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Disclaimer: Vorzüge sent the PURE II+ to ohm to review both here, and Headfonia. I paid nothing for them. This essay will be followed up by a formal review at Headfonia.
Last week, Vorzüge announced the followup to their killer PUREII portable headphone amplifier (reviewed here at ohm, and at headfonia), and dubbed it PURE II+. Hum...
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Shotgunshane's rapid reaction to Astell&Kern X Jerry Harvey's universal Layla earphone runs hot with expressions such as: insanity!, absolutely huge, and coherency. Shot is reasonably impressed. But there are a couple of hitches, one being the earphone's enormous size, another being bass tuner ergonomics. The final, and 2500$ crux is this:
“However, if Layla‘s bass was very good and treble simply fantastic, then I’d have to label the midrange as somewhat disappointing. I found the Layla midrange to be oddly veiled and honky. I joked with my friend that it was like Myles Kennedy was singing through a toilet paper roll. Here, I found the UERM to handily outperform the Layla in both transparency and midrange resolution. I did find a sizable dip around 1.5 kHz and I’m betting this may be contributing to my perception of slight veil.”
Overall, Shot gives the clarity and overall performance edge to the UERM, which goes for quite a bit less.
And if that's what Jerry Harvey's team were going for (and if Shot's impressions mete out reality), then good on 'em. If not, this earphone may be quite the polariser.
And nothing would be more siren than that.
For more information about Layla universal, head to Astell&Kern's Layla page.
Speaking of hans030390, his measurements track well enough with Inner Fidelity's results. When I joined headfi in 2006, objective-slanted reviews were few and far between. Today, they are on the rise. This is good news.
Inner Fidelity: Oppo PM-3 Headphone Measurements (PDF)
Headfi: OPPO PM-3 - Great Closed, On-The-Go Planar
Headfi user, hans030390's review of the Oppo PM-3 is the best review I've seen of the headphone. Neither my review, nor John Darko's review-and-factory-tour, is even close. Reviews of this calibre hitting headfi in the last few days are true triumphs of our community.
Hans030390's review is as richly illustrated with subjective listening impressions as it is with objective measurements. Bravo.
“In fact, the PM-3 actually has some improvements over the PM-1 and 2 to my ears regardless of having a more “fun” sound or not. For one, it seems to have more clarity across the frequency spectrum than its predecessors do. Transients seem faster and cleaner. Low-level details aren’t quite as masked. The PM-1 and 2 just have an inherently slower sound in comparison. No doubt, the PM-3’s frequency response plays into this perception, but I think it has some genuine improvements outside of that. For one, distortion seems better on the PM-3, but I’ll get into this in a bit. The PM-3 just seems to sound a bit cleaner and clearer in most ways than the PM-1 or 2. Snappier, if you will. Simple as that.
All in all, I think OPPO came close to nailing what they were aiming for. The PM-3 is not inherently meant to be the most neutral headphone ever, and that’s fine. It has a really engaging sound and seems to make some technical strides over the PM-1 and 2. Ideally, I think the treble response could be evened out a bit more so it’s not quite as bright sounding, and the mids could sound a bit thicker and better integrated, but I’m really nitpicking and don’t have much room to complain when you’re already getting so much at $400.”
Especially interesting to me is the fact that Hans uses an in-ear microphone rather than a dummy head or other simulative measurement device.
Read the entire review, it's worth it: OPPO PM-3 - Great Closed, On-The-Go Planar
In light of Cymbacavum's scathing reports, among many others, I think it objective to call Sound Guys's review of the LH Labs Verb what it is: vibrating plastic.
And in that vein, SoliLama's trillingly excited review of the Verb? vibrating plastic.
And speaking of Cymbacavum acoustic measurements, here's Mr. T telling it like it is, re: LH Labs Verb earphone:
“When shipments of the Verb began going out to the general populace in March last month, however, the tide began to shift. While there were positive reviews of the product from individuals largely unknown to the veteran enthusiast community for IEMs, quite a few experienced listeners began coming out in droves to complain about poor sound quality in the Verb. Our very own shotgunshane was one of these backers.
He received his LH Labs Verb and immediately remarked (internally to us at CYMBACAVUM) that it “sucks” and was “muddy, bassy, veiled, and with crappy resonances all over”. We were genuinely surprised. Those of you who have been readers of CYMBACAVUM know that most of us lean toward a more neutral sound signature, but we can appreciate a high-performance bassy signature when it is presented to us, and shotgunshane assured the rest of us that this was not merely a bass issue. Apparently, on top of sloppy bass, it had no midrange and bad ringing in the treble region.
Meanwhile, more troubling revelations came to light about a possible spurious origin to the Verb. Whilst LH Labs has maintained that the Verb was designed and developed exclusively for their own company, the Xuma PM73, a low-cost, mass-produced IEM sold at New York based Photo/Video superstore B&H for about $25, is a near identical product to the Verb, and had come out years before the Verb was even released.”
Source: LH LABS VERB: INDEFENSIBLY BAD
Today, Cymbacavum, have unveiled their newest project: the acoustic measurement of earphones and headphones thanks to a new contributor, speakerphone.
“Our newest contributor is speakerphone; he has been running his own acoustic measurement blog, http://clarityfidelity.blogspot.kr/, but will be partnering with us to deliver measurement results on select items featured on this website. Occasionally, he will also be delivering commentary regarding measurement results and products. As a modest guy, speakerphone claims that his English isn’t that good and is reticent to provide opinion pieces, but Mr. T thinks otherwise and will be encouraging him to open up with thoughts!”
Between the ears, par excellence indeed.
Seeing no mention of the FLOW's duffy remote controls in Headphone Guru's review of the Aurender FLOW, I am led to believe that track forward now means track forward. Barring that, it's obvious: audiophile reviewers really only care about how something looks and sounds; more specifically, that we dig song-specific subjective analyses, which Eric Neff does pretty well.
The thing is: until audiophile reviewers get good at reviewing gear, not just sound, the gear vomited out by unscrupulous vendors will only proliferate, reaching critical mass, where shit becomes normal as long as it sounds good.
Aurender FLOW is an awesome performer, but its hardware interface is duff, and should be crapped on in CONS lists of all reliable review sites.
Disclaimer: I reckon my take on the Aurender FLOW is the best out there.
Yesterday, headfonia published my review of the Aune B1. The B1 has a lot going for it. It also has a lot going against it.
Depending on the beholder, the B1 could be either sexy, or silly. I reckon it's a bit of both. Its solid chassis and brushed lines look great in a HiFi system, but are completely anachronistic for portable use. And when switched on, the B1 reminds me of an evil version of the robot Vincent from Disney's The Black Hole.
Its chassis redefines the word brick, being both extraordinarily sturdy, and extraordinarily symmetric. Its volume pot twists with more precision, less wobble, and more Leica-like pleasure than any pot I've used on portable amp. But it's a tiny nub, and when both source and headphones are plugged in, it's a bugger to twist.
The gain switch (which engages or disengages a +10dB of extra volume), is too easy to accidentally toggle. I've dubbed it the ear self-destructor. And the CLASS A switch, would either doubles or halves the number of milliwatts dissipated, and according the the manual, should never be touched while the amp is powered on, is just as easy to accidentally toggle. I dubbed it the self-destructor.
Finally, every port: USB, audio in, and audio out, is sunk too far into its well. Certain sized cables won't latch onto signal because they can't get their bits far enough into the amp's circuits.
Sleek styling does not a good design make.
But the B1 sounds wonderful. Its background is blacker than black, with hiss barely audible via my most sensitive earphones, and that, at levels close to, but no exceeding, placebo. I go into way more detail about the sound and utility of the B1 at Headfonia.
Headfonia: Aune B1 - Vincent
Concise and well-put, Stephen Hornbrook's review of the awesome Oppo PM-3 is well worth the read.
“We recently gave another Oppo product, the HA-2, perfect marks, so to do so again seems odd. Yet I feel even stronger about the Oppo PM-3’s perfect score than I do about the excellent HA-2. The Oppo PM-3 planar magnetic headphones are scary good. Previously my go-to recommendations for closed back headphones were the PSB M4U, NAD HP50, and Sennheiser Momentum. The Oppo PM-3 outshines them all and will be one of the most confident product recommendations I have ever offered. They are versatile as they can be driven directly from a smartphone, but will benefit from quality amplification so users can squeeze every bit of performance from these amazing headphones. If you don’t need a closed-back headphone, the Hifiman HE-400i delivers better sonic performance but only with better amplification. If looking for more flexibility with sources and listening environments, the Oppo PM-3 is the clear winner. Very highly recommended.”
Source: Oppo PM-3 Headphones Review
For reference, my review of the PM-3 can be read at Headfonia.
Tsukuba, Japan