Cymbacavum: Rhines Custom Monitors Stage series

Cymbacavum's details Rhines Custom Monitors's Stage Series in straight, engaging English. (You won't find its like anywhere else.) I had only a few minutes to sit down with Rhine's Stage Series and custom earphones at Fujiya Avic's 2014 Spring Headphone Festival, but was very impressed.

Mr. T's explains his favourites:

“In the end, I found myself reaching for the Stage 3, Stage 4U, and Stage 5 the most.

With regard to details, I found the 4U and 5 to be most detailed. The 4U possesses almost a savant-like focus on the midrange and possesses neutrality comparable to the Stage 3, but with greater transparency in the mids. At the top of the food chain, the 5 is designed for more razzmatazz while retaining a lot of detail.

If the 4U is the evolution of the 3, then the 5 is the evolution of the 2, but perhaps that’d be simplifying things a bit too much. The Stage 5 is really a mix of the fun U-shaped signature and slight midrange warmth of the Stage 2 with the accuracy and focused forward projection of the Stage 3 and 4U.”

The entire article can be digested twice in ten minutes. There's no fluff. Check it out.

Rhines Custom Monitors - Stage Series

Then check out Rhines Custom Monitors.

Headfonia: Vorzüge PURE II

Lil' ohm doing a review is one thing. This time, I get the word out via Headfonia. 

Headfonia: Vorzüge PURE II - single ended perfected

Be sure to check out Vorzüge's website for more information. 

Lachlan likes the Sony XBA-H3

Poor Lachy filmed this excellent 10:25 review with a cold. Nevertheless,  his work is as clear and concise as it is free of distractions. It is also the first review of the XBA-H3 that I personally endorse. 

Check out Lachlan's YouTube channel, and his webpage. 

AK DAP Mini Shootout: Why subjective volume matching is a waste of time

Four days ago, headfi moderator, warrenpchi, published the beginning of what looks to be a legendary Astell & Kern shootout in the already legendary AK120/100ii thread. He went to great lengths to volume match each device by ear.

Yes, by ear.

“This actually took MUCH longer than I anticipated. It seems simple, but you’d be amazed how long it can take to subjectively match levels between five devices using 6 different tracks of varying genres and file qualities.

I began by going through all of the test tracks above to find a comfortable volume level on the AK120 - the device that I am most familiar with. It had to be loud enough that I felt confident in hearing the most intricate of details, but not loud enough that I would be subjected to too much discomfort.”

Warren, it IS simple. Calibrate each device to a single, pre-recorded frequency-neutral tone. Use a split cable, not your ears. And by all means, don't bring out a bunch of songs to do it.

Matching volumes by ear is cognitive dissonance. Not only is it not possible, it is wasteful of effort, time, and, when published, wasteful of headfi bandwidth. At worst, it is deceptive.

Myriad problems ensue even when matching via line outputs. The most insidious is current variability between devices, which can render differences in volume between tracks normalised to the same mean volume levels.

Why? When not fed ample enough current, headphones will return various anomalies, including the loss of contrast, and sound pressure in certain frequencies, all of which affect perceived volume levels.

Hire the best ears in the world. Give them the rest of their lives to match volumes. They will fail. It is neither possible - nor an expedient use of someone's life. It is far quicker and accurate to simply split the output between a single pair of earphones and a sound card. Match the volumes against a frequency-neutral calibration signal. Voila!

Subsequent volume differences indicate output defaults. They cannot be normalised across devices. I won't even get into the problems of various stimuli that trick the ear to thinking it hears one thing when it hears another.

I wish you luck Warren, but your test has already begun on the wrong foot.

Source: Mini Astell&Kern DAP Shoot-Out

Noble Audio B-Day sale: 20% for 24 hours

Wish Wizard a happy 42nd Happy Birthday by hitting up Noble Audio for a 20% savings on their high-end custom and universal inner ear monitors. Sale ends in ~21 hours from this post. (Sorry, I found out about this a bit late.)

You can keep up with the sale at Noble Audio's Facebook page.

And while you're waiting for your customs, be sure to check out Ω's take on the earphone that launched their brand, the awesome IEM 5,0.

Headfonics: Grado goes "e" - an interview with Jonathan Grado

Grado fans, and fans of portable and home headphone audio everywhere, you owe it to yourself to get acquainted with Grado. Thanks to Headfonics' interview with Jonathan Grado, vice president of Grado's marketing department, you can. As many of you know, Grado aren't the typical commodity headphone maker. In their own words:

“We don’t come out with new headphones every 6 months, every year, etc. We don’t have a set revision timeframe. We found a way to make the sound better so we started expanding on that, and a few years later we had The e Series. We’d only come out with something new when we think it’s a worthy improvement and produces a sound we’re proud of.”

Alas, this modus operandi is practically nonexistent in the general headphone world. It is, in fact, anathema to the spam method employed by companies like Audio Technica and Sony, that make dozens upon dozens of models a year in order to keep a good display section up at Yodobashi. 

Full article: Grado goes “e” – An Interview with Jonathan Grado

RMAA summary: iBasso DX90 VS Astell & Kern AK240

Not Really a fair fight is it? But then again, iBasso's take no prisoners when it comes to raw performance. 

NOTE: never should RMAA results from different sources be directly compared. Anomalies are returned due to myriad variations in setup and test methodology. Data trends, however, reflect actual performance. And in this case, the AK240 isn't able to best the much less expensive DX90.

All tests were volume matched to within 0,1 dB using the same cables and input device, an Edirol FA-66. NL stands for no load; SM2 stands for the Earsonics SM2. Trust me, the SM2 is a bugger of an earphone to drive for all but the cleverest of equipment.