Merry Christmas to Everyone

This is the first time this blog celebrates Christmas and so I would like to wish Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone who celebrates Christmas and to those who does not celebrate Christmas a Happy Holiday to you. Just to let you know a few headphone related company will shut down their operation for a few days in favor of  celebrating Christmas. This include JHAudio and JDS Labs. There maybe others as well but I do not know how many more are shutting down their operation as well.

Also don't forget to look under your trees tomorrow. Who know what you might find under them. If you do find the things you wish for, then you might be in the Santa's nice list for this year. If you didn't received it this year, don't be disappointed, next year you can still put them inside the shopping list of your loved one or friends so they would know what you want for Christmas.

Holidays Guide From Jaben

The month of December is the month of giving especially for those who celebrates Christmas. With Christmas around the corner, I believe most of you already have your shopping list ready. So have you been nice this year or are you going to be in Santa’s naughty list? If you can’t get a gifts from Santa this year, maybe you can ask your closest friend, parents or anyone close to you to give some headphones. Don’t forget to put in “Headphones” in their shopping list. What is more pleasing than a headphone for an audiophile or music lovers?

Shroom EB~A Sparkly IEM

Hippo Shroom EB is quite a popular headphone in areas that has Jaben Headphone Store because they are the only distributer hippo products. Hippo Shroom EB with the “EB” (Extra Bass) is a bass enhancement version of their original version which users complain about the poor bass. Hippo from Korea has always produced lots of budget friendly products that won’t hurt your wallet and yet sounds good for its price and Shroom EB is not an exception.

Shure SE535~ A Very Realistic Sound

The Shure SE535 is currently the flaghip model for the Shure IEM division. Many said that the SE535 is a direct replacement for SE530 that solved the outdated cable issue with no improvement in the sound department. I believe they were wrong because they do sound different from what I have auditioned (A-B testing) at the time of purchased. 

My Philosophy and Ideology of sounds and I~Part 2

My Philosophy and Ideology of sounds and I~Part 2

I’m not going to be like any average reviewer that you saw or read on audiophile forum and maybe even in other websites. I’m just going to be as neutral as possible and try to write honest reviews of things that I hear and I did not hear. And I will not get myself overhype over a new product or new technology like other reviewer so this is definitely not going to be a factor of making me bias in my reviews. It’s not that I won’t bias over a certain sound signature because I also do favor over certain sound but I won’t be bias against new stuffs.

New Shure Open Back Headphone

It seems like even until today, their new open back headphone is still in Coming Soon status. Most probably their date of December 6^th as stated in the Shure Japan twitter is more of a launch date or introductory date instead of releasing them into the markets. At least their information about the new open headphone already has been released.

What is the latest news from Shure?

If you think the Shure SE535 Special Edition that just launched not too long ago is the latest news from Shure then you are very outdated.

SPL Auditor~ No marketing gimmick, a very honest amplifier.

How many times have you seen a company making marketing claim or using marketing gimmick when selling audiophile products to a customer?  How many of them are snake oils and false claim based of scientific research and feedbacks which in the end show no added benefit from using such product? Well SPL auditor also did make some marketing claims about their products in their websites. However the difference is that the claims made by SPL are true but just not detailed enough in describing the effect.

Sympathy For the Devil

A very nice song from Call Of Duty Black Ops. One of my favorite songs in the game.

PcWorks Symphonica for HD650 tested.

Sorry, but the SPL Auditor still requires time for me to gather enough information before releasing them. It’s going to be a long review. For now you just have to read the PcWorks Symphonica cable reviews. This review is actually an audition of the Symphonica cable in Jaben’s store so the final outcome may have slight differences. Please take this review with a grain of salt.

SPL Auditor~ Previews

Before I release the Auditor reviews, I would like to show you some previews of why I wanted to review this amplifier so much. This video will show the elder brother instead of the Auditor. The Auditor shares the same amplifier circuitry as the Phonitor but have their bell and whistle removed. There are no dial, no vu/peak meter. Just a simple plain design as a purist alternative to the Phonitor with its imaging processing option removed. This is a good news for those who want to get one of the top level solid state amplifier but couldn't afford them. Sorry guys, the reviews for the Auditor is a bit too long. I required some more time to write them. Maybe I will release something else first while waiting.
Video after the jump

Drivability issues with headphone

Many have thought that when it comes to high impendence headphone (250ohm to 300ohm headphones), they are unable to be drive it out of a computer, portable amp or even a weaker amp that is not up to the task. When people talk about the problem of unable to drive a headphone, they usually mean that they are unable to power up or even have a volume that is loud enough for listening. These are some of the misconception by audiophile especially the newbie. They are like a poison spreading from one newbie to another and even to some senior member without actually knowing the real effect of the words. Welcome to the audiophile world, where there is always full of misconception and myths spread from one person to another without really knowing the real purpose or real source of the information. When it comes to drivability issue, you will still be able to listen to the high impendence headphone from a computer out. And you can even get enough level to blow your eardrums. If it is drivable through a computer, why do I still need an amp? Well the headphone can be power till an ear deafening level, but I find that when you do so, the level of the SPL went up more than the music or sound that coming out of it. I don’t have a tool to measure it but this is what my ears felt when the first time I use Beyerdynamic DT880 250 ohm without a proper amplification. Why I didn’t use an amp in the first place you may ask. Well I do have two amplifiers at that time but both are

JDS Labs C421 Amplifier Released.

Last week, John Seaber has quietly release the C421 headphone amplifier. This is one of the most anticipated amp from the JDS Labs CmoyBB users. Pricing at $169 for AD8620 and $165 for AD8066, they are far lower than their original pricing of $175. But of course this is still on a pre order stage so the pricing might change again. Any one that are in need of an amp please do so quickly as this sells like hot cakes. 10% of the 95 amps already have been sold out in just first 5 hours of released. Why is this interesting? Well this a successor to the famous JDS Labs CmoyBB which many regards as the best budget amp. Pricing at around $60, it is definitely one of the best amp money can buy. I can assure you this because I own the JDS Labs Cmoy. If this is truly better than the Cmoy then this will truly be a great buy. As you can see that they are two variants available with only the differences in the opamp in which one uses AD8620 and one uses AD8066. AD8066 has been one of the hottest opamp discussed in my local community and they really prefer it a lot when powering their JDS Labs CmoyBB. So don't take that a slightly cheaper price means they are more inferior. And here is the take that John have to say. "Two options are available for the primary stage opamp: AD8620 or AD8066. Our #1 choice for c421 is the AD8620, which gives smooth, refined output and excellent imaging. A/B tests deemed the AD8620 more favorable than the OPA2227 and AD8397! The AD8066 is slightly less transparent, with similar highs but greater emphasis on bass. AD8066 is better suited to driving especially high impedance headphones (300+ ohms)."

Link to preorder page

Pics after the jump.

Unique Design From Take T~Japanese Madness

As usual just like most Japanese stuffs, they are always unique and some just have looks more than having a  realistic function. For decades the Japanese has always been the leading innovator in making so many unique things that in which some of them have become a reality and make its way into our daily life. This type of innovation really brings a lot of benefit to us. And now we have here another innovation from the country of the rising sun, Japan. If anyone of you that have been a frequent visitor of Head-Fi you should have notice that they used to have a TakeT BPP advertisement that looks like some kind of a button battery on the right hand corner of the website. And I think most of us never even bother to click it. And now, Head-Ti TV has brought us the thing and explaining what it is all about. TakeT BPP is a portable super-tweeter for headphone listening that exceed human hearing or the ultra sonic frequency. The idea and the function is well explained in the video. The TakeT BPP is priced at JPY 3700 or estimated around USD 48+-. It's not too expensive and you can give it a try if you find the effect of the face test is very pronounce to you as explained in the videos. Another innovation from TakeT is the H2+ headphone and TR2 transformer box. The biggest problem with this headphone is that it requires you to power it from a loud speaker output and this can be an inconvenience for the most of us because of the sheer size and worst of all for us head-fier. Costing at $3300 for both H2+ and TR2, they better be a good sound system. It's basically more expensive than HD800 plus a JH16PRO together which can be said to be one of the best within it's category. So give your view on the unique TakeT products. For more information and discussion you can go to Head-Fi at here and TakeT website at TakeT BPP and TakeT H2+

If You Don't Have An iPhone

If you don't have an iPhone, what's wrong with you? Watch the video to find out. I own a Jerry Harvey JH16PRO and a SPL Auditor headphone amplifier which together cost around 3.7 time more expensive than the iPhone and I'm a tech addict and definitely not a looser. And I don't own an iPhone. What does that makes me? A person that's just too poor to own an iPhone? I really envy other who own them and able to show off to others although i got better equipment. It's a sad stories. Share your thought and are you a have or have not.

My Current Gear.

Here are the lists of some of my current gears for you to drool over. The gears mentioned here will be reviewed one at a time slowly. Please wait patiently for the reviews.

List of Gears:

Headphone

1. Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium 250ohm version
2. Superlux HD668B
3. Superlux HD681

IEM

1. Jerry Harvey JH16PRO
2. Shure SE535
3. Crossroads Woody 2
4. Hippo Shroom EB

Earbuds

1. Crossroads HR1 150ohm

Amplifier

1. SPL Auditor 120V Headphone Amplifier
2. JDSLabs CMOYBB V2.03 standard version
3. Hippo Amplifier
4. Fiio E5

DAC

1. Hifiman HM-602
2. Govibe USB DAC

DAP

1. Hifiman HM-602
2. iPod Classic 80GB with Crossroads LOD

Cable

1. Jaben/ALO Silver Cable (SXC 18AWG)
2. Canare L4E6S

Mainstream Multimedia Headphone/Headset

1. Sonic Gear HP 600 Recabled
2. Sonic Gear HS 410
3. A4Tech HS-780 Recabled

*All Item will have a retail price stated (RRP) and the price that I got for those that don't have RRP. For Jaben's price there will be some amount of discount depending on what you get and what bundle they did for that time.

They are not going to be reviewed in order. The first one that I will review is the SPL Auditor because I think this amplifier really worth to be mentioned first as a grand opening to my reviews. For it to be reviewed, I will first need to wait for my JH16PRO to arrive so I can have a complete review of the system. Before that, there should be some news and information will be posted while waiting for the first reviews from me.

My Philosophy and Ideology of Sounds and I~Part 1

Before I start any reviews of any audiophile stuffs, it is important for the readers to know about my philosophy about sound, my experience with audiophile stuffs and a little about me. Why is this important you may ask? But when it comes to audiophile stuffs especially reading a review it is important to know more about the writer and I find this to be very rare for any writer to write about themselves. Thus I’m saving your times to critically analyze about me, my experience and my philosophy so that you can spend more time enjoying the reviews.

Anyone Watched This Video Before?

Anyone watched this video before? It looks like a very good video to watch. Judging from the tire mark, we can see that they have already been trying and testing for the scene many times before the final shot. Well at least such training and adjusting for the right moment really help it a lot in making this great video. There is some mistake in the forklift part but luckily the driver is fast enough to adjust to the error. It’s pretty cool that the driver can drift with a front wheel drive car which is said to be harder to drift than a rear wheel car. There is quite a lot of humor in it also especially the gorilla part. Hmm do they represent gorilla glass or just being put there for the sake of being fun? It would be great if gorilla glass ask the producer to make ads for them. I’m pretty sure it will be better than their usual ads. So after looking at the video, what do you guys think of it? Wanted to go out and buy some DC shoes and Ford Fiesta? Whatever you do just remember don’t try this at home because they are trained professional.

An Introduction to a Great Journey.

Before I start anything, I would like to thank all my reader for reading this introduction and my future reviews. Here I will give you a hint of what you are going through when reading my blogs. In this blog you will be given the chances to journey into the world of audiophile for those still haven’t taken the walks, and while for the others that have already became an audiophile then welcome to my world of reviews. For starters, all the equipment that is going to be reviewed in this blog belongs to me. So there may not be much for a start, but when my blogs become more popular I may try to find some sponsors to borrow me some audio equipment for reviews. So please do help me make this blog more popular by coming into this blog more often. The more that you visit the site the better chances for you to enjoy more reviews in the coming years. If your are looking for speaker reviews then I think you will have better luck going somewhere else as for now I will just try to concentrate on headphone alone and the system that complement them. In other words this is going to be a headfi reviews and not hifi reviews. At times I might bring out things that I find it to be important for the audiophile world such as common misconception and myths. Besides that, I will also bring out things that maybe unrelated to audiophile but things that I find it to be interesting to share with the readers. So by going to this blog often, you are not just only going to get information about certain product but you are also going to increase your knowledge on other things as well. And also because I’m not a full time reviewer so there maybe in certain time that you will have to wait a little longer for the reviews to come out. And again thank you to all of you for reading.