Campfire Audio Lyra

Campfire Audio Lyra

"Hard-shelled beauty!"

Firstly, I’d like to thank dmarco for organising this review. It’s always a great opportunity to be a part of these.

The second on the list coming from Campfire Audio is another beaut of an IEM, the Lyra. This one is completely different to the Orion. Of the three new IEMs this one is probably the most unique. Instead of a CNC machined shell it's made from heat treated ceramic and a single dynamic driver, but like it's other 2 brothers it comes with pretty much all the same accessories including that amazingly bling looking cable. Let's see how it stacks up.

A little about the Campfire Audio Lyra

More info at the CA website: http://campfireaudio.com/lyra/

Frequency response	8 - 28 000 Hz
Impedance	17 Ohm
Sensitivity	110 dB
Plug	Gold Plated 3.5mm (1/8”) 90° Angled Beryllium and Copper Custom Alloy MMXC
Cable Length	1.48m (SPC)
Speaker diameter	Single 8.5mm Beryllium PVD Dynamic

Build

Housing

If the Orion had a world class build quality, then the Lyra is interstellar. The ceramic doesn't just look stunning with it's glossy, smooth finish but the material is super strong and has a LOT of heft to it. I bet this is one of the IEMs that would still be around, working 50 years down the line.
The choice of ceramic has its advantages, yes, both acoustically and physically, but at the same time has its down sides as well. I found the extra heft a bit of a burden on not just getting a good seal, but also being limited to the types of ear tip that would work with them. The extra weight tends to pull the earpieces out of your ear when using my normally preferred tips. This led me to the conclusion of only 2 choices: 1) using tips that are one size larger effectively making long listening session a little uncomfortable, and 2) only using foam tips. For the purposes of comfort, I defaulted to only using the provided foam tips, which were not bad, but had a negative impact on bass response and soundstage.

Cable

The cable is the same as the Orion, so I will paraphrase, or better yet just copy/paste from that review:

This cable is absolutely divine! Can someone say “Bling, bling!”? The first thing I saw where I unboxed them was the cable and it just melted my heart. I believe that it is tinsel covered SPC wire inside. The MMXC connectors are beryllium and copper custom alloy are housed in a clear acrylic moulded strain relief which fuses with the clear ear guides, which have memory wire and can be shaped to suit your ear shape. The cable is insulated is sparkly silver material which feels tough, yet it’s malleable and surprisingly has a minimal amount of memory. The wire is very slippery which means that it doesn’t snag on clothing and it is very light, so light actually that you can’t even feel it’s presence.
The only dislike I have with it is the way the MMXC connectors rotate freely in the socket. It would be so much better if there was an interference fit of some sort to minimise this.

Packaging

The Lyra comes in the same beautifully and cosmically designed cardboard box with a different sticker on it to represent the Lyra. It's simple no-nonsense and very effective.

Accessories

The Lyra comes with almost all the same accessories as before; this time instead of a canvas hard case, it comes with a full leather upholstered case with leather webbing and the same sheep wool inner lining. For the record, I absolutely love this carry case.
Campfire Audio include a very nice selection of ear tips that mostly consist of foam tips.
In the box you get:

3 pairs of rather standard silicone tips (S/M/L)
3 pairs of generic hard foam tips (S/M/L)
3 pairs of COMPLY TX-400 foam tips (S/M/L)
A cleaning brush and ear wax prod.
A little booklet with all the juice details about the Lyra.
A little CA "Fanboy" shirt pin. (That's funny, nice touch!)

Sound

All my listening and evaluation consists of various genres of music including but not limited to: trance, house, funk, acoustic, rock, orchestral and electronic.
Gear used: Audio-gd NFB-15 amp/DAC, FiiO X1, FiiO E17 (PC as transport). Ear tips used are Fidue dual-flange wide bore for deep semi-deep insertion.

I'm not sure that I'm the target audience for the Lyra. It didn't gel well with my preferences when I first tried it and it still doesn't gel well with me today. It is a slightly V shaped sounding IEM with a pretty big emphasis on the mid and upper bass frequencies. I also found the Lyra to by quite picky with recordings, masters and genres. It sounds exceptional with very well mastered and non-compressed tracks, but when it came down to normal, everyday listening, the Lyra sounded grainy, thin and lifeless. It's shone best with electronic tracks with cleanly separated sound elements and nothing too complex. Soundstage performance can be "OK", with at times above average, but once the bass starts to overwhelm, everything is muddled together.

Treble

The treble is my favourite aspect of the Lyra in the sound department. From close listening I can find 2 or 3 peaks, one at 8kHz, one at 9-10kHz, and one at 12kHz. This effectively means that micro details will be very spot on and very much part of the experience all the time, it's also makes me think that this is a part of why they are so picky with music. Treble has decent attack and bite, with moderate decay.

Mids

Mids are a bit of a bummer. They just feel much too lifeless. They're thin and grainy on the top end and might be a little sibilant to some people. Sibilance was just under my threshold and felt like it was border lining at times, but I never got the feeling where I had to turn it down. Female vocals are flat and two dimensional, and just don't feel very appealing. Male vocals are a bit better, they pick up a lot of bloomy from the lower end which gives them a pretty thick appearance. But at the same time they seem a bit lifeless and dull. Acoustic instruments are also overwhelmed by the bass thickness with that "bloom" which muffles a lot of the separation between the instruments.

Bass

Well the bass is pretty big. It's weighty and thick, with lots of rumble and authority. It goes as low as 30Hz audibly to my ear. This is pretty good, but the speed and coherence of the bass is a little lacking. It rather flabby and slow and it leaks quite a bit into the rest of the spectrum.

Score

Conclusion

The Lyra is a bit of an opposite to the Orion. I found it to be a bit out of my world. The target market here would be a more mainstream crowd, which in my eyes are not really in this price range. I think the Lyra should've been the entry level and the Orion the second tier. It's a beautifully built IEM, but sound-wise, I feel like it's a huge step backwards. It's probably because it doesn't appeal at all, and I'm sure that there are people who genuinely love this sound signature, alas, I'm not one.

Cheers!

@d marc0

Campfire Audio Orion

"Beauty within and without!"

Firstly, I’d like to thank @d marc0 for organising this review. It’s always a great opportunity to be a part of these.

There has been a lot of different IEM companies coming out of the woodworks in the past couple of years, and I always get a good feeling when I see something that truly stands out because I know that it will leave a mark on the Head-Fi community. This is definitely evident with Campfire Au
I’ve never heard of Campfire Audio, but I do know ALO, and know that the quality of the cables and amplifiers are nothing to dismiss. This experience in the audio industry has shone through with their new line-up of IEMs. You can tell this by just looking at the pictures that these earphones are unique, and you can only hope that they get it right, and for the most part, they got it very right!

A little about the Campfire Audio Orion

More info at the CA website: http://campfireaudio.com/orion/

Frequency response	12 - 22 000 Hz
Impedance	17 Ohm
Sensitivity	114 dB
Plug	Gold Plated 3.5mm (1/8”) 90° Angled Beryllium and Copper Custom Alloy MMXC
Cable Length	1.48m (SPC)
Speaker diameter	Single Balanced Armature Driver

[size=24.57px]Build[/size]

Housing

Oh the build! The Orion is indisputably the best looking IEM I’ve held in my hand. I’m a huge fan of good machining and the Orion is flawlessly CNC cut with laser precision accuracy to the micron. They’re held together with socket machine screws, a silver coloured aluminium nozzle and MMXC cable connectors. The whole unit absolutely screams “Quality Product” and just for the beauty of it alone I’d pay the $550 price tag, and it only gets better from here. They don't just look great, they also feel great. Even though the housing is a little on the large side, and it does have sharp edges, it's made in a way that feels very comfortable and natural when you position them just right in your ears. They sit well thanks to the earguides and you just forget that they're in.

Cable

This cable is absolutely divine! Can someone say “Bling, bling!”? The first thing I saw where I unboxed them was the cable and it just melted my heart. I believe that it is tinsel covered SPC wire inside. The MMXC connectors, are beryllium and copper custom alloy, are housed in a clear acrylic moulded strain relief which fuses with the clear ear guides, which have memory wire and can be shaped to suit your ear. The cable is insulated is sparkly silver material which feels tough, yet it’s malleable and surprisingly has a minimal amount of memory. The wire is very slippery which means that it doesn’t snag on clothing and it is very light, so light actually that you can’t even feel it’s presence.
The only dislike I have with it is the way the MMXC connectors rotate freely in the socket. It would be so much better if there was an interference fit of some sort to minimise this.

Packaging

The Orion comes in a pretty simple cardboard box, what is special though, is what is on the box. The psychedelic and cosmic looking print is gorgeous and adds to the uniqueness of this product.

Accessories

The earphones come is a really nice canvas outer lined zipped clamshell which is lined internally with sheet skin. There is a webbing inside which doesn’t allow the clamshell to open all the way. I found this to work extremely well in practice as it makes sure that the earphone never falls out by accident. I’ve not seen anything like this before.
Campfire Audio include a very nice selection of ear tips that mostly consist of foam tips. I’m not a big fan of foam tips, but I do use them when dampening of sibilance and harsh treble is required, needless to say, they weren’t required here.
In the box you get:

3 pairs of rather standard silicone tips (S/M/L)
3 pairs of generic hard foam tips (S/M/L)
3 pairs of COMPLY TX-400 foam tips (S/M/L)
A cleaning brush and ear wax prod.
A little booklet with all the juice details about the Orion.
A little CA "Fanboy" shirt pin. (That's funny, nice touch!)

Sound

All my listening and evaluation consists of various genres of music including but not limited to: trance, house, funk, acoustic, rock, orchestral and electronic.
Gear used: Audio-gd NFB-15 amp/DAC, FiiO X1, FiiO E17 (PC as transport). Eartips used are Fidue dual-flange wide bore for semi-deep insertion.

The sound characteristics of the Orion is borderline reference. It’s quite flat and tame but lacks excitement and sparkle, though were it shines is linearity and sense of space. It has a very good 3D image which makes up for it’s somewhat average soundstage width. The coherency of sound elements are well defined and make for a very enjoyable intimate listening session. I found that where the Orion has all of this pronounced uniqueness and beauty in appearance it somewhat lacks in sound character. Thus the downfall of making a linear sounding headphone. It’s not for everyone but I found them to be technically well versed and I think I would rate them above both the new Jays Q-JAYS, and the Noble Savant. The average consumer who is not a treble-head would surely love these.

Treble

Safe tuning is what I understand the treble to be, and is the main reason I think this IEM lacks character. The treble is too smoothed and is a little slow on decay. I found this to be very evident with live recorded orchestral scores where there is a lot of reverb. The BA’s pick up the echoes and as they build up they start to resonate and ring giving the sound signature a little bit of a hollow or “flangy” character. This does not translate to studio recording though and is not noticeable most of the time.
The rounded treble response means that they are a very good choice for those you like to listen to music loudly. I’ve never encountered any sibilance or harshness. For the most part, the treble is very accurate and true in timbre.

Mids

Mids are separated very well from the treble and bass regions. Vocals are well defined in the head space and feel a little forward and natural. They are a little warm and with the reverb pickup they actually sound very raw and real. Though this feels really great, it’s not a reference type sound and in effect it sounds a bit smudged with male vocals; you can't have it all. This also translates to different kind of acoustics like guitars and pianos.

Bass

Good bass in my opinion starts with good, deep and fast sub bass, and the Orion does this right. The bass maybe a little recessed, but it's good where it matters. Bass guitar really shines through with good roll of the note, and 808 kicks stand out like nothing else. I’m a fan of this type of bass response; it does away with any bloat and unnecessary pomp in the bottom end which gives of a faux punch. What many would be interested is if they react well the EQing of the bass, and that answer is yes. Giving it a boost in the whole region up to 200Hz elevates the Orion to a nicely punchy sounding IEM.

Score

Conclusion

I would say that the Campfire Audio Orion is a very good entry level for a new venture company. It’s not without its flaws, which I think most people won’t even notice. This product stands out like a star in the night sky and will give you that “bling factor” some people look for when buying headphones. I fell in love with the Orion at first site and it’s the kind of product I would never forget. Simply astonishing!

Cheers!

@RedJohn456

VE or Venture Electronics is not your standard run of the mill audio company. My experience with them has been an enjoyable to say the least. The first I heard about them was on the off chance around Head-Fi from these savoury fellows who kept raving on about these earbud earphones that were reportedly amazing. Looking the pictures I completely dismissed it for just plain old unjustified hype; how naïve I was.
Then, out of the blue I got a message for uncle H20 asking me if I would like to take on some review samples from VE. Of course I gladly accepted his invitation. On arrival I received 3 items, one of which was VE’s entry level earbud, the Monk, which I simply threw into a draw at work and forgot all about them. On an odd day I decided to try them and was completely blown away at what I heard. There is a whole story to this which you can read here: VE Monk review.
As I got more and more engrossed into the amazing sound of the Monk, I was greeted with waves taunting messages from @RedJohn456 to get my hands on the Zen, as it was supposed to be so much better. To me, this statement was preposterous as already had a bias against the earbud design and my mind just could not fathom how an earbud could sound even better than the Monk. I thought that the Monk was the pinnacle, and it costed $5 which was just madness, so a $150 model from the same company must be just bonkers good. I wasn’t wrong.

I first received the VE Zen 1.0 and was quite underwhelmed. I was expecting more of the same as with the Monk, but more of it. The Zen 1.0 was much the polar opposite. Sporting a colder, more refined, toned down, and somewhat analytical sound signature, whilst still having great character, texture and immersion as the Monk. Don’t get me wrong, the Zen 1.0 is still a bonkers earphone; it’s got 320 Ohms of impedance for goodness sake! What is this bizzaro world? But to me it missed that sweet spot and amazing character that the Monk had which needed to return.
So I spent some time with the original Zens and withdrew from discussions about it until I received the long await revised Zen, with fingers cross, hoping that Lee did not disappoint. And to my patient surprise it was all that I ever imagined the Zens to be, or should've been.
Again, VE had flip-flopped and the 2.0 became a completely different beast to the 1.0. The Zen 2.0 was more like Monk. Retaining the insane 320 Ohms of impedance and a new transparent skin as well as a new cable. The 2.0 brought back that amazing immersive and organic experience you got with the Monk but with a more refined and detailed representation of the music. When listening to the new Zens I can just put my library on shuffle and melt away into the abyss, just forget about everything. It is as addictive as the Monk was and more. It was enlightenment.

Specifications

Frequency response		15 ~ 23500 Hz (-10dB)
Impedance		320 Ω @ 1kHz
Sensitivity		106 dB @ 1mW
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) 90 degree angled
Cable Length		1.2m (47") TPE sheaved OFC
Driver		15.4mm
Maximum Input Current		1500m

Build

The built, as with all the VE earbuds I’ve tried is much the same. Being as standard earbud as it gets. If it wasn’t for the colour and cable differences you would not be able to tell them apart. These earbuds are like Ninjas in disguise. They look like a normal everyday earbud until you actually listen to them.
The cable on the Zen 1.0 is a clear silver cable which is a tiny bit stiffer than what I’d like, and it’s got a straight connector, but it’s got great strain relief and one of the best neck synchs that I’ve ever used. The cable of the 2.0 is red coloured clear silver cable which is now a 90 degree angled jack and is much more supple now.
Both are very light and feel strong enough to last through daily abuse.

Comfort

I have very small ears and these, like the VE Monks, sit in my ear surprisingly very securely. On the odd occasion I do need to readjust them when turning my head, but for the most part they are very good. Weight plays a big role here.

Accessories

You get a hard ball shaped clamshell carry case witch is strong enough to protect it’s contents. You also get some full sizes and donut earbud foams. You also get shirt clip if you need one. Nothing too special. You’re really not paying for fancy accessories or an unboxing experience.

Driveability

Whilst you can get them loud enough from a mobile phone, I would not suggest it; the sound is dull and just sound wrong. I did most of my listening from my Audio-gd NFB15.32 and the Ve RunAbout for portable use. I did try it with the FiiO X1, FiiO E17, xDuoo X2 and xDuoo X3, but all seemed to struggle to power these beasts.

Sound

The sound of the two products is so different that they may as well be 2 separate products. I will describe both of them with a few words off the top of my head just to paint a picture of how different they really are:
Zen 1.0: Cold, flat, analytical, refined, open and dynamic.
Zen 2.0: Natural, organic, warm, open, detailed and dynamic.

As I have mentioned previously, the 1.0 is a flatter and more analytical approach, which to me is rather boring. I would have been very impressed with the 1.0 if I didn’t hear the Monk before it. It still is a great sounding earbud when compare to the previous experience I’ve had with other earbuds.

Treble

Zen 1.0
It’s not the fastest treble you’ll hear but it’s very good for an earbud. It’s quite detailed and extends very well. Though I do feel there is a bit of a dip somewhere in there that makes it slightly blunted and too quick on decay.

Zen 2.0
The emphasis here has been shifted somewhat which brings back that shimmer that was missing in the 1.0. But the speed has decreased a bit which puts a bit of a veil on the detail. In return you get a more airier presentation.

Mids

Zen 1.0
The timber of the vocals and acoustic instruments is very good and sounds pretty accurate. There isn’t a particular tilt or colouration that sways it in either direction. The are though a little recessed and lack some detail.

Zen 2.0
The Vocals are warmer and more textured and slightly more forward. It’s a little less detailed than the 1.0 but more present and feel more alive with a bit more reverberation.

Bass

Zen 1.0
The bass on the 1.0 kind of reminds me of balanced armature bass. It’s fast and detailed but lacks authority and thump. Nonetheless it’s great for an earbud and it reaches quite low.

Zen 2.0
It has an amazingly addictive bass note that’s textured and detailed. It’s authoritative and has substantial kick. It’s not bass head quantity but it’s nearly perfect to me.

Soundstage and Imaging

Both have quite similar soundstage and imaging performance. It’s really wide and deep and you get a very immersive out-of-head experience. The Zen 2.0 is better as it is slightly deeper and more accurate. The extra warmth makes the air feel more natural and realistic.

Click on the photo to see in larger resolution

Conclusion

Both the Zen 1.0 and 2.0 are Head-Fi worthy and both have a place of their own. The Zen 1.0 sits in the colder analytical lovers corner and the Zen 2.0 sits in the musical, more bassy lovers corner. Both are completely bonkers and I love them both for that. Though, personally I feel that the 2.0 is the victor here. It took what I fell in love with the Monk and made it better. Lee from VE is a real wizard, and I really wish that he continues to make more of these completely insane products of his!

Cheers!

Excellent review!

can you compare them to the baldoors mate?

Sorry mate, I don't know what Baldoors are, so I doubt I could help you here. As previously mentioned, I wasn't the biggest fan of earbuds before hearing the Monk and Zen. So my experience with earbuds is quite limited. I've only hear 2 other "good" earbuds which weren't that good in my opinion.

@Brooko

DUNU Titan 5

"Return of the Titan"

It’s been a while since I’ve come across another DUNU product. I did have short stints with the DN-1000 and the Alpha 1 but the Titan 5 was my first proper time since the Titan 1. The Titan 1 was one of those really unique products that stood out in the market for a few reasons; not just exceptional sound quality but design and innovation. Since then, DUNU have released 3 new products based on this initial innovative design of the Titan 1: these are the Titan 1es a budget option, and the Titan 3 & 5 which are, from what I would gather, the true successors of the Titan 1. I’ve not heard the 1es or the 3 so cannot comment on their signature, but the Titan 5 really does take this innovative design into a new direction, which to me is a real winner.
The “Titan” name comes from the use of a Titanium coated dynamic drivers which are touted to have “high power handling, for its exceptional clarity, fast transients, deep reaching bass, sweet and emotional vocals, as well as the delicate and smooth treble extension”. While that those sound very impressive, it’s not too farfetched.
The Titan 5 has now gotten the “Hi-Res Audio” certification if that means anything to you.

A little about the Dunu Titan 5

More info at the Dunu website: http://www.dunu-topsound.com/TITAN5.html

Frequency response	10 - 40 000 Hz
Impedance	32 Ohm
Sensitivity	108 dB (±2)
Plug	Gold Plated 3.5mm (1/8”) 90° Angled
Cable Length	1.2m (OFC)
Speaker diameter	13mm Titanium Dynamic Driver
Weight	24 grams

FR Graph

Thanks to @Brooko for letting me use his measurements.
Follow this link to Brooko's uber indepth review

Packaging

The box is pretty much EXACTLY the same as the Titan 1, except that it has Titan 5 written on it. It really is very much the same including the accessories. In fact the only new addition is the stabiliser hooks or as I call them “wings”. These are a great addition for those who have fit problems wearing them cable down. I never felt like I needed them, so never used them for the Titans, though have tried then on the Titan 1 just to see how it works with those extra holes; it work brilliantly for those curious.Because the packaging is exactly the same I will quote from my Titan 1 review:

The Titans come in a medium sized box; dimensions are 13cm x 17cm x 5cm. It’s very well presented. On the front you are shown exactly what you a purchasing. Everything is well contrasted, bright writing on black background: everything stands out very well. You get all the relevant information in different languages. Very nice.
Under the front flap there is some background information about the Titans, including the frequency response diagram to show you what they’re trying to target and what difference a titanium driver makes compared to a standard driver unit.
They also included a little plug for a Ukrainian band called “Max Barski”. Quite the coincidence since I was born in Ukraine.
Behind the little window you’ll see the beautifully designed housings of the Titans. Open the door and you are presented with 3 pairs of what looks like Sony hybrid silicone ear tips and a wonderful protective box. I must say that this is by far the best protective box I’ve seen to date that comes free with an IEM at this price. It’s made of hard plastic and has a sturdy locking mechanism to keep your already heavy duty looking earphone in tip-top shape so you can chuck them in your bag without any worries what so ever.
Additionally, underneath the plastic holder you get another 6 pairs of ear tips: different colours and styles of more of the Sony hybrid “clone” tips and a set of standard black tips, a shirt clip, and a 3.5mm (1/8”) to 6.3mm (1/4”) gold plated adapter. And of course, you get a warranty card which also has a maintenance log for all your warranty claims.

Design

The design has been slightly tweaked with the Titan 5. DUNU have dropped the ultra open configuration and have opted to use only 1 port-hole. Many users were complaining about the lack of isolation, and of course this was the obvious fix, and it worked a treat.
Another change was the inclusion of a removable cable. This is one of the best feature any IEM company can implement that would increase the value of their products dramatically. A removable cable not only means that you can replace it in the unfortunate event of the cable breaking, and I know it happens to even the most expensive IEMs and it’s happened to me plenty of times to know how important it is to have this feature. The cable uses quite a hefty looking jack which houses an MMXC connector. It feels very durable and tactile and the connection is very secure.
One more complaint that people had with the Titan 1 was the fact that it was only designed to be worn cable down, and wearing it cable up, or over the ear, meant that you were forced to swap the channels around, which was not a huge issue but made me a little OCD thinking about it, so I never did it. With the addition of a removable cable, you are now able to switch the channels around to suit both cable up or down to your preference and listen to the music as you wish till you heart is content.
It does show a lot about the company when they listen to the criticism and instead of defending their products they set out to fix those issue to come back with something better.
One more thing that needs a mention is the fact that the earpiece housing is now made of stainless steel making it noticeably heavier, and holding the whole Titan 1 in one hand (earpieces, splitter, cable and jack) and just the earpieces of the Titan 5 in the other feels about twice as heavy. Since it sits very snug and securely in me ears, I don’t find this to be an issue, but it’s something to note.

Cable

It is a shame that the Titan 5 didn’t come with a remote/mic cable. It was one of my main gripes with the Titan 1 and I guess it was not asked for enough to make the cut. Of course, it being a removable cable means that I could just buy an aftermarket cable that has a remote.
Nonetheless, the cable is an undoubtable upgrade to the Titan 1. Visually, it’s almost exactly the same. It loses the fabric sheaving which I’m not a big fan off. As well as the Y-splitter, neck cinch, and jack are now (anodised?) black with a very nicely machine chamfered on the edges to give it a silver accent. It retains the brilliant strain relieves and their patented cable lock, and more importantly and rubber material. The rubber sheaving of the Titan 5 is probably the best cable material I’ve had the pleasure of holding in my hand. It feels soft and strong, and it does not kink or retains any memory, as well as it’s very supple and doesn’t have any microphonics or mechanical noise at all. Top marks for that! It love this cable so much that I actually have plans for a project to make a MMXC to 2 pin adapter so I can use this cable with other IEMs.

Isolation

The isolation is as expected: exceptional. The removal of most of the port holes means that you get much less sound leakage in and out. It’s not the best isolation, average at best, but it is adequate for your daily commute on public transport. It's definitely an improvement.

Driveability

The Titan 5 is easier to drive than the Titan 1, which is great if you ask me! I don’t have any problems powering them with my phone and they do scale nicely with more power. They paired exceptionally well with the FiiO X1 and xDuoo X2 & X3, and even better with the Audio-GD NFB-15.32.

Sound

Along with all the other numerous positive changes to the Titan 5, the sound has also been improved for the better in my opinion. The Titan 5 retains the slightly V shaped, fun, yet balanced signature, but with a smoother and slightly more punchy and fun attitude. There are a lot of aspects I like with the way the Titan 5 sounds.

Treble

As much as I loved the Titan 1, I had a little issue with harshness in the lower treble region which made it hard for me to enjoy them for long. Being a CAD drafter professionally means that being mentally fatigued is a very bad thing even if it’s just slightly. The Titan 5 does away with this harshness by smoothing out the lower treble region and pushing the emphasis not on one single region but along the whole treble spectrum, which in effect makes for a more coherent and dynamic delivery of percussion elements and give a much more comfortable listen for almost all genres. Because there are no particular peaks that I can notice in the treble region, it may seem to some that there is somewhat a veil on the detail retrieval. I would say that this is akin to the “Sennheiser veil” as some call it, where the HD650 has actually very good detail retrieval, air and sense of space but it is not portrayed in a forward manner, rather a smooth and laidback way which I really like, and yes I would say that they do sound somewhat like the HD650 from what I remember them.

Mids

The midrange has very nicely filled out and smoothly textured. It sounds particularly good with strong female vocalists. There is a very nice natural timbre but some elements can sound a little washed out. For instance male vocals sometimes seems a little too smooth. This makes male dominated tracks sound less detailed than the rest of the music and it kind of takes away from the harmony of the composition. Nonetheless, most of the time it is not an issue, and I found myself really enjoying listening to even the most flawed recordings as I slaved away at work. The signature is just too smooth not to enjoy.

Bass

The bass is also much improved. It now hits harder and goes deeper with a much meatier note. It’s a little more mid bass orientated as opposed to the Titan 1, and the bass may leak into the lower mids just a tiny fraction, but what it does is put this really slight bloom on the signature that warms it up and adds to the smoothness. I did enjoy it quite a bit. It’s not for bass heads, but a safe bet that most will like this type of bass.

Soundstage & Imaging

As mentioned earlier, because there is now only 1 port in each earpiece, this means that the soundstage performance does get somewhat of a hit. It’s smaller and more intimate, but this is not necessarily a bad thing because the imaging performance is still as exceptional as it was if not better. I found myself actually using these over my full sized cans when watching movies and playing games. Playing games in particular was a very enjoyable experience as you still get a good enough sense of positioning, this coupled with the comfort and security in the ear made for some great long gaming sessions.

Ratings

This is how I've scored the Titan 5:

Conclusion

Coming back and rereading my Titan 1 review did bring a lot of nostalgia which made the experience with the Titan 5 all that much more special to me. The Titan 5 really takes the success and innovation of the Titan 1 and makes it better in almost every way. Is the Titan 5 a real successor to the Titan 1? I would say yes with a ‘but’. I think that the Titan 1 is still a very unique and splendid IEM and should be sold alongside the Titan 5 for years to come. I find myself losing myself in the music with the Titan 5 more than what I did with the Titan 1 and this is what gives it the edge above its predecessor, and for that I give the Titan 5 a well deserved 5 stars along it's older brother.
Great job to DUNU for another great product and I’m very excited to experience you upcoming line-up of hybrid IEMs in 2016.

Cheers!

Great review. Thanks

@RedJohn456

VE or Venture Electronics is not your standard run of the mill audio company. My experience with them has been an enjoyable to say the least. The first I heard about them was on the off chance around Head-Fi from these savoury fellows who kept raving on about these earbud earphones that were reportedly amazing. Looking the pictures I completely dismissed it for just plain old unjustified hype; how naïve I was.
Then, out of the blue I got a message for uncle H20 asking me if I would like to take on some review samples from VE. Of course I gladly accepted his invitation. On arrival I received 3 items, one of which was VE’s entry level earbud, the Monk, which I simply threw into a draw at work and forgot all about them. On an odd day I decided to try them and was completely blown away at what I heard. There is a whole story to this which you can read here: VE Monk review.
As I got more and more engrossed into the amazing sound of the Monk, I was greeted with waves taunting messages from @RedJohn456 to get my hands on the Zen, as it was supposed to be so much better. To me, this statement was preposterous as already had a bias against the earbud design and my mind just could not fathom how an earbud could sound even better than the Monk. I thought that the Monk was the pinnacle, and it costed $5 which was just madness, so a $150 model from the same company must be just bonkers good. I wasn’t wrong.

I first received the VE Zen 1.0 and was quite underwhelmed. I was expecting more of the same as with the Monk, but more of it. The Zen 1.0 was much the polar opposite. Sporting a colder, more refined, toned down, and somewhat analytical sound signature, whilst still having great character, texture and immersion as the Monk. Don’t get me wrong, the Zen 1.0 is still a bonkers earphone; it’s got 320 Ohms of impedance for goodness sake! What is this bizzaro world? But to me it missed that sweet spot and amazing character that the Monk had which needed to return.
So I spent some time with the original Zens and withdrew from discussions about it until I received the long await revised Zen, with fingers cross, hoping that Lee did not disappoint. And to my patient surprise it was all that I ever imagined the Zens to be, or should've been.
Again, VE had flip-flopped and the 2.0 became a completely different beast to the 1.0. The Zen 2.0 was more like Monk. Retaining the insane 320 Ohms of impedance and a new transparent skin as well as a new cable. The 2.0 brought back that amazing immersive and organic experience you got with the Monk but with a more refined and detailed representation of the music. When listening to the new Zens I can just put my library on shuffle and melt away into the abyss, just forget about everything. It is as addictive as the Monk was and more. It was enlightenment.

Specifications

Frequency response		15 ~ 23500 Hz (-10dB)
Impedance		320 Ω @ 1kHz
Sensitivity		106 dB @ 1mW
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) 90 degree angled
Cable Length		1.2m (47") TPE sheaved OFC
Driver		15.4mm
Maximum Input Current		1500m

[size=inherit]Build[/size]

The built, as with all the VE earbuds I’ve tried is much the same. Being as standard earbud as it gets. If it wasn’t for the colour and cable differences you would not be able to tell them apart. These earbuds are like Ninjas in disguise. They look like a normal everyday earbud until you actually listen to them.
The cable on the Zen 1.0 is a clear silver cable which is a tiny bit stiffer than what I’d like, and it’s got a straight connector, but it’s got great strain relief and one of the best neck synchs that I’ve ever used. The cable of the 2.0 is red coloured clear silver cable which is now a 90 degree angled jack and is much more supple now.
Both are very light and feel strong enough to last through daily abuse.

Comfort

I have very small ears and these, like the VE Monks, sit in my ear surprisingly very securely. On the odd occasion I do need to readjust them when turning my head, but for the most part they are very good. Weight plays a big role here.

Accessories

You get a hard ball shaped clamshell carry case witch is strong enough to protect it’s contents. You also get some full sizes and donut earbud foams. You also get shirt clip if you need one. Nothing too special. You’re really not paying for fancy accessories or an unboxing experience.

Driveability

Whilst you can get them loud enough from a mobile phone, I would not suggest it; the sound is dull and just sound wrong. I did most of my listening from my Audio-gd NFB15.32 and the Ve RunAbout for portable use. I did try it with the FiiO X1, FiiO E17, xDuoo X2 and xDuoo X3, but all seemed to struggle to power these beasts.

Sound

The sound of the two products is so different that they may as well be 2 separate products. I will describe both of them with a few words off the top of my head just to paint a picture of how different they really are:
Zen 1.0: Cold, flat, analytical, refined, open and dynamic.
Zen 2.0: Natural, organic, warm, open, detailed and dynamic.

As I have mentioned previously, the 1.0 is a flatter and more analytical approach, which to me is rather boring. I would have been very impressed with the 1.0 if I didn’t hear the Monk before it. It still is a great sounding earbud when compare to the previous experience I’ve had with other earbuds.

Treble

Zen 1.0
It’s not the fastest treble you’ll hear but it’s very good for an earbud. It’s quite detailed and extends very well. Though I do feel there is a bit of a dip somewhere in there that makes it slightly blunted and too quick on decay.

Zen 2.0
The emphasis here has been shifted somewhat which brings back that shimmer that was missing in the 1.0. But the speed has decreased a bit which puts a bit of a veil on the detail. In return you get a more airier presentation.

Mids

Zen 1.0
The timber of the vocals and acoustic instruments is very good and sounds pretty accurate. There isn’t a particular tilt or colouration that sways it in either direction. The are though a little recessed and lack some detail.

Zen 2.0
The Vocals are warmer and more textured and slightly more forward. It’s a little less detailed than the 1.0 but more present and feel more alive with a bit more reverberation.

Bass

Zen 1.0
The bass on the 1.0 kind of reminds me of balanced armature bass. It’s fast and detailed but lacks authority and thump. Nonetheless it’s great for an earbud and it reaches quite low.

Zen 2.0
It has an amazingly addictive bass note that’s textured and detailed. It’s authoritative and has substantial kick. It’s not bass head quantity but it’s nearly perfect to me.

Soundstage and Imaging

Both have quite similar soundstage and imaging performance. It’s really wide and deep and you get a very immersive out-of-head experience. The Zen 2.0 is better as it is slightly deeper and more accurate. The extra warmth makes the air feel more natural and realistic.

Click on the photo to see in larger resolution

Conclusion

Both the Zen 1.0 and 2.0 are Head-Fi worthy and both have a place of their own. The Zen 1.0 sits in the colder analytical lovers corner and the Zen 2.0 sits in the musical, more bassy lovers corner. Both are completely bonkers and I love them both for that. Though, personally I feel that the 2.0 is the victor here. It took what I fell in love with the Monk and made it better. Lee from VE is a real wizard, and I really wish that he continues to make more of these completely insane products of his!

Cheers!

As far as I'm aware, it's still 320 Ohm. I even double checked on the website.

Nice review!
Looks like i'll have to get a zen 2.0 once i'll buy a portable amp, as i fear my x3ii wouldn't drive them properly. In the meantime, i'll be rocking the monk, and will likely get an asura sometime in the next few months.

I don't think the FiiO X3-II will have the gonads to power these. Definitely need something with grunt.

@H20Fidelity

[size=24.57px]A little story about the VE Monks[/size]

First part is a snippet of the post I made for the Monks and the rest is the actual review. Enjoy!

http://www.head-fi.org/t/783669/venture-electronics-ve-monk-a-5-earbud-that-seriously-deserves-a-place-here

Disclaimer: Please read the story before making judgement.

I'd like to start by saying that before trying the Monk, I absolutely hated earbuds and thought that they are an outdated technology which has no place in today's market. I've tried numerous earbuds some that were over $300, and thought that they were all trash. Uncomfortable, sound atrocious, clunky, ugly, cheap looking and feeling too, are some of the reasons I had in mind.

But please bare with me...

Not the best of first impressions, I know.

I got the VE Monk randomly with a review sample of the VE Duke IEM and the VE RUNABOUT portable amplifier. Inside the package was this very plain looking earbud which I didn't even look twice at. I simply picked up the ziplock bag it came in and lobbed it into a drawer, and never thought of it until today.

So today, Im sitting around, in a curious mood, and remember that I've got them. Mind you that I didn't even know what they were called at that time. I asked @H20Fidelity (who has passed them onto me, as he had some misfortune and could not review them) and even he did not know what they were. So I decided to plug them into my desktop DAC (Audio-GD NFB15.32) and give them a listen, just for Schiits-n-giggles.

As they settle in, I start to flick through track after track until I get to a live recording of "The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Medley".

What I got is this wonderfully open, natural and organic sound signature with a very natural and effortless soundstage and imaging. Sound performance that I've not experienced before in an earbud.

So then I went asking around. And to my absolutely surprise, I find out that these VE Monks are worth 5 freakin' dollars. $5?... $5?????

This just might be the best value for money earphone/IEM/headphone that has been ever made. For $5, you cannot deny this statement. I own it! I'm actually considering going out and trademarking this statement. But seriously, this is absolute madness! (not Sparta)

For those curious, more details on the VE website here: http://eng.52ve.cn/product.php?cm_id=205

Just wanted to share my experience, and explain why I think a $5 earbud deserves to be on Head-Fi.

Cheers!!!

Specifications

Frequency response		18 ~ 22500 Hz (±10dB)
Impedance		32 Ω @ 1kHz
Sensitivity		112 dB @ 1mW
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) Straight
Cable Length		1.2m (47")
Driver		15.4mm
Maximum Input Current		1000mW

Purchase them here:

International: AliExpress

[size=24.57px]Design[/size]

The overall design of the Monks is as "standard earbud" as it ever gets. There is no packaging what so ever, and truth be told, it really doesn't need it. The housing is made of black plastic which is extremely light at 2 grams for each housing and a total of 17 grams for the whole unit including the cable. Being so light means that you can stick them in your ears and just forget that they're there, and this is what happens to me when I use them at work every single time; I put them in, press play and just work away, and time just flies away.
Because it is an earbud, the isolation is non-existent, meaning that they are extremely good when using them where you need to interact with people or even just hearing the world around you, like taking a stroll or riding a bike. This of course means that if you like to listen to music loudly, it will leak a lot of the sound out.
The cable is of really good quality; it's soft and bends very well without memory or kinking. It's easy to untangle and most importantly it feels like it will last a lot time. The jack is somewhat big and so is the strain relief, which also gives the impression of longevity.

Comfort

Fit in you ear is of course dependent on your ear shape. I have particularly small ears and the Monk sits inside quite loosely but they seem to stay in very well. I've not yet had them fall out even once. But, I do need to readjust them from time to time if it pivots in the ear from movement.

Drivability

The Monks are extremely easy to drive but do require a little extra volume to get them to the same listening volume as IEMs. This is of course because they do not seal. Nonetheless, I can drive them no problem with my Moto G and they sound just fine. However, they do scale up quite nicely with more powerful gear, and I notice a huge improvement in imaging performance when using my Audio-GD NFB15.

Sound

You maybe sitting there and asking, "But, Igor! Where exactly are all of my $5 really going?", and the answer is here. This is where all the fuss is located.
The Monk is by far the best earbud I've heard to date, and yes, I've been hearing a lot about VE's TOTL earbud the VE Zen, but I have not yet auditioned it and my statement stays true at the moment of me writing this review.
The way I like to describe the VE Monk sounds is like listening to decent bookshelf speakers, or maybe even a full sized open headphone. To describe the Monk in a few words, it would be: natural, organic, open, immersing and detailed. The overall sound signature is quite balanced, somewhat low to mid fi in terms of clarity, and with a really awesome soundstage that is very immersing and natural.

Treble

Treble is clear and present, without any noticeable peaks or dips. It's detailed enough to get pops and static, but a little cloudy in the lower regions. No sibilance what so ever, even in sibilant prone tracks. Cymbals shimmer but are a little smoothed. The treble maybe a little slow but it's enjoyable.

Mids

Mids are maybe just a tad forward but mostly neutral. They are full and warm but can get a slightly chesty, but not too much and can get a little shouty at high volumes. Vocals and acoustics is where the Monks really shine with it's smooth and organic timber for both female and male vocals. Dare I say that there is a little bit of the Grado sound going on here.
The transition from the bass and to the treble is impeccable and extremely smooth.

Bass

The bass is great and very impressive for an earbud. There is a lot of warmth that fills the whole spectrum. Mid and upper bass is very neutral and is reasonable fast and punchy. Of course, because you cannot really get a proper seal with an earbud, this means that the bass rolls off quite dramatically after around 100Hz, so sub-bass frequencies are loss completely, even at high volumes.

Soundstage & Imaging

You get the full concert experience when you listen to live recordings, especially orchestral recordings. The soundstage is really wide and deep, but in a very natural way. I don't really know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's some kind of resonance or reverb going on that makes them sound super open and very accurate and articulate in placement. This is probably what I'm mostly fond about with the Monk, as I am a huge sucker for great imaging.

Ratings

This is how I've scored the VE Monk:

Click on the photo to see in larger resol

ution

[size=inherit]

[/size]

Conclusion

Is there really more to say? There is really no argument that the VE Monks are by far the best value for money IEM/earbud/headphone ever made. I'd challenge anyone to find something better at this price point. For this reason alone and for the fact that I am absolutely smitten by the excellent sonic capabilities of an earbud that costs $5, it deserve a 5 star rating, and it deserves to be in the pocket of every Head-Fier out there. Huge kudos to Lee and his team at Venture Electronics, you guys are a bunch of wizards!

Cheers!

Guess for $5 it's worth a shot, I ordered 2 for kicks can always pass them on.

Mine should arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Attached images gave a nice vibe to this review. That was fun to read, thanks

Firstly, I'd like to thank H20Fidelity for including me on this product tour of the Cayin N6. I've had a little over a week with the Cayin N6, which is nowhere near the time to fully evaluate gear of this calibre, but I'll do my best to give it justice. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Introduction

I've audition a fair few different DAPs in the past year or so and mostly every player seems to bring something unique to the table. The Cayin N6 is no exception. First impressions are very important, and the N6 is really stunning from the get go. From the quality of the packaging materials, to the presentation and the build quality of the N6 itself, it is all very premium giving you a very satisfying unboxing experience. Unfortunately where player's downfall lies is the execution of the user interface and it's somewhat slouchy and slow nature. I don't know if it is the CPU or the optimisation of the operating system, it is one aspect that made my time with the N6 not so pleasant. Though not is all lost, as the N6 really steps up to the plate where it matters most.

A little about the Cayin N6

More info at http://penonaudio.com/Cayin-N6

Headphone Out
Maximum Output Power		220mW +220 mW @ 32 Ω Load
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)		≤ 0.005%
Dynamic Range		110dB
Signal-to-Noise Ration (SNR)		109dB
Output Impedance		0.26 Ω
Line Out
Maximum Output Power		1.7V @ 10 kΩ Load
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)		0.004%
Dynamic Range		110dB
Signal-to-Noise Ration (SNR)		109dB

Coaxial
Rated Power Output		0.5V @ 75 Ω Load (1V No Load)
Output Impedance		75ohm

Other Specs
Maximum Sampling Rate		24Bit/192KHz
Format Support		MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV (24Bit 192kHz), FLAC (24Bit 192kHz), CUE (Need to combine WAV, FLAC and APE whole track files)
Battery		5600mAh 3.7V Li-Po
Weight		225g

Packaging & Accessories

The Cayin N6 comes in a very nicely presented box. You can tell that Cayin has gone through a lot of effort to give the N6 the dignity it deserves. Very nice hard cardboard and velvety material, and beautiful pallet of colours gives it a soft yet elegant presentation. To save you from reading a bunch of mumbo jumbo, please have a look at the photos because in my opinion, these words cannot describe how nice the packaging is, and keep in mind that it looks and feels much nicer in person.

Accessories that come in the box are:

Micro-USB cable.
A 2 pole 3.5mm (1/8") TRRS to RCA coax adapter for Digital SPDIF.
A very nice carbon fibre print keyring
A USB stick with drivers
A screen protector.
Documents & reading material: Quick start guide; A card with button layout, and other info; warranty card.

A couple of line out cables would be nice at this price range, more specifically, a 3.5mm to 3.5mm and a pair of RCA cables would've have been really welcomed.

Design & Build

The design of the N6 is a bit of a hate it or love it situation. I'm a bit of both, but mostly I love the design. Aluminium top with a nice acrylic carbon fibre printed back is very appealing to me, and it is pure eye candy. The meeting of the acrylic at the back leaves a really sharp edge, one that could mean the end of the nice finish if you were to accidentally drop it onto hard ground. As well as it is so sharp to the touch that I find my self sometimes being very careful not to cut myself with it, though this is mostly a subconcious reaction as I don't think it's sharp enough to cut skin.
The screen and button layout is a bit of a miss for me. I think the whole round screen idea is a bit of an eye sore and in my humble opinion unnecesarilly too big, which spills out to the edges of the unit and makes it even wider, which the unit is already REALLY big. The screen is also very reflective and somewhat dim makes for visibility is the sun pretty poor.
The button layout was also very hard to get used to and I still struggle to memorise it to this day. To me, this would be a bit of a deal breaker on it's own.
Up = back; Down = forward; Left = back; Right = play/pause. Very unconventional.

I'd also like to mention that this unit get's really hot. In one listening session I had where I listened to it for almost 5 hours straight it got very hot in my back pocket, to the point where I had to take it out before it branded my a** forever.

User Interface

The operating system looks very suspiciously similar to FiiO's. Not sure if this is an open source system that they use and share or one is copying the other, I don't know. What I do know is that it is one of the better user friendly systems around, especially when the system uses a scroll wheel. The N6 has somewhat a scroll wheel on the left side, but it is not good enough to jog through hundreds of songs. I found myself taking a long time to search through my catalogue to pick a specific track and ended up just defaulting to forever using shuffle all and be done with it. This is further exasperated me by the fact that everything you do has a lag or delay to it, including just picking a song to play or going through the menu. I do hope that this is just a software optimisation issue. Going through all the menus felt like a chore to me.

Battery Life

The battery in the N6 is humongous and for good reason. The N6 is a power hungry behemoth. Battery drains quite fast and I think the longest non-stop listening time I got with the N6 was around 4-5 hours before it was down to around 20-30% which is where I would charge it. Charging it through a normal USB port takes forever and if you can, I'd suggest you use a tablet charger; something with more than 1A of current.

Input & Output Interface

I found that the N6 works extremely well as a DAC. It is extremely easy to setup, and drivers can be found either on the provided USB or online. The line out is also very clean. I did not get the chance to try the COAX unfortunately.

Equaliser

The N6 has a 10 band EQ which works surprisingly well. I didn't play around with it much as the headphone output is actually pretty transparent as it is. But when I did test it the frequencies reacted accordingly without noticeable noise and distortion.

Power

The Cayin N6 has more than enough power to drive all my headphones and earphones to good listening volumes and more, and with good authority. Bass never felt sloppy at all, and I was pleased with the way it handled itself.

Sound

This is the part that matters the most. The Cayin N6 is one of the most detailed and cohesive sounding DAPs that I've previously auditioned. The way it delivers the sound is very accurate and with composure. Bass frequencies delve deep and had consistent speed and coherency to as low as my headphones can go. The mid ranges felt lively and, for the most part, accurate and full with a bit of warmth and glow. Treble response was smooth and detailed with extreme accuracy and speed without getting edgy or digital.

Ratings

[size=inherit]

[/size]

Conclusion

The Cayin N6 is one of the best sounding DAPs that I have had the pleasure to audition. This should've been an experience to cherish, but instead I was constantly annoyed by the very slow user experience that I got instead. I do hope that the devs at Cayin fix this responsiveness issue, and if they do, they will surely solidify the N6 as one of the best out there in the category.

I'd like to add that the N6 will get a solid 4.5 stars if the devs sort out the lag issue.

Cheers!

[size=24.57px]Introduction[/size]

The Aegis is the second device I've had the privilege to review from Cozoy, the first being the Astrapi. The Aegis inherits the same characteristics of the Astrapi and build on that foundation to create a truly step-up experience.
I've had the Aegis for nearly 2 months now and I've got to say that these 2 months have been enjoyable ones. The Aegis came with me everywhere I went in my carry case; it accompanies me to work, home, outings and even got to join me on our anniversary cruise along the coast of Queensland Australia. The ease of use, "plug'nplay" experience is one of the best I've had with any portable DAC and amp. I don't feel like I'm compromising on sound fidelity when I take the Aegis along for the ride, and it's absolute convenience is one I appreciated on a daily basis.

A little about the Cozoy Aegis

More info at http://www.cozoyaudio.com/aegis/

Recommended Headphone Impedance	16-100 Ohms
Output	Output Power: 60mW at 16Ω;35mW at 32Ω
Total Harmonic Distortion	≤ 0.1% , 1KHz SNR: 109dB at 3.3V power supply
Maximum Sampling Rate	24Bit/192KHz
Current Draw	10mA~95mA max
Compatibility	iOS/OSX/Android/Windows/Linux
Weight	12 grams

[size=24.57px]Packaging & Accesories[/size]

The Cozoy Aegis comes with very nice "Appleseque" packaging which mirrors the Astrapi packaging. It's very good packaging, being very minimalistic and eye catching. I am sure that if you had this box in an Apple store, it will sell like hot cakes.
Inside the box you are greeted with the Aegis right off the bat tucked into a foam cut out with a lovely velvet top. It's very clever that they have made a pull ribbon to pull on to pop the Aegis out without having to struggle to claw it out of the foam cutout as it is in there very tight. You can also use the ribbon to pull out the foam bit to get to the goodies underneath.

Inside the box you get:

Black warranty card with silver writing, which doubles as a spec sheet and quick start guide.
Cozoy Aegis
A 30cm (12") MicroUSB to MicroUSB
A 30cm (12") iOS Lightning to MicroUSB cable
A 30cm (12") USB to MicroUSB cable

Design

If looks could kill, then you should beware the Aegis. It is B-E-A-U-TIFUL! Sharp corners, brushed aluminium, black accents; like a Tanto blade. It looks like precision machining too. The body has been milled from a block of aluminium, and this precision is also been transferred across to the connectors because they are a little tighter than normal, making the connection of the MicroUSB cable and 3.5mm headphone jack very secure. This device was definitely made for portable use and that it does spectacularly.

Compatibility

As it stands, from what I've read on the forums the Aegis is compatible with iOS, OSX, Android, Windows and Linux. Personally I've only tried it on my Moto G XT1033, my PC at home which runs Windows 10, my PC at work which runs Windows 7, and my wife's tablet which also runs Windows 10. From what I can notice is that the Aegis preforms better with devices that have a higher current output, but saying this, it is no slouch running from a phone.
There is a common problem that I've read from a few users because of it's logarithmic volume steps. This is actually a bit of a quirky thing because I only get a problem with this on my work PC, where it feels like there is only 5-6 volume steps. On my home PC and the tablet this is more like 10 steps, but funny enough, on my Moto G is get the full range of volume steps which I've got set to 30 steps. This could be the fact that I am running a custom ROM and kernel. Either way, I don't find this to be problematic at all with any of my IEMs, which includes BA driver IEMs.

Drivability

I have driven everything I own from the Aegis with very good results. The Aegis works especially well with warmer headphones. I don't have any particularly hard to drive headphones so it's hard to comment on this subject. In fact I find it to be overpoweringly loud with almost everything when it is set to 100% volume.

Sound

This is the hardest aspect of all the gauge on DACs and other source devices as the whole point of them is to stay as close as possible to being transparent and true to source. The Aegis did this very well.
I would say that the Aegis is leaning on the colder more analytical side of the spectrum, but with a bit of a warm tint as well, which fills in vocals very nicely. When you get good synergy with a headphone you get a very "alive" performance, where vocals sound very real. There are only few DACs where I've actually felt this. When driving the Aegis a little louder then usual I've found it to be a bit bright and grainy in the mid to upper treble regions, this could somewhat sound digital, but works out well with music that has a lot of nuance, like pops and crackles, or filter noise.
It doesn't have the blackest background but noise is only heard when nothing is playing and only with sensitive BA driver IEMs.
Overall, I was more than satisfied with the sound performance of the Aegis.

Ratings

As Head-Fi doesn't properly show the ratings, this is how I've scored the Aegis:

[size=inherit]

[/size]

Conclusion

Another great device from Cozoy, and I can only expect more great things coming out of their workshop. Even though both the Aegis and Astrapi aren't perfect and have some minor quirks, they are absolutely brilliant little devices. The Aegis being one that has not left my side for 2 straight months, and hopefully for many more to come. For that, I'd like to give huge Kudos to Cozoy!

Cheers!

Thanks Man for taking the time to do all your reviews, I find your opinion most helpful.

Cheer to you also bro and not the type that you regret next day with a bad headache!

@Light - Man

HAHA! Thanks @Light - Man it means a lot!

@nmatheis

I keep hearing good things about Aegis! Looking forward to receiving a unit from @nmatheis soon to try out.

Introduction

The meaning of the world "Savant" is a person who is educated, but more specifically it is a mental condition of one excelling at one subject whilst being below average at everything else (or something down those lines). You can Google the meaning if you want. To me the Noble Audio Savant is much more than that, and I think the name "Jack" is more suiting here. In my humble opinion, I think that the Savant is good at everything but master of none, and I mean that in a good way. This is the very first Noble Audio product I've had the pleasure of reviewing, or even auditioning for more than a few minutes. I glad to say that it has left a good impression on me in terms of quality and sound performance. Though the price point here kind of scares me away. Not a lot of the Head-Fi members can agree with me that $600 is a preposterous amount of money to be spending on earphones. My reasoning is actually quite simple, my salary is just not good enough to support a wife, three kids, myself and justify $600 on a pair of headphones. On the flipside though, if you can justify such a purchase then stick around to see if the Savant is worth your hard earned Simoleons.

A little about the Noble Audio Savant

Noble Audio website: http://nobleaudio.com/en/shop/universal/wizard/
There is not a whole lot of info about the Savants at this stage.

Frequency response		N/A
Impedance		< 30 Ohm
Sensitivity		N/A
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) Straight
Cable Length		1.3m (51') Detachable cable w/ industry standard two pin configuration
Driver		N/A
Maximum Input Current		N/A

Purchase them here:

International: http://nobleaudio.com/en/shop/universal/wizard/
Australia: https://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/product/noble-audio-savant-in-ear-monitor

FR Graph

This graph was taken by a Changstar user called partiallydisabled. Kudos to him.
Graph shows the Savant put up against the Noble's K10.

Packaging & Accessories

This one probably one of the best unpacking experiences I've had. The presentation of the packaging and sheer volume of accessories that comes with the Noble Audio Savants blew my socks off. It is just layers upon layers of packaging that screams quality that just left me saying "Wow!" louder and louder as I unpacked the Savants further and further. I think that they're just showing off! But it's is definitely "$600" type packaging; no cent was spared here.

In the box you get:

2x Noble Audio stickers (Glow in the dark? Maybe.)
An absolutely awesome Pelican case.
4x sets of ear tips: S/M/L standard dual flange, S/M/L finned blue core, S/M/L red core Sony hybrids, and S/M/L foam.
An aluminium owners card (I can only guess it's for warranty claims or just to wave in peoples' faces.)
2x rubber bands for stacking.
And lastly, a cleaning tool.

Not too shabby at all! And to their credit, they've fit all this in that tiny Pelican case. Well done!

Design & Comfort

Noble Audio states that the Savant are built with "Signature Noble universal form factor". This form factor for the most part is very well designed but maybe be a bit big for some some users. They do stick out of the ear a little far and the result is that they do tend to pick up a bit of wind when taking them outside. Also the bore is a little bit bigger than usual meaning I could not get them to insert very far into my ear, so I had to settle with using my favourite Fidue dual flange tips which work very well with the Savants for me.
The casing is made from pretty smooth, strong and light plastic making them actually very comfortable to wear for a long time. There are no sore spots to mention and they sit very securely in the ear, YMMV. The provided cable has a memory wire in the ear guides which adds to the comfort and security of the Savants. A very simple plastic sleeve is used for the neck cinch and it works extremely well.

The only thing that I must mention is that I get a very tight vacuum seal (AKA driver flex) every time I initially put the Savants in my ears, this was a little painful the first couple of times, but my ears adjusted to it. Make sure you don't yank them suddenly out of you ears as that could have very bad consequences to your inner ear.

Cable, Jack, Splitter & Mic/Remote

I personally am a very huge fan of the cable. The braiding is done very well with a very nice round quad braid up to the chest and then a simple twist braid to the shell connectors. The Y-splitter is a simple piece of clear heat shrink; I really wish it was black though. The jack is unfortunately straight, but it is smaller profile than usual. I do have a little gripe with the jack, and this time it's not because it is straight, but because it is very slippery, and people with grease/sweaty finger syndrome will have a bit of trouble unplugging the jack from devices that have a good grip on the TRS tip. Also the strain relief is a little too small, but I'm sure this will be fine in the long term. The backs of the 2 pin connectors have a colour on both channels to tell you which side is what; blue = left, red = right. They also sit very firmly inside the female connectors on the shells.

[size=inherit]There is no remote or microphone on the cable, which is a bummer. But guess what! Removable cable remember!? That's right, you've already spent $600 on an IEM, what's another $50-$100 on a cable that only you would enjoy! [/size]

Isolation

This is one aspect that the Savant really excels on. The isolation is sublime! You pop them in and press play = good bye world. You don't even need to have the volume up high. I can have these turned down to background music levels and still no hear the world around me. This works the other way as well. Once they're in your ear, no one can hear what you're listening to. Full marks no doubt!

Sound

Now here brings me back to the meaning of Savant. I really don't know which aspect of the earphone they were referring to. The Savant handles nearly every part in the sound department with ease. With the correct source pairing the detail retrieval goes to reference levels, shy of analytical. The Savants are also extremely dynamic and coherent in the way it presents every sound element. Everything just feels effortless. The tuning is done with great care to keep everything balanced and just right. To me this this kind of sound signature is nearly perfect in timbre.

Treble

I find the treble to be very well tuned for a long and comfortable listen. It's not the fastest treble I've heard, even maybe a little slower than the average BA earphone, and maybe just a little bit recessed. I cannot find a bit of sibilance, dryness or harshness. This is the kind of treble that I am a huge fan of, and is the reason I really loved the Havi B3 Pro 1 so much, and if you are a fan of the Havis, I can safely say that the Savant would be the perfect upgrade to them, as they have a lot of similarities.

Mids

Again I will utter balance. The transition from treble to mids is smooth. There is maybe a little but of recess in the upper mid range which can make some female vocalist pushed back in the soundstage, this is not very prominent though. Female vocals sound natural but a little blunted or subdued. Male vocals suffer a little bit of the same. There is not enough lower mid presence to give them a full and chesty note, but this is not a bad thing as that exaggerates them.
The mid range is very linear and balanced to suit the rest of the spectrum without pushing any elements in front of each other. It is designed to be very coherent and as close to "correct" as possible.

Bass

The bass here is a little deceiving. It sounds full, engaging, deep and just a tad forward. But it does all this without a true visceral punch. It kind of feels like faux bass. It lacks the organic elements of good bass. Nonetheless, the bass on the Savant is good. It's relatively fast and coherent for the most part, and can bring a bit of rumble when called upon.
The bass region can be EQ'ed for a little bit better results, but be warned that it can only be push so far before it starts to distort quite a bit. I cannot go above 2db bass boost on the FiiO E17 hardware EQ before it starts to effect the rest of the sound spectrum, especially the treble.

Soundstage & Imaging

The soundstage on the Savant is not big, but it is bigger than average, and not just bigger, it feels very natural with a really satisfying amount of air. The imaging performance is also very good. Listening to both studio and live recorded tracks leaves you with a very good impression, and this imaging performance is mainly the reason why the Savants sound so natural, effortless and dynamic in it's presentation.

Ratings

As Head-Fi doesn't properly show the ratings, this is how I've scored the Noble Audio Savant:

Click on the photo to see in larger resolution

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Conclusion

The Savants left me with a very good impression of Noble Audio, but at the same time the price point scares me well away from this bracket of IEMs. Of course, people who can justify such a purchase will feel different. But when you think about the great IEMs for sale that is a quarter and even less than the price of the Savants you really start to think "why". To be honest, I'd be more than happy to stick with the $60 Havi B3 Pro 1 that has a similar type of sound signature, and not even mentioning the Fidue A73. I think that the Savant is a truly remarkable and very good earphone, but I don't believe that it's good value for money.

Cheers!

Great write up mate! Keep it up.
Thanks for joining the tour. We'll see you on our next one...

Clear and concise review! Thanks!
I put Savant in my 'have to try' IEM list

Thanks guys! I do my best to write my feelings of the products. Even go as far as to not read any of the other reviews before I post. Now comes to long and painful road of reading other reviews to see how they correlate with my impressions.

@Brooko

Firstly, I'd like to thank Brooko for including me on this product review tour. I did not purchase the X5 and have only had a week with the unit. Though, in my opinion, a week is nowhere near enough to fully evaluate a DAP or any kind of source gear (I know from experience, as I'm still learning new things about DACs I've had for over 6 months), please take my opinions with a grain of salt or two.

Introduction

I don't think I need I need to tell people about the legacy that is FiiO. FiiO has been bringing a lot of very well designed budget priced gear for a few years now, and continue to flood the market with some of the arguably best pound-for-pound portable and tabletop source and amplification gear to date. With great build quality, technology, user experience and cheap prices, they blow away their competition.
So it's not surprising that I was very excited to get my hands on the new X5, which to date is FiiOs TOTL DAP. I came into this review with extremely high hopes that it will absolutely blow me away with exquisite sound, build and user experience quality. While it didn't exactly live up to my expectations, I can only blame myself for putting it up on such a pedestal. My impressions were mostly positive, but unfortunately not where it matters most to me. Let's get into it...

A little about the FiiO X5

Normally, this is where I'd post the juice specs, but as the FiiO X5 has so many, I'd rather just post the link to the FiiO website for you to have a gander yourself. Saves me from flooding the pages with a giant table of numbers.

FiiO X5 2nd Gen Specs: Click Here

[size=inherit]Packaging & Accessories[/size]

[size=inherit]The FiiO X5 came is a beautifully subtle black cardboard box with a tinny tiny "FiiO" on the front and nothing more. I absolutely loved the simplicity of the presentation, as it's not only powerfully appealing to look at, but to me it's also a metaphor for what FiiO stands for: simplicity, boldness and style. This box has it all, ironically.[/size]
[size=inherit]Inside the box the "less is more" approach is continued; you are greeted with the FiiO X5. Everything else is stashed away in a black cardboard box underneath the unit. Very "Applesque" is you don't mind me saying. [/size]

[size=inherit]Accessories that come in the box are:[/size]

[size=inherit]Micro-USB cable.[/size]
[size=inherit]A 4 pole 3.5mm (1/8") TRRS to RCA coax adapter for Digital SPDIF input. If I may add that it is quite strange that they've used a TRRS instead of a simple 2 pole mono plug like they used before. I have tried the 2 pole adapter that came with the FiiO E17 and it is not compatible with the X5. Quite strange.[/size]
[size=inherit]A black rubber case which usually comes with all FiiO DAPs. (I really dislike it, but some people like it)[/size]
3x themed vinyl stickers: USA flag, wood grain, and carbon fibre. I absolutely love these things, but they do come off after a while. It's a bit of a gimmick, but a brilliantly fun idea nonetheless.
A screen protector.
[size=inherit]Documents & reading material: Quick start guide; A card with button layout, and social media links and other info; warranty card.[/size]

[size=inherit]These are the usual suspects for accessories that come with most FiiO products. You never really left feeling ripped off in this department with FiiO and it is a good feeling to know that they've went that extra mile to make you experience complete.[/size]

Design & Build

The build of the unit is really something special. Made from what I can only guess is machined aluminium, which is finished off with a bushed stainless steel look front and back, and a powdered metallic finish around the sides. Personally, I think they should've stuck with one type of finish all around but it still looks nice that way it is.
The X5 looks heavier that it actually is. For the sheer size of the unit, it weighs less than a typical mobile phone; only 165 grams to be exact. It has a centre of gravity very close to the actual centre of the unit giving the remarkable feeling of quality and weight when holding it in the hand. The sharp chamfered edges also adds to this appeal, giving it the sensation of a solid block of metal.
One design feature that I am a huge off is the flush buttons on the front. Saving you from accidental button presses in the pocket for less annoyances on the go. But I wish that they also did this for the volume keys.
Scroll wheel has been carried across, as with all the new FiiO DAPs, which of course was carried from the original X5. It feels smoother but less tactile than the FiiO X1 but unfortunately still has that slight inaccuracy you get with the X1; it's nothing major but sometimes a turn position is either skipped or doubled, this happens of a rare occasion but could get annoying.
The X5 as with the original unit comes with 2x card slots, this will allow you to get up to 256GB of storage (2x 128GB MicroSD Cards).

User Interface

The new FiiO X-series user interface is one of the easiest and most user friend proprietary interfaces ever made for a DAP that is not based on Android. It has an abundance of settings, categorisation and even themes. The UI is akin to the original iPod layout, hence the scroll wheel, but with more flexibility. It is very easy to get used to, it doesn't lag or hang ever, and is very clear for the most part. The are also community built custom firmware images available on Head-Fi which add extra theme to better your overall experience.
One feature I would really love to make it's way to the FiiO DAPs is the support for Replay Gain - one can only dream!

@Brooko goes very in-depth on this subject so I'd suggest you have a read through his review if you'd like to know more: Brooko's review.

Battery Life

I can only say that the battery life is adequate for day to day use. I don't like to let Lithium batteries get bellow 25% so I did charge the X5 regularly, and did not pay attention to battery performance. All I can comment is that battery should not be an issue.

Input & Output Interface

The X5 performs very well as a digital transport. Using both the line out and coax out gave very commendable results.

The X5 can be used as a USB DAC. I actually go the best sounding results while using it as a DAC more than using it as a DAP. Though when comparing it to the original FiiO E17 I own, it seems to fall short on power, detail, staging performance and EQ performance.

Equaliser

The X5 has a 10 band equaliser with pre-sets and 1 custom setting. Multiple custom setting would've been great though and the ability to name them. But saying that, the EQ is actually quite poor. The second you turn on the EQ you lose a lot of gain and introduce quite a bit of noticeable distortion and more cloudiness. I did play around with the EQ for a pretty long time thinking I could get it to work right but it was all in vain. The hardware EQ you get on the E17 and other FiiO products is galaxies ahead of what it is on their current DAPs and I do wish that it is brought to the DAPs even if it is at a cost of battery life, it's a small price to pay for sound quality.

Power

The FiiO X5 does have enough power to drive all my headphones and earphone to good listening volumes and more, but what it lacks is authority. Loudness does not always lead to better results. I found that the X5 sounded very anaemic even with 60 Ohm full sized headphones. Everything is very laidback, and it ran out of steam very quickly. I don't know if it was the sound tuning that FiiO was going for, but it didn't float my boat at all.

Sound

This is where I wasn't as impressed as the rest of the package. I was hard pressed at finding a good matching pair of headphones/IEMs that went well with the X5 2nd gen. Until I tried it with the Havi B3 Pro 1 which actually pairs pretty darn good with the X5. The reason why I don't think that the X5 didn't match very well with the others I tried with is because it has that same sort of smooth, slightly cloudy sound signature you get with the FiiO X1.
Don't get me wrong, though, the X5 does sound very good, but unfortunately it only sounds like an incremental upgrade from the FiiO X1 in terms of sound (I've not yet auditioned to the X3 2nd gen to compare).

The impression of the overall sound signature is warm, with laid back treble and slightly thin mids. It lacks authority or "meat" where needed in certain tracks. This type of signature is almost perfect for chill out, ambient and other types of down tempo genres, but it's doesn't seem to go well with any genres which benefit a bit of excitement and energy.

Soundstage is wider than the X1 and imaging is slightly more accurate, but again, it's only incremental.

Micro detail is pretty good with the X5. It seems to retrieve details and bring them forward with ease but I feel like the "cloudiness" does hinder it in this department.

Ratings

Conclusion

Again I will parrot that I believe the amount of time spent is not enough for me to properly review any DAP or source. The X5 is a beautifully designed and built device. It has a truly top of the range UI and features packed to the rafters. But for me it lacks in the most important aspects that I look for in a DAP. I may have ruined my expectations of it by putting so much pressure on it to sound really, really good, but for a TOTL DAP can you really blame me. All I can do now is cross my fingers and really hope for the X7 to blow me out of the water like the X5 should've.

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply. Guess I have to wait for X7.

Is it possible to use two 256gb cards with the new Fiio X5? Thanks!

Not sure about that, sorry. Maybe someone else could comment.

[size=24.5699996948242px]Introduction[/size]

The Fidue A65 is in quite of an interesting place. It's in the budget range that has a lot of great contenders, but in it's defence it brings a Titanium micro dynamic driver, and with impunity. There are only 3 other products that I know off that packs a Titanium diaphragm, and none of those are near this price range. The Titanium driver brings great, fast bass response, overall good imaging and BA like treble. The A65 shows all these traits but with a different type of tuning. The frequency response is actually quite flat which brings out this really sweet, mid forward sound which sounds divine with vocals and acoustic music; absolutely amazing with house, jazz and lounge. Of course classic rock is splendid as well, but I don't listen to it all that much; Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeplin is a must with these.

A little about the Fidue A65

More info at the Fidue website: http://www.fidue.com/e_products/ Not yet on their website

Frequency response		16 - 22,000 Hz
Impedance		16 Ohm
Sensitivity		101 dB
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) Straight
Cable Length		1.3 m
Speaker diameter		8mm dynamic driver with Titanium composites
Maximum Input Current		30 mW
Sensitivity of Mic		-42 (±3) dB
S/N Ratio of Mic		＞55 dB

Purchase them here:

Asia: http://penonaudio.com/FIDUE-A65
Australia: http://www.noisymotel.com/product.asp?ProductID=891

FR Graph

Thanks to Fidue for providing the frequency response graph.

Packaging & Accessories

The Fidue A65 comes in a typical Fidue styled box, except this time is white[size=inherit] with the signature Fidue green square with all the juicy details on it. As well as the very nice glossy pattern that wraps around the box. There's no picture of the A65 anywhere on the box which is quite a surprise because I personally love the way that they look. On the back of the box you get all the info in English, Chinese and German as well as contact info, a serial number and a QR code. [/size]

Accessories are pretty much the same as the A73; you get 3 pairs of standard silicone tips and one pair of the Fidue double flange tips, which I actually are my favourite tips for quite a while now, but these ones come in a softer opaque grey silicone. With it you get a very nice velvet carry pouch, shirt clip and a rubber cable tie. With it you also get a warranty card, which you probably won't need as they are built like a tank.

Design & Comfort

I'd like to say that these indeed feel very premium for the price range. Made from what I can only guess is aluminium and it's actually quite hefty and has some weight to it, but this weight doesn't translate to an awkward fit. They are actually a very comfortable headphone, worn both cable down and over the ear. While you do get some mechanical cable noise when worn down, this disappears completely when worn around the ear. Using the double flange tips they sit in my ear very well and I can listen to them all day long without getting sore spots.
The housing design is quite beautiful. It's a weird kind of organic triangular lofted shape which tapers down towards your ear. The main body of the shell is a very flashy satin rose gold, the back is a brushed aluminium and the nozzle is a glossy gun metal colour.

Cable, Jack, Splitter & Mic/Remote

The cable is exactly the same as the A73 except for the internals are made from hi-end 7N-OFC, so this section has been copied straight out of my A73 review.
Fidue A73 Review

The cable itself is a soft silicone or rubber which insulates some round twisted inner core wires. It gives a heat-shrink type of vibe. The cable is very rubbery and “grabby”, by that I mean, they grab everything they drag on; that includes clothes, skin and hair. You do get used to it and it does have a positive and that is they sit very nicely on you head around the ear and don’t move around. The cable also twists a lot and grabs onto itself making them quite a nightmare to untangle if you didn’t coil them properly when storing them away.
There is also no neck cinch which is not a huge deal breaker because what I do is just twist the wires around the Y splitter a few times, and bingo! DIY neck cinch!

The jack, Y splitter and the remote. All look quite the same. They’re pretty much an exact copy of the Xiaomi Piston design with the machined groves but it works very nicely and looks fantastic. And yes that’s right, I said remote. There’s a mic and remote on this unit. Halleluiah! Unfortunately it didn’t work with my phone or the FiiO X1, which is a huge sad face for me, but I’m sure it works absolutely fine with other devices especially stuff from Apple.

Isolation

Isolation is actually very, and I mean VERY good. It blocks out possibly more than any other IEM I've listened to. Writing this review, I can't even hear the keys on the keyboard click whilst I'm listening to music. And most importantly, it blocks out my noisy kids! It works similarly visa versa; although it is a ported design, having just one port on each channel, I don't get anyone complaining about noise coming from my cubicle at work. Full marks for this.

Sound

The Fidue A65 is actually quite articulate at presenting all ranges, and does great with mostly all genre I've tried. To describe the A65 in a few words off the top of my head would be: rich, warm, soft and smooth. It doesn't have any particular sections of the sound range which has been taken out and looking at the FR graph you can see this clearly. The sound range is relatively flat and only has about 8 db difference between the whole frequency range. This is not an easy feat to achieve.

Treble

Treble feel somewhat blunted because there are no spikes or elevations anywhere in the treble to bring lots of air, sparkle, or energy. This is not such a bad thing as this means that the listening experience is very comfortable, having absolutely no sibilance or fatigue at all. All the treble is absolutely there but it is not presented to you in a forward manner, but a less is more type way. It does not take away from clarity or resolution of the recording but what you miss out is the really micro detail that some people love. The details like clicks and pops, the fuss you here when an effect is applied to a sample, and all those things that aren't necessarily recorded on purpose; ie. all the faults you here in music production, making them quite forgiving.

Mids

The mids are absolutely stellar! They're bold, they're warm and chesty, they're visceral and feel oh so alive! You get this great sweetness in the sound that I personally enjoy which makes my spine melt on certain tracks. Male vocals have this raw note to them like you're sitting in front of a studio monitor. Female vocal, though, sound a bit distant plain, but smooth and enjoyable nonetheless; they could do with a bit more treble presence. Acoustics like guitar, piano and sax sound as good as ever, with great energy and fullness.

Bass

Bass response is fast and accurate. It's really flat but hit hard when needed. Bass goes as low as 28Hz and fall off a cliff there after. It does elevate slightly as it goes higher into the mids, but the transitions is quite smooth and works very well.

Soundstage & Imaging

The sound stage is above average. Where the A65 really shines is the imaging. There is a great sense of space and separation, with pinpoint accuracy. Sound elements are layered extremely well, with great sense of height and distance. Because of this I actually really enjoyed the A65 with trance and down tempo music. It gets extremely immersive at times.

Ratings

As Head-Fi doesn't properly show the ratings, this is how I've scored the Fidue A65:

[size=inherit]

[/size]

[size=inherit]

[/size]

Conclusion

The Fidue A65 surprised me quite a bit. Bringing to the table a very enjoyable listen with everything that I threw at it. Using a Titanium diaphragm to bring a great smooth listening experience most people would enjoy with most genres, and all this at a super affordable price. Well done Fidue!

Cheers!

well done

Very clear, concise review! Excellent! Thanks!

I have these for a while now. And now they are giving up on me. The cables sheets started to became rubbery and later on crack. Can you recommend something that has the same sound signature as the a65 but better overall? These things are great and I can't get enough of them. The fidue a73 are somewhat in the same signature but that exceeds my budget.

Introduction

I first noticed the Fidue A73 floating around on Penon Audio, and there was very little information on them anywhere, especially Head-Fi. I had to get my hands on them! So I acquired both the A73 and A65. Having previously owned the Fidue A71, I knew that Fidue is no joke. The A71 was great but had some qualities I was not a fan of; I had my fingers crossed that the A73 is going to improve on all front, and well, let’s just say that I was not disappointed.

A little about the Fidue A73

More info at the Fidue website: http://www.fidue.com/e_products/ Not yet on their website

Frequency response		13 - 27,000 Hz
Impedance		20 Ohm
Sensitivity		107 dB
Plug		Gold Plated 3.5 mm (1/8”) Straight
Cable Length		1.3 m
Speaker diameter		10mm Dynamic Driver Woofer & BA Tweeter
Maximum Input Current		20 mW
Sensitivity of Mic		-42 (±3) dB
S/N Ratio of Mic		＞55 dB

Purchase them here:

Asia: http://penonaudio.com/FIDUE-A73
America: http://www.ctcaudio.com/products/fidue-a73-high-performance-hybrid-earphones
Australia: http://www.noisymotel.com/product.asp?ProductID=892
Europe: http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/fidue-a73-hybrid-monitor-earphones-with-universal-single-button-remote-and-mic.html
India: http://www.hifinage.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=28&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=124&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29

FR Graph

Thanks to Fidue for providing the frequency response graph.

Packaging & Accessories

The Fidue A73 comes in Fidue style, that is, it’s well presented and has a lot of flashy details on it. Black with the signature Fidue green square with all the juicy details on it. As well as the very nice glossy pattern that wraps around the box. You get a rendering of the Fidue A73s on the front. [size=inherit]On the back of the box you get all the info in English, Chinese and German as well as contact info, a serial number and a QR code, and a picture of the jack. Not going to hang around here too long.[/size]

Accessories are unfortunately quite scarce. You get 3 pairs of standard silicone tips and one pair of the Fidue double flange tips, which I actually are my favourite tips for quite a while now, but these ones come in a softer opaque grey silicone. With it you get a very nice clam shell carry case, shirt clip and a rubber cable tie, as well as a warranty card. It’s the exact same amount of accessories you get with the A65. I’m quite baffled by this decision. But OK. I hope they saved the money to bring us a more premium product instead. But I do feel like a pair of ear guides and maybe some extra tips or Comply foam tips would’ve been good at this price range.

Design & Comfort

The Fidue A73 is completely different to their previous A71, and I mean completely. The A71 had a dual dynamic driver setup with was a very unique separate chamber, sort-of a jet style setup where the driver on the back fired around the driver in front. The A73 uses a more traditional dynamic plus balance armature configuration. And not just the configuration is different, they look like completely different products, and I’m really loving what Fidue is doing with their current product line up in terms of looks.
The A73 carries over the outer shell styling of its big-daddy-o the A83, and I think that its absolutely stunning, and the right direction to go. The top of the shell is cast aluminium that has this really awesome looking ridge styling; kind of looks like a wing. The rest of it is made from a really light, glossy plastic which is see-through red. When you shine a light through it at just the right angle you can see all the guts in all their glory. I personally love this look. Because they’re not just beautiful but they are also super comfortable. The plastic on the ear side is exactly the type of idea that works because it not only looks good but is absolutely 100% practical for its the purpose. Glossy plastic on skin is warm and soft and the shape of it sits perfectly inside my outer ear. The Fidue double flanges fit absolutely perfect in my ear and I’ve been waiting to get my ears on them again as I lost these ear tips from my A71 box and I was very sad because they were my all-time favourites. These new tips are made from a softer rubber/silicone and are grey in colour, as opposed to the black silicone you got with the A71. Great job to the Fidue R&D team, I hope they got themselves a bonus for their splendid work.

Cable, Jack, Splitter & Mic/Remote

The cable internals are made from hi-end silver plated OFC, though the sleeving[size=inherit] is my least favourite part of the A73. The cable itself is a soft silicone or rubber which insulates some round twisted inner core wires. It gives a heat-shrink type of vibe. The cable is very rubbery and “grabby”, by that I mean, they grab everything they drag on; that includes clothes, skin and hair. You do get used to it and it does have a positive and that is they sit very nicely on you head around the ear and don’t move around. The cable also twists a lot and grabs onto itself making them quite a nightmare to untangle if you didn’t coil them properly when storing them away.[/size]
There is also no neck cinch which is not a huge deal breaker because what I do is just twist the wires around the Y splitter a few times, and bingo! DIY neck cinch!

The jack, Y splitter and the remote. All look quite the same. They’re pretty much an exact copy of the Xiaomi Piston design with the machined groves but it works very nicely and looks fantastic. And yes that’s right, I said remote. There’s a mic and remote on this unit. Halleluiah! Unfortunately it didn’t work with my phone or the FiiO X1, which is a huge sad face for me, but I’m sure it works absolutely fine with other devices especially stuff from Apple.

Isolation

Isolation here is splendid. I find them hard to use at work because they block everything out, especially when my manager tries to get my attention. But I kid of course, I find this to be a bonus! The Fidue A73 blocks most of the outside noise very adequately and doesn’t leak a lot of sound out despite having 2 ports on each shell. The BA drivers however do blast a lot of high frequency sound out when you don’t have them inserted in your ears. Top marks in this department.

Sound

We’ve found ourselves in the most important section, and you probably thinking to yourself, “Too many good points, nothing is perfect, they must sound like Schiit”. Oh how wrong you are, my friend. They are absolutely divine! In a few words I would describe them to be: Fun, detailed, punchy, balanced, full, spacious and laidback. They’ve got it all.

Treble

Treble is extended but not super elevated. It has this really nice spike in the upper treble that gives it this very open and detailed sound. It never get fatiguing and I can listen to them all day long. The BA driver does a very fine job. There is lots of sparkle and sense of air. It’s very sensitive and can be quite revealing with some recordings. You can hear noise from effects applied on loops you don’t normally hear, and vinyl rips actually sound like you are listening to a really bad vinyl because you hear every single speck of dust the needle runs over. I actually haven’t heard this much detail since the Havi B3 Pro 1 and I actually think that the A73 has just a tiny bit more detail that a dynamic driver just cannot produce.
There is just a little bit of track induce sibilance is the “S” notes because of the peak on the 10kHz region, but most of the time this is non-existent.

Mids

The mids are not the strongest point on the A73 but they’re pretty damn good. Mostly because they mesh so well with the rest of the spectrum. Vocals are place right in from of you, and that’s exactly where they need to be; not behind or far in front, they need to be right in your face, and that’s exactly where they are here. All vocals and acoustics are full and accurate in timbre, not getting dry, grainy, shouty or brash. I wouldn’t call them perfect, but balanced and neutral would be the best way to descript them.

Bass

I’d like to start off by giving the dynamic driver a round of applause. The bass is probably my favourite part of the A73. It’s big, it’s full, it’s fast and most importantly it goes down low. Using SineGen to sweep frequencies I can actually hear the drivers pulse at 18Hz and at 24Hz there is a lot of SPL and it feels like I need to pop my ears. It’s all there all the way up to the midrange. Not elevated in the mid bass, but the same level all the way. It hits hard, it rumbles and it complements the mids very nicely, doing all this without masking any of the detail. It’s quite the feat but the A73 has got it right.

Soundstage & Imaging

The sound stage is amazing. It’s wide and there is a lot of layering not just left and right but up, down, forward and back. It’s not distant like the Havi B3 Pro 1, and I actually prefer it this way. The B3 Pro 1s give you this really surreal and distant experience like everything is so far away. The A73 keeps that feeling of everything in its place, but without pushing everything away from each other, they keep all the elements together, playing together, in harmony.

Ratings

As Head-Fi doesn't properly show the ratings, this is how I've scored the Fidue A73:

Conclusion

It’s with great sadness I have to say that the Havi B3 Pro 1 is no longer my favourite IEM, and with great joy I’m telling you that the A73 has taken this spot. They are like the B3 Pro 1 but with that awesome punchy bass I always needed to boost with the EQ. They retain that really nice, detailed and laidback treble I absolutely adored on the Havi and made it better. And not just that, they are nearly 3 times easier to drive than the Havi.
Fidue has made an absolutely splendid and brilliant product here that not only looks amazing and is super practical for its intended use, and but they also achieved an impressive sound signature at this price range. All my hats are off to you Fidue, well done!

Cheers!

nice write up DJscope!Absolutely spot on with my own notes!!

@kar13

Thanks @kar13 great mind think alike, great ears don't lie! :wink:

Hey there, how do these compare to the Dunu Dn 1000s in terms of resolution and bass?

Disclaimer: I did not purchase the Dunu Titan 1. I've had 2 months with them and believe I have had enough time to adequately review the Titans in depth. But of course, these are my personal opinions so please take them with a grain of salt, or two.

Introduction

I first heard about the Dunu Titan 1 from @H20Fidelity. He told me, and I quote “Dunu Titan is the go.” Hype for the Titans grew really fast! The more I read the reviews and impression the more I needed to get my hands on them, so I contacted Dunu directly to get me a pair. Boy was everyone right! Let’s find out why…

A little about the Dunu Titan 1

More info at the Dunu website: http://www.dunu-topsound.com/TITAN1.html

Frequency response	20 - 30 000 Hz
Impedance	16 Ohm
Sensitivity	90 dB (±2)
Plug	Gold Plated 3.5mm (1/8”) 90° Angled
Cable Length	1.2m
Speaker diameter	13mm Titanium Dynamic Driver
Weight	18 grams

FR Graph

Thanks to Mr. Tyll Hertsens for measuring these wonderful headphones!
Follow this like to get more of the measurements of the Titans.

Packaging & Accesories

The Titans come in a medium sized box; dimensions are 13cm x 17cm x 5cm. It’s very well presented. On the front you are shown exactly what you a purchasing. Everything is well contrasted, bright writing on black background: everything stands out very well. You get all the relevant information in different languages. Very nice.
Under the front flap there is some background information about the Titans, including the frequency response diagram to show you what they’re trying to target and what difference a titanium driver makes compared to a standard driver unit.
They also included a little plug for a Ukrainian band called “Max Barski”. Quite the coincidence since I was born in Ukraine.
Behind the little window you’ll see the beautifully designed housings of the Titans. Open the door and you are presented with 3 pairs of what looks like Sony hybrid silicone ear tips and a wonderful protective box. I must say that this is by far the best protective box I’ve seen to date that comes free with an IEM at this price. It’s made of hard plastic and has a sturdy locking mechanism to keep your already heavy duty looking earphone in tip-top shape so you can chuck them in your bag without any worries what so ever.
Additionally, underneath the plastic holder you get another 6 pairs of ear tips: different colours and styles of more of the Sony hybrid “clone” tips and a set of standard black tips, a shirt clip, and a 3.5mm (1/8”) to 6.3mm (1/4”) gold plated adapter. And of course, you get a warranty card which also has a maintenance log for all your warranty claims.

Design & Comfort

The design of the Titans is very robust, futuristic and industrial. The housing looks to me like it is machined from a single piece of aluminium. It’s quite a funny design because from day one my wife called them the UFO earphones, and that’s what I’ve been calling them because of its strange “flying saucer” shaped design that integrates the design principles of both earbuds and in-ear monitors. Strange it may be, but looks may be deceiving, and that’s exactly the case here; they’re some of the most comfortable cable down earphones that I’ve had the pleasure of putting in my ears. Yes! They are very comfortable, which is surprising for a metal ear piece sitting in your ear. Unfortunately they’re not designed for wearing over the ear, which is a bit of a bummer, but because they’re so comfortable wearing down, and they stay in like glue with the correct tips, that the thought of wearing them over the ear goes away very quickly.
The housing sports 11 port holes on the housing and 7 holes on the nozzle. In my humble opinion this is a double edged sword. On one hand it means that less dirty will make its way inside the housing, but on the other hand it means that if debris does indeed get inside, good luck cleaning it out. But despite all that, I personally think that it makes the unit look a tonne more badass and industrial.

Cable, Jack & Splitter

The cable here is brilliant! I don’t know what they’ve done with it, but it just does not tangle. I can wrap it into a ball, chuck it in my pocket and after going to my destination, pull the clump of wire out, hold one wire and pull on another, and in most cases, the cable will just twist, turn and unravel itself like magic. It maybe the fact that the cable is made from 2 different materials. The cable from the jack to the Y-splitter has a fabric sleeve and the ear piece cable is a supple but dense and smooth rubber. Overall the cable feels very sturdy, though it looks quite thin. I would say that the cable is very much like the Xiaomi Pistons 2.0.
This is where I go on to say, “WHY U NO REMOTE???” I really do think that the Titans would be THAT much better if it had a mic and remote for mobile phones. We live in the 21^st century people!!!
The jack is a very nice machined aluminium cylinder which feels amazing in the hand. The strain relief looks very sturdy and overkill, but that’s very welcomed in my books. The jack has a unique serial number on it, which is also a very nice touch.
The Y-splitter is also a cylinder and looks very much like the jack housing that’s a smaller diameter. It sports the Dunu Titan 1 logo. Bottom of the spitter is a smallish strain relief and above is an indent where the neck cinch fits perfectly inside. My only gripe with this is that the neck cinch moves freely up and down. It would’ve been nicer if the connection here was either a slight interference fit or a twist lock of some sort. Of course, nothing is 100% perfect.

Isolation

There is none! Moving on…

But serious, the Titans are the epitome of open design IEMs. They leak everything out and let all the sound in. So much so that my co-worker can tell me exactly what song I’m listening and which part of the song I’m up to, and he sits about 8-9m (26-27 feet) away from me. This isn’t always a downside because when I use earphones outside I dislike the fact the I cannot hear the traffic or what is going on around me and have to keep my volume down to do so. Not with the Titans, I can ramp the volume up to enjoyable levels and still hear everything from my surroundings. This would be perfect for cyclists and people who love to go for a jog or run.

Sound

I can describe the Titans sound signature with many words, some that come from the top of my head are: fun, balanced, engaging, spacious, coherent and full. The tonal balance is very interesting as its balance is not through the whole spectrum but at all the correct areas; having peaks in areas and not many dips that take away from the enjoyment and clarity of the music. For some tracks it sounds warm and on others it sounds cold, and on an occasion it’s a mixture of both. Detail retrieval is also very good and coupled with it's good staging and layering makes for some great critical listening.

Treble

The treble is indeed a little peaky and has track induced sibilance. It's not a sibilant earphone in itself but can get there with some pieces of music. I think this is inherited from the titanium driver. The Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 with its beryllium coated driver has this characteristic as well. But on the case of the Titan, the peakiness is not located in one area of the mid/lower treble; it extends far and well up without getting too sibilant or metallic. Here be airiness and sparkle, and there is plenty of it. A very enjoyable listen indeed. The only issue I have with this is that it does get a little bit fatiguing after a couple of hours of non-stop listening.

Mids

Balance! The Titans do seem to have a little bit of a boost in the mids, and it’s very welcomed. It’s accompanied by both treble and mid/upper bass to give you a very natural vocal and acoustic experience. There is still a vocal track that I need to find that sounds bad with the Titans. Male vocals are full, clear and alive, and female vocals shine and sing.

Bass

It is a little elevated in the mid bass region, but not a lot, and it doesn’t leak or overwhelm the mids at all. It’s not linear but is more balanced then most fun sounding IEMs. It extends quite low and stays impactful and coherent with good speed.

Soundstage & Imaging

It’s like listening to a concert in your head. The imaging is very accurate and has lots of layering to boot. Coupled with the above average soundstage width and depth, it evokes some really immersive listening. It’s not as wide or deep as the Havi B3 Pro 1 but that’s actually a good thing; the Havi being a little distant at times makes the listening laid back and in the background, but the Titans make it a “here and now” kind of “party in your head” type of listening. It makes you want to put your hands up, stand up and join the party. Yes, it’s like that.

Ratings

As Head-Fi doesn't properly show the ratings, this is how I've scored the Titans:

Conclusion

I don’t know how Dunu come up with such great ideas, but they continue to push the boundaries and with the Titan 1 they’ve hit it straight out of the park. For the price of $115 (current PenonAudio price) this is a complete no-brainer purchase. The Titans are my automatic go to suggestion for people who look for an IEM under $150, and if you’re in the market under this budget, what are you still doing reading this review when you could be out there buying these right now? They are really a remarkable IEM for this low price. Well done Dunu!

Cheers!

Update: Photos are up!

Good review! I wonder how they will compare to the new Fidue 73.

@Light - Man

@Light - Man I'm more interested in the Fidue A65 which is also a titanium driver unit for half the price!

@DMax99

Topping NX1 Australian Tour - DJScope

Firstly I'd like to thank @DMax99 for sending this awesome little portable headphone amplifier on a tour of Australia, and @H20Fidelity for helping out organise the event.

First Impressions

After waiting for almost a week to get this thing, it finally arrived today. It looks much smaller than what I imagined it and feels rock solid in my hand, about the same as the C&C BH.
So me and a mate from where I work sat down and had a musical intermission from doing what we were supposed to be doing, i.e. work. We took some notes on paper as we had our first impressions.

Setup (everything is played at high gain)

Motorola RAZR HD and Moto G > Topping NX1 > Takstar Pro 80
Listening to "Sundream" by RUFUS (FLAC 16/44.1), "Desert Night" by RUFUS (FLAC 16/44.1) and "Machines Do Care" by Phonat (24/44.1)

My notes:

High Extension/Air
Punchy bass - can be overwhelming
Warm
Some interference and fuzz
Volume pot noise

Friend's Notes:

Crisp and forward highs
V Shaped
Punchy lows
Mids a bit suppressed

After this I went on to listen to the NX1 for the rest of my work day and more when I got home.
Initially I did hear some intermittent interference or short buzzing randomly and noise when turning the volume pot but as the day progressed, the circuit got warm, the volume pot got looser and the buzzing and noise stopped. I haven't experience it since.

Sound

This amp most definitely needs a burn in minimum of 1 hour before it starts to sound good. Either that, or my ears needed to adjust to it. It first sounds a bit rough in the highs and floppy in the lows, but after that the lows tighten up and the highs become much smoother. Once you get that out of the way you can actually get to know the amp and it's very transparent. So transparent that I could actually hear the background of the effects of some of RUFUS's samples. High's and lows are very forward and the mid's are not recessed but what it seems like is is that the signature is a tiny bit V shaped, not a lot, maybe 2-3db on both ends. Switching the gain to low setting feels like the frequency response is flattened out but become a little boring. All-in-all the NX1 is a pretty fun amp.

Soundstage

The sound stage is good. It makes it maybe 10% wider than originally. But it suffers a bit from the highs and lows being a bit forward and some of the percussive elements which are put behind you are drowned out. You can hear them, but only if you listen for them specifically. But you cannot hear them at all without an amp. I picked this up by doing an A-B comparison with my Fiio E17 (using only the AUX in, EQ off, 6db gain setting). With the E17 the staging is noticeably wider but the sound signatures a worlds apart, E17 being warm and fun and the NX1 being cold and clear.

This is what I have for now. I'll add more as the journey with the Topping NX1 continues over the next 6 days.

To be continued...

One week later...

Some words:

Originally I was going to change what is written in my first impressions, but I decided to leave it as is and just expand on my experience.
The review will be based upon using the NX1 as it is designed for, i.e. an extremely affordable portable headphone amplifier, specifically using affordable closed back headphones, though I will also add my impressions from the other gear I tried thanks to @Xtralglactic.

Most of my week with NX1 was spent at work with me using nothing but the NX1 powered by the line-out from my work PC. The PC I have at work is a pretty good setup and is surprisingly well grounded, unlike my PC at home. This made for some prolonged listening sessions totalling to about 50 hours in total. Listening to mostly FLAC and a couple of albums in 320kbps. Because I was at work I did not have the luxury of analysing everything I listened to, but the time spent was enjoyable and not fatiguing at all.

When I got home is where I made most of my analysis. I made a simple input/output switch to test things properly. The circuit below:

This switch made AB'ing much more accurate and the findings were actually quite surprising to me. This is what I found using the AB switch:

My Moto G actually sounds clearer than the line-out from my PC because of the terrible grounding.
The NX1 is actually louder than the E17 when used through only the AUX amp section of the E17 on 12db gain and volume maxed out (though the E17 when used as a DAC/amp will blow your ears out)
The NX1 and E17 sound Identical when you set the E17 treble and bass EQ setting to 2db boost, which actually proved to me that the NX1 is in fact a little bit V-shaped. (just a tad)
Soundstage on the NX1 is amazing and equals the E17 even through the DAC section.

The Review:

Sound

This little amp is definitely punching above it's weight class, literally. It sounds pretty transparent. Not cold or warm, but truly neutral. The boosted highs and lows gives it a fun and punchy signature with crisp and somewhat airy highs. I wish I could say more about the highs but my ears cannot hear above 15kHz, so my description of highs is mid highs only. This amp greatly compliments other flattish cans but can be a bit too much when paired with dark or bright cans.
Mids are good and clear, and even with the boosted highs and lows they don't feel like they're pushed away.

I love it when you can hear imperfections and background noise from recordings. Some say that this is from bad mastering but I think it makes the recording unique. This amp definitely picks these up and this give me a huge smile on my face.

Comparing it to the E11 which would be it's direct competitor. This comparison is not even close. The E11 has a dark signature, bloated bass and crunchy highs. Listening to Mariah Carey sounds like she's got a sore throat. The NX1 wins in every aspect by a large margin.

Soundstage

The sound stage is just "WOW!". On the Takstar Pro 80s the sound stage is wide and deep, this is the same with the DT770 Pro 250Ohm. But even more surprising is using it with the Senns HD650, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The soundstage goes deeper than normal and somewhat sounds unnatural but truly spectacular. This amp compliments open headphones with lots of imaging more than anything.

EMI

Most of the time this is not a problem, but when paired together with a mobile phone you get intermittent buzzing and short static comes on randomly. This is definitely not a deal breaker.

Background

This thing is dead silent when turned all the way up.

Power

As you might have noticed that I mentioned the Beyer DT770 Pro and the Senns HD650. Yes! It can power these somewhat hard to drive cans. The bass is not very controlled though. But it sounds very nice. Two thumbs up from me in terms of power.

Battery

Topping states that it has a working time of 100 hours under one charge. I charged it to full on the first day because it died pretty much in the first 10 minutes of me using it because someone didn't charge it before posting it. Not pointing fingers at no one...

But after the full charge it has been working this whole time. It's kind of hard to track usage but because it is a class AB amplifier, it should be constantly draining energy when on. Battery is good!

Final Words

This amp impressed me, A LOT. Its size, its power, its signature and its soundstage are outstanding for a $100 portable amplifier, but for ~$40 it's an absolute steal. It just feels like someone forgot to carry a 1 when calculating its cost. It's not without faults, but for the price, who cares!

At the final 3 days of my having it, I didn't use it until today to refresh my memory. The only reason for that is because my E17 has a DAC which makes the sound a lot clearer and the bass more controlled. But this should not take anything away from the NX1. The E17 is $140, $100 more than it.

If you are on a strict budget of under $100 then the NX1 is definitely the way to go. You can pair it with a decent DAC for $60 like the SMSL M2 or the Stoner Acoustic UD110 (if you can find a way to get one) and Bob's your uncle!

Excellent review ....it is indeed an awesome for the price to performance ratio...cheeers mate

only bought it based on looks / price / not having read anything negative ... have not received it yet, but reading your review makes me feel that I have scored the lottery of decision making (without a chance to audition anything) ... I am planning to pair this with the Fiio X3ii player, which also covers the DAC part ... can't wait for that new setup!

@d marc0

Firstly, I'd like to thank @d marc0 for including me on this tour. It's always a great experience and privilege to be a part of such a great community which organises these tours for members like myself to try out new gear that we may not have a chance to audition. I do feel very lucky to be a part of it.
Disclaimer: I did not purchase the Philips Fidelio L2 and do not own it. I've had 1 week with it and the thinksound rain2. So please take what I have to say with a grain of salt, or two.

Philips is one of those brands that I would always dismiss in the headphone game. In the early years I’ve tried one or two headphone from Philips which weren’t exactly decent sounding. They weren't the most expensive either, but back then I never thought of Philips to be in the “audiophile” category. This of course wasn’t until I tried the Fidelio X1. The X1 is a masterpiece to say the least. They completely changed the way I saw Philips in their ability to make a good headphone. I was more than impressed. So when @d marc0 asked me to be a part of this tour I couldn’t help but have a huge smile on my face when I gladly obliged.

A little about the Philips Fidelio L2

Frequency response:		12 - 25 000 Hz
Impedance:		16 Ohm
Sensitivity:		105 dB
Maximum power input:		200 mW
Distortion:		< 0.1% THD
Speaker diameter:		40 mm

FR Graph

Thanks to Mr. Tyll Hertsens for measuring these wonderful headphones!

You can see that there is a dip in the 5k region and it peaks back up to the 7k and drops back down to and past 10k. To me this is quite surprising because I find the L2 to be quite a bright headphone. The dip in the 5k region means that there is little sibilance. The elevated bass region plays well with what I expect for an open back headphone to keep the bass adequate. And the mids are flatter that what I perceived in my listening.

Packaging

The Fidelios come in a pretty big black box with quite a lot going on on it. A bunch of contrasting colours come together to give out a huge presentation which is elegant and inviting, simple and technical. All the relevant information is there on the box. The technology which is put into the headphone is written in 8 different languages. Even on the inside of the box there is some kind of safety information I've not seen before on any headphone packaging.

Accessories

In the box you'll find:

The headphones (obviously)
A cable (I suspect it comes with 2 cables one with and one without remote).
A very nice felt (suede like material) lined with a polyester inner for which I can only guess is for weather proofing.
A 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter.

Design & Comfort

If I was to describe the Fidelio L2 with only one word, that word would be “Stunning”! [size=inherit]The L2 is probably one of the best looking headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure to get my hands on.[/size]
First thing that grabs your eyes is that beautiful red stitching on the headband. The headphone is a wonderful combination of brown, red, charcoal and black. As you look on, you realise what an absolutely brilliant idea was it to give those subtle yet eye-catching red accents. Superb!
The headphone is made from a variety of materials which all look and feel premium in every sense. The red stitching holds together the supple headband covering which is made from brown leather (or faux leather). From what I can gather, the headband is made from aluminium and the cups are plastic. Every piece that goes into it looks like it was made precisely and with purpose. Back of the cups has a mesh grille which I can just guess is made from stainless steel.
The earpads are a bit of a bummer. Don’t get me wrong. They’re soft and comfortable, but they’re not removable. I just wish this wasn’t the case. For me, I feel like a bigger size of earpads would do wonders for this headphone, but this is a personal preference.
[size=inherit]Clamping force is also quite loose on this headphone for my small head which also plays into why I dislike the earpads. If it had a little tighter hold the pads wouldn’t be such a downer for me.[/size]
Cable is removable and seems to have a proprietary style of retaining the connector. I thank Philips for not going with another crazy plug system. It’s a standard TRS 3.5mm (1/8in) connector. The female jack is a little close to the flange so if you wanted to use a custom cable it would need to be a small diameter jacket/cover. I was unable to use none of my custom cables on it for this reason.
The cable provided is a paracord sheathed 3.5mm TRS to 3.5mm TRS jack. It’s soft and flexible and seems to be very tangle resistant. It’s quite thick and looks like it will last a long time. The cable has little to no mechanical noise or microphonics. I’ve read that it should also come with an in-line mic cable, but was not provided with the tour unit.

Isolation

I found that these have a weird open design. I have 3 kids which are not very quiet at all, and they give me a very good indicator on how good isolation is on any particular headphone. I have found that whilst the L2s leak quite a bit of sound out they don't let a lot of noise in. Making them quite a good headphone for home use while private listening, watching movies and gaming when there are no other people you can annoy, but have quite a bit of ambient noise from, say, construction sites and other noise pollutants.

Sound

It's pretty hard to describe how brilliant this headphone sounds. It is a very balanced sound with a lot of layering going on. It extends quite well into both treble and bass and seems to be very coherent throughout the whole spectrum. It has a very natural timber for acoustic and electronic music. And to put the icing on the cake, it scales extremely well with gear; give it more juice and it'll sound better and better every time. I was thoroughly impressed with this headphone, and it doesn't cease to put a smile on my face ever time I plop it on my noggin.

Soundstage & Imaging

The soundstage of this headphone is actually quite intimate and is slightly above average. But where this intimate soundstage shines is coupled with the excellent imaging. The imaging has really excellent depth and height. It layers very well, giving you a very realistic listening experience, as if the band is playing a few feet in front of you. There is good air and separation between instruments. I[size=inherit]t's very satisfying indeed![/size]

Treble

The treble is probably the best aspect of this headphone. It's crisp and clear, it extends well and feels quite linear. Maybe sometimes sound a tiny bit dry and blunted. But very smooth, natural and enjoyable. The treble is very coherent, so much so that I found that this is probably the best headphone for listening to trance music where there is a lot of synths and female vocals trying to fight for the front of the stage, almost always sounding congested, but not on these headphone. The layering is done so well that everything has it's own place.

Mids

Mids are perfect on this headphone. Never sounding dry, forward or recessed. I found that the L2 did extremely well with both female and male vocals giving them the timber they both deserve. Acoustic guitars sound very natural. Everything meshes very well together with great synergy and harmony.

Bass

The bass is amazingly balanced with good kick and rubble when called upon. It's not elevated but it's warm, tight and fast. Super natural. Bass guitars roll through the notes flawlessly and the bass kick is punchy and fast on decay.

A quick comparison to the Takstar Pro 80

The Takstar Pro 80 is my baseline comparison headphone I compare ALL headphone and IEMs I audition. Only for the fact that it punches WAY above it's price range. Only costing ~$70 + $15 for the HM5 pads, I've seen them put $200+ headphones to shame.

The L2 definitely sounds like the more smoother and more neutral listen. It has an overall fuller and warmer presentation. It also seems a little more mid forward with more layering going on. Bass seems more mid bass oriented.

The Takstar Pro 80 seems to be a flatter slightly brighter more metallic sounding headphone. The Pro 80 surprisingly sounds airier with a wider soundstage. Pro 80 sounds a little dryer in the mids. It has noticeable more kick in the bass being more sub-base orientated.

[size=inherit]

[/size]

Conclusion

This is probably the best sounding headphone that I've had the experience of trying on a review tour. With it's absolutely brilliant natural and balanced sound signature and pin point accuracy and layering, and the fact that it has amazing synergy with all my gear which only got better with more power, it is definitely a headphone that I would want to own. I think it would be the perfect open back companion for my Takstar Pro 80. I want to applaud Philips for coming out with such amazingly sounding headphone with the L and X series. They're definitely doing something right over there.

Cheers!

Great review!

Thank man!

@H20Fidelity

Firstly, I'd like to thank @H20Fidelity for including me on this tour. It's always a great experience and privilege to be a part of such a great community which organises these tours for members like myself to try out new gear that we may not have a chance to audition. I do feel very lucky to be a part of it.
Disclaimer: I did not purchase the HUM Pervasion and do not own it. I've had 1 week with it. So please take what I have to say with a grain of salt, or two.

A little about the HUM Pervasion:

About HUM (taken from the http://hum.hk/ website):

"Hum is a Hong Kong based audio manufacturer, specialized in designing, manufacturing and producing audio gear that is high in fidelity, detail and texture. We believe good quality and affordable price could come hand in hand, if manufacturers and engineers who are knowledgeable enough and handle it with love, passion and care.

We design for music lovers, audiophiles to professional musicians. We would be really honoured if our users could tell that they hear a wider range, more texture layers, higher fidelity higher detail in their favourite song as if it is their first time hearing the track but be able to magically hum along.

Every music lover is an explorer, let's take the journey together one music note and one hum at a time."

The HUM Pervasion comes to the market with only one thing in mind; to bring only the highest quality and highest fidelity possible at a reasonable price. It does this quite reasonably well.
It houses a Wolfson WM8741 DAC which is one of the most highly regarded value for money DACs to this day. To go with this it uses a TI LME49720 operational amplifier that runs a ±8V which gives it more than enough power to drive cans all the way up to the 300Ω I suspect. Unfortunately I cannot be for sure. All I can say is that it definitely has a lot of headroom for anything that I threw at it.
In addition to this wonderful DAC and op-amp combo, HUM boasts to have cherry picked only the best electrical components that are not audio related, these being WiFi module, other ICs, DC-DC converters to form a perfect power supply structure for the Pervasion.

Specifications

Display:		4.3' 800x480 IPS
CPU:		28nm A9 Dual-Core 1.2 GHz
OS:		Android 4.2.2
RAM:		1GB
Onboard Memory:		8GB
Card Slot:		MicroSD Up to 128GB
DAC:		Wolfson WM8741
Low Pass Filter:		TI LME49720
Op-Amp Power Supply:		±8V
Battery:		1770 mAh Li-ion
Battery Life:		~6 hours (WAV)
Charging Time:		~2 hours
Connectivity:		WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Size:		66.6x118x13.8mm (2.62"x4.65"x0.54")
Weight:		146g

The HUM Pervasion as a Android Device

The HUM Pervasion is in quite a good place. There are not a lot of Android power high fidelity digital audio players on the market. What this means is that HUM has a lot of power available in their grasp to utilise. Android, being an open-source platform, is capable of being anything that the designer chooses it to be, as long as it is set-up properly and as intended. I'm not convinced that HUM have done this correctly, and I'll explain why.

The hardware chosen is OK and is not really the issue. My biggest gripe here is the version of Android chosen. Android only gets better and more stable with every iteration. One of the biggest aspects of the newer versions of Android is the increasing support for external DACs. A limitation on the Android audio engine is that it is only capable of 48/16, and introducing the ability to use external DACs makes your Android device capable of all the formats the your DAC can play. This particular version does not seem to support any USB OTG devices at all, which is a huge bummer in my books. This feels like a huge opportunity missed.
My other gripe is that the chosen ROM is not a community built one, like CyanogenMod. While I understand that there may have been method in the madness, I do still think it would've been wiser to go with an AOSP base ROM and cherry pick your own features for customisation and hardware/software tweaks, for example: hold volume keys down to skip tracks.
All these I mentioned can be fixed with a simple ROM flash, and I do hope that HUM hears my call and does just that. Because, in my humble opinion, if this does happen, it will make this player a force to be reckoned with.

Now continuing with the review...

Playing around with the HUM Pervasion I noticed that this is probably one the smoothest Jelly Bean 4.2.2 experiences I've encountered. It is after all a fully stripped down version of Android. It is slightly modified but mostly just stock Jelly Bean. It is quite a joy to play with being an Android user myself.

The apps that come preinstalled are: Chrome (internet browser), Explorer (file browser), Gallery, Gmail, Play Music, Play Store, Settings & Video. It's really as bare bones as you'll ever get.

Recommended Apps

The apps I would recommend for playing music are as follows: HibyMusic, PowerAmp and USB Audio Player PRO.
All are great music apps and are available on the Play Store.
HibyMusic however was not available to download from the Play Store for the Pervasion, so what I did to get it installed was get the HibyMusic apk file from my rooted MotoG and transferred it across to the Pervasion and installed it manually from the Explorer app. Everything worked like a charm from there.

You may also play all you favourite games on this device. Don't expect it to run anything graphics intensive though. It'll run all you Candy Crush and Flappy Birds to your hearts content.

[size=inherit]

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Design & Build

The HUM Pervasion is quite a chunky device. Of course this is only compared to a normal Android phone. Compared to any other Hi-Rez DAP on the market it doesn't seem that big at all. Measuring at 66.6x118x13.8mm it reminds me a lot like my old Motorola Atrix (which I actually have on hand - see photos). This is the size that Android phones used to be a few years ago before they began to stretch to wider, longer and skinnier proportions. Everything about this device screams to me "Classic Android Phone", and this is something I actually like. It's what made me fall in love with Android after all the year of being a Nokia user.

The HUM Pervasion is mostly made of glass (front) and aluminium (rear). The rare cover is a solid chunk on aluminium which wraps around the player on all sides. It looks and feels like it will last a long, long time.

On top you get a power button and the MicroUSB plug which actually feel very sturdy when plugged in.
Left you get the volume rocker.
Right is simply the microSD card slot which can hold up to 128GB.
And the bottom is where the magic happens. You get a line-out, an ALPS analogue volume knob and the headphone out.

It's a very unique that feature to have both a digital and analogue volume control. But it's welcomed here.

Screen

I'm not sure if the screen is made from Corning Gorilla glass and I'm surely not going to test it to find out. Let's just say that I didn't hesitate to apply a screen protector on the unit when I received it.
The resolution is 800x480 which to me is still adequate as it's always been.
The screen does have some reflection and is not the most ideal for use in the sun.

Battery

Battery life is quoted to be 6 hours and that is about right with what I've experienced. For me this is not an issue but for those who do a lot of commuting may know the frustration of a dying battery. It does charge quite slowly, but I found that it helps to use a better charger, something that pushes more than 1 amp.

EMI (Electromagnetic Interference)

When using the WiFi you do get considerably a lot of EMI. It's noticeable at all volumes, and it's very annoying!
DO NOT USE WIFI WHILE LISTENING!

WiFi

WiFi strength is weak and the connection is somewhat temperamental when not in the same room as the router. Otherwise it work as intended.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth works as intended when the screen is turned off. The second you turn the screen on the sound starts to stutter. I think that this may be another software issue with the old version of Android. I could be wrong, of course.

How does it Sound?

The HUM Pervasion does not disappoint in the sound department. Boy does it sound good! It is a very musical player, extending both treble and bass, making everything you listen to alive and fun. Most of my listening is done in the office at work where I need to have the music in the background. I could not use this player at work all the time. The reason being, is that I could not concentrate on my work. It made me want to jump up and dance, reach for that volume knob and turn it a little up. Most of the time spent the first time I listened to the Pervasion was me flicking through my favourite tracks and listening to them like I haven't heard them in 10 years. It was definitely quite an experience.
"The player sounds very good" is where I'm going with this, if you haven't got that yet.

Some Comparisons

*Comparisons using only the opening of Eagles - Hotel California on V1 MP3 converted down from 96/24 vinyl rip using latest LAME.exe through the Havi B3 Pro 1.
**Switching between sources using my DIY AB switch (pink thing in the photos).
*** Volume matching is done by ear, so not so accurate.

xDuoo X2 VS HUM Pervasion

HUM Pervasion is instantly noticeable to have a more cleaner delivery. Bass is effortless with good speed. Electric guitar is airy and placed correctly on the stage. Cymbals are metallic and placed correctly to the side, slightly behind.
xDuoo X2 has noticeably better soundstage and imaging; being slight wider and much deeper. Cymbal are further in the back, but aren't as natural sounding; smoother not as tinny or metallic. The sound isn't as refined as the HUM pervasion and the X2 is running out of headroom in terms of power. This track has a LOT of dynamic range and I had the X2 on 27/40 volume and the HUM maybe a quarter in.

HUM Pervasion wins.
But both sound great. Fun, forward and engaging.

FiiO X1 VS HUM Pervasion

X1 runs out of steam fast here. 90/100 volume. Treble is a tonne smoother & slower with the X1. Bass kick is somewhat hollow compared to the HUM Pervasion and not as punchy. Soundstage narrower. A very laid back sound here on the X1.
HUM Pervasion is a much fuller & warmer sound than the X1. Bass guitar flows all through the note held, unlike the X1 where the note flows but feels loose. Treble here is much more sparkly and sharp. The cymbals have more bite and electric guitars has a much more natural timber.

HUM Pervasion wins hands down.
X1 is a more comfortable listen though. I could listen to it all day long. Pervasion might get a little fatiguing at the same volume levels. Though, the HUM Pervasion is a much more rewarding listen.

Audio-gd NFB-15.32 VS HUM Pervasion

This did not go down how I expected it to. AB'ing between the 2 actually gave very, very similar results. They have the same amount of warmth and both are quite forward. The NFB-15 definitely has more extension in the treble. The electric guitar and cymbals sounded brighter, more real, and the cymbals seemed to ring slightly longer. Mids sound a tiny bit more refined here. Soundstage is slightly wider and imaging is slightly more accurate. Everything else is pretty much on par.

I'd give this one to the NFB-15 but the HUM Pervasion was not far behind. If I wanted a portable DAP that sounds like the NFB-15, then this would be the way to go.

Conclusion

I do conclude with the hope that HUM does listen and updates their ROM to a newer version of Android with hopefully some features from community built custom ROM.
It is a truly remarkable device which sound absolutely divine. It's only fault is the outdated software it is running. Once this is fixed, the HUM Pervasion will truly be a force to be reckoned with!

Cheers!

The way that I use my cellphone for Spotify is to have one playlist for ALL of the music that I might want to listen to on the go (currently 3000+ tracks), which I then download to the phone, and ocassionally use wi-fi to add to.
You can have more playlists 'offline' but one is enough for me.

This allows me to turn off the wi-fi to preserve battery.
It also means that I'm not tied to a wi-fi signal, or even the cell network.

There are no 'hiccups' or pauses when using offline playlists in this way, and I kind of assumed that I'd be able to use thhe HUM in the same manner.

There IS a need to connect to wi-fi to download any new tracks that you'd like to add to an offline playlist, and Spotify demands that you connect once a month to sync and confirm that you are still paying your dues, but these are trivial requirements, and don't require a device that takes a SIM card.

Do you subsscribe to any 'streaming' services?

I BELIEVE that TIDAL operates in the same manner, but haven't signed up yet so can't confirm.

@Q Mass

@Q Mass, you maybe on a winner here. I never thought of it that way. I've never paid for a Spotify subscription because I used to only use it on my PC. But these days I just have all my songs on a microSD card and just mix and match my DAPs and IEMs. At home of course it's all on my HDD in FLAC.

My home broadband is so poor (rural area) that even browsing and listening to Spotify extreme can cause glitches! so I download playlists to my PC too.

Once I tried a paid sub to Spotify there was no way I could go back to the free sub.
No more ad's, better SQ, super convenient.

If TIDAL offers the same/better functionality with further improvement to SQ I'm gonna have to go for it eventually.

I'm waiting for a TIDAL subscriber to report in more detail on how well/if the HUM works with downloaded playlists (I confess that I don't even know for sure that this feature is available on TIDAL).

@d marc0

thinksound rain2 - A mini Review

Firstly, I'd like to thank @d marc0 for including me on this tour. It's always a great experience and privilege to be a part of such a great community which organises these tours for members like myself to try out new gear that we may not have a chance to audition. I do feel very lucky to be a part of it.
Disclaimer: I did not purchase these earphones and do not own them. I've had 1 week with them and the Philips Fidelio L2. So please take what I have to say with a grain of salt, or two.

A little about the thinksound rain2:

The thinksound rain2 has a sustainable approach to the market. This is visible throughout. Everything here is designed to be made from eco-friendly materials and you can definitely see this with the packaging, and chosen materials. Not sure about the rest of it.

Specifications (taken from the thinksound website)

Wooden housing for crisp, accurate music reproduction
Frequency Response: 18 Hz – 20 kHz
Sensitivity: 96 ±3 dB @ 1KHz 1mW
Impedance: 16 ohms
45˚angled 3.5mm gold plated stereo plug for increased sound clarity
Driver Size: Acoustically enhanced 8mm driver
Weight (Approximate): 9.5g Ultra-lightweight design
Kevlar-reinforced, tangle-resistant 4 foot long cable
Passive Noise Isolation minimizes ambient sounds
Sweat-resistant design, perfect for the gym


Packaging and Accessories Packaging looks cheap. It's a simple white outer box, nothing special, it has some of the information about the rain2 on the back. The inner carton is made from cut cardboard, looks like it was hand cut too, as it's not the neatest job but it's a nice touch. Including in the box is the earphones (obviously), 4 pairs of black silicone tips, a shirt clip and a cotton carry sack. Nothing more, nothing less. I do think that for the price tag there could be some extra tips to choose from. I personally think that it would do with a set of wide bore tips. Build quality The build is actually quite nice. It's light and made from good materials. The wood is lovely and meshes well with the dark smoky steel front portion of the body. The strain reliefs and the cable is made from a nice, supple rubber which is very tangle resistant. The jack terminates at the 45 degree 3.5mm connector which is gold plated. Presentation and build quality is something that is done very right here. Isolation is average as this is a ported design. There is one single port on the back of the housing. You do get some mechanical cable noise when wearing it cable down. I do get some pretty bad driver flex with all the ear tips I've tried. Seems like something one will need to get used to with these.
Sound I used the rain2 with the following gear: FiiO E17, FiiO X1, xDuoo X2, HUM Pervasion, Audio-gd NFB-15.32 and straight from my Moto G XT1033. Using them for various genres and watching videos on YouTube. The box states that these earphones are "High definition... a smooth sound signature." Which is a statement I cannot agree on. The sound signature is my least favourite aspect here. The thinksound rain2 is a very dark earphone. The best word I can describe them with is "Brash". Soundstage is actually quite good and imaging is above par. Bass The bass is very elevated. It is the most pronounced and overwhelming part of the signature. It resonates through the whole spectrum and on some (and mostly everything I listened to) tracks and it distorts quite a bit. It extends quite low and is very deep, visceral and is bloated and muddy. Mids Male vocals are brash indeed. Some sound like there is an eco in the background and every song I've noticed sounds like it is recorded in a large and empty room. The bass completely overwhelms everything that has even a little bit of mid or upper bass in it and amplifies it quite dramatically. It's something I really did not enjoy all that much. Treble This is an aspect that is actually really good on the rain2. It's not recessed, it's not the most refined treble you'll hear, but it's quite smooth and coherent and keeps all the major elements in vocals and percussions audible and this is something that balances out the sound quite well. This could be a saviour for some people. Especially those who do love a lot of bass and clarity in one package.

Conclusion While I do applaud thinksound for creating sustainable and eco-friendly products, I don't think that they have gotten the sound signature right. Of course this is a personal preference and I'm sure that some people will love the way they sound. But for me, I didn't enjoy them very much, unfortunately. Cheers!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Great work mate.

@H20Fidelity

Before I begin, I want to thank @H20Fidelity for providing me this review sample. I've had the Astrapi of just over a week and have not had a lot of time with it so this will be a mini review.
I did not purchase the Cozoy Astrapi but I will not let review bias effect me and will not hold any punches when there are punches to be throw. Now let's begin!

The Cozoy Astrapi is one of those devices that blows your mind away when you see it in real life. It is so comically small that you have to hold it in your hand before your mind can process how small it truly is. Looking at photos just does not shoot that message across at all. I know, because it happened to me.
I wasn't expecting much when Luke first mentioned it to me. First thing I thought to myself was this is going to be one of those el'cheap-o DSP sound cards that get thrown around the market for $10. It looks that way, at least. And I hope that you can forgive me thinking that, because I never will. This was the grossest underestimation that I probably have ever made. Let me tell you why...

A little bit about the Cozoy Astrapi

COZOY Astrapi APPLE MFi Approved Digital Lighting Amplifier for Android/iOS/PC

Description

COZOY is a digital-to-analog converter and amplifier that provide significantly improved headphone sound quality for audio players, tablets, and portable devices.
COZOY take the digital audio data stream from your preferred audio device and process and amplify it making your favorite headphones sound their best.
The Astrapi is all-aluminum build and modern design.
COZOY was designed for audio players, tablets and other portable devices running operating systems such as; Android, iOS and PC.
COZOY incorporates proprietary digital Sound processing and conversion along with a high-performance headphone amplifier, all within an extremely portable form factor.
COZOY is designed for those who use their phones, tablets, laptops and other portable devices as their primary listening and viewing platforms and who seek the best-possible headphone or in ear listening experience for music, video, and gaming by providing improved resolution, spatiality, dynamics, and heightened realism.
COZOY is compatible with all audio formats supported by portable devices
COZOY’s extremely low power consumption allows for extended playing time and with its plug-and-play connectivity, eliminates any complex setups.

Specification

Low power consumption with strong driving power
Clean Line-Out activated at Max Volume
Built-in DSP
Software DSD
External USB DAC Functionality (OSX + PC)
Compatible with various Android devices through OTG

Hi-resolution :24Bit-96khz 192khz
Headphone output :3.5mm
Impedance :16-100ohm at 1khz loading
Output vrms:1.5Vrms max
THD+N:0.003% ,1khz 0dbfs
SNR:105Db AT 3.3V power supply
Resolution :24bit/192khz sampling
System power current :10mA-70mA max
Power input:1.8V-3.3V+-10%
Output gain level step :3dB/step ;16 steps
Headphone power output :10mW max
Plug type: digital lightning connector
Cable length:20cm
Support USB2.0
Support connectors: Lightning connector .micro usb -micro usb ,micro usb-usb

Support Models

iPhone5,iPhone6/6s,iPad/iPod mini,iPod touch
Android (OTG Function)
PC/Laptop

Package

COZOY Astrapi DAC AMP
Android Cable
iOS Cable
PC Cable

[size=20.0069999694824px]Specifications[/size]

System power current :10mA - 70mA max.
Power input 1.8V-3.3V+-10%
Output gain level step: 3dB/step; 16 steps
Native 16/44.1 decoding and implementation of DSP tuning algorithms

* Output varies as power input may differ, this situation exists on every kind of OS

Packaging The Cozoy Astrapi comes in a very suspiciously Apple looking box. It's white with very subtle silver/grey writing. There is a print on every side of the box. It's not inviting or too busy. This is the kind of packaging I would've just walked past and not look twice. Some people look for different things, though. On the bottom of the box there is a "General Guidelines" or basically all the instructions you'd ever need, including the specifications and packing list. A very nice addition is the assembly drawing, or exploded diagram, however you prefer to call it. Shows you exactly what goes into making one of these units. Inside the box is the Astrapi sitting nice and snug inside a felt covered foam block with a nice pull tab that is an awesome idea. The Astrapi is so small that you would have trouble taking it out with just your fingers. This idea was brilliant. Underneath you get a Warranty card and you accessories are all located in the bottom compartment.		The box that I got looked a bit kicked around so don't blame Cozoy or me, blame Luke

Accessories As for accessories, you get everything you need. Nothing more nothing less: 1x Apple Lightning to Micro USB cable 1x Micro USB to Micro USB cable 1x Micro USB to USB long cable
Design The Cozoy Astrapi is a very nice looking unit. Beautifully lazer etched lines on the machined aluminium casing, that is pin stripe finished. Indents on both side for easy grip of the unit while plug and unplugging. It is super elegant and practical. On the back is has a very nice, low profile shirt clip which feels tight and heavy duty. But those look kind of flimsy. I have use the shirt clip to pin the unit to the cable so it doesn't dangle around. It works well and holds on very strongly.
Compatibility I had a few compatibility issue with this particular unit. With everything I tried. Android Devices - Moto G XT1033 (5.0.2) & ASUS Nexus 7 2013 (5.0.2) Doesn't work as a plug and play device. To get it to work you must plug it in and restart the phone. After the phone reboots, the Astrapi is then used as the permanent sound device for you phone. You cannot make calls as the microphone does not work. But it does work for all your music and works quite well indeed. It is definitely an upgrade over the stock sound hardware in both these devices. PC - Windows 8.1 & Window 7 This works perfectly as a plug and play device. Plug it in and off you go. Only issue that there really is is that when the PC comes out of sleep or restarts the Astrapi is not recognised as a plugged in device. You must unplug it and plug it back in for it to be recognised again. A small quirk, but it's a minor issue.
Sound What I tried with the Astrapi: DUNU Titan 1 DUNU DN-1000 Havi B3 Pro 1 Takstar Pro 80 Goldring DR150 Because I've had so little time to get to know this little wonder I cannot go into a lot of detail on the sound. But my impressions are: The sound is smooth and transparent, maybe a little warm. Separation, sound stage and imaging is above par I would say. It paired very well with everything I threw at it, especially IEMs. I didn't hear any EMI coming from the PC ground or any low level hissing at all. Sound changes slightly depending on the source that is driving it. Higher current interfaces have better results. Eg. a 1A powered USB device/hub. It does fall short in power with full sized cans, but nothing major. When using things that have around 60 Ohms, the volume control does little from 50% - 100%. Volume wise it is loud enough, but it is not authoritative.
Comparison to the StonerAcoustic UD110 The UD110 is a very capable little device. But put up against the Astrapi as a DAC/amp on it's own, it go it's ***** handed to it. The Astrapi is not only a better looking and better built device. It (supposedly, haven't tried) works with Apple devices and Android devices. UD100 only works with Android and PC. The UD110 has something like 440 Ohms of output impedance, which is OK for a DAC coupled with a separate amplifier but as a standalone unit it's pretty bad. The Astrapi sounds smooth and fuller than the UD110. The only thing that the UD110 has that the Astrapi doesn't is that it is about half the price and it plays a wide range of high resolution playback. Which quite useless when looking at the market it is targeting.
Conclusion The Cozoy Astrapi is probably the most perfect looking portable DAC/amp I've ever seen. The small footprint and beautiful design makes it leagues better than the rest in practicality for easy to drive IEMs and headphones. Of course there are small quirks to work with, but that can possibly be ironed out with future updates. Cheers!

@H20Fidelity

Before I begin, I want to thank @H20Fidelity for providing me this review sample. Also want to thank Fidue for creating such a great product.
I did not purchase the Fidue A71 but I will not let review bias effect me and will not hold any punches when there are punches to be throw. Now let's begin!

The Fidue A71 is what you get when you have have that great idea and have the experience and ability to make that great idea a reality. The overall package of the A71s is superb. Presentation, attention to detail and build quality is above par. The overall sound signature is great for modern listening. Fidue have gone above and beyond to bring you a good product and they did just that.

A little bit about the Fidue A71

Driver Unit		10mm dynamic driver & 6.8mm Titanium dynamic drivers
Frequency response		12Hz -25000Hz
Impedance		19ohm ±10%
Sensitivity		103±3db
Distortion		≤ 1%
Max Input Power		20mw
Plug		3.5mm mini stereo gold-plated plug (Straight)
Cable		1.2m 7N-OFC

FR Graph: Thanks to Fidue for providing this for me!
[size=24.5699996948242px]Packaging[/size] The box is hard cardboard and has a great thought out colour scheme. Very contrasting with the lime green and charcoal, with a little bit of a carbon fibre touch that has the Fidue logo within it (which I think maybe a little bit too much). The tones and contrast go great together to attract the eye and get you to come closer and read the box. Writing on the box just has the name and specs on it in English, Chinese(?), and German. Inside the box you find most of the earphones tucked neatly into the carry case and the ear pieces sitting snug in pre cut nooks cut into a felt pad sitting on top of the foam guts of the box. Great stuff! I've not seen anything like this before. It kind of reminds me of when you buy jewelry or maybe a boutique watch. Accessories You get a nice looking black carry case witch is oblong in shape. It's got a nice soft touch and has the Fidue logo impressed into the top of it. Inside you get a felt backing and a pocket to store the spare ear tip or whatnot. You get a Velcro hook/loop strip to tie off the cable for easy storage inside the case. The felt backing of the case lets you then just stick the earphone in the case so it doesn't fall out when you opening the case. In terms of ear tip you get the following: 3 pairs of Silicone tips (S/M/L) 2 pairs of double flange silicone tips 1 pair of foam tips The ones that I like the best were the small double flange tips. Which, if fact, are now my favourite and have been my new go to ear tips for all my IEMs. Comfort I have to straight out say that these are by far the most comfortable IEMs I've used. They're super light and have this great malleable steel insert in the ear hook which allows you to shape them to your ears. The result is extraordinary! The perfect term for it, and I quote, "Set and forget" (thanks to @H20Fidelity for using this term, it's perfect). I can go for a sprint with these on and would not even notice that they are in my ears, and they are in so well that they will not fall out. And believe me I've done this. Top marks for this. Isolation Isolation is great. I have 3 kids who just love to annoy me when I'm listening to music. Needless to say that I can thoroughly enjoy my music by drowning out the screams and cries of a needy child. Good marks for this as well! Design and Build The build quality looks a bit cheap, but because they are so light, unless you step on them with your foot they could not break if you dropped them. In addition, it has great strain relief and the cable [size=inherit]quality feels great. [/size] The design of them is actually quite interesting. The main part of the housing is black, lightly see through plastic. This means that if you shine light through it you can actually see inside the chamber. The back of the housing is solid plastic, sporting the Fidue logo, which is lofted into a triangular shape of the strain relief, which extended into the earhooks. It a very nice transition. The earhook extending from the strain relief gives you the impression that the cable will last much long in that region. The Y split and jack are made of machined aluminium with round burrs for extra grip. You'll find the Fidue logo on them as well. Strain relief on both is thick durable rubber. You also get a neck cinch, which is a welcome addition, but my quarrel is that it is way too tight on the cable and is quite hard to position. I tend to leave it alone in fear of stripping the cable. Sound The Fidue A71 is a dual chamber, dual driver IEM which means that each driver has it's own chamber to push air from. I'm no expert on this but what I would gather from this information is that the sound waves would not cross paths until it hits your ear. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. My initial impression was "Mind rattling", but as my ears got uses to the sound the bass got less "boom = ouch" to a rumble that gave me a chill down my spine. Overall the the Fidue A71 sounds good. It's bass orientated without having any recesses that I can hear. Its very warm but has enough treble to stay detailed for the most part. With the mid bass bloat you get a sense of bloominess in the air which is quite sweet in some tracks. It has a great soundstage. Way above par to what you normally get with an IEM. It's wide and deep, though the bass makes it quite an intimate listen as it takes away from the airiness. Bass The bass extends well into [size=inherit]the sub-bass of around 30Hz maybe even a little lower. But it has a huge mid bass hump which bloats quite a bit. It bleeds into the lower and mid mids. The bass punch is big and visceral. I quite enjoy it for modern music where you don't need to hear the fine detail, you just listen and enjoy. But when you want to listen to something complex the bass puts a veil over some of the finer details you would normally enjoy. And frankly, to my ears, these earphone are BASS CANNONS![/size] Mids The mids are very rich and warm. Acoustic guitars sound very real like they're in front of you. Male vocals are somewhat let down by the bass. They sound deep and in some songs I found that they are getting downed out by the bass. This is of course only when there is a mid bass orientated bass line present. Treble The treble extends very well. It has no sibilance and doesn't really have any peaks or dips which makes the sound unnatural or metallic. There is a tiny bit of emphasis on the "SSS" sounds, which I actually like. Really sounds great with female vocals when they whisper into the mic. Sparkle is present but not as much as I would've hoped for. The sense of air and space is hindered by the bass making the sensation of air more like a bloom instead.		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[size=24.5699996948242px]Conclusion[/size]

Fidue have really outdone themselves with the A71. They brought good technology and experience, and stuffed it all into one package.
Great looks, sound, build and accessories is all a win in my books. And for the AU$149 price tag, they are worth every penny.

Great job Fidue! You've made a fan out of me!

@DJScope What mod did you do to your Pistons, and how do they compare to these?

@wgrish7

@wgrish7 I have done the grille mod on the Pistons. Just removed the nozzle grille to extract the foam dampening inside to calm the bass and make it a little bit more tight and relieve some of the treble.
The Pistons are much, much more V shaped, with recessed mids. A71 has much tighter, coherent bass response. The mids aren't recessed compared to Pistons. The treble is smoother and extends better with the A71. The Pistons have a metallic edge to the treble can get a little but sibilant at times.
Also the A71 has a superior micro detail retrieval. A71 has the same or a little bit better soundstage.

I hope that helps.

@DJScope I have been reading the impressions thread, and I am amazed at the value.
Well, anyways, thank you for all the information.

@White Lotus

Before I start I want to thank @White Lotus for including me on this Australian product tour for the Sennheiser Urbanite XL.

"Let your ears be loved: Sennheiser’s new over-ear headphones URBANITE XL delivers unique style and an intense club sound on the move – serving up massive bass but with Sennheiser’s uncompromising audio expertise ensuring excellent clarity across all frequencies." - Sennheiser

As far as I can gather, or what might be the consensus on the Sennheiser Urbanites, is that they are supposed to be the competition for Beats headphones or something down those line. I could agree with that statement, but at the same time I'm inclined to disagree. The Urbanite XL is a great addition to the market as they have their own attributes they make them special. But of course, nothing is without it's flaws.

A Little About the Ubanite XL

Colours	Black, Denim, Sand, Olive, Nation
Device Compatibility	iPhone & Android
Impedance	18 Ω
Connector	3.5mm (1/8") 90° Angled
FR Microphone	100–10000 Hz
FR Headphone	16–22000 Hz
SPL	110 dB @ 1 kHz & 1 Vrms
THD	< 0.5 % (1 kHz, 100 dB)
Type	Circum-aural / Closed
Cable Length	1.2 m (47")
Transducer	Dynamic Driver

Packaging

The headphone comes in a cardboard box, nothing out of the ordinary. Inside the box is lined with soft yet dense black foam with a cut out that holds the Urbanites nice and snug in their smallest form. Unfortunately, the box doesn't have a handle or anything to allow you to use it for travel.

Accessories

Here it is! The only accessory is this very nice soft touch polyester carry bag. Some would say the the cable is also an accessory, but it's kind of a key component of the headphone.

The Cable!

The cable is a flat tangle-free rubber cable with a three button mic/remote which is 1.2m long. It has a 90 degree 3.5mm 4 pole jack on the source end, and a 2.5mm 4 pole lock-in jack for the headphone end. The 2.5mm jack seems to be a proprietary design and might be quite difficult to find after market cables for it.
The cable seems to be very good in terms of memory as the folds seem to straighten out after some time. Though it is forever deformed from being folded in the box for however long it stayed in there. The cable feels a bit cheap and doesn't give much confidence in terms of durability. But only time can tell if it is as cheap as it looks. It does feel quite nice in the hand, though. The soft rubber is themed to match the colour of the your Urbanites.
Remote works as intended on Android, though the plus and minus buttons do not work on my Motorola Moto G (XT1033), but neither do any of the other three button remotes I've tried.

Design

This headphone is definitely a looker! Everything about this headphone screams quality when you look at it. I personally love the denim on the top of the headband, it's something I've not seen before and I think it is a wonderful touch. The inner headband is a rubber moulding with what seems to be an air gap cushion inside. It's super soft but in my experience is not very effective (more on this in comfort). The aluminium sliding mechanism is superb! It is a super smooth mechanism, and it is super "German" because it's different, somewhat complicated, unnecessary and it works. I love it!

Comfort

Comfort is an important aspect for any headphone, and this is probably my least favourite thing about the Urbanite XL. The bottom on the headband, whilst it is very soft to touch with your hands, it actually creates a pressure point right on top on you head. More of this, the ear pads aren't actually large enough to be considered as a "over the ear" design. The pads press up against the top of my ears and the my ear lobes, which after some time gets very irritating and for me is a big deal breaker. Normally I'd be listening to the headphone while reviewing it but I had to put it down to give my ears a break as I've been listening to them for over 90 minutes non-stop.
Clamping force is very small. For comfort this is a plus but it also means that it is not very stable on the head. This maybe a problem if you're jogging.

Sound

The sound signature is pretty mainstream, if that means anything to you. It's warm and smooth, without any sibilance. It's more inclined towards the bass. While some people would compare them to the Beats, I wouldn't. They do have the bass but it's not too overbearing on the rest of the spectrum. Clarity is good on tracks that are not bass heavy, but it does get very dark on those bassy tracks and everything kind of steps back to give that bass its front row.
Soundstage is quite intimate and isn't as wide as I'd like it to be. (I guess I'm just spoilt by the Takstar Pro 80.) The imaging is pretty good in terms of placement. Every instrument and element has a precise and somewhat exact location of the stage. It could be a bit better in width and depth but you really can't ask for more with such small cups and hear pads.

Bass

The bass is good. It's articulate most of the time. It extends well into the sub bass and gives a good punch and rumble. The mid bass is where it lacks control. There is a hump maybe around the 200Hz mark where everything goes loose and starts to take over the rest of the spectrum. Some tracks will sound absolutely wonderful, rich, warm, inviting and exciting, but others will sound like you listening through a pillow. But most of the time it's OK. These Urbanites are a big picky when it comes to bass.

Mids

The mids are recessed. No surprises here really. It's warmed up from the bass but mostly it sits in the back. Vocals aren't terrible but aren't engaging. Instruments in this range don't sound too bad, though.

Treble

The treble is what surprised me the most. I was expecting no treble at all. But it's actually pretty good. It doesn't extend very far and seems to be more aimed at the lower treble. This gives it a sense of clarity and makes the sound crisp yet dry. The lack of mid to upper treble means that there isn't any sibilance in the sound but at the same time it takes away some of the edge of some notes, because of this, some of the finer details are lost. But of course there is method in the madness. Less treble means a more comfortable listen.

Conclusion

In conclusion I would say "No". No the Urbanites are not here to compete with Beats. They're here to show us that the commercial/mainstream sound can be done properly and without compromising too much of the clarity. It's a welcome addition to the market and I hope Sennheiser can create their own market with such a great new line up.

Cheers!

Great review mate!

Cheers mate!

Do these deliver on massive bass? I would get these if they had some sub bass impact but it doesnt look like it.