Review: homage to the FiiO FT13

April 21, 2026 ohm

My daughter in fuzzy pyjamas and her grandma in cranky-teacher glasses are beating up some kanji homework. They are laughing and chatting at girl levels of loud- not that I’d know: my boy and wife have had to slap my shoulder to grab my attention away from Tycho’s 2014 album, Awake. While a caveat exists, when I get a good fit, I barely hear anything outside of my music. There may not be another HiFi headphone that does as much to pull me out of my surroundings as the FT13 does.

Noble Audio Katana: Flash VS Continuous light

March 29, 2023 ohm

More to come…

Review: Cayin's YB04 in two minutes or less

May 23, 2020 ohm

Cayin’s YB04 sports 4 drivers per side, two from Sonion, and 2 from Knowles. It has one of the nicest laid out boxes I’ve seen, a great accessory set, and super comfy ear pieces. It goes for 499$ USD. You can find out all about it here: Cayin YB04 - Discover the Extraordinary .

ohmage to the Hidizs MS1-Rainbow

March 15, 2020 ohm

Disclaimer: Hidizs sent MS1-Rainbow to me for the purposes this review. It goes for 55$ USD. Inside is a 10,2mm dynamic driver. To find out more, hit up Hidizs’s MS-1 Rainbow page.

You already know what I think of the MS-1 Mermaid. Heck, you may remember my opinion of Hidizs’s AP100 DAP- and subsequently may understand why I don’t recommend pitting them together. If you can’t put two and two together, it is because the AP100 hisses way more than the MS-1 likes. Seriously, it basically blows it up. Incidentally, hiss is the main reason I don’t plug recent Hidizs earphones into my favourite Minidisc players and recorders, not to mention a number of DAPs out there.

ohmage to the Shanling Q1

March 3, 2020 ohm

The Q1 is smaller, cheaper, and, at normal listening levels, it sounds just as good as the M2X. Sure, it lacks the M2X’s rubber port gaskets, balanced output, wifi, Tidal (and on and on and on), but its simplified graphical and physical UI are just what my doctor ordered.

ohmage to the Cayin N6ii

February 18, 2020 ohm

I’ve had the N6MKII since late October last year. In quick succession I tore apart its boxes and took a handful of purdy photos of it. But software problems (my end, not Cayin’s), kept me from doing much testing. (Apologies to both Cayin and to those next in the review queue.) Those issues are long gone.

ohmage to the Sony WF-1000XM3

August 21, 2019 ohm

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Sony. I also no longer have the 230 buckeroos or so that went toward the WF1000XM3. Amazon and Sony got them. The WF1000XM3 houses a single 6mm dynamic driver per channel, a pretty advanced noise cancelling engine, and a quality wireless signal. Want to know more? Hit up Sony, here: WF-1000XM3 - Only Music, Nothing Else.

The WF1000XM3 is about as pretty as a car crash. And like a good country collision you’ll find half a bike helmet across its grill. The other half dredges up fuzzy memories of of jawbone BT units from the early 2000s. By the way, back in the jawbone days, a mate of mine hot got hit by a douche jabbering into one behind the wheel. Half a helmet indeed.

ohmage to the BGVP DMS

June 10, 2019 ohm

To me, the DM7 defined what BGVP (BigVip) can do. But the DMS, both cheaper and cooler looking than its brothers, is my current BigVip favourite. I like its lines, its slim cable, its slim plug, its awesome metalwork, and more. I like it so much that I’m questioning my support for a few key Chi-Fi earphones out there.

ohmage to the BGVP DM7

May 21, 2019 ohm

BGVP’s DM6 was lotsa good, but not full of everything that Nathan Wright craved. The sort of thing Nathan Wright craved was spacier, had a brighter upper mid range, and bristled with gobs of stereo detail in every frequency band.

What Nathan craved was the DM7. It is fortuitous that, thanks to Begin Audio, he got ahold of one mere weeks after reviewing the DM6. If you want to see my longer-form review, check it out at Headfonics.

ohmage to the Yinyoo D2B4

May 17, 2019 ohm

I knew nothing about Yinyoo before the D2B4 arrived on my doorstep. Yinyoo are fine Chi-Fi fare. The D2B4’s been in my studio for a month or more and in my ears for a little less than that. It is made well, and it sounds damn good.

Relevant links:

OHMAGE TO THE HIDIZS MS1 AND MS4
OHMAGE TO THE CAMPFIRE AUDIO ATLAS