7th Acoustics is an Indonesian boutique iem maker, founded by Stephen Synanta in 2020 and has enjoyed meteoric rise since then. I first heard about them in 2021 when one of my Indonesian mates shared his glowing impression on SG8, one of 7A early creations. Early 2022, they released Supernova, their latest totl iem and once again, I heard positive reviews about it. I was keen to audition it but getting one for audition outside Indonesia was almost impossible. Therefore, big thanks to Stephen and Denny for loaning this Supernova for Aust Tour and the...

Warning: this post contains discussion of snake-oils (cables) which may upset few people. If you disagree, please just skip. ---- Around 2 months ago, I tried @Damz87 Diva 21 and was very impressed by it. I love its huge bass, fun tuning and great technicality. So, I was excited when Damien informed that its successor, Diva 23 is available for tour. So, what’s the difference? Internally, the crossover circuit and internal wiring have been updated. Externally, the nozzle is now stainless steal instead of acrylic. Stock cable has changed. Diva 23...

Luxury & Precision (L&P) W4 W4 is the latest dongle from L&P. At $449 + $33 case, it’s possibly the most expensive usb dongle DAC/amp in the market at the moment. The dongle includes a simple text screen. Volume can be adjusted via control wheel. I found it to be responsive and intuitive. Also its location prevents accidental vol adjustment. The case has magnet inside and includes magnet sticker for phone. This allows w4 to be attached to your phone. In term of sound quality, w4 performs beyond my expectation. Its amazing L&P can push the limit...

Luxury & Precision P6 Pro Luxury & Precision P6 Pro is a $3899 R2R DAP, purely designed for music (ie no Android, no wifi). I love the classy timeless aesthetic of P6 Pro with wood back panel and engraved with the brand name. At 230gr, its definitely the lightest among TOTL daps. The User Interface (UI) is simple and plain without capability for customisation. There are few quirks that I found with the DAP: -USB setting automatically reset to MSC (storage) everytime unit is turned on - even if previously USB DAC was selected. I often connect...

FiR Australia Tour: Ne4, Kr5 & Xe6 Impression I have been extremely fortunate to be loaned 3 FiR Audio latest iems as part of FiR Australia Tour: -Neon Ne4 -Kyrpton Kr5 -Xenon Xe6. I want express my big thanks to FiR Audio, Minidisc Australia and @Damz87 for organising this tour. Setup: My DAC/Amp for this impression are Chord TT2, Hugo2 & Sony NW-WM1ZM2 Stock cables and default silver ATOM modules were used for all iems in this review. FiR Neon Ne4 Ne4 is a warm iem with boosted bass/lower mid. The mid and treble are relatively flat. It has...

Background: Few months ago, Topping discontinued their popular D90 dac and replaced it with D90SE with ES9038PRO chip – instead of AK4499. I have read a lot of good reviews on D90 but I have not had a chance to audition it. So, when @Loquah (Passion for Sound) offered to loan the newer D90SE to Patreon members as part of APOS product tour, I quickly said yes. In particular, I was keen to compare D90SE with other dacs I own: Denafrips Ares 2 and Bifrost 2 – which are also within the same under $1k price bracket. For this test, my audio chain is...