Headfonics: Westone W50 review

Headfonics's MarcusD serves up a well-organised review of Westone's new W50. 

“The Westone W50 is perhaps one of the hardest hitting bass signatures I have yet to hear from a universal BA IEM. It is leaps and bounds ahead of the older UM3X, perhaps even a little snappier and more forward than my UM Merlin’s and leaves the UE900 in it’s rear view mirror. Gone are the days when BA IEM’s are avoided when matching with beat heavy genres. Westone nailed this one and the W50 is anything but boring. Yet at the same time the slightly recessed mids and highs suffer with that kind of focus on the bass and it’s inherently dark tonality. It lacks dynamic headroom and top end articulation to really compete with some of the similarly priced heavyweight audiophile customs and IEM’s from AKG and Sennheiser.”

Headfonia: FitEar MH335DW & Private 435

FitEar's MH335DW and Private 435 are excellent earphones, each with a completely different person in mind. Check out Headfonia for my full review of them.

Headfi: Audeze' CEO, Alex Rosson on Bloomberg TV

Audeze' creations kick ass. And headfi, is father to much of the DIY headphone movement, kicks even more ass. This time, Audeze' Alex Rosson brings it to BloombergTV. 

Thanks Headfi.

Headfonia: a look back at the the original Apple iPod shuffle 512

My gadget is smaller than yours, big boy. It's true. And that is only one of the reasons I love the original iPod shuffle. I swear, there are dozens of audiophile reasons, too; but I ain't listing them here. You can find a few of them at Headfonia:

Back to the Future Friday: the original Apple iPod shuffle (512)

iRiver's AK series: 7 hardware revisions in 1,5 years

In its 1,5 years at market, the AK100 has been replaced/updated thrice. So, too, has its younger sibling, the AK120 (once called the Ultimate Joy of Music). Now there's the AK240 (which bears the dubious: BE THE ULTIMATE tag). If Astell&Kern had a porn name, it would be Prejack Luvpump. Its signature move would be ejaculating every time the word 'sex' was mentioned. Somehow that sticky icky appeals to Mono and Stereo. 

“The AK100 II and AK120 II replace the Wolfson WM8740 DAC with the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chipset found in the flagship AK240. The AK100 II features a single DAC chipset like its predecessor, while the AK120 steps up to two (2) DACs (Digital to Analog Converters) that output audio signals independently to each channel, making the AK120 II a true dual mono (dual monaural) setup like those found in expensive hi-fi equipment. The dual Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chips found in the AK120 II dedicates each DAC chip to a completely separate left and right channel. In result, the AK120 II provides far superior depth, clarity, and spaciousness to the audio. By providing a much clearer sound with lower distortion, the AK120 II truly replicates how the original music was recorded. ”

Maybe I just don't get it. Or maybe, my hopes for luxury goods are higher, and clearer than iRiver's. 

Luxury is a category established by superiority in service or product quality. It is punctuated by follow through, by grace, by snob appeal, and almost always, by lucid, intelligible copy. It is not established by escalating prices. It is not established by products or services whose relevance expires within a season, or whose copy contradicts itself. It is not established by Google translate and primary school editors.

Willy-nilly upgrades are the marks of indecisiveness; and indecisiveness is a mark of the cheap, of the mundane, of the mass market. It is a mark of the sticky-sheets adolescent who still chews his pronouns. 

Headfi: Estron Linum BAX IEM cables

A great read by, tomscy2000, one of the industry's sanest, and most trustworthy voices. Tom's brand of sanity pushes him toward cables with the least resistance first, ease of use second. Ω's happy with something that feels good. As it happens, Estron's Linum BAX IEM cables appear to bridge the gap.

“The bottom line is that if you are happy with the stock sound of your IEM, but desire a cable that is much lighter and much lower profile, consider the Linum BaX. If you are a stage musician and need a thin, light cable that can blend invisibly with your performance attire, strongly consider the Linum BaX —- this cable really is made for you. It’s strong, it’s featherlight, and it’s nearly invisible.”

Review: Estron Linum BaX --- New IEM Cable for a New Age

How to balance your Ocharaku Flat4

Headfi's CosmicHolyGhost gets credit for finding this article explaining how to balance your Ocharaku Flat4. Ω is a BIG fan of the Flat4 series, especially KURO and KAEDE.

NOTE: the article is in Chinese. All hardware modifications to the Flat4 will void your guarantee.

HiFiman selling its customers a bridge

The incomparably charitable HiFiman team are happy to let you, their customer, bear the burden of designing, tooling, and footing all R&D bills for their next amp module. In return for giving away the know-how potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can have one of their spiffy headphones! If your blood, sweat, and tears win! 

1st   1 HE560
2nd   2 RE600
3rd    3 RE400

Appetite whetted? Head to Head-fi's front page! Or this thread! Then shoot them a PM about a bridge; they've got one going for real fucking cheap.

NOTE: the post has been removed from Headfi's front page.