Aful Performer 8 The Performer 8 is Aful’s latest hybrid IEM offering and is the big brother to the very popular Performer 5. Of course, it's always exciting to try new stuff but admittedly, my anticipation was slightly intensified given the Performer 5’s success. If you’ve seen my review of the Performer 5, you’ll know that it’s currently one of my top picks for the $200 price bracket. What makes things even more interesting is that Aful is a new company, and the Performer 5 was their very first release. Given the intense competition within the...

Moondrop Spring Tips Review (and tip guide sorta?) I lost time this weekend. Like any good hobby, this one gives you so many things to obsess over; iems, sources, cables………….ear tips. Yes, the little rubber, dome-shaped thingys with a hole through them. This isn’t my first time going down the ear tip rabbit hole but hopefully will be my last at least for a while. This hobby has a way of luring its unsuspecting victims into its time-sucking earhole vortex only for them to emerge to a flooded backyard (I forgot to turn the sprinklers off) and an...

Review of the Kinera 2.0 Flagship (Images captured with S21 Ultra in Pro Mode) The Nanna 2.0 is Kineras latest revision to its well-received Kinera Nanna 1.0. Originally priced at $899, the Nanna 2.0 offers a tribrid configuration consisting of one 7mm dynamic driver for bass, one Sonion balanced armature for mids, and two Sonion electrostatic tweeters for highs. From what I understand there were two releases of the Nanna 2.0. Kineras initial release was the “Flagship” Nanna 2.0 and is paired with the same cable (pure copper with 3.5 termination)...

DUNU ZEN Introspection In December of 2020, DUNU announced they would be releasing the ZEN, a brand new single DD IEM that would be implementing similar driver fabrication techniques derived from the LUNA but for less than half the price. No doubt the LUNA is a technical beast but $1,700 is a little out of reach for many buyers. With the introduction of the ZEN, DUNU showcases its latest ECLIPSE Driver Platform and its newly developed dynamic driver made of magnesium-aluminum alloy with a diaphragm with a nanoporous-amorphous diamond-like carbon...

DUNU SA6 "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing" DUNU recently introduced their newest lineup of all multi-balanced armature in-ear monitors, The Studio Series. The SA3 was the first of the series followed by the SA6. DUNU has long been known for their hybrid-centric approach only recently delving into all BA IEM’s. Coming in at $549, The SA6 features a brand new vented dual woofer by Sonian in partnership with DUNU designed specifically for the SA6. Until the Studio series, DUNU had been exclusively using Knowles BA drivers in...

Come To The Dark Side This is the third Vision Ears IEM I’ve had the pleasure of listening to on the Head-Fi/Vision Ears Tour. The first two being the Elysium and the VE8. With the VE8’s neutral/warm sound signature and incredible mids, it quickly became one of my favorite IEMs. The Elysium was also very good but the mids fell slightly short of my expectations given its high price. I’ve never heard so many great IEM’s in such a short period of time. Many thanks to Head-FI, Vision Ears, and @Barra for allowing me to participate. The EVE20 is a 6...

My YouTube Review - The Devil's in the details I will be focusing on my impressions of the S8. However, I will also be doing a comparison with the FH5 in hopes of answering a larger question. Does the S8's insreased level of performance over FH5 or any similarly priced iem, justify spending an additional $450? This comparison between the Moondrop S8 and Fiio FH5 is not to determine whether one is better than the other. But merely to determine the extent of the “diminished return” imposed by the additional cost of the Moondrop S8 over the FH5...

Background As a boy growing up in a family church, learning how to operate soundboards and mics was just expected. For as long as I can remember my brothers and I have been obsessed with good music and good sound. Naturally, as I got older I started mixing myself. I eventually got a job in Pro A/V doing live audio. On a side note, If you want to get paid to mess with lots of other peoples really cool audio equipment, pursue a career in Pro A/V, but if you want to actually own your own really cool audio equipment, pursue something else, because...