Sivga P2 PRO HIFI Headphones – Hidden Forest Of Music Sanctuary
Sivga P2 PRO is a $449 USD pair of over-the-ear planar magnetic headphones, with large drivers, comfortable earpads, and a newly developed technology with their Sapphire Vibration Circuit, having deep ultraviolet lithography, and a 28nm semiconductor process. Today we will review the P2 PRO and compare them with other headphones, including Dekoni Cobalt (399 USD), HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite (379 USD), and Austrian Audio Hi-X60 (399 USD).
Introduction
Sivga is one of the most popular headphone designers and producers from China, having many top selling models in their offer, and today we review a remaster of a favorite of both reviewers and customers. Sivga headphones can be purchased through many of the popular Chifi sale channels, including Linsoul, Amazon, Aliexpress and they now have official distributors and are available in most European countries as well as the USA. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Sivga for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – Relaxed and sweet sound that makes female voices sound divine, superb comfort and fitting, high-quality balanced cable included in the package, they are faithful to the original material, showing exactly what is in your song.
Cons – A bit hard to drive, and they are a bit heavy.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3Xg1z0M
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
I’ve been writing a lot about DACs and Headphone AMPs, so it is refreshing to review a headphone for a change of pace, as P2 PRO is a high q quality headphone with wooden earcups, metallic frame, and planar magnetic drivers. At the heart of P2 PRO, we have a new level of acoustic performance as they use a sapphire vibration circuit, prepared using a deep ultraviolet lithographhy mechanism with a semiconductor 28 nm process, being the first headphone in the industry to use those two and together.
The new process combines sapphire with a metallic inlay, giving the planar magnetic driver more control and better sound as a result. The technology uses plasma glow discharge, ion bombardment, and ultra-low temperature deposition technology, with PLASM cleaning technology to treat the diaphragm. This all results in a clean, bright and natural sound, following the description from the Sivga website. The ear cups are made out of red oak wood and are hand polished for an elegant and unique texture / design. This means that every piece will have its own look, as wood is a material that has a bit of personality and its fibers are never aligned the same.
The metallic parts are also treated with gunmetal oxidation treatment, resulting in a smooth and beautiful metallic grain and texture. There is a mesh inside of each earcup, made of stainless steel, to create a specific sonic acuity and vibration, which we will explore in the sonic part of today’s review. The headband is the kind that adapts to the curvature of your head, allowing for a lot of customisation, being perfect especially for larger heads. The earpads are made of soft velvet on the inside, and they have a really thick and solid sponge on the inside, resulting in a super pleasing wearing comfort.
Earpads are angled, and they have a unique shape that creates a perfect fit and seal. The earpad basically pushes with more material at the bottom of the ears, and much less at the top, allowing the driver to sit in a planar position relative to the eardrum. The earpad exterior material is a high-protein leather. I was able to wear the P2 PRO in both scathing sunlight at 42C during the Romanian Summer but also indoors at 20 C with great comfort in both situations. The velvety textile surface on the inside of the ear pad has excellent comfort for long periods of wear. The headband is made of high-end kidskin, and I had to look this up, but it is not made of actual kids, but of goat skin, being softer and traditionally used for children’s gloves, hence the name. The earcups swivel in every direction, with 180 degrees of lateral swiveling, allowing you to also pack the P2 PRO tightly in a backpack, in their transport case.
While I typically ignore the default cables and jump straight to aftermarket solutions, Sivga bundles the P2 PRO with a high-end 4.4mm balanced cable, made with imported 6N OCC wires. This is a slightly brighter sounding cable, as stated by Sivga, so you can darken the sound of the P2 PRO using aftermarket cables, but choosing the right cable for them was part of the tuning process, and I enjoy them a lot with the default cable. Speaking of it, the default cable has two separate colors for the braids, one darker, one lighter, it is not tangle prone, and it is effective at canceling microphonic noise, resulting in a super pleasing wearing comfort for P2 PRO. The cable has no exposed elements, and it feels high-end in person.
Sivga P2 PRO is a full-sized open-back headphone and they have very little passive noise isolation, leak half of the sound you’re listening to, so not a lot of leakage, but they literally allow everything to pass through, requiring at least medium volumes to drown out the sound of me typing on my keyboard. The impedance is 32 OHMs with a variation of 15%, and the cable has 2 meters of length. The drivers are very large, 97mm x 76mm, while the weight of the headphones is on the heavier side this time around, at 435 grams. This being said, the wearing comfort is excellent, and they stick to your head, the headband making full contact with my head and evenly distributing the weight of the headphones, while the ear cups also distribute an even amount of pressure on the area around my ears, and overall the comfort is excellent. At most, you will feel the weight on the neck, but never on the head, and you will never feel any kind of discomfort while wearing the Sivga P2 PRO.
With a Sensitivity of 98 dB, P2 PRO is somewhat hard to drive and they require a better source to reach their true potential and sound their best. For today’s review I have paired the P2 PRO with a wide selection of sources, including Kaei Design TAP-1 DAC / Headphone AMP, iBasso DX180, iBasso D16, Topping A50 III driven by Musician Pegasus II R2R DAC, SMSl DO200 PRO driving a HIFIMAN Prelude Amplifier, HIFIMAN Serenade DAC/AMP, HIFIMAN EF400. Sivga P2 PRO can be driven from portable music players like iBasso DX180, but I would try to always pair them with something from at least the midrange for the best sound. As the sound is quite bright and relaxed, I would pair the P2 PRO with thicker, darker and warmer, smoother sounding sources, including Dethonray Listening M1, and Shanling H5 for the most balanced sound.
Sound Quality
Overall Signature – It takes around 10 – 15 minutes to get used to the tuning and signature of Sivga P2 PRO, as they present music in a unique fashion compared to most headphones. There’s a good sense of space, with music extending fairly well in width, but voices are kept intimate with the listeners, and there’s a good sense of impact with them, despite the sound being refined. Female voices in particular sound the sweetest as they are presented by P2 PRO, this is a headphone that makes pop, rock and commercial music, plus edm incredibly pleasing. The bass is on the neutral side, midrange is open and bright, while the treble extends up to 20 kHz, but is relaxed, smooth and rich. There’s a specific resonance from the stainless steel plates, which adds a bit of a metallic clink to cymbal crashes and drum patterns, adding a bit of excitement and brilliance to the whole sound. While P2 PRO is sensitive to upgrade cables, I would not change the cable to fine tune them.
Bass – Starting with a neutral, clean and clean bass, there is a good sense of weight and thickness to musical instruments, pointing to a capable driver, but with an intentional tuning that’s neutral, flat and keeps the bass in check. Bass speed is on the faster side, with a hard and impactful presentation. The song should have bass for P2 PRO to present it, but with songs that have a fuller, lower-reaching bass, especially EDM pieces, the bass can easily reach 30 Hz, and kick you in the chest, but for most rock and metal, where the mixing and mastering rolls off the bass presence, you will hear the low-end starting with about 50 Hz. Basically, P2 PRO shows monitor-like qualities, having zero words to say in how much bass you hear, allowing the song to decide it.
Midrange – If female voices typically dominate your songs, you will absolutely love the sound of P2 PRO and fall in love with them more and more, each time you listen, as they excel at presenting sweet, lush, and clean voices. There’s a certain smoothness to the sound, so no grain in any place, resulting in a slightly soft, relaxed but gentle and sweet tuning for the midrange. Voices are also always intimate with the listener, being projected close to you, creating a personal feeling, and magical space in which music happens relative to the listener. Male voices are also neutral, so they don’t have any extra weight or oomph to them, resulting in a studio-like experience, and as P2 PRO softens the sound a bit, and also brightens it, metal and rock sounds super open and airy. For example, in the song Coffinshakers – Reverends Of Doom, the lead acoustic guitar is more forward than Rob Coffinshaker’s voice, the rhythm guitar plays quietly on the back of the left ear, while the lead acoustic guitar plays frontally, on the right part of the soundstage. Rob Coffinshaker’s voice is smooth and pleasing, lacking grain. The whole song has a slightly warm and open sound to it, although it is always a bit on the softer, musical side.
Treble – To compliment the already neutral and studio-like sound, P2 PRO has an open, soft and gentle treble that is rich in presence, but has a limited energy, being softly rolled off by around 10 dB relative to the midrange. This means that you always hear cymbal crashes, even in rock, metal, EDM and Pop, but they are always out of sight, out of mind, and relaxed, playing in the background to keep music brilliant and fun, but never fatiguing or intrusive. There is a certain slight metallic clink sound that gives cymbal crashes a bit of impact and sparkle, to keep sound a bit interesting and disallow it from becoming too smooth and rolled off.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – Textures are always soft and rich, relaxed and musical, regardless of the volume and song, and I feel this is one of the ways P2 PRO is made to paint music, giving sound a beauty filter that takes away grain and edge from most instruments, including smoothing the edgy corners from square waves. This being said, the dynamic range is natural, P2 PRO does not compress the dynamics, and more surprising, they can paint a higher dynamic range at louder volumes than at lower volumes, where the sound feels more compressed. PRaT and attack in general is natural towards slow, while decay is also slow, resulting in this pleasing tuning that feels romantic and pleasing.
Volume Control – Generally speaking, P2 PRO can hold its ground really well at loud and even maximum volumes, reaching 120 dB with no extra THD or audible distortion, but the sonic character changes heavily with volume. At lower volumes, the sound is smooth, lean, laid-back and very relaxed, slightly compressed dynamically, and open / bright. At louder volumes, the bass becomes more evident and stronger in presence, voices get even more intimate, they sound sweeter, and texture gets smoother, more musical. At very loud volumes, the sound is the most dynamic, punchiest and most colorful, the bass takes a step back once again, while treble becomes a bit more evident, gaining a bit of extra energy. Overall, I like the sound at medium, loud and very loud volumes the most.
Soundstage – Sivga P2 PRO can project extremely wide soundstages, but generally they respect the source material, and narrow sounding music will sound narrow. This makes them almost perfect for studio usage, mixing and mastering, you hear exactly what is in the mix, and P2 PRO does not change the side of the soundstage. Depth is very good and so is width, but music will stay faithful to the source material.
Comparisons
Sivga P2 PRO vs Austrian Audio Xi-X60 (449 USD vs 399 USD)
Build – Hi-X60 is made very well, and closed-back, while P2 PRO is open-back. It is much easier to drive the X60, while P2 PRO needs more power, and has a strong preference for a smooth, thick and warm sounding source. X60 is about as heavy on my head as P2 PRO, but P2 is far more comfortable, having higher damping for the ear pads and the headband, everything feels more comfortable and the headphones come with a balanced cable from the factory, while it is almost impossible to install a balanced cable on the X60.
Sound – Sonically P2 PRO is much more open, brighter and has a higher level of refinement and detail. Hi-X60 is generally aimed for studio work, and being closed back surely helps with recommending them for a music work environment, but P2 PRO sounds more detailed, is smoother, has less grain and is generally more dynamic and keeps voices closer to the listener, making small changes easier to hear when mixing and mastering, and when applying certain effects. For music listening, P2 PRO sounds much sweeter, more open, the bass can go deeper and with more impact at medium and loud volumes, while Hi-X60 sounds edgier, has more brightness, a harder treble, and less bass.
Sivga P2 PRO vs Dekoni Cobalt (449 USD vs 399 USD)
Build – Dekoni Cobalt is larger, feels more plasticky, but it is much lighter than Sivga P2 PRO. The default cable of Sivga P-2 PRO is much better, while the color of Dekoni Cobalt has always been a matter of preference, with some folks really liking them and some not, but P2 PRO has no enemies, it is a headphone generally received well and well-liked by everyone. The comfort is better on P2 PRO despite the heavier weight, the headband and ear pads keep them on my head a bit better, although the earcups of the Cobalt are a bit larger, and they allow for more space for my ears.
Sound – Cobalt has been a headphone that was mainly enjoyed at low and very low volumes, as they grow sharp and too aggressive at medium and high volumes, so P2 PRO is the polar opposite, as they sound better the louder you go, and at very quiet volumes, likely due to their low SPL, the sound is a bit compressed and not as engaging / exciting. When you start pumping the volume, you discover the true magic behind the P-II PRO and how they can sound so much sweeter, more intimate, smoother and more pleasing. Cobalt still sounds very sharp and well defined, but they are made for you only if you know you want to listen quietly, while PII PRO is generally a safe choice for a wide public.
Sivga P2 PRO vs HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite (449 USD vs 379 USD)
Build – Zeus Elite is made well, but they don’t have a tight fit, or a high clamping force, resulting in a good comfort but an unsure fitting. Zeus Elite is about as hard to drive and control as P2 PRO, both needing a good source to truly shine, but P2 PRO can achieve a good sound a bit more easily. The default cable of the Zeus Elite is better, they come with a thicker cable and a flashier-looking one.
Sound – Sonically, the two headphones are somewhat similar, they both have a slightly boomy midrange, a refined, and smooth sound, although there’s more sub bass roll-off with Zeus elite, while P2 PRO can achieve higher bass with proper songs and proper volume, and the treble of the P2 PRO is smoother, more relaxed, while Zeus elite has a brighter, sharper and more brilliant sounding treble.
Value and Conclusion
Sivga managed to create a pair of high-quality headphones that are comfortable and which sound refined, wide and airy, all while offering their legendary build quality, high-quality cables, along with a price point that’s really good for the kind of performance they offer. Although P2 PRO takes a few minutes to get adjusted to, they have a much better performance than either HD660S or HD 660S2, while costing less, and offering a more fun experience.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a pair of high-quality headphones that offer a refined, bright, airy sound with a wide soundstage, natural voicing, and a soft, pleasing female voice presentation that will make all music pure love and happiness, Sivga P2 PRO is an excellent choice and one of my favorite headphones to take with when I need something that’s open and pleasing, rich in the midrange, but relaxed and laid back.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3Xg1z0M
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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Great review! Thank you for the insight and especially the comparisons!