The above image I snapped between platform changes for a recent magazine shoot. I wasn't the biggest fan of the original IE800. Too shiny. Too dark. I had ample time to touch this one, which is resistant to touch blemishes and corrosion, but which fits just like its predecessor. I'm told that it is a bit brighter, too, which may be right up my alley.
If I pick one up, you can expect a long profile of it on ohm, as well as my fledgeling YouTube channel, Fauxtaku Lounge.
Beautiful gear I shot in March
On average, I shoot four to five magazine catalogues a year, the latest of which is Headphone Book's Spring 2018 edition, which tends to go against a white background. This year, a few items went on black, most of which were beautiful. Listed below are both groups.
Read moreohmage: HiFiman RE2000
I was one of the lucky ones: with no more pomp than an email, HiFiman hooked me up with a box loaners, two of which have blown quite through three pair of my sox, one which left me fuming, and another about which I oscillate between cynicism and joy. In no particular order, that lot is: Susvara, RE2000, RE800, and the Megamini DAP.
Read moreohmage: HiFiman RE800
It's been a long while, but ohmage is back, though with some acrobatics, and without stepping on Headfonia's toes. Today’s ohmage comes straight from a special HiFiman loan, and one which is fuller of goodies than ever I could have hoped. The RE800 is my favourite of what fit in the box, despite Susvara also blowing my brain. It’s small, bright, and where it counts, powerful. It’s got many bugger points, some of which we will get to.
Read moreUltimate Ears Pro Reference Remastered - initial ohmage
Disclaimer: certain headfiers approached me with an irresistible offer: nabbing an Ultimate Ears Pro Reference Remastered in exchange for a review at the usual suspects. Being my privatest of stomping grounds, ohm will get the first words. Many thanks to Ultimate Ears to facilitating it all.
Subject: UE Pro Reference Remastered - Ultimate Ears: 999$ USD.
Head-fi thread: Ultimate Ears UE Pro Reference Remastered! (UERR) - Head-Fi.org
And the first words go like this: Nice chocolate-box vibing box. In it are two - again chocolate-reminding - thick instruction cards. There’s a magnet holding it all together. Inside, satiny nylon cuddles an environmentally sealed aluminium casket. In that sit the cooperative work between UE and Capital Studios.
Hollow shells keep the UEPRR light in the hand, and in the ear. Signal pathways are split all the way to its snout. It’s pleasantly underdressed. You know who made it. And if your skin is less pink than mine is, it'll wink out like a lightbulb.
While I’ve got just a few hours’s listening under my belt, I’m confident in saying that this earphone presents things like a concert. Viz., with the exception of a textured vocal band, the stage pushes powerfully out like a wall of sound. Vocals are grounded and prominent, bubbling forward at the slightest provocation. The UEPRR errs - however slightly - bright. Crowds in live recordings sound just like you were there. And you? You’re somewhere about a third of the way back from the stage, gathering in one of the widest stages you'll hear in a pair of in-ears.
Lows are quick and light, and their z-axis transition to mids is deep and 3D. Unlike Noble Audio’s K10, the UEPRR neither amplifies nor warms up the space between instruments. It’s also not as micro-contrasty as the Vision Ears V6. Next to the FitEar MH335’s brunt, its mids are calisthenically toned. And, with the exception of a really 3D bass and lower mid section, it is matter-of-fact, and middling bright. It is responsive, athletic, and surprisingly immersive despite its massive stage. For now I can’t describe it any better than that.
But I’ll be back. For now, I wish you some Bonafied Loving.
Headfonia: 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
A 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 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 moreReview: Radius Wn3 HP-TWF31
The TWF31 is both amazingly capable, and amazingly hamstrung. It delivers one of the most natural sound stages this side of 2,1 channel near field audio. It outputs a cleaner, more extended sound than its forebears. Its upper midrange should be clear enough for all but extreme treble heads. Finally, acclimatising to its signature takes just minutes; the original TWF11 took hours.
Read more