Sennheiser just released the new HD558 and HD598 headphones, which are successors to the mid-level HD555 and HD595 headphones.The HD558 now wears a slick, all black look, while the HD598 took an extreme direction with tan color, wood-look trims, and leather headband pad. Both headphones remain largely faithful to the Sennheiser signature which I find to be one of the most music-friendly sound signatures around.The HD598 is clearly the
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Beresford TC-7520 Review
A while ago, some readers asked for a comparison of some of the DACs I had reviewed to the popular TC-7520 DAC. I wasn't very familiar with the Beresford TC-7520 DAC at that time, but Jeff Tomerlin at Beresford was [...more]
Matrix M-Stage Class A Biasing
I was totally happy with the Matrix M-Stage's performance, and it has officially taken the spot of my new favorite entry level amp. Moreover, I've been listening to the M-Stage with the Hifiman HE5LE, and though the Hifiman EF5 is [...more]
Hifiman RE-ZERO and RE-0
There was a day when I can conveniently refer to the RE-0 IEM as the "r-e-zero". Then Hifiman released the RE-ZERO, and since then I've been having problems differentiating between the two when I'm in the middle of a phone [...more]
Beresford TC-7520 Unboxing
Some people has been asking me about doing a review or comparison to the TC-7520 DAC. I just received the TC-7520 DAC, and while I'm not familiar enough about the sound to post an in-depth review, I'd just like to [...more]
Matrix M-Stage
It's amazing to hear the kind of sound you can get from a $290 amplifier. Coolfungadget sells the M-Stage amp for $289.95, and he was kind enough to send me a unit for review. This is the newer 2010 version [...more]
Hifiman EF5 Review
Supposedly, the EF5 is THE amp for pairing with the HE5/LE. The EF1, which is the predecessor to the EF5, has been known to deliver solid results with low impedance headphones like the Grados. When Hifiman released the HE5 headphone, [...more]
Preview: Zana Deux
I've always wanted to get one of these, but I never thought it would come this fast. My biggest amp purchase ever! Thanks to Matt in Illinois for the wonderful package!Specifications: (from Zana Deux SE)Three input selector [...more]
Whiplash Audio TWAg
Some of you have probably noticed that I've been using a lot of Whiplash Audio cables in my rigs, including the HD800 (both balanced and single ended cables), the JHAudio customs (both balanced and single ended), as well as LODs [...more]
The HRT Music Streamer II: Asynchronous 24/96 for $149.95!
The Music Streamer II (MS2) is the little brother to the Music Streamer II Plus (MS2+). If you've read the review of the Plus model, then you know that these HRT DACs are solid performers as I found the Plus [...more]
Stax Omega2 Mk2 Review
First of all I would like to thank Budi for making this review possible.As the flagship STAX headphone, the Omega2 is the most perfect headphone I've ever listened to. All of us can start from different headphone preferences, and ultimately [...more]
Closed Cans Shootout: M-50, ESW-9, T50P, HD25-1, Beats Studio, SRH-840, SRH-750DJ, K181DJ, and DJ1Pro.
Here it is, the long awaited closed headphones shootout. Big thanks to Sem, Peter, and Bram for the loaners that make this comparison possible. There are nine headphones in total as seen in the picture below:In the group picture, the [...more]
Vintage Orthodynamics
The local headphone crowd, mostly members of the audiophile-id.com forum, have been quite into vintage orthodynamics for a while now. During a recent meet I was able to taste some very special, very rare vintage orthodynamic headphones. This is the [...more]
Dual Drivers: Q-Jays, DBA-02, UE700, Westone 2, SF5Pro, and JH5Pro!
The dual driver IEMs are not to be taken lightly. They may not offer the same bragging rights as the flagship triple drivers, nor are they as affordable as the single drivers, but but the dual drivers are a very [...more]
Stax Omega2 Preview
A really good friend of mine lent me his Stax Omega 2 set up. I've been listening to it on the HeadAmp KGSS amplifier, while comparing it to the HD800 out of the Grace m902, the Burson HA-160, and the [...more]
