Articles
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HiFiMAN Jade II electrostatic headphone system
|I first became aware of HiFiMAN roughly eleven years ago, when I sought to review one of the firm’s earliest planar magnetic headphones. However, in the course of reaching out to the firm I learned ...read more -
Monolith by Monoprice Liquid Spark headphone amplifier by Alex Cavalli
|After a distinguished 18-year career in audio circuit design, Dr Alex Cavalli shut down Cavalli Audio and retired as an industry heavyweight. Cavalli made it known he would rather stop short his famed run rather ...read more -
Stax SR-009S electrostatic earspeakers
|For many years Stax’s iconic SR-009 electrostatic headphone stood as an industry performance benchmark. The reasons for this included, among other factors, the SR-009’s accurate and absolutely neutral voicing, exceptional resolution, and extremely fast transient ...read more -
Empire Ears Phantom custom‑fit in-ear monitors
|At a certain point in nearly every headphone enthusiast’s lifetime they begin to contemplate purchasing a pair of custom-fit in-ear monitors (CIEMs) rather than universal-fit earphones. The primary reason for making the switch is fit. ...read more -
Sony IER-Z1R Signature Series universal-fit earphone
|At the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018 Sony announced two Signature Series personal audio products: the DMP-Z1 digital music player/headphone amp/DAC and the IER-Z1R universal-fit earphone reviewed here. New Sony Signature Series models don’t come ...read more -
Cyrus 82 DAC/QXR integrated amplifier
|You can usually tell what a product is from its name, an LP12 plays LPs or ‘vinyls’ (spit), a CD17 played CDs and a NAP 300 is a (Naim) amplifier. Cyrus takes a different approach ...read more -
Final B Series earphones: Part Two
|Last time, I wrote the first section of a two-part review of the new B-series (B1, B2, and B3) earphones from Final. This is part two of that review and it focuses on the B1—the ...read more -
Final B Series earphones: Part One
|Final is a Japanese personal audio specialist with a reputation for offering products exhibiting very high build quality, innovative designs, and fine sound quality. Lately, Final has been pushing both the envelopes for performance (through ...read more -
MrSpeakers VOCE electrostatic headphones
|MrSpeakers is led by its headmaster Dan Clark, a keen-eared headphone enthusiast and an engineer’s engineer. The company takes its name from an earlier phase in Clark’s career where he served as an accomplished loudspeaker ...read more -
Beyerdynamic Aventho Wireless headphones
|Beyerdynamic is a German company with a long history of headphone manufacturing. It has a strong position in the pro headphone market, but has always offered consumer models that are worth checking out. Beyerdynamic has ...read more -
HiFiMAN Ananda open-back planar magnetic headphone
|HiFiMAN is arguably the most prolific producer of high-quality headphones in the world with several new designs introduced each year. In the previous Ultimate Headphone Guide (Summer 2018), I had the pleasure of reviewing HiFiMAN’s ...read more -
Ultrasone Pro 900i headphones
|Ultrasone is a veteran in the personal audio community. Based in Germany, its been building high-performance headphones for over twenty-seven years. Its Edition 7, introduced in 2006, became an instant classic among headphone enthusiasts due ...read more -
Campfire Audio Equinox custom-fit in-ear monitors
|One driver… While many custom-fit in-ear monitors use two, three, four, or more balanced armature drivers, Campfire Audio has forged a different path, choosing to refine and perfect a single full-range dynamic driver design. The ...read more -
Meze Audio Empyrean planar magnetic headphone
|Until now the Romanian firm Meze Audio has been best known for its excellent and affordable 99 Classics headphones, which offer incredible value for money. However, for over two years Meze has been hard at ...read more -
Sony DMP-Z1 Signature Series Digital Music Player with headphone amp and DAC
|When Sony unveiled the DMP-Z1 it drew the attention of the audiophile press like a perfectly cooked steak in a room full of starved Paleo dieters. But it was not so much its looks or ...read more