EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The TRN V90S is a technically impressive earphone (for its category) loosely based on the popular TRN V90, characterized by a V-shaped sound with good dynamics and resolution and slightly unnatural timbre. Bass is very well dosed, midrange is rather recessed, and the upper treble is strongly elevated. -------------------------------------------------------- The TRN V90 have a V-shaped tuning resulting in a slightly warm sound that is technically focused and lacks a bit of organics. As said, I was initially not impressed by the BA...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Moondrop SSP is a variation of the popular Moondrop SSR with a boosted bass but the same midrange and treble. Sonically a deviation from diffuse-field neutral with its (comparatively) boosted bass, the SSP may still be shouty to some ears at higher volumes. INTRODUCTION Moondrop are an aspiring, innovative company out of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. They are a bit different from the usual Chi-Fi fare in their approach in that they are pursuing imaginative designs and meander through phases of tuning concepts, from Harman target...

INTRODUCTION The KZ EDX is the company’s latest offering at their very low end. In 2014, KZ started with $5 single dynamic-driver earphones of remarkable quality…such as the EDR1 and EDR2, later the ATE and ATR….just to name a few. With the start of the “driver war” in early 2017, KZ neglected the single-dynamic driver altogether and focused on more and more drivers stuffed into their earpieces. What this and other Chi-Fi companies had not taken into consideration was the customers’ re-surfacing longing to the more organic coherent sound of a...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The KZ ASX earphone is the first super-budget earphone featuring 10 drivers. KZ hold on to a strong V-shaped tuning with the bassy side keeping the upper hand – and a weird, most irritating early treble rolloff. I made a 9-10 minute video explaining the earphone's characteristics.

This review was original posted at audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NiceHCK NX7 MK3 is a 4BA + 2 DD + 1 Piezo hybrid earphone is characterized by a warm bass superimposed over an otherwise neutral tuning that excels in resolution. It comes with three tuning filters two of which are too hot for me. The third, black filter is the long awaited fix for the western ear plagued by the two previous NX7 iterations. INTRODUCTION NiceHCK is one of the most respected Chinese budget brands on aliexpress. They mainly offer great-quality budget cables...

This review was previously published at audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sennheiser IE 400 PRO earphone produced in Germany is a well balanced, gently forward-dipping V-shaped, slightly warm sounding single-dynamic-driver earphone that also impresses by its low distortion and great comfort and fit. It is the second-highest priced but best sounding model of their IE PRO series imo. INTRODUCTION The world’s most competent (and now retired) headphone reviewer Tyll Hertsens once called Sennheiser the world’s most competent headphone...

A different version of this review exists at www.audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Blon BL-05s earphone is a well tuned single-dynamic-driver budget earphone that excels in its coherent and organic sound. Its speedy 10 mm dynamic driver handles the most complex music well. Simply a great allrounder that will be a general crowdpleaser and provide listening pleasure independent of price. It is a true upgrade from the popular Blon BL-03 and the best Blon earphone to date. ------------------ The Blon BL-05s is an agreeable, compact, coherent...

This review was published previously at audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Anew X-One offer a classic V-shape done well with a robust sound and excellent headroom, staging, resolution, and transparency that provide for a holographic listening experience. The V-shape can be varied with three different tuning modules/chips. The overall temperature is warm on the low end and neutral from the lower midrange up. INTRODUCTION The >$300 4 BA + 1 DD X-One is only the second model of Chinese company Anew after the $129 2018 Anew U-One single DD...

This review was originally published at www.audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION Third-party “upgrade” cables with prices up to the sky have always played a role in the premium earphone segment. But in the last few years, with the uprise of budget/mid tier Chi-Fi, such cables have become standard staples even at the very low end. In fact, fixed cables are a deal breaker for many potential buyers even of $20 earphones. Some Chi-Fi earphone brands have their own line of cables that range from a few $ to the price of a mid-tier earphone. NiceHCK are such a...

This review was originally published at www.audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION The NiceHCK Litz 4N Pure Silver Cable is the company’s budget offering in terms of pure silver Litz wire at around $20. In this price category, most earphone cables are either pure copper, occ copper, or silver-plated copper. Since different materials harmonize differently with different earphones in some (but not all) cases, it is always good to have a cable of each material in your modding box. SPECIFICATIONS Product Name: NiceHCK 4N Litz pure silver cable Material: 4N...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The FiiO FD1 is a fast, energetic dynamic-driver earphone with a strong sub-bass, a forward upper midrange, and a well resolving treble. It excels through a huge headroom but cold be a bit more organic sounding and less dynamic. SPECIFICATIONS Driver: 10 mm Beryllium plated dynamic driver unit Impedance: 32 Ω Sensitivity: 109 dB/mW Frequency Range: 10 – 40,000 Hz Cable/Connector: 0.78 mm 2-pin Tested at: $70 Product Page: https://www.fiio.com/fd1 Purchase Link: https://hifigo.com/products/fiio-fd1 TL;DR This is another...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NiceHCK X49 is a bright-neutral earphone with a wide but low soundstage, however a decent tonality – a rare find in this class. Great for people who want to experience a more neutral tonality at a small cost. This review was originally published at www.audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION Fukubukuro (福袋) is Japanese and means lucky bag. It stands for a Japanese New Year custom in which merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount. NiceHCK have adapted this tradition for the...

This review was initially published at www.audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The ifi Audio hip-dac is a zippy sounding, powerful, and very attractive looking/feeling dac/amp at a very good price. INTRODUCTION ifi Audio are an English company out of Southport. Lately, the company has put British portable audio on the map by both quality and innovation. Earlier this year, I purchased their $199 nano iDSD Black Label (“BL”) upon the recommendation of co-blogger and BL owner Biodegraded, and also upon the reviews and recommendations by Hifi...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The KBEAR KS2 is a warm-fun-lively V-shaped earphone that excels by its gigantic soundstage in all dimensions at the price of recessed mids. This review was originally posted at www.audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION OK, let’s cut the crap right away. This earphone is not for the gallery, it is not sexy, it features a generic design. No staged photos, no camouflaged sales brochure, no other window dressing required to stimulate buying appetite. The KBEAR KS2 is all about functionality: sound and fit – and value. Apparently, 70% of...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Earstudio HE100 is a bright-neutral earphone on the upper end and warm on the lower end with a punchy bass added. The frequency response is a very gentle U-shape. It has a very good technicalities but you have to be able to handle that broad 3 kHz peak. This review was originally published at www.audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION Earstudio by Radsone is an upsurging company out of Korea that has had a strong presence at drop.com and several discussion forums, recently. Their first success was the famous Earstudio ES100...

The Tin Hifi T2 Plus is a very well-made warm-neutral, well-balanced, crisp but never aggressive sounding earphone with outstanding timbre challenging the company’s more expensive offerings. The T2 Plus’s money is in: the build quality the ergonomics the tonal accuracy

Moondrop SSR “Super Spaceship Reference” Earphone Review – Walking On The Moon This review was originally published on https://www.audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Moondrop SSR are a close-to diffuse-field-neutral tuned earphone that sonically excel by their non-sterile/non over-analytical balanced and fluid signature mainly fuelled by an outstanding dry and articulate, well-dosed low-end. The very small shells provide for excellent comfort and fit. INTRODUCTION The Moondrop team from my favourite Chinese city of Chengdu, Sichuan, have...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Queen of Audio Pink Lady is a warm sounding, earphone with mainstream tuning and a potential basshead appeal. INTRODUCTION Queen of Audio is a young company. It was established in 2018 by two audio queens, the sisters Sophie and Youco. It is a spinoff of Kinera and the company mainly utilizes Kinera’s technical team. Emphasis is laid on fashionable, yet simple and therefore effective designs. Traditionally, Pink Lady has been a gin-based cocktail with quite a long history. When reviewing this earphone, I wished I had a few...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cozoy Hera C103 is a modern old-school single dynamic driver earphone of warm tonality that impresses by its natural reproduction and outstanding tonal coherency. INTRODUCTION I am a big fan of single dynamic-driver earphones – mainly because I am a man of timbre. Accuracy of sound reproduction is of utmost importance to me – way ahead of resolution and other technicalities. As a rule of thumb, single DDs don’t resolve as well as BAs or multidrivers, but they sound more organic and coherent – and they have a much lower...