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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, 2020

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Budget King of Value (Topping L30 Linear) - A Look at Solid State Amplification within Two Market Extremes

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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 of noise, particularly when I plug m

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 Overall AFO-Xs build quality is consistent with what we've seen and come to expect from Dan Clark Audio. Even the packing is identical to the original AFO except for the labeling which identifies it as the Aeon Flow Open X Drop Collaboration w

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 also happy

Exploring Portable Audio Solutions - Spring 2018

Portable audio has always been on my radar. Back when I first assembled my desktop system my immediate next step was to replicate that level of quality in a portable system. An what I found is that I typically had to spend twice as much to get equivalent quality and often far less power. But that was almost 4 years ago. These days more and more companies are implementing high powered output via balanced amp typologies into their devices! Meaning that getting desktop reference quality audio on the go is becoming easier and easier, without needing the expensive and cumbersome stack-able towers of yesteryear! Seeing as how I focused on entry level products in the winter months, for this review I'll be featuring a wider variety of mid-range products both individually and in comparison to my existing gear!As this was my focus for the spring season, I will also be starting my summer adventures by diving into modern Top Of the Line Digital Audio players. For listening tests on m

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

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 Included packing is clean, simple and straightforward. Opening up t

Defining the Decade - ZMF Auteur

I got my start in this whole audiophile madness in 2012 with a SONY XB 700 and later Beyerdynamic DT 880. Over the years I've heard, reviewed, bought and sold dozens upon dozens of headphones. As time has passed I've become not only a better listener but a more critical reviewer. With so many players in this space I feel it's necessary to only reward excellence and politely express my disappointment in mediocrity candidly. That said, at the end of a decade I feel one headphone stands out above all of them. It is of course the ZMF Auteur which is priced starting at $1599 with other woods and ear-pads available! I won't drone on regarding the build quality of what's in the box as I feel there is enough coverage regarding the exceptional construction and craftsmanship of each ZMF Headphone. I'd also like to thank the ZMF team for allowing me the chance to have an extended listen of a Auteur in Cocobolo with it's stock pads, my review consists of my own

Hifiman Jade II - Pure Eyecandy

The Jade II from Hifiman is their first mass production foray into an entry level electrostatic headphones. While there was an original Jade manufactured and distributed, it's difficult to find and apparently quality and frequency response varied from unit to unit. Non the less here in 2019 Jade has resurfaced and been brought back to life! The headphone itself is available for $900 via the Hifiman website with an optional amplifier for $1600. Seeing as Electrostatic headphones operate vastly different from traditional planar-magnetic or dynamic headphones a dedicated Electrostatic amplifier is needed! So the system I'll be reviewing as a whole costs $2500 straight from the Hifiman Website . However it would seem local dealers do have a more competitive price for the system around $1800 as well, heck Bloom Audio has it for $1700 as of the writing of this article! I'll also mention I received the system in my own home for a temporary in home listen direct from their tea

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