HifiMan RE272 - a first look?

Here is a first look at what could very well be HifiMan next flagship - the RE272, which is said to be even better than the still-yet-to-be-officially-released RE262. While RE262 is on the warm, lush but smooth side of the sound spectrum, RE272 is promised to have treble detail as good as any top-tier IEM. By the look at the picture, I guess you can already make out that it has a similar housing as RE262 but seems to make from metal instead of plastic. Unfortunately there isn't any more detail at the moment.

j-phonic K2: Launching Soon.

Since my last news report about the customizable universal IEM, the j-phonic K2 back in December 2010, the company has been busy preparing itself for the English site as well as an official international launch @ March. Now we actually got a price: US$380 for a fully customized / personalized K2 and $19 for shipping via EMS from Japan to anywhere on the world. The US$400 is still very reasonable with all the included options, but bewares that j-phonic won't take return or refund since each pair of K2 is custom built. You can still request for a color or sound signature change, but it will cost you extra money on shipping and service.

Best is Yet to Come: Phonak Audéo PFE232

News about the upcoming Phonak Audéo dual drivers IEM has been leaking all over the places for a while now, but we finally get confirmation as well as a first exclusive look of what will be Phonak next flagship and probably another top-tier IEM in the making. No price on the PFE 232 yet, but we do have some spec:

Driver: Dual Balanced Armature
Color: Black / White
Weight: 16g, 0.5oz
Plug: 3.5mm
Cable Length: 120cm, 3.8 ft
Titanium body housing
Apple iPhone / iPod's mic supported
Three different types of acoustic damper

Official launch is set on mid April @ U.K. and an press release will be issued then with pricing and more detail.

Hard Coding SPL

Here is something interesting - the benefit of using an IEM is always referred to the fact that by limiting the external noise going to your ear drum (*noise isolation), you can lower the overall volume needed to listen to music and thus making IEM an safer listening device compare to the common earbuds. However, there is nothing to stop an individual from turning the volume up over the limit on an IEM if (s)he chooses to do so, which defeats the purpose of IEM's isolation. While this might not be a big issue among well established IEM user who knows how to use their equipment properly, the same can't be said to youngster who like to bang their head by pumping loud music into their brain via any headphone, noise isolated or not. This new IEM from dB Logic, the EP-100,  features a passive circuit inside that will automatically limits the the overall loudness to a safer level when the volume dial is turned too high, and it is said to be able to do it without introducing distortion of its own. If this indeed works as advertised, it will probably make a great gift from worrying parent to the younger music loving members in the family. At $30 a pair, it won't eat too much into your pocket as well.

[Impression] Final Audio Design Piano Forte II

Final Audio Design is quite a puzzle to me. A year back the company launched the most expensive IEM models ever made, making even an UE18 Pro or JH16 Pro look decently priced in comparison. It had certain caused a lot of buzz over the forum. Now however they seem to go with the more ‘regular’ priced offering - the Piano Forte II is the company’s most affordable earphone yet, but does it measured well against other earbud of its price range?

Beyerdynamic - new IEM, slight update.

Beyerdynamic just released three new IEM models, the DTX 71 iE, DTX 101 iE, and MMX 101 iE (the cellphone and PC compatible mic supported DTX 101 iE). Beyerdynamic has never been really big on earphone in general, but these new models are at least okay in price - they are all under US$100.