Three years ago today, Joseph Grado the founder and mastermind behind Grado Headphones left us, today in honor of his legacy and memory I'd like to talk a little about my time Grado's two most recent and sublimely impressive flagships the PS 2000E and GS 2000E. There's something special about home isn't there, not just your house but the land you grew up in. The air you breathed for many years, the sky you looked into and the stars you saw. Maybe not every one remembers home as fondly as I do, but I grew up in the country of South Carolina. An for...

Three years ago today, Joseph Grado the founder and mastermind behind Grado Headphones left us, today in honor of his legacy and memory I'd like to talk a little about my time Grado's two most recent and sublimely impressive flagships the PS 2000E and GS 2000E. There's something special about home isn't there, not just your house but the land you grew up in. The air you breathed for many years, the sky you looked into and the stars you saw. Maybe not every one remembers home as fondly as I do, but I grew up in the country of South Carolina. An for...

iFi Audio is at it again! This time their latest Black Label product the iDSD Nano brings MQA support into the portable realm. Overall I found it's sound to be spacious and black with a super light compact body and priced right at $199. Build The product's well built with minimal seams in the chassis and non-invasive screw placement. It features a unique USB Type A male connector housed seamlessly into the chassis. It's well built and light, the...

To B or not to B, is the question... corny jokes aside, most portable amp manufacturers don't mention what class their amp operates in. Simply because each of the different modes have their own benefits and drawbacks. How ever, the exception to this rule is with Class A! What sets a Class A amp apart is it's always on or always ready operating mode. Which lends itself to a faster response times in theory because the components are always ready. Now you may be wondering, if Class A is indeed the best why doesn't every one use it for everything? Well...

Early this year I took a look at their all in one Product The Element impressed I wondered what improvements the stand alone EL Dac brought. An for better or worse, curiosity got the better of me and I choose to reach out and get a look at their EL Dac. The EL Dac features the same 4 layer PCB Construction as The Element, but offers isolated coaxial input, USB Audio Class 2 interfacing with both lower cross talk and jitter measurements among others. It's priced at $250 and ready for purchase right from the JDS Labs web-store. Build &amp...

Flagship, a term that is synonymous with the best of the best. A title that's given to a person, product or establishment that surpasses the norm. An rightly so, when you hear the term flagship you expect perfection, or close to it. After many years in this hobby, the summer of 2017 was the time I decided to pick up a flagship. I sold my collection of modified mid-range closed backs as I found my self listening only to my open back, and really being unsatisfied when I needed to listen to something that had isolation and didn't leak sound like an...

It must be MAGIC, or maybe it's a BIRD or a PLANE or SUPER MAN? Actually, it's none of those things. It's something better, it's a Pre-Amp! Specifically the JDS Labs OL Switcher to be exact, and at $45 it's by far the one of the best purchase you can make for your system! What it does is allow you to switch between 2 source inputs and two outputs, with 1 set of RCA and 3.5mm Inputs and outputs the OL Switcher makes it easy to manage multiple pieces of equipment. It's one of those little things you always mean to get, but some how never get around...

Massdrop's Bold New Statement the Hifiman HE 4XX Dating back to 2012, Massdrop has long been a active member of the Audiophile community. I remember back when it was still a new and unfamiliar concept Head Fi used to remove any discussion relating to Massdrop! They started to become almost notorious, which seems so strange to me, as quick google search will reveal just how much success they've had over the last few years! Going from black listed underground community of price slashers to the shining knights of affordable audiophile products tuned by...

Digital technology has come quite a long way in even the last 5 years. With advancements in small scale electronics manufacturing comes the allure of new found computing power. Which seems to invite the creation of a multitude of entry level products that can almost do it all! An as exciting as that is, I still find my self drawn back to my legacy products. Straight forward gear with only one basic function. They say the key to success is to keep it simple stupid. At only $150 the Shanling M2s amazingly gives us the best of both worlds, a device...

I've been hearing people sing praise's about iFi Audio for years. An for good reason, based out of London UK iFi Audio's has been know for it's excellent welcoming sound signature. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a hold of a demo unit directly though iFi Audio, my thoughts of it are my own and I have not been compensated for them. The iCan SE retails for $299 presently via Amazon, it's also stocked in a wide variety of brick and mortar locations as well. Be sure to support your local audio shops if your fortunate enough to have one...

Video Reviews, first part is Build second is sound quality. Sound Quality review is time stamped according to what I'm listening to/comparing to. Feel free to jump to what ever impressions your interested in. Being able to integrate with existing solutions has become an important feature for me lately. Plug and play function with my LG V20 and laptop is a large part of why I purchased my Geek Out v2+. That same functionality is a large part of why I enjoyed the Cayin N3 as well. Keeping up with that theme is Chord's Hugo 2. Launched in the...

Back when I was in middle school listening to music was easy. I had a CD player loaded with my favorite album at the time, Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys, and a pair of semi-open Koss TD 75's. I'd hope on the bus and just listen, occasionally the CD would skip when we hit a bump in the road, but it was smooth listening for the most part. Growing up though, I went from my CD player to an iPod Nano, then a ZUNE HD which I sold and replaced with my Hifiman HM 601 and upward an onward to 2013 when I purchased my Hifiman HM 901. So listening to...

The baby Denon 7000 as it were, it's rumored to have had less than 1,000 total units in production. With no more than 400 being imported to the US. I was fortunate enough to find mine second hand, sadly by the time I'd gotten it the headband was replaced and the stock cable was swapped for a modular mini 4pin XLR. The previous owner even swapped out the ear pads, I held onto it for about a year with hopes to restore it, though I never got the time to do so. The packing is most impressive. With an MSRP of $499, I feel Denon set the BAR for how to...

In 2016 with the launch of the Utopia and Elear, Focal officially entered into the Hi-Fidelity sector. Having missed out on hearing the Spirit One which was a stable among the Mid-Range closed back headphone options, I was very eager to get a chance hear the Elear for myself. The packing is... enormous. Infact it was so large I was unable to take a proper picture of it in my tiny little Photo Box. The grandeur that accompanies un-boxing the Elear is befitting of it's sound! It sit's quite tall, and upon opening it has a fabric strap to...

From the humble cMoy Bass Boost, to the polished Element. JDS Labs has really grown over the years! When I got my Beyerdynamic DT 880 in the summer of 2013 my humble little Fiio E6 was not enough, digging through the threads I came across the cMoy Amp. Built into an Altoid Can and sold for right around $60, I immediately snatched it up just because of how cool it looked. Well fortunately for me, I grabbed the JDS Labs cMoy with Bass Boost, it was my first real hi quality portable amp. So I have some blood with the guys at JDS Labs, as I spent a lot...

I had an excellent week with The Element, and during this time I paired it primarily with a Magnum V7 Driver, mounted in Black Limba housings, sleeved in Maple. Sadly, this beautiful headphone isn't mine, but I found it to be amazingly transparent and very easy to drive. Hence forth, I did my usual listening with this headphone, as opposed to my HE 4. Power wise, The Element boasts a peak of 1.5w per channel, with a sustained output of 1w per channel. While ample enough power for the newer breed of efficient Planar Magnetic Headphones, like the Oppo...

Available for right around $40, the Superlux HD668B is hands down my favorite entry level open back headphone. As some one who started out with a Beyerdynamic DT 990, my cost of entry to the world of audiophile headphones ran me right around $250. That was for both my headphone and the little amplifier I needed to power it properly. What makes the Superlux HD668B so amazing, is that it offers a similar sound as the DT 990, clean, clear and wonderfully detailed without sacrificing bass, for significantly less money AND without the need for an...

I want to thank the MezeTeam over at Head Fi for allowing me the chance to review the 99 Classics as part of their Tour.    You can purchase the 99 Classics in three colors right from their web site https://www.mezeheadphones.com/headphones.   The team over at Meze was kind enough to launch a Tour for the 99 Classics back in December, even better they will be awarding a pair of the 99 Classics to one of the participants! I always enjoy working with products from a company that's as passionate about their potential customer...

Garage 1217 Project Starlight   I'd like to start by thanking Jeremy Helms of Garage 1217 for extending this demo unit to me! He was kind enough to even include a few extra tubes for me to roll.       So right off the bat, let's talk about my first and only con! This amp requires some tender, love and care! Unlike other products this is not a plug and play device, rather you will need to roll tubes, tinker with the output settings and maintain a very clean space for this amp! You'll need to manually adjust the bias, with each tube...

  Sennheiser’s Classic the HD 25-1 II,  is a headphone that’s been around longer than I have been and one that’s proven its worth over two decades now!  Bringing an excellent quality of sound and a rock solid build quality, the HD 25-1 II a true companion for the road Warrior in us all    Specs Price                                      $249 Wearing Style                    On Ear Frq Response                    16-22k THD                                        .3%                                           Transducer Principle       Closed...