J.me

A comfortable and small titanium wonder, the Echobox Finder X1 casual review

Finder-X1-1

I have heard about Echobox earphone before, but I never paid attention to it. That is, until one day I went to my local headphone store and came across to this earphone physically. Fully named as Echobox Finder X1, I didn’t have big expectation on this small in-ear at first, that is until I tried it myself and went home with one. Since then, the Finder X1 has become my on-the-go cans.

Echobox is a small company that is based in US. They previously run Indiegogo campaign for this earphone along with a Digital Audio Player with Android OS, the Explorer. Both products is very compelling, a small titanium in-ear that built like a tank and an Android DAP with unique wooden housing. I hope I can review the Explorer one day (it’ll be released this month), but here is my review for the Finder X1 earphone.

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

TWF41-1

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

FX850-1

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.