J.me

A great little planar headphone, Audeze Sine review

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When Audeze introduced the Sine headphone at CES earlier this year, it has caught my attention since then. The Sine became the entry-level from Audeze highly regarded line up of headphones and is the first on-ear from the company.

Like other Audeze headphone, it uses planar magnetic driver, complete with the Fazor elements and Fluxor magnetic arrays Audeze used in their higher-end line.

Unlike the LCD audiophile-minded design, Sine continues the consumer-friendly approach started from EL-8, with option for Cipher cable that connect to iDevices via Lightning connector. BMW DesignWorks is again behind the design of this nice looking headphone.

I have been using Sine for a couple of months now and I can say that I’m quite impressed by the sounds. Mine is the standard option without the Cipher cable though, so I can’t speak on how the Cipher cable improves on iDevices.

A bold but very smooth IEM from Japan, Radius HP-TWF41 casual review

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Radius as a company is probably not widely known among audiophiles, unless if you are based or have visited Japan, chance are, you won’t find their products in stores near you. Their history actually started in United States on May 1986 as a subsidiary of Apple. In 1991, the company expanded to Japan. Not long after that, in 1996, the Japanese branch became independent and separated from their United States origin. Since then, the Japanese Radius has been focused on making peripheral for Apple devices and also on home and portable audio market. The United States branch however, changed their name to Digital Origin, allowing the Japanese company to keep the Radius name today. Quite a journey, eh?

The current product lines of Radius consisted of home and portable DAC and amplifier, earphones, the digital audio player software called NePLAYER and some other accessories for Apple and Android devices. What I’m interested in is their audio product of course, in the case of IEM, Radius has covered the market from the bottom into the mid-fi range.

Their highest-end IEM is unique that they have Dual Diaphragm Matrix (DDM) driver, possibly the first that combine dynamic and piezoelectric driver in each side of the IEM. That current lineup consisted of two identical siblings, TWF31 and TWF41. I have used their flagship, TWF41 for a couple of months now, while it’s not trying to compete with the (ridiculous) high-end market for IEM, it’s a quite impressive performer in their price range… and unique.

The wooden IEM from JVC, HA-FX850 casual review

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Craving for some wooden IEM? Then the Wood series from JVC could be a good pair to consider. Released back in 2014, JVC Wood series line consisted of FX650, FX750, FX850 and FX1100 (or FX1200 for international version).

This is my review of FX850, which I acquire earlier this year. Priced below the flagship FX1100/FX1200, FX850 shares many similarities with the flagship sibling, including the unique 11mm “wood dome unit” dynamic driver and detachable cable.

A casual review of Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00, my current favorite headphone

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Last year’s Massdrop collaboration with Fostex is a hit among audiophiles, selling all the allocated 1950 units in just a few days. The drop has been successfully run the second time and has now added Purpleheart version to the mix, which has attracted more than 1600 buyer at the time of the writing.

There is a reason why TH-X00 is popular, since it follows the predecessor success, namely the Denon D2000, D5000 and D7000 made by Foster, which later Fostex (Foster consumer brand) succeeded with TH600 and TH900. The Denons has been discontinued, while Fostex TH600 and TH900 is still regarded as one of the best closed headphone today, albeit not for everyone.

I got mine from the first drop last year, while late, here’s my review.