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Oak Forest Audio

A comprehensive dive into everything personal audio! Featuring both Vintage & Modern Gear in everything from reviews & impressions to sneak peaks & first looks.

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Showing posts from September, 2017

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Keeping it Simply Stellar, Shangling's M2s

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iFi Audio's Micro iCan Special Edition

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HiFi Highlights

Earmen TR-Amp Simply Perfectly Portable

TR-Amp is a new portable Dac/Amp from Earmen priced at 249.99 via their website , for those who don't know Earmen is the portable division of Auris Audio. Based in Serbia Auris develops a wide array of tube amplifiers and digital audio products built around the idea that equipment should not only sound beautiful but look just as good! Now I've had a chance to hear and review a few products from Auris including the Euterpe which I also helped organize a US Tour for. As a fan of their products I'm happy to now have a chance to review their Earmen TR-Amp! While I did receive the unit from them at no cost, I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review. Build & Function Overall I found TR-Amp to be perfectly seamless in real world use. With my android devices I had no issues getting bit perfect playback through USB Android Player Pro with both Qobuz and Tidal. Power is built into the Volume knob with a nice bit of initial resistance to prevent accidental swit...

Schiit Vali 2 The Budget Buster Reinvented

Schiit Vali 2 $169 I'd like to start by thanking Jason of Schiit Audio, and his team for allowing me the chance to get to demo the Vali 2. As a fan of the original Vali, I was really excited to get to hear this the Schiit Vali 2! The budget buster hybrid tube, reintroduced and reinvented! Pros: POWER, Function, Value, Size, Tubey Goodness! Cons : Noisy, inanimate , Poor Stock Tube The BOX [5/5] I've ALWAYS been a huge fan of how Schiit Ships their products! They have this very cool and original... contraption that holds everything together, safely and securely. While the box your amp comes in is not... the most important feature. I think it speaks volumes of the company's guiding philosophy! Build [3.7/5] Solid metal chassis, hand built here in the USA. The physical design is gorgeous; the Schiit Vali 2 is even better looking than its predecessor. It still has a touch...

ZMF Eikon & Atticus

I've had the pleasure to hear many different closed back headphones over the years, the Mr. Speakers Mad Dog modded T50RPs were my first back in 2012. At that time I felt they were too thick and dark, so I sold them and started my addiction for closed back wood headphones with an Audio Technica W1000X. There was something magical about the sound, I later figured that it was the unique resonance of the wood that added a very real timbre to not only the W1000X but many of the other closed wood backs I would own. Since then I've had a number of both stock and modded wood backs. Ranging from an amazing sounding Lawton Modded Denon D5000, to Denon's own AH A100. Each of them unique and with a beautiful sound signature. While my LA D5000 rivaled my HE 4 in clarity, it was still... lacking. It was a bit leaky, and the isolation wasn't amazing so I wound up selling it. As it didn't offer the isolation I needed so I just continued to use my HE 4 regularly. Fast...

Tipping the Scales - Topping's Terrific E30

As a huge fan of the Topping D10 I was excited to hear about the E30, and after a few weeks of listening I'm happy to say my excitement was warranted! Priced at only $130 over at Apos Audio, E30 redefines what we should expect from DACs at this price point. Let me also give a big thank you to the Apos Team who provided me with a review sample of this DAC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinion. Build Quality & Function Similar to D10 and Schiit's own Modi 3, E30 features a modest but functionally competent metal chassis. It's construction features clean seams with no sharp edges or roughness and a seamless black front display panel. The rear panel assembly is clean and each input socket is seated firmly without any wiggle or movement when plugging in RCA and USB jacks. E30 differs from D10 functionally in that is only has analog RCA Line outputs and no Digital Coax out. It does how ever have Digital Coax input which I used for this review. I'm al...

Aeon Flow Open X - Review for Dan Clark Audio Collaboration with Drop

Introducing the Dan Clark Audio X Drop Aeon Flow Open X , I'd like to start by thanking Drop for giving me the chance to review headphone. This is a Dan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Open tuned by the Drop Team, so it's a collaboration! Having not heard the original tho I can't say what they've changed. Price is at $499 via Drop . I did receive this just before launch on a temporary in home demo with the understanding that I share my thoughts of my own accord without any compensation. Moving forward tho I'll be shortening the Aeon Open X by Dan Clark Audio & Drop to just simply AFO-X. Build ...

AXPONA 2018 Day 2 Coverage

Another excellent day today! Shout out to the iFi Audio team for indulging my little experiment today! My highlight listen was the full iFi Audio Pro Stack! Sounded phenomenal with the LCD 4. I demo'd with both Rebecca Pigeon's Spanish Harlem and a lovely vinyl rip of Epica's Divine Conspiracy. I have mixed feelings about the LCD 4 as when I've heard it previous I haven't been super impressed with it... I feel the same about the iCan Pro as well actually. Both to my ears were a little soft and almost lifeless. However, what I found is with the full iFi Pro stack the iCan Pro had a lot more linear response than what I'd heard in the past! Namely; Clearer instrument seperation What was previously a some what soft and smoother over presentation, now had a more vivid transients and a more defined envelope Better texture and impact in the lows Previously, I again found low end impact to be some what diffuse, how ever with the iDSD Pro the initial hit...

Fiio X5 Review/ Preview

I would like to first send tanks to Fiio and Head Fi member Joe Blogs for giving me the opportunity to preview the Fiio X5, I am not affiliated with Fiio in any way. For the purpose of this review I demo'd the X5 with my Balanced Modded Denon AH MD 2000 Headphones and my iBasso PB2 Balanced Amplifier, equipped with quad LME 49990 OP amps and dummy buffers. In addition also compared the X5 again'st my Hifiman HM801, using the same music and amplification. Price for the X5 is said to be $350. Here's the X5 sitting atop my PB2 in it's silicon case. What's in the Box The X5 comes with some brief paper work in addition to the charger cable, the player it self is encased in a semi hard foam shell within the box, underneath is the paperwork and accessories. It features a usb mirco SD Card reader and high quality usb to micro-usb charging/data cable, 3 push plugs for each 3.5mm port, coaxial cable adapter, USB OTG cable, The Player ...

Cayin's N3 Entry Level Digital Audio Problem Solver

Back when I was in middle school listening to music was easy. I had a CD player loaded with my favorite album at the time, Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys, and a pair of semi-open Koss TD 75's. I'd hope on the bus and just listen, occasionally the CD would skip when we hit a bump in the road, but it was smooth listening for the most part. Growing up though, I went from my CD player to an iPod Nano, then a ZUNE HD which I sold and replaced with my Hifiman HM 601 and upward an onward to 2013 when I purchased my Hifiman HM 901. So listening to music on the go has always been a pretty simple part of my life and I've always had one stand alone device to do it. Though these days, for many of us that's not the case. Cellular technology has made huge advancements over years, making it easier and simple to listen on the go! Spotify went mobile in 2010 offering lossy streaming quality. It was likely that most listeners where still running around 96kbs streami...

Topping D90 MQA - All Around Excellence

Launched in late 2019 Topping's extraordinary D90 made waves among the audiophile community, and now finally the D90's MQA ready counterpart is available. In terms of hardware the only change VS the base model is the upgrade to a XMOS 216 chipset on the MQA variant over the originals 208. It's likely the new chipset is present to aid in the MQA decoding the original does not support, I for one appreciate that Topping chose to utilize a more powerful XMOS USB interface to aide in the added MQA support, which is available only through USB input. Priced at $799 , the MQA Edition D90 is only an additional $100 over the base model for those who need the added MQA Support. I'd also like to thank Apos Audio for allowing me the chance to spend a week listening to this new product in exchange for my thoughts it will certainly be missed! Build ...

Getting it Right - AKG K371

In the many years I've enjoyed in this hobby I've owned a few AKG Headphones, each was special and unique in their own way. Still they always had quirks, some of which made them truly one of a kind like the magical mids of the bass light K501 others like the original K550 were truly outstanding... when you maintained perfect posture and stillness sufficient for it to actually retain it's seal. With the sale of Harmon to Samsung many in the hobby including my self worried about what would happen to AKG. I'll admit that their most recent flagship headphones have left me with a luke warm impression... however I'm excited to say I feel with the K371 they've finally started getting it right...again! Namely, producing a product that is mostly free of those "quirks" and simply excels at it's given price point! Speaking of price, it's new in store MSRP is $149, how ever there are retailers that often have them at $129 new and there's an abundance o...

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