First I would like to thank Questyle for sending out their latest TOTL all-in-one out for a review tour. It has been an immense pleasure to spend my time with the CMA Fifteen.

Build
The CMA Fifteen is built like an absolute tank. The first thing I noticed as I unpackaged the unit was how heavy the device was for its size. This is not a tiny device by any extent, but seeing the dimensions that are posted on the Questyle site gives you some idea as to the potential product weight, but man is this device a brick. I should have known that Questyle would go out of their way to create yet another multi-mm thick device, and it surely does feel like a quality device. Every aspect of this device feels quality. The switches on the front make a very satisfying click when flipped, and that volume pot has the best amount of resistance I have felt on any volume pot to date. What an absolute joy to use. Even the SPIDF connection on the back makes a satisfying click when engaged. There are too many SPIDF connectors out there that either don't click in to place, or feel like you have just broken them when plugging in your cable. Thankfully, that is not the case with the CMA Fifteen... just an absolute joy to interact with.

Use case
I primarily used the CMA Fifteen in my listening room connected directly to my iPad that was running Tidal HiFi Plus via USB. I also used the CMA Fifteen in conjunction with my Shanling EM5. I used the optical out of the EM5 directly in to the CMA Fifteen to access a lot of my stored media. I can honestly say that the CMA Fifteen is the perfect device for my use-case, and one that I would be truly honored to have/use on a daily basis.

Gear Used
I primarily used the CMA Fifteen with either the iPad direct, or as stated above... in conjunction with my EM5. The headphones that were primarily used are as follows:

• Hifiman HE6se v2
• Hifiman Edition XS
• Sennheiser HD650
• Focal Elegia
• Meze Liric

I will say that a nice piece to the Shanling EM5 (I know I am not reviewing that item) is that I can run my CD transport directly in to the EM5 and then output that via optical to the CMA Fifteen. I know I could plug the D transport directly in to the CMA Fifteen, but I do enjoy using the EQ section of the EM5... what a treat.


credit to eCoustics.com for the wonderful image

Listening Impressions
While the CMA Fifteen reminds me greatly of my time with the CMA Twelve... I can say with all honesty that it doesn't sound at all like the CMA Twelve to my ears. I always found the CMA Twelve to be a little on the warm side. The CMA Fifteen does not sound warm to my ears... it is probably the most 'neutral' sounding dac/amp that I have heard. There is little coloration happening at the dac/amp section to my ears. While I have been skeptical of ESS chips in the past, the ES9038PRO chip here is doing some fine...fine work. I realize that the implementation of a DAC chip matters much more than the actual chip, but I have to tell you that I have heard a lot of horrible ESS based dac/amps in the past. The CMA Fifteen isn't even on the same planet as those other ESS based systems.

The sound coming through the CMA Fifteen is truly absent of...well...anything. Being mostly a headphone guy I had to call on a close friend of mine to bring over his insanely sensitive CA Andromedas over to test the noise floor. I am happy to report that the CMA Fifteen offered up none of the hiss that comes with a lot of these types of devices with super sensitive iems.

Another party trick that I was very anxious to test out was the ability of the CMA Fifteen to drive the Hifiman HE6se v2. Now, while there are better ways to give the HE6se v2 more voltage... I wanted to hear how well the current mode amplification would handle a headphone that I know loves to be fed voltage. Well, to my surprise it did quite well with the HE6se v2. At high gain... I got to 3:00 pm on the dial and really didn't need more than that. I could hear that the bass wasn't as fully developed as from the back of the speaker amps that I have used, but all-in-all it was a very enjoyable listen. Midrange, treble... all very well controlled. Typically, with the HE6 lineup if underpowered the treble will be some of the most sibilant garbage out there. This was not the case at all with the CMA Fifteen... well, at least for this unit. I cannot speak to all of them, but I feel fairly confident seeing as Questyle is well known for the quality control.

I am not 100% sure as to what the bias switch is intended for on the front panel, but I used it was an impedance switch between High and Standard modes. The Sennheiser HD650 sounded wonderful from the High setting, while the Edition XS sounded better via the Standard setting. Again. I am not quite sure the importance of this switch... as I admittedly did as little research on this unit before I got a chance to use it, but I could hear a difference between the two modes.

Conclusion
I have very much enjoyed my time with the CMA Fifteen, and will be very sorry to see it go. I was fortunate enough to have both the CMA Fifteen and the Meze Liric at roughly the same time, and this combo was truly an amazing experience. I am currently in the market for a Meze Liric, and once I have acquired that... I will be in the market for the CMA Fifteen. The unit just does everything well. I cannot fault the device...god knows I want to find something to not like about it, but it does everything that I want it to do... and it sounds great.

The purchase price is high, but so are a lot of things in the hobby. I wish the trend wasn't to keep pushing the $$ threshold, but it is what it is at this point. I can see myself owing this piece and then never looking for anything further. To me, that statement means more than any flowering descriptive words that I could use to describe it.

I want to than Questyle once again for allowing me to spend some time with the CMA Fifteen, and I am very sorry to see this unit go out to someone else... BUT I do hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

Let me first start by thanking Andy for this opportunity to spend some quality time with the Meze Liric. It has been an absolute pleasure.

I primarily listened to the Meze Liric with my portable gear while at the office. I did spend some time with the Liric in my listening room on my main gear, but that really just isn't the purpose of this headphone for me. I have been looking for a portable headphone for a few years now... none have really fit that bill... until now.



Gear Used:

Portable Gear:
Oriolus BA300S
ifi xCAN
EarStudio ES100 mrkII

Desktop Gear:
Hifiman EF400
Shanling EM5

Sources
Tidal HiFi Plus
Audiolab 6000CDT

Let me start this off by saying that my listening preferences typically lean towards warm and detailed presentations of sound. I loved my ownership time of the Meze Empyrean and hoped that the Liric had some of what made that a truly fantastic experience for me.

First Impressions
Wow. That was all I could manage as I unpacked the Liric from the shipping boxes. The presentation case is what you would expect from a company such as Meze. I love the font that is used for the Liric... it reminds me of some font used in a 1960-70's Filmore East/West poster. Opening the travel case added to my sense of quality, as the cables came packaged in their own leather pouches. That's a nice little touch Meze. The only negative in this initial experience was the cables. To be honest... I never used the stock 3.5mm cables that are included. I despise that rubbery feeling on cables, and while I am sure they work just fine... I am shocked to see no balanced option for these cables as a stock offering. Thankfully, the Liric was shipped with a 4.4mm balanced cable as well. Now, this 4.4mm balanced cable is basically an IEM cable that has been terminated for 3.5mm instead of mmcx/0.78. I appreciate this cable, as it is lightweight and non-microphonic, but the slides that go over the 3.5mm connections have failed and will slide off the wire when trying to remove the cables from the Liric. I am sure this is just an issue with this particular cable having been used by so many people, but wanted to include that in this review, as your mileage may vary.

Taking the Liric from the travel case was an absolute pleasure. I had read how light the Liric felt, but I wasn't ready... I thought I was, but I wasn't. The Liric are not a small headphone by any extent of the imagination, but the weight is so much lighter than I was expecting. I immediately took them from their case and placed them on my head. Now, the pads are smaller than the Elite/Empyrean, but my ears fit in them without any issue... and I don't have the smallest ears. I can't describe to you just how comfortable these headphones are on the head. The Elite/Empyrean has set the standard for me, and while the Liric are not the same design... boy are they close. They are by far the most comfortable closed-back headphones I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. Before the Liric I would have given the comfort award to the Sony MDR-Z1R... but with only my memory of the Z1R I can confidently say that the Liric develop no hotspots on my head regardless of the amount of time worn.


First Listen
The Liric are rated at 30Ω and 100dB, and while not 'hard to drive' they certainly do require more than my other closed-back headphones of choice... the Focal Elegia. I wanted to see what the Liric could do with even the most basic of portable listening scenarios, so enter the Apple dongle. Now, before you stop reading, hear me out... the Apple Dongle, while not an amazing dac/amp does provide an easy point of entry for a lot of people wanting to use their phone as a streaming audio device. Granted, not many people buying a $2k headphone would use the $9 dongle...but I was surprised that not only did it have plenty of juice to drive the Liric... it didn't sound half bad either. Yes, there was compression happening and the low-end was slightly less full, but in a pinch... that little thing would work.

Having spent about 20 mins with the Apple dongle I was satisfied with it and moved on to the ifi xCAN and Oriolus BA300S and just wow... wow what a sound!

I am a sucker for the Punch Brothers. I know that their albums aren't the best recorded, but I don't care. I love the interplay between the instruments and vocal harmonies.

Punch Brothers - The Phosphorescent Blues
The first track on this album is one of my absolute favorites... Familiarity. This track shows off what your headphone can do in terms of dynamics, staging and imaging. The Liric did not disappoint in the staging and imaging, not at all. The layering that the Liric can produce is probably my favorite aspect of what it can produce. Streaming this from Tidal as a 'Master' album just sounded simply fantastic. The only area that I can hear that are slightly less than ideal would be the dynamic reproduction. When comparing the Liric directly to my modded and EQ'd Elegia... yes, the Elegia will hit harder and have greater dynamics, but boy does it fall flat on the other areas compared to the Liric. All I can say is that I was so happy with the Liric and this track that I lost track of time and before I knew it... the album was over.

Max Cooper 3D Reworks 001
I know, I know... a bunch of audiophile clicks, pops and stereo imaging. Yes, but good lord do I love to sit down and just let this EP do its thing. This entire EP will test how your headphones and source layer, stage and keep up with speed. I am happy to report that the Liric absolutely demolished this EP. I EQ'd a tiny bass shelf +2dB and just sat back in my office chair while neglecting my duties for 18:11 of pure listening bliss. The imaging and stage of the Liric continue to impress me, but now the speed has my brain struggling to keep up with what is going on. I cannot take anything away from the Liric here... nothing at all. I would happily sit here for hours at a time and just enjoy what I am hearing.

The second track on this EP is called Repetition 3D. It starts with a lovely man speaking in the right channel. As the track progresses the voice moves from right to left in a circular rotation around your head. This binaural recording is a trip for anyone that struggles to understand the difference between sounds in front of you vs. behind you. The Liric provided me with the absolute best recreation on this track of any closed'back headphone I have ever tried. Spectacular imaging, layering and sense of space. Also, with some planar drivers spoken voices can sound thin... compressed and just off in general. The good news is that the Liric reproduces a much more natural sound in spoken voices than even the Focal Elegia. Overall I found myself again just checking out and allowing the entire EP to play while I sat back in my favorite chair and just enjoyed what was happening.

Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 2
The second track on this album titled Sky Above is just an angelic presentation of Jacob, a guitar and a female vocalist starting out... and my god does the Liric convey a sense of layering and space on this track. Vocal timbre is an absolute treat here and even makes me think twice about my default leaders of vocals the HD650. About halfway through this track the band picks up and this globe of sound just fills in... what an experience. I just want to be here... right now.

Conclusion

I have to say that the Meze Liric has impressed me on so many areas that I can say without any hesitation that it is my favorite closed-back headphone to date. My major complaint with the Liric is the cable(s), and if that is the one and only true issue that I have... oh well. There are plenty of other cable manufacturers out there. I have a cable system from Hart Audio that works very well with the Liric, and if I was keeping the Liric I would have another custom cable made for it.

While the Liric can scale well with higher performing gear... it's not as much of a change as something like the HD650/600. Yes, it will improve, but like many planar headphones... that % of gain often times is just not worth it imo.

We often forget what brought us down this path... the love of listening to music. When you get to this place where you are investing significant $$$ in to a hobby you have to just sit down and listen. If what you are hearing puts a smile on your face and makes you want to get up and dance, then what else do you want? I can say without any hesitation that the Meze Liric checks all of those boxes for me, and it will happily replace my Focal Elegia at some near point in the future.

Thank you again Andy, and thank you Meze for creating this truly amazing headphone!

I first would like to thank Hifiman for sending out this unit as part of the loaner tour program. I have had the pleasure of participating in a few of these types of programs with Hifiman, and prefer these types of programs to just sending out models to popular reviewers on YouTube.

I will be sharing my review as more of a first impression (3 days in) and will commit to changing any information below if warranted after my full time with the Ananda.

Packaging/Build
Well, Hifiman is still using the leatherette presentation box... which I guess is Ok. I don’t really have anything to add here other than the presentation box does a great job of keeping the headphones safe during transport. This is not something that I would ever use beyond shipping, but hey... you get something.

The Ananda is built about as well as any other Hifiman I have ever owned/used. It’s the same as the Sundara and the Jade II. I will say that this particular unit seems to be less squeaky than the Jade II that I used while on that loaner tour. I will add that I am not a huge fan of the new style of headband. The lack of swivel adjustment is not ideal, and while this has not been an issue for me, nor do I imagine that with drivers as large as the Ananda it being an issue for most people, it would be nice to have that as an option. I can say that the change on the yoke system from plastic to metal is a nice, as this should help to solve the issue of shattering plastics. I do wish that the support strap was made of a softer material, as I can imagine that people without hair on top of their heads would prefer something more comfortable on their head than a stiff band. The vertical adjustment for me was totally useless, as the headphone sat well on my head without any vertical adjustment, so if you are someone with a slightly smaller head... you may want to look elsewhere for your headphones. That’s a bit of a shame, as the sound these provide is quite special (more on this later). This was the same issue I had with the v2 version of Hifiman popular Edition X line. I don’t know who they are measuring for their headphones adjustments, but they must have truly massive heads.

The catheter tube cables are the absolute worst cables I have ever seen provided from any company. They feel cheaper than a $15 Amazon cable, and I do not understand who made the decision over at Hifiman to include these... that person needs to be removed from the QA/design team. I cannot express to you enough that the price of this headphone needs to be adjusted as you will most certainly be looking for another cable to use. I would recommend going to Heart Audio and spending your hard earned money with them for their interchanging system.

Initial Listening Gear
I used a variety of gear with the Ananda in the first 3 days, and Tidal as my streaming platform.

• ifi micro iDSD (non-black version)
• AudioQuest Dragonfly Black v1.5
• Little Bear B4-X
• AudioGD R-28
• Bottlehead Crack (non-speedball w/upgraded caps and output stage)
• Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC DSD
• Aune x7s
• Emotiva A-100
• Apple lightning to 3.5mm dongle adapter
• Earstudio es100

Gear Comparisons
I must preface this with the understanding that all of my listening impressions were done with the stock 3.5mm cable (un-balanced) that was provided, as I had long since sold my other headphones that have been terminated in dual 3.5mm connectors. I also listen at much lower listening volume than most. I average around 60db for listening with peaks hitting at 64db. I use dB Meter for iOS to measure these volumes. It’s probably not the most accurate way of measuring dB, but it’s used as a volume reference point for me.

I first started with the Ananda with the Apple 3.5mm adapter and quickly decided that this was not a good solution for these. The Ananda is rated at 25ohm with a sensitivity of 103dB/mW. While you can get these loud on the adapter... it’s not a pleasant sound. It was horribly narrow and flat sounding. It also had a strange way of sounding very harsh in the upper mids and treble.

After testing several different ‘portable’ solutions I landed on really liking the presentation of the AudioQuest v1.5 black in to the Little Bear B4-X. This setup provided ample stage, detail and dynamics. The ifi was a close second, and far more ‘portable’ of a solution, but lacked that extra texture that was provided by the Little Bear. I did try the ifi feeding the B4-X at one point, and while that sounded fantastic, it was a bit ridiculous of a setup for ‘portable’ or even as a ‘transportable’ setup. I have really enjoyed being able to take this setup to the office and using it throughout my day at work. Thankfully I work alone in my office, as the Ananda is in no way a closed, or even semi-closed headphone.

What I did notice quite well was that as I went up in my chain of gear... the Ananda responded by presenting more. The change from the Apple dongle to the es100 showed more detail and a wider presentation with greater dynamics. Similarly, the change from the es100 to the ifi micro iDSD was just more of everything.

The biggest difference in the jump came when I was able to run the Ananda on my modified Bottlehead Crack fed by the R-28 dac. That was a blissful combination. Spacious sound with amazing detail and extension.

The Ananda did a great job of being a transportable headphone along with a headphone that I could sit down with in my listening room for more long-term listening sessions.

Sound
Again, I must preference this part with an understanding that I am evaluating the Ananda on the way that it presents music to my ears for enjoyment. I don’t care about the accuracy, frequency response or other measurements... I listen to music for the enjoyment of the sound, and to me that comes down to how does the headphone make me feel when listening to the music. I will also provide my impressions based on the song and my preferred gear used for transportable and listening room (v1.5 DFB -> B4-X for transportable and R-28 -> Bottlehead Crack for listening room)

Dominique Fils-Aime - Feeling Good
Dominique has such a natural and textured voice that it’s easy to lose her sense of texture when a headphone struggles to reproduce a natural voice. The good news here is that the Ananda does an excellent job of delivering quality vocals for Dominique. There are stark differences in presentation for this track between the transportable rig vs. my listening room setup.

• Transportable - Strong and close center image for her voice without a lot of reverberation or decay in her textured tones. Slightly thin sounding without a lot of body in the lower mid range. Excellent staging, if a little narrow, with the supporting vocals in the track.
• Listening Room - Much wider presentation with plenty of air separating the main vocal track and the supporting vocals. Thick body in her voice with plenty of texture. This sounds glorious.

Cassandra Wilson - Strange Fruit
I absolutely love the way this track starts out with a solid bass line. the texture of that bass has to be reproduced correctly as the bass player pulls off the note and you can hear the player slap the finger board before starting the lick again. At the :13 mark the trumpet player quietly sneaks in to the mix far back on the left with a sustained note.Then at :18 there is some strange percussion hit that almost sounds like a random thin piece of metal, it‘s the guitar, but it’s strange. Cassandra comes in at :52 with her raspy, textured voice. Again, quite a difference between the two setups.

• Transportable - impressive imaging and depth on this track. The trumpet sounds a good deal behind the main sounds in this track. The bass is slightly lacking in a full tone for a standing bass. Cassandra‘s voice is displayed well here with great texture and definition. I will say that the depth of her texture is slightly thin in the lower registers of what she’s hitting in this track.
• Listening Room - Everything that the transportable setup was is just so much more here. The staging and depth is more, the standing bass is now full and impactful and her voice has been rounded out with the addition of that lower mid range that was slightly lacking. This track sounds massive and alive.

Melody Gardot - Amalia
This song starts out with a fun, if not Jack Johnson style, guitar line. The rest of the group comes in after a round and Melody starts in with some vocal work. This is a very relaxing song, but can become very muddy sounding if the headphone is not capable of staging the different elements well. The good news is that the Ananda again performs well at reproducing the correct instruments in their respective places.

• Transportable - Slightly leaning towards a lean sound reproduction with speed in the bass (lacking a bit of impact on those sustained low notes). Melody’s voice is textured and breathy, the way it should be... but again, slightly lacking in the lower mid range to fill out her voice.
• Listening Room - There it is. Ok, I am beginning to sense a trend here. The Ananda really likes to have power in reserves to be able to reproduce the dynamics to fill in the gaps where other gear may be lacking.

Overall, for my listening preferences (which is textured vocals) the Ananda performs extremely well at it’s price point. I find myself reaching for the Ananda far more in my listening room than other options I have available to me. Now, that could be down to the fact that I am on this loaner tour and find myself compelled to spend as much time as possible with it, but I would like to think that I would happily remove some of my current lineup for these. I have previously owned both the v1 and v2 version of the Edition X, and based on memory I can say that I prefer the Ananda for my listening preferences.

Now, if you’re wanting big and impactful bass I would recommend looking elsewhere. The Ananda reproduces what the is on the track and does not provide more than what is there. The Ananda is also slightly rolled off on the top, but in the best way possible. There was never a time in my initial listening that Ananda ever presented anything that was sibilant to me.

If these initial impressions are anything similar to what I will find over the coming week, then I am more than happy to recommend the Ananda for anyone looking for a large sounding, open and fast headphone at this price point. Is it perfect, no... but isn’t that a dumb question to be asking? If you’re in to the enjoyment of music reproduction... this is a good one depending on your use case. it shines with vocals and instruments, but if you’re wanting electronic reproduction look elsewhere.