Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 01 April 2019

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The Empyreans represent the gutsiest move the headphone biz has seen in a long time. At $2999 USD, they’re almost ten times the price of Meze Audio’s next-priciest over-ear headphones, the 99 Classics ($309). They use a new driver technology I’ve never seen before. And they’re designed and manufactured in the medieval country town of Baia Mare, Romania, which isn’t exactly a tech nexus.

Read more: Meze Audio Empyrean Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 10 March 2019

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If you asked me to name a high-end headphone brand, I might think first of Audeze or HiFiMan. But ten years ago, I might have named Denon first. Much -- actually, almost everything -- in the headphone world has changed since then. Yet Denon has taken a relatively low-key approach to the hype-heavy headphone market. Even the company’s most elite current models were “soft launched,” posted on the company’s site with little fanfare. The AH-D7200 headphones ($999 USD) were introduced in December 2016, but I only found out about them when I stumbled upon them at CES in January.

Read more: Denon AH-D7200 Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 01 March 2019

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Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

After seeing prototypes of the Cleer Next headphones at a couple of trade shows, I’d filed them into my “if it ever ships” mental folder and soon forgotten about them -- and thus missed the initial introduction of these last fall. Fortunately, Cleer had to send me a sample of its other headphones, the Flow noise-canceling model, for a measurement project and offered to throw in the Nexts, too. Considering that the company seems in the midst of a major ramp-up, I thought I’d give the Nexts a proper technical workup to see where this company’s starting from -- and I’m glad I did, because they’re among the more interesting audiophile headphones I’ve recently encountered.

Read more: Cleer Next Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 20 February 2019

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When I first encountered Focal’s new Stellia closed-back headphones, I was exhausted and eager to hit the road. It was last month at CES 2019, in an early-morning, press-embargoed meeting scheduled right before my departure. Figuratively speaking, the imaginary sounds of my car calling out to me from the Mirage hotel parking lot drowned out most of Focal’s pitch. Regardless, I left with a review sample, and after living with the Stellias for a month, and soliciting the opinions of our usual listening panelists, I really don’t care what that original pitch was -- because I think my reaction to these headphones might be a little different from the way the company will position them.

Read more: Focal Stellia Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 10 February 2019

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Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

I’m always skeptical when an audio company appropriates an unused but historic brand. In too many cases, the company simply slaps the brand onto whatever generic product it can scrounge up out of Shenzhen, with little effort at design or tuning. That’s why I was so surprised when I witnessed the rebirth of the KLH brand at the 2018 CEDIA Expo. The company’s new lines of speakers seemed innovative (for speakers, anyway) and well engineered. I was surprised again at CES 2019 when the company launched two headphone models -- one of them, the Ultimate Ones, clearly targeted at people stepping up from mass-market headphones. That’s a gutsy move for what’s really a completely new company.

Read more: KLH Ultimate One Headphones