THE REVIEWS
ads
Subscribe to our newsletter.
Sign up with your email address to receive news, updates, and our free quarterly magazine—AudioKeyREVIEWS!
THE MEZE POET - REVIEW
The Meze POET represents the second headphone of three Meze headphones being reviewed, in succession. It is the first open-back, planar, magnetic headphone in this trio of reviews. The first was the STRADA ($799), a dynamic, close-backed headphone, at about mid-tier pricing, which compared very favorably with other headphones, many of which were several times its price! The final review will be the Empyrean II.
THE MEZE STRADA - REVIEW
First, the STRADA unlike Meze’s planar headphones will need, at least, 50 hours and nearly 100 hours to sound their best. The initial listening session, prior to their burn-in, was very concerning. I initially thought I had happened upon a bad Meze headphone. Well, no I hadn’t. It is, however, crucial for a good, thorough burn-in before listening for pleasure and certainly before reviewing them.
HIFIMAN ISVARNA HYBRID HEADPHONE - REVIEW
The HIFIMAN Isvarna is a truly exceptional headphone with great technical aptitude, extended frequency response, via its hybridization, a sublime naturalness in line with its brethren—Susvara Unveiled, Susvara—though not quite at their level, and it too is truly immersive. I’ve listened for long hours via the Isvarna late into the night and was alway happy and content.
HIFIMAN SUSVARA UNVEILED - REVIEW
There’s a new headphone in town and word is it’s the fastest in the west and so gosh darn clean and distortion-free, that headphones of all types, even electrostatics, are fleeing town in droves. Well, I should know. I’ve spent the past several months with this new fangled headphone and it is something special.
HIFIMAN SUSVARA - REVIEW
Natural more so than any headphone that I have heard to date and matched with its superb technical abilities the HiFiMan Susvara is, perhaps, that desert island headphone or, in this day and age, that deeply buried, post-apocalyptic-bunker headphone that will see you through until septic failure or water/food shortage or catastrophic disagreement with your bunker mates.
ALLNIC H-7000 PHONO-PREAMPLIFIER - REVIEW
There is no other way to put it, the Allnic H-7000 tube based Phono Stage is the most impressive analogue component I have encountered. It is also the most expensive, and appropriately so considering the obsessive attention to detail, materials, and build. It will be hard to see it go, but even so, we enjoyed listening to vinyl as we never have before. Very highly recommended.
OBRAVO VENUS SIGNATURE IEM - REVIEW
The oBravo Venus Signature are simply superb personal audio transducers—exceptional, actually. At close to the $1,000 price point, they are very much front runners in that market. No audio product is perfect, but the Venus Signature made it difficult to find any significant flaws in its build, appearance or sound. If we had to live with just one IEM model, the Venus Signature would likely be it.