After auditioning final B3 multiple times in the past 2 or 3 years, and liking them of course, I took an opportunity recently and purchased a pair at a very convenient price. Originally released in 2019 and still in full production to date, B3 retail for € 499 in EU. Table of contents At-a-glance Card…
Category: GREAT STUFF
Akoustyx S6
California-based Akoustyx Inc kindly sent an S6 sample to deliver a second opinion after Jürgen’s recent article. It is customary for us in these cases to write a rather succint piece to avoid too much replication of the previous article’s contents but I’m going for an exception here. These little ones do in facts make…
Questyle M15
After a very unfortunate first try (the review unit which was kindfully sent to me by the manufacturer was stolen at my door), I finally got an M15 unit which I quite oddly found for a very good price 2nd hand in Japan. This second package reached me regularly so I can finally assess this…
Final F7200 – telling voices apart
My readers know that unlike what happens to so many other amateur audiophiles my quest for better audio gear is not apriori orientated towards current or future releases, indeed encompassing whatever “sounds” good – be that a just-released novelty or a legacy device is irrelevant to me. Amongst the best drivers in my collection there’s…
Intime Miyabi – speciale unicità
Come alcuni dei miei 18 lettori ricorderanno, un modello di IEM Intime mi ha particolarmente colpito in passato: le SORA 2, a cui ho dedicato un pezzo circa un anno e mezzo fa. E’ alla fine questo il motivo per il quale quando l’estate scorsa ho avuto notizia che Watanabe-san aveva rilasciato alcuni nuovi modelli,…
Intime Miyabi – uniquely special
As some of my 18 readers may recall, I’ve been quite impressed by a prior Intime IEM model called SORA 2, which I wrote about one and a half year ago. That’s surely why when last summer I got notified that mr Watanabe had released some new IEM models, and in particular one supposed to…
E1DA 9038SG3 and 9038D – they know what they are doing
I took my sweetest time on this, but here I finally am with my first article about E1DA dongles. This one is about the two models called 9038SG3 and 9038D. A subsequent article will cover PowerDAC V2.1. 9038SG3 is E1DA’s latest iteration of the 9038S model, which over time went through 3 generations – this…
Apogee Groove Anniversary Edition
A few of you may know that Apogee released an “Anniversary Edition” of their Groove DAC-AMP dongle in conjunction with the company’s 30th year in business, back in 2015. Originally priced at a substancially higher level compared to the regular version – which still retails for $249,00 – such Anniversary model is now discontinued. Externally…
RHA CL2 – surely best planar yet
I never fell in love with the planar timbre, neither in the end I did this time. It’s just not precisely my cup of tea. Yet this time it was a much closer call, really. What I heard is no doubt a full class above any other chifi planar I auditioned to date. This piece…
iFi GO Blu
GO Blu is iFi’s entry-level DAC-AMP, primarly focused on Bluetooth connectivity, high miniaturisation and straightforward operation. It retails for just below 200€ and I got a temporary loan unit for review purposes which I analysed for quite an extended time. Here’s my report. Table of contents At-a-glance Card PROs CONs Outstanding DAC reconstruction quality Unimpressive…