Headphones

What's New

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: Dusting Off Some Vintage Headphones

Revisiting the great, not-so-great, and just plain wacky headphones of the ’70s
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 11, 2012
Checking out the latest acquisitions during a recent visit to Vancouver, BC vintage audio dealer Innovative Audio, I noticed a lot of headphones that I hadn’t seen since the days when I wore Qiana shirts and had hair down past my shoulders.

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Review: Tivoli Audio Radio Silenz Noise Canceling Headphones

The no-nonsense tabletop radio leaders turn to the headphone market. Do they have a winner?
- By Michael Berk
- Posted July 5, 2012
- 1
Tivoli's staked out a secure place for itself on the bedside tables and desks of stylish folks worldwide, and now they've decided to bring their tasteful finishes and wooden accents to the category everybody's getting into these days — headphones.

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Reel Audio: The Klipsch Tapes on CD

Speaker pioneer Paul Klipsch’s original stereo recordings are now on CD — and they’re amazing.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 4, 2012
Back in the mid-1950s, there weren’t a whole lot of stereo recordings available. How, then, could an audio engineer evaluate the equipment he was designing? For Paul Klipsch, founder of Klipsch Speakers, the answer was to make his own recordings.

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New Gear: FiiO E09K

A handy desktop audio tool gets a nice refresh
- By Michael Berk
- Posted June 28, 2012
When we looked at FiiO's desktop headphone amp, the E9, we had a few quibbles with the design, though few complaints about the sound or the bang it delivered for the buck.

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Review: Bell'O Digital BDH650 In-Ear Headphones

Can a home-theater furniture manufacturer make the leap into personal audio gear?
- By Leslie Shapiro
- Posted June 28, 2012
When Bell’O announced that they were getting into the audio business, I fully expected them to come out with a line of speakers that matched some of their home theater furniture.

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From Boxes to Cans: Seven Headphones from Speaker Manufacturers

Can traditional speaker companies make a mark in the headphone biz?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
- 1
These days, the headphone biz is hot. The speaker biz? Not as hot. So it’s no surprise that every major speaker company is either launching a headphone line or thinking about it. And why not? They’re experts in developing, manufacturing, and marketing audio products. How hard could it be for them to launch a line of headphones?

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Review: Focal Spirit One

Utopian vibe and dramatic soundstaging in an audiophile headphone
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
Some audiophiles consider Focal’s $180,000-per-pair Grande Utopia EM to be the world’s finest speaker. The Spirit One, Focal’s first headphone, weighs about 99.9% less and costs about 99.8% less. Yet its brushed aluminum metal parts, matte black soft-touch finishes, and detachable cord with a woven cover convey some of the Utopias’ high-end vibe.

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Review: Paradigm Shift E3m

An IEM tuned like Paradigm's speakers — or is it?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
Paradigm tunes its IEMs to match the sound of its different speaker lines. The E3m is the top-of-the-line model, thus it is said to match the company’s top-of-the-line Signature Series speakers. The midpriced E2m matches Paradigm’s Studio Series speakers, and the low-priced E1 matches the Monitor Series 7 speakers.

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