soundblooms

About

I review IEMs and headphones for one thing above all: their ability to build an emotional bridge between me and my music.

Soundblooms also gathers my audio apps and builds.

I don’t care how technically impressive a headphone or an IEM is — if it doesn’t sound natural, it isn’t for me.

I can appreciate what a set does well, and I often do: detail, a large soundstage, bass that impresses. But I listen to music six to ten hours a day, and I can’t dissect and analyse tracks for most of that time. What I can do for most of that time is connect with the music. That’s what I look for in audio gear — its ability to build an emotional bridge between me and my music.

Every review here is written through that lens: not how a set measures, but what it lets me feel — hour after hour, day after day.

Heard so far

Headphones

  • Sennheiser HD6XX — kept

    Love it.

  • Hifiman Sundara — gifted away

    Impressive — loved the separation and cleanliness, but it sounded unnatural.

  • Hifiman Edition XS — sold

    Impressive, unnatural, uneven. The planar bass and soundstage really did impress me.

  • Meze 105 AER — sold

    Liked the bass and lower midrange, hated the treble. Unnatural.

  • Audeze Maxwell — auditioned only

    Amazing — loved the bass and the warm presentation. Tonally impressive.

  • Aune AR5000 — kept

    Love it. Natural, thick midrange presentation, open, warmly coloured. Not the best resolver — it can get muddy — but one of the most pleasant-sounding headphones I've heard. Positional variance lets you tweak how much treble you hear.

  • HEAD D1 — kept as reference

    An incredible studio headphone. Apart from the fast bass it's a bit boring — a great base for EQ, impedance adapters and coloured source gear. Lacks extension above 15 kHz.

  • Fiio FT1 — kept

    Amazing for the price. Impressive bass; the treble is coloured a little oddly, but not too much.

  • Satyr 4 — kept

    Love it — one of the most pleasant-sounding sets I've heard. A perfect background daily listen. Tonally very correct, with extra bass punch.

  • Koss Porta Pro — kept

    With Yaxi pads.

IEMs

  • Truthear Hexa

  • Truthear Zero Red

  • Crinacle x Moondrop DUSK

  • Aful Explorer

  • Juzear Defiant

  • Letshuoer S12

  • Truthear PURE

  • ZiiGaat Odyssey 2

  • Truthear VolumeS

  • Aful Performer 5+2

  • Xenns Tea Pro

  • Thieaudio Hype 2

  • Xenns Tea Pro SE

  • ZiiGaat Arcadia

  • ZiiGaat Lush

  • DUNU x Gizaudio DaVinci

  • 7Hz Zero 2

  • Tangzu Wagner

  • Tangzu Wagner 2

  • Tangzu Wagner 2 Bass edition

  • Tangzu Xuan NV

  • Dunu Kima 2

  • Simgot EW300

  • Kiwi Ears Septet

  • Crinear Daybreak

  • Kiwi Ears Cadenza

  • Letshuoer S08

  • YU9 QUE