INTRODUCTION

NuForce made its name under Jason Lim's leadership developing high-performance audio products that didn't break the bank. Their IEM were known for their warm, smooth sound, and I've read great things about their Primo8 quad-BA IEM. Jason Lim has moved on, but the NuForce brand is still going strong under the new Optoma NuForce brand name. Optoma is a well-known projector company that decided to diversify into the home and portable audio markets with its acquisition of NuForce. Recently, @jyri at Optoma NuForce reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing their flagship NE800M IEM. While I was familiar with the NuForce brand, I'd never tried any of their products. So I told Jyri that I'd give them a shot and will let you know what my experience using them as my daily driver IEM for the past week has been.
 
Optoma NuForce Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated NuForce NE800M thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from Optoma NuForce for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Optoma NuForce, and this is my honest opinion of the NE800M. I would like to thank Optoma NuForce for giving me a chance to review the NE800M, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for NuForce.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Driver: 8.6mm Titanium-coated Single Dynamic 
2. Rated Impedance: 16Ω
3. Frequency Range: 18Hz - 22kHz
4. Sensitivity: 120dB at 1mW
5. Rated Input Power: 10mW
6. Cable: 1.3m cable
7. Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated L-plug 
8. MSRP: ~$150 ($100 promotional price) 

 

 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

As usual, I'll go over packaging in pictorial format below.
 
Front

 
Rear

 
Inside

 
Accessories

 
NE800M + Case

 
Silicone Tips

 
In all, you get:

1. NE800M
2. S, M, L Silicone Tips
3. M, L Comply Tips
4. Storage Case
5. Shirt Clip

As this was my first experience with NuForce, I didn't know what to expect. The accessories package was adequate, but I'd like to see more silicone tip choices included. As I'll outline below, I found the stock tips weren't doing these any favors and worked my way through several tips before I settled on my favorites. I'm glad a shirt clip was included because the rubbery cale is microphonic without it. I put it on straight away and would recommend you do the same. Finally, the storage case I received is the older version. The updated case in @HiFiChris's review is the case you'll receive. It looks like a nicer case, so if you're curious about that please head on over to his excellent review and check it out. I should be getting the updated case in the near future and will update my review at that point.
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

Again, I'll walk you through the NE800M's build in pictorial format, commenting on what I like and what I think could be improved along the way.
 
NE800M Without Tips

 
Even if it doesn't look like it, there's a lot to talk about in this picture. The earpieces are constructed of carbon fiber and brass. I think they're pretty swank. I'll point out that I'm happy NuForce put the vents on the front of the earpiece just under the nozzle. This makes wind noise a non-issue unless you're outside in gale force winds. I actually took a walk with these today. It was really windy out, and I got absolutely wind noise. That was surprising to me, as I usually get at least some wind noise even on moderately windy days. NuForce did a good job on that!
 
You can also see that the vent holes are rather large, meaning isolation is compromised a bit more than you might expect. It's not terrible by any means. Once you crank the music up, most environmental noise is dampened pretty well. Just not as well as some of my other dynamics with smaller vent holes. 
 
The nozzles are standard size and have a good lip, which means you can tip roll to your heart's content and not worry about tips not fitting or falling off.
 
The flexible strain reliefs get the job done but don't fit the overall aesthetics of the NE800M, especially the red bead. I understand what NuForce was going for here. As my in-ear pictures will show below, the NE800M sit pretty flush with your ear. This means the strain reliefs will most likely rest along he bottom of your outer ear. In that respect, they're a really good design. The soft, flexible material is quite comfortable, and the contact with my ear isn't at all bothersome. And the red bead makes grabbing the correct earpiece easy no matter the lighting conditions because you've got both visual and touch indicators for the right earpiece. I just think they could be redesigned to better fit the overall aesthetics of the NE800M while remaining comfortable and practical.
 
Final thought for this picture is the cable. Yes, that cable. I'm not a fan of the cable. It's pretty thin, is sticky, and again just doesn't fit the overall aesthetics of the NE800M to my eyes, but it is practical. Stickiness is caused by a dual-layer silicone coating to increase durability. The lighter grey lines are nylon weave to again increase durability. So once again, I see what NuForce was going for, I just think that the same durability goals could be accomplished in a more aesthetically pleasing way.
 
Remote

 
The remote is Android / iDevice compatible, providing Play/Pause, and FFWD/REW functionality but no volume control. The single button is easy to click no matter whether you push in the middle or on the ends. There's also a mic for receiving calls. I use DAPs and don't tend to use my phone unless I'm listening to an audiobook or podcast, so the remote/mic module was more of a nuisance for me than anything. That's no fault of NuForce, and I point that out about every IEM I use that has a remote/mic module. For those of you who use a phone as your primary source, you should be satisfied with it but might be left yearning for volume controls. Once again, the remote/mic module is pretty plain-jane and doesn't fit the main aesthetic features on the earpieces.
 
Y-Splitter + Chin Slider

 
The y-splitter is fine, and the cinch stays put very nicely due to the sticky cable. Once you set it in place, it's not going to slide out of position on its own. But again, I can't help thinking the y-splitter doesn't fit the overall aesthetics put into play with the carbon fiber and brass earpieces.
 
L-Plug

 
Okay. I know, I know, you're tired of hearing me beat NuForce up about the lack of overall aesthetic integrity. Well, I'm happy to report that I don't have that problem with the 3.5mm L-plug. Not only does it fit the aesthetics, it's practical. The low-profile L-plug is slightly textured, making it relatively flush with my DAPs and easy to grip wen plugging and unplugging. It's also just a bit bendy, which helps further decrease strain when the cord is tugged. Finally, it's smartphone case friendly and sits completely flush with my iPhone case. I'm sure they exist and plenty of IEM use them, but I've never experienced such a low-profile 3.5mm L-plug and I really like it!
 
NE800M Ready To Rock!

 
Worn Down

 
This is obviously the way the NE800M are meant to be worn. My ears are a bit on the small side, and as you can see the NE800M really fill them up. Despite that, they remain comfortable for extended listening. In fact, I've had them in while typing away on this review for quite some time now, jamming tunes from such far-ranging artists as Candlemass, Nora Jones, and Ueno Masaaki. Three albums. Minimal fiddling. No discomfort. All sounded good. Not only is that pretty darn good, it also really surprising to me given how large the earpieces are relative to my ears. 

Worn Over Ear

 
Yes, you can do it, but for me it definitely wasn't as comfortable as wearing them down. But then again, I'm a wear 'em down kinda guy, so if you're an over ear person just know you can do it. You might even find them comfortable, especially if your ears are larger than mine. And then there's the remote/mic module to contend with. When worn over ear, it hangs just below my jawline compared with at the bottom of my throat when worn down. Me? I'll be sticking with wearing them down!
 
 
SOUND
I listen to a lot of experimental electronic and metal and mainly used those genres to evaluate the NE800M, using the them as my sole IEM for a week. During that time, I mainly listened to them out of a new DAP I had in for testing, the Soundaware M1 Esther Analog (LINK). I did a bit of audiobook and podcast listening out of my iPhone 5s, as well. And just for kicks, I stacked the updated Aune B1 2016 Version portable amp (review coming soon!) with the M1 Esther and gave that a listen. I'll go over what I thought of the overall sound signature, my tip-rolling journey, what genres I enjoyed most, which genres didn't pair as well with NE800M, and which other IEM these sound similar to that you might be familiar with. 
 
But first, a beauty shot with the Soundaware M1 Esther Analog in Silver.
 
Sound Signature
On first listen, I found these more bass-heavy than I preferred. I contacted Jyri, and he recommended I give them at least 50 hours of burn-in before starting to judge them. Okay, 50 hours later they're getting a little more balanced. I started commenting on the NE800M thread at this point, and @Dsnuts recommended at least 100 hours of burn-in at higher volume levels. Okay, back to the burn-in rig they go! Another 50 hours with the volume cranked up, and I called it good. So what did I hear with all that burn-in? I hear a warm, rich lower end, neutral upper mids, smooth upper end, and average soundstage and instrument separation. The lower end sounded a bit boomier than I'd like, so I decided to start tip rolling. 
 
Adventures In Tip Rolling
I always start out with the stock silicone tips and then work through the rest of the supplied tips. If I'm not satisfied, I move on and start tip rolling. The stock tips were pretty good, but as mentioned above I found the bass a bit boomier than I'd like. They are also a bit stiffer than I'd like, so I moved on to the supplied Comply tips.
 
Not bad. Not bad at all... There's a reason NE800M are shown with Comply tips on the Optoma NuForce website. With Comply tips on, the bass tightened up and the upper wasn't too compromised, although there was a slight toll on soundstage. Comply tips definitely made them more comfortable than the stock tips, but I thought I could still squeeze a bit more out of the NE800M. So I got out my tip collection and started playing...
 
Foam-filled Sony Hybrids? Nope, not a fan. Regular hybrid tips? Nope. Neither of these helped with bass control and soundstage was compromised. 
 
Heir-style tips? Those should work, right? Nice wide bore tips that they are. Nope. Still not feeling it.
 
How about SpinFit? Hmm, there's something here... Bass seems a bit more controlled. Not as good as with Comply, but the upper end isn't compromised. If anything, it's better than with any other tip I tried, and the soundstage and separation improved. Yup, SpinFit tips it is. Once I put these on, I didn't take them off. 
 
Genres
If you're into warm, rich, smooth sound, then the NE800M are going to be a good all-around IEM for you. For those of you who listen to similar music as me, I found these worked well with black and doom metal and and also experimental electronic music. With doom metal from Candlemass, the enhanced bass and warm mids helped the music keep on chugging away and Messiah's voice was front and center. With black metal from Burzum, the warm lower end gave the music some body, while the smooth upper end controlled the harsh treble this genre is known for. With experimental electronic from Ueno Masaaki, the bass hit hard and was really satisfying and the SpinFit gave the NE800M enough soundstage and separation to let the music build up a nice atmosphere.
 
With classic metal Iron Maiden and classic rock from The Eagles, I could've used less warmth. With blackened death metal like Behemoth, I found the rapid-fire kick drums started blurring together a bit. A bit of bass reduction would help with these issues. With female vocals like Bjork, the vocals could be brought forward a bit to make them pop more.
 
Not music, but I found the NE800M sounded really good with audiobooks and podcasts. Most I listen to have a lot of male voices, and the NE800M really filled them out, giving them body and fullness. Much better than my more analytical IEM.
 
Comparisons
So what IEM have you heard (or heard of) that are like the NE800M? Think Brainwavz S5 but with a bit less bass and without the splashiness up top. These are fairly similar, but the NE800M come across more u-shaped as opposed to the S5's v-shape. Think RHA T20 with Bass Filter but with a bit more mid & upper bass and less upper mids / lower treble. These are more different than the S5 comparison, with the T20 having quicker, punchier bass, less warmth, and more energy up top (but without the splashiness that bothers some with the S5).

 
 
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the NE800M? I'm used to a cooler sound with quick, punchy bass and more energy up top, but I've listened to a few warmer, smoother IEM recently and they're definitely winning me over. They're not going to pull me away from my punchier, more energetic IEM by any means, but they give me a nice alternative. Quick, punchy, energetic for when I really want to plug in and engage with the music. Warm, rich, smooth for when I just want to relax and chill out with some music. Or say I'm heading out on a walk, the NE800M's warm, smooth, bass-enhanced sound signature now sounds balanced due to the environmental noise. I also like the earpiece design and aesthetics. NuForce did a good job there. I found the NE800M quite comfortable for extended listening, and their looks won't embarrass you or gain undue attention when you wear them outside the house. I also really like the low-profile 3.5mm L-plug. And for those of you who use IEM with a smartphone, these are easy to drive. I wouldn't see myself going much over 50% volume on my iPhone 5s with these.
 
What could be improved? I think knocking the bass down just a bit would help make these a better all-around IEM for more people. I'd also really like to see NuForce use a more supple, less sticky all-black cable. This would make the cable more manageable while integrating better with the very aesthetically-pleasing earpieces. Along those lines, I'd also like to see reworked strain reliefs and y-splitter. If nothing else, a darker red indicator that was more integrated into the strain relief and looked less like an add-on bead would better fit with the aesthetics I think NuForce is going for with the NE800M. Similarly, the y-splitter would better fit the overall aesthetics if it were made from one material. I'd recommend losing the shiny hard plastic NuForce used on the bottom of the y-splitter and just using the whole y-splitter out of the matte black plastic the top half and cinch are made out of. And finally, volume control on the remote/mic module would make the smartphone crowd even happier. If these issues were resolved in a future iteration of the NE800M, I could see giving it an extra 1/2 - 1 star depending on how many changes were made and how well they were implemented.
 
I hope you found this useful and would like to give a hearty thanks to @jyri at NuForce for giving me the opportunity to review the NE800M. It was a great introduction to the NuForce brand, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

 
INTRODUCTION
I've got a history with FiiO and could probably be considered a FiiO fanboy. The X5 has been my go-to DAP since release. Before that, it was the X3. I preordered both and remember those early days with equal parts fondness and frustration. They were my first "audiophile" DAPs. They sounded good, but boy did they have their fair share of user interface quirks at first. Lucky for us, FiiO was receptive to user feedback, and I spent many hours on the Bugzilla @Joe Bloggs set up submitting bugs, feature requests, testing beta firmware, and helping out my fellow FiiO users. Major kudos to FiiO for reaching out its users and being so understanding of our needs. If you want to see what we accomplished, load up the oldest firmware on an X5 and compare it with today's firmware. I'm hoping you'll agree with me that there were a lot of positive changes made along the way! 
 
In addition to owning the X3 and X5, I've also reviewed the X3ii and X5ii. Again, those were very solid iterations on the design FiiO settled on with the X5. FiiO was learning quickly, and it showed in the increasing maturity of their products. But we're not here to talk about all those old FiiO products, are we? Nope, we're here to talk about the brand spankin' new FiiO X7!
 
Given my history with FiiO products, it should come as no surprise that I had very high expectations for the X7 going into my review period. I expected a stylish, well-built DAP that was easy to use and had great sound. FiiO nailed some of these but fell short in some areas. That's okay. I haven't met the perfect product yet. So what I'll try to do in this review is let you know how I feel FiiO measures up with respect to usability vs. sound quality because I truly feel that both should be very important factors in your decision making process. 
 
Before we start, here's a bit of information about FiiO from the About Us section on their website:
 
About FiiO Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.

FiiO designs, produces and sells high-quality products at favorable prices to those who love music and style.

FiiO's aspiration: to raise the reputation of "Made in China".

Brand spirit: innovation, quality, service

Brand positioning: HiFi with style

FiiO was established in 2007 and has experience in researching and developing countless portable music products of different types,
and sell FiiO-branded products through sales agents worldwide.

FiiO is focused on product quality, adheres strictly to ISO9001 standards in quality management and works hard to attain the lowest
repair-related product returns rate.

Several products from FiiO have created record sales in their respective product segments; our portable headphone amplifiers, DACs and
high-resolution digital audio players have all received praise from the majority of users.

FiiO places great importance on users’ needs and ceaselessly pursues perfection in product design and manufacturing, to supply users
with the best audio products at the best prices. 



 
LINK to FiiO's website.
 
 
DISCLAIMER
I was provided the X7 as a review sample as part of FiiO's worldwide tour. There is no financial incentive from FiiO in writing this review. I am in no way affiliated with FiiO, and this is my honest opinion of the X7.  I would like to thank FiiO for sponsoring the tour and specifically @Joe Bloggs for not only choosing me as a tour participant but for letting me be the first member on my leg of the tour!
 
 
ABOUT ME
I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  From electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush), I listen to a wide variety of genres and artists. 
 
My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. 
 
I typically listen with IEMs from my ever-growing collection from budget to mid-fi. Less often, I grab a pair of full-size cans.  Recently, I've been listening a lot with my AKG K553 and HiFiMan HE400, as well as the Alpha & Delta AD01 and RHA T20 IEM I had in for testing.  I do have a lot of other gear, though.  You can always check my profile for a reasonably up to date gear list. 
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which often affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear. I just wanted to be transparent up front. 
 
 
SPECIFICATIONS
Loads of awesome specs can be found on FiiO's X7 page: LINK.
 
PRICE: $699
 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
As usual, I'll cover packaging and accessories in pictorial format below.
 
Front

 
 
Rear

 
 
Inner Box

 
 
X7 revealed!

 
 
Literature + Accessories

L-R: COAX Cable, T5 Screwdriver, USB Cable, and Warranty Card. You also get a couple extra screen protectors, which aren't in the picture.
 
Conspicuously missing is a case or pouch of any sort and a user manual. I'm not worried about the lack of a user manual since the X7 has a digital user manual that can be updated with each firmware release. This makes it much better than a physical copy, which given the nature of the X7, could become outdated fairly quickly. Regarding the lack of a case or pouch, I'm a bit surprised. At this price point, I'd expect something to be thrown in to protect the X7 besides a couple screen protectors.
 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
I'll go over what I like and what I feel could be improved regarding the X7's hardware build quality and hardware user interface in pictorial format below.
 
Front


Here's the X7 in its powered-on state. One of the first things that caught my eye was the blue LED. While its nice at first, the fact that it's always on can be frustrating. It's distracting in dimly lit environments. When I listened to music before bed, I found myself turning the X7 face down so the bright light didn't disturb me or my wife. I can't see any reason why this should be there, nor why it should be on all the time other than someone at FiiO really likes blue LEDs. I mean really likes blue LEDs. So, my first suggestion to FiiO would be to make it an option in the very next firmware for the user to turn the blue LED off. Please!
 
My second nitpick is the raised display. I'd really rather the display was flush with the front case. Not only would it look cleaner, it would be less exposed and decrease the likelihood of the display chipping along the edges. Hopefully that fear is unfounded. However, I do hope the X7ii has a flush display. In use, the display is completely adequate for use as a DAP. It isn't, however, a high-res, high-contrast display, so don't go into your X7 purchase thinking that you'll be getting a top of class smartphone display. What you'll get is a display that gets the job done. Nothing more. Nothing less.
 
 
Left Side


On the left side, we see the Volume rocker, Power button, micro SD slot, and one of the two T5 screws that holds the amp module securely in place.
 
 
Right Side


Look familiar? Yup, the buttons are symmetrical. The difference here is that the the buttons on the right side are transport controls. While this was fine for me, I know it has already frustrated some people.
 
 
Top


All you get here is a shared Line / Coaxial Out
 
 
Bottom

 
The bottom below the blue LED is the amp module (IEM amp module in this case), which has Headphone Out and micro USB port. 
 
 
Rear

 
You get a good view of the seam where the amp module attaches here. I'm hoping FiiO can eliminate the raised section that starts at the amp module and continues most of the way up the case. If they could get it down to just the thickness of the very top section above all the buttons, it wouldn't feel quite as large in the hand.
 
 
Amp Module


Here's a shot of the amp module's connector.
 
 
 
DAP Beauty Contest!


 
The X7 is on the large side. It's as tall and thick as the Shanling M3 (which is comparable in size to the Cayin N6) but is a bit skinnier. In my opinion, the X7's size is verging on transportable vs DAPs like the X5, N5, and DX90, which will fit better into your pockets. Out and about, I mostly kept the X7 in my shoulder bag or in a cup holder on our Bob stroller. I'd do the same with the Shanling M3 and Cayin N6.
 
 
TO SUM UP
Since this is the pre-production World Tour version of the X7, I do want to point out that the final production model will be a darker, color more akin to gunmetal. It will also lack the cool "X7 debut World Tour 2015" text. Other than that, this is basically the same X7 you should be able to purchase. So what did I think? I liked the clean, simple design but am not a fan of the large-ish size, raised display, and back hump. Getting rid of those would make the X7 thinner, give it better handfeel, and make it more pocketable. And I'm sure there will be some people out there that will be frustrated with the symmetrical buttons.
 
 
GUI
I'm a firm believer that user interface can make or break your experience with any piece of technology. That said during my review period, the X7 went through a few FW updates with only one being considered stable. And despite being stable, bugs crept in that detracted from my user experience. With the X7, FiiO has taken on a big challenge and have had some hard decisions to make. For instance when I received it, the only apps I could install were FiiO whitelisted apps. By the time I handed it over, any apps could be installed. To me this represented a pretty big shift in FiiO's mentality, and it occurred over a period of less than two weeks. With such a young, fluid platform, I'm not sure how long what I describe below will be valid. That makes it difficult for me as a reviewer, so I'm going to focus on some of the things I liked and some that I strongly felt should be changed. I'm going to do this in pictorial format.
 
Lock Screen

 

Okay, so here you have the lock screen. You'll see this if you boot up in Android mode, and it's pretty basic. Swipe the lock icon to the left to open. You've got touch targets for the most basic transport controls, although you can always just use the hardware transport controls. Not much else going on here.
 
 
Home Screen


Here's the default home screen. Again, it's pretty basic. You can always jazz it up if you want. You can see I put the most important apps in the top row: FiiO Music, HibyMusic, TIDAL, and Support. Just as on the lock screen, the topbar has a lot of information: Volume, Background Apps, Wifi, Battery, and Time. Okay, nitpick time. Not everyone wants 24-hour time. I prefer 12-hour time, and this isn't an option. Why? FiiO, please add 12-hour time as an option.
 
 
Shades
 
 
 
LEFT: Swipe down from the left side on the topbar, and you get quick access to transport controls for all of the music apps you're running. You can see I'm running FiiO Music, HibyMusic, and TIDAL with some pretty rad music queued-up in each of them!
RIGHT: Swipe down from the right side on the topbar, and you get quick access to important settings. The upper left tile is where you choose between Android mode and Pure Music mode.
 
Again, all pretty basic stuff, right. Okay, let's move on to the FiiO Music app. This has been highlighted as the crown jewel of the X7.
 
 
FiiO Music: Home Screen


Here's what you see when you open FiiO Music. Not too bad, but I'd prefer to be popped into a list of music stored on my X7 instead of into a menu. Now I have to tap on the folder icon to get into my music collection, which I'm betting will be the most common action. Probably better for the majority of people to just start us off in the music collection. Oh well, what's one extra tap each and every time I open the app, right?
 
NOTE: This is where you start if you boot into Pure Music mode. None of that Android stuff, just the FiiO Music app and nothing else.
 
 
FiiO Music: Settings
 
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Default - Songs)

 
Okay, serious major nitpick time here. I absolutely do not want to be dumped into an alphabetical list of all the songs on my music player each and every time I enter My Music. No, no, no!!!
 
Please change this ASAP, FiiO. Seriously! A much better choice would be popping me straight into the Artist category. This would've been one of he first things I changed in the Settings, but you can't change it for some reason.
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Artists)
  

1st Pic: Okay, I yet again waste a tap getting to my most commonly used feature of the FiiO Music app, the Artists category. Whew, I'm finally in there. This is going to be good!
2nd Pic: Nope, each and every time you tap on an Artist, you get a completely randomized list of songs. Maybe this is good for some of you who want a random Artist playlist, but I just want to play my favorite Autechre album. Okay, yet another tap. This time on the quite small touch target that has the 3 lines + a music note.
3rd pic: Okay, I've finally got my list of Albums by Autechre. Great! Now, I want to play that second song on the CONFIELD album. You know, that one whose name always escapes you. So, I tap on the album art. Nothing. I tap again, this time harder. Nope, nothing. Say what? I can't drill down to the song level? Nope! Sigh... And to play your music, you've got to tap on that extremely low-contrast Play icon over to the right beside each album. I mean, if you can't even drill down to the song level, why not make the whole line a touch target. Completely flabbergasted me!
 
Please FiiO, rethink how this works. Seriously! This isn't the way a modern music player should work. It doesn't meet my basic expectations with all the extra taps just to get to a list of albums - and then I can't even get to a song list? Low-contrast icons? Sigh, this is a step back from browsing in my X3 and X5 and a major letdown!
 
I'm going to skip the next two Categories (Album & Playlist) because I do not use them. they're basically what you'd expect. Instead, I'm going to skip right on to the last Category, which is the Folder Browser.
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Folder Browser)
    
 
Whew, this makes sense. I can quickly and easily drill down from the highest level to individual songs. Yes! 
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Now Playing)
  

Here's the Now Playing screen. This is pretty straightforward. Tapping on Album Art cycles through the Lyrics and Song Info overlays. Nothing to complain about here.
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Swipe From Left / Right Edges)
 
 
Swipe from left: Current track list.
​Swipe from right: Volume overlay. Okay, I finally got this in the end, but I was really confused by the volume overlay in the beginning. You've got two barely visible touch targets here. The + at the top and the - at the bottom. To me, they get lost amongst the rest of he visual information under the display. I think a much better choice would've been either a much less transparent or even a solid overlay so the + / - touch targets become much more visible. My second problem was that it seemed completely reasonable to me to swipe up / down from the middle value circle. Nope, nothing happens. You've got to tap on the touch targets. Really? Yup! If you want to adjust the volume by swiping up / down, you have to activate this by swiping up / down at the very right edge of the display. I found this to be very finicky and quickly abandoned all efforts to adjust volume on screen and solely relied on the hardware buttons. For me, the onscreen volume control implementation just didn't cut it. If I could've just swiped up / down from the middle, I would've been happy! 
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (EQ)


Hey, a 10-band EQ. Nice! I just wish there was a touch target to zero out individual bands instead of one touch target (upper left) to reset the whole EQ. That's just me and is probably my most minor nitpick so far with the FiiO music app.
 
Okay, there's not much left in the FiiO Music app for me to cover, but I'd be sad if I left out Search so here goes... 
 
 
FiiO Music: Music Collection (Search)


Yay, Search! Or maybe not. I found Search to be disappointing. For instance, when I search for say Radiohead on most devices, I get a breakdown of Albums, Songs, etc. by Radiohead. Not with the X7. Nope. I get a single entry called Radiohead that just plays all of the Radiohead songs. Again, really? Not cool! 
 
 
TO SUM UP
I think you can probably tell the FiiO Music app didn't meet my expectations. It required too many taps to get where I wanted and just didn't measure up to what I'd expect from a to pos class music app. And to add injury to insult, all the help was in Mandarin - even in 1.0 firmware. Oh man, I just don't know what to say. I really expected more!
 
Now, on the plus side, what I experienced was a very young / immature version of the GUI. It's got a lot of potential and plenty of time to mature, and I'm sure with the feedback all of us early testers have provided FiiO will make improvements quickly. At least, I hope so!
 
 
BATTERY LIFE

I don't think I should comment on battery life too much. Using beta software most of the time, I found I had unnecessary background processes running that consumed nearly 50% of my X7's battery life. This really made me wish I could live with FiiO's Pure Music mode because in that mode, most of the background processes are completely disabled giving much better standby time. Unfortunately, I just didn't get along with the FiiO Music app enough to boot into Pure Music mode. In the end, I don't see any reason to doubt FiiO's battery life claims. they've always exceeded their stated battery life, and I'm sure once all the bugs are ironed out the X7 will, too.
 
 
DAC

Doesn't work. Sorry. Move along!
 
 
SOUND

During my time with the X7, I mainly used the highly-tunable FLC 8S I had in for testing (review coming soon for these bad boys!). I also gave them some time with the VE ZEN 1.0 and HiFiMan HE400. IEM were on Low Gain, ZEN and HE400 on High Gain. I listened to a wide variety of music in mostly AAC and FLAC formats. 
 
FLC 8S sounded great. VE Zen 1.0 pretty good. HiFiMan HE-400 was a sub-par listening experience.
 
I'd characterize the X7 with the IEM module as a very clean, clear sound that doesn't veer off the edge into overly analytical territory and has a good soundstage. It sounded as good as any DAP I've spent a serious amount of time with. I can't find much to fault with it, as long as you can live with the limited power. This brings me to another point. I wonder if using amp modules was the right move for FiiO with the X7. If FiiO implemented a great sounding fixed amp stage within the X7 with L, M, and H Gain modes, I'm betting the X7 could have been smaller, lighter, and driven all my HP & IEM well. This line of thought occurred to me after I'd used the X7 for awhile, and it surprised me. I was really keen on the idea of amp modules when the X7 was in development, but once I started using it I felt like it was more of a limitation than a strength. just my two cents...
 
 
APPS

When I first got the X7, you could only install a few apps that FiiO had whitelisted. Talk about limiting. There was some back and forth amongst the early reviewers, and it was decided that the whitelist should be removed and X7 owners should be able to install whatever they wanted. Well, as long as you're comfortable searching for and manually installing .apk files - and keeping them up to date on your own. This is because there is no Play Store support for the X7. Coming from the iDevice world, this felt like the wild west to me. I was searching for TIDAL and found so many sites to download the .apk file from.The actual file size differed, sometimes drastically.Did they contain malware? I don't know. I do know I would've felt a whole lot better if I could've downloaded apps from the Play Store. I certainly don't envy X7 owners the experience of having to keep track of which version of the app you should be using and manually updating them. If I were buying the X7, I'd want either a FiiO-approved app repository with an auto-updating option, the Play Store, or just a straight-up music player a la A&K.
 
All that said, once you get an app like HibyMusic, Spotify, or TIDAL installed, it's a great listening experience. However, I'm not sure if it's any better than just using a smartphone and high-quality DAC/Amp. Given the X7's size, it'd probably be a fairly comparable experience. I'll be getting the Chord Mojo in for testing soon and will put that to the test!
 
 
SUMMARY

Wow, what a wild ride I had with the X7. While I really liked the sound quality, I was let down by the clunky design with raised display, back hump, and symmetrical buttons. I quickly left the FiiO Music app behind and didn't look back. It needs some serious retooling before I'd come back to it. And I'm just not sold on the idea of amp modules. I didn't expect this outcome. I honestly thought I'd be swooning over the X7 and would rush out to purchase one. Instead, I'm left hoping the X7ii will meet my needs with a smaller footprint, lighter weight, and a more mature hardware and software user experience. For now, I'd recommend this to people who want a DAP with great sound and a smartphone-like user interface and don't mind waiting for the various nitpicks I mentioned throughout this review to get sorted out. For me, I'm sticking with my old-school DAPs for a while longer and waiting to see what FiiO (and others) bring next in this product category. It's an exciting journey FiiO's started, and I applaud them for making this move!
 
And finally, a big thanks to FiiO and @Joe Bloggs for letting me take part in the X7 review tour. It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing more great products from FiiO in the future!

 
Photo courtesy of Cayin.
 
INTRODUCTION
While Cayin has been in the business of producing top-notch home audio gear for many years, they are a relative newcomer to the portable audio market. Prior to the N5, Cayin released a couple portable amps and the N6 DAP. I've personally tried their C5 portable amp and the N6 DAP. I've also reviewed their C5DAC (LINK to review). So as you can see, I've had some experience with Cayin's portable products. Out of that experience, I had some thoughts on where I'd like to see Cayin head. Regarding their C5 and C5DAC, I loved the sound signature with its warm, organic low end, sparkly highs, and great soundstage. However, both have a very powerful amp section even on Low Gain, which made it hard for me to fine-tune volume with sensitive IEM. Out of those two, I'd recommend the C5DAC for its increased versatility. Regarding the N6, I honestly wasn't a big fan and chose not to review it. It's quite large, has very unusual aesthetics which didn't click with me, and sounded more analytical than I prefer. After trying all that Cayin gear, some thoughts crystallized and I suggested that Cayin release a smaller DAP with more conventional aesthetics plus the C5's sound signature. It would be a hit! I'm glad to say that the N5 delivered on all accounts. Despite that, I do have a few minor nitpicks about the N5 that prevent me from giving it a slightly higher score. Some of these could be fixed in future firmware releases, while others are hardware design choices that will have to wait for the next iteration. I'd like to reiterate the word minor regarding these nitpicks. I've tried a lot of DAPs recently and have some experience as an end user for beta testing software, so perhaps I have stronger feelings on what I want out of the user experience than others. In any case, I mean for these to be looked at as suggestions for improvement rather than criticisms against the N5 which I think you'll find, I quite enjoyed. Okay, enough rambling, it's time to get on with the review!
 
Before we start, here's a bit of information about Cayin from the About Us section on their website:
 
About Cayin
 
Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., LTD has been established since 1993 under the investment of AVIC INTERNATIONAL ZHUHAI CO., LTD for designing and manufacturing professional HI-FI audio equipments. We are devoted to design and research of hi-end level of audio equipments under our own brandname Cayin with our intellectual property rights. We are striving to build classical extrodinary audio equipments with cultural connotation and propel national audio brands worldwide and pace up with the rest of the world. With the development of more than ten years, Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., LTD has become one of the most well-known audio enterprises in Chinese audio industry and its brand Cayin has also become one of the most famous audio brands in China. Our products with its highest quality have been exported to more than 20 countries locating in Europe, North America, Asia, etc, which are very popular all over the world and have been awarded many times as "Most Popular Product". With a production and research foundation of more than 12,000 square meters we own a professional experienced research and development team and a high efficient management team. Today Spark aims to build CAYIN as one of the most world famous audio brand and it has become the development goal of our company. "Develop and reborn like a phoenix rising from the ashes" We are following our oath and working hard to build CAYIN the world famous audio brand.
 
Since I was the second member on my leg of the N5 tour, there are already several excellent reviews and I'd urge you to read over those to get alternative viewpoints and better context for deciding whether the N5 is the right DAP for you. 
 
LINK to Cayin's website.
LINK to the dedicated Cayin N5 thread.
 
 
DISCLAIMER
I was provided the N5 as a review sample as part of Cayin's worldwide tour. There is no financial incentive from Cayin in writing this review. I am in no way affiliated with Cayin, and this is my honest opinion of the N5.  I would like to than Cayin for sponsoring the tour and specifically [b]@Andykong[/b] for allowing me to participate!
 
 
ABOUT ME
I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  From electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush), I listen to a wide variety of genres and artists. 
 
My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. 
 
I typically listen with IEMs from my ever-growing collection from budget to mid-fi. Less often, I grab a pair of full-size cans.  Recently, I've been listening a lot with my AKG K553 and HiFiMan HE400, as well as the Alpha & Delta AD01 and RHA T20 IEM I had in for testing.  I do have a lot of other gear, though.  You can always check my profile for a reasonably up to date gear list. 
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which often affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear. I just wanted to be transparent up front. 
 
 
SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications graphic courtesy of Cayin
 
 
PRICE: $350
 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
As usual, I'll cover packaging and accessories in pictorial format below.
 
Front

 
 
Rear

 
 
N5 - Just Gorgeous!

 
 
Literature + Accessories

 
The User Manual is very well written and more comprehensive than most DAPs. I applaud Cayin for going the extra mile for their users instead of forcing them to rely solely on digital documentation. You also get a Quick Guide, maintenance record, and COAX and USB 3.0 cables. I put the USB3.0 cable in the Pro and Cons list above. I can see this being a pro for people with a USB 3.0 port on their computer, however I'm not one of them and for me having this connector mean I had yet another type of cable to carry around. I'd rather have a more standard micro USB cable. If Cayin's trying to be more forward-looking, a USB-C cable might have been more appropriate. 
 
 
Conspicuously missing is a case or pouch of any sort. On one hand, I can see Cayin being very proud of the gorgeous design and not wanting to cover it up a la Apple. On the other hand, as you'll see below, a case (or rear protective film) would help prevent paint from rubbing off. As far as I know, I'm only the second person to use this N5, and the rear paint has rubbed off quite extensively. Some kind of protection would've prevent this. I understand Cayin will release a premium leather case for the N5, so if you're concerned about scratches keep an eye out for it.
 
 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
The Cayin N6 is known for its unique "porthole" design. It was a strong move on Cayin's part and one that was a love it or hate it with little in between. Personally, I didn't care for it and was glad to see Cayin stamp their unique aesthetics on a more conventional design. I'll go over the N5's design with comments about things I like or think could use improvement in pictorial format below, so please read the captions. But first here's a picture that shows theN5 and N6 side by side so you can get a basic idea of how they compare.
 

Photo courtesy of Cayin
 
 
Front

 
Here we can see several features of the N5's physical user interface. Along the left edge, you can see the volume rocker at the top with the M (menu) button directly below it. On the bottom edge, you can see the protective port cover, which keeps the USB 3.0 and dual micro SD slots dust-free. On the N5's face, we see the return, forward, and back buttons on the left side, the scroll wheel on the right side, and the display at top right. The display has a polarized look to it, which can be a bit of a double-edged sword. I found that while it was visible in bright light, I did have to look at it straight on. Deviating from a 90-degree viewing angle quickly decreased visibility while outside.
 
 
Rear

 
Not much to see here. There's a carbon fiber panel on which you can see the paint is already rubbing off, as I previously mentioned. This was an issue with the tour Cayin N6 I auditioned earlier this year, as well. Again, I'd suggest Cayin look into better paint, a protective film, or case to prevent this from happening.
 
 
Top

 
Here you can see the Balanced Out, shared Headphone / Line Out, COAX Out, and the Power / Screen button.
 
 
Bottom

 
Here you can see the Reset hole and the uncovered USB 3.0 and dual micro SD slots. As others have mentioned, I think two protective covers would be better - one for the USB 3.0 port and one for the mSD slots. And again, I think either a more common micro USB or more forward-thinking USB-C port would've been preferable to USB 3.0.
 
 
Top Left

 
I've got two suggestions for improvement here. First, I'd like to see the M button separated from the volume rocker. Second, the M button should be harder to push. In addition to acting as a secondary Return button in menus and opening the Quick Menus in song lists and the Now Playing screen, it also acts as a Play/Pause button when the screen is locked. I found it overly sensitive, frequently pausing play when I reached into my pocket to adjust volume. 
 
 
Bottom Left

 
Look at that attention to detail. So gorgeous! The return button takes you back through menus and or directly to the main menu when held down for a long press. The Forward and Back buttons not only skip/scan through tracks but also double as navigation buttons in lists and, curiously, to adjust volume when the volume popover appears. As such, whenever you're in a list or in the volume popover, skipping/scanning through tracks isn't possible.
 
 
Bottom Right

 
Here's the metal scroll wheel. It's stiffer than the scroll wheels on the FiiO and Shanling DAPs I've used. This makes scrolling a bit slower. I found it was also a bit jumpy, which to be completely honest happens with most of these scroll wheels. FiiO seemed to fix it in the X5 Classic in the latest beta firmware, so I think there's hope to make this scroll wheel more precise, too. The Play/Pause/Confirm button is smack dab in the middle of the scroll wheel. Right alongside the scroll wheel is a piece of smoked plastic which covers an amber LED that blinks to indicate charging status. This reminds me of the C5's battery indicators. I like this little nod to the C5. It adds aesthetic consistency across Cayin's product line. Nice!
 
 
One last glamour shot!

 
 
 
And finally, here's how the N5 stacks up some other DAPs I had laying around (some mine, some in for testing).


 
As you can see, it's fairly comparable in size to the FiiO 5 Classic, which puts it right in the middle of the pack for size in between smaller DAPs like the FiiO X3 & Shanling M2 and the larger DAPs like the Caying N6 & Shanling M3.
 
 
TO SUM UP
I'm sure you noticed the word gorgeous pop up a lot. Yes, the N5's design pushes a lot of the right buttons for me aesthetically. Beyond being a beautiful piece of industrial design, the N5 feels very solid in your hand with no flex. All buttons are well-centered, and the controls are marked with high-contrast paint. It's completely obvious to me that the N5 was a labor of love!
 
All that said, I have somewhat small hands for a man and found myself wishing the controls were a bit more centralized. As it is, I found it a bit hard to use the N5 one-handed and maintain a stable grip. It required me to shimmy the N5 up and down in my hand quite a bit to reach the controls. Shimmy down to get to the scroll wheel. Shimmy up and over to get to the volume rocker. Shimmy back down and stretch my thumb over to get to the transport controls. It's not a deal-breaker, but I think it's an area where improvements could be made to make the N5 more ergonomic and allow for a more stable grip.
 
 
GUI / FIRMWARE
I'm a firm believer that user interface can make or break your experience with any piece of technology. I went over the physical user interface above, and now I'm going to go over the N5's graphical user interface. If you're familiar with the GUI on DAPs from Cayin, FiiO, or Shanling, you're going to feel right at home. They all share a common firmware base, so there's a lot of overlap, and I do mean a lot! I'll walk you through the GUI in pictorial format below.
 
 
Main Menu + Themes

 
So we've got all the usual players in the Main Menu. From left to right, My Music, File Browser, Now Playing, Music Settings, and System Settings. Again, if you're familiar with Cayin, FiiO, or Shanling DAPs, this will look very familiar. Scrolling to one of the menu choices displays the name of the selection in the center of the topbar. In fact, if you look at the topbar, you'll see a lot going on - and I do mean a lot. What you don't get in this pictorial is motion, and all the text that doesn't fit into the small topbar space allocated scrolls endlessly. I found this quite annoying in this otherwise gorgeous design. Some suggestions would be to use LG and HG instead of LdB and HdB, HO or PO instead of displaying Phones, System instead of System Settings, etc. You get the picture. There are ways to display the same amount of information, getting the point across without using up so much of the precious topbar real estate.
 
A couple general notes on navigation at this point. The first is that all lists are looping, so you can scroll up from the top item in a list to get to the bottom of that list. The second is that I found scroll wheel navigation and button navigation inconsistent. For example, in my preferred theme (the Cassette theme pictured in the lower right up above), the Forward button takes you down through menu items. In all other lists, the Forward button takes you up through list items. These should be consistent and in my opinion, the Forward button should take you down through list items. This is more consistent with the other DAPs I've used and feels more natural to me.
 
To get back to the Main Menu from anywhere, you can either long press the Return button or the center button on the scroll wheel. Be forewarned that if you long press the center button on the scroll wheel, the N5 will clear out the song you were playing leaving you to navigate back to the track or find another. I'm not sure how useful this is and would rather see the center button simply replicate the Return button functionality, which leaves the current track playing when it pops you into the Main Menu.
 
To get back to the Now Playing screen from the Main Menu, just press the Return button.
 
I'm not a fan of the themes and would prefer to have a simple/plain, horizontal, high-contrast theme. Something like the Piano theme but charcoal gray and white without all the piano graphics would be nice. I guess we're lucky Cayin's firmware can be themed. If you like it, great. If not, crack it open and drop in some graphics files that better suit your taste.
 
 
System Settings (Top) & Music Settings (Bottom)

 
Here are System Settings and Music Settings options. It's all pretty straightforward stuff. One thing that separates this GUI from FiiO and Shanling's is Cayin's choice to put the Scan Card choice into the My Music section instead of the System Settings. As with most of the other DAPs (iBasso's being a notable, slow exception), the N5 scans cards quite quickly. Another difference is that with Cayin's EQ, there's no audible pre-gain cut. I know Cayin is dedicated to great sound, so I'm assuming the same pre-gain cut is applied even if the EQ is off to prevent distortion when cranking the EQ up to the full +6dB settings. Another differentiator is that you can only customize the Custom EQ preset, whereas with FiiO and Shanling's DAPs, you can customize all of the EQ presets. I really like having the option to customize all of the presets. I've used this on my FiiO X5 before along with modifying the firmware files to rename the EQ presets after my favorite HP & IEM. Doing this gives me a custom preset for those HP & IEM, which can help tweak the sound just the way I want and doesn't require me to remember if it's the Rock or Metal preset I customized for my HE400. I'd suggest Cayin change this, giving their users a more flexible EQ. 
 
 
Music Categories + Folder Browsing

 
Again, this is all familiar stuff if you've been in the DAP game recently. Genres are handled correctly, with no weird Genres like "24" like I've found on my FiiO DAPs in the past. There is a My Favorites option, but no Playlist support yet that I can find. I'm not a My Favorites or Playlist kind of guy, so I'm not bothered by this, but I'm sure it will be a sticking point for some. However, I'm confident Cayin will add Playlist support in at some point. Personally, I use File Browsing and have everything well-organized on my daily driver cards. The card pictured here is for testing, which is why it's organized by resolution. Again, you simply scroll through the lists and use the center button to make your selection. Be forewarned, like many of the other DAPs, including those from FiiO and Shanling, if you have a large music collection and want to use Tag-based browsing, you're in for a lot of scrolling or button pressing! And I mean a lot!!! As with most of these non-iDevice DAPs, file browsing with a highly-organized folder structure is your friend!!!
 
I typically use the following format, although others have their own favorites: A-C -> Artist -> Year Album -> ## Track. This way, top-level folders break artists down into separate folders like A-C, D-F, etc. This makes it so you don't have to scroll too much to get to any of your artists. Artists are in alphabetical order inside the top-level folders. Albums are ordered by year of release. Songs are ordered by track number. It works very, very well for me, but I'm an album guy so your needs may differ from mine.
 
If you do choose the Tag-based browsing path, also be forewarned that like the other DAPs the N5's Genres just contain massive song lists with no organization. This is meant primarily for shuffle play and isn't an effective way to browse Artists & Albums by Genre like you would with an iDevice.
 
 
Now Playing + Volume Adjustment


Here's the Now Playing screen with and without the Quick Menu activated. As you can see, I'm playing some DSD files and am even chilling out to some nice orchestral jazz instead of my usual electronic and metal. Again, the topbar is a bit cluttered for my tastes, and I think Cayin could clean this up a bit. One change I'd really like to see is for the Gain Selector to be moved to the bottom of the Quick Menu. Why? Because the M button not only activates the Quick Menu but also functions as the OK button. So imagine you're listening with some sensitive IEM, go to adjust the volume button, accidentally hit the M button and then push it again because it seems like that might get rid of it. Yikes, you just switched to High Gain, and it pretty loud with those sensitive IEM because you were already pushing the volume envelope with that killer new metal album you bought. It happened to me when I was using some 11Ohm IEM. Not cool! If the Gain Selector was at the bottom of the list, all you'd have to do is activate the Quick Menu, scroll up, and then hit either the center scroll wheel button or M button to switch gain. It would be an easy change, and I hope Cayin considers implementing this suggestion.
 
As with most of the other DAPs I've tried recently, Gapless works flawlessly (and I do mean flawlessly) with FLAC files but has some issues with AAC and MP3 files, which have very slight ticks between some (but not all) tracks. 
 
 
Volume adjustment, which should be pretty straight forward, needs a bit of work. As with other DAPs, when the Volume popover is activated there are three ways to adjust the volume. You can either use the volume buttons, the next/previous buttons, or the scroll wheel. I found this a bit odd. I can see redundancy, but don't see the need for triple redundancy. If that were it, I might be okay with it. However, I found that holding down the volume or next/previous buttons can cause massive volume overshoot. Again, not so good with those 11Ohm IEM! So be forewarned, please just click the buttons or use the scroll wheel.
 
And finally, one more quirk that I'm sure Cayin will fix but is pretty annoying is that music playback takes roughly 2 seconds after pushing the Play button (or M button when the screen is locked). When I first got the N5, this was a source of frustration, as I was used to playback starting pretty much instantly and kept pushing the Play/Pause and M buttons repeatedly trying to get the music to play. instead I was stuck in a loop of pushing Pause before the N5 could start playback. I really hope this gets fixed soon!
 
Hmm... What else? There's no Screen Lock mode, but like FiiO's DAPs the Volume buttons double-up as Next/Forward buttons when the screen is locked. Just hold them down to skip tracks. And as previously mentioned, the M button doubles up as the Play/Pause button when the screen is locked
 
 
TO SUM UP
Whew, that was a lot to cover! While the overall GUI is very similar to FiiO and Shanling's DAPs, there are little inconsistencies that pop up here and there that make it feel less polished. I'm sure this will get better as Cayin releases firmware updates, but for now I felt like the GUI was a bit of a mixed bag.
 
 
BATTERY LIFE

Using the screen quite a bit and with Low Gain, I found myself getting around 8-9 hours of battery life which is right in line with the specs. This is good enough for me to charge every other day, top off during the day, or charge overnight without worrying about fully depleting the battery. It seems like all the new DAPs are coming with Deep Sleep mode these days, and it's a great feature which keeps you from waiting through boot up every time the N5 goes to sleep. It's pretty responsive when resuming from deep sleep mode, too. Just push the Power button, and it comes back to life. Nice!
 
 
DAC

I'm not a big desktop listener, so this isn't a feature I see myself using much. I did try it to make sure it worked, and it was plug n play with my MacBook Pro. Of course, you Windows users will have to download and install some drivers first. 
 
 
SOUND

During my time with the N5, I mainly used the highly-tunable FLC 8S I had in for testing (review coming soon for these bad boys!). I also gave them some time with theHeir 4.Ai-2, VE ZEN 1.0 and HiFiMan HE400. IEM were on Low Gain, ZEN and HE400 on High Gain. I listened to a wide variety of music in mostly AAC and FLAC formats. I was just wrapping-up my review of the Shanling M2 around the time I started with the N5, so I have some brief listening notes from that review that will also be applicable here. This listening was volume matched, and the same songs were queued up on all the DAPs which were connected to my switcher.
 
Before I start, I want to say that I find the differences between these DAPs pretty subtle. They're there, but as @Brooko would be quick to point out, you need to volume match to make sure you're not just hearing volume-related differences. And using a switcher to A/B the sources while they're playing the same song in parallel helps immensely. One thing that struck me was that the Shanling DAPs stuck out as being different than the others. I'll try my best to elaborate below. If this doesn't adequately describe things for you, there are plenty of other reviews that should help you understand the differences between the N5 vs. other DAPs. Okay, on with the show!
 
After my Shanling M2 review wrapped-up, I started using the N5 as my sole DAP to become acclimated. As with the M2, I clicked with the sound pretty quickly but for completely different reasons. As the title of this review indicates, I found the N5 to be a good compromise between the warm, sparkly, spacious sound of the Cayin C5 and the more analytical sound of the Cayin N6 but definitely leaning more towards the C5. I can see this being too "fun" for some who prefer to let headphones to provide any sound coloration, but I really enjoyed it!
 
VS FiiO X5 Classic: These share a similar sound but I found the X5 to be a bit darker and more closed in. Out of these two, I'd choose the N5.
 
VS iBasso DX90: Again, more similarities than differences to my ears. DX90 has a more controlled low end but the top end sticks out a bit more. DX90 wins slightly in soundstage. Out of these two, I think I'd again prefer to go with N5.
 
VS Shanling M2: The M2 sounds more neutral - cooler and airer. M2's soundstage is more distant, whereas N5's is more immersive. Out of all the DAP comparisons, the M2 stood out as being the most different. As such, it's hard for me to choose a winner between these two. This battle really comes down to what you want - something that makes you feel like you're in the band and has a more v-shaped sound (N5) or something that makes you feel more like you're in the audience and is flatter.
 
 
DRIVING POWER
Just for reference, here are the volume settings I got with Heir 4.Ai-s when volume matching various DAPs at ~80dB with a 1kHz test tone.

1. Cayin N5 - 14/100
2. FiiO X3 - 28/120
3. FiiO X5 - 28/120
4. iBasso DX90 - 164/255
5. Shanling M2 - 14/60
6. Shanling M3 - 10/60

 
 
SUMMARY

I found a lot to like in the Cayin N5 but also have some minor quibbles. On the plus side, I found it to be a highly attractive DAP. The design team really needs to be commended on producing such a beautiful piece of machinery. Just amazing! And beyond simply being beautiful, it feels quite solid in your hand. Buttons and scroll wheel feel built to last! The sound was just what I was hoping for out of the next Cayin DAP, so I was really happy to see that. I can see this DAP becoming a classic with it's great mix of industrial design and really appealing sound signature.
 
On the flip side, I found that it wasn't as easy to operate one-handed as I would've liked. It required me to shimmy the DAP up and down in my hand a lot. If I hadn't just finished up with the Shanling M2 review, I don't know if I would've been so sensitive to this but the M2 is designed to work so well one-handed that all of other DAPs feel a bit clunky in comparison. Beyond that, I felt that there were several GUI / Navigational inconsistencies that, while not show stoppers by any means, did frustrate me from time to time. Fortunately, they're mainly software issues which can be fixed if Cayin desires, but there were a few hardware issues like the overly sensitive M button and stiff, jumpy scroll wheel that could be fixed with midstream changes or in the next iteration.
 
If I were looking at DAPs in this rough price range today, I'd suggest looking into the Shanling M2 (LINK to review) and Cayin N5. Both are great performers and were the two DAPs in my recent DAP Battle Royale that I found myself coming back to over and over. The Shaling M2 for its more neutral sound, small size, and great ergonomics. The N5 for it's more energetic sound signature, beautiful aesthetics, and high storage capacity. Both are winners in my book!
 
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you've got any questions. 
 
And finally, a big thanks to Cayin and @Andykong for letting me take part in the N5 review tour. It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing more great products from Cayin in the future!

 
Photo courtesy of Shanling
 
INTRODUCTION

Shanling is a relative newcomer to the portable audio market. Prior to the M2, they only recently released the H1 and H3 portable amps and the M3 DAP. I've had the pleasure of reviewing the H3 (LINK) and M3 (LINK) and enjoyed both of them. The M3 quickly became a favorite despite some quirks discussed in my review. After the reviews, I sent the H3 and M3 out on tour in the Head-Fi community, letting others get a taste of these hidden gems. Skip forward a few months, and Shanling announced the new M2 DAP. From the teaser campaign, it looked like Shanling was learning quickly. Not only were they engaging the Head-Fi community with a slow but steady trickle of beautiful pictures and specifications, the DAP itself looked like a highly evolved little brother to the M3. I was intrigued and reached out to Shanling to see if I could secure an M2 for review and tour in the US & Canada. They went above and beyond my expectations and provided an M2 for me to review and tour in the US and an M2 for @hakushondaimao to review and tour in Canada. I've been using the M2 as my daily driver DAP for awhile now, so it's time for me to let you know what I think of it before sending it on its way to Head-Fi'ers across the US.
 
Before we start, here's a bit of information about Shanling from the About Us section on their recently revamped website:
 
About Shanling
 
Shenzhen Shanling Digital Technology Development Co., Ltd. is a joint-venture high-tech enterprise specializing in research and development, manufacture, marketing and sales of audio products.
 
Began as a developer of audio products in 1988,Shanling produced its first Hi-Fi stereo power amplifier.
 
In 1990 an audio equipment factory within Jieyang Television University was founded, preliminarily defining Shanling’s direction of development.
 
In 1996 Shanling moved to Shenzhen and was renamed Shanling Electronic Co., Ltd. With effective management and scientific cultivation to the employees, Shanling managed to produce devices with ideal high quality.
 
In 2002  joint-venture enterprise Shenzhen Shanling Digital Technology Development Co., Ltd. was established,.Importing advanced electronic measuring instruments and high level metal ware processing equipment, Shanling was then able to started comprehensive cooperation with both domestic and foreign audio manufacturers and suppliers.
 
The year 2004 witnessed the founding of a new Shanling factory at No. 10 Chiwan 1st Road, Shekou, Shenzhen. Through internal integration and equipment upgrade, Shanling has become one of the several enterprises in China that was capable of independent developing and manufacturing high-end audio products.
 
Shanling has a wide range of product line – SACD/CD player, high fidelity solid-state and vacuum tube amplifier, advanced mini music center, tuner, audio/video amplifier, etc. Besides, being a DVD, SACD, CD licensee, Shanling is also qualified for adopting many patented technologies such as Microsoft HDCD, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. Currently Shanling has established close partnership with many leading high-end suppliers and became one of the most reputable manufacturers of the industry. 
 
I usually point readers to reviews that caught my attention, but I can't find any for the M2. It's very new, so I guess this isn't surprising. So it looks like I'll be the trailblazer for English language reviews for the M2. I hope I do it justice!
 
LINK to Shanling's website.
LINK to the dedicated Shanling M2 thread.
 
 
DISCLAIMER

I was provided the M2 as a review sample as part of a US tour I'm coordinating. There is no financial incentive from Shanling in writing this review. I am in no way affiliated with Shanling, and this is my honest opinion of the M2.  I would like to thank @Shanling for helping me give several Head-Fi community members a chance to test drive the M2!
 
 
ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  From electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush), I listen to a wide variety of genres and artists. 
 
My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. 
 
I typically listen with IEMs from my ever-growing collection from budget to mid-fi. Less often, I grab a pair of full-size cans.  Recently, I've been listening a lot with my AKG K553 and HiFiMan HE400, as well as the Alpha & Delta AD01 and RHA T20 IEM I had in for testing.  I do have a lot of other gear, though.  You can always check my profile for a reasonably up to date gear list. 
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which often affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear. I just wanted to be transparent up front. 
 
 
SPECIFICATIONS

1. Supported Formats: APE, FLAC, ALAC, WMA, AAC, OGG, MP3, WAV, AIFF, DSF, DIFF
2. Supported Sample Rates: up to 192kHz / 32-bit
3. Output Level: 1.3Vrms
4. D/A converter: Cirrus Logic CS4398
5. Low pass filtering: JRC MUSE8920
6. Frequency Response: 20Hz ~ 20KHz (+/- 0.5dB)
7. THD+N: 102dB
8. Clock Jitter: 30ps (Typ)
9. Referenced Clock Jitter: 200 femtoseconds
10. Output: 3.5mm HO + combined 3.5mm COAX / LO
11. Output Power: 125mW @ 32 ohm / 13mW @ 300 ohm
12. Output Impedance: 12 ohm
13. Display: 360x400 2.35" TFT LCD
14. Battery: 2200mAH lithium battery
15. Memory: micro SD (Maximum 128G)
16. USB: USB Micro-B
17. Dimension: 11 x 5.3 x 1.4 cm
18. System Supported: Windows XP, Windows 7, 8 (32/64bit), MAC OS X 10.7 or greater 
19. MSRP: $250

 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

The packaging is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just cover it in pictorial format below.
 
Front

 
 
Rear

 
 
Inner box

 
 
M2

 
 
Literature (with English translation) + Accessories (USB cable, COAX cable, mSD card reader)

 
 
Storage pouch with M2 inside (not going to protect M2 from getting crushed, but it's better than nothing)

 
 
It would be nice if Shanling provided a silicon case, but alas they don't. If you're interested in a case for your new M2, they do sell an aftermarket case as shown below.
 

 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The Shanling M3 is known for its unique command wheel, which some felt made it look like a giant Zippo lighter. One Head-Fi'er I introduced the M3 to remarked that it was "one manly piece of audio gear". The M2 takes that design and refines it. I'll go over that in the pictures below, but first here's a picture courtesy of Shanling that shows the M3 and M2 side by side so you can get a basic idea of how they compare.

 
Photo courtesy of Shanling
 
 
Front

 
Here we can see several features of the M2's physical user interface. Centered along the bottom edge is the micro USB port for charging and data transfer to mSD cards or as a DAC. Along the left side, there's the sole micro SD slot near the bottom and the silver power/screen on/off button along the top. Along the top edge (but not pictured here) are the HO and shared COAX + LO jacks. On the front face, we see the display and the controls. The display is fairly centered, which is unusual. DAPs usually have the display at the top. While this seems odd, there's a good reason for it. Holding the M2 in my right hand, my thumb is positioned right at command central and my middle finger is positioned at the power button. This allows me to quickly and easily use any of the controls without blocking the display. It might not look like it, but trust me it works and it works surprisingly well. If you're left-handed, it's not quite as easy but it's not bad. You have a couple options, the first is to reach your left thumb across the top bezel to the command dial. This does block the upper left corner of the screen a bit, but most of the screen is still visible. Your other option is to use it two-handed, holding it in your left hand while using your right thumb on the command dial. I'll go over the command dial in more detail below.
 
 
Command dial

 
There's the little guy in all his glory. The scroll wheel and central button are metal with a plastic ring between. 

1. The scroll wheel serves two purposes. 
   1. On the Now Playing screen and while the display is off, it's used for volume adjustment. 
   2. While in the menus and music collection, it's used for scrolling through lists. 
   3. I found scrolling to be most responsive when I maintained a bit of pressure on the outer edge of the wheel, which is what you'd naturally be doing with one-handed operation. 
2. The scroll wheel also functions as a 4-way D-pad with obvious and intuitive icons. 
   1. Click the top for Play/Pause. 
   2. Click left to skip back or hold down to scroll back through a song. 
   3. Click right to skip forward or hold down to scroll forward through a song. 
      1. Unlike some other DAPs, these functions work while you're in the menu structure. So no matter where you're at in the M2's GUI, you can Play/Pause or Skip through songs. 
   4. Click the bottom to go back a level or hold down to return to the Main Menu. 
      1. Clicking while in the Now Playing screen will back you through your folder hierarchy. 
      2. Holding while in the Now Playing screen will return you to the top of the Main Menu.
      3. Holding while in the Main Menu will take you to the Now Playing choice at the top of the Main Menu.
      4. Clicking in the sub-menus will take you back to the Main Menu.
   5. Clicking the center button is like hitting enter/return.
      1. Click while navigating through your music collection to select the next level in the hierarchy.
      2. Click while in the Main Menu to enter the sub-menus.
      3. Click while in the sub-menus to toggle settings.
      4. Click while on the Now Playing screen to display the current song list.
      5. Hold while in the Now Playing screen to activate the Quick Menu to set play mode, add the current song to your playlist, jump to artist or album lists, or delete the current song. 

 
Ok, that's a lot of power packed into a tiny space, all controllable with one of your thumbs. Shanling uses the analogy of a DSLR command dial, and I think it's a pretty good one. The M2's command dial allows you to do just about everything you need to do in one centralized location. I love it.  It clearly draws inspiration from the M3's command dial but takes it to a higher level of functionality and ease of use.  After using the M2 for a couple days, it was hard to transition to other DAPs with what now felt like sprawling, decentralized controls.
 
 
Rear

 
Yes, that's a genuine carbon fiber back plate. It helps keep the weight down while maintaining strength. Full transparency, there is minor flex when I push hard with my thumbs but that isn't something you're going to do, right? At least I hope not!
 
 
Here are some comparison pic with my other DAPs to give you a good idea of relative height, thickness, and width.
 
L-R: Shanling M3, Fiio X5, Cayin N5, iBasso DX90, Shanling M2, Fiio X3


 
 
Here it is in my (relatively small) hands. By the way, the screen is plenty bright enough to operate outdoors on sunny days.

 
TO SUM UP
The M2's design pushes a lot of the right buttons for what I want from a DAP's hardware user interface. The controls are centralized, allowing for easy one-handed operation. The beveled edges on either side of the display allow for a comfortable grip. It feels solid, with the only flex coming if I pressed pretty hard in the center of the carbon fiber back panel. The display is crisp and bright enough for my nearly 44 year-old eyes to use, even in direct sunlight. The text might be a bit small for some of you older Head-Fi'ers, though. And like most of the DAPs I've used, you can't adjust font size, so if you have problems reading smaller font sizes, this might not be the DAP for you. Likewise, I found it to be a great user experience as a right-handed person. For you lefties, it won't be quite as optimal, but then again I expect you're used to most user interfaces being right-hander centric and have learned to adapt. Icing on the cake is the small, pocketable size and light weight.
 
I do have a few nitpicks that, if solved, would make the M2 more ideal for my use case. The first would be adding an additional card slot. I prefer to keep my music collection in FLAC format, but with affordable 256Gb cards on the horizon, this shouldn't be an issue for me for long. The other is that I wished the central command dial button was just a bit larger in diameter. While I didn't have many mispresses with the M2, when I did it was most often due to my finger slipping off the center button and clicking on one of the D-pad's options. Okay, if I'm being honest, I wish the scroll wheel responded a bit better when a lighter touch was used. However, in comparison to the scroll wheels I've used on other DAPs, it pretty darn good. Perhaps a firmware update can fine-tune sensitivity as FiiO's last update for the X5 Classic did. Final nitpick is that I wish Shanling (and every other DAP manufacturer) would pre-install screen protectors on their DAPs. FiiO's been doing this for awhile, and I can tell you it buys a lot of goodwill from customers. Just do it @Shanling!
 
 
GUI / FIRMWARE

I'm a firm believer that user interface can make or break your experience with any piece of technology. Like its big brother the Shanling M3, the M2 makes a pretty radical departure from the physical interface most of us are used. I hope I convinced you in the section above that the M2's hardware user interface works well. I'm certainly sold on it. But having the best hardware user interface in the world won't help if the graphic user interface (GUI) isn't any good. Well, I'm glad to report that I also found the M2's GUI a very pleasant experience. If you're familiar with the GUI on DAPs from Cayin and FiiO, you're going to feel right at home. They all share a common firmware base, so there's a lot of overlap, and I do mean a lot! I'll walk you through the GUI in pictorial format below.
 
 
Main Menu + Themes

 
So we've got all the usual players in the Main Menu: Playing, my music, File Browser, Play setting, and System setting. Again, if you're familiar with Cayin and FiiO DAPs, these will look very familiar. Slightly different terminology, but you get the picture. You also notice that there are some odd capitalization and pluralization choices. This is a common theme throughout the GUI, and @hakushondaimao and I have already submitted a list of corrected terminology that should make its way into the next firmware release which should come out within a couple weeks of this review. Three cheers for Shanling for working with users to make their experience better!!!
 
To get back on track... From this screen, you simply scroll through menu choices and click the center button to enter your selection. Once you're in any of the menus, just click return to go back up a level or hold it down to get all the way back to the Main Menu. Easy peasy!
 
 
My Music + File Browsing

 
Here are some examples of the My Music and File Browsing sections. It's all pretty straightforward stuff. Genres are handled correctly as far as I can tell, with no weird Genres like "24" like I find on my FiiO DAPs. There are My Favorites and Playlist options. My Favorites only allows a single list, whereas you can maintain more than one playlist. I'm not a playlist guy, so my explanation of playlist functionality ends there, dear readers. I typically use File Browsing and have everything well-organized on my daily driver cards. The card pictured here is for testing, which is why it's organized by resolution. Again, you simply scroll through the lists and use the center button to make your selection. Be forewarned, like many of the other DAPs, including those from Cayin and FiiO, if you have a lot of music and want to use Tag-based browsing in My Music, you're in for a lot of scrolling! And I mean a lot of scrolling!!! As with most of these non-iDevice DAPs, file browsing with a highly-organized folder structure is your friend!!!
 
I typically use the following format, although others have their own favorites: A-C -> Artist -> Year Album -> ## Track. This way, top-level folders break artists down into separate folders like A-C, D-F, etc. This makes it so you don't have to scroll too much to get to any of your artists. Artists are in alphabetical order inside the top-level folders. Albums are ordered by year of release. Songs are ordered by track number. It works very, very well for me, but I'm an album guy so your needs may differ from mine.
 
If you do choose the Tag-based browsing path, also be forewarned that like the other DAPs the M2's Genres just contain massive song lists with no organization. This is meant primarily for shuffle play and isn't an effective way to browse Artists & Albums by Genre like you would with an iDevice.
 
 
Play Settings + EQ

 
Again, no surprises here. Basically the same choices you get with other DAPs. I'd like to point out that the Gapless setting works flawlessly (and I do mean flawlessly) with FLAC files. With the same files transcoded to LAME MP3 v0 files, I sometimes heard the briefest tick between tracks. It wasn't between every track, but it was consistently the same tracks every time with the briefest of ticks. Same thing with 256kbps constrained vbr AAC files, although the tick was slightly longer than with the MP3 versions. By brief ticks, I don't mean that there is a gap per se. I just mean I notice that something is out of sorts at the song to song junction. It's not that bothersome, and I notice the same thing on the Cayin and FiiO DAPs I've tried. So it's not like it's a Shanling issue, it's more of a common issue across these DAPs.
 
You get several 10-band EQ choices, and each of them are customizable like DAPs from FiiO. Also like DAPs from FiiO, you get a pre-gain volume cut when activating the EQ so be prepared to crank the volume up a bit when you activate the EQ. Unlike the M3, there are no hardware tone controls with the M2. As of right now, I don't see any option to reset the EQ presets once you've customized them. I'd suggest @Shanling implement that if it's not just an option I somehow overlooked.
 
 
 
System Settings


All the usual suspects are here, and again remember any odd terminology, capitalization, etc. should be fixed in the next firmware release. 
 
 
Now Playing


Okay, here's something new. The Main Menu has a nice bit of album art displayed over on the left, and when you pause the music the album art grays out a bit and the play icon is displayed onscreen. That's pretty cool and a better use of that space than some odd wheel or gear graphic, in my opinion. The same basic thing happens in the actual Now Playing screen, as shown at the bottom.
 
 
 
Quick Menu + Volume


Whew, we made it. These are the last GUI pics! Holding down the center button while in the Now Playing screen pops up a Quick Menu at the bottom of the screen. Here you can change Play Mode, jump back to Artist or Album categories, add the current track to a Playlist, and Delete the current track. So many choices!
 
A limitation of the M2 is that since the scroll wheel is used for navigating through lists, volume can only be changed in the Now Playing screen. @Shanling, volume buttons alongside the Power button would be valuable for users, allowing volume control at any time! Just like the other DAPs, when the volume is being changed an overlay pops up. On the M2, it blurs out the background, which looks attractive and makes the volume adjustments easy to see. Once you settle on a volume setting, the overlay disappears in a second or two.
 
 
TO SUM UP
So that's it. You're now a Shanling M2 ninja! If you're anything like me, it's a very intuitive GUI and doesn't take long to learn. I felt the same way with the M3. Both clicked pretty quickly with me. That said, I know it won't be for everyone, and this is such an integral part of the user experience that I wanted to make sure I covered HW & FW UI pretty thoroughly. Hopefully I explained things well enough for you. If not, the M2 will be going on tour in the US & Canada, so there will be others who might be able to explain things better than me. Don't hesitate to ask questions in the M2 thread I started if you have any questions!
 
 

BATTERY LIFE

I got ~8.5 hours at volume 20 hi-res 24/192 FLAC files and ~9 hours with 16/44 lossy + lossless files. There was minimal interaction with the M2 during these tests.
 
 

DAC

This isn't a feature I see myself using, as I typically just buy large capacity cards and listen straight out of my DAPs.  I gave it a spin for the review and found it to work flawlessly with my MacBook Pro running El Capitan, easily connecting to my Mac for use as a DAC at up to 192/24 resolution.  Easy-peasy!
 
 
 

SOUND

During my time with the M2, I used for my TITAN SHOOTOUT, comparing the DUNU TITAN 3 (LINK to review), TITAN 5 (LINK to review), and FiiO EX1 (LINK to review). After that wrapped-up, I started using the highly-tuneable and highly-awesome FLC 8S (review coming soon for these bad boys!). I also gave them some time with my HiFiMan HE400. IEM were on Low Gain, HE400 on High Gain. I listened to a wide variety of music in mostly AAC and FLAC formats. At the end of my time with the M2, I gave it a listen versus some of the other DAPs I had on hand and have some brief listening notes below. This listening was volume matched, and the same songs were queued up on all the DAPs which were connected to my switcher.
 
Before I start, I want to say that I find the differences between these DAPs pretty subtle. They're there, but as @Brooko would be quick to point out, you need to volume match to make sure you're not just hearing volume-related differences. And using a switcher to A/B the sources while they're playing the same song in parallel helps immensely. One thing that struck me was that the Shanling DAPs stuck out as being different than the others. I'll try my best to elaborate below. If this doesn't adequately describe things for you, rest assured that @hakushondaimao will be reviewing the M2 soon, and he is great at describing sound. Okay, on with the show!
 
When the M2 arrived, I started using it as my sole DAP to become acclimated. I clicked with the sound pretty quickly, finding it to share a similar sound with... You guessed it, the Shanling M3. They both sound quite neutral and have a more laid-back "audience perspective" presentation than other DAPs I've used. Between the two, the M3 sounds fuller with a smoother upper end not lacking in detail, whereas the M2 sounds a bit brighter, making it sound a bit more open and airy. Out of those two, if my headphone of choice was a little on the bright side, the obvious choice for synergy would be the M3. If my headphones were a little in the dark side, the M2 would be my choice. Another factor to consider between these two is that the M3 is more powerful, so you'll have more fine-grained control over volume with the M2. This is important for me. Both have 60 volume steps, which I find limiting with IEM. Shanling has communicated in the M2 and M3 threads that volume control will switch to 120 steps during the next firmware releases for M2 & M3. Nice!
 
VS FiiO X3: The X3 sounds like it has a bit of a mid-bass bump that makes it a bit punchier, the X3’s upper mids veer off into sibilant territory faster, and the X3's treble sounds splashier. Overall, the M2 sounds tighter and more controlled with a deeper but less wide soundstage.

VS Cayin N5: The N5 sounds warmer and fuller. To me, the N5 sounds like Cayin's C5 and N6 had a love child. It sounds good but more colored than the M2. The N5's sound is more of an "I'm in the band" presentation, more engaging. M2's sound is more an "in the audience" presentation, which is more relaxing.

VS FiiO X5 Classic: Similar to the N5 but a bit darker and more closed in. X5 Classic makes the M2 sound a bit on the bright side, more open and airy.
 
VS iBasso DX90: Again, similar to N5 but with more low end control and a bit of upper end glare to contend with. Emphasizes the M2's relaxed nature.
 
 
DRIVING POWER
Just for reference, here are the volume settings I used when volume matched at ~80dB with a 1kHz test tone.

1. Cayin N5 - 14/100
2. FiiO X3 - 28/120
3. FiiO X5 - 28/120
4. iBasso DX90 - 164/255
5. Shanling M2 - 14/60
6. Shanling M3 - 10/60

 
 

SUMMARY

I found a lot to like in the Shanling M2. Words like attractive, small, light, solid, ergonomic, intuitive, neutral, and relaxed come to mind when describing my experience using it. It's nice when a manufacturer puts out a product that I feel really takes that next step. The FiiO X5 was one of those products. It took FiiO in a new direction with their DAPs, and it worked well. All of FiiO's non-touchscreen DAPs share that common lineage. The Shanling M2 has that kind of feel to it. The hardware and software feel more mature than the M3, yet it retains a similar sound to the M3's, which I found so appealing. This feels like just the DAP Shanling needed to release at this point in time. Sure, there are things that could be improved, but for me the M2 strikes just the right balance between hardware, software, and sonic user experience, making it a very competitive DAP at its price point.
 
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if there's something I didn't address, shoot me a PM or bring it up in the M2 thread. 
 
And finally, a big thanks to @Shanling for providing a review / tour M2 for the Head-Fi community, and be on the lookout for more M2 reviews coming soon!

Image courtesy of Brainwavz
 

INTRODUCTION

Brainwavz is a company well-known on Head-Fi for budget-fi IEM with good sound, great accessories, and some quite unusual designs. I was introduced to Brainwavz when I purchased my FiiO X3 Classic from MP4Nation. The original S-series IEM, the S1, was included as a bonus with my X3 pre-order. With their unusual color scheme, flat cable, chunky strain reliefs and y-splitter, and all-metal housing, the S1 were quite different from most of the IEM I'd owned up to that point. I enjoyed them for a fun, v-shaped sound, although they were a bit ragged up top. Then along came the S5. I read pretty good things about those, so I picked them up. With big bass and a warm low end and plenty of sparkle up top, I enjoyed the S5 even more than the S1 as a fun, party-time IEM. Next came S0, which I also heard good things about. I picked it up, as well, knowing that they were taking the S-series in a new, darker direction. These weren't IEM I'd choose for fun, they're what I'd choose for relaxing in front of the fire - warm, dark, and smooth. Now, along comes the S3, the latest entry in the S-series. Early reports were quite divisive. Some felt these had very little bass, some felt these had too much bass, some felt they were very nicely balanced. When I read these varied descriptions, I was intrigued and reached out to Brainwavz for a review sample. They generously obliged, and here we are. So, what do I think of the S3? Read on to find out, but first let's see what Brainwavz has to say about themselves.
 
Established in 2008 with a goal to bring real earphones to real users at realistic prices -A SMALL START WITH BIG RETURNS

Today the range spans across earphones and headphones, a new accessories line and the addition of inline controls for the booming smartphone markets

The future sees the BRAINWAVZ team expanding to more new products, from new designers with fresh ideas - WE ARE HERE TO STAY, so keep listening out for us!

At Brainwavz we have a simple mission, to produce innovative, high quality audio products with a dedicated focus on high-end sound at a realistic price. Our strength, success and product range is built on our unique relationship with our customers and users, a relationship that has produced a simple and obvious result. We give real-users real sound quality. 2014 will see Brainwavz pushing forward with an expanded product line, continuing with unique and innovative products, from earphones to headphones to audio accessories.



 
Brainwavz Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated Brainwavz S3 thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from Brainwavz for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Brainwavz, and this is my honest opinion of the S3.  I would like to thank Brainwavz for giving me a chance to test drive the S3, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Brainwavz.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Drivers: 8mm Single Dynamic 
2. Rated Impedance: 16Ω
3. Frequency Range: 16Hz - 22kHz
4. Sensitivity: 96dB at 1mW
5. Rated Input Power: 10mW
6. Cable: 1.3m flat cable
7. Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated straight plug 

 

 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Typical Brainwavz packaging and generous accessories. 
 
Front

 
Rear

 
Interior

 
S3 + Accessories


That great Brainwavz IEM case


Tips


In all, you get

1. Brainwavz case
2. Heir-style Wide-Bore Silicone Ear Tips (S M L) - Transparent Gray + Red Core
3. Hybrid-style Narrow-Bore Silicone Ear Tips (S M L) - Black + Color-Coded Core
4. 1 set of Silicone Bi-Flange Eartips
5. 1 set of Silicone Tri-Flange Eartips
6. 1 set of Comply™ Foam Tips T-400
7. 1 Shirt Clip
8. Velcro Cable Tie
9. Instruction Manual & Warranty Card (24 month warranty)

Some general thoughts on the accessories package. As with any S-series purchase, you get a lot of accessories. The case is fantastic, and I've purchased several of them for IEM that didn't come with cases. You get a wide variety of tips, which makes getting a good fit and playing around with sound tuning easy. I quickly identified the size medium narrow-bore hybrid-style tips as my favorites for comfort, stability, and sound. The shirt clip doesn't stay on the flat cable very well. This is too bad because it would help abate microphonics, which can be a problem. The velcro cable wrap is a nice addition but I'd suggest Brainwavz print them so the logo is printed on the soft side of the velcro. As it is the grippy surface is meant to be the exposed / outside surface, and it ends up sticking to the inside of the case. This pulls on the inner mesh pouches, causing them to get pills quite quickly.
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The S3 continue the S-series tradition of all-metal housings, flat cable, rugged strain reliefs, and quirky colors. The build quality is quite serious, reminding me a bit of RHA's commitment to build quality. I'll walk through the various design and ergonomic features of the S3 in pictorial format below.
 
Here's a close-up look at the S3 with the tips removed. 

 
I've got a few nitpicks here. First, the nozzles emerge straight out of the housing, which makes them more difficult to fit than the S1 and S5 angled nozzles. The S0 also has straight nozzles, but they're okay because the S0 has a much smaller housing. Second, I find the flat cables too wide and stiff, which makes over ear wear difficult. Third, I'm not a fan of the aesthetics. I'd much prefer flat black or brushed metal. Shiny metal? Not so much.
 
So what do I like? Besides the odd color choice, I like the chunky strain reliefs. I also like the smooth housings, which don't have any sharp edges that come in contact with your ear. The clear L / R markings are an improvement over some of the older S-series models which only had L / R markings on the strain reliefs. Finally, I like the flattened outer edge, which helps you get a good grip on the S3 while inserting and removing them.
 
 
The new Clearwavz mic + remote module. 

 
Being a DAP user, I don't have a use for this and would prefer a version with a narrower cable leading to the earpiece that doesn't have the mic + remote module to make over ear wear easier. For those of you who will use the controls, they're nice and soft and have a pretty good tactile feeling, although the click action is a bit slower than other controls I've used.
 
 
Y-splitter, chin slider, and 3.5mm straight plug

 
I was happy to see the S3 come with the smaller y-splitter the S0 came with instead of the oversized y-splitter my S1 and S5 came with. When not in use, the chin slider is almost indistinguishable from the y-splitter. It doesn't slide up the cable very well, so I like to firmly pinch the cable between the y-splitter and the chin slider to help things along. It does stay put quite well once positioned, and slides back down the cable ver easily. The 3.5mm plug just barely fits into my iPhone's case. I have to give it a good twist to snug it up, and then it works just fine and is very stable.
 
 
Here's the S3 all suited-up and ready for battle!


As mentioned above, I preferred the hybrid-style tips. They stay in my ear much better than the Heir-style tips and also provide greater bass impact. Unfortunately, as others have reported, I'm getting quite bit of driver flex in the left earpiece on insertion when using the silicon tips. Foam tips would help prevent this, but I'm not a fan of disposable tips so I'm stuck with it.
 
 
 
Here's what S3 look like worn down vs. over ear

 
For those of you who follow my reviews, you'll notice that after encouraging all you Head-Fi guys to grow your winter beards I've gone and shaved off the beard since my S500i review.  Instead, I'll be growing a mustache in honor of Movember. Join me! 
 
Back to the S3... They're quite obviously intended to be worn down, and wearing them over ear can be an exercise in frustration due to the flat cable design. Either way, they stick out quite a ways from my ears. On the plus side, since these are a symmetrical design, wearing them over ear won't result in channel swap. 
 
 
SOUND
FYI: I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and mainly used those genres to evaluate the S3, using the S3 as my sole IEM for several days. During that time, I mainly listened to them out of the brand spankin' new Shanling M2 (LINK) and Cayin N5. 
 
Since the S3 are the latest in the well-known S-series, I thought I'd do a bit of compare and contrast with it older brothers.
 
BASS: At first listen with the Heir-stye tips I found the bass on these quite underwhelming. I heard rolled-off bass that lacked punch and rumble. I found that you can get more punch and rumble out of them, but you've got to work for it. Hybrid tips + a bit of EQ are your friend if this is what you're after. Only after switching to the hybrid-style tips did I bring out enough punchiness to satisfy me. Even then, I found it still sounded a bit flat / dull with electronic music. However, it was a good fit for other genres I listen to that don't rely so heavily on well-extended bass. For instance, I found the bass worked quite well for Classic Rock and and a lot of Metal. This is quite a different take on bass than the rest of the S-series, which have oodles and oodles of bass. Despite yearning for less roll-off, I do have to compliment them on making an S-series IEM with bass that will appeal to a lot of budding audiophiles.
 
MIDS: The S3 are a mid-centric IEM, again a nod to the budding audiophile. To my ears lower mids are more prominent that upper mids. This made male voices generally more satisfying than female vocals for me. For instance, I found Don Henley sounded great while listening to The Eagles. However, Björk's voice didn't pop for me as much as I would've liked. I would've preferred the opposite, cooling off the lower mids a bit and making the upper mids a bit brighter, but that's just me. Comparing these to the other S-series IEM, S3 mids are most like the S0, whereas S1 and S5 mids sound more recessed. 
 
HIGHS: Relaxed, smooth, rolled-off highs. I could definitely use some more sparkle and pop here. I'm really missing that in some of Björk's songs where there are sharp, twinkling sounds moving about in upper soundstage. With S3, they sound cut-off, muted. Same with some of the metal tracks I listened to. When the music got busy, cymbal work I could typically hear with less rolled-off IEM just got lost in the mix with the S3. Comparing them to other S-series IEM, S3 highs are most like the S0, relaxed and smooth - lacking sparkle. They're like the polar opposite of the very energetic upper end on the S1 and S5. 
 
 
SOUNDSTAGE: Sound is quite a bit better in width than depth or height. Separation and placement are good but not stellar. I think a bit more energy up top would help improve this aspect of the S3.
 

ISOLATION & MICROPHONICS: Isolation is above average. Microphonics can be a bit of problem, and unfortunately the clip doesn't stay on the flat cable well - and they're hard to wear over ear. The makes avoiding cable noise on the go difficult.
 
POWER REQUIREMENTS: The S3 is pretty easy to drive. I've been listening to it at 22/60 on the Shanling M2 and 20/100 on the Cayin N5, which translates to 39/120 on my FiiO X5 Classic, all on Low Gain, of course.
 
 
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the S3? My initial reaction was not very positive. I wasn't expecting a sound signature so far outside of the S-series paradigm. However, after spending some time with them, they grew on me. Despite that, this isn't my preferred sound signature, and I feel they would benefit from a bit more sub-bass and added sparkle up top. I'm thinking that a lower end that falls between S3 and S0, S3 mids, and an upper end that falls between S3 and S5 would be a very nice sound signature for an S-series IEM. Coming back to the S3, I could see using them for music that doesn't call for a lot of bass. Unfortunately, this cuts out about half my music library, so S3 aren't for me. For those of you who don't listen to music with lots of low end, I think you could be pretty happy with the S3.
 
On the plus side, these are a solid mid-centric sound signature, comfortable worn down, built tough, have a great accessories package, and are backed-up by a stellar two-year warranty. They do have some drawbacks though, like straight nozzles, a flat cable which makes over ear wear difficult, a shirt clip that falls off, and a propensity towards driver flex when silicon tips are used.
 
I hope you found this useful and would like to give a hearty thanks to Brainwavz for giving several members of the Head-Fi community a chance to review the S3. I'm a Brainwavz fan and look forward to seeing what the cook up for us in the future, like a new S-series hybrid flagship. Hint, hint...

Photo courtesy of RHA

 

 

INTRODUCTION

RHA is a company that needs little introduction around Head-Fi. The Scottish audio company is well-known for solidly built in ear monitors with a warm sound signature. I've been following them since I purchased a pair of MA750. I've also tested their T10i and helped coordinate a tour for their T20 IEM. I have an interesting relationship with their IEM. I really like the MA750. It was one of the first really good single dynamic IEM I heard, but I had issues with fit and ergonomics that prevented me from using it as much as I would've liked. Then the T10i came along, and I was a vocal critic of its sound signature, which I found overly warm and wooly. When the T20 was announced, it seemed like RHA's answer to criticisms raised against the T10i. I jumped at the chance to help coordinate a tour for them and enjoyed them immensely (T20 Review). So when I saw the new S500i, I was quite interested. I've developed a fondness for micro driver IEM like the VE Duke (Duke Review), which have characteristics I find attractive - quick, crisp, punchy. When I read early reports of it being RHA's most neutral IEM to date, my curiosity levels rose and I volunteered to review them. I knew going in that I wouldn't need or want a microphone, and I'm not going to ding them for that since there's already a mic-free S500 that I'd recommend to like-minded people.
 
Before we dive into the review, here's what RHA would like you to know about them:
 
RHA is a specialist British headphone company.

We stand for true-to-life audio reproduction and lasting quality.

With these values at our core, we work to deliver the most accurate, comfortable and unobtrusive listening experience possible.

Every RHA product combines high quality materials, precision engineering and our fundamental commitment to design.



 
RHA's US Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated RHA S500i thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from RHA for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with RHA, and this is my honest opinion of the S500i.  I would like to thank RHA for giving me a chance to test drive the S500i, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for RHA.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Driver: Micro dynamic (model 140.1)
2. Frequency Response: 16Hz-22kHz
3. SPL: 100dB
4. Impedance: 16Ω
5. Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated straight plug
6. Cord Length: 1.35m
7. Weight: 14g

 
Here's a simple FR graph from RHA's S500i page (LINK). We'll see how this matches up with the sound later in the review.
FR graph courtesy of RHA
 

 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Packaging: The packaging is simple compared to RHA's flagship products but is still quite attractive.
 
Front + Left Side

 
Front + Right Side

 
Rear

 
S500i + Accessories

 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The S500i are a small cylindrical, all-metal design that disappears in your ears. I'll walk through the various design and ergonomic features of the S500i in pictorial format below.
 
Here's a close-up look at the S500i with the tips removed. Personally, I find them quite attractive. Things to note here are the clear L/R earpiece markings, small but solid strain reliefs, tiered nozzle which holds the tips on quite securely, and black mesh wax guard. A nice touch are the ear-facing L/R earpiece markings, which aren't visible once the IEM are inserted. The vent hole just adjacent to the strain relief isn't visible. 

 
Here's a picture of tre rear face of the Left earpiece showing the RHA logo and a raised dot on the strain relief for blind operation.

 
Here's how they look with the tips.

 
Here's the front of the mic / control module. There are subtle + and - markings for volume control and a raised dot for play/pause and accepting and ending calls. I typically use IEM with DAPs. So while I did test the remote features a bit with my iPhone, I didn't use them extensively nor did I test the mic.

 
Here's the rear of the mic / control module showing the mic hole and model number. I like it that RHA matched the color very well between the mic / control module and the earpieces. Not all IEM manufacturers do. 

 
This shows the two cable material, as well as the hard plastic y-splitter and softer chin slider. The cable from the 3.5mm plug to the y-splitter is wrapped in braided nylon. The nylon wrap increases durability and microphonics, so I found the shirt clip a must if you want to wear the S500i while mobile. The L/R cable from the y-splitter to the earpieces lack the nylon covering. I'm not sure why, but the chin slider has a slit which allows it to detach from the cable leading to the right earpiece.

 
Completing our trip down the IEM, we end with the smartphone case friendly gold-plated 3.5mm straight plug with RHA's signature metal housing.

 
Here's what S500i look like worn down vs. over ear (and yes, it's time to grow those winter beards, chaps!). Either way, they only stick out a few mm from my ears. And while they're designed to be worn down, they can be worn over ear. However, this will definitely reduce the mic's effectiveness and places the controls in an awkward spot. If you're an over ear person, I'd suggest the S500 which forego the mic / control module. On the plus side, since these are a symmetrical design wearing over ear won't result in channel swap. 

 
I'd like to point out one nitpick with the S500i, which is the earpieces do have a tendency to slip out and require reseating after listening for awhile due to the smooth eartips RHA provides. I prefer the grippy eartips that come with Vsonic IEM. They stay in much better for me. It would be nice for RHA to provide more eartip choices to suit people's needs and preferences. 
 
 
SOUND
FYI: I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and mainly used those genres to evaluate the S500i, using the S500i as my sole IEM for a one week period. During my week with the S500i, I mainly listened to them out of the brand spankin' new Shanling M2 (LINK to the dedicated M2 thread I started). 
 
Since I have RHA's nice FR graph, I'm going to use it as an aid in explaining what I'm hearing with the S500i. So, let's go back to that FR graph I showed you earlier:
 

FR graph courtesy of RHA
 
So, what do we see here? Well, first of all, we see that RHA tests at blisteringly loud listening levels. Yikes! The scaling required to show the FR curve flattens it out pretty well. If we kept the graph the same size on the page but made the y-axis 20dB to 120dB, we'd start to see the S500i start to look more v-shaped. If we made the y-axis 40dB to 120dB, it'd look even more v-shaped. You get the drift, S500i sounds v-shaped. We also see that bass levels are the most prominent. That's not really how I'm hearing this IEM, so let's try to find an explanation and move on to something I think will help. We see that the FR curve itself has been smoothed out. In my experience, this tends to reduce the size of any treble peaks on FR graphs. If the smoothing was turned down, I'd expect to visualize more prominent peaks on the right side of the graph. My completely non-professional measurements put those peaks at ~3kHz and ~7kHz and a minor peak at ~10kHz. These peaks help tilt the sound signature into that v-shape I was strongly hinting at instead of the reverse checkmark it looks like on the FR graph. In fact, if anything, they make it more of a mild checkmark sound signature with the crisp upper end balancing out the low end quite nicely. 
 
To put a more traditional spin on things...
 
BASS: I'm hearing punchy bass that digs deep. Could it be punchier? Sure, it could if it had bit more mid-bass emphasis. But I think RHA did a good job tuning the bass FR to avoid boominess. It's well-extended. I was listening to some experimental electronic music with extreme frequency range manipulations (Cyclo's ID album) while writing this review, and got nice rumble. It's quick enough for most music, but I hear a slight smearing with extreme metal blastbeats. It reminds me a lot of the T20's bass but not as textured.
 
MIDS: Lower mids are neutral, but as I mentioned above I measured a boost in the upper mids around 3kHz. To my ears, both female and male vocals sound a bit dry and lacking sweetness and emotion. This is one area I think the S500i could improve on. While the mids are quite clean, a bit of warmth here would go a long way. To be clear, I'm not at all saying the mids are bad, just that for my tastes they could be a bit sweeter.
 
HIGHS: The word I'd use to describe the upper end is crisp. Thankfully, they achieve this without veering into sibilance territory. Cymbals are very present and can border on hyperreal if they're too present in the mix, so be cautious with those hot recordings. With good recordings and reasonable listening levels, you should be fine. Finally, the well-controlled treble peaks, along with the upper mid peak, contribute to a nice sense of air and separation. Again, I hear a nod to the T20's tuning here.
 
SOUNDSTAGE: Soundstage is above average for an IEM at this price point. I can clearly hear sounds outside of head space, and mid to upper frequency sounds especially have a clear sense of separation and placement.  
 

ISOLATION & MICROPHONICS: Isolation is a bit below average. Microphonics can be a bit of problem, so make sure to use that shirt clip and/or wear over ear.
 
POWER REQUIREMENTS: The S500i is easy to drive. I've been listening to it at 20/60 on the Shanling M2, which translates to ~50/120 on my FiiO X5 Classic, both on Low Gain, of course.
 
 
SUMMARY
So in the end, what do I think of the RHA S500i? First and foremost, I'm happy that RHA is bringing a taste of the T20 sound to their entry-level IEM. Crisp, dynamic, and punchy are the words that come to mind, followed by tiny and comfortable. My few nitpicks would be dry mids, microphonic cable, and slippery (for me anyway) eartips. Isolation is also a bit below average but is okay. Balancing these few nitpicks out is a really nice sound for the price you pay, with well-extended, punchy bass and a crisp, clean upper end that adds a nice sense of air and separation. You also get a very attractive, well-built pair of IEM with RHA's outstanding 3-year warranty. I found these actually suited the music I listen to most quite well, but if you're looking for something warm, dark, lush (you get the picture) pass these by. They're not going to suit you. If you're looking for an IEM in this price range with a vibrant, dynamic sound, please consider the RHA 
 
I hope you found this useful and would like to give a hearty thanks to RHA for giving several members of the Head-Fi community a chance to review the S500i. I've enjoyed reading over the other reviews almost as much as my time with the S500i. Great job, guys!

 

INTRODUCTION

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I never tried the original Dunu TITAN 1. Why? The many excellent reviews were balanced out by reports of weak bass and aggressive highs. These discrepancies made me leery of trying them, but when I saw Fiio sponsor a tour for the EX1 (basically a FiiO-branded TITAN 1), I signed up without hesitation. Here was my chance to hear one of the most hyped IEM of 2015. If I didn't like it, no worries. If I did like it, maybe I'd end up buying it. Either way, I'd find out if the hype was deserved. 
 
I'm sure most of you know about FiiO, one of the most popular portable amp and DAP manufacturers on Head-Fi. Their X3 DAP was my first DAP. I also own the X5 DAP and E12A and E12 DIY portable amps. I've reviewed their X3ii (LINK) and X5ii (LINK) DAPs and am excited to be one of the first-round reviewers of the X7 on Head-Fi. I provide you with this information so you understand that I do have a history with FiiO. I also recently received pre-release versions of the Dunu TITAN 3 (review) and TITAN 5 (review) for review and tour, so I'm confident I have a good understanding of where the EX1 falls amongst in the TITAN lineup.
 
Here's some information about FiiO from their About Us page:
 
About FiiO Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.

FiiO designs, produces and sells high-quality products at favorable prices to those who love music and style.

FiiO's aspiration: to raise the reputation of "Made in China".

Brand spirit: innovation, quality, service

Brand positioning: HiFi with style

FiiO was established in 2007 and has experience in researching and developing countless portable music products of different types,
and sell FiiO-branded products through sales agents worldwide.

FiiO is focused on product quality, adheres strictly to ISO9001 standards in quality management and works hard to attain the lowest
repair-related product returns rate.

Several products from FiiO have created record sales in their respective product segments; our portable headphone amplifiers, DACs and
high-resolution digital audio players have all received praise from the majority of users.

FiiO places great importance on users’ needs and ceaselessly pursues perfection in product design and manufacturing, to supply users
with the best audio products at the best prices. 



 
FiiO's Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated Dunu TITAN thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from FiiO for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with FiiO, and this is my honest opinion of the EX1.  I would like to thank FiiO for giving me a chance to test drive and tour the EX1, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for FiiO.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Driver: 13mm titanium coated dynamic
2. Frequency Response: 20Hz-30KHz
3. SPL: 102dB
4. Impedance: 16Ω
5. Plug: 3.5mm Gold-plated L-plug
6. Cord Length: 1.2m
7. Weight: 18g

 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Packaging

 
 
Carry case

 
 
Tips

 
Not pictured: Shirt clip + 1/8" plug adapter.
 
To sum up: So you get the EX1, Heir and Hybrid style tips in S, M, and L, the hard carry case, a shirt clip, and an 1/8" plug adapter. Not bad. I'll say right now that I'm not a fan of Heir style tips. They always seem to slip out of my ear canals. The Hybrid style tips are grippier and stay put in my ears much better, so that's what I gravitated towards. The hard case works very well with the EX1. Since I have the TITAN 3 and TITAN 5 in for testing, I'll mention that it doesn't work so well for those. The larger housing size Dunu used to accommodate the detachable cable connectors makes them just a bit too large to easily snap the case shut.
 
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The EX1 are a half in-ear design, which allows them to include a large driver without compromising on comfort. I'll walk through the various design and ergonomic features of the EX1 in pictorial format below.
 
Here's a look at the EX1's inner face. I love the brushed metal finish and wish that was also used on the outer face. Note the numerous vent holes that give the EX1 its unique open, airy sound.

 
Here's a look at the EX1's outer face. Here you can see the candy colored strips sandwiched between the inner and outer housings that provide a quick visual distinction between L/R earpieces. While this is much easier than looking for the low contrast L/R markings on the inner face, I would've preferred more subtle dark red and black strips.

 
Since I've got the TITAN 3 and TITAN 5 in-house, I thought I'd show you just how much bulk the detachable cables add. You can also see a little of Dunu's cable, which I preferred to the FiiO cable. Dunu's implementation is quite supple, while FiiO's is springy. This makes cable management a bit more of a chore with FiiO's version.

 
Y-splitter and chin slider


 
3.5mm L-plug

 
The EX1 feature Dunu's awesome cable management feature. Wish all my IEM had this!

 
Here's what EX1 look like worn down vs. over ear. While they're designed to be worn down, they can be worn over ear fairly easily - although this will result in channels swapping (left earpiece in right ear and vice versa).

 
 
 
To sum up: The FiiO EX1 are an attractive, ergonomic, well-built IEM. I can't find many flaws beyond the aesthetic choice to use candy colors to differentiate L/R earpieces (which I'm sure some will love) and the springy cable.
 
 
SOUND
I'm going to keep this section simple. There are already a lot of reviews for the EX1, so if mine doesn't fit your needs there are plenty more to explore. You can always hit up the TITAN thread, where they've been discussed across 150+ pages already.
 
I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. During my time with the EX1, I mainly used them with the FiiO X5, Shanling M3 (LINK to review), and the newly released Shanling M2 I have in for testing and US tour (LINK to the M2 thread I started). 
 
The original TITAN and the FiiO's EX1 have already received a lot of attention, and I know a lot of people are asking themselves how the new TITANs differentiate themselves from the TITAN 1 / EX1. So I decided to do a bit of comparative listening across the three and will go over how they differentiate themselves below.
 

FiiO EX1
It's the hardest to drive, has the worst isolation, but has the most unique sound. Regarding driving power, a comfortable listening level in a quiet rom was 35 on Low Gain out of my X5. That actually indicates to me that the X5 isn't actually hard to drive - just harder to drive than the other TITANs. To get an initial sense of isolation, I snapped my fingers by my ears while music was playing. The snaps were dulled but still clearly audible. Later I listened to them while walking in my neighborhood, and while they were definitely less isolating than my other IEM it wasn't night and day. It certainly wasn't egregious, and I clearly had a better sense of environmental awareness. Soundstage was open and airy for an IEM at any price point. I was quite impressed with the holographic sound. It actually reminded me a bit of my HiFiMan HE400 in this respect.  Not the same mind you but reminiscent nonetheless. The basic sound signature is a u-curve. Bass is relatively flat with just enough mid-bass emphasis to add a bit of punch - definitely neither weak nor boomy. Mids are neutral and clear but are a bit lacking in sweetness and emotion. The upper end is a bit edgy but didn't verge into sibilant territory for me and is something I could easily be happy with. 
 
Quite honestly, the EX1 exceeded my expectations, pushing a lot of the right buttons for me. Soundstage was fantastic, providing a very holographic listening experience. Bass was deep enough for a satisfying listen with electronic music but also fast enough to keep up with the rapid fire kick drums oft employed in metal music. Mids were definitely the weak point but were present enough not to call EX1 recessed. They're the aspect of EX1 most ripe for improvement. While the upper end was a touch harsh, it wasn't as aggressive as I was expecting and provided a good level of detail without veering into fatiguing territory. I see what the hype was about now. EX1 sounds nice!
 
Since I've got them, how do the new TITANs compare?

Dunu TITAN 3
T3 are the easiest to drive of the bunch. To get a comparable volume, I was able to turn my X5's volume down to 28 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is on par with typical dynamic IEM. I could barely hear my fingers snapping when music was playing and environmental noise in my neighborhood was mostly blocked. Soundstage is much more conventional. Gone is the original's very open, airy almost holographic sound. T3's sound signature is just on the warm side of neutral. Bass sounds similar to the EX1's but a bit flatter. Nonetheless, it was still satisfying with a wide range of music. The key difference is the mids, which are more present vs. EX1. Whereas the EX1's mids were neutral, the T3 brings them forward - especially the upper mids. This makes female vocals pop. Those of you who know me know I'm a big Bjork fan and routinely use her Biophila album when testing new IEM. T3 were hands-down the best of the TITANs for bringing out the best in Bjork's voice. EX1 and T5 were still satisfying but failed to convey the same emotional presence the T3 did. Similar to the low end, the T3's upper end sounds similar to EX1 but takes the edge off. If you thought the originals were a bit on the harsh side, T3 should solve that issue for you.
 
 
Dunu TITAN 5
T5 are just a bit harder to drive than T3. To get a comparable volume, I had to turn my X5's volume up to 30 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is identical to T3, so on par with typical dynamic IEM. Soundstage is still quite conventional, but I found the soundstage larger vs. T3. And just like the T3, you'll be missing the original's open, airy sound. T5's sound signature is a mild v-shape. Bass is the star of the show. It's more prominent than the other TITANs but is well-done - not loose or boomy. The mids are neutral and remind me of the EX1, whereas the upper end is quite reminiscent of the T3. Revisiting Bjork for a minute - where T3 really made Bjork's voice pop, the T5 made the bass drops more satisfying. But when switching to The Eagles, I found the T5's bass made the bass guitar more prominent than I was used to. EX1 and T3 feel truer to the music in this respect.
 
TLDR

1. T3 takes the general EX1 sound, adds in more prominent mids (especially upper mids), more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage.
2. T5 takes the general EX1 sound but adds in more prominent bass, more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage but not as much of a compromise as T3.

 
 
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the FiiO EX1? Well, first of all I'm going to admit that I'm saddened that it took me this long to hear them. The EX1 are a superb IEM. Sure they've got a few flaws. Their mids could be more prominent, the upper end could be more refined, isolation isn't great, and they've got a springy cable. However, their open, airy soundstage, well-balanced sound signature, and high level of comfort more than make up for these minor flaws. In my opinion, they hold up very well against the upcoming TITAN 3 and TITAN 5. I can easily see people choosing any of the different models based on their sound signature, soundstage, and isolation preferences. And I'll be blunt, I don't think the new TITANs benefit much from detachable cables. I much prefer the fixed cable design of the EX1, which allows the earpieces to remain small and light. 
 
I hope you found this useful and would like to give a hearty thanks to FiiO for giving the Head-Fi community the chance to review the EX1. I really enjoyed my time with them and put them on my "must buy" list. Be on the lookout for more reviews as the tour progresses. @Podster's next up on my leg of the tour

t

Dunu's teaser for the forthcoming Titan 5.

 

*****UPDATED MID-NOVEMBER WITH PICS & THOUGHTS ON THE NEW EAR STABILIZERS*****
 

INTRODUCTION

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I never tried the original Dunu TITAN 1. Why? The many excellent reviews were balanced out by reports of weak bass and aggressive highs. These discrepancies made me leery of trying them. But when I saw Fiio sponsor a tour for the EX1 (basically a Fiio-branded TITAN 1 - LINK to review), I signed up. Here was my chance to hear one of the most hyped IEM of 2015. If I didn't like it, no worries. If I did like it, maybe I'd end up buying it. Either way, I'd find out if the hype was deserved. Okay, okay. I'm not talking about the TITAN 5, you say. You're right. This is the convoluted back story into how I stumbled into reviewing the TITAN 5 (T5 from here on out).
 
So, to pick up where I left off... 
 
With Dunu on my mind, I stumbled on a thread (LINK) announcing Dunu's new hybrids. I'm a previous DN-1000 owner and hybrid believer, so when I saw the announcement I contacted Vivian at Dunu and asked if I could get some review loaners to review and then tour in the US & Canada. Those of you who know me, know I love to tour the gear I get for review. It's a great way to let some of my fellow Head-Fi members try out new gear before they commit to buying it. They can also share their experience with the Head-Fi community. It's been a lot of fun so far. Anyways, Vivian told me that while the new hybrids were still in pre-production mode, she could send me the new T3 and T5 for review. Since I was getting the Fiio EX1 in for review, I thought it would be a lot of fun to get the new T3 & T5 in at the same time and see what I thought of them. So I told Vivian yes, and here we are.
 
Here's some information about DUNU from their Brand Story page:
 
DUNU: Delicate, Unique & Utmost

With advanced technology and hi-end equipments, DUNU desires to be able to provide Delicate, Unique ＆ Utmost products for Hi-Fi embracers. Delicate means extremely quality demanding on product process, from every little component to product manufacturing. DUNU has complete production line and equipments, including precise equipments, B&K frequency machine, IMD sputter, CNC machine, anechoic room, etc. Concerning design of product, DUNU also devotes to create unique outer appearance and balance in all sound frequency.
 
Utmost is not only the expectation on products, but also the pursuit of an Earphone Manufacturer. The founder of DUNU, himself, has years experience in OEM/ODM earphone products in which many worldwide famous earphone Brands are included. However, in order to create the most enjoyable earphone on his own, DUNU’s president establishes the brand “DUNU” and implants many hi-end equipments and hires talented employees. From then on, DUNU takes the lead in developing the first Chinese made metal earphone, developing 5.8mm Driver unit and produce the very first Chinese Balance Armature Earphone, in 2014 DUNU release China first triple driver Dynamic and Balance Armature Hybrid earphone, All these preparation are to step on the world stage and to challenge renowned earphone brands. The ultimate goal of DUNU is to provide worldwide HI-FI embracers our Delicate, Unique & Utmost earphone products.
 
 
Dunu's Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated Dunu TITAN thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from Dunu for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Dunu, and this is my honest opinion of the TITAN 5.  I would like to thank Dunu for giving me a chance to test drive and tour the TITAN 5, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Dunu.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Driver: 13mm titanium coated dynamic
2. Frequency Response: 10Hz-40KHz
3. SPL: 108±2dB
4. Impedance: 32Ω
5. Plug: 3.5mm Gold-plated L-plug
6. Cord Length: 1.2m
7. Weight: 24g

 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

I'll let the packaging speak for itself. It's essentially the same as the TITAN 1, so if you've seen that you'll know what to expect.
 
Front

 
 
 
Inside (This is a great opportunity for you to exercise your imagination and pretend that this is the T5 box)

 
Carry case

 
Tips

 
Ear Stablizers

 
Not pictured: Shirt clip + 1/8" plug adapter.
 
So you get the T5, Heir and Hybrid style tips in S, M, and L, the hard carry case, a shirt clip, and an 1/8" plug adapter. Not bad. I'll say right now that I'm not a fan of Heir style tips. They always seem to slip out of my ear canals. The Hybrid style tips are grippier and stay put in my ears much better, so that's what I gravitated towards. While the hard case works very well with the EX1, the T5's housings are just a bit too big to allow the case to close properly. There were many times where I had to reposition the T5 in order to get the lid to snap shut. I'd suggest Dunu include a slightly taller case in the future. Just another 5mm would make all the difference and wouldn't add too much bulk. I didn't try the shirt clip with T5, but I've used the same clip with my DN-1000, and it works just fine.
 
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The T5 are a half in-ear design, which allows them to include a large driver without compromising on comfort. I'll walk through the various design and ergonomic features of the T5 in pictorial format below.
 
Here's an view of the T5's inner face. 

 
It's a nice all-metal design. My only comfort concern can be seen in this picture. The seam where the front and back housing meet, while not overtly sharp, does tend to end up digging into my ears a bit during long listening sessions. It doesn't bother me during shorter listening sessions and is really only an issue during longer sessions. It's not a major issue, but I thought I'd mention it. My thought is that it digs in due to the heavier housings, as this wasn't an issue with the EX1. Vivian did let me know that I'll be receiving an additional accessory to make the T5 even more comfortable. It should arrive soon, and I'll update this review as needed with pics and my thoughts on the new accessory.
 
TITAN + Ear Stabilizers


So here's the mysterious "comfort accessory". They're soft silicone ear stabilizers, and they work a treat! As mentioned above, I found the newer TITANs to dig into my ears after a while. With the ear stabilizers in place, this was alleviated and I could wear them comfortably for extended periods. And not only do they work for the TITAN 3 & TITAN 5, they've also been confirmed to work with TITAN 1 with no vent hole blockage. So if you're an interested TITAN 1 owner, contact DUNU and let them know!
 
T5 vs. EX1

 
Those of you familiar with the T1 (or EX1) are looking at that picture, thinking where did all the vent holes go? Yup, Dunu eliminated most of the vent holes with the T5, and it's definitely noticeable in the soundstage department. While T5 has a nice (if conventional) soundstage, it lacks the open, airy sound that made the originals really stand out from the crowd. A couple more things I'd like to point out in the picture above are the brushed metal inner housing and color coding on the original. I'd love it if the entire housing was brushed metal. I much prefer the more subdued, less reflective aesthetics of brushed metal. I'd also love to see the color coding carried over to the T5 but with less candy-like colors - a nice dark red for right and black for left would be classy and useful, since the L/R identifiers are very low contrast. 
 
Detachable cables

 
Dunu designed the T5 with detachable cables. This means you don't need to worry so much about them shorting out, since Dunu will offer replacements (and compatible upgrade cables designed for their new hybrids). It also means the housing and strain reliefs needed to be bigger to accommodate the connectors and caused a 33% weight increase over the originals. As mentioned above, this did lead to  some discomfort issues for me over time, but I'm hoping Dunu's new accessory will help abate that issue. A bonus is that you can now wear them over ear without inverting channels. Since they're a chiral / handed / sided design, you just need to swap L/R channels if you want to wear them over ear. Incidentally, the connectors are very similar to VSONIC's VSD series connectors. I tried to swap them, but they didn't quite fit and I didn't want to force them. Dunu's implementation is much better in my opinion, being quite easy to remove and connect whereas VSONIC's connectors often got stuck and had many reports of cutting out over time. I've been listening to the T5 for quite a while now and have had absolutely no issues with the connectors. I'm looking forward to what Dunu's upgrade cables bring to the table.   
 
 
To illustrate the difference size, here are some pictures. Fiio EX1 on top. T3 & T5 on bottom.


 
Y-splitter and chin slider

 
3.5mm L-plug

 
Dunu's awesome cable management feature. Wish all my IEM had this!

 
Here's what T5 look like worn down vs. over ear. 

 
While they're designed to be worn down, they can be worn over ear fairly easily - although I'd again reiterate that the original's smaller strain reliefs made over ear wear even more comfortable.
 
To sum up: I like the overall design / build but question the need for detachable cables. It seems IEM manufacturers caught detachable cable fever recently. Quite honestly, I'd take the smaller housing and strain reliefs and associated lighter weight of the original any day. EX1 disappeared in my ears much better than the new design. That said, I'm sure the detachable cable will be attractive to many prospective buyers who've also caught detachable cable fever. Beyond that, the vent hole redesign leaves me wondering what T5's tuning would sound like with the open, airy soundstage of the originals, which I suspect leaving in the numerous vent holes would've retained. Perhaps in the next iteration...
 
 
SOUND
I'm going to keep this section simple. There are more reviews coming soon. So if this isn't detailed enough or doesn't answer all your questions, just hold on and I'm sure one of those will answer your questions. You can always hit up the TITAN thread, where those of us who've gotten early access have been describing their experience. In particular, I'd suggest you start on page 150 with this post (LINK). There's some good discussion and FR graphs after that which will help you decide which TITAN is right for you.
 
I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. During my time with the T5, I mainly used them with the Fiio X5, Shanling M3 DAP (LINK to review), and the newly released Shanling M2 I have in for testing and US tour (LINK to the M2 thread I started). 
 
 
I know a lot of people are asking themselves how the new TITANs differentiate themselves from the original beyond the physical redesign. Reviews from people I trust (EXAMPLE) indicate that T1 and EX1 sound identical, so the EX1 will be my T1 surrogate for this review. As mentioned above, I'm going to keep it simple with some notes I took while listening to my Fiio X5.

 
Fiio EX1
It's the hardest to drive, has the worst isolation, but has the most unique sound. Regarding driving power, a comfortable listening level in a quiet rom was 35 on Low Gain out of my X5. That actually indicates to me that the X5 isn't actually hard to drive - just harder to drive than the other TITANs. To get an initial sense of isolation, I snapped my fingers by my ears while music was playing. The snaps were dulled but still clearly audible. Later I listened to them while walking in my neighborhood, and while they were definitely less isolating than my other IEM it wasn't night and day. It certainly wasn't egregious, and I clearly had a better sense of environmental awareness. Soundstage was open and airy for an IEM at any price point. I was quite impressed with the holographic sound. It actually reminded me a bit of my HiFiMan HE400 in this respect.  Not the same mind you but reminiscent nonetheless. The basic sound signature is a u-curve. Bass is relatively flat with just enough mid-bass emphasis to add a bit of punch - definitely neither weak nor boomy. Mids are neutral and clear but are a bit lacking in sweetness and emotion. The upper end is a bit edgy but didn't verge into sibilant territory for me and is something I could easily be happy with. 
 
Quite honestly, the EX1 exceeded my expectations, pushing a lot of the right buttons for me. Soundstage was fantastic, providing a very holographic listening experience. Bass was deep enough for a satisfying listen with electronic music but also fast enough to keep up with the rapid fire kick drums oft employed in metal music. Mids were definitely the weak point but were present enough not to call EX1 recessed. They're the aspect of EX1 most ripe for improvement. While the upper end was a touch harsh, it wasn't as aggressive as I was expecting and provided a good level of detail without veering into fatiguing territory. I see what the hype was about now. EX1 sounds nice!
 
Ok, now we have our baseline. How do the new TITANs compare?

Dunu TITAN 3
T3 are the easiest to drive of the bunch. To get a comparable volume, I was able to turn my X5's volume down to 28 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is on par with typical dynamic IEM. I could barely hear my fingers snapping when music was playing and environmental noise in my neighborhood was mostly blocked. Soundstage is much more conventional. Gone is the original's very open, airy almost holographic sound. T3's sound signature is just on the warm side of neutral. Bass sounds similar to the EX1's but a bit flatter. Nonetheless, it was still satisfying with a wide range of music. The key difference is the mids, which are more present vs. EX1. Whereas the EX1's mids were neutral, the T3 brings them forward - especially the upper mids. This makes female vocals pop. Those of you who know me know I'm a big Bjork fan and routinely use her Biophila album when testing new IEM. T3 were hands-down the best of the TITANs for bringing out the best in Bjork's voice. EX1 and T5 were still satisfying but failed to convey the same emotional presence the T3 did. Similar to the low end, the T3's upper end sounds similar to EX1 but takes the edge off. If you thought the originals were a bit on the harsh side, T3 should solve that issue for you.
 
 
Dunu TITAN 5
T5 are just a bit harder to drive than T3. To get a comparable volume, I had to turn my X5's volume up to 30 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is identical to T3, so on par with typical dynamic IEM. Soundstage is still quite conventional, but I found the soundstage larger vs. T3. And just like the T3, you'll be missing the original's open, airy sound. T5's sound signature is a mild v-shape. Bass is the star of the show. It's more prominent than the other TITANs but is well-done - not loose or boomy. The mids are neutral and remind me of the EX1, whereas the upper end is quite reminiscent of the T3. Revisiting Bjork for a minute - where T3 really made Bjork's voice pop, the T5 made the bass drops more satisfying. But when switching to The Eagles, I found the T5's bass made the bass guitar more prominent than I was used to. EX1 and T3 feel truer to the music in this respect.
 
TLDR

1. T3 takes the general EX1 sound, adds in more prominent mids (especially upper mids), more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage.
2. T5 takes the general EX1 sound but adds in more prominent bass, more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage but not as much of a compromise as T3.

 
 
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the TITAN lineup? Well, first of all I'm going to admit that I'm saddened that it took me this long to hear the originals. The EX1 are a superb IEM. Sure they've got a few flaws, but their open, airy soundstage and well-balanced sound signature more than make up for the small amount of harshness up top. They're also a very comfortable IEM. Hearing the T3 & T5 makes me confident in saying that Dunu's made a good case for product differentiation in the TITAN lineup. I could see people gravitating towards the different models based on their sound signature, soundstage, and isolation preferences. Personally, I gravitate towards EX1 for it's open, airy sound and T3 for improving the original's sound with improved mids. While I like the T5 and think it's a solid IEM, it just doesn't call out to me like the others do.
 
What did I feel could be improved? I'd love to see what the T3 & T5 would sound like with the same tuning but additional vent holes to give them a more open soundstage - even at the expense of decreased isolation. I also question the validity of using detachable cables, which adds complexity, added weight, and larger housings. This resulted in he new TITANs being less comfortable than the originals for me. I'd also like to see a thicker carry case, as the larger housing make it difficult to close which wasn't a problem with the EX1. Beyond that, I think all three TITANs are great IEM. It's just a matter of choosing which suits your needs.
 
EDIT: As noted above, the new ear stabilizer work very well to alleviate the minor comfort issues I was experiencing. Good job being proactive, DUNU!
 
I'd like to give a hearty thanks to Vivian at Dunu for giving me the chance to review and tour the TITAN 3 and TITAN 5. I really enjoyed my time with them. Be on the lookout for a US & Canada tour opportunity!

t

Dunu's teaser for the forthcoming Titan 3.

 

*****UPDATED MID-NOVEMBER WITH PICS & THOUGHTS ON THE NEW EAR STABILIZERS*****
 

INTRODUCTION

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I never tried the original Dunu TITAN 1. Why? The many excellent reviews were balanced out by reports of weak bass and aggressive highs. These discrepancies made me leery of trying them. But when I saw Fiio sponsor a tour for the EX1 (basically a Fiio-branded TITAN 1 - LINK to review), I signed up. Here was my chance to hear one of the most hyped IEM of 2015. If I didn't like it, no worries. If I did like it, maybe I'd end up buying it. Either way, I'd find out if the hype was deserved. Okay, okay. I'm not talking about the TITAN 3, you say. You're right. This is the convoluted back story into how I stumbled into reviewing the TITAN 3 (T3 from here on out).
 
So, to pick up where I left off... 
 
With Dunu on my mind, I stumbled on a thread (LINK) announcing Dunu's new hybrids. I'm a previous DN-1000 owner and hybrid believer, so when I saw the announcement I contacted Vivian at Dunu and asked if I could get some review loaners to review and then tour in the US & Canada. Those of you who know me, know I love to tour the gear I get for review. It's a great way to let some of my fellow Head-Fi members try out new gear before they commit to buying it. They can also share their experience with the Head-Fi community. It's been a lot of fun so far. Anyways, Vivian told me that while the new hybrids were still in pre-production mode, she could send me the new T3 and T5 for review. Since I was getting the Fiio EX1 in for review, I thought it would be a lot of fun to get the new T3 & T5 in at the same time and see what I thought of them. So I told Vivian yes, and here we are.
 
Here's some information about DUNU from their Brand Story page:
 
DUNU: Delicate, Unique & Utmost

With advanced technology and hi-end equipments, DUNU desires to be able to provide Delicate, Unique ＆ Utmost products for Hi-Fi embracers. Delicate means extremely quality demanding on product process, from every little component to product manufacturing. DUNU has complete production line and equipments, including precise equipments, B&K frequency machine, IMD sputter, CNC machine, anechoic room, etc. Concerning design of product, DUNU also devotes to create unique outer appearance and balance in all sound frequency.
 
Utmost is not only the expectation on products, but also the pursuit of an Earphone Manufacturer. The founder of DUNU, himself, has years experience in OEM/ODM earphone products in which many worldwide famous earphone Brands are included. However, in order to create the most enjoyable earphone on his own, DUNU’s president establishes the brand “DUNU” and implants many hi-end equipments and hires talented employees. From then on, DUNU takes the lead in developing the first Chinese made metal earphone, developing 5.8mm Driver unit and produce the very first Chinese Balance Armature Earphone, in 2014 DUNU release China first triple driver Dynamic and Balance Armature Hybrid earphone, All these preparation are to step on the world stage and to challenge renowned earphone brands. The ultimate goal of DUNU is to provide worldwide HI-FI embracers our Delicate, Unique & Utmost earphone products.
 
 
Dunu's Website: LINK.
 
Dedicated Dunu TITAN thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from Dunu for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Dunu, and this is my honest opinion of the TITAN 3.  I would like to thank Dunu for giving me a chance to test drive and tour the TITAN 3, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Dunu.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 
SPECS

1. Driver: 13mm titanium coated dynamic
2. Frequency Response: 10Hz-40KHz
3. SPL: 110±2dB
4. Impedance: 16Ω
5. Plug: 3.5mm Gold-plated L-plug
6. Cord Length: 1.2m
7. Weight: 24g

 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

I'll let the packaging speak for itself. It's essentially the same as the TITAN 1, so if you've seen that you'll know what to expect.
 
Front

 
Inside

 
Carry case

 
Tips

 
Ear Stablizers

 
Not pictured: Shirt clip + 1/8" plug adapter.
 
So you get the T3, Heir and Hybrid style tips in S, M, and L, the hard carry case, a shirt clip, and an 1/8" plug adapter. Not bad. I'll say right now that I'm not a fan of Heir style tips. They always seem to slip out of my ear canals. The Hybrid style tips are grippier and stay put in my ears much better, so that's what I gravitated towards. While the hard case works very well with the EX1, the T3's housings are just a bit too big to allow the case to close properly. There were many times where I had to reposition the T3 in order to get the lid to snap shut. I'd suggest Dunu include a slightly taller case in the future. Just another 5mm would make all the difference and wouldn't add too much bulk. I didn't try the shirt clip with T3, but I've used the same clip with my DN-1000, and it works just fine.
 
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The T3 are a half in-ear design, which allows them to include a large driver without compromising on comfort. I'll walk through the various design and ergonomic features of the T3 in pictorial format below.
 
Here's an view of the T3's inner face. 

 
It's a nice all-metal design. My only comfort concern can be seen in this picture. The seam where the front and back housing meet, while not overtly sharp, does tend to end up digging into my ears a bit during long listening sessions. It doesn't bother me during shorter listening sessions and is really only an issue during longer sessions. It's not a major issue, but I thought I'd mention it. My thought is that it digs in due to the heavier housings, as this wasn't an issue with the EX1. Vivian did let me know that I'll be receiving an additional accessory to make the T3 even more comfortable. It should arrive soon, and I'll update this review as needed with pics and my thoughts on the new accessory.
 
 
TITAN + Ear Stabilizers


So here's the mysterious "comfort accessory". They're soft silicone ear stabilizers, and they work a treat! As mentioned above, I found the newer TITANs to dig into my ears after a while. With the ear stabilizers in place, this was alleviated and I could wear them comfortably for extended periods. And not only do they work for the TITAN 3 & TITAN 5, they've also been confirmed to work with TITAN 1 with no vent hole blockage. So if you're an interested TITAN 1 owner, contact DUNU and let them know!
 
T3 vs. EX1

 
Those of you familiar with the T1 (or EX1) are looking at that picture, thinking where did all the vent holes go? Yup, Dunu eliminated most of the vent holes with the T3, and it's definitely noticeable in the soundstage department. While T3 has a nice (if conventional) soundstage, it lacks the open, airy sound that made the originals really stand out from the crowd. A couple more things I'd like to point out in the picture above are the brushed metal inner housing and color coding on the original. I'd love it if the entire housing was brushed metal. I much prefer the more subdued, less reflective aesthetics of brushed metal. I'd also love to see the color coding carried over to the T3 but with less candy-like colors - a nice dark red for right and black for left would be classy and useful, since the L/R identifiers are very low contrast. 
 
Detachable cables

 
Dunu designed the T3 with detachable cables. This means you don't need to worry so much about them shorting out, since Dunu will offer replacements (and compatible upgrade cables designed for their new hybrids). It also means the housing and strain reliefs needed to be bigger to accommodate the connectors and caused a 33% weight increase over the originals. As mentioned above, this did lead to  some discomfort issues for me over time, but I'm hoping Dunu's new accessory will help abate that issue. A bonus is that you can now wear them over ear without inverting channels. Since they're a chiral / handed / sided design, you just need to swap L/R channels if you want to wear them over ear. Incidentally, the connectors are very similar to VSONIC's VSD series connectors. I tried to swap them, but they didn't quite fit and I didn't want to force them. Dunu's implementation is much better in my opinion, being quite easy to remove and connect whereas VSONIC's connectors often got stuck and had many reports of cutting out over time. I've been listening to the T3 for quite a while now and have had absolutely no issues with the connectors. I'm looking forward to what Dunu's upgrade cables bring to the table.   
 
 
To illustrate the difference size, here are some pictures. Fiio EX1 on top. T3 & T5 on bottom.


 
Y-splitter and chin slider

 
3.5mm L-plug

 
Dunu's awesome cable management feature. Wish all my IEM had this!

 
Here's what T3 look like worn down vs. over ear. 

 
While they're designed to be worn down, they can be worn over ear fairly easily - although I'd again reiterate that the original's smaller strain reliefs made over ear wear even more comfortable.
 
To sum up: I like the overall design / build but question the need for detachable cables. It seems IEM manufacturers caught detachable cable fever recently. Quite honestly, I'd take the smaller housing and strain reliefs and associated lighter weight of the original any day. EX1 disappeared in my ears much better than the new design. That said, I'm sure the detachable cable will be attractive to many prospective buyers who've also caught detachable cable fever. Beyond that, the vent hole redesign leaves me wondering what T3's tuning would sound like with the open, airy soundstage of the originals, which I suspect leaving in the numerous vent holes would've retained. Perhaps in the next iteration...
 
 
SOUND
I'm going to keep this section simple. There are more reviews coming soon. So if this isn't detailed enough or doesn't answer all your questions, just hold on and I'm sure one of those will answer your questions. You can always hit up the TITAN thread, where those of us who've gotten early access have been describing their experience. In particular, I'd suggest you start on page 150 with this post (LINK). There's some good discussion and FR graphs after that which will help you decide which TITAN is right for you.
 
I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. During my time with the T3, I mainly used them with the Fiio X5, Shanling M3 DAP (LINK to review), and the newly released Shanling M2 I have in for testing and US tour (LINK to the M2 thread I started). 
 
 
I know a lot of people are asking themselves how the new TITANs differentiate themselves from the original beyond the physical redesign. Reviews from people I trust (EXAMPLE) indicate that T1 and EX1 sound identical, so the EX1 will be my T1 surrogate for this review. As mentioned above, I'm going to keep it simple with some notes I took while listening to my Fiio X5.

 
Fiio EX1
It's the hardest to drive, has the worst isolation, but has the most unique sound. Regarding driving power, a comfortable listening level in a quiet rom was 35 on Low Gain out of my X5. That actually indicates to me that the X5 isn't actually hard to drive - just harder to drive than the other TITANs. To get an initial sense of isolation, I snapped my fingers by my ears while music was playing. The snaps were dulled but still clearly audible. Later I listened to them while walking in my neighborhood, and while they were definitely less isolating than my other IEM it wasn't night and day. It certainly wasn't egregious, and I clearly had a better sense of environmental awareness. Soundstage was open and airy for an IEM at any price point. I was quite impressed with the holographic sound. It actually reminded me a bit of my HiFiMan HE400 in this respect.  Not the same mind you but reminiscent nonetheless. The basic sound signature is a u-curve. Bass is relatively flat with just enough mid-bass emphasis to add a bit of punch - definitely neither weak nor boomy. Mids are neutral and clear but are a bit lacking in sweetness and emotion. The upper end is a bit edgy but didn't verge into sibilant territory for me and is something I could easily be happy with. 
 
Quite honestly, the EX1 exceeded my expectations, pushing a lot of the right buttons for me. Soundstage was fantastic, providing a very holographic listening experience. Bass was deep enough for a satisfying listen with electronic music but also fast enough to keep up with the rapid fire kick drums oft employed in metal music. Mids were definitely the weak point but were present enough not to call EX1 recessed. They're the aspect of EX1 most ripe for improvement. While the upper end was a touch harsh, it wasn't as aggressive as I was expecting and provided a good level of detail without veering into fatiguing territory. I see what the hype was about now. EX1 sounds nice!
 
Ok, now we have our baseline. How do the new TITANs compare?

Dunu TITAN 3
T3 are the easiest to drive of the bunch. To get a comparable volume, I was able to turn my X5's volume down to 28 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is on par with typical dynamic IEM. I could barely hear my fingers snapping when music was playing and environmental noise in my neighborhood was mostly blocked. Soundstage is much more conventional. Gone is the original's very open, airy almost holographic sound. T3's sound signature is just on the warm side of neutral. Bass sounds similar to the EX1's but a bit flatter. Nonetheless, it was still satisfying with a wide range of music. The key difference is the mids, which are more present vs. EX1. Whereas the EX1's mids were neutral, the T3 brings them forward - especially the upper mids. This makes female vocals pop. Those of you who know me know I'm a big Bjork fan and routinely use her Biophila album when testing new IEM. T3 were hands-down the best of the TITANs for bringing out the best in Bjork's voice. EX1 and T5 were still satisfying but failed to convey the same emotional presence the T3 did. Similar to the low end, the T3's upper end sounds similar to EX1 but takes the edge off. If you thought the originals were a bit on the harsh side, T3 should solve that issue for you.
 
 
Dunu TITAN 5
T5 are just a bit harder to drive than T3. To get a comparable volume, I had to turn my X5's volume up to 30 while listening in a quiet room. Isolation is identical to T3, so on par with typical dynamic IEM. Soundstage is still quite conventional, but I found the soundstage larger vs. T3. And just like the T3, you'll be missing the original's open, airy sound. T5's sound signature is a mild v-shape. Bass is the star of the show. It's more prominent than the other TITANs but is well-done - not loose or boomy. The mids are neutral and remind me of the EX1, whereas the upper end is quite reminiscent of the T3. Revisiting Bjork for a minute - where T3 really made Bjork's voice pop, the T5 made the bass drops more satisfying. But when switching to The Eagles, I found the T5's bass made the bass guitar more prominent than I was used to. EX1 and T3 feel truer to the music in this respect.
 
TLDR

1. T3 takes the general EX1 sound, adds in more prominent mids (especially upper mids), more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage.
2. T5 takes the general EX1 sound but adds in more prominent bass, more refined upper end, and better isolation. It also brings a much more conventional soundstage but not as much of a compromise as T3.

 
 
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the TITAN lineup? Well, first of all I'm going to admit that I'm saddened that it took me this long to hear the originals. The EX1 are a superb IEM. Sure they've got a few flaws, but their open, airy soundstage and well-balanced sound signature more than make up for the small amount of harshness up top. They're also a very comfortable IEM. Hearing the T3 & T5 makes me confident in saying that Dunu's made a good case for product differentiation in the TITAN lineup. I could see people gravitating towards the different models based on their sound signature, soundstage, and isolation preferences. Personally, I gravitate towards EX1 for it's open, airy sound and T3 for improving the original's sound with improved mids. While I like the T5 and think it's a solid IEM, it just doesn't call out to me like the others do.
 
What did I feel could be improved? I'd love to see what the T3 & T5 would sound like with the same tuning but additional vent holes to give them a more open soundstage - even at the expense of decreased isolation. I also question the validity of using detachable cables, which adds complexity, added weight, and larger housings. This resulted in the new TITANs being less comfortable than the originals for me. I'd also like to see a thicker carry case, as the larger housing make it difficult to close which wasn't a problem with the EX1. Beyond that, I think all three TITANs are great IEM. It's just a matter of choosing which suits your needs.
 
EDIT: As noted above, the new ear stabilizer work very well to alleviate the minor comfort issues I was experiencing. Good job being proactive, DUNU!
 
I'd like to give a hearty thanks to Vivian at Dunu for giving me the chance to review and tour the TITAN 3 and TITAN 5. I really enjoyed my time with them. Be on the lookout for a US & Canada tour opportunity!

INTRODUCTION

I discovered these when there was a call for reviewers for the t096z, Torque Audio's recently released flagship IEM. What caught my eye was the various tuning valves the t096z uses to alter the sound signature. I previously reviewed the RHA T20 IEM (LINK), own the Trinity Delta, and have the FLC 8S in my review queue. They're all tune-able to varying degrees, so I'm quite familiar with the concept and think it's great that more manufacturers are exploring this. Since I'm sold on this idea, I've invested time and energy into testing them out so I can share what I like about each of them.
 
Here's some information about Torque Audio from their About Us page:
 
the torque team was assembled to find a solution. a solution to an issue that we had seen come up again and again— one headphone might sound fantastic to one user but lousy to another. we carefully reviewed and tested the high-performance headphones available on the market and reviewed the opinions logged in at online retailers, blogs and review sites.our conclusions matched the consensus of consumers.
 
headphones needed to be more flexible, and adapt more readily to a user’s needs. our designers and engineers here in los angeles, california came up with a solution that meets the needs of premium headphone consumers and revolutionizes the industry: Passive Acoustic Valve Technology™ (PAVT). whether handling jazz or hiphop, rock or classical, a torque headphone is a one-headphone, all-ear solution that transcends genre. our audio products focus on quality materials, expert craftsmanship, and an unconventional acoustic approach that empowers the consumer.
 
Before I get started with the review, I'd like to provide a few links to explore for more information.
 
Torque Audio's Website: LINK.
 
@Deviltooth's t096z review: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from Torque Audio for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Torque Audio, and this is my honest opinion of the t096z.  I would like to thank Torque Audio for giving me a chance to test drive the t096z, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Torque Audio.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.


 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

I'll let the packaging speak for itself. The packaging is quite attractive, but I was surprised that no specs were listed on the box. They're not listed on the t096z product page, either. They are in a booklet included with the t096z, so you need to purchase the product in order to find them. I'd recommend that Torque Audio provide this information on the outside of the box and on the product page. They're 16 Ohms / 90dB, by the way.
 
Front

 
Back

 
Sides

 

Pull-out with t096z and tuning valves on display

 
t096z + accessories: Tuning valves, tips, carry case, Comply, and t096z

 
Included tips + ear stabilizers. I liked the double-flange tips and found the ear stabilizers necessary for a good fit.

 
Tuning valves with simplified FR curves. I'll go over which I liked and why in more detail below. The hole on the end can be used as a wrench to remove the tuning valves if you over-tighten them. DO NOT use the wrench feature when installing the valves!

 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

The t096z are on the large side (think DN1K) and are constructed of brass, so they're a wee bit heavy. You can see the brass housings peeking through the outer casing in the picture below. You also get a good view of the strain reliefs. They're made of a fairly rigid plastic with just a bit of flex to it.

 
Torque includes a rubber cover for each earpiece to prevent dust from settling inside the earpiece if no tuning valves are installed. It just occurred to me that I should've taken a picture with the dust cover off so you could see inside the t096z. Sorry about that. What you'll see is a metal plate with fairly small perforations covering the biocell driver. Hopefully another reviewer will remember to snap a picture of that.
 
Also of note is the earpiece identifier is barely visible on the inside of the strain relief. It's right at the top where the strain relief meets the earpiece. Unfortunately there's no color contrast, so it makes it a bit hard to see. Even so, it's not really an issue since it's easy to tell which earpiece you picked up based on which side of the earpiece the strain relief is on.

 
Here's the outer face of the earpiece. As you can see, it's highly reflective with a brass Torque T logo.

 
t096z with the blue tuning valves installed.

 
t096z all suited-up and ready to rock!

 
Here you see the smartphone case friendly 3.5mm TRRS L-plug and y-splitter + chin slider. You also get to see a bit more of the cable, which is pretty blinged-out.

 
Here's a close-up of the L-plug showing the inset Torque logo.

 
Here's the mic + iDevice remote. There are no obvious buttons or markings, but anyone familiar with using a mic + remote will know what to do.

 
t096z are meant to be worn down. Here're a few pics of them in my ears, so you know what they'll look like when you're wearing them.

 
I found them more comfortable and stable when worn over ear, though. Of course, channels will be inverted and there's that mic + remote module to deal with. Here're a couple pics with t096z worn over ear with cable in front vs. in back.

 
 
To sum up, the build quality is high with sturdy brass housings that are a bit on the large side and stout yet flexible strain reliefs. The size and weight made the ear stabilizers a must for me. Luckily, they're quite soft and comfortable. I had no problem wearing them for extended listening sessions. I like that Torque used an L-plug that works with my iPhone's protective case. The cable is a bit springy, and I would prefer Torque use one that is more supple. I'd also suggest either offering either a mic-free option of (better yet) a version with detachable cables. To be honest, I think detachable cables are overused these days and prefer manufacturers avoid them unless their is a clearly defined use case. In the case of the t096z, I can see this being a good option. This would give consumers a choice between mic vs. mic-free cables and would also allow people to wear them over ear without inverting the channels as is currently the case.
 
 
 
 
TUNING VALVES
Okay, now that we've had the grand tour, let's get down to business and go over what sets the t096z apart from the competition - the tuning valves.
 
First off, I'd like to point out that a lot of tune-able IEM have a stock sound that you can tweak a bit. Not so with the t096z. Each valve is a distinct sound signature, and you'll probably hone in on a couple of favorites pretty quickly. There might be another one or two that you'll find yourself listening to from time to time. Finally there will be some that you flat out dislike. This is quite intentional and part of the attraction of the t096z. For instance, with the RHA T20, you can tweak the treble to your liking but the bass remains the same. With the t096z's tuning valves, you get changes in the bass, mids, and treble.
 
Another difference is that most of the tuning filters / nozzles / valves I've seen have relied on acoustic dampeners plus vents for sound alteration. Not so with the t096z's tuning valves. There's only one tuning valve with an acoustic dampener (Purple). The rest rely on aperture size, aperture distance from the tip, inner taper, and vent size. Personally, I think this approach will prove more reliable over long-term use since there are no filters to dislodge or compromise if they get wet accidentally.
 
Compared to the RHA and Trinity tuning nozzles, Torque's tuning valves are taller, have a larger diameter, and thicker walls. The threads on the t096z's valves are also larger and not so closely spaced. This makes swapping tuning valves on the t096z quick and easy.
 
Now, let's revisit the six tuning valves:

 
In @Deviltooth's t096z thread, I described how I tested these. Basically, I ran through each of the tuning valves with a listen to the red valve in between as a sort of sonic palate cleanser. The sound signatures really are quite different, so without have something fairly neutral in between you'll be in for a shock as you transition between the different tuning valves.
 
Here's how I'd describe the sound signatures

1. Red is the flat / reference valve. However, I found the upper bass / lower mids to be too warm for this to be deemed a truly neutral sound signature.
2. Yellow has gobs of bass without the upper end to balance things out.
3. Black is the polar opposite of yellow, with a very prominent upper end without the bass to balance things out.
4. Green keeps the warm, rich sound but amps things up with more aggressive upper mids and treble. This an exciting listen. 
5. Blue gives a warm, rich, smooth sound signature with emphasized bass. Nonetheless, treble retains a fair amount of detail.
6. Purple is a slightly inverted u-shape. This reminds me of a classic single BA sound signature - lean and quick but a bit rolled off at top and bottom ends.

 
So with those basic descriptions out of the way, what did I gravitate towards? I found myself listening to the blue and green valves the most. This surprised me a bit. I thought I might prefer the red valve the best, but I heard a hump in the midrange that wasn't for me. I also found the t096z to scale well with the blue and green valves. Plugged into my iPhone, they sounded okay but the bass was a bit too loose with both and the soundstage was lacking. Plugged into my DAPs, bass got a bit tighter and soundstage improved a bit. Plugged into the Aune X1S I had in for testing (LINK to review), and bass tightened up even more, the upper end was more under control, and soundstage improved yet again. I wasn't expecting this and was glad I tested them with the X1S!
 
Beyond the blue and green valves, I can see myself switching to the purple valve occasionally when I'm ready to take a break from the rich low end of the blue and green valves. At first, I thought I'd listen to the red occasionally, but after more listening time I'm not sold on them and would recommend that Torque Audio retune this valve to flatten out the mids a bit, making them more neutral. If that happened, I'd definitely use the red valves.
 
The yellow and black valves weren't my cup of tea. These would get no ear time from me.
 
Here's a pic with one of my favorite DAPs, the Shanling M3 (LINK to review).
 

VS RHA T20
I thought this would be an interesting comparison, since the blue and green valves reminded me a bit of the RHA T20's bass and reference valves.

1. t096z Blue vs. T20 Bass: t096z has a bit less sub-bass, more upper bass and lower mids, and less upper mids and treble. This contributes to the blue valve's rich, warm, smooth sound.
2. t096z Green vs. RHA T20 Reference: t096z has a bit more sub-bass and again more upper bass and lower mids. The upper mids and treble are very similar. As a result of their warmer low end, the t096z's upper end doesn't sound as prominent as the T20's.
3. There's nothing really comparable to the RHA T20's treble filter in the t096z's arsenal.

 

SUMMARY

So what do I ultimately think of the Torque Audio t096z? Well, I love the high-quality feel. They're attractive and well-built. I also like the accessories and am especially glad they included the ear stabilizers. Without those, I wouldn't be able to keep them in my ears for very long. In contrast to the other tune-able IEM I've tried so far, it's nice that t096z provides six very distinct sound signatures instead of just iterations on a stock sound. And quite honestly, I think it's a testament to the t096z that I found myself listening to tuning valves that aren't what I'd usually look for in an IEM. I was also happily surprised at how well they kept up with higher-quality sources, getting better and better as I switched to more detailed / transparent sources.
 
What did I feel could be improved? Well, I'd appreciate a slightly re-tuned red valve to make it more neutral to my ears. I also think the t096z are crying out for detachable cables with a mic-free version to make wearing them over ear more comfortable. This would also prevent inverted channels. And if the housings were a bit smaller and lighter weight, I certainly wouldn't complain.
 
I'd like to give a hearty thanks to @TorqueAudio for giving me the chance to test drive the t096z. I really enjoyed my time with them and found them to be one of the more unique IEM I've had the pleasure to try. Be on the lookout for more reviews as these make their way to the next reviewers!

EDIT: As of the October 8th, 2015 firmware update, you can now alter all of the SBX settings when connected to your iPhone via Bluetooth. Nice job, Creative!
 
INTRODUCTION
Creative is well-known for their sound cards. I remember building a PC when I was younger. I specifically sought out a Creative sound card to make sure I had a good audio interface for listening to music from my computer. It was during the days of Napster and 128 kbps audio files, so it was probably overkill but at least it gave me the potential for good sound. The fact that my audio files couldn't keep up with my soundcard wasn't its fault. Skip forward to the present. Creative is still well-known for their sound cards, but has also started making headway in the Head-Fi space with their desktop and portable dac/amps, headphones, in ear monitors, and speakers.
 
When @LucasCL put out a call for reviewers for three of the newer Creative products, two of them immediately appealed to me - a portable dac/amp and an IEM. I'm a long-term IEM user, so this would've been a good fit for me. However I was chosen to review the Sound Blaster E5 portable dac/amp. This was actually a really good choice for me at the time, as I'd just come off a series of reviews looking at various portable dac/amps like the small battery-free Calyx PaT and Cozoy Aegis and the more conventional Cayin C5DAC and Shanling H3. I really don't see the small battery-free products as direct competitors to the E5, so I won't be discussing them in this review. However, the C5DAC and H3 can be viewed as direct competitors for the portable audio enthusiast. Unfortunately, I didn't have those available for direct comparison with the E5, so I'm going to refrain from making any detailed statements about audio quality. I will however provide some general comments about build and audio quality. If you're interested in reading my thoughts on the other portable dac/amps I've tested, the links above will take you to their respective reviews.
 
Why portable dac/amps? Quite simply, I want to level-up my iPhone's audio quality when using streaming services on the go. Portable dac/amps are one way of achieving this with varying degrees of success. Being able to use the device as an entry-level or secondary desktop dac/amp is icing on the cake. So what am I looking for? Well, it needs to sound better than my iPhone's headphone out. It needs to have good volume control for IEM yet able to drive my HE400 planars. A small, lightweight form factor is definitely preferable, but I usually carry my audio gear in a small shoulder bag so my idea of small might be on the large side for others - it's all a matter of perspective. Since it will get tossed in my bag, it should be durable and the volume knob, gain switch, etc. shouldn't be easy to adjust accidentally. It should also have reasonable battery life, but I have chargers everywhere so this isn't as much a make or break feature for me as it would be for some. Let's see how the E5 stacks up.
 
DISCLAIMER
I was provided the Creative Sound Blaster E5 as a review sample as part of a worldwide call for reviewers.  There is no financial incentive from Creative for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with Creative, and this is my honest opinion of the E5.  I would like to thank @LucasCL for giving me the opportunity to test the E5 and also for his patience. I hope my feedback proves useful for fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Creative.
 
 
ABOUT ME
I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.
 
 
SPECIFICATIONS

1. 2 x 2.2 Ohm Headphone Out capable of driving up to 600 Ohm Headphones
2. 24-bit / 192kHz USB DAC
3. Analog and Optical Line In and Line Out
4. aptX Bluetooth
5. SBX apps for computer and smartphone
6. 8 hour battery life
7. For more specs, please visit Creative's E5 product page

 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
Compared with the very simple packaging I experienced with the other portable dac/amps I've tested out recently, the E5's packaging is very colorful and information-dense.
 

Open the box and you see the E5 on display.

 
Under the display tray is a black box filled with the E5's accessories. Here are most of the contents laid out for you. You get an optical cable, a USB cable, stacking bands, an angled stand, and of course the E5 itself.

 
You also get a user manual. It looks pretty normal in the following picture, but instead of being a booklet it's a poster-sized fold-out. While it does give you a lot of information at a glance, I found it cumbersome and would've preferred a more conventional booklet type user manual.

 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
I like to let pictures do most of the talking, so I'll walk through the E5 in pictorial format below.
 
Let's start with an overhead view of the E5. It's mainly constructed of sturdy black plastic with a brushed metal accent strip down the middle. The other dac/amps I've tested in this price range were constructed mainly of aluminum, so this was a change. I honestly prefer the look and feel of the metal casings, however I do want to emphasize that the #5 feels very sturdy. There is a slight amount of flex if I press down very hard with both thumbs in the center of the top face - emphasis on slight. This picture didn't pick it up, but the Sound Blaster logo is laser engraved on the metal. It's not very apparent straight on but becomes highly visible when you hold the amp at an angle. Creative made sure to remind you of two of the E5's features: Crystal Voice (which is supposed to make your voice crystal clear when the E5 is used as an external mic during phone calls) and NFC (which allows you to pair an NFC-enable phone with the E5). These don't fit my use case, so I refrained from testing them.

 
To give you an idea of the E5's size, I snapped a picture with one of the most common portable amps - the Fiio E12A. Width is equivalent. The E12A is a bit longer. The E5 is roughly twice as thick as the E12A.

 
 
 
 
Moving on to the front of the E5, we see a nice, large recessed volume knob. 

 
The volume knob turns smoothly with enough resistance to prevent accidentally pushing the volume too high too quickly, which is great when you're using IEMs. It also means that it's unlikely to accidentally turn in your bag. There are a couple things to point out about the volume knob. First, it's free-spinning, so it has no defined minimum and maximum volume positions. I'm not a fan of this. I much prefer a volume knob that has a hard stop at the minimum and maximum volume settings. Why? So I can quickly and easily set the volume to my preferred setting before pushing play on my iPhone. This is the way the other dac/amps I tested worked. With the E5, I had one instance where I pushed play with some IEMs in when the volume setting was to high. The ability to visibly set the E5's volume knob to a low setting would've prevented this. I learned my lesson pretty quickly, and this incident wasn't repeated.
 
Another thing I'd like to point out about the volume knob is that it acts as a Play/Pause button when pressed straight in. This is pretty handy for quickly stopping music to interact with people without having to activate your smartphone. Nice touch!
 
Finally, volume can be controlled either via the E5's volume knob or by your computer or smartphone. When using the E5's volume knob to control volume, it has 20 volume steps vs. the iPhone's regular 16 steps, which allows more fine-grained volume control - but admittedly not as fine-grained as the other dac/amps I've tested that feature analog volume potentiometers.
 
Wow, that was a lot just about the volume knob! Moving along to the other features on the front, we see dual headphone jacks. Headphones click in very solidly with no chance of accidental escape. I'm not sold on putting in two headphone jacks as a feature. This would require the two listeners to be using headphones with similar impedance and sensitivity ratings. Otherwise, it would be difficult to achieve the optimal volume for both listeners. I did however find a good sue for it while recently reviewing the HiFiMan HE400S. I was comparing the new, easy to drive HE400S with my old harder to drive HE400. I found that by coincidence I could volume match very well with HE400S on Low Gain and HE400 on High Gain. This made it really easy to A/B the two headphones. I'm sure this won't happen very often. Long story short, unless you've got a bunch of friends with the same headphones you listen to - I'm not sure how often the two headphone jacks will get used. Of course everyone's use case is different, so your mileage may vary.
 
 
On the back, we see the various inputs and outputs. The USB port allows a CCK-free (Camera Connection Kit) experience with iDevices. Hallelujah! Just plug in the cable you use to charge your iDevice, and you're ready to rock. The micro USB port is for charging and USB OTG (On The Go) with Android devices.

 
 
Here's a quick peek at the non-slip rubber base. This not only keeps it from sliding around on your desk but also provides a nice, soft surface for stacking with your smartphone.

 

The left side is feature-packed. First up is the Power/Bluetooth button. Push it for a couple seconds to turn the E5 on, push it for two more seconds to turn on Bluetooth, and push it for a couple more seconds to turn it off.

 
When Bluetooth is enabled, the LED turns blue.

 
The SBX button controls several sound enhancement features that I'll go over later in the review. The gain switch has enough resistance that it's not going to accidentally slide over to High Gain on accident. This is good because High Gain is +15dB, which would be quite a shock if you were using easy to drive IEM or headphones. Creative recommends using Low Gain for up to 150 Ohm headphones and High Gain for up to 600 Ohm headphones. Finally, there's the battery / charging indicator. I like that it has three LEDs. The left-most LED flashes when you're almost out of power to let you know you'd better find a power source soon. Nice!
 
 
COMPUTER & SMARTPHONE USAGE
Connecting to my MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone was plug & play via USB, which allows up to 24-bit / 192kHz playback. However without installing a Mac or iOS app, there's no way to control the SBX settings. Once you install Creative's Sound Blaster E-Series Control Panel for the Mac or Sound Blaster Central app for iDevices, you've got full control over the E5's numerous software features - but only if connected via USB. Once you connect via Bluetooth, you won't be able to change the SBX settings - just toggle them on/off. A Bluetooth connection also limits you to 16-bit / 44kHz playback. Not a problem if you're not a hi-res believer as the E5's Bluetooth connection is very strong.
 
EDIT: As of the October 8th, 2015 firmware update, you can now alter all of the SBX settings when connected to your iPhone via Bluetooth. Nice job, Creative!
 
Since the E5 is so feature-rich, I'm going to take a quick tour of the settings I used in the iOS app. The Mac app has the same features but is laid out differently, so I'm not going to go over both. Here we go...
 
This is the main page. It's similar to the main page of the Mac's Control Panel app. From here, it's one it's one tap to get into any of the settings pages or the tabs along the bottom. Out of these, I ended up using the SBX feature the most, so let take a look at that first.

 
Okay, here are all the settings you can tweak on the SBX page at their default settings. I found some of these useful - others not so much. Let's take a closer look.

1. Surround: I felt like this was okay at up to 25%. Pushing past that sounded unrealistic.
2. Crystalizer: Quite frankly, I didn't like this at all. Turning it on made the upper end sound brittle and harsh.
3. Bass: Depending on the mood I was in, the music I was listening to, and what I was listening with I used this up to 50%. I know, I'm a blasphemer.
4. Crossover Frequency: Okay, this is cool. Creative lets you customize the Crossover Frequency. Want to choose which frequencies are affected by the bass boost? No problem, there's an app for that!
5. Smart Volume: This evens out volume across tracks - best to leave it off.
6. Dialog Plus: Boosts frequencies associated with the human voice, so you get dialog pops more in movies or audiobooks. Turn it off for music, though.

 
You saw the Equalizer tab, right? Well, there's a 10-band EQ with pre-gain, so you can EQ all of your streaming music while using the E% on your iDevice. Nice!

 
Here's the Mixer, which is useful. It's like having a sound card mixer panel on your iDevice. Pretty cool!

 
Here's the rather sparse Settings page. If you're a high-res person, I'd highly suggest you toggle that grayed-out slider!

 
I haven't set any up yet, but you can save different configurations as profiles. Know what you like with your headphones for watching movies? Set up a profile. Like a touch of surround and extra sub-bass when listening to your EDM? Set up a profile? You get the picture!

 
Here's the Player. When coupled with all the other features the E5 + app provide, it's a pretty complete music app. Of course, it only works with music you've loaded into the stock Music app, but you can still use all of the DSP functionality with other music apps and streaming services.

 
Here's what the Main page looks like when connected via Bluetooth. There's really not much you can do. I don't know if this is a limitation of the Bluetooth connection, but if there's any way possible to enable all settings via Bluetooth I'm sure a lot of users would appreciate it!

 
 
As I mentioned above, I'm not going to go into depth regarding the Mac app. It's really just the same settings laid out differently. Here's a screen grab of what the app looks like when you open it.

 
Whew, that was a lot! And I didn't even go into the Crystal Voice or Scout Mode settings, which are gamer-specific. So as you can see, there's a lot to the E5. The other dac/amps I've used have been much simpler devices. I really enjoyed playing with the various music and movie related DSP effects. I know, these features aren't something an audio purist would seek out, but they actually did come in handy to breathe a bit of extra life into my music or enhance my movie watching experience.
 

SOUND
I'm going to keep this simple, since I already covered a lot of the audio-related features packed into the E5 above. What I'm going to do here is simply describe how the sound compares to what I get out of my iPhone. Throughout my time, I used various listening gear with the E5 from earbuds (VE Monk, Asura, and Zen) to IEM (Torque t096z, Dunu Titan 3 & 5, Fiio EX1), and headphones (HiFiMan HE400S & HE400). This gave me a good range of driving power requirements with highly sensitive IEM vs. harder to drive 300 Ohm VE Zen and HiFiMan planars). I used the E5 solely as a dac/amp for listening to music on my iPhone or Mac and occasionally watching a TV show or movie. on my Mac What I found was that the E5 did sound better than either my iPhone or Mac's headphone outs. How? Bass sounded tighter, highs were smoother, and the soundstage was more expansive. I'm going to be straight with you and tell you right now that these were not major improvements, but they were noticeable and did improve my listening experience. Much more than the stock sound, I think the wide variety of DSP effects will be of value to most people looking into the E5.
 
Bluetooth vs. Wired
I couldn't tell a difference with the listening gear I used, which hasn't always been the case for Bluetooth implementations. Creative did a really good job here!
 
Driving Power
I used low gain to drive everything except my HE400 planars and 300 Ohm VE Zen. There's plenty of driving power here, so no worries for most people.
 
Miscellaneous
There was no noticeable channel imbalance or hiss, but I did occasionally get EMI when stacked with my iPhone. It was intermittent and seemed related to streaming apps caching songs.
 
 
BATTERY LIFE
My main criteria for success here was whether it would keep up with my iPhone, and it just pulled that off.  That said, the battery life isn't stellar. I didn't time it, but I'd peg it at about 8 hours with a wired connection and a bit less via Bluetooth  For me, this would mean I'd need to charge the E5 every day or two to keep it charged. 
 
 
SUMMARY
As I mentioned in the introduction, I had a few questions in mind when testing the E5.
 

1. Does it sound better than my iPhone? Yes, it does. I wouldn't call the stock sound miles ahead, but it is a noticeable improvement. And then there are those DSP setting for the tweakers out there...
2. Is volume control good with headphones I typically listen with? Yes, volume control was excellent, and accidental volume adjustments weren't an issue. Driving power kept up with my harder to drive gear.
3. Is it small and lightweight enough to pack in my go bag? Yes, but I wouldn't complain if it were thinner.
4. Is it durable? I didn't toss it down the stairs or anything, but I'd say it's tough enough to use as a daily driver in your go bag.
5. Is battery life reasonable? Yes, it lasts long enough that I'd just need to plug in and charge every couple days.

 
So yes, the E5 met my criteria for a dac/amp for enhancing my streaming listening experience. Whether I'd use it over some of the other dac/amps I've tested is a toss up. They all have their pros and cons and fit people's preferences to different degrees. I think the E5 definitely makes its case due to the numerous DSP options. That's its ace in the hole. If it didn't have those, in all honesty I'd choose a dac/amp with better stock sound and a smaller profile.
 
Thanks again to @LucasCL for providing me with the opportunity to review the E5. I look forward to seeing what Creative releases in the future!

 
 
 
DISCLAIMER
I was chosen to review the Aune X1S as part of a review tour sponsored by Aune. I am in no way affiliated with Aune, and this is my honest opinion of the X1S. I would like to thank Aune for giving me the chance to test drive the X1S, and I hope my thoughts prove useful for fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Aune.

 

INTRODUCTION
Ok, so why review the Aune X1S?  I'm pretty familiar with portable gear but have little experience with desktop gear. I previously reviewed the Aune B1 and was impressed with the sound quality, which was clear and detailed with a nice soundstage. When I saw the tour opportunity for the X1S, I thought it would be a great opportunity to become more familiar with desktop gear and see if my general thoughts on the B1 carried over to the X1S. 
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old father who loves music.  While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).  
 
As mentioned above, I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. 
 
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
 
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues.  I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear.  I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears.  That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front. 
 
 
SPECS
Please refer to this LINK for official specs.
 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
I really appreciate minimalist packaging, and that's exactly what you get from Aune. Packaging is highly reminiscent of the B1. A simple black & white box with just enough text to let you know that yes, indeed you do have an Aune X1S. Nice!
 
Neatly packed inside the box are the amp, USB cable, power adapter, 1/4" adapter, and the manual on a small, classy USB key. Really, that's it. I love Aune's approach to packaging and wish more audio manufacturers would do this! Please!!!
 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
The X1S comes in either silver or black anodized aluminum.  The tour X1S I received was the silver model, although I would've preferred the black model for a reason I'll go over below.
 

 
Here's the X1S's front.From left to right, it's got an input button, input indicators, a 1/4" headphone jack, and the volume knob. The input button obviously switches between the various inputs, but it also switches between the DAC's different filters. I've given these a listen on other DACs and will be completely honest that with my gear and ears, I'm not hearing a big enough difference to think it's anything but placebo effect for me. So, I'll refrain from commenting on these. The input indicators function just like you'd expect. The volume knob is a treat. It's a great size, turns very smoothly, and includes a marking to indicate the current volume setting. I mentioned that it's a nice size. This is important to me, as it allowed me to really fine-tune the volume with not only headphones but also IEM. 
 
So I mentioned above that I would've preferred the black X1S. Why? Well, the silver X1S's text is quite low contrast. The text is nicely visible in the picture I took, but under normal lighting it's much harder to read. Contrast that with the black X1S's high contrast white text, which would be highly visible under a wider range of lighting conditions. My other niggle here is that despite loving the nice large, smooth volume knob, it really would benefit from the volume setting line having a bit of high contrast paint to make it visible under dim lighting conditions. Okay, enough complaining, let's get on with the rest of the review.
 
Here's the back of the X1S.
 

 
So, what do we have here? From left to right, we've got vent holes, power input, line in, line out, coax out, optical in, USB in, and the power switch. I think you've got enough inputs and outputs here to satisfy the budding audiophile, but to be completely honest, I was only interested in using the USB in and the headphone jack. I'd like to again compliment Aune for making the text readable when looking at the X1S straight on and from above. The upside down text was a nice touch!
 
I'd just like to emphasize that I thought the X1S is quite attractive and well-laid out. My minor niggle about low contrast text would be easily solved by purchasing the black X1S and carefully painting a white line in the volume knob's indicator. 
 
 
COMPUTER
I’m a Mac user, so for me the X1S was plug n play. I opened up the Audio MIDI Setup panel to set the maximum 384/32 output to find it was already configured. Basically, all I had to do was plug the X1S in, option click on the volume icon in my menubar, and choose the X1S. So easy!
 
 
SOUND
I’m the first to admit that describing sound isn’t an easy thing to do, so I’ll try to describe this as clearly and concisely as possible without waxing eloquent about subtle nuances that only the highly-trained ear will hear.  If you’re looking for that, there are other reviews that meet your needs.  I used a wide variety of gear with the X1S, from earbuds to IEM to headphones. Some of them were very easy to drive. Some were harder. And I also found an answer to the question I posed above, namely - how does the X1S sound relative to the B1 (to the best of my memory)...
 
Earbuds
I tested the X1S with the 300 Ohm VE Zen earbuds. I remember this being a magical experience with the Aune B1, and it was no different here. If anything, it was better. As soon as I plugged in and got some music going, I was immediately grooving on the music - bopping my head, tapping my toes, and having a great time getting lost in the music. It really doesn't get much better than that. With the X1S VE Zen struck a great balance between lushness and technicality. Bass was tight, mids were lush, and highs were crisp and detailed. Soundstage was good but not amazing, but I think that was a limitation of the VE Zen more than the X1S based upon listening to other gear. This might be controversial, but for me this was absolutely the best pairing. Fantastic synergy!
 
IEM 
I tested the X1S with the Torque t096z tune-able IEM I also had in for testing. I used the blue and green tuning "valves" (nozzles, really).

1. The blue valve gives a downward-sloping sound signature, with great bass response, warm mids, and smooth highs. In contrast to listening on my DAPs, bass tightened up considerably, the midrange was left alone, there was a bit more sparkle up top, and soundstage opened up quite a bit. I found this was a good pairing for nice, long listening sessions where you were reading and didn't need to fully engage with the music.
2. The green valve is a reverse checkmark type sound signature. The listening experience was similar to that with the blue valve, but it allowed the X1S's detail extraction to shine through a bit more. Still nice to relax to, but you can also hear details pop out that make you engage more. I didn't try the brighter tunings, as I'd already figured out at this point that it was a road I didn't want to travel.

Headphones
I tested the X1S with several pairs of headphones I had laying around and found I definitely preferred some more than others. 

1. AKG K553 was a pairing I just couldn't take. At all. Sounded thin, lacking bass, cold mids, and piercing treble. Pretty much the same experience I had with K553 + B1. K553 might be up for sale soon.
2. HiFiMan HE400S sounded okay but honestly not that different than out of my DAPs. If anything, it was a bit on the bright side for me here so I didn't pursue it much.
3. HiFiMan HE400 was a different story, audibly benefitting from the extra power with tighter, well-controlled bass and added emphasis on the upper mids and lower treble. This again presented a problem for me, as to my ears it accentuated the HE400's treble peaks making the mids fade away more than usual. So, I ended up leaving my HE400 by the wayside, as well.
4. Philips L1 just couldn't keep up with the X1S. If anything, they suffered from it, with the X1S pointing out just how rolled off the top end was. Was hoping things might open up in the upper mids and treble, but there was just no hope. I think these are going up for sale soon!
5. SoundMagic HP200 were pretty good, although any improvements were minor. Bass sounded just a tad tighter and the upper end didn't get too of control, which I was honestly afraid might happen with these.

 
So what were my conclusions about the X1S? Well, first and foremost the X1S reminded me of a leveled-up B1. I could definitely hear a family resemblance. Hearing that, I quickly remembered my favorite pairing with the B1 - my VE Zen - and they didn't disappoint! I also really enjoyed the Torque t096z with the X1S. I plugged them in on a whim, and they sounded really good - much better than I expected, in fact. It was a pleasant surprise. So, those were the pleasant surprises. What else? Well, I found that I either didn't get good synergy with my full-size headphones or they simply lacked the capacity to scale with the X1S. The X1S made me reevaluate what headphones I want to keep and helped me make the decision to put a couple up for sale soon.
 
If I were looking for a pair of headphones to synergize with the X1S, based on my listening I'd go with a warm sound signature with a smooth upper end. This isn't the type of sound signature I typically go for, but as long as the headphone scale well I found this worked really well. It allows the X1S's detail retrieval to shine through without making the sound overly bright. That's just me. I'll remind you that  I listen to a lot of electronic and metal, music with extremes - so your mileage may vary.
 
Driving Power
The X1S had absolutely no problem powering anything I threw at it, and I was even able to use my Mac's volume control + the X1S's volume control to fine tune the volume when using sensitive IEM.
 
Channel Imbalance
Nothing jumped out at me even at very quiet listening level with sensitive IEM, which usually allows me to detect imbalance quickly.
 
Hiss
Nope. Nada. Even with sensitive IEM. I am 43 years old, however, so if you're younger with bat-like hearing your mileage may vary!
 
 
SUMMARY
I really enjoyed having he opportunity to review the X1S. It was a great learning experience for me, not only with desktop gear, which is new for me - but also in really testing out how far my earbud, IEM, and headphone collection can scale. When I found gear that scaled and synergized well with the X1S, it was a fantastic listening experience. For me, the VE Zen epitomized this. I was blown away by this combination and would encourage other to test it out. On the other side of the coin, I found that many of my headphones were quite simply a poor fit with the X1S to my ears. This is nothing against the X1S. In fact, I'm happy the X1S pointed this out to me.
 
I really appreciated the X1S's great design. I'm a sucker for simple design with clean lines, and the X1S's sleek anodized aluminum case pushed a lot of buttons for me there. However, the silver X1S's low contrast text was a let down. I'd encourage Aune to use higher contrast markings with the next iteration. For now, I'd encourage those of you looking to purchase the X1S to strongly consider the black X1S with its high contrast white text. If I were to get really finicky, I suppose I'd ask for a low gain option. But for my use case, I could always use a combination of computer volume + X1S volume controls to make fine-tuning the volume easier.
 
I'll leave you with one more picture, my favorite combination of the X1S + VE Zen...
 


 
Thanks again to Aune for giving me the opportunity to give review the X1S. I had a lot of fun, and it introduced me to a new facet of this hobby that I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun exploring in the future!

Image courtesy of HiFiMan

 

INTRODUCTION

The HE400S is HiFiMan's latest offering in the HE400 series of open-back over-ear planar headphones. I first read about them in a teaser email HiFiMan sent out and was intrigued. I'd already read about the HE400i but didn't think it was what I was looking for. The HE400S however looked pretty interesting as an entry-level, easy to drive planar. The concept isn't new. Oppo's planars are also easy to drive. I've tested out the PM-2, but it wasn't what I was looking for, either. So what am I looking for? Well, I'm looking for something along the lines of my HE400 but with improved ergonomics and more even top end. Those two things (improved ergonomics + more even top end) would sell me a new HiFiMan HE400 series headphone. Is HE400S that headphone? Nope, it's not. It's a much more conventional sound signature than the HE400. Does that make the HE400S untenable for me? Perhaps, but I'd like to take some time to explain to you, as a dedicated HE400 fan, what I liked and what could be improved about the HE-400S. I hope it's useful for those of you looking to purchase a new headphone and are considering the HE400S.
 
Before I get started with the review, I'd like to provide a few links and encourage you to read over the other HE400S reviews on Head-Fi for alternative points of view.
 
HiFiMan HE400S page: LINK.
 
Headfonia review: LINK.
 
Dedicated HE400S thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from HiFiMan for writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with HiFiMan, and this is my honest opinion of the HE400S.  I would like to thank HiFiMan for giving me a chance to test drive the HE400S, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for HiFiMan.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days.  I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time.  Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...

 
 

SPECS

1. Frequency Response : 20Hz – 35KHz  
2. Sensitivity : 98dB  
3. Impedance : 22 Ohms  
4. Weight : 350g  
5. Cable Length : 1.5 m  
6. Plug : 3.5mm L-type plug

 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

I'll let the packaging speak for itself. Let's just say that compared to when I purchased my HE-400, HiFiMan has stepped up their game considerably!


 
Open the box, and you see the HE400S looking up at you.

 
Open up the small black paper box at the bottom of the package, and you'll find the cable and a 1/4" adapter (not pictured). Since HiFiMan is marketing this as an easy to drive, portable headphone, the plug is L-shaped and small enough to fit into the rather small headphone jack opening in my iPhone's case.

 
Ok, that was pretty simple. As mentioned above, compared to the HiFiMan packaging for the original HE400, this is miles ahead. HiFiMan really stepped up their game here.
 
Accessories are sparse, but what more do you really need? A case, maybe? Not at this price point. HiFiMan will sell you one at a reasonable price, though.
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

Here, I'm going to present some pics comparing the original HE400 to the HE400S and point out my likes and dislikes.

 
First off, I find the HE400S to be a very attractive headphone in general but especially in comparison to the HE400.
 
I'm not using the stock HiFiMan cable, because it came in an ungodly length, so I got an aftermarket OFC cable that is a much more reasonable length. It's basically the same length as the HE400S cable, so for me HiFiMan nailed it with HE400S cable length.
 
The coaxial-type connectors used on the HE400 are a pain to attach. I much prefer the standard headphone jack type connector used on the HE400S. Also, please notice that the connectors on the HE400 come straight down out of the cup, whereas the HE400S connectors come out at an angle. I prefer the HE400S's implementation, which allows the cables to fall away from shoulders instead of straight down onto them as with my HE400.
 
Final thing to point out in the picture above is that there are defined headband adjustments in the HE400S, whereas the HE400's headband slides freely. I prefer the HE400's implementation, as I constantly find myself needing to adjust to 3 clicks on one side and 4 clicks on the other with the HE400S. That makes it feel just slightly off-balance to me. Nothing egregious - just a slight bit off.
 
 


 
Let's drill down a bit further into the headband and cups. The HE400's headband was never that comfortable for me. As you can see, I modded it with a Sennheiser headband pad. This makes HE400 more comfortable but dramatically limits how much I can adjust the headband. In fact, as you can see I need the headband adjusted to almost full height vs. under half the usable height with the HE400S. The HE400S's suspension headband on the other hand, is much more comfortable. It was a breath of fresh air coming from the HE400.
 
The HE400's metal cups and double-sided drivers make them quite heavy, whereas the HE400S's plastic cups and single-sided drivers make them feel feather light in comparison. Again, this adds tremendously to the HE400S's increased comfort over his older brother.
 
The HE400's velour pads are much stiffer than the HE400S's. The HE400S's pads are also angled, which allows them to better fit the contour of your head. Anther ergonomic win for the HE400S.
 
Last thing is that you might notice is that the L/R markings are completely worn off my HE400. I slapped on a couple pieces of lab tape with the L/R markings on them.
 
To sum up this section, there are many ergonomic improvements implemented in the HE400S that make it an easy win with respect to comfort over the older HE400. I joked in the HE400S thread that I was glad HiFiMan modernized the HE400 series, because the HE400 was starting to feel like a Cold War relic.
 
As mentioned above, I've also tried out the Oppo PM-2 open planars. I found the HE400S to have superior ergonomics, much preferring the HE400S's suspension headband and spacious cups. In comparison, the PM-2 feel crowded. I've got a relatively small head, so I can't imagine how people with larger heads squeeze into the PM-2 without serious comfort and heat issues during long-term listening sessions. No such problems with the HE400S. Of course, YMMV.
 
 

SOUND

I'm going to keep this section simple. Other reviewers have done a superb job describing the sound, so if you need further clarification or prefer a deep dive please refer to their reviews.
 
I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. During my time with the HE400S, I used them with my iPhone, as well as various DAPs and amps. I didn't find these scaled as well as my HE400, so while you're better off with a DAP or amp it's not necessary like it is with my HE400. With that out of the way, how do the HE400S sound?
 

 
I'm not going to say anything that reinvents the wheel here. If you've read some of the other reviews or been on the HE400S thread, you've probably gathered that they're a pretty conventional mid-centric sound that lacks a bit in extension on either side. It's a nice, smooth listening experience that won't easily offend anyone. So, if you're looking for a more conventional sound signature in a planar, then these might be right up your alley.
 
My 2yo son rocking' some Music Together with the HE400S 

 
In comparison with the Oppo PM-2, with the gear I used the HE400S sound fairly similar but with an improved soundstage and at a lower price point. This is from memory, so add a grain of salt, please.
 
In comparison with my HE400, the HE400S just can't match the HE400's full, rich, warm and impactful low end, the HE400's sparkle up top, or the HE400's holographic soundstage. However, the HE400S makes up for it with a much more prominent midrange and a distinct lack of treble spikes.
 
Still rocking' the Music Together but now with HE400. Doesn't look quite as happy this time, does he? Might be those Cold War ergonomics coming into play 

 
 

SUMMARY

So what do I think of the HE400S? If I didn't have the original HE400, I think I'd be tempted to purchase a pair of HE400S. They've got a nice conventional sound, are very comfortable, and look great. However, being intimately familiar with the HE400, I'm left wanting more of that unique character that makes the original HE400 a special, if controversial, pair of headphones. In this reviewer's opinion, it would behoove HiFiMan to consider bringing a headphone to market with HE400's basic sound signature but with a more even top end and the modernized design and ergonomics of the HE400S. That's a headphone I'm ready to buy! Now!!! Please!!!!!
 
Again, I'd like to thank HiFiMan for providing a pair of HE400S for review. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and look forward to future offerings from HiFiMan and hope to try their mid and upper tier planars at some point.

GEEK TRIVIA: The VE RUNABOUT was named after this Star Trek spacecraft. I love Star Trek, ergo I must love the VE RUNABOUT! 
 
INTRODUCTION

The RUNABOUT (RA) is the first portable amp from VE (Venture Electronics), an up and coming audio company from China most famous around Head-Fi for their outstanding ZEN earbuds. I got a chance to hear the ZEN earbuds earlier in the summer and was blown away. They sound amazing for the price and scale very nicely. When I heard that VE was releasing an IEM and amp, I was excited to give them a listen. Luckily, I received the RA and a pair of DUKE for review. 
 
Before diving into my review, please take a moment to check out @Hisoundfi's review of the RA: LINK.
 
There's also a dedicated thread for the RA: LINK.
 
 
DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from VE in writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with VE, and this is my honest opinion of the RA.  I would like to thank Lee at VE for giving me the chance to test drive the RA, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for VE.
 
 
ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days.  I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time.  Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...

 
 
SPECS

1. Output voltage swing 3V RMS
   
2. 32Ω @ 150mW / 300Ω @ 55mW
   
3. Low Gain=3.4X, High Gain=5.7X
   
4. TI TLE2426, BUF634, JRC 4556AD
   
5. VISHAY wafer chip resistors and MBB0207 series resistance
   
6. BC Low ESR high current filter capacitor, opa pins SMD AVX tantalum decoupling
   
7. Handpicked BI potentiometer
   
8. Taiwan SH gold seal power switch, (life span=100k times)  (SPL amp also use the switches from SH)
   
9. Japanese OTAX small sealed switch for gain adjustment
   
10. TYCO fully shielded headphone jack
    
11. KEYSTONE 590 battery shrapnel
    
12. All RC components are hand-picked +SMIC soldering.
    

 
 
Here's a glamour shot of the RA's internals.
Picture courtesy of VE.
 
 


PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES



Since this was a pre-release unit intended solely for review, it wasn't commercially packaged. I simply received a plain cardboard box with the RA inside generously wrapped in bubble wrap. I've seen the commercial packaging for VE's earbuds and IEM, and it's simple yet attractive with generous accessories.
 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
The RA has a classic DIY amp look about it that is reminiscent of my old Portaphile, but the RA has much better build quality. The amp is a mostly metal construction with a matte black finish. In contrast to my old Portaphile, the RA's front and back plates are metal and not plastic. The metal case is also fairly thick which makes the RA feel very solid but heavy in comparison with other amps I've owned or auditioned. It's more of a transportable design that you can stack with your DAP and thrown in a bag. It's definitely not something you're going to want to put in your jeans pocket. 
 
The front plate is held on with hex screws, so keep a hex wrench set handy if you want to open it up. From left to right, we've got the largish plastic volume pot, line in, plastic gain switch, headphone out, and power indicator that lights up GREEN when in use. As you can see all of the functions are marked very clearly in high-contrast white on black. After trying a few amps with very low-contrast markings recently, this was certainly refreshing and well-appreciated. Bravo, VE! Bravo, I say!!!

Picture courtesy of VE.
 
The rear plate is held on with thumb screws. This makes it easy to remove for changing out the 9V battery. From left to right, we've got a 15V receptacle, metal on/off switch, and an LED that is associated with either charging or using mains - not sure as there wasn't a 15V adapter included so the light never came on for me.

Picture courtesy of VE.
 
As I mentioned before, the RA is more transportable than portable. It's mainly due to its thickness. The length and width are actually comparable to the Fiio E12, however the RA is twice as thick as the E12. The following pictures would illustrate that pretty well with the RA vs. my Fiio E12A.

 

 
What do I like about the RA's build? It feel very solidly built and durable. The switches have good resistance, so you shouldn't have to worry about them being flicked into the wrong position by accident. The jacks have a nice click as your interconnect or plug slides in. The power indicator LED isn't blinding. And I LOVE the high-contrast white on black labeling.
 
What could be improved? I'd love to see more resistance built int the volume pot. It's buttery smooth and very easy to turn in comparison to other amps I've owned/tried - almost too easy to turn. In fact, I've accidentally nudged the volume into uncomfortable territory with sensitive HP & IEM. My other (more minor) niggle is that the battery is quite tight inside the amp to the point where I decided it would be better to slightly loosen the front plate than slap the amp against the palm of my hand repeatedly. Once the front plate is slightly loose, the battery slips out quite easily. This is a double-edged sword. Having the battery fit tightly ensures it isn't rattly around inside the case, which is the case with my Portaphile. However, it does make it a bit of a pain to swap batteries. I did bring this up with VE and was assured that it is tight by design to prevent the battery from rattling around. Luckily the RA is like the Energizer Bunny of amps and just keeps chugging along. I've used it EXTENSIVELY for a few weeks and haven't had to change out the battery yet. Again, Bravo VE!!!
 
 
 
 
SOUND
The RA has a clean, detailed sound and very natural soundstage that I'm surprised to find at the ~$100 price point. On the RA​ thread, it has been compared quite favorably to the Cayin C5. I no longer have the Cayin C5 on hand for comparison. From memory, the C5 has a more v-shaped sound signature with a warmer, slower low end and added sparkle up top that gives it a very spacious presentation. In contrast, the RA sounds very balanced from top to bottom with a less spacious but perhaps more natural presentation.
 
The RA was designed to be paired with VE's DUKE IEM and ZEN earbuds, and it does sound great with them as well as VE's mid-tier earbud, the ASURA. In fact, the RA's clean neutral sound was quite complementary with all of the earbuds, HP,and IEM I threw at it, including Heir 3.Ai and 4.Ai, TPEOS Altone200, Trinity Delta, and VE DUKE IEM + VE MONK, ASURA, and ZEN earbuds + HiFiMan HE-400S an HE-400 HP.
 
PRO TIP: Buy VE's $5 MONK earbuds, connect to a 50-100 Ohm resistance adapter to tighten up the low end and add some sparkle up top, and pair with the RA. I think you'll be mighty impressed!
 
 
DRIVING POWER
RA has plenty of driving power on High Gain to make VE's 300 Ohm ZEN earbuds sing, so it should work well with a lot of your "serious" cans. In fact, you can get the ZEN to ear implosion levels if you want. Even Low Gain has a lot of driving power, which is one of my niggles with the RA. As with a lot of portable amps, it's tricky to use with sensitive HP & IEM. A small turn of the volume pot goes a long way with a lot of my collection. It's really no different in this respect than amps like Cayin's C5 and Fiio's E11k or E12. Turn it a bit too far, and you reach ear implosion levels pretty quickly. Couple this with the butter smooth volume pot, and be prepared to turn the volume pot slowly and carefully with your sensitive HP & IEM. You have been forewarned!
 
I did find an easy workaround with my gear, which was to use my iBasso DX90 as the source. The DX90 has a variable line out, so I simply turned the volume down to 225 out of 255. This allowed me to get much more travel out of the volume pot. Turning it down a bit lower would give you even more control for really fine-tuning the volume but would take you even further away from the ideal full-volume line out. I felt that 225 was a good compromise.
 
Oh yeah, despite the generous driving power, it doesn't get hot. Not even remotely close. It's always felt cool to slightly warm.
 
 
SUMMARY
The RA is a really good first portable amp from VE. It nails a clean, detailed, and natural sound that paired well with a lot of my gear. In a market where "style" has led several manufacturers to design amps with low-contrast, hard to read labeling, I just have to mention again how much I appreciate the very clear white on black labeling VE used on the RA. I also appreciate the long battery life - simply amazing!
 
Suggestions for improvement in a second-generation RA would be to lower the gain (at least in low gain) to make it easier for those without a variable line out to have fine-grained volume control with sensitive HP & IEM. I'd also like to see a bit more resistance on the volume pot. If it could be bundled with a rechargeable 9V and DC adapter without raising the price too much, that would also be nice. USB charging would be even better. I'd love to simply plug the RA in via USB wherever I'm at and keep it topped off. Keeping a couple rechargeable 9V batteries on hand isn't that much of an inconvenience, though. If there were a way to cram the RA's great sound and awesome battery life into a thinner case, that would be icing on the cake. I challenge VE to make these adjustments with the next version of the RA. If they do, my rating will creep up to 4.5 to 5 stars.
 
Thanks again to Lee at VE for providing me with a review sample.

INTRODUCTION

The DUKE is the first IEM from VE (Venture Electronics), an up and coming audio company from China most famous around Head-Fi for their outstanding ZEN earbuds. I got a chance to hear the ZEN earbuds earlier in the summer and was blown away. They sounded amazing for the price and scaled very nicely. When I heard that VE was releasing an IEM and amp, I was excited to give them a listen. Luckily, I received a pair of DUKE for review along with VE's new portable amp the RUNABOUT. 
 
Before diving into my review, please take a moment to check out @peter123's review of the DUKE: LINK.
 
There's also a dedicated thread for the DUKE: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from VE in writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with VE, and this is my honest opinion of the DUKE IEM.  I would like to thank Lee at VE for giving me the chance to test drive the DUKE, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for VE.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days.  I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time.  Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...

 
 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Since this was a pre-release unit intended solely for review, they weren't commercially packaged. Accessories consisted of a wide variety of tips. You get single and double flange silicon tips with narrow and wide bore openings. You get triple flange tips with narrow bore openings. All in various sizes to ensure you find the right tip. You also get a pair of Comply-style foamies. I didn't receive one, but I learned that the final package will include a small, grid-sectioned box to corral all those tips. There's a very compact black pelican-style case to hold he DUKE while not in use. You'll also get a shirt clip.
 
Here's a picture I grabbed from the VE website to give you an idea of what final packaging will be like. Please note that you will receive a lot more tips than this in that handy tip box I mentioned earlier.
 

Picture courtesy of VE
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

Let's get a closeup of the DUKE. As you can see, the DUKE has a quite petite barrel-shaped IEM with metal shells. These are a micro-driver IEM, so the driver is sitting just behind the mesh. Strain reliefs are small but feel adequate. Anything bulkier would honestly feel out of place here. There are raised L and R characters on the strain reliefs. I would've preferred just a dot on one of the strain reliefs for easier blind operation. I was pleasantly surprised when I removed the pictured stock double flange tips to find VE's signature logo and URL written around the lip of the nozzle. Nice touch!
 

Picture courtesy of VE
 
 
On the rear of each shell is VE's logo and DUKE in a fancy script font, along with the vent hole. I like it. Adds character without going overboard.
 

Picture courtesy of VE
 
 
The cable is very utilitarian - pliable, rugged, low microphonics, terminated in an L-plug but missing a chin slider. No "fashionable" glossy, overly microphonic, stiff, springy cable here (I'm looking straight at you SoundMagic and TPEOS). Thank you VE!!!
 
 

Picture courtesy of VE
 
In my opinion, the DUKE are most comfortable worn down. I'm a wear 'em down kind of guy anyway, so this worked out in my favor. However, they can be worn over ear, as well. The only downside with that is that you'll want to DIY a chin slider. @peter123 DIY'ed one with a black plasticized twist-tie. You could also use a small elastic band (like those used in braces or to secure children's toys to their packaging, maddening parents everywhere!). Again, being a wear 'em down kind of guy, I didn't fuss around with DIY'ing a chin slider. I just attached a shirt clip and was ready to rock!
 
As @peter123 mentioned in his review, DUKE achieve best sound with a relatively deep insertion. Luckily the DUKE are tiny, so the shell + tip fit into my canals easily. After insertion, I found them comfortable and secure.
 
I wore them while wandering around the neighborhood, and I didn't get a lot of footfall, microphonics, or wind noise. 
 
So to sum up, overall build quality and aesthetics are quite good. I don't have any concerns about these falling apart anytime soon. I liked it that an L-shaped plug was used. There isn't a cinch, but it wasn't a big deal for me, since I wore them down and used a shirt clip. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I'm really glad there were no mic or controls to futz around with!
 
 

SOURCES

With my iPhone 5S, I'm running the DUKE at just under 50% volume. While you can achieve quite aloud volume with the iPhone, I found the sound to be lacking in the low end and harsh up top. This made the DUKE sound thin and overly etched to my ears. Luckily, VE included a pre-production RUNABOUT amp for review (coming soon...). After playing around a bit, I found I preferred the following setup: iBasso DX90 LO with volume set to 225 -> VE RUNABOUT (RA) on High Gain -> DUKE. Using the DX90 allowed me to take advantage of it's variable LO, making it possible for me to use the RA on High Gain and still maintain fine control over volume. 
 
I also tried DUKE with my Fiio E12A and E12 DIY (with OPA627) but much preferred the RA. I'll go into why I liked the RA in an upcoming review, but for now I'll just say that RA warmed up the low end slightly without negatively impacting bass speed, while retaining the vivid, detailed upper end and natural soundstage. The Fiio amps, while quite good, altered the DUKE's character too much, making it overly relaxed.
 
 

SOUND

Describing sound is a work on progress for me, so I'm going to keep this section simple. As mentioned above, I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. For critical listening, I volume match. I also take some quick n dirty measurements after listening to validate my listening notes.
 
As mentioned above, the setup I most typically used was DX90 -> RA -> DUKE. I've listened to the DUKE for a few weeks now as my primary IEM, so I've had a lot of ear time with these. 
 
One final thing I'd like to mention before moving on to sound descriptions is how important insertion depth and tip choice is for the DUKE. I know, I know... You hear that in almost all IEM reviews these days. I find in most cases, it's more of a subtle refinement in sound. With DUKE, it's the difference between an overly sharp, etched upper end and a detailed, vivid upper end. If you find the upper end harsh / sharp after burn-in and a short acclimation period, try inserting them deeper and using either narrow bore silicon tips or foamies. I alternate between these two types of tips and haven't made a final choice yet. If you've burned them in, tried all the tips in your arsenal and deep insertion, then these aren't for you, my friend. Move on to something else...
 
With that out of the way, how do the DUKE sound like? It's very detailed without being overly analytical, retaining enough low end warmth to remain musical but not at all bloated.
 
Bass is relatively linear and well-extended with a slight mid-bass lift. It has good texture and is quick. It responds well to EQ, so if you want it a bit punchier just bump up the lower bands. BAM!!!
 
Mids are tuned towards the upper mids. Lower mids are neutral, while there's a lot of energy in the upper mids and lower treble - and that's where the DUKE can get into trouble. If not handled properly, they overly emphasize sibilance and give cymbals and higher guitar notes an etched sound. With the right fit, the upper mids and lower treble sound quite vivid and convey a lot of detail. 

Treble is crisp and well extended, again adding energy and air to the presentation.

Soundstage and separation are quite good, but I found these to be pretty source dependent. If your source conveys these characteristics well, the DUKE will pass that on to your ears.
 
I found the DUKE had some similar characteristics to my TPEOS Altone200, so I thought I'd compare them. A200 have been relatively well-characterized, so hopefully this will be a good point of reference for people. Compared to the DUKE, I found:

1. A200 had a bit more mid-bass, making the bass punchier but also less nimble.
2. A200 mids sounded thinner and more nasal.
3. A200 upper end had less detail / resolution. 
4. Soundstage and separation were comparable, but A200 sounded less natural / coherent.

 
 

SUMMARY

So what's the take away? Out of the box, DUKE are a bit of a wild beast to be tamed. But once you find the right fit and tips, you get quick, relatively linear bass, clean mids, and a detailed, vivid upper end. It's like a slightly warmed-up analytical signature. If you're after more bass punch or want a more relaxed sound signature, EQ can always be brought to bear. The small housing and barrel shape makes them an easy, comfortable fit. Personally, I find them very aesthetically pleasing.
 
What could be improved? I think the DUKE could be improved by tuning down the upper mid and lower treble peaks a bit, making them less fit and tip dependent. I'd also like to see the L/R markings improved to allow blind operation and a chin cinch to make life easier for over the ear types. 
 
Again, I'd like to thank VE for giving me the chance to hear their initial IEM offering. The DUKE are a great first offering and show the level of seriousness this new company takes with crafting high-quality audio products. Keep your eye on VE, folks!

INTRODUCTION

The Encore RockMaster OE is a new crowd-funded Over Ear Headphone from SonicUnity, and new audio company formed by Rick Hopkins. Rick's a music industry veteran who's helped with concert design for a number of amazing bands, including one of my all-time faves - Rush. To design the RockMaster OE, Rick turned to a trusted name in portable audio products - NuForce co-founder Jason Lim.
 
Before we get started with the review, please take a moment and head over to Encore's indiegogo page and skim over the info: LINK.
 
You can also find @Armaegis@Armaegis's take on the RockMaster IE here: LINK.
 
And the Headfonics review here: LINK.
 
And finally, here's RockMaster OE dedicated thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from SonicUnity in writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with SonicUnity, and this is my honest opinion of the RockMaster OE.  I would like to thank SonicUnity for giving me a chance to test drive the RockMaster OE, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for SonicUnity.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days.  I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time.  Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...

 
 

SPECS

1. Frequency Response: 20–20,000 Hz
2. Impedance: 32 ohm
3. Sensitivity: 107 dB
4. 50mm dynamic speaker driver
5. Soft and breathable memory foam ear pad and padded head band for exceptional comfort.
6. Replaceable braided fabric-jacket 3.5mm male-to-male headphone cable

 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Since this was a pre-release unit intended solely for review, there was no packaging. I just received the RockMaster OE and detachable cable.
 
Here's what the final packaging will look like:

 
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

Here's the RockMaster OE courtesy of SonicUnity:

 
As mentioned above, you get a detachable cable wrapped in braided nylon. Feel free to experiment all you cable tweakers 
 
The headphones are plastic and metal and seem quite durable. In fact @Armaegis gave them the "throw them down the stairs test", and they survived to live another day!
 
Pads are rectangular and have a generous fit, which should make over ear fit easy for all ear sizes. I don't often find myself saying this, but I'd love to see a thinner pad on these. I think that'd help me with the fit issues I experienced. I'd also love to see a velour pad to wear when it's hot out.
 
Since the headband is metal, you can bend it to improve fit. This is important, as I guess I must have a small head. I'm an average height guy (5' 10"), but the headband on these was too big for me on the smallest setting, and clamp force was quite low. This caused a poor fit which compromised the sound for me, making it difficult for me to accurate gauge the RockMaster OE's performance. Frustrated, I set them aside for while. After a bit of back and forth with Jason Lim, I decided to give two tweaks a shot. 1. Bend the headband, improving fit on my narrow head. 2. Compress the ear pads. Both of these tweaks helped immensely, and the SonicUnity team is considering this feedback to help improve the final product. Nice!
 
 

SOUND

I'm going to keep this section simple. I appreciate reviewers who wax eloquent, describing each peak and valley - but for me that's still a work in progress. Other reviewers have done a superb job describing the sound, so if you need further clarification please refer to their reviews.
 
As mentioned above, I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. During my time with the RockMaster OE, I've used them with my iPhone, as well as various DAPs and Amps. I didn't find source mattered much for these. With that out of the way, how do the RockMaster IE sound like?
 
As mentioned above, my experience with the RockMaster OE has been a bit Jekyll & Hyde. I get quite sound signatures depending on ear placement within the cup - more so than with other headphones I own. I typically place my ears as far back in the cups as possible to increase the sense of space and imaging. With RockMaster OE, this does help with space and imaging but for me turns the sound overly bass-enhanced and soft up top. Placing my ears dead center in the cups tightens up the bass and brings out the upper end a bit more, making it a much more balanced sound without degrading space and imaging too much. Placing my ears all the way forward in the cups gives these a an even more balanced sound. It's actually fun to play around with this aspect of the RockMaster IE. I'm a big IEM guy, and this part of the experience reminds me of tip rolling with my IEM.
 
So, we've established that the sound signature is quite dependent on placement within the ear cup. Two other tangentially related factors for altering sound signature and quality with RockMaster OE are clamp force and distance from ear to driver. I mentioned above that the headband was too big for me, making for a loose fit with low clamp force. This was partially remedied by bending the headband and impressing the ear pads overnight. However, it didn't completely do the trick. I found that pressing the cups during listening sessions gave more typical clamp force, improved the seal, and brought the drivers closer to my ears. This gave a very positive result, tightening up the bass and bringing the upper end forward for what I'd cal a dramatic improvement in sound quality.
 
So, for best overall sound, I found the following tweaks important: improving fit by ending the headband and compressing the pads, placing my ears near all the way to the back inside the ear cups, and pressing on the cups during listening. All of this gave me a nice u-shaped sound signature that was an engaging listening experience. It was, however, some added or on the end user's part. I mentioned this to the development team, and they're working on some fixes for the final product to give an improved out of the box experience. Nice!
 

SUMMARY

I hope the SonicUnity team works quickly to implement the tweaks I mentioned to help out those of us with smaller heads. If the sum of all those tweaks were the out of the box experience, I would've been readily impressed with the sound straight away. As it is, it took me some experimentation to eke the best out of  these, and so they'll get dinged. If I hear reports of this being fixed in the future, I'll revise my review. For the price the build quality is amazing, and the potential for quite nice sound quality is definitely there. A nice first attempt that ultimately fell short.

INTRODUCTION

The Encore RockMaster IE is a new crowd-funded IEM from SonicUnity, and new audio company formed by Rick Hopkins. Rick's a music industry veteran who's helped with concert design for a number of amazing bands, including one of my all-time faves - Rush. To design the RockMaster IE, Rick turned to a trusted name in portable audio products - NuForce co-founder Jason Lim.
 
Before we get started with the review, please take a moment and head over to Encore's indiegogo page and skim over the info: LINK.
 
You can also find @Armaegis's take on the RockMaster IE here: LINK.
 
And the Headfonics review here: LINK.
 
And finally, here's RockMaster IE dedicated thread: LINK.
 
 

DISCLAIMER

There is no financial incentive from SonicUnity in writing this review.  I am in no way affiliated with SonicUnity, and this is my honest opinion of the RockMaster IE.  I would like to thank SonicUnity for giving me a chance to test drive the RockMaster IE, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for SonicUnity.
 
 

ABOUT ME

I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days.  I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time.  Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...

 
 

SPECS

1. Balanced Armature and Dynamic Dual Driver earphones: BA driver Size: 7.9mm x 4.3mm x 2.97mm; Dynamic driver size: 9mm
2. Balanced Armature Driver delivers the speed and high frequency extension; Dynamic Driver produces deep bass and full mid range sound
3. Frequency range:  20~20KHZ
4. Impedance: 12 Ohms
5. SPL at 1KHZ: 103 ± 3db
6. Microphone & mute button
7. An assortment of rubber and foam ear inserts to provide a perfect, comfortable, custom fit

 

PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES

Since this was a pre-release unit intended solely for review, there was no packaging. Accessories consisted of S, M, and L hybrid-style silicone tips and foam tips. I let the team at SonicUnity know that I preferred the foam tips, but that they were just a bit on the small side. They responded and will be offering two sizes of foam tips with the final product to make sure everyone gets a good fit. Nice!
 
 

BUILD & ERGONOMICS

On the Indiegogo page, the RM IE are always shown worn down, like this:

 
But it's just as easy to wear them up, like this:

 
I've used a lot of IEM over the years. I started using IEM when the venerable Shure E2C were first released, and have listened to and owned a lot since then. The RockMaster IE are comfortable work up or down. I'm a wear 'em down kind of guy if I can get away with it, so I wore the RM IE down for the most part. But those wear 'em up kind of guys (and gals) out there should find them comfortable. The only caveats are they don't have a cinch (but you can always DIY one pretty easily) and wearing them up places the mic + play/pause control in an awkward spot. I'm not using those, so this wouldn't bother me in the slightest.
 
Some people are fussy about flat cables. This one is pretty narrow and supple and microphonic weren't bad, so I wasn't annoyed with it like I am some flat cables.
 
I wore them while wandering around the neighborhood, and I didn't get a lot of footfall or wind noise. This last is because they isolate well, since they have no vent holes. This is a double-edged sword of sorts, though. The lack of venting caused my one real issue with the RockMaster IE - vacuum seal and associated driver flex with silicone tips. I tried pulling up on my ear during insertion, no better. I tried pulling down on my ear during insertion, no better. Foamies solved the issue for me, though. Once I got the foams on, my problems with driver flex and the vacuum seal were gone. Whew!
 
Build quality was good. I don't have any concerns about these falling apart anytime soon. I liked it that an L-shaped plug was used. There isn't a cinch, but I don't think that's a big deal, since these didn't suffer from a lot of microphonics and you've got the mic + play/pause button to contend with.
 
 

SOURCES

The RockMaster IE was designed to sound good with your smartphone, but c'mon we're on Head-Fi. What're the chances that you're just listening with your smartphone, right? When I got the RockMaster IE, I was lucky enough to be testing out the Calyx PaT and Cozoy Astrapi and Aegis battery-free DAC/Amps. You just plug them into your smartphone and should get much better sound. How did they fare with the RockMaster iE?
 
Well, if you're looking for an entry-level improvement, your choices are the Calyx PaT and Cozoy Astrapi. Out of these, I'd easily choose the Calyx PaT. It has a slightly warm lower end that doesn't add much color to the mids, adds some sparkle up top, and improves the soundstage. Unfortunately, the Astrapi didn't play well with the RockMaster IE (or another BA IEM I tried it with), making the bass sound downright bloated, scooped out the mids, and made the upper mids and lower treble harsh and edgy.
 
If you're looking for something more upscale, the Cozoy Aegis is just amazing and will grow with your setup for quite awhile. It increases dynamics, make the bass feel quicker and punchier, mids are clear and clean, the upper end is quite resolving, and the soundstage is very natural. Somehow, the Aegis just feels right no matter what I plugged into it.
 
 

SOUND

I'm going to keep this section simple. I appreciate reviewers who wax eloquent, describing each peak and valley - but for me that's still a work in progress. Other reviewers have done a superb job describing the sound, so if you need further clarification please refer to their reviews.
 
As mentioned above, I mainly listen to experimental electronic and metal and use those genres to evaluate HP & IEM. For critical listening, I volume match. I also take some quick n dirty measurements after listening to validate my listening notes.
 
With that out of the way, how do the RockMaster IE sound like?  
 
Bass is slightly enhanced but isn't overly warm or full sounding, which is a big turn off for me. I hate that fat, bloated bass sound so prevalent in entry level IEM. Not found here, thank goodness!

Mids aren't recessed, which is a wonder at the Indiegogo price. Vocals are clear and not recessed. Neither are they overly warm and intimate. I'd say they're just on the warm side of neutral.

The upper end isn't overly energetic but still sounds fairly crisp, which is good for listening for awhile as it doesn't veer off into sibilant / piercing territory at all.

Soundstage is pretty good, too. I'm actually surprised by this because I can't find any vent holes on the RockMaster IE. Those vents usually help create a sense of space, but these are doing just fine without them.
 
Here are some listening notes vs. some pretty common IEM:

1. RM IE vs. VSD3S - VSD3S have more bass with quite a bit of mid-bass emphasis, mids are more forward, upper mids are splashier, highs have more sparkle, soundstage is more 3D. Choose VSD3S if you want a warmer, more energetic presentation.
2. RM IE vs. MA750 - MA750 have more bass with a bit of mid-bass emphasis, mids are a bit warmer, upper mids aren't as prominent, highs are splashier, soundstage is comparable but has better placement / separation. Choose MA750 if you want a somewhat similar presentation but slightly warmer and with more bass.

 
 
And now for something out of the ordinary...
 
Something struck me as I listened to the RockMaster IE. Some of you may have heard for VSONIC's elusive 16th Anniversary IEM (ANV16). For those of you who haven't, Vsonic took the revered GR07's driver, put them into the GR06 shells, and released it as a free gift with VSD2 and VSD2S. So what struck me? Well, RockMaster IE have a similar presentation to ANV16, but the RockMasters have a touch more low bass, a bit more mids, and much less peaky upper mids and treble - nice! So, if you missed out on ANV16 and want a taste, try the RockMaster IE.
 
 

SUMMARY

You're getting a really smooth response without the upper mid / treble peaks a lot of other IEM have. This makes them less shimmery / sparkly / vivid (whatever your favorite term is) but also makes them really easy to listen to for long periods of time without fatigue. Honestly, for the $30 Indiegogo price, I thought these might have some screaming BA treble peaks, but they've done a really good job controlling the BA driver in these to achieve a smooth, relatively linear listening experience.
 
And really, dual hybrid for $30? It's a no-brainer to give these a shot.

 
Photo courtesy of Cozoy
 
INTRODUCTION
I recently tested out a couple battery-powered DAC/Amp (Cayin C5DAC and Shanling H3) solutions and the battery-free Calyx PaT DAC/Amp with the goal of getting better audio out of my iPhone.  When I ran across @DJScope's post about the upcoming Cozoy Aegis, my curiosity was piqued to say the least! While I hadn't yet heard the Cozoy Astrapi, I'd read about it and the Shozy Alien and the reviews were impressive. A bit of back and forth with the Cozoy team fed my curiosity with promises of great sound that would challenge, if not surpass, many Amps, DAC/Amps, and DAPs. In short, Cozoy was confident that the Aegis would be a very competitive product.  Read on to find out if I agree with Cozoy's bravado...
 
DISCLAIMER
Cozoy loaned me a review unit. I am in no way affiliated with Cozoy, and this is my honest opinion of the Aegis. I would like to thank Cozoy for giving me the chance to test drive the Aegis, and I hope my thoughts prove useful for fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Cozoy.
 
 
ABOUT ME
I'm a 43 year old music lover who listens to a wide variety of genres and artists (but mostly electronic, metal, and modern composition these days). As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues - some upper frequency loss and mild tinnitus. 
 
My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders, and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-120, iPod, iPhone, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso. 
 
My headphone journey started with Sony MDR e888 and Eggos back in my minidisc days. I moved on to full-size Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone cans and Shure E2 and E3 IEM. Those all served me well for quite some time. Then I rediscovered Head-Fi, and my poor wallet...
 
 
SPECIFICATIONS
Here's some information about the Cozoy Aegis from their website:


 
Ok, so those are the specs and some of Cozoy's thoughts on what makes the Aegis special.  Let's see if I agree with them with the iPhone as the transport.
 
 
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
The Cozoy Aegis comes in very Apple-esque packaging.

 
 
Open the lid, and you find the Aegis nestled in velvety goodness with a ribbon to remove the Aegis and also to lift the velvety holder.

 
 
 
Here's the Aegis and accessories: micro USB to Lightning, micro USB OTG, and Micro USB to USB cables.

 
So in all, you get the Aegis and some nice short cables for connecting to Android and iOS devices, as well as computers. And that micro USB to Lightning cable means no Camera Connection Kit. That's right, kids - no CCK! Can I get an Amen? 
 
That's it, folks. But really, what more do you need? My usual gripe about the DAC/Amp manufacturer not applying a case isn't warranted here, since Aegis is a small, rugged dongle.
 
 
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
Here are the front and back of the Aegis. The small dot you see in the middle of the top face is an LED that lights up green when the Aegis is connected and ready for use. 

 
 
Bottom edge of Aegis has 3.5mm headphone jack. Top edge has micro USB input.

 
 
Here's the size in comparison with my iPhone 5s.

 
What did I like? I really like the size and aesthetics of the Aegis. Some have likened it to a coffin. I'm a sci-fi geek and think it looks like some sort of awesome alien gadget. The HP jack is nice and smooth, but there's no worry about it pulling out accidentally. The micro USB jack is solid. In fact, I've never used one that clicks in so solidly as this. It's certainly not coming out accidentally!
 
What could be better? In my opinion, the Aegis is just begging for a nice, solid metal clip on the back like the Astrapi has. You could always find some way to affix Aegis to your smartphone, but a clip would let you just clip it to your pocket or bag strap - easy-peasy. I know from interactions that Cozoy didn't want to include transport controls for technical reasons, but boy would they be nice so you could use Aegis as a simple, yet functional remote control for your smartphone. And call me nitpicky, but I'm not digging' the green LED and think a nice blue or white LED would've fit Aegis's aesthetics better, but who am I to judge...
 
 
SOUND
I used my iPhone 5S + Aegis as my audio player for several days, pairing it with a handful of HP (HiFiMan HE-400 + Philips Fidelio L1) and IEM (RockMaster IE + VE Duke). I threw in the VE Zen, as well, to test out driving capabilities at 300Ω, and it drove them without breaking a sweat! As usual, I listened to mostly electronic and metal. Below, I'll give my overarching impressions followed by some listening notes.
 
As with my recent PaT review, I'm not going to go crazy with volume-matched comparisons in this review. Aegis provides a very clear and noticeable improvement over the iPhone's already good (but not great) stock sound without coloring the sound like some other DAC/Amps I've tried. It's a very neutral, natural sound with quick, well-textured bass, clear mids, and a vivd upper end that provides a lot of detail if your HP / IEM are up to the task. Soundstage is very natural, not too intimate and not that overly large, forced sounding soundstage we sometimes encounter. Separation is also very nice. That all sounds pretty good, right? Well, the best thing is the whole package sounds great - so natural and cohesive. Moving back and forth between Astrapi, PaT and Aegis, there was absolutely no contest which was best. Aegis won hands down with whatever I threw at it.
 
So, you can probably tell that I'm pretty keen on Aegis's sound quality. Well, I just listened to the Aegis alongside my Fiio X5 and iBasso DX90 last night, and the fact that it kept up with (if not surpassed) them just floored me. I don't know what kind of voodoo those guys at Cozoy pulled with Aegis, but this tiny thing sounds amazing!
 
Here are some rough listening notes I took when comparing the Aegis with Astrapi and PaT.
 
VE Duke + Crystalline by Björk

1. Astrapi has v-shaped, sub and mid bass emphasis, no mid bleed, harsh upper mids and treble, soundstage and instrument separation sounds forced / unnatural, volume steps are pretty loud (listening on 1-3), easy to connect, plug slides in very smoothly.
2. PaT has slightly less bass presence, more mid presence, less abrasive upper mids, smaller soundstage, more cohesive sound, much more manageable volume steps, iOS transport controls, connection is a hassle (requires CCK), plug clicks in firmly.
3. Aegis has slightly less bass, more mid presence, vivid upper end, very natural soundstage, cohesive sound, volume steps are pretty loud (listening on 1-3), easy to connect, plug slides in smoothly with gentle click at end.
4. Aegis > PaT > Astrapi

RockMaster IE with Brave New World by Iron Maiden

1. Astrapi has even more enhanced bass, recessed mids, some sibilance. Surprising as RM IE are typically only slightly bass enhanced, slightly mid forward, and smooth up top. 
2. PaT has slightly enhanced bass (much less than Astrapi here) but otherwise has similar performance as with Duke.
3. Aegis is as above, bass is quick n punchy, mids are clear, highs are crisp, sound separation is good, again the preferred sound for an engaging session.
4. Aegis > PaT >> Astrapi

Philips Fidelio L1 with Well of Souls by Candlemass

1. Astrapi again boosts the bass more than the others, making L1's bass sound a bit bloated. It's better for this style of music, though. Upper mids and treble edgy / harsh. Volume 1 is already getting loud, 2 is loud, 3 is definitely getting to be too much. 
2. PaT has smaller soundstage but more controlled bass and smoother upper end. 
3. Aegis has much more controlled bass, more detailed, vivid upper end without being harsh, great soundstage, feels less compressed than the others, just wish it had better volume control. 
4. Aegis > PaT > Astrapi

HE-400 with Plonked Spectral by Richard Devine

1. Astrapi's bass sounds good here but mids sound muffled and highs are abrasive, better use of volume - listened on 3 clicks instead of 1 click, not pleasant
2. PaT sounded better than I remember and definitely better than Astrapi due to normal mid presence, volume needs to be around 2/3 to match Astrapi at 3
3. Aegis again takes the prize with more balanced, controlled, spacious sound, volume is just shy of 1/2 to match 3 clicks with Astrapi
4. Aegis > PaT >> Astrapi
5. Aegis competes very well against DX90 and X5 with HE400. I've always preferred DX90 over X5 with HE400. I think Aegis might've just taken over the top spot. 

 
 
VOLUME CONTROL
As you can probably tell from the listening notes, my biggest issue with the Aegis was volume control. It only has 7 volume steps, so unless you have separate volume control at the system and app levels it's very hard to get fine-grained volume control with Aegis. Couple this with the fact that the lowest volume step is already medium volume with easy to drive HP & IEM, and this is turning into a pretty major limitation.
 
How does this impact your user experience? Imagine you plug in some typical IEM into iPhone + Aegis and get ready to jam. You'd better make sure you've got the volume turned down all the way. No, really - please turn it down all... the... way!!! Ok, I hope I have your attention now. So now that you've got you iPhone muted, click the volume up one step to 1/16. Now you're at a med-soft volume. Click it up again to 2/16 and you're at a solid med volume. Click it up again to 3/16 and it's exactly the same volume as 2/16. Click it up again to 4/16 and it's getting pretty loud. Click it up again to 5/16, and it's exactly the same volume as 4/16. Getting the picture? The volume just gets too loud too fast for my comfort. Pray you don't accidentally click up the volume button a few times while you're listening, or your eardrums may implode!
 
This was a real bummer for me, and it will be for a lot of iDevice users out there, as well. There is a work around I'll describe below, but it's for music stored on your iDevice. I didn't find any solutions for this limitation with streaming services, which would be one of my biggest use case scenarios for the Aegis. If it wasn't for this, I'd easily give the Aegis 4.5 stars.
 
So how do you overcome this? Well, the guys at Cozoy suggested I try out an iPhone app called KaiserTone, which is primarily a hi-res music player. At first I was reluctant, but I finally gave in and boy was it a game changer for my Aegis experience. Why? Well, KaiserTone has two, that's right two volume control buttons - Volume + Gain. I found the most effective way to utilize these controls was to set Volume to max and use Gain to control the volume. This completely avoids the large, discrete volume steps imposed by the Aegis, allowing very fine-grained volume control. But again, this is only with music stored on your iDevice and isn't a solution for streaming services.
 
KaiserTone

 
KaiserTone's Volume + Gain controls


Oh yeah... By the way, UP THE IRONS!!!
 
 
BATTERY DRAIN + HEAT
I found it chewed through my iPhone's battery at the rate of ~20% per hour, so listen for a while and then charge. I can't see dinging the Aegis for this, as it is a battery-free device. It's got to get power from somewhere, and that somewhere is your iPhone. So, I keep an Anker battery pack in my bag just in case I go crazy and really drain my iPhone's battery. But on the plus side, you only have to charge one device!
 
The aluminum case is a great conductor, keeping the internal temperature regulated for optimal performance. What does that mean for you? It means the Aegis will get pretty warm. It didn't get hot in my opinion, but you will notice that it heats up as you use it.
 
 
COMPUTER USAGE
I'm not going to focus on this in this review. As mentioned in the introduction, my intent was to evaluate the Aegis with my iPhone to improve my streaming experience and evaluate it's usefulness as a DAP alternative. What I will say is that the Aegis connected seamlessly to my MacBook Pro but suffered the same volume control issues, so I again had to control volume by setting a "static" system volume setting and controlling the volume with the media app I was using. This wasn't so bad though, as all the media apps I use have their own independent volume control which allowed smooth, fine-grained volume control. However, I was floored by how good it sounded. I think it actually made more of a difference with my MacBook Pro than it did with my iPhone! 
 
 
HI-RES
Yup, it works just as advertised. Other than that, I'm not going to comment on this since it can lead to endless argument over any perceived benefits of hi-res files...
 
 
SUMMARY
The Cozoy Aegis is an impressive little audio gadget. I love the sound and am floored by how such a tiny device can keep up with larger battery-powered Amps, DAC/Amps, and DAPs. I also love the fact that it doesn't require the dreaded CCK. The cool, sci-fi aesthetics are just icing on the cake (for me, anyway). I'd love to give it top marks, but the volume control limitations (despite workarounds) are just too glaring. There's also the fairly aggressive battery drain, although not listening for hours on end and keeping a charger handy will help. 
 
Suggestions for improvement for the next iteration are giving us fine-grained volume control, which would solve what I see is a major issue with the Aegis. I'd also love to see a clip just like on the Astrapi. And if it can be implemented without compromising sound quality, I'd love to see transport controls like on the PaT. Give me those and a 256GB (or more iPhone), and it's bye-bye DAPs!
 
Again, I'd like to thank Cozoy for providing an Aegis for testing.