage Photography (prior to March 2022)

1. AME Custom Argent Hybrid Electrostatic (Jürgen Kraus)
2. Anew X-One (Jürgen Kraus)
3. Blon BL-05 Beta (Jürgen Kraus)
4. Blon BL-05 Beta (Jürgen Kraus)
5. Blon BL-05 MKI & MKII (Jürgen Kraus)
6. BQEYZ Spring 1 (Jürgen Kraus)
7. BQEYZ Spring 2 (Durwood)
8. CCA CA16 (Durwood)
9. Drop + JVC HA-FXD1 (Jürgen Kraus)
10. Fidue A65/A66 (Jürgen Kraus)
11. FiiO FD1 (Jürgen Kraus)
12. FiiO FHs1 (Jürgen Kraus)
13. Hill Audio Altair • RA (Jürgen Kraus)
14. iBasso IT01 V2 (Jürgen Kraus)
15. Hilidac Atom Pro (Jürgen Kraus)
16. Ikko OH1 (Jürgen Kraus)
17. KBEAR Believe (Jürgen Kraus)
18. KBEAR Diamond (Jürgen Kraus)
19. KBEAR hi7 (Jürgen Kraus)
20. KBEAR KB04 (Jürgen Kraus)
21. KBEAR Lark (Jürgen Kraus)
22. Kinboofi MK4 (Jürgen Kraus)
23. KZ ASX (Jürgen Kraus)
24. KZ ZSN Pro (Slater)
25. Moondrop Crescent (Jürgen Kraus)
26. Moondrop Illumination (Jürgen Kraus)
27. Moondrop Kanas Pro Edition (Jürgen Kraus)
28. Moondrop SSP (Jürgen Kraus)
29. Moondrop SSR (Jürgen Kraus)
30. Moondrop Starfield (Jürgen Kraus)
31. NiceHCK Blocc 5N Litz UPOCC OCC Copper Earphone Cable
32. NiceHCK Litz 4N Pure Silver Earphone Cable (Jürgen Kraus)
33. NiceHCK NX7 (Jürgen Kraus)
34. NiceHCK NX7 Pro (Jürgen Kraus)
35. Queen of Audio Pink Lady (Jürgen Kraus)
36. Revonext QT5 (Slater)
37. SeeAudio Yume (Jürgen Kraus)
38. Senfer DT6 (Slater)
39. Sennheiser IE 300
40. Sennheiser IE 500 PRO
41. Shozy Form 1.1 and Shozy Form 1.4
42. Shozy Form 1.4 (Jürgen Kraus)
43. Shozy Rouge (Jürgen Kraus)
44. Simgot EM2 (Jürgen Kraus)
45. Simgot EN700 Pro (Slater)
46. Smabat ST-10 (Jürgen Kraus)
47. Tin Hifi T2 Plus (Jürgen Kraus)
48. Tin-Hifi T4 (Jürgen Kraus)
49. TRN-STM (Jürgen Kraus)
50. TRN V90 (Jürgen Kraus
51. TRN-VX (Jürgen Kraus)
52. Whizzer Kylin HE01 (Jürgen Kraus)

The post Photography appeared first on Audio Reviews.

At-a-glance Card

Full Device Card

Test setup

Sources: Apogee Groove + Burson FUN + IEMatch / Questyle QP1R / Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman – JVC SpiralDots eartips – Stock cable – lossless 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC tracks.

Signature analysis

Technicalities

Physicals

Specifications (declared)

Other notes & comments

A few technical pieces of advice first of all.

One: BQEYZ Summer are extremely eartip sensitive. The package comes with 2 alternative S-M-L silicon tips, neither of which offered me either good comfort or good sound rendering or both. After quite a lot of rolling I settled on JVC SpiralDot silicon tips as the best compromise for my tastes.

Two: if there is one pair of IEMs were “burn-in” does make a difference, that’s BQEYZ Summer! The first few minutes of auditioning resulted in a very “closed”, un-airy, almost “deaf-noted” presentation. I left them down playing for a couple of days and it all became evidently better.

Three: cable’s 2-0.78mm-pin connectors are quite ordinarily recessed, but the housing shape around the receptable is “bowly” – the result is that only a 2-pin male connector featuring a protruded nozzle will fit. Nicehck 16core high purity copper cables won’t fit, for example.

Coming closer to the heart of the matter – how BQEYZ Summer sound – I underline my sincere appreciation to BQEYZ for having been able to brush-off that too common, artificial, “electrical” after taste I heard on most piezo drivers to date, even on higher-tier models (*cough*LZ-A7*cough*).

On the flip side the single aspect that I liked less is this timbre mismatch between the BA+Piezo section and the DD section, the former wanting more body to sound organically coherent to the latter. Given this, a competent source featuring at least above average high-mids / treble control is more than a recommendation when selecting a good pair for BQEYZ Summer.

One last consideration about the price category: BQEYZ Summer’s $129,00 asking price is imo indeed compliant with the product’s general quality, both on the non-sound and sound-related aspects. On the other hand, the same is true for a few other IEMs in the $100-$150 price bracket, which makes it extremely difficult for any single one to stand out of the crowd at least a bit, let alone earn a “royal crown”.

Disclaimer

A special thank you to Elle Zhou for providing Summer’s sample for review. You can buy it at the BQEYZ Official Store.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

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You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post BQEYZ Summer Review (2) – Amazing Music appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — No balanced circuit; limited Hi Res decoding; no “DragonTail” adapter included. 

Executive Summary

The AudioQuest DragonFly Red is a dynamic and natural sounding miniature headphone amp (dac/pre-amp). As the more vivid sibling of the relaxed DragonFly Cobalt, it is sourced by phones or computers with minimal battery drain.

Introduction

AudioQuest is primarily a cable company, established in 1980, but they also invented this type of small, source-powered portable dac-amp. The concept goes back to a meeting at the 2010 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest between DragonFly’s designer Gordon Rankin, Joe Harley (AQ’s former Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development), Steve Silberman (AQ’s former VP of Marketing), and Bill Low (AQ’s founder and CEO). Steve had asked to create a USB cable with an in-line converter with RCA cables coming out of one end.

Looking at a USB stick, Gordon said, “You know, we can make it like this. It could have a USB-A plug at one end and a 3.5mm output jack at the other.” Gordon Rankin had a lot of experience to offer. He had designed his first dac (the Cosecant) in 2003 and simultaneously started working on asynchronous code. He is one of the pioneers of computer audio.

In 2012, the first DragonFly was released, with the “Red” following in 2016. My analysis of the DragonFly Red obviously comes 5 years late so that there has been ample time for reviewers and audio enthusiasts to establish its place in the audio community.

What was new as of 2016, is that all DragonFlys had small enough power consumption to be operated by a phone’s battery. Not having a battery of their own increases their lifespan quasi infinitely over the bulkier transportable dac-amps with non-serviceable batteries (facing planned obsolescence).

I only received the “Red” recently, but had purchased the $99 DragonFly Black v1.5 back in 2016, which has been my goto until now. And I recently reviewed the $299 DragonFly Cobalt, released in 2019, that features very similar (but not quite the same) specs as the “Red” (which can be a bit confusing for the potential buyer).

In the last 2-3 years, Gordon Rankin’s idea of small portable dac-amps has been adapted by many manufacturers, mainly from the Far East, who are currently flooding the market with countless models priced between $10 and $400, with the sweet spot between $80 and $150.

Two main questions arise and will be addressed in this review. First, how do the DragonFlys Red and Cobalt compare? Second, is the 2016 DragonFly Red still current or have the competitors overtaken Gordon Rankin’s innovation?

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

Just like the other DragonFly models, the “Red” comes with AudioQuest’s obligatory storage sheath and the “flight manual“. And, like the Cobalt, the Red is lacquered with car varnish. Guess its colour!

The DragonFly Red has a nominal output of 2.1 V (like the DragonFly Cobalt). This is no more than average in its category. Hobbyist Archimago measured a very low output impedance of 0.53 Ω. You find other detailed measurements by Stereophile and ASR (beware of overinterpretations).

Measurements, even if performed unbiased and correctly, cannot characterize a dac-amp sufficiently. They only give us half the story as there is no linear correlation between graphs and musical enjoyment/listening pleasure, sonic character/appeal, synergy, soundstage, separation, timbre, sense of ease etc. A correlation between electromagnetic and acoustic waves does not exist in physics. We need to deploy our ears for the ultimate test. There are plenty of examples where a “well-measuring device” does not impress sonically. Measurements are more important for product design than for practical testing. Alarm bells may only go up if measurements are “really bad”.

The DragonFly Red streams Tidal masters (MQA) and Qobuz, and works with all the non-audiophile streaming services such as Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud etc. And it is firmware upgradeable.

For DragonFly Red, the status indicator produces the following colors: standby (Red), 44.1kHz (Green), 48kHz (Blue), 88.2kHz (Amber), 96kHz (Magenta), MQA (Purple).

All DragonFlys can be sourced by a computer (no Windows driver required) or Android/iOS devices…and used as dac-amp with headphones/earphones, or as pre-amp with a dedicated amplifier. Their functionality is described in detail in my Cobalt review.

Amplification and Power Management

There is enough power to drive my 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 600 headphone. The Red also operated all my iems and the mid-sized 70 Ω Sennheiser HD 25 or 60 Ω Koss Porta Pro with ease.

In my 3h battery drain test of several dongles, the DragonFly Red (and Black) had the lowest consumption on my iPhone 5S, the DragonFly Cobalt consumed about a third more, which placed it in the midfield. All DragonFlys stayed pretty cool during operation. But it could have done far worse than that….see the detailed results. In this respect, the DragonFly Red/Black are the clear winners and therefore most useful on the road.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Raw Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

Sound Comparisons

Equipment used: Macbook Air/iPhone SE first generation; Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 25, Koss Porta Pro; Cayin Fantasy, JVA HA-FDX1, Sennheiser IE 300, Sennheiser IE 400 PRO, BQEYZ Summer, Meze RAI Solo, Moondrop Aria, Shozy Form 1.4.

The AudioQuest DragonFly Red’s sonic qualities have been known for the last 5 years. But how does it hold up against its competition today?

In my perception, the DragonFly Red offers a rather vivid, organic sound with good extensions at both ends resulting in a marginally warm, immersive listening being off strictly linear. The slightly elevated bass contributes to a good depth but takes a bit away from the stage width, which results in a good three-dimensionality.

The Red is the most dynamic dongle I have tested. It has superb separation of good note weight, and is a bit edgy at the top end. The presentation is rather musical (as opposed to analytical) with good PRAT.

The DragonFlys are musical… The rest just gives you sound. Co-blogger and Red/Cobalt owner KopiOkaya.

The DragonFly Red is ahead of its immediate (external) competition listed here in terms of dynamics, microdynamics, and microdetail.

The equally priced and also natural sounding EarMen Sparrow offers an additional balanced circuit. The Sparrow is flatter, less vivid and less (micro)detailed than the DragonFly Red with a shallower but wider and taller soundstage (balanced circuit only). It is more powerful, and has a much higher battery draw.

The $129 EarMen Eagle was hailed by some reviewers to best the DragonFly Red. Eagle is more linear, less bassy, has a wider but flatter stage. Most importantly, it is leaner sounding not quite reaching the Red’s midrange body, dynamics, and resolution. But it has the DragonFly’s USB-A plug.

The $119 Earstudio HUD100 is the flattest/most linear of the lot, and also the least lively, which qualifies it for earphone testing and for use with very thick sounding (bassy) iems. The $119 Hizids S9 PRO is sonically almost indistinguishable from the HUD100. The $85 Shanling UA2 has rather warm and bassy signature. These three models lack midrange body and note weight, and vocals are rather thin compared to the Red.

DragonFly Red’s real challenger is the $299 DragonFly Cobalt. Most specs are identical between the two models. But the Cobalt has a more expensive dac chip, a different receiver chip, and some JitterBug USB-cleaning technology.

Both have different sonic signatures that broadly correspond to their shapes and colour: smoothly rounded in subtle blue vs. edgier in the louder red.

It is the exuberance and the lively treble that distinguishes the DragonFly Red from the smoother, more relaxed sounding, more composed and mature Cobalt. The Cobalt’s notes are more rounded and weightier, vocals have an unparalleled richness, smoothness, and naturalness in the dongle world.

The Red is more spectacular, more forward into your face/ears especially at the top end, where the Cobalt is easing off a bit. The Red’s liveliness works particularly well with powerful music such as rock, pop, EDM, anything that needs a good punch. The Cobalt plays its strength out in acoustic and jazzy music with emphasis on detail, microdynamics, and timbre.

You experience the principal differences between the two models best when having hightened sensitivity be it through a cold or hangover, or simply early in the morning.

JitterBug FMJ adds body and depth to the Red’s presentation, and it rounds the top off. Separate review of the “Bug” is here.

Is the DragonFly Red still relevant?

This question is frequently discussed in audio forums. The Red is very relevant to me. It depends how you look at it.

The present trends are: maxed out Hi RES (PCM: support up to 768kHz/32Bit; DSD: native DSD64/128/256/512), swappable sound profiles, maximum power, an additional balanced circuit, and perfect measurements. All that at a low price. If that’s what you are after, all DragonFlys are outdated.

If you don’t want to handle Windows drivers, they are not. And if you judge by sound quality, the Red has yet to find a challenger (beside the Cobalt).

The competing devices I have tested do not match the Red in terms of note weight, dynamics, and detail resolution. You may get more sound but not more musicality from the competition. There is still catching up to do with dac chip implementation, which is particularly evident in lean vocals reproduction and timbre.

So, what is the point of decoding super HI RES with a mediocre dac – and/or pairing it with a premium earphone?

The DragonFly Red also clearly leads the pack in power management: its low battery drain results an always cool (as opposed to hot) device.

And whereas the Red has had a long shelf life without any necessary re-issues (though it is software upgradable), the competition keeps pushing improved “Pro” versions of their products.

Another advantage of all DragonFlys is the USB-A plug, which makes it equally practical for Android and iOS devices. The new dongle generations mainly feature USB-C plugs or fixed USB-C cables, which result in cumbersome snakes when combined with the Apple camera adapter.

Sure, there are third-party lightning cables to connect to a USB-C socket, but their MFI chips are not optimized for Apple’s power management, which results in unreasonably high additional battery drains.

There are a few products that incorporate such ingenuity that they remain current and relevant over many years. Other examples are the Apogee Groove and Chord Mojo dac-amps, both unmatched since 2015. Gordon Rankin’s experience must have made this sustained difference in the DragonFlys’ case.

Vorsprung durch Technik?

What I use

Ok ok, everybody has different preferences. I am a phone guy who does not want to carry a second device (“dap”) around – and who wants to use the dac-amp between different devices. I don’t listen on my desktop computer so that my stack is catching dust. And my Shanling M0 dap, too.

Since 2016, my go-to has been the DragonFly Black, but in the last 4-5 months, it has been replaced by: the DragonFly Cobalt for acoustic/classical/jazzy music, the DragonFly Red for Rock/Pop and for on the road (low battery drain), and the EarMen Eagle for thick sounding/bassy earphones and headphones. And I am very happy with this.

On top of that, I am having a lot of fun experimenting with the AudioQuest JitterBug FMJ (I also had purchased the original JitterBug upon its release in 2016) and the ifi Audio iSilencer. More about these USB cleaners is coming soon.

Concluding Remarks

Considering its organic timbre and its rich midrange, the Red could be the best-sounding portable dac-amp I have tested. But it is not as the DragonFly Cobalt is one step ahead and takes over the title “Lord of the Flies” (apologies to William Golding). The DragonFly Red comes in second best, but it is also $100 cheaper.

My investigations have shown that the external competitors (I have tested) have yet to match the DragonFly Red in terms of sound quality, which, quite frankly, surprises me, too. They may impress with added features, balanced circuits, and amplification, but there is obviously still some room to catch up with the experience in asynchronous coding and the other nitty gritty that make your earphone/headphone sound “good”.

So, yes, the old “Lady in Red” is sonically still on top of the $200 class imo.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Disclaimer

The DragonFly Red was kindly provided by AudioQuest up my request and I thank them for that.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

Gallery

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Cons — Difficult to pick the right model.

Distinctive Features — Swivel mechanism; narrow-bore tips.

BOOKMARK ME – PAGE WILL BE UPDATED

Executive Summary

I have tested SpinFit eartips for this review since summer 2019, the results are reported here, and an overview of the different models is given. The main advantage of Spinfit eartips are in the added comfort, appealing appearance, and most importantly in their “kaiten”, the Japanese word describing their swivel mechanism (they don’t really “spin”). Kaiten results in deeper insertion and therefore sonic improvement over stock tips in many cases. Results may vary between earphones in combination with individual ear canals. While it cannot be said that Spinfits are universally better than other tips, they frequently are. They therefore fill a niche and should be in everybody’s eartips box. IMO, SpinFits are a good investment particularly for more expensive earphones.

Introduction

There are different ways to alter an earphone’s sound: cable, modding, nozzle-screen replacement…but eartips is the easiest and one of the cheapest, even taking the premium prices of some into account. The tips are at the end of the audio chain and can be a real bottleneck. If they don’t fit our ear canals properly, the whole listening experience is spoilt.

Some earphones come with a generous selection of eartips, others don’t. And in some cases, none of the eartips fit or provide an effective seal for the listener, so that the sound quality is compromised. In such situations, third-party eartips come to the rescue.

Eartips manufacturers can frolic as there is no real competition between them: all their products are different and there is no universal fit for any earphone/ear canal combination.

Eartips of the different makes are rather complementary and listeners have to acquire a box full of different types before “tip rolling” to find the best sound appeal for their individual ear canal geometry. So third-party eartips companies must be the best of friends.

SpinFit out of Taiwan are one of the pioneers of third-party eartips and their products have become somewhat of an industry standard. Most premium earphones that went through my hands as a reviewer came with SpinFit CP145 silicone tips, and these have become one of my starting points for “tip rolling”.

SpinFit have not only produced sonically appealing and comfortable eartips, they have also rolled them into some kind of appealing eyecandy, with coloured inner stems indicating type and size – for the advanced users. I sometimes feel like eating them. They are generally soft and pliable, comfortable, and durable.

Each of SpinFit’s offerings have distinct bore sizes (to fit the earphone nozzle) and umbrella size (to fit the ear canal). A unique swivel mechanism in all models helps connecting the two in an optimal manner – earphone and ear canal, that is. The swivel mechanism helps optimizing sound transfer and comfort. The mechanism also corrects for unfavourable nozzle angles on the earphone.

The Japanese word “Kaiten” describes the spin, which is actually not a spin at all, but a swivel. Some Japanese words also read as Chinese, because both languages share the “Kanji” characters.

Selecting the Right SpinFits for Your Earphone

Eartips are a very personal thing. There is no good or bad in most cases, there is good fit and lesser fit, which depends on both the devices they are mounted on and the listeners’ ear canals. These variables create a large number of possibilities and uncertainties so that no eartip is fitting universally. These variables are:

Fitting earphone nozzles: the first problem for the novice is – and it certainly was for me – to find the right SpinFit model to fit a particular earphone. First, one has to select the right diameter of the inner stem so that the SpinFit is being held safely in place. As a rule of thumb, most earphones have a nozzle diameter of 4.5 mm so that the CP145 is the most universal model for initial tip rolling.

Fitting ear canals: the second problem is that the umbrella size has to fit one’s ears. Size M fits most listeners (use the stock nozzles for comparison). I personally need L or XL. Also important is the length of the inner stem. Earphones with short nozzles such as the Blon BL-03 work best with a long-stemmed eartips, and most TWS earphones require short tips such as the CP360.

Check out the SpinFit Size Chart

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Optimizing sound: the SpinFit’s swivel mechanism corrects for unfavourably angled earphone nozzles, which contributes to sound optimization. Another parameter that influences perceived sound is the eartip’s bore diameter. All Spin Fits are narrow-bores and they therefore are even less competition to JVC Spiral Dots and Azla SednaEarfit tips, which are wide-bores. Narrow-bores and wide-bores differ in their sonic characters with most earphones [explained in detail here]. Trial and error rules, and there is no recipe for success.

I’ll give you an illustrated overview of the available below. Check the underlined links in the figure captions to follow up on the details.

The SpinFit Catalogue in Pictures

Please note that the SpinFit CP350 have been discontinued.

Co-blogger Kazi is going a bit more into detail of the individual models in his complementary SpinFit article.

What KopiOkaya says

Co-blogger Larry Fulton alias KopiOkaya summarizes the main characteristics of the leading third-party eartips in his famous eartips guide. He covers most of the SpinFit catalogue. You find his thoughts behind this spoiler.

Concluding Remarks

Eartips are the cheapest sonic upgrade of an earphone (without modding). SpinFit have established themselves as one of the industry leaders because of their special swivel mechanism, their comfort, fit, durability, and last but not least their optical appeal. I have dropped a few dollars on their offerings in my time as hobbyist.

SpinFit eartips are no miracle cure in all cases, but they are possibly the first ones to choose for “tip rolling”. They should therefore be in everybody’s audio toolbox.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Disclaimer

I spent about $100 in my lifetime on SpinFit eartips, mainly on CP145, CP100, CP500, and CP800. Some of the SpinFits used in this review were kindly provided by SpinFit, in several stages since Aug 2019.

Get more information from the SpinFit website.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post JK’s Introduction To SpinFit Eartips appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — Sub-par bass response
– Treble extension is lacking
– Rai Penta has below-average technicalities
– Price

INTRODUCTION

It’s hard being a flagship.

Just being “pretty good” across the board won’t cut it. Outright supremacy is the aim here, and that’s the bar that Meze Audio has set for themselves with their flagship Rai Penta, tested at $1099. It’s quite a jump considering that their previous highest-tier IEM was the Meze 12 Classics worth ~$80.

Meze did take their sweet time with the whole building and tuning process of the Rai Penta, which added further to the expectations. Then again — better safe than sorry. So, how close do the Rai Pentas get close to excellence? Read on.

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. The Rai Penta was sent courtesy of the Review Tour. I would like to thank Andy sincerely for organizing the whole thing.

Sources used: Yulong Canary, Questyle QP1R, LG G7
Price, while reviewed: $1100. Can be bought from Meze’s Website.

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

The accessory set is more than adequate, but with a few caveats. You get basically everything you might need: 8 pair of tips (regular silicone, double-flanges and foams), a really good 4-core SPC cable with Rhodium plated jacks, a balanced upgrade cable, a fancy-yet-practical carrying case, a 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack (handy for certain amps), an airplane adapter (a rare sight nowadays) and a small cleaning brush. All of these are of rather high quality and I personally didn’t feel the need to use a third-party tip.
4.5/5

BUILD QUALITY

Well, Meze hit the ball off the park right at the start. The Rai Pentas are meticulously built, and the feel in hand/while wearing is especially sublime. They are sculpted from a single block of aluminium, and are as smooth as pebbles. You don’t feel the joints at all, and boy do they feel dense! The mmcx connectors are rather robust and didn’t seem to lose their solidity even after multiple cable swaps.
The nozzle has three sound-bores: one for the dynamic driver, and the other two for the dual mid and high BA drivers. These bores are also milled from aluminium and is a rather unique feature of these IEMs since many multi-BA IEMs use plastic tubes to channel the sound towards the bore. On the back, there is a curiously designed vent (presumably for the dynamic driver) that Meze calls the PES (Pressure Equalization System). It does its job seemingly well as there is no noticeable driver flex.
5/5

COMFORT, ISOLATION, AND FIT

The Rai Pentas are as comfortable as they come for a set of regular-fit universal IEMs. The smooth, beveled edges fit snugly in the ears and you can wear them for hours. Lying down with them is slightly problematic however as their weight tends to tilt them downwards. The stock tips are plenty comfortable for me, but you can of course try your favorite tips to see which fits best.
4.5/5

SOURCE AND EARTIPS

For this review, the primary source was Questyle QP1R. I used the stock tips since they worked fine for me. Also Rai Penta is fairly source agnostic so you can use any source to get it to loud volumes, but depending on source the balanced cable might provide slightly better separation.

DRIVER SETUP

The Meze Rai Penta is a 5-driver hybrid with a single-dynamic driver taking care of the low frequencies, two composite and customized (Knowles?) BA drivers for the mids, and two composite BA drivers for the highs and ultra-highs. The entire wave-guide and driver chamber is made up of CNC-cut aluminium, resulting in precise crossover-points and eliminating phase/crossover-related incoherency issues.

TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES

Meze Rai Penta doesn’t have a bass-heavy signature, which is in stark contrast to their previous two IEMs (11 Neo and 12 Classics) both of which had prominent sub and mid-bass impact (a guilty pleasure, I concede). Bass decay is faster than average dynamic driver IEMs but nothing to write home about. There is a slight mid-bass bloom that adds body to snare hits and to certain baritone vocals but that’s about it. The sub-bass seems rather muted, which is disappointing. It’s more of a faint whimper than an actual rumble. In Audioslave’s Be Yourself, the opening bass-line can be heard, but not felt, and that’s the weakest part of these IEMs for me. Many prefer a bass-light signature, however, so this might be what they are looking for.

Midrange is where the Rai Penta shows its true prowess. This is one of the best midrange renditions I’ve heard in any IEM, period. Nothing is accentuated unevenly, no absurd 3K gain or scooped lower-mids *cough* LCD i4 *cough*. Vocals have a effortless quality to it, and even the highest-pitched female vocals don’t sound shrill or fatiguing. String instruments have a very natural attack and decay, and best of all — they don’t exhibit the “BA-timbre” that I often dread. Micro-detail retrieval is also a strong point, even though they are not exaggerated as certain other IEMs at this range and is mostly there if you want to focus on them rather than being obtrusive. Listening to Ben Howard’s Old Pine was an absolute delight, and you could hear every single breath that the singer drew. Switching to some metal, Deftone’s My Own Summer has an interesting mix of clean and growling vocals, and the transition between them is seamless. No phase-issues here (something that often plagues multi-BA hybrids) and it’s a job well done. One thing that the Rai Penta does really well is pulling out the mid-range details off of bass-heavy tracks. This can come handy if your library consists of some poorly mastered tracks.

Treble takes a back seat, just like the bass, though it’s less extreme in this regard. There is some treble energy around 8KHz so cymbals hits have a pretty noticeable initial attack (really useful if you listen to a lot of rock and metal). However, it take a nose-dive from there on and barely rises post 10KHz, resulting in a treble response that’s very relaxing and sibilance-free, but rather unexciting and unremarkable. It’s not an issue for slower tracks, as Dave Matthews Band’s Crash Into Me sounds oh-so-sweet and you don’t really notice anything missing. It’s the faster, heavier tracks that suffer. Machine Head’s Aesthetics of Hate could definitely sound better, especially around the solo section where there are numerous rapid cymbal hits. The Rai Penta doesn’t do justice to the grandeur of tracks like these, so it’s definitely an IEM more suited for slower genres.

Soundstage is average in width and above-average in terms of depth. It’s not a holographic sound-stage, neither is it a densely-packed one. Instruments have good layering but they are not spread apart like some other IEMs in its class. The mid-range being pulled forward is another factor here so I wouldn’t call this a huge negative. Imaging performance is good, but not exceptional. Cardinality (top-right/top-left) is where it suffers compared to other multi-BA flagships, which is surprising since Meze’s budget IEM, the 11 Neo, had fantastic imaging for its class. The Rai Penta is definitely not worse than the 11 Neo, but it is not class-leading like the 11 Neo was. In Yosi Horikawa’s Crossing (my go-to track for testing imaging performance), the initial passage is remarkably well done, but the moment the song gets busier with multiple instruments that fade in and out, the imaging loses its sharpness. Also another area where the Rai Penta falls short is overall dynamics. Macrodynamic punch is lacking, whereas microdynamics are not its strongest suit, resulting in instruments playing at about similar volume.

Bass: 3/5
Mids: 4.5/5
Treble: 3.5/5
Imaging/Separation: 3/5
Staging: 3.5/5
Dynamics/Speed: 3.5/5
Timbre: 4/5

SELECT COMPARISONS

vs Beyerdynamic Xelento: The Xelentos are one of my favorite universal TOTL IEMs, and for good reasons. They are very comfortable and are built like a tank (though I’m always wary of the mmcx connectors), not too dissimilar to the Rai Penta. In terms of sound signature, however, they are somewhat the exact opposites of each other.

Xelentos have an extended sub-bass that’s lifted a few dBs over the mid-bass, unlike the Pentas where you have a mid-bass boost while the sub-bass has a rather early roll-off. Mid-range takes a back seat on the Xelentos and are clearly an area of superiority for the Pentas. In case of treble, however, Xelentos are noticeably more emphasized on the regions between 5–8KHz, thus giving an impression of better detail retrieval. This does not work well for poorly mastered tracks, where Rai Pentas are more forgiving. Then again, if you want a more extended treble — Xelentos will provide you that unlike the Mezes.

Soundstage goes to the Xelentos, while imaging is about par on both. In summary: the choice between them would depend upon your own preference, as they complement each other rather than truly compete.

vs Campfire Andromeda: The Andromedas are build really well, but I’m not too fan of the paint-job myself (the green one that is) and they are significantly less comfortable than the Mezes. The stock cable of the Rai Penta is better, whereas the Andros got better stock eartips (Final E-type ftw!). A potential issue with the Andromeda is their hyper-sensitivity. These are too picky about sources, so you gotta spend some time (and most probably cash) to get them a suitable source where it doesn’t hiss like a kettle on a stove.

In terms of sound, both have a lean bass presentation, but I still prefer the dynamic bass on the Mezes (though it’s only marginally better than the allA Andromeda). Midrange is where the Rai Pentas shine, again. The upper-mids on the Andromeda sounds slightly more stringent in comparison and lacks the fullness of the male vocals that the Rai Pentas can deliver.

Treble, however, is the great differentiator between these two, with the Andromedas having one of the best treble responses around (even though they absolutely ravage poorly mastered tracks) while the Rai Pentas trading absolute detail retrieval for a more relaxing signature. In terms of soundstage and imaging, Andromeda reigns supreme. Both are, however, not suitable for metal genres and sub-genres for the most part as those genres are usually not mastered well and can get either too intense (Andromeda) or too dull (Rai Penta). So if you are a closet metalhead like yours truly, I guess you will be left asking for something different entirely. In terms of soundstage and imaging, Andromeda reigns supreme. Period.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Rai Pentas are not the $1000+ end-all and be-all of things. It lacks a distinct wow-factor, and that perhaps is the biggest flaw of these IEMs. That’s a darn shame though, as the midrange here is beautifully rendered. Despite the lack of extension on both ends, I can see how these might captivate long-time who tend to focus more on the midrange.

So while the Rai Pentas fall short of a number of aspects of the sound, they excel at certain others. The build quality is as good as it gets, and they do the midrange oh-so-well that it keeps a lingering “what if” in your mind — what if these got everything right? Ah well, who knows if such a thing even exists at all.

Meze got part of the equation right with their initial attempt at a flagship. The rest of it — hopefully they hit the jackpot with the successor. Meanwhile, if you are solely looking for a flagship IEM that excels at vocals and acoustic genres — give these a try. They just might be what you are looking for.

MY VERDICT

3.5/5

Great midrange tonality held back by sub-par bass response/technicalities.

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DISCLAIMER

Get the Penta from Meze’s Website

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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The post Meze Rai Penta 5-Driver Hybrid IEM Review – Master Of One appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — Bass could be tighter; non-descript looks and haptic.

Executive Summary

The BQEYZ Summer is a marginally warm, nimble, mid-centric earphone with well-dosed dynamics across the frequency spectrum that results in an easily digestible, appealing sonic signature with a good sense of ease.

Introduction

BQEYZ had taken the Chi-Fi world back in 2018 with their $50 BQEYZ KC2, one of the few budget releases at the time with a near-neutral bass, which I described as “arid”. This model is still popular today.

The company stepped one up with with their $139 Spring model back in 2019. I remember “unboxing” it at Calgary airport on my way to Rio de Janeiro. It featured a fantastic midrange but my personal overall enjoyment was somewhat marred by a bass, that had transformed itself from “arid” to slow and “wooly”.

Some owners fiddled with the nozzle screens (they took them off, bluntly), which sent the upper midrange screaming while the bass remained the same…as documented by co-blogger Durwood in this article. This fix did not work.

BQEYZ followed up with the Spring 2, which I did not audition, however co-bloggers Loomis and Durwood analyzed both “Springs”, and they still reported a slow bass in the “2” [here].

Most recently, BQEYZ replaced their Spring line with the lower-priced $129 “Summer” model that still carries the Springs’ 3-driver tradition including a piezo tweeter. And – spoiler alert – the bass is now fixed, but the new PU+ LCP [“Liquid Crystal Polymer”] adds a completely different and very appealing sonic lightness to the Summer which somewhat corresponds to the actual season of this name.

I find the BQEYZ Summer a very pleasant listen that is hard to compare to anything in the $50 to $200 price range. In other words, it is somewhat sonically unique in as much as its appearance is rather generic. Yes, gone is the metal flavour of that Chi-Fi era, the current trend is resin.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

Tonality and Technicalities

Equipment used: MacBook Air + Earstudio HUD100 (bypass filter); iPhone SE (1st gen.) & AudioQuest DragonFly Red; black stock tips.

The BQEYZ Summer comes with two sets of tips, the blue “bassier” ones, and the black “neutral” ones. I prefer the black ones as they bring out the midrange better. But I could not get meaningful measurements with the black tips owing to their thin membrane. The graph shown here likely exaggerates that 9 kHz spike. I also added a measurement with my standard tips I use for all measurements for reasons of consistency.

Measurements repeated with JK's Standard Eartips

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In a nutshell: the Summer is a homogeneous sounding, slightly warm earphone with well-measured dynamics across the frequency spectrum and excellent vocals reproduction that lead to my listening enjoyment, despite a few technical shortcomings.

Yes, although the Summer does not have much in common with the BQEYZ Spring (don’t know the Spring 2), it preserves it excellent vocals reproduction. The money is clearly in the midrange, characterized by well sculptured, full, well composed, and natural voices. Great note definition. Not a hint of shoutiness, but this also means some lack of energy in some situations, the usual tradeoff. Very appealing, overall.

BQEYZ addressed the slow, wooly bass in their Spring models and sped it up a bit. It is well extended into the sub-bass, still not the tightest or best textured one, could have some more kick, but it is also not in the way of the vocals anymore and molds well around the midrange. Bass is not boomy and not too punchy in any way, and both low end and midrange receive a glaze of smoothness and pleasantry from the well-dosed (macro)dynamics and relatively realistic transients (of the BA drivers) that make for a very appealing, delightful and fatigue-free listening over longer periods. Great iems to “chill” with.

Nothing scratches or pierces…and this includes the treble despite the weird 8-10 kHz peak in the frequency response graphs. I don’t hear it (but it is not a coupler resonances either). The steep drop in the upper treble may explain the occasional lack of air and sheen in busy passages. The treble is a bit of a mixed bag, sonically. Cymbals are somewhat elegantly reserved and could be crisper, considering the piezo at work whereas the highest octaves, let’s say of a violin are well imaged, never grainy, but also not particularly smooth.

Timbre is ok for a hybrid, but other technicalities are only average: the stage can be crowded with many musicians and does not allow much space between them. Separation and layering are, however, pretty good with fewer musicians at work. Microdynamics (“the little things”), midrange resolution/clarity, and note definition are also average. Stage is wide and tall, not the deepest but spatial cues is good.

In summary, the value of the BQEYZ Summer is in its smoothness, homogeneity, and composition.

In comparison to the elegantly modest Summer, the BQEYZ Spring 1 was much thicker at the low end [as said, I don’t know the Spring 2]. The $80 single DD Whizzer Kylin HE01 is more fun and exuberant, and the $80 Moondrop Aria (which inherits the Spring’s metal shell type) is tighter in the bass and more articulate in the midrange but also a bit peakier in the treble and with a less expansive but deeper stage, and therefore not as smooth and easy as the Summer.

The BQEYZ was kindly provided by BQEYZ and I thank them for that. Get the Summer from BQEYZ Official Store. Here our generic standard disclaimer.

Concluding Remarks

After having tested so many earphones, the BQEYZ Summer is one of a kind, something new to my ears, one of the most “chilled” listens I have experienced [I credit Thomas Smallman for this attribute]. I am really enjoying these earphones for their lightness and pleasantries in every respect.

As Frank Sinatra sang back in 1960: “Nice ‘N’ Easy does it!”

Until next time…keep on listening!

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All Our 250 Earphone and Earbud Reviews (with Links)

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Introduction

The world of portable music changed forever with the arrival of the first iPod in 2001. But it took earphone manufacturers beyond the 2008 release of the first iPhone to offer some premium alternatives to the stock buds at a grand scale. And where are we today in terms of iems? Yes, more or less saturated.

With the advent of the AudioQuest DragonFly Black v1.5 portable headphone amp/dac in 2016, any smartphone could be upgraded to a premium music player (albeit some dap fans may disagree). v1.5 was the first “dongle” to draw so little current that it could be sourced by a phone’s battery (and it still leads the pack in this respect, jointly with the Dragonfly Red).

Again, it took a while for manufacturers catch on, but the market is currently flooded with tens of models so that it is difficult to keep the overview.

Purpose of this Guide

This writeup is foremost a small encyclopedia for my own comparison purposes and will always be work in progress. Feel free to bookmark this page and come back from time to time. I do not claim that it offers complete information – and it is highly subjective as it caters to my personal preferences.

In the future, I will not only add more models but also update and refine the individual entries. I hope it will grow into a representative database with time.

In Q1 2020, mostly by coincidence, I started having a closer look at dongles – and analyzed some. I focused on listening while ignoring tech specs and chip models as manufacturers report amplification power inconsistently…and not always correctly. All of the models tested work even with my power hungry 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, so the details are irrelevant for my daily usage.

In this guide, I also do not worry about special features offered in the individual models, build, drivers, digital filters, Hi Res decoding, or operation…which is your homework. All I focus on in my descriptions is perceived sound quality. But I care about battery consumption – we don’t want to run out of “juice” on the road – which is listed independently below.

Note: when looking at a dongle, don’t forget one of its main purposes: preserving portability. Fixed cables (typically with USB-c connector) can be awkward for use with iPhones and may result in cable snakes. And good adapters are pricey and cumbersome. I am hesitant with dongles featuring fixed cables – and for good reasons.

If you have tested these models and arrive at a different opinion, please drop a line in the comments section.

Spoiler alert: I identified clear trends in my results that are not surprising:

• The pricier models sound better, sorry for the lack of fantasy. No, they may not have stronger amplification or better features but they sound better.
• It is the other way round with value: the cheaper models offer better bang for the buck.

But to keep you happy: all of the models currently tested are very good in their own way and and each one of them is worthy to be used even with premium iems. Yep, I am mainly evaluating these dongles with iems (and not headphones): both are most portable.

When it comes to value, I intuitively compare to what you get in terms of iem for your money…and feel the dongles fare generally better. Nevertheless do many believe, a good dongle should not cost more than $100.

Equipment used: MacBook Air; BQEYZ Summer (32 Ω), Sennnheiser IE300/400 (16Ω)…this list will also grow to consolidate my findings.

The Lineup

I have no humour and arrange my list according to price from high to low.

AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt ($300)

US design. The smoothie of the dongle world and the dongle with the best sound quality by a long shot. Has simply the biggest note weight, most natural/organic sonic reproduction, and best musicality. It is not its power or resolution or staging that puts it ahead (by $100), it just sounds better. Voices are richer and fuller compared to the other models below.

For people who do not want to make compromises. Received criticism for being overpriced by people looking at the specs/measurements only. You pay for the sound quality, not sound quantity. Output is the same as in the DragonFly Red. Review.

AudioQuest DragonFly Red ($200)

Is somewhat more dynamic and edgier than the Cobalt. In fact, it is the most dynamic dongle I have tested. The most visceral of this lineup. Both DragonFlys have a slight bass boost compared to the other models. Vocals are still richer and fuller than in the Sparrow and HUD 100, but not as smooth as in the Cobalt, which is simply richer sounding. Has by far the smallest battery draw of the lineup. Review.

EarMen Sparrow ($200)

European design. Features two circuits (3.5 mm single ended and 2.5 mm balanced) of which the balanced excels and offers the widest staging and biggest headroom of the competition, beating both DragonFlys in this respect (you need a balanced cable to use this circuit). But the midrange reproduction is not quite a rich as in the DragonFly Red…though pretty impressive. Natural sound.

The Sparrow is more linear, less bassy, and less punchy than the Red and cleaner through the whole frequency range. Review.

EarMen Eagle ($130)

Features essentially the same sound as the Sparrow’s single-ended circuit. Less bassy and with slightly leaner vocals department than the DragonFly Red. Comes close to the “Red” in terms of sound quality, but has a substantially higher battery drain. Natural sound. The lowest-price premium sounding dongle imo. Review.

Earstudio HUD100 ($120)

Korean design. Offers two single-ended circuits with different output powers and three digital filters (I used the “bypass” filter for testing). A bit less dynamic than the Sparrow but very linear with no elevations and a nice wide, stage.

The HUD100 is the most polite of the lot, which is a good thing for taming punchy iems. Received a lot of flack on drop.com for being overpriced, which is simply not warranted. It is the best deal of this selection and worth every penny imo.

Gains richness and depth with the AudioQuest Jitterbug FMJ. HUD100 Review.

This is only a start. There are some upscale favourites that were highly recommended to me such as the Luxury & Precision W2 and the Lotoo Paw S1…but I have yet to get my hands on these. Co-blogger KopiOkaya auditioned these and let me know that they sound technically good but not musically good , and that the DragonFly Cobalt (he bought one in Q1 2021) sounds more natural.

Power Consumption

This is an important aspect when using the dongle on the go. The DragonFly Red wins the “power saving” contest comfortably.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

Sneak Peak into the <$100 Realm

That’s where the biggest crowding is, currently, although it appears to shift toward the $150 – $200 category with the recent releases by interesting companies (Astell & Kern, Razer…). Of the sub-$100 dongles I can really only offer the Shanling UA2 right now, which is not any less powerful than the >$100 models listed above, sounds natural, features a second balanced circuit and the same dac chip as the DragonFly Cobalt (and even more power).

But where it falls short in comparison even to the (admittedly much pricier) Earstudio HUD 100 is its less linear response, particularly its leaner, sharper midrange and elevated bass.

This is in line with my observations that the more expensive models offer a richer, thicker, fuller, smoother sound. That said the Shanling UA2 offers tremendous value alone for its natural sound. Review.

Concluding Remarks

My preliminary observations (based on the few available data points) appear to correlate somewhat with desktop equipment: more money buys you a better sounding dac. But where it does not compare well is the amp part, at least in terms of power. You can get a lot for less in this respect. Your choice will depend on your budget and personal preference.

Oh, and the EarMen Eagle is about to arrive for analysis. And the Helm Bolt is also somewhere in limbo.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Cons — Midrange attenuation; high battery drain from phone.

Executive Summary

The Shanling UA2 is a slightly off-neutral, rather natural sounding, and very powerful portable DAC/amp with good dynamics that features single-ended and balanced outputs at a budget pice. Compared to some of its much more expensive rivals, the UA2 has a leaner midrange while being competitive in terms of power.

Introduction

Shanling is a Chinese HiFi company established in 1988. They hit the western markets in the early 2000s with premium amplifiers at very competitive prices. At the time, while working in China, I talked to them about getting a 110 V version of one of their famous tube CD-players manufactured. This, unfortunately, failed because of export regulations.

More than half a generation later – Shanling has long established itself as a quality player and brand name around the world – I finally try my first Shanling product, the UA2 Portable USB DAC/Amp. And TL;DR, it is a good one.

Shanling is currently joining an army of companies populating the market with portable dac/amps that turn you phone into a dap. In this ever more crowded field, where the potential buyer cannot try before buying, reviewers like me have to provide the overview. But since it is impossible to test all interesting products, you have to check out a few qualified opinions before pulling the trigger.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the UA2, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. The UA2 body is made of metal and its coating feels smooth and appealing between my fingers.

In contrast to most other dongles does the UA2 offers two different circuits: a single-ended output through a standard 3.5 mm socket and a balanced output through a 2.5 mm socket. Both outputs/sockets work simultaneously. And it is the balanced output that makes the UA2 particularly attractive.

The two headphone sockets are on end, a USB-C port on one the other: the 3.5 mm single-ended socket is reinforced with a thick metal ring in expectation of the higher usage of the two.

There is a little LED light between them indicating sampling rate and connection to a gaming console.

Functionality and Operation

A summary of what it does

• Can be connected to Windows/Mac computers or Android/iOS sources
• Works as a pre-amplifier or dac when connected to a dedicated headphone amplifier
• Features two circuits: 3.5 mm single ended and 2.5 mm balanced
• Drives two earphones/headphones simultaneously through its two outputs
• Drives small loudspeakers through its 3.5 mm output
• Handles even power-hungry headphones well, imo up to 300 Ω

…and of what it does not

• …needs no battery; draws power from source…and lots of it
• …is not driverless: needs a USB driver for Window computer (download)
• …needs an Apple camera adapter or other third-party lightning cable for connecting to an iOS device

The Shanling UA2 has only a single button that serves the purpose of enabling a connected gaming console. It is powered and operated from the source device and decodes Hi Res up to 32 bit/768 kHz and DSD 512.

Shanling are offering their free Eddict player companion app that allows fine tuning the UA2 (and other Shanling products) with Android and iOS devices.

Amplification and Power Management

The Shanling UA2 is powerful. It delivers 125mW @ 32 ohm (single ended) and 195mW @ 32 ohm (balanced) according to the manufacturer. Even the single-ended circuit drives my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600 reasonably well.

But the UA2 consumes a lot of battery – twice as much as the AudioQuest DragonFly Black/Red. This makes it less beneficial for mobile use. You certainly need a big battery.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

But hold the horses. This is not as bad as you think. Co-blogger Alberto Pittaluga actually likes this drain. But why? For him it is a matter of choices. The Shanling UA2 pushes more current than its competition, which drives low-impedance and low-sensitivity headphones and iems better. After all, transducers are moved by current.

Sound

Equipment used: Macbook Air/iPhone SE first generation; Sennheiser HD 600 / HD 25, Shozy Form 1.4, Meze RAI Solo, BQEYZ Summer.

The Shanling UA2 offers a relatively natural, well rounded, dynamic, appealing sound, but could deserve a richer midrange.

Its sound is slightly off linear and off neutral by a slight bass boost that improves the sound of anemic earphones/headphones, keeps the sound away from sterile, and it adds depth. But, in some earphones, it can also narrow the soundstage and smear into the lower midrange/vocals, which adversely affects separation. The bass rumble becomes weaker under higher impedance loads.

What distinguishes the UA2 from its more expensive competition is not its amplification power…it is its attenuated, recessed, thin and occasionally sharp midrange (in comparison) that is evident in both single-ended and balanced circuits.

Vocals are set back in the UA2 but they are also a bit lean and pointy, they could be smoother, richer, and more intimate. This attenuation may exacerbate shoutiness in some earphones and moves the bass into focus.

But this is very-high level criticism with perfection as reference. The overall sound is dynamic with a good punch, it is not edgy at the upper end and comes off as pleasant during normal recreational listening (I was listening “analytically” for this review).

I assign good musicality and liveliness to the Shanling UA2, it is not technical, sterile, or boring sounding. Overall, the UA2 is more homogenous and natural sounding than the $40 Tempotec Sonata HD PRO or the $70 Tempotec BHD.

The UA2’s balanced circuit does not only deliver more power than the single-ended one, but also a marginally wider and deeper soundstage, improved dynamics and separation, and more intimacy. But it is still affected by the lean midrange.

When comparing the UA2 – I only had more expensive models available – they all rank sonically according to their price. The $120 Earstudio HUD 100 was more linear and cleaner at the bottom end with a wider stage and a headroom similar to the UA2’s balanced circuit’s. This also applied to the $199 EarMen Sparrow (balanced circuit) and $199 Audioquest DragonFly Red but with improved resolution added. The DragonFly Red reproduced voices richer, cleaner, and more intimate.

None of the higher-priced models with single-ended outputs has less headroom than the UA2’s balanced circuit – but also not necessarily more power. This also applies to the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, the smoothest and most natural of them all. More in this video:

Concluding Remarks

To pack my testing results in a single sentence: the $85 Shanling UA2 is a $200 dongle with a thinner midrange. No it does not quite rival, let’s say, the more homogenous DragonFly Red or the EarMen Sparrow sonically, but it offers better value while still sounding very good.

I heard it. Can’t get anything better for $85. Larry Fulton, co-blogger.

Considering the current uber offer of portable DAC/amps in the $100 category, I surely will be asked how the UA2 compares to X, Y, and Z at a similar price. While I cannot answer this question, I speculate its sound quality is hard to beat in its class, and claim that the UA2 is a great choice.

It feels good, is well accessorized, sounds organic, it has two powerful circuits – and also works with portable gaming consoles. And it is a brand-name product with R&D behind it. Is it the new $100 one to beat? Time will tell.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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Disclaimer

The UA2 was provided by Shanling and I think them for that. Shanling also kindly included a third-party USB-C to lightning adapter.

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Cons — Audirect Beam 2SE gets warm during operation
– Could do with a volume button
– Amp isn’t as powerful as other options in the price bracket
– Power consumption is above average

INTRODUCTION

The disappearance of the 3.5mm jack from the mobile phones was rapidly followed by the emergence of “DAC/Amp dongles”, and the Audirect Beam 2SE is yet another contender for the DAC/Amp of your choice award under the $100 price bracket.

My first encounter with Audirect was their original HiliDAC Beam which sounded great but was a bit large in size. I missed out on trying the original Beam 2, but fortunately could try out this Beam 2SE which is a slightly cut-down version of the HiliDAC 2S and comes with a single-ended output only. It’s not a bad thing though since in this price-range I don’t see too many dual-mono DAC configurations (thus the balanced out will mostly be not as good as fully balanced setups). There are some who does offer a balanced out but they also have poor single-ended output so buyers are forced to get aftermarket balanced cable.

The competition is stiff, so let’s see how far can the Audirect Beam 2SE stand out from the crowd.

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. Nappoler Hu of HiFiGo was kind enough to send me the Audirect Beam 2SE for evaluation.

Earphones/Headphones used: Dunu studio SA6/Dunu Zen, Final E3000, Moondrop Starfield, Koss Porta Pro X, Sennheiser HD650
Price, while reviewed: $90. Can be bought from HiFiGo.

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

The accessories are exactly what one would expect at this price-point: a lightning to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a type-C to type-A adapter (for connecting to the PC). The cables are of good quality and seems robust enough to last a while. No complaints.
4.5/5

BUILD QUALITY

Audirect Beam 2SE has a solid build. The side-rails seems to be an aluminium alloy and has a chrome-like finish to it. Two sheets of tempered glass is sandwiched between the rails. Underneath the top glass sheet there is an LED below the Audirect logo that glows in different colors based on audio format/bitrate, e.g. it glows magenta when playing MQA files on Tidal. On the left hand side of the device there is a solitary button which acts as a gain switch (low/medium/high gain) and the LED above the buttons glows in green (low), orange (med), or red (high) depending on gain level. Personally I’d have preferred a volume rocker too which seems to be an oversight.

On the bottom of the device there is the type-C port and that’s about it. Solid, minimalist design that checks most of the boxes (barring volume control).
4.5/5

ERGONOMICS AND PORTABILITY

The Audirect Beam 2SE is very compact and thus it’s easy to carry around while attached to the phone. The weight is higher than the likes of Apple dongle but it’s not a big deal IMO. The big issue with the Beam 2SE, unfortunately, is how hot it gets during operation. It’s not that it’ll leave blisters on your palm but the heat will surely be very uncomfortable in hot summer days. On the flipside, you can use the Beam 2SE as a hand-warmer during winter so perhaps it’s not all bad.
4/5

TECHNICAL SPECS AND COMPATIBILITY

Let’s get the official specs outta the way first:

DAC chip: ES9281C PRO with HyperStream II Quad DAC Technology.
Clock: Two ultra-low femtosecond phase crystal oscillators.
MQA level: Decoding.
PCM Decoding: 32Bit/384kHz.
DSD Decoding: DSD128.
Output Impedance: <1Ω.
Output Power: ≥115mW(16Ω), ≥120mW(32Ω), ≥6.8mW(600Ω).
Frequency response: 20Hz -40kHz (-0.18dB)
THD+N: 0.0003%.
Dynamic Range: 118dB.
SNR: 118dB.

Regarding DAC chip implementation, Audirect seems to have opted for the built-in amp circuit instead of any custom op-amp solution. The Sabre DAC is also an 8-channel one where the output of each 4 channels are combined to reduce noise (thus the Quad-DAC moniker). Suffices to say that these are not exactly “true” quad-DAC, as in there aren’t 4 actual ES9218 Pro chipsets inside. However, the performance gains are measurable indeed and can be seen in the very good SNR and THD+N values (for a product of its class).

In terms of device compatibility, the Audirect Beam 2SE is excellent. It was practically plug and play with every device I’ve tried it on. On the iPhone SE it was recognized right away and could render MQA files right out of the Tidal app (the front LED glows purple). On Android it’s a bit more involved as you’d require something like USB Audio Player Pro (paid app) or Hiby Music (free app) to get bitperfect playback and unlock full volume of the device. On Windows it was again very simple and I could select the Audirect beam 2SE from within the desktop Tidal client and it was rendering MQA files without a fuss. Same applied to Linux (my distro: Pop! OS) though I didn’t try Tidal playback on it (Tidal support on Linux is spotty to say the least).

DAC/AMP PERFORMANCE

Audirect Beam 2SE goes for a fairly analytical presentation. It’s not overly sterile but there is definitely a lack of warmth in the bass and mids. This is not unlike most other ES9218 implementations though Audirect Beam 2SE sounds less sterile than, say, something like the Shanling Q1 or the LG G7. The treble has a hard leading edge which results in somewhat metallic presentation, and I am personally not a fan of this aspect of the Beam 2SE. However, this can be said for nearly every single dongle under $100 barring the Apple dongle (which has its own set of issues) that I’ve tried thus far, so I won’t hold the Beam 2SE too culpable.

In terms of staging/imaging, you don’t get the depth or instrument placement that some higher tier DACs are capable of. For the price range though the staging is a bit wider than average, though depth is just about what you’d expect. Instrument separation wasn’t that impressive either and I suspect dongles with balanced out and dual DACs (in dual-mono config) will do a better job in terms of separation (simply because of size constraints).

What did surprise me (and positively so) was the dynamism on offer. Audirect Beam 2SE has a fairly dynamic presentation for a dongle in its price-class and this is an area where it’s clearly better than many of its peers.

The amp section is above average. It drove nearly all of my IEMs rather well barring Final E5000. The Final E3000, Moondrop Starfield and such warm-sounding IEMs paired really well with the Audirect Beam 2SE. Unfortunately I can’t say the same when it comes to more “neutral” IEMs. Thus, both the Etymotic ER2XR and Final FI-BA-SS sounded more sterile than usual. in terms of high impedance loads, I won’t recommend using anything above 150ohms. E.g. the Sennheiser HD650 sounded poor out of the Beam 2SE with a noticeable lack of bass depth and very lacklustre treble extension. For such headphones and power-hungry planars I’d always recommend a desk setup.

A little note about hiss: the Beam 2SE didn’t hiss with the two sensitive IEMs I’ve got in collection: Final Fi-BA-SS and Dunu Zen when powered from the phones. However when connected to my desktop PC there was some electrical hum which I believe was due to some ground loop between my PC and the Beam 2SE. On my laptop there was less hiss but the playback wasn’t as noise-free as it was on the phones.

In the end, the Audirect Beam 2SE is fairly competitive in terms of sound, and the MQA rendering feature might sway potential buyers. However, I can’t call it outstanding in terms of sonic performance.
4/5

POWER CONSUMPTION

The Audirect Beam 2SE isn’t a frugal device in terms of power consumption. It drains noticeably more power than the Apple dongle esp at high gain. Thus for on-the-go usage I’d recommend not going over medium gain. Unfortunately I can’t provide exact mW figures due to not having a measuring device at hand, but I will get such a device for future tests.
3.5/5

SELECT COMPARISONS

vs Apple dongle ($10): The Apple dongle is the de-facto standard of dongle DAC/Amps, for me at least. It’s cheap, it measures well, and the sound signature is fairly balanced. The big difference between the Apple dongle and the Beam 2SE is the output power with the Beam 2SE being able to get harder to drive IEMs and headphones noticeably louder. Also there is no MQA certification or gain switching on the Apple dongle. It does have a less “glary” sound signature and also is quite forgiving of hiss and such. Moreover, it’s very power-efficient so your phone won’t be as juiced out. In terms of bang-for-buck, it’s hard to beat the Apple dongle, but the build quality is horrible and Beam 2SE will outlast it by a long shot.

vs LG G7 ($250): This is my everyday phone and also kinda portable player. The LG phone has an older gen ESS DAC chip inside but also comes with MQA certification. However, LG doesn’t allow you to switch gain so you’re left with sub-par output levels on <50 ohm impedance loads. In terms of sound, the LG G7 has a more sterile sound. The dynamics are also better on the Beam 2SE, so is stage depth (LG G7 and their other offerings have a very two-dimensional presentation). I could find some merit in buying the Beam 2SE despite having an LG “audiophile” phone if you need a presentation with deeper staging and better dynamics/punch. However, there are some features missing on the dongle that the LG phones provide, namely reconstruction filter selection, some DSP effects, and a half-decent EQ.

vs Audioquest Dragonfly Black ($99): The Dragonfly Black is a product that I’m not a very big fan of. I find it to have middling output power and the presentation has a “fuzziness” to it, as in, the notes sound overly rounded. I think this can be helpful to tame some bright IEMs but often the resolved detail just feel lacking. The staging isn’t also anything to write home about. I think the Beam 2SE is a superior product overall, be it build quality, connectivity, output power, or overall sonic improvement.

vs E1DA PowerDAC V2 ($60): The E1DA PowerDAC V2, despite the mouthful name, is a very capable device. It has gobs of output power (0.5W into 32ohms), has an excellent companion app, and provides a balanced output. However, it gets extremely hot during operation and isn’t really suitable for connecting to a phone. I put this comparison here though in case someone is willing to use the Beam 2SE as a laptop DAC/Amp, and in that case the PowerDAC V2 provides a more powerful, albeit less versatile alternative.

CONCLUSION

The Audirect Beam 2SE provides a solid, if uninspiring performance, and that’s it in a nutshell. It will be an improvement over your phone’s DAC chip in terms of power output and stage depth/dynamics, and it will be competitive among the other options in its own price class. In terms of absolute sound quality it’s not gonna beat the budget desk systems out there. However, given the portability of the device, MQA rendering ability (for those who value it), and above-average output power from the single-ended out I can definitely see it as a viable option in the <$100 price bracket.

4/5

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DISCLAIMER

The Beam 2SE was provided by HiFiGo for my review. Thank you very much.

Get the Audirect Beam 2SE from HiFiGo

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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Pros — Hand-painted shells are quite beautiful
– Warm V-shaped tuning that works across a variety of genres
– Good soundstage and imaging
– Good isolation, comfortable fit

Cons — Didn’t come with an usable carry case
– Lower mids are slightly scooped resulting in thinner male vocals
– Bass lacks rumble
– Artificiality in the timbre

INTRODUCTION

Reecho is a relatively newcomer in the IEM scene. They seem to have garnered some recognition thanks to their Seasons Series of IEMs (Spring, Summer) which tried to make a niche in the $100–150 bracket.

Reecho Insects Awaken is their latest release and seems to be their “flagship” of sorts, at least in the international market. It’s a 4BA setup and at $330 aims to take on some of the favorite mid-rangers, which is never an easy task. Quite a bit to explore, thus without further ado.

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier.  the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. Penon Audio was kind enough to send a review unit of the Reecho Insects Awaken. Disclaimer.

Sources used: Questyle CMA-400i, Cowon Plenue R2

Price (while reviewed): $330

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

IN THE BOX…

The packaging of the Reecho Insects Awaken is a looker indeed. I personally don’t like to describe boxes but this here demands a few words. The IEMs are placed inside a multi-tiered jewelry-box like contraption. The doors swing outwards and you slide out each compartment for the IEMs/cables/tips etc. Very neat and unlike anything I’ve found in the price bracket.

Unfortunately, the stellar unboxing experience doesn’t quite translate to the accessories. There is no compact carry case, for one, as you’re supposed to use on the compartments in the box as carrying case (they are too large for that purpose). Moreover, the cable on mine came with reversed polarity so I had to go for another cable in my possession. This might be a unit-specific issue and you will get a new cable in such cases as a replacement but it’s an inconvenience nonetheless.

Fortunately, the tips are of good quality, and the cable itself looks well-built. Just that I expected more when I started unboxing them. 
3.5/5

APPEARANCE, HAPTIC, AND BUILD QUALITY

Reecho Insects Awaken (man I’m gonna have a hard time getting used to this name) has a 3D printed resin shell, which is quite common nowadays. What’s not so common is the hand-painted shells where the colors are apparently poured inside the cavity and thus has subtle differences between units which makes each of them unique. I personally like the faceplate artwork, it’s quite appealing.

Since this is an all-BA design with no vented BA drivers, there’s no visible vent. The nozzle has two separate bores (one for the bass, another for mid+treble from what I gather). The nozzles have differing size too which is at times overlooked in certain designs. Overall, I like the design and find the build solid. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the flush 2-pin connector which doesn’t feel as secure as recessed ones. 
4.5/5

ERGONOMICS, COMFORT, ISOLATION, AND FIT

Due to their pseudo-custom design and surprisingly lightweight nature, the Reecho Insects Awaken has superb wearing comfort. They also isolate noise well due to the sealed housing. 
4.5/5

TECH INSIDE

The Reecho Insects Awaken is a 4 balanced armature configuration, with two Knowles RAF-32873 full-range drivers tasked with tackling the bass (15–500Hz), and the composite/dual Knowles 30017 driver handling the midrange/treble. The unique thing about this implementation is that Reecho used two full-range drivers solely as bass drivers. They achieved this is by employing a dual-acoustic ultra-low frequency acoustic filter where one filter handles frequencies between 5–50Hz and the other deals with frequencies between 50–500Hz. I was personally a bit perplexed as to why they didn’t just use a vented BA (for better bass slam) or one of the Knowles bass drivers in tandem but after listening to the Insects Awaken I came to respect Reecho’s decision. 

SOUND

The general tuning is sub-bass focused/V-shaped with extended treble. 

Sound impressions are made using the Spinfit CP-145 tips and stock blue tips. Stock cable was replaced with $35 CEMA Electro Acousti OCC one (2.5mm)

Bass: The bass on the Reecho Insects Awaken has a strong sub-bass focus. It has a pretty sizable boost between 20–80Hz and thus emphasizes the sub-bass notes by ~10dB over the lower-midrange. In case of a regular dynamic driver IEM this amount of sub-bass rise would only make sense in a bass-head tuning. However, due to the BA drivers and their lower excursion, this sub-bass doesn’t become overzealous for the most part. 

Sub-bass rumble is adequate, though it doesn’t sound as good as some dynamic driver offerings in this range. Mid-bass has good amount of body and slam making snare hits sound satisfactory. There’s no discernible bass bleed into lower-mids, though in bass-heavy tracks the sub-bass masks male vocals. Bass does lack texture as is common with BA drivers. In fast flowing bass sections the drivers seem to smear the notes a bit, sadly. 

In short, the bass-focus will satisfy those who listen to a lot of modern music. It won’t replicate the rumble and texture/thickness of a good ol’ dynamic driver but for an all-BA offering it’s quite good indeed.
4/5

Mids: The lower-mids on the Reecho Insects Awaken, as stated before, is recessed compared to the bass/upper-mids/treble. Aside from the masking effect, the male vocals are also a bit behind female ones in songs where you’ve both of them. Baritone vocals lack their usual heft as a result. Fortunately the upper-mids are devoid of any shoutiness and remains smooth, non-fatiguing throughout. There’s a peak at 3KHz that’s just about on the same level as the sub-bass shelf which reigns in the shrillness.

All is not rosy, however, as we encounter the dreaded BA timbre here. The vocals sound alright but string instruments lack the body and tactility one might expect. Same applies to percussion instruments.

One thing that’s above-average here is the microdynamics. Subtle gradations in volume is well portrayed unlike many other offerings in the range. Resolved detail is also above-average. 
4/5

Treble: The treble on the Reecho Insects Awaken is quite extended. It does have a peak around the presence region (5.5/6KHz) and then starts gradually rolling off. This peak can become a bit problematic on some cymbal heavy tracks as it brings the leading edge of cymbal hits on the forefront, but at the same time this was quite enjoyable in some of the metal tracks that I regularly listen to (e.g. Lamb of God discography). The audible extension goes until ~12KHz or so after which the treble becomes muted. This leads to sensation of airiness to some degree. Rest assured: the Reecho Insects Awaken is not a dark sounding IEM and will cater well to those who want some airiness in the presentation. 
4/5

Soundstage: Staging has good width, average height, and good depth. It won’t give you an out-of-the-head experience but won’t sound congested either. Layering of instruments is also quite well executed. I found the Reecho Insects Awaken to be very good for watching movies and gaming for these reasons.
4/5

Imaging: Vocals are projected slightly at the front while instruments surround them. Spatial cues originate from cardinal and ordinal positions unlike some other IEMs in the range. Instrument separation is great in most cases (for the price) but can suffer in tracks that have heavy bass emphasis (the sub-bass focus congests the air between instruments). For most cases, however, the imaging/instrument positioning is excellent. 
4.5/5

Source and Amping: At 13ohms and 110dB of sensitivity, the Reecho Insects Awaken is very easy to drive. However, it is prone to source hiss, so I’d recommend a source with low noise floor. Also I won’t recommend connecting it to sources with high output impedance and high voltage swings. 

Bang-for-buck: The competition is stiff at around the $300 bracket. You got the perennial favorite Moondrop Blessing 2/Blessing 2 Dusk, the neutral-head’s bible Etymotic ER2XR, and the plethora of other multi-BA/hybrid offerings that pop up in this particular bracket every now and then and get hyped to the moon. Despite all that, I find the Reecho Insects Awaken to be competitive in terms of sound quality and it looks gorgeous to boot. It does lack the visceral bass thump/tactility of a dynamic driver in a hybrid configuration (very popular lately). However, those who’d prefer an all-BA setup due to the faster transients of such drivers and won’t mind/want a V-shaped tuning will find the Insects Awaken a good option. 
4/5

SELECT COMPARISONS

vs Cayin YB-04 ($400): The Cayin YB-04 is a relatively obscure model but has quite a bit of similarity with the Reecho Insects Awaken in terms of driver setup/price. The Cayin YB-04 also has a dual-BA for the low-end and two BA drivers for mids and highs. In terms of build quality, I prefer the Cayin model over Reecho Insects Awaken simply because of how dense it feels in hand. As a result, comfort suffers though, and the Reecho Insects Awaken is far more comfortable to wire (and also has a more snug fit). 

As for the sound, the YB-04 has a very anemic low-end and has more upper-mid/lower-treble emphasis compared to the Insects Awaken. This results in a sense of better perceived clarity at the expense of potential listening fatigue. Soundstage is similar on both but imaging is better on the Insects Awaken. Given the superior bass response and a warmer presentation in the mids, I’d pick the Insects Awaken over the YB-04 myself all things considered. However, if you want more clarity and even more extended treble, the Cayin YB-04 will be the better pick.

vs Moondrop Blessing2 ($300): The Moondrop Blessing 2 (and the Crinacle tune version dubbed Blessing2 Dusk) has pretty much become the standard in the sub-$500 category. Compared to the Insects Awaken, the Blessing 2 has a similar build but inferior comfort. The Blessing2 has a thick nozzle and that can be problematic for many. 

However, if you can get past the fit issues the Blessing2 has an overall superior sound to the Insects Awaken IMO in terms of overall technicalities. Due to being a 1DD+4BA model, the bass on the Blessing2 has better texture and dynamics (even though it’s nowhere near the best bass in this price bracket). The vocals on the Blessing2 has better articulation and the lower mids are fuller, though it can get slightly hot on certain tracks which the Insects Awaken avoids. Treble has similar extension though the sense of air is better felt on the Insects Awaken. Soundstage is wider on the Insects Awaken but depth/height is similar. Where the Blessing2 trumps the Insects Awaken is even better imaging (the Blessing2 has pretty much the best imaging in its price-class, along with a couple IMR IEMs). One thing that’s a big issue on the Blessing2 is its incohorency. The dynamic driver sounds radically different from the BAs which showcase even stronger BA timbre than on the Insects Awaken.

To summarize: if fit is not an issue and you don’t mind the incohorency — the Moondrop Blessing2 will be the better buy (though I hate the stock cable). However, if you want a more coherent presentation, wider stage, airier treble, and more agile sub-bass response the Reecho Insects Awaken might suit you better. I personally don’t like the Blessing2 that much due to the incohorency so there’s that.

vs Dunu Studio SA6 ($550): The Dunu Studio SA6 retails for $220 more than the Reecho Insects Awaken and thus does not really share the same price bracket. However, since I already have one in possession and both are all-BA offerings I decided to do a little comparison. 

The Dunu Studio SA6 has a six BA driver setup with two vented Sonion woofers that offer near-DD like thump/rumble. You can also control the amount of low-end with a switch on the housing. It has a more snug fit and far better accessories than the Insects Awaken. In terms of sound, it is indeed a wholesale upgrade on all front. Probably the stage width is where Reecho gains some upper-hand but overall resolution, staging, separation is perceptibly superior on the Dunu Studio SA6.

That being said, whether it’s worth spending the extra $200 on the Studio SA6 for the superior bass response and fuller lower-mids is something a buyer should decide themselves.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Reecho Insects Awaken doesn’t do much wrong, frankly. It’s tuned well, has no glaring tonal flaws, and the issues it suffers from are more inherent to BA tech itself (timbre/lack of bass texture). I can recommend the Reecho Insects Awaken to those who want an all-BA IEM with a slight V-shaped tuning and good imaging. The Reecho Insects Awaken works across a variety of genre and will suit movies/gaming purposes as well. It’s flown under the radar so far due to the hype surrounding Blessing2, but those who wasn’t impressed with Moondrop Blessing2’s incoherency or had fitting issues should give this one a try IMO.

On the next release I hope they don’t scoop the lower-mids as much as it’s done on this one, and also employs vented Sonion woofers instead of the current Knowles one. Reecho seems to have found a good tuning formula and managed to pique my interest with that, so I am eager to see what they come up with in the future. 

MY VERDICT

Overall Rating: 4/5

Recommended. An overall solid offering suffering from some BA timbral issues.

Our rating scheme explained

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DISCLAIMER

The Reecho Insects Awaken was sent as a loaner for the purpose of this review.

Available for purchase from Penon Official Store

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The post Reecho Insects Awaken 4-BA IEM Complete Review – Getting it Right appeared first on Audio Reviews.

THE STORY SO FAR

Our blog audioreviews.org was established in February 2019. I reported of our beginnings 10 months into our journey. At the time, we had grown to six contributors and mainly wrote about earphones.

2019 — 2020: NOT A SMOOTH TRANSITION

The year 2019 ended on a bang. In December, Head-Fi moderators attempted to extort money from us. When I fully complied on something that was entirely not their business, they nevertheless tacitly censored my posts for 2-3 months into 2020. They left me alone thereafter. And, to put this to rest for once and for all: we don’t receive money or gear as favours for our help. Right now, we do not need Head-Fi anymore as we have more traffic than they have in our realm. And many competent people have turned their backs on them.

(ANTI)SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER

After having had enough of Head-Fi’s stifling environment, I established an audioreviews.org Facebook group on 1st January 2020. The idea was to have friendly and fruitful discussions without censorship and commercial interests. And it worked. The group reached a spectacular 5000 members before Christmas 2020. Our members come from all over the world. We are truly multicultural – united by our love of music reproduction. And our Facebook group constitutes a huge readership for the blog.

I also established Twitter and Instagram accounts but have yet to value their usefulness. I essentially scrapped Reddit and Discord right away as they are for angry teenagers imo.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

A YouTube channel was established in early summer accompanying our written reviews. “YouTube is by people who cannot write for people who cannot read“, I tend to say (based on observation). It is entirely tended by me in the character of Dr Schweinsgruber. For the first few videos, I did not even have a tripod to hold my phone used for filming. The interest in this channel is (still) limited as it is not as fluffy as YouTube watchers are used to, but more technical. I tried something different such as screen recordings and hope it will catch on. Soon, the YouTube crowd will figure out that they can get an earphone or headphone sufficiently characterized in 7 minutes or less. The best and most effective of all, Tyll Hertsens, just used a simple camera and next to no editing. No window dressing required to convey a complete message.

NEW BLOOD FOR THE TEAM

We also welcomed two new keen and competent contributors to the blog: Head-Fiers Baskingshark (Joshua Teng, Singapore) and Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir (kmmbd, Germany). This raised our number to eight: USA (3), Canada (2), Singapore (2), Germany (1). Each of us has their different writing style.

DIVERSIFICATION AND ADVANCEMENT

We diversified in both co-operators and product types. We dealt with over 30 companies in 2020 in order to stay as independent as possible. And we branched out in our reviewing into Bluetooth gear, microphones, headphones, cables, dacs/amps incl. phono preamps, earpads, and eartips. We are also broadened our exposure to include the premium crowd by participating in loaner tours on Head-Fi and Audiotiers. And we will continue contributing useful technical articles. KopiOkaya continued to help companies tune earphones.

OUTPUT: TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG

The eight of us had a prolific output of statistically an article in less than every two days, 186 over the year (including this one). Apart from reviewing gear, we continued publishing technical articles and posting our music picks.

USER APPRECIATION

The audience started appreciating our efforts – we have more than doubled our daily individual users this year to typically 500-700 per day, currently. Tendency is up as also seen below in our daily page views since February 2019.

THE SONG PHILOSOPHY REMAINS THE SAME

We will continue sticking to our mission of providing unbiased, competent, concise, thorough, and accurate accounts of the technical, sonic, and practical capabilities of any product analyzed. We see ourselves primarily as consumer advocates – which is the whole idea of product reviews in our opinion. After all, it is our money that is at stake when purchasing gear that does not work for us. While this has cost us dearly with some manufacturers, it may have given us the respect from most others.

We will continue to stay out of conflicts of interest as far as possible. And while we won’t monetize the products we review through affiliate links, we hope to cover our operating costs through PayPal….which, admittedly, has not worked well yet.

OUTLOOK: THE FUTURE IS EVEN BRIGHTER

In the last two years, we have established audioreviews.org as a recognizable entity in the blogosphere. We have a distinctive logo, a clear and clean layout, and we bring our message across pragmatically and concisely. Our different styles offer interesting reads for different folks.

In 2021, we hope to diversify our activities further while climbing up the reputation ladder to include more mid-tier and premium gear. We continue doing this step by step as we learn going along. There is no hurry. We hope that the positive feedbag loop created by the interaction of blog, Facebook group, and YouTube will bring us even more exposure.

We eight wish you a happy and better 2021…keep on listening!

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RELATED…

The post Audioreviews.org Blog – Our Year 2020 in Review appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Cons — Not the most organic tonality; recessed lower mids and boosted upper treble; needs aftermarket eartips.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The TRN V90S is a technically impressive earphone (for its category) loosely based on the popular TRN V90, characterized by a V-shaped sound with good dynamics and resolution and slightly unnatural timbre. Bass is very well dosed, midrange is rather recessed, and the upper treble is strongly elevated.

The original 4 BA + 1 DD TRN V90 earphone was released in the summer of 2019. It was a relatively organic sounding but very V-shaped earphone with an overly recessed lower midrange. Vocals sounded thin and distant and only JVC Spiral Dots eartips could fix the midrange somewhat. I nevertheless enjoyed some movies with the TRN V90 on a long flight from Calgary to Dublin and back. The interest in this earphone was immense, and it was the most watched review of this blog until KopiOkaya’s eartips compendium took over.

Following in quick succession was the TRN BA5, a technically better earphone at a few dollars more. But, as the name implies, if featured 5 BA drivers and sounded rather artificial to my ears. Critics liked it, I found it was a redundant model.

The TRN V90S features 5 BA + 1DD, and it does not look, feel, or sound like the original TRN V90. Upon first listening, I found it rather “meh” as it did not sound as natural as the TRN V90 or the Blon BL-05s, which is one of my few favourites of 2020. Initially, I thought the TRN V90S was another redundant multi-driver model in the $50 category. It reminds me sonically more of the TRN BA5 than of the TRN V90. But where the original TRN V90 and the TRN V90s come close is the recessed midrange, which is TOO much (or rather too little) for my taste. Nevertheless, this can be fixed with the JVC Spiral Dots eartips.

Co-blogger Kopiokaya already gave his first impressions, and Baskingshark his full review, so I tag on to these two. No need to repeat the housekeeping such as build, haptic, accessories, comfort, and fit. The earpieces sat nicely in my ears and there were no problems. The cable is as cheap as ever, and none of the eartips were large enough for my ear canals.

You find multiple reviews of all of the iems mentioned in this article here.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Driver Unit: 5 BA + 1 DD
• Sensitivity: 108 db/mW
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20000Hz
• Impedance: 22 Ω
• Cable: 2 pin detachable
• Tested at $50 USD
• Purchase link: TRN Official Store

Equipment used for listening: MacBook Air, Earstudio HUD100, JVC Spiral Dots, stock cable.

The TRN V90 have a V-shaped tuning resulting in a slightly warm sound that is technically focused and lacks a bit of organics. As said, I was initially not impressed by the BA timbre above the bass. At $50, the money should be in a well-tuned single driver imo. BUT…for some reason, my ears got into the TRN V90S and I started actually using and enjoying them. The TRN V90S are a technically very capable earphones and I somewhat got used to the timbre.

The other technicalities are impressive for a budget earphone: open, wide stage at average depth, nothing crammed in there. Height is good – generally one of the biggest progresses in recent budget Chi-Fi history. Musicians are sufficiently spaced and separated from each other.

The low end is slightly boosted above neutral but speedy and very well dosed. Layering and texture are good and so is the kick – but it is never overdone. A very pleasant, natural kick with just the right punch that is well liked by my sensitive eardrums – I absolutely dig it. Great that the low end is not overcooked. It provides warmth and body, opens up the stage, and does not reduce the good midrange clarity and transparency.

The lower midrange, as in so many cases, is recessed but not as much as the original V90. Voices are on the lean side but not glassy or aggressive. Perfectly acceptable when using the JVC Spiral Dots. Without these eartips, vocals are too thin for me. That 2 kHz peak adds energy to the vocals which can sometimes be a bit nasal, but there is never any outright sharpness or shoutiness, because that peak is relatively narrow and does not extend into the 4-5 kHz region, as so often with other Chi-Fi models. But we are not far away…

Treble is well extended, too well for some. Lower treble is quite natural but upper treble is very prominent, which adds air, sparkle, and fake resolution. However, younger people with naturally better hearing at above 15KHz may perceive some sharpness. These resonant frequencies will be fatiguing for them in the long term, and harmonic overtones will have an unnatural decay.

Here you have the glass half full, half empty situation again. Although the TRN V90S is technically probably very close to the $129 class of 2018, nobody who has tons of $50-100 earphones needs them. But if you get them on some crazy sale and would like to upgrade from the $20-30 segment, then the TRN V90S could be a candidate. Be aware that you must be upper-treble-proof, get some JVC Spiral Dots, and don’t care about the timbre that much. You get in turn a well-built and well resolving earphone with a killer bass quality.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

DISCLAIMER

The TRN V90s were sent to me unsolicited by Idon’tknowexactly. Thank you very much.

Get the TRN V90s from TRN Official Store

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

RELATED…

The post TRN V90s Review (2) – Little Red Corvette appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Audioreviews.org was first run by myself out of Calgary until Biodegraded and then Larry Fulton/KopiOkaya joined. By mid summer 2019, we had pulled over some of the most competent Head-Fiers and continued to do so, until we were 7 analysts earlier this year. This is who we are. We now have strong pillars all around the world. The North American contingent is nestled in Western Canada (Calgary and Vancouver) and the mid continental United States (Chicago and Cincinnati). Our strong Asian arm is reaching out to you from Singapore. Recently, we have attracted between 400 and just below 1000 users a day (typically 400-500). The trend is up.

Our Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/audioreviews

The Facebook site followed on 1st January 2020. After all, we needed our own discussion forum for hobbyists from all over the world. The group grew slowly but steadily and reached its 1000th member milestone on 29 April 2020. Growth accelerated substantially from then on. Our >2000 members are from all over the world.

Our lucky 2000th member is Kelvin Khuyen from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He joined on 9th July 2020.

One reason for our fast growth may lie in the increasing recognition of our work and its quality and diversity. We are analytical, we are critical, we are rigorous, and we strive to be competent. But we also try to be entertaining. We further aim to convey our message clearly and concisely. And we are not free of mistakes either. This closed us a few doors with companies that expected sugarcoating, but it opened others. Our attitude may have saved you, the user, a bunch of money by not buying unproven, poor-quality stuff.

And we tend our Facebook site 24/7. When night falls on Singapore’s mighty shores, Canada’s Rocky Mountains foothills take over — and the other way round. We are always visible — and we are always friendly.

The other reason for our growing success may be our new other social media activities. Recently, we added Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter, and I am currently investigating reddit under https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/

Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/audioreviews

Admittedly, there is still much room, so please subscribe! This is even more valid for Instagram and Twitter.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audioreviews/

Twitter: @AudioreviewsO

Let’s see where the journey goes from here. When I completed my university studies, I was told by a wise old man that a “PhD is only a bus stop”. It cant’ be much different with blogging. Therefore, sit back, enjoy the ride, and wonder where we will arrive at next. Thank you very much for your patronage. We will continue listening for you.

Until next time…keep on listening!

If you think we saved you some money in the past (or the pain of paid advertisements), we are not shy receiving donations to help with our running cost. The PayPal link below will guide you to our own site explaining our expenses. Thank you very much!

The post 2000 Facebook Members and Counting – A Brief History Of www.audioreviews.org appeared first on Audio Reviews.

…because…well, this is our story so far and our year in review. Audioreviews.org was established in late February 2019 by Jürgen Kraus with occasional contributions by his (then) neighbour and “Super Best Audio Friend” Biodegraded. Both are PhDs with 30 plus years of experience in scientific analysis and each has a substantial publication record. The blog is run out of Calgary, AB, Canada. Jürgen Kraus is “Otto Motor” on Head-Fi and “Brause” on Super Best Audio Friends.

Jürgen and Biodegraded had blogging experience since 2010, when they established a somewhat subversive blog dealing with climate science. This topic has become obsolete as the world has caught on to the reality of a changing climate so that such basic scientific information has become less relevant. Their blog expired in 2019.

Defining The Idea

Joining Head-Fi in late 2016, Jürgen created lots of fierce enemies right away, including the admins, by criticizing the morass of product reviewing on blogs and Head-Fi as well as product exclusion in favour of Head-Fi sponsors. It became increasingly difficult for him to post his contributions on Head-Fi. Jürgen also noticed the demise of the knowledgeable people from Head-Fi, which makes this forum little relevant for technical information.

When his discontent with the discussion forums climaxed, Jürgen decided to create his own blog. It should not be the usual flashy shopping catalogue that invited impulse buying, but a down-to-the-bone tech blog discussing the technical and practical characteristics of an earphone (and other devices). The main hurdles were (1) to provide interesting content on a regular basis without becoming assembly-line reviewers, (2) not becoming dependent from companies and delivering “honest reviews appeasing the manufacturer in exchange for more product in the future”, (3) not being dependent and yet attracting the attention of manufacturers, and (4) developing original ideas to distinguish audioreviews.org from everybody else to stay interesting.

Setting The Initial Goals

The most important goal was to create credibility, both in terms of technical knowledge and in trust in our integrity. Building technical credibility takes time: it largely depends on the user’s own experience with the iems we reviewed. And in order to appear trustworthy we try to be as transparent as possible, and Jürgen personally reaches out to companies always with the prerogative of returning their review units (at their own expense), particularly the pricier ones.

Coming from Germany, Jürgen has followed independent product reviews by “Stiftung Warentest”, a consumer advice magazine, for all his life. Based on this, the articles in this blog come purely from a consumer advocacy perspective. We aim to minimize consumer’s risk (risk = threat or loss) and therefore buyer’s remorse. We underline our trustworthiness by refraining from any form of generating income (no advertisements, affiliate links) or by leaving the impression, we have something to sell. This creates a steady conflict with sellers/manufacturers, who see reviews as advertisement. Their ultimate goal is obviously to get exposure for their product and sell as much as possible. Favourable reviews help…

In terms of style, we wanted to bring the point across in as few words as possible…and doing this well is very difficult. We want that you, our reader, gets the overview very fast, and then has the choice to dig deeper. And we are still working on this.

The Humble Beginnings

After a rocky blog setup with the hoster, Jürgen transferred all his Head-Fi reviews since May 2018 over…with their original publications dates. He and Biodegraded were instantly joined by two Headfiers (Loomis Johson and Slater). Loomis had some reviews ready from his days with the now defunct “Asian Provocative Ear” blog. And Slater, our hands-on guy, contributed some practical “mods”. And since we were not keen on assembly-line reviews, we initially focused on technical issues such as compiling reversible mods for a good overview.

The blog came fast and loud out of its starting blogs, like a long-awaited IPO, and then settled at a baseline of 100 individual users per day. It stayed there until the summer.

The Weird-Shit Doctrine

Loomis advised to present a generous variety of content to make this blog a “tossed salad”. We introduced our “music picks”, we skipped the unboxing, we separated reviews (technical information) from photo albums (aesthetics, which we labelled “Audio Porn”), we continued our technical article series, and we changed our layout to magazine style in order to distinguish us from the usual shopping catalogue-style (review) blogs. We frequently feature several reviews of the same iem (we send review units around) and review iemswe have purchased ourselves…and we have a sophisticated internal-link system to guide your way to related information. In the end, we give many of the review units away. Jürgen did not stop making enemies by being outspoken…but also many friends. Sometimes it is good to be polarizing. We want to stir the pot…as said: weird shit.

Taking Off

By early summer, we had proudly secured our first big fish, Sennheiser’s IE500 PRO, as one of the first reviewers. Unfortunately, Biodegraded and Jürgen found fundamental flaws in the product so that we were about to close our first doors. And we certainly achieved exactly that with Brainwavz, when were were one of two blogs who identified major problems. Not being yes-men threatened our blogging existence as the interest in our analyses from the side of the merchants appeared to fade. But we survived thanks to a few “hot” iems, such as the Sony MH755 (purchased by Biodegraded) and the Senfer DT06. In fact, these earphones were carrying our blog up the ladder in terms of views…and attracted new partners.

When Slater scaled back and the workload became too heavy, and Biodegraded moved away, we reached out and found another couple of Head-Fiers with audio-engineering background to join the team: Durwood and KopiOkaya, both with their own measuring equipment. Durwood was taking over reviewing responsibilities whereas KopiOkaya is focusing on tech articles.

Consolidating…

KopiOkaya had assisted some companies in tuning earphones. He had done this entirely for free. His goal was to help them ironing out the blatant sound “mistakes” Chi-Fi was frequently suffering from. These mistakes were initially some treble spikes in the 7-10 kHz area that caused sibilance and also fatigue (mainly in western listeners). Once fixed, many earphones featured that prominent broad “sawtooth” spike area in the upper midrange at 2-4 kHz. This spike should add energy to voices but also hit the human ears’ most sensitive frequency area. This was again found offensive mostly by western ears. KopiOkaya’s idea was to find a good universal tuning for all tastes. And he asked Jürgen to comment on the production unit of the TRN V90. A new cooperation within audioreviews.org was born and the TRN V90 developed into a viewing magnet that helped catapulting our daily baseline of individual viewers from 100 to 200, and occasionally to up to 400. Simultaneously, our daily page views went up to typically between 500 and 1000, with spikes up to 1500. Our main clientele comes from the US, followed by Asia: we are strongly represented in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines…and lately Japan has been catching on. This is followed by Canada and the European countries. Thank you very much for your continued interest. We can live well with >200 individual, informed users like you per day.

KopiOkaya and Jürgen then tuned together, sometimes both of them on opposite ends of the Facebook messenger, and on opposite ends of the world, separated by 15 hours time delay. They helped tuning the KBEAR Diamond, a fantastic single DD earphone offered at a low price. Making these tuning efforts public resulted in more problems posting contributions on Head-Fi, but audio reviews.org is now proudly independent from any discussion forums. KopiOkaya has already disappeared from Head Fi, so don’t be surprised if “Otto Motor” will follow suit anytime soon. As Loomis says: “there is a big world out there”.

The Future Is Bright

We now have a great team of six independent and knowledgeable contributors. Each of us, thank god, has their own opinion. We try to remain leisurely, and we may branch out from earphones to cover all bases of portable audio. Who knows. We have all the time in the world. Definitely on the program for the near future is the tuning of the revised Blon BL-03 MkII.

But for now, we wish you a healthy, successful, and prosperous 2020. And we thank you, our users and our partners alike for our fruitful cooperation. If we had one wish, it would be that we get more subscriptions to our Facebook site…Facebook information is much faster and features our latest news first.

Keep on listening.

Further Reading

Our Favourite Earphones of 2019

Tuning The KBEAR Diamond

The Principles Of Reversible Modding

The post 2019: Our Year In Review appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Homicide rate aside, Chicago is great in the summer, the only major city where people stay in town all weekend to partake in the egalitarian fairs and fests that pop up in virtually everywhere. Herewith are my notes on Riot Fest, which is sort of our poor man’s Lollapalooza:

Logistics were surprisingly near-perfect—despite three bands playing almost continuously across six stages in a comparatively small park, sound was excellent, with no bleed-over; distances were manageable and (critically) beer affordable. I saw exactly zero mayhem or bad vibes.

On a perfect sunny day, we arrive around 3pm just as GWAR is finishing splashing blood on the mosh pit. We hang around to catch a crowd-pleasing set by old-school ska-sters The Selector, who can still kick it some 40 years later (Pauline Black seems to have reversed the aging process and looks great). On to hear Turnover, who play a sort of pastoral emo-pop with ringing guitars and a good singer. I didn’t find their tunes to be especially memorable, but their numerous 20-something fans disagreed and shouted along to every word, which drove me away to catch the end of a blazing set by Grandson, who mix rap, techno and hard industrial metal ala Ministry. I always feel sorry when bands like this have to play in the sunlight—that black leather looks hot—but these guys had their audience in a beer-soaked frenzy and sounded heavy.

Caught a few songs by The Story So Far, who impressed with their big-sounding, hooky melodic hardcore, then moved to see a full set by the Struts, a Ziggy/Queen-fixated quartet with a fantastic flash guitarist and a flamboyant tranny frontman, who worked the stage like a young Mick Jagger, albeit in flowing red silk pajamas. They are reputedly incredible live and were in fact pretty great—tight, theatrical and mega-talented; their songs are a bit undercooked melodically but they are nothing if not eye-catching.

Roaming a bit, I heard a few songs by Pvris, whose femme-fronted electropop was polished, tasteful and dull. Much better were Senses Fail, who sounded powerful if a bit generic (why does all emo sound the same?), then on to Anthrax who, simply stated, gargled my nads with their pandering faux-metal and Spinal-Tap histrionics. 

I quickly fled to catch Manchester Orchestra, who play an-effects laden amalgam of post-rock and neo-psychedelia, with treated guitars, a big orchestral sound and a frontman who sounds a great deal like Thom Yorke or Jim James . Sonically and visually, this was the best set of the day, dynamic, complex and hypnotic; placing the hyperactive lighting guy front and center was a cool touch.

The much-touted Rise Against were a let-down, their pop-punk sounding rather too “adult” and lacking real drive; I moved on to Wu Tang Clan. Not my genre, but they were having a great time and their audience was happy, so God bless ‘em. I left before Slayer, a decision I’ll probably rue on my deathbed. 

Good show.

The post RIOT FEST CHICAGO DAY 2 appeared first on Audio Reviews.