balanced armature

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Review: Hybrid Headphones from AKG, Audiofly, and Scosche

Does the combination of dynamic drivers with balanced armatures give you the best of both worlds?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 23, 2012
To most people, the only apparent differences among in-ear monitors (IEMs) are the logos on the sides. But there are two very different technologies used in IEMs.

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Review: Scosche IEM856md

A hard-driving hybrid IEM from the masters of car-sound accessories
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 23, 2012
If it seems a little weird for Scosche, a company known for car audio accessories, to be getting into the headphone biz — well, tell me then who’s not getting into the headphone biz.

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Review: Audiofly AF78

A hybrid IEM with retro style and a reasonable price
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 23, 2012
Audiofly is a cool new brand with a retro look. Its website is filled with pix of recent-vintage tattooed hipsters, but its IEMs have molded-plastic perf grilles reminiscent of the 1960s portable radios I grew up with.

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Review: AKG K3003

An ultra-high-end hybrid IEM for the private-jet set.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 23, 2012
- 4
The $1,299 K3003 seems as if it were designed to be the official IEM of the one-percenters. One look at the stainless-steel earpieces tells you it’s something exclusive and different. It’s different inside, too, with two balanced armatures instead of just one. As one might expect from a $1,299 IEM, it comes with a snazzy and unique leather case, although the case is relatively bulky.

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Review: Altec Lansing Muzx Ultra MZX606

Balanced-armature IEMs for under $100
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
With so many companies slapping their brand on generic IEMS, what’s an easy way to tell who’s serious about sound? Look to the guys selling IEMs with balanced armatures. Most IEMs use dynamic drivers, tiny versions of the drivers in box speakers, but a balanced armature is more like a little motorized teeter-totter that drives a diaphragm.

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Review: Rock-It R-30 Headphones

An in-ear monitor that looks like a plucked chicken but fits like a glove
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 6, 2012
There must be hundreds of brands and thousands of models of in-ear monitors (IEMs) now, and probably 95 percent of them are as generic as 2x4s. But it’s obvious that a lot of thought went into the Rock-It R-30.

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Review: TDK Life on Record EB950, BA100, and BA200 Earphones

One manufacturer, three technologies
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 20, 2012
- 5
Companies that sell in-ear monitors seldom talk much about the technologies inside their products. But they should, because there are big differences between the ~$20 Philips and Skullcandy IEMs you buy at Target and the ~$200 models you get from Etymotic or Shure.

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CES 2012: Sony Gets Serious About IEMs

A new line of 11 balanced-armature in-ear headphones
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted January 11, 2012
- 1
CES 2012 was the coming-out party for Sony’s in-ear headphones. Nearly buried in the talk of cell phones, media managers, and 3DTV was the announcement Monday night of Sony’s first line of balanced-armature in-ear monitors (IEMs). This step up to a higher class of product shocked me for two reasons.

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