Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 10 April 2022

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As I look back on my dozen or so years of reviewing headphones, the 2012 entry of PSB Speakers into the headphone market marks one of the most important new products I’ve tested. When PSB founder Paul Barton designed his first set of headphones, the M4U 2s, he applied much of the knowledge he’d gained in decades of work measuring and designing his speakers at Canada’s National Research Council in Ottawa (where the speaker measurements SoundStage! publishes are performed). The result was a set of headphones that sounded a lot like hearing real speakers in a good listening room. But it’s been a while since PSB introduced a new headphone model. I was starting to wonder if PSB, like so many other speaker companies, had bailed out of the headphone biz—but now along come the M4U 8 MKII Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones.

Read more: PSB M4U 8 MKII Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 10 March 2022

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I think I know why there’s so much emphasis on closed-back audiophile headphones now. A couple of years ago, they were few and far between, but now they’re becoming almost as common as open-back audiophile headphones. My guess? The COVID-19 pandemic, and the increase in the amount of time families spend together, left people wanting some personal sonic space where others couldn’t annoy them without putting some effort into it. So I wasn’t too surprised to hear, after I’d reviewed the Monoprice Monolith M1570 open-back headphones, that the company also has a closed-back model, the M1570C (both $599.99, all prices USD).

Read more: Monoprice Monolith M1570C Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 01 March 2022

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How many closed-back headphones are priced at $2000 and up? Not many. The Focal Stellias ($3000, all prices USD) come right to mind, and I suspected HiFiMan has a model, but I had to look it up—the HE-R10P headphones ($5499). Now Meze Audio is entering this tiny market with the new Liric, a closed-back, scaled-down, less-expensive version of its big, open-back Empyrean and Elite headphones.

Read more: Meze Audio Liric Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 20 February 2022

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Grado reminds me of some of the musicians I’ve encountered. Most people I play gigs with show up on time, play whatever the leader wants, and do a solid job on most or all of the tunes that get called—but they don’t really stand out. There are a few, though, who maybe aren’t so reliable, or get fussy about what we play, or might suddenly sit out on a tune they don’t like—but blow my mind at least once per gig with the brilliant stuff they play. Grado’s the headphone equivalent of that. I’ve loved a few of its headphones, but some I’ve found too far outside the norm to enjoy. So when the company offered me the RS2x headphones for review, I had no idea whether or not I’d find them sonically simpatico with my ears.

Read more: Grado RS2x Headphones

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Created: 10 February 2022

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Sendy Audio is a China-based brand well known to headphone enthusiasts and totally unknown to anyone else. At a quick glance, Sendy’s new Apollo headphones ($499, all prices USD) look a lot like the Sendy Peacock headphones ($1499)—but a longer look tells you that there are big differences between these two models. A glance can’t tell me which headphones are better, but it does show me several reasons why one of them costs three times as much.

Read more: Sendy Audio Apollo Headphones