The Beyerdynamic DJX-1
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
I was rummaging around amongst HeadRoom's demo cans the other day, and stumbled upon a Beyerdynamic DJX-1.
"Hmm..." I sez to myself, "I don't remember ever seeing these before. I wonder what they sound like."
Once home, I pulled them out of the box and had a listen ... wow, these aren't bad at all. I wonder why I've never heard them before?
The Brilliant Sennheiser HD 800
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
One look at the Sennheiser HD 800 and it's quite obvious that this headphone is in a class of one. Seemingly as much architecture and structural engineering as it is audio, this headphone is a technological marvel and delivers incredibly accurate audio fidelity.
It's nearly perfect ... nearly.
The Caeden Linea No. 10 A Lovely Mobile Headphone for the Ladies
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
A beauty more than skin deep, the Caeden Linea No. 10 sounds as good as it looks.
The Competent and Low-Cost Noontec Zoro II Wireless
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comWireless headphones are hot, hot, hot these days. I'm going to make a concerted effort to cover quite a few in coming months. Here's a start...
The Cool, Comfy, and Competent Shure SRH1540
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comIt took me a little while to warm up to these headphones, but once I did, I found myself very happy coddled in their comfort and spacious sound.
The Delightful Onkyo ES-FC300 and ES-HF300
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
Just another "big audio company joins the ranks of headphone makers" or something a bit more special? It's hard to get my hopes up with so many first stabs at making headphones resulting in mediocre introductions. Maybe I should just lower my expectations a bit.
No! The new Onkyo cans are quite a surprise!
The E-Mu Walnut: A Creative Aurvana Live! Woodied-Up
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.comOriginating 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.
The Elegant and Complex Parrot Zik Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headset
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
The inside of a great designer's head must be a very unusual place. On the one hand, the world is filled with clumsy, ugly, ill-formed objects. On the other, it's rife with opportunity for utility and beauty. The cacophony of internal dialog must be almost unbearable. Renowned designer Philippe Starck has turned his attention to untangling the mess that is Bluetooth headsets, and in collaboration with Parrot (a French company with significant experience in automotive Bluetooth devices) has developed the most unique wireless headset I've ever seen.
The Entry Level #19
It was unusually warm for early spring, without a cloud in the big, blue sky to tame the sun's dazzling lightfar too beautiful a day to be indoors, but Uncle Omar and I had already planned a little listening session, and I was determined to show him that high-end cables would make a difference in his system. I wasn't necessarily feeling bullish about the task, though. It had taken me a couple of years to convince Omar that he should replace his old boom-box speakers with something better, and it was only dumb luck that finally made it happen: I was with him when he found a gently used pair of B&W DM602 speakers at a junk shop in Jersey City. When they were new, the DM602s sold for around $600/pair, but on this happy day they were tagged at $50. "Do it," I begged him. "Doooooo it!"
The Entry Level #20
It was another flawlessly beautiful spring morning, and I was in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to help John Atkinson pack up the Lansche Audio 5.1 loudspeakers ($41,000/pair). John had only just completed his listening and bench tests (see his review in the July issue), and was not ready to let go of the lovely Lanschesbut the speakers would be picked up by a trucking company that afternoon and sent to our cover photographer, Eric Swanson, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Each Lansche measures 40.9" tall by 10.1" W by 19.3" D and weighs 167.5 lbspacking them and securing them to a shipping pallet is definitely a two-man job. In our case, that job required a lot of wheezing, a little bleeding, and just the right amount of cursing. And because it was only 11am when we met, we were obliged to accomplish the task without the aid of beera crying shame, if you ask mebut we handled it in our usual, manly fashion.