Having owned or heard several Aroma Audio IEMs over the last few years, their latest flagship, Fei Wan, is an interesting departure from their previous releases in both tuning and appearance. The Fei Wan utilises 10 balanced armature drives and 2 dynamic drivers to deliver its sound and comes in what can only be described as “Bling”, gold-flaked shells. I’ve been listening to Fei Wan for about four weeks now before starting this review, which has given them enough time to burn in and for me to appreciate the sound. Like everything in this hobby...

Up until MusicTeck started carrying Vortex cables, I wasn’t aware of the brand at all. After reading some initial impressions and taking a look at the materials they were using and their shielding design, I decided to try out Lavinia. The Vortex Lavinia retails at $759, which isn’t a crazy price in the current market. It arrives in packaging that you would expect to find with much more expensive products. Lavinia comes with nicely machined, steel hardware which has a unique look to it. Interestingly, the cable comes with a full set of EA’s ConX...

Kinera is a brand I have become more familiar with in recent years. Up until recently, they were known for mainly producing IEMs in the lower and mid tiers, but with the launch of Loki, they are firmly taking aim at the upper echelons of this hobby. As I have mentioned in many of my previous reviews, I have an interest in all sets that utilise bone conduction drivers, and my preferred configuration for IEMs, in general, are hybrids that include DD, BA and EST drivers, so when I heard Kinera had a new IEM in the works that ticked all of these boxes...

As someone who has been around the houses over the years when it comes to IEMs, I was a little late to the Noble party. In recent times, I picked up both Kublai Khan and Ragnar. Both these sets have been divisive in their own ways, but I loved both for what they brought to the party, things that other sets hadn’t. I guess as time has gone on, I have realised I always gravitate towards trying sets that do things a little differently, and I am happy to take on board that they may have their quirks, too, as a result. I also have a soft spot for...

The Cayin N7 caught most of us by surprise. Most people were expecting a successor to the N6ii with its swappable motherboards. Instead, much like they did with N8ii, Cayin headed in a new direction bringing out an entirely new type of device to the portable market. For me, the N7 arrived at an interesting time as I had started transitioning away from delta sigma-based DAPs and found myself using desktop R2R systems for my music enjoyment. While devices like the Hiby RS8 were certainly of interest, its price and the initial reports of teething...

Something I always look out for in this hobby is praise coming from multiple people with varying tastes. It is generally a very good indicator that a product has something special about it. The Brise Audio Yatono Ultimate 8W certainly fits into that category. After speaking to a number of people who all returned glowing impressions of the cable, I was intrigued to find out what the buzz was about, so I picked one up from MusicTeck a few weeks back and have been putting it through its paces since. I think it’s pretty clear just by looking at this...

I briefly got to demo the Noble Audio Ragnar during a local meet-up some time back. The meet-up took place in a hotel lobby which doesn’t always turn out to be the best environment for critical listening, but out of all of the gear I tried that day, Ragnar stood out and I left that meet-up intent on hearing it again. Fast forward a month or two and I have since picked up a set from Musicteck and have been using it daily since. My impressions below like always are just one man’s opinions on how I hear things. Please remember this will always be...

The Kinera Orlog is Kinera’s first venture into the IEM upgrade cable market and I was lucky enough to receive an early production unit to try out over the last few weeks. Kinera have collaborated with Effect Audio to produce this cable and the end result both looks and sounds superb. This collaboration also means that the cable comes with EA ConX which allows you to change from 2 Pin to MMCX, and indeed others if you purchase them separately. The cable I was sent is a 4-wire and retails for $699. There is also a limited edition 8 wire available...

Intro Unique Melody gave me my first introduction to bone conductor drivers in the Mest Mki. It added a little bit of magic to that set and was something I immediately connected with. Since then I have always had at least one set in my collection that has a BCD. While I’ve kept clear of the ultra-expensive models UM has released over the last while, very positive initial impressions from the community were enough to draw me back in and pick up Unique Melody’s latest set from Andrew in MusicTeck. The Unique Melody Multiverse Mentor, to give it its...

I first encountered the Liquid Links Venom when I owned the Elysian X. Up to that point I knew very little about the company and in fairness until Musicteck started carrying them a couple of months ago I probably wouldn’t have encountered them again. When I had the Liquid Links Vemon with Elysian X, it had Pentecon Ear connections so I was never able to try it with any of my other iems. The version Musicteck now carries has 2 pin connectors so I was intrigued to try it as it certainly paired well with the Elysian X. I’ve been using Venom daily for...

Kublai Khan has been my first experience with a Noble IEM. The hybrid driver configuration, which includes a bone conductor driver, is what drew me in and I am glad I took the chance. In addition to the BCD, there’s a 10mm dynamic driver looking after bass, four Knowles BAs covering the mid-range and a 10mm Piezo super tweeter for the highs. I have been listening to Kublai Khan for the last five weeks and they have several hundred hours of use time at this point. Below are my thoughts and experiences with the set so far. This is how I hear it but...

Intro I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the Cayin N8ii was one of the most anticipated product launches of the year. Having owned the N6ii and C9, the opportunity to own a device that combined the best of those two devices into one was too hard to pass over so I picked one up from Musicteck and have been using it as my main source since to see how it performed. Cayin have gone all-in with the N8ii with the attitude of giving the user all the options they may desire, even if that is at the cost of heat or battery life. I’m not going...