IEMs with hybrid configurations (ones that combine both dynamic drivers and balanced armatures) are getting more and more popular these days, and our first review of a hybrid is none other than the Oriolus mk2, which is already highly acclaimed in the audiophile community.
In 2013 JH Audio announced the Siren Series of in-ear monitors, with each piece named after a famous rock song about women. Roxanne was the first, with sisters Layla and Angie joining thereafter, and Rosie being the latest addition to the growing lineup. Priced at a prohibitive $2499 USD, Layla is the most expensive of the bunch, and also the most pricey universal iem in the world at the time of its release – until the even more expensive Layla 2 donned in an all titanium housing succeeded it that is. Welcome to insanity.
Continue reading “Jerry Harvey Audio Layla – Larger Than Life”
Established in 2006, Audio Line Out (“ALO”) made its name by building high end audio cables for audio equipment. In 2015, ALO announced the creation of another branch that would be responsible for making IEMs called Campfire Audio (“CA”). Since then, CA has launched an impressive lineup of IEMs: the single BA Orion, the dual BA Nova, the single DD Beryllium driver Lyra and the four BA Jupiter. Their latest 5 driver flagship offering, the Andromeda caught my eye and I decided to take a leap and purchased it.
Continue reading “Campfire Audio Andromeda – Soaring into Space”
Back when I was still in high school I blindly bought a pair of Shure earphones without knowing anything about audio. At that point in time I hailed from an illustrious personal audio track record, such as having upgraded from the basic Apple ibuds to the Apple ‘in-ear EarPods’. The source was a sky blue Sony MD player, and listening to soapy break-up ballads from NSYNC, A1 and Westlife without ever having experienced any break-ups while cruising in a Chinese taxi in the Nanjing rain at a crawling speed was as good as I thought things could get. I remember feeling nothing after getting the Shure, I got it partly because of the brand name, and partly because I simply wanted to spend. Music listening soon became an indispensable part of my life, and somehow I splurged on the then Shure flagship E500PTH (push-to-hear). Continue reading “Shure SE846 – The Sound and the Fury”
I have a love-hate affair with Audio-Technica’s “dual symphonic driver” offering, the IM50.
I love it since it’s probably the best $450 HKD (around 58USD) I’ve ever spent. The only IEMs I had back then were the Xiaomi Pistons 2 and Havi B3, but I had heard about the IM50 and was curious. I picked it up immediately after demoing it at a shop. Now that I’ve gotten much deeper into the audiophile trap, I’ve started to hate the IM50s. And it’s not because they sound bad – it’s because they have such an enjoyable sound for the value that even after having tried many better IEMs, the IM50 still makes me reluctant to spend 10x the money on a nicer pair. Continue reading “Audio-Technica IM50 – Top Budget IEM”
The HKAVE (Hong Kong Audio Visual Expo) opened on June 10-12, and with an entry fee of just 60HKD, I decided that I definitely had to go check out if there were any new IEM offerings to try out.
For those new to this site, we’re an audio review blog focusing on IEM (In Ear Monitor) reviews! We’re just three normal dudes based in Hong Kong and Shanghai who hope to bring the sometimes overly technical and geeky aspect of audio to a wider audience to spread our love and passion of good sound in personal audio. We want to show in a more accessible package that there are many considerations other than price when making purchases such as design, comfort, durability, packaging, and eartips, to name just a few factors.
We’re excited to start this blog, and have many IEM reviews lined up, ranging from the cheapest budget earphones to premium top of the line picks, as well as some quicker impressions from audio expos and shows!
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-The AA Team
AccessibleAudio.Co 