SoundStage! Solo | SoundStageSolo.com

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 January 2020

Sound: 1/2
Value:
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

Reviewers' Choice Like most high-end earphones, the Meze Audio Rai Pentas ($1099 USD) use multiple drivers -- but multiple drivers aren’t a simple prescription for great sound. With speakers, a complex electrical crossover circuit is typically used to optimize each driver’s performance. While some multi-driver earphones do include simple electrical crossovers, most of the tuning is done using acoustical chambers -- a method that typically requires much lengthier trial-and-error sessions than simple crossover tuning.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 20 December 2019

Sound: 1/2
Value: 1/2
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

According to market research firm Futuresource, true wireless earphones already account for 30 percent of earphone sales by volume and more than 60 percent in dollars, and by 2023 they’re expected to account for more than half of all total headphone retail revenue. But almost all of them are rather plain when it comes to acoustics -- usually just a single dynamic driver per earpiece. The Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro earphones ($149.99 USD) use a unique driver arrangement to break out of the functional but uninspired engineering common to the category.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 November 2019

Sound: 1/2
Value: 1/2
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

Reviewers' Choice When I first saw the EarFun Frees, I thought they might be the answer to a question I’ve had for a couple of years now: When will someone make good, cheap true wireless earphones? Once you’ve tried true wireless earphones that fit well and work reliably, you’ll probably want a set. Even if you’re a hardcore audiophile who listens through $3000 headphones powered by a tube amp, true wireless earphones are an irresistibly convenient choice for day-to-day activities, such as walking the dog or cleaning the house. But for such casual use, do you really want to spend $200 or $300?

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 20 October 2019

Sound:
Value: 1/2
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

Research shows that listeners’ opinions of headphones don’t vary as much as many audio publications would have you believe -- so voicing headphones to conform to the response most listeners prefer in blind tests is a pretty sure bet. But as anyone who’s ever conducted a blind test of speakers or headphones can tell you, people’s opinions about sound do differ substantially. So it wouldn’t be a crazy idea to make the sound of your headphones variable, to accommodate different listener tastes. That’s exactly what Simgot has done with the EK3 earphones ($359.99 USD) -- and they’ve done it in a way that makes it far easier to experiment with different sounds.

Read more: Simgot EK3 Earphones

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 October 2019

Sound:
Value: 1/2
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

As a longtime reviewer who’s on all sorts of press lists, I get dozens of pitches every month to review headphones. Sometimes I wake up to find three or four new pitches in my e-mail -- with more likely to come later in the day. I confess the sheer volume of pitches sometimes makes me a little too eager to delete them, and that’s what I did when I got an e-mail about Ausounds, a company that launched in August. Fortunately, I stumbled upon them at the 2019 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, and that’s where I saw the AU-Flex ANC earphones.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 September 2019

Sound:
Value:
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

Many people think that performance tuning is the toughest part of being an audio manufacturer, but I’d wager if you polled 100 product managers, they’d say that deciding on looks and features is a lot tougher. After all, everyone likes good sound, but not everyone likes red. With the MX Pro series -- of which the MX4 Pros are the top model -- MEE Audio decided to let you decide.