The Biz: More Companies Join In On The Manufacture of Balanced Armatures

With so many companies making earphones and headsets, it’s no wonder demand for balanced armatures is on the rise. They’re not just for premium earphones anymore, as BA and hybrid earphones can now be found for under $30, and reach prices upwards of $2500. As mentioned in a previous article of ours, ‘The Biz: What […]

Letter from the Editor

To all the readers of CYMBACAVUM: We started this site over three years ago out of an ideal vision: that thoughtful, insightful, longform opinions on portable high-end audio can be brought to readers in a fluent, beautiful way. While the site rarely does ‘firsts’ (it’s always slow to review a product, and isn’t the first […]

Critical Analysis: 1964|ADEL — Science or Science Fiction?

Editor’s Note: At CYMBACAVUM, we’re constantly trying to bridge science with the wonderful audio experiences we have. @miceblue takes on an scientist’s curiosity to examine Asius Technologies and 1964Ears’ ADEL — how it functions, the scientific principles behind it, and what it might or might not be. This article was intended to be published on […]

NocturnaL Audio – Hydra V2 Custom Cable

Editor’s Note: The cable used in this review was purchased at a discounted rate. NocturnaL Audio (https://nocaudio.com) is a custom cable maker based in Singapore. They have been producing cables regionally for the portable audio market since 2013. I’d heard of them off and on over the past couple of years as members of Head-Fi […]

Surfing With The Alien: The Unique Melody Martian

Unique Melody just recently announced the newest edition to its lineup, the Martian- a dual dynamic hybrid, and our friends at MusicTeck have graciously loaned us a sample for this review. Rather than rehashing all the details on the accessories and packaging that come with UM universals, you can check out our previous review of the […]

iFi Audio’s iUSB 3.0: Next Generation Power

Editor’s Note: We thank iFi Audio and the Evergeneral Trading Corporation for their immense patience and coordination. We held onto the review loaner unit of the iUSB 3.0 for way longer than we’d originally intended, and their patience is much appreciated! We reviewed the original iUSBPower by iFi Audio about two years ago (review link) and […]