Excellent review, and a very pleasant read too. To me, their natural competition would be iBasso's IT04, same configuration, same price. Have you had a chance to try them, and, if so, what's your take? Thanks

Wish I could say that I have.I have not had the pleasure of the iBasso's as of yet. I still pull out the EM5 as a break from my "review critters" quite often! Thanks for the compliment, as well. Cheers and good audio listening to you!

Very good review, but can you please comment on isolation? Thanks.

The isolation will be tip dependent. That said, for my average sized ears, using the silicon tips gave me a slightly better deal than the foam. But, I felt completely isolated like being underwater. This often happens to me with silicon tips and I don’t really feel comfortable in that listening environment.