Headphone Reviews

Stax SR-Lambda Pro headphones

Dick Olsher, J. Gordon Holt, John Atkinson Jul 12, 2016 First Published: Sep 01, 1984

Stax Kogyo, a small audio company by Japanese standards, has been for the past 15 years steadfastly refining and redefining the electrostatic headphone. The SR-Lambda Pro is their current flagship model, and at a 1984 US list price of $780 it also represents a very substantial investment in headphone technology.

Headphone Reviews

A Tale of Four Headphones

John Atkinson Jul 06, 2016 First Published: May 01, 1991

I do quite a bit of headphone listening during the day, making use of their convenience to shut out the office hubbub while I get down to serious copy editing. The system I use is modesta pair of no-longer-available Sennheiser HD420SLs driven by an Advent 300 receiver I bought for $75, with CD source provided by a Denon DCD-1500 IIbut I get quite a bit of musical satisfaction from it.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

The E-Mu Walnut: A Creative Aurvana Live! Woodied-Up

Tyll Hertsens Jul 02, 2016 First Published: Jul 02, 2016

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Originating with the Foster OEM design (model 443741, page H-4 of this .pdf) and seeing the light of day first as the Denon AD-H1001, then the Creative Aurvana Live! (CAL!), this model has now been refreshed as the E-Mu Walnut. This is a lovely example of a companyin this case Creative Technologies in the form of its subsidiary company E-Mu Systemsrecognizing they have a solid-performer on their hands, and incrementally improving it. I wish I saw this more often.

Audacious Audio Headphone Reviews

Audeze LCD-4 headphones

John Atkinson Jun 21, 2016 First Published: Jun 21, 2016

Life is too short to put up with poor-sounding headphones, I mused the other morning, during my 60-minute commute on the NYC subway. All around me, straphangers gripped smartphones and listened to multicolored Beats, noise-canceling Boses, white Apple earbuds, and, only rarely, Sennheisers and Grados.

Headphone Reviews

Pass Labs HPA-1 headphone amplifier

John Atkinson Jun 16, 2016 First Published: Jun 16, 2016

When Pass Labs is mentioned, it's natural to think of its founder, iconic engineer Nelson Pass. But Nelson heads a team of engineers at the California company: Their XP-30 preamplifier, which I enthusiastically reviewed in April 2013, was designed by Wayne Colburn; and the subject of this review, the HPA-1 headphone amplifier, is the first Pass Labs product designed by Jam Somasundram, former director of engineering for Cary Audio. Somasundram joined Pass Labs in July 2013; he spent a year working on the HPA-1, which was shown at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, but not formally launched until the 2016 CES, at a hefty $3500.

Digital Processor Reviews Headphone Reviews

Ayre Acoustics Codex D/A headphone amplifier

Jon Iverson May 25, 2016 First Published: May 25, 2016

I first spied the Ayre Codex two Januarys ago, at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, and its scrappy proletarian vibe sure made it look different from any other Ayre creation. On learning that its price would be well under $2000, I was immediately curious what Charley Hansen and his gangmakers of the $3450 QB-9^DSD USB digital-to-analog converter, plus a few five-figure amps and preampscould create when cost is an object.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

Does music help you get to sleep? Bedphones will work just fine!

Tyll Hertsens May 20, 2016 First Published: May 20, 2016

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

One of the things that, it seems to me, separates headphone enthusiasts from traditional audiophiles is an interest in good inexpensive stuff, or devices with unusual utility. Think Koss Porta Pros or the Riva Turbo X. The Porta Pro has been delivering excellent sound quality for its very low $49 price for decades and for decades headphone enthusiasts have been praising their worth. And when the Riva Turbo X Bluetooth speaker showed up at CanJam a year or so ago, headphone hobbyists embraced it immediately as a great sounding portable speaker. These are cool little gadgets, and it seems to me headphone enthusiasts are more than willing to have a good hard look at them....no matter the cost.

Budget Component Reviews Digital Processor Reviews Headphone Reviews

Meridian Explorer2 D/A headphone amplifier

Jim Austin May 19, 2016 First Published: May 19, 2016

I was lying on a mattress on the floor of an empty apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Not as grim as it soundsit's a nice apartment, and the mattress was new, and had just been deliveredbut it was hot (no air-conditioning), and my family and my furniture were still in my condo up in Maine, and I was lonely. I needed some cheering up. Which is how I rationalized the decision to buy an Explorer², Meridian Audio's tiny, inexpensive ($299) digital-to-analog converter.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

Sennheiser HD 202: Inexpensive Headphones Done Really Well

Tyll Hertsens May 06, 2016 First Published: May 06, 2016

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

First, how in the hell do you make a pair of headphones, distribute it to retailers, and have it shipped overnight to your house for $20!? I shake my head; how can this be? Well, the answer, of course, is economies of scale. And with 312,000,000 headphones sold world-wide annually, there's plenty of scale in that economy.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

The HiFiMAN Edition X is Delightful from Portable Players

Tyll Hertsens Apr 24, 2016 First Published: Apr 24, 2016

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

HiFiMAN touts this headphone as great for direct play from portable devicesand I'll agree, it does play very well directly from a tablet or phone. Pretty nice not to have the burden and expense of having to carry around a portable amp, but at $1800 it doesn't really seem like a more affordable solution. And then, it's an open headphone while most portable cans are sealed to get rid of environmental noise. So...this is a flagship headphone for use with portable devices indoors? I'm not sure what to think...let's work through the details.