SoundStage! Solo | SoundStageSolo.com

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 01 March 2025

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Are hybrid headphones the latest trend? Last month, I talked about using MEMS drivers as the “tweeter” in earphone and headphone designs. At one end of the market, Creative’s Aurvana Ace Mimi earphones are great, especially for their low price ($129.99, all prices in USD). At the other end of the market are HiFiMan’s Isvarna closed-back headphones ($2899), another hybrid design. In this case, a planar-magnetic driver is augmented by a dynamic driver that functions as a “subwoofer.”

Read more: HiFiMan Isvarna Headphones

Details: Written by: S. Andrea Sundaram; Created: 15 February 2025

Sound: 1/2
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Reviewers' Choice The vast majority of over-ear headphones employ one of two driver technologies. Conventional dynamic drivers comprise a diaphragm with a voice coil attached, positioned in front of a magnet or a collection of magnets. Planar-magnetic drivers consist of a thin film with a circuit trace bonded directly to it in front of or between an array of magnets. In both of these designs, current through the circuit induces a magnetic field that interacts with the field of the permanent magnet(s) to push and pull the diaphragm in response to the audio signal. But since 1959, there has also been another technology used to drive headphones. That’s the year that Stax Ltd. developed its first electrostatic headphone model, the SR-1.

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 15 January 2025

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As I’ve mentioned often in this space, I travel a lot. Early on, when I started traveling more or less full-time, I was lucky enough to meet an absolutely delightful person who I am even luckier to still call a friend. She’s Austrian and lives in Vienna. As such, I’ve been to that stunning city many times. Walkable streets, endless culture, and, as it turns out, a surprising number of audio companies.

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 15 December 2024

Sound: 1/2
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Reviewers' Choice This is my last headphone review of 2024, and while I didn’t plan it this way, it’s ending the year with a bang. Can bangs be comfortable? Can bangs be beautifully detailed with an enormous soundstage? The metaphor breaks down here a bit, clearly. Which is to say, the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro MkIIs ($599.99, all prices USD) are one of my favorite headphones I’ve heard this year.

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 01 December 2024

Sound: 1/2
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I’m a big fan of unique-looking headphones. Sure, there’s a place for the myriad pill-shaped offerings from the major manufacturers, but in their drive to be as acceptable as possible to the widest audience, they all start looking the same. That’s definitely not the case with the 105 AER headphones from Romanian manufacturer Meze. With big steel arches for the headband and a spiderweb-esque earcup structure, they are visually interesting in a way most headphones in their price range are not.

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 15 October 2024

Sound: 1/2
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What we have here is an interesting oddity. There are lots of Bluetooth headphones on the market. There are also quite a few planar-magnetic headphones on the market. But there aren’t a lot of planar-magnetic Bluetooth headphones. Edifier’s Stax Spirit S5 headphones ($499, all prices in USD) are one of these rarefied concoctions, and as you can guess from the model number, they aren’t Edifier’s first try at this.