Okay this review keeps getting delayed and I apologize. I often type my reviews as I listen to whatever device is under review. This usually works for me but I have a problem with the TGD (the Korean brand name for what we know as T-Peos) Rasiel "Killing Sound" earphones. I like the sound so much that I get lost in the music and I stop typing. This is not a good thing when you're offering a review.
 
So much for being objective. I like these inexpensive, pretty, comfortable earphones with their "vacuum tube" sound.
 
BTW as part of the normal disclosure T-Peos reached out to me and asked if I'd do a review of the Rasiel earphones. There was no incentive offered nor asked for and as previous reviews show I won't hesitate in giving my honest opinion. In a previous life I was a news reporter, community newspaper editor and group editor of a bunch of Canadian national magazines I had a pretty tough reputation for honest reporting and it's a tradition I bring to my reviews of audio equipment.
 
In my reviews I rarely talk about packaging, accessories or highly technical information which I leave to others. My reviews focus on two things really. Did I enjoy my experience with the unit in question and is it worth the price?
 
Again for background I tend to compare audio components as a way to determine if I like what I am hearing. I've had other earphones from T-Peos (D-202N and Baguette earphones both of which I liked...a lot). I also have Shure 535s and Dunu Titan 1s and I'll be using all of these in the review. In addition my reference units are Audeze LCD-Xs and a bunch of lesser headphones (Sennheiser Momentum on ear - which are terrific; Sennheiser 590s and modified 439s and Fostex T50RPs all of which won't be considered in this review.
 
Also I normally drag out a bunch of DACs and amps (Fostex HP-8ac; Aune 1Xs, and a bunch of very serviceable Fiios along with a Picollo amp., Aune B1 and again a bunch of Fiios. Reviews around here can take nearly a hundred hours of listening if I get something that is really challenging.
 
THERE'S NO CHALLENGE HERE
 
But there's no challenge here when it comes to the Rasiel earphones. If you're looking for something that's fun to listen to and is as comfortable as old socks then the Rasiel's are for you.
 
There are some serious audio issues but we'll come to that soon enough.
 
Here's what's great about the Rasiels. These are one of the very few in-ear earphones that I can leave in for hours and hours at a time and this with the standard rubber tip. Some of the other in-ears needed changes to their tips to be comfortable and even then after an hour or so my ears were happy to have a break. Not the Rasiels. In my ears they rest perfectly. There's something to be said about earphones that are actually comfortable right out of the box. (It took me weeks to get used to the Sennheiser on-ear headphones. Painful break-in but worth the effort.)
 
But not all is perfect in Rasiel heaven. When the earbuds are pushed into the audio canal they create a seal and a near-perfect seal causes the huge boost in the bass. It's a lot like hitting the bass boos on my Fiio E10K. It's boom, boom, boom in my head. When listening to Bob Marley and Whalers this isn't such a bad thing but  listening to Shelby Lynne's 10 Rocks which starts with a piano rumbling away in the bass register the Rasiels sound pretty muddy and unbalanced when compared to the Titan 1s. Shelby wouldn't be happy.
 
You'd almost think you were listening to different cuts of the same song as each earphone has its own signature sound but the Raisels take this a step beyond.
 
On the Titan's Shelby's voice is blended with the bass line and the backup singers are as sharp as diamonds.
 
On the Rasiels it's a very different mix. Shelby Lynne has a barroom lower-register voice and the Rasiels give it their advertised "tube sound and in this case that's not a good thing.
 
For fun I listened with the Shure 535s and the bass rumbles along as Shelby's voice rises above. The backup singers aren't as sharp. It's a different sound and one likely more accurate to what the audio engineer created.
 
Let's go back to Rasiels: The base is way more rumbly and not as tight but Shelby is still just above the fray and the backup singers are sharp. They're not as sharp as on the Titans but sharper than the Shures.
 
Next up (I've using my Astell and Kern AK-100 II as my source with random songs being auto selected) Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac in the Ttian's sound anemic when compared to the weighted sound of the Rasiels. Which brings us to our next topic...the tube sound.
 
THE TUBE SOUND
 
We're got a Korean guy in our Toastmaster club (I've been a member for over 20 years. Highly recommended.) and he's very new to Canada. I wouldn't call English is second language yet but he's trying very hard and his efforts to speak the Queen's English is one of the bravest thing I've ever witnessed but sometimes he just murders the meaning of the words.
 
So when it comes to T-Peo's marketing department I think we have to read between the lines sometimes. Their tagline about the Rasiel "killing sound" might have better been written as "killer sound" but we get the point don't we?
 
Same for the next line "Filled with the Sound of Vacuum tube". I know what they mean and where T-Peos is coming from is the bass and treble boost that colours the sound and can change the way the mix was meant to sound. For example, Dwight Yoakum's voice in his song Wild Ride through the Rasiels is push back so far as to sound like there's a faint echo. In the Baguettes Dwight's voice is much more prominent. It's still got an echo but it's not being overwhelmed by the bass. 
 
I was so confused by what I was hearing I got out the Momentums which immediately calmed down the sound.
 
If you read the other reviews on the Rasiels (and I always do as some of these guys know more than I'll ever learn about audio) and you'll see that the audio signature of the Rasiels is described as being a "W". That's to say the bass is boosted. There's a boost in the lower mid-range frequencies and a lesser boost in the treble top end.
 
So what you get with Rasiels is a simulated "tube sound" which emphasizes the bass and lower mid range, then scoops out the middle and adds a kick to the top end.
 
This audio signature works for a lot of music. Bob Marly and Whalers sound great. You can follow the bassline like a road map. It's that prominent. Tom Waits's gravelly voice never sounded better. Because Simon and Garfinkel sing in higher registers the Rasiels like them too. Just about any acoustic guitar sounds amazing. Jesse Cook just sizzles in the Rasiels. Jazz as played by Miles Davis is very cool. Kinda tube like if you know what I mean
 
Joni Mitchell makes the cut as her voice is pitched in the higher registers that the Rasiels emphasiz while on the other hand Heart's Ann Wilson's voice is a little lost in the group's mega hit Alone. 
 
You can (and should) do your own testing and remember your mileage may vary.
 
SO AVOID THE TUBE SOUND?
 
It depends. What the Rasiels have is character. I like characters in my life and I like earphones and headphones with character. Sometimes the character can overwhelm the experience and that's not a good thing but character on its own isn't necessarily something to run away from.
 
For most of type of music I listen to the Rasiels reproduce the sounds beautifully even dramatically if you will. And if you don't go around comparing every phrases from one earphone to another you're not likely to notice the Rasiels when they miss reproducing the sound in the way the audio engineer set it up.
 
One reviewer said he knew the sound was "wrong" but it was "super fun" and I agree totally.
 
Some earphones and headphones which approach studio quality or the even higher demands of the audiophile aren't that interesting to listen to for hours. Sure they're accurate as an arrow but after an hour or two I find myself longing for a little colour in my music. And try wearing the LCD-Xs for hours at a time. They weigh a ton and while the pads are comfortable it's a lot of weight and eventually I have to take them off. (I know: Poor me!)
 
I also like how extremely comfortable the Rasiels are for in-ear earphones. This is a big plus.
 
Same too for their non-twist cord. I've got earphones that have cords that immediately tie themselves into knots every time you put them down. Not fun.
 
Also the cord is non-microphonic. In other words it doesn'tt transmit rubbing sounds when worn. I've got a set of old Sennheisers that you can't take for a walk as the cords make so much noise when they rub against clothing as to make listening an unpleasant experience.
 
Most reviewers think the chromium plated brass looks good and I agree.
 
WHAT ABOUT PRICE?
 
Oh did I mention price? While there is no published price yet that I know of the other reviewers are saying they're going to retail for $40 US (likely $60 Cdn). $40 is the cost of a decent lunch these days so this is a no-brainer. Fun, comfortable, pretty with a few accessories (small selection of rubber and foam tips) what's not to like? Well the weighted sound may not be for everyone but I like it.
 
Finally, and this was a surprise, the Rasiels don't need an external amplifier to sound good. In fact I found external amps tended to overdrive the sound when using the Rasiels. The AK-100 II into the Class-A Aune 1 amp and using the Titan's is superb and the same can be said using Momentums. The Rasiels however still repress the frequencies where Ann Wilson lives and the amp only emphasizes this effect. The Momentums and Titans bring Ann's voice back in front.
 
Remember if you're not comparing every song most times you're not going to notice a little shifting of frequency response. What's really nice is switching out the external amp and hearing no real advantage. My LCD-Xs really respond to the Aune B1 amp and sound way better thanks to its colouring and overall boost. But the Rasiels don't resond in the same manner. That's not to say some amplification isn't welcome. My Cypher Labs Picallo amp added a little more fullness to the overall sound regardless of which headphone I was using including the Rasiels but if you weren't comparing you'd not know how little you were missing.
 
SO WHO ARE THESE FOR?
 
The Rasiel earphones work great with DAPs, smart phones and the like and they don't need an external amp to sound great. They're comfortable, pretty and cheap (I'm tempted to make a smart remark here but the Internet being what it is I'll pass.) so what's not to like? Audiophiles may not like them but for the rest of us with $40 or so they make a great purchase and you too will get that real "killing sound" of "Vacuum tube" .
 
Beautiful

I have never been so ready to write a review in such a short time. It's less than 24 hours since the Aune X1S was delivered and I've spent several hours listening and comparing. I will spoil the surprise by saying I absolutely love the X1S and I bought my own already. It's not perfect and there is an issue (see below) but it compares very favourably to my much more expensive ($1200 CDN) Fostex HP8A.
 
My last review of the Aune B1 amp went so well, especially when I used it to drive my Audeze LCD-X headphones that I immediately bought that unit and I've been very happen ever since.
 
So what do I like about the X1S?
 
It worked immediately without reference to a manual. Love equipment that is so well designed. I did have to search for how to change the filter (Hold the input button down on the front.) but that's no issue.
 
The unit is a nice size for an office desktop sitting easily on my Tivoli Audio Model Two. (The small Tivoli is a much easier sound to listen to when working even with its small sub-woofer under the desk. Okay it's not audiophile listening but it's cheap and cheerful.). Streaming Tidal through headphones can be way too intense an experience especially if you want to think, type and listen all at the same time. This gets harder as you get older.
 
The X1S has an optical in as well as USB and RCA in and out and coax in and out as well. Unlike the B1 amp, the X1S runs cool which is a good thing.

(In Photo: That's the mess that happens when I start comparing stuff. The X1S is sitting on top of the Fostex HP8A.)
 
There are lot of reviewers out there who are way more technically oriented than I am so I'll just refer you to them. Mostly they're saying the X1S is pretty amazing handling a ton of formats at insanely high speeds and I'd have to agree. The unit played everything I own and streamed Tidal easily on USB out of the MacBook Pro.
 
But, (and there's always a but in audio) I did have an issue streaming Tidal to the X1S through the Apple Airplay system. Now this issue may not be a X1S problem but an issue with my own streaming of the WiFi signal through the house. When I tried the X1S with one of my Airplay units which I usually use in my front room with my Fostex into a Panasonic Technics receiver (circa 1970s) and Swedish ProSonab speakers I got dropouts in the streaming every second or two. I swapped the X1S with the Fostex and no issue. I've had no issue with streaming to my Fiio E-17 to another AirPlay in an upstairs room.
 
To be fair I swapped out cables and brought the Fostex down to my office and changed the Airplay unit and again it worked fine. The X1S streaming was better with dropouts every 15 seconds or so but they were still there. This is not a good thing but I can't tell if it's my streaming setup or the interaction with the X1S.
 
If anybody else is streaming using the Airplay and has the X1S I'd sure appreciate you sharing your experience here. Again this might not be the fault of X1S. I did send Aune a private message and they had nothing to offer so it's up to us to share our experience here. Love to hear it's my issue and not the X1S. 
 
While I'm on the bad news i don't much like the short cable on the big power adaptor that comes with the X1S. I like big adaptors as they are likely to be robust enough to power even the most power-hungry units but the short cable means the adaptor just makes it to the floor when the X1S is on my table top. If I wanted to put it on a shelf I'd have some issues. Not a deal breaker but inconvenient.
 
Okay enough already with the gloom and doom. Let's get to the good stuff and there's a ton of good stuff.
 
I love good audio. I'm retired now so all of my hobbies involve sound (audiophile listening, Amateur Radio, and music as I try to play jazz guitar badly). This means I sit around a lot either listening to music coming out of speakers or from a large variety of headphones.
 
I know that some setups (I've got the Fostex, Fiio E17 and the Olympus 2, Cozoy Astrapi) which I use with the Audeze LCD-X, Fostex unmodded T50RP, Grado SR60, Sennheiser 439 modded, 590 unmodded and Momentum on-ear plus Shure 535 in-ears, Titan 1, Baguettes, and T-Peos D-202N work better than others with different DACs and amplifiers (B1 and Cypher Labs Picollo). Plus I've bought Astell and Kern AK-100 II which I love and can't wait until Tidal finally starts streaming directly to it over my WiFi. Come on Tidal - you promised!
 
So I thought I'd immediately compare the X1S with the Fostex with a variety of headphones.
 
I was thinking the Fostex would smoke the X1S...well it didn't work out that way!
 
The Fostex is a very very smooth and refined DAC and amp. Listening to the Fostex through the LCD-X headphones is about as close to perfect as I can afford to get. So I wasn't expecting all that much from the Aune X1S at under $300 CDN. After all I can sure hear a difference in the overall quality from the Fostex to the Fiios. It's noticeable but not huge and actually running Olympus 2 out of the MacBook Pro and into either the Tivoli or modded 439 Sennheisers is a really nice, non-fatiguing experience. I can listen for hours and hours as I work at my desk. But the Fostex / Audeze combo rules.
 
And then I fired up Joanie Mitchell's Raised On Robbery and my jaw dropped.
 
The Fostex / LCD-X combo was perfect. It was like driving a Cadillac at a 110 down the highway with one hand on the wheel. It was smooth baby. And then I swapped out the X1S and we weren't in Kansas anymore Toto but screaming at 140 with the Ducati just starting to open up. Just after Joanie sings the first few bars the band kicks in and when you're using the X1S it's a big kick in the head. I loved it.
 
The X1S got even better with the Shure 535 in-ears which emphasized the impact that the X1S was delivering and yet remained silent in the quiet parts. Impressive!
 
So what's happening? The X1S produces a fabulous soundstage and a brilliant sound. There maybe a bit of shimmer listening to Rhianna's Stay but it might be just the X1S is resolving the sound that's actually on the recording and I'm hearing it better. Regardless the sound is amazing.
 
Listening to Get Lucky by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers you can hear how fast the electronics are handling the audio. There's an audible impact to what you're hearing. Listening to Bob Marley's Is This Love is an exceptionally bright and full experience. The X1S even drives my unmodded T50RP to new levels of clarity and punch. 
 
I could go on but I won't as I just placed my order for my own X1S. That's the best recommendation I can make. Oh yeah I'll be keeping the review unit for a few more days. Hopefully by then my own X1S will have arrived  

Let's ruin the surprise:
 
I'm buying an Aune B1 the moment the nice folks at Aune Audio show up at my door demanding their demo unit back. I can't stop playing it and there's one huge reason: The Aune B1, against all expectations, makes my Audeze LCD-X headphones sound better...way better...when I'm using my Astell and Kern AK-100 Mark II DAP and it rivals the sound from my much more expensive Fostex HP-A8C DAC/amp streaming Tidal or accessing ITunes.
 
I'm not kidding. I had just started using the touring B1 and the LCD-Xs by playing a Norah Jones tune that has no sound in the left channel for the first few bars and I mistakenly thought "oh crap" the left channel is dead so something must be broken somewhere. I mean there was nothing in the left channel. There was no noise - no hiss - no nothing. It was like the left channel didn't exist. It wasn't like it was absent. It was like it wasn't there and never had been there and suddenly eight bars or so into the music the left channel emerged out of a intergalactic black hole and burst into glorious sound.
 
I was stunned.
 
And, if this wasn't enough now the sound out of both channels was driving my LCD-Xs into new realms of detail and punch. That did it. I went to search for my chargecard!
 
You don't have to read any farther. If you've got big expensive headphones and a $200 investment isn't a big deal then go to Aune (sold here in Canada by Grant Fidelity) and buy the B1.
 
BTW here's the standard disclaimer around nobody is paying me for my opinions (although as a former newspaper and magazine editor and writer I'm still available. I write for several of my own blogs on a variety of subjects.) and I would like to thank Aune for supplying the B1 which is on tour.
 
It might help to know I'm 66 and my wife gives me my allowance for cleaning the house once a month plus there's my pension cheque so I'm self-supporting and picky about what I buy.  I got into this audio thing at the beginning of the year and I now own way more headphones and IEMs than your average big band. I've got DACS upstairs and down and everything is streaming including TIDAL through Apple's Airplay system. I'm a very happy camper although yoga four times a week helps.
 
For those of you still with me, there are a couple of things you should know now about the B1,
 
First the B1 tends to overpower my in-ear monitors. I wouldn't have thought such was possible and when I read another reviewer who made a similar statement I thought he was delusional. I mean how can an amp be too powerful? Well it can. The B1 on its lowest power setting still sounds too aggressive in my Shure 535s. The bass hits too hard. Same with the Titan !s and the rest. Any of the higher pitch percussive notes came out way too sharp. It can hurt.
 
Yes you can turn down the gain but this isn't an amp that you'd want to exclusively drive your in-ear monitors. (Get Cypher Labs Picollo for your IEMs. It too uses discrete parts like the B1 which some claim make for a more elegant sound. I tend to believe them.) On the other hand, if you like a lot of music in your ears this might be your ticket to sonic amazement at least until your hearing fails. The Random Access Memory cut of Get Lucky is pretty intense using in-ears. The Audezes handle the musical assault with easy. This could be an age thing as in me being older and you not so much?
 
My Momentum on-ears handle the sound output of the B1 pretty well too but again when I switch back to my 535s even turning down the volume doesn't make this a soothing experience. It's aggressive as heck and where Bob Marley and Wailers sound like they're screaming in the IEM, they sound much better in the Audezes or the Momenums.....if you're on the low gain setting. On high gain - Class A setting you can feel the Audezes kicking into high gear and the difference is shocking, even exhilarating.
 
I've had the Audezes since the beginning of the year and I've read every review I could find about all the high-end headphones out there and while I loved the sound the LCD-X produces there was something missing for me when it came to using them with a DAP. The missing bit was that intangible "wow" factor that I can hear in the Momentum on-ears or the 535s when using the DAP and a small amp. It's subtle for sure but sitting on the couch with the AK-100 Mark II driving my Cypher Labs Picollo amp with the 535s remains one of the best musical experiences I've ever had.
 
When I swapped out the LCD-X the sound was still perfect but...
 
Remember that song from the 60s by the Lovin Spoonful called Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind? One of the lines goes: Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her and then you get distracted by her older sister!
 
That was my experience. On their own the LCD-X were very kissable headphones. They did everything just right. But then I plugged in the B1 and boy was I distracted by this older sister who was much more muscular and aggressive. 
 
So what's happening?
 
The B1 is a class A amplifier. So what's class A? 
 
In the Amateur (Ham) Radio world where I come from we use a lot of different kinds of amplifiers. Amplifiers...well amplify. They can boost audio signals or radio frequency signals and for the most part it's all the same thing. They shouldn't take anything away or add anything as they just amplify the signal.
 
What's different about a Class A amp is they are relatively simple devices. There's often not a lot of parts and a Class A amp is on (that is to say amplifying) all the time. That's one of the reasons Class A amps tend to run warm. There's no cooling off time. This 100 per cent demand on the circuit also means there's a higher demand on the power supply no matter if it's battery powered or runs off 110-volt AC. BTW the kind of warm I'm talking about is warm like a puppy or kitten warm. Not warm like an oven or hair dryer warm. You don't want hot when it comes to your electronics.
 
There are other kinds of amps. A Class B amp uses what's called a push-pull configuration of tubes or solid state devices so that only one half of the amp is working at any one time while the other half is turned off and thus cooling. The two parts of the amp switch back and forth many times a second making them more efficient than class A amps and are often used in audio circuits. There are other classes of amps out there like Class A/B and for those interested I'd suggest the great Google for answers.
 
Right now it comes down to do we want efficiency or do want power? 
 
As far as I'm concerned, especially when driving the LCD-Xs I want power and the B1 delivers.
 
It's like this: Let's pretend you're a Navy pilot. You're parked on your aircraft carrier and you get the go-ahead to take off. You don't release the brakes and then slowly bring the engine up to speed. You know what will happen. By the time you roll up to the edge of flight deck you won't have gained sufficient speed to actually take off. So that's not how to takeoff from the flight deck of a carrier. The right way is when you get the okay to go, you make certain you're brakes are on tight (might even be a restraining cable...I don't know as I've never been in the Navy) and you increase the power of your engine to military power of 110 per cent. Then with every rivet in the aircraft trying to rip itself out of its socket, the engine screaming, your heart in your mouth, you release the brake and the aircraft leaps into the air.
 
Hardly what we'd call efficient but it sure is powerful.
 
And so we have the Aune B1. Turn it on and it's on at 100 per cent. Likely doesn't matter whether you're actually listening to anything or not. The B1 is running full out and thus warming itself in the process. It's going to be a nice unit to place in an inside a jacket pocket on a snowy winter day in Canada. And remember, I'm saying warm here and not hot. Again hot you do not want in your electronics. Warm is okay especially when you know you're running a Class A amp.
 
So if this isn't enough to make you giddy with joy there's the price. At $199 the B1 isn't inexpensive, it's downright cheap. But cheap isn't a bargain if the sound isn't there. There are a lot of other guys out there who have reviewed the heck out of the B1 and I think I'm safe in saying they all have said they liked the sound of the B1. Some even raved!
 
A few carped about things I don't find important like whether the volume knob is metal or plastic or how cheap the fake leather inserts seemed to them. I actually thought they looked pretty good but what I think about the cosmetics is irrelevant IMHO. Your mileage may vary.
 
Coming from the Ham Radio world where some of things I buy come in a bag and you solder them onto a circuit board and connect them to circuits using alligator clips and there's no case or fancy anything I couldn't care less about the aesthetics of the B1. What makes a buying difference for me is whether or not the thing enhances my listening experience and the B1 passes that test with flying colours. Having said that the B1 might have come with a few accessories. As it is you get the B1, a USB cable, a business card, a mini quick guide and a four-inch stereo plug. I mean you don't need anything else but I'm getting spoiled by other manufacturers adding cases, higher-end plugs even key chains. I know I'm being very shallow here.
 
But when it comes to sound, I spent hours and hours swapping out headphones with the AK-100 Mark II supplying the music to the B1. I also compared the B1 to the Cypher Labs Picollo amp and even the Fiio E-11 which was my first purchase a couple of years ago. (I use the E-11 to listen to Netflicks out of my IPad. Makes a big positive difference to the sound quality of the movies.)
 
In general here's what I found:
 
The B1 as I said is super quiet. I couldn't hear any hiss or with any of my IEMs or headphones. I couldn't even hear a noise floor or anything else. It was almost like somebody had added a squelch control. 
 
Now a couple of reviewers have said they could hear a bit of channel imbalance but I couldn't. Almost everyone who has reviewed the B1 agrees it's loud and many agree it's too loud with IEM but I just read a post that said Aune is going to turn down the gain a bit on the lower gain setting. That would be a very good thing to do.
 
You see the B1 has two controls that affect the amount of amplification it can deliver. The first is just that: a gain control that switches the output stage from 20MWs of power to 40MWs (which has a big effect on battery life) and a current control whose markings suggest it switches in or out the Class A amplifier. Not sure if this is exactly what is happen as we may have lost something in translation but let's look at it this way. When using the LCD-Xs I turn everything on and my hair bursts into flame and when using the IEM I turn everything off. Clear enough?
 
Aune has warnings all over the place about not switching the gain controls whenever you're listen to music so as to not damage sensitive IEM or headphones. I did by accident and lived to tell the tale but not recommended.
 
Back to the sound...the B1, because it's always on, doesn't bog down under big musical demands. Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend album is one of my favourites for testing equipment as the music is very demanding and in your face. The B1 - Audeze combination is now the best musical experience I've ever had when it comes to Bob and the boys. Bass, mids and highs don't compete for the available wattage. There's plenty enough power for all and the sound can be called warmish without being overly coloured. It's a pleasing sound and might even be considered more listenable than the output from the Fostex DAC/amp which is a bit more sophisticated and slightly more sedate and colder.
 
Some audio engineer out there will understand when I say the B!-Audeze combo makes the music sound snappier. it's almost as if the music is coming out at a faster speed. Now I know that's not possible but the combo is hard-hitting and while realistic it's pitched just a little more aggressively than anything else I own. 
 
So what this means is when I'm listening to Lucinda Williams I can hear her breathing hotly in my ear with the B1-Audeze combo. With anything else in the house...not so much and I like to hear Lucinda that close to me...I really do The Picollo amp sounds more polished and laid back and anybody would be thrilled with the Picollo but just don't do an A - B comparison with somebody singing their lungs out as while the Picollo will entertain, the B1 will astonish. (The Fiio E11 isn't in the same league but is musically very sound and works with the IPad as I said before.)
 
One of my favourite Canadian groups The Cowboy Junkies (There's a great story here about how sister Margo Timmins had never sung professionally before when her brothers asked her to be the singer in their new band. Her haunting vocals changed the Canadian music scene back in 1986 and continues to thrill audiences today. Listen to the first song on the group's second album The Trinity Session recorded in 1987 at Toronto's old downtown Church of the Holy Trinity. Using one microphone suspended above them, you can hear the rush of the amplifiers as their auto gain settings picked up the ambient noise of the old wooden Toronto church just as Margo (who in the 1990s was named one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People Magazine) begins to sing. Turn it up just a little more for the full effect. Ageless.
 
Now size can be an issue. The B1 is just a little bigger than the AK-100 Mark II. It's not too big but you won't be carrying the combo around in your pocket. Now normally I walk around with the AK-100 Mark II with the 535's plugged in without an external amp or with the smaller Picollo amp and I'm perfectly happy. But the B1 is for use when I'm using the Audeze's and trust me, I'm not going outside with the LCD-Xs on my head. There's a limit to how geeky even I will be seen in public and you're talking to a guy who occasionally wears a baseball cap with his Amateur Radio callsign embossed on it. 
 
Since I'm using the B1 almost exclusively at home with the AK-100 Mark II and the Audezes size doesn't matter but...
 
Then there's battery life issue. Since the B1 is always running at Class A power the battery drains in as little as four hours on maximum gain out and about 10 hours according to Aune at minimum gain settings. Four hours if you're walking around with the B1 connected to a decent DAP isn't a lot of time but there is solution. You can add an external battery!
 
Since the B1 is charged via the USB connection to a computer (and in fact doesn't include an external power supply) it makes sense that external batteries like the Mophie external batteries made for powering an IPhone or IPod should work just fine and they do. I purposely left the B1 on as I typed this review and the battery died after four or so hours of high-gain power listening. I added an external 8000mah Comwave Power battery and the music keeps playing. 
 
But the setup weighs one pound six ounces! That's not pocketable but it would be fine in small backpack. Now since I'm using the setup while sitting outside on the deck I don't care but for some it might be an issue. (One of my new external batteries - Xtorm bought while on a trip to Switzerland - includes a solar panel so in theory I could sit out on the deck on a sunny day and never run out of power.)
 
For me, when it comes down to sound verses weight, sound wins hands down and the B1 has got the sound and the power and the fury to drive big headphones (even those that people say are easy to drive) into higher realms of musical excellence. 
 
Don't believe me. Listen for yourself. Like Sade is singing right now: This is "No Ordinary Love" and Aune: the cheque is in the mail.

Disclaimer
 
I see the other reviewers make mention that they received the Cayin N6 as provided by the nice people at CTC Audio North America with whom I've bought stuff and received great service. They only ask for my honest opinion and I've got a long history as a professional journalist, newspaper and magazine editor so I'm inclined to speak my mind. This makes this particular review more difficult than most because  there's aspects of the Cayin 6 I didn't like but lots I did.
 
About me
 
I'm 66, retired and over the last five years or so I've been enjoying better and better audio as my equipment list grew and my wallet depleted. In addition I've also been a very active federally licensed Amateur Radio operator so I've listened to a lot of stuff via headphones over the years. I build kits and listen to radios and I've got more headphones than shoes. These days I love to listen to well produced music and I loathe stuff that sounds bad.
 
As for equipment I started with a Fiio E11 for my Netflicks movies on my IPad and went on to buy an E-17 and E-09K combo. Went to my local audiofile store in Toronto to buy a small DAC for my MacBook Pro and came home with a Fostex HP-a8c. Went back a few days later to buy better headphones than my elderly Sennheiser 590s and Grado 60s and became the happy owner of Audezes's LCD-X headphones. Went back a few days later to by a cheap DAP and came home with an Astell and Kern AK-100 II plus the Fiio E-10K Olympus 2 which is what I wanted to being with.
 
Somebody put the Momentum's on-ears on sale here in Canada for just over $100 and got a set plus I always wanted a Fostex T-50RPs (which are amazing. It's immediately obvious what others hear in them and also why they get modified so often) and when they were offered for $99 I grabbed them too.
 
Throw in Shure's 535 in-ears and the simply amazing T-Peos D200-Ns which at $39 are the best buy in audio ever plus modded Sennheiser 439s and that's about it until the next delivery shows up.....I spoke too soon...the mail arrived I can now include a set of Dunu Titan 1s (which sound terrific. Big sound stage and authoritative bass..and a lot of it...a lot) and a set of T-Peos Baguette (lots of definition and not so much bass but I've yet to take the time to wiggle them around in my ears to experiment with the fit). They need more volume than the Titans but overall both are very impressive.)
 
I've got to grow another set of ears.
 
Cayin 6 Impressions
 
The first Cayin 6 delivered to me as part of the tour was reported by others to be running warm. It was. On Friday it was warm. Restarting on Saturday it was hot and then no audio. Now I'm not an engineer and I'm not about to open the case of a loaner unit but I suspect the audio output section failed. As this is an early (or perhaps even pre-production) unit I'm not overly concerned about an overheating failure. It could be anything and early production failures in the Amateur Radio world just like the audiophile world aren't uncommon. 
 
So the first unit was returned and a second Cayin 6 arrived and I've been playing it for hours at a time and it is getting barely warm. Now barely warm isn't as good as running dead cold but it's way better than running hot especially when it comes to solid state devices as compared to tubes which always run hot. I'm really pushing the Cayin 6 with the Titan 1s. WARNING Will Robinson...don't use this combination with Talking Heads turned up loud. It will blow your mind and maybe your ears. Extremely impressive sound. I'll speak more about this as we go.
 
If you go to CTC Audio's webpage you can read all about the technical specifications of the Cayin 6. Most of the technical talk is way beyond me as I'm still learning (and being retired I can cheerfully read about this stuff online for hours and hours) but the Cayin 6 looks to me like it will handle just about any format you throw at it plus the Cayin 6 is also a DAC as well as a DAP. That's pretty nice.
 
Now I don't do packaging and boxing comments but I will say the presentation box that holds the unit is pretty nice and all arrived safely after being subjected to the vulgarities of our postal delivery system.
 
What I Didn't Like
 
I'm not usually so blunt but I really didn't like the user interface...at all.  Compared to the Fiio X3 second generation that I reviewed a month or so ago, the Cayin 6's user interface is just plain weird. I can sort of get it to work now after three days of playing with the controls but it's not been fun. It's possible I just don't get it but the control on the left side of the unit which is a combination of scroll dial than can be pressed in plus the four-way button controller on the front of unit just seem inscrutable to me. 
 
Now you're mileage may vary. User interfaces are very very personal. I run software-define Amateur Radio transceivers and a lot of the old Sparky's can't stand the "no knob" interface. They can't get used to moving a mouse around to tune around the band.
 
It's the same here. You might just love the Cayin 6 interface and write me off as some old foggy who can't figure out a simple multi-button interface. Fair enough but I didn't have a good time.
 
Something else that concerned me was a tendency for the unit to turn off if the headphones were unplugged while music was playing. Happened all weekend long and now it's not happening at all. I don't know...it could be me but the Fiio X3 left me with the impression I could shoot it and it would still keep trying to play great music. The Cayin 6...well not so much but then again the replacement unit has never failed to deliver where it counts.
 
I'm getting used to the size of the Cayin 6 but unlike the Fiio it won't fit in a shirt pocket. Of course neither will the AK. The look of the Cayin 6 with its big round window is starting to grow on me. I didn't like it at first but based on what I'm going to say below about the sound, a little getting used to the look isn't a big deal.
 
One other issue surfaced when I plugged in the Momentums. The Cayin 6 couldn't get around the IPhone controller on the Momentums. The AK didn't have an issue with the Momentums but I couldn't get them to work on the Cayin 6. I could get a burst of music but as soon as I let go of the control button the music stopped. Not good.
 
What I Liked...A Lot
 
I can stream my ITunes library wirelessly to my Astell and Kern. This allows me to take my micro-SD card and put it into the Cayin 6 and then pull up the same song from ITunes on the computer and stream it to the AK-100 II. This allows for immediate A to B comparison between the Cayin 6 and the AK-100 II using a variety of headphones and in-ear monitors.
 
I sampled a whole lot of different music and different musicians and there is a difference between how the Cayin 6 and the AK-100 II reproduce the same music. The problem is I can't articulate what that difference might be. In quick A-B test I slightly preferred the sound of the AK but at $900 out of my pocket there just might be an economic's bias here. In extended time with either unit I ended up loving what I was hearing after about five minutes of listening.
 
The Cayin 6 is a superb sounding DAP. Big sound stage with tons of detail and the ability to handle a huge dynamic range in sound it's a joy to listen to for hours on end. It loves to drive my Shure 535s and Titan 1s to new levels of perfection.
 
I like to use Bob Marley's Legend album to test out the right and left balance and the Cayin 6 loves Bob about as much as I do. It's like you're right up on stage with Bob. You can hear his voice echoing slightly off the studio walls. On the live version of No Woman No Cry your back in Jamaica. It's a hot night and the crowd is singing with the band and you're there in that "great future where you can forget your past". Wonderful reproduction by the Cayin 6.
 
The Trinity Sessions by the Cowboy Junkies was recorded back in 1988 using one microphone in a couple of days inside Toronto's old Church of the Holy Trinity. Featuring sister Margo Timmin's laid back haunting vocals it's a great test for any solid state DAP. In "Mining For Gold" you should be able to hear the sound of the amplification hissing slightly in the background and in Misguided Angel you can hear the sounds echoing off the church walls and ceiling.
 
Considered by some (myself included) as one of the best groups to ever come out of Canada, the Cayin 6 with a decent set of in-ears makes for a very intimate experience that's not to missed when listening to the Cowboy Junkies.
 
The Cayin 6 really really likes my in-ears and the Grado 60s but struggles a bit with the Audeze LCD-X which appreciate an external amp. It's not overly noticeable until you start to really drive them with something like Talking Heads and then the Picollo amp helps sort out all the music that's flowing out of the LCD-Xs.
 
Finally one last thing I liked about the Cayin 6 is you can actually read the screen outdoors. Now you're still going to have to shade the screen but at least you can read it unlike some other LCD screens that can only be read indoors.
 
So where are we with the Cayin 6?
 
At $600 I think a lot of folks are going to love their Cayin 6s. The interface is something you can get used to in time and the larger size just means there's more good stuff inside Sure there are cheaper units but honestly I can't think they're going to sound better than the Cayin 6. And as for the more expensive units? Well if there is a difference (as per the AK-100 II) it's pretty subtle and not worth an extra $300 in cost IMHO. 

I've never put in-ears with different drivers in my ears before so I had no idea of what to expect when it came to the T-Peos Altone 350 Hybrid 3 driver IEM. 
 
So thanks to CTC Audio who put the 350s out on tour I plugged them into a Cayin 6 which is also on tour and let fly. My first impression is somebody had plugged a cable directly into the bass guitar. Listening to Bob Marley's Legend was an overwhelming experience. There was a whole lotta music coming into my head and it was tough to sort out. The bass was distinctly present as were the mids and the trebles. I couldn't get them to resolve into the milky (maybe soupy when compared to some of my cheaper headphones) sound I was used to hearing around here.
 
So I kept listening and within about five minutes my brain started to make coherent sense to what I was listening to.
 
There's a whole lot of other guys out there who can describe in more technical terms what I was hearing but what I was hearing was good...it was very good....once I got used to it.
 
The 350s made my Shure 535s sound awfully tame. 
 
That's not necessarily a bad thing. the 350s are really amazing and I'll call it a hot sound. They are by no means as hot a sound as the diminutive $36 T-Peos D-202Ns which CTC Audio characterizes and I think rightly as a "fun sound" and have to be the bargain of the century IMHO. My 535s are a way more laid back and for whiskey-soaked voices of females singers out of the American sound they are perfect but when it comes to Bob Marley singing Buffalo Soldier the 350s take you to Jamaica. It's a humid, hot night and the outdoor stadium is alive with music and ganga and danger. You don't get this from the 535s! LOL I think there's a black man somewhere inside this old white body who knows how to dance!
 
There are a couple of different folks who are going to read this review.
 
Audiophiles are going to find a lot to talk about when it comes to the 350s. They're a little pricey in comparison to all that's out there and the sound is more over-the-top than neutral. The cable is a little microphonic as I can hear the sound as it crosses my jacket zipper. It's not anywhere near as bad as my Seinnheiser CX-300s but it's present.
 
But the good news is if we're going to do a comparison, the 350s are way closer to my Audeze LCD-X sound than my Momentum on-ears. This is a good thing and it gets better. The 350s create an amazingly wide soundstage. I like big soundstage sound. It might not be to everyone's taste but I like what the 350s can do to separate instruments from each other and from singers. There maybe better wider soundstage headphones out there but the 350s are standouts when it comes to my collection of headphones.
 
The other folks who are going to read this review are likely going to buy one set of in-ear headphones to match their one set of over-the-ears or on-ear headphones. So you've got your $400 or so and you're thinking....decisions - decisions.
 
I've not listened to everything that's out there but I've got the LCD-Xs, a Grado 60 (like it so much I bought a set for my teenage niece), a closet full of Sennheisers from the 590 to 439s and more and I can recommend the T-Peos Altone 350s if you're looking for really well-built in-ears that fit (at least they fit me) and create a good seal and are comfortable after a couple of hours of listening. BTW you do get a second set of cables, titanium housing and the regular assortment of accessories. Also I've found CTC Audio folks pretty easy to deal with and that's an important factor these days when so many of us are shopping online.
 
I think it's pretty safe to say the T-Peos Altone 350s (which are T-Peos flagship model) can bring you into the premium quality in-ear headphone world at a decent price especially when you compare what you could spend elsewhere for less. I'll be sorry to see them go back on tour.

I might give up doing reviews. I keep running into things that change for no good reason. It makes it hard to render a consistent and informed opinion. I end up questioning my own abilities to hear anything let alone report it accurately.
 
And so we come to the OPPO PM-3 which were sent to me as part of the PM-3 tour now underway.
 
I had just returned from four days at the Dayton Hamvention (with 22,000 of my closest Ham Radio friends) to find the OPPO PM-3s waiting for me. I quickly plugged my Cozoy Astrapi DAC into my IPhone and thought the PM-3s sounded pretty good and maybe a bit darker than what I was used to from my other headphones (Audeze LCD-X, on-ear Sennheiser Momentums, Fostex T-50RPs and a bunch more I didn't use for this review) but overall pretty nice.
 
So the next morning I fired up the Fostex HP-A8C DAC and started streaming various artists over Tidal and in comparison... I wasn't thrilled. In fact, compared to the more modest Momentums I was very unhappy. The sound from the PM-3s didn't have the bass punch of the LCD-X or the brightness of the Momentums. The Audeze's can hit you like a sledgehammer while the PM-3s felt more like getting hit with a plastic bat. The Momentums livelier and more interesting presentation was obvious. What the heck was going on?
 
I really thought the PM-3s weren't going to make it. So, in desperation I plugged them into my Astell and Kern AK-100 II DAP and they sounded wonderful. 
 
So what happened?
 
I don't know. Could it have been a better impedance match between the PM-3s and the AK-100? Is it possible I didn't have a cable plugged in fully (and this after swapping out headphones over and over again I doubt it but I'm searching for answers here)? I don't know but everything now seemed to have changed. The PM-3s sounded much, much better. The bass was near perfect and the treble was more focused and the overall clarity was terrific just as I'd expect from planar magnetics. The soundstage isn't as wide as some headphones but the sound is more compact and intimate. (Play Norah Jones and you'll immediately understand what I'm trying to say here.) These aren't toe-tapping headphones but something more serious and worthy of your attention.
 
Let me explain it this way:
 
If we use the Fostex T-50RPs (at $99 and bought so I could have a low-price reference headphone), the Momentums (at $140 which I had to buy on sale at this price) and the Audeze's (at $1800 again bought so I could have a top-notch reference headphone) as comparison headphones we could place the PM-3s very near the relatively flat sound (with a rather delightful presence midrange) of the T-50RPs the first time and then, after the change, the sound was much closer to the excellent - near perfect - Audeze's. There was that much of a difference.
 
I tried adding amplifiers to the AK-100s (Cypher Picollo and Fiio E-11) and they made no appreciable difference to the now excellent sound. With everything going so well, I went back to the Fostex and PM-3s and everything sounded very good. I plugged in the PM-3s directly into my IPhone and again I was very impressed. I have no idea how to explain this anomaly. 
 
So let's move on.
 
With our new more enjoyable sound let's look at the other attributes of the PM-3. They are comfortable as heck and when it comes to planar magnetics which are usually really heavy, these guys are lightweights yet really well built. The ear pads are okay but might get hot outside in the summer heat. But they look pretty good. The PM-3s come with a variety of cords (iPhone, Android and a really long 3m cable) and a carrying case and bag. All in all a nice package.
 
Sound isolation is very good and important to me as my wife works right behind me in our home office and the PM-3s block out her phone conversations. The closed headphones also don't leak as much as the Audeze's which are way too loud for our tiny office space when it comes to keeping family peace.
 
I am going back to being mystified as to why I had such a poor experience earlier today so I put the PM-3s into my cheap and cheerful Fiio E-10K DAC which is USB out of my MacBook Pro. Again going back to Tidal and I'm listening to Lucinda Williams whose voice I know as well as anyone else's and Lucinda sounds very very good. It's not the bright happy sound of the Momentums. It's darker, fuller bass that rumbles sometimes like thunder far far away (likely a sub bass sound) and again the magnetic planar sound really enhances vocals when it comes to presence but there is a slight lack of brightness when compared to the Momentums (but if you weren't comparing you'd never know). I think it safe to say the sound is more rounded, mature and serious compared to the Momentums and some of the other less expensive headphones. Nothing compares to the Audeze's but I can clearly hear a family resemble coming from the PM-3s. Not bad at a quarter the cost.
 
So now we've gone from a set of headphones I was thinking I was going to pan - badly - to reviewing a set of headphones I am considering buying for myself as I've got a big bunch of headphones at under $200 and the Audeze's at $1800 and nothing in between. I was considering Mad Dogs (especially now they're at close out prices) but the OPPO PM-3s are more what I'd expect to pay around $600 to $800 for sound this good.
 
So let's put this all into perspective: If you've wanted the planar magnetic sound (and I do) and the Fostex T-50RPs just don't cut it as your only headphones, then I can fully recommend you consider the OPPO PM-3s. Aside from a few quick swaps I've been wearing and listening to the PM-3s for over 8 hours now and my ears (and neck) are not complaining.
 
Comfortable, even stylish, great build, with great sound without the need of extra amplification right out of your IPhone I think a lot of people are going to be very happy with their PM-3s.

Fiio 3X Second Generation Review
 
Lots of other reviewers have talked about the technical aspects of the Fiio X3 Second Generation so I am going to limit my review to what I heard and felt. This is a subjective review.
 
In Toastmasters, where I’ve been a member for over 20 years, we have a saying about doing evaluations. It goes like this: Evaluate the speech you heard and not the one you would have liked to have heard.
 
So I’m applying the same principle to my review of the Fiio X3 Second Generation (3X) which I want to thank Joe Bloggs, a Fiio online customer representative, for inviting me to the 3X tour of Canada.
 
I am a retired professional photographer, community newspaper and national magazine editor (mainly trades to do with the cabling and electrical business in Canada) and I’m an active Amateur Radio operator so I’ve had headphones on my ears most of my life.
 
Recently I got into audio in a big way after going to my local headphone shop here in Toronto to buy a $75 Fiio E-10 K DAC and came back with a Fostex HP-A8C DAC and a set of Audeze LCD-X headphones. Talk about up selling. I went back a week later and got the Fiio DAC anyway.
 
I’ve Got A Lot of Fiios
 
I started a few years ago with a Fiio E11 which I plugged into my IPad so I could get better audio when watching NetFlicks. Cheap and cheerful the E11 really added a whole new dimension to my video viewing enjoyment.
 
Then I got a Fiio E09K amplifier and accompanying Fiio E17 Aspen DAC/Headphone amplifier for my upstairs music room so I had some idea of what to expect from Fiio when it came to the X3.
 
The Review
 
So thanks to the last guy on the tour who charged the battery I was immediately ready to start my review. 
 
Within two minutes the X3 had passed the “no manual” test and I was hearing music after inserting my micro SD card from my Astell and Kern AK-100 II. (More about this later.)
 
What I Saw
 
First the X3 is much smaller than I expected at 9.5 cm long, 5.5 cm across and 1.5 cm wide. (My AK-100 II is 11 X 5.5 X 1.5) and the X3 weighs 135 gms (compared to 170 gms for the A&K). 
 
The Fiio case is made of lightweight aluminum with rounded corners and all the controls pretty much flush with the case. The X3 uses a main rubberized wheel with four push buttons on the front surface to do the navigation. Now some people like wheels and some don’t and it comes down to personal taste. I found the wheel just fine and I liked the navigation method and the menu system which comes up on the LCD screen. It’s a good system in my opinion. 
 
One of the things I really like about the X3 menu system is it goes asleep really quickly and if you need to reawaken it for any reason it’s back with a single tap of the top button of three on the side of the unit. The other two buttons are volume up and down.
 
However, when in sleep mode, the volume up and down buttons turn into next song or last song buttons with the middle button moving you forward into your playlist and the bottom button moving you back. Very cool and well-thought out feature.
 
The X3 does have a tiny LED indicator light on the front panel that runs blue if all is well and turns red under charge and green when the battery is full charged up. Very cool again.
 
A full charge is supposed to take three hours and give around 11 hours of playing time. I didn’t check this out but it would seem about right.
 
My first pleasant surprise after pushing the on button was the super fast loading time for the software. The X3 is ready to go in just over five seconds. (The A&K takes 30 long, long seconds!) Love it. This is the way all software should load - fast.
 
Now I haven’t yet progressed to the point I’ve got a ton of music files in a variety of lossless and lossy file formats (let alone understand it all) but the X3 literature says it supports DSD, DSD64, DSD128 (.iso & .dst and .dff); APE; FLAC; WAV; WMA Lossless; Apple Lossless; MP2; MP3; AAC; ALAC; WMA and OGG. I’ll take Fiio at its word on this. Other reviewers cover this technical stuff way better than I can.
 
What I Heard
 
So I’ve got my mico-SD card out of my A&K and into the X3 and I turned the unit on and there were all 1500 tunes. Very cool. Never had the X3 not read the card first time and I can't say that about the A&K!
 
Now I had the chance to run the same songs on the X3 from the internal memory card and from the AK-100 II from its streaming function from my ITunes library at the same 44.1kHz/16bit. I could also switch headphones back and forth to compare what was happening.
 
So we’re at the place where I’ve fallen into the trap of evaluating the speech I would have liked to have heard as opposed to the speech I did hear. And for Fiio, it’s not necessary bad news.
 
Here’s an analogy: I own a 2003 Toyota Celica with 137,000 kms on it. I love this car. It’s a fun car to drive. For me (at 66) it never gets old and I hope to keep it on the road for another couple of years at least.
 
And then there’s the guy in my small town who drives a Ferrari. It’s a red Ferrari. I can recognize it by the sound it makes from several blocks away. I would love to own a Ferrari but not only can I not afford a Ferrari, I couldn’t afford the insurance for a Ferrari. And thus I don’t own a Ferrari whether it’s red or any other colour.
 
Same principle applies here so after a day of switching headphones and DAPs back and forth I decided today to run the X3 all on its own and let it speak for itself.
 
Remember I’m retired so in the last two days I’ve got around 10+ solid hours of listen in so far and six of them were with the X3 into mainly Shure 535s. The X3 plays differently with different headphones. My elderly Sennheiser 439s (modded) and much maligned 590s sound muddy and boring as do a set of $60 Skull Candy in-ears.
 
The Momentums (on-ears and on sale here in Canada for $139) sound great as do my super cheap $36 T-Peos D-202Ns and Grado 60s.
 
After six hours of continuous music ranging from Bob Marley to Lucinda Williams to The Doors to Ani DiFranco to Beth Orton to Lyle Lovett to the Buena Vista Social Club with a smattering of opera singer Cecilia Bartoli I can say the X3 is a wonderful sounding DAP especially when you consider the estimate selling price of $199.
 
Now are they a contender compared to the Astell and Kern AK-100 II. Ah...no. The AK-100 II with the Shure 535s (often with a Cypher Labs Picollo amp in the mix) provide the best portable music experience I’ve ever had ...period. It’s wonderful and when I compare the X3 to the experience, the X3 comes in second.  The A&K has a lot of other features as well including onboard memory and the ability to accept wireless streaming files from the MacBook Pro plus Tidal (someday soon I hope) but those are only features and for $900 you should get something added.
 
This is sort of like my Celica vs the Ferrari story.
 
So today I thought I’d give the X3 a chance to stand on its own and I plugged in the Shure 535s and put my music playlist on random and let it run and run. My ears never tired of the experience which is not something I can say about six hours with the Audezes and the Fostex DAC which can be intense.
 
I did run into one issue which since I can’t determine the cause and it went away doesn’t concern me. When I first tried the X3 with the Shure 535s I could hear a slightly click - click sound for the first few seconds after plugging in the very sensitive in-ear 535s and turning on the X3. This click sound happened a couple of times and then disappear for good. The Shure 535s have never clicked before or after and I’m don’t know what happened here but it did go away and wasn’t present with any of the other many headphones I tried on the X3.
 
So I went back to swapping out headphones and the experience was the same for the Momentums, the Grados and even the super-cheap T-Peos. Now I’m not a fan of equalization but the  X3 has a lovely 10-band equalizer with 10 presets which might be very popular with some folks who own one set of headphones. Nice touch. 
 
The headphones I used for this review are the typical types of headphones that people are going to use with the X3 and Fiio is going to sell a couple of big boatloads of X3s to people who want a better listening experience with a much larger variety of file formats and memory than smartphones can manage.
 
Now for those who are adventuresome, the X3 can also be used as a DAC. 
 
I compared it to my Fiio E-10 K which is my go-to DAC in my office attached to my MacBook Pro where I stream TIDAL and either listen it to through my office headphones or stream it to my living room (Apple Airplay into Fostex HPA8C and Audezes) or to my tiny music room (Airplay into Fiio E09K and Fiio E-17 Aspen and various headphones) and the X3 was terrific.
 
What I Felt
 
So would I buy one for myself? Yup especially if I didn’t have the A&K unit. Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely and I recommend it here to you. 
 
In the world of high-end audio $200 is a rounding error when it comes to what we can spend to setup our systems. So this could be the best $200 you spend to listen to your music. Add on snappy headphones like the Grado 60s or the T-Peos or Momentums and you’re going to be very very happy.
 
Just don’t go out and test drive a Ferrari. You’ve been warned!
 
Day Three
 
I got up this morning to the revelation that not once during a whole day of listening to the X3 did I even consider adding an external amplifier. I almost always use my A&K with a Cypher Labs Picollo external amp. This combo is spooky good into the Shures.
 
For the most part the A&K sounds great without it but add the Picollo and my foot is tapping away keeping the beat and it doesn’t much matter which set of headphones I’m using I get the same effect. However it is more noticeable when I’m using the Sennheisers than any of the other headphones as they need more drive and sound flat without the Picollo.
 
Adding the Picollo is easy by plugging in a jumper from the amp to the X3’s Line/Coax Out plug and the 535s are rocking. I pause the music and there’s absolute silence out of Picollo even with the volume at maximum.
 
So that works and the X3 automatically goes into a Line Out mode (if that's what is selected in menu) with the Picollo plugged in so let’s try again without the Picollo. I’m listening to Aimee Mann’s Lost In Space and my foot is tapping again. This is very good audio. Amazing with or without the amp.
 
Okay enough with this third party amplifier. Let’s see what the X3 makes of a Fiio E11 with the 535s.
 
First there’s an expectable, minimal amplifier hiss that the 535s can hear near the noise floor from the E-11 but the music keeps on keeping on. I am really enjoying the X3 so let’s swap out the 535s for the Sennheiser Momentums and it’s time for a little more Bob Marley. The Momentums are dead quiet. They don’t hear any hiss so let’s hit play and…
 
Oh yah mon this is heaven: Is This Love That I’m Feeling? Yes Bob it is - it is.
 
Let’s take the E11 out and I can tell the bass notes are diminished a little. If I wasn’t swapping back and forth I wouldn’t notice the difference but the E11 especially with the three-position EQ button makes the X3 just rock when it comes to Bob Marley. I tried different settings with the X3 built-in equalizer but there was nothing in the presets that sounded better than no equalization. I could have done a custom setting but the X3 didn’t need it so why bother?
 
A quick swapping of the E-11 back to the Picollo and surprise, surprise I preferred the pairing of the Fiio X3 and the Fiio E-11. I’m not sure why but the E-11 EQ just seems a little more gritty (another technical term) compared to the very smooth sounds of the Picollo and I like gritty.
 
Goodness I hope there’s some audio engineer out there wisely nodding his head in agreement and I’m not just sitting here going slowly senile listening to Bob tell me it’s all going to be alright.
 
This is an outstanding experience with or without an external amp. The X3 is also very very tolerant of getting plugs pulled and pushed without any hysterics that require rebooting. This would appear to be one stable operating system. 
 
Somebody should get a raise for this!
 
I was thinking of wrapping up this audition and going back to my regular setup but this is so much fun I’m running the X3 into the Momentums for at least another day. And really if you just add a little volume to drive the Momentums there’s no need for an external amp. Sure an external amp will change the sound but not so much as you’d notice after 30 seconds of listening. Some difficult to drive headphones might appreciate the amplification but there’s nothing I own (aside from the Sennheisers) that needs it when it comes to the X3.
 
But all is not good. Huston we’ve had a problem here. I took the X3 outside in the bright sunlight and the screen becomes unreadable. It’s so unreadable in sunlight that even holding a cap over the X3 to shade it doesn’t help. It’s the type of LCD display that’s the issue as my IPhone, IPad and Kindle are readable in bright sunlight. 
 
Don’t think you’d want to try searching for a tune while you’re at the beach with this display. The Astell and Kern AK-100 II is somewhat better but still pretty hard to read in full sunlight but is readable with some shade from a baseball cap. The X3 is not.
 
Day 4
 
So my previous experience swapping out the X3 with the AK-100 II reaffirmed my original decision to go buy an insanely expensive DAP (as opposed to the AK-240 which is a very insanely expensive DAP) as the AK does so much more and does sound better (remember the foot tapping test).
 
Having said that I do realize there is a $700 difference in price so I thought of of another way of straightening out the playing field. I took the entire day listening to the X3 for an hour or so and then switching over to the AK-100 II for another hour or so. 
 
I swapped out headphones starting with the Sennheiser Momentums on-ears and then to the Shure 535s and then to the T-Peo D-202Ns.
 
Strangely enough, just for casual listening and walking around the house and the neighbourhood I preferred the X3!
 
Here’s why: First the published dimensions don’t give you an adequate sense of just how much smaller the X3 is to the AK-100. I can carry the X3 in a shirt or pants pocket without any issue. There are no sharp edges to catch on clothing and unlike the AK-100 no wheels or other controls protruding from the case.
 
The X3 is also a lot lighter. You can forget you’re carrying it around.
 
Sound-wise each unit sounded superb…about 10 minutes into each listening session. In other words, if you don’t have a Ferrari in the driveway, the Celica seems pretty good. 
 
It’s the same with the audio from the X3 compared to the AK-100. Give your ears a few minutes to adjust and compensate for the slightly different sound reproduction, then the music itself sounds very good on either machine.
 
For this test I put my 1500 song playlist on random run and there wasn’t anything from folk to rock and roll with an occasional opera soprano thrown in that didn’t sound very good on either unit.
 
So if you’re in the market for a really decent sounding DAP and you’re not willing to spend your entire old-age pension cheque then the X3 will thrill you and at my age I don’t get thrilled nearly enough anymore. 
 
Thanks X3 and Fiio.