EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Earstudio HUD100 is a jack-of-all-trades dac/amp: although extremely small, it has two power modes and even handles high-impedance headphones well; it connects to PC, Mac, and phones (iPhone/Android); and it offers three different processing modes (filters) for individual sound adjustments. INTRODUCTION Earstudio are a company out of Korea that appeared on the map with their popular ES100 Bluetooth amp and their HE-100 single DD earphones. While I don’t care much about Bluetooth owing to the planned obsolescence...

Audirect Hilidac Atom Pro Dac/Amp (iPhone Lightning Version) Review EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Audirect Hilidac Atom Pro (iPhone lightning version) offers subtle sonic differences to the Apple lightning audio adapter [review here] but adds essentially no additional power to drive higher-impedance headphones – and it is a notorious battery drain. It is a redundant, overpriced product unless you rely on MQA. UPDATE: It was brought to my attention following this review that the Hilidac Atom Pro is the cheapest dongle with MQA functionality. When you look...

FiiO FH1s Review – Another (Too) Perfect Day EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The FiiO FH1s is a very clean and crisp sounding, close to neutrally tuned, analytical earphone with impressive resolution and staging but a somewhat clinical timbre. INTRODUCTION FiiO (est. 2007) is a Chinese company that made themselves a name with good quality, affordable portable amps for iPods and iPads. In 2013, I purchased their now classic E12 Montblanc amp that plugs directly into the ipod/ipad’s 16-pin port. And while it is still running strong, FiiO have diversified into...

Moondrop Spaceship Review – Under The Milky Way EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Moondrop Spaceship are a well-designed, well-built, brightish and clean sounding earphone with a great timbre. Rewarding for people who can stomach a bit of upper midrange. INTRODUCTION Moondrop are an upsurging earphone company from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, that keeps impressing the iem world with their line of innovative earphones. The $109 Starfield single DD model is one of the current favourites with experts alike in the mid-tier category [my review]. But Moondrop always...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Tanchjim Blues is a very clean, detailed, and slightly bright sounding single DD iem that appeals to audiophiles and purists. Its tiny size and virtual weightlessness sets it apart from the competition. INTRODUCTION So, you expected a rustic, gritty sounding earphone, good for listening to slide guitar and steel drums? Spaghetti Western soundtracks? Actually no — not at all. The Tanchjim Blues are quite refined sounding little rascals for the sophisticated, demanding listener. Tanchjim is yet another upsurging company out...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Shozy Form 1.4 is a slightly warm L-shaped (forward-sloping) earphone that is wonderfully balanced and therefore a Swiss army knife for all musical genres. INTRODUCTION Shozy are a Hong Kong company that appear to put a lot of thought in their products, be it design or functionality. They offer a wide variety of gear, from daps through amps to earphones. During writing this review, I had a few questions for them and they promptly, openly, and readily answered them. Appears to be a good business. You find more information on...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NiceHCK NX7 Pro is a bright, open, and airy sounding earphone that is designed for treble aficionados. The degree of brightness can be controlled by three included tuning filters. INTRODUCTION There has been a recent abundance of “Pro” earphone models in the budget sector flooding the market. “Pro” has been used traditionally in marketing lingo to address the professional user, as opposed to the “consumer”. 15 years ago, Apple distinguished both in their notebook lines, which I never quite understood. But in contrast to this...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Moondrop Starfield appears to be the slight variation of their KXXS flagship at a more affordable price. It features a warm low end, a neutralish midrange, and a conservative, slightly cautious top-end resulting in a warm to neutral overall sound close to the Harman target curve. INTRODUCTION Moondrop have become a household name recently, for example through their successful and popular Kanas, Kanas Pro Edition (KPE), and most recently through their KXXS. These single-dynamic-driver earphones settled in the sub-$200...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The KBEAR Diamond is a well-accessorized $79 earphone sporting a fast DLC-coated single dynamic driver that creates a seductive, accurate organic sound above its class. INTRODUCTION Trident is KBEAR and KBEAR is Trident. This relatively new company has released only a handful of iems so far, none of which was particularly great. Loomis reviewed their TriAudio T4 and I their KBEAR hi7. The KBEAR hi7 was symptomatic for the current state of the highly competitive budget Chi-Fi industry: prematurely thrown on the market with a...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Akoustyx R-220 is a strictly neutrally tuned, very well resolving 2-BA earphone that will appeal to musicians and purist audiophiles. It is excellent for what it is designed for and a great earphone for re-calibrating one’s ears. INTRODUCTION I got interested in Akoustyx after reading the reviews of some of the R-220’s brothers and sisters. After so much Chi-Fi on our blog, I wanted to test some “Made in USA” in comparison. I decided on the reference-tuned 2-BA R-220 out of the company’s offerings that retails at $199. You...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Best of both worlds: a well-resolving 5 BA with the tuning of a dynamic driver. INTRODUCTION The TRN BA5 is another iem tuned by co-blogger KopiOkaya (such as the TRN V90…see bottom of this review). 5 BAs, no dynamic driver for the low end in the budget segment, a risky affair. Following their highly acclaimed V90, TRN are obviously attempting to compete with the model output of Knowledge Zenith. As I always tend to wonder: why 5 whatever drivers in the budget segment instead of a single quality one. Well, KopiOkaya had to work...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The BQEYZ is well-resolving, largely neutralish 3-driver hybrid with a slightly boosted and slow low end that competes with a wonderfully lively and accurate midrange and a pleasant treble. SPECIFICATIONS Impedance: 43 Ω Sensitivity: 108 dB Cable Length: 1.2m (no mic included) Pin Type: 0.78mm-2 Pin Driver units: 13mm Coaxial dynamic driver+7 Layers piezo electric+Balanced armature Tested at: $139 PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY The earpieces are small despite their 3 drivers and are ergonomically pleasing. Fit it great, they...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NiceHCK DB3 is a well-priced 2+1 budget earphone with a “fun” tuning that justifies this attribute: V-shaped with good dynamics and no fatiguing upper end. This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org INTRODUCTION Sometimes, this happens: you take a pair of iems out of the box, plug them in, and you instantly like them. There is something about the image that hits you even before you start your analytical listening procedure. The NiceHCK DB3 is such a rare case. Was I ever surprised by this KZ in disguise...

This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The AME Custom Argent is a neutral to bright sounding 4+2 earphone with excellent clarity and resolution that may primarily appeal to the Asian ear. INTRODUCTION AME Custom are a Korean company headed by a rock musician with a background in electrical engineering. The company was established approximately 6 years ago and evolved from a retail store specializing in custom cables, earphone/headphone modifications, and repair. AME Custom have produced various iems from...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Blon BL-03 is a neutral to slightly warm, marginally bright single dynamic driver earphone that excels by its tonal accuracy, natural dynamics, clarity, authentic soundstage, and spatial cues that gives you the feeling of sitting in the first row of a concert. Note: i'd give this earphone 5 stars if it worked ootb. You find the full review with all the usual blablabla here: https://www.audioreviews.org/blon-bl-03-review/ This version is abbreviated in order not to be repetitive with the other reviews and to make sure to stay...

This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org This earphone has already been reviewed on the blog by @loomisjohnson HERE. You find some photos of the NiceHCK NX7 HERE. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NiceHCK NX7 is a relatively bright and relatively coherent sounding seven-driver earphone that can be neutral analytical to warm analytical (depending on bass magnitude and accessories used). Much of the bright, fatiguing element can be removed with micropore tape to arrive at a more homogenous, pleasant, and still well resolving image...

This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org CATCHING THE HYPE TRAIN This $5-8 cheapo has caught the attentention of the earphone wizards after creating a hype earlier in 2019. Crinacle rates them highly: “Clean notes, proper sub-bass extension and a tonal balance beyond expectations.” Shotgunshane also added them to his list of favourites: “Yup, Seven dollars and 95 cents. Dynamic driver. Universal. Exaggerated Harman type frequency response with large sub bass boost, very clear upper mids and slightly easier going treble. Less...

My rating considers value (perceived monetary worth). This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Moondrop Crescent is a sturdily built, (Harman Target) neutral tuned single dynamic-driver earphone with a warm, full, homogeneous, organic sound that rivals its Kanas Pro sibling at 1/6 of the price. You find more photos of the Moondrop Crescent HERE. INTRODUCTION I took a lot of flak by fanboys recently for my review of the Moondrop Kanas Pro [HERE]…”fanboys” means people who already owned the product. My...

This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org In addition, you find a series of photos of the Smabat ST-10 on the blog HERE. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Smabat ST-10 is distinguished from the usual Sennheiser lookalike earbuds by its over-ear fit and a much fuller, juicy low end triggering a meaty, homogenous sound. It should appeal to people who like an in-ears sound but not an in-ears feel. INTRODUCTION Much has been written about the Smabat ST-10 and I refer the attentive reader to the 10 or so existing reviews. I’d like to present...

You find a series of previously published photos of the Sennheiser IE 500 PRO HERE. This review was originally posted at https://audioreviews.org where it includes an additional second opinion. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sennheiser IE 500 Pro is a smooth and cohesive sounding single-dynamic-driver earphone from head to toe with an organic sound that also works well at high volumes owing to low harmonic distortion. However it fails its purpose of delivering strong vocals by having an overly recessed upper midrange -- and it suffers from fantasy pricing...