The effect of ear sleeves: TDK BA200

Disclaimer: Measurement has been carried out at the reference plane.

Thanks to its high acoustic output impedance, TDK BA200 is very susceptible to bore resonance induced acoustic interaction. Upon assessing the acoustic effect of various types ear sleeves, the optimum setting for BA200 shall be discovered.

Aurisonics ASG-2

Disclaimer: I thank the owner, UnityIsPower, for letting me analyze his precious gear. Measurement has been made with the bass-tuner set at its minimum.

Aurisonics ASG-2 is a hybrid IEM, featuring a dual-driver balanced armature tweeter and a ⌀15 mm dynamic woofer, just like T-PEOS H-200. Moreover, the IEM has an adjustable bass-tuner on its faceplate. According to eke2k6's review, this IEM doesn't have a passive crossover network implemented in order to avoid any kind of unnecessary complication arising from electric impedance interaction.

Now that's quite a bold move, considering the fact that three transducers are coupled together.. And since Mr. Dale Lott, the founder of Aurisonics, claims ASG-2 is tuned with their reference sound signature but treble further enhanced, the hope is higher than ever! But then again, one of my visitors says:

Oh..

DBV#3 modified T50RP by BMF

Disclaimer: This loan has been arranged by Rick, who is a regular visitor of this blog. I truly appreciate your support, my friend! Will return the headphone back to you promptly.

BlueFlyerMonkey, the creator of this modification, keeps record of his efforts on this thread at Head-Fi.org as an open-source database. I send my sincere respect to him for his continuous devotion. BFM describes the sound of DBV #3:

Sub-bass and bass are deep, musical, and textured. Bass does not bleed into the midrange or mask the treble range. Midrange is clear, lush, and properly placed. Treble extension and clarity are improved over DBV #1. Imaging is very good. These headphones are Fast.  

HiFiMAN RE-600 Part.2: General analysis - Songbird

Disclaimer: This IEM is owned by James. Measurement has been carried out at approximately 3 mm away from the reference plane, using a pair of stock bi-flange sleeves.

Continued from Part.1, Aesthetics

After a sudden discontinuation of their introductory model RE-0, HiFiMAN comes up with a new pair of IEMs, RE-400 Waterline, with a price tag of $99. And in order to reinforce their high end IEM line up, RE-262/272 are replaced with RE-600 Songbird. As HiFiMAN RE-262/272 have stunning electroacoustic characteristics, if RE-600 turns out to be as good, or even better, it will surely be considered as a very successful transition done by the manufacturer.

HiFiMAN RE-600 Part.1: Aesthetics

Introduction

HiFiMAN, which is Head-Direct's own brand, is well-known for manufacturing IEMs with solid electroacoustic performance. And this has proven to be true every time their IEMs are analyzed here. The recent model, RE-400, is somewhat of a disappointment to me personally, but the sound itself is fine nonetheless. Thus, several weeks ago, I asked the representative of HiFiMAN for a demo sample of this new product. However, it seems the request has never reached to the founder, Dr. Fang Bian. Perhaps there was a communication error between the reps? I am not sure.. So, as always, one of my good contributors, James, hooked me up with a brand-new pair. I can't believe it.. Thanks again, James!

Brookstone Clear JI-280Z (Radius HP-TWF22) + Ne AUDIO

Beats by Dre Powerbeats, Brookstone Clear Dual-Drive JI-280Z, and Radius HP-TWF22 share one common feature: A double driver with the exact same specification.

Manufacturered by a well-known ODM company in Asia, this driver, also known as Double Driver Matrix, is a coaxial dynamic microtransducer with a ø7mm tweeter and a ø15mm woofer joined together by a crossover network on a same yolk. However, their magnetic systems, voice coils, and acoustic outputs are all separated in order to prevent any type of acoustic interference among the drivers from occurring. And by inverting the polarity of one of the magnets, both drivers remain in-phase with one another.

And in conjunction with an Italian DSP solution provider, Dirac, Radius comes up with a proprietary iOS application, Ne AUDIO, in order to further increase the fidelity of the IEM. According to the manufacturer, Ne AUDIO not only corrects the overall frequency response , but also helps damp any unwanted transient characteristic of the driver itself. Really?

Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi Reference Monitors: Modified by Rin Choi

A $990 vs $99 Challenge

About a month ago, a parcel originated from Changstar was dropped off at my doorstep. I was afraid it was a fart bomb(My apologies to the folks at Changstar, LOL) or something, but thankfully, it was a scratch pair of Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10 Pro, sent to me for modification from James. Previously, I stated:

"Is it just me, or the frequency response of the UERM really resembles that of good old Triple.Fi 10 Pro?"

So I set out to find out whether TF10 can be modified to closely match the frequency response of UERM or not to fulfill my friend's request. And if possible, the modified TFRM will be sent off for user auditioning, along with the IEM it was modeled after, UERM itself.

Ultimate Ears Universal In-Ear Reference Monitors

Disclaimer: This special version of Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors has been provided by James. My blog would've been long gone without my friends' continuous support, THANK YOU!

In a collaboration with Capitol Studios, Ultimate Ears developed this custom IEM for studio engineers. The manufacturers claim that the IEM has been meticulously tuned to be flat, in order to match any type of professional recording/mixing/mastering conditions.

Samsung HS330

Originally designed by Young-Bo Electronics of South Korea as a stock IEM for Galaxy S 4, HS330 is Samsung's counter-blow to LG's hugely successful IEM, HSS-F450 aka Quadbeat, which is bundled with their Optimus G.

In order to overwhelm their competitor's sound quality, these South Koreans start to talk about boldness: They double the number of transducers, by coupling a ∅8 mm tweeter to a ∅10 mm woofer via a crossover network split at 4 kHz. Moreover, various acoustic tweaks have been utilized here in order to increase the overall fidelity.

First, a slit is created at the nozzle. This effectively relieves the air pressure built up in the ear canal, thus yielding airiness.

Second, two acoustic vents optimize the tonal balance of the IEM, by equalizing the air pressure deviation between the frontal cavity and the rear cavity.

And by further investigating into the document that the developer, Young-Bo Electronics, have provided, a deeper look into the double driver's working principle can be taken. Above diagram excerpted from the document suggests two drivers are acoustically well-insulated, removing the possibility of any ill effects caused by phase cancellation. However, as the rear driver is completely inverted, a good care must be taken during the manufacturing process in order to prevent polarity inversion of the entire frequency spectrum.

T-PEOS H-200

Disclaimer: As always, I can't possibly thank enough Flysweep, for providing me with this opportunity. I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to you, my friend. And of course, Inks takes credit for arranging the loan.

After the commercial success of H-100, T-PEOS takes another spin on their BA-Dynamic hybrid technology. Now featuring a dual balanced-armature driver as a tweeter, H-200 is claimed to be the next-generation hybrid IEM.

Surprisingly, unlike its predecessor, H-100, H-200 does not come with a performance certification chart provided by Goldenears.net. It is a well-known fact that the partnership between T-PEOS and Goldenears has been put to halt simply because the performance of the IEM can't be guaranteed; the manufacturer have been constantly changing the sound tuning of H-100, even after the IEM is certified.

Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2 Part 3: In-depth analysis

Disclaimer: This review is made possible with the support from Audeze, the manufacturer of LCD-2 Rev.2. I sincerely appreciate them for loaning me a demo sample.

Continued from Part 2, General analysis.

Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2 has been scientifically proven to be superior compared to other conventionally designed headphones, thanks to its transducer's dipole mechanism. According to Dr. Carl Poldy of AKG, the transducer's superiority lies in its low distortion, deriving from the highly elastic excursion property of the membrane, and a flat response due to the low membrane mass, allowing a high system resonance. It is a no surprise that LCD-2 Rev.2 has became the top contender even in an extensive subjective assessment test.

Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2 part 2: General analysis

Disclaimer: This review is made possible with the support from Audeze, the manufacturer of LCD-2 Rev.2. I sincerely appreciate them for loaning me a demo sample.

Continued from part 1, Aesthetics.

In October 2012, a study dedicated to finding the optimum spectral characteristic of a headphone, has been presented at the 133rd AES Convention in San Francisco, California. Written by Sean Olive and Todd Welti of Harman International, the research paper involved with an extensive subjective assessment test by utilizing various headphones, including models from AKG, Beats by Dre, Bose, and V-Moda. Audeze's LCD-2 Rev.2 is included among them as well.

And here is the test result: It turns out that LCD-2 Rev.2 beats every single headphones it is compared against, registering it at the very top of the list in terms of sound quality. Surprisingly, this headphone turns out to be subjectively the most linear even in the sub-bass frequency response range, compared to the bass-bloated headphones from Beats by Dre and Bose.

Can Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2 really be a game-changer... a headphone to rule them all?

Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2 part 1: Aesthetics

Disclaimer: This review is made possible with the support from Audeze, the manufacturer of LCD-2 Rev.2. I sincerely appreciate them for loaning me a demo sample.

Introduction

“Somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held those fragments that counted.” 
― Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock

The history of orthodynamic headphones goes all the way back to early 1970's, when the Warfedale ID1 from the UK appeared on the market. The technology had flourished for over 10 years until it gradually faded out from as headphone manufacturers realized the cost effectiveness & simplicity of design of moving-coil transducer technology. Eventually, by the beginning of the new millennium, Fostex of Japan remained as the sole manufacturer of orthodynamic headphones.

Of course, Alex Rosson and Sankar Thiagasamudram, co-founders of Audeze, had not given up hope, believing in orthodynamic headphones' technical superiority.  To them, the second coming of orthodynamics was very near. And in 2009, Audeze introduced the LCD-1 to the market with their new proprietary orthodynamic technology implemented.

Well here comes Audeze LCD-2 Rev.2, featuring the industry's most advanced orthodynamic technology yet.

Stax SR-lambda Signature: A legend revised

Disclaimer: This analysis was made possible by the support of my friend, vAsurada. 

Measurement has been carried out with acoustic leak minimized, by using a silicone putty as a sealant.

Released in 1987, Stax SR-Λ(Lambda) Signature is a direct successor of SR-Lambda Professional. While everything remains the same from Professional, the diaphragm is now only a micron thick, yielding even greater frequency response extension than its predecessors.