Introduction A benefactor under the codename of MrWalkman has developed and maintains a set of alternative firmware packages which can be installed on a number of Sony Walkman series DAPs – NW-A35/45/55, ZX300/A, WM1A/Z – which main benefit is the application of Sony’s flagship DMP-Z1 sound signature to all those models. https://www.mrwalkman.ml/ In addition to…
BLON BL05S
I’m not the finest and most through connaisseur of the sub-$50 IEM bracket so I cant really offer a final word – and probably not even a semi-final one – about how BL05S fare towards their most direct competition. Limited to my direct experiences I must say I’ve been impressed: these things sounds very well,…
Kbear BE-LIEVE
These drivers have been anticipated by an even denser than usual storm of hype-y marketing content. All sorts of information have been released before and together with the product, and the first “reviewers” spent nothing short of bold words about these. Alleged magnificent features apart, a major disclaimer is one way or the other present…
final A3000
Here’s my consolidated experience with the first of the two most recently released final IEMs – A3000 and A4000 As always, final puts a significant research effort in its product in the first place. A3000 has been developed as an evolution of their A series, which started last year with flagship model A8000. Always last…
Hisenior T2U
Hisenior specialises in professional and custom IEMs, and as such it’s quite off my “usual” investigation paths. That’s why I came accross an entry-level Universal fit model of theirs only thanks to a direct friend’s input. Invited by a (publicly available) 50% off its nominal MRSP I took the odds of a blind buy and…
What LMS does for me
Logitech Media Server is a piece of software and it well described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech_Media_Server The highlights: It gets music files or streams from a plethora of diverse origins (files on local storage, files from private or public cloud storage, streams from other private streaming platforms eg another LMS or from public services eg Spotify, Tidal,…
TRI 4 core HP SCC cable
Together with my KBEAR LARK review unit some weeks ago I also received a separate TRI (KBEAR) 4 core High Purity (5N) Single Crystal Copper cable for testing. It quite logically came with a 2pin TFZ termination on the driver’s end, to first and foremost support the LARK drivers it came with. So I tried…
KBEAR Lark
Important preliminary note: Lark is a product in a sense “born twice”. Its initial release has been stopped after the first users reported a treble section output not in line with what originally wanted by the designers. KBEAR stopped distribution, fixed whatever needed to, and restarted it. This sample I’m reporting about on this article…
Quick impressions: CustomArt Fibae Black
I recently got an opportunity to assess a pair of privately owned Fibae Black, which are coming with some supposedly very interesting technological quirks which the manufacturer calls “Flat Impedance” BA drivers and “Pressure Optimizing Design”. Flat Impedance drivers are supposed to be what the name says, as described here: CustomArt claims that their drivers…
TRN VX
It’s a crazily crowded market down there below the $50 mark and TRN VX compete in that segment. It does it with quite some authority, too: VX is not bad at all. Actually, its sole real tuning “flaw” is that excessive peak at 8 Khz which I doubt can be considered nice even by die-hard…