This will be a little containment thread of sorts for myself to function as an outlet for me to talk about some things on a regular basis. Most of my reviews will be centered around portable gear, namely IEMs. DAP and cable reviews might come in the future.
Index:
Sony IER-Z1R review Deprecated
64 Audio A12t review Deprecated
Etymotic ER4SR review
Sony IER-M7 & M9 review
Sony WF-1000MX3 review
Meze Rai Penta review
Vision Ears Elysium review
64 audio Fourte Noir review
Campfire Audio Solaris review
JVC HA-FW10000 review
Aminus Rants: Burn In
FiiO FH7 review
Hyla CE-5 review
Hidition Viento review
Audio-technica ATH-CK2000Ti review
Aminus Rants: Driver types, hybrids, and what they mean to you: Part One
Sennheiser IE400 Pro review
Jomo Trinity Brass review
InEar ProPhile 8 review
Sony MH755 review
Aminus Rants: Driver types, hybrids, and what they mean to you: Part Two
Empire Ears Wraith review
Empire Ears Valkyrie review
JVC HA-FD01 review
Astell & Kern AK T8iE MK II review
Aminus Rants: Power
An Update
Canjam Shanghai 2019: Day One
InEar ProMission X review
Canjam Shanghai 2019: Day Two
Vision Ears Erlkonig review
Pears SH3 review
Oriolus Percivali review
Acoustune HS1655CU review
Acoustune HS1695TI review
oBravo Cupid review
Aminus Recommends
Aminus Rants: Sony’s IER-Z1R revisited
Dita Dream XLS review
Fearless Roland review
Tin HiFi T4 review
Sony MDR-AS800AP review
Drop x JVC HA-FDX1 review
Aminus Rants: Terminology, or, how I define technical ability and other things
Tanchjim Oxygen review
BLON BL-03 review
Elysian Acoustic Labs Terminator 2 review
Elysian Acoustic Labs Annihilator review
Audio-technica ATH-IEX1 review
Aminus Rants: Scoring; or, counting from 0 to 10
Noble Kaiser Encore review
64 Audio U12t review
Aminus Rants: 2020, or, Off This Decade
Campfire Audio Solaris SE review
Meze Rai Solo review
qdc Anole VX review
Sony XBA-N3 review
Campfire Audio Andromeda review
Etymotic ER2XR review
64 Audio tia Trio review
Aminus Rants: The Aminus Target Curve
64 Audio tia Fourte review
Hidition NT-6 review
Astell & Kern T9iE review
FAudio Minor review
Aminus Rants: The Source Question
Final Audio A8000 review
Aminus Rants: Engagement factor, or “what do you mean by ‘it’s boring?’”
ikko OH7 review
Fearless x crinacle Dawn review
Moondrop Blessing 2 review
Quarantine Catchup: The Campfire 2020 Roundup
Dunu Luna review
Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Acoustune and the number 7: A Lineup Roundup
ThieAudio Monarch review
ThieAudio Clairvoyance review
64 Audio A18s review
64 Audio Nio review
Moondrop SSR (Super Spaceship Reference) review
Moondrop SSP (Super Spaceship Pulse) and Illumination review
Moondrop S8 review
The Campfire Roundup, Deuxième Partie
Metal Magic Research: Lessons in Bad Shell Design
Moondrop x Crinacle Blessing 2: Dusk review
Thieaudio Legacy 4 review
Prisma Azul review
Dunu SA6 review
Symphonio VR1 review
Portable Audio Touchdown Tour Part 1: The NW-WM1AM2 and NW-WM1ZM2
Portable Audio Touchdown Tour Part 2: A whole assortment of IEMs and then some I
Portable Audio Touchdown Tour Part 3: A whole assortment of IEMs and then some II
Canjam NYC 2023 show notes
Canjam SG 2023 show notes — Day one
Miscellaneous Chifi IEMs (Moondrop and Tanchjim)
Miscellaneous IEMs (FAudio, Oriolus, FiR)
Miscellaneous IEMs (Letshuoer, Craft Ears, HUM, MADOO)
Theme and Variations: 64 Audio
Brand Roundup: qdc
Who are you?
I'm a musician and composer who also happens to be into high end audio gear. I've had a good amount of experience trying almost everything under the sun, and I figured it would be an interesting project in my free time to try and distill that into textual format, for benefit of reference for myself as well as for whoever cares to read.
What do you like?
My reference headphone(s) are the venerable Sennheiser HD6X0 series, in particular the HD580, though I own handpicked variants of every member of the family (excluding the outlier that is the HD660S). There is an undeniable correctness throughout these headphones' midrange (and tonal response in general) that I have nothing but the highest appreciation for, and they have a wonderful timbre which never sounds wrong, to say nothing of their ability to scale in dynamics and detail depending on upstream gear. To this end, I seek something similar in IEMs; an ultimate rightness in tonal response coupled with unhindered dynamics and natural timbre.
D I S C L A I M E R (Read this, or don't say I didn't warn you!)
Anything I write here, no matter how objective I may make it sound, is entirely subjective. Unless I cite a specific number (say, a frequency response feature) or make reference to a measurement or a graph, everything I say is entirely my opinion. This includes my fairly negative beliefs on a large majority of audio gear, and the few things I genuinely like a lot. Don't complain when I call your gear trash. You have been warned.
Thanks to:
Crinacle, for all those graphs, for putting up with my obnoxious behavior, and for being a real good guy overall.
Toranku, for being a real inspiration on how to pull off reviews.
MV95, for whooping me into shape.
A certain fried rice for bothering to talk to me.
That's all, happy reading.
Index:
Etymotic ER4SR review
Sony IER-M7 & M9 review
Sony WF-1000MX3 review
Meze Rai Penta review
Vision Ears Elysium review
64 audio Fourte Noir review
Campfire Audio Solaris review
JVC HA-FW10000 review
Aminus Rants: Burn In
FiiO FH7 review
Hyla CE-5 review
Hidition Viento review
Audio-technica ATH-CK2000Ti review
Aminus Rants: Driver types, hybrids, and what they mean to you: Part One
Sennheiser IE400 Pro review
Jomo Trinity Brass review
InEar ProPhile 8 review
Sony MH755 review
Aminus Rants: Driver types, hybrids, and what they mean to you: Part Two
Empire Ears Wraith review
Empire Ears Valkyrie review
JVC HA-FD01 review
Astell & Kern AK T8iE MK II review
Aminus Rants: Power
An Update
Canjam Shanghai 2019: Day One
InEar ProMission X review
Canjam Shanghai 2019: Day Two
Vision Ears Erlkonig review
Pears SH3 review
Oriolus Percivali review
Acoustune HS1655CU review
Acoustune HS1695TI review
oBravo Cupid review
Aminus Recommends
Aminus Rants: Sony’s IER-Z1R revisited
Dita Dream XLS review
Fearless Roland review
Tin HiFi T4 review
Sony MDR-AS800AP review
Drop x JVC HA-FDX1 review
Aminus Rants: Terminology, or, how I define technical ability and other things
Tanchjim Oxygen review
BLON BL-03 review
Elysian Acoustic Labs Terminator 2 review
Elysian Acoustic Labs Annihilator review
Audio-technica ATH-IEX1 review
Aminus Rants: Scoring; or, counting from 0 to 10
Noble Kaiser Encore review
64 Audio U12t review
Aminus Rants: 2020, or, Off This Decade
Campfire Audio Solaris SE review
Meze Rai Solo review
qdc Anole VX review
Sony XBA-N3 review
Campfire Audio Andromeda review
Etymotic ER2XR review
64 Audio tia Trio review
Aminus Rants: The Aminus Target Curve
64 Audio tia Fourte review
Hidition NT-6 review
Astell & Kern T9iE review
FAudio Minor review
Aminus Rants: The Source Question
Final Audio A8000 review
Aminus Rants: Engagement factor, or “what do you mean by ‘it’s boring?’”
ikko OH7 review
Fearless x crinacle Dawn review
Moondrop Blessing 2 review
Quarantine Catchup: The Campfire 2020 Roundup
Dunu Luna review
Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Acoustune and the number 7: A Lineup Roundup
ThieAudio Monarch review
ThieAudio Clairvoyance review
64 Audio A18s review
64 Audio Nio review
Moondrop SSR (Super Spaceship Reference) review
Moondrop SSP (Super Spaceship Pulse) and Illumination review
Moondrop S8 review
The Campfire Roundup, Deuxième Partie
Metal Magic Research: Lessons in Bad Shell Design
Moondrop x Crinacle Blessing 2: Dusk review
Thieaudio Legacy 4 review
Prisma Azul review
Dunu SA6 review
Symphonio VR1 review
Portable Audio Touchdown Tour Part 2: A whole assortment of IEMs and then some I
Portable Audio Touchdown Tour Part 3: A whole assortment of IEMs and then some II
Canjam NYC 2023 show notes
Canjam SG 2023 show notes — Day one
Miscellaneous Chifi IEMs (Moondrop and Tanchjim)
Miscellaneous IEMs (FAudio, Oriolus, FiR)
Miscellaneous IEMs (Letshuoer, Craft Ears, HUM, MADOO)
Theme and Variations: 64 Audio
Brand Roundup: qdc
Who are you?
I'm a musician and composer who also happens to be into high end audio gear. I've had a good amount of experience trying almost everything under the sun, and I figured it would be an interesting project in my free time to try and distill that into textual format, for benefit of reference for myself as well as for whoever cares to read.
What do you like?
My reference headphone(s) are the venerable Sennheiser HD6X0 series, in particular the HD580, though I own handpicked variants of every member of the family (excluding the outlier that is the HD660S). There is an undeniable correctness throughout these headphones' midrange (and tonal response in general) that I have nothing but the highest appreciation for, and they have a wonderful timbre which never sounds wrong, to say nothing of their ability to scale in dynamics and detail depending on upstream gear. To this end, I seek something similar in IEMs; an ultimate rightness in tonal response coupled with unhindered dynamics and natural timbre.
D I S C L A I M E R (Read this, or don't say I didn't warn you!)
Anything I write here, no matter how objective I may make it sound, is entirely subjective. Unless I cite a specific number (say, a frequency response feature) or make reference to a measurement or a graph, everything I say is entirely my opinion. This includes my fairly negative beliefs on a large majority of audio gear, and the few things I genuinely like a lot. Don't complain when I call your gear trash. You have been warned.
Thanks to:
Crinacle, for all those graphs, for putting up with my obnoxious behavior, and for being a real good guy overall.
Toranku, for being a real inspiration on how to pull off reviews.
MV95, for whooping me into shape.
A certain fried rice for bothering to talk to me.
That's all, happy reading.
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