Happy New Year!

2014 draws to a close. Another 12 months have passed under the bridge. In 2014, we published 88 reviews. It’s been a busy year. A good year.

Lots of things happened in 2014: Mike left us to run his shops in Jakarta and I, myself, took over with the help of Nathan (the guy from ohm image). We improved the site performance a lot and I think you’ll agree: we’ve done good job. At the rate we’re doing reviews now, 2015 should be the biggest review year since Headfonia started back in 2009.

Our Back to the Future column has picked up steam. Nostalgia is strong with audiophiles. Well, we’re planning on expanding things a bit to help you make better-informed choices. That’s as much as I will say for now…

2014 also was the year in which we started doing new giveaways. We had a big Hifiman and V-MODA giveaway and we gave a way a dozen of T-shirts on our Facebook page. More of these giveaways are planned for 2015, so keep checking Headfonia 😉

Top Products of 2014

It’s always hard to pick the top products after having listened to so many good sounding gear but here are my top products of 2014:

DAP:

AK Collection - CopyWe saw a lot of new portable players this year, the portable market is growing fast. The new thing is that customers also want to use their portable gear at home in a desktop setup. The result is a new wave of DAPs that are more costly but that produce incredible Hi Resolution sound. Three of them really caught my attention: the iBasso DX90 and the Astel&Kern AK240/120ii. Price-quality wise the DX90 just has to be the number one DAP of the year. If you don’t look at cost, the AK120ii/240 take the first spot.

Portable Amp:

Img_3894This is an easy one for me; the best portable amplifier I reviewed this year was the CypherLabs Duet. It has power, finesse and is built well. Sound stage, detail, musicality: it’s all there.

DAC:

herus_1-1024x713The DAC that impressed me most was the Canadian Resonessence Labs HERUS. It’s incredibly good sounding and it’s so small it’s hardly believable. I’m looking forward to reviewing the new Herus over the next few months

Amp:

AuralicI haven’t reviewed it yet but to me the Auralic Gemini 2000 was the best desktop unit I had the pleasure of listening to this year. Gorgeous sound and design in one.

Headphone:

IMG_4412 - CopyThere are a lot of contenders in this category: The Fidelio X2, LCD-XC, NAD Visio HP50 and the Hifiman HE-400i just to name a few. Ultimately, the headphone that has given me most pleasure and quality is the Hifiman HE-560. I was sad when I learned Hifiman was terminating the HE-500, it being one of my fav headphones of all time. The new HE-560 however made more than up for it and while they are very different sonically, I absolutely love the HE-560.

IEM:

IMG_4400 - CopyLots of good universal IEMs were released this year. The IEM market is extremely hard to keep up with and the IEM that surprised me most is a custom one: The Cosmic Ears CE6. For only a fraction of what all the other CIEM companies are charging, CE delivers an incredible 6 driver unit with a big sound. Do look out for our upcoming CIEM reviews though, there just might be a real challenger in there…

Portable Headphone:

ihKz6p1ZgSUz2iJ9I’m not a big fan of portable headphones, especially not the on-ear kind. Those of you who have read my V-MODA XS review know I liked it a lot but the best on-ear portable headphone for me is the Beyerdynamic T51P. An affordable well-built unit with big sound in a small package, it’s close to perfection.

2015

2015’s Agenda is already quite full for the first semester and you can expect reviews of the HERUS2, Fiio E17K, Soundmagic, Violectric V281, Beyerdynamic A2, Charleston, Inear S4, Rhines Audio, Rockjaw, Lehman, ALO…… and many many more. I can’t wait for 2015 to get started.

Thank you all for reading and supporting Headfonia.com, do let us know if you have any suggestions or comments. Finally I’d like to thank our site advertisers who make it possible for us to keep running Headfonia.

Nathan’s view on 2014 is on the next page

Happy New Year!

4/5 - (1 vote)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

20 Comments

  • Reply December 31, 2014

    George Lai

    Happy New Year, Lieven & Nathan.

  • Reply December 31, 2014

    Tronco

    Happy new year, Lieven, Nathan & Mike.

    Since I got into audio, Headfonia has been a good source of information and inspiration. Thank you for your hard work, 88 reviews in one year is a lot. You surely put in a lot of your time and passion. And you are not just doing this for the money and the girls 😉

    Keep up the good work.

    • Reply December 31, 2014

      Headfonia_L.

      Thank you Tronco, it’s nice to see some appreciation 🙂
      I have to say I haven’t noticed the girl part yet, not sure my gf would like that either 😉
      Happy new year!

  • Reply December 31, 2014

    Dave Ulrich

    Happy New Year Headfonia. I am glad to say I had a part in it. I will throw my hat into the best of ring. My favorite product was, by far, the Resonessence Labs Concero HP. The Concero HD was awesome too, but the DAC/AMP combo has amazingly good sound for an USB powered all in one unit. I loved it to the point I bought one myself and used it to replace my entire desktop collection. Here is to 2015!

    • Reply January 1, 2015

      Headfonia_L.

      Happy new year Dave. Glad to see you’re still reading HFN

      • Reply January 1, 2015

        Dave Ulrich

        Oh right, like I am ever going to stop reading headfonia!

  • Reply December 31, 2014

    Patrick.C

    Even on the last day, you make an article L.

    To take this website so serious, is a pleasure for this community. I don’t regret a minute to be hear and check the latest reviews and classic reviews like the trio from senn, beyer and akg as example.

    Also nathans podcast should be mentioned, because it is something different. You learn the background and opinions of the headfonia-team and other people of audio and other themes. Simple idea, but with great effort.

    So take your time guys and priority what you guys want.

    Best Regards and a happy new year Headfonia!

    Patrick.C

    • Reply January 1, 2015

      Headfonia_L.

      Thanks man. Means a lot. Happy new year!

    • Reply January 5, 2015

      ohm image

      Patrick, your constant encouragements and gentle proddings are both welcome and necessary. Thank you. Have a good one.

  • Reply January 1, 2015

    Kristian Lindecrantz

    I think I have “all” the headphone sites in my feedly-feed and headfonia has grown to be my favorite over the last year! You guys do great work! Keep it intressting, keep it fresh keep it up! Happy Holidays and see you in 2015

    • Reply January 1, 2015

      Headfonia_L.

      Thank you Kristian. Means a lot. Happy new year

    • Reply January 5, 2015

      ohm image

      Kristian, very glad to hear it. Thank you for the encouragement.

  • Reply January 1, 2015

    dalethorn

    That’s a great mixture of products – good picking!

  • Reply January 2, 2015

    Marc

    Happy new year to you guys at Headfonia! “Well, we’re planning on expanding things a bit to help you make better-informed choices. That’s as much as I will say for now…” Are we seeing a 2015 revision of the Headfonia Buyer’s Guide? I’m very hopeful.

    • Reply January 2, 2015

      Headfonia_L.

      Yeah but that’s not what i ment 😉

    • Reply January 2, 2015

      dalethorn

      I’m curious what you’d like to see in a buyer’s guide. I know from previous comments that it’s impossible to compare everything to everything else, but I’m always interested if there were something doable that could contribute.

  • Reply January 6, 2015

    Nickjan Glas

    happy new year everybody and looking forward to another musical year and reading these great reviews!

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