This will be (insert company name)'s downfall

August 5, 2014 ohm

John Gruber concludes the above about the cable industry, citing an article by The Verge about Comcast's efforts to lock customers into their service. But his next sentence:

“No company with such disregard for their own customers will succeed for long.”

could be said of

The Earsonics EM32

August 1, 2014 ohm

Since the days of the original SM2, I've been a fan of the moody Earsonics house sound. A year later, its successor, the SM3 blew me away. Why? The intervening year brought a maturity to Earsonics that changed the way I looked at multi-armature earphones.

This is the world's first mass-produced balanced earphone

July 26, 2014 ohm

Sharp's Auvi MD players had balanced headphone outputs and came with the above balanced earphones

While essentially Sennheiser MX300 clones, and cheap pack-ins, the above earphones were the world's first mass-market balanced earphones. They came with the Sharp MD-DR7, which works great as a cheap-ass 16-bit DAC for AK100/120/240 devices and which I remember at Headfonia. Best of all, these phones used the standard 3,5mm plug wired for TRRS.

Sadly, no upgrade options existed in 2002. Today they do, but, as I explain, today we battle against myriad competing headphone jacks/plugs and company locked-down formats. It's more the Wild West than ever it was.

Read the entire article at Headfonia: Back To The Future Friday: The World’s First Balanced Earphones

Bose sue Beats

July 26, 2014 ohm

Bose. Remember them? They wish you did. Now they're suing the only headphone company non-audiophiles know, Beats. It's delicious.

via Techcrunch

More delic are the comments from MacRumors readers about the tussle:

“Stridder44: One crappy headphone company suing another crappy headphone company

bearboy: Oh no, here comes the Apple/Beats apologists!:mad:
Rating: 19 Votes

DavidLeblond: Bose felt threatened. For the longest time they were the #1 name in expensive sub par audio equipment until Dre came around and took the crown.

Moopy Sac: “Fascinating that they wait until Beats is acquired by someone with deeper pockets. Good luck getting any money, though. If Bose ever gets a payout, it’ll be ten years down the road. And the general impression I get from people who work in the speaker business is that Bose isn’t really that good.”

Headphone quality does not seem to have much of a positive correlation with company value.

But Bose is still head and shoulders better than Beats.”

Head and shoulders, eh? Oh Moopy Sac, dear Moopy Sac. It's like the blonde leading the blind.

There's more gold to be had in that MacRumors thread.

The Grado GR10

July 24, 2014 ohm

I had barely unboxed the GR10 before my wife was fondling it and telling me something every proud audiophile husband longs to hear from his siggy: "I want one". Our romance pretty much began with headphones. It wasn't exactly a minidisk swap, but it could have been. We've been jamming to trance and Broken Social Scene ever since. (She leaves John Denver to me.)

The Cypher Labs Picollo

July 22, 2014 ohm

A package from Ω's #1 patron, AnakChan, has put me to work this afternoon. First, I shot the Grado GR10 earphone for a Headfonia review whilst plugging my ears with John Denver and The Alan Parson's Project. Driving it all was the all-new Cypher Labs Picollo.

No, Tyll, the AK240 isn't revolutionary

July 22, 2014 ohm

The AK240 is a great-sounding player. It is an expensive player. Inner Fidelity's Tyll thinks it is revolutionary. Its price certainly is.

This is what a ring of balanced armatures drivers looks like

July 22, 2014 ohm

Here are various balanced armature earphone speakers arranged and labelled by forum.ru fan, Hardcorist.

Cymbacavum, who pointed this out, says this:

“Those poor earphones…”

Here is the post in question .

Cymbacavum: Rhines Custom Monitors Stage series

July 22, 2014 ohm

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.