Sonic Visions

A new Dan Clarke headphone has been announced

Check out the 3rd episodes of the SV podcast!

Checkout my interview with Danny McKinney of Raal about the upcoming circumaural raal headphone!

Hey friends! If anyone is around this evening at 6:30 pm PT I will be hosting a live stream discussing my first impressions on the Schiit Lokius! Hope to see you there!

I hope you enjoy my take on the Meze Empyrean!

I hope you enjoy my thoughts on these headphones and how they compare to the ZMF Verite and Rosson Audio Rad-0!!!

"Terra is a Master Clock Generator designed for High-End Audio applications. Our design goal was to push the limits of the audio equipment can ever be.
The quality of the CLOCK is one of the profound elements and foundation of superior sonic performance. The lower the jitter, phase noise, as well as stability of the clock, often, improves the sound quality of the digital audio equipment."

I hope you enjoy! Koss ESP/95X Headphones From Drop; Electrostatic Ecstasy for your ears?

Happy to present our very first episode of the sonic visions podcast! Thanks so much Lana, Tron and Nick! Have a listen right here:


If you have ideas for episode 2 or want to participate please reply here or DM me on the discord.

Please check out this review by SV Member Marcello Rostagni of the ZMF Pendant!

Hey All,

Here are my thoughts on the Bori. Hope you all enjoy it!

Aurorus Borealis – Dynamically Classic

Introduction
Borealis – or Bori for short, is the creation of Aurorus Audio, a small but ambitious headphone shop with a very simple premise – to deliver high-end listening experiences without the stratospheric price tag commanded by most TOTL headphones. In doing so, they have created a very interesting headphone that succeeds in that endeavor, with some caveats.

Looks/Style

First up – the styling. I struggle to think that there would be someone who would look at this headphone and not find it polarizing. The Bori looks as though two trash can lids were cut out to make room for drivers. Its frame looks like it was taken from those toys you played with at the Doctors office as a child (you know the ones). And its headband…well let us just say that the Bori would earn a 5-star crash test rating from the IIHS. Its Industrial, its minimalist, and I think...

Press release from YG Acoustics:

February 2021 – YG Acoustics is pleased to announce DualCoherent 2, a significant advance in one of our core and unique technologies.

DualCoherent 2 builds on YG’s industry-leading DualCoherent crossover technology, further optimized through the powerful modeling capabilities of Cambridge Acoustic Sciences (CAS)

https://cambridgeacousticsciences.com/.

Working together with CAS, we measured the electronic and acoustic behavior of our proprietary drive units to an unprecedented accuracy. Leveraging the petaflop compute cluster at CAS, we were able to build detailed models addressing the elaborate interplay of amplifier, crossover, drive units, cabinet and listening room—all simulated playing real, high-resolution music.

Designed and optimized exactingly around the detailed phase and frequency behavior of the YG proprietary drivers, DualCoherent 2 matches phase to an extraordinary level at the crossover point.
In addition...

We were very lucky to have the legendary Rune Skov of Gryphon audio have a chat with us about various topics. Please have a listen.

I just want to add today I used the X350.8 to drive the Sennheiser HD800S with an XLR to speaker tap cable from Ted Allen.

My reference amp is the Audio GD HE9. It is a great amplifier that sounds very neutral, spacious and fast. Combined wtih my denafrips terminator dac I think it makes for an excellence tonal balance that is mostly neutral sounding.

Switching to the Pass amp:
Listening to all my reference tracks after allowing about 1 hour warm up I was blown away by the transformation of the sound (HE9 served as the preamp). Before listening I did notice there was a very quiet audible level of noise but when listening to music this proved to not be problematic or overly distracting.

The first thing I noticed about the sound (and my biggest problem point for the HD800S) is the improvement in bass! I remarked upon listening finally there is REAL bass! The bass was better extended, more authoritative with attack and slam and simply more satisfying while remaining...

Footnotes:

There's been a bit of hype around this amp in the low cost audio space.
I purchased it from https://www.china-hifi-audio.com/ for $708 + $372 shipping = $1080
The price above is also $60 off normal, by selecting EL34 tubes instead of KT88 to come with it.

There is a write up on china-hifi-audio.com from the owner stating the price on this amp will be increasing by tiers over the next year.
By Feb 16th 2021 it will be priced at $893 (vs the $708 I just paid for it)

I will be reviewing this amp in the context that with shipping, somebody can acquire this amp for under $1300.

Let's start with tubes. It arrived with the stock Willsenton 3x 6sn7, 2x 6sl7, and 4x EL34. (9x tubes total)

Right off the rip, the stock tubes are kinda meh (in comparison to other cheap tube alternatives).
I didn't let them burn in. I've read on other forums with burn in they are decent.
While I do generally like, and...

Link to my review:
TLDW: it's great, the only issues are stage is smaller and upper treble is elevated with a crashy timbre.

T+A has introduced a more affordable but still very pricey headphone. The Solitiare P-Special edition. RRP will be £3,000. More details to come.

"We certainly intended to differentiate the Solitaire P-SE from its big brother, but not just by its external appearance. That’s why we introduced a modified transducer in addition to the external changes "
- Project Manager, Sebastian Kobel

SV Member MShenay has another great review, check it out:

Please find impressions from SV member MShenay of Oakforest audio:

Schiit audio recently released their Modi 3+ dac. Their new upgraded entry level dac.



"Modi 3+: All The DAC You Need—For $99
Plug Modi 3+ into any virtually any computer or streamer and you’re ready to go, complete with the best USB interface available: Schiit’s own Unison USB™. Or, choose and optical or coaxial digital source with the included wall power supply. Or connect to your phones and tablets that need a low-power-draw device, again using the wall power supply. Modi 3+ accepts pretty much any input you can throw at it! "

More details here: Schiit