Fiio K9 It's no secret that Fiio has been “ upping their game” with so much competition that promises a lot with modern day sources. Fiios latest DAC/AMP is not exactly the highest end DAC/AMP they make. That title belongs to the Fiio K9 pro ESS. However inquiring minds want to know. When looking at the spec sheet for the latest K9. It is strikingly similar to the K9 pro minus a bit of power. The K9 pro uses two flagship ES9038pro DACs, the new K9 uses two ES9068AS. Both use THX AAA 788+ for amplification and QCC5124 for bluetooth. Uses the same...

FiiO M15S I am going to start this review with a bit of a background of what I do and why I choose the gear I use for reviewing IEMs. Most folks know who I am and the community I belong to at headfi.org. I started one of the most popular threads on headfi.org simply called the Discovery thread. You can read the over 5K worth of pages here. This single thread has got the patrons of the thread including yours truly to “discover” what is new and fresh in the industry and while the subjects of the thread are mostly IEM based. We pretty much banter about...

Cadmus FE. With a sub name like Founders Edition the Cadmus gets a glamorous makeover from its humble roots as a silver plated UPOCC cable but then saw an updated version in the 8w. The Founders Edition adds a gold plating to half of its cores of UPOCC. This makes for a very interesting addition to the Cadmus formula. Gold is a premium material used sparingly for IEM cables. I have done reviews for several gold-plated cables. A gold-plating over pure silver, a gold-plating over crystal copper and also a cable that is very similar in its combination...

Fiio FW3 The new FW3 is the 2nd TWS IEM Fiio has made, their first being the FW5 with some surprising results. You can read my thoughts about them here. I was surprised to hear that Fiio was back at the drawing board making a more affordable single dynamic version in the FW3. Barring some of the negatives of the FW5 design mainly not utilizing any of the top end functions like active noise cancellation, no ambient transparency mode and the use of plastics vs something like an alloy type metal for its build and dock cradle. However the one aspect...

Fiio FD11 Fiio makes IEMs at all levels including the budget sector. It is no secret that today's budget level IEM is not the same stuff you bought even a few years back. With the movement of what the industry considers a proper tuning. Usually a variant of the harmon tuning which seems to be the norm nowadays. Gone are the days of budget stuff that sounded like a slightly upgraded free earbud you got on your domestic flight to the next province or state to visit the family. Far from it, today's budget sets will put up a good fight in sound quality...

Penon 10th anniversary Penon’s 10th anniversary is the actual name of their new Tribrid IEM and is actually how long they have been in the industry. Penon’s naming schemes are always on point. Why not call it the 10th anniversary, release an IEM that represents who they are and what they do so well. I have been fortunate to hear and evaluate the end results of all their IEM offerings from their humble beginnings as a cable maker first and then their head long history of some of the best IEMs in the market with lasting power. If you don't know who...

Geek Wold GK100 It was last year that I heard rumors of Geek folks talking about that they were working on a clear successor to the GK10 and GK80. Silence ensued on the Geek thread and out of the blue here comes the new Geek Wold GK100. Prior Geek IEMs were met with varying degrees of success and it was partly due to the variations on the quality control of the IEMs. No secret that quality control issues can break any type of continued success no matter how good an IEM can sound. But hey we move onwards and upwards as they say, and that is...

Fiio FT3 Fiio has been “spreading their wings.” sort to say as they have delved deep into the personal audio segment, mostly known for their audio devices; DAPs, DAC/Amps, wireless and IEMs. With the introduction of their new FT3. Fiio now has officially thrown out their first full sized open headphone with some substantial pedigree as far as production values and sound tuning goes so naturally many are interested in how they do. I am mostly an IEM guy and have reviewed most of Fiios IEM offerings and with the ever growing force in the industry...

Reecho Spring MK2 I have been lucky to hear most of the Reecho offerings in the past including their seasonal themed earphones the Spring and the Summer IEMs which was released prepandemic in 2019.. Both IEMs were decent sounding IEMs but I can’t say they were anything special or did they really compete with the best IEMs at their price points at the time. The one aspect about a company's designs that have to progress is that they have to get better at their craft with the ever increasing competition at all price ranges. The new Reecho Spring MK2...

Penon Vocal Today's IEMs are as varied as the food items you get at the Wynn hotel buffet in Las Vegas. With the sheer volumes of new IEMs in the market, it has become standard that these IEMs come with either the mmcx or the 2 pin connector variety. This of course encourages the end user of said IEMs to explore the myriad of cable choices. The aftermarket IEM cables serve dual purposes. The idea of changing out the cable be it for aesthetic needs or to get a perfectly matching sound enhancing synergy going on with your favorite IEMs sound...

Simgot EA500 The EA500 is a sub $100 dynamic based IEM that seems to have garnered a nice following of enthusiasts that appreciate its design and more importantly its sound. The EA500 uses a 10mm 4th gen DLC, diamond like carbon based dynamic. Utilizing a dual magnet, dual cavity design in an all alloy metal CNC machined housing. The capable driver used on the EA500 is the basis for its sound but Simgot went beyond the one tuning usually associated with sub $100 IEMs by utilizing a nozzle change that applies a different take on the base harmon...

Tansio Mirai RGB RGB shown with ISN CU4 cable for a smoother meatier take on the RGB sound. Uplift in bass and mids presence with a slight smoothening of the trebles. More musical sounding. Tansio Mirai has been making IEMs for the past 5 years, their design models traditionally are all universal and custom multi BA resin form IEMs. They have dabbled a bit into making their first tribrid in the Lands, and a hybrid with a dynamic in the Sands and their former flagship the Akiba replaced the Sparks with both IEMs utilizing a mix of BAs and EST...

NiceHCK F1 NiceHCKs new F1 is a planar diaphragm driver IEM utilizing an all metal aluminum alloy shell in a familiar circular drum design with a new 14.2mm planar diaphragm. NiceHCK is a company that designs only a handful of new IEMs during the year and believe it or not this is not their first Planar IEM they have made. They made a tribrid IEM called the F3 almost 4 years ago which used a planar driver for its mids. Unfortunately that IEM was not the best tuned but clearly had potential. Fast forward to today and planar IEMs are seeing a...

Penon Space “Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise, a five year mission..To explore strange new worlds..To seek out new life and new civilizations..To boldly go where no man has ever gone before.” Captain James T. Kirk Star Trek Enterprise.. Strutting a name like “Space.” For a cable? Well yes. As it pretty much describes the effect of these cables on attached IEMs. The Space is a premium version of Penon’s OS133 cable, it was only a matter of time before the idea of the Space cable came into fruition. Double...

Reecho SG-03Ss Reecho dynamic IEMs the SG-01 and the SG-03 both have been surprising to me as they are not only affordable but arguably some of the better made dynamic IEMs for their budget price points. Reecho introduced a newer version of the SG-01 called the OVA which I did a review for here. I could have almost guessed Reecho would have done a newer revision for the SG-03 now simply called the SG-03s. S might stand for special or silver? The New SG-03s now has a new look, a new cable and a newer driver, a new 10mm LCP diaphragm using a stronger...

Penon Impact. The Impact is all clear glass like resin design with a pearl white face plate. The cable is a modified version of the Obsidian which works exceedingly well with BA based IEMs. Not to mention specifically designed for the Impact in all white sleaving Looks fantastic in person. I did a full review just about the standard Obsidian cables you can read here. Classy pearl white and all clear in appearance the design of the Impacts is by far Penon's best looking IEM subjectively to match its supreme sound quality. I got them recently and...

IFI Gryphon. The Gryphon is not a new product but since its release over a year ago it has easily established itself as being a premiere portable wireless dac/amp option for all your sound needs. I own a few IFI products going back to the first ICan desktop amp. It was the first time I have seen an effective use of what at the time was called 3D switch and a bass boost switch called Xbass. Still to this day I find myself slack jawed at the magic of the 3D enhancement and bass boost that actually did exactly as described. It was what separated the...

Fiio FF5 Fiios newest earbuds come with some added hype due to the big success of its predecessor the FF3 which you can read my take on them here. With the FF5 Fiio has brought to the masses a new aluminum alloy all metal open back housing design, a newly developed carbon based 14.2mm dynamic using a PU gasket with one of their more resolving silver-plated monocrystalline copper cables with modularity. All sold at a very accessible retail price of $130 US dollars. I am sure most enthusiasts either own a few buds or have tried them. Some are purely...

Fiio FH15 The new Fiio FH15 is a renewal, revival and an update to an older aluminum alloy CNC machined shell shape similar to that of the old F9 and F9 pro but with all the advancements from the FH series of hybrids. Adding to the newer developed FH15 are newer customized Knowles BAs, dual BA for trebles, single BA for mids and a newly developed carbon based 10mm dynamic for bass. Fiio also incorporated a hodge podge of their design techniques to get the sound to what they had in mind. A notch filter incorporating a helmholtz resonator to work with...

NiceHCK NX7 MK4 NiceHCK is a manufacturer that always tries to improve upon their former successes. Their line of NX7 tribrids were for NiceHCK just this. Tribrids overall are not too common but if tuned correctly they can provide something different for your musical listening and the NX7 series of earphones are utilizing 7 drivers per side of the MK4 version to come up with one complete sound. I remember being contacted by NiceHCK to review their very first NX7 and if anything those stood out for several reasons. It had extensions on both ends of...