Phantasy has the potential to sound very good; spritely, limber, and light. If that’s your schtick, Phantasy may be your fantasy. But it is woefully beset by impedance mismatch issues. Many SET amps exhibit the same issues. For that reason, they usually have one, or perhaps two, headphones to which they are perfectly adapted and marketed. The rest is the luck, or ill-luck, of the draw.
Read moreRMAA: Venturecraft Valoq 24-bit
If you read the summary (to be published soon), you will note that I’m not a fan of using Valoq. Valoq is kludgy. It is ugly. It screws the gapless pooch and pops way too much when the mains are switched on or off. Finally it’s got an annoying grounding problem.
Read moreRMAA: Apple iPhone 6 24-bit
Being an Apple fan has its ups: the iPhone 4, iMac, iPad, and its downs: Apple Hifi, long Mac Pro cycles, and the iPhone 6.
Read moreRMAA: Shozy Alien Gold 24-bit
To LARPers, Alien looks like a sword hilt; to Wing Commander heads, it is the TCS Tiger's Claw. The former is part of a human-killing machine, the latter is an alien-killing machine. Either way, it is most certainly Terran.
Read moreRMAA: Cowon Plenue D 24-bit
In the spotlight
Even tacked down, my still-shiny Plenue D slid off my photography table, hit the tripid, hit the c-stand, hit the floor. Thank the gods the screen didn’t shatter. The series of accidents gave me and excuse to pinch and prod, the summary of which is this: Plenue D isn't as solidly built as the original AK100. It is nicely machined though, and attacks its user with fewer Korean corners. More so than the Astell&Kern, plates in its face and ass flex under mild thumb-and-finger pressure. Cowon prettied up little D by adding glitter to its polished flanks before sliding it in a brushed back capping it in a fully polished cap. Basically, they covered portable audio design trope but the serrated logo.
Read moreRMAA: 2012 27" iMac 24-bit
Since early 2013 my iMac has shepherded every last yenny into my business. And though I trust it almost implicitly in matters of heavy image processing, I don’t plug my headphones into it. Why? Two reasons:
Read moreRMAA: Essence HDACC 24-bit
My 2016 Headfonia review queue kicked off with a cost/performance skyscraper from Bob Rapaport. It’s the Essence HDACC. It goes for 499$ (down from 699$) and basically does everything you wish it would. Plus HDMI.
Read moreRMAA: FiiO M3 24-bit
This iPod nano guy flipped out when he saw Fiio's first Facebook advert for the M3. It is my strong opinion that portable players should come in all sizes. Shirking high-quality, comfortably pocketable players for kludgy touch UIs, massive screens, and evaporating battery life is poor form. My readers know my better than I do.
Read moreRMAA: Pioneer XDP-100R 24-bit
It looks like a Jeep designed by a man worried about his manhood. It performs like an Onkyo DP-X1. It’s got enough 00’s in its name to qualify it for an MI6 franchise of its own. And no way is it sexy enough that the handsomely epilated people on its marketing page would touch it for less than a model's wage. Strangely though, despite all its 00’s and other other idiotic geekified nomenclature, I find it easier to type XDP-100R than DP-X1. What gives?
Read moreRMAA: Sony NW-ZX2 24-bit
After dinking around with poor interfaces (Onkyo DP-X1, Pioneer), massive players (Astell&Kern AK380), and exploring the gory world of staunching bandages (Astell&Kern AK Jr, Astell&Kern AK380), I was so happy to fit the ZX2 in my palm. Its interface is clearly organised. It is generally responsive. Its body doesn’t draw blood. It’s a Sony. Whatever else it means, at minimum the name suggests a decent focus on human-oriented design. Indeed, both the ZX2's hardware and software UIs are revelations among all high-end players.
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