This is a review on the Havit ZH1300 Headset, Which I received for free to review. I will be very honest in this review as I am with all my others.
 
The Havit ZH1300 is an interesting headset, they come in two colors White with blue Led’s and Orange with Green led’s. The led on the sides have two circles, the outer one stays lit, while the center one pulses off and on, which is powered by the usb on the end of the cable. The ZH1300 has a line out and a mic in input. The mic flex’s and can be snap back into place on the side of the cup which is a spot for it.
The headphone design and style reminds me of a steel series headset’s the first thing I notice when I put the ZH1300 on the top of my head was that it was very light. To the point that you don’t feel it on the top of your head as it also auto adjust to your head. The Headband part of it is conformable, doesn’t bother my head at all.
On the left cup there is a volume control which is kind of hard to reach at first but once you memorize it location it will be very handy.
The Cable is long enough and decent enough. It doesn’t look like it would break that fast, the ear pads are Pleather but feels nice on my head because they fit the shape of my ears really well.
 
 
The Setup
The Havit ZH1300 will be paired with my sound blaster Z for this review as my external gear is over kill for it and I wanted to also include gaming in this review besides Music. For games I will not use any of the SBZ DSP. Music will be used with Stereo direct on the SBZ.
 
 
The Music
Sound blaster Z + ZH1300
Distance – Devastator
The first thing you hear off the back is the bass, it’s deep and very boomy like a subwoofer.  The drum kit heard with a little detail, it is clear but not that clear. The separation of instruments is good as I can hear the different instruments but the deep bass having the subwoofer bass ruins it.
Other songs with hard hitting bass like dubstep has the same results.  
 
 
 
The Games
Sound blaster Z+ ZH1300
Warframe – Over all the game sound performance is good with the vocal being heard clearly when lotus as well the different factions soldiers speaks, the weapons had a kick behind them. But bass hit deep but it was like a subwoofer, very boomy or one note bass and was not clear. The sound imaging was good, as I could tell where some stuff was coming from. But using SBX if you have a SBZ or Dolby Headphone if you have an Asus Xonar or C-media based sound card would do a better job for the ZH1300 then without.
 
Dying Light – The result was similar to warframe it just when stuff explodes like grenades any other combustible object in the game. The gun fire was ok a bit muddy but heard well enough. The major issue came from stuff blowing up which was boomy and muddy. The rest of the sounds was smooth.
 
 
 
The Mic
I tried out the mic with a couple of friends, they heard me very clear and it did a very good job which is a plus. Usual headsets is a hit or a miss where some work well and some doesn’t. With the ZH1300 it was a hit. It closer to my mouse then the mic that comes with the SBZ which is good, but the SBZ mic can be used with any headphone, but that not really fair to this review.
 
 
Conclusion
The headset does a good job but the one thing that's ruins it is the sub-woofer lows, Maybe a sound card that lean on the bass may settle the lows. I tried it with my tablet which did happen made the lows cleaner and accurate. If the ZH1300 didn't have the sub-woofer lows it would be perfect.

                      Beyer dynamic DT770 pro Review
                                                           
The Beyer dynamic DT770 pro-80 ohm headphones is one out of the three DT770 model’s with a low ohm..  A simple sound card like an Asus Xonar DG/X or a sound blaster Z with their headphone amp IC’s will work. The DT770 pro-80 still benefit from a standalone headphone amp.
The DT770 pro-80 is made out of hard plastic’s which in my hands feels like it can take a beating. The Headband pad on the top might work for some people. But might not for others, the weight of the headphone was very light on the top of my head which is a plus. Since my primary Headphone the HE-500 is heavy. One issue I have with the DT770 pro-80 is the ear pads, they are not deep enough for my ears. So my ears touches the driver’s which over time is uncomfortable for me, Also my tip of my ears touch the ear pad top and my earlobe touches the ear pad too. People with smaller ears won’t have an issue with the ear pads.
The wire is very long which is good for when your moving around the room doing other things, when you are listening to music, Or when you are sitting back far from your computer or home audio receiver watching a movie or playing a game.  The wire looks like it’s very durable
 
The Specs
 
 
The Setup
The gear that I will be using for this review will be the Gustard X12 Dac connected to a Burson Audio Lycan thru RCA, which will have the LME49990MA’s op-amp installed, in a two single op-amp setup. The Gustard X12’s USB input will be used. The Lycan is a transparent amp and will let you hear the sound of the op-amp. The reason why I going with the LME49990MA is it is a neutral and transparent op-amp. Which I find so far work well with the DT770 pro-80 letting it shine thru.
 

 

 
 
The Sound
Eddie Bitar – Kaboom (Original Mix)
The song starts off with a lot of bass before strings and then the rest of the beat. In this song the bass is impactful while being controlled, the bass is not one note as there is other tones of bass in the song that is heard, and another part of the song has bass that’s accurate and not impactful.
 The bass doesn’t out do the rest of the freqs and the other parts of the song is detailed and clean. When there’s more instruments they can be heard from each other. The drum kit can be easily heard that starts in another part of the song and the snare is detailed and echo’s away from the center. The sound imaging is good.
 
Kong Speaks – Tooth & Claw
The song starts out with the bass hitting deep with the drum kit being clearly heard alongside with the detailed snares. The bass really sound good in this song. This song is also clear you can hear everything besides the deep bass.  The separation is really good in this song like the first song.
 
Speo – Penguin
The drums and the snares are very clear and detailed at the start of the song. The drums hit hard in the next part of the song. While there is bass it also hits hard and deep, the simple voice note is heard. When the bass stops. The drum kit and the snares are clearly heard and the instrument that playing afterwards sounds really good. Over all I like the way this song sounds with the DT770 pro-80s thru the lycan. Sound really nice. Everything clear.
 
Said the Sky – Clouds
The bass in the first part of the song is kind of impactful but clearly heard and the piano sounds like it spreading thru out the sound stage while having some weight behind the notes which makes it sound good. The electronica note that is playing along the piano sound really good, just like the piano playing by itself is very good.
 
Another part the bass is deep and hits hard and the strings.  Over all I like this song as well being played thru the DT770 pro-80s. There are voices in this song that keeps making me turn around to my door thinking someone said something, or the sound in the first part of the song which sounds exactly like a fire alarm, that reappears thru out the song. Get me really good too.
 
I didn’t think I would get such a bargain with the price I paid for these as I got these cheap. I didn’t know what to expect. I been using them for a week and a half. Originally these was going to be my laptop/tablet headphones. Now I will use the DT770 pro alongside my HE-500s since these isolate really well.

       

This is a review of the Edifier H850 headphones. They over ear headphones which are very compact, which is handy for people who are looking for headphones that they can take with them. Now they do not fold up but they will fit inside a laptop bag by twisting the cups so they are flat, or even inside of your pocket.
I took a good look at them and they look like to be made out of hard plastic through in my hands they feel like they could break. The padding on the headband does a good job but it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit thicker one as it did get a tad uncomfortable on my head, they are very light headphones of course so weight will not be an issue.
 
The H850s come with a removable cable which you can remove when you putting them away or to take with you. I find the cable to be too thin which can be a problem as they could be easy broken and since it uses a special locking end. Users will have a hard time replacing the cable if it is broken. But it handily to stop the cable from being pulled out but it could also be an issue if you happen to trip over the cable somehow. Which will send the headphones either flying off the cable or snap the cable. Personally I would suggest to keep the cable in the unlock position if you’re sitting at home, but if you’re out in the world roaming the streets than putting it in the lock position would be good.
 
The good things about the H850’s is that they will work from any source rather it’s the onboard audio of a laptop, a tablet or even a phone as the Edifier H850 doesn’t benefit from being amp as they are very easy to drive. I found them to work good on the X-FI pro go but I found them to work even better on the sound blaster Z.
They isolate very well, I barely heard the high speeds of my case fans roaring.
 
 
 
The Setup
I will be using a creative sound blaster Z as my source for this review. Since the Edifier H850’s are easy to drive. I figure the sound blaster z will be a perfect choice.  All of the sound blaster Z settings will be turned off so I can get the actual sound signature of the headphone, and not anything else.
 
The results
I listened to a couple of songs and the one thing that stuck out is the bass, its one note sub woofer style of bass. Which doesn’t work well with a lot of songs that I tried. The mids sound like they’re hidden with the mid-bass at the fore front. I found the highs to be a little detailed but nothing what I’m used to but they are clearly heard.
The sound stage and the sound imaging isn’t done that well with the H850’s. The sound feels like it’s inside my head and the separation of the instruments in the songs isn’t that good. Sounds like they’re really close together which makes them sound smashed together at some points while hard to hear in comparison to each other.
Some songs where there isn’t much mid-bass but low-bass the H850 does good job in the highs in such as ambient or classical might be too bright for some people in that case. But still the sound stage and the sound image is still an issue. 
 
Conclusion
 
The Edifier H850 is an all right headphone but it has a few flaws that stop it in its tracks. It’s ok who doesn’t mind the sound stage being small and the sound imaging not being that good.The highs might brother some people but not every one.

 
Also I feel the cable being thin should be look at as well the locking system, maybe come up with a different way to do it or get rid of it all together. Which will make it easier for people to replace the cable themselves if something happen to the original or at least so a normal cable will fit into the plug.
 
Update: I Got a chance to try it on a Asus Xonar DS last weekend and the bass isn't a issue, so the bass being boomy was related to the way the sound blaster Z sound signature. While the mids still was pushed back, the high's was better on the DS then what they was on the SBZ. So it looks like these wouldn't be a good pairing with the sound blaster Z sound card. But should be fine with any thing else.

                                Burson Lycan Review
 
Today I'm doing a review on the Burson Audio Lycan Pre-amp/Amp/OP-amp test bench. 
The lycan has RCA inputs for connecting a source to the device rather it’s a sound card, Dac or CD player. The pre-out's on the unit lets you use the device as a pre-amp into a pair of powered speakers or even another amp.   The power connector is on the rear as well and the lycan uses a power brick with a removable power cable such as the ones that used on PC PSU's.
On front of the unit there is a 6.3m headphone jack and the volume knob, on the rear besides the other connection's there is a power switch, which you flip up to turn it on and down to turn it off. On the side there is a dc switch which you use when your source is outputting too much volume thru it outputs which you can set to protect your gear.
 
The Lycan all 4 sides are open but the important part is the lycan lets you swap op-amps with ease without having to remove a cover. The Lycan has the option of running one Dual channel op-amp or Two Single pairs, You cannot do both as doing so will cause damage to the lycan. It is set up like this as the lycan was designed around being invisible in the chain and transparent, so you can hear the way the op-amp that you are using sound hint the op-amp test bench usage.
 Which is handy for DIY and op-amp rollers who swap op-amps to find the type of sound that they are looking for. Which makes this easy so one can compare op-amps and use ones that they like or to match with another to give them the sound they want.
 

 

 

 
 
 
The Spec's
 
Frequency response:     ± 1 dB 0 – 55Khz                1 x Power cable
THD:      <0.03% 1 x 24VDC Power Supply (60W) 
Input impedance:            >8K Ohm @ 1W               
Output impedance (Headphone Amp): 3 Ohm   General               
Output impedance (Line Level):                30 Ohm Weight:                app. 1 kg
Inputs: 1 x RCA line level input  Dimensions:       150mm x 90mm x 50mm
Outputs:              1 x RCA Pre Amp, 1 x Headphone Jack              
Impedance (Headphone Jack)   Power   Signal to Noise Ratio       Separation
16 Ohm                2.2W                                        90db                                      99%
32 Ohm                1.5W                                      90db                                  99%
100 Ohm              0.6W                                       93db                                      99%
150 Ohm              0.4W                                      93db                                       99%
300 Ohm              0.2W                                      90db                                       99.5%
 
The Setup
 
I will be using the Gustard X12 thru its Usb with the lycan. The Lycan will have a V5-OPA-D Supreme sound op-amp installed during the review. The headphone's I am using will be the Hifiman HE-500 Planar headphones.
 
The Songs
I went thru my thru all of my songs and 6 different types of music that I filled that would do a good job with the Lycan and the V5-OPA-D. I will describe what I like in each of the songs with the setup.
 
Misanthrop - Fragment
This song is a drum and bass type of song, within this song the bass is very nice sounding, I can hear the different tones of the bass clearly. The mid bass sound really good in this song alongside the drums that are clear and sound the way there supposed to very accurate. I like the way the sound image is setup with the placement of some of the instruments, the drums sound like they are on stage in front of me. The instruments are not grouped together but are spaced apart and i can hear each one.
 
Niro & Johnny Neversleep - Urban Western (Original Mix)
Another drum and bass sound but this one has a spacious type of sound at the start of the song, the sound feels like it surrounding me in the highs with the strings, syth and another instrument each one being separated from each other. The drums also placed upon the stage and in this song they are very clear and accurate. The bass is there when it calls for it but in this song it’s soft.
 
Noisestorm - Heist (Original Mix)
This song is a drum step song which have some bass that hit's hard. The mid bass has some impact not much, the simple voice sounds like the person is standing on stage where the drums are located. The bass drum is clearly heard like the other songs this one also have good separation too.  The sound is also spacious, the high's I can't word it right sound airily or big and clear.
 
Legacy & Pharreal Phuong - Savage
This song is a Techno-rap song, all of the instruments are their own thing in the song they are clearly heard. The guitar and the syth sound good and spacious as they go from where they are in the song and spread thru the sound stage. The bass is slightly impact but controlled and the drum and snare are also easy to place in the song.
 
Stephen Walking - Shark City
The tribal drums in the start of the song with the piano playing is very spacious and clear they sound like they are in front of you. The tribal drums feel like they are next to the piano while the piano notes reverb thru the sound stage, with it sounding like the piano player is hitting the keys with force as their weight behind those keys.
 Each instrument is clear and you can pinpoint each one. The drummer hits the drums hard in the song as so the bass and sound like they are in front of you directly, with the voice track is being played to you.
 
Stephen Walking - Walkers
The song has a very spacious, the sound imaging is really good have the feeling that I am sitting in the drummer chair, the drums, snare, bass drum  and hit hats all are separated from each other and can be pinpointed in the song. The Syth feel like they are between the hit hat and the drums but upon the stage.  The song is produce very good on the lycan and V5. Everything is accurate and clear. The voice also sound clear which is coming front in front of me like the rest of the song it also separated.
 
Conclusion
The Lycan and the V5-OPA-D worked really nice together, each of these songs had spacious sound, some more than others. While other's the two worked really well for that song. The Lycan is a very good amp, it worked well with my HE-500.  But of course it isn't a match for my Gustard H10 with the same V5's in them.
 But the one thing the lycan does what the H10 doesn't is let you try out op-amps much faster since it fully open and take seconds to remove and install op-amps, where the Gustard H10 you would have to unscrew all 4 screw before you have access to the op-amps.  It works really well for an op-amp test bench. During the time I was using it I didn't have any problems with the lycan, everything worked like they should
 
I want to thank burson audio for sending me the burson Audio Lycan, it been fun using this amp and very helpful op-amp bench test usage.