Greetings, Today we are checking out yet another budget friendly true wireless (TWS) earphone, the Dudios Shuttle. Dudios is one of those brands I see cropping up in 'Amazon's Choice' links on Amazon, and on random 'Best Of' lists for inexpensive wireless gear. Beyond that, I'm not familiar with anything they've released since they aren't a brand that remained on my radar after those initial, cursory glances. However, after using the Shuttle for a couple weeks I get why Dudios products are oft called an easy recommendation. Let's take a closer...

Greetings, Today we're taking a quick look at the Model 2000EX, Blue Ever Blue's follow up to the outstanding Model 1200EX. The 2000EX has been out for a quite a while now and isn't really a new model. Where the 1200EX featured a single dynamic with a durable metal shell and high quality fixed cable, the 2000EX moves to a dual dynamic setup with plastic shells and a removable cable. While those changes all sound quite positive, the resulting product fails to perform to the same level as the 1200EX it succeeds. Let's take a closer look. What I...

Greetings! Today we're checking out one of the more inexpensive earphones in Pioneer's stable, the CH3.　 Micro drivers 6mm and smaller hold a special place in this hobby for me. One of my first unabashed loves, the HA-FXH30 from JVC, mounts single titanium-coated 6mm dynamics in each nozzle and to this day remains one of my favourite products because it balances detail, clarity, control, sound stage, and bass depth so well, all while retaining a certain warmth and natural timbre through the midrange. It also looks pretty damn awesome. Its legendary...

Greetings, Today we're checking out the ME80 from NiceHCK, an online web shop that fairly recently starting developing their own products under the NiceHCK brand name. Earbuds were a style of product that dropped out of favour for quite a while. I suspect it was due to the rise of inexpensive in-ear monitors (iems). They offered up big bass and great isolation more akin to a headphone, but in a portable package we were accustomed to thanks to earbuds. Bass and isolation were qualities the humble earbud inherently struggled to provide thanks to...

Greetings, Today we're checking out the new HEX from Brainwavz. When I first saw this product announced, there were a few things that drew my attention. The first of course was the design. The hexagonal, honeycomb pattern adorning the face plate immediately grabbed my eye as it gave the 3D printed HEX a unique look, especially in their now familiar 'Stay Frosty' color scheme. Second was that it was coming in at 99 USD. Third was that this was being accomplished with triple Knowles armatures. I know that more drivers does not necessarily equate to...

Greetings, Today we're checking out Astrotec's newest entry into the truly wireless market, the S80. The truly wireless (TWS) earphone market has exploded with options in recent years, the blame (or credit) for which many would lay at the feet of the Apple Corporation. While die-hard audiophiles scoff at wireless products thanks to their degraded sound quality vs. their wired counterparts, the average consumer values more than just how something sounds. With TWS, they no longer need to worry about an annoying cable getting caught up on their...

Greetings, Today we're taking a quick look at the NX7 from NiceHCK. NiceHCK is an online retailer that in recent years has started developing in-house products under their store name. The NX7 is a fairly ambitious release combining seven drivers of three drivers types into one surprisingly compact, KZ-esque shell. With dual-dynamic drivers, four balanced armatures, and one piezoelectric ceramic driver per side, the NX7 certainly impresses on paper, but does it impress in the ears? Let's find out. Disclaimer: To my surprise, given my negative...

Greetings! Today we're checking out the Andromeda from Campfire Audio. Does this thing really need an introduction? For the sake of writing a complete review, sure, but I'll keep it brief. The Andromeda first appeared on the market in 2016 and took the portable audio community by storm thanks to a balanced tune that does pretty much everything right. Over the years it has continued to receive near universal praise from customers and reviewers alike. 2019 sees the Andromeda receiving an update in various areas, such as a more refined shell, a new...

Greetings! Today we're checking out Sennheiser's entry into the burgeoning truly wireless earphone market, the Momentum True Wireless. Anyone who knows anything about audio, portable or otherwise, will be familiar with the name Sennheiser. Whether you're talking consumer headphones, earphones, or professional microphones, Sennheiser is a name that oft crops up when talking about the best of the best. Their products can be found everywhere from recording studios to a student's backpack. Is Sennheiser's first entry into the truly wireless market a...

Greetings! Today we're checking out HIFIMAN's TWS 600, their first entry into the booming truly wireless earphone market. Bluetooth products have become commonplace within the last few years thanks to improvements in sound quality, connection reliability, and us consumers being somewhat forced into them thanks to major manufacturers opting to remove headphone jacks from their products. Annoying, but so is the world we live in. Truly wireless earphones are still in their relative infancy with worthy products only hitting the market quite recently...

Greetings! Today we're checking out the new, reworked version of the Polaris from Campfire Audio. Back in 2017 when I reviewed the original Polaris, I was blown away. Here was an earphone that was quite technically adept in a way that was befitting of it's premium price tag, yet it had an unashamedly v-shaped signature. It was both fun and capable, yet there were a few qualities I was not particularly fond of. First, while the sound stage was large it was quite flat giving the Polaris a “wall of sound” effect. Over time I also found the mid-range...

Greetings! Today we're checking out the new IO (Eye-Oh) from Campfire Audio. Campfire Audio is located in Portland, Oregon and was founded in 2015 by Ken Ball of ALO Audio fame. In the world of high end portable audio they rapidly became a household name thanks to the Andromeda with it's iconic design language and impressive performance. The IO that we're checking out today is one of their newest releases. Along with all-new packaging for the brand, it features a dual armature setup and the same angular design that is shared with many models in...

Greetings, Today we're checking out a new version of Astrotec's S60, an affordable and very competent fully wireless earphone released at the end of 2018. While the new variant of the S60 looks virtually identical, it has seem some welcome updates to it's specifications and feature set making it even more versatile than it's predecessor. That said, given the similarities between the two earphones there will be quite a bit of overlap (read: copy/paste with editing) between this review and my prior S60 review. If you get a sense of deja vu, that's...

Greetings, Today we're taking a casual look at the new Accessport Air from Advanced. Way back in January of this year (2019) Advanced dropped a new Kickstarter campaign for their wireless Bluetooth module, the Accessport Air. If you've been following my reviews for a while, you'll know I've covered a lot of their products and am a big fan of the brand. To show my continued support I made my pledge and crossed my fingers that this particular product would receive the funds necessary to go forward with production. In about the time it took to cross...

Greetings, Today we're check out a release from yet another KZ spinoff brand, the Tripowin TP10. So what is the TP10 all about? Well, it features a pure balanced armature driver line up, five per side. It uses the same shell we recently saw with the AS16, though the ornate face plate has been replaced with something much more plain. I'm a little confused as to why KZ is diluting their already complicated brand like this, and by “like this” I mean releasing competing products under different brand names. The TP10 doesn't help since on a surface...

Greetings, Today we’re checking out TinHiFi’s newest release, the P1. Back in October of 2017, TinHiFi (previously known as TinAudio) quietly took over the budget scene with the T2. It was a dual-dynamic earphone and it’s combination of low price, outstanding build quality, and one of the closest things to neutral without being deathly boring won over a crowd infatuated with hybrids and flashy specs. Since then TinHiFi has released a number of products in the T1, T2 Pro, and T3, all of which were well received, some more than others. Their strong...

Greetings! Today we're checking out a snazzy new earbud from Smabat, the ST-10. Smabat is a new company with two products under their wing, the ST-10 earbuds and the XT-10 iems. The ST-10 that we're checking out today is a pretty cool little earbud. Unlike many companies that have been tuning the driver and shoving it into an MX500 shell, Smabat put a little more thought into the ST-10. With titanium coated drivers, MMCX removable cables, and a unique acoustic cavity which actually improves bass response, the ST-10 does a good job of standing out...

Greetings, Today we're checking out a new fully wireless earphone from SoundPEATS, the TrueFree+. I'm no stranger to SoundPEATS having reviewed a number of their products in the past. The Q16 true wireless sports earphones have been one of my favorite Bluetooth products over the years, and one that was never fully replaced by newer products, either from SoundPEATS themselves or others. The combination of decent sound, good battery life, a durable (but ugly), comfortable design, and an amazingly stable and strong wireless connection made them an...

Greetings! Today we're checking out the least expensive earphone on the market with 8 balanced armatures (BA) per side, that I know of at least; the CCA C16. CCA is a newcomer to the market and competes directly with brands like Knowledge Zenith (KZ), TRN, TinHIFI, among others. Using parts from KZ, they have rapidly gotten a foothold in the budget market thanks to low prices and impressive specs. Some of their gear doesn't sound half bad either, like the C10. The C16 is CCA's first all-armature release and despite housing 8 Bas per side, manages...

Greetings, Today we're checking out Knowledge Zenith's (KZ) newest release to carry the title of brand flagship, the AS16. Ever since the release of the ZST a few short years ago, balanced armatures (BA) have been used in the vast majority of their products. With the release of 2018's armature only AS10, they once again entered uncharted grounds for the brand. Instead of a simple single armature release, the AS10 featured five armatures per side. I was especially impressed with their 22955 low range armature as it provided some of the most...