Great video. I love your down-to-earth review/video style. Empy II are definitely on my radar. Love my KANN Ultra so much I’m probably gonna sell my DX320!
I think Yamaha needs more recognition... The yh-5000 is one special HP and creates a new standard of quality sound imo. Though it is difficult to get the best out of them.
Yeah - I briefly checked those out, and they're really amazing, but it does seem like without the perfect combination of gear (and possibly some EQ) they don't really meet their full potential.
Thanks for all your informative and entertaining videos! However, I sometimes get the impression that items with higher prices are automatically rated better - without any real comparison or detailed justification. Or why don't you go into more detail about Hifiman here?
Hey Gerald! Thanks for watching and for the constructive feedback. This is an important topic to me, due to my involvement in customer service and being a reviewer. I can see how this can come across, and we always want to be conscious of the fact that we get to try and listen to all these products for free, but all of our viewers do not have the pleasure of doing this. I do believe we can be a bit harsher on products in general, but as mentioned before, I think there’s a level of not having official skin in the game that can sometimes make us overlook flaws within certain devices. However, I do believe there are a number of reviews and customers who can attest to us not pressuring anyone into thinking a product is better simply because of its price tag. There are multiple conversations held within the office that would speak volumes to the level of respect and praise we have for products when they deliver much better performance than what their price tag would suggest. I hope this clarifies a bit as to where I’m coming from, as like I said, I’m very passionate about delivering people the right product for their use case. As for the HiFiMan topic, we mentioned it briefly in the video, but we just felt that 2 new headphones were a bit more fun and intriguing to talk about, rather than new renditions of previous headphones that share similar sound characteristics to their previous counterparts. Hope this helps, and again, really appreciate you commenting this as it’s an important topic to be transparent about!
I should add that we did have quite a bit of coverage of the HIFIMAN releases on our channel, including full reviews of both the Ananda Nano and Arya Organic earlier this year, as well as an overview of HIFIMAN's lineup update: th-cam.com/video/0pnrmvIEp4M/w-d-xo.html This video was really just about us picking one or two of our favorites for the year, and a lot of great headphones and IEMs were left out. While the Arya Organic might be 80% as good as Meze Empyrean 2 at 40% of the price, we were going more with our "gut" than doing a comprehensive price/performance/value comparison. We do appreciate the feedback!
I think that you are trying to present it as objectively as possible - although everyone has their own personal preferences. As traders, however, you will not be able to deny that certain commercial interests are at play. The price-performance ratio is very important to me personally. For those who only want the “best” and can afford it, it may be of little importance. As the performance differences between headphones get smaller, the price jumps become even greater. For me, 90% of the maximum possible is enough (and you can get this performance for well under 1000 euros or dollars) - especially since it's only 0....% of the available music that maxes it out anyway. The vast majority of the recordings are of rather questionable quality. And my hearing has to be able to perceive the differences in high-quality recordings... Blind tests are also interesting in this context. Even absolute experts often find it difficult to notice significant differences in quality between the individual models. And it's not always the more expensive or newer model that performs better... Expectations in advance often also determine the result. You think you can hear certain properties just because they were included in the manufacturer's description. However, someone who has not had this will not be able to understand this. Sometimes it's a disadvantage if you know too much...
Hey! Yeah, good call here. We should’ve given a special shoutout as that headphone has really taken the audio world by storm, but like we said in the video, we really haven’t gotten extensive time with it other than some small impressions at CanJam. Hopefully 2024 brings some more opportunities to hear it more 😄 Happy New Year!
Hey! It’s certainly still a great device in most use cases, but in my experience, I ran into some WiFi issues that really derailed a lot of my listening sessions. However, Steve didn’t encounter many problems in his much longer listening experience. Like all products, everyone’s experience will differ, so if it’s working for you, that’s all that matters 😊
@@MatthewDiFazio Kann Ultra is designed for driving power hungry headphones. If it can't drive DCA E3, then there is no point making this huge body. I wish to take E3 on the go. Sadly, I can't unless put a big chunk of brick in my bag instead in the pocket.
We mentioned Aura later, and made a note that we were specifically focused on IEMs that released in 2023 that were fully, continuously available. Aura was a limited edition, and Raven had an interrupted/delayed release, with the final version being released in 2024 and having a slightly different tuning than the one we reviewed. I wouldn't say that Monarch MK3 sounds better than either, but it had a big impact on the IEM scene in general and is excellent for the price.
Not fair But i consider yall as a noobs in audiophiles iem.. Amber pearl bra frm um, they 30th anniversary to closed the 2023 yet Behold the combo n30le+UM amber.. Ha3 100 limited bra..btw the gold sp3k bra ends 2023..Lastly.. Is it necessary with 5Gs phones all those old skol streamers??Have a nice new yrs. Peace!
Great video. I love your down-to-earth review/video style. Empy II are definitely on my radar. Love my KANN Ultra so much I’m probably gonna sell my DX320!
We definitely need more Matt. 🎉
You guys rock! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Josh!!
I think Yamaha needs more recognition... The yh-5000 is one special HP and creates a new standard of quality sound imo. Though it is difficult to get the best out of them.
Yeah - I briefly checked those out, and they're really amazing, but it does seem like without the perfect combination of gear (and possibly some EQ) they don't really meet their full potential.
Great video. Thanks for the recommendations
Thanks for all your informative and entertaining videos! However, I sometimes get the impression that items with higher prices are automatically rated better - without any real comparison or detailed justification. Or why don't you go into more detail about Hifiman here?
Hey Gerald! Thanks for watching and for the constructive feedback. This is an important topic to me, due to my involvement in customer service and being a reviewer. I can see how this can come across, and we always want to be conscious of the fact that we get to try and listen to all these products for free, but all of our viewers do not have the pleasure of doing this. I do believe we can be a bit harsher on products in general, but as mentioned before, I think there’s a level of not having official skin in the game that can sometimes make us overlook flaws within certain devices. However, I do believe there are a number of reviews and customers who can attest to us not pressuring anyone into thinking a product is better simply because of its price tag. There are multiple conversations held within the office that would speak volumes to the level of respect and praise we have for products when they deliver much better performance than what their price tag would suggest. I hope this clarifies a bit as to where I’m coming from, as like I said, I’m very passionate about delivering people the right product for their use case.
As for the HiFiMan topic, we mentioned it briefly in the video, but we just felt that 2 new headphones were a bit more fun and intriguing to talk about, rather than new renditions of previous headphones that share similar sound characteristics to their previous counterparts.
Hope this helps, and again, really appreciate you commenting this as it’s an important topic to be transparent about!
I should add that we did have quite a bit of coverage of the HIFIMAN releases on our channel, including full reviews of both the Ananda Nano and Arya Organic earlier this year, as well as an overview of HIFIMAN's lineup update: th-cam.com/video/0pnrmvIEp4M/w-d-xo.html
This video was really just about us picking one or two of our favorites for the year, and a lot of great headphones and IEMs were left out. While the Arya Organic might be 80% as good as Meze Empyrean 2 at 40% of the price, we were going more with our "gut" than doing a comprehensive price/performance/value comparison. We do appreciate the feedback!
I think that you are trying to present it as objectively as possible - although everyone has their own personal preferences.
As traders, however, you will not be able to deny that certain commercial interests are at play.
The price-performance ratio is very important to me personally. For those who only want the “best” and can afford it, it may be of little importance.
As the performance differences between headphones get smaller, the price jumps become even greater. For me, 90% of the maximum possible is enough (and you can get this performance for well under 1000 euros or dollars) - especially since it's only 0....% of the available music that maxes it out anyway. The vast majority of the recordings are of rather questionable quality. And my hearing has to be able to perceive the differences in high-quality recordings...
Blind tests are also interesting in this context. Even absolute experts often find it difficult to notice significant differences in quality between the individual models. And it's not always the more expensive or newer model that performs better...
Expectations in advance often also determine the result. You think you can hear certain properties just because they were included in the manufacturer's description. However, someone who has not had this will not be able to understand this.
Sometimes it's a disadvantage if you know too much...
missed the Modhouse Tungsten ???
Hey! Yeah, good call here. We should’ve given a special shoutout as that headphone has really taken the audio world by storm, but like we said in the video, we really haven’t gotten extensive time with it other than some small impressions at CanJam. Hopefully 2024 brings some more opportunities to hear it more 😄 Happy New Year!
What issues were there with the Kann Ultra? I’ve got one and it’s the bomb
It can't handle power hungry planar magnetic headphones well. Like the new DCA E3.
Hey! It’s certainly still a great device in most use cases, but in my experience, I ran into some WiFi issues that really derailed a lot of my listening sessions. However, Steve didn’t encounter many problems in his much longer listening experience. Like all products, everyone’s experience will differ, so if it’s working for you, that’s all that matters 😊
@@MatthewDiFazio Kann Ultra is designed for driving power hungry headphones. If it can't drive DCA E3, then there is no point making this huge body. I wish to take E3 on the go. Sadly, I can't unless put a big chunk of brick in my bag instead in the pocket.
@@MatthewDiFazio yeah I’ve had zero WiFi issues
@@liujun050612 that isn’t an issue with the player. That’s an issue with your expectations.
So neither EE Raven nor VE Aura aș best IEMs ? You tell me MK3 sounds better ? I never listened to MK products ..
We mentioned Aura later, and made a note that we were specifically focused on IEMs that released in 2023 that were fully, continuously available. Aura was a limited edition, and Raven had an interrupted/delayed release, with the final version being released in 2024 and having a slightly different tuning than the one we reviewed. I wouldn't say that Monarch MK3 sounds better than either, but it had a big impact on the IEM scene in general and is excellent for the price.
I am sorry about not hearing all of it , i stopped after the IEM section@@BloomAudio
Not fair But i consider yall as a noobs in audiophiles iem.. Amber pearl bra frm um, they 30th anniversary to closed the 2023 yet Behold the combo n30le+UM amber.. Ha3 100 limited bra..btw the gold sp3k bra ends 2023..Lastly.. Is it necessary with 5Gs phones all those old skol streamers??Have a nice new yrs. Peace!
Pretty disrespectful bra