Wireless Bluetooth connection is a must-have feature in today’s devices. Most of the mid and high-end audio decoders(we commonly know as USB DAC’s) feature Bluetooth input functionality. But what to do with older devices? Is there any solution for an entry-level DAC system to feed them audio signals via Bluetooth? The answer is yes. xDuoo XQ50 Pro is one such device that can be used for adding Bluetooth input to desktop systems or can even be used as a USB DAC on itself. I got the opportunity to try out the xDuoo XQ50 Pro, today I am sharing my...

Introduction:- TKZK is a new entry into the HiFi industry. The brand is new, but the team is experienced with years of expertise in designing HiFi audio earphones. They are a sub-brand to the well-known Tin HiFi focused on marketing budget audio earphones. TKZK Wave is their debutant product in the industry that is equipped with a dual-driver hybrid setup consisting of one balanced armature and one dynamic driver unit per side. It comes with attractive resin earpieces at an attractive 30$ price tag. This is a competitive segment filled with...

TACables is a sub-brand to Hakugei which is a well-known premium aftermarket IEM upgrade cable brand based in China. The brand is debuting in the international market with the first product, the TACables Obsidian. It is a budget replacement cable with 50% Black Litz 5N OCC and 50% Silver-plated 5N OCC hybrid structure. The cable is priced at just 20$, let’s see how good it is. Disclaimer:- The TACables Obsidian reached me as a part of the review tour organized here in my country. I am in no way affiliated or paid by anyone to write positive or...

Introduction:- CCZ is a new brand that debuted in the international market with two of its IEMs, the hybrid Plume and the single Dynamic Coffee Bean. Plume is a five-driver hybrid set of in-ear monitors supporting a powerful dynamic and four customized BA units on each side. The pair is super blingy with shiny golden full-metallic ear shells. It retails at 239$(Currently available at 199$ with HiFiGo at the time of this write-up). Liking the look of it, the driver configuration also looked interesting to me, I ended up buying a pair for myself. I...

Earlier this year, I grabbed a unit of xDuoo XD05 Bal that is a powerful portable DAC/AMP with an output power rating of up to 1W. It is an all-in-one device featuring an advanced Dual DAC chipset, replaceable OPAMP architecture, Bluetooth functionality, and several other features. Since the day I got it, I have been exploring different options to try with the swappable OPAMPs. While the Stock pairs are pretty solid, I always heard about the Burson series of upgradeable OPAMPs. I guess it was my lucky day when Mr. John from Burson Audio, Australia...

Burson Audio is a premium audio gear brand based out of Australia. They revolutionized the portable and desktop audio scene with their premium OPAMP chips that are available as aftermarket upgrades for our portable and desktop audio gear. They created some of the best OPAMPs that one can buy in the market today including their latest V5 and V6 series. I actually got a chance to audition their V5i-D OPAMP with my xDuoo XD05 Bal recently too. Burson Audio also has a wide range of Desktop audio gears including all-in-one Headphone DAC/AMPs...

In today’s world when most smartphone manufacturers have removed the 3.5mm jack we have seen some drastic improvements in the USB Type-C DAC/headphone amplifiers. Hidizs S8 is one among such highly-acclaimed portable USB Type-C DAC/AMPs that offer splendid performance at a budget price. S8 is a portable HiFi audio decoder that can be connected with Windows/Mac/iOS/Android devices to bring high-resolution PCM and DSD decoding to them. I got a chance to audition the Hidizs S8 via a review tour being organized in my country. So let’s begin with the...

TForce Audio is a new entry into the world of high-fidelity IEMs, where the brand has debuted with its very first pair of single dynamic driver IEMs, the TForce Audio Yuan Li. TForce Audio is founded by experienced audio engineers with years of experience in the industry. They planned and based their debutant IEMs on the legendary Chinese Dynasty. Yuan Li their very debutant IEM is named after the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China. This shiny beauty houses a 10mm dynamic driver with DLC(Diamond-Like Carbon) diaphragm coil. I am a sucker for...

If you are an audio enthusiast like I am, you are already familiar with Lotoo. After all, they are the brand behind the ultimately famous Lotoo Paw Gold digital audio player. Apart from the flagship Paw Gold, the brand has multiple successful players like the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch, Lotoo Paw 6000, and more. Last year, Lotoo announced its debutant Portable USB DAC/AMP, the Lotoo Paw S1. It adopts an AK4377 DAC chip with an independent OPA1622 chip, supports high-resolution 32bit PCM and DSD128 signal decoding. I know the market of Type-C DAC/AMPs is...

Introduction:- Anode Acoustics is a Hi-Fi Indian brand that makes some brilliant hand-crafted audio amplifiers and other studio-related gears. Anode Acoustics have a history of manufacturing high-quality studio equipment mainly consisting of tube and solid-state amplifiers. But a few years back Nitin Ji from Anode Acoustics also started making headphone amplifiers with their very first Anode Acoustics #1 tube headphone amplifier. I personally have a short experience with the #1(with HD600) that I got to try at an audio meet in my city a year back...

Bravery, the latest project by See Audio is a multi-BA IEM featuring a quad-BA configuration on each side. See Audio finalized the frequency curve(tuning) and design of the Bravery with the help of community polling on their social media channel, So it won’t be wrong to call Bravery a community project. See Audio has partnered with big names such as Hakugei for the cable of Bravery, Azla Sednafit for the ear tips included with the set. Bravery will be releasing soon, It is available on pre-order with HiFiGo, See Audio’s official online partner for...

AAW Ash here was provided to me for about a week as a part of a review tour organized by Goldfinch acoustics here in my country. The pair is priced at around 1099 SGD or 799 USD. All impressions in this blog are completely my own free from any interference from anyone. Hope you enjoy the read. Design, Build, Look, & Feel:- Ash has a rich design and feel to it. The earpieces here have quite a bulky shape but they are lightweight and aesthetically pleasing in terms of fit. They are complemented in looks by designer faceplates that have a combination...

BGVP Acoustics, commonly known as BGVP is among the regular leading players in the HiFi audio market. They are the manufacturers of high-resolution in-ear monitors with multiple successful products under their name such as the multi-BA DM8, the EST tribrid NE5, and more. The latest addition to their collection is the DN3, an affordable dual-driver hybrid earphone featuring a 10mm dynamic driver and a customized balanced armature driver. The dynamic driver here is said to have a beryllium-coated diaphragm. Today I am going to share my review and...

Introduction:- Anode Acoustics is a Hi-Fi Indian brand that makes some brilliant hand-crafted audio amplifiers and other studio-related gears. Anode Acoustics have a history of manufacturing high-quality studio equipment mainly consisting of tube and solid-state amplifiers. But a few years back Nitin Ji from Anode Acoustics also started making headphone amplifiers with their very first Anode Acoustics #1 tube headphone amplifier. I personally have a short experience with the #1(with HD600) that I got to try at an audio meet in my city a year back...

Introduction:- Over the past few months, Kinera has been launching beautiful hand-painted earphones and musical sound tuning that are grabbing the attention of audio enthusiasts all around the globe. Earlier this year they announced their latest multi-BA IEM, the Kinera Skuld. Priced at around 550$, Skuld brings a combination of five Balanced Armature drivers on each side(three Knowles+two Kinera Customized) fitted inside stunning hand-painted ear cavities. It is priced similar to their hybrid driver Norn that is available for 509$. Today, I am...

Catear is a fairly new name in the industry but they marked their presence with two of their very first products, the Catear Mia(IEMs), and the Catear MiMi(earbuds). The Mia is a single DD IEM with bullet-shaped earpieces while the MiMi is a budget pair of earbuds quite attractive for the price(Only around 10$). Along with the MiMi Catear also released an upgrade cable for IEMs, known as Catear Tuxedo. Today I am gonna share my impressions of this silver-plated OCC upgrade cable. Disclaimer:- The Catear Tuxedo was sent to me as a part of a review...

BGVP is a well-reputed High-Resolution IEM brand based in China with many successful products in the market. Their “DM” series of multi-BA driver IEMs are praised by many, BGVP DM8 is also one of my favorite IEMs under the 500$ price segment. Earlier this year, BGVP released their latest 9-driver hybrid IEMs, the BGVP NS9. BGVP NS9 features a powerful dual dynamic driver with seven high-resolution Balanced Armature drivers per side. BGVP organized a review tour of the NS9 in my country. I was lucky enough to be a part of it. Today, I am gonna share...

BQEYZ has been in the audio gear game for quite some time now specializing in high-resolution IEMs and cables. While the brand focuses primarily on the budget segment of audio gears, they grabbed a lot of attention for the Spring series of in-ear monitors. The series got two products, Spring 1 and Spring 2. Both of which are quite identical with premium metallic shells and a tribrid driver configuration. Both the pairs received multiple positive feedbacks for their excellent performance around the 200$ price range. But the Spring series was just the...

Moondrop requires no introduction. They have made a great reputation in the industry as leading manufacturers of high-tech IEM sets with multiple successful pairs such as the Starfield, KXXS, Blessings 2, S8, and many more. Recently Moondrop released its latest single DD offering in the budget segment, the Moondrop Aria. They have actually used the name Aria of a previous single DD set that they released back in 2018 but discontinued it soon. The latest Aria 2020 only shares the name with the previous model, here the set is entirely redesigned with...

Whizzer is a china-based HiFi audio earphone manufacturing brand famous for its stunningly beautiful and smooth-sounding earphones. HE01 is their latest single DD IEM featuring a 10.2mm 4th gen dual-cavity dynamic driver with their self-designed HDSS technology. The HE01 belongs to the “Kylin” series of beautiful earphones by Whizzer. HE01 comes in a very competitive entry-level market with a price tag of 80$. The segment is filled with many famous products such as Tin T2 Plus, Moondrop Aria, and more. Where does the HE01 stand in terms of...