MiFA Bluetoth speaker

This is the link, Im just lazy to rewrite it here

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4588693

Cayin N5 2nd Generation

I'll be straightforward with the review, despite i had a week of ownership, I had not the time to actually have an in depth tryout, too busy in life.

Layout

The DAP is quite easy to navigate and just upon unboxing, I can already figure out what buttons are at where and the positions of the IO. Just have a look at the images, I dont need to explain, just look at it

    

So you can guess which is for what right? good. Thats all for layout.

OS

The OS is generally functional as an offline player, thats how i tried mine. I dont quite believe in streaming as a "quality" audio on a dap. Transition between interfaces are smooth, read speed of indexing is good on my 200GB, doesnt take ages to index. I used the DAP in audio priority mode only, which is no eq influence or software interruptions to the audio.

Treble

The high notes is quite sharp and crispy. Good high extensions where you can hear the drum sets crashing down but does not irritate the ears. 

Vocals

Vocals is the sweet dough of the DAP. You can hear the forwardness of the singer which is quite important and necessary as it's the core of any music. Lead vocal and back vocals are separated quite well and at times could fool people with the layering.

Bass

Bass slam isnt very heavy, but the notes are clearly noted and does pops when it comes into focus. It does somehow lack the super low notes, those that brings the gloomy feelings to the music type. It just cant go that low, and lays flat at a point.

Driving ability

I was going adventurous and tried it with a couple of items i have, and particularly the LCD-2C. On the noble audio sage, it's all good and flowery, but on the 2c, it just couldnt push it to authority. In comparison, on my AR-M2, on the 3.5mm too, the sage picks up a whole lot of noise floor, hearing the device amp powering up, buzzing and hissing all the way, but it can drive the 2C really well.

As brother andykong pointed out, it's a choice of power and noise, they are both mutually exclusive, and i kinda agree on that. The N5 does have a lower noise floor but lack power for some headphones. M2 is noisy AF but can power high end cans.

So, is this dap considerable as an option? Well, to be frank, I had tried a couple DAPs before, as reviews mostly, so thats a week on each, the N5ii does come in mine at times, considering how easy is it to use, and with the good sound quality and versatility, I say its a buy.

The focal elar review

Special thank you to Starpickers for loaning the Elear for me for a couple days of use, despite having a sales boost campaign coming up and needing the Elear showcase.

Sponsored link below, do give them the support as they are enthusiasts with a small scale shop working their way up

http://www.lelong.com.my/merchant/StarsPicker.htm

With that out of the way, here is a brief though of me and the Elear. Do note that I only had a couple days with them, so the things here stated are *non conclusive*.

Setup: Aune S6 Optical - XLR based Elear
Song tracks: Stranger Tide OST by Hans Zimmer

An Overall outlook

Well, since this has an urgency of time, I didnt have exactly all the time i needed to test it out with every genre, and hence picked the most orchestral mix and vocal powered tracks from Stranger Tide.

My first impressions are that the soundstage is quite wide, giving a fully immersive experience to the music. Like for the mermaids song, there is really a creepy sensation to it, and when the suspense comes, I can imagine the movie scene in my head, where mermaids were rampaging all over the pirates with anger. The suspense made my heart go pounding mad.

On the near end of that track, I was anticipating Blackbeard's ship appearance, and by the all mighty queue of the music through Elear, I was like, HIS HERE!! You can feel the authority in bass that makes the impression of an almighty ship coming to wreck havoc. Oh yeah, blast them sonofabitches, my mind went thinking of the scene again..

So, with Hans Zimmer's magic trick, I can say that Elear can really show how capable are good tracks carving scenes in your mind. Elear has the bass depth and small sparkly tingling treble spikes that makes the music feel "entertaining and immersive".

Caveats

There are still some issues need to be addressed, though the audio department is really nice. First of all, like them users rant, the cables are unusually freakingly LOOOOOOOOOOONG. I could forsee a lot of people having to dime out and get another shorter cable just for the sake of having a shorter one. 

Second of all is the squeaking sound of the headbands, Yes, the headband squeaks if twisted slightly both ways. Dont know how people fix that, but there are remedies to it.

Now the weight of the headphone is quite subjective. It is not as heavy as the LCDs, BUT they are also not as light as the HD650 i own. So where does the weight be at? I think it's all good for home desk use without fatigue, but it is not quite the street friendly type.

Conclusiion

SO with a good audio quality but a *meh* design quirks, is the headphone purchase worthy? If you can live with the problems, then by all means go for it, it's quite worth the price. For me and my wallet, I would, if there is a used pair with warranty still, even better.