I got an Aiva in for review from Musictek. I wanted to get impressions out a couple days after getting it but it’s such a unique sound I wanted to take more time to understand it more. I’ve been hearing interesting things about this headphone, but I’ve had relatively low hopes because their driver looks similar to one driver I’ve seen from the manufacturer of a few Monoprice planar magnetic drivers, and those are, uh, horrifically bad. But I didn’t see a headphone from them that uses this driver so I went in with an open mind.
Honestly, I don’t hate it. The treble is elevated but not harsh and is surprisingly airy, which is something I rarely hear from planar magnetic headphones. The bass is kind of stuffy yet overdamped which is disappointing. There isn’t a bass hump from what I can hear but it sounds slightly congested compared to the Sundara or a good LCD-2.
Their biggest issue, however, is their midrange. I measured some ringing at 2kHz, but it’s oddly not as prominent as any of the Monoprice headphones, especially the M1060C, which has ringing in a similar area. I can’t really explain why it’s so audible in one headphone but not the other, but vocals definitely sound less hashy than in the M1060C. Overall, the upper midrange is dipped a few dB which probably makes the ringing less obvious, and this is a big part of what I think makes this headphone so interesting.
This isn’t really a headphone for a lot of vocal-heavy or string-heavy music because the timbre really isn’t good for that but this interesting combination of strangely good, yet boosted treble and dipped midrange and stuffy bass give them a kind of ethereal, dreamy sound in a way that isn’t as offensive or artificial as Stax or as veiled as Audeze. I think these are awesome for post rock or shoegaze where I don’t focus so much on technicalities, but $600 is a pretty big ask for something that I think is quite genre-limited, but it’s an interesting option for those who are looking for a more distant sound but don’t want an Audeze. I do think that they make more sense at $499 because to me there’s some sort of mental block that hits me when something costs more than $500, but it does fill some sort of niche that I didn’t realize isn’t really filled in this bracket.
Measurements:
I don't have FR because my EARS is acting up but I'll have 4128C measurements in my full review.
Damn! I have tried to contact the seller and official store of the Sendiy (now Sandy Audio) regarding a repair service. AND I DIDN'T GET EVEN A SMALL ANSWER!!! Neither!!! At least a word. Ofcause i will not buy any new headphones from this company. It is just an info to everybody regarding that no guarantee exist from Sandy Audio. To loose 140 euro of the m1221 is not the same as 500 . Please make your mind carefully. I'm sure that SQ is top, but...
