[REVIEW] EOps noisezero Sport+

Never heard of an IEM brand called EOps? How about Michael Young? I don’t blame you, especially if you don’t usually pay attention to world of style and tech design. EOps is sort of a mix between tech and fashion/style design firm where they specialize in life style products, from designer headphone and speaker to backpack, and they have been working with Michael Yong, a multi award winning designer from UK, for quite some time now. They have done a few recycled materials based products/projects in the past, but this time they are partnering with Coca-Cola for a little more brand recognition. The IEM itself is manufactured using PET plastic recycled from Coca-Cola bottle and the whole product contains about 20% of recycled material. While recycling is definitely a good thing, does it actually good as an IEM?

[Impression] Tube Amp BL-2 - Portable Miniature-tube Amp from China

The BL-2 is a little tube amp from a fairly new Chinese amp manufacturer called ‘Tube Amp’. Perhaps not the most ingenious of naming, they do however only focus on portable tube amp. The DIY’er behind the company began his own quest of building a portable tube amp years ago, and has successfully launched a commercial model named BL-1 (with subsequent reversions) even before starting up the company. BL-2 is his latest update and replacement of BL-1. It has a MSRP of RMB2600 in China, roughly equal to US$410. As far as I know, no official international dealer besides a few in Hong Kong and Taiwan for the moment. The discontinued BL-1 on the other hand can still be found on eBay for around $290 with shipping included.

Another Day

Sunrise has been awfully quiet for a little over a year now, mainly because they lose some of their main international dealers. They are however still active in China, released several new products over the last few months. Now they are ready to go back to international market again with these updated models, including several earbuds (Feeling 2, Dragon 2, etc) as well as USB DAC and amp, though detail is not yet released. They have also teased us with stunning rendering of new models they are working, check it out after the break.

Tiny DAC, Big Sound – Impression of Stoner Acoustics UD100 vs. ODAC

Stoner Acoustics is a fairly new start up by a DIY’er that has been pretty active in the local (Malaysia) audiophile community. By no mean his first project, the UD100 is however his first commercial product under the new company and it is aimed to deliver maximum bang for the buck sound quality with a minimalistic design for US$49 / RM138

New Comer

It would seem we have a new headphone company popping up just about every other days now, but here is one with a really interesting first offering: Tralucent Audio is selling their first IEM model, the '1Plus2', as in one dynamic + two BA, I presumed. But it is not just your typical hybrid IEM: first, it is a custom-shell universal (much like stuffs from Heir Audio or Aurisonic). Second, it uses a single large bore design instead of the typical separated sound tube. This means all three drivers are outputting to the same large bore (see in the picture above). In a way, this is almost like the AKG K3003 with a different housing. Not as expensive as the K3003, but not cheap either. At $880 a pair, it is right around the same price range as some mid- to top-range custom.

[PREVIEW] Brainwavz M5

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I reviewed the M4, a dramatically different sounding IEM from all the previous M-series from Brainwavz. While it is a good step-down alternative to the more expensive B2, it received kind of a mixed feedback from the original M series users. As expected, those who are used to a warm mid don’t always like the more V-shaped sound signature of the M4. However, the new M5 might just bring back some of the old fans.