HiFi

Topping D90LE — Measurement King Meets Music

Topping has become synonymous with measurement-perfect audio. Their products routinely top Audio Science Review’s charts, and the D90LE is their flagship DAC — a device that measures so well it essentially eliminates the DAC as a variable in your chain. But does perfect measurement equal perfect listening?

Build & Design

Clean, minimal, and professional. The D90LE has a full-size desktop footprint with a clear OLED display, remote control, and comprehensive connectivity — USB, optical, coaxial, AES/EBU, and Bluetooth (with LDAC). The build quality is solid aluminium, and the overall presentation is understated but premium.

Final Audio D8000 Pro — Japanese Planar Flagship Territory

Final Audio is one of Japan’s most respected audio companies, and the D8000 Pro represents the pinnacle of their headphone engineering. This is flagship planar territory — a headphone that costs as much as a decent used car and promises performance to match. The question is whether it delivers, and the answer is complicated.

Build & Design

Imposing. The D8000 Pro is a large, heavy headphone at 523g with massive earcups that house the AFDS (Air Film Damping System) planar driver. The aluminium construction is beautifully machined, and the overall build quality is impeccable. Japanese attention to detail is evident everywhere — from the hinge mechanism to the cable connectors.

Campfire Cascara — Campfire’s Over-Ear Debut

Campfire Audio made their reputation in IEMs, crafting some of the most distinctive-sounding earphones in the portable audio world. The Cascara marks their first venture into full-size over-ear headphones, and like everything Campfire does, it’s got a character all its own.

Build & Design

The Cascara is immediately distinctive with its ceramic-coated aluminium earcups and compact form factor. It’s smaller than most full-size headphones, which makes it more portable but also means the earpads are tighter around larger ears. Build quality is good — the materials feel premium and the overall construction is solid if a bit unconventional.

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro — The Studio Workhorse That Never Dies

Walk into any recording studio in the world and you’ll find a pair of DT 770 Pros hanging on a hook somewhere. They’ve been the go-to tracking headphone for decades, and for good reason. The 770 Pro is the definition of “just works” — reliable, comfortable, and sonically honest enough for professional use.

Build & Design

Indestructible is the word that comes to mind. The coiled cable (on the 80-ohm version), the sturdy headband, the replaceable velour earpads — everything about the DT 770 says “built to survive studio life.” At 270g it’s comfortable for all-day wear, and the closed-back design provides useful isolation for tracking and recording.

Audeze MM-500 — The Mixing Engineer’s Planar

The MM-500 is Audeze’s love letter to mixing and mastering engineers. Developed in consultation with Grammy-winning producer Manny Marroquin, this is a headphone designed specifically for professional work — and it happens to sound absolutely wonderful for music enjoyment too.

Build & Design

Lighter than the LCD-X at 510g, which is still substantial but manageable. The magnesium housing is a step up from Audeze’s usual aluminium, and the overall construction feels purposeful and professional. Comfort is improved over the LCD-X with redesigned earpads and better weight distribution. The suspension headband works well.

Meze 109 Pro — Meze Goes Dynamic and Delivers

After making their name with planar and hybrid designs, Meze Audio surprised everyone by releasing a dynamic driver headphone. The 109 Pro uses a 50mm beryllium-coated driver in a design that screams “this is a Meze” from across the room. As someone who’s already fallen for the Poet and the 105 AER, I was eager to see what Meze could do with a good old-fashioned moving coil.

Grado SR325x — Brooklyn Rock and Roll Cans

Grado Labs is the punk rock of headphone companies. Family-owned since 1953, hand-built in Brooklyn, New York, and stubbornly committed to their own vision of what headphones should sound like. The SR325x is their mid-range offering, and it’s as opinionated as everything else Grado makes.

Build & Design

Let’s be blunt: the Grado aesthetic is an acquired taste. The SR325x looks like it was designed in 1985 and never updated. The foam pads, the basic headband, the retro styling — it’s either charmingly authentic or hopelessly dated, depending on your perspective. I find it endearing, but I can see both sides.

Austrian Audio Hi-X65 — Vienna’s Best Kept Secret

Austrian Audio rose from the ashes of the original AKG Vienna team when Samsung moved AKG operations to South Korea. The engineers who designed classic AKG headphones started fresh, and the Hi-X65 is their open-back studio flagship. It carries decades of Viennese acoustic engineering heritage in a thoroughly modern design.

Build & Design

Clean, professional, and well-made. The Hi-X65 features memory foam earpads, a comfortable headband, and an understated design that says “studio tool” rather than “lifestyle product.” At 310g it’s light enough for extended sessions. The folding mechanism is practical for storage, and the build feels solid without being heavy.

Sony MDR-MV1 — Sony’s Open Back Studio Surprise

Sony’s MDR-7506 has been a studio staple for decades, so when they announced an open-back studio monitor headphone, the professional audio world paid attention. The MDR-MV1 is Sony’s first serious open-back in years, designed specifically for spatial audio mixing and critical listening.

Build & Design

Lightweight at 223g — remarkably light for a full-size open-back. The build is professional and understated: matte black finish, comfortable headband, and breathable mesh earpads. It’s designed to be worn for entire mixing sessions, and it succeeds completely. Not as visually striking as a Meze or ZMF, but that’s not the brief here.

Focal Bathys — Wireless With Audiophile Credentials

I’ll be honest — I’ve always been sceptical of wireless headphones claiming audiophile status. The mere mention of Bluetooth to a headphone purist usually triggers a lecture about lossy codecs and latency. But Focal, the same company behind the Utopia and Clear, decided to have a go at Bluetooth ANC headphones. And they’ve made something rather special.

Build & Design

Premium Focal through and through. The Bathys looks and feels like a proper Focal product — the aluminium yokes, the microfibre and leather earpads, the satisfying build quality. At 350g with all the wireless electronics inside, it’s well-balanced and comfortable. The USB-C DAC input means you can bypass Bluetooth entirely for a wired connection that genuinely rivals dedicated wired headphones.