First Introductions

I bought these back in October and have only been able to enjoy them in the last couple of weeks (i.e. from late April 2013 after ordering in October 2012). I can't stress enough how important it is to get the impressions done perfectly the first time around.

My experience was unfortunately tainted by extremely variable customer service, but the product speaks for itself and is worth the wait. The sound is just magic - beautifully balanced across the whole frequency range, plenty of impact in the bass without any negative impact into other frequencies, and a brilliant soundstage that extends high, low and wide.

The Miracles are definitely susceptible to influence from the source's output impedance so be sure to pair them with a <1 ohm output before judging. Higher output impedances result in less bass and more treble, resulting in an OK sound, but a slightly imbalanced and possibly fatiguing sound which is not as overall enjoyable.

Also, I have paired my Miracles with the DHC Symbiote SE Litz cable and cannnot recommend this pairing enough - magical!

I've written a full, in-depth review including some information about the process of ordering CIEMs and having impressions done. You can read it here: http://passionforsound.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/unique-melody-miracles/

I totally agree about the Miracle!

These are easily the best earphones I've ever heard. They out-perform both of my older sets of cans. Admittedly, they're older headphones, but they're AKG and Sennheiser cans that were worth equivalent money or better than the Re0s so, to me, that's impressive!

The Head-Direct and Hi-Fi Man brands are one and the same so don't be thrown by the different references. If it says Re0, it's the same earphone regardless of which brand you read on the review.

The Re0s are a 9mm dynamic driver canal phone. They are a simple and plain design which belies their spectacular sound.

The specs don't really jump out:

9mm dynamic drivers with neodymium
64 Ohm impedance
100 dB/1mW sensitivity
15 - 22,000 Hz range

Sound Quality

I used to work for a hi-end audio-visual manufacturer and one of the key lessons from my time there was that the first impression of an audio or visual source is not accurate. The TVs and speakers that we often go for first are the most dynamic or bright, but almost never the most accurate. These dynamic sources seem exciting at first, but will quickly become tiring. The natural, true-to-life sources seem dull, flat and boring at first, but in time our body adjusts to these (and we stop comparing them with other sources) and we discover the subtleties and balance that make them truly special. The Re0s are one of those balanced, natural sources so give them a chance when you first get them. Get to know them so they can knock your socks off when you least expect it!!

The sound from the Re0s is pretty close to perfect. Detail is amazing, mids are realistic and bass is present, but never over-stated. The sound is smooth, detailed and never harsh.

On first listen, I was concerned that the Re0s lacked bass. Some reviews also speak about the bass being a bit thin, but I played around with the different tips provided (5 options!) until I found the right ones. That fixed it and the bass has been beautiful ever since. Coincidentally, this happened after some burn-in time so I can't rule out the benefit of burning these in - the debate rages on!

Design

If there's one negative of the Re0s it's their design from a purely aesthetic perspective. In terms of fit and performance, they're right on the mark, but they look pretty cheap. That doesn't mean they aren't well put together. The bodies are metal and the rubber used in the cable is high quality. The plug is high quality and the insulation is tapered so it'll fit any source you can think of. The cable splits at a classy metal junction and the sliding ring to hold the separate L/R cables together is also metal so it's not like they actually ARE cheap, quite the opposite, but they LOOK cheap.

The phones themselves are simple, black painted metal with touches of polished metal. On the back of the phones is a circular area of bare metal and the finish here looks a bit rough, but it doesn't actually effect the earphones so look past that and be pleased that the Re0s are a sleeper that no-one will be drawn to steal (unless they've listened to a pair

).

Comfort

I'm a novice with canal phones, but I find these comfortable. It's important though that you find the right tips. The Re0s come with S, M & L black rubber tips and S & L twin-flange tips. Play around until you find the right one and pay attention to the bass quality. When the bass and sound isolation are best, you've got the best seal.

Something to note here is that pushing canal phones into your ear can create a pressure lock of sorts in the ear canal. Not only can this be uncomfortable, it can also affect the performance of your eardrum and possibly the phone. If you feel pressure, wiggle the earphone until the pressure equalises and then judge the sound and comfort.

Isolation

Again, as a canal phone novice, I have no real comparison, but these block out plenty of noise when I'm on the train or riding my bike so they're good enough for me.

Source Notes

I was concerned when I bought the Re0s that they may not work effectively on my iPod or iPhone without amplification. They do. I love great sound, but I'm realistic about it and don't want to carry around excess equipment. The Re0s are a perfect way to achieve outstanding sound from a simple source like the iPod... BUT... you won't want to use any equaliser adjustments on basic sources (like iPods). Basic sources don't have the amplification circuits to really handle any tweaking of the sound.

Before I got the fit of the Re0s right I was playing around with the bass boost on the iPod and I forgot to switch it off. Later in the week I was disturbed to hear all sorts of sound quality issues from my iPod and actually thought the amplifier circuit was giving up the ghost (it's an old pod). I suddenly realised my mistake and switched off the bass boost - perfect!

The Re0s WILL show up any poor recordings and sources, but the good news is that their magnificently balanced sound means that you shouldn't have to apply modifications to the sound - just enjoy it as the artists intended.

Overall

These phones have everything right where it matters. They've outperformed everything I've listened to, even phones worth more $$$. They don't look flashy, but they sound spectacular (if you get the fit right). I'd recommend these to anyone.

I got into music at a young age and my love of all types of audio gadgets stemmed from the joyous experience of hearing great music reproduced to its maximum potential. Along the way I have gotten lost at times and fallen into the trap of pursuing the technicalities over the musicalities. As Head-Fiers, the term 'musical' can sometimes be seen as a negative - a polite way of saying "Technically these aren't very good, but they make my music sound fun" but I want to pose a question to you: what do you think headphones are meant to do? Recognising that the answer to that question is different for all of us, you need to answer that question for yourself before you read on because it will completely change the relevance of the following information for you.

The Nighthawks came to me on loan courtesy of Australian distributor, Ambertech. I had heard them briefly at Noisy Motel here in Melbourne and while not blown away, was keen to hear a bit more before making up my mind. A mate of mine who works at Ambertech was kind enough to arrange the loan and I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunity.

I've written a technical review of the Nighthawks on my blog so rather than repeating the same content in two places, let me share the story of my Nighthawk experience with you here.

First Introductions

I'd read about the Nighthawks here on Head-Fi and they seemed really interesting, so I jumped at the first chance I had to try them.

That first audition was using an iPhone connected to the Cozoy Aegis DAC - a very capable DAC - and my very first thoughts were that the 'hawks sounded nice, but they didn't blow me away. They reminded me of HD650s which is a high compliment, but at nearly $1000 here in Australia, my early enthusiasm was somewhat dulled. There was no denying how insanely comfortable and beautifully built they were, but coming from HD800s, T1s and LCD 2s, I didn't feel like the Nighthawks stacked up.

Nonetheless, I was keen to spend longer with them and accepted the offer from my friend at Ambertech to spend a couple of weeks with the 'hawks.

A Proper Listen

After receiving the loan pair I proceeded to put them through their paces with all my gear - portables, my phone, and various solid state and tube desktop amps. Each time, the sound was great, but also clearly showed the characteristics of each amp. For example, my Bottlehead S.E.X. amp was modified with capacitors specifically designed to create a rich, resolving mid-range. With the 'hawks, the S.E.X. sounded just as rich and magical as it does with my Audeze LCD-2s. Moving across to the much more neutral Bottlehead Mainline amp showed completely different characteristics with a much more balanced sound and a stronger sense of balance between the mids and treble. Immediately it was clear that the Nighthawks are truly transparent (i.e. they reveal the characteristics of the track and source chain rather than dominating it with their own influence). And yet, something troubled me...

That Bass!

The most striking element of the Nighthawk's sound was the bass. The bass seemed to be enhanced or maybe a little boomy on some tracks, but then it would disappear on others. There was no doubt in my mind that these headphones had the chops for some serious foot-tapping listening sessions, but I couldn't yet tell if the bass reproduction was accurate or a slight enhancement.

Well, further listening proved to me that the Nighthawks are very accurate in their bass reproduction, but they sound like they have slightly emphasised bass because they lack emphasis in the mids and treble. I'm so used to headphones like the Beyerdynamic T1, Sennheiser HD800 and even the later model Audeze LCD-2s that actually carry some degree of emphasis in the upper frequencies and therefore diminish the relative presence of the bass. The Nighthawks don't do that and by omission of emphasis they instead produce a faithful representation of each recording in a way that I've rarely heard. If you're coming from an "audiophile" headphone you'll think there's too much bass, but extended time with the 'hawks has proven to me that they are much more true to source and the other headphones I've mentioned are actually colouring the sound. Whether that colour / emphasis is for better or worse isn't for me to say, but there's no doubt it's there when you have such a great reference point as the frequency response as the Nighthawks.

Other Elements of Performance

Other than their amazing accuracy of bass quantity, there are a few other notable elements of the Nighthawks' sound performance. Firstly, in keeping with the topic of bass, their bass control is excellent and the extension too. They don't decay as rapidly as something like the HD800s so they won't tighten up a recording with "loose" bass, but they will reproduce everything from that loosely played bass through to a super tight kick drum and they can provide as much thump and boom as needed, right down to the lowest audible frequencies.

Similar to the bass, the 'hawks' treble is just right with plenty of extension and clarity, but no emphasis. Once again, next to HD800s and their kin, the 'hawks may initially seem a bit warm and rolled off, but careful listening to some more treble-oriented tracks soon proved that not only was all the treble information being faithfully reproduced, but it was clean, smooth and grain free. The result is a highly enjoyable and highly accurate treble presentation that never becomes fatiguing or harsh, but manages to also fully convey the quality (or lack of) in the recording.

I left the mids to last because they're worthy of an encore. The magnificently balanced frequency response from the Nighthawks allows the mids to have a beguiling mid-range presentation that is both liquid and lifelike while also being detailed and accurate. Because there is no significant enhancement in the frequency range, the Nighthawks don't ever create artificial tones in the mids - no extra texture or breathiness in vocals, no sense of the sound coming through a small enclosure and sounding boxed in - just a natural and accurate representation of the recording with a sense of reality and clarity that's a pleasure to listen to.

All of this sound is presented in a relatively intimate soundstage, but intimate doesn't mean congested. The imaging from the Nighthawks, thanks to their transparent sound and ridiculously low distortion, is precise and accurate with a clear sense of space and a dark, velvety-black background from which each individual sound can spring to life with all of its inherent texture, resonance and timbre. The Nighthawks won't compete with headphones like the HD800 or T1 for their expansive soundstages, but it will easily compete for accuracy and space in the soundstage despite the alternate style of presentation.

So, Who Got it Right?

I've mentioned a few of the standard reference headphones in this review - HD800s, T1s (not considered quite so "reference" these days), and LCD 2s - and no doubt some people will immediately think I'm "off my tree" for mentioning the Nighthawks in the same sentence, but hear me out here.

I still own and love HD800s, but will be buying a pair of Nighthawks as soon as I can raise the funds for the simple reason that both are amazing at what they do. So, "who got it right?" They all did, but in different ways. The HD800s are still the ultimate microscope on the music, but they do what they do by enhancing the upper mids and treble so in reality, they aren't a truly neutral / transparent headphone. The newer LCD 2s take a similar approach to the sound which is a little more subtle than the HD800s, but is still emphasising some frequencies in the name of clarity and perceived resolution. As I write this I am selling my LCD 2s because they are closer in sound to the HD800s (not the same as) than they are to something like the Nighthawks and I want to have both a "clarity-enhanced" headphone and a musical and natural headphone in my collection so something had to go and, in my opinion, the HD800s are the ultimate microscope while the Nighthawks are the ultimate representation of the music in it's full, lifelike glory.

The Nighthawks are a headphone for people who love music and want to enjoy their music. As I said at the beginning, that's not a polite put-down, but the highest praise I can offer as a music lover and enthusiast. The Nighthawks are an incredible example of engineering and innovation, but rather than resulting in a scalpel-sharp reference tool, they're a pair of headphones designed to connect you with the heart and the soul of your music in all the best possible ways. That makes it hard to describe them in concrete terms because technicalities are far easier to put to paper - soul, heart and perfection are harder to pen.

As an industry, the headphone and earphone world seems to be obsessed with clarity and resolution so a headphone like the Nighthawks that don't "artificially" enhance clarity might seem less proficient in today's market, but if you love the emotional experience of being carried away by the ebbs and flows of your favourite music, do yourself a favour and try a pair of Nighthawks.

Apologies for not getting into the technicalities of the Nighthawk's design and specifications here, but I know there are other great reviews out there that will provide all that information for you and I wanted to share the story of these headphones with you in the same way that they share the stories of the music with us - not focussed on technicalities, just sharing the emotions, experiences and enjoyment of great music.

Well, I cannot agree with thei ECO FRIENDLY thesis, as these headphones got lots of plastic parts... On printed 3D mesh which suppose not to be biodegradable

Awesome review!

Nice review. As someone who owns the Sennheiser HD800S and Beyerdynamic T5P, I recently picked up a Nighthawk. It's day and night for me when I switch between these headphones. The NH is a shocker to say the least but I like it very much. It's a fun can for relaxed and casual listening like watching Netflix on my iPad.

For a more thorough review, please see my blog: http://passionforsound.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/tralucent-t1/

The T1 is a new portable amp from a new audio company (Tralucent). Don't be dissuaded - it's a brilliant product!

The T1 is a stocky design for a portable. Here it is with the Fiio E11.

As you can see, the footprint is the same as the E11, but it's about twice as thick. For some that might be an issue, but the performance definitely makes up for the size.

The T1 is simple (in a good way)

The only options are power on/off and volume. No gain switches or bass boost switches, just clean, transparent sound. It charges via USB and will operate while USB powered to save the battery, but battery life is great so you don't need to be precious with the power. A full charge from flat takes around 5 hours apparently, but seems to comfortably provide more than 10-12 hours of continuous playback (I left it playing all night to burn-in and it was still going strong the next morning).

In terms of design, the T1 does look handmade (or at least hand assembled) due to a handwritten serial number and the fact that on mine the 3.5mm output socket is on a slight angle. It doesn't affect usability at all and in some ways endears the product to me a little more because it adds a touch of soul. Some people might find it disappointing, but plug it in and take a listen before you get turned off by minor "imperfections" like that. In the end it's pretty perfect in all the places that matter.

Accessories

The T1 comes with:

rechargable NiMH 9V battery that you have to install yourself (so it can be shipped via air I guess)
Allen key to open the T1 (to install the battery)
2 x rubber bands to attach to your player
1 x high quality 3.5mm - 3.5mm interconnect
4 x adhesive rubber feet
USB charging cable

The Sound

The sound from the T1 is clean, transparent and controlled. It seems to be very neutral without any discernible colouration to my ears. It's got plenty of power so you'll have the headroom required for good sound dynamics on most headphones.

Driving my IEMs (Re272 and SE535 LE) the T1 is just magic. Soundstage is clear, open and well defined and there is absolutely no background noise so the music has real presence and texture as it comes out of the "darkness". The sound is dynamic, engaging, controlled and exciting - without any colouration.

In reading over this I've noticed that I keep talking about control. The T1 does an incredible job of keeping the sounds tight and punchy, but still musical. There's no sense of artificial restriction to the sound, but it's SO TIGHT! I was listening to some Wolfmother and the individual sounds were so well defined and with such great impact that I had to go back and listen again. At the time my source was a 7th Gen iPod Classic which I find a little bit lacking in its presentation when compared to my iPod Video (5.5G) and Cowon X7 so for it to sound so good is a real credit to the T1.

When driving the HD650s, the T1 does a great job for a portable amp. It doesn't have the same dynamics as my Audio-gd NFB-5.2, but the general quality of the sound (i.e. silent background, clear and transparent presentation, etc.) is equal.

For me, the T1 sounds easily as good as anything I've plugged my IEMs into. Sure, it doesn't have the voltage swing to power less sensitive full-size cans, but for a portable amplifier it's going to be very hard to beat - especially for the price which is well below it's realistic competitors (2Stepdance, Voyager, RSA Hornet, etc.)

I hope to complete a full comparison review on my blog in the near future, but would already highly recommend the T1 based on it's merits alone. For the price I am very confident saying that you won't find a comparable portable amplifier!

yay!! getting them in feb!!

You'll love it!

sonically T1 is a marvel, a brilliant simple amp which does everything sooooo right.
i also love T1 hand-made quality which adds a feel of premium product as opposed to the mainstream.

I'll update this once I get my UM Miracles back to really put it through its paces, but the Dragonfly sounds incredible driving my BeoLab 3 (active) speakers.

Super easy setup - literally plug and play. I'm using it with ASIO4ALL and it blows away any other USB-powered DACs I've heard. Connected to my BeoLab 3s it's easily on par with my Audio0gd NFB-5.2 in terms of soundstage and transparency.

More to come when I can drive some IEMs and headphones with it

I've been looking for a good open headphone that I can use in the office instead of my IEMs. It proved a little tricky to find a portable open headphone, but I eventually narrowed it down to the following list:

AKG K420
Sennheiser PX100
Jays V-Jays
Koss Porta Pro
Aiaiai Tracks

After much listening and comparison, plus a little thinking about my wallet as I don't need a flagship sound quality for this application, I settled on the AKG K420s.

The K420s offered easily the most balanced sound of those listed above. The Sennheisers came a close second, but for the extra money, I felt that they were limited to sounding good on bassy genres while lacking some space and resolution for more subtle acoustic tracks.

The K420s are fairly no-frills. Except for the denim coloured trim on the grey frame, there is no bling and they come with a simple, short (1m) cable and a simple carry pouch. For me, that's perfect because the cable is just long enough to reach my laptop without pulling or tangling.

The sound from the K420s is outstanding if you keep the price tag in mind. Clearly they're not going to compete with some of the $200-$300 offerings out there, but I can't find an option under $150 that comes close to their balanced, clean sound.

Bass is ample and responds well to a good EQ, mids are solid and clean, and highs are detailed and resolved to a good level.

In comparison to the PX100s and Porta-Pros, the K420s could seem a little bright at times and therefore may become fatiguing and high volumes, but haven't listened for long enough to know yet. For me, their ability to create space in the soundstage and resolve detail was what pushed them past the competition.

For less than $150-200 (perhaps more?) you will have a very hard time finding a better blanced sounding portable, open headphone. The PX100 would be my choice for a bass-oriented sound, but these win hands-down for balanced sound.

You've just answered my question........The K420

Cool. Glad I could help. I continue to be impressed by the K420.

Completely agree with Loquah, the only other contender for me is the Beyerdynamic DTX 501p, albeit a little more expensive. The AKG is nearly faultless at this price point, an annoyingly short cable is about my only gripe, slightly soft highs and the tonal balance in general is slanted downward towards the mids and bass. The 420 is overall very musical if not the last word in detail, if you favor a more analytical presentation with more HF extension, the DTX 501p merits consideration.

I have created a thread to discuss and compare the Bottlehead range of headphone amplifiers so I'll share a small excerpt here just abouthow the amp sounds, but I'd recommend heading over to the thread for much more information and opportunities to read other people's opinions and discuss your thoughts: http://www.head-fi.org/t/683012/bottlehead-amplifier-discussion-comparison-thread-crack-sex-mainline#post_9831533

Sound

As a top of the line amplifier, I had high expectations of the Mainline. My initial impressions were just OK - it sounded good, but not amazing and I wondered if it was actually better than the lower-priced S.E.X. After spending a bit longer listening to the Mainline, I can confirm that it's a clear step ahead of the S.E.X. and also of any other amplifier I've heard so far. What's a little deceiving though is the way in which the Mainline impresses, but read on - I won't spoil the fun and tell you everything in the intro!

Treble

Clean, crisp, extended and detailed, but oh so polite.

The Mainline delivers smooth, but fully extended treble without a hint of hash or grain. There's no lack of detail or clarity, but a complete lack of harshness and fatigue. The Mainline's treble presentation is the best I've heard as yet in my headphone journey. Cymbals, percussion and high frequency textures are present and clean with good weight and presence, but are well-balanced with the rest of the sonic picture. Music can still be sibilant, but only as a result of a poor recording, not because of the amplifier. As strange as it sounds, that's a good thing because it means the amp isn't adding harshness or edge to good recordings, but while also not smoothing over poor recordings - it's presenting what's there in a really polite, but accurate way.

Mids

The mids from the Mainline are simply sublime. There's a weight and substance to the mids that is reminiscent of the Crack at its best, but significantly better.

Of all the Mainline's sonic traits, the midrange is probably the defining factor to my ears and it's the weight of notes which signifies the difference. Instruments and vocals sound and feel real. I had never really noticed before that other amps of mine create a really enjoyable facsimile of the instruments in the recording. The reason I had never noticed is because I hadn't heard it done just right. Hearing the Mainline has redefined my expectation of midrange presentation from an amplifier. There's no thickness or creaminess to the midrange sounds, just a solidity and presence that's beguiling and magical.

I wondered for a while if I'd hit a sweet spot on certain tracks, but listening to a range of tracks showed that the Mainline excels on a range of instruments, male and female vocals, transient sounds (such as drum hits) and sustained notes - everything just sounds so real.

Bass

I've stated previously that the one short-coming of the S.E.X. in my eyes was it's slightly lean bass presentation. I'm pleased to report that the Mainline strikes a perfect balance between the Crack and the S.E.X. It's tighter than the Crack, but fuller than the S.E.X.

Similar to the mids, the bass from the Mainline is weighty and realistic. There is plenty of presence at the bottom end, but no bloat or bleed from the bass. As I mentioned earlier, the impedance switch can tighten or loosen the bass presentation slightly depending on your headphones, but on either setting (given appropriate impedance headphones) the bass is excellent - full, punchy, and quick with great impact, incredibly realistic weight, and just the right speed of decay.

There's not a lot more to say about the bass of the Mainline - it just does what it should - presents the bass in a realistic way that's accurate to the recording. There no emphasis or alteration that I can hear - just clean, accurate bass that's perfectly balanced with the rest of the audio spectrum.

Staging & Imaging

If I had to choose one area that the Mainline has failed to meet my expectations, it's in the area of stage size, but this needs some explanation...

The Mainline's stage is more intimate than the S.E.X.'s and I simply adore the space and size you hear when plugged into the S.E.X. The Mainline's presentation is more intimate than the S.E.X. - once again about halfway between the presentation of the Crack and the S.E.X. If the Crack is a front row seat and the S.E.X. is a 10th row seat, then the Mainline is probably a 3rd or 4th row seat. I'll discuss the differences between the Mainline and the S.E.X. in the comparison section.

The Mainline's staging is open and defined despite the more intimate placement of the music so it's not like the staging and imaging is poor, it's just not in line with my personal preferences. That said, I'm not sure that the incredible realism and weight I discussed earlier would be possible with the more distant presentation of something like the S.E.X. and I would trade that level of realism for anything

in the world.

You might be worried that a more intimate presentation equates to a congested or crowded sound - well don't be! Sounds are clearly separated and defined and the weight of notes discussed earlier make the imaging some of the most accurate and realistic I've heard. While only moderate in forward projection of the sound, the Mainline's stage is wide and has good height.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of the Mainline's staging and imaging is its ability to separate different sounds while maintaining a single overall auditory picture. This amp manages to keep a perfectly coherent representation of the musicians while also perfectly defining each sound in its own space. You can hear every instrument, vocal, noise and texture on it's own and yet also simultaneously as a part of the overall sonic tapestry. Sounds pop out of the recording when they're meant to and blend in when they're meant to, but at any time you can single out any individual sound or instrument and hear it completely on it's own without negative influence from other sounds in the recording. This all makes for an incredibly engaging listening experience and it's got me really wanting to try the Mainline with some HD800s to see what it's really capable of when it comes to staging and imaging.

Sound Summary

The Mainline's sound is effortless. It's controlled, polite and completely coherent. At first listen you may not be "wowed" by this amp, but on extended listening you soon realise that every track you hear sounds as solid and real as you've ever heard it. Nothing jumps out to amaze you, but everything sounds excellent.

I used to work for Bang & Olufsen and one of the key traits with their audio and video gear was an attention to lifelike reproduction. At first, lifelike reproduction sounds ordinary and everyday - it's only as you spend more and more time with it that you appreciation of it grows because it's completely believable and never fatiguing because nothing is overdone or enhanced. The Mainline reminds me a lot of this approach to audio - nothing is emphasised or highlighted so it's not an exciting sound, but it's a real sound and that continues to be enjoyable for hours on end and days, months and years of listening.

The sound of the Mainline is accurate, clean, smooth and controlled. It's incredibly balanced across all frequencies and it delivers the same auditory experience on every track I've tried across all kinds of genres. This is an amp you buy to listen to and enjoy for the long haul, not to "wow" you or amaze you in the short term. The realism of sound from this amp is still enlightening me as I continue to listen - it's a subtle kind of marvelous that has to be lived with for a while to fully understand, but it's addictive and amazing once it starts to sink in.

Fantastic review mate!

Absolutely fantastic review, among the best I've ever read here! This allows me to really get a sense of how the amp will sound. The bottlehead amps look like interesting projects (with reasonably priced tubes as an added benefit) and I'd love to audition the mainline and compare it to my custom DV 337. Or just order it and learn how to solder (or the other way around, probably a better idea) but my wife would kill me if another piece of gear 'with all those light bulbs!' entered the house.

Were you able to compare the balanced output vs the single ended output on the same pair of headphones? Like the HD-650?

I've had the X-Sabre for about a week now and I'm seriously impressed. It produces fantastic detail and separation in the sound, but manages to do so with a very analogue and smooth presentation. I chose the X-Sabre because I'd heard it was a musical DAC and it hasn't disappointed.

Build Quality

Ridiculously good! It's made from a solid block of aluminium, has a sleek look with simple white LED indicators on the front panel and a smooth finish to the exterior that looks and feels very high quality. It sits on 3 feet instead of the usual 4. This means it can tilt at the back corners when you're connecting cables, but it's a minor issue.

Connectivity

No Toslink might be an issue for some as mentioned in Project86's review, but I bought the X-Sabre for computer audio. It also has Coaxial and AES if required.

I first used the X-Sabre with a friend's Mac and it was literally seamless plug & play with no driver installation and no hiccups. Connectivity with the PC was almost as simple and just required a driver installation which is provided on a 32Mb USB stick in the X-Sabre box. Once connected and recognised, the X-Sabre works with both WASAPI and ASIO, but the ASIO driver is apparently the recommended communication method.

My last DAC would often cause issues with MediaMonkey when changing from lo-res to hi-res tracks. After over a week I've had no such issues with the X-Sabre and it's been a week with plenty of listening.

Outputs

The X-Sabre has a pair of RCAs outputting 2.2V and a pair of 3-pin XLRs putting out 6.8V. The RCA outs are fine, but the high voltage of the XLRs mean that there's no room for adjustment on the volume control of my amps - it's loud or off. I'm currently working on ways to trim the voltage using an L-pad design (resistors in parallel and series to bleed off some voltage), but it's a shame to have to fiddle with the system like this when Matrix probably could have built in a similar system to tame the super-hot outputs.

Sound Quality

The sound from the X-Sabre is incredibly detailed, but also smooth. The background is beautifully silent which allows the instruments to "pop" out of their well-defined space in the soundstage. Because the presentation is smooth and almost a little analogue sounding, the brilliant detail and high levels of definition between instruments don't become grating or fatiguing, but just exciting and engaging.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the X-Sabre having heard that it was a "musical" rather than analytical DAC, but it's only just a hair towards musical so it's not at all bloated or smoothed over like some "musical" presentations can sound. For me, the X-Sabre is the perfect balance between detail and enjoyment.

My detailed review and images are here: http://passionforsound.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/matrix-x-sabre-dac/

@zilch0md

Overview

In the world of personal audio, the ultimate sound experience generally comes from custom molded in-ear monitors (CIEMs). In recent times, top of the line (TOTL) CIEMs have gone from 3-6 balanced armatures per side to 10 and even 12 BAs per side. The Kaiser 10 is an example of a 10 driver CIEM and has 10 individual drivers in each ear-piece – a pretty awesome piece of spatial design, but also a challenge of epic proportions when it comes to ensuring that all of those drivers are delivering their frequencies in time with and in support of the other drivers in each ear piece.

One of the largest challenges of any multi-driver setup (including speakers) is to have each driver deliver its optimum frequencies without interfering with the frequencies coming from the other drivers. A speaker manufacturer faces challenges with 2-3 drivers so imagine what happens when you get 10!! Add to that the challenge of placing the drivers at slightly different distances from the sound outlets and the possible timing / phase challenges this presents and getting everything right to the level expected of a flagship CIEM becomes a daunting prospect.

Specifications

Not much is published about the Kaiser 10’s specs, but what we do know is that they have / are:

10 drivers per side
4-way design (e.g. bass, mid, lower treble, higher treble) – the exact arrangement isn’t specified by Noble, but this example is a guess based on the Noble website info
Approx. 35 ohm impedance
4-wire braided cable (silver plated copper) with 3.5mm plug and industry standard 2-pin earpiece connectors

The Kaiser 10 is named after a mysterious team member at Noble known as Kaiser Soze. The design has apparently been in the works (or maybe even on the shelf / back-burner) for a number of years, but was recently brought to life by Dr John Moulton, Kaiser Soze and the team at Noble.

At $1599 USD, it’s a serious investment into an audio device so it needs to perform at a level suitable for the pinnacle of this hobby – they’re big shoes to fill…

The Custom Process

I won’t spend much time describing this process because there’s a lot of info out there about what’s involved in the process of buying custom in-ears (including this video), but I would like to briefly highlight the process and where Noble might differ slightly.

Decide on the brand and model you want to buy – sometimes without even hearing them
Get instructions from the manufacturer about how to get your ear impressions taken (different brands like the impressions done differently)
Go to a good audiologist, one who does impressions regularly, and get them to fill your ears with goo (temporarily)
Send your impressions to the manufacturer
Wait
Wait some more
Try to forget you ordered customs
Wait some more
…
Receive your customs and hopefully enjoy a perfect fit first time around (if you read my Miracle review you’ll see that this doesn’t always happen)

So, you see, ordering a set of customs is as much an exercise in delayed gratification and the taking of calculated risks as it is an exercise in purchasing audio excellence. It’s 100% worth the effort though if you choose right, and that’s a function of knowing what you like and don’t like before you pull the trigger. For example, I knew as I purchased the K10s that I wanted a CIEM that was resolving and detailed, but not analyitcal – I wanted musicality and realism first and foremost. I wanted to feel like I was sitting at a live performance or recording every time I put these in my ears.

How Noble Differs

Most CIEM companies allow some degree of customisation in terms of colour choice and artwork for your CIEM shell and faceplates. Noble offer this with even more options than most brands, but they also offer a whole different level known as Wizard designs.

Dr John Moulton has earned the moniker, The Wizard, because of his amazing aesthetic designs on CIEMs. To see some examples of these, take a look at Noble’s Instagram feed. When you order a Noble CIEM you have the choice to pay $200 extra and have a “Wizard re-print” which is a recreation of a past design, or you can $400 and have a unique design crafted for you by The Wizard . You can offer some preferences (e.g. blingy, conservative, lots of blue, something quirky, etc.) or you can just kick back and let The Wizard work his magic. Personally I went somewhere in between because I discovered that Dr Moulton could work with some stones so I hunted down a stone / crystal with significance to me and asked for it to be incorporated in a design of his choosing, but something not too flashy. The results, as you’ll see, are astounding and beautiful!

The level of customisation at no extra charge for a set of K10s is industry-leading in my experience and the option to go to the “Wizard design” level is great for those who love something unique and amazing. There is even a Prestige range which is essentially a K10 set inside a shell made using high-tech machining that allows the use of solid pieces of wood or other materials and can even result in some wood / acrylic hybrids that look spectacular. You pay a mighty premium, but the result is visually jaw-dropping.

Delivery, Packaging & Accessories

So far we’ve been on a high note so I’m a little sad to say that there is at least one fly in the ointment…

Receiving your K10s could be an underwhelming experience to some. I was blown away by how fast they arrived after being dispatched from the factory in China, but upon opening the cardboard box, things were a little less impressive.

Other than foam packaging, inside the cardboard box was a pelican-style hard case inside a Noble-branded cardboard sleeve. After removing the plastic sleeve, the hard case displayed a Noble badge and my name branded into the plastic of the case. It’s utilitarian and basic which can be a bit of a let down when buying a premium product. Putting our consumer needs aside for a moment though, Noble gives you everything you need and nothing you don’t. When it comes to customs, you don’t really need the sexy packaging to keep for resale because they’re not generally not worth reselling. I think Noble’s packaging approach is perfectly fine, but it might not meet your default expectations so please go in with your eyes open – you won’t be getting a sexy, silk-lined box with crystal paper weight and metal owners card. You will however be getting some seriously sexy CIEMs though so there’s that…

Accessories

Upon opening the Noble hard case you’ll be greeted by your new CIEMs, a high quality, lightweight braided cable (the black one in the pics) with angled 3.5mm jack, two black Noble elastic bands, a plastic ownership card, and a standard CIEM cleaning brush. Nothing special, but once again everything you need and nothing you don’t.

The cable is similar to the Westone Epic cable, but offers 4 independent strands braided together into a tight, but flexible braid. The rubber bands are your standard type band for strapping together a portable audio brick, and the cleaning tool is the same one as I’ve seen everywhere else.

As you can see in the picture above, the top of the lid gets a few indentations from the CIEMs when you store them because the case is just big enough for the CIEM shells, but I don’t ever get the feeling that there’s pressure placed on the CIEMs when closing (although I am also always very careful and gentle).

Build Quality & Fit

I had lots of troubles when I bought my first customs, the UM Miracles, but I learned from that experience and was very careful to keep my head super still during the ear impression process. Even with the perfect impressions (second time around), my Miracles were never quite perfect and used to break the seal when I made certain movements so I expected a similar experience with the K10s and was OK with that idea so long as the seal breakages were no worse than the Miracles.

As it turns out, my expectations from a custom fit were set way too low coming from the Miracles. The K10s fit like a glove and fill my ears perfectly in all areas – both inside the canals, but also where they sit in the outer section of the ear. Until trying the K10s, I didn’t know what a quality custom fit was really all about. I can eat, walk, tilt my head, yawn, and all sorts of other things without disrupting the seal created by the K10s – they’re perfect!

In addition to the perfect seal and comfort from the K10s, they are impeccably finished and beautifully polished. The thin layer of crystal placed in each faceplate is enclosed in a flawless bubble of clear acrylic which is polished to a glass-like sheen and creates a depth that you can just gaze into – the pictures don’t do it justice.

The shell of my CIEMs is a translucent, deep purple which is equally well crafted and polished. You can’t see much through the shell due to the dark colour, but what you can see is neat and well-arranged in terms of both drivers and wiring.

The Noble crown logo is printed onto each shell (in a turquoise colour in my case) and The Wizard’s signature is printed onto the faceplate of just one CIEM.

Sockets

Noble uses the industry standard 2-pin connector which is flush mounted (not recessed like my UM Miracles were). At first I was disappointed to read that Noble used flush mounts (I hadn’t seen it), but seeing how well the socket is built into the shell of the K10s makes me realise the reason for the decision. With a recessed socket, the acrylic “walls” where the cord / plug inserts are a weak point and can look a bit shabby, but with the flush sockets, it all looks sturdy, solid and beautifully finished.

Sound

As with any audio gear, this is the part that really matters. We’ve already established the immense challenge of getting 10 drivers, or 20 if you count both sides, to truly sing as one and the expectations from a $1600 earphone are understandably high so I think I was holding my breath a little when I first inserted the K10s in my ears and pressed play on my FiiO X5…

…the result was underwhelming…

Yes, I was honestly not impressed. “Sure, they’re good” I thought, “but they’re not $1600 good”. In my mind I was comparing them to my recently acquired Shure SE846 and could honestly have been quite happy with just the SE846 and $1600 back in my pocket.

If you’ve read other reviews of the K10, you might be asking yourself right now “What’s wrong with this guy’s ears?” Everyone else raves about these earphones so what was I hearing (or not hearing)?

I had this sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t hearing the best of the K10s. Something told me that they had a lot more to give so I started playing with different sources and discovered the true cause of my disappointment – not the K10s, but the source I was feeding them with.

Quality of Source

What I have come to love (very quickly) about the K10s is that they sound good from any source I’ve tried – they’re not at all fussy about the source and won’t berate you with sibilance or shoddy frequency responses even if you plug them into a sub-par smartphone. However, you don’t buy the K10 to have them sound good, you buy the K10 to have them knock your socks off, and for that you need a quality source.

Let me clarify, the K10s will sound good with everything, but their performance will be restricted by a lesser source more than any other headphone / earphone I have ever experienced. When I said earlier that the K10 left me wanting more, what I meant was that they left me wanting more from my sources so I could really hear just what these little gems were capable of, and boy did they reward me!

The FiiO X5 is a very good source and worth every penny. With every other IEM / headphone I own, I felt like I was listening to a world-class setup (when combined with my E12DIY amp), but somehow, the K10s were whispering in my ear when I was using the X5 stack – they were saying, “We could do more, you know.” I’m so glad I listened to that “whisper” and switched over to the Shozy Alien as my source as well as changing op amps in the E12DIY amp to maximise the sound for the K10s. Changing sources unleashed the magic of the K10s, namely their incredible ability to create a spacious, accurate soundstage with the greatest coherency of sound I have heard from anything short of perhaps Audeze LCD-2s or Sennheiser HD800s, but I’ll return to that comparison a little later.

The reason I have spent a bit of time discussing sources here is that I have read a number of discussions comparing the SE846 and Noble Kaiser 10 with people saying that the K10 isn’t really much better. My experiences have me thinking that people with this experience perhaps haven’t had the benefit of a top quality source. After a great universal earphone like the SE846 stops improving with different sources, a world class CIEM like the K10 still has more to give. (For the record, I still love the SE846)

Bass

The bass from the K10 is perfect – yes, perfect.

I raved about the bass from the SE846’s in my review of those, but the K10 takes it one step further, in my opinion. The K10s offer a shade less quantity of bass overall, but provide even better quality, clarity and texture in the bass than the SE846. The K10s actually dig a little bit deeper, but aren’t quite as full in the mid-bass region.

The bass from the K10s is deep and thunderous when the recording calls for it, but the bass is perfectly balanced with the rest of the sound spectrum. I would describe the K10s as having neutral bass from a ‘perception point-of view’. In other words, while a frequency response chart of the K10s might show a lift in the bass region, my perception of the bass from the K10s matches very closely with what a live recording sounds like. In that respect, the K10s and SE846s are very similar with the SE846 having just a touch more overall bass energy, particularly in the mid-bass.

Apart from slightly lifted bass to create that realistic, live sound, the K10s have the purest bass I’ve heard from an earphone and easily rival full-size headphones with their bass performance. As is my normal practice, I fired up my favourites playlist to listen to while I wrote this review and on Michael McDonald’s song, I Want You, the bass guitar sounded extraordinary. It was clear, present and audibly defined within the overall performance, but still a completely coherent part of the performance.

The bass from the K10s sounds effortless, the same way it sounds coming straight from the instrument playing it live. Noble use two huge bass drivers in the design of the K10 and you can hear the ease with which these jumbo balanced armatures handle the challenge of creating subtle, textured, and sustained bass notes. The bass is endlessly clear, clean and textured no matter what you throw at it. Rumbling bass sends quivers into your eardrums while tight, punchy bass notes snap and crack with energy and impact – no matter where a recording sits on the continuum of speed, power, and grace, the K10’s bass drivers take it all in their stride and create a completely believable experience.

Mid-Range

The mid-range from the K10 is a little drier than something like the SE846, but it’s still weighty and realistic. Despite an overall warmth in the sound of the K10s, the mid-range never comes across lush or creamy, but it also never strays into cold, analytical sterility. No, the K10 walks a very fine line to create an accurate, reference quality mid-range that is also immensely enjoyable for long, long sessions of listening.

Both male and female vocals have plenty of realism, texture and clarity. The mids aren’t placed in a spotlight like the SE846 or FitEar TG!334, but they’re definitely good enough to attract your attention without needing to be highlighted in the tuning of the earphones.

Every instrument you hear through the K10s sounds real – they just sound right. Whether it’s a violin, a guitar, a cello, or a drum, the K10 provides just the right balance of attack and decay to sound real and lifelike – as if the instrument is hovering somewhere inside (or just outside) your head. It’s quite uncanny how lifelike the sounds coming out these little acrylic shells are. In fact, I regularly hear something from the K10s that I think has to be a real sound from the outside world, but then I remember how extremely good the isolation of outside noise is with the K10s and realise that it was a sound in the recording.

I’m listening to It’s a Hard World by Supertramp right now and the vocals, trumpet, cymbal strikes and guitars are beguiling – more please!

Treble

Descriptions of the K10’s treble still elude me – even after many weeks. Listening to music with the K10s (I haven’t tried a frequency sweep) has me often thinking that the treble is a little rolled off, but then I hear air and details in the music that can only be conveyed with excellent treble extension. I can only make 2 conclusions about the treble from the K10s without getting into objective measures which aren’t necessarily indicative of the subjective enjoyment so here go my subjective conclusions:

The treble is a touch lower in intensity than the mids and bass, but it is fully extended
The treble is perfect

Yes, I said the “P” word again, but you’ll have to get used to that when discussing the K10s I expect.

The treble from the K10s is smooth, but don’t mistake that for smoothed-over because it certainly isn’t. What’s amazing about the K10s is the way they convey all of the details, but never get edgy, even on shabby recordings. You’ll hear that it’s a shabby recording, but your ears won’t be bleeding from knife-like treble spikes. This was the most impressive thing to me when I reviewed the Noble PRs and it seems that Dr Moulton has treble tuning down to a fine art based on this repeat performance with the K10s.

By now a new track was on from my playlist – My Man’s Gone Now by Miles Davis and Gil Evans – and it showcased nicely how beautifully balanced and refined the K10s’ treble is. I could hear each brush on the drums, right down to the individual textural differences of each stroke, and I could hear when the recording levels of the brass section got a bit hot and distorted at the edges, but the whole thing still sounded wonderful. It’s like the K10s are the zen masters of earphones – they don’t judge anything in the music, they just accept it as it is. The K10s won’t chastise your ears for listening to a poor recording, they’ll just honestly let you know that there’s an issue here and an issue there, but without any drama or judgement. Just like a zen master, the sound from the K10s “just is”.

EDIT: I’ve come back to address the topic of treble a second time around because I think it’s difficult to capture the K10’s treble qualities in verbal descriptions. After thinking on this review overnight I felt like I needed to better clarify and describe the treble with some more concrete comparisons. I returned to the SE846 with both the blue and white filters and I also compared the K10’s treble to the HD800. The results are a clearer picture of why the K10s sound so wonderful. Where the SE846 (blue filter) rolls off a little too soon for those who want air and space in the sound, the K10’s treble continues to extend up into the higher registers where the subtlest of cues reside. Unlike the SE846 (white filter) though, this treble doesn’t seem like it includes any spikes – it is smooth and so can sound rolled-off at first, but if you compare it to a rolled off ‘phone you will hear a distinct difference and realise that the K10 has all the information, just without any spikes.

Comparing next to the HD800s, the HD800s initially sound a bit brighter and more detailed in the treble, but further listening shows that they have a slight emphasis in the mid treble (around 6 kHz according to various graphs), but not any significant extension beyond what the K10s offer. In other words, the K10s have all the information in the full treble spectrum, but none of it is emphasised so coming from a ‘phone with any treble lift (HD800, T1, FIDUE A83, etc.) you might find the K10 to sound a bit too smooth, but it’s all there – I promise – and it’s the lack of emphasis that allows the K10s to be so marvelously revealing and transparent, and yet completely non-fatiguing.

Imaging and Staging

I might never have declared this outright before, but staging and imaging are my top priority in audio gear because that’s where the magic happens. If you get everything else right, but the image is flat and/or narrow then you’ve achieved nothing more than reproducing a recording. Create a lifelike sense of space and image though and you’re now recreating music that sounds realistic with an atmosphere / ambiance that is magical – that’s a miracle!

You’ve probably guessed from my lyrical opening to this section that the K10s are just as adept at imaging and staging as they are at everything else. Well, that’s almost true…

I should have held back before on the use of the “P” word because if the bass, mids and treble from the K10s are perfect then I’m not sure how to describe the imaging qualities they create because the overall result is even better! The imaging from the K10s is spectacular – better than anything else I have heard, including the masters of imaging themselves, the HD800s. The K10s don’t quite match the HD800s for size of stage, but in terms of clarity of image and general sense of space around instruments they could be twins. In some ways I actually find the placement and precision of the K10s to be slightly better than the HD800s, possibly due to the fact that the K10s deliver the sound straight to the ear canal without any chance of unwanted resonance and reflections around the outer ear and side of the head.

With the K10s, every instrument in the auditory landscape is perfectly placed and perfectly connected within the overall auditory picture. The coherence achieved from these two sets of ten drivers is simply breath-taking. It’s very easy to forget that you’re listening to a recording via a set of earphones when you’re using the K10s – it’s more like a tiny band has found its way to a live performance inside your frontal lobe.

Size-wise, the stage projected by the K10s extends beyond each ear by about 1cm or so and projects forward into the forehead to create an oval-shaped space with no real gaps or holes. The stage isn’t huge from the K10s, but it is incredibly spacious – like a tardis. Every instrument is clearly separate and distinct from every other instrument, but not in a disembodied way – it’s hard to describe. The overall sonic picture is 100% coherent – everything fits together seamlessly – and yet, at the same time, you can clearly hear each instrument on it’s own. This is what I love most about the K10s. They don’t try to sound extraordinary by highlighting anything. Instead, they just present everything with precision and honesty and let you hear what you want to hear – it’s all there for you to take in as a whole or to focus on piece-by-piece – it’s up to you.

Quick Comparison

Coming from the outstanding SE846, I was keen to really compare these two as some of the best offerings on the market. Keep in mind that I am using a universal SE846 (not available as a custom, but there are silicon sleeves available which essentially turn the SE846 into a custom). For both earphones I am using high quality, copper litz cables and an identical source so the following comments are based solely on the performance and characteristics of the earphones themselves without the influence of different cables or sources.

The SE846s really hold their own in this comparison, especially when you consider that you can pick them up for around half the price of the K10s. The bass from both earphones is imposing and powerful, but I was surprised to hear that the K10s actually created an even deeper, stronger sense of rumble and texture on one of my test tracks – A Thousand Years by Sting. Of course, tip choice with a universal earphone can change the quantity of bass so it’s possible that they could be equals on quantity, but the textural quality won’t really change with tips and that gives an edge to the K10s.

The overall tuning of the bass is slightly different between the SE846 and K10 with the SE846 having more mid-bass impact and power than the K10s. As to which is better, that’s up to your personal tastes, but I prefer the more open sound created by the K10s with their slightly lifted sub-bass and closer-to-neutral mid-bass.

The mid-range and treble set these 2 apart a little more than the bass. The SE846 offers the more beguiling and seductive mid-range presentation and are truly world class in that regard. The K10 is no slouch in this department either, but is less liquid and lush than the SE846. Once again, this will be a case of preference and it’s important to recognise that you can’t affect one part of the frequency response without it significantly altering the overall presentation – for instance, in isolation I prefer the mid-range from the SE846, but if those same mids were added to the K10 it would completely destroy the magical balance struck by the K10’s tuning. If you want lush mids, you have to sacrifice in other areas.

The treble is really where the greatest differentiation lies in my opinion. The SE846 has an edge to the treble that holds it back from being truly perfect. As I said in my review of the SE846, it is so close to perfection that it doesn’t really matter, but if I’m doing a comparison of two awesome earphones it’s always going to come down to the little things and the SE846 just can’t match the K10’s proficiency and refinement in the treble. The SE846 does have the ability to be tuned using its filters, but the treble is never as good as the K10 and always has a slight edge to it that can flare up on some recordings. While the K10s don’t sound quite as airy as the SE846 in its most “trebley” setup, there is never any sense of darkness or thickness to the sound and its effortless refinement is just so enjoyable. To my ears, the treble from the K10s sits somewhere between the blue and white filters on the SE846.

The K10 also has a delicacy and refinement to its sound that the SE846 just can’t quite match and this brings with it the coherency and realism I spoke about earlier in the staging and imaging section.

Comparison Summary

To summarise my experiences I’d say that the SE846 and K10 are both amazing and deserving of flagship / TOTL status as universals and customs respectively. If money, resale value and the ability to share the sound with others is no object then the K10 is a clear winner on the grounds of better texture in the sound, sharper imaging, and more refined treble, but it’s not a smack-down. This is a hard-fought win; a score of 18-21 in a game of pick-up (first to 21 wins). If you have limited funds for an earphone purchase or you highly value the benefits of a universal then the SE846 might be a better option.

To my ears, the Kaiser 10 is hands-down the better earphone, but the SE846 is a proud runner-up.

Note: The K10 is available as a universal, but I can’t comment directly on the sound of it and would be amazed if it can match the amazing comfort of the SE846.

Overall Summary

There’s a reason everyone is raving about the Noble Kaiser 10 – it really is that good!

This is an earphone that is so perfectly balanced in it’s sound and design / build that it truly disappears and leaves you with nothing but the music and a smile. Not lacking in anything and not showcasing anything, the K10 really is the zen master of CIEMs and “just is” as it honestly and accurately conveys every sound, every nuance, and every emotion of the music without judgement and without opinion. While other earphones might strip away the bass to show you more details, or emphasise the mids to create more emotions, the K10 lets each track speak for itself and it has the full range of frequencies covered so skillfully that it convey whatever message the artist was trying to convey. Thunderous power through to fragile delicacy, the K10s have it covered, but not altered.

The Kaiser 10 is quite unique in that it’s completely happy with a basic source, but has endless potential to deliver when given the right setup. There’s no punishment for using your phone, but there are endless rewards for treating it to a great DAP or DAC and amp.

If you have the funds and want the best, I have no hesitation in recommending the Noble Kaiser 10, and having heard the Noble PR and now the Noble K10 I would highly recommend any potential CIEM buyers to head straight over to www.nobleaudio.com to see what they have to offer. Even if the K10 isn’t for you, the quality, attention to detail and masterful tuning I’ve seen so far from Noble tells me they’re easily a manufacturer of choice in the current CIEM market.

Note: Thanks to @zilch0md for tweaking this image of mine to it's peak potential

awesome review!!
what tips do you use in se846?
regards

Wow, that's a sick color. When I get mine in the near future, I'll probably get a similar one with pink and yellow in it as well. Great review!

Thanks for the review, Loquah. Coincidently, we are trailing very similar paths regarding personal audio. I own a SE846, I'm waiting for a Unique Melody CIEM to arrive (the Mentor, not the Miracle), and my ear mold impressions should be delivered to Brannan’s in a few hours (I'm getting the Prestige).

Regarding sources, I think that the SE846 is picky about them. In fact, from my experience, the 846 is quite difficult to drive, probably because of its very low 9 Ohm impedance. When driven from my iPod Classic, the bass simply wasn’t there. When I got an ALO Audio The National, bass was present and I thought problems were solved, but not until my Calyx M arrived that I realized the full potential of the SE846. While the bass was boomy, lacked definition, and invaded the rest of the spectrum with the ALO Audio, it was much more contained and detailed with the Calyx M. Yes, the Calyx M is such an amazing device that the SE846 sounded like a completely different phone! Perhaps the overall bass presence actually diminished with the Calyx M: it is as if the bass stays hidden and only appears when the music really asks for it. But I find it much more enjoyable and less fatiguing this way. The bass is not at all overwhelming, as was the case when the 846 is driven by a lesser source.

Anyway, thanks again for the review, I’m anxiously waiting for both my (first) CIEMs to arrive: the Mentor and the K10. Meanwhile, I’m still in love with my Shure.

The Empyreans might be the best headphone on the planet right now depending on your tastes. I was fortunate enough to review them a little while ago on the channel and have been in love ever since. I tend to use the leather pads almost exclusively because I love the extra bass presence they provide and I find the velours to create a slightly less realistic overall sound due to a slight upper-mid emphasis, but they still sound great overall.

Here's the full review I posted to YouTube:
Full Meze Empyrean Review

CustomArt started out as a manufacturer of silicone custom IEMs and rapidly made a name for themselves with beautifully tuned and crafted IEMs. Piotr, the founder of CustomArt was a fan of IEMs before he became a maker of IEMs so you know that anything he makes will be built for both enjoyment and performance.

Overview

The Ei.3 is CustomArt's first venture into acrylic IEMs and is priced at an insane sub-$300!! At that price it competes directly with brilliant universals like the AudioFly AF140, various DUNU and FIDUE earphones, and plenty of other contenders, but none of those competitors offer a custom fit which, if done right, will always out-fit and out-perform an equivalent universal.

Specifications

Drivers: 3 x balanced armatures
Frequency response: 10Hz-17000Hz (+-20dB into IEC711 coupler)
Sensitivity: 118dB @1kHz @0.1V
Impedance: 65 ohms @1kHz
Cable: detachable, ~4 feet long
Sockets: industry standard 2-pin, surface mount

Beyond the specs, I can tell you that the intention for the Ei.3 is to be a fun-sounding IEM for lovers of electronic (not my favourite genre) and bass (OK, you've got me a bit more interested now). In Piotr's own words from one of the original ads, "the Ei.3 is intended to sound big and bold".

After biting the bullet and selling my beloved Shure SE846, I really hoped that the Ei.3 would fill the gap when I wanted a thumping, bass-first experience (which I occasionally do), but the reason I actually own these is important for me to share. I was contacted by Kamil from CustomArt to discuss the purchase of some IEMs at a discount in return for a review (a win-win scenario). Unfortunately I've been completely strapped for cash lately so I couldn't scrape together the funds for one of CustomArt's flagship CIEMs. As luck would have it, they soon released news of this budget beast and were kind enough to offer a pair to me at no charge in order to help get the word out so I had fresh impressions made and shipped them off to Kamil and Piotr with much gratitude and a little excitement (I say 'a little excitement' because I really had no idea what to expect).

Boy am I glad that CustomArt offered this opportunity to me and I think you will be too once you read this review. Piotr and his team have set a new benchmark in price

erformance ratios with the Ei.3. As you may know from my previous reviews, freebies don't equate to an automatic good impression and I'll happily say so if I think a product misses its mark, but the Ei.3s are not an example of this in any way - they not only hit their mark, but surpass it with ease in almost every way.

Packaging & Accessories

The Ei.3s come shipped in a Pelican 1010 case with a moisture absorber, cleaning tool, and the CustomArt cable. There are no frills or embellishments, but there's nothing left wanting (except perhaps a microfiber cloth). For a $300 CIEM it's a pretty good deal when you're getting both an excellent set of earphones and a high quality carry case too.

Fit & Finish

During the design process, I told Kamil that I had always wanted clear CIEMs, but that I was also happy to receive whatever design Piotr chose (in case he wanted to show of his creativity and design expertise). What I received was a perfect compromise of a simple, but attractive flourish from Piotr and the clear shells I've always liked the look of, but never owned.

The shells and tips of my set are clear acrylic with faceplates that are translucent with a diamond pattern in them (red on the right, blue on the left). With the clear shells you can see that there are some imperfections in the shell where the inner surfaces are a little hazy and there are a few bubbles and patches to be seen on close inspection so the Ei.3 won't compare in build quality to best-in-the-business acrylic manufacturers like Noble, but this is a purely aesthetic issue which may not matter to some people and certainly doesn't worry me greatly. When you're not inspecting them closely (which is 99% off the time), the Ei.3 look great and there are plenty of design options to choose from on CustomArt's website. Also, keep in mind that opaque colours will completely negate the issues caused by transparent colours where you can see internal blemishes.

Edit: Since writing this review, Piotr has informed me that this pair of Ei.3s were about the 4th or 5th set of acrylics they ever made and they have put a lot of work into further improving the quality of the finish since these. No doubt future reviews will reflect these improvements and given that these are already quite OK, the future quality is likely to be at least on par with all manufacturers.

Fit

What's more important than the up-close aesthetics is the way a custom fits your ears based on the correct use of the ear impressions provided. I have to admit that I was curious to see how well the Ei.3s performed in this regard given that they're CustomArt's first ever acrylic product. I don't know if the design process is significantly different from the silicone they made their name with, but I have to admit that I had my doubts.

Well I'm almost embarrassed to think that I ever doubted the fit of the Ei.3s because they're perfect. They are absolutely as good as my Noble K10s in terms of fit and comfort and that's high praise. Even my UM Miracles never fitted as well as these Ei.3s so Piotr clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to trimming and adjusting the ear moulds to create acrylic customs.

Size, Shape & Design

Being a 3-driver custom using balanced armatures, the Ei.3 are as small as they probably can be (after all they have to fill your ear in order to stay in place). They fill the main bowl (concha) of the ear nicely, but have a flat profile that means they don't stick out of the ear so they're a lot sleeker than some of the million-driver behemoths being created now.

Looking inside the Ei.3 you can see 3 distinct BA drivers. The mid and treble drivers are nested together firing into a common sound tube while the large bass driver sits on an angle to make it flatter and is a bit further from the ear canal firing into its own very narrow sound tube. The choice of tube length and diameter is part of the voodoo of frequency management and time alignment in IEM design that I won't even pretend to understand, but suffice to say, whatever Piotr has done here works to perfection. I can't tell if there is crossover circuitry built in or if the crossover points are a function of each individual driver's range of capability, but none of that really matters if the earphone sounds good, right?

Sound

The Ei.3 is meant to sound big, bold and perfect for bass lovers, and it comes from a company that I've always thought of as slightly treble and resolution-oriented so I expected a very v-shaped sound with thunderous and perhaps slightly boomy bass accompanied by some bright and energetic treble... boy was I wrong!

Piotr has tuned the Ei.3 to near perfection and given that he's working to a budget (remember these cost <$300) and using just 3 BA drivers he has crafted something close to a miracle.

Treble

The treble from the Ei.3 is clean and detailed with a slight forwardness that lends the CIEMs some immediacy and energy without ever becoming harsh or fatiguing. The Ei.3s never leave me wanting more from the treble, but also never bite. If this is the CustomArt house treble tuning then consider me a fan.

Strummed guitar strings have a nice edge to them and cymbals have the ability to pierce (in a good way) and shimmer. I wouldn't describe the treble from the Ei.3s as being breathy or airy, but they're perfectly balanced just below that level. In other words, breathy vocals and brushes on snare drums have texture, but it's not enhanced or over-present. There is a subtle sense of roll-off from the Ei.3 when compared to slightly more extended IEMs, but it's only noticeable in comparison and they don't sound particularly rolled-off in isolation.

Mids

I love vocals and mid-range instruments so I would have been quite upset if the Ei.3 were too v-shaped with a canyon in the mid-range, but if anything they have a very slight lift in the mids that helps to pull everything into perfect focus.

Both male and female vocals are rendered with clarity and speed, but still with suitable weight. The mids from the Ei.3 are not lush or creamy so I wouldn't recommend these for people who like the heavily mid-centric sound of SE535s or SE846s, but you're not sacrificing vocals if you choose the Ei.3s - you can have your cake and eat it too.

There's not a lot more I can say about the mids. They're just right and perfectly balanced with the rest of the auditory picture cast by the Ei.3. They're not the star of the show, but they're also not left out the back somewhere to be forgotten.

Bass

OK, here's the moment you've been waiting for... do the Ei.3s live up to their intention to be big and bold?

Well, not exactly, but that's not a bad thing. You see, I'm measuring 'big and bold' against some of the best in the business - namely the SE846. Even so, solely on their own merits I would describe the Ei.3s as dynamic and engaging rather than big and bold.

The bass from the Ei.3 is punchy and agile, but it doesn't go super deep. Music has an engaging pace and pulse from the Ei.3, but I personally don't think of them as a bass-first IEM so much as a well-balanced IEM tuned for full-frequency enjoyment which, in my opinion, is better because it's more versatile across wide-ranging genres.

The bass from the Ei.3 is punchy enough to translate the percussive wave from kick drums and has sufficient rumble to give a bass (guitar or upright) its correct body and reverb. Electronic, sustained bass is appropriately solid and textured to provide the foundation for the sonic landscapes laid over the top. In short, the bass is very, very good - it's just not the star of the show and that's completely fine. Don't expect the Ei.3s to satisfy your bass cravings if you're a loud-and-proud bass-head. These are bassier than neutral, but not bass-oriented.

Staging & Imaging

The Ei.3s have a really engaging presentation that's sharply focussed, of good size, and coherent and natural.

What I like most about the presentation from the Ei.3s is the clear placement of each sound. The stage isn't huge and expansive, but the sense of space is just right so that everything is perfectly placed and feels well-spaced and never congested. There's also a nice perception of height created if you listen for it, but it's all subtle enough to not distract from the music so much as enhance the overall experience.

As much as I love a big soundstage, I prefer overall coherency and realism which is where CIEMs like the Ei.3 and Noble K10 both excel so I'm finding myself drawn more to those types of presentations on late.

Summary

CustomArt have succeeded in creating a massive, potentially industry-shaking statement IEM with the Ei.3. Normally statement pieces are TOTL offerings that many can only hope to one day afford, but the Ei.3 are an outstanding performer that almost all enthusiasts can afford. They are an amazing entry point for anyone contemplating the plunge into custom IEMs and are an equally good option for those already enjoying customs but looking for an additional CIEM with different tuning.

I've rated the Ei.3 as a 5-star IEM not because it will outperform everything else, but because of its astounding price

erformance ratio. It is everything a budget IEM should be and a whole lot more. If I had paid $600 for these I would still be impressed with their sound.

The Ei.3 is a well balanced-IEM that leans towards warmth, bass and engagement. It won't compete with the best treble / detail IEMs, mid-range centric IEMs, or bass monster IEMs, but it will give you an excellently balanced sound that is completely enjoyable with any genre. In other words, the Ei.3 isn't about technical superiority in any one area. No, where the Ei.3 excels is its versatility and ability to engage the listener in every track and to make your music fun and lively without colouring it or distorting it in any way. I used the Ei.3s on two 3 hour flights recently and didn't once long for my K10s because the Ei.3s do everything extremely well. The Ei.3s won't be replacing my K10s, but they will certainly get regular use because they're such a great-sounding earphone. For the price I don't believe you will find a better earphone unless you're looking for a very specific sound signature.

Thank you for writing this review! I'ts very concise and interesting, well written.
Cant wait for my own pair ^^

Thanks for the great review... These are moving to the top of the list for my first CIEMs.

Nice review, how's the isolation?

Fiio seem intent on joining the players in the higher end of the headphone audio market, but they're doing it without charging high-end prices. The Fiio E12DIY represents a project where Fiio decided to share a limited number of customisable, high quality amplifiers with the enthusiasts among us and did it, it seems, to demonstrate their capabilities and passion because according to various reports (and some logical number-crunching) they won't have made money from this activity.

I for one am thankful that Fiio chose to share!

What is the DIY?

The E12DIY is built on the foundation of the regular E12, but Fiio engineers have removed the crossfeed and bass boost circuits to allow for an optimised (read: short and simple) signal path and to allow enough space to have changeable op amps and buffers.

The result of all this is a high quality, neutral sounding foundation that users can then tweak to their heart's content with different op amps and buffers (7 of which - 4 op amps and 3 buffers - are provided straight out of the box).

Design & Features

The E12DIY is a relatively large amplifier, but it's slim so total volume is similar to other portables - it's just packed in a different shaped box. Personally, I figure that the moment you add an amp to a portable rig you're choosing to sacrifice "pocketability" so they're all going to be much the same overall once total size and weight are considered. Sure, there are tiny offerings out there like the Shozy Magic and Ray Samuels Mustang, but the majority of amps are similar in overall size and weight.

The E12DIY is a little heavier than other amps I've tried, partly due to its solid aluminium shell and partly due to its large battery. I imagine that the battery also partly defines the DIY's form factor too, but the battery is a key part to the E12DIY's performance so no complaints here.

The E12DIY is sold (if you can still find one) in either natural aluminium silver or in a gold finish that I haven't seen "in the flesh". Both colours differentiate the DIY from the standard E12 models which are black.

Connectivity & Controls

The E12DIY is nice and simple - 3.5mm input and output jacks (1 of each), a micro USB power socket, 2-position gain switch (high / low), and a volume knob that doubles as a power switch (zero volume = amplifier off). Unlike the standard E12 model, there is no bass boost switch or crossfeed circuit. According to comments I read somewhere from Fiio, the E12DIY was deliberately kept simple to allow more space for the best (simplest?) possible audio and power circuit designs and I believe it was a great choice.

Power

Fiio struck a perfect balance with the design of the E12DIY by making it low-powered enough to drive sensitive OEMs, while also providing a high gain mode and plenty of power to drive much more challenging headphones.

The DIY pairs spectacularly with my Unique Melody Miracles, but is equally adept at powering my beyerdynamic T1s and Fischer Audio FA-011 LEs. That's excellent versatility and means that the E12DIY could easily be the only portable amplifier you ever need to own. Of course, being a portable amp, it doesn't quite replace a quality desktop, mains-powered amplifier, but is excellent for portable listening.

Something I really liked about Fiio's provided set of buffers and op amps is that one of them (the LMH6321) is more focussed on high impedance loads (that's Sennheisers and beyerdynamics mostly), while the other 2 are more general in operation. This means you can focus your amp to drive your exact headphone if you have a higher impedance model or you can keep it more versatile with the other buffer options. I should probably clarify though, that the other buffers still do a great job of driving high impedance 'phones, it's just that the LMH6321 is able to produce a little more oomph into higher impedance loads.

Sound Quality

Knowing that you can change the op amps and buffers in this amp, you've probably also surmised that the sound quality is variable as a result. Correct!

Because of the completely variable nature of the DIY's staging and signature, I'm going to restrict this section to discussing the elements that remain consistent regardless of the chips used.

Noise Levels

In short? None!

The E12DIY provides a completely black background with no noise or hash through any earphone or headphone I've tried with it. I did notice that using the BUF634 buffer introduced a potential for some noise to be picked up when I moved the interconnect and earphone plugs around inside the sockets (i.e. if I had the amp in my pocket and was walking), but I think this might have been a sign that I needed to re-seat the buffer by removing it and plugging it back in to ensure full contact in the socket. In any case, this was a situational issue while 95% of the time the amp was dead silent with this buffer and is 100% silent with my preferred LME49600 buffer, bur more on that later.

Back to discussing noise levels, the most noticeable benefit of a black background is that it allows every nuance, detail and texture of your music to be heard easily and clearly, but without having to over-emphasise anything. The E12DIY is able to deliver incredible clarity and detail while never sounding like it colours or enhances anything.

Channel Separation

Some years back I worked in car audio, designing and installing stereo systems. My focus was always sound quality and imaging, not necessarily sound pressure levels (i.e. ear-drum-rupturing volume). One of the tricks I often employed to create epic sound quality without spending too much money was to have separate amplifiers for each channel. For example, we'd use a 2 channel amp for the left side of the car (1 channel for the front and 1 channel for the rear) and a second 2 channel amp for the right side of the car. This kept each half of the stereo signal completely isolated so there was nearly zero crosstalk (only what occurred inside the car's head unit). The term crosstalk refers to the sound from one channel bleeding slightly into the other channel and it has the ability to compress or completely kill the stereo image.

The reason I told that little story is because some amps do a better job than others at replicating this type of isolation of the 2 stereo channels. You can always tell when an amp does it well because the auditory image is always deep, beautifully defined, and engaging. The E12DIY does this extremely well! There are no crosstalk measurement published, but to my ears, the stereo channels are beautifully isolated and this is particularly true when using the OPA1611 op amps (2 mono op amps being used much like my 2 separate car amp analogy above).
Overall, the E12DIY's ability to provide a "blank canvas" for the sound and to keep the stereo channels well isolated results in a wonderfully fun foundation with which to chop and change op amps and buffers to tailor the sound to your tastes and your gear while always maximising the performance of the components you install.

Op Amps and Buffers

The silver tin that comes with an E12DIY contains a selection of 4 op amps and 3 buffers. The op amps essentially offer different flavours of sound while the buffers offer a combination of flavouring, but also tailoring the power output to suit your chosen 'phones.

The op amps provided are:

AD8620
OPA1611
OPA604
AD797

There is plenty of discussion around this forum and others about different op amps and it can get very confusing to try and discuss each of the possible combinations, but my personal preference from these op amps is the OPA1611 which balances near-neutrality with a touch of bass warmth and lots of detail and clarity.

If you're looking for more about the op amps, there is some great discussion throughout the E12DIY thread here on Head-Fi.

The buffers provided with the E12DIY are:

BUF634 (general)
LME49600 (general)
LMH6321 (more focussed towards powering high impedance headphones)

To my ears, the BUF634 and LME49600 provide different presentations of the sound with the BUF634 creating a more intimate, warmer presentation and the LME49600 feeling more spacious and transparent. The BUF634 might have a slight edge in the texture and weight of midrange, but I find myself preferring the LME49600 and the consensus (by a small majority) on the E12DIY thread points towards the LME49600 being the preferred buffer of those provided by Fiio.

The LMH6321 presents sound quality that, overall, is almost on par with the LME49600, but it is able to provide greater power and therefore may perform even better than the LME49600 when paired with higher impedance headphones. THe LMH6321 is a bit of a specialist in that respect because it is less capable with lower impedance 'phones than the other buffers. It still sounds great, but just not as great as the other two "generalist" buffers. If I were using the E12DIY solely with a headphone like the Sennheiser HD650 or beyer T1, the LMH6321 would likely get the nod.

Extra Adapters

In addition to the range of supplied chips, Fiio went one step further and provided all manner of adapters so you can try your own selection of op amps. The design of the E12DIY won't allow for DIP-8 style op amps like the OPA2107, LM4562, or MUSES 01 (to name a few), but you can grind / file the inside of the case slightly to allow sufficient clearance if you're brave enough. So far I've resisted this urge because I'm worried that it would require making the aluminium housing a bit too thin, but maybe I'll get brave one day...

Back to the supplied adapters though. When you lift out the foam inside the tin full of op amps, there are a myriad of adapters stuck to the bottom of the foam (just using the 8 pin connectors pushed into holes in the foam). These adapters include options for both buffers and op amps including dual and mono varieties. It means you can have plenty of fun trying unusual, cheap, expensive, and exotic op amps to your heart's content... so long as you're happy to wield a soldering iron. No soldering is required with the stock provisions, but any op amps or buffers you buy yourself will either require soldering (for surface mount options) or filing / grinding (for DIP-8 options).

So far I have only tried an AD8599 which is the same op amp as used in the Tralucent T1 and while it's magic in the T1, I preferred the OPA1611 in the DIY.

Summary & Wrap

As I write this summary, there are probably a few new, retail units of the E12DIY in captivity so if you've read this far and it's still close to April / May 2014 then you might want to get hunting for a remaining E12DIY at a dealer. For the price you pay you will not find a comparable package of sound quality, power and bespoke sound. It's a sleek package of brushed aluminium that happens to perform somewhere in the range of twice it's price point. In terms of transparency, neutrality and overall quality, the E12DIY will absolutely not disappoint the most demanding users as a portable amplifier and will be equally as much a bargain second hand (if you can find one) as new.

With the E12DIY, Fiio seem to have announced their arrival into making serious, headphone performance gear and have taken a step beyond their previous (excellent) mid-fi offerings.

Beyerdynamic are a well known name in the headphone industry and in the professional audio world. I have toyed with the idea of purchasing Beyers on many occasions, but never pulled the trigger... until now.

Specifications

Style: Semi-open
Frequency response: 5 - 50,000 Hz
Impedance: 600 ohms
Nominal SPL: 102 dB

Overview

The T1s sit squarely at the top of the Beyerdynamic tree of headphones and were their first Tesla headphone. The Tesla nomination relates to the amount of magnetic force in the driver mechanism of the headphone. In general terms, 1 tesla of magnetic force is massive and it means that the drivers are very sensitive. I want to equate it to a car with lots of power and huge brakes, but that doesn't account for the handling and the T1s are also nimble and agile, not just quick to stop and start.

In a speaker (or headphone) driver, the ability of the voice coil (the bit that drives the movement) to respond rapidly and accurately is the key to transparent and accurate sound as well as efficient creation of volume without requiring massive power. At 600 ohms, the T1s would traditionally be considered "hard to drive", but the Tesla driver means it produces volumes comparable to 350 ohm headphones like the Sennheiser HD6X0s given equal amounts of power.

I have seen measurements that would suggest the T1's Tesla driver is quite noisy in terms of distortion at various frequencies and it doesn't measure as favourably as drivers like those found in the Sennheiser HD800s, but the proof's in the pudding for me and I wonder if sometimes technical inaccuracies can lend themselves to more enjoyable experiences - tube amplifiers are a perfect example where the distortion and "inaccuracy" of tubes actually makes them more musical and enjoyable. I try not to get caught up in too much sound science because it can interfere with the enjoyment of music, but I wanted to mention here that the measurements aren't everything based on what I'm actually hearing. I'm not saying the measurements are wrong or irrelevant, just that there might be more to it and it's the resultant experience that really matters.

While we're talking impedance, I've always favoured high impedance systems with "traditional" driver setups because, if they have sufficient power, they tend to provide better sound to my ears. I've always put this down to the high impedance helping to damp and control driver movement. So, if we combine the Tesla design's claimed agility and sensitivity with the high impedance's damping factor, this should make for an amazing headphone.

Design & Comfort

The T1s are designed almost identically to their siblings, the DT880s, DT990s, T90s, etc. It's a design that is clean and functional, but attractive. On the T1s, the round cups are made of metal and feel solid, but light in the hand. Each earpiece is covered with soft, black velour pads and the headband is made of leather and is nicely padded.

All-in-all there's nothing special about the external design of the T1s, but everything's done right. They're all quality materials and it appears to be a case of function and form being equally considered. The end result is a very comfortable headphone on par with the likes of the HD650s which have long been my standard measure of comfort.

There are two other design features worth mentioning.

Cable Entry

The cables for the T1s enter on the base of each earcup unlike many headphones that choose a single entry and then run a cable through the headband. Although this design might make the T1s a little more fiddly to store and put on and off, I believe it's a good design as I've often wondered about the quality of the cable used to run through headbands. This way you know that each driver is receiving an identical signal through identical length and quality cables. That may sound picky, but at this level I think it's worth consideration.

The T1 cables aren't removable which is concern for some, but many reports claim the stock T1 cable to be excellent and I certainly have felt no need to change it. There are always services to recable if you really feel the need, but I don't see myself ever walking that path (despite being a big believer in the improvements offered by the right cable) because I think Beyer did it well to begin with.

The cable entry is sturdy and well reinforced so I wouldn't expect any troubles at all from normal usage. Similarly sturdy is the large, gold-plated 6mm Neutrik plug which also boasts solid strain relief and reinforcement.

There's no doubting that the build quality of the T1s and all parts attached are excellent. To top it off, they come with a lightweight metal box with a moulded foam interior for storing and transporting the flagships. Bravo Beyer for doing a great job of designing a headphone with every piece at the same level of outstanding design quality.

Angled Drivers

The other design feature I want to highlight is the angled driver mounting. Hopefully you can see in the image above that the inside of the ear cup (left side in this image) has the driver offset and sitting behind a semi-transparent baffle. It's hard to capture clearly in the image, but the driver is placed forward of the centre of the cup and tilted back. The result is that the sound enters the ear from the front, not the side, when you're wearing the headphones. Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser both have this angled driver design and for good reason - it works. The angled drivers create a far more natural presentation of the sound and the imaging and the staging that results is nothing short of exceptional.

Sound

When someone spends $1000+ on a pair of headphones they expect some pretty exceptional sound so are the T1s worth the dough? You bet!

The T1s are an interesting headphone - as are most flagships. They have followers who love them and others who will tell you they're a complete waste of money. For me they are worth every cent and do what they do better than anything I've heard so far in my headphone journey. So I guess I should explain what it is exactly that they do.

In general terms, the T1s offer a crystal clear window into your music with perhaps a slight rosy tint. They probably aren't 100% accurate in the strictest sense, but they don't add musicality or warmth at the expense of detail and resolution. The number one reason I love these headphones is because they are enjoyable with everything that I have every listened to... provided they are connected to a decent amp. Let me explain.

Treble

The treble presentation is the most debatable aspect of the T1s. They have the "Beyer spike" at 8-9kHz which can cause some issues, but I believe it is also the source of the T1's magic. (Note: this final statement is based on opinion and some experimentation only so please take it with many grains of salt.)

The treble of the T1s is quite smooth overall, but the spike can bite given the wrong track through the wrong source. I personally found that it was a matter of getting used to it (my T1s were second-hand so I can't comment on burn-in). Today, if I drive my T1s with my Audio-gd NFB-5.2, Bottlehead Crack, or Bottlehead SEX, the results are all quite listenable.

Early on, I did find the solid state edginess of the NFB-5.2 to cause some troubles with the T1s, but I think that was also partly because I was coming from the ultra-smooth HD650s.

Many T1 users report great results when paired with tube amplifiers and I have to agree - the T1s are at their sweetest with tubes.

Treble Performance

You'll start to see a theme here soon, but I'll start by saying that the T1's treble is accurate, precise and agile. There's plenty of extension right up to the highest frequencies, but the drop-off above 1kHz keeps the sound smooth.

Detail and texture in the treble is outstanding with cymbals and percussion sounding textured and rich. Sometimes the T1s treble will even let you in on secret slip-ups made by engineers. I was listening to a George Michael track one day and thought I had a piece of hair stuck in one of the drivers because of an annoying buzz / vibration in one channel only. I swapped the RCA channels over to check if my new headphones were temporarily stuffed and discovered that the buzz was in the recording - a recording I've had for around 10 years and never before heard in this way!

Of course, highly resolving treble (especially with an 8-9kHz emphasis) will tend to show you some flaws in terms of noise and jitter in your system. I certainly notice the limitations of my DAC now. Even though it's a good DAC, it's not up to the standards of the T1 and will be finding a new home soon to make room for something more suitable. I also found that I benefited from an upgraded USB cable and different, better tubes in my Crack amp.

Midrange

I didn't expect incredible midrange from the T1s because everything I'd read seemed to talk about their treble presentation (for better or worse).

I continue to be amazed by the midrange quality from the T1s. The mids are smooth and clean with incredible texture and detail. Some headphones seem to create great mids by pushing them forward and smoothing over the bumps. The T1 seems to create greater mids by showing you everything there is to hear, but doing it smoothly and gently somehow. The nearest analogy I can give is that it's like the ultimate sports touring car where you can feel everything that's happening through the steering wheel and chassis, but you're completely comfortable while driving all out in it.

I absolutely love the way the T1s present pianos, synths, drums (specifically toms) and guitars. Everything has texture that I've never heard before in the recordings. Pianos have the same depth that you hear when they're live, every drum has texture and depth, synths and guitars have character, buzz, texture and detail. It really is a magical experience to rediscover your music library with the T1s.

I promised a theme when I spoke about the treble and that theme is agility. The thing which makes the T1 so special to my ears is its ability to move effortlessly from each sound to the next. Nothing ever gets muddy. Everything is clearly in its place, but still a part of the overall musical picture.

Bass

I was coming from the Fischer Audio FA-011 Limited Editions when I first tried on the T1s and the Fischers are a hard act to follow when it comes to bass quality and quantity. The T1s don't deliver the same quantity of bass as the 011 LEs, but the bass they deliver is probably more accurate while the 011 LEs are more on the fun side.

The bass from the T1s is solid and punchy - perhaps a little forward of neutral, but beautifully balanced with the overall sound. The bass supports and complements the overall presentation from the T1s without muddying or clouding the sound or being overshadowed by other frequencies.

The impressive part of the T1s bass is its depth. The T1s bass truly goes all the way down and you can clearly hear (and feel) rumbles from as low as 30Hz and perhaps lower as I haven't formally checked.

Once again, the delivery of the bass from the T1 is agile, just as it is with the mids and treble. Fast bass passages are clean and punchy while deep rumbles will vibrate your ears in impressive fashion while the mids and treble sing pure and clear over the top. The bass on the T1s doesn't stand out in any way during listening, but that's exactly why it's brilliant.

Staging and Imaging

The angled driver design is one of the key features of the T1s along with the >1 tesla of magnetic flux (energy / force). As explained earlier, the angled drivers are meant to deliver the sound waves to the ears in a more natural way which is supposed to result in better imaging. Well the Beyerdynamic sound engineers weren't wrong. The imaging and staging from the T1s is exceptional, bettered perhaps only by the Sennheiser HD800s.

Staging

The stage from the T1s extends a little outside the head to the left and right while also being quite tall and as deep as any headphone I've heard yet. It might not quite extend in front of you, outside the head, but it's close - right at your forehead if not slightly beyond it.

For me, the staging is pretty close to perfect - perhaps it is perfect? I feel like anything significantly larger could become less coherent or a bit unnatural whereas the T1's staging is natural and realistic while still being large enough to fool me regularly into checking for sounds outside of the headphones. For example, just this morning I was listening to "Gator Blood" from Mark Knopfler's new album, Privateering. I fired up the Bottlehead Crack and plugged in the T1s while my fiancée was still asleep. No sooner had the track begun than I took a massive double-take as a reached for the volume knob thinking that my desktop speakers were connected and active. Even after convincing myself that they couldn't be on, I still had to lift the T1 earcups away from my ears to check.

That kind of epic imaging doesn't happen on every track, but it's more a reflection of: (a) getting used to the sound of the headphones and (b) variations in recording quality limiting the performance of the headphones.

Imaging

Equal to the quality of the stage created by the T1s, the imaging is absolutely spot on. Instruments are clearly placed in all three dimensions and you can hear a singer's voice higher than the guitar they're playing and in front of the orchestra behind and beside them. I love the way instruments leap out of the background on the T1s, not in an artificial way, but just cleanly and clearly. Lower level headphones I've heard seem to blend from one instrument / sound / texture to the next like a painter allowing one colour to bleed into the next. If other headphones are slightly blurry in this regard, the T1s deliver everything in high definition. Sounds are crisp, sharp and defined, but not emphasised, edgy or separated - everything is coherent, musical, exciting and enjoyable.

Summary

I can honestly say that there isn't anything I dislike about the Beyerdynamic T1s. It's true that they will reveal a poor DAC, amp or recording and may sound harsh as a result (more so with a poor DAC or amp than poor recordings), but this is more because they are true to the source rather than them being flawed and difficult to drive. They also do seem to pair really well with tube amplification because of the smoother presentation, but I have also enjoyed them from solid state amps like the Audio-gd NFB-5.2, Aune S2 Panda Mk2, and Matrix M-Stage amp, all of which are mid-level at most so it's not like you have to break the bank on an amp to enjoy the T1s. That said, you will reap major benefits as you upgrade your source units with the T1. As with any top-end headphones, they scale very well with better gear giving outstanding results.

I am yet to find a track or genre that doesn't sound great on the T1s and I know from much discussion on Head-fi's T1 thread that I'm not alone in that regard. To me, these could be the ultimate all-rounder flagship. Other headphones like the LCD-2, HD800s, etc. may do certain things better, but I doubt you'll find a headphone that does anything better (without possibly getting into electrostatic territory which I can't comment on).

Final Comments

There are a number of mods around for the T1 including mods using felt, cotton wool, and acoustic foam inside the earcups to dampen some of the treble. I experimented with the felt mod when I first received the T1s, but every version I tried resulted in tamed highs, but a reduced soundstage and a loss of something magic about the T1s. I kept feeling like they were good with the mod, but exceptional and addictive without the mod.

I haven't exhausted all options so I'm not discounting the possible benefits of some of the other mods discussed, but the best things I found to maximise the T1's performance are a good system including a good USB cable (if using computer audio), a good DAC, and a nice amp (tube or solid state, but my preference is towards tube).

I just picked up the T90's, which are just glorious. Funny enough, I'm interested in the T1's not just for the sound quality, but because unlike the T90's, the T1 has user-replaceable Cables

I just picked up the T90's, which are just glorious. Funny enough, I'm interested in the T1's not just for the sound quality, but because unlike the T90's, the T1 has user-replaceable Cables

Hey, Loquah! I bought the T1 half a year ago based on your review. Thanks so much and after the many hours of use, I agree with your review. It's a cure to my upgraditis, even when it hits HD 800 level. :wink:

Thanks for your well written review. I currently use O2/ODAC -> T1 and I find that most of the time, poor recordings come out terrible on the combo, but on well recorded ones, it pays off!

The Jupiters are a stunning looking set of universal, multi-balanced armature IEMs fashioned out of aluminium and packaged with some of the best accessories I've ever seen. They employ a quad balanced-armature design with claimed frequency response extending from 10-28,000Hz!

Design & Comfort

The Jupiters arrived in a compact cardboard box with colourful, but classy branding. Upon opening the box I was greeted by a gorgeous leather carry case which contains the earphones themselves in the plush, lamb's wool (or similar) interior. Also included was the second, TRRS cable for balanced use and a range of tips - foam, Comply Tx 400 (with wax guard), and silicone - in small, medium and large sizes. There's also a cleaning tool and an instruction manual.

I normally don't discuss packaging in detail, but in this case the packaging eluded so strongly towards what comes next that I thought it important to share. You see, that tastefully simple box and the gorgeous carry case was just a glimpse of the quality and attention to detail ALO / Campfire Audio have put into the Jupiters.

Design

The earphones themselves are works of art - each an angular block of aluminium that is equal parts angular and smooth. They're surprising in that they're angular and chunky and yet feel light and comfortable once inserted.

I saw initially worried about the size of the nozzles on the Jupiters because they're very wide, but they're also quite short and that combo appears to work very well. As someone with ears that can be challenging to fit IEMs and tips to, the Jupiters are surprisingly comfortable.

Cables

The Jupiter cables have a very thin polyethylene insulation over a twisted metallic wire which looks wonderful with its slight hint of gold / champagne colouring. It also seems to minimise tangling and feels robust and hard wearing. The only drawback might be that it doesn't feel quite as nice as some of the high quality fabric / kevlar wrapped cables, but that's a matter of personal preference.

Perhaps what is most impressive about the supplied cables is that Campfire Audio chose to supply a balanced cable as standard. The TRRS version of the cable isn't a cable with microphone as I originally assumed. It's actually a cable wired for 2.5mm balance outputs like those found on Astell & Kern players.

Accessories

In addition to the great cables, the Jupiters come package with a nice range of silicon and foam tips, a cleaning tool (nice touch!) and one of the very best carry cases I've ever seen. The leather case is simultaneously understated and decadent with its gorgeous leather and woolly interior. What keeps it understated is the natural colouring of the natural fibres and materials (or well replicated synthetic copies of natural materials). There's no sense of bling, just a sense of quality and care.

Sound Quality

I've read a couple of reviews saying wonderful things about the Jupiters since my first listen to them and I have to say that I agree with much of what I've read, but not all of it.

There's no doubt that Campfire Audio absolutely nailed their tuning of the Jupiters based on their marketing. They are a very balanced sounding earphone with an amazing sense of focus for a balanced armature design, however, I think it's important to note that the sound is balanced and neutral, not necessarily natural. I'll explain...

Since reviewing the paradigm-altering Audioquest Nighthawks, my perspective on headphone and earphone audio had been permanently shifted. I now tend to evaluate earphones based on their ability to conjure the experiences, both auditory and emotional, of live music. To me, the more natural an earphone sounds, the better it recreates what I am used to hearing when I'm in the same room as the musicians. I use the word "natural" because "accurate" and "musical" are both tainted with ambiguity.

I don't believe a 'phone has to be natural to be enjoyable, but naturalness is my holy grail sound so it's become one of my measures of earphones so I thought it was worth explaining.

Treble

Campfire Audio tout the Jupiter as having supremely extended highs (my words, not theirs) thanks to their proprietary technology. In Campfire Audio's own words:

An optimized resonator assembly replaces the traditional tube and dampener system of may earphones

Click to expand...

And there's no doubt that this approach has created stunningly smooth, articulate and extended treble. In fact, the Jupiters have some of the best treble I've ever heard from an earphone, but to my ears there is too much of a very good thing, particularly when using silicone tips.

It's important to clarify here that there is in no way any harshness to this treble - it is absolutely glorious - but it's like adding too much sugar to a great dessert - it'll still taste good, but you might miss out on some of the more subtle flavours going on underneath. To me, the treble, as good as it is, diverts my attention from the overall musical experience. It encourages me to listen to details in the texture of guitar strings, the shimmer of cymbals and the breath in the singer's throat. That's all wonderful, but it's shadowing the magic occurring underneath. If you listen really hard, there's some equally amazing action in the mid-range and bass, but it all gets overshadowed by the treble.

At this point it's worth noting that what I'm describing is a dream scenario for some people and the Jupiters will be the absolute perfect option for people seeking detail and clarity without harshness or sibilance, but for me, the balance is just a bit off when it comes to the ultimate, natural musical experience that is my benchmark these days.

Using foam tips does tend to balance the highs quite a bit. There's still a slight emphasis, but the overall balance is better with foam tips in my opinion and if I owned a pair of Jupiters they would be permanently fitted with foam tips despite my preference for silicone tips because I don't like the way foam tips get manky and require regular replacement.

Midrange

You might think that the treble emphasis I've just discussed could leave the Jupiters sounding hollow and lifeless in the mids, but not so. The mids from the Jupiter are still excellent. Yes, they are slightly behind the treble in terms of their presence, but the quality is excellent and they sound natural and not at all hollow. My only complaint about the mids would be a slight lack of weight in male vocals. There's a tilt towards the upper mids that creates a great sense of texture, but at the expense of weight and body.

The Jupiters are a great option for those seeking details without losing mid-range quality, but they won't suit people who love their mid-range full and creamy. Once again, foam tips will further enhance the mids by balancing out some of the extra treble and result in a really magical, slightly treble-forward sound.

Bass

Another of Campfire Audio's claims about the Jupiters is that they produce "subterranean bass" (their words) and the published frequency range suggests performance down below audible frequencies.

Listening to the Jupiters suggests that the extension really is exceptional and the quality of the bass seems excellent, but the quantity is a bit lacking in my opinion. While I don't consider myself a bass-head by any stretch, the live music experience I discussed earlier includes some natural acoustic properties in rooms which result in a natural boost in the perception of bass compared to treble and mids. To effectively replicate that natural sound when there is no room between the speaker (earphone) and your eardrum, an earphone needs to provide the extra bass (or more accurately needs to pull back the mids and treble) in the same way that a room will. The Jupiters fail to do that and so, while the quality and extension of the bass is outstanding, the quantity isn't in the right proportions to the rest of the frequency range and the result is a slightly lean sound compared to my "natural" reference point.

Once again, I can't stress enough that the quality of everything the Jupiters do is absolutely exceptional - these are an amazing piece of engineering and design, but they fall short of perfection in the tuning department for my tastes. Foam tips shift the sound slightly closer towards a natural / live sound, but there is still a slight treble emphasis.

Image & Staging

The imaging and staging from the Jupiters is equally excellent with a nice wide stage, good sense of 3-dimensionality and a tightly focussed image. Campfire Audio weren't kidding when they said that they'd created a multi-BA earphone with coherency similar to a dynamic driver. Normally, a multi-BA earphone will struggle to achieve the same level of focus as a single-driver dynamic, but the Jupiters pull off the same degrees of focus and it's very impressive.

I'd say that the treble-emphasis works for and against the Jupiters here. The extra treble (and its amazing quality) creates some cues that stretch beyond the listener's ears which can be really fun, but at the same time it keeps drawing my attention to the soundstage is unevenly shaped. It's like most things fit in a nicely defined, oval-shaped 3-dimensional space, but then 2-3 sounds in each track seem to be outliers, just beyond that soundstage and it's not entirely natural. I'm being picky at this point so take this as a way of saying that the Jupiters are almost perfect rather than absolutely perfect when it comes to staging. Overall, they are highly enjoyable from a staging perspective.

[size=24.57px]Summary[/size]

To summarise all this I would say that Campfire Audio have 100% nailed the product they claim to be providing - none of it is marketing hype, it's all true. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're a perfect earphone for everyone. If you love clarity, detail and a relatively flat frequency response then you will absolutely love the Jupiters and should absolutely give them a listen. I'd go so far as saying they are one of, if not the best "flat-signature" earphones I've tried so far.

If, however, you are looking for an earphone that accurately recreates the sound of live music and real-life instruments then you should probably look to something with a bit less treble and a bit more bass - something like the Noble K10, Audiofly AF180 or Shure SE846.

Thank you for the review on Jupiter! It reaffirms my decision to get these in the near future

It reassures that I'm hearing the same thing and ironically I love this signature and this preference.

Great review!

Jupiter compares to ER4sr or Noble Savanna? Which is better ,in term of, overall balance ? and flat signature sound?

At $399 (AUD) the A83 is at the upper end of the mid-priced IEM range as there tends to be a leap up to the near-$1000 range once you crest the $500 mark. For this price I was expecting big things and I am convinced that they justify their price tag.

Specifications

Drivers: 1 x 10mm dynamic + 2 x balanced armatures (BAs)
Frequency range: 9 – 31,000 Hz
Impedance: 11 ohms
Sensitivity: 104dB
Cable: Detachable 1.3m silver-plated copper cable with MMCX connectors (same connector as Shure, Audiofly and a few other manufacturers)
Max input power: 30mW

Design & Comfort

The A83s initially caught my attention for 2 reasons – the fact that they might have been the hybrid that finally got it right and their design. These are one of the most unique looking IEMs you can buy. They have transparent coloured inner shells in blue and red for left and right respectively. These inner shells are married to beautifully sculpted metal outer shells with a striking, finned design like nothing I’ve ever seen in an IEM. I’m not sure what metal they’ve used either because it’s a subtle gold colour, but it’s subtle, not that cheesy gold colour you sometimes see on products seeking the “bling” factor. No, to me these aren’t bling – these are classy, but striking.

Inside the retail packaging of the A83s you receive a nice set of tips, an airplane adapter (single 3.5mm to twin 3.5mm) and a 3.5 to 6.3mm adapter and a clear pelican case with a FIDUE label and a sneak peek to the goodies inside. I loved seeing the gold shell of the right earpiece peeking through at me when I first unpacked the box – it’s a nice touch and continues to bring a subtle pleasure each time I see that hint of gold through the clear case.

The Cable

Sometimes I discuss cables, sometimes I don’t. This cable though… this cable has to be discussed because it’s perfect!

Not good.

Perfect!

The cable is a greenish-grey fabric covered, silver-plated copper cable in a tight braid emerging from a beautiful custom, metal, slimline 3.5mm jack. There’s a nice, metal cuff at the split and the lengths from the cuff to the earpieces are twisted and wrapped in soft heatshrink to protect them and keep them in a tight twist I assume. Finally, the cable ends in MMCX connectors with a small locking tab to prevent them from spinning in the earpiece like the Shures do. I personally have no issues with the “Shure spin”, but others do so this will be welcome to some and has no drawbacks that I can see so it’s a good feature.

The cable is soft, just the right length (1.3m) and no more microphonic than any other IEM cable I’ve tried and far better than many. In other words, in my experience all IEMs produce some degree of microphonics if you try hard enough. The A83 cable is as good as it gets in my experience.

Fit & Comfort

The shape of the A83s may have you believing (like I did) that they will nest neatly in your ears like Shure and Westone offerings. Don’t be so sure…

The angle and position of the nozzle means that these sit out a little at the front, just above the ear lobe. It’s not uncomfortable in any way, but it’s not quite as streamlined as I expected when I first saw the A83s. The good news is that the back portion of the A83 is perfectly curved and nice and shallow so they do nestle in the hollow of your ear quite nicely and are comfortable for long sessions in that regard.

The other challenge I faced with the A83s is the angle of the nozzle. For many people the following points will be of no concern, but I have relatively small ear canals that bend quite sharply close to the opening. The A83s have a similar nozzle size to the RE-272s which I find extremely comfortable, but the nozzle is a tiny bit longer and angled slightly forward and up. This tiny change made getting the right fit extremely challenging for me at first. I tried lots and lots of different tips and even bought some Comply foam tips (which were a complete disaster when combined with the A83s’ design and my bendy ear canals). In the end, I have found a silicone tip (which may have been one of the FIDUE ones, I’m not sure) that provides a perfect seal and good comfort. Interestingly, once I got used to the slightly different, quite shallow insertion, I’ve found these to be a welcome change because the nozzle and tip seal quite close to the outside of the ear canal rather than forcing their way inside my head.

The moral of this story is that the A83s may not fit quite how you expect so please work with them and don’t expect them to necessarily be the same type of insertion as your other IEMs. They are not actually difficult to fit – just different. Once I found the right tip and angle of insertion I could get a good and comfortable seal quickly and easily every time.

Sound Quality

The FIDUE A83 is a beautiful example of natural, balanced, enjoyable sound. It’s not analytical and cold like some IEMs seeking detail at all costs. It’s also not bloomy and boomy like some IEMs seeking the “wow” factor of prodigious bass. No, the A83 delivers every frequency equally with just a slight treble tilt, but it’s slight. This isn’t another sizzling hybrid. This is a tamed, controlled hybrid delivering the detail and control of a full-BA setup and the bass warmth (not quantity) and control of a pure dynamic setup.

Bass

For most of us, the term hybrid means bass-oriented or V-shaped earphone. Certainly, the A83 shows all the capabilities you expect from the possession of a dynamic driver, but it does it with subtlety and control. The T-PEOS H-300 showed me what dynamic bass could be like when it wasn’t overdone, but was present, well controlled and beautifully detailed. The A83 shows very similar characteristics with slightly less bass prominence (from my memory of the H-300), but equal agility and detail from the bass registers.

The bass is present, firm and warm, but tight and controlled with absolutely no bloat or bleeding into the mids. There’s nice bass energy, but if you’re expecting an earphone like the other hybrids on the market you’re going to be disappointed – that’s not what the A83 is about.

I recently reviewed the Noble PR which is an analytical IEM designed for detail and clarity. My one issue with that earphone was its lack of bass which left larger instruments like cellos sounding a bit hollow and lifeless. I used a 2Cellos track to test that so I decided to do the same with the A83s. The results were much more satisfactory in terms of realism in the cellos. Plucking and strumming of the cello strings had body and warmth, but no bloom. The sound was tight and punchy, but full and realistic.

That’s not to say the A83 is an all-around better earphone than the Noble PR – they are quite different, but they share a sense of accuracy and neutrality so it was a parallel worth making and the A83 brings extra firepower with its dynamic driver and perfect bass tuning.

Mids

Unlike many of the A83′s competitors, vocals and midrange instruments are present and accounted for with the A83s. There’s a slight dryness to female vocals, but nothing that detracts from enjoyment – it’s just a character of the sound and possibly exposes some of the vocal textures that are sometimes smoothed over. Either way, it’s not good or bad – it just is.

To my ears, the A83 probably has a slight dip in the lower mids which create that slight dryness, but also keeps the sound clean and crisp. Male vocals have less sense of the dryness because they live a little lower in the frequency range. Other midrange instruments like guitars and horns receive a beautiful sense of agility and texture from the A83′s tuning. I wouldn’t say the sound is coloured, but that the A83s have a noticeable character similar to the subtle differences from one instrument to the next. The sound is still very, very accurate so don’t be worried that the A83s will mess with your enjoyment of your favourite music. Regardless of the genre I’ve tried, the A83s have stayed pure, realistic and accurate – just right.

While writing this review, I actually heard some distortion in the vocals of some tracks I know very well and thought were very well recorded. The distortion sounds like the recording levels were just a touch too hot during the peaks in the vocals and the result is subtle, but noticeable with the A83s. I have never heard the problem before though so this is a sign of how revealing and detailed the A83s can be. The reason I haven’t put this front and centre though is that the A83s don’t shove detail in your face – they aren’t detail-mongers, they’re just accurate and revealing IEMs which, to me, is far more fun and far less fatiguing.

Treble

I really dislike hot, sibilant earphones, but as I approach the 90 minute mark of this review, having listened to the A83s throughout at normal listening levels (estimated at 75-80dB), I can honestly say that I haven’t once reached to turn down the music, switch tracks, or otherwise reacted to splashy, rowdy treble.

Yes, the A83 presents a tiny treble tilt, but like its control of bass, its control of treble is equally poised and graceful. This is one of the few IEMs I have tried where I find myself actively enjoying the treble and that puts the A83 in some good company with the Noble PR and Shure SE846.

A fellow Head-Fi’er recently posted a frequency response chart of the A83s on the discussion thread which might explain the A83′s treble voodoo. According to that chart, the A83s have a small treble peak at around 2-3kHz (hence the enjoyably dry vocals and agile strings) before dropping away around 4kHz and then peaking again around 8kHz.

Our ears are most sensitive to the 4kHz frequency range because it’s where a lot of the detail in speech occurs in the form of consonants (t, s, p, th, f, etc.) There’s no need for this area to be boosted in audio gear and it often results in sibilance from vocals because all of those consonants suddenly get over-cooked. If indeed that chart is accurate then Mr Benny Tan, the mastermind behind the tuning of the A83s, is a genius because he’s simultaneously created beautifully detailed and slightly prominent treble while deftly side-stepping the common issues with this approach – namely sibilance. Perhaps Mr Tan and Dr Moulton (“The Wizard” behind the Noble PRs) have been comparing notes because they have both nailed the perfect treble presentation that’s a joy to listen to without becoming fatigued (in fact I just turned my music up a notch).

Imaging and Staging

The imaging and staging from the A83s isn’t something I’m drawn to rave about, but it’s very good and easily on par with anything else I’ve heard in the price range. There’s not a great deal of depth to the soundstage (forwards / backwards), but it extends really well from side-to-side to the point that some sounds seem to come from slightly beyond the extremities of the earphones themselves. What’s good about the staging is that it is coherent, accurate and realistic. There are no phantom sounds appearing outside the stage all by themselves and there are no glaring gaps or irregularities in the shape of the stage. Playing my favourite staging track (Dancing Flute & Drum) from the Chesky Sensational Binaural Album (not its full title) shows an accurate sense of space, but not a huge sense of space.

Imaging from the A83s is equally as competent, but also not mind-blowing. That said, there are very few truly mind-blowing IEMs out there when it comes to staging and imaging and the A83s sit very comfortably in the tier directly below the mind-blowing tier. To let you in on my little rating scale of imaging, there’s:

Whoah!!!
Nice!
OK
Meh

So the A83s receive a score of “Nice!” There’s a good sense of each instrument’s position and enough space between them to be believable, but I didn’t find myself wanting to reach out and touch a vocalist or an instrument like I have on one or two very special occasions with IEMs. For the $399 price tag, the imaging is easily as good or better than you’d expect and you’d have to spend a significant amount more to achieve better performance in this area.

Summary

Recognise what the A83s are – a detailed, accurate, neutral IEM with a tiny treble boost and perhaps a slight touch of warmth in the bass, although that’s debatable given that our impressions of what is “natural” all vary. To me, the A83s are dead accurate with a touch of treble and I love that about them. To my ears the bass brings realism and life to the music without becoming a prominent feature. They have bass that can hit like a subwoofer when it’s in the track, but completely retreat when not required.

The A83s seem slightly eccentric to me. They sound different to their peers. They look like they should nestle completely into your ears, but actually stick out ever-so-slightly and don’t insert as deep as you might expect. They are vibrant and colourful on the inside, but subtle and classy on the outside. And they can slap you around with bass in one moment before dancing through delicate passages like a ballerina the next. They are warm in one moment and bright in the next, but they’re not confused – they just know what the music is saying.

Know going into any introduction to the A83s that they are eccentric, but revel in that eccentricity because they are like a wonderful eccentric friend who you might not “get” at first, but as time passes and you get to really know them you are treated to one surprise and delight after another. The A83s have certainly become a friend of mine who’ll be sticking around for a long time. I hope you’ll find the same experiences if these sound like a good fit for your tastes!

Wow, these looks super stylish! Hows the isolation though? Good enough for use in noisy environments (busy roadside/trains in tunnels)?

Great review mate!

thanks for the review! looks like another pair to check out

The Crack kit is easy to build and sounds incredible. Don't be scared of the DIY approach even if you're a beginner - it's fun and SO worth it!

Mine had some induced noise at first so I replaced the braided input cable with some shielded coaxial cable and it fixed it perfectly. I see that and potentially damaged/faulty tubes as being about the only real possible issue with this amp.

Once built (takes a day or 2 depending on how long you spend in one sitting) the final result is an amp with incredible staging and layering for the price combined with beautifully smooth and cohesive sound presentation. There's plenty of detail, but it's all cohesive and realistic - it doesn't pull apart your music into individual pieces.

This amp easily outperforms significantly more expensive units and is hard to beat with >250 ohm cans like the top end Beyers and Sennheisers. It sounds so sweet with my HD650s.

If you want to know more, I have two full reviews on: 1. The Build and 2. The Sound

how much is the builded version?

I'm not sure. Maybe check on bottlehead.com. Also,don't know if they ship pre-built units internationally so check that too if you're outside the USA.
If you're in Australia and need one built, drop me a PM

The FA-011 LEs are an upgraded version of the well known FA-011s. They are made using exotic timber cups with just 10 units made per timber for a total of 40 units ever made worldwide.

The LEs include a passive frequency filter called the APE-03 which makes an amazingly flat frequency response while keeping the bass response that the FA-011s are renowned for.

The ear pads provided with the LEs aren't thick enough for me and left my ears pressing against the inside of the headphones, but this was easily fixed by exchanging the pads for a set from the stock FA-011s which compeletely fixed the comfort.

The staging isn't as big as the HD650s, but the detail and resolution is better. The LEs are an outstanding headphone for people who like clarity without losing bass impact and presence. They're also very good for gaming.

Great headphone - see if you can get your hands on a set before they're all gone!

Full review here: http://passionforsound.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/fischer-audio-fa-011-limited-edition/

Wow that is a big price jump indeed. I remember the original selling for´just over 100 USD.

Yes, it's a big step, but it's a much better headphone. The stock 011s have a sharpness in the high end that is completely gone in the LEs. The cable and plug are vastly superior and the wood cups are beautiful (although they have no impact on the sound). Of course, there's always a price tag for something as rare as 1 of 40 in the whole world too.

Nice and with the 150 ohm impedance it would make a great pairing with the bottlehead crack!!

The unit I'm reviewing was provided courtesy of FiiO and Head-Fier, Brooko, as part of an Australia / New Zealand tour so thank you to both FiiO and Brooko for this opportunity! This unit is clearly marked as a review unit, but appears to be 100% production quality.

Overview

For a retail price of roughly $260 here in Australia, the X3K (as the 2ng gen X3 was known for a while) is a genuine bargain for a native DSD capable DAP boasting a comprehensive feature set. The biggest question for me though was how it would sound, but before we get to that, let's look at some of the features and specs.

Specifications

Dimensions: 97mm x 58mm x 16mm
Weight: 135g
Output: 3.5mm stereo jack
Recommended loads: 16 - 150 ohms
Power: >200 mW to 32 ohms
Line out: 3.5mm stereo jack (shared with coaxial)
Line out level: 1.45 Vrms
Coaxial out: 3.5mm jack with adapter to coaxial RCA (shared with line out)
Supported formats: DSD64, DSD128, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, ALAC, MP3, AAC, OGG
Sample rates and bit depth: up to 192kHz and 24-bit for lossless PCM formats (FLAC, WAV, etc.)
Graphic EQ: 10 band
THD: <0.001%
Crosstalk: >102dB
Signal-to-noise ratio: >114dB (A weight)
Battery life: >11 hours (into a 32 ohm load with screen off)

There is no doubt that the engineers at FiiO know how to create technically excellent players and all of the specs here check out and suggest an incredibly proficient player, particularly when considering the price tag. Let's check out some of the other bits and pieces before we discuss subjective topics like sound quality.

Design and Functionality

The X3K (not the official name for the 2ng gen, but I will use it here to prevent confusion with the original X3) is beautifully built, much like the X1. With each new DAP that FiiO release, their build quality improves. They seem to be very good and listening to consumer feedback and taking action to create really top-notch players in terms of the fit, finish and interfaces of their players.

The X3K is all aluminium and finished in a titanium grey colour with black and silver accents. The layout is identical to the X1 with a 2" screen, rubberised scroll wheel with buttons in the centre and at the 'corners', and volume and power buttons up the left hand side of the player (when looking at the screen) along with a reset button inside a pinhole port. At the base of the X3K on the front is a small LED that shows different colours to signal power, low battery, charge status, etc. The two 3.5mm outputs are on top, a micro SD slot is on the right side, and a micro USB port is centred on the bottom edge of the player.

In terms of look and feel, the X3 is nearly flawless. It feels great, is really light, but not flimsy at all. This feels like a serious piece of gear, but is still light and small enough to be truly portable.

Interface

In addition to a really clean physical design, the user interface

(UI) of the X3 shows a lot of refinement on FiiO's part. Things have come a long way since the original X3. The menus are cleanly laid out with simple and obvious icons (for the most part) and easy navigation via the scroll wheel and centre button. You can also choose from 6 different themes which offer everything from minor variations to the stock FiiO look through to denim, wood panelling, and a really sexy cross-hatched charcoal texture. There's no doubt that the interface of the X3K is as good as anything else I've seen to date - not better, but as good - it's really excellent now and essentially a replica of the very good X1 interface, only with extra options.

Features

The X3K packs a few nice features that some users expect and some don't ever use.

Equaliser

The graphic equaliser is a 10-band affair that's easy to adjust, has a nice range of presets and works well on normal resolution tracks - it doesn't work on high bit rate files (i.e. DSD, 192/24 FLAC, etc.) just like the X5, most likely due to the processing power required. This isn't a big issue for me because I'm a non-EQ kind of guy, but that might bug some people.

Balance Control

Balance control is in demand more than you might think, particularly from people with a unilateral hearing loss (i.e. one ear hears better than the other) so the X3K will no doubt win some sales with that feature when combined with all the other things it has going for it.

DAC Capability

The X3K can also operate as a USB DAC with Windows (using an additional ASIO driver) and with Macs. It can even play DSD files from your computer via an additional software plugin so that's great news for people who are out and about with a laptop and a taste for great sounding music.

Miscellaneous Features

Finally, here are a few other things that the X3K has going for it:

Headphone detection allows the X3K to pause playback when the headphones are unplugged
Hibernation mode allows a low-power sleep mode that conserves battery, but also provides near instant resuming of playback
Inline earphone control support means you can play, pause, and change the volume from your earphone cord (for compatible earphones)
A nice range of accessories including a sexy looking brown leather case

So, all up the X3K looks to be a winner. It has a great feature set, is extremely well-built, extremely well priced, and offers functionality and compatibility on par with much pricier players. So does it sound like it costs or does it sound like it looks on paper?

Sound Quality

There is no doubt at all that the X3K sounds great - better than the original X3 and definitely better than it's baby brother, the X1. I'm almost convinced that this is the best bang-for-buck sound you can get, but it's not definitive and your personal tastes will come into the equation.

Rather than talk about the bass and treble and all those fine details that are really hard to differentiate when trying to compare different players, let me break down the overall listening experience from the X3K compared to the same experience (same tracks, etc.) on other devices. I'll also discuss how the X3K compares with varying loads, from sensitive IEMs through to challenging headphones.

Before I get into specifics, let me say that the X3K offers a quite neutral experience. It's not analytical or cold, but it also doesn't carry the same warmth of the original X3. The X3K is a player with nicely balanced sound that doesn't jump out as too warm, too cold, or too much of anything really and that's excellent - it'll let your earphones sound the way they're meant to rather than adding too much colour in the player. Nice work FiiO!

With IEMs

With the hyper-sensitive Shure SE846 there is noticeable hiss from the X3K. Now, I'm a bit hyper-sensitive to hiss so some people won't even notice what I'm hearing and it's not an issue once the music's playing, but it's there. I should also mention that there is a little bit of hiss from many players on the market, including the outstanding Shozy Alien, HUM Pervasion (to a lesser degree), and even my faithful iPod Video so the X3K isn't bad in this regard - it's actually quite normal.

With the higher impedance Noble Kaiser 10s, the hiss is gone so it's likely only an issue with super low impedance IEMs (like the SE846) and possibly with some of the more hiss-prone IEMs like the FitEar TG!334, but I don't own a pair to test unfortunately.

Power wise, the X3K's 120-step, dual gain volume control means that there's plenty of range to work with in low gain mode. I found myself at around 40-50 on the volume control for IEM listening in a quiet room.

With Headphones

For this test, I tried the Thinksound On1s (50 ohms) , Beyerdynamic DT1350s (80 ohms), and Ultrasone HFI-680s (75 ohms). Of this lot, the full-sized HFI-680s are the most demanding to drive and I do feel like the X3K struggled with them a little. They still sounded good, but not their best - highs were a bit edgy and the bass was lacking from what is quite a punchy headphone.

With the more portable (i.e. smaller drivers) DT1350 and On1, the X3K sounded great, providing plenty of power and authority to the sound. I was getting up towards volume 80 / 120, but that's still on low gain so there's no shortage of volume with the X3K - it will comfortably drive any headphone you're likely to use in portable situations, but you may find an amp helpful for more desktop style headphones and that's where the line out comes into play which I'll discuss shortly.

So, the X3K plays very well with all but the most sensitive / hiss-prone in-ears and even then it's quite acceptable even if not perfect. It also offers plenty of grunt for portable and efficient headphones, so as the portable player it's designed to be, the X3K ticks all the right boxes so let's discuss how it sounds compared to some other players you might have heard of or read about.

Versus Various Devices

iPod Video 5.5G:

Compared to the iPod, the X3K brings a little more refinement to the sound and the separation is also better - everything is just cleaner. The sound from the X3K is also fuller with more weight and a little more body, but the X3K is flatter sounding - lacking a sense of depth and space. Technically, the sound is rendered perfectly well and is cleaner and sharper than the iPod, but it's all painted onto a flat canvas that stretches from left to right. If I had to choose one player over the other, I'd choose the X3K without a second thought, but I really wish FiiO could start to focus a little more on the subjective presentation of their sound, specifically a spatial and organic sound, rather than just technical accuracy.

Shozy Alien: This battle was a bit closer in terms of clarity, but the X3K had a slight edge in terms of bass extension and control. The bass from the X3K is really tight and punchy which keeps the music sounding energetic and dynamic. Overall, the X3K is probably slightly more technically proficient than the Alien, but the Alien might still be the more engaging listen due to its organic presentation and sense of space - the number one strength of the Alien and the one area where it beats basically every player on the market. Honestly, I would have a hard time choosing between these two because the Alien sounds a touch more engaging overall, but the X3K performs better technically and has so many more features.

HUM Pervasion: These two are surprisingly close in sound and that's a huge compliment to the X3K. In terms of signature they are almost identical, but the Pervasion wins in two key areas. Firstly it brings a greater sense of space into the soundstage despite the Pervasion being a little limited in this regard. Secondly, the sound from the Pervasion has a level of refinement that the X3K can't quite match.

DSD Performance

The DSD performance of the X3K is seamless and the player skips quickly between formats with no delays or pops or crackles so if you load up a mixture of MP3, FLAC, and DSD files you'll find a glitch-free listening experience.

I did notice a hint of processor noise (or something similar) at the beginning of the DSD tracks when things were quiet. It's completely inaudible when the music is playing and therefore doesn't really interfere, but I never noticed that type of noise with PCM format files.

Comparing identical tracks in DSD and FLAC (I converted the DSD file to 192/24 FLAC to ensure identical mastering), the DSD may have a slight edge in refinement, but it's so close as to be not worth debating. In short, the X3K provides an equivalent experience regardless of using FLAC or DSD which is great - you don't want a player that sounds noticeably better with one format because it'll have you converting or re-buying all your music and that's a pain.

Line Out Quality

The line out from the X3K is clean and detailed with no significant colouration. As a portable source to pair with an external amp, the X3K is very good. That's not to say the X3K needs an amp, but it's line out is 'up to scratch' if you want to use an amp.

To get a better handle on just how good it is, I compared it directly (and unfairly) with my Matrix X-Sabre DAC. I only did this because it was an easy way to have identical tracks playing that I could switch between instantly, but the results were astounding. The X-Sabre has an edge in detail and subtle cues (including depth and spatial cues), but it's a razor's edge. The X3K comes amazingly close to the X-Sabre in terms of signature, clarity, and overall subjective quality. That's right, this pocket-sized, $250 DAP stands toe-to-toe with a $1200+ desktop DAC and manages to lose only about 10% to the goliath in this match-up!! That's crazy and puts the X3K's DAC / line-out performance on par with or above the Pervasion, iFi Nano iDSD (and possibly Micro iDSD) and easily beats multiple desktop DACs that I've tried - wow!

The only thing holding the X3K back from perfection in this area is the tiniest lack of refinement around the edges of the high notes. It's a subtle distinction, but one worth making - the X3K doesn't beat top end DACs like the X-Sabre, but it has no right to be even playing in this ball park and that's what makes it supremely impressive.

Summary

Coming from owning the very good X5 and reviewing the good, but not exceptional X1, I really didn't expect huge performance from the X3K and perhaps even came into this review with a slightly negative bias, but I'm pleased to say that the X3K had everything required to completely change my preconceptions and convert me towards fandom. I'm not quite a fanboy now because the HUM Pervasion is still my dream player for the time being, but I have immense respect for the X3K and what FiiO have achieved and it has me very excited to see and hear the upcoming X5 2nd Generation and the first generation of the flagship X7.

If you're on the hunt for a compact, high quality, fully featured audio player you should absolutely, 100% check out the 2nd generation of FiiO's X3 - it might be the most impressive product made by FiiO so far and that's saying something!

Very detailed review. Nice

Excellent review! I prefer the slightly longer version of your review on your blog.
I like your comparison between the daps, especially against the alien.
[For auditory enjoyment alone, the X3K edges ahead on some tracks while the Alien creeps ahead on others.]
Very true...I have both, and I have a hard time choosing between the x3ii and the alien when come to sound.

Thorough review and concentrates on the things that matter not the meaningless* engineer specifications.

* to the average listener.

I've written a full, more detailed review here: Passion For Sound

In summary though, the GR07 MkIIs are a brilliant earphone for the money. The only other IEM which I find comparable for the price is the HiFiMan Re-272 which is now no longer available. The GR07 holds its own against the Re-272s and actually out-performs it in terms of total frequency balance (the GR07 has the bass response that the Re-272 lacks). Of course, if you like more colouration in your sound, you'll probably prefer other IEMs so when I'm saying how great the GR07 is, I'm referring to it as being a great performer for balanced / neutral sound.

The sound the of GR07s is refined, clean and authoritative. They cover all frequencies well and have a nicely defined soundstage presentation. I believe the soundstage improved with burn-in and others have said the same so give them some time before judging them. Also, while discussing burn-in, the treble may be a little hot when their new, but this definitely settles down and although detailed, the GR07s are not a harsh sounding earphone once burned in.

Highs: clean, defined and detailed, but not too bright
Mids: just right - not sweetened, not too creamy, just natural and realistic
Bass: impressive, but natural - plenty of deep impact and rumble when required, but no colouration or emphasis (try a 20Hz to 20kHz sweep tone to hear just how low they go - impressive!)
Soundstage: not huge, but nicely defined with good height and depth - with a good source, there are plenty of layers to explore

If you're looking for an uncoloured IEM for around $200 you'll be hard-pressed to find a better option. Other IEMs in the price bracket do some things better, but I don't think anything does everything as well across the board.

Agree totally!

As a long-time music lover and regular reviewer of gear here, on my old blog and now on my YouTube channel, I listen to LOTS of gear. The AF1120 Mk2 are one of the first pieces of audio equipment to really grab my heart in a very long time.

I've completed a thorough YouTube review on these, but wanted to share a summary of my thoughts and a few highlights here as well because I believe the AF1120s deserve more attention.

At the time I first listened to these, I had the Noble Audio K10 customs (original version K10), Campfire Audio Andromedas, and FitEar TG!334 in my collection. I've also previously owned the Shure SE846. Of all these earphones, the AF1120 connected me with the music more. After sending back the review pair provided on loan by Audiofly I went out and bought a pair of these and have since sold the FitEar TG!334 and am preparing to sell the Andromedas. That's not to say that the AF1120s are definitively better than these, but to me they are an amazing combination of qualities in a single earphone and at an excellent price.

Highlight 1: Comfort
My first highlight of the AF1120 mk2 (and indeed all of the Audiofly pro range) is their comfort. Just like Shure's outstanding ergonomics, the Audiofly range sit so comfortable within the ear and are both easy to insert and easy to wear for long periods. This has long been my biggest issue with the Andromedas and is a key aspect of my reasoning for parting with them soon.
The AF1120s are tiny compared to many multi-BA IEMs on the market and they really 'disappear' once you're wearing them. I can't sleep with any IEMs in my ears, but the 1120s come closer than anything else I've tried.

Highlight 2: Presentation (incl. Signature & Staging)
The other thing that totally won me over with the 1120s is their ability to provide an engaging and enjoyable, neutral sound. Rather than overwhelming our ears with treble details, the 1120s focus more on details across the whole spectrum with perhaps a slight emphasis on midrange detail. This results in a very realistic soundstage presentation that is large and well focussed. I've only found a couple of IEMs that match the ease with which the 1120s present a soundstage and allow me to mentally walk between all the instruments.

One thing that has surprised me is the very mixed views I've read about the 1120s and I finally discovered why after I bought my pair. The 1120s are quite tip dependent and possibly source dependent to reach their best sound. I tried the 1120s with the included triple flanges, foam tips, stock silicone tips and some Spinfits. The silicone tips were the only ones that gave me the ideal insertion depth and seal to allow the 1120s to really shine. I can only assume that people who've had lesser experiences with the presentation from the 1120s haven't had the benefit of a perfect insertion depth (which can be challenging with any IEM and accounts for the wide varieties of opinions we all see).

Lowlight 1: Tangle Town
The cable is a nice enough cable, but I do find it quite prone to tangling above the Y-split. It often takes me a minutes to untangle it ready for listening and I have definitely considered a new cable as a result (which is disappointing for a company's flagship IEM)

Lowlight 2: Bass Weight (sort of)
I'm a fan of a bit more bass than 'neutral'. To give you an idea, the Meze Empyreans are my go-to headphones and I prefer them with the leather pads for the extra warmth and impact. I also love my Noble K10s. The 1120s sometimes leave me wanting just a little more groove and rhythm from the music because the bass is very neutral. I still prefer the 1120s to the K10s because of the overall presentation I described above, but a touch more bass would make these perfect (for me at least) so long as it didn't come at the cost of everything I described above and I'm not sure if that is possible.

Here's the full review I posted to YouTube if you're interested in hearing more...
AF1120 Mk2 Review