Rhapsodio Supreme V3 Review: The Emperor Established in 2014, Rhapsodio (RSD) is an experienced earphone/cable brand based in Taiwan and Hong Kong. If you haven't heard of this brand, it's great that now you have. Rhapsodio is considered one of those brands that you may not known before, though once you listen to their products, it's hard to escape from them. They're a veteran brand that utilizes unprecedented tech and sound to deliver truly unique products, making it hard to find a replacement if you fall in love with a particular product of...

MMR Balmung Review: Takeover Founded by the head of Jomo Audio, MMR (Metal Magic Research) is a Singaporean IEM brand that has been presenting unprecedentedly unique products along with their new cable brand, Eletech. MMR’s first two releases, Homunculus and Thummim, were just enough to gain a significant amount of interest throughout multiple countries. I was also able to have extensive listening sessions for these two special IEMs, I could tell their sounds were as gorgeous as much as their form factor. Of course, we cannot forget to mention Gae...

Eletech Illiad Review: The Dignified Regardless of how many times, it always excites me to come across a brand-new brand, especially if it's a major one. Eletech is an innovative new cable manufacturer based in Singapore backed up with well-known masterminds in the audiophile industry. Eric is one of the co-founders of Eletech who previously worked extensively for Effect Audio. Eletech started off their journey only a few years ago along with their new IEM brand, Metal Magic Research (MMR), these talented professionals have already managed to...

AZLA Crystal Review: Kinda Xelastec but everything easier It is no surprise to most audiophiles by now that eartips matter big time when talking about earphones. Even for those who weren't particularly passionate about sound quality and audio gears, simply swapping to an aftermarket eartip for whatever reason would be a good enough opportunity to realize the sound difference. I previously did a review for AZLA Xelastec, eartips made of TPE which certainly impressed us in many ways. While Xelastec seemed to be just perfect, it still had its own...

Nostalgia Audio Olorin Review: Naturally silver Needless to say, there are small and large portable audio brands coming out every now and then. Most of them are lead by one dedicated team - but what happens when if a brand is created by multiple renowned pre-existing brands? Well, that is the case of Nostalgia Audio - 'the Avengers' brand co-founded by multiple professional brands and personnel around the globe. Having the spirit of the brand itself is based in Hong Kong, Nostalgia Audio products are actively designed and shepherded by brands from...

Satin Audio Zeus Review: Gentle, bold finesse As one of the fastest-growing cable brands from Vietnam, Satin Audio has been putting out numbers of quality cables for reasonable prices. We have the classical Monster series (now replaced with Monster II series), the affordable Titan series, and the Olympus series - the premium or flagship level of the family. Athena is Satin's premium palladium-coated cable which also made the start of the Olympus series. It was not until recently that Satin Audio announced the second model of the Olympus series as...

AZLA Xelastec (for Airpods Pro) Review: Maximization Eartips are such a tiny accessory that does not seem to matter much while it is actually the most crucial part of your earphone. Having a good fit directs the user to properly and fully experience the sound from the earphone. Each person has ears that are different in shape, size, and angle. That leads to a possibility that what you hear may differ from what others hear, often in a negative way. Thus, even if you do not particularly feel discomfort from your current eartips, it is still...

AZLA Xelastec Review: Brand-new solution Eartips are such a tiny accessory that does not seem to matter much while it is actually the most crucial part of your earphone. Having a good fit directs the user to properly and fully experience the sound from the earphone. Each person has different shapes, sizes, and angles for their ears. That leads to a possibility that what you hear may differ from what others hear, often in a negative way. Thus, even if you do not particularly feel discomfort from your current eartips, it is still possible for your...

MMR Gae Bolg Review: A Rational Piercer If anybody asks what was the hottest new brand in 2020, I would say pick Metal Magic Research (MMR). Founded by the head of Jomo Audio, MMR is a Singaporean IEM brand that has been presenting unprecedentedly unique products along with their new cable brand, Eletech. MMR's first two releases, Homunculus and Thummim, were just enough to gain a significant amount of interest throughout multiple countries. I was also able to have a quick audition for these two special IEMs, I could tell their sounds being as...

Dunu SA6 Review: Something serious For those who have been putting their interest in the portable audio hobby, Dunu should likely be one of those brands that you would have heard by now. We did a number of reviews for Dunu IEMs by now and so far their outputs have been thoroughly impressive to me and many others. Dunu has been presenting a variety of IEMs with different styles and tuning, though they had one thing in common - a dynamic driver. They always tended to equip their IEMs with dynamic drivers; by pairing it up with Balanced Armature...

NXEars Basso Review: The way to excitement Numbers of new brands are flooding in but we know as a fact that most of them are from China. Not to mean that is a bad thing, of course, but I have been willing to see some new faces from other countries as well - which is why I would like to introduce a new IEM brand from elsewhere called NXEars. Founded in California, USA, NXEars is created by a former Knowles engineer as well as the NuForce founder. Even if your curiosity sensitivity got dull after encountering multiple new brands, NXEars is especially...

NXEars Opera Review: In-ear 'headphones' Numbers of new brands are flooding in but we know as a fact that most of them are from China. Not to mean that is a bad thing, of course, but I have been willing to see some new faces from other countries as well - which is why I would like to introduce a new IEM brand from elsewhere called NXEars. Founded in California, USA, NXEars is created by a former Knowles engineer as well as the NuForce founder. Even if your curiosity sensitivity got dull after encountering multiple new brands, NXEars is especially...

Campfire Audio Solaris 2020 Review: Gently ripen The popular brand from the portable audio industry, Campfire Audio, has come up with a new stream of products - Ara, Andromeda 2020, and Solaris 2020. The original Solaris used to be CA's most expensive product as well and gained a great amount of interest throughout the community. Now they have released Solaris 2020, a refined/retuned version of the original one where many elements have been adjusted, inside and outside. Let us now cut to the chase and see how this new version performs along with...

Campfire Audio Ara Review: Succeed to the throne The popular brand from the portable audio industry, Campfire Audio, has come up with a new stream of products - Ara, Andromeda 2020, and Solaris 2020. The Andromeda was not only the flagship model from their full-BA lineup but also CA's most popular product of all times, keeping its flagship title for a long period of time while other their other lineups were featured with the new successors - such as Atlas or Solaris. A rumor has been lingering upon us that CA is engineering a 7BA IEM since several...

Astrotec Volans Review - Warm transparency The trends in Chi-Fi are well known for their fast transitions. New IEMs from completely new brands would make it to the front line in discussions and attention, which are soon replaced with another wave of products and so on. Now it may be brought up to the question of "do Chi-Fi underdogs ever last long enough?" Well yes, and Astrotec is one of the good brands that correspond. For those you may have not known, Astrotec is one of the earliest to be entering the budget earphone market, if not the 1st...

IKKO Musikv OH-7 Review: Grandeur What goes around comes around. Multi-BA and Electrostatic drivers are the hottest trends when it comes to IEMs, but what is getting hot as much as that is are 1DD, single dynamic drivers. Ikko, as a new kid on the block, started off the brand good with their Meteorite OH-1, and I literally mean meteorite because Ikko came in with a huge bang thanks to its sensational performance and build quality for such affordable price. Since then, Ikko speeded up on presenting new products, such as Obsidian OH-10 which is an...

Final Audio Design A8000 Review: Exquisite balance Final Audio Design (Final in short) is no stranger when it comes to our portable audio hobby. Under the mother brand S'NEXT from Japan, Final has been making a number of remarkable products, ranging from small accessories such as eartips to full-sized headphones. Within the in-ear range, their Heaven Series and FI-BA-SS series have been one of their classic line-ups that many have and still find it cherishing. In recent days, Final has launched a variety of new line-ups - MAKE series where you could...

Anew X-One Review: Hypnotize Anew is one of those new brands, along with IKKO, that I have encountered without any expectations yet got myself hit hard on the back of my head. In case you would ever ask me why it was due to their quality being too good for the price and for completely new brands. The U1 was the very first IEM released by Anew and that particular IEM got me much impressed - however, not a single background info was able to be found only except a rumor that Anew was created by a former LZ engineer. After some lengthy gap, Anew...

AZLA Zwei Review: Private and mellow Anyone aware of the brand called AZLA? Perhaps you may have heard about the Sedna Earfit eartips. Previously in About Audio, we have covered two AZLA IEMs as a review - Horizon and Orta. Fortunately enough, I have joined one of the Japanese show in the past where AZLA first made their debut to the portable audio market. The visitors' impression turned out to be very positive, thus I have purchased their first model, 01R, and started to keep myself updated with products from AZLA. This Korean brand that is...

AZLA Azel Review: Big sounds in small packages Anyone aware of the brand called AZLA? Perhaps you may have heard about the Sedna Earfit eartips. Previously in About Audio, we have covered two AZLA IEMs as a review - Horizon and Orta. Fortunately enough, I have joined one of the Japanese show in the past where AZLA first made their debut to the portable audio market. The visitors' impression turned out to be very positive, thus I have purchased their first model, 01R, and started to keep myself updated with products from AZLA. This Korean brand...