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Bone Conduction Headphones
My inbox was pummeled with press releases for the new Aftershokz Bone Conduction Headphone for weeks before CES, and these cans got a lot of attention there. Sure got my curiosity up, so I stopped by their booth for a listen, and walked away with a pair for review. But I don't know diddly about the technology, so I thought I should do a little homework before a serious evaluation. Turns out, there are quite a few very good applications for this type of transducer.

How it Works
It's pretty…

TEAC Filltune HP-F100
Going in, I thought there was no way I was going to hear any high frequency performance from either of these bone conduction headphones. I was wrong. These magnetostrictive transducers actually deliver surprisingly good uppermids and low-to-mid treble performance. No way they're anywhere near transparent, but they are surprisingly articulate and inteligible. From around 600Hz and below however, they really drop off, and the bass is virtually non-existant. I can see why tactical teams use them though, understanding poor quality whispered speech would be quite easy…

The Contest
First and foremost, this contest is just a bit of fun. What's really more important is giving DIYers the opportunity to get their headphones measured so they can get a little objective feedback for their projects. I think this is an important service I can provide U.S. DIYers (sorry, I can't afford to do worldwide return shipments), and I will continue tooffer this service to headphone DIYers. If you're in the U.S. and would like to have your DIY modified headphones measured, simply send me a PM on Head-Fi, or…

Coolest Looking DIY Headphones
When DIYers get serious about making a headphone sound good, it's mostly about stuff going on inside the headphones, so often the exterior of the headphone is little changed. But every once in a while, someone decides they're gonna do the full Monty, and builds a headphone from scratch ... or nearly so. The often monstrous results speak of the enthusiasm with which they were built, and these headphones glow with the love, care, and mania endowed to them by the maker. Judging here was purely subjective on my part; I picked headphones that tickled my…

Worst Measuring DIY Headphones
We have three "winners" in this category. Frankly, I'm surprised how well most DIYers manage to do, building a headphone that measures well is not easy. None-the-less, we did end up with some cans at the bottom of the barrel. The good news is that we learn from our mistakes, and you've got no where to go but up from here.

Prizes for this category were the best sounding headphones I could scrounge up. I figure these guys could use some good sounding cans to help draw comparisons with their DIY efforts.

3rd Place - Alder Woodies by nickn…

Best Measuring DIY Headphones
The big surprise here was how good some of these headphones performed. Clearly superior to the headphone prior to modification; and in a few cases measuring as well as good commercial cans. They all did seem to display some oddity, however, and this is where having DIY cans measured can really be helpful as they might point towards places small improvements can be made.

Judging this category wasn't easy. What I looked for primarily was well extended bass; flat frequency response to 1kHz and good linearity of the 30Hz square wave top; and lack of…

The Trouble with Tips
Numerous people have asked me to investigate how ear tips affect the frequency response of in-ear monitors (IEMs). Personally, I've not experienced much change in tone when changing from one tip type to another, but I've had plenty of troubles with ear tips in general.

My left ear has a significantly more acute bend in it's ear canal than my right ear. Many times the ear tip bottoms out at the bend and the opening of the ear tip gets pushed against the wall of the canal occluding the opening and…

Properly Preparing of Comply Tips for Insertion
Comply tips have two parts: the outer foam; and a stiffer inner tube of plastic that slides over the nozzle of the earphone. The rounded end of the foam extends further than the inner tube. When squishing the foam between your fingers prior to insertion, if you simply roll the tip between your fingers the foam remains longer than the tube. I think this extra foam at the tip can push against the side of your ear canal at the bend and may partially or completely block the end of the tube from which sound emits. This will muffle the sound…

Old Friends
I've been listening to this fine lineup of Denon headphones for a long, long time. They've always struck me as really good, and a bit weird sounding...loose-ish or something. But yummy and lush, too! I've got a personal pair of D5000 and I like them a lot.

I discovered some new stuff in the current Dx000 models as I wrote this review and I'm excited to tell you it's all good news. But to tell the story properly we must cover some basic information first.

Mechanical Description
The overall design of…

Making Good Better
This review took me far too long to write. I've had a personal pair of D5000s for years now, and am very familiar with all the cans in the line. When I decided to do this review, rather than bugging HeadRoom to borrow their sales demo units for an extended period of time, I called Denon to acquire some current samples. Boy, am I glad I did, but it was disorienting for a while.

First, I unboxed the three headphones and stuck them on my burn-in station for a week or so. Once I figured they'd cooked long enough, I sat down for a preliminary listen. They…