Views 76,871 I’ve been working on a long streak of in-depth long and complex reviews, and needed something light to take the edge off, so today we’re having a look at a Bluetooth headphone with a really nice design, the Q10 form TronSmart. This is a headphone priced at 60 …
Headphones / IEMs is the umbrella place where I keep all my reviews of portable stuff like earphones and IEMs and headphones. It helps having this category to know whether something is for head wearing or for desktop usage. There are separate categories for IEMs and Headphones, if you’re looking for something specific.
You can find my reviews on high end products below, and also the best high end products here: https://amzn.to/3r1RIu5
Headphones/IEMs
FiiO BTR5 2021 – MQA Freedom At The End
Views 47,840 The title says it all, and we’re at the end of 2021, but the latest version of BTR5 has the 2021 monicker, support for MQA, and it is priced at 130 USD, which is a bit more than the 110 / 120 USD that the original costed at …
Moondrop Illumination IEMs – Listen To The Starlight
Views 61,837 Moondrop Illumination is the flagship high-end IEM refined by the waifu-loving company Moondrop. They sent everything they had at us in hands of beautiful anime girls, now it is time for them to send a flagship, and Illumination is priced accordingly at 800 USD, so they will be …
Campfire Ara IEMs – Scientist Of Music
Views 43,305 Ara Ara, we have a new high-end flagship IEM in for review, and this one’s an amazing one, priced at 1300 USD, and they will be compared to the best of flagships available on the market today, like Clear Tune Monitors Da Vinci IX (1800 USD), Unique Melody …
ddHifi Janus IEMs – Two Faced Soldier
Views 27,513 ddHifi Janus Climbs to the top, it’s the IEM that can use both 2-Pin and MMCX connectors, a two faced joker in my review list. The official name can be a handful, as it’s also called E2020A. It comes with a really nice default cable, and is priced …
IKKO Meteor OH1 IEMs – Interstellar Traveler
Views 57,201 Meteor is the second IEM I am reviewing from IKKO, after their Obsidian, and this one has a great price tag too, just 140 USD. This means that they will be compared to IKKO Obsidian OH10, but also with NF Audio NM2+, and TRI Starsea. Introduction IKKO …
FiiO UTWS3 TWS Bluetooth Adapters – Portability’s With Us
Views 41,754 FiiO UTWS3 is a TWS Bluetooth adapter made for IEMs, and it is priced at 80 USD at the moment of writing today’s full written review. Given the overall design and ergonomics, it will be compared to using the same IEMs with FiiO BTR5, FiiO BTR3K, and Shanling …
Avantone Planar Pro Headphones – Red Team Is Winning
Views 67,394 Avantone Pro Planar is the latest headphone from Europe, with a Planar technology behind, but without the pocket-emptying price that most of those have. The unit I’m reviewing today is red and ready to fight, and they have to be compared to other headphones costing around 450 USD …
Sendy Audio Peacock – Flagship Of Music
Views 73,354 Sendy Audio Peacock is the latest headphone from Sendy Audio and it is priced at about 1500 USD at the moment of writing this full written review (USA), and 1750 USD (Europe after taxes). The main comparisons will be with Kennerton Thror (3000 USD), Audeze LCD MX4 (3000 …
Soundmagic ST80 Sport Earphones – Not So Fast, Punk
Views 66,755 ST80 is the new sporty IEM from Soundmagic, a company focused on an awesome selection of products. This one is a really entry-level one, priced at 56 USD, and today’s review will mostly focus on it as my collection of reviews about products priced similarly is rather thin. …
xDuoo MT-602 Tube Headphone Amp – Freak Trickster
Views 62,534 MT-602 is a headphone amplifier with tubes on a budget, priced at 100 USD, and it comes with two 6J1 Tubes, runs in class A, and will be compared to JDS Labs Atom AMP+, Soundavo HP-1 DAC-AMP, and xDuoo TA-10 Headphone AMP, also with tubes. Introduction xDuoo …
Tempotec E35 Sonata DAC/AMP – Glass Design Amplified
Views 50,518 Tempotec E35 Sonata is a DAC/AMP with the price tag of 80 USD, driverless operation, dual DACs, and 80mW of power at 32 OHMs. It will be compared to iBasso DC-01 (50 USD), FiiO M3 PRO (70 USD), FiiO BTR5 (110 USD). Introduction Tempotec has been a …
HIFIMAN HE400SE Planar Headphones – Bright As The Sun
Views 66,375 We have a really nicely priced headphone here, with a price tag of about 200 USD in most places (after tax and shipping). I will be comparing HE400SE with HIFIMAN Sundara (350 USD), Sivga Phoenix (250 USD), and Soundmagic HP1000 (300 USD). Most of the competitors are more …
Nf Audio NM2+ IEMs – This Time It’s All Metal
Views 39,700 It is time for the other NF Audio IEM, the NM2+, the one I missed reviewing quicker. It is priced at 170 USD, so it will be compared to IKKO OH10 Obsidian (170 USD), Optimisation Elements OElements Tita (170 USD), and BQEYZ Spring 2 (170 USD). Feels like …
Valco VMK20 Bluetooth Headphones – Lived Up To Expectations
Views 59,524 Valco is a new company, who made a very interesting headphone named VMK20, and priced at 180 USD. The main competitors for the VMK20 headphone will be HIFIMAN Deva (300 USD), Master & Dynamic MH40 Wireless (250 USD), and Sennheiser Momentum 3 (400 USD). Introduction There is …
Metalure Wave IEMs – Ultra Basshead Fun
Views 69,159 Those ones are IEMs I never expected to like, even less love as much as I do, but to give you a nice head start, they are basshead, priced at 600 USD, and will be compared with Campfire Vega 2020 (900 USD), NX Ears Baso (550 USD), Audeze …
HIDIZS MS2 Rainbow IEMs – Multitude Of Colorful Sounds
Views 69,933 If you’re looking for beautiful IEMS, look no further, with Ms2 Rainbow being probably the most beautiful IEM you can get without spending a fortune. They cost about 90 USD at the moment of writing this review, and they are going to be compared with iBasso IT01X (120 …
IKKO OH10 Obsidian IEMs – Detail Resolution Maxima
Views 24,147 Ikko designed an IEM with a rather uninspired name for the presentation, as Obsidian does not necessarily explain the whole story, and the price of 160 USD is way lower than the quality I am hearing from the OH10. The main comparisons will be with Optimisation Elements Tita, …
Crosszone CZ-10 Headphones – Soundstage Excelsior
Views 76,757 CZ-10 is a breath of fresh air, as I’ve only reviewed open-back headphones for most of this year, so having something closed back, or at least semi open is refreshing. This is a proper Japanese headphone, high-end with all the bells and whistles, priced at 900 USD, and …
ZMI PurPods – Taking A Stab At Appl*
Views 66,457 The fantastic Purpods are a pair of Apple Airpods shaped TWS IEMS priced at 50 USD. I haven’t really reviewed many TWS IEMS so cheap, but decided it was way too expensive on my resources to make a video, so the full written review will focus on the …
iBasso IT01X IEMs – They Keep Coming
Views 29,951 iBasso has been on a roll for the entry-level price range, and the IT01X is the natural evolution after the original IT01 and IT01S. It comes at the price of 120 USD, and has a double sided driver, along with a helmholtz resonator like IE800 from the past. …
CCA CKX IEMs – Entry Level Drivers Abound
Views 19,562 It is that time of the year again, when, at 70 USD, a company decides to implement way too many drivers in an IEM, so we have a 7-driver configuration from CCA. There’s even one dynamic driver for the mids and lows, with two selections of BA drivers …
TRI Starsea – Sea Of Music
Views 62,385 Tri Starsea is the kind of IEM with a simple 2 BA + 1 DD Design, which sounds really nice. They are priced at 130 USD, so they will get compared to BQEYZ Spring 2, Etymotic ER3SE, and Shuoer Tape PRO. Introduction TRI is actually commanded and …
Optimisation Elements OElements Tita IEMs – BA Snap and Snap!
Views 70,623 Tita, and I hope autocorrect won’t turn this to t*ts, is an IEM made by Optimisation Elements, and it is based on a single Balanced Armature, priced at 170 USD, when you order it with the cable too. It is a direct competitor to the Spring 2 IEMs …
Unique Melody Mest MKii IEMs – New Flagship Quadbrid
Views 47,918 Truly a revolutionary piece, the MKii of Mest from Unique Melody is priced at 1500 USD at the moment of writing this full written review, and it features four types of driver technologies, made to sound the most coherent, detailed yet natural of all the IEMs out there. …