The Dali iO-12 is brand new, but the Danish speaker manufacturer is following a familiar path. If you’re a speaker manufacturer, speakers are the answer to everything. So Dali describes its headphones as “speakers for the head”. The drivers are made like loudspeaker units, with a paper fibre diaphragm, real voice coil and proper edge …
There’s never really been anything wrong with the Sennheiser HD660S. When we tested the headphones three years ago, we wished for a little more deep bass and punch. In addition, we were pleased with an exceptionally silky smooth and detailed soundstage. The warm tonal balance may not be to everyone’s taste, but listening to music …
We hear it over and over again: a pair of high-end speakers or headphones are designed to give the listener as pure and unaffected a musical experience as possible, so that it feels as if the musicians are standing in the room playing for you, and only you. Almost every hi-fi equipment manufacturer makes this …
The first time I heard the Focal Utopia was at a hi-fi fair, where I realised that I was getting the best sound of the fair among all the super-expensive stereos. That’s how fantastic they sounded! As I became more familiar with them, on my own equipment and with my own music collection, I was …
When I tested Sennheiser’s previous top-of-the-range earbuds, the IE 800 S, I was impressed by the well-defined and detailed sound. To my ears, they had only one noticeable weakness: dynamics. No matter how good an amplifier I plugged them into, they made a slightly anaemic impression – even at high volume. That was a bit …
Do you want Dream Sound with a capital D, while it wouldn’t occur to you to pay tens of thousands for a stereo system? How about a pair of high-end headphones instead? Now I’m not talking about headphones for people on the go who want to block out the noise while they’re on the train …
Spending thousands of euros on a pair of headphones isn’t something I consider foolish anymore. It’s what you’ll have to do if you want a pair of Audeze LCD-5, and I’ve come to understand why you’d want to. Sound is truly a passion, and the fact that you can get a listening experience superior to …
It may seem crazy to claim that €1,300 should be a “reasonable” price for a pair of headphones. But it’s actually quite conceivable, because the truth is that you get much better sound for your money with a pair of headphones than you would if you had to shell out for an expensive hi-fi system. …
Exactly two years have passed since Sennheiser launched the Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds, which I without hesitation claimed as my new favorites.They now had active noise cancellation and longer battery life, and the same fabulous audio quality. To this day, not many earbuds can beat the MTW2 in terms of audio quality, Bowers & …
Most headphones sold today – and that is quite many – are active and wireless. Fortunately, there are still good, old-fashioned hi-fi headphones with cable, intended for a cozy moment at home in the living room. And some of them come from unexpected orgins. Sivga Phoenix is from Dongguan, China. The company, which has been …
The more expensive big brother to Asada Zakura is called Kokutan, or ATH-AWKT, if you look at the official model designation. But Kokutan is thus what Audio-Technica hope they will be popularly known as. The name comes from the striped Japanese ebony tree, and the colour is deep dark brown with an even darker natural …
Cherry wood has rarely seen more beautiful than on the ear cups for ATH-AWAS from Audio-Technica. The headphones are also called Asada Zakura, which, non-coincidentally, is the name of a Japanese cherry tree variety. The wood is red and treated with semi-clear varnish, as it itself is quite dull. The wood is reportedly chosen for …
In a relatively short time, Focal has established themselves as one of the world’s best manufacturers of headphones. It does not seem possible for the French speaker manufacturer to make bad headphones. The open Focal Clear were probably the ones that made the biggest impression on me, considering the price. Because even though the top …
Sennheiser is always a safe choice if you are looking for high quality headphones in a given price segment. The German headphone manufacturer has been doing this for over 75 years. And they know their line of work. It is therefore no wonder that very many headphone manufacturers use Sennheiser as a reference when measuring …
Exactly two years ago I had the pleasure of testing Focal’s most expensive closed headphone model, Stellia. Real high-end headphones of top build quality, and acoustically, Stellia is the best I’ve heard among closed. Ever. With perfect balance between fullness, details and dynamics. Stellia sounds so sparklingly good, that most other headphones fade in comparison. …