[Preview] Project Woodwind – Ultimate Ultraportable in The Making?

I was contacted by Jonathan Epstein @ Critical Point Engineering a few months ago about reviewing a prototype portable amp he is developing. It is called ‘Project Woodwind’ and what I have is not the final version. However, as far as I know the final version should be the same sounding as what I have and has an estimated price under $100 – and as you can see, it is just a PCB at the moment.


Project Woodwind prototype, next to Nano 7G.

[Impression] FiiO E12 Mont Blanc – Way to Pinnacle

FiiO is known for their good entry level and budget friendly desktop and portable amps. They are probably the largest headphone amps manufacturer in the world right now. Even though it is the audiophiles community that first take notice of FiiO, the company is still largely producing consumer level products and not targeting the higher end of the market specifically. It is most likely because high-end portable amps are much more of a niche market where individual amp maker usually only sells a few hundreds of amps per year and has to charge a higher price to stay afloat. This kind of business model doesn’t quite fit the FiiO mass production capability, nor does the company want to alienate their traditional customer base with a high price tag.

However, FiiO decision to develop the E12 as the company first higher end portable amp really looks more like a statement, rather than just trying to break into a new segment of the market. It is to showcase that the company can go beyond entry level products if it wants to, and offers it at a lower price @ US$130 than one would expect of its quality – and perhaps also to answer the demand from some of its audiophile’s fans that want ‘more’.

1000 More.

The second VSONIC dual balanced armature IEM, VC1000, just hit the market with a price tag of US$130. The spec seems to be fairly similar to the GR01 though, so it could very well be a re-tuned version.

[REVIEW] HifiMan RE400 ‘Waterline’ – The New Reference

HifiMan first taste of success in the IEM world comes when RE0’s price was lowered to $99 during the Black Friday sale a few years ago. It was an instant hit and really set the bar high for what $100 can buy. However, the new $99 RE400 isn’t just here to repeat that success - according to Fang, the boss of HifiMan, it is meant to set a new reference point to what he believes audiophile IEM should at least be able to measure up to. It is an ambitious goal no doubt, so does it sink or swim?