THE REVIEWS
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EMPIRE EARS ODIN REVIEW
The EMPIRE EARS ODIN delivers tremendous transparency, which offers up a wealth of microdynamics and spatial cues, critical in the determination of positioning and layering, as well as a midrange laid wide open from a wealth of details.
EDITOR’S CHOICE 2020
There were quite a few incredible products this year. And if the early reviews are any indication, it will be exceptionally difficult to select 2021’s Best Products, let alone the Best Product of the Year, and Editor’s Choice! The Editor’s Choice Award for 2020…
BEST PRODUCT OF 2020
Rare is the piece of audio equipment that can remove itself as intermediary to the music and reveal performers, venue, emotion, truth of timbre and tone as a genuine, heartfelt experience. The Meze Empyrean embodies that rarity for what it does in the service of the music. And for that very reason we award the Meze Empyrean our Best Product of the Year Award for 2020.
BEST PRODUCTS OF 2020
It has been quite the year, as we have discovered a good number of exceptional products from headphones to In-Ear-Monitors (IEMs) to DAPs to DACs and so on. Below you will find the products that we feel are remarkable for what they do—beautifully free the music from the confines of their various platforms/media for our, the collective, musical enjoyment.
ASTELL&KERN SR25 REVIEW
The Astell&Kern SR25 provides superb transparency, musical engagement, exceptional bass and treble extension, and 21 hours of playback! It is genre agnostic and it will scale beautifully with higher priced IEMs. The SR25 does this in a small, avant-garde form, for a fraction of the price of a number of top of the line DAPs.
FIIO Q3 REVIEW
The FiiO Q3 ($149) represents the second product of a similar voice from FiiO and it is equally impressive in form factor, aesthetic, and technical abilities. But, how does it sound? Yes, there is a family resemblance in the voices of these two products—an IEM and a DAC/Amp—in terms of musicality, transparency, engagement. And value per dollar spent continues to be truly impressive. But, really how does it sound?
MEZE 99 CLASSICS REVIEW
The review today is of the Meze 99 Classics ($309) another beautifully designed and appointed headphone, where, once again, form follows function follows technological wherewithal. And again, like its brethren the 99 Classic has been created as a musical instrument intent on letting the music flow in order to engage, enthrall, and entertain.