Introduction: I’ve been a happy listener to Meze’s Rai Penta and Rai Solo IEMs for two or three years. I really love the sound of both IEMs. I am happy to be included in this tour, I am excited to hear what comes next in Meze IEMs.

A mea culpa: I forgot to take even a single photo. Many apologies for that. They would have turned out blurry anyway.

Packaging: My loaner pair arrived in a plain brown shipping box. Inside that was a Meze-branded display box. At first, I thought the display box was bigger than it needed to be, but then I was reminded how much room the Meze carry case takes up. My two older Meze cases have silver badges, but the badge on the Advar case is gun-metal. The gun-metal color is cool. My older cases also have a mesh pocket in one half of the clam-shell. The new case also has the mesh pouch, but now it’s divided into two compartments and suggests slipping the IEMs into the pouches with the cable coiled up in the main compartment. Pretty slick.

What’s in the box? The first thing I saw when I opened the display box were the Advar, snuggled into the cut-outs in the velour-covered foam. My goodness, they are tiny, like a Campfire Audio Vega. After lifting the foam out I found a booklet, a Meze carry case and a small packet with some Final E tips. Inside the plain outer box was another Meze display box with a second cable, terminated with a Pentaconn plug. For better or worse, this second cable stayed in the packaging, none of my sources has a Pentaconn jack.

Physicals:

• IEMs: As I said, the Advar is tiny. Even better, the sound pipes are smaller than I’m used to, approximately 5mm instead of 6mm. I was excited by the small dimensions. I have pretty narrow canals and prefer a deep fit, so I was more hopeful that usual of a good fit and tight seal.
• Cable: Meze supplied their silver-plated copper cable. I’ve had no troubles with their cables in the past, and didn’t experience any this time around, either. It’s light, flexible, and I generally like the sound of SPC cables.

Fit, Comfort, Isolation: As excited as I was by the compactness of the Advar, I found it was actually too much of a good thing. While the smaller-than-I’m-used-to sound pipe was a blessing, the tiny shells were actually hard for me to insert and remove. Just wait a second, though, this was my problem, not Meze’s: I have fat fingers and had a hard time gripping those tiny IEMs and positioning them in (or removing them from) my ears. However, once I got them in, they nearly disappeared and stayed put. So, advantage: Meze.

What I Listened to: I use IEMs on the go, so I used some of my DAPs exclusively: Aune M2, Astell & Kern AK70 Mk II and Questyle QP2r. My Aune is an antique, but it’s output stage is good, I use it as a source with one of my speaker systems. The AK70 is my longest-term reference and my QP2r is my best match with my Rai Pentas.

Soundstage: I’m not particularly concerned with soundstage when I listen to head phones, and I didn’t listen to the Advar sound stage at all. Other things held my attention.

First impressions: My first impression of Advar was of prominent vocals, strong bass and slightly reticent treble. Something else I noticed early and then throughout my audition, is Advar has a particular volume level for each song. I often found myself adjusting the volume up to bring the music into balance: usually giving the bass and treble a kick to balance them with the mids. Conversely, I sometimes had to lower the volume a bit to keep them from sounding harsh and irritating. For me, these were not “set and forget” IEMs.

Highs: Highs with the Advar always seemed quieter than the rest of the music. Detailed and sparkly, but quiet. One of my frequent audition songs is “Chitlins Con Carne” from Stevie Ray Vaughn’s The Sky Is Crying. The electric bass is pretty far down in the mix in this song anyway, but the balance between the guitar, the drums and cymbals was off: the cymbals were too quiet. I had similar thoughts about another litmus-test-song: “It’s For You” from As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls by Pat Metheny Group. In this composition it’s the triangle which seems held back.

Mids: Mids, and especially vocals, are highlighted by Advar. String quartets and baroque music in general sounded good, though benefit from the additional resolution of transducers like Rai Penta and Trio. Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes were beautiful. Emmylou Harris’ voice in “Deeper Well” from Wrecking Ball wasn’t quite as convincing as I’ve heard, but her tone was right even if detail was lacking. During my general listening, songs by Ozzy Osbourne popped up fairly frequently. His music was rendered well by Advar: Ozzy’s vocals were forward, clear and intelligible. Jake’s or Zakk’s guitars sounded convincing and the drums sounded pretty good, overall (though kick-drums were a bit unconvincing). That general impression held true for lots of classic, ‘80s and ‘90s rock.

Lows: Bass from Advar was strong, but one-notey and without definition. With some songs it also swamped the lower mids. “Limelight” from Rush’s Moving Pictures is a tough song because in the beginning Geddy Lee’s bass and Neil Peart’s kick drums kind of run together. Similarly, “Deeper Well” from Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris requires good articulation at the low end to convey the menace of the music. Neither of these qualities came through with Advar. Oddly, when I turned to one of my other frequent audition tracks, “Seawall” from the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack, the deep synthesizer bass filled my head and rattled my bones in a satisfying way. I don’t listen to EDM, but I wonder how Advar would do with that genre?

Finding strengths: Vocals were always high-points during my time with Advar. Always up-front and intelligible. Pop and old country were also fun with Advar. Songs with deep synthesizer bass were also fun. Fleshgod Apocalypse, the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack, Yasushi Ishii’s Hellsing: Raid soundtrack were all big fun.

Comparisons: Most of my comparison time was spent switching between Advar and Rai Solo. My other long-term IEMs, the Rai Penta and 64Audio Trio simply offered more, but at higher cost. Given that, it didn’t seem terribly productive to compare Advar with those two. However, I will make a comment about Advar and Trio. I’m in a small camp which doesn’t find Trio’s treble “hot” or bright. I love the treble from Trio. I have a theory that age and my occupation have taken more than the average amount of my high frequency hearing; therefore, I think it’s a reasonable assertion Advar’s treble is flat, but I hear it as recessed. I may never know for sure.

As quirky as the Rai Solo is, I always preferred it to Advar. Bass was in better balance with the rest of the music and didn’t bleed into the lower mids the way it did for me with Advar. Rai Solo presented more details in the low frequencies as well. Vocals aren’t as up-front when listening to Rai Solo as with Advar, but I am more accustomed to that presentation so it’s more comfortable. Finally, compared to Advar, Rai Solo treble is tilted up a notch which is good tuning for me.

Conclusion: A few years ago I traded a pair of IEMs I really wanted to like but simply didn’t for a pair of Meze Rai Penta. Rai Penta turned out to be a revelation for me and I enjoy them to this day. I really wanted that to happen again with Advar. I could get used to the minor hassles presented to me by those tiny shells, especially since they are so comfy and secure once inserted properly. However, Rai Solo is just as comfortable and I enjoy its tuning more, which made the Advar sound unsatisfying by comparison.

Introduction: I am not affiliated with Questyle. I do own and enjoy a QP2r DAP, and I was part of the CMA Twelve tour. I am happy to be included in the CMA Fifteen tour. I wish I had a CMA Twelve on-hand so I could compare the two directly.

There are several features Questyle DAC/ amps provide which I can make limited use of at most. I don’t have any MQA or DSD files. I have a few high bit-rate files, and listened to a few, the correct LED lit up when I listened to 96kHz files, for example. For purposes of this review, I listened only to the USB input. In fact, I spent most of my time listening to the CMA Fifteen as I would if I owned one: using both the DAC and amp sections and listening to over-the-ear head phones.

Unboxing: Questyle provides a nice white box, dense foam with a couple of custom cut-outs, an instruction manual and a mini-CD-ROM. I’m not sure who can make use of the CD-ROM these days, but luckily the driver is available from the Questyle website. I was a bit let down by the instruction manual. Most of the functions of the CMA Fifteen went unexplained. Not that I had any trouble hooking it up and getting music to play, but I’d like to know what the front-panel bias switch is intended to do. I didn’t notice any change when I switched between “standard” and “high”.


Both the display box and the outer shipping box.

What I Listened to: I used my long-term home reference gear. My two main systems are:

• Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Gungnir multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
• Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Gungnir delta-sigma -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir

My long-term reference head phones are HiFiMAN HE-500 and Stax SR Lambda, and more recently a pair of HiFiMAN HE-6 (6-screw). Since the Stax can’t be connected to the CMA Fifteen, they won’t play any part in this review. I found I like the Questyle sound when I paired my QP2r DAP with my Meze Rai Penta IEMs. So I tried the Pentas with the CMA Fifteen to see if it has similar magic.


Ready to come out and warm up.

Soundstage: I am not a big sound stage guy when it comes to head phone listening. However, I did take some notes when listening to Ravel’s Daphne et Chloe. There was absolutely some weirdness in this recording. What is a wood-wind doing way deep in my right ear? How come the trumpets span from stage-left on stage-right on occasion? Why are the harps behind the basses (at least our symphony places the harps behind the second violins). As is usual for me, the sound stage was contained within the ear cups. Height extended from my eye brows down to my upper lip. Placement within that field was generally pretty good, except for the weirdnesses mentioned earlier. The brass were stage right and a bit above the basses, which did sound a bit further to the right as they should. Typically, the wood winds were center and center-left. The violins were left, but sometimes sounded like they extended all the way right, crowding the basses off stage. Must have been in the recording.

First impressions: the first songs I listened to were: “See, Sea, Strut” by Doug Smith, “Salty Dog” by Mississippi John Hurt and “This Feeling” by Alabama Shakes. All small-scale songs to be sure, but the CMA15 rendered each in a relaxed and natural way. The inner light released by Smith’s right hand and Brittany Howard’s voice were richly supported by Smith’s left hand and the bass, respectively. These first impressions from my HE-6.



Highs: One of my all-time favorite songs, and one I use in gear evaluation, is “It’s for You” from Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. The strummed acoustic guitar, Pat’s electric guitar, the triangle span quite a bit of the low to high treble range. With my HE-6, note separation was good, but not spectacular, the music seemed a touch congested. Tone; however, was lovely. Switching to my easier-to-drive HE-500, that inner detail when the acoustic and electric guitars plus the triangle were all playing together shone through with more authority. Switching again, this time to my Gungnir/ Mjolnir gear, my HE-500 emphasized the electric guitar and triangle at the expense of the acoustic guitar. The sharp attack of the leading edges of Pat’s electric guitar notes was rendered better by the California gear. My HE-6, with the volume knob turned suitably farther clockwise, emphasized the electric guitar and triangle as well, but didn’t push the acoustic guitar as far back as my HE-500 did. In addition, the separation between instruments and notes, in short, articulation, was better with my HE-6 driven by the Schiit gear.

Mids: Something I didn’t expect: the drums in Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Riviera Paradise” sounded hollow and artificial with my HE-500/Schiit combination. Not so much through My HE-6 when powered by my Mjolnir. With all four combinations, Stevie Ray’s guitar sounded wonderful. Rich and full and soulful. I think the CMA Fifteen did a more convincing job with those troublesome drums and emphasized the leading edges of guitar notes just a bit more than the Gungnir/Mjolnir.

Frank Sinatra’s voice in “One for My Baby” was achingly smooth through my HE-6 and the CMA Fifteen. This combination also revealed a detail I’ve heard through a few other systems: on the first word of several verses, Frank sings the beginning of the first syllable at a low pitch which he allows to rise through the rest of the word. Kind of like a roller coaster at the bottom of a hill just starting to climb up the subsequent rise. In comparison, My HE-500 were a skosh more 2-D than the HE-6 with the same vocals. I had a very similar reaction to “One for My Baby” with my HiFiMAN powered by my Schiit gear, except the difference between my HE-6 and HE-500 was even more pronounced. This was a distinct win for the Questyle gear when powering my HE-500. It’s a tougher call with the HE-6: the Questyle did a better job with Frank’s voice (the CMA Fifteen got that leading low-pitch-thing, the Schiit didn’t as much), but the Schiit electronics made the strings sound way more like strings.

My standard audition songs which have female vocals include Emmylou Harris and Margot Timmins. Emmylou’s voice in “Deeper Well” was thin but worn, just right for the character she sings in this song. Bravo. Margot Timmins, in Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Sessions, light and breathy and “purer” than Ms. Harris’.

Lows: I found myself having to kick the CMA Fifteen a bit to get strong bass from my HE-6. Granted, I wasn’t surprised, the HE-6 require a lot of juice to get going. My first test was “Right Off” from Miles Davis’ A Tribute to Jack Johnson. I had to bump the volume up a couple of notches, from 10:00 to noon. Same thing with “2049”, “Sapper’s Tree” and “Flight to LAPD” from the soundtrack to Blade Runner: 2049. I had a similar experience with Rush’s “Limelight”: volume too low = mushy drums, volume just right (or louder) = satisfying drums.

Back to “It’s for You”, the electric bass has proven impossible to reproduce in a satisfying way via head phones for me, though the HE-6 come closest. The HE-6 plumbed the depths, extending as deeply as I’ve heard, but I still wish for more level to bring the bass up even with the alto and soprano instruments. The HE-500 through the CMA Fifteen didn’t extend as deeply, but did bring the low- and mid-bass up in level slightly. With the Schiit duo, frequency extension was similar through the HE-500, but there was more subtle detail present. With my HE-6, bass again extended deeper, was happily louder and presented the same level of detail as the HE-500.

Another litmus test song for me is “Deeper Well” from Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball album. The CMA Fifteen muscled my HE-500 through this song well. Bass requires good extension and control for the “menace” of this song to come through, and it did.

Frankly, I was floored by the bass in both “Riviera Paradise” and “Chitlins Con Carne” by Stevie Ray Vaughn. In this case HE-6/Schiit > HE-500/Schiit = HE-500/Questyle > HE-6/Questyle. “Riviera Paradise” especially had full, round, warm, wet bass and finally at a level high enough to support Stevie Ray’s melodic playing. I’ve been frustrated with this song with other gear in the past.


L to R: digital inputs, RCA analog input, analog outputs, voltage selector

Dynamics, transients and articulation: the detail present in Geddy Lee’s bass in “Limelight” was astonishing. The CMA Fifteen even did a good job of sorting out Geddy’s bass from Neil’s kick drums at the beginning of the song. Kudos. As I’ve experienced before with my QP2r and the CMA Twelve, Questyle takes control of drivers. The CMA Fifteen is no exception. Transient attacks, especially with the Beyerdynamic DT-880, are very sharp. Notes, when recorded this way, stop on a dime. Conversely, hall sound, reverb, decay (think vibraphone), are all allowed to bloom. Fun and engaging.

Other head phones: you’ve no doubt guessed I’ve become a planar junkie. I was abashed to realize when the CMA Fifteen arrived I had not a single dynamic head phone in my house. To rectify that, I called a buddy and he came to the rescue with a trio of dynamic head phones. The Sennheiser HD-600 sounded pretty good. Bass was extended and full, but over-all the sound was let down by the muffled top end. Certainly not a problem with the electronics based on my experience with other head phones this week. The HD-600 were significantly easier for the CMA Fifteen to power: not quite to 9:00 on the volume knob. Not bad sound to be sure, but not involving, either, compared to other head phones I have on hand. So, on to a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-880. These were the inverse of the HD-600: the top end was much improved, but the bottom end reticent, not terribly extended, and the bass which is present is pretty muddy. Giving them a kick (from 8:30 to 10:30 on the dial) improved the bass presence some, but got into “too loud for my preference” territory and lead quickly to fatigue. From the mids up, the DT-880 were enjoyable: bright, fast, articulate and involving. On a lark, I tried the DT-880 single ended (I spent 99% of my time with the CMA Fifteen using the balanced outputs). Other than having to crank the volume knob all the way to 1:00 to match the loudness from the balanced output, I didn’t notice much difference. Perhaps if I valued imaging more than I do… Onward to the Focal Clear Pro. Now, if I could combine the bass of the HD-600 with the mids and highs and details of the Clear… The Clear allowed the CMA Fifteen’s control of the drivers to shine, as did the DT-880, but tone of the midrange instruments (trumpet for example) provided a win for the French over the Germans.

I also spent some time listening to my Meze Rai Pentas through the Questyle. I left the CMA Fifteen in normal gain and it was, of course, way over powered for IEMs. That said, the music was crazy dynamic, even with the volume knob turned down a lot. Mids were more hollow-sounding than I’m used to from these IEMs when played through my QP2r (my normal on-the-go gear). What the CMA Fifteen brought, in spades, was the articulation and separation between the notes which makes me prefer my QP2r to my A&K AK70 Mk II when listening to the Rai Pentas alive. The Questyle amplifier technology turns the Rai Pentas from laid-back and sleepy to liverly and engaging. If being pumped up by your music is what you’re after, the CMA Fifteen can help you get there. No relaxing with the Rai Pentas driven by the Questyle desk top. Oh, that hollowness in the mids I mentioned: a few minutes’ brain burn and I nearly forgot about it. I was busy grooving to the rhythm so ably presented by this combination. I would have to switch head phones, though, if I wanted to be lulled by some silky vocals.



Other electronics: I switched the switches and connected the cables and tried my Aune X7S amplifier being fed from the CMA Fifteen analog output. In my opinion, the Aune a close to giant-killer status, I am always amazed by how well it powers head phones, even my old HiFiMAN. To keep this sort of short, the most revealing song, by far, was “Deeper Well”. Emmylou’s voice sounded good, but less traveled, some of her bite was missing. Likewise, that menace in the low frequencies was a bit less gritty compared with the tension the CMA Fifteen is able to conjure. Mind you, these differences belie the price difference, but if you’re a hobbyist, they are differences we strive to hear. The Questyle also has better dynamic control and faster transients. Music sounds a bit more 3D, more in-the-room with the current-mode amplifier, but again, small, hobbyist level differences. Oh, how important, though. A final win for the CMA Fifteen: it better sorted the bass from the kick drums in “Limelight”, let’s hear it for bass articulation and detail retrieval.

Then I tried connecting my Gungnir multi-bit and using the CMA Fifteen as an amp. My first impression was it didn’t make much difference, and I couldn’t shake it. Truth be told, I didn’t try all that hard: if I was to buy a CMA Fifteen there is no way I would use it as an amp only (or a DAC only for that matter). What I was listening for was a big change in the character of the sound, a big difference between the “halves” of the CMA Fifteen and the gear I’m familiar with. I didn’t hear anything to make me think anything about the CMA Fifteen other than it’s really good at what it does.


Reviewing can be an untidy business which drives your wife to distraction.

What I Didn’t Like: I have to admit, I experienced some fatigue listening to the CMA Fifteen. I think, but can’t point to a specific song as a concrete example, there’s a bit of harshness in the upper mids and treble I reacted to subconsciously. The longer I listened, the smaller my HE-6 sounded. They never sounded congested, but often constricted, as if there wasn’t enough power available to allow them to open up. Oddly, I got this impression even with relatively small-scale songs from time to time. Sure, Pete Fountain is backed by a big band on “St. Louis Blues”, but it’s not as “big” as Mahler’s 5th Symphony. Still, the jazz orchestra sounded distant and Mr. Fountain didn’t sound as present during his solos as I imagine he did in life. With everything the CMA Fifteen is capable of, one negative seems forgivable. But sometimes I listen to my head phones for a few hours at a stretch and I’d hate to have a head ache part way through.

What I Like: The list is long: it’s compact, it’s powerful, it’s smooth, it’s articulate, it reveals details in your recordings. It’s revealing enough to make differences in head phones with a definitely similar house sound distinct from each other.

What I think it all comes down to is the Questyle CMA Fifteen is a very good package. Compared with my HE-500, I think it runs out of steam a bit with my HE-6; which, to be fair, sound most satisfying powered by my Aegir, a speaker amp. While the Sennheiser HD-600 sounded pretty good through the CMA Fifteen, better head phones sounded better, the CMA Fifteen sound scales with more capable transducers. Of the head phones I tried I liked my HE-500 the best. My theory is they are a bit easier to drive than my HE-6, and so showed off more with the Questyle.

At both the beginning and end of my time with the CMA Fifteen, I simply listened to songs picked at random by my computer, like a juke box. Here are some of the songs I listened to, in case you’re sick of my audition music:

• Weird Al Yankovic, Dare to Be Stupid
• Keith Jarrett, The Koln Concert
• Queensryche, Promised Land
• Weather Report, I Sing the Body Electric
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, It Feels Like Christmas Time
• Booker T and the MGs, Best of…
• Stan Ridgeway, The Big Heat
• Don Shirley, Best of…
• Frank Sinatra, Songs for Young Lovers
• Sonny Rollins, Worktime
• Richard Wagner, Gotterdamerung (OK, not the whole opera…)
• Robert Schumann, Klavierquintett
• Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II
• Barefoot Servants, Barefoot Servants

... and like that...

Introduction: I’ve been curious about Audeze since I bought my HiFiMAN HE-500 years ago. In the meantime, I’ve heard a few other planar designs: Mr. Speakers Aeon closed, Audeze LCD-X, Kennerton Rognir, Monoprice M1060, perhaps a few others. I finally succumbed to my curiosity and bought a pair of LCD-3 from a fellow Head-fi member.


That classic Audeze form

What I Listened to: I used my long-term home reference gear. My two main systems are:

• AK70 Mk II (USB out) / Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
• Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Gungnir multi-bit/ Unison -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir

My long-term reference head phones are HiFiMAN HE-500 and Stax SR Lambda, and more recently a pair of HiFiMAN HE-6 (6-screw). My son and a friend of mine also spent an afternoon trying out several different head phones (at least briefly). My son’s Sennheiser HD-660 and LCD-X 2021 as well as my friend’s HiFiMAN HE-1000 V2, Focal Utopia and Clear and Sennheiser HD-600 and HD-650 were all available to try.

Soundstage: the LCD-3 presented a fairly wide soundstage for me. It was at least ear-to-ear wide, and sometimes out to the “ends” of the ear cups. It was pretty flat, though. Listening to John Adams’ “Harmonielehre” I was struck by the tympani being to the left of the brass, but along side of them rather than behind them. And with Mahler’s Symphony 9 the trombones at the beginning of the 3rd Movement sound as if they are sitting among the cellos. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t spend much time analyzing the soundstage, I’m not good at hearing spatial cues when listening to head phones so I tend to ignore soundstage.

First impressions: the first night I listened to the LCD-3 something felt off. I’ve spent the past few weeks trying, off and on, to figure out what it is. The aspect I noticed first is most of the time both bass and treble sound recessed, down in level, compared with the mids. My son immediately declared the LCD-3 “midrange monsters”. Over the time I listened to the LCD-3 I found this to not always be the case, but it often was.

Highs: cymbals in The Doctor by Doc Powell were almost invisible. By that I don’t mean I couldn’t hear them, although they were a bit recessed compared to other head phones I have or have had, but that they were so anonymous they faded into the back ground and I didn’t really listen to them. Similarly, “Zipperlips” by Sweetman from Austin Back Alley Blue were also splashy and indistinct, not demanding of attention. Finally, there’s that sustained high note near the end of “Limelight” Alex Lifeson holds. To me, it’s supposed to be piercing and nearly painful. Quite the opposite with the LCD-3. “Versailles” from The Modern Jazz Quartet’s Fontessa was a treat. The triangle was bright and sparkled, vibes present (though without much decay) and the stand-up bass was in the mix. The piano did sound a bit hollow.

Mids: Miles Davis’ trumpet in “Right Off” from A Tribute to Jack Johnson was piercing and irritating. But then, the violin in Shostakovich’s String Quartet #2 was well portrayed and a pleasure to listen to. Similarly, listening to The Barber of Seville I enjoyed the vocals and the accompaniment. There was some peakiness when the singers hit loud notes which were rough, but overall the sound was pretty good.

Lows: “All Right Now”, also from Doc Powell’s The Doctor proves problematic for many head phones. I don’t know if the electric bass is simply recorded low in level, or is too deep to be reproduced well by most head phones. Either way, I almost couldn’t hear it when listening with the LCD-3. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, near the end of the first movement, there are repeated tympani strikes. Rather than being threatening, they are flat and dull, non-events. Oddly, “2049” from the soundtrack to Blade Runner: 2049 had good bass impact and the ear cups were filled with low frequency goodness.


The bamboo is pretty

Dynamics, transients and articulation: The Who’s “Join Together” is a good example of what I think makes the LCD-3 unsatisfying for me. Pete Townsend’s guitar, Roger Daltry’s harmonica, John Entwhistle’s bass are all at the same level and all sound flat. The texture is missing and thus the song fails to make my toes tap. This is one of my favorite happy songs, and it’s a let-down not to be tapping along with The Who. And then there’s the odd track which is presented well. “Napalm for Breakfast” from The Apocalypse Now Sessions by The Rhythm Devils had satisfyingly deep bass, good transient response for the plucked strings and was an all-around enjoyable experience.

In A Nutshell: The music I enjoyed most with the LCD-3 was small-scale, mellow music. Small group acoustic jazz, vocals (chant and early church music, too) provided consistent high points. But, if I want to be smooth and mellow while I read the Sunday paper, I have my Meze Rai Pentas which I can drive with my A&K AK70 Mk II (I prefer the Pentas with my Questyle DAP). My reservations about the LCD-3 all came together when I listened to “It’s for You” from Pat Metheny’s As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls album. At the very beginning of the song, Steve Rodby plays a simple line on the electric bass. Through the LCD-3 the notes, though distinct and well-separated, were flat and two dimensional. When listening with my HE-500 those same notes, even at the same volume setting I used with my LCD-3 (giving the loudness advantage squarely to the much more efficient LCD-3), were rounder, had more three dimensionality and more complex overtones. Later, nearer the end of that same song, after the tension-building middle section, Pat switches from that repeated seven note motif to lead guitar again and is accompanied by a triangle. I’m used to the guitar being front-and-center and the triangle front but slightly to the left. However, the LCD-3 presents the guitar to the right and the triangle to the left. Very strange and somehow wrong.

What I think it all comes down to is articulation and transient response, at least mostly. All the head phones and IEMs I keep provide more three dimensionality in reproducing notes. Leading edges are sharper, staccato notes stop faster and sustained notes decay longer. They each have more gradations of loudness as well. With the LCD-3, more times than not, the music I listened to sounded flat.


...and a peek at those planar drivers.

Conclusion: it’s obvious the LCD-3 are not for me. The short version is: their performance was uneven with the music I listen to most. Frequently they were uninvolving to me with occasional flashes of goodness. A while ago I had a week or so with a pair of LCD-X (and my son now has a pair of LCD-X 2021) and they were the exact opposite of the LCD-3. I really enjoyed the LCD-X and the energy they give. I found myself dialing up the volume constantly and then having to turn it back down because my ears hurt. It was fun, but ultimately I decided the LCD-X were too energetic, to the point of being relentless, for my taste. I gave the LCD-X back to my friend and went back to my HE-500. I am excited to hear my son’s LCD-X 2021 to see if Audeze was able to retain the excitement while dialing it back just a touch. My son is very happy with them. Thankfully, the LCD-3 have found an appreciative home and are being enjoyed.

Disclaimer: I was able to enjoy this DAC/amp courtesy of Yulong Audio as part of the US leg of their tour.

Packaging: The tour gear arrived in a slightly battered, but intact, not to worry, plain outer box. Inside were two identical, branded display boxes. The box on the right, turns out it contained the Power Station, is noticeably heavier, like twice as heavy, as the box on the left. Inside that is some nice polyethylene foam completely enclosing the DA1 in its box, and the Power Station in its. The manual (English in front, Chinese in the back) was inside the outer box.



What’s in the box? The DA1 was supplied with a USB-B to USB-A cable and two umbilicals. One of the umbilical cords is four feet long or so and has a stiff PVC outer jacket. The other umbilical is only a foot long or so and has no outer jacket, the inner wires are exposed with their rainbow of individual insulation. The Power Station was supplied with a power cord, US-standard three prong on one end, IEC on the other end.


Nearly identical; there are labels on one edge which tell you if the DA-1 or Power Station is inside.

Physicals: I suppose this is going to be a shorter section than typical for the head phone reviews I’ve written. For desk-top gear, the Yulongs are fairly compact: approximately 13” W x 10½” D x 2½” tall each. Bigger than my Schiit Bifrost, but smaller than my Mjolnir. I think each is a little bigger than the Questyle CMA Twelve Pro I had a few months ago. They look quite handsome stacked together.


... and the back showing some of the supplied cables, and the options available for connecting.

Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I think this will be an even shorter section… Let’s move on, shall we?

What I Listened to: For reference gear I have, and regularly use:

• Windows PC using JRiver Media Center as my server software
• Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II
• Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
• Schiit Gungnir multi-bit -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir
• HiFiMAN HE-500 head phones
• 64Audio Trio IEMs
• Aune X7S head phone amp (less frequently used)

Finally, I have access to, but rarely use:

• Schiit Modi multi-bit -> Schiit Mani (my son’s desk system)
• Sennheiser HD-660 head phones

The DA1 has lots of features, making it configurable is lots of different ways. I used primarily these two configurations:

• DA1 with the Power Station as a head amp (DAC engaged)
• DA1 without the Power Station as a head amp (DAC engaged)

What I Missed Out On: There were so many combinations I could have tried with the Yulong: DAC/amp with Power Station, DAC/amp without Power Station, DAC and my amps, amp and my DACs, all those combinations with different head phones (if my buddies came over the number of variations could have been staggering). I simply didn’t have time. I had to concentrate on how I guessed I’d use a DA-1 if it was mine to keep. Most of my listening was done with the whole DA-1 package connected to my laptop and powering my HE-500. As you’ll see below, though, I tried some other combinations as well.


Ready to begin warming up...

First impressions: My very first hearing of the DA1 was with the Power Station in place and using the USB output of my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II as the source. I thought the sound was a bit eerie. My initial impression is the Power Station is the real deal and I no longer hear the normal noise floor in my house’s power. However, I’ll have to wait until I try the DA1 without the Power Station to confirm that. For my first impressions I have started listening to random songs from either my DAP or my computer and try to listen to only the overall musical presentation. I try to save the audiophilia until a few days later. First up came some Rush, Herbie Hancock, Steve Vai, on and on. I mentioned the eerie quality I found to the DA1/ Power Station sound, but I also noticed PRaT (pace rhythm and timing) was unusually noticeable for me. On up-tempo music (Alton Gun and Herbie Hancock’s fusion initially), rhythms, the pace of notes, “funkiness” was at a high and enjoyable level. I typically don’t notice whether a piece of gear has that until I’ve listened much longer.

Soundstage: I’ve written this before: soundstage is not a high priority for me when listening to head phones. I hardly ever hear what some listeners are able to: music extending outside the ear cups. Even with the DA-1 and Power Station, music was inside my head. Placement within that narrow space was solid, stable and accurate, just not spacious. For me.

Audio reviewing creates such clutter, much to my wife's annoyance. Let's go!

Highs: Cymbals, bells, and triangles are all well presented at their airy shimmering best with the DA-1. Stand-out examples are “Chitlins Con Carne” by Stevie Ray Vaughn (a favorite audition track of mine) and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Miles Davis’ and Gil Evans’ Porgy and Bess. Returning to Shoshtakovich’s String Quartet, the violins when bowed could be sweet or piercing, but were never harsh and never broke up. When plucked the notes were sharp.

Mids: My first impression about midrange from the DA-1 is vocals sound really good. Really, all vocals I listened to sounded good. Brought just a bit forward in the mix, articulate and intelligible. My current favorite Frank Sinatra song, “One for My Baby” from Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely showcases a technique which I like: on many words, Mr. Sinatra begins with a tenorish pitch and ends the word more baritoney. Easily heard through the DA-1. Margot Timmins: wow! Quietly ethereal when singing “Workin’ on a Building” from The Trinity Sessions. It occurs to me Billie Eilish may have been attempting this effect with many of the songs on her debut album. Ms. Timmons does it better in my opinion, but Ms. Eilish has interesting meter and rhythm in some of her songs, so there’s that. Again with “Chitlins Con Carne”, Stevie’s guitar as well as the drums and cymbals sounded fantastic. As smooth and clear and clean as the guitar notes were, so were the transient snaps of the drums and the shimmer and sparkle of the cymbals.

Lows: You can’t really ignore the bass in the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack. The DA-1 allowed my HE-500 to fill my head with thunder, which was fun as it should be. However, returning to Stevie Ray, the bass in “Chitlins Con Carne” was quiet compared to the rest of the music. Not subdued, or restricted; bass extended deeply, was clear and rumbly, but it was simply quieter than I’m used to with my Schiit gear. “Riviera Paradise” fared better. Though I had the same impression of quiet when listening to “Limelight” by Rush.
Dynamics, transients and articulation: I’m going to use this section to talk mostly about separation and PRaT (pace, rhythm and timing). I first listened to the whole package: the DA-1 and Power Station together and what I noticed first was the clean space between the notes and how well lively music “boogied”. I thought I was hearing the effect of the Power Station: clean power creating a lower noise floor plus the robust power supply taking better control of the HE-500 drivers than I’m used to. Music seemed more holographic than it did last week (before the DA-1). That “boogie” effect wasn’t particularly noticeable to me in all music. Herbie Hancock’s Manchild and Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, though, with their rapid or changing tempo showcased it well for me.

I was struck by the small-scale dynamics and detail provided when listening to the electric bass in Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Riviera Paradise”. Every once in a while, Tommy Shannon would pluck a string sharply and it would rattle subtly rather than rumble like the more softly strummed notes.

Listening to “Right Off” from Miles Davis’ A Tribute to Jack Johnson I noticed how each note changed as Miles worked the valves. Unlike a percussion instrument, or plucked strings, each note he played changed a bit as he transitioned to the next note as the valve slid to its next position. It was easier to hear when he played fast; I think because the change is a larger fraction of a quick note than a sustained note, when I heard the change more as a transient. Miles’ trumpet also had bite playing Jack Johnson not present in L’Ascenseur Pour L’echafaud (a noir masterpiece in my opinion, love that album).


Right...

Surprises and Oddities: I didn’t expect this, but the DA-1 and Power Station together produced deep, but strangely quiet, bass with my HE-500. Low bass, mid-bass, both were there, but down in level compared to the rest of the music. Switching to the SLOW filter helped somewhat, but seemed to suppress treble air as well (just as promised in the manual). Overall, I preferred the SHARP filter to SLOW. I also tried switching back and forth between CLOCK1 and CLOCK2 but didn’t hear any difference.

The treble in some individual songs was also odd. The triangle in Pat Metheny Group’s “It’s for You” was quiet and muted. Conversely, when Pat plays high notes on his electric guitar, they are sharp and piercing. The clocks in Pink Floyd’s “Time”? Right up front and as shocking as they are supposed to be, jarring you out of your reverie. Very strange, especially since I noticed this only in a few songs rather than it being a consistent trait throughout my audition. I have no explanation for it.


Left. You can see the available head phone connections: 4-pin XLR, 1/4" TRS, 4.4mm Pentaconn

Comparisons: One of easiest comparisons to make is the DA-1 with and without the Power Station. I found myself playing my head phones generally 3 dB higher when the Power Station was removed from the chain than when it was included. And, I swear I heard back ground trash when then Power Station was removed. Not buzzing or hissing or anything distinct, more what the audio reviewers described as “a veil being lifted” when the Power Station was connected. The effect, with my head phones, is subtle, but I noticed it and I missed the Power Station when it was idle. I’ll bet with more resolving ‘phones the effect would be more noticeable.

Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit and Mjolnir I: The first two songs I played were Emmylou Harris’ “Deeper Well” and Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Chitlins Con Carne”. For me, “Deeper Well” depends on the bottom end to provide the menace essential to the song’s protagonist. The Schiit gear was more convincing in this aspect. Other clear wins for Bifrost and Mjolnir were “2049” and “Sea Wall” from the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack. Stronger bass presence did an even better job of filling my head and vibrating my skull. The mildly less refined Bifrost treble wasn’t as big a drawback with this electronic music as it was when listening to acoustic instruments. Stevie Ray’s song sounded better through the Yulong gear: electric bass was a tad stronger through the Schiit gear, but the guitar, drums and cymbals lost a bit of smoothness and delicacy, it wasn’t quite an even trade. With “It Ain’t Necessarily So”, Miles’ trumpet was able to maintain the resonance with the studio space, but at the same time sounded thinner through the Bifrost and Mjolnir. Frank Sinatra sounded chestier and Margot Timmins breathier when played through Schiit equipment than through the Yulong gear. Even more than that, though, “Working on a Building” reproduced with Bifrost and Mjolnir had more prominent electric bass and brassier cymbals. With “Right Off” from Miles Davis’ Tribute to Jack Johnson, John McLaughlin’s guitar sounded meatier and nastier through the Bifrost and Mjolnir, but the drums sounded strangely hollow: one point each to Schiit and Yulong. Miles’ trumpet still had bite, lost some of the complexity delivered by the DA-1 (with or without the Power Station). Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” proved an excellent comparison to highlight one of my favorite attributes of the DA-1: PRaT and “liveliness”. The DA-1 made Bifrost and Mjolnir sound flat in comparison, and in some passages plodding.


Schiit Bifrost multi-bit and Mjolnir I.

Yulong as a DAC driving the Mjolnir: My reaction to this combination was immediately positive as soon as “Deeper Well” started. Bass was stronger, vocals were still just a bit more forward and the “menace” was back when compared to how this song was presented through the DA-1 acting as a DAC/amp. Even the problematic “Chitlins Con Carne”, while still not a bass-head’s delight, presented more prominent bass making the presentation more balanced and more enjoyable to me. Guitar notes and cymbal strikes were still just as clear and smooth as when the amp section of the DA-1 was responsible for powering my head phones. “Sea Wall” was an adventure with 3D bass thumps at the beginning and crunchy synth notes throughout my head. Perhaps one of the best renditions of this track I’ve heard. This is a winning combination, except that the DA-1 amplifier is left on the sidelines.

Back to Bifrost and Mjolnir: Staying with “Deeper Well” for first impressions, bass is strong, but lacked the inner details revealed by the DA-1 DAC. Emmylou’s voice lost some dimensionality when played through Bifrost as well, sounding less gritty, less road worn. Similarly, Stevie Ray’s guitar had less bloom and the cymbals sounded more one-dimensional, and the initial transient was blunted. None of this added up to the Bifrost presentation being unenjoyable, but it is a lesser DAC than the DA-1 and I noticed it. The sound of the hall I could hear during “It Ain’t Necessarily So” was also missing. The bass was strangely underdamped and flabby-sounding in “Sea Wall”. I’d expect to make this comment if I was comparing amplifiers, but the difference in the chain this time is the DAC, so I’m surprised.

Gungnir and Aegir: Last, I listened to my Gungnir (in this case a multi-bit) driving a Sys and Aegir providing power for my HE-500. The Gungnir has similar resolving ability to the DA-1, but is more incisive. Everything sounds sharper through the Gungnir. I don’t think of the sound as harsh, but if you lean toward a laid-back presentation, you might and find yourself preferring the DA-1. I won’t spill a lot of ink with more details because other than the “forward” versus “laid back” gestalt, there isn’t any need. To my ears the DACs are equally capable but with differing presentations. I again prefer the power and low end authority of the Schiit amplifier over the Yulong amp.


Gungnir (delta-sigma on top, multi-bit on the bottom) and Aegir.

Finding Strengths: After the comparisons, I went back to the Yulong DA-1 as I believe it was intended to be heard, and how I’d configure it if it was mine: with the Power Station connected, full head amp, Sharp filter. The first song I tried was “In My Pocket” from Joe Satriani’s Shockwave Supernova, one of my only high-resolution albums. The Yulong locked on to the 96 kHz signal immediately, but the sound was oddly muffled and opaque. Has to be a result of the recording, I’ve heard this gear sound better. I didn’t want to spend any more time with high-resolution files for high-rez sake. I then moved on to an album I’d been dying to listen to since Day 1 with the DA-1: Uranus Space Club, Another Planet, Another Love. Funky fun, and a bass-heavy album I knew it would be a test and the DA-1 passed: it’s fun. No trouble with weak bass and the DA-1’s mastery of PRaT shone through. “Black Horse and Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall is a favorite of mine because of the meter of the lyrics. The DA-1 brought forth KT’s voice with assurance. It’s too bad the acoustic guitar wasn’t recorded better: picked notes sounded fine, but the instrument fell apart when strummed. However, Rodrigo y Gabriella’s Spanish guitar fared better: good separation between notes, even when strumming fast. And “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” from Herbie Hancock’s Manchild always drove forward, propelled by rhythm made infectious. “Africano/ Power” from Earth, Wind & Fire’s Gratitude also drove forth relentlessly, daring me to not tap my toes. Big fun. Lest you think I’m ignoring it: vocal music, composed in the 14th century by Guillaume de Machaut and sung by the Hilliard Ensemble, was haunting and unearthly; tranquil and inviting meditation. As for something baroque, rather than returning to Brandenburg concerti, how about Bach’s Cello Suite 4 (Heinrich Schiff)? The whole range of the cello was produced with sound from the strings, from the body and from the hall. I finished with “Khrimian Hairig”, composed by Alan Hovhaness. The solo trumpet is richly playing in front of the string section. While I wish the strings’ image was a bit wider than between my ears (made all the narrower-sounding by the big image of the trumpet), placement within the sound stage is solid. And all this sonic goodness is brought to you with the supernaturally void background of the Power Station. The music was floating, detached from everything. That’s not to say ungrounded, but rather alone, as if the music is the only thing in the world. No distractions, no pollution.


With my HiFiMAN HE-500.

And for something completely different: I finally tried the DA-1 with some IEMs, my 64Audio Trio. I used a ¼” TRS x 3.5mm TRS adapter so I could use the DA-1 single-ended output. The DA-1 commanded fast response from the tiny IEM drivers: transients were lightning-fast. Dynamic range was also a step above what I heard with my HE-500, the leading edges of notes, especially, were sharp and loud with the “body” and decay of each note quieter but more full and filled-out. Bass, overall, was more successfully handled when listening to my Trio than my HE-500, but there were still a few problematic songs (“Chitlins Con Carne”, “Limelight”, “Dirty” by Earth, Wind & Fire, etc.). I listened with the Power Station connected and the back ground was silent: no hiss, no sibilance, no noise. I held the volume level to -70 db or so as compared to -55 or -50 dB when listening to my HE-500. Not surprising, really. Oddly, I had to play “Deeper Well” louder than I prefer (-66 dB) to get it to sound right. Up until now, the DA-1 had treated music quite evenly regardless of smallish adjustments to volume.


With my 64Audio Trio, ready to go.

And for something completely different, part two: I borrowed my son’s Sennheiser HD-660, listening again from the ¼” TRS connection. The HD-660s sounded pretty good, they were certainly innocuous. But I missed the excitement, either good or bad, of head phones not tuned so middle-of-the-road. Even a head phone I don’t like, but with distinct tuning choices, gives me something to talk about, to listen for. Overall, treble was closed in, mids were pleasant and clear, bass was there but without power or slam. There are so many less expensive options available, if my favorite head phone was an HD-650 or HD-660, I’d look elsewhere for amplification.

Conclusion: The DA-1 is a nice piece of gear. However, when using the DA-1 as a DAC/ amp, even with the Power Station, I missed the authoritative bass of my Schiit gear (and my DAPs, too, when using IEMs on-the-go). After pairing the DA-1 DAC with my Mjolnir, I think the DA-1 amplifier prevents it from pushing all my buttons.

I really liked the sound of the DA-1 used as a DAC only. It provided me with smooth and fatigue-free sound. Smooth doesn’t mean bland, though it could. The DA-1 has resolution at least equal to my Gungnir, better than my Bifrost. It also has rhythm and pace which is addictive. I haven’t had a piece of gear which put PRaT up-front so prominently before, the result was shocking to me. And fun. The trade-off is that smoothness can lead to missing out on some of the drive, the excitement of energetic music. The DA-1 sound, to me, is for the mellow times, the Bifrost and Gungnir sounds are for getting up and getting loud. Really, though, the combination of the DA-1 DAC and Mjolnir I amplifier was very, very good.

A close second for the Biggest Treat of This Review, which I didn’t expect, was the Power Station. I know there are audiophiles out there who have extolled the benefits of uber-clean power for years. This is the first time I’ve had a separate power supply. It made a noticeable difference, and to me, benefit. Like the pacing of the DAC, I wasn’t prepared for the effect really clean power would have to separate my music from everything else in the world. To make it the only thing worth paying attention to without having to work to ignore what went on outside the ear cups.

This won't really be a review, I have only had these for a couple of hours. I'll post a follow up after I've had some time to listen to my IEMs with the ADV Eartune Fidelity sleeves.

I've had a pair of 64Audio Trio for four years or so. In the past couple of years the fit has been frustrating for me. While they never actually fall out, after five or so minutes one, usually the left, would work its way out, ruining the seal I depend on for the deep bass I like. I ordered a pair of ADV's Eartune Fidelity sleeves for my Trio.

I already had recent impressions, so I placed my order through ADV's website. ADV told me they didn't have a pattern for the 64Audio Trio, so I boxed up my impressions and my Trio and mailed them to California. I was told everything would be returned to me in approximately four weeks. Unfortunately, I deleted my e-mails to ADV: I think total turn-around was five weeks or so including shipping both ways, but I can't verify it.



I got everything back today. I opened everything up immediately and twisted the sleeves onto my Trio and then into my ear to check fit. The silicone is a bit sticky and squishy so I had a bit of difficulty getting them set. ADV sent a packet of Westone Oto-Ease, which was helpful. Hopefully I'll learn the trick soon and won't need that anymore.



The sleeves are really comfortable. The custom fit is nice since it doesn't rely on friction and compression to hold an IEM in place. One of the first things I did was grab a bowl of cereal and have a snack. The Eartune Fidelity sleeves passed the "chew" test with flying colors, my Trio didn't budge while I noshed.

As you've heard, custom sleeves do not allow IEMs to nestle in your outer ear the way they used to. As you can see below, Trio + sleeve is not a stealth "installation".


Without sleeves With sleeves

I don't sleep with headphones (on purpose), but there won't be any wearing these to bed. Even though they now stick out quite a bit, the sleeves fill my ear canal and the volume between the crux of the helix and antitragus everything is secure.

I think I hear a difference between what Trio sounds like with these sleeves and my memory of what they sounded like a month ago. I'll post a follow-up after I've had some time with these and done some comparisons with my go-to tips, the Spin Fit CP240.

I'm going to rate these at 3.5 for now since I don't know if or how they did or didn't change the sound of my Trio. I hope I can edit this...

UPDATE (May 19,2022)
I've finally had some time to listen to my Trio with both the ADV custom sleeves and my go-to SpinFit CP240 tips. Ergonomics first, sound second.

It's really easy to get Trio in my ears, with a fairly deep insertion and good seal, with the SpinFit CP240. Unfortunately, the SpinFit tips don't keep Trio in my ears very well, especially the left side. I do need to go back to a medium tip on the left side, I've been using a small for a while now. When the ear pieces slip out, the seal gets weak and isolation and bass response suffer. In addition, the SpinFits aren't "disappear" comfortable for hours at a time. I just had a three-hour listen while on a flight today and my ears were a bit sore from the outward pressure of the tips, plus the rubbing.

With the ADV tips, I have a hard time getting Trio in my ears properly. The Oto-Ease gel from Westone helps a lot, but the silicone sleeves are pretty squishy and I haven't practiced the insert-twist-push movement enough to do it right. The good news is, once the sleeves are properly inserted they really do disappear and isolation is good (plane noises weren't silenced, but they were much attenuated) and the ear pieces don't move, they are held securely. I had a four hour listen on my flight out a couple of days ago and felt no outward pressure or rubbing, Trio really didn't feel like they were there, just the music. Of course, Trio stick out quite a bit when sleeved. No longer a stealth item.

The sleeves, as you can see in the photos above, are big. Not only to they make IEMs stick out of your ears, they make it necessary to get a pretty big case to store/ carry your IEMs. I ended up with a small Sea Horse case, which is still close to 3x the size of the Pelican 2010. While the case, in IEM terms, is huge and inconvenient, it has room for Trio+sleeves, cable, and my small DAP (A&K AK70 Mk II). Not bad for travelling in my carry-on luggage, but it would be a pain for everyday carry to and from work.

The ADV sleeves take a slight bit of the magic away from the treble of Trio. The frequency extension is still there, but some of the air, sparkle and delicacy is gone. It really isn't much, but I noticed it. Most of the time I didn't notice it, but when I did I missed it because I really like Trio treble. From the midrange down to through the bass I didn't notice much change. Maybe some transparency lost (i.e. a little muddier), maybe. As many of you know, I am not good at hearing the sound stage with head phones, so I can't comment if the ADV sleeves alter Trio's ability to provide one.

In return for giving up that last bit of top-end air, I didn't have to reinsert the left ear piece every ten minutes, and I could listen until the battery in my DAP died without discomfort: six hours or more. Kind of makes me want a custom IEM. Until I decide to take that plunge, I'll use Trio with the ADV sleeves, the increase in comfort and decrease in hassle when I listen for a long time is worth it.

Disclaimer: I was able to enjoy these head phones as part of a tour directly from Meze.

Introduction: I’ve been a happy listener to Meze’s Rai Penta and Rai Solo IEMs for two or three years. I really love the sound of both IEMs. I’ve enjoyed the sound of planar head phones for much longer, but have not yet heard the Meze Empyrean, so I was really happy to be included in Meze’s tour for Liric. Now I’d finally get an opportunity to hear what Meze orthodynamic is all about.

Packaging: My loaner pair arrived in a plain brown shipping box. Inside that was a Meze-branded outer box, then the Meze display box.



What’s in the box? Inside the display box was the Meze storage box, hard case, the Liric head phones and some accessories. Cables included are a 1.5m long 3.5mm TRS, a 3m long 3.5mm TRS, and a 1.5m long 4.4mm Pentaconn. There is also a 3.5mm x ¼” TRS adapter and an airplane adapter.


The retail display box and the storage box.

Physicals:

• Head phones: The shape of Liric’s ear cups reminds me of the Empyrean’s (as if I’ve ever had an Empyrean, a bucket list item for me). The head phones are supplied with leather-covered pads. The head band has textured fabric on the “inside”, and leather on the “outside”. There’s just a little bit of padding. You’d think the lack of padding would be a drawback, but Liric are so light they never got uncomfortable. The Liric have smooth posts with a friction slide for adjusting the head band height. The smooth posts also allow the ear cups to be rotated front to back. The gimbals allow for rotation top to bottom.

• Cable: As mentioned, I received three cables with the Liric. At the head phone end, Liric uses 3.5mm mono phono plugs (I guess that would be tip-sleeve or TS?). The two cables with 3.5mm TRS phono plugs at the source end appeared to be identical other than length. Thicker than the IEM cables I generally use, but thinner than the cables I have for my head phones. The outer jacket feels thick and rubbery. Even so, the cables are pretty flexible (but not tops in this regard), and it doesn’t seem like they’d ever tangle. I also received a short 4-core silver-plated cable with a 4.4mm Pentaconn connector at the source end. I used this cable most since I could use it with my desk-top gear and a 4.4mm-to-4-pin XLR adapter.

The Pentaconn cable, here shown with my 4.4 x 4-pin adapter.

• Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I’ve already noted Liric are light; they almost disappeared when I put them on my head. The head band provides, for me, just the right amount of clamping force. Enough so the pads are pressed against my head for a seal but not so much as to be uncomfortable or even squash the pads. The ear cups barely fit my ears, but fit they did. I also had a quarter inch or so of head band adjustment left when I got the ear cups at the right height. My other long-term head phones are both open back, so I can’t really comment about isolation compared to other closed backs. Simply holding Liric in my hands, with my hands covering the pads, I found the sound was pretty well contained inside. Perhaps not enough for your significant other to sleep next to you, but probably enough for unobtrusive use at the office.

What I Listened to: I used four different systems to try Liric, some only briefly, though:

• Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II
• AK70 Mk II (analog out) -> Aune X7s amp
• AK70 Mk II (USB out) -> Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
• Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Gungnir multi-bit/ Unison -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir

Long term reference head phones are HiFiMAN HE-500 and Stax SR Lambda.

Since I didn’t listen to Liric very long either straight from my DAP, or using the Aune amplifier I’ll make some quick comments here. Liric didn’t shine when connected straight to my DAP. Of course, I never use a DAP to power full size head phones, so I could be displaying expectation bias here. They just seemed underpowered. Bass was always recessed and lacking in power (more about this later) and music lacked life. Presentation was improved with the Aune amplifier in the chain. But shortly after I tried the Aune the balanced cable arrived and I could listen through my much more familiar Schiit amplifiers. So that’s what I did. Besides, I much prefer using the outboard DACs to the analog output of my DAPs.


My living room system: Gungnir multi-bit, Sys, Aegir

Also, a quick note about my desk-top systems: I got the best sound from my Bifrost/ Mjolnir pairing, so that's what I listened to most. I've had mixed results using my Aegir as a head phone amp. It powers my Stax well, and is good with my old, inefficient HiFi-MAN as well. With more current, more efficient head phones, not so much.


My bedroom system: AK70 Mk II (blue, center of the table), Bifrost I multi-bit, Mjolnir I
Also stacked in there is my Aune X7s amp

Soundstage: I’m not particularly concerned with soundstage when I listen to head phones. Even so, I did listen for this a little with Liric. Charles Ives’ “Three Places in New England” (Mercury Living Presence) showed me a sound stage which stretched from ear cup to ear cup, but no farther, which is what I expected, it’s what I usually hear. There wasn’t much height or depth presented, either, but I was neither surprised nor alarmed by this. That presentation mimics what I hear when I attend symphony performances. Of course, there is reverberation in the hall, but the direct sound from the instruments is spread stage-left-to-stage-right with little height or depth information at my Row T seat. Instrument placement with Liric allowed me to hear some oddities in this recording. Typically, a piano is placed in front of the orchestra at center stage. Not in this recording: to the left of the stage. The woodwinds were farther to the right than I expected, seeming to be where I expected the brass to be.

First impressions: My first impression of Liric was of an n-shaped curve: lows and highs both recessed in comparison to the midrange. Remember, my first experiences were using just a DAP and an amp I don’t use often (and single ended as well). The good news is Liric didn’t sound as enclosed and muffled as a few other closed-back head phones I’ve heard do (a pair of Fostex, a Mr. Speakers Aeon, perhaps a couple of others). So far, I have generally preferred the sound of open back head phones, but the Kennerton Rognir and Meze Liric have shown me closed back designs can push my buttons as well. Since the Rognir have a small vent in their ear cups, the Liric sounding not-closed-in to me is an even greater feat since it appears to be almost fully closed. Each ear cup has a small copper-colored disc with an Empyrean-like cut-out in it. A small vent? Still, the highest treble isn’t as open and free-sounding as it is with either of my long-term open back head phones. To some extent, I never lost the impression Liric are holding back in the bass.

Highs: One of my favorite audition albums is The Doctor by Doc Powell, if for no other reason than the quality of the recording, including cymbals. David Manley did a tremendous job with this recording. While the cymbals shimmer and sound delicately brassy there’s a closed-in quality when I listened to Liric. While the sound isn’t muffled, it’s missing the expansiveness I’m used to from my open back head phones. Flutes and violins; however, don’t exhibit the same quality; perhaps only the highest notes are affected, lower and middle treble not as much. A couple of examples: the flute in Mendelsohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Keith Jarrett’s piano in The Koln Concert. The flutes in Mendelsohn were lovely. Smooth, light, true. Likewise with Keith Jarrett’s right hand. When playing low-treble notes, some resonance from the piano’s sound board could be heard; when playing even farther to the right the notes “tinkled”.



Mids: Liric’s mid-forward presentation helped lyrics be clear and intelligible. Margot Timmins, Emmylou Harris, Mama Lion, the choir from a Josquin Desprez CD I’ll mention in more detail later, Frank Sinatra. Mama Lion was let down by her recording engineer on “Can’t Find My Way Home”: she really belts out the song, but her vocals are kind of overcome by the instruments. I could hear all her inflection and vibrato with Liric, but even Liric couldn’t bring her forward enough to be on equal footing with the keys and guitar. Pity. Contrast that with Mississippi John Hurt singing “Casey Jones” while accompanying himself with acoustic guitar. His voice, slurry/mumbly words and all, was right in the center, his guitar just a bit beneath. There is one string which only buzzes when he picks it, it makes me smile. Listening to Doug Smith play solo guitar is a treat.

Lows: Bass from Liric is frustrating for me. “Bad Guy” from Billie Eilish’s debut has a funky thump, but the electric bass in my Stevie Ray Vaughn audition tracks, “Chitlins Con Carne” and “Riviera Paradise” was MIA. John Paul Jones’ bass was likewise subdued (in any Led Zeppelin song I listened to). But then, I’d listen to my bass-busting audition album, Blade Runner 2049 and hear the extension Liric is capable of, if not the slam I really crave. And then, there are bass tests other head phones (my HE-500 is one) fail like separating Geddy Lee’s bass from Neil Peart’s kick drum in “Limelight”. Liric’s resolution is good and allows me to hear those two instruments separately. Finally, there’s something amiss with tonality, at least in one of my test tracks. “Time” from Dark Side of the Moon just didn’t sound right; light and dry rather than warm and enveloping. This tonal weirdness was by far the exception, though.


I wonder if having two or three vents in the ear cups would relieve some back pressure on the driver and open the bass?

Dynamics, transients and articulation: I really like when a horn section is blowing hard. Even more so when my head phones or speakers are articulate and don’t lose the leading edges of those notes. Disparate songs like the end of “B Movie Boxcar Blues”, displayed Liric’s ability to convey the power of a big band playing strongly, while “Casey Jones” is a good display of small-scale dynamics. The plucked strings and Hurt’s vocals are right out there, but the body of the guitar is behind it all, quietly supporting the strings with its resonance. I also enjoyed listening to “Gloria’s Step” from Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Here, the whole trio, included stand-up bass (well, the deepest notes are subdued compared to the baritone notes), are clearly audible, as are the incidental noises of the audience clinking glasses, talking amongst themselves and shifting their seats. Listening to Doug Smith play solo guitar is a treat (yes, I repeat myself). It’s not simply that Liric does a great job of presenting the tonal quality of Smith’s guitar (or Mississippi John Hurt’s, or Stevie Ray Vaughn’s…), but the rendering of the initial transient of the “pluck” and the smaller details of fingers sliding along the strings and fret board created a complete picture of the happenings in the studio.

Finding strengths: I realize I’ve fussed a bit about what Liric misses out on for me. So rather than dwell on any negatives, I started looking for music which sounded really good with Liric. “Ave Maria” from a disc of Josquin Desprez, was wonderful. Medieval vocal music, I think performed in a cathedral. The choristers were front and center, squarely between my ears. Howerver, the volume of the space, the ambient sound bloomed outward filling at least the earcups. And the closed-in feeling I get in the high treble is fully absent. All voices were open and, well, I can’t say soaring because it is more intimate music than that, but you get what I mean. And I know I was earlier critical of the lowest end, but really, Blade Runner 2049, while missing that head-filling power, was satisfyingly extended; which is paradoxical given the near absence of electric and stand-up bass in many jazz recordings I have (even recordings I know have those frequencies). Miles Davis, Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud, as I’ve said, is wonderful noir and entirely convincing. Miles’ muted (but strong) trumpet, drums quietly keeping time, an upright bass playing an occasional note and a plodding piano is sometimes all it takes to make the world disappear. While Jesse Cook has some deep bass, which was nearly absent when listening with Liric, in his recording of “Dance of Spring” I didn’t miss it (bass-head though I am). The precise rendition of Cook’s Spanish guitar with his sharply plucked and distinct notes, plus the spare but punctuated percussion prevented me from missing the bass. Even a fairly big jazz band like Roy Ayers’ came across well: I enjoyed listening to “Evolution” quite a lot. I listen to this song frequently when evaluating gear as the vibraphone solo at the end is a touchstone for me in deciding if leading edges or decay is emphasized by a piece of equipment. But there are also cymbals, guitar (way in the background), keys (both in the mids and playing a funky mid-bass riff), vocals (well, “Evolution” repeated over and over), and an electric bass which I didn’t miss that much even though it’s mostly covered up. Renaissance, baroque, string quartets and piano sonatas are all displayed the strength of Liric’s whole, organic sound. Even classical period symphonies and opera were credibly portrayed, only betrayed by the lack of the lowest foundation. Pipe organ, not so much.


That famous hybrid orthodynamic driver

Comparisons: As a reminder, my long-term reference head phones are the HiFi-MAN HE-500 and Stax SR Lambda. I won’t actually spend a huge amount of time comparing the three. What I found during my time with Liric aligns quite well with the widely held stereotypes. The Stax are faster and more open, breezier at the top of the frequency curve. The antique SR Lambdas aren’t overly analytical to my ears, but they did present delicate treble notes with more finesse than Liric did. Mids are equally revealing and lush. I have some of the same reservations about bass from my Stax as I have with Liric: it’s extended, but simply doesn’t hit hard. In contrast, my HiFi-MAN has powerful, head-filling bass which can shake bedrock. Mids are rich enough but give up some nuance to the Liric and Stax. Highs are extended but again, not as light and breezy as the other two. I sure like my HE-500s when listening to energetic music, though.

I do want to say something about Liric’s stablemate: the Rai Penta. I was interested to hear if Liric and Rai Penta would team up to show a sort of Meze house sound. Sure, this is apples-and-oranges even if both transducers are from the same company. I listened to my Rai Penta with my Questyle QP2r DAP. My Rai Penta are more even across the frequency spectrum than Liric sounded, bass and treble were more evenly matched in volume to the midrange. I don’t think Liric bass is any less extended than what I hear from Rai Penta, but it is lower in level and doesn’t hit as hard. With Rai Penta, “Chitlins Con Carne” and “Riviera Paradise” sounded as I like them to sound, “Deeper Well” regained its menace. Similarly, Rai Penta didn’t have any more detail up top, but they do present those details on a more equal footing than do Liric so I didn't have to listen as hard to hear it. Both Liric and Rai Penta share a smoothly organic, whole sound which is easy to relax into, which can allow you to stop obsessing over audiophilia. Rai Penta, especially when paired with my QP2r, checks perhaps all my boxes. Listening to it alongside Liric reminded me how good a fit the Rai Penta are for me.

Conclusion: I like the sound of the Meze Liric with certain music. When I listened to them, I missed the openness, especially in the treble, of my open back head phones as well as the power and slam of the bass my planars deliver. That fussing aside, from the upper bass through the low treble, Liric are laid back and musical. Some might miss the resolution of detail monsters, but I simply enjoyed the holistic sound of my favorite songs. I found myself preferring my long-term head phones more because they checked more boxes with more genres than Liric did for me. One big caveat here is: I don't listen to full size head phones at the office or while commuting. If you need a closed back head phone to keep outside noise out of your head (or your music to yourself) Liric offers a more pleasing sound to me than the others I've tried in the past. In that regard, the Meze Liric joins the Kennerton Rognir in making me think I could like a closed back head phone.

Disclaimer: I was able to enjoy these in-ear monitors as loaners directly from 64Audio. Since the pair I got were loaners they were provided with universal fit shells (seems obvious, no?). There has been ample discussion about the differences in sound between 64Audio universal and custom shells. If you're interested, search out the 64Audio thread.

Introduction: I’ve been a happy listener to 64Audio’s Trio for three years now. I really love their sound. I was surprised when I looked back to find I haven’t posted a review of the Trio yet. I suppose I should correct that. I’ve been poking at 64Audio in their Head-fi forum to produce a Trio with a custom shell. I’d be on-board immediately. They’ve politely ignored me (well, OK, not exactly ignored, they’ve told me, “no” and then refused to continue playing). I was excited to hear about the A4s: four drivers, dynamic-driver bass and tia tweeter. Quite close, at least in driver compliment, to Trio. I asked for a demo pair to see if I’d like them.

This is a bit of a mini-review as I had only one goal: comparing the A4s to Trio. Even so, I can't believe, looking back, I didn't take even one photo!

Packaging: My loaner pair arrived in a plain brown wrapper. Just the new 64Audio aluminum case with the screw-on top.

What’s in the box? Inside were the demo U4s, some Comply foamies, a few different pair of silicone tips, Apex modules and a cleaning brush.

Physicals:

• Head phones: The U4s have 64Audio’s familiar universal shell, very similar to the U12t. Unlike my Trio, the Apex modules are interchangeable. The U4s fit well enough, the sound pipe even seems smaller than those of my Trio. Pretty familiar stuff for those acquainted with 64Audio.
• Cable: The cable seems like 64Audio’s stock black cable. Some folks hate this cable, vocally. I don’t hate it, but I think the cable contributes the least to the overall sound of an IEM. So there.

Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The U4s fit just like my Trio. I initially thought the sound pipes were smaller (turns out: 5.3mm for U4s, 5.3mm for Trio, shoot), so I got excited and tried all kinds of different tips: Comply small (muffled the treble), some of the supplied bullet silicone (didn’t “hold” securely), and my stand-by SpinFit dual flange (also muted the treble, but to a lesser extent than the Comply). I ended up using a pair of bullet silicone, but I can’t for the life of me tell you which brand. I’ll have to post photos and ask… These are the most tip-dependent IEMs I’ve tried. The U4s stayed put and I got a good seal until I had to talk, or chew, or move my head more than once or twice. Of course, why should I care about any of that? The models for sale are custom.

What I Listened to: I would use a pair of A4s for mobile listening, and I like the sound of 64Audio IEMs with my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II, so that’s what I listened to.

Soundstage: Even though I’m not particularly concerned with soundstage when I listen to head phones, I wish I’d taken more time to evaluate the sound stage of the U4s. But I listened to mostly electric and electronic music: rock and electric jazz/ fusion, so I didn’t get a good sampling of the U4s sound stage capabilities with real instruments in a real space.

First impressions: I didn’t make extensive notes about my first impressions of the U4s. I was actually fairly prepared for what I heard, having had a pair of U4t demo IEMs briefly. The U4s, with its dynamic bass driver, is rounder than the older U4t, and the sound is more coherent, more whole. I think 64Audio have been busy with their cross-over designs. When I had the U4t demo, I remember thinking, “that’s the low driver, oh there’s the tweeter”; it was fairly easy to hear when one driver was rolling off and another picking up. Not so with U4s.

Highs: U4s treble is extended, delicate, and articulate. I think I’ve used the same adjectives I used when I describe Trio treble. However, U4s treble and Trio treble are not the same. The best word I have to describe Trio treble is “sweet”. Some find Trio’s highs tizzy or strident; I do not. Ever. I love Trio treble. U4s treble is drier, more analytic. I might even say “brittle”, but perhaps “brassy” is a better word. A couple of my favorite audition songs are from Stevie Ray Vaughn: “Chitlins Con Carne” and “Riviera Paradise”. The instrumentation in both songs is simple: bass, drums and guitar (OK, “Riviera Paradise” adds a piano). Since there’s really only one instrument in each of the major frequency ranges it’s easy to listen for details, and both songs are pretty well recorded. The cymbals in both are bright and crisply defined. Frequency extension is good: I don’t get the feeling there is air I’m missing. Leading edges are emphasized more than the decay of each note and this gave me the impression Trio had better high frequency detail retrieval. I’m not sure that’s really what’s going on, though. In any event, Trio’s softer top end made the cymbals in these songs softer, yes, but at the same time fuller and more fleshed out. U4s, though, provided more space around each note and made sure you notice cymbals are percussion instruments. Cymbals are kind of a litmus test for me, other high frequency instruments like flutes and violins had the same characteristics as cymbals: more space between notes and a bit dryer through the U4s, fuller and more fleshed out through Trio. I didn’t notice any troublesome sibilance with the U4s.

I can’t help but think U4s treble is similar to the treble I heard from the FiR M4. Pretty high praise, actually. When it came time to scratch the IEM itch I nearly resorted to flipping a coin to choose between Trio and M4. Different sounds, but both satisfying.

I found the U4s treble muffled or muted when I tried foam tips, and even so when I used my SpinFit dual flange but to a lesser extent. I like the treble best with wide-bore bullet shaped tips. Unfortunately, that proved problematic with the bass due to an inconsistent seal.

Mids: Margot Timmins’ voice when singing “I Don’t Get It” from The Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Sessions was thin and pure and whisper-y. Very intimate. The harmonica was presented up-front with the reverb from the church space clearly audible. Michael Timmins’ guitar was clear and bell-like, uncluttered with reverb or distortion. Emmylou Harris’ voice singing “Deeper Well” from Wrecking Ball is a little more forward of the instruments than I’m used to, a touch less weary and worn sounding. That’s a shame as part of the brilliance of this song to me is how well Mrs. Harris’ voice supports her character’s story. I enjoy the vibraphone solo in Roy Ayers’ “Evolution”. The U4s emphasized the leading transient of each mallet strike, sacrificing somewhat the bloom of each note. Decay was very rapid and that made the solo sound quite fast.

One of the coolest jazz records I’ve heard in the past year is the soundtrack for Ascenseur pour l’echafaud recorded by Miles Davis (OK, he had some help…). Wonderfully noir, Miles’ trumpet manages to sound distant and intimate at the same time, breathy more than biting, plaintive. The U4s does this well. And back to “Chitlins Con Carne” and “Riviera Paradise”: Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar was rendered richly and with warmth through both the U4s and Trio. Probably not the same presentation, but both sounded so good I didn’t spend any time picking either presentation apart.

Lows: Sorting out Neal Peart’s kick drums from Geddy Lee’s bass in “Limelight” is mildly difficult: they run together in my Mobile Fidelity edition of Moving Pictures. Bass from the U4s is even enough, and articulate enough, to separate the two fairly well. In addition, the electronic bass notes in “Time” from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon are full and enveloping; though a bit dry for me to get that “hug from Mom” feeling I often get when listening to Pink Floyd. Pity, that’s one of my favorite musical experiences.

Can’t discuss 64Audio IEMs and bass without mentioning Apex modules. I spent a lot of time with the M20 modules installed. It took me forever to decide, to my surprise, I didn’t really like the sound with the M20. I found it boomy and disconnected from the rest of the music. It’s not that bass bled into or covered up the midrange, more that it sounded like it was being played back from a different room, and was mismatched in level. I swapped in the M15 modules and the balance was better for almost everything. I missed the head-filling, ear drum rattling bass contained by the M20 modules I enjoy with some of my earthquake tracks (like the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack) but it’s a good trade for the improvement in the sound of much of the other music I like. A couple of examples: Dunn’s electric bass in “B Movie Boxcar Blues” (Blues Brothers, A Briefcase Full of Blues) had more personality when I used the M15 than the M20 but less weight. The bass line in Billie Eilish’s “Tough Guy” doesn’t lose anything when I substitute the M15 for the M20 and that’s important: the bass is the most important part of that song to me, that and the rhythm of Billie Eilish’s vocals. Contrast that with “Deeper Well” which loses its menace and some of its grounding compared to the M20. That is a loss to me. Overall, Trio bass suits my taste better. It’s just as deep and powerful as U4s/ M20 bass with all the balance and cohesiveness of U4s/ M15 bass. It’s also lusher and more detailed. Note that some listeners might find that wetness a disadvantage. One of my friends much prefers drier, faster, leaner bass than I do so he can follow what’s going on in the metal he listens to.

Dynamics, transients and articulation: The U4s are articulate. Pizzicato strings, cymbal strikes, drum rolls, the initial pluck of a guitar string are all presented clearly. The Rognir I recently had are faster than the U4s, but that’s not really playing fair, the Rognir have the best transient response of any head phone I’ve heard so far except for my Stax (maybe). The U4s do prioritize the leading edge of notes more than Trio. Perhaps I’m simply accustomed to Trio’s sound, but they have a balance between the attack and decay of notes which pleases me. The U4s emphasis of notes’ leading edges over their decay makes music sound fast and sometimes dry, but it does bring out detail and make the sound stage sound spacious. Hearing the audience chatter and clink their glasses in “Gloria’s Step” from Bill Evans Sunday at the Village Vanguard made it apparent the U4s could provide big bombastic sound as well as small, quiet details.

Comparison: I have another bit of disclaimer. I asked for a demo pair of U4s specifically to see if these could be a replacement for my Trio. I’ve wanted to try custom IEMs, love the sound of my Trio but can’t get them with custom shells. Would the A4s check enough boxes to be a successor to Trio? Since that’s the question I wanted answered, I didn’t do any further comparisons with the U4s while I had them. Only the Trio. For these A/B comparisons I used my Audition Songs playlist. I’ve included impressions gained from the most notable tracks below.

Unlike Trio, U4s does not have “sweet” treble. Some of the best-recorded cymbals I know of are on Doc Powell’s The Doctor. I listened to “All Right Now”. While Trio emphasized the decay of each cymbal strike, the U4s put the initial strike of the stick front and center. Trio had more bloom, U4s had more air.

The piano in “All Right Now” had more life when played through Trio than when I listened to the same song with the U4s. But my goodness, the U4s provided wonderful dynamics, action, and pace. Wonderfully lively and engaging. Female vocals, like Margot Timmins singing “I Don’t Get It” were more up-front in the sound stage when listening to Trio than the U4s. Margot’s voice had a little more dimensionality as well. I made similar notes when listening to Emmylou Harris singing “Deeper Well”. The gravel from the roads her character had traveled was back, making the story more complete. While I was fiddling with tips for the U4s, I was shocked to find Frank Sinatra’s voice robbed of all its chestiness on “One for My Baby” (Sings for Only the Lonely). Once I got the tips sorted out, the lower midrange followed. Here as well, Trio provides more “chest”.

When listening to “All Right Now” from The Doctor, I was frustrated by the level of the electric bass: with both IEMs I wish it was a bit higher in level. That said, U4s bass was drier with perhaps a bit less body. I guess I’ll have to look to other songs to decide which bass presentation I like better. I also had “Sea Wall” from the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack on tap. Bass is not shy in this recording, especially not in this track. After “All Right Now” I had to turn the volume down to keep my ear drums intact. U4s bass can be thunderous and head-filling. I like that. Even when the music calms down somewhat after the initial assault (say at 2:30), there is that throbbing undertone of bass. Driver flex? How about ear drum flex? I had to turn the volume up a bit to make “Sea Wall” as thunderous with Trio as with the U4s (104 dB/mW vs. 107 dB/mW). Even so, Trio was less head-filling. Even that thrumming/ throbbing beginning at 2:30 is less pronounced than with the U4s. After a few minutes, though, I got reacquainted with Trio bass, and didn’t miss the U4s thunder. When I switched back, though, I was glad to have it back. Different, but compelling.

Conclusion: The short version of all of this is: U4s treble is more analytical than Trio treble. Both are extended and detailed, but where I find Trio “sweet” I hear U4s as “brassy”. The midrange of Trio has more details. The tonality of both IEMs is very pleasing, but there’s more to hear in Trio’s presentation. In an e-mail from 64Audio I was told Trio has a tia mid-range driver, which surprised me. Both because it’s not mentioned on the 64Audio webpage, and because I thought that was one of the things you got by paying up to get a Fourte. Perhaps a tia midrange explains the differences I hear between the U4s and Trio here. At the bottom, Trio extends lower, but U4s has more bass volume (at least with the M20 module). Articulation and transient response are at a high level with the U4s. It lends a nimbleness, speed and energy to the music. In comparison, Trio is slightly behind here but oddly doesn’t sacrifice detail retrieval while sounding more relaxed and musical at the same time.

Disclaimer: I was able to enjoy these head phones as part of Kennerton's tour. I don’t work for Kennerton or sell Kennerton products.

Introduction: I was really excited when I received word from Kennerton I would be included in their tour of the Kennerton Rognir. I’ve been curious about Kennerton ever since I finally heard about them last year. And I’d get to hear their top closed-back planar, too! I admit, I have a preference for planar head phones, and a prejudice against closed-backs. I expected to hear a small, closed-in sound stage, sound more muffled than I would think the drivers would otherwise be capable of, full frequency response (including “that planar bass”) and dynamics quicker than a dynamic driver but slower than an electrostatic head phone. I wonder what I’ll actually hear?


The "retail" outer box (I didn't take a photo of the shipping box, that's boring)

Packaging: The Rognir was protected during its journey by three shells: the leather soft case, which was inside the retail box which in turn was protected by the plain shipping box. What I didn’t expect was how small the boxes were. Haven’t any of the Kennerton folks seen how big the boxes for high-end IEMs are? I expected a box the size of a microwave for these head phones. I think Kennerton need to step up their packaging game, at the risk of losing the Box War.


The "sleeve" packaged around the leather case

What’s in the box? The aforementioned leather soft case, the Rognir, two cables (4-pin XLR x mini-XLR and 4.4mm Pentaconn x mini-XLR), a 4-pin XLR x ¼” TRS adapter for single ended amps and finally some marketing materials. One card shows you what you bought, two others show you what you didn’t buy (Wodan and Thekk), a hand-signed warranty/ authenticity card, and the last card describes Kennerton’s production and craftsmanship (in Russian).


The leather carry case


The literature included with Kennerton's head phones

Physicals:

• Head phones: The ear cups are smaller than I expected. The inner circumference of the pads rested against the outside of my ears. The pads a cushy and the leather is smooth and soft, so it’s not uncomfortable or distracting (on-ear ‘phones are for me). The head band is comfortable and the self-tensioning adjuster is slick-looking as it slides in and out. It had barely enough range to accommodate my head, though. But barely is plenty in this case, so off we go. The dyed-wood ear cups are strikingly handsome. Overall, the Rognir is noticeably lighter than my long-term reference HE-500, but heavier than my SR-Lambda. The quality of the parts used is something you can feel. The Rognir aren’t built like tanks (who wants a tank sitting on his head?), but they are solid, the fit of the parts is close rather than sloppy, and the finish of the wood cups, metal gimbals and leather are all finely done.

A view of the vents and the cable

• The small circular screen above the rear gimbal attachment for each cup interested me. A small Vent? I wondered if it was partially responsible for the sound I heard being more open than I expected. A quick test: covering the screens lightly with my fingers made the bass disappear.

Another view of the vents (I wonder why this photo inserted upside-down? )

• Cable: The XLR cable is four-core, fabric covered and substantial. The connector at the amp end is substantial with gold-plated contacts. The cable itself if flexible, and at least when I was lounging around enjoying the Rognir wasn’t annoyingly heavy or microphonic. The 4.4mm Pentaconn cable is also four-core, but lighter weight. Sadly, I didn’t get to use the 4.4mm cable because I let my buddy take his 4.4x2.5 adapter back before I plugged the Rognir into my DAP.

Kennerton's 4-pin XLR and mini-XLR connectors

The supplied cable with the 4.4mm Pentaconn connector

• Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The Rognir’s fit was close for me- the head band adjuster was very close to fully extended. Nonetheless, fit it did. Clamping force is minimal. Not zero, the pads do seal gently to the sides of your head, but they don’t press in. Rognir is light enough I hardly noticed it even though the width and amount of padding of the head band is average. These closed-back head phones isolated me from distracting outside sounds much better than my HE-500 or SR-Lambda as you’d expect. I also pushed the ear cups gently together as I held the head phones in my lap and the music was much muted. I never did try listening with my bedroom system while my wife tried sleeping, though. Nor did I try these for listening-on-the-go riding public transit.

This poor adapter was lonely, I didn't try Rognir single-ended.

What I Listened to: I have two desk-top systems at home and I used both of them:

• DAP digital out -> Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
• Laptop USB out -> Schiit Gungnir multi-bit/Unison -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir

For reference head phones, I have:

• HiFiMAN HE-500 open back planar
• Stax SR-Lambda electrostatic

I also was granted an evening's access to my son's desktop system (only fair, I think, since I bought the gear for him):

• Laptop USB out -> Schiit Modi multi-bit -> Schiit Magni (single ended).

Alas, as I mentioned, I forgot to kidnap my friend’s 4.4x2.5 adapter, so I didn’t get a chance to listen to Rognir using a DAP. For me, that's OK: when I'm mobile, I use IEMs with my DAPs, but I wish I'd been able to comment about how Rognir fared with mobile sources.

Sound: let's get to it, right? I conducted myself a bit differently for this review. I started out simply listening to Rognir with randomized playlists of music, both familiar and unfamiliar. I wanted to get a feel of Rognir's sound on it's own merits without subjecting it to comparisons and analysis immediately.

First impressions: I listened to Rognir for six to eight hours on their own before I did any comparisons with my other head phones. Carlos Santana’s “Aqua Marine” from Marathon was one of the first songs I listened to and it was striking. The tone of Santana’s guitar was wonderful. As I’ll mention several more times: transients were shockingly fast and sharp, bass extension was quite good, but power and impact weren’t at the level I’ve grown used to from my HiFiMAN HE-500. I wrote in my notes, “I wonder if the reduced back-pressure of an open back would increase Rognir’s bass slam, I wonder what the Thror sound like?”

Miles Davis, “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (Porgy and Bess): I really like Miles’ tone when unmuted, and this song is a great example- clean and clear with just a bit of accompaniment from the orchestra. The cymbals were wonderful. Surgically sharp leading transients with a mist of decay underpinning. When listening, I thought of the term “sustain”, but that’s more of an electric guitar term.

“Speak No Evil” from Wayne Shorter’s album of the same name is a favorite of mine. A very in-your-head experience: Wayne and Herbie Hancock right in the center, Freddie Hubbard just a touch to the left. Poor Ron Carter was almost MIA, I could hear him, but his stand-up bass was almost lost behind or under the other instruments.

“YYZ” from Rush’s live album Exit… Stage Left was a treat. Articulation was on display as I heard Geddy Lee playing almost co-lead. I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed how varied his playing is in this version of the song.



Soundstage: First let me state I am not a sound stage afficionado when it comes to head phone systems. I have heard decent imaging from head phones, but honestly, if I want to hear an expansive soundstage, I’ll listen to my speaker system. That said, the Rognir provided an intimate soundstage with the sound contained between the ear cups. I didn’t get any sense of that “outside your head” presentation others have had with other head phones and IEMs. Left-to-right placement was good. The sound stage was generally two-dimensional, though, with front-to-back queues missing. Take all that with a grain of salt or three, though, as I said, sound stage isn't a high priority for me with head phones.

Highs: On to the more critical listening and the beginning of trying to pick the Rognir’s sound apart. My initial impression is, overall, Rognir’s treble is recessed, level-wise rather than soundstage-wise, compared to the midrange. However, I came by that opinion when listening in my living room, with my Aegir providing power. Late in my review period, I switched my system up and paired my Gungnir and Mjolnir together. The treble was better balanced with the mids then. Aegir, Mjolnir, what ever amp, treble is quite nice: extended and very fast. Flutes, triangles, cymbals, violins all played with sweetness and articulation. With my Aegir, Rognir emphasizes the attack or leading edge of notes and sometimes the decay is de-emphasized. It creates a super-fast some what dry sound. With Mjolnir attack and decay were more equal. The sound was less analytical but smoother and fuller. Sometimes that ultra fast sound bothered me, other times not. If I listened for it, the Rognir could be detail monsters. Details from listening to some of my audition songs appear below.

Mids: …take center stage with Rognir. The midrange is forward of both the bass and treble. With a lot of music I listened to this, led to an imbalance to the overall sound. If I listened to certain music I was not distracted by that, but if I listened to certain other music I found myself bothered. Vocals are always up-front and clearly presented. I listened to Margot Timmins’ airiness, Emmylou Harris’ well-worn tiredness, Robert Plant’s wailing, Jim Morrison’s richness, as well as others. Miles Davis’ unmuted trumpet is a treat. Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar is bell-like (but oddly dry, details in “comparisons” below).

Lows: Stevie Ray Vaughn recorded a couple of my favorite songs to use for auditioning gear. Both were enlightening with Rognir. “Riviera Paradise” from In Step and “Chitlins Con Carne” from The Sky Is Crying each have very distinct bass, mid and treble parts, so it’s easy to focus. In addition, the tone of each instrument is either right, or it isn’t. Both of these songs reinforced my thought Rognir’s bass is excellent for sustained notes. Tommy Shannon’s bass is deep, warm and full. Far from being one-note thrumming, there is texture to each note played as well, no simple time-keeping, this. My notes about “Chitlins Con Carne” are similar. Sometimes it sounds like he plays with a similar touch Stevie Ray used: that “whisper” sound where in sounds like he’s merely brushing the strings rather than plucking or strumming. Where I had trouble with Rognir’s bass was bass transients, like kick drums, even fast notes on upright and electric bass. They lacked punch.

Dynamics: I’ll place this comment here since it’s kind of a mongrel, not fitting in more appropriately anywhere: I didn’t find myself cranking the volume when listening to Rognir. I generally prefer to listen at rather tame levels both to protect my ears and to reduce fatigue. Sometimes the music or the sound gets the better of me and, like the Wolf in Red Riding Hood I invite the volume up, “the better to hear you with”. I didn’t have to do that much with Rognir, I could hear just fine at fairly low levels, which was refreshing.

Transients and Articulation: I was initially blown away by Rognir’s ability to start and stop notes, present leading edges sharply enough to almost generate discomfort. I write more about this below where I point to specific songs, but I continued to be amazed at Rognir’s leading edges throughout their stay. I will note that this transient response was most prominent when using Aegir for power, they were nearly electrostatic quick. It was eerie and fun. When paired with Mjolnir those leading edges were a bit, but noticeably, rounder which lent a euphonic, pleasingly mellow air to the sound.

A couple of words about my normal bed room system. Normally I keep a Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit and Mjolnir I there. During this review I also moved my Gungnir as well. I did listen to Rognir with Bifrost in the chain. Treble from my Bifrost is harsher than from my Gungnir, bass is strong but less detailed than Gungnir presents. When I moved Gungnir to the back room I found the sound was sweeter and perhaps even more detailed through Gungnir than Bifrost. Bass was an odd mix of great and still-not-enough. With electronic tracks, like “2049” and “Seawall” from the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack, the bass filled the ear cups, not quite shaking the inside of my skull. But with the Stevie Ray Vaughn tracks, the electric bass was quite subdued in level. But, back to the good, Emmylou Harris’ “Wrecking Ball” was present with a fair bit of menace. And then again, still the lack of impact with bass transients. My listening notes echoed some previous impressions: Rognir dynamics were more on display with Aegir than even with the quite capable Mjolnir. Dynamics, transients and articulation are still a step above my HE-500, but when I was listening through Aegir, those qualities of the sound were two or three steps above my reference. Addictively so. I have theories about all of this, but ugh, how frustrating.

Comarisons:

• HiFiMAN HE-500: Because my HE-500 is an open back design, I expected greater slam, especially in the bass. Judging simply by how far I had to turn the volume, they are less efficient than Rognir. While they have better balance between low, mid, and high; they are less resolving. “Deeper Well” (Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball) was telling. Harris’ vocals were more integrated, and “within” the music’s soundstage compared to the Rognir. Also, there is more “menace” in the song, driven be the bass synthesizer. Back to “Chitlins Con Carne”: my HE-500 showcased the bloom of each guitar note while the Rognir mastered the dynamics of each note’s leading edge. This had the effect, to me, of making the Rognir sound drier than my HE-500, but livelier and more articulate. While the rumble of the electric bass was higher in level with my HE-500, extension and detail retrieval was superior with the Rognir. Detail wasn’t absent in the bass sounds from my HE-500, just not presented as obviously, “oh, there’s that overtone!”, as through the Rognir. I think treble was an overall win for my HE-500 here, if for no other reason than it is better balanced in level. The deep synthesizer effects in “2049” and “Seawall” from the Blade Runner: 2049 soundtrack were a clear win for my HE-500 because of the higher bass output. The bass sounds in these songs aren’t complex, so the higher level of articulation couldn’t help the Rognir keep up here. “Working on a Building” (Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Sessions) served to corroborate my impressions from listening to the other songs above. Margot Timmons’ voice was up-front-and-center and drier than I’m used to. The electric bass was lower in level, which interfered a bit with an effect I enjoy in this recording: the illusion the guitar notes are physically weaving in and around the bass notes, like they’re playing tag. Drums were deliciously sharp and the cymbals weren’t as muted as I was prepared for.
• Stax SR-Lambda (yes, the antique Lambda from 198x): Here I expected faster transients and slightly more articulation, at the expense of bass power. They are significantly less efficient that either the Rognir or my HE-500: volume knob at 12:00 or a bit higher. Listening to “Deeper Well”, the electrostats did a better job of revealing the roughness in Emmylou’s voice, she sounded more tired, more road-weary. Surprisingly, though, also lighter, not as grounded. Of the three head phones in my listening room, my Lambdas came in third with this song as far as conveying “menace”; bass extension and detail is there, but weight is missing. “Chitlins Con Carne” gave Lambda their first win in the treble. The delicate cymbals were shimmery, sparkly, bright and brassy; and at a level in the mix equal to Stevie Ray’s guitar and Tommy’s bass so I didn’t have to dig to hear them. Stevie Ray’s guitar provided a surprise: I expected the leading edges to be even a bit sharper than with the Rognir, but that wasn’t the case. The Lambdas struck a pleasing balance between initial attack and bloom. Score another for the electrostats. With this song, as with “2049” and “Seawall”, the lightweight bass (extension is pretty good, but impact is small) keeps my HE-500 in the lead here. My head simply wasn’t filled with what we’d call “room shaking bass” if we were discussing speakers or a sub-woofer. I had a consistent experience listening to “Working on a Building” again. Margot Timmons’ voice was up-front-and-center, airy and light. She almost whispers to you. The electric bass was lower in level, and like with Rognir, I had a hard time maintaining the illusion the guitar notes were chasing the bass notes around Trinity Church. But the guitar sounded sweet and drums were sharp and cymbals muted and bright simultaneously.
• Oh! and what about the sound with my son’s Modi/ Magni stack? Highlighting with the now familiar songs: “Deeper Well”, “Chitlins Con Carne”, and “2049”. Emmylou’s voice was too smooth, that life-worn texture was gone. Bass was much improved in level, and fat-sounding, but had lost its detail, it was now kind of one-notey rumbling. Treble was still recessed compared to the midrange and the newly bumped low end. “Chitlins Con Carne” was the opposite: the treble was now at an equal level to the midrange, while the bass was both muted and one-notey. The guitar, in the middle, had more pleasing balance between attack and decay: sharp enough to be dramatic, rich and full enough to not be over-blown. “2049” now fills my head with rumbling bass which might shake the walls if I had walls in my ears.

Looking for the fit: After I’d spent several hours listening to random music and then several of my audition songs to compare Rognir to my in-house references, I started looking for music I thought suited to Rognir’s strengths. Guillaume de Machaut, “Fine Amour” is early music (14th century) and the midrange forward presentation worked in Rognir’s favor with voices. I couldn’t resist trying Vivaldi, “Spring, 1st movement”. Bass was a little light even here, but that may be my recording. First violins were presented closer to center stage than I thought right, but sounded bright and sweet, whether playing solo or en masse. Bach’s Cello Suite 2 (sarabande) showcased Rognir’s detail retrieval (hall ambience, the bow’s rosin sound, the resonant body of the cello itself), and Schiff’s low notes are well within Rognir’s range. Moving deeper into the 18th Century: Mozart’s Piano Concerto 21, first movement. First violins were to the left where they should be, except when they climbed over the second violins to cozy-up to the flute at center stage. Strange. The piano was a huge and rich presence at center stage. Not much except hall reverberation happening stage-right. Since I’ve convinced myself of Rognir’s prowess with classical, I skipped to the first half of the 20th Century with “Weather Bird Rag” by Louis Armstrong from 1923. It sounded pretty bad as you’d expect. “Tin Roof Blues” fared better. Armstrong’s entire band was still in a small bubble right between my eyes, but brass was sufficiently blatty and the stand-up bass provided a decent foundation. “Fallout” from Henry Mancini’s soundtrack to the TV series Peter Gunn has been a favorite of mine for decades. The stand-up bass is well portrayed and provides a great groove for the rest of Mancini’s orchestra to ride on. Brass is dynamic and dramatic. Sure, the sound stage is early stereo: panned hard left and hard right… “Gunslinging Birds” from the Mingus Big Band brought a return of recessed treble and bass and mid-forward sound. But oh, that trombone sounded great. “Rock and Roll” from the mighty Led Zeppelin needed just a bit more bass output to help drive the song forward. Robert Plant’s vocals were just to the left of center, clear and bright. John Bonham’s kit was just right of center and well balanced with Robert and Jimmy (I am always disappointed in how splashy his cymbals sound on this recording). “Choctaw Bingo”, one of my favorites from James McMurtry, has much stronger electric bass presence right of center, with an electric piano in the right ear cup and guitar in the left ear cup. James’ voice is up front.

Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): HE-500 hit hard when provided enough power, have satisfying bass impact and good midrange and treble detail retrieval. Of the three, they provide the “heaviest” sound. Rognir have preternaturally fast initial transients, are midrange-forward, have soundstaging similar to what I experience with my open-back HE-500 (almost entirely within the ear cups) and provide a lighter, more nimble presentation than my HE-500 with details presented more clearly and articulately. My Lambdas presented the lightest tone and were more balanced than either of the other head phones when it comes to leading edge versus bloom/ decay. While my Lambdas can do a little bit of nasty sound (“Right Off”, Miles Davis A Tribute to Jack Johnson: listen to John McLaughlin’s guitar) it’s just more polite than either of the planars- to the credit of the planars.

Conclusion: I’ve had to admit this to myself, I’m a bass-head. I’m not a techno/ EDM/ rap bass-head, but I like my bass up in the mix with plenty of power. While the Rognir often failed to light my fire in this aspect, I enjoyed having them in my home and listened to them for two or three hours at a time several evenings during their stay. And every time I listened to them on their own, allowing myself to relax into their sound rather than comparing them to some other head phone, I found myself thoroughly enjoying their clarity, articulation, vocals, and detailed-yet-relaxed sound. Rognir is excellent when listening to small-scale classical, small- and medium-group acoustic jazz, and classic rock. I found them less satisfying with large-scale classical, electric jazz and fusion, jazz orchestras, and more modern rock with heavy bass and “loudness war compression”. There is a lot to like about Rognir. Dynamics, transient response and articulation are all highlights. Perhaps you noticed I used three different DACs, from the same house, and Rognir made the differences between them obvious. These are the first head phones I’ve had in my house I have considered replacing my HE-500 with.

Actually, let me say that again: Rognir are the first head phones I've had in my house I have considered replacing my HE-500 with.

They make me uber-curious to hear what Thror is capable of. I’d also love to hear how much of Rognir’s performance is available from Wodan. Maybe Rognir’s cousins will travel in the near future as well?

December 16, 2021
Follow up:

I got some extra time with Rognir and was able to get a 4.4mm x 2.5mm adapter so I could try them with my DAP. I connected them to my A&K AK70 Mk II. Overall, everything I like about Rognir I still like, and what I didn't like (or was frustrated) about the bass I still didn't like (or was still frustrated). Mids were still lush and forward compared to the bass and highs. Rumbling bass was still deep, but recessed compared to the rest of the music. Bass transients were still frustratingly subdued. Highs, like the bass, were somewhat recessed compared to the mids, but had good life, good "action".

I've found my AK70 II to be pretty laid back. It's sound is pleasant, smooth, musical. When paired with laid back head phones the combination gets boring, when paired with aggressive head phones, the combination becomes more than the sum of its parts. Rognir's resolution made it a simple matter to hear this characteristic immediately. It was first noticeable in the treble. Still bell-like clear, but unlike with my Aegir, the spooky speed and transient attack were gone. My music didn't sound bad, it sounded polite and a little lifeless. I missed the electrostatic speed I heard with my Aegir (and to a slightly lesser extent Mjolnir).

While I was impressed how well Rognir were powered by my little DAP, I don't think they were at their best. I'll keep using my IEMs with my DAPs, and my over-ears with my desk top gear.

Up-front disclosure: There were features the Cayin N3Pro offers I didn’t try. I didn’t try the USB output to an outboard DAC. I believe bits-are-bits and frankly don’t want any proof to the contrary. I didn’t try it balanced (no Pentaconn cables), or wireless (no Bluetooth headphones) or for streaming. And I don’t have any MQA files.

Day 1: As much as I wanted to, I was unable to open the box delivered by the USPS and start listening to the Cayin N3 Pro. Too much grown-up stuff to do. However, the next morning it was packed up and accompanied me to work with one of my SD cards and my Meze Rai Penta IEMs.

First off, I like the look and physical feel of the N3 Pro. I like it’s long, narrow case: it fits in my hand comfortably. Over-all, the case is larger than my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II, but a bit smaller than my Questyle QP2r: my two long-term DAPs.

Left-to-right: A&K Jr, A&K AK70 Mk II, Cayin N3 Pro, Aune M3, Questyle QP2r

I prefer the volume knob to volume buttons. I wish the outputs were on the top; being on the bottom is just backwards. To me. I like the shiny black finish and gold accents. I like the touch screen. I have an antique Aune M2 which uses buttons and weird combinations of button pushes to control things. My QP2r has a Steve Jobs scroll wheel. I don’t mind either. However, when I go back to a DAP with a touch screen I’m reminded about why they are popular. I like the tube shining through the front of the case. The little donut light on the front is cool, kind of like a mood ring with its different colors depending on what the DAP is doing. At this minute it’s slowly pulsing red as the N3 charges for tomorrow.

Today was get-to-know-you day. The user interface has that familiar Android feel, so I tried getting started without even looking at the quick start guide. The only thing I had even a bit of trouble with was exploring my way to the Scan Songs button. After than it was off to the races.

I spent nearly five hours just listening to the music on my SD card play in alphabetical order, by song title. I had an wide-ranging mix of music: chant, symphonic, small group jazz, R&B, classic rock, a bit of classic country, some pop. I didn’t mess around with any of the N3 Pro’s features except the volume knob. I stayed in Medium gain, ultra-linear tube output the whole morning.

My very first impression was the treble was sloppy. However, that impression was quickly banished when a song I know to have exquisite treble (“All Right Now” by Doc Powell) played. So my new impression is the N3 allows bad recordings to sound bad. Double edged sword, that, but I am enough of purist to want that. I was a fan of Cory Greenberg years ago when he wrote for Stereophile. I’ve come to agree with his assessment that contrary to popular wisdom at the time, most gear got the midrange right, but had trouble with bass. Bass has become important to my enjoyment of music. I don’t mean rap concert quantity of bass, but I do mean deep, energetic, detailed bass and probably a bit elevated in level compared to what “neutralists” would call flat. Some of my gear audition tracks which I have specifically for bass evaluation came up in the mix today. “Dirty (Junior’s Groove)” by Earth Wind and Fire was toe-tapping funky with a great, deep groove. Just what I wanted. Peter Gabriel’s “Digging in the Dirt” is a pretty muddy recording, but I like several of the songs, so I put up with it. It sounded quite fat with the N3. Most importantly, “Deeper Well” from Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball went low and sounded menacing, just like it should. This is one of the in my collection a piece of gear must get right. The electric bass in the afore mentioned “/All Right Now” by Doc Powell hasn’t sounded as strong as it did this morning since I had a subwoofer in my living room system.

Another of my audition songs, “Chitlins Con Carne” by Stevie Ray Vaughn made me think the midrange is a bit recessed in ultra-linear mode. A friend of mine got to listen to the N3 briefly today and he commented the big difference he heard when switching between ultra-linear and solid state was the latter brought guitar tone noticeably forward in the mix. I guess that’s what I’ll listen for tomorrow.

Day 2: Today was triode day. This time I spent a little bit of time switching back and forth between triode and ultra-linear. I’ve actually never had tube power before though I lived happily with a tube pre-amp for some years. I can’t say I heard a substantial difference between the two. Triode bass was a little softer, a little looser, a little warmer. Triode highs a bit rounder, not as sharp. I’ll revisit triode when I sit down to listen to each mode for its classic strengths.

Day 3: Today was solid state day. I didn’t spend much time switching back and forth between solid state and tube. It is easy with the Cayin, though. Simply swipe down and touch the SS/tube “button” at the top of the display. If you’re switching to tube output the N3 will display a note saying the tube is preheating and five seconds later you’ll hear a gap in the song as the output devices switch.

In solid state mode the Cayin N3 Pro exhibited the classic differences: rounder, softer sound overall with a fatter bottom end. The tubes may have plumbed deep that the transistors (maybe), but the transistors had better control. The tubes sounded a bit tubby (tubby, tubey, whichever). On much of my favorite rock tracks the tubes were too much of a good thing. Bass got slightly out of balance with the rest of the music and I missed the sharpness of the solid state output in the mids and highs. Now, where tubes typically shine: small group acoustic jazz and classical, they shone here, too. When listening to Paul Desmond’s Bossa Antigua, the added weight in the bass brought the upright bass pleasantly up in the mix. The rounder, sweeter mids and highs suited this recording as well as others (like Vince Guarldi, Miles Davis, etc., etc.). Back to today’s topic: the N3 Pro’s transistors gave “Three Wishes” from Roger Waters’ Amused to Death and “Sea Wall” from the Blade Runner 2049 Soundtrack huge, head-filling bass which was rhythmic and well controlled. The mids gave Robbie Krieger’s guitar tone to spare and good contrast to the bass line in my favorite effort from The Doors: “The WASP”. Treble sparkled, making the solo flute in Jimmy Lopez’s “Warped Symmetry” and cymbals and triangles in general treats to listen to.

Comparisons: Everything above relates my impressions of the N3 Pro with my Meze Rai Penta IEMs. I do have a couple of other pair, so:

With the 64Audio Trio: Bass is deeper than what I hear from my Rai Pentas, but in comparison tubby and a bit loose. That especially in triode. Midrange was full and clean whether transistor, ultra-linear or triode. I am in the camp with folks who do not consider the Trio treble hot. My middle-age ears hear it as sweet, smooth and wonderful. Always. So it was with the Cayin N3Pro. Transistors made the tia driver crisp and detailed, triode tube rolled the edges some softening the edges. Ultra-linear was in the middle.

With the Meze Rai Solo: in short, strong bass and slightly zingy highs. Bass comes across as strong and deep, but a bit one-notey. The treble had good extension but was a bit splashy. None of this affected how much I like these IEMs, these are characteristics I’ve heard with these when using my other DAPs. Midrangewas presented in a clean-and-clear manner that allowed my to simply listen and not pay attention to the gear.

It’s difficult for me to think of the N3Pro as scaling up or down with differing IEMs. Rather, I think the Cayin allows different transducers to sound like themselves.

In listening to the N3Pro, I found it similar (but not identical, of course) in sound to my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II. That is the DAP I use most often with my Trio. The A&K is dark, lush, thick and has good treble extension with smooth presentation. The N3Pro is similar to that sound, with the variations I mention above. By contrast, my Questyle QP2r is tighter, drier, has stronger transient response. I don’t like to think about it being more dynamic, I prefer to think of it as faster. I like it very much with my Rai Pentas, it keeps them from sounding “sleepy”.

Summary:

I enjoyed my time with the N3Pro. It looks good, it’s a good size to carry with you, it was almost always on a desk top but it didn’t get too hot when in my shirt pocket. The screen is bright and detailed, the operating system is familiar.

Differences between the three output modes were interesting and along the lines of what I expected. The confirmation of what I’ve heard all these years was somehow comforting. The differences were subtle, non-hobbyists likely wouldn’t notice. Those of us who know will likely enjoy the warmth and roundness of triode for small-group acoustic music. The faster, drier and more analytical ultra-linear for larger scale pieces and the slam and control of solid state for electric and electronic music.

Audiofly AF180 Mk II

1. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Audiofly. I received my “loaner” pair of AF180 Mk II IEM as part of a tour sponsored by Audiofly.
2. Introduction: I saw the announcement of the new IEMs from Audiofly on Head-fi and sent them an e-mail requesting a pair to try. I was sent a pair of AF180 MK II.
3. Design: According to the Audiofly website, the AF180 has four balanced armature drivers and a three-way crossover. The information on the box says the drivers are grouped two bass, one mid, one tweeter. The housings are plastic, I’ll assume acrylic.
4. Packaging: Audiofly packages the AF180 is a fairly compact box. I like the graphics they use.
5. What’s in the box? The AF180 kit is fairly complete. The IEMs themselves are nestled in a firm foam block with a cut-out on the underside for the coiled cable. There is a cable with MMCX connectors on the IEM end and a 3.5mm TRS single-ended plug on the other. There is also a balanced cable with a 2.5mm TRRS plug, a 3.5mm x 6.3mm adapter and a two-prong adapter for airplane use. My tour pair had several pairs of tips, details are below. There’s also a brush for cleaning and a large plastic, water-proof case for protecting your IEMs.
6. RTFM: The manual includes nine languages. It includes all the basics: tip selection, inserting the IEMs, removing and installing a cable, care, explanation of the accessories, warnings about listening too loud, and warranty.
7. Physicals:
   1. Connector: The AF180 Mk II is supplied with two cables, one with a 3.5mm TRS single-ended connector, and one with a 2.5mm TRRS balanced connector. All of the source-end connectors and adapters are gold plated.
   2. Cable: The cables are thin and flexible. The insulation is squishy and rubbery. There are formed hooks at the ear phone ends of the cables- they appear to be heat shrink. They are fairly soft and unobjectionable when worn, even for me and I prefer no memory wire or ear hooks. The cable itself doesn’t have memory so it stays pretty tangle-free.
   3. Cable connector: Audiofly uses MMCX connectors for the AF180 Mk II.
   4. Tips: Audiofly provides one pair of Comply foamies (I got two pair, small and large), three sets of Dekoni foamies, three sets of FlyTips foamies, three sets of single flange silicone tips. I will admit to not trying many of the tips, partly because I was able to pick the right size right away. I also didn’t want to use a bunch of tips that would then just be thrown away (darn covid).
8. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The AF180s are tiny and fit inside my outer ear quite well. The sound pipes are also tiny, as tiny as I remember my Westones being. It is a nice change from the Campfire Audio and 64Audio IEMs I’ve been using; both brands have huge sound pipes. Because of their small size and tiny sound pipes the AF180 nearly disappear in my ears and I hardly notice they are there. So that’s fit and comfort. Isolation is a function of the tips you use and the fit you get. I didn’t try the AF180s on a plane, bus or train, but they isolated well enough for me to shut out office noise in the cubicle-farm I work in. As usual, I found the silicone tips gave me a better seal, but for the first time in a long time I could use foamies and get decent sound. Usually I can’t get foam tips to seal when using “big pipe IEMs”.
9. What I Listened to: All my listening was done using my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II DAP. I listened with both the SE and balanced cable. Other than the balanced connection providing a bit more volume, the impressions I have are the same whether listening SE or balanced.
10. Soundstage: I have to admit right off, I’m not a soundstage afficionado, especially when it comes to IEMs. If I want sound stage, I’ll listen to my stereo. However, listening to symphonic music, paying attention to what a natural soundstage presentation is supposed to be, plucked violins and flutes left, violas and clarinets center, basses and brass right. The sound was squarely between my ears, it didn’t extend past the face plates of the ear phones. There wasn’t any layering or three dimensionality, but like I said, I don’t generally listen for that when I have IEMs in.
11. Highs: Treble from the AF180 Mk II is smooth and easy to listen to. It’s lower in level when compared to the midrange. These will not let you hear Sennheiser HD-800 level extension and detail, however. Compared to treble stars, the AF180 is a bit splashy and uncontrolled up top. If you’re sensitive to hot treble, though, these may be just the ticket for you.
12. Mids: Here is where the AF180 shines. It presents a mid-centric sound with vocals well forward and well-articulated. I quite enjoyed Martin Simpson playing “Boots of Spanish Leather” from the album A Nod to Bob. The song is almost entirely vocal and acoustic guitar with a spare bass accompaniment. The leading “pluck” of each guitar note was present. The body of the guitar was audible in the decay of each note. Simpson’s voice was up-front and clear, each word articulated well. Harpsichord, violins, clarinets, vibraphone, piano, all well portrayed by the AF180. Keith Jarrett’s Koln Concert was smoothly present and fun to listen to.
13. Lows: The AF180 Mk II has recessed bass response. There is a rumble under the music, but kick drums and electric bass are more hinted at than heard, let alone felt. When I listened to baroque (Bach, Vivaldi, Monteverdi) I didn’t miss it at all, I enjoyed the midrange. However, when listening to Tool, Steve Vai, various soundtracks, I missed the head-filling, ear drum rattling bass my other IEMs provide.
14. Comparisons:
    1. AF100: A friend loaned me a pair of Audiofly AF100 he had. The first thing I noticed is the AF100’s dynamic driver provided more bass quantity and hit harder than the AF180 balanced armature drivers. That isn’t surprising. While the low end provides a nice solid foundation for the music to grow from, the AF100 provides one-notey bass. There is some definition, but much of the low end comes across as a rumble rather than differentiated notes. The bass is also muffled sounding rather than clean and dynamic. Mids are at the same general level as the bass, rather than being mid-centric like the AF180. Highs are comparatively recessed and only somewhat extended.
    2. 64Audio Trio: Sorry, the AF100 marks the end of the fair comparisons, it’s the only IEM I had on hand at a sort-of-comparable price. So, what do you get for a lot of extra money? Starting at the bottom, bass from the Trio is big, dynamic and detailed. I can hear strings of an electric bass vibrate, kick drums are sharp thwacks followed by an open decay, the bass of “2049” from the Blade Runner 2049 Soundtrack fills my head. I’ll pick one detail for the mids: Emmylou Harris’ voice was high and thin on Wrecking Ball, just like it’s supposed to be, but there was that undercurrent of wavering, gravelly vibratro, especially in “Deeper Well” that gave her a world-weary sound perfect for that song in particular. I’m a known fanatic for the Trio treble, I find it magically sweet, extended, airy; never harsh, sibilant or analytical sounding. In comparison, the AF180 treble is quieter than its mid-range and not as extended or delicate as what I hear from the Trio.
15. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): The Audiofly AF180 Mk II is a mid-centric IEM which fits well and is quite comfortable to wear. It isolates well. I think it would be good for separating yourself from office noise, or if you work-on-the-go enabling you to take calls while on a train or bus. The accessories are not extravagant, but rather well thought out. I’ll quibble about the case, it’s too big for my taste and I’d replace it with a smaller case.
16. Conclusion: Let me tear the Band-Aid off right away, the AF180 Mk II isn’t for me. I enjoy much deeper, harder hitting bass and more treble extension than they offer. If I was addicted to baroque, small group acoustic jazz, folk, bluegrass, chamber music, the AF180 Mk II have a lot to offer. Alternatively, if I wore my IEMs all day and had a mic switch in the cable so I could take business calls while out and about, their comfort, isolation and mid-centric sound would be a treat for a work/ pleasure mix. However, when it came time for rock, electronic soundtracks, symphonic music from classical, romantic or modern era composers, I’d miss the bass of a dynamic driver and the extension other IEMs provide at the top end.
17. Now, what would happen if Audiofly made the sound pipe of the AF180 just a bit bigger to let more

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with FiR. I received the pair of M5 I listened to as part of the FiR tour.

Introduction: I will apologize, sort of, right now for this review being very similar to those I’ve posted for the FiR M3 and M4. I hope it’s not too boring and repetitive because there is a method to this madness. My theory when I started was to use a similar format for all my FiR reviews in hopes of making it easy for you to perceive the similarities and differences I heard. As you know, I’ve only had IEMs for a few years. Here I am, looking for an upgrade. My current long-term reference for in-ears is the Campfire Audio Lyra II. I like the overall balance of the Lyra II, but enjoyed the bigger bass of the Vega, though I only got to listen to those for one evening. I have been looking for an upgrade ever since discovering I’m an emerging bass-head.

Design: The M5 is a five- way design: dynamic woofer; balanced armature midrange, mid/high and tweeter drivers and an electrostatic super- tweeter. I’ve been intrigued by hybrid designs ever since I bought my Campfire Lyra II. After having the M4 for a bit more than a week, I am curious to find out what the electrostatic driver adds to the sound.
As with the M3 and M4, the M5 housings are generally triangular, and fairly deep. The sound pipes are fairly long. Both of these traits are good for me. Triangular housings seem to fit my ears pretty well and the long sound pipes will let me get deep insertion. I’ve worn ear plugs at work for years, so I am used to jamming things as far in my ear as possible. Shallow insertion feels unstable to me.
The housings are nicely made: smooth with rounded edges. They might be die-cast, but I’ll bet they are milled. I don’t see any fasteners holding the face plate to the housing. The outside looks powder coated: satin black for the body, light gold for the face plates. The M5 have vents below the RCX connector as the M3 and M4 do.

The M5 housings are well crafted and understated, like an English luxury car. They are not so sculpted as the Meze Rai Penta I also have (more Italian looking), and cleaner than the Campfire Audio Lyra II. The latest IEM to arrive in my house is the 64Audio Trio. The Trio is slimmer than the M5, and its corners are more rounded.
Meze Audio Rai Penta
Campfire Audio Lyra II

Packaging: I still can’t make a comment about the “retail” packaging from FiR as I received my set as part of a tour. Truth be told, I don’t much care about packaging anyway. Sure, it’s nice to see a fancy box, but I’d rather have my money put toward the IEMs themselves; or at least good tips. Honestly, after I put the box in the closet, the next time I’ll see it is if I wrap it up to mail it to the new owner.

What’s in the box? What came in the box sent to me was a large (for IEMs) metal can with a screw-top lid containing the M5 and a 5-pole (Sony) cable. I’m glad I had some ear phones from a friend who’s a fan of the Sony connection, otherwise I wouldn’t have had an adapter. Would have been my fault, it’s not like FiR failed to disclose which cables were shipping with which tour IEMs. Also in the box was plastic baggie with some extra tips. The metal can is lined with foam, and has a cleaning brush in the lid. But, it’s too big for daily traveling.

RTFM: No literature came with the tour pair of M5. That’s good, I’d have to spend audition time to read it, anyway.

Physicals:

• IEM Connector: FiR Audio use their RCX connector. I won’t quibble about whether it’s mechanically superior to an MMCX. What I do know is I have a few cables with MMCX connectors I can’t use with these IEMs, and I’ve never worn out an MMCX connector. Perhaps musicians do. I hope FiR will offer MMCX as an option for those of us who aren’t hard on their gear. The cable provided came with “RCX angled black” connectors at the IEM end. I didn’t like them at first: they didn’t fit my ears or with my glasses well. I did get used to them, though. Still, if I were to order a pair of IEMs from FIR, I’d try their “RCX Barrel” connector instead. Perhaps a minimalist strain relief and no memory wire that allows the wire to be wrapped over my ear as closely as possible? I’ve also seen some FiR IEMs provided with RCX and clear over-molding that looked smaller than the black connectors…

• Cable: The FiR cable provided with my tour pair is really thin and flexible. It comprises eight wires, twisted, not braided. Microphonics weren’t a problem for me. No microphone is offered, which is fine by me.
• Source connector: The tour M5 cable was supplied with a straight 4.4mm penta balanced connector.
• Tips: I skipped the tips provided with the tour M5. After my experience with the M3 and M4 I skipped right to my Spin Fit 240. I may have tried my RHA dual flange briefly, but the Spin Fits stayed on pretty much constantly.
• Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I like the shape of FiR’s universal housings. The triangle shaped housings fit my outer ear reliably. I never had any trouble with either M5 ear piece, and the Spin Fit 240 gave me a consistent seal and secured them well. The FiR universal shells don’t nestle into my outer ear like my Rai Pentas, or the qdc Anole VX I had a chance to try briefly (the Anole is shaped similarly to a custom shell, no trouble with fit for me, it was great), but I didn’t have any problems with them either. Choosing between universal and custom would actually be a problem for me. Isolation, with a good seal, is good. I had no problem sealing out the chatter in the group office space I’m currently working in.

What I Listened To: I like simple and compact, so I used my AK70 MkII. As far as music, I kept the SD card from my M3 and M4 auditions, so I listened to mostly the same songs. I did add a couple new songs, though.

Soundstage: I am not a sound-staging aficionado, at least not when it comes to head phones. Like the M4, the footsteps at the beginning of Chris Rea’s “Auberge” started way outside my left ear, crossed the stage and stopped outside my right ear. Also, “Sea Wall” from the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack filled my entire head with sound. Most other recordings I listened to weren’t quite so dramatic. The M5 soundstage generally stayed between the face plates. I had a few new songs on my audition SD card. One is “Adventures in a Perambulator” by John A. Carpenter. Instruments had good separation across the width of the stage and various instruments could be heard left, right, top, bottom and various locations in between. I didn’t notice much layering or depth, but I think that’s me not the IEMs. While I don’t notice much differentiation in height or depth, big orchestral pieces sound similar to what I hear from my normal seat at our concert hall: 20th row center. It could be I am not good with spatial cues. I won’t argue with anyone who tells me I’m full of it here.

Highs: When I received the M5 I dove right in and just let my audition list play. As with the M4, I spent a lot of time comparing the M5 treble of the Trio, since the Trio’s top end is one of my favorite aspects of its sound. I came to this conclusion: the Trio are sweet. By that I mean extended, airy, light, never sibilant, delicate. The M5 I believe to occupy a middle ground between the M4 and Trio. The M5 are not sweet, either, but they have more capability to show finesse than the M4 can. I don’t think the M5 treble is peaky, it doesn’t get fatiguing to me. It certainly isn’t hot or shrill.

“All Right Now” from Doc Powell’s The Doctor is again a good track to compare treble. The cymbals are recorded with intricate detail and no sibilance. The Trio present an amazing amount of detail, shimmer and resonance (that’s not really the right word), while the M4 presented amazing energy and laser-like clarity. M5 has most of the energy of the M4 but lacks a bit of the Trio’s detail. That may sound like a bad thing but I’ll point to Eva Cassidy’s rendition “Blue Skies”. Her voice is front and center, clear and soaring, just like it should be. Right behind her, though, are the cymbals keeping time in bell-like fashion. “Chitlins Con Carne” from Stevie Ray Vaughn’s The Sky is Crying proved its worth again. The cymbals are almost the only treble in the track and easy to focus on. What a treat through both the M5 and Trio.

You’d think New Levels New Devils by Polyphia and “Bandenburg Concerto 1” by J.S. Bach would have only being on my audition list in common. Not so fast. Both allowed the M5’s articulation to shine. In the Bach it was the harpsichord I focused on; in Polyphia’s song “Saucy”: all the weird snaps, stops and starts. Fun stuff when you’re listening to an articulate transducer.

Mids: Every guitar, acoustic or electric, I played through the M5 sounded great. I didn’t listen to any of my Pete Fountain or Don Byron, but clarinets in orchestral settings sounded rich and mellow. Emmylou Harris’ voice on “Deeper Well” was worn and expressive, and Julia Fordham’s voice during “Porcelain” is smooth and clear. While I was enjoying my brief time with the Anole VX I noticed something in Frank Sinatra’s “One For My Baby” (Only the Lonely) I hadn’t noticed before: the first pitch of the first word of nearly every verse is noticeably more baritone than the rest of the verse. It’s almost as if the Chairman’s voice needed to rev-up, make use of some low-end torque. When I listened to the M5 I heard it, not with my Rai Penta. The rest of the M5’s presentation is a treat: Sinatra’s melancholy tenor is smooth and perfectly clean and the piano is behind his left shoulder, I can almost see Joe the Bartender signaling him to play something “easy and sad”.

Back to the smaller scale tunes I listened to with the M3: Miles Davis’ “Half Nelson” (Workin’) was boomy and muddy through the M5. Margo Timmins’ breathy whisper of a voice floats above the deep thrumming bass in “I Don’t Get It” from The Trinity Sessions. I’ve really enjoyed listening to Henry Brant’s Ice Field. Mr. Brant throws everything at the listener, from organ to triangle. I’ve not heard this piece live, unfortunately, but I think I can hear it all. Rosin on the bows of the bassists? Check. Clinky piano right-hand during the jazzy bit near the end? Check. The celli in Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto 1, were at a non-shocking level, in balance with expectations.

OK, back to mids. For dynamics and transients: Keith Jarret’s piano (“Part II C”, The Koln Concert) revealed the M5 lower midrange, as heard in Keith’s left hand, to be full and resonant. I could hear the sound board. I could hear the notes decay as other notes were struck.

In contrast, higher up in the mid-range, the leading edges of the notes played by Keith’s right hand were emphasized. The higher notes of the piano decayed quite quickly, without bloom.

Lows: There are a couple of characteristics about bass response important to me. The first: Pink Floyd must sound good. One of my favorite things about Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, et cetera is the bass wraps its arms around you and holds you close. It’s warm and smooth and wonderful. The other is: I would love to find a head phone able to reproduce “It’s For You” by Pat Metheny Group (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) properly. I am beginning to think this is a fool’s errand, there just isn’t enough volume inside ears to allow Steve Rodby’s bass the room it needs to bloom.

M5 bass is deep and powerful, obviously from the same family as the M3 and M4. Sometimes it’s overpowering. I didn’t remember the M3 bass overpowering any songs, but perhaps I was having too much fun with them. There are a few songs which just sounded wrong to me with the M5: “Deeper Well” (I can’t believe I wrote that….), and “Better the Devil You Know” by Me and That Man are a couple of examples. In the former the bass sounds separated from the rest of the music and interferes with the vocals sometimes. In the latter, bass is clear, but so big it makes the song sound bloated and too big. I find it very disconcerting and there aren’t very many songs I listened to which displayed this characteristic. Even stranger is the coincidence that on my audition SD card “Deeper Well” is followed almost immediately by “Easy From Now On” which sounds nearly perfect to me. Go figure.

I don’t want to dwell on those few songs too much, though, because the M5 bass is so good most of the time. So let me not make a mountain out of a few freakish mole hills. Electronic music: Blade Runner 2049 fills my head with pulsing sound. It’s menacing and intimidating. Resonance and hall sound? I’ll refer back to Henry Brant’s Ice Field. The bass drum filled the right side of the hall with booms that nearly echoed and the skins tympani “rippled”. No mere thuds and thwacks here. Sure, poor recordings sounded muddy and indistinct; but good recordings allowed the bass to shine through and often provide more than a droning basso-continuo foundation to the music. I much appreciate that. Rush’s “Limelight” is a good test for this. Neal Peart’s kick drums vie with Geddy Lee’s bass to be front and center in the rhythm section. The M5 do a good job, better than the Rai Penta, Trio or Anole VX, of keeping the two separated.

Oh, “It’s For You”? Nope, I still need a subwoofer in the living room. But a little less with the M5 (it is a smooth rumbling bass riff, after all).

Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): Some of this belongs with the conclusions, but here we go anyway. I’ve already noted my discombobulation with the M5 bass. I won’t belabor that point any more. On to some general comments about the M5’s overall behavior:

• Some of my favorite songs sounded muddy through the M5. James McMurtry’s “Choctaw Bingo” didn’t surprise me all that much, but “Another Brick in the Wall Part II” sure did, it’s the MFSL remastering after all. Damn transducers with reference level resolution: if there’s mud in your recording, they’ll let you hear it.
• The M5, like the M3 and M4, encouraged me to turn the volume up. But it wasn’t as necessary: I found the M5 to provide a satisfyingly full sound at fairly low volume (less than 50% of full volume on my Mk70 II), while I often cranked the M3 and M4 (and Trio) to 66% of full volume. Richness and fullness scaled with volume, though. The M5 was merciful also, not punishing me with ringing ears or fatigue.
• The M5 were more relentless than the M4, but not so much as the M3 (or LCD-X). The M5 gives an energetic performance, with lows and highs on an equal footing with the midrange and ample dynamics and articulation to propel the music forward, urging you to listen.

Comparisons:

• qdc Anole VX: A quick note since I had a quick listen to these. I can see why some who have commented the M5 sound is V-shaped. While I was listening to the Anole VX I thought to myself, “If this is linear then the M5 is definitely V-shaped. But then, if the M5 is linear, the Anole is mid-centric.” Vocals were more up-front through the Anole, but at the same time, compared to the M5 the bass and top register sounded quieter. My metal-head friend, who likes leaner bass than I do, preferred the Anole VX to the M5 (and M4), so there is that. The Anole VX does present vocals in a beguiling manner…
• 64Audio Trio: This time I have a pair of Trio, but am missing the U12t. I’ve already tipped my hand some: the Trio has beautiful treble. The Trio also presents a bit more detail at the top end than do the M5, though the gap is somewhat narrower. I was a bit surprised by this. My expectation was the electrostatic super-tweeter would provide something the balanced armature couldn’t (even if it is naked). In my week with both they turned out to be different means to a similar end. Great execution by both FiR and 64Audio. I didn’t find myself picking nits between the M5 and Trio in the midrange, both were satisfying. As with the M4, the M5 has more bass energy than the Trio. The M5 also reveals low frequency details with the aplomb of the M4 and Trio.
• “Chitlins Con Carne” by Stevie Ray Vaughn (The Sky is Crying) can no longer be considered serendipitous, since I’ve added it to me audition list. But, it still proved a great way to compare and contrast the M5 and Trio. The M5 comes very close to closing the gap between the M4 and Trio by adding almost the last bit of air and sweetness to the highest highs while maintaining all that long-wavelength energy. It’s a little easier to imagine parting with the Trio and settling down with the M5. Maybe.
• Meze Rai Penta: What I said about the Rai Penta in comparison with the M3 and M4 still stands. They don’t go as low, and lack the energy and drive of the FiR products. I spent a whole morning listening to the M5, then switched to the Rai Penta in the afternoon. I immediately missed the force of the M5 and, in immediate comparison the Rai Penta sounded muddy. But after a while I got used to the Rai Penta again and remembered the details are still there, I just had to dig for them a bit rather than having them brought to me pool-side. The Rai Penta is self-effacing, the M5 more in-your-face.

• Campfire Audio Lyra II: My Lyra II are a good example of what you gain by “climbing the ladder”. I still like my Lyra for all the reasons I bought them: bass, smoothness, the cohesiveness of a single driver, a bit of sparkle on top. Oh, and fit. Who wouldn’t love a little bitty IEM that just nestles in like they do? They just don’t plumb as deep or soar as high. Details are missing. The Lyra II simplify the music in comparison to the other IEMs I listened to. The lowest bass is one-notey in comparison. There isn’t quite as much body or expressiveness in Emmylou Harris’ voice, nor Julia Fordham’s. There isn’t as much air around the instruments, as much room sound. Highs are a bit muddier or splashier, less defined. The soundstage is a bit wider, extending out past the cover plates a bit, though not holographic or all-encompassing.

Conclusion: I like the FiR Audio M5, a lot. I guess that’s why I am troubled by the few examples I found where the bass bothered me. I wanted them to be a perfect match for what I am looking for. Here is what keeps me awake at night:

• Are the M3 too much fun to ignore? I’m separated from their bass slam by over a month, but I keep referring to it like I heard it a half hour ago.
• What about the M4? I’m sure I remember correctly they are more balanced, better all-arounders, than the M3, but how would they fare head-to-head against the M5? Is the M4 bass more controlled than the M5 eliminating the source of angst, and can that tinge of air missing in the M4’s highest register be forgiven when the Trio and M5 are available?
• And then the outsider (at least outside the FiR family): the Trio. On top of a comfortably familiar signature 64Audio adds THAT treble. Compelling, to be sure. But I do miss the bass rising up and asserting itself as an equal partner in the music.
• I know I like FiR products, but I don’t know yet which I’d choose to take to a desert island with me.

1. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with FiR. I received the pair of M4 I listened to as part of the FiR tour.

2. Introduction: Abbreviated version: I’ve only had IEMs for a few years. Here I am, looking for an upgrade. My current long-term reference for in-ears is the Campfire Audio Lyra II. I like the overall balance of the Lyra II, but enjoyed the bigger bass of the Vega, though I only got to listen to those for one evening. I have been looking for an upgrade ever since discovering I’m an emerging bass-head.

3. Design: The M4 is a four- way design: dynamic woofer and balanced armature midrange, mid/high and tweeter drivers. I’ve been intrigued by these hybrid designs ever since I bought my Campfire Lyra II. I really like the sound from that single dynamic driver IEM, especially the bass slam (though I now want more depth than the Lyra II can provide). I’ve heard deep rumble from various designs which employ balanced armatures, but those I’ve heard don’t have visceral impact. What I’m hoping to hear from the M4 (as with the M3) is bass physicality from the dynamic driver plus the speed and finesse of the balanced armatures. I hope to hear good cohesiveness in the presentation since only four drivers are used since my current leaning is for fewer drivers.

The housings are generally triangular, and fairly deep. The sound pipes are fairly long. Both of these traits are good for me. Triangular housings seem to fit my ears pretty well and the long sound pipes will let me get deep insertion. I’ve worn ear plugs at work for years, so I am used to jamming things as far in my ear as possible. Shallow insertion feels unstable to me. The housings are nicely made: smooth with rounded edges. They might be die-cast, but I’ll bet they are milled. I don’t see any fasteners holding the face plate to the housing. The outside looks powder coated: satin black for the body, light gold for the face plates. There appear to be vents below the RCX connector (you can see them if you hold your monitor just right).
OK, you caught me, that’s a photo of the M3, but the M4 vents look the same.




The M4 housings are well crafted and understated, like an English luxury car. They are not so sculpted as the Meze Rai Penta I also have (more Italian looking), and cleaner than the Campfire Audio Lyra II.

4. Packaging: I can’t make a comment about the “retail” packaging from FiR as I received my set as part of a tour. Truth be told, I don’t much care about packaging anyway. Sure, it’s nice to see a fancy box, but I’d rather have my money put toward the IEMs themselves; or at least good tips. Honestly, after I put the box in the closet, the next time I’ll see it is if I wrap it up to mail it to the new owner.

5. What’s in the box? What came in the box sent to me was a large (for IEMs) metal can with a screw-top lid containing the M4 a TRRS cable. Also in the box was plastic baggie with some extra tips. The metal can is lined with foam, and has a cleaning brush in the lid. But, it’s too big for daily traveling.

6. RTFM: No literature came with the tour pair of M4. That’s good, I’d have to spend audition time to read it, anyway.

7. Physicals:

7.1. IEM Connector: FiR Audio use their RCX connector. I won’t quibble about whether it’s mechanically superior to an MMCX. What I do know is I have a few cables with MMCX connectors I can’t use with these IEMs, and I’ve never worn out an MMCX connector. Perhaps musicians do. I hope FiR will offer MMCX as an option for those of us who aren’t hard on their gear. The cable provided came with “RCX angled black” connectors at the IEM end. I didn’t like them at first: they didn’t fit my ears or with my glasses well. I did get used to them, though. Still, if I were to order a pair of IEMs from FIR, I’d try their “RCX Barrel” connector instead. Perhaps a minimalist strain relief and no memory wire that allows the wire to be wrapped over my ear as closely as possible? I’ve also seen some FiR IEMs provided with RCX and clear over-molding that looked smaller than the black connectors…

7.2. Cable: The FiR cable provided with my tour pair is really thin and flexible. It comprises four wires, twisted, not braided. Microphonics weren’t a problem for me. No microphone is offered, which is fine by me.



7.3. Source connector: The tour M4 cable was supplied with a right angle 2.5mm TRRS balanced connector. The 2.5mm plug itself has surprising heft for something so small. The barrel hiding the cable strain relief is surprisingly big. I don’t know yet if it’s actually a big deal, but my initial impression is I wish the barrel was smaller.



7.4. Tips: I skipped the tips provided with the tour M4. The short version is: I tried Comply 400 foamies, but they created a treble-free zone in my head. I tried JVC Spiral Dots, but they didn’t seal well. I tried the Spin Fit 240 and RHA dual flanges. Initially I didn’t like the Spin Fits and used the RHA for a while, but then changed my mind. I’m glad the tips aren’t borrowed, so I can change them as my whim changes.



8. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I like the shape of the M4 housings. I’ve found, in my limited experience with IEMs, the triangle shaped housings fit my outer ear reliably. I had all kinds of trouble with the Campfire Atlas. Try as I might, I could never get them seated just right, so I hardly ever heard what they are capable of, unless I held them in place. Surprisingly, I had some difficulty with the fit of the left ear piece. It wouldn’t seal reliably with the RHA tips, so I often lost bass response. Holding the ear piece lightly solved the problem for critical listening. I can’t explain that, since the M4 look identical to the M3 on the outside and I had no trouble with the M3. But then I changed back to the Spin Fit and the left stayed in place better. Weird.

9. What I Listened to: I like simple and compact, so I used my AK70 MkII. As far as music, I kept the SD card from my M3 audition, so I listened to the same songs.

10. Soundstage: I am not a soundstaging aficionado, at least not when it comes to head phones. I was surprised by the M4. I had my first, true “out of my head experience”. Listening to the foot steps at the beginning of Chris Rea’s “Auberge”: they started way outside my left ear, crossed the stage and stopped outside my right ear. Also, “Sea Wall” from the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack filled my entire head with sound. Most other recordings I listened to weren’t quite so dramatic. The like the M3, the M4 soundstage struck me as narrow, it rarely extends past the face plates. They present decent separation across the width of the stage: with orchestral music, violins are on the left, wood winds left of center, brass to the right, celli and basses to the right but in front of the brass The bass drum in Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky, Reiner on RCA Living Stereo) still came from the left. While I don’t notice much differentiation in height or depth, big orchestral pieces sound similar to what I hear from my normal seat at our concert hall: 20th row center. It could be I am not good with spatial cues. I won’t argue with anyone who tells me I’m full of it here. I was surprised to find “Chicago” (Tom Waits, As Bad As Me) to be a mess. Things were more organized through the M3, but still kind of messy through the Trio. Tom Waits’ voice had better separation, but less weight and growl with the Trio (and who wants Tom W. to sound polite?).

11. Highs: Since I have had the M3 in my house already, I was able to listen to the M4 a little more holistically, rather than focusing on the bass first. I’m impressed by the high frequencies of the M4, perhaps more so than the M3 treble. Like the M3, they are smooth and mellow, but there is a bit more energy and sparkle. Plus one for the M4. However; with some of my audition songs, the treble, especially cymbals, sounded tizzy and uncontrolled. I especially noticed when a pair of 64Audio Trio arrived. If the U18t are more detailed than these Trio, I don’t know how U18t fans can stand it. I spent a lot of time comparing the treble of the Trio and the M4. I came to this conclusion: the Trio are sweet. By that I mean extended, airy, light, never sibilant, delicate. The M4 are also extended and retrieve much detail. I can’t call them sweet, though. They are too energetic for that adjective. Thank goodness they aren’t hot.

I liked the added extension and energy of the M4 treble as compared to the M3. That triangle I listened to with the M3 is still pinging away behind the rest of the orchestra in “Siegfried’s Funeral” in Gotterdamerung. Even with the orchestra swelling toward full power, I could still hear the decay of the bell-like tone, at least sometimes. And just like with the M3, the cymbals in the Allman Brothers’ “Jessica” (Brothers and Sisters) sounded splashy and disorganized.

Transient response is at a high level. I’ll again cite The Doctor by Doc Powell and New Levels New Devils by Polyphia. Sharp attacks and definite stops to each note. Cymbals on The Doctor are much cleaner than on Brother and Sisters, and the M4 also allowed me to hear that with a bit of added oomph compared to the M3. I think the leading edge of the strikes on the cymbals were more distinct, too. All the weird snaps, stops and starts in Polyphia’s “Drown” were there, too. Fun stuff when you’re listening to an articulate transducer.

12. Mids: I spent more time focusing on midrange sound with the M4 than I did when I had the M3. I was pleased to hear more detail in vocals than I remember hearing with the M3. Emmylou Harris’ voice on “Deeper Well” was even more worn and rough than with the M3. That’s a good thing for the character she’s portraying. Emmylou’s voice was also more on the same level with the rest of the music than with the M3. While the M3 bass didn’t mask vocals, with the M4 bass and vocals were more co-equal branches of the music. As far as vocals are concerned, I listened to a few tracks specifically for vocals. Julia Fordham’s voice during “Genius” provides a good contrast to Emmylou: so much smoother than “Deeper Well”. For my first comment about the M4 presentation as a whole I’ll look to “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield. Mary Poppins said it best: Practically Perfect in Every Way. Mayfield’s voice is smooth and soulful, the electric bass provides a deep, heavy groove, the bongos are sharp (almost painful when listening loud). Ooh. No, oooh.

I listen to a lot of guitar- based rock and jazz. Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, Rush, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and others all made it through the rotation. Actually, I kept my SD card exactly the same for the M4 as for the M3. I loved listening to my favorite guitar players with the M4, too.

Back to the smaller scale tunes I listened to with the M3: while I found string bass in Miles Davis’ “Half Nelson” (Workin’) to be boomy through the M3, it is more controlled with the M4 (cymbals are muted, though). I’ve really enjoyed listening to Henry Brant’s Ice Field. Mr. Brant throws everything at the listener, from organ to triangle. I’ve not heard this piece live, unfortunately, but I think I can hear it all. Rosin on the bows of the bassists? Check. Clinky piano right-hand during the jazzy bit near the end? Check. The celli in Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto 1, were at a non-shocking level, in balance with expectations.

OK, back to mids. For microdynamics and detail retrieval I’d like to hear to nylon-stringed guitar, but I’m not sure I have any in my collection… Pat Metheny provides a good demonstration in “The Sound of Silence” (What It’s All About), steel stringed though his instrument is. As Pat M. plays I can hear the sharp start of each plucked note, resonant decay, but now tremolo in the decay, also. As if the notes are trembling as they rush off. To keep with the parallels of my time with the M3, I listened to “Evolution” by Roy Ayers for that wonderful vibraphone solo. Over the top of a funky bass riff, the vibes dance with quickly struck notes. Sure, the attack is emphasized, but during the slightly sustained notes I can hear the decay of the tubular bells under the keys. One more: the M4 did a good job of recovering details from Keith Jarret’s piano (“Part II C”, The Koln Concert) the M3 left on the table. I could hear the sound board. Imaging was better, too. Keith’s hands ran from ear to ear as he played keys all along his key board. There was distinct separation between left-hand notes and right-hand notes.

13. Lows: There are a couple of characteristics about bass response important to me. The first: Pink Floyd must sound good. One of my favorite things about Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, et cetera is the bass wraps its arms around you and holds you close. It’s warm and smooth and wonderful. The other is: I would love to find a head phone able to reproduce “It’s For You” by Pat Metheny Group (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) properly. I am beginning to think this is a fool’s errand, there just isn’t enough volume inside ears to allow Steve Rodby’s bass the room it needs to bloom.

M4 bass is deep and powerful, obviously from the same family as the M3. But here is the only aspect of the contest where the M3 bests the M4: bass impact. Both IEMs shake the foundations of music, but the M3 can make a song implode, while the M4 will merely make it crumble and fall. As during the M3’s stay, “Deeper Well” (Emmylou Harris), “Digging in the Dirt” (Peter Gabriel) and “Dirty” (Earth, Wind and Fire) were my litmus tests. “Deeper Well” failed to make me shiver. The driving thumps in “Dirty” didn’t make my ear drums rattle.

OK, that’s the disappointment. For every door closed, a window is opened, as the saying goes. The lack of startling impact must be weighed against the finesse the M4 brings. Yes, finesse in the bone crushing bass. The synthesized bass notes in “Digging in the Dirt” vibrated rather than simply rumbling. There’s this weird sustained low note in Bob Schneider’s “Ready, Let’s Roll” (King Kong, Volume III), my favorite of all Bob Schneider songs. More King Kong projects please, Mr. Schneider. There’s low-level vibrato that wasn’t as apparent with the M3. At the beginning of “Limelight” (Rush, Moving Pictures), Geddy Lee’s bass is rolling along underneath Neal Peart’s drums. Through most of my head phones, it’s hard to separate the bass from the drums, it’s kind of a muddy jumbled mess. The M4 do an admirable job of sorting that out. As I noted with the M3, added volume helps in sorting things out.

A friend of mine listened for a little while as well. He’s currently a metal-head and prefers his bass leaner and faster than I do. He was not a fan of other well- known bass cannons like the Vega and Atlas. I thought for sure he’d like the Trio better than the M4; he thought the M3 too thick. But, surprise, he liked the M4 low end and didn’t really express a preference, only acknowledged a difference.

Oh, “It’s For You”? Nope, I still need a subwoofer in the living room. But a little less with the M4 (it is a smooth rumbling bass riff, after all).

Before I move on to the next section, let me say a quick word about dynamics. The M4 are. I am, right at this minute, listening to “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck. The snare drum, solidly in my left ear, is painfully sharp. The leading edge of Paul Desmond’s alto notes are sharp and immediate. Both are in stark contrast to that fabulous rolling piano of Mr. Brubeck. A wonderful microcosm of the M4 sound, bolstering what I’ve already touched on when name dropping Polyphia, Pat Metheny and the others.

14. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): Some of this belongs with the conclusions, but here we go anyway. I’ve already noted my disappointment the M4 doesn’t carry the M3’s amazing, addicting bass energy with it. I won’t belabor that point any more. On to some revelations:

• The M4, like the M3 encouraged me to turn the volume up. I found myself listening at higher volumes than I’m used to. Strangely I wasn’t punished for this with ringing ears or fatigue. The Trios, too. All of them liked power, and rewarded it.
  
• The M4 were not relentless like the M3 (or LCD-X). Both the M4 and Trio are better balanced than my memory of the M3, but lacked the undeniable energy the M3 offer.

• J. Gordon Holt said every song has a “best volume”. That is very apparent with the M4. I found myself constantly turning the volume up and down as songs played. I am left with the impression the M4 frequency response may not be linear with volume? A good example of this is “Red Label” by Danny Gatton (88 Elmira St., genius). Listening at moderate volume bass is recessed and indistinct, as you’d expect. So; however, were the horns. Danny’s guitar, the drums and the cymbals were all up-front for all to hear. Goosing the volume, though, brought out horns (when playing accompaniment, not soloing) and the drums. It is weird that not everything was perceived as louder to me. Another piece I noticed this with was “Lincoln Portrait” by Aaron Copeland. At the same volume I listened to the previous several songs in my audition rotation this piece was piercing and I had to turn it down.
  
• The M4 are revealing enough to expose many of my favorite songs for what they are: badly recorded ‘70s and ‘80s rock. Damn them.

15. Comparisons:

64Audio Trio: This time I have a pair of Trio, but am missing the U12t. I’ve already tipped my hand some: the Trio has beautiful treble. The Trio also presents a bit more detail at the top end than do the M4. Skipping the midrange for a moment, the treble difference must be taken at the same time as the bass: here, in my opinion, the M4 wins. The difference is energy level. Even though the M4 doesn’t have the energy of the M3, the Trio doesn’t have the energy of the M4. It’s not like the Trio presents bass as if the musicians are off stage, but they are playing at a lower level than the rest of the band. Detail retrieval is excellent with both contestants, but I had to dig deeper to get it with the Trio than the M4. Back to middle: I’m not going to pick nits: both the M4 and Trio have wonderful midrange.

I’m going to spend a bit more time with the M4 vs. Trio comparison because I spent a whole day’s listening going back and forth. The single-song-litmus-test was a bit of serendipity, it just came up in the mix when I switched SD cards. “Chitlins Con Carne” by Stevie Ray Vaughn (The Sky is Crying) is now one of my favorite audition songs. Bass is deep, full and up in level, Stevie’s guitar tone makes me weep and is nigh isolated in the mids, and the cymbals and rim strikes are made-to-order for treble and transient response. This song single handedly cemented my impression of the differences between the M4 and Trio. When I hear the treble of the Trio I want them and no other. But then I put the M4 back in place and the bass makes me think, “I can live with these highs, and man, this bass digs deep”. There you go.

Meze Rai Penta: What I said about the Rai Penta in comparison with the M3 still stands. They don’t go as low, and lack the force of the M4, let alone the M3. Still a relief for those put off by the Vega, Atlas, or Legend X. Since the M4 are more balanced than the M3, they are easier to groove with, but I’m not sure if they best the Rai Penta in this department. I think that is the prevue of a long-term review. Only when I find myself reaching for one over the other unconsciously at certain times would I know which one is has the more mellow vibe. The Rai Penta’s tweeter is extended and delicate like the Trio’s, but not sweet. It also lacks the razor- sharp transients of the M4. As I said, mellow, grooving. Sitting on the front porch after work and chilling.

Campfire Audio Lyra II: Likewise, what I said about my Lyra II goes when comparing them to the M4 as well. They hold their own quite well in a number of ways with the M4. I still like my Lyra for all the reasons I bought them: bass, smoothness, the cohesiveness of a single driver, a bit of sparkle on top. Oh, and fit. Who wouldn’t love a little bitty IEM that just nestles in like this? They just don’t plumb as deep or soar as high. Small details are missing. The Lyra II simplify the music in comparison to the other IEMs I listened to. The lowest bass is one-notey in comparison. There isn’t quite as much body or expressiveness in Emmylou Harris’ voice, nor Julia Fordham’s. There isn’t as much air around the instruments, as much room sound. Highs are a bit muddier or splashier, less defined. The soundstage is a bit wider, extending out past the cover plates a bit, though not holographic or all-encompassing.

Here’s how I know the U12t, oops, Trio this time, Penta and Lyra II are all satisfying like the M3 in their own ways: soon after putting any of the four in and plugging them into my DAP, I’d forget about the differences and just listen unless I made a conscious effort to remember I have a review to write.

16. Conclusion: As with the FiR Audio M3, I am impressed with the M4. Sure, the M4 brings a bass rumble rather than the bass power of M3. But in exchange, the M4 brings a more complete portrayal of the sound: nuance the M3 bass doesn’t have, details in the midrange and treble the M3 is missing, and extension and air the M3 lacks. Through it all, they are coherent. Perhaps that’s a good trade. Compared with the Rai Penta, the M4 are harder to groove with, they are more immediate, more insistent. But boy the Rai Penta are soothing. Where I have the most trouble is with the Trio. They are so good at details in the mids and highs I don’t know if I could bear to let that go. Choices, choices. Now where is that lottery ticket?

In the review of the M3 I posted here I said, “Here’s how I know the U12t, Penta and Lyra II are all satisfying like the M3 in their own ways: soon after putting any of the four in and plugging them into my DAP, I’d forget about the differences and just listen unless I made a conscious effort to remember I have a review to write.” That wasn’t the case with the M4: I couldn’t stop listening for the differences between them and the Rai Penta, the Trio and my memory of the M3. I think that may actually be a good thing, since this is a fairly short review period. As I said, I’m looking for an upgrade: a long-game choice (I am not naïve enough to call anything end-game). Which set of strengths can I be happy with? With these, it’s hard to tell. It’s going to take critical listening, dissecting the sound, on and on. It might even take loaners after the tour.

The only thing that bugs me about the M4 is that unreliable fit, and only with the left side. If only FiR offered custom IEMs. Oh, wait.

FiR M3 IEM

1. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with FiR. I received the pair of M3 I listened to as part of the FiR tour.

2. Introduction: I’ve only had IEMs for a few years. I was initially worried I wouldn’t like them, so I started slowly. Over the past year in particular I’ve found myself using my IEMs more than my full size head phones: the convenience of portability. So, I have started climbing the ladder. My current long-term reference for in-ears is the Campfire Audio Lyra II. I like the overall balance of the Lyra II, but enjoyed the bigger bass of the Vega, though I only got to listen to those for one evening. I have been looking for an upgrade ever since discovering I’m an emerging bass-head.

3. Design: The M3 is a three- way design: dynamic woofer and balanced armature midrange and tweeter drivers. I’ve been intrigued by these hybrid designs ever since I bought my Campfire Lyra II. I really like the sound from that single dynamic driver IEM, especially the bass slam (though I now want more depth than the Lyra II can provide). I’ve heard deep rumble from various designs which employ balanced armatures, but those I’ve heard don’t have visceral impact. What I’m hoping to hear from the M3 is bass physicality from the dynamic driver plus the speed and finesse of the balanced armatures. I hope to hear good cohesiveness in the presentation since only three drivers are used. All this is along the same lines as heard in home audiophile discussions about the purity of sound from two-way speakers when compared to multi-driver speakers. I don’t know yet if I have an abiding preference for one design or the other, but my current leaning is for fewer drivers.

The housings are generally triangular, and fairly deep. The sound pipes are fairly long. Both of these traits are good for me. Triangular housings seem to fit my ears pretty well and the long sound pipes will let me get deep insertion. I’ve worn ear plugs at work for years, so I am used to jamming things as far in my ear as possible. Shallow insertion feels unstable to me.

The housings are nicely made: smooth with rounded edges. They might be die-cast, but I’ll bet they are milled. I don’t see any fasteners holding the face plate to the housing. The outside looks powder coated: satin black for the body, gray for the face plates. There appear to be vents below the RCX connector (you can see them if you hold your monitor just right).


The M3 housings are well crafted and understated, like an English luxury car. They are not so sculpted as the Meze Rai Penta I also have (more Italian looking), and cleaner than the Campfire Audio Lyra II.


4. Packaging: I can’t make a comment about the “retail” packaging from FiR as I received my set as part of a tour. Truth be told, I don’t much care about packaging anyway. Sure, it’s nice to see a fancy box, but I’d rather have my money put toward the IEMs themselves; or at least good tips. Honestly, after I put the box in the closet, the next time I’ll see it is if I wrap it up to mail it to the new owner.

5. What’s in the box? What came in the box sent to me was a large (for IEMs) metal can with a screw-top lid containing the M3 and a second cable. Also in the box was plastic baggie with some extra tips. The metal can is lined with foam, and has a cleaning brush in the lid. But, it’s too big for daily traveling. I’ll have to use one of my other cases while these M3 are in my care. Of course, one counter argument to this is, “Those IEMs are supposed to be in your ears, not in the can.” I can’t argue with that.

6. RTFM: No literature came with the tour pair of M3. That’s good, I’d have to spend audition time to read it, anyway.

7. Physicals:

7.1. IEM Connector: These have FiR’s RCX connector. I won’t quibble about whether it’s mechanically superior to an MMCX. What I do know is I have a few cables with MMCX connectors I can’t use with these IEMs, and I’ve never worn out an MMCX connector. Perhaps musicians do. I hope FiR will offer MMCX as an option for those of us who aren’t hard on their gear. Last: the 2.5mm cable provided came with “RCX angled black” connectors at the IEM end. Strangely, the angled parts of the 4.4mm cable were smaller than those on the 2.5mm cable. I didn’t like either: they didn’t fit my ears or with my glasses well. If I were to order a pair of IEMs from FIR, I’d try their “RCX Barrel” connector instead. But the photo on the FiR website makes the stock barrel look really big, and it may be awkward. Perhaps a minimalist strain relief and no memory wire that allows the wire to be wrapped over my ear as closely as possible?

7.2. Cable: The FiR cable provided with my tour pair is really thin and flexible. It comprises four wires, twisted, not braided. Microphonics weren’t a problem for me. No microphone is offered, which is fine by me.


7.3. Source connector: One of the cables supplied came with a right angle 2.5mm TRRS balanced connector, the other with a big right-angle 4.4mm. The 2.5mm plug itself has surprising heft for something so small. The barrel hiding the cable strain relief is surprisingly big. I don’t know yet if it’s actually a big deal, but my initial impression is I wish the barrel was smaller. The 4.4mm plug stands pretty tall above my DAP.



7.4. Tips: The tour pair were supplied with three pairs of foamies. I tried one pair, but didn’t give them much chance as foamies don’t generally work well for me. I will say this: the sound pipe of the FiR M3 is noticeably smaller than the Campfire Audio sound pipes I’m used to. Foamies work better with these IEMs than with Campfire products. For me. Notwithstanding, the foamies didn’t support the ear pieces well and I never felt them to be secure in my ear.

Anyway, I quickly changed to silicone tips. I started with a pair of Final Audio single flange I had out from another pair of IEMs which coincidentally arrived this week, too. I had the same impression of insecurity with the Finals as I did with the foam tips, so on to JVC Spiral Dots. I was hoping the wide bore would allow all the M3 sound into my ear and the small profile would allow deep insertion. Not so much. Perhaps if I’d had a pair of ML (13mm diameter), but I had M and MS. The M3 felt loose in my ears and I had lots of bass leaking out (confirmed when I touched my finger tips to the M3 housings and pressed them lightly). On to a new pair for me: RHA dual flange. These worked well. Snug but comfortable fit, good seal to keep that dynamic bass goodness in. I also tried SpinFit 240 dual flange tips as well. I thought the sound strangely closed-in, some top-end air was suddenly missing. Odd, since the bores of the SpinFits appear to be the same diameter as the RHA. Hmm…

8. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I like the shape of the M3 housings. I’ve found, in my limited experience with IEMs, the triangle shaped housings fit my outer ear reliably. I had all kinds of trouble with the Campfire Atlas. Try as I might, I could never get them seated just right, so I hardly ever heard what they are capable of, unless I held them in place. The first time I listened to the M3 with the RHA tips I had them in for almost two hours. After the silicone warmed up and got seated, I didn’t notice the ear pieces at all, only the sound. Perhaps in this photo you can see how the angled RCX stick a bit away from my head. I didn’t have this with the Penta or Lyra II, which have MMCX connectors I can rotate to keep the cables right next to my skin.

9. What I Listened to: I like simple and compact, so I used my AK70 MkII.

10. Soundstage: I am not a soundstaging aficionado, at least not when it comes to head phones. The M3 soundstage struck me as narrow, it rarely extends past the face plates. They present decent separation across the width of the stage: with orchestral music, violins are on the left, wood winds left of center, brass to the right, celli and basses to the right but in front of the brass. Imagine my surprise when the bass drum in Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky, Reiner on RCA Living Stereo) came from the left! While I don’t notice much differentiation in height or depth, big orchestral pieces sound similar to what I hear from my normal seat at our concert hall: 20th row center. It could be I am not good with spatial cues. I won’t argue with anyone who tells me I’m full of it here. That said, I was able to keep track of “Chicago” (Tom Waits, As Bad As Me). To me, there is a lot going on in that song. Baritone sax, and two guitars to the left; Tom W. a snare and bass left-of-center; and a banjo, trombone(?) and a train whistle (again, ?) to the right. All are playing different parts and perhaps different tempi. I can’t keep up with it through my speakers in the living room, but through head phones…

An exception to this is “Auberge” by Chris Rea. At the beginning of the song a man walks, while whistling, from left to right. Once just outside your right ear, he kicks a bottle back across the sound stage, then follows it back where he came from. He ends his stroll somewhat outside your left ear.

11. Highs: Treble response was actually the second thing I listened for, after bass. Admittedly, bass has been on my mind recently. I’m impressed by the high frequencies of the M3. They are smooth and mellow, without harshness. After listening to both the M3 and a borrowed pair of 64Audio U12t I found the highs of the same cloth. Not identical, of course, but neither is the etched, “revealing”, extra-detailed sound I’ve heard described about other head phones. I don’t really like hot treble, it fatigues my ears. The M3 are on the mellow side of detailed.

As smooth as the treble is, I was concerned it lacked detail and would become boring. So I listened to a few tracks that have some information at the top of the frequency spectrum. There is a triangle, pinging away behind the rest of the orchestra in “Siegfried’s Funeral” in Gotterdamerung. The M3 provided the sharp leading edge of the stick hitting the metal as well as the bell-like decay without making it sound hard or brittle. At the other end, my favorite Allman Brothers song, “Jessica” (Brothers and Sisters) has cymbals that sound splashy rather than sparkly to me. Perhaps this is a result of 1970s rock ‘n roll recording, rather than the competency of the M3’s tweeter.

The M3 can do transients, too. I’ll cite The Doctor by Doc Powell and New Levels New Devils by Polyphia. Sharp attacks and definite stops to each note. Cymbals on The Doctor are much cleaner than on Brother and Sisters, and the M3 allow me to hear that.

12. Mids: I have to admit, I didn’t spend a lot of time focusing on the timbre of the midrange. I choose to believe that is a good thing: if I thought the midrange sounded off, I’d have spent time trying to figure out why. With my current focus on bass performance, I listened to bass-heavy tracks first. Even so, midrange and treble were well represented and even in level with the bass, unless bass is elevated in the song.

As far as vocals are concerned, I listened to a few tracks specifically for vocals. I really like “Genius” by Julia Fordham. Ms. Fordham’s voice is rich and resonant through the M3. There is some sibilance in this recording, but her voice has power, rhythm and a bit of range. Also, “Something Cool” by June Christy. Tom Waits’ voice was satisfyingly gruff and rumbly when listening to “Chicago” from Bad As Me.

I listen to a lot of guitar- based rock and jazz. Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Pat Metheny, Rush, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and others all made it through the rotation during my time with the M3. All the various tones were reproduced and presented on a rich palette. I loved listening to my favorite guitar players with the M3.

But, worried the bass would overwhelm the midrange, I started consciously avoiding “bass tracks” and listening to acoustic music. I listened to a pretty wide range of acoustic music “scales”: solo piano, jazz quintets, jazz big bands, small classical ensembles, full orchestras. What I found is the quality of the M3 bass scales with the quality of the recording, as it should. I found string bass in Miles Davis’ “Half Nelson” (Workin’) to be boomy; however, the bass in “In a Mellow Mood” (Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn) was deep and rich and detailed. I’ve really enjoyed listening to Henry Brant’s Ice Field. Mr. Brant throws everything at the listener, from organ to triangle. I’ve not heard this piece live, unfortunately, but I think I can hear it all. The organ never overwhelms the other instruments. The first time through Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto 1, I thought the low notes from the cello out-sized. A couple subsequent listenings; however, convinced me everything is in balance.

OK, back to mids. For microdynamics and detail retrieval I’d like to hear to nylon-stringed guitar, but I’m not sure I have any in my collection… Pat Metheny provides a good demonstration in “The Sound of Silence” (What It’s All About), steel stringed though his instrument is. Pat M. plays his forty-two string guitar aggressively, and I can hear the sharp start of each plucked note, as well as the resonant decay and the reverberation in the room. Another of my favorite instruments for midrange reproduction is the vibraphone. I have had head phones that produce the initial transient of the mallet hitting the bar, and others able to produce the warm blooming decay of the instrument. The M3 does both. I love the groove of a good vibe solo.

13. Lows: There are a couple of characteristics about bass response important to me. The first: Pink Floyd must sound good. One of my favorite things about Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, et cetera is the bass wraps its arms around you and holds you close. It’s warm and smooth and wonderful. The other is: I would love to find a head phone able to reproduce “It’s For You” by Pat Metheny Group (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) properly. I am beginning to think this is a fool’s errand, there just isn’t enough volume inside ears to allow Steve Rodby’s bass the room it needs to bloom.

Bass from the M3 goes down low, quite low. I don’t listen to EDM, but the M3s fill my head with bass and rumble my ear drums when it’s on the recording. The soundtrack from Blade Runner 2049 has some serious electronic bass, and it’s all there from the M3. Likewise with bass- heavy tracks like “Deeper Well” (Emmylou Harris), “Digging in the Dirt” (Peter Gabriel) and “Dirty” (Earth, Wind and Fire). “Deeper Well” made shivers run up and down my spine, literally. The bass might be called overwhelming by some. It was higher in level than Emmylou’s voice, but it absolutely did not cover her vocals.

Bass, even low bass, is not one-note thumping. One of the cleanest recordings I have is The Doctor by Doc Powell on the VTL label (perhaps the only recording Luke Manley ever did, pity). On that recording I can hear the strings of the electric bass vibrate. Bass also scales nicely with volume. One of the last songs I tried with this in mind is “Limelight” (Rush, Moving Pictures). When listening at a low- level Neal Peart’s kick drums were lifeless thuds and Geddy Lee’s bass nearly MIA. However, turning the volume knob brought life to the kick drums and rumble and detail to the electric bass.

All that said, a friend of mine listened for a day as well. He prefers his bass leaner and faster than I do. He listens to a lot of metal and needs to hear the nuances of machine drumming and fast, strummed guitars. He found the bass of the M3 too dark/ warm/ wet for his taste, though he did like it better than other well- known bass cannons like the Vega and Atlas. His current favorite is the Fiio FH7.

Oh, “It’s For You”? Nope, I need a subwoofer in the living room.

14. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): I have a similar reaction to the M3 as I did when I got an extended audition of the Audeze LCD-X. The M3 demand attention. They make it difficult to allow your music to fade into the background. I find myself turning the volume up higher than I typically do so I can hear more of what the M3 has to offer, just like with the LCD-X. It can get exhausting, really, to the point where I sometimes need a break. But I always come back wanting more. Different from the LCD-X, though, the M3 are not always in your face. I was able to enjoy both the weird syncopation and ecstatic dynamics of Polyphia as well as something as tranquil as Khirimian Hairig by Alan Hovhaness (a slow, solo trumpet accompanied by strings).

15. Comparisons: I would have loved to compare the M3 to the 64Audio Trio, but I didn’t have access to those. I was able, though, to listen to a pair of U12t, a pair of Meze Rai Penta I just received as well as my long- term Lyra II. Note that all four did well with the synthetic bombast of Hans Zimmer’s sound track for Blade Runner 2049. The real differences shone through with acoustic music (as one might expect) and well-recorded rock and jazz.

64Audio U12t: The U12t has better detail retrieval as demonstrated by Doc Powell, “All Right Now”: the first low-ish guitar notes vibrated better, and there was more shimmer in cymbals. Emmylou Harris’ voice sounded with more vibrato, sounded more worn (“Deeper Well”). Differences are small and could be attributed to lack of level matching. The attribute that makes me interested in the Trio is the possibility of visceral bass response, like I heard with the Atlas and to a lesser extent the Lyra II. While the U12t bass is smooth and detailed, at best it’s able to rumble. The M3 is able to vibrate my ear drums, which is exactly what I am looking for. In addition, the lowest bass of the M3 is more detailed with more punch.

Meze Rai Penta: After the lack of love I’ve seen for the Penta, I wasn’t prepared for them. Sure, the best tips for me were the last I tried, and they sounded poor until I finally slid a pair of SpinFit 240s on the sound pipes. Once that was done, though, hold on! The fit is really good for me, even though they aren’t as triangular as the M3. They sit even a bit better inside my outer ear. Fit ‘n finish is first-rate as well. Bass goes as low, but without quite the same volume in the lowest octave or two. That will make the Pentas a bit less overwhelming to some, those who find the M3 (or the Vega, Atlas, Legend X) too much of a good thing. But, they don’t have the same impact as the M3, consequently, the excitement factor suffers (you may have noticed I listened to “Deeper Well” a lot this week, the Penta are second best with this song, for this reason). Mids are beautiful. I did, though, find a couple of recordings that sounded hollow with the Pentas when they sounded full with the M3. Perhaps that is bass bleeding into the midrange and creating a bloom that isn’t really there on the recording. Whatever. After listening to the M3, I missed it when listening to the Penta. I think the Penta’s tweeter might be better than the M3 tweeter. A bit more etched, enhancing detail presentation, a bit more air, a bit more articulation. Soundstage revealed by the Penta is also in-my-head, like the M3.

Campfire Audio Lyra II: Believe it or not, the Lyra II hold their own quite well in a number of ways with both the M3 and Penta. I still like my Lyra for all the reasons I bought them: bass, smoothness, the cohesiveness of a single driver, a bit of sparkle on top. Oh, and fit. Who wouldn’t love a little bitty IEM that just nestles in like this? Missing from the M3 presentation is the excitement factor, which I think is generated by pace-rhythm-and-timing. The Lyra II don’t go as low or hit as hard in as the M3. In addition, lowest bass is more one-notey. There isn’t quite as much body or expressiveness in Emmylou Harris’ voice, nor Julia Fordham’s. There isn’t as much air around the instruments, as much room sound. Highs are a bit muddier or splashier, less defined. The soundstage is a bit wider, extending out past the cover plates a bit, though not holographic or all-encompassing.

Here’s how I know the U12t, Penta and Lyra II are all satisfying like the M3 in their own ways: soon after putting any of the four in and plugging them into my DAP, I’d forget about the differences and just listen unless I made a conscious effort to remember I have a review to write.

16. Conclusion: I am impressed with the FiR M3. The two things I’d hoped I would hear: coherency and impactful bass, are there. When present, bass can be heavy and enveloping. However, when it’s not called for, the bass gets out of the way to allow, for example, a harpsichord to shine. The M3 has the pace- rhythm- and- timing to keep up with the busiest of music, but also the mellowness to allow a good groove to develop or allow appreciation of tranquility.

Now that I’m on the list, I can’t wait to hear what the M4 is capable of. If it keeps the excitement of the M3, but adds the treble detail of the Penta? Oh boy!

1. Disclaimer: I am not an employee of 64Audio. A generous friend allowed me to borrow these for a week so I could hear what they’re about.

2. Introduction: Like many in just about any hobby, I suffer with occasional bouts of upgradeitis. It’s an expensive affliction that renders a person dissatisfied with what he has and in search of something better. As we all know, often what you find is different, not better, and another case of upgraditis is looming on the horizon.

3. Design: The 64Audio U12t is a universal IEM. It has twelve balanced armature drivers: 1 tia high, 1 high-mid, six mid-range and four low frequency drivers. “tia” stands for “tubeless in-ear audio”. Rather than regurgitate information from 64Audio’s website, I’ll provide this: https://www.64audio.com/technology/tia. The other engineering feat incorporated in the U12t (and other 64Audio IEMs) is the APEX module which vents pressure inside your ear to lessen listening fatigue caused by big pressure pulses against your ear drum. The U12t has a triangular-ish case that nestled well in my ear as well as 2-pin connectors.

4. Packaging: Since I borrowed these I didn’t receive the 64Audio packaging, sorry.

5. What’s in the box? See above, sorry again.

6. RTFM: Oops, no manual with borrowed IEMs, either.

7. Physicals:
7.1. Connector: The U12t uses a 2-pin connector at the ear phone. I prefer MMCX connectors, but who am I to judge?
7.2. Cable: These borrowed U12ts had an aftermarket cable.
7.3. Cable connector: Said aftermarket cable had a balanced 2.5mm TRRS plug.
7.4. Tips: I had quite the odyssey finding the right tips for these. I haven’t had the best luck with foam tips. My default starting place is Spiral Dot mediums. I like them for their wide bores which leave the sound pipes of the Campfire Audio IEMs I have wide open and unrestricted. The Spiral Dots didn’t hold the U12ts in my ears securely. I tried some RHA, some Final Audio E and a couple sizes of Comply Isolation. The best fit came with the Spin Fit 240 dual flange silicone tips. I wish Spin Fit would make a set of dual flange tips with a 4mm or 4.5mm bore (the whole length of the bore, not just the part that slips over the IEM sound pipe). The Spin Fits provided a good seal and good isolation.

8. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: I like the non-funky triangle shape of the U12t shell. It fit inside my pinnae nicely without sticking out, without irritating any part of my outer ear, without drooping and causing problems with the seal. The Spin Fit tips, as said above, provided support for the ear pieces and a good seal. Isolation was equal of my other IEMs. All that said, these, in my one week of experience, are not suitable for gym use. They are sort of heavy and even with the Spin Fits moved around and needed frequent reseating when I was walking around the house doing stuff. And, if I ever decide these are the IEMs for me, I’d either spring for the A12t (the custom version) or get a pair of custom sleeves made to be sure they didn’t slip around while I wore them.

9. What I Listened to: I used my AK70 Mk II exclusively while I had the U12t.

10. Soundstage: Sound staging is not a top priority for me, but here are my observations. The U12t were able to project the sound stage a little outside my head, say to the outside of my ears. They were able to reproduce some weird “up and down” effects on songs like Riverside’s “Egoist Hedonist”. There are some sounds that bounce up and down in either your left or right ear and the U12t captured that and allowed me to hear it for the first time. One song that I really hear front-to-back layering is “Dirty Feeling” by Bob Schneider. At the beginning of that song, Bob’s voice is a tiny nugget of sound right behind and centered between your eyes. Weirdly, his guitar is immediately behind his voice. I get a little frustrated listening to the soundstage of an orchestra with headphones, so I actually try not to. My problem is concentrated sounds, like the basses, come from just a single point, instead of spreading out a bit, and that’s unnatural.

11. Highs: Treble from the U12t is sweet and very clean. I never heard any sibilance or breaking up. Simple sounds like triangles and bells are, pardon, clear as a bell and pure. I think maybe high strings could benefit from some more bite than I heard from the U12ts, though. The pure-sounding violin in Arvo Part’s “Tabula Rasa” was aching, but sometimes Stravinsky sounded polite.

12. Mids: If your recording of choice is well done, midrange from the U12t is glorious. An example of bad sound from the U12t is ‘80s rock, in my case “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” by Night Ranger. Congested, compressed dynamics, no fire from the guitars or vocals. Contrast that with Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Crossfire” or Carlos Santana’s “Song of the Wind”. The U12ts conveyed the sounds of the lead guitars beautifully. Piano is fully rendered, if it’s in the recording you can hear the sound board (I think my example is a John Boswell recording, but I’m not sure).

13. Lows: I was initially frustrated by the bass, more about that soon. Finding the right tips helped enormously. Bass goes quite deep. I don’t listen to EDM or electronica, but the foundation was quite satisfying for the large-scale classical, rock, metal, et cetera I do listen to. What I missed occasionally was the punch of a dynamic driver like my Lyra II or new Atlas have. I’m still getting used to the Atlas, but one thing the U12t bring to the table is utter coherence between bass and midrange. No disconnection, no bleeding over or swamping. There is detail, too. While I’m typing, I’m listening to Arvo Part’s “Tabula Rasa” and can hear the bows on the bass’ strings: the basses are not just an amorphous rumble, they are bowed string instruments. Same with left-hand notes in the piano. If the keys are hit hard, you can hear the strings get “sloppy” as the vibrate hard and excite the sound board.

14. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): What I couldn’t do: compare the effects of the two APEX modules. I used the module installed in the ear pieces, and I don’t even know which one it is. I did notice that I didn’t get any “popping” as I fiddled with the insertion trying to get that perfectly balanced seal.

One thing that surprised me: how volume-dependent the U12t is. I spent a lot of time listening to these at my preferred volume; that is to say, pretty quiet. I was frustrated by bass that sounded shelved down- it was there and deep, but it was much quieter than that rest of the frequency spectrum. One night I finally bumped the volume up, just a bit (from 70 to 80 on a scale of 120) and the clouds parted, puppies started frolicking and unicorns began to dance. Suddenly the bass was a forceful presence underpinning everything. As I described above: deep and rumbling with good detail retrieval and presentation. This experience made me wonder: what would these be like with an amp? Not to make them obnoxiously loud, but to increase available current and headroom. Unfortunately, I don’t have a portable amp and none of my desktops have a 2.5mm TRRS jack. Oh well.

My favorite aspects of the U12t sound are the cohesiveness and smooth, non-fatiguing nature of the presentation. All twelve drivers work together seamlessly to my ears. One morning I had them in for nearly five continuous hours (that is a personal record for me). I never wanted to turn the volume down, I never got sick of the sound, I didn’t want to take them out and turn my DAP off when it was time to move on to something else for the rest of the day. That, to me, is remarkable.

15. Conclusion: I am so glad my friend allowed me the opportunity to hear the 64Audio U12t for longer than a few minutes at a show or dealer. I’ll be sad to have to return them. There are reasons I didn’t give these IEMs five stars: I miss the punch of dynamic driver bass, the treble can sound a bit polite at times, and I haven’t heard some IEMs I am interested in and might want to rate higher. Make no mistake, though, I really liked these. I can’t afford a pair of my own at this time, but I may well start saving for a pair. Of course, with as much as I like the bass of the U12t, I also find the bass of the Campfire Audio Atlas addicting. I wonder what the trio sounds like…? TBC?

Monoprice M-1060 Planar-Magnetic Headphones

1. Disclaimer: I do not work for Monoprice. This particular pair of headphones was loaned to me by a friend who is curious what I think about them.

2. Introduction: After finding out what a big fan I am of my HiFiMAN HE-500 headphones, a friend of mine got curious about what I’d think of the Monoprice M-1060.

3. Design: It’s not like these are new headphones, so I’ll keep this brief. The Monoprice M-1060 are planar-magnetic, over-the-ear headphones. They have a detachable cable, with 2.5mm TR (phono plug) connections at each ear cup. My friend supplied me with a cable that has a 3.5mm TRS plug at the source end, and another cable with a 4-pin XLR plug at the source end. The supplied pads are cushy and angled, covered with synthetic leather.

4. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The M-1060 fit me just fine. The head band is stiff enough to keep the ear pads against my head, without undue pressure. Compared to my HE-500, they are quite light. Since they are open-back, the M-1060 don’t really have much isolation. Overall construction isn’t as refined as my HE-500. While some might think the M-1060 appear cheaply made, I don’t worry about them falling apart (like I’ve heard some comment about the newer HE-560). But then I don’t toss my head phones down onto my desk. Others might do that.

5. What I Listened to: I used both my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II and my Aune X7S (fed from my AK Jr.) for listening.

6. Soundstage: I listened to Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring” to get an idea of the M-1060 soundstage. It was a bit strange. The horns were panned far to the left, behind the violins, rather than behind the violas. The clarinets were close to center stage where I expected to hear them. But the flutes sounded like they were right on top of the clarinets. Sometimes, it sure sounded like there were violins stage right, where the basses should be, lots of violin sound in my right ear. There wasn’t much depth evident in this recording, either, all the instruments were lined up across the stage. Contrast that with Pete Fountain’s clarinet, right of center and up front, on “Columbus Stockade Blues”. The trumpets and trombones are further right and behind Mr. Fountain, while the saxophones, drums and bass are all stage left. One final example: “Wasteland” the eponymous track from Riverside’s latest CD. Vocals are front and center, but the strummed acoustic guitar appears in both ears with no center fill. The bass fills the entire space between hard left and hard right, and the electric guitar is solidly in the center. My other head phones did that, too, so I guess it’s what the band intended.

7. Highs: One test that lots of head phones fail for me is Rush’s “Limelight” from Moving Pictures. Near the end of Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo there’s sustained note that almost sounds like it’s whistling. The M-1060 do that note justice. While Art Blakey’s cymbals in “Drum Thunder Suite” didn’t shimmer as much as they should have, the difference between the high hat and brushed crash cymbals was easily apparent rather than being lost is a sibilant static.

8. Mids: One place where the M-1060 didn’t sound good was Keith Richard’s “Make No Mistake” from Talk is Cheap. The drums sounded muddy, and I couldn’t tell if it was a snare drum or not providing a slow beat, but it sounded bad. That said, Richard’s voice was up front and clearly rendered, with all its weary raspiness. For contrast, I listened to Peggy Lee’s “Fever”. Her voice, at least on this recording, came across as brassy and a bit biting. I’ll admit that the toms on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ “Drum Thunder Suite” are at the low end of the midrange, but they did rumble well. The trumpet had a bit of brass bite as well. On something a little less involved, like “Peace Piece” from Bill Evans’ Everybody Digs Bill Evans, I could hear the resonance of the bass strings and the decay of the treble strings. Perhaps those details get lost when the Monoprice are asked to deliver more complex, congested music. Transient attack of each note was better in the Bill Evans piece than on other tracks I listened to as well.

9. Lows: Bass plumbs low enough to be satisfying for rock fans like me. When listening to Rush’s “Limelight”, Neal Peart’s kick drums thudded in a satisfying way. However, Geddy Lee’s bass was way back in the mix (except during Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo). There isn’t a lot of bass information in the string and woodwind-heavy “Appalachian Spring”, but when the basses did have big notes, they were resounding in my right ear. That said, rap, trance and other fans of subterranean bass may not find the M-1060 satisfying.

10. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): I’ll get right to it and say that I didn’t like the sound of the M-1060 straight from my AK70 Mk II. The poor DAP is under powered and the head phones sounded unsatisfying powered with it alone. However, when powered by an external desk-top amp, their sound filled out and dynamics opened up. They were able to handle the big sound of one of my favorite Earth Wind & Fire songs, “Africano” quite well. I especially like the ensemble playing the horn section does throughout the song, blaring away over the bass and drums. Good stuff that the M-1060 made fun, just like it should be.

11. Conclusion: I will say I didn’t do any back-and-forth comparisons while listening to the M-1060 (but I did listen to my other head phones after listening to the M-1060). The M-1060 are really fun to listen to, and they get lots of things right. What they don’t get right are errors of omission, really. Compared to my HE-500, the M-1060 bass is one-notey, it goes deep enough to satisfying, but lacks the nuance the HE-500 can display (for example, kick drums have more “skin” sound). In the mids, vocals are well presented, but what is missing are micro-details like the reverberation of the hall and other spatial cues that let a listener know the size of the recording venue. Similarly, the highs are missing that last bits of shimmer that make cymbals sound splashy rather than crashy; triangles are <ting> rather than <ting-ring-ring-ring>. Decay is missing. That all sounds quite doom and gloom, but I think if you’ve never heard more complete sound, you wouldn’t know what you’re missing and would really like the M-1060. Heck, I know what I’d be missing and I like the M-1060. A great entry into headphone sound, or an economical way to find out what that planar sound is all about.

1. Disclaimer: I am not an employee of ZMF. I purchased the head phones I listened to on the used market because I was interested in hearing them. Hear them I did.

2. Introduction: I’ve been using a pair of HifiMAN HE-500 head phones for several years. I recently became interested in hearing more bass impact, primarily when I listen to rock. Note that I don’t mean deeper or louder bass, but bass with more slam, more aggression, than what I typically hear with my HE-500s.

3. Design: The Auteur is a “mostly closed back” dynamic head phone. Quite a different design from my HE-500s, which is the point for me. The outer cups of the pair I have are teak and very handsome. The metallic medallion in the center of each ear cup is black. ZMF also offer gold-tone medalions and ear cup posts for their Blackwood editions. I wish gold-tone had been an option for the teak Auteur. I think that would have looked good. The Auteur are shipped with two different ear pads: “Eikon” and “Auteur”. Both have lamb skin covers, both sets of pads that came with my Auteur were perforated. The ear opening in the Auteur pad is 6mm wider than that of the Eikon pad. I know some of you will say the review is incomplete, but I didn’t try the Eikon pads. To me, they’re a pain to switch out, I was generally happy with the sound of the Auteur with the Auteur pads. ZMF also ship two cables: the standard flat cable with a single-ended ¼” TRS plug, and a round cable with a balanced 4-pin XLR. Since my amp is balanced only, I only used the balanced cable. There’s also a small card with the original purchaser’s name on it.

4. Packaging: The head phones are shipped in a plastic suit case, similar to a Pelican case.

5. What’s in the box? I received a Pelican-esque suit case with a pair of teak Auteur, Eikon and Auteur pads, single-ended and balanced cables, and the previous owner’s card.

6. RTFM: Well, OK, these are head phones. There was no manual.

7. Physicals:

7.1. Connector: The connector on the single ended cable is a ¼” TRS plug. It’s not gold plated. The connector on the balanced cable is a 4-pin XLR (non-locking). The pins in this connector are not gold plated, either.

7.2. Cable: The single ended cable is flat (with the four conductors side-by-side, not braided together or spiraled in the same jacket). It didn’t have any microphonics when I used it. Of course, when I use my home system, I’m pretty sedentary. People on a subway getting jostled might have a different experience. The balanced cable has the conductors in a single round jacket. Again, no microphonics when I used it. The flat cable is more flexible than the round cable, not that the round cable is unuseably stiff.

7.3. Cable connector: ZMF uses mini-XLRs to connect to their ear cups. I like that. I do wonder why 4-pin connectors are used; perhaps 3-pin connectors aren’t available? The mini-XLRs are not gold plated.

Granted, I'll never make a living as a photographer. Luckily, ZMF hired somebody who does and you can see really good photos of these head phones at the ZMF website.

7.4. Pads: My Auteur arrived with two pair of pads: Eikon and Auteur, both had perforated lamb skin covering. I believe the Eikon pads were installed on my pair when I got them (I think the ear opening was smaller), and I left them in place. ZMF pads are held in place by a “skirt” that fits into a dado around the circumference of the ear cup. It’s pretty elegant once the pad is installed: no fasteners and the pad is secure and rotatable. However, there’s a trick to getting them installed and I’m not good at it yet.

8. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: Fit is pretty customizable: you can bend the head band to suit your own head. ZMF even has a YouTube video about how to do it. The ear cups swivel 360o on their supporting posts. The pads are squishy and form a good seal on my head without transmitting an inordinate amount of clamping force. I didn’t take my Auteur on the road, and my house is pretty quiet, so I didn’t give them a true isolation test. However, my family has a harder time interrupting me when I’m wearing my IEMs that when I’m wearing my Auteur.

9. What I Listened to: My home equipment consists of the Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II and a Schiit Mjolnir I. I did not try the Auteur directly out of my AK 70 or my phone. I bought them to try for home listening. All listening was done with the ZMF balanced cable.

10. Soundstage: I’m not a big soundstage aficionado when it comes to head phones. I hear almost everything within my head, and sometimes inside the ear cups. That said, within my head, the Auteur placed instruments neatly around the soundstage, when there was one (so for acoustic jazz and classical). Separation between performers, especially with small-group jazz, was better with the Auteur than with my HE-500. I noticed this especially with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers “Moanin’”. I have to admit, when I listened to classical music, symphonies, I was listening more for the grand wall of sound than whether I could identify which cellist was hitting the notes correctly.

11. Highs: To my ears, the Auteur and the HE-500 are quite similar in the treble and midrange. I noticed differences of presentation more than differences in tonality, timbre, extension, et cetera. For example, Pat Metheny “It’s For You” (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) I noticed the electric guitar in the last third of the song had good pace/ rhythm/ and timing (PRAT) and almost sounded soaring when I had the Auteur on. However, I noticed the acoustic guitar in the first third of the song was well articulated and sharp; and that cymbals were comparatively brighter and had more sparkle when listening to my HE-500. In contrast, when I listened to Charles Mingus’ “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”, I took hardly any notes, because the presentation was so similar. “Saeta” from Miles Davis’ “Sketches of Spain” highlighted what the HE-500 can do. The fanfare that begins the piece was brighter through my HE-500s, but didn’t have as much glare as through my Auteur. Similarly, the finger cymbals were lighter and more present with my HifiMAN head phones. Finally, Miles’ trumpet was more forward and more present through my reference phones.

12. Mids: I really like the mids with both head phones. The two major differences I heard were my Auteur brought vocals more forward and made them clearer and more intelligible, and my HE-500s got more congested when the music got busy. Two key test tracks for me were “Whiplash” by Hank Levy (US Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors, everyone should have these recordings) and “Moanin’” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Both of these tracks were clear winners for my pair of Auteur. On “Whiplash”, Auteur did a better job with the initial brass assault that opens the song. There was actual impact from all those horns that was palpable. Auteur also did a better job of separating the rhythm section (guitar, electric bass and drums) from the rest of the mix. That, oddly, also had the effect of making the lead instruments seem a little recessed comparted to my planars. I even cheated and did an A-B-A so I could give my HE-500s another shot at a slightly higher volume to see if it would sort out the various layers better. Some improvement as bass got a bit louder, but not much.

13. Lows: Down low is where I heard the biggest difference between my HE-500 and Auteur. Again, I perceived more a difference in presentation than tonality. My HE-500 were looser and more “rumbly”, while my pair of Auteur were tighter and drier. Neither head phone did a particularly good job with Steve Rodby’s electric bass on “It’s For You”: the notes were almost MIA. A really good example of the difference was Earth Wind & Fire’s “Dirty”. The synthesizer thump was deep, fat and rumbly through my HifiMANs. Conversely, my Auteur presented the same notes in a drier, tighter way that allowed the mids to shine through. The bass in Cowboy Junkies’ “I Don’t Get It” and “Working on a Building” was really smooth and mellow with both head phones, just the way it should be. Granted, on each of these tracks, it was “just bass”, not subterranean bass. That said, the tonality was spot on and enjoyable.

14. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): I had kind of a hard time comparing these two head phones. To me, they are more similar than different. From the bottom up: when pushed a bit, each had enough bass to be satisfying for me (electronica, dance and rap fans may need to look somewhere else, I don’t think the Auteur is for you). Mids and highs were detailed a musical through both pair of phones. I caught myself more than once just listening rather than trying to pick apart the sound so I could describe it here. Something I didn’t address in the high/mid/bass paragraphs above is detail retrieval. There were times when the Auteur beat out HE-500. One example is with “Moanin’”: the short piano solo that opens the track is more strings and less wood through my HE-500. Howerver, my pair of Auteur brought out the fullness of the wood and the room decay the HE-500 missed. Conversely, I noticed harps right away in my recording of DeBussey’s “La Mer” when listening to my HE-500, I missed those instruments when listening to my Auteur. Sure, it was likely a lapse in concentration, but…

15. Conclusion: I’m not a head phone collector. Note that I didn't give the Auteur five stars. Since I haven't even heard statement head phones like the LCD-4, Utopia, SR-009, et cetera, I'll reserve the five star rating. I try to keep one pair that I listen to all the time. For the past several years it’s been my HifiMAN HE-500. It could just as easily be a pair of ZMF Auteur. I found Auteur to be balanced and even, easy to immerse myself in. They would make outstanding “daily drivers” for a head-fi-phile who listens to all but the most bass-heavy of music, or likes really sharp, analytical head phones.