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Own these. I had dropped into Audio 46 looking to buy the T&A Wireless, was disappointed with the build, and plumped for the Audivina as an Impulse purchase. Was thinking of returning when I learned that the W had cut up the outside box, precluding return. A couple of things that have made them listenable -- break in at least 50 hours. Replacing the cable and running them balanced. Mine do not show an imbalance between the cups. I'd still be interested in the mods or maybe Hifiman should do an eq.

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I think, HiFiMan should slash the price of the Audivina to $999, sell out the stock and forget this mistake.

You should try and get in some of the JM Audio headphones. Very under the radar HP's and good bang for the buck

I’m curious how this would sound next to stuff like electrostatics and fast dynamic drivers. Like maybe versus a Stax 007, or an OG Utopia.

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

Hey WaveTheory, great video! I have bought both the Utopia 2022 and the Utopia 2020 and planning to sell one of them. Currently I’m leaning towards the 2020. Which do you personally prefer?

Good review question I already have a modius e dac will that be a good pairing with a topping d70 pro amp

Did I miss the E3 pairing part? Or was it just a side passing mention?

I believe the 12AU7 OEM is Psvane Art Series. I own the Art Series in my PS Audio Pre-amp and the sound description is very close to what I have experienced. Thanks for the honest review.

Found your short about u-shape tonalilty, been seen all of your audiophile terminology from newest to the oldest (this short), now I'm interested to watch all your short about music started from zero again 😊

So it has a bad left channel? I stopped the video right there. Pass.

What are the best amps to drive Tungstan?

Wasn't a contest when i compared these to the HE1000 Stealth. The Hifiman were significantly better balanced and accurate sounding. They also sounded more open and more technical. These need filters to sounds better, which instantly killed it for me. I think my next buy will be the HE1000se. The SR1A is miles ahead of the CA1a, but the lack of bass makes it a hard headphone to like. A good alternative for ribbons is the GL1200.

How does this sound with focal utopia?

Is Tungsten DS better than Caldera?

Kept this one hidden from us, I see, lol.

more informal than way bigger channels

Hay Wave Theory and Raion? - As I see it those metal spaces are obstructing free flow of the sound originally only conditioned by the magnets only in the original deisgn and could impact the sould properties. You can solve that problems by slotting the spacer metal plate exactly in the shape of the magnetic scaffolding. In future iterations you could solve the issue by cutting permanent slots on the base magnet? itself on which the pads rest and making corresponding aligning orifices on the outer shell of the headphone. Yet another way is to make indentations on the metal plate inserted to the pads so that when the pads are placed on the headphone base those indentations would keep a space between them and the magnet. Please let me know if I was any help. I wanted to buy a pair of them and I am looking for the amps that can drive these, please put a link here to them, thanks.

Interesting comments about metal. Generally agree, especially in comparison to the Caldera or HEKSE. I find a lot of heavier stuff sounds great on this - things with 7 strings or guitars tuned into drop B. I’ll need to listen to these with some OTLs soon to get a better sense of their capabilities.

You DON'T need matched tubes in every circuit.................for real close matching one may need to calibrate testing of 20 up to 50 tubes to match ONE perfect pair , there are balanced matched tubes and matched sections tubes ..........price will be different . a matched pair is not necesary a perfect pair of tubes , inferior tubes can also be perfectly matched . there's a lot of confusion, incompetence or fraud / malpractice on the tube market especialy with so called nos tubes .

Repeatedly saying there are better options elsewhere without mentioning what those might be isn't particularly helpful.

to my ears the e3 sounds a little bit thin and harsh on the vocals. it sounds fairly balanced but I wouldn’t say the timbre is natural on the voice

I think they missed the mark with the marketing and the target audience. There's a growing community of people who want to use their smartphones less (or switch to a dumb phone completely), so they compartmentalize their activities into multiple devices, like an iPod for music, a Kindle for reading, an actual camera for photos, a dumb phone for calling, and perhaps a notepad for taking notes, and maybe an alarm clock. I think it's great for people who want an iPod, but since they're somewhat difficult to get, and you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it working, it would be easier to buy this $200 device, download Spotify, download your favorite playlists and albums, and then switch it to airplane mode indefinitely. They wouldn't care about all the stuff like bit-perfect audio and so on. They would just be happy to have something to play their music on, and maybe use Bluetooth here and there. Instead of sending it to audiophiles for reviews, they should have sent it to youtubers who talk about digital minimalism, and maybe some mainstream ones who would be like, yeah, it plays music, and it sounds good. If you'd like to use your phone less, buy it. Right now, it's just getting needlessly scrutinized for things casual listeners don't care about, and they don't even know it exists. I think it's going to sell pretty poorly, and it's such a shame because this device is great, actually. I myself started out with an old phone and a dongle as a dap. Geez, what a long comment. TL;DR: dap for casuals who want to use their phone less, but its gonna have poor sales because they keep trying to sell it to audiophiles.

Mr snake oil himself

I'm a professional musician and with Oratory EQ settings these headphones are absolutely phenomenal. Sound texture, imaging, instrument separation... you can even hear effects such as reverb, compression, etc... (And this is not due to the stock tuning) well balanced and very detailed. More technical than the Sundara for me, and better sound texture. The soundstage is not very wide, but sufficient (very effective for studio work) and the right-left stereo effect is extremely precise (sometimes it even seems as if sounds are coming slightly from behind). But the stock tuning is very particular (not necessarily unpleasant but very specific) so I'm not a fan and it even could be dangerous for yous ears (I've paid the price) there is a big pic at 3k (ear gain) and these frequencies are quite corrosive for the ears especially at loud volume. So if you want tracking with it or working your instrument you have to EQ it.

Maybe I'm just a cranky, old curmudgeon, but I've got no interest in a product that I have to use software equalization to fix the tuning of. Nor do I think companies like Audeze should be given leniency in reviews just because they provide EQ support directly.

excellent review as usual. your honesty is why i look forward to your reviews. Keep up the good work.

Can't get my hands on RayTubes here in Germany, but the Psvanes tho are available here and seem to be a pretty good alternative :) might give them a shot for my coming TA20 Plus.

Hi so if I have a Pontus II dac, which ddC would u recommend? I use eversolo a6 usb out

Thanks for the review!

I used to be such an audeze fan but the lcd5 and all of these MM sets have been such misses. The lcd4 was 🔥🔥 they just needed to improve upon that. I fear for the future of audeze.

Wave must be on that summer schedule. 🤘🏾

Would've been nice to compare it to the Ananda Nano. Somewhat closer in price. Especially curious as to how they compare in terms of slam.

Have you ever tried headphones calibration done by Accurate Sound or their DSP (convolver) and presets for headphones they provide? Thanks.

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Great review! Incidentally, the Sanskrit word "sundara" is bereft of long vowels. 🤓

21:24 I’ve got the Sen’s 650 ..and I’m good ..also the overlooked HiFiman 400i (2020) ..a slightly more aggressive Sundara …both are way cheaper than the MM 100…

Professor, thank you for another wonderful headphone review! 👌 I never wear my Audeze, as they're too heavy for my skinny neck. 😢

GM from Toronto ☕️…it’s damn early. I’m running the latest generation of the LCDX (Creator Edition) ..and it’s damn nice ! I’ve been thinking of adding another one of their headphones in my stable ..BUT probably the latest LCD 2 ..but these do look interesting 🧐 Great review 👍👍

From a cable compatibility standpoint, the Periapt splYt - Combo (Types 2, 4, 6 or 8) 6-foot fit this headphone.