Pairing Gear Used:
FiiO K7
FiiO BTR3K
ifi Zen Air Blue > ifi Zen Air Can
VE Megatron
ifi Zen Dac v1
HD600 for comparison

Winning Tracks:
Bad Day (feat. Millyz) - Chris Webby (YT Link)
Ex-Men (feat. Tory Lanez) - Chris Webby (YT Link)
My Favorite Clothes - Rini (YT Link)

Losing Tracks:
Reason to Hate You Mahogany Session - Rhys Lewis (YT Link)
邱鋒澤QIU FENG ZE- 分開的學問 The Art Of Letting Go (YT Link)

​

Context:
I impulse bought this 2nd hand Sony MDR-Z7 about a month ago. It hasn't left my head since because it is one enjoyable headphone. This is also not going to be a review based on any sort of measurement or value proposition. I like this headphone, period. Even if it's tuned wrong and sounds wonky with some genres. Rather, this review gives you a bit of preamble for what to expect before you audition it or buy it 2nd hand.


As with some Japanese audio products, the tuning is not going to be razor accurate the way some audiophiles like it. It is not "reference" in any way, which makes it very hard for me to quantify or talk too much about the sound signature relative to the frequency response graph. I've attached it at the bottom for anyone reading to have a peek at it, and make your own conclusions. Think Final Audio and Audio Technica's older headphones. Final Audio tunes stuff to be easy to listen to, or in their newer stuff, aims to have wider soundstage in an IEM like the A5000. This results in it sounding weird to someone more used to more traditional tunings. Point being, the Japanese take on audio is often not always meant to measure well, but to offer something different and focused on enjoyment.

Take that nugget and swallow it when you're giving the MDR Z7 a shot, because this is one weird headphone for 2023.

Sound Impressions:
With all that info out of the way, I am not quite experienced enough to comment on how this headphone sounds relative to a graph. But I've left some test tracks available on Youtube to try. I can't link higher quality spotify tracks so just try it out with similar genres as the linked tracks to get a better field of what I experienced when using the MDR Z7.

My feelings about the sound can be summarized as a cinema focused sound in a headphone. This is a wonderful bass focused headphone with just a touch of "slowness" to the bass. Vocals are pushed back slightly. Soundstage is great, wide for games, giving a sense of grandness to orchestra or anything recorded in a large room. Immersion is also one of its perks, isolating enough to combat the weakness of an open back, providing more bass, and having a fun, addictive presentation.

I'm glad Sony went with this signature. There is no need for another "reference" tuned headphone on the market. There needs to be more fun stuff that isn't only geared for music. I'm a movie buff, watching hundreds of movies a year, and this is absolutely my cup of tea.


No beating around the bush, the MDR Z7 is not going to work as a mixing, mastering or reference headphone. It may not even be good enough as an all-rounder headphone due to how selectively good it sounds. On certain tracks, it renders vocals in a recessed manner. This causes singers to sound artificial or "wrong" in the mix with some songs.

This headphone has weird sound quirks and on the wrong types of tracks, such as acoustic music, or vocal focused music, I found that the MDR Z7 will push some artists into the background. I have a feeling this headphone was tuned for more modern genres with heavier bass rumbles and deeper tones. Electronic sounds are also reproduced in a very enjoyable manner.

The plus-es are immense. Modern music example link. Let's get into some positives with the tracks I enjoyed using the MDR Z7 with:

On Noah Kahan's Someone Like You, this headphone induces foot tapping even if the presentation is vastly different from the HD600. With the MDR Z7, the instruments are pulled forward, along with the bass tones and lower pitched sounds. Add to this, the larger sense of space and soundstage the MDR Z7 has, this headphone brings to mind the word, grand and scale. The song sounds more like it is in a hall, with instruments given more space to echo and "play out" compared to the HD600 which aims to pull your focus on Noah and Joy's voices in a narrower space.

On Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' I Love You Baby, the same issue presents itself, where the closed back nature of the MDR Z7 helps to noticably add bass. Mids aren't necessarily pushed back as you can hear the singers clearly and enjoyably, but you can now hear the instruments, drums and background melody being brought up and out of the mix, compared to the HD600. HD600 as expected, loses some of this bass, which brings out the singers track more.

On Frank Sinatra's L.O.V.E, the MDR Z7 presents the most fun rendition of this track I've heard on a headphone. The way the background piano hides in the background, the way the sax is introduced at the 1:00 mark on the right? Perfect. Bass tones from an instrument I cannot identify, make this instrument heavy presentation FUN, FUN, FUN. The best part? You do not miss out on Frank Sinatra's wonderful whisky like voice. No push back here. Just a gorgeous, instrument heavy presentation with wonderfully matching vocals that do not blend, but sit steadily and slightly softer than the instruments. I have zero issues with this presentation. It is new to me even. Lovely. This track is still wonderful on the HD600, it's just different and less enjoyable with regards to the instrument focus. Vocals are presented nicely and in a more focused, enjoyable way if you want heavier focus on Frank Sinatra.

On Chris Webby's Bad Day, this song was made for the MDR Z7. The accompanying vocal grunt, the deep bass and the instrumental are the most enjoyable presentation I have heard. This genre and likely EDM will make the MDR Z7 shine the best. The temptation to raise the volume to 11 and let the bass rumble hit you is always there with this song. This is a very distracting listen, when it comes on, you drop everything, start headbanging and want to devote your full enjoyment and focus onto the MDR Z7's presentation.

On Wolftyla's All Tinted, HD600 and MDR Z7 both present the track enjoyably. The added isolation offered by the MDR Z7 means bass is presented in a heavier handed manner. There's just more of it, extending more than the HD600 and punching deeper. There is a common problem most people lament with the HD600, that there is "no bass". I don't think that is the case, but the HD600 does drop off at a certain point, and due to being open back, there is also not going to be any reverb or room for bass to hit deep enough. At 2:41 in this track however, there is suddenly a piercing synth sound that kills enjoyment on both headphones. It is worse on the MDR Z7.

Concluding thoughts on sound:
I found the MDR Z7 somewhat confusing to evaluate. The headphone is well suited to hip hop and EDM, but also occasionally plays nicely with jazz singers like Frank Sinatra. The MDR Z7 pulls out instrumentals on modern genres in a manner that is crazy enjoyable.

It also exhibits some suppressing of singers on some acoustic tracks. But plays nicely with certain instruments like the saxophone, flutes and pianos. It plays wonderfully with movies where dialogue isn't the focus, bringing a rumble to explosions, and helped further by some isolation from the leather earcups.

The MDR Z7 also sounds different when listening at very low volume. You lose almost all of the plus points from the instrumental being distinctly identifiable in the mix. Instead, all you get are vocals that are barely supported by any of the supporting sounds.

I also suspect, the MDR Z7 may have some issues with a fully cohesive bass reproduction due to it falling flat on some hip hop songs, and that something like the EMU Teak might be more suitable for a bass forward presentation. However, I also think something like that may not be able to match the MDR Z7's vocal presentation if said bassy headphone overwhelms the midrange.

Anyway, gun to my head, as a HD600 enjoyer, will the MDR Z7 be able to dethrone the HD600 as my most used headphone on my desk. The answer will probably be yes... Strange as it is, and strange as the MDR Z7's presentation can occasionally be.

The isolation offered by the MDR Z7 means bass extends deeper, has more rumble and flat out plays nicer with any R&B, hip hop, game instrumental, explosion or modern mix. Just listen to this track by Jacquees - You: link here.

The HD600 brings out the wrong thing for the genre, which is the vocalist, and gives it some air to breathe due to the open back nature of the headphone. The MDR Z7 however, isolates, giving a bassier presentation and pushing the vocalist slightly back, while isolating the instrumental, bass tones and beat. Now that is how R&B is meant to be heard.

The harmonizing and slight whisper are conveyed enjoyably against a pitch black background, a perfect home run for the MDR Z7.

As someone who watches a ton of movies, plays video games with tons of explosions, and with music preferences that lean more towards rap and R&B with some acoustic stuff thrown in, the MDR Z7 wins at more of these things for me compared to the HD600.

The HD600 is and will always be a god-tier headphone. It is light, comfortable, easily repairable, with most pieces being available online to fix, or balanced cables being easy to find for cheap. It plays beautifully with any music that has a singer on it, and presents any sound in a clean, easy to listen package without being too exhausting. It also does nothing too wrong, like falling apart on some genres or presenting a song flat out artificially. There is no shout, no piercing treble, nada. It however, has that glaring weakness of being an open backed and having bass drop off.

The MDR Z7 is... an entertaining listen with a unique ability to bring out instrumentals, adds actual bass presentation and does not suffer from having smear between bass and vocals. It is not a perfect headphone, and it cannot work magic with vocals the way something sharper like the ADX5000 can. It is not the most detailed or incisive presentation either. BUT when you put something in it's wheelhouse? You will rush to put down the HD600 just to see if the MDR Z7 will work it's magic and bring you into total immersion.

The more stuff I find that works with the MDR Z7's immersion, the more likely I am to eventually bench the HD600 completely. As it is, the MDR Z7 has most of my head time.

Wholehearted recommendation not to fully commit to a buy, but to at least give this unique gem a try.



Non-sound Tangibles:
This is a comfortable headphone. It is lightweight at around around 350g without the cable. For context, the HD600 is 260g without the cable. It is light enough for prolonged use of 2hrs or more, making it very usable to finish albums in a full sitting, or a movie.
The earpads are leather, and will trap some heat. However, it is nowhere near as bad as some saunas like the V-Moda's I have tried from yesteryear, or the NAD Viso HP50 and Creative Aurvana Live 2! which were all horribly uncomfortable and heating headphones.
Image Link

Adds excellent versatility to speaker systems, but limited ironically, by cables

I love ifi. To me, they parrallel FiiO in providing products across segments for budget, mid-fi all the way to the high end. Here are some of the newer releases, all of which look promising.


By and large most of these products are reliable, and priced competitively enough depending on how far in you are on your audio journey. I am stuck in the mid-fi region, complete with 4.4mm balanced cables, bookshelf speakers and headphones. I didn't like the uno or the Hip Dac 2. And while I love the Zen Dac v1, it's largely overpriced now. I'll wholeheartedly recommend a clean sound DAC from any company of your choosing, and pair with the affordable, USB powered Zen Air Can. I myself am not much of a dongle guy, but the Go Bar, while expensive, sounds great too! As does the iBasso DCO4 pro if you have access to it.

If your budget is higher, and your ears that much more golden, the Zen Air Blue may be of little interest to you. But for someone who wants to add basic bluetooth functionality to a speaker system? You only have this or FiiO BTA30 to choose from. I'm not counting in the Aiyima stuff as it's mostly available on Aliexpress with no warranty.

Anyhoo, enough of the preamble. Let's get into the TL;DR


Great sound quality out of LDAC
Attractive unit and small. Sits comfortably on top of a speaker
Competitively priced, given limited amount of products available, with FiiO BTA30 being the other option.

Short DC 5V cable is extra inconvenient. More so than their usual short RCA cables. You can't replace a DC 5V cable as easily, and it won't work with some types of mains powered DC 5V power cables. And with ifi's usual short length, you can't even connect it to a wall outlet on the floor. You literally need an extension cable then a USB power head, and then the DC 5V cable to connect the Zen Air Blue to a speaker
I love my Zen Air Can for how easy it is to use with a standard USB power bank but for some reason, the Zen Air Blue cannot be powered off a power bank consistently. It switches off on its own. Tried with a few different power banks. You can't bring the Zen Air Blue around as a portable unit with a power bank, the way I do with my Zen Air Can for trialing new headphones and systems at shops.
No 3.5mm or optical outs limits you to ONLY RCA capable speakers. Bookshelves will have this, but I like optical too for when the option is there on speakers. Edifier E25HD for example, sits on my desk and uses coaxial.
No RCA cable. Good luck if you bought this and are in a university trying to work this with speakers.



ifi Zen Air Blue
There is a slightly older product that combines both bluetooth and USB DAC in the Zen One Signature, and a now discontinued albeit poor measuring Nano iOne. I was drooling out the mouth for the ifi Zen One Signature at launch, but now that I have Zen Air Blue, I am relieved I didn't drop the cash for it.

The biggest downside for the Zen Air Blue for me? Battling corporate ifi cost saving measures.

You can't use the Zen Air Blue easily because the cable is just too damn short. AND THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE RCA CABLES. Who does that?? It's like supplying a bed without pillows. I guess ifi heard everyone complaining about their short purple RCA cables and said, you know what? Hope you like zero cables better. 20 bucks later, I've finally got to adding it into my setup.

I was wrong ifi. You got me good. Put the RCA cables back in the box with the Zen Air Can, the Zen Air Blue please...

Corporate ifi cost savings department is truly villainous

Use Scenarios that worked for me

• Connecting to a barely Edifier R2000DB in storage. This speaker has bluetooth already, but it transmits at SBC. Also, the sound is colored through Bluetooth compared to RCA or optical. Sound quality is largely indistinguishable from wired in with RCA, and with Wavelet on mobile, you can tweak EQ. With Netflix and watching some movies, the bluetooth lag is also not too noticable. Good enough for shows, perfect for music.
• Connecting to Zen Air Can for a distraction free work setup. Without the multitude of things on PC to do, focusing just on music from my phone has been quite liberating. I can see this being a coffee table setup if you want to read on an armchair and playing ambient/rain noise through full sized headphones.

Both of these scenarios worked like magic. Simple, stable connection, with sound quality that was only slightly worse than using the Zen Air Can with the Zen Dac v1. At most you are losing 3-5% sound quality, weird as it is to quanitfy "quality loss".

I just ended up not using the Zen Air Blue when it sat on my table. But moved it around with the Zen Air Can as and when I needed it. It's charm is in it's portability and how it tears me away from the PC.

I haven't sat down to just listen to music in a long while, and with the Zen Air Blue freeing me from using my PC as a source, I found myself using it often while I did chores or read.

Click to expand...

It's not always about measurements, or the highest end DAC chips or tech specs. The Zen Air Blue just makes music more assessible to me. Headphones? No problem. Speaker while I exercise? No problem. Ambient sleeping music? Sure.

Anyhoo, let's dive into some use case comparisons:

"Why not BTR3 and IEMs?"
The BTR3 is somewhat underpowered, and while it is fine with the Moondrop Kato I have on hand. I prefer the Kato with the Zen Air Can for xBass. I don't really like using the Kato when I am not sitting down anyways. Even if I am not using a speaker or HD600, I will use the Kato with this Zen Air Blue and Zen Air Can pairing.

"Why not VE Megatron or just use a USB C adapter and connect the Zen Dac v1?"
Megatron is one of the dongles I have used that doesn't come loose if you shake the phone or lose connection. However, it just flat out doesn't play nice with IEMs. If I'm sitting down, the cable to connect the Zen Dac can come loose if you are touching the phone. Zen Air Blue is just more convenient and with the gain, xBass and audio out features on the Can, I have more use cases covered for speakers if I want.

"Does it hum when you slot the Schitt Lokius in between the Zen Air Blue and Zen Air Can?"
I placed Schitt Lokius in between a wood shelve to isolate hum or other intereference. I don't hear noise through headphones with this chain. But of course, isolating Lokius or having longer cables to move the Lokius further away is always better.

Let's Conclude!
I like the Zen Air Blue. I certainly don't love or appreciate what it comes with, or rather without, in the box. But once you get setup and have bought your spare cables? The Zen Air Blue is easy to pull out and plug in with whichever speakers you have in the house. I actually got mine at a huge discount, about 50% off, and foresaw myself keeping it in storage or returning it.

Yet, I found myself integrating it with other older gear I don't use as often, and embracing the PC/laptop free life. It makes me think back on days when I would use an iPod and FM tuner to tinker with whatever speaker I had in the house.

I find myself just reaching for music more with speakers that can fill the house or room I'm working in, not listening objectively and really, just enjoying full on albums and unwinding time. When was the last time gear made you do that?

Anyhoo. Completely arbitrary rating of 3.5 stars, which translates to about 70%. B+? I'm not in the habit of giving a 5 star review just because something works and works well, as in the world of audio, great products are a dime a dozen and truly excellent ones practically barely exist.

I long for the day I can give a full 5 stars to any truly musical product. But till then...

Easy recommendation. Buy some cables. Grab a coffee. Happy listening.


I just didn't end up using this much. If I'm on the PC, I might as well just use the USB DAC. On bluetooth, I'm normally playing music through a phone or watching a show through the tablet. If I'm already sitting up on the desk, just turn on the PC.


The use case I ended up with. A redneck like setup to push music through the entire house. I can see it being a great setup for a cafe speaker system.

[Revised] Venture Electronics Megatron
I've made some changes to the VE Megatron review that I previously had on here. The previous review was using this as a DAC to feed into other audio components such as a Schitt Lokius, ifi Zen Air Can and ifi Zen Can.

Pros
Powerful, effortless presentation with high impedance headphones like the HD600. Works well with my Sony MDR-Z7 too
Completely silent, static free, pitch black background noise with headphones
Audibly ZERO difference between the VE Megatron's sound presentation and that of the FiiO K7, which costs 6 times the Megatron's price
Impedance adapter available if you want to use this as your AIO desktop setup
Exactly the same size as a HDD, making it portable
Lineout is free of noise and background hiss/buzz when using a 3.5mm to RCA cable into RCA speakers
useful for A/B testing between headphones as all 3 audio outs work. I used this to A/B the HD600 and MDR-Z7 when enjoying an album.

Cons
not very good as a phone dongle, as a loose cable means sound cuts in and out. I generally hate dongles with phones anyways.
very unfair nitpick but no volume wheel
need Peace Equalizer to use with PC. Need impedance adapter to use with phone.

Desktop gear:
Headphones: HD600, R70x, MDR-Z7
Speakers: Edifier R1700B
Cable used: Generic uGreen USB A to C cable plugged into the back of PC case.

I recently gave the Megatron a second look, using it for about a full month to power all my desktop gear. To cut the long story short, I did not miss my FiiO K7 in terms of SQ while using the Megatron as my desktop companion.

The Megatron is a wonderfully competent, powerful and noise free DAC/amp that helps high impedance dynamic driver headphones sing. I do not have any planar magnetic headphones to use with the Megatron.

If you want a cheap, powerful, reliable desktop AIO for say a HD560S, HD600, HE400SE, I doubt you will be able to go lower than this price point to get this level of workmanship and SQ.

This is a easy, zero questions asked recommendation from me. It looks great, it sings great and it's easy to carry around.


The Details
While this is a very strong offering as a DAC/amp, sounding equally as good as the FiiO K7 and better than my ifi Zen DAC v1 into Zen Air Can, there are some things you'll need to take note off before using with your PC or phone.

You NEED Peace Equalizer or something like it to apply a negative pre-amp value. The Megatron without this negative pre-amp value will just be too loud through any headphone. It is unusable without Peace due to how high the volume is.

Basically, if you do not know how to, or have no access to any software to apply negative pre-amp or to lower volume, I would give the Megatron a miss.

While I understand the annoyance of having to learn to use Peace, you are getting $300 DAC/amp performance in a $50 product. The tinkering is well worth the effort, I promise. If you have no interest in using Peace, I also understand, but you will have to spend quite a bit more to get something that sounds approximately as good as the Megatron or the K7.

Peace is also very useful to help tweak certain annoyances in your gear. You can bring down higher frequencies if things are too shouty, or give a bit of bass bump to help an album's overall presentation in your headphones. Do give it a shot if it is new to you.

Concluding Thoughts
My one month experiment with the Megatron has given me a great appreciation for how it sounds, it's tiny annoyances and for it's value proposition. I love the Megatron. It is cheap enough to blind buy, powerful enough to be a mainstay on my desk, and convenient enough to bring overseas if I am bringing headphones.

I will suggest the Megatron to any of the "all you need is a iPhone dongle to get good SQ from a HD600" camp. It's 50 bucks, and it'll change your mind pretty quickly on the subject of powering a high impedance headphones adequately.

The Megatron is also very useful as a 2nd DAC/amp for people with more gear. For context, I use the Zen Air Blue connected to the FiiO K7 to receive a bluetooth signal from my phone. I use the FiiO K7 for IEMs and the HD600, and then switch the output to also power the Edifier speakers.

When it gets too messy or too much to handle, I can just add the Megatron on my table with 1 neat cable, and use lineout to push a signal into the desktop speakers. Leaving the K7 to do it's job as a smooth volume knob and headphone DAC/amp with 2 outputs. Anyone with a ton of gear can appreciate using more audio outs or an easier way to switch sound output from Windows.

Potential solution for the Megatron lacking a volume wheel, FiiO KB1 keyboard remote with volume wheel.

Also, hilariously, look at this setup. A 20,000mah power bank to power the Megatron, and 2 USB C cables. 1 for power delivery to charge the S20FE, and 1 to connect the phone to Megatron. You are not getting through airport security without a few weird looks.

The Definition of: Good Enough
I stumbled on these by accident, receiving them as a Christmas gift a year and a half back. I promptly handed them over to a family member who had no TWS or earpieces and never thought about them again. Until I found myself without a earpiece while overseas and needed to make a call in a noisy city. I borrowed these again, and less than an hour later I ordered another set online for myself.

I love these.

No, there is nothing special about them. Except price. These cost less than a dongle, and they have lasted me the better part of the year with zero complaints.

Here's a quick TL;DR: This is a above average pair of V-shaped IEMS, getting you maybe 60% of the way compared to a great wired IEM. TWS normally cost about a 100, so this is just great value, for above average sound. It's not good, it's not Kato, it's not Hexa, it is however a more convenient option for me over Chu.

Durable and will not spoil after multiple drops, trips to the gym
Long battery life
"Good" enough sound has ensured I never reach for the Kato outside of the house. I ONLY use these on commutes or at the gym. Kato has been downgraded to an at-home set only.
Bassy, v-shape signature, with just enough vocal clarity for me to not mind too much. No peaky treble. Big bass bloat. Great for commute and not much else.
Good isolation
Nozzle size lends itself to tip rolling. No luck with increasing treble, but easy to add a bassier tip to make the bloated bass even worse if you want to. I actually did this to hear movies better on the bus. Disgusting, I know.

No LDAC
Top end is muffled
Crappy mic, horrible on the bus
If you hate cheap v-shaped sound, this isn't for you.

While I am a big shill for these as a commute pair, that's where I draw the line. They are good enough for a Zoom call, with mics that just barely do the job.

The mic isn't good enough for you to survive a conversation while on a noisy bus or in the city BUT do just fine on a walk.

The thing is, if you just need something to drown out the outside. These are golden and cheap at the same time. I just chuck these in my pocket wherever I go. It is just too much effort to bring the BTR3 and Kato pairing out, with a cable hanging out my pocket while at the gym. Not to mention the on-off switch on the BTR3 taking about 5 secs to activate. All for what, better treble, better bass quality, better ergonomics? All of those are great, but not if I'm just taking a 30 min trip to the supermarket.

BTR3 also has a mic, but if the unit is in my pocket, I can't conveniently answer calls. Defeating the purpose.


Long story short: Just grab a pair if you haven't used a TWS before. It's about 20-30 dollars and even goals on sale periodically. Don't bother with Chu, Chu 2, or Jiu, this is the same price. And they can condense and give you QC issues, not to mention you need a dongle (except for Jiu).

I'm not ashamed to say I happily bring this out over the Kato daily. The Free 2 Classic will never beat the Kato, but with the loud drone of a bus engine, loud city and constant conversation in the background, the difference in SQ is moot. The comparison is as follows:

Bass Quality: Kato > Free 2 Classic
Bass Quantity: Free 2 ≥ Kato (Kato bass is cleaner, Free 2 has more of it, none of it clean.)
Vocal quality: Kato > Free 2 Classic
Timbre: Kato > Free 2 Classic (Kato sounds more correct with vocals by a country mile, but is arguably worse for hip hop as subbass rumble is less)
Treble: Kato > Free 2 Classic (excess bass bloat means vocals can be muffled and pushed back on Free 2 Classic, Kato renders voices beautifully)


There are no illusions here, this thing WILL not play nice with Windows. Windows just flat out sucks with anything bluetooth audio related. If you need something for laptop Zoom sessions you will still need something durable like a FiiO FH3 or Audio Technica ATH M20x. If you need something with better tuning, I would just go for the comfortable and great sounding Sennheiser IE200. It's small, sound great but has a very difficult to replace cable.

At the end of the day, it is still a 20 USD TWS that punches above its weight to a 50 USD one. Hence the low rating. If 5 stars is headphone or IEM perfection, the rating should reflect that.

Zen Air Can Review: The Good

• Clean, clean power, with no EMI noise or hum when 5V USB cable used with a phone charger/power bank. No more bulky power bricks!
• Zero static or crackle when turning volume knob
• The cheapest way to get a 4.4 headphone out, even if it is not truly balanced like the OG Zen Can
• Lowest cost headphone amp, even against Chinese competition like the Topping DX1 or SMSL SH-6.
• Easy to stack, and stays out of the way in your PC setup
• USD $95 price, Zen Air Dac and Zen Air Can stack: USD $200. Closest competition in the FiiO K7 is USD $241.
• Pair with Zen Dac v1, USB cable, USB 5V cable, USB female into USB C male adaptor, power bank and you have a mobile desktop level setup for testing headphones (this full setup runs off USB and a power bank, but the Zen Air DAC uses a power brick. For this setup to work you need a Zen DAC v1 or v2)
• Budget price, non-budget sound
• Pairs beautifully with HD600, R70x and Moondrop Kato, in case you own any of these items. Xbass+ in particular works wonders for immersion in movies or video games with the HD600, and not all the time with music.

Zen Air Can: The Bad

• Bluetooth is going to cost you another USD $80 in the Zen Air Blue which is fine, but now the stack has gone from burger to building. Takes up too much space. FiiO K7 has bluetooth in a more space friendly package.
• Plastic build can crack
• Too little space on the volume knob for IEMs
• You have to remember to use the power on button every time you turn on/off your PC
• The shortest USB cable into 5V power supply known to man. No one's mains outlet is that high on their desk. This cable length won't even reach to your PC tower if it's on the floor.
• 2 RCA in, 1 3.5mm in. No optical. Limits AIO possibilities like adding connection to speakers. ​

Closing Thoughts:
I have been familiar with the Zen Dac V1, OG Zen Can, FiiO K5 for years now, and the K7 more recently.

I am retiring the OG Zen Can for the Zen Air Can for a rather strange reason. USB power out. I am wholeheartedly recommending the Zen Air Can for being a convenient, low cost headphone option with certain features that punch over it's weight.

The Zen Air Can is affordable, portable, powerful and has features useful for new audiophiles. It also has a slight warm tilt in sound.
XBass+ and to a lesser extent XSpace, are great features to help tinker with the sound profile for newbies who only have 1 or 2 headphones
The full on Zen stack is also the cheapest stack option that isn't a Chinese product, which will not be easily covered by warranty.
Zen Dac v1 can be easily found online secondhand for even lower price than the Zen Air Can, for immense value when pairing with the Zen Air Can.
Separating the amp and DAC gives room for adding modular pieces like bluetooth, or in my case, a Schitt Lokius.
4.4 balanced connector remains the easiest, lightest connector for a premium headphone. You can commit to 4.4 connector, and then bring your headphone for testing with new gear easily. XLR balanced is a bit heavy and unweidly, sometimes being heavy enough to move your stack around the table.
Zen Air Dac, Zen Dac v1/v2 are USB bus powered, while Zen Air Can is USB 5V powered through a power bank, phone USB charger or USB port. Making it easy to bring to and fro from work, for new gear auditions or if you are the child of divorced parents and move around a lot.


The Zen Stack remains the cheapest possible way to get 4.4 audio out, even if the Zen Air Can is not "true" balance out (uses single ended RCA from Zen Dac v1 into Zen Air Can and then 4.4 audio out).

Ifi has a winning entry level slew of products here, that I will happily recommend over even the cheapest, well built stuff from China like the Topping DX1, SMSL SU-6 / SH-6 stack or FiiO K5.

Yes the SMSL stack has bluetooth and optical. But it costs substantially more for no 4.4mm balanced out. Similarly, for the K5. The cheapest options for 4.4 true balanced out is the Zen Dac v1 > Zen Can or FiiO K7 or any balanced DAC into the Topping A30 Pro.

You can of course end up with a Frankenstein mash of Chinese products with different sizes and 2 or 3 heavy power bricks.

As someone who doesn't have all the space in the world for an audio setup, and even less budget than I have space, I'm immensely happy with this setup. I am still wishing on ifi to include a longer USB cable for ALL their products. The short blue cable with the DACs makes sense with a laptop but definitely not a larger sized PC that sits on the ground. I have to use a USB extender to have everything sit on my desk. But at work, this makes things far more cumbersome than it has to be as I have to bring my own extender, diminishing the overall portability of the Zen sandwich.

I am also humbly requesting that ifi consider making a tone control in the Zen series form factor to rival the Schitt Lokius, Loki Mini or JDS Subjective 3. Not because any of those products are bad, but because the Zen sandwich is still my favorite form factor of any audio product.

This is an easy recommendation from me, and I especially recommend it to students and minimalists. This is an affordable, reliable setup that helps you get rid of a lot of power brick clutter while remaining small yet powerful. You also get options for RCA speaker out into something like the Edifier R1700 through the Zen DAC, even if you have to rather annoyingly, change the RCA connectors from your DAC into the speakers.

But the end result is you get full on bookshelf speakers for movies in a living room or large bedroom through a convenient DAC with a buttery smooth volume knob, a headphone amp that is also easy to connect through RCA AND a pitch black background with no static or hum for a few hundred bucks. Reliable value, without worrying about warranty or having a similarly priced Topping product suddenly not working for no rhyme or reason.

Preamble for this review:
With how much hype this IEM has, alongside new entries like the Shuoer S12, 7Hz Timeless & Eternal, this review will focus more on the long-term use as an EDC IEM rather than an exhaustive take on it's sound characteristics.

This review will also come from a standpoint of a person who primarily uses headphones.

*update on Sept 2023: Cable has exposed wiring near the 2-pin connector on the left. Had to replace it with a cheap thinner cable from elsewhere. Aside from that, cable has served me well for a few months aside from being rather heavy and unwieldy. Much prefer the thinner, flimsier cable for commute.

There is hiss when using with a noisy PC audio out. But none detected through BTR3. Hiss through a phone and PC when using DDHifi TC35b.

Also, as of Sept 2023, new releases from Tangzu, Sennheiser, Letshuoer and Dunu all have something competitive in a lower price bracket. I won't be recommending the Kato due to the comparable performance from new and cheaper stuff this year.

TL;DR:
I really enjoy using the Kato as an everyday-IEM. The things this IEM does right are:

• Sounds great, fits great.
• No durability complaints after about 4 months of ownership
• Firm 2-pin connectors, best stock cable I've used on an IEM
• Minimal, bearable microphonics. Easy to use aftermarket ear-tips such as Final E tips.
• Affordability to sound quality ratio is great. Pay quite a bit more over the Aria for a much improved user experience.
• Does not leave me craving my go-to HD600 too much when on-the-go

The downsides to the IEM are:

• Scratches easily but still looks decent until closer inspection
• IEM case doesn't fit the IEM unless you want to crush the wires
• Yet another Chi-fi IEM in a sea of Chi-fi IEMs.
• Can pick up some hiss from laptops or noisier dongles, no fault of the IEM per se.
• Very stiff competition from new releases such as the 7Hz Timeless

Use Scenario
The Kato has been one of my favorite IEMs to use on the daily with my other favorites in the past being the well-built, comfortable Final E4000.

Aside from these two, I've owned the:

1. Acoustune HS1300SS (I hated this)
2. Shozy Rouge (very poor cable)
3. Aria (chipped and poor build)
4. Shure SE215 and Mee M6 Pro (bad IEMS that don't hold up today)

Clearly, I don't have the best luck with IEMs and generally, I do find them inferior to a solidly built headphone like the R70x and HD600.

The Kato has given me some faith in a long lasting IEM that will hopefully at least last the year. I use it primarily on my commute and before bed on some Netflix.

Very Brief Sound Impressions & Conclusion
In general, I find that the Kato sounds clean and articulate. The Kato does vocals naturally, with a slight push in the treble department. It does not have particularly strong bass, but with Final E tips and a slight bass boost on Wavelet (app for Android), I have zero complaints about using it.

With the Final E tips, isolation is good enough for use on a noisy bus or train. Through the Samsung dongle and a FiiO BTR5, there is also zero hiss. There is however hiss through a noisy power supply on an Asus Zenbook that I use for school.

The sound quality is also very competitive, matching comfortably with the Acoustune HS1300SS that costs almost double. While the Acoustune sounds warmer and thicker, the Kato matches blows with a cleaner, more sparkly presentation and faster slapping bass. The Acoustune has more natural timbre and is objectively better but technical performance is comparable. Just pick the signature you prefer.

Compared to my trusted HD600, I am completely comfortable with using the Kato as a substitute if I do not want to bring the bulkier headphone. I have used the Kato for long Zoom lectures, a number of movies including the aural masterpiece in Interstellar along with video games without missing the HD600 too much.

My favorite thing about the Kato is how it just disappears, I don't need to think too much about it, I know I can just plug it in and focus on work or play. Just like my HD600. It is a wonderful feeling to not have to worry about if the cable is loose or if an MMCX connector is failing, or if I would much rather be using a headphone. The Kato, put simply, just works.

Sounds good, built good, affordable enough as far as IEMs go. I cannot recommend this IEM enough unless you want to enter a new price bracket. But by then I would be looking at a better headphone, source gear etc. For $279 SGD, this is my IEM pick of choice. Anything more and I would just purchase a DAC and HD600.

I first heard this headphone in an audiophile shop when I was 22, fresh in my first job.

I wanted to reward myself after a hard year of barely staying afloat at work, and only wanted a small upgrade IEM from the terrible RHA MA750 I was using at the time. I eventually settled for a FiiO K3 and Final Audio E4000 which has followed me to 4 years of work.

At the time the HD600 felt like too expensive an investment for me, but I wanted to try it all the same. It looked so angular and tastefully designed. So I auditioned it in store.

I was blown away instantly by how it sounded for vocals. I wanted it right there and then. But not for $500.

I eventually made the mistake of buying a HD6XX hoping it would be a cheaper copy of the HD600. It was not. It was bad.

The HD600 to this day is on my desk as the reference headphone of choice. I break it out for every new album I'm interested in finishing a listening session for. And I use it as a measuring stick when I audition any other potential gear I'm adding to my collection.

Sure it doesn't have all the flavor of a fun headphone like the EMU Teak, sure it doesn't have the magical treble of the ADX5000, and its warmth isn't as all encompassing as the Aeolus.

But what the HD600 does right, is working as a pure benchmark for good, tonally correct vocals. And it does these basics without sacrificing comfort or build. Some Focal headphones do sound more exciting somedays, true. But they can be so heavy and uncomfortable just for that extra pizazz which I may not want on another day. I also don't fancy straining my neck using an Aeolus for a 3 hour Zoom course.

It does all of these for a quarter of the price of a standard high end headphone. The HD800S goes for $2400, the Aeolus for $1700 and the ADX5000 for $2400. The HD600 sits in the same room with these headphones, without embarassing itself, all while coming in at $500.

Some colored headphones make some albums sound better. But when I need it vanilla, I need it through the HD600.

For movies, I would probably move to a set of speakers or a bassier headphone. But I cannot skip the HD600 if it is for personal listening.

An easy 4.5 rating with a 0.5 deducted purely because it's not the ADX5000

Acoustune HS1300SS Review:


What this IEM does right:

• Vocal and instrument presentation is accurate enough, some boost in bass helps add warmth to male vocals. Small tweak in the "magic 2k" region makes female vocals sparkle just a bit.
• Soundstage is small, which makes this a very situationally good IEM. If you like stuff like Tiny Desk concert, this IEM will do well with that type of music. I found that guitars and individual singers were presented musically and made for an entertaining listen.

What this IEM does wrongly [SQ]

• Soundstage is small which makes this IEM quite a bad all-rounder. It is especially bad for movies that rely on scale. World ending events are presented as happening in a much smaller space. Gaming suffers the same fate and this IEM is generally not good for anything relying on space and locating sounds in a larger area.
• Imaging is similarly nothing special. Instruments can appear a bit mushed together and overall presentation can have that "singers singing into a microphone" effect. Feels boxed in.
• Detail retrieval is not up to par with the price. I have a Kato. And the Kato, aside from being tuned to Harman, is almost indistinguishable in terms of detail retrieval. Vocals were presented the same way aside from the warm bass boost on the HS1300. For a $188USD IEM to be 98% of the way there to a $338 USD IEM, honestly, I wouldn't bother at all with the Acoustune. The Kato itself is not competitive price wise with 2023's IEM launches, not to mention new planar stuff and the existing tons of DD IEMs available.

What this IEM fails in:

• The WORST connector I've encountered in an IEM. Loose, comes off the wire on it's own
• Heavy stock cable that cuts into earlobes
• Difficult to replace cable
• Problem may not be solved except through a connector replacement or custom cable with lock
• Poor soundstage, may not have enough detail retrieval for some
• Favors some genres heavily over others

Closing Thoughts
I gave the HS1300 another chance while on an errand to upgrade my MDR-Z7 cable to a balanced silver cable.

I'm not a cable-believer per se, but my impression of the HS1300 has always been a negative one since owning the set myself... Since well, I couldn't even listen to it without the sound cutting out from the Pentaconn connector. I still maintain my stand that the HS1300 is a poorly designed, generally uncompetitive IEM price wise.

But after giving it a second go with upgraded silver cables... I still think it sucks ass. For about the same price as my HD600, this thing doesn't sound as good, musical as it is, and is a bit too large to be comfortable. I'm not a cable believer at all, but I made sure I gave the HS1300 a fair shot, by upgrading it to a 2-pin connector and a premium cable to boot.

It still sucks. It's not just 388 USD suck. It's barely keeping up with a Moondrop Kato which itself, is having a tough time justifying it's asking price against new chi-fi.

2.0 stars for well, producing good enough sound? Honestly it deserves 1.0 star for that Pentaconn cable connector alone, and for bringing down the reputation of Japanese workmanship. For context even MMCX Final Audio IEMS have lasted me 5 years without so much as a connection or cable problem, at half the price.

I'm glad to be done giving the HS1300 a revisit and re-listen. And am happier still welcoming the Kato back as my go-to set.

2023 Update: Battery puffed up and broke the case. This is a junk product and I'd steer clear if any of the company's other offerings have this level of QC. Not recommended.


Preamble on portable DAC/amps:
Portable sources like the Qudelix 5K, BTR 5 and ifi Hip DAC are becoming increasingly portable as audiophiles tote their IEMs to work or on their commutes. Desktop rigs are great and all, but it's not exactly feasible to bring around a full sized Topping A90 or even a smaller A50S. Some office spaces are small, and some of us work out of a laptop in a co-shared space like Starbucks.

With tiny sources and dongles getting more popular, even as phone companies do away with 3.5mm jacks, the mobile audiophile has a lot to choose from. The unwieldy wired mess that is the dongle, dongle to DAC solution, or the Bluetooth solution. Whichever you choose, great audio quality is a must, but convenient portability is just as important.

The Audirect Beam 3 Plus is the company's shot at offering at a BTR 5 / Qudelix 5K product, with a full sized 4.4 balanced jack. Does it do it well?


Best features - What I liked:

• Sound quality: this thing pushes balanced headphones adequately, with great dynamics and a clean, neutral signature. No bass boost switch, no warm tilt. Nada. Just turn up the gain for the more demanding stuff. I used the Audio Technica R70X and HD600 with no complains.
• Strong Bluetooth connection: the one thing I hated with the BTR5 was how poor the connection could get with LDAC. Even using it in my pants pocket, the BTR5 would choke. With the Beam 3 Plus, the Bluetooth is very stable, and I have cooked in the kitchen as my phone charged in the living room.
• No start-up chime: this is debatable, as the chimes and low battery indicators are very important for most users. For me, I did quite like how there was no annoying start-up sound.

The terrible - What I disliked:

• Noisy 3.5mm out: This misdemeanor alone kills it for me. There is simply no excuse for a portable DAC/amp to have a noisy 3.5mm output. Most people use a 3.5mm jack with their gear, and only upgrade to a balanced cable further along when they have owned something for a while. It's noisy and distracting when nothing is playing. The 3.5mm jack is nigh un-usable for me. Especially when compared to the pitch black of the BTR 5. The Zen Dac that I use as a desktop solution is also far cleaner, while pushing out more power.
• No case: The Beam 3 Plus comes in at $230 SGD. It's a premium offering but none of the nice-ties. There is only a USB C to C cable, and a C to A adaptor. Nothing else. The BTR 5 includes a clip, as does the Shanling UP 4 and the ifi Hip DAC.
• Poor support: The company itself, doesn't seem to care too much about their product, as the Beam 3 Plus isn't even listed on the Hilidac website. You can't even find the battery capacity on Google. It's practically a ghost product that I think will be abandoned by Hilidac quickly enough.
• Garbage battery life: This thing has terrible battery life. There's no way to get around it. It'll barely last 3 hours with the 4.4 balanced out. Even with IEMs, I didn't get too much usage out of it before it dies with a LOUD buzzing sound. I will be downgrading the Beam 3 Plus as my work laptop audio solution. It's not usable as a portable source.

Conclusion
To wrap up my feelings about the Audirect Beam 3 Plus, most of it being negative, I will not recommend this thing at all. It's priced too high, offers too little, and frankly the piss poor battery life and noisy 3.5mm jack alone are enough for me to list it as a failed product. Maybe it is a prototype design from Hilidac, and if so, there's potential when working with this form factor.

But as a product pushed out as "ready" for consumers? This thing drops the ball more often than it scores. A small list of better all-round products is provided here:

• For the user who needs 4.4 balanced out for hungry headphones: The ifi Hip DAC has higher output power for it's balanced out (400mv into 32 ohms) and also sports a usable 3.5mm jack for IEMs or headphones that you may not have balanced cables for. No bluetooth however.
• For the user who needs a great Bluetooth solution: the Qudelix 5K gets the nod, but it's not easy to buy internationally (especially if you don't support Amazon and it's practices). The Shanling UP4 gets the nod here, but I would wait for the UP5, which has 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced out.
• For the user who needs 4.4 balanced out for IEMs: Lotoo Paw S1. I like how it doesn't have any batteries, functioning as a pure USB dongle. No battery replacements needed coupled with a tiny form factor. I can see this being a real keeper for someone who tests out IEMs often.
• For the user who doesn't mind being tethered to a desktop solution: The Zen DAC is cheaper than the Beam 3 Plus by almost 70 SGD, while providing a warmer sound signature and higher power ouput. It's a wonderful all-in-one for the price, with options for upgrading to stack an amp through RCA or 4.4 balanced out.

The Beam 3 Plus gets my unequivocal thumbs down for me. Do NOT buy this thing if you value the 3.5mm output, or want to use it primarily as a Bluetooth DAC/amp. Even disregarding it's premium price, lack of carrying case, the Beam 3 Plus is not worth a second look due to how poor the battery life is.

It has been a while since I have encountered an audio product that actually made me angry, this is one of a special few that genuinely left a bitter taste in the mouth. (Note: I have also requested a replacement model from a retailer. The 2nd unit performs in exactly the same way. No defects. Poor battery life is a feature, apparently)

This gets a 1.5 because it (i) produces passable sound out as a USB C DAC/amp (3.5mm out sounds just ok) and (ii) fails in every other function as a Bluetooth portable, regardless of price.

Intro
To preface this review, I'll provide any reader looking for a budget headphone with this TL;DR.



What this headphone is:
The Creative Aurvana Live! is my sub-100 dollar recommendation for anyone looking for a cheap, usable headphone with good-enough sound quality.
And nothing more. No amp, no DAC, no fancy balanced cable. Nada. Not even a mic. This thing is a great, bare-bones headphone. And you shouldn't go lower than this standard because frankly, you deserve better. Anything below this can often be a frustrating exercise in wasted money.

It is also the headphone to pick instead of the Aurvana Live 2. The version 2 comes with a terrible flat cable, slightly larger earpads and a higher cost. All this for a slightly bassier tuning that throws off the balance that the original CAL! brought to the table for 50 bucks.

What this headphone is not:
This is not some sort of budget-redefining headphone. It's not a budget HD600. It's not even that great if you compare it to the sea of affordable-ish headphones that are meant to scale nicely with a good amp and DAC. It's also not particularly different from a gaming headset like the Astro A40s.

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Sound Quality
Before I lay into this thing, the CAL is by no means a bad sounding headphone. The sound is genuinely great for it's price. But there are some caveats to consider:


Soundstage:

• The narrow soundstage does kill the enjoyment for some genres. Instrument separation is not there, and can sound squeezed together. Instruments are not quite allowed to "breathe".
• Can feel somewhat "compressed". This was very obvious when coming from the Audio Technica R70x, where vocals from singers such as Alexander 23 / Juke Ross / James Smith. / Bruno Major. Perfectly listenable but the sense of space felt like going from a bar concert to everyone squeezing into a bedroom.

Poor isolation:

• This is probably the biggest caveat here. As the poor isolation makes the CAL unsuitable for being a commute headphone. Even as a at-home headphone, the "whirr" of a fan can be loud enough to break the seal. The immersion you might want in a sealed, closed-back gets sacrificed and you end up having to turn up the headphone to drown out the background.

Attractive bassy tuning and the flipside of having it:

• One thing the CAL does well, is in bass quality. On the right tracks, the headphone digs down deeply. Especially for modern pop music with digital elements, or rap music with a deep bassline.
• The tuning is musical and avoids the artificial sound that some v-shaped headphones can have.
• There are some instances where this bass-ier tuning can interfere with vocals. Some smear.
• Example track: Tai Verdes - Drugs

Some general feelings towards genres (don't take this as gospel. It's just a scale of what I think this headphone would be better for):

• For pop: 7/10 - the bassy tuning works well for this genre
• For acoustic music: 5/10 - sense of separation is just not good enough to help guitars or violins shine
• For movies: 4/10 - sense of space is back here again, where dialogue in larger rooms doesn't feel much different from dialogue in smaller spaces. Bassy enough for gunfire, poor for anything that requires a sense of scale or larger environments.
• For games: 6/10 - suprisingly, sometimes a smaller soundstage is useful for some games. I play Overwatch and CS:GO. The CAL fails here with average imaging and poor soundstage. Can't really pinpoint footsteps as clearly as other headphones. Sound is only average, with no punch to gunshots or large explosions. Neither enjoyable for single-player stuff nor performance focused in competitive shooters.

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Build & Fit
Fit is very important for a headphone, a little less so than an IEM, but chances are you are going to be wearing a headphone for hours on end. Be it for a work-from-home arrangement, for a 2 hour movie or for a gaming session.

The CAL is subjectively a comfortable headphone. Some of the things it does well are:

• the low clamping force
• comfortable earpads
• light weight.
• fits well even with glasses
• non-microphonic cable

It's built well, and my unit has survived since 2017. The all plastic build has not shown any cracks, and the clicky adjustment headband has not loosened or been unable to hold it's adjustment. The only damage is the protein leather having cracked in some areas. Pictured below.



The first thing you will notice from the picture however, is how small the earpads are. I come in a size smol at barely 170cm tall. I also have a fairly small head and ears. The pads are just enough to cover my ears and not much more.

Thankfully the pads themselves are plush enough to not feel like an on-ear. The leather also does not flake like some of the poorer built Audio Technicas (M50X, M40, MSR7) or V-Moda (XS, M100) or NAD VISO HP50. All of which I do not recommend at any price point because of the poor choice of materials. It is extremely unhygienic when headphone leather flakes either from humidity or sweat.

I will not hesistate to point out if a headphone uses poor materials and I will point out if a company has not made a commitment to improve or rethink their choice of materials. For that reason, I often approach Audio Technicas with some caution (and some anger) as they often gimp their lower end headphones with terrible materials or poor winged designs.

But on that note, I have big smiles for the Sennheiser stuff. As my HD600 and HD6XX have survived wonderfully. These are two headphones I recommend for build and good sound quality for their price points.

The CAL, thankfully, is also built very well for it's price. The plastic does not show scratches, the band does not break, even the cable does not degrade or signs of wear.

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Quick Closing Thoughts [ a 5.0 out of 10 headphone]
"Wow you must really hate this headphone!"

Absolutely not. Don't get me wrong. This headphone is good for some use cases, but it's important to note that $50 isn't quite $50 anymore. The value of this amount has changed with how much new gear we've been lucky enough to see release since 2016.

$50 still won't get you a better headphone, true, but it can definitely go into supplementing your next upgrade instead of getting something mediocre.

The CAL, especially against competitively price headphones, is not that worth it. In fact, I would argue that most headphones in the $50-$150 range are placeholders for better gear. I highly recommend saving up for something else and putting down around $300-$400 for a good headphone.

If you are tight on cash however, and don't intend to become an audio hobbyist, the CAL is a great option for:

• someone who wants to lounge in bed with a headphone
• does not want to invest any further money in a portable amp/dac
• wants something cheap while on holiday in a dorm, or in an office
• does not want a headset with an unsightly mic arm sticking out the side during zoom calls
• wants a beater headphone that can be tossed around without being babied too much
• needs a cheap gift option for a teen

I have actually handed mine off to my dad who uses it daily for hours on end to watch soccer reruns on his PC, and to tune in to rerun sermons from church due to COVID restrictions.

If I had to rate this thing on a scale that doesn't really matter, I would give the CAL an overall rating of 5/10.

It can be hard to rate things like headphones because you need to consider if its good on its own, good against a sea of competitor, provides good value among a great many other factors. I cannot recommend the CAL as a good headphone, because so many other good things exist. It just gets the job done at a dirt cheap price, and I am not willing to give it a pass just because of said price.

Alternatives:
If you are a gamer, I would recommend the Astro A40, which can be found for around $120. It improves upon the CAL's sound quality, but also features a removable cable and a mic. The mic is good enough for Discord calls and interviews, while not picking up much background sound. An all-around more useful headset for gaming, better built and with removable pads to prolong it's longevity.

If you are into music, I am ok with recommending the CAL. I would however, recommend saving up for the much more expensive Audio Technica R70x ($300) or the Sennheiser HD600 ($450). A side recommendation that I am ok with recommending would also be the HifiMan 400SE ($220).

Understandably, you might be annoyed at receiving a recommendation that is so far outside of the CAL's price bracket. But the recommended models all have support for replacable earpads, cables and provide a much more noticable jump in sound quality compared to CAL's and headsets such as the Hyper X Cloud II's or Arctics 5's or Astro A40's. In the long run, I would much rather recommend something that you can do some basic maintenance for. I have also used all the all-forementioned gear for a few years. I can comfortably recommend them as long-lasting pieces that can make it for a decade if you care for your gear.

I find little point in jumping from headphone to headphone if the sound and comfort isn't something that immediately captures your attention. Jumping from CAL to Takstar or some other flavor of the month cheap deal, really isn't worth it, from personal experience.

If you just want something for the bus ride, I would recommend IEMs with a nice snug fit. I don't recommend headphones for commutes as the earpads can get rather icky and sweaty. Also, some commuting headphones do not have options for replacement earpads, which is just all around really unhygenic. Just skip the incovenience of charging a battery or fiddling with a large carrying case and go IEM.

Some recommended IEMs with a comfortable fit are the Final Audio E4000, E5000 and A4000. I would also put the Dunu DK-2001 or the iBasso iT01x. These are very small and will fit a wide variety of ears. They are also tuned well and come in below $200.

The great thing about IEMs is the portability. You also get the option to change the cables to add a mic if you want an all-rounder that also works for your workplace Zoom/Skype calls. If you are in broadcast or appearing in a video interview, I recommend a earphone to keep the focus on you instead of what gear you are wearing.

Small downside: Not very suitable for gaming, very narrow soundstage compared to any headphone, not very good for movies. Suitable for music and commute due to great isolation.