Hello

     Thank you for visiting, this is Paul behind this website. About Audio is dedicated to portable audio content – ranging from reviews, impressions, news, photographs, any other audio related articles that I would like to share. It has been nearly a decade since I gained interest in this audio hobby and industry. I used to scribble down impressions and reviews for myself as an “audio diary” or to share with close friends, as most writings were mostly done for my own satisfaction – so did the photographs. My first audio gear was a cheap Philips earbud with a small Samsung MP3 player and slowly escalated my setup to the current state. For me, music was not only for enjoyment but also a stress and pain reliever when going through struggles in life. Although I never expected music to become this big of a deal, here it is.

 

 

Credibility

     All words and claims that I make here are solely from my honest thoughts. I stay as objective as possible. I do not get paid to make either positive or negative comments in my words, nor do I cover fake products or clones. All products featured as reviews or impressions are either personally bought, supplied by manufacturers, or borrowed from fellow audiophiles. A disclaimer is added at the end of each article, stating how the item was acquired. My impressions stand solely and unaffected, regardless of the product’s source.

 

 

Preferences 

     Objectivity is what I am after. While I do add personal/subjective thoughts within impressions and reviews, they do not greatly affect the outcome of my verdicts or conclusions. I also do not care about hypes, although I do try to find the reason behind the hype and give credits if the product deserves one. Hence I do not care if others say a particular product sounds bad or performs bad – until I actually test it out myself. In fact, I have found a number of cases where a product was depreciated due to its niche/unique tuning which was not necessarily bad in performance or lack of charms.

Some of them simply did not have the right eartips or devices to make the sound proper as it should be. Some of them simply could not appreciate a certain sound signature due to their preference. If you are a basshead, it is sure unlikable that you would send praises to a flat, reference type of sound that has linear bass – and vise versa. A certain type of sound signature may come to be pleasant while some hate it and could not think other than being poorly made.

 

     So can we cut to the chase and make judgments about a certain IEM have ‘poor bass’ or ‘poor treble’ performance? I would say no. Hence when it comes to evaluating the sound and its worthiness, since my rather eclectic taste, I consider the product from the POV of those who would actually enjoy such a sound signature. Of course, this is not that I would totally disregard a product’s performance as I do consider the ‘absolute performance’ in order to justify its price range. However, I focus more on figuring out if a product’s sound style and charms build up to make itself worth the price. 

 

      This ‘worthiness’ is something that would differ day and night among users. I have a very broad taste and enjoy the diversity within sound signatures, so ruling out personal preferences is something that is less difficult for me. Though it would simply be impossible for anyone to be fully objective and that sure applies to me as well. That being said, I will disclaim my taste from the get-go so that you could understand the background of my statements. My taste is generally neutral – a sound that is clear, large, and full that forms a bold W-shaped sound signature. Though I have a very flexible taste and could enjoy other sound signatures that are completely different – for example, I would also enjoy a razor flat sound signature with little bass or a basshead sound with thundering lows instead. The only elements that I would likely not appreciate would be sounds that are extremely harsh, thin, piercing, or utterly distorted in tone – but then again, most everybody would hate this and clearly find them as flaws. 

 

Reviews will never be a bible, so take them only as a reference.

 

     I would also like to remind you that reviews can never guarantee that your experience will match mine. Everybody has different thoughts and everybody’s impressions will vary, no matter how objective people were. Most importantly, people buy gears to like it themselves, not because they are objectively well made. It would be up for no good if you hate it regardless of what people say, wouldn’t it? But what a review can do is to give a rough (or even sometimes clear) idea about key factors, pros/cons, and the overall sound signature. I hope my impressions will do the same as well as bring enjoyment and understanding you wanted to know from a product.

 

 

The rating system

     Please note that my rating system is different from general “rank tables”, and I would like to make this clear. My rating list is evaluated based upon multiple categories, including the worthiness of the price – which means that just because one rating is higher than the other one doesn’t necessarily mean that it is superior. It is often impossible to tell a product is better sounding than the other, unlike smartphones or cars. The rating lists from the main page will be displayed in chronological order, while the one from the ‘audio reviews’ menu will be showing in the ranking by points. Lastly, please keep in mind that the rating points from the review article itself and from the At A Glance lists may differ. This is due to the passage of time as later added products pushing down an item to the bottom. The review article adds up several key aspects that would conclude the final rating point, which is another reason why the points between these two may differ.

 

 

 

 

That is all I have to say for now.

Feel free to drop a comment on other articles for any questions. 

Thanks again for visiting. Happy listening.