SoundStage! Solo | SoundStageSolo.com

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 September 2019

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Many people think that performance tuning is the toughest part of being an audio manufacturer, but I’d wager if you polled 100 product managers, they’d say that deciding on looks and features is a lot tougher. After all, everyone likes good sound, but not everyone likes red. With the MX Pro series -- of which the MX4 Pros are the top model -- MEE Audio decided to let you decide.

Read more: MEE Audio MX4 Pro Earphones

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 September 2019

Sound: 1/2
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Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

When a boutique, audiophile-oriented headphone company like HiFiMan releases true wireless earphones, you know it’s a thing. And it’s a thing for very good reason. When the design is right, people love the convenience and comfort of being able to enjoy their music and podcasts with just a couple of little earpieces -- and no cables, headband, etc., to get in the way when you’re moving from machine to machine at the gym. With the TWS600 earphones ($199 USD), HiFiMan seeks to deliver that convenience to audiophiles and headphone enthusiasts.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 August 2019

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Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

I’ve gotten so used to reviewing complex multi-driver earphones with exotic shapes that the Periodic Audio Carbon earphones ($399 USD) seem like a throwback to the innocent early days of the headphone boom, when almost every earphone was nothing more than a single dynamic driver in a simple, cylindrical enclosure. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with a single dynamic driver -- in fact, some of the priciest earphones you can buy, such as the Campfire Audio Atlases ($1299) and Sennheiser IE800s ($999), use just a single dynamic driver per ear.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 20 July 2019

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It’s easy to talk about bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., but the difficulties of building cost-competitive products here often overwhelm those who try. Campfire Audio proves it is possible. Take the new Campfire IO earphones. They resemble the company’s higher-end models, and like most elite earphones, they come with a beautiful case and lots of different tips. Yet they’re made in Portland, Oregon, and they sell for just $299 USD -- not cheap for earphones, but less than people often pay for mass-market brands such as Bose and Beats.

Read more: Campfire Audio IO Earphones

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 July 2019

Sound:
Value: 1/2
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Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

If you’re not interested in true wireless earphones, I can sympathize. The first true wireless earphones sounded cheap, felt clunky, ran barely long enough to play three albums, and often refused to connect to each other. But the latest generation of true wireless products, such as the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 earphones ($129.99 USD), can be radically superior: smaller, more reliable, and, in some cases, better sounding.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 01 June 2019

Sound: 1/2
Value:
(Read about our ratings)

Measurements can be found by clicking this link.

There are precisely 3.74 zillion Chinese companies now trying to get in on the US headphone/earphone market. Many are selling earphones for less than $25 USD, which is why you don’t see them reviewed here. The Simgot EN700 Pros don’t fit that mold at all -- they list for the relatively high (and weirdly non-round) sum of $146. While the EN700 Pros have fairly large enclosures, and look like sophisticated earphones holding multiple drivers, each earpiece has just a single 10mm dynamic driver. What the EN700 Pros do have in common with less-expensive models from Chinese brands is that they’re sold almost entirely through Amazon. Also, they have a strange and seemingly inexplicable brand name.