JBL Everest Elite 700 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-Ear Headphones
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comSean Olive and his crew of researchers have been at it for a while now, and I reckon some their work should have trickled down into JBL products by now. One likely candidate is their recently released JBL Everest Elite 700, a wireless, noise canceling, over-ear headphone, which contain Harman's whiz-bang TruNote technology that is claimed to calibrate the headphone to the wearers ears. Let's check it out.
JBL Soundgear Personal Speaker
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comNot long ago I wrote enthusiastically about the Bose SoundWear Companion neck-worn speaker. It was my first experience with such a device and it was, and continues to be, a very pleasant one. Way better than I expected. So, I figured I should look into some of the other options for this new type of device.
JBL was kind enough to send me their Soundgeara $100 less expensive alternative to the Bose. Having experience only one other device of this type, it's probably best just to compare and contrast the JBL directly with the Bose for this review.
JPS Labs Abyss AB-1266 Planar Magnetic Headphones
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
If Mary Shelley had written a birthday scene in "The Bride of Frankenstein", the Abyss AB-1266 would certainly have been the perfect gift for old Frankie. Yeah, these are some weird looking cans, and the price tag sure makes you look at them real hard.
Fortunately, it's what they sound like that counts.
Katz's Corner Episode 10: Mid-Priced Sealed Headphone Survey
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comHooo boy! Bob pulls out all the stops in his latest episode.
This is a little treasure trove of incisive opinion on a bunch of pretty darn good $150-$500 full-size sealed headphones.
Katz's Corner Episode 11: The Oppo Explosion
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
Bob Katz has fallen in love with the Oppo PM-3 and HA-2. A rather long review, but hey, he's in love. Waxing prosaic is part of the deal.
Katz's Corner Episode 16: The Smoking Gun
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comAfter those episodes, conspiracy theories have abounded: Did somehow my brainwaves have managed to influence five strong-minded individuals in my direction. Was it valid for Bob to use different amplifiers for the two headphones? And why did Bob and Tyll's findings on the Utopia and LCD-4 differ so much?
Let's find out!
Katz's Corner Episode 17: Perfecting Perfection
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comToday I'd like to discuss what I mean by sonic perfection or sonic neutrality. Most audiophiles have observed that excellent playback systems of different manufacturers can sound radically different! Even the most accurate loudspeakers are subtly voiced and are different sounding. But how can there be more than one "right"? Philosophically speaking, two different-sounding playback systems can't both be "right": one of them must be correct and the other must be incorrect! Or maybe both are wrong!
Katz's Corner Episode 18: Icelandic Wonder
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comI have a love affair with my Stax SR-007 Mk2 phones, which I judge to be superior, smoother, more musical and accurate than the expensive SR-009 model. What's with Stax? For them "better" seems to mean brighter, but why manufacture an even brighter headphone when the 007 model already sounds too bright? Stax seems to be obsessed with detail at the expense of musicality or even accuracy. But after-market amplifiers have sweetened that tune to a great extent.
Katz's Corner Episode 20: How Insensitive!
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comThese specifications confuse consumers, who would be forced to use logarithms and equations to answer the basic questions. We need to make headphone sensitivity and amplifier level specs more user-friendly, useable, interchangeable and effective. So I think it's high time to ditch both sensitivity approaches, and we can do better than both Sennheiser and the IEC if we start thinking outside the box!
Katz's Corner Episode 21: How Insensitive! Part 2
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comSo today we'll pick up on this principle and briefly compare the sound qualities of six very different headphone amplifiers, concentrating on their headroom, impact, perceived loudness, detail, and depth. Then, in the next episode, I'll try to make sense of the listening and see if there is any correlation between what we measure and what we hear. Don't expect a miraclelistening versus measurements is an ongoing debate, but in Episode 22 I promise to reveal some tantalizing clues!