Massive respect to the integrity for speaking out about the BS that they wanted to pull.

It's unfortunate to see that Sivga and their representatives don't see that not owning up to this messy release is doing more bad to their business than good. I love the company and their previous products, but this model just have several notable problems... which the company is clearly trying to overlook and cover up. A very bad look for their business, and I truly hope they can make a public announcement or apology.

Since SIVGA is not an official sponsor of Head-Fi, nor does Head-Fi state that anywhere, (correct me if I'm wrong), it would be illegal for them to censor your and tell you not to post it beyond your blog.

Once again, all these actions are doing way more bad than good to their company.

With apologies, and yet this boils down to your opinion of “not liking the tuning.” To some, this is a very good tune. To others (such as you and another prominent one here), those reviews posit that the whole is wrong due to the parts.

Respectfully, if you do not like the tuning, that is pretty much as far as you can go. You cannot really say, “this has glaring issues,” without clarifying it is your opinion and the tuning is not to your liking. I personally really do not like the tuning of Sennheiser or HiFiMan headphones, but certainly appreciate what they bring to the table.

Not recommending them (in bold font, nonetheless) is all right, with the clarification that it is your opinion that you do not like them and they may have limited usage. There have been some truly horrible IEM’s (in my opinion and my tastes), which rate quite well. I consider them horrible for my taste, that is all. No pontification needed, by either of us.

Cheers and have a good weekend.

@ngoshawk about the tuning I agree. You can't expect all headphone to sound the same... That would be very, very boring. Imagine if all headphones sounded balanced and open. Who would want the same headphone tuning across the whole market? I certainly wouldn't.

What is clear is that SIVGA has not responded well to the criticism for this release. And when you try to overlook valid criticism as a company, and even go as far to shut down someone from publicly stating their criticism, things get ugly. It does not give you a good look. I understand $ and ROI, but SIVGA has been here for awhile. It has always cared about its fans (remember when me and many people complained about the thin pads for the Phoenix? SIVGA did the responsible thing and released a separate set of thicker pads), so I don't understand why this is happening with this release.

The latest public activity from SIVGA on forums (related to the SV021) has felt extremely forceful and "weird".

@voja i do understand the consternation’s had with the company and the “push” for a certain quality of review. I do not like when anyone does that. Let the product stand on its own for good or ill. And, it is good to have varying opinions on the same headphones, such as you mention in the tuning; lest it be boring. My hope is that those who read the reviews discern that these are differing opinions and as we have all mentioned (which is good), go listen for themselves.

@RikudouGoku: thanks for your support!
@voja: I agree wholeheartedly with your messages.
@ngoshawk: my answer is a bit long, so I'll split it in two messages, sorry about that. I understand your point and I do agree, up to a certain extent. I wrote a 2,000 characters long reply, but it won't fit here. To make it short: let's forget about the fact that, as audiophiles, we should strive for a reproduction that's as close as possible to the real thing. Let's also forget what we may like or we may not like personally. The problem with the SV021 is that it doesn't reproduce music correctly, which in this case means "in a way that allows you to hear what's going on and discern the various parts". If you listen to The Battle from the Master and Commander soundtrack you will hear a mishmash of sounds, not individual drumbeats, flutes and percussions (tambourines, I guess?).

This is just one example, but it explains my point: there's a line between not liking something and that something reproducing music in a way that doesn't allow you to hear everything that's there, or giving it excessive emphasis. This is the reason why I gave the Spirit Torino Radiante, which I equally don't like, a very good rating: because although I don't like them, they reproduce everything so that I can hear it. They add something to the sound (bass), but take nothing from it. I feel that if we don't set a minimum standard, which should be accurate (if coloured) reproduction, then there's no point in reviewing anything as everything is great as long as you like it - and I strongly disagree with that. Call it a philosophical stance if you wish!
I hope this explains my position better. No pontification is ever meant!
Have a great weekend!

I understand, my response was over as well so I had to truncate it.

I also do understand you stance. But by using a minimum “baseline,” such as say, I don’t know (I do…) the Harman Curve; you have set an unnecessary bar for all items. Take the HiFiMan HE-R10P, probably one of the finest I have ever heard. I rated it down, because of build and a couple of others. Sound wise? Spectacular, but not for all.

Then there is the Kennerton Rögnir. Sound wise, it doesn’t fit the HC (thank God imho), but emotes such a response that it is the top one I have ever heard, hence it will most definitely get a 5. But is it for all? No (actually yes, but we won’t go there…), hence my tempering for whom it may work.

I do understand who you come from by by using the baseline of “realism” as the bar, you knock out the Rögnir, the Legend X, and many others, which are incredible for what they do. Without critics stating, “this is why I don’t like it and you may,” we would all be wearing Senns HD6xxzzyyoops models and call it good.

Yours is a good review, but we owe it to point out deficiencies based upon what you say, and then tell why it gets the ratings it does and whom it may be good for. That’s it. You pretty much did that, and good for you. That’s better than listening for 10min and calling it horrible.

This isn’t exactly what I wanted to say (and I’m sure I’m over the 1k…I was…) so I’ll post more later. Have a great day.