Story of a New Reviewer: kimvictor

I'm not a new head-fier, but relatively new reviewer. As I have been writing reviews, eke2k6 mentioned that every reviewer has his/her preference, and knowing that preference might help the readers understand the review better.
 
I'll start with a brief intro about myself.
My name is Victor Kim, and you can call me Victor or Kim. I'm a Korean student that studies in MA. I've been into this hobby for slightly over a year now, and owned multiple headphones and iems. My first audiophile iem was SE215.
 
Source/Amp: AK100, UHA-6S.MKII, Modi, Clip Zip, GS3.
 
Here is a list of headphones/iems I've bought over the last year.
SE215 - SE535 - SRH940 - M-50 - AD700 - HD598 - X20 - DT1350 - UERM - V6 - H-200 - MDR7550
I was first a bass/mid head, than a mid/treble head, and now a neutral head.
 
So here is what I value in order of importance:
1. Smoothness
2. Clarity
3. Soundstage and Imaging
4. Detail
5. Extension
Honestly, I value all five of these a lot.
 
Overall sound sig that I enjoy is neutralish sound without big emphasis on any frequency. I really like sub bass and mids, as well as airy highs. Not so interested in quantity mid bass, but I'm interested in punchy mid bass.
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Here is a list of reviews I've done. Feel free to ask me questions about any reviews I've done on this tread.
 
Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors: http://www.head-fi.org/products/ultimate-ears-in-ear-reference-monitors/reviews/8928
 
Beyerdynamic DT1350: http://www.head-fi.org/products/beyerdynamic-tesla-dt-1350/reviews/8968
 
T PEOS B-100: http://www.head-fi.org/products/t-peos-b-100/reviews/9212
 
T PEOS H-200: http://www.head-fi.org/products/t-peos-h-200/reviews/9267
 
Multi Headphone Review($100-$300 range): http://www.head-fi.org/t/665919/100-300-headphones-review-ath-m50-vs-ath-ad700-vs-hd598-vs-srh940-vs-dt1350-vs-v6-vs-modded-v6-vs-bose-oe-updated-6-19-13
 
Sony MDR-7550: http://www.head-fi.org/t/679045/review-sony-mdr-7550
 
Voxoa HD Wireless: http://www.head-fi.org/t/686221/new-voxoa-hd-wireless-headphones-thread-bluetooth-4-0-nfc-16-hours-of-battery
 
Sansa Fuze v2: http://www.head-fi.org/products/sandisk-sansa-fuze-v2/reviews/9691
 
Macbook Air(11,13)/Samsung Series 5: http://www.head-fi.org/t/684181/review-mac-vs-windows-laptop

First! j/k
 
How've you been Victor? I'm sure you've read all about the AD4627, but you should give them a try! I like them more than the OPA209 for my uha-6s.
 
Oh and I see that you bought the fiio cable. What do you think about it? I read Clieos' review on it and it seems like it's probably not better than the stock UE cable. Though it does look prettier...

Hello!

[When reviewer meet reviewer xD]
First off, AWESOME! Nice set up you have! And am really happy to see more reviewers here! Reading people's review although you are not buying the products gives you a lot of benefits to me!

Anyway, just to do some sharing, here's my propriety in sound quality;
1) Transparancy
2) Mids
2) Detailed
3) Sub-bass, tight bass and neutral bass xD
4) Imaging
5) Instrumental Separation
6) Soundstage
7) Highs

I do not mind the highs being rolled off/dark actually xD

Billson

Quote:

thegunner100 said:

First! j/k
 
How've you been Victor? I'm sure you've read all about the AD4627, but you should give them a try! I like them more than the OPA209 for my uha-6s.
 
Oh and I see that you bought the fiio cable. What do you think about it? I read Clieos' review on it and it seems like it's probably not better than the stock UE cable. Though it does look prettier...

Click to expand...

I've been doing fine. How's your summer going?
 
I am interested in rolling op-amps, but since shipping to Korea costs a lot, I'm waiting til I'm back in MA to order few op-amps from Nick.
What fiio cable are you talking about? I have a mini-mini cable from Fiio, but I didn't buy a ciem cable from them. I was thinking about buying them. Anyways, thanks for the heads up! I think I'll hold off buying a fiio cable.

Quote:

billsonchang007 said:

Hello!

[When reviewer meet reviewer xD]
First off, AWESOME! Nice set up you have! And am really happy to see more reviewers here! Reading people's review although you are not buying the products gives you a lot of benefits to me!

Anyway, just to do some sharing, here's my propriety in sound quality;
1) Transparancy
2) Mids
2) Detailed
3) Sub-bass, tight bass and neutral bass xD
4) Imaging
5) Instrumental Separation
6) Soundstage
7) Highs

I do not mind the highs being rolled off/dark actually xD

Billson

Click to expand...

Thanks! It really does help to know what the reviewer's preference is. I simply cannot bear dark sounding headphones, but many reviewers(including you) are fine with them. Anyways, let's keep more reviews coming!

kimvictor said:

Thanks! It really does help to know what the reviewer's preference is. I simply cannot bear dark sounding headphones, but many reviewers(including you) are fine with them. Anyways, let's keep more reviews coming!

Click to expand...

Haha that's mainly because I find better overall clarity to be better with darker headphones although sometimes lacking details xD

Billson

Quote:

kimvictor said:

I've been doing fine. How's your summer going?
 
I am interested in rolling op-amps, but since shipping to Korea costs a lot, I'm waiting til I'm back in MA to order few op-amps from Nick.
What fiio cable are you talking about? I have a mini-mini cable from Fiio, but I didn't buy a ciem cable from them. I was thinking about buying them. Anyways, thanks for the heads up! I think I'll hold off buying a fiio cable.

Click to expand...

Today is the last day of my summer class! I'll be going to the art museum to do a mini-presentation on my art history paper on the Reliquary of Mary Magdalene. 
 
I thought you had the fiio ciem cable, since you posted pictues in the "Make the change—with one tiny wire.FiiO Headphone cable- RC-X will be in the market" album.  
 
HD650 is the limit for me, as far as dark sounding headphones are concerned. Anything darker than that sounds too mellow to me. For example, ASG IEMs; lots of people like them, but they're wayyy to dark for me.

Quote:

thegunner100 said:

Today is the last day of my summer class! I'll be going to the art museum to do a mini-presentation on my art history paper on the Reliquary of Mary Magdalene. 
 
I thought you had the fiio ciem cable, since you posted pictues in the "Make the change—with one tiny wire.FiiO Headphone cable- RC-X will be in the market" album.  
 
HD650 is the limit for me, as far as dark sounding headphones are concerned. Anything darker than that sounds too mellow to me. For example, ASG IEMs; lots of people like them, but they're wayyy to dark for me.

Click to expand...

Good luck!
 
Rin's measurements got me interested in ASG iems. I want to hear if they are as bad as Rin suggested.

Quote:

billsonchang007 said:

Haha that's mainly because I find better overall clarity to be better with darker headphones although sometimes lacking details xD

Billson

Click to expand...

Interestingly, while I found darker headphones to be smoother, I find them to lack clarity.

Quote:

kimvictor said:

Good luck!
 
Rin's measurements got me interested in ASG iems. I want to hear if they are as bad as Rin suggested.

Click to expand...

Yep, no treble at all... everything sounds kinda muffled or deadened(?) to me. Oh, and first time I actually saw measurements for the ASGs, wow!

Quote:

thegunner100 said:

Yep, no treble at all... everything sounds kinda muffled or deadened(?) to me. Oh, and first time I actually saw measurements for the ASGs, wow!

Click to expand...

I know. How terrible! Worse treble roll off than anything I've heard.

Oh hey, I'm a new reviewer my self as well ^^ just doing the finishing touches to my 9 Testing songs now!
 
I also started out as a bass head ^^ 
 
Things I Value are
 
Decay- the change from high to low, a sound that lingers too long has bad decay and will be smoother but not as punchy or detailed [or clear] imo 
 
Highs- Smoothness, air and detail/decay
Mids- Punch, Push and Detail decay
Bass- Tightness and placement [I like deeper less forward bass]
Sound Stage /Imaging -2D and more importantly 3D placement
Dynamics- Changes in high to low [part of decay in a sense]
BUILD QUALITY
Utility- Fit Comfort and Ease of Use 
 
feel free to check out my blog [it links back to my Head Fi reviews] BUT I love reading reviews and I'd love some feed back on my own  
 
And I agree Darker headphones are usally warm and smooth, but lack decay and air in the treble 
 
As for the songs I test with [they are just as important]
 
In addition I use my Modded w1000x out of my oDac- Matrix M Stage [LME 49990 op amp] as my reference headphone. And as always I use FooBar WASPAI Even, with 16 Bit lossless files <3 Through Coaxial cables
 
Personally I really enjoy doing reviews, heck I buy and return cheap headphones just to review them. And on a positive note, Tommorow I'm emailing a member of the Audio Technica Publicity staff on getting a review sample! So once I get through that, I'll be back here to share with you guys what all he asked of me, So you guys can get the chance maybe to do some reviews from a BIG company as well ^^, not to mention I have an AKG K550 and Ath A900x [I purcahsed my self] on the way too. So my Blog/Head Fi accounts are about to xPlode
 
Still, I'm glad you started this thread... I'd love to see what qualities you guys look for . And I shared as much about what I do, so if you see something you like you can copy. That's what I've found to work best for me. ^^ Non the less what a fun hobby we have! 

kimvictor said:

Interestingly, while I found darker headphones to be smoother, I find them to lack clarity.

Click to expand...

XD forgot to add smoother... What was I thinking last night xD but they do have better clarity, at least, from those that I heard like the UE6000, Momentum, RS220 etc

Quote:

billsonchang007 said:

XD forgot to add smoother... What was I thinking last night xD but they do have better clarity, at least, from those that I heard like the UE6000, Momentum, RS220 etc

Click to expand...

Interesting. I guess I just prefer brighter phones.

Quote:

mshenay said:

Oh hey, I'm a new reviewer my self as well ^^ just doing the finishing touches to my 9 Testing songs now!
 
I also started out as a bass head ^^ 
 

Click to expand...

Welcome Mshenay! I wonder why thread like this didn't exist before.