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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Review: Bowers & Wilkins C5

A great-sounding IEM with a unique fitting twist
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
If you’re sick of trying to choose among dozens of lookalike IEMs in the racks at electronics stores, you’ll find the C5 to be welcome relief. This IEM resembles nothing else on the market. The back of each titanium earpiece holds B&W’s Micro Porous Filter, a layer of hundreds of tiny steel balls that the company says works as a sonic diffuser.

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Review: Polk Audio UltraFocus 6000

A noise-canceling IEM with great fit and idiosyncratic sound
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
- 1
I’m happy to see Polk getting into one of the headphone world’s neglected nether realms: noise-canceling IEMs. The UltraFocus 6000 gives you the easy transportability of an IEM with the noise-canceling technology that’s popular on larger over-ear and on-ear models.

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Review: PSB M4U 2

A full-size noise-canceler that competes sonically with the best audiophile headphones
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
- 1
When PSB’s Paul Barton recently called me to chat about headphone measurement, it soon became apparent that he’d read every scientific paper ever written about headphones. The first headphone to which Barton brings his ultra-scientific approach is the M4U 2, a noise-canceling model poised to go up against the likes of the Bose QC15.

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Review: Velodyne vPulse

A basshead's IEM from the subwoofer experts
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 25, 2012
Subwoofer specialist company Velodyne surprised everyone when it entered the headphone business last year. But while you might expect Velodyne’s headphones to incorporate ginormous drivers, passive radiators, high-powered digital amps, and the like, the vPulse is pretty ordinary-looking.

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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: AIRbudz Concept Eartips

When safety sounds better than sound
- By Leslie Shapiro
- Posted June 14, 2012
Anyone who’s ever been out on a bike path or trail knows the hazard of approaching another runner who’s wearing earphones. You know you should announce that you’re passing them, but you know they can’t hear you. As a cyclist, I always shout out “passing on your left” or even just a friendly "hello" to let someone know I’m behind them.

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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: NuForce Cube

A powered speaker, USB DAC, and headphone amp in a tennis-ball-sized chassis
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 1, 2012
- 3
In the last year, we’ve seen lots of super-compact audio systems that sound surprisingly good: the Jawbone Jambox, the Q2 Internet Radio, and the Soundmatters FoxLv2 are three great examples. But the NuForce Cube comes in at just a fraction of their size: The enclosure measures less than 2.5 inches on all its sides. One look at the Cube and it’s hard to imagine you’d want to listen to it for long.
But behind the Cube’s grille hides what may be the most serious attempt at a 1-inch full-range driver I’ve ever seen.

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Denon: New Headphones, New Docks, New Look

A revived headphone line and hot new iPod docks for Denon (and D+M sibs Marantz and Boston Acoustics too)
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted May 30, 2012
Denon’s been to headphones what the Rolling Stones have been to rock: Both enjoy an unassailable reputation even though they haven’t done anything significant for a long time. I’m betting the Stones stick to that plan, but as of yesterday, Denon’s back in play with a new line of 11 headphones — plus a couple of cool new AirPlay/DLNA speakers, too.

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Review: B&W P3 Headphones

A smaller on-ear headphone from the biggest name in (good) speakers.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted May 28, 2012
- 1
There are speaker companies better-known than B&W, but I doubt any has a more enviable reputation. B&Ws have been a fave of audiophiles and recording engineers for decades. But the best indicator of B&W’s rep would probably be a walk through an audio show in China, where you’ll see no other speaker brand so brazenly copied.
Nowadays, though, B&W seems focused on compact and portable products, such as its Zeppelin Air and P5 and C5 headphones. Can’t blame B&W for wanting to surf the market trends, but headphones, especially, are so different from speakers that a company’s expertise in one is little indicator of skill in the other.
All three of the products I just mentioned have received rave reviews, though. That praise gives us great hope for the P3, a smaller, more portable, $100-less-expensive version of the P5.

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