This is the original Monoprice 8320. Unfortunately, as its right channel unit turns out to be defect, the status of this analysis shall remain preliminary until a normal working sample is obtained.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Monoprice 8320: A preliminary analysis
This IEM is owned by my dear friend, Inks. I should thank him for all the hard works.
Monoprice 9927: A seven-dollar-mystery
This IEM is owned by my dear friend, Inks. I should thank him for all the hard works.
Monoprice 9927 is a black version of the well-known budget IEM, Monoprice 8320. Priced at an eye-popping $7, 9927 comes feature-packed: sturdy built quality, fabric cable, and most importantly, a 14mm wide electrodynamic transducer... How can you ever possibly go wrong with such value?
Monoprice 9927 is a black version of the well-known budget IEM, Monoprice 8320. Priced at an eye-popping $7, 9927 comes feature-packed: sturdy built quality, fabric cable, and most importantly, a 14mm wide electrodynamic transducer... How can you ever possibly go wrong with such value?
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
JVC HA-FX700
I'd like to thank James for letting me analyze this unique IEM.
Introduced in 2011, JVC HA-FX700 is one of those IEMs made with off-axis driver configuration in order to accommodate a large-diameter micro dynamic transducer.
Although HA-FX700 is equipped with several technical innovations, they all have already been implemented when HA-FX500 was first introduced:
1. A wooden dome
- Minimizing harmonic distortion in the low frequency range, while suppressing the mechanical resonance in the high frequency range.
2. Dual-hybrid structure
- Preventing energy loss due to vibration & stabilizing transient by enclosing the driver in a brass chamber.
3. A wooden housing
- Inducing natural tonality from wood's eigenmodal properties.
According to JVC, a thin film of birch/maple is first stacked on top of a sheet of Japanese paper, impregnated with thermosetting polymer together, and then bonded on a PET diaphragm by thermocompression.
As the dome becomes more rigid, its characteristic motion breakup is effectively reduced. Such oscillation controlling technique has been adapted by various manufacturers, including Beyerdynamic(Varimotion) and Sennheiser(Duofol) as well.
Introduced in 2011, JVC HA-FX700 is one of those IEMs made with off-axis driver configuration in order to accommodate a large-diameter micro dynamic transducer.
Although HA-FX700 is equipped with several technical innovations, they all have already been implemented when HA-FX500 was first introduced:
1. A wooden dome
- Minimizing harmonic distortion in the low frequency range, while suppressing the mechanical resonance in the high frequency range.
2. Dual-hybrid structure
- Preventing energy loss due to vibration & stabilizing transient by enclosing the driver in a brass chamber.
3. A wooden housing
- Inducing natural tonality from wood's eigenmodal properties.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
On the modification of Sony MH1 [UPDATED]
[Updated on 03/06/2012: the modification on Sony MH1 has been totally reworked, and a test sample has been rolled out]
A special thanx goes to three of Sony MH1 units, as they sacrificed themselves for this crazy experiment.
Sony MH1 has so much potential in terms of acoustic modifiability. Previously, various modification techniques for fine-tuning MH1 have been presented by the designer, Mr. Sead Smailagic and me.
- Front-damper modification from here, presented by Sead Smailagic
- Top-vent modification presented by udauda and Sead Smailagic
- Front-vent modification presented by udauda
Although above techniques do change MH1's tonality greatly, it is also true that the low frequency range is little too emphasized, compared to the conventional diffuse-field target. As Sony MH1 has great fidelity in the frequency range over 1kHz, if the bass can be tamed down with a very low Q factor, MH1 will surely become one of the flattest IEM in the market. Thus, tutorials, reversible and irreversible, will be presented to help users further fine-tune their MH1's low frequency response according to individual preferences.
A special thanx goes to three of Sony MH1 units, as they sacrificed themselves for this crazy experiment.
Sony MH1 has so much potential in terms of acoustic modifiability. Previously, various modification techniques for fine-tuning MH1 have been presented by the designer, Mr. Sead Smailagic and me.
- Front-damper modification from here, presented by Sead Smailagic
- Top-vent modification presented by udauda and Sead Smailagic
- Front-vent modification presented by udauda
Although above techniques do change MH1's tonality greatly, it is also true that the low frequency range is little too emphasized, compared to the conventional diffuse-field target. As Sony MH1 has great fidelity in the frequency range over 1kHz, if the bass can be tamed down with a very low Q factor, MH1 will surely become one of the flattest IEM in the market. Thus, tutorials, reversible and irreversible, will be presented to help users further fine-tune their MH1's low frequency response according to individual preferences.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Sony XBA-4
A special thanx goes to my friend, LNO. He also sent me a bunch of other IEMs. They will be analyzed very soon.
Just like its sibling with a triple-driver configuration, XBA-3, Sony XBA-4 is one of Sony's very first IEM models equipped with their own proprietary balanced armature drivers. Since the development is vital for Sony's future IEM production, 投野耕治-san, a deputy general manager of Sony Electronics in Japan, who is also the master of Sony's MDR-series, takes charge of the whole development process.
And eventually, 投野-san comes up with total of four XBA models: 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The model names represent the number of drivers each of the products are equipped with, and the manufacturer's data indicate sound quality goes up as the number of drivers increases. As XBA-4 is equipped with triple drivers that cover the entire audible frequency range and an extra woofer, it should have a good linearity in frequency response along with extended bandwidth up to 20 kHz with extended bass.
Just like its sibling with a triple-driver configuration, XBA-3, Sony XBA-4 is one of Sony's very first IEM models equipped with their own proprietary balanced armature drivers. Since the development is vital for Sony's future IEM production, 投野耕治-san, a deputy general manager of Sony Electronics in Japan, who is also the master of Sony's MDR-series, takes charge of the whole development process.
And eventually, 投野-san comes up with total of four XBA models: 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The model names represent the number of drivers each of the products are equipped with, and the manufacturer's data indicate sound quality goes up as the number of drivers increases. As XBA-4 is equipped with triple drivers that cover the entire audible frequency range and an extra woofer, it should have a good linearity in frequency response along with extended bandwidth up to 20 kHz with extended bass.
"The ability to combine woofer and tweeter drivers in addition to the standard full-range driver, would also greatly appeal to music lovers seeking an even more intensely satisfying listening experience, with bass and treble frequency ranges reproduced in even higher-fidelity." http://www.sony-asia.com/pressrelease/asset/469743/section/regionalpressreleases
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Sony XBA-3
I personally appreciate Dan Herman for giving me an opportunity to analyze this IEM. Thank you, Dan!
Sony XBA-3 is one of Sony's very first IEM models equipped with their own proprietary balanced armature drivers. Since the development is vital for Sony's future IEM production, 投野耕治-san, a deputy general manager of Sony Electronics in Japan, who is also the master of Sony's MDR-series, takes charge of the entire development process.
And eventually, 投野-san comes up with total of four XBA models: 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The model names represent the number of drivers each of the products are equipped with, and the manufacturer's data indicate sound quality goes up as the number of drivers increases. As XBA-3 is equipped with triple drivers that cover the entire audible frequency range, it should have a good linearity in frequency response along with extended bandwidth up to 20 kHz.
Sony XBA-3 is one of Sony's very first IEM models equipped with their own proprietary balanced armature drivers. Since the development is vital for Sony's future IEM production, 投野耕治-san, a deputy general manager of Sony Electronics in Japan, who is also the master of Sony's MDR-series, takes charge of the entire development process.
And eventually, 投野-san comes up with total of four XBA models: 1, 2, 3, and 4.
"The ability to combine woofer and tweeter drivers in addition to the standard full-range driver, would also greatly appeal to music lovers seeking an even more intensely satisfying listening experience, with bass and treble frequency ranges reproduced in even higher-fidelity."
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Final Audio Design FI-BA-SS part 2 & 3: General analysis / In-depth analysis
[A special thanx goes to James. He sent me a brand-new pair, directly routed from Japan! I'd like to personally salute his commitment and passion, as he is truly doing a lot of favor for the headphile community.]
Final Audio Design's FI-BA-SS is a flagship model with the pinnacle of their proprietary BAM(Balanced-Air-Movement) technology implemented. Initially priced at eye-popping ¥100,000, it is known to have the best acoustic tonality among other models with BAM.
Previously, three different Final Audio Design's heaven series models, which are also BAM-driven, have been analyzed: Heaven A, Heaven C, and Heaven S. They indeed all exhibit very unique electroacoustic characteristics, but it turns out their overall performances are more or less the same in spite of huge differences in pricing.
In order to verify such acoustic superiority FI-BA-SS is known to have over its lower end models, as claimed by many of the owners, its electroacoustic properties will be assessed & compared.
Final Audio Design's FI-BA-SS is a flagship model with the pinnacle of their proprietary BAM(Balanced-Air-Movement) technology implemented. Initially priced at eye-popping ¥100,000, it is known to have the best acoustic tonality among other models with BAM.
Previously, three different Final Audio Design's heaven series models, which are also BAM-driven, have been analyzed: Heaven A, Heaven C, and Heaven S. They indeed all exhibit very unique electroacoustic characteristics, but it turns out their overall performances are more or less the same in spite of huge differences in pricing.
In order to verify such acoustic superiority FI-BA-SS is known to have over its lower end models, as claimed by many of the owners, its electroacoustic properties will be assessed & compared.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Sony LiveSound™ MH1 & MH1C
Sony LiveSound™ MH1 has caused quite a hype among headphone enthusiasts due to the high value in spite of its extreme budget-friendliness. And once its designer, Mr. Sead Smailagic of Sony Mobile, explained its technical aspects in detail with help of a headphone blogger, MH1 truly kick-started a new era of budget-fi in headphones, and it came to a point of which MH1 was started to be compared to full-sized headphones in $100~$200 range.
In order to verify what has been explained, I ran a series of electroacoustic analysis on a pair of Sony MH1C. If everything was proven to be true, it would've been rated among the very best I've measured. However, with its overwhelming amount of bass boost up to 24 dB, I simply concluded all those explanations were simple lies reinforced with crowd manipulation. Of course, many MH1 and MH1C owners showed frustration, insisting their pairs sounded better, and my statements were too harsh. I knew some were definitely upset, but I continued to press on, as I've always done when dealing with irresponsible manufacturers, such as Heir Audio.
And then, after two months since my initial analysis, something happened on January 8th, 2013: Mr. Sead Smailagic, the designer of MH1, contacted me personally and showed me a friendly gesture, asking me if I'd want to give another shot on MH1, assuming the previous pair was defective. The cause was totally appropriate, and that would definitely make sense. so I promised Mr. Smailagic that if data from the secondary analysis turned out to correlate his explanations, I would give him a public apology.