Tuneable IEMs are dime-a-dozen nowadays (Moondrop KATO, LZ A7, Smabat Proto and TRI Starsea, just to name a few). They allow the user to change the sound signature on-the-fly with a flick of a switch or by putting on a new filter, to change the sound signature from a single pair of IEMs. Some of these tuneable IEMs may provide sound signatures that are just subtle variations of their stock sound (i....
In Buddhism, the Mirror of the Heart is a metaphor for a pure heart, and is akin to a mirror that can illuminate all things. As we will read below, the HZSound Heart Mirror are an analytical set that bring great transparency and clarity to the budget CHI-FI table. They actually do illuminate the soul of the music and live up to their name of a Mirror of the Heart....
In the last few years, iFi has done much to gain success with personal audio electronics enthusiasts. They solidified their position in the market with excellent performing mid-range to upper-end DACs and portable headphone amplifiers. Most recently they have impressed with the improved Black Label variants of their popular iDSD Micro and Nano products. While it might be easy to be overshadowed by a similar successful company like FiiO, to my eyes iFi has clearly defined itself with distinctive and generally higher-quality products....
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Cables. Ain’t that a can of worms. As divisive as pineapples on pizza, objectivists say cables bring no change to sound because they don’t measure any differently, subjectivists say listen with your ears you fool, and I say pineapples bring a sweet counterbalance to the otherwise overt saltiness of pizza. You can argue until the cows come home (do they ever?), but in the interest of objectivity, upgrade cables tend to bring improvements to build quality, durability and looks compared to boring ol’ stock cables....
The Noble Sultan are the latest flagship of Noble Audio. They have a “tribrid” setup, seven drivers per side. The standard version of the Sultan is sold at $2900. The Sultan I received is the Damascus Edition. At the time of writing, they are exclusively sold in the Hong Kong market, with the price of HKD27980, which translates to roughly USD $3500. The differences between this version and the standard version will be discussed later....
Penon Audio started with making hi-fi products in the mid to late 2010s. Their first IEMs, the generically named Penon Audio IEM, have been highly praised. Although sadly, I haven’t tried them. In November 2020, Penon Audio released their greatest IEMs to date, the Volt. They contain four electrostatic drivers, two balanced armatures, and one dynamic driver. Another set of IEMs, the Fan, were released shortly in January 2021 in the sub-$200 price bracket....
The Shanling UP5 is a Bluetooth DAC/Amp that packs dual ES9219C DAC chips and plenty of power into a sleek, portable glass-covered housing. It supports all the major Bluetooth codecs and gives you granular control over its dual DACs. Technical Specifications DAC/amp: 2X ESS Sabre ES9219C Outputs: 3.5mm single ended, 2.5mm & 4.4mm balanced Bluetooth Chip: Qualcomm QCC5120 Bluetooth Version: 5.0 Bluetooth Codec: LDAC, LHDC, aptX HD, aptX LL, aptX, AAC, SBC Output Power: Single ended, single DAC – 90 [email protected] Single ended, dual DAC – 112 [email protected] Balanced – 240 [email protected] Battery Life (Advertised): Up to 15 hours (single ended, single DAC) / Up to 11 hours (balanced) Battery Size: 680 mAh Size: 68 x 39 x 14....
TinHiFi became one of the most popular Chinese IEM makers after releasing the TinHiFi T2. These IEMs have something no one else was offering in the budget realm: a well-tuned bright-neutral sound signature. Since then, TinHiFi released several budget models but has not replicated the same level of success enjoyed with the T2. Enter the T3 Plus, (seemingly) an upgrade over the original TinHiFi T3. The latter have metal shells, mmcx ports, and a hybrid driver setup....
Headphones from different manufacturers have their own sound signature/characteristics. Some headphones have overall flat sound profile while some headphone have a certain coloration to their profile. This is why the same song can sound different through different headphones. Depending on the genre of music you listen to, you should pick a headphone with the appropriate sound characteristics. This can enhance your listening experience. What is a V-shaped sound signature? A V-shaped sound signature has an elevated bass (low frequency) and treble (high frequency) with a recessed mid-range....
At a time when the music industry was waging war against peer-to-peer music sharing apps like Napster, Limewire, and Kazaa, two Swedish entrepreneurs saw a potentially lucrative business opportunity. Intending to address both, they set to work on a solution in April 2006. Two years later, in October 2008, Spotify was born. It launched in select European countries, and a few years later, the unassuming music service hit a huge milestone — 1 million paying subscribers in 2011....
Trying to study in a noisy environment can be frustrating. It even often leads to additional stress other than the stress of studying itself. Unfortunately, not all of us can enjoy the luxury of silence libraries offer at all times. That’s why noise cancelling headphones can be your saving grace. But it’s not easy to pick the best one, especially with our limited student allowance. No one wants to spend their savings on something that won’t give the satisfaction we’re looking for....
How to Choose the Best Wireless Earbuds With Long Battery Life Have you ever had a good day while listening to the perfect tunes, but your earbuds suddenly notified you that you’ve got to charge them? That’s a real vibe-killer for most – I know it is for me. Despite the improvements in wireless earbuds technology, some manufacturers still compromise battery life for better sound quality or smaller form factors. However, there are products that have incredible battery life with minimum compromise on either of those two facts....
This is not a Zen riddle, but the most succinctly provocative way to summarize two parallel strands of audio research that have quietly persisted over about half a century. Moreover, both these strands promise evidence-based improvements to both tonal and spatial reproduction of sound. Both assertions cannot be simultaneously correct, it seems. As far as we know, this is the very first article series targeted at the layman to identify, explain and reconcile it....
“A Deep Dive Into Harman Curves” Series Navigation: The Role of Harman As Tyll’s brilliant coverage indicates, Harman made waves with a seminal series of papers on loudspeaker preference. A broad preference toward speakers that measure flat with smooth dispersion across all frequencies was observed, regardless of listener background in a well-treated listening room under rigorous blind testing. This is consistent with how human hearing functions in listening rooms. From there, attempts were made to replicate the results for headphones....
Apple AirPods Pro are undoubtedly some of the hottest pieces of tech right now. But for new users who don’t know how they work, they can get confusing. Unfortunately, the AirPods line is not as intuitive as other headphones especially with the lack of obvious buttons and symbols. Without knowing how the AirPods controls work, you can sometimes disrupt your song or call by triggering commands without meaning to. Or, you may also find it annoying to have to constantly pull your phone out and manually adjust the settings there instead of just on the AirPods....
While AirPods are great audio accessories for almost any occasion, it can be quite a hassle to use them for gaming with your Microsoft Xbox One console. Even worse, the AirPods’ user guide offers no instruction for gamers looking to use their AirPods with their Xbox. However, you can use your AirPods as a gaming headset if you know the proper steps. That’s why we’ve created this comprehensive guide to help you get started....
One of the worst feelings in life is realizing that your AirPods’ battery is fully drained when you’re about to head out. Worse is when you’re on a tight schedule, with only a couple of minutes to spare but not knowing if those minutes are sufficient to juice up your drained AirPods for your commute. This is why we have come up with this article. The team at Headphonesty has done our testing to determine how long it takes for AirPods to charge....
Bluetooth headset pairing problems can happen to anyone, anytime, and with any device. And not even high-end commercial headphone brands like Bose are safe from these issues. These headphones aren’t exactly cheap, so you’d expect a top-notch listening experience. Instead, you can’t even listen to anything at all since you can’t establish a connection. This can be extra frustrating, especially if you just want to chill with some music after a long workday....
While AirPods remain some of the most sought-after audio devices today, owning 29% of the true wireless earbuds market in the 3rd quarter of 2020, they’re not exactly perfect. Certain issues in connectivity, sound, and overall functionality can still arise. Fortunately, there’s a universal solution to these issues – resetting your AirPods However, new AirPods users can easily get lost with how to properly reset AirPods, especially with the lack of noticeable reset buttons due to their minimalist design....
Is your Android phone stuck in headphone mode? It may seem like a small issue, but being in perpetual headphone mode means you can’t make important calls without reaching for your headphones. Plus, you can’t quickly show music, videos, and other media to other people without it becoming a fuss. In this guide, we’ll teach you what you need to do to learn how to turn off headphone mode on Android phones....
