Along with inheriting the PURE II's micro USB charging, variable gain, and super-stable output, Vorzüge's latest, the VorzAMP DUO II, sports a spanking-new EQ system.
Read moreHeadfonia: Astell&Kern AKT8iE mkii review
Up today from me is the brilliant Astell&Kern AKT8iE mkii earphone. In the three short weeks I've had it in office, it has become my favourite single-driver earphone of all time.
Check it out: Review: Astell&Kern AKT8iE mkii – Age of Consent
THD and jitter: Apple's Lightning to 3,5 mm Headphone Adapter VS iPhone 6
Several articles about Apple’s Lightning to 3,5mm Headphone Jack Adapter are tickling the audiophile internet. These include: Heis’s appraisal of it attached to volume-capped European phones, Larry Ho’s Facebook thread (thank you Marcus) , which lambasts its jitter rate, Inner Fidelity questioning whether or not it utilises an onboard ADC to convert the signal to analogue before amplifying it in-house for the headphones, among others.
Read moreHeise.de measures Apple's Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Whilst reading Friday's Daring Fireball blurb on the subject, I surfed to the above table at Heis.de.
A closeup on the Jays u-Jays
headphone is no mean feat. The reason is simple: the u-Jays is, in my opinion, Jays’s best and most cohesive-sounding product. It shares the brilliant warmth of Nuforce’s HEM2, which sweetens every spin of New Order, of Iggy Pop, of Joy Division. But it follows it with fractionally more high-frequency extension and stereo detail. The smooth is balanced with the scrupulousness. In now way am I suggesting that audiophiles looking for reference quality pick it up. It’s not that phone. But where it comes to HiFi sounds, u-Jays knock it out of the park.
Read moreA closeup on the Nuforce BE6i bluetooth earphone
Subject: Nuforce BE6i
In a week or two I’ll go into the goods and bads of this earphone. For now, let’s give a macro look at the Nuforce BE6i.
Read moreThe age of freedom - bluetooth
Here is the Nuforce's BE6i's nose
Informed opinions suggest that the next iPhone divest itself of the headphone jack - which is a bugger those with loads invested in earphones (though Lear and Westone and Noble Audio, among others, have solutions), and it's a bugger because Bluetooth is a gobbles battery; many wireless earphones manage mere hours of playback. And, poor Bluetooth implementation hisses like the Dickens.
Read moreThursday Scheimpflug - Grado RS1
This image was shot with a 5º forward tilt of the front standard
… and hail Scheimpflug Thursday. Or Thursday Scheimpflug. As I’m publishing this first instalment under my audiophile blog, I’ll not rag on about the maths involved in utilising Scheimpflug. (As a former English Literature major, I’ve got to be honest: I’ve really nothing but applied physics - a term Martin Irwin taught me - under my belt anyway.)
I’m the sort of headphone geek that loves strong branding, comfort, and good sound - in that order. Over the last few years, I’ve become a Grado head. I now own the original PS1000, the RS1, the GR10, the GR8, and the GR8e.
Read moreReview: Radius Wn4 HP-TWF41
Discriminating between sound signatures mature and timid is a chore. What initially sounds soft, or boring, may be a mask for deep stage layering, string-centric tuning, or wide, warm mids. The TWF41 certainly is string-centric, and mature-sounding- more so even than the TWF31.
Read moreohmage to the Master & Dynamic MH40
Two years have elapsed since I first touched the MH40. My opinions about it haven't changed. Or, the degree to which they have changed is unimpressive. I appreciate its measured, but obvious homage to vintage aesthetic. But, the MH40's utilitarian and forward-thinking design decisions -- e.g., its magnetic earpad fasteners and daisy-chaining cable system -- are truly laudable. And they are obvious baby steps on the way to the MW60, which is a modern masterpiece of use-driven design.
Read more