Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

Hello! This is a review and measurements of the new Moondrop May headphones. This is my personal pair and it costs US $65.



I have been browsing ASR for a while now, but I have never posted anything here. I decided to write my very first review on this budget friendly USB-C DAC and headphone combo, as I am intrigued by the new wave of these DSP enabled headphones. This review will cover both the electrical performance of the DAC and the acoustic performance of the headphones driven passively.

Packaging and Physical Characteristics

I have to say I especially liked the box art on this product. Just look at the details here.



The suit of clubs motif is because this suit is called Meihua(梅花) in Chinese, which directly translates to plum blossom. The name of the product, May(梅), translates to plum.


Here is the information on...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Amp streaming amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $299.

I was pleasantly surprised by the good bit of weight this small box has. It will help it not slide with the weight of the speaker wires and such. Back panel shows the differentiation from a regular amplifier:

With included streaming, you have a one box solution to play your content over the network. You can use the included Bluetooth remote or the application. The latter was rock solid which is more than I can say about some other (major) streaming amplifiers. It instantly found the device, upgraded its firmware and allowed reliable control of all function. I can't do justice to all of its capabilities in this...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Audio Precision's APx516 audio analyzer. It is on loan from the company and costs from US $6,000. As tested, the cost is around $9,000.

The APx516B is featherweight compared to the much, much heavier APx555 analyzer I currently have. You can lift and carry it with one hand with no problem. Importantly, while it has a fan, it never came on during testing whereas my APx555 screams loudly requiring wearing a headphone to block it. A noisy analyzer could raise the noise floor of headphone measurements making the APx516 superior to my analyzer in that regard (I have mostly mitigated that however).

What one of the major reasons to get an Audio Precision analyzer is its software. It is easy to learn and given its closed loop nature, highly functional. The latter means the software can instruct the analyzer to do something...

This is a review, detailed measurements, listening tests and EQ of JBL Conceal C62 "invisible" speaker. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs $US 660 each.

This category of speaker is used in custom installations where a whole is cut out in the drywall (or whatever material) and speaker is fitted flush into it. It can then be "mudded" and painted, making it totally invisible. As you can imagine, this presents massive challenges for the driver and speaker designer. The C62 seems quite similar to Stealth Audio speaker and seems to be some kind of collaboration given the inclusion of a custom JBL mid-woofer:

The little box on top right is the "magic" handling midrange and tweeter duties.

Speaker frame seems quite substantial, likely due to it being some...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Audio ZA3 stereo amplifier with balanced XLR inputs. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $149.99 with 48 volt power supply.

The amplifier has really dressed up from its earlier origins of common enclosures in budget class amplifiers. It looks a lot more "beefy" and substantial. It also looks a lot better with nice series of holes on the sides where copper color is seen through it. Maybe due to these reasons the amplifier kept its cool for the entire test.

On controls, you push the volume control in to turn it on and off. Turning on causes an orange LED to light. Turning it off causes a delay in the light going out even though the output shuts off. Not an issue if you are listening to it but in testing, I am not so it was a bit confusing at first.

There is a misnamed "mono" vs "stereo" switch. Mono doesn't...

Hello everyone. One of the items on my TODO list has been to create Frequently Asked Question both about ASR in general, and audio in the specific. I have a good idea of what I like to include but thought I might be missing some. So would you please post what questions you think should be in the FAQ in either category?

Please don't try to answer the questions or argue with each other. I am just trying to get input on the questions that are common enough to go into FAQ.

Thanks,

One week to go! All eyes on Tampa for Feb. 16–18:
The Florida International Audio Expo 2024!

Tampa, Florida—February 9, 2024—The Florida International Audio Expo takes place Friday–Sunday, February 16–18, 2024, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore hotel. Qobuz returns as the show’s official streaming service. David Solomon, Chief Hi-Res Evangelist for Qobuz USA, will host his famous Flash DJ sessions throughout the show.

Attendees will have the opportunity to experience, in more than 80 listening spaces on 12 floors, over 200 brands of audio systems from the industry’s most coveted brands worldwide. As they roam the halls, attendees can meet industry influencers, icons, and product designers, all enjoying music together.

Tickets are still available: Single-day admission, $25; admission for all three days, $35; free admission for students, children, and spouses...

This is a review, listening tests, equalization and detailed measurements of the Polk ES60 tower speaker. It was purchased new and kindly donated to the forum by a member. ES60 costs US $511 on Amazon and has 4.5 start average review (1925 ratings):

The ES60 is in entirely different class than other budget towers with good bit more weight and fit and finish. It uses the down firing port that Polk has in other speakers in the series.

I measured the ES60 on Klippel NFS without the grill with acoustic center of the tweeter. Temperatures in the measurement "chamber" was on the cool side at 57 degrees F/14 C.

Polk ES60 Speaker Measurements
As usual, we start with our suite of frequency response and directivity measurements:

I like the deep bass extension and high sensitivity. On minor side we have a resonant peak around 550 Hz and generally elevated treble response. The latter is shared with other Polk...

Hello industry members who are posting in the Desperate Dealers Forum.

It was brought to my attention that we require members to be donors to post anything for sale while allowing companies/dealers to try to do the same in Desperate Dealers Forum without such a requirement. It seemed only fair that we apply the same rule to dealers/companies. You can contribute to existing threads but creating a new thread requires being a donor at any level. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Please use the Forum Promotion option #2 as otherwise your account will not automatically be tagged as a Donor.

Please note that this not an invitation for overt advertising to membership. Your postings should have technical value that members appreciate.

Thank you for understanding.

This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary bookshelf speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs $599 a pair.

I don't know if it is visible in the picture but there is a very thick frame with drivers and baffle recessed around half an inch. This makes it a bit odd looking and probably doesn't do much for sonics. The grill nicely counteracts the former, giving a vintage yet elegant look to the speaker:

Back panel causes a bit of culture shock with very modern binding posts:

Surprised to see two ports instead of a single larger one.

Speaker itself is quite heavy for its size...