Luca Stricagnoli, a Contemporer Guitarist Prodigy

For me, ability to play musical instruments always seems like something out of world. You see, my clumsy hands, bad reflexes, and bad timings just won't cut it for playing instruments. Forget piano or fiddle, I can't even match simple percussion tone to my friends playing (it was in my high school long, long time ago, the teacher assign us to make some band and play in front of class. Total disaster on my part.) So, watching people playing music live always gave me envious feeling.

Enter Luca Stricagnoli. A contemporary guitarist who skills I'm not even dare to dream having. Watch this:


How is his brain works? I mean, I keep stumble over nothing while walking on flat, clean straight floor, and here he is, playing a one man band:



AND. HE. PLAY. GOOD. TOO!

That is so unfair. Handsome, cute guy who can play music instruments, and prodigy at that? Ladies (and number of guys) will definitely screaming for him. And he is young too! Maybe 24 or 25 years old. And ladies, please hold on to your panties, but he is proficient in Judo too!

Thank God he seems like can't sing, or I'm going to ask for refund.



Wait, did he just play TWO guitars?! Yep he did!


Freaking cool.
And here he is, using his feet to play some chords:



Fuck it, I'll just go back to sleep.

--------------------

PS 1: he released an album last year, so you can buy it on your choice of market place (such as Amazon or iTunes) 
PS 2: for more his videos, go to the usual site (*cough* YouTube *cough*)
PS 3: that disaster high school assignment story is 100% true. Right total disaster that was.
PS4:  the only, I repeat, the ONLY instrument I can play is the freaking RECORDER. Yeah, THAT recorder. You know, the flute-like instrument? Usually for elementary kids? Yep. Pathetic eh? (apologize to all professional recorder players. You guys are awesome!)

Troye Sivan - Blue Neighbourhood

Have you heard Troye Sivan? Yes? I guess I'm late to party. I found him when browsing Youtube, there I saw his Talk Me Down video clip, which, while I'm not really like the story, I quite appreciate the videography and video quality. It was good. So I download his complete album. It IS good.

First, I would recommend you to get the deluxe edition, because the included tracks are actually GOOD, not like those deluxe albums which only include filler song. I actually liked the included tracks, such as DKLA, and Blue; while BITE, THE QUITE and TOO GOOD are actually enjoyable.

This album is quite brooding and moody, kind of modern version of Lana DelRey. The tracks are dark and moody, with pulsating bass and sprinkle instruments giving them bite. It kind of reminds me to The Weeknd, crossed with grandiose of old Coldplay albums (as bad as their recent releases were, I won't deny their previous releases as good).

Fans of grittier music or bubble gum pop would best skip this album, because I don't think they would appreciate the slow, dark, brooding moody of this album atmosphere. And the lyrics too, are bog standards. Some are cheesy, albeit none of that crazy-cheesy lyrics like some of Lana's lyric, but standard nonetheless.

I like Troye Sivan voice, not too thick, with slight husky and dark tint on it. You won't find range like Sam Smith exhibit, or his control, for that matter, but the simple way he sing is enjoyable. Personally I'm quite interested on how he will sounded with more demanding song.

All in all, for music listener, I would recommend this album, it is simply GOOD.

Review: Zella Day - Zella Day EP

I stumbled upon this artist from Sputnik Music which got lot of good albums recommendation. So I decided to give it a go and, bam, I was hooked.

Sweet Ophelia,
When young blood escapes
Vows that break
Go up, up away
Zella Day - Sweet Ophelia

This album (or mini album) from Zella Day consisted just of 4 songs, totaling in 12 minutes and 25seconds. But, boy, those four songs just soooo good. I keep hitting replay button again. And again. And again. And again...

So, how should I describe Zella Day? I would say like Lana del Rey met Florence Welch met Elly Ghoulding: the sheer epic result is simply mind blowing.

Many EP is just an epic song with lots of filler. But in Zella Day, there are no filler, all her four songs are strong: good lyrics combined with big hook and blasting melody. Oh, and the melancholy, we must not forget the big dose melancholy.

You did to me so well
Hypnotic taking over me
Make me feel like someone else
You got me talking in my sleep
Zella Day - Hypnotic

The lyrics is good, I love how poetic all her songs are. The theme is mostly about blinded in love.

Take me to the garden of your ecstasy
Make myself a heaven from your falling leaves
Woven in the fabric of your tapestry
Cover me in honeysuckle memories
Zella Day - Compass

From Hypnotic, Sweet Ophelia to Compass and East of Eden, we will meet pounding bass,  strings and layer upon layers of sounds. Her musics is really rich. The only sparsely instrumented is Compass, which only capitalized her vocal.

And she sing really good. Her high register is really good. She soar effortlessly to falsetto, without sounding breathless. However, I would like to hear more of her lower register, because she had this dark voice which I liked.

Call me wild, drinking up the sunshine
Be my man and show me what it feels like
Denim sky unbuttoned down the middle
Spilling out little by little
Zella Day - East of Eden

I would like to see how her full album sounded, I hope it would be even better than this epic EP. If you liked Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch or Elly Ghoulding, I would recommend you to try Zella Day. She is good.

Zella Day + Deadbeef + Aune T1 with Phillips PCC188 + Sennheiser HD600  = eargasm.

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

You must already noticed now, that I rather like Lana Del Rey. I really dig her melancholy and old style. Yes her persona is rather made up and not natural. Yes those lips almost certain face job. I don't care. As long as she keep produce music I like, she can put one meter long nose, or third arm or fly or whatever.

This album is very different than her previous two albums. Dark is what it felt at first. But different dark than Born to Die dark. In Born to Die, the darkness is glittering with flashes of neon and orb-lamp. Of recklessness and willfulness. In Ultraviolence, the darkness is lightened only by a splash of fireflies, of fond memories and little bit of sands in moonlight.

Gone is the hip - hop and heavy strings, replaced by echoing electric guitars and -what-is-it-called?-reverb? And simple drum. Simpler band arrangements, with a splash of strings here and there. The result is a fresher sounded album, although still heavy with melancholy and drama.

The lyrics, to be honest, still not 100% good. I mean, //You dance in circles around me // You're fucking crazy // You're crazy for me // is definitely bad. Or // He used to call me DN // That stood for deadly nightshade //. Really? Nightshade as in Potato and Eggplants? And why on earth "hydroponic weed"? At least, nightshade did sounded cool, I'll give you that
But there are gems here and there. The same song which gave us vegetables also give us this gems: // I can hear sirens, sirens // He hit me and it felt like a kiss // I can hear violins, violins //. Domestic abuse or BDSM? You choose.
Oh, and did she just take a jab at USA? //I’m talking about my generation // Talking about that newer nation // And if you don't like it // You can beat it //. What do you think?

I won't go detailed review of each songs here. But if you ask me, personally I like the Bond - movie-esque "Shades of Cool", the twanged "Brooklyn Baby" (really love the guitar), "West Coast" (nice tempo switching there!) and the operatic induced "Money Power Glory".
All in all, this album gave nostalgic vibe, with big doze of melancholy thrown. If Born to Die felt like good girl had her first taste of bad (and loving each second of it), then Born to Die: Paradise Edition felt like grown woman comfortable in her sexy, womanhood, and Ultraviolence felt like a woman who reminiscing how her life gone. Jaded, tired, sad but still starving for love, even a violent one. That how Lana on this album felt.

Lana's voice sounded much stable and matured here. Her voice soaring high and smooth. I really loved how she sounded on "Brooklyn Baby". And those soprano on "Shades of Cool" is really good. I kind of missing her low voice though. There aren't many singer with good rich, dark low voice. And song like "Born to Die" is shining because of those low voice.

This is quite good album. I like how fresh, yet how Lana Del Rey is this album. Dark, nostalgic, and melancholy. In short: a Lana Del Rey album.

Another End of Year. And Another Review of Beyonce Newest Album.

So here we are: on the last month of the year. Another New Year. Another post about how your year go, how much you do, how much your resolutions fulfilled. Reflections. Badda-badda-do. Whatever.

So, I'm thinking about closing this year with a BANG. So do Beyonce. While I still turning my brain inside out (not really, but you get the gist), Queen B drop the bomb of the year in shape of an album consisted of 14 tracks, with 14 VIDEO CLIPS!!!

 Wow. Just... WOW.

Her album is quite dark, and minimalist. Yes there are fat and delicious bass line. But there are very few of those glittering laser and neon light. I'm counting maybe 2 or three. Others are filled with minimalist, slow and dark jam. And with retro, 80's feels sprinkle on the top.

Beyonce vocal, like always, soaring through the simple music, gliding and turning like bird through the sky. A dark, smooth, beautiful bird. Her technique is superb, her breath is strong, and wholly, she is just AWESOME.

As a whole, Beyonce is a very strong album. Yes, there aren't that many tracks which radio friendly. I like Pretty Hurts (really love the lyric), Partition (oh yeah), Jealous (simple yet strong), Rocket (nice vocal works there!), XO (simply sweet and cheerful) and, the last but not the leaset: Blue (featuring her daughter voice, which very cute).
Personally, I think those are the best tracks. Rocket got very nice vocal and melody works, but the lyric is ... let just say I'm not going to sing it loudly outside

And the video clips got very nice video works. Again, Pretty Hurts, Partition, Jealous, Rocket and Blue shines here. Blow is a fun, 80's retro video. XO is down to earth Beyonce. BUT! (yes, there will always be but) there's this Rihanna-esque from the videos. I keep expect Ri-Ri to pop-out from nowhere and sing the lines, like the one on Drunk in Love, Yonce (yep, you heard me right), and Haunted.
And it got lot of booty. And skins. And booty. Seriously. Yes we guys (I) love booty, but we (I) like them discreet, flash us (me) here and there and we (I) will keep thirsty for more. Flood us (me) in booty and we (I) will get sick of it. Eventually. Or maybe not. LOL.

So, there you are: my review of Queen B newest album, BOMB. Ignore me and enjoy the album (and the videos). This one is really nice and solid album. Just don't hit shuffle, because this album is best enjoyed straight from track 1 to track 14.

pssst... Queen B booty is really HOT!!!

It's Britney B*tch! Jean. A Review.

Yep, Britney is back. And her newest album is something to rave about.

Disclaimer: I'm rather fond of Britney, so I apologize if this review wasn't as clean as other reviews out there. After all, I'm not professional reviewer (as you can read on my previous reviews). So, you've been warned.

I've been waiting this album since I watch her Work B*tch video clip. That's one hell song, if you ask me. The lyric is really simple, and cheeky enough to balance the pounding beat. Yes, it's not as big as Till the World End, but explosive enough.

Back to the album, Alien is rather unusual track to open an album. But the lyrics...I'm wondering, just how much people out there who like me, keep seeing them self on the lyrics?!

//Lost in the world out of me myself and I // Was lonely then like an alien // I tried but I never figured it out // Why I always felt like a stranger in a crowd // But the stars in the sky look like home, take me home //

Second tracks, Work B*tch is like I said previously, is a cheeky song which I'm sure will burn those gold digger and lazy ass persons. Me included (what can I say?! I AM lazy). LOL

// You wanna hot body // You wanna Bugatti // You wanna Maserati // You better work b*tch //

Perfume, Til It's Gone, Passenger, and Don't Cry showing us the insecure, melancholy and vulnerable Britney. And the way she sings it, really differ with her usual sexy, crazy, robotic Britney. It's more.... raw. Even the auto-tune processing can't take away the rawness of her voice and emotions.
Yes there fat-pounding bass. And glittering neon-and laser. But the loneliness and melancholy still cut through.

I wish Britney duet with her sister is stronger, because Chillin' With You is just that: weak, forgettable song. The track is rather weird, it's like the producer can't decide where to go: nice and sweet acoustic or club worthy song. Tik Tik Boom and Body Ache is the usual club ready song. You know, the usual filler songs.

The Deluxe version comes with 4 new tracks: Brightest Morning Star, Hold On Tight, Now That I Found You and slow remixed version of Perfume. Personally, those extra tracks is album worthy. Better replace It Should Be Easy, Tik Tik Boom, and Body Ache with Brightest Morning Star, Hold On Tight, and Now That I Found You, then make Chillin' With You and remixed Perfume as Bonus Tracks. It would work better. I think.

So, there you go, my review. See the other side of Britney: the one who is insecure, soft and vulnerable. Yes, her voice isn't the best, it never has. But the rawness is new, and you can't deny the appeal of it.

Review: The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake

So, how long it was? 6 months? More? Sorry guys, I was really busy, so this blog of mine been neglected. Now, I'm back, with another review. Here we go.

Mr. Justin Randall Timberlake back after 6 years of hiatus into musical scene. Not that he absent completely, what with his name printed on singles or albums credits. This album, titled The 20/20 Experience, released several months ago, and pretty much earn mixed review. Some said it was nothing special, but some, like me, love this album very much.

JT's vocal is exceptional, I love how his falsetto delivered: smoothly. The lyric is interesting too, some is classic (or overused, from another point of view), but some really is interesting, if sometimes cheesy. Well, this is a mainstream album after all.

Just like the usual, his songs is full of catchy hooks and refrains. I especially love Tunnel Vision, Spaceship Coupe and Mirror (and the video clip. Old peoples getting romantic is really adorable! The skin colored-clad dancers girls with silvery wig is rather creepy though). The cherry-bubbling Strawberry Bubblegum (sorry for the pun) is good too, while Pusher Love Girl had nice refrain. I think Suit & Tie will make good music for lyrical dance. The reggae-touched Let the Groove Get In is nice break on the album, although 7:12 long song is definitely not short. The closing song, Blue Ocean Floor started boring, but got interesting when the refrain kick in.

The 20/20 Experience is bit departure from his last album, Futuresex / Lovesounds, which glittered with lasers and neon lights. I got this warm and classic feeling from Timberlake's latest album. The strings, the trumpets (or saxophone or whatever it is, I'm not really into musical instruments :P) combined with bass, drums and electronics creating a piece of music which spanned generations. A truly marvelous album.

The richness in it, the layers of sounds and instrumentals is good too. The musics is very enjoyable listened on my Goldring DR150 and FiiO E10. Really, you had to try listening it using good equipment. Your free-on-packaging earphones just won't cut it. With good equipment, you will notice just how rich and layered this album is, everything will come alive.

Lot of songs in this album clocked unusually long. For modern pop songs, that is. Some feels nice, bridging form one song to another song, but some, I feel unnecessary. But I had to give it to Mr. JT for his daring.

So, that's what I feel from the newest album by Justin Timberlake, titled The 20/20 Experience. Personally, I think the title reflect the album perfectly.

Review: OneRepublic - Feel Again (single)

Ugh, what a busy month!!! So many things to get done on my workplace I didn't even had time for writing on this blog. Sorry guys, but I really busy this last 3 weeks. So busy I even go to office on Saturday (Saturday!!!) to finish things :(

Now those hectic weeks passed, I want to share this new single by OneRepublic. Well, not exactly new, since it been out for like, 3 months ago, but still, from a band which didn't get much coverage last year (especially since their last album is definitely a flop), this single is like their gambling to the world of fame (their debut album is definitely good).

So, what of their newest single, which titled "Feel Again"? When I listened to it the first time, I though it was one of Coldplay songs. The drum track, the clapping, the melody, the vocals; the hypnotic atmosphere created really reminds me to Coldplay. Watch the videclip, and the similarity is even stronger: the light, the party, the shooting angle.

From lyrical point of view, the lyrics is very simple, "I'm feeling better since you know me / I was a lonely soul but that's the old me" just cant compete with "I loved you with a fire red, / Now it's turnin' blue..." from Apologize, or even "We'll have the days we break /  And we'll have the scars to prove it / We'll have the bombs that we saved / And we'll have the heart / Not to lose it" from Marching On. And just don't even try to compare it to Coldplay lyrics. Just don't.

I like the videoclip, the light play is amazing. The sweet scene where a man give a women flower-with-lighbulb-on-it is nice, giving sweet touch to the hypnotic-party atmosphere. Again, reminiscence of Coldplay. But that's ok, since this single is divers to OneRepublic previous songs (which quite heavy and tiring).


Overall, nice single. The different atmosphere invoked is differs nicely with their last albums. Nice videoclip too, really love the lightbulb play. I just wish it less felt like Coldplay and more OneRepublic.

Review: Christina Aguilera - Lotus (updated)

Hello there! How are you? Have you listened to Mrs. Aguilera newest album yet? No? Then maybe you will find this review pretty old-school.

The cover is quite interesting: the naked Mrs. Aguilera rising from a lotus blossom. Don't worry, the interesting parts are hidden, so it's still quite safe. The pinkish color used is bit departure from Christina Aguilera image of sexy, mature diva. It's just so girly, like the cover you will find on some girl-band from Japan or Korea.

The Album Cover.

I have the Lotus Deluxe Version which contained 17 tracks below:

1. Lotus Intro
2. Army of Me
3. Red Hot Kinda Love
4. Make the World Move (feat. CeeLo Green)
5. Your Body
6. Let There Be Love
7. Sing for Me
8. Blank Page
9. Cease Fire
10. Around the World
11. Circles
12. Best of Me
13. Just a Fool (with Blake Shelton)
14. Light Up the Sky
15. Empty Words
16. Shut Up
17. Your Body (Martin Garrix Remix)

This albums is quite diverse in music style, although generally still dance oriented. I loved the marching drum touch on Cease Fire, Around the World and Best of Me (sometimes I found myself humming the chorus baby cease fire, fire, fire, while walking like an idiot. Yes, it's that infectious).
Throw in Christina's vocal of gymnastic, and you got powerful, energetic, toe tapping album. Although personally I feel Mrs. Aguilera sounded bit strained on some songs, but then, that screaming-like, powerful soprano IS Christina brand-style.

The lyrics is quite standards, you know, for a dance pop albums. You got some interesting lyrics now and then (Use my name as your claim to fame / Got my smell of success on your breath on Circle), but others are the usual stuff. I felt this album lyrics is mainly about how she got herself up and strong after some big break-up. Pardon my ignorance, but I really didn't interested on the artist life, all I interested is their musics.

Not all the songs are dance oriented song with bass pounding, however. There are some track's which quite a keeper. I personally like Sing for Me and Blank Page. Just a Fool is quite likeable actually, if not for how it sounded like a battle contest between Christina Aguilera vs. Blake Shelton. Please Mrs. Aguilera, Mr. Shelton, this is not a battle round of the Voice, play nice!!! Speaking about Blake Shelton, I just always thinking his name spelled backward, Shelton Blake sounded just so much more nicer!!! LOL.
Some grippe: the bonus tracks Light Up the Sky sounded like something out of Ryan Tedder's song book while Empty Words sounded just like the one you got from Leona Lewis old album Echo. Why not include more different tracks?

The production isn't that great, with my DR150 (which is quite detailed), I can hear how the instruments got smashed together: no separation, air, soundstage. The bass is mainly on mid-bass area, with big boomy sound to boot. The treble too, get too piercing sometimes, I need toning down about 3-5db on frequencies of 5 kHz and up on my foobar2000 equalizer. I hate doing equalizer, but this album won't listenable for long time if I don't do that.
On busy tracks, Christina vocals is going laid back, thankfully, reducing the fatigue immensely. On the simpler tracks however, you could hear how glorious Christina Aguilera vocal technique is. Pity she didn't includes more of those kind of songs.
Update: the production is really awful, opening a track on audacity, I can see how the track clipped. The compression is really high!

Verdict? Quite easy, if you like Christina Aguilera, you just had to listen to this album. For dance oriented song, maybe you better go to Rihanna albums. This album is a mix-and-match kind of album. Not quite dance-pop (although most of the songs of dance-pop flavored), but not quite balad-pop either. The result is an album which not too mainstream, but also have it's own flavors.

Lana Del Rey - Paradise (EP) Review (updated)

Hello again, how are you? Me back with another review (again. sigh).
The album I want to share is titled Paradise (EP) from Lana Del Rey. Remember her? You know, the one who became Internet sensation sometimes ago when her video goes viral? Etc, etc. Yeah, that Lana.
Actually, you can find this EP as two version: as Paradise (EP) and as Born To Die the Paradise Edition, which, as it's name suggest, include tracks from her Born To Die album. I personally think you better go for the EP, that's if you have already buy the previous album.

The cover is very nice, Lana, with her hair flowing, standing on some beach (or maybe pool?) with tropical trees (coconut, maybe?) seen behind. The color used, which going for red-yellow, gave this Lana this golden shine. That, and the gold font used, gave the cover a classic and luxury feeling. Well, that's me anyway.

Paradise (EP) Cover

Born To Die The Paradise Edition Cover

The EP consist of 8 tracks, with some difference depends on where you buy your album (or EP). The tracks list:

1. Ride
   
2. American
   
3. Cola
   
4. Body Electric
   
5. Blue Velvet
   
6. Gods & Monsters
   
7. Yayo
   
8. Bel Air

This EP still had Lana's oldie signature: low sultry voice singing with darkness-tinged music, crying hedonism and broken life. Personally, I think Paradise is much better than Born To Die, all tracks on Paradise is more mature. Each track has it's own main theme, from slum-and-road theme on Ride, Las Vegas-night life tinged American and Cola, to sprinkle of Arabian night on Body Electric. The classic Blue Velvet, the more modern Gods & Monsters, to simple and very, very boring Yayo (at least compared to the other tracks), and finished with soft and airy Bel Air. Each different, but still managed to get whole.

I really like the string which accompanied most of the tracks giving the EP the warm-and-melancholy feeling, with a sprinkle of majestic thrown in. And the drums too, very nice. Add sparkling electric guitar, and you got a classic but tap-inducing (although quite draining) album. And boy, that arrangements works very well with Lana's voice.

Yes, the lyrics still wasn't the best ('my pussy tasted like pepsi-cola', really? Yes, it's still emotionally draining (have you see the music video? Lana had some of the most beautifully crafted music videos. Beautiful, though emotionally draining). And yes, there are some tones which similar to her last album, but as an EP, I still think this is a solid album good. The music guitars, the drums, the strings (which I really fond of), the voice, it's all make one solid album (or EP's, which ever you call it).

Pretty Recommended.

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edit: adding some more words, paragraphs to make it bit longer.

Review: The Haunted Man. Me, not dead, yet.

Me, still alive and kicking, even after missing for like, forever. Okay, not forever, but still, the last blog post is on July, for heaven sake. I'm sorry for abandoning this blog for several month, you know, I got busy with my new job. And just can't muster enough mood and energy for writing.

Anyway, I'm back now, and I hope I can update this blog more regularly. Now, I want to inform you about this cool album by a singer named Bat for Lashes. What a strange name don't you think?! Her album is titled "The Haunted Man". You had to see the album cover: a naked girl (or woman?) shouldering a naked boy (or man?). Really a distinct cover.

The distinct cover.

The track list is below:

1. Lilies
2. All Your Gold
3. Horses of the Sun
4. Oh Yeah
5. Laura
6. Winter Fields
7. The Haunted Man
8. Marilyn
9. A Wall
10. Rest Your Head
11. Deep Sea Diver

The album has a distinct atmosphere. The musics is simple yet powerful, the simplicity of it creating dark, mysterious scenes. You could hear every nuance of Natasha Khan (the singer's real name) voice. Beautiful.

One way or another, this album reminds me to Fiona Apple's last album: both had this beautiful simplicity although I think Bat for Lashes sounded more pop than the more jazzy Fiona Apple. And "The Haunted Man" had a more majestic feeling than "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do" (yes, that's Fiona Apple album's title, quite a mouthful yes?).

Overall, I really like Bat for Lashes's The Haunted Man. It carry distinct sound while keeping the music simple, yet not boring to listen to. For you who appreciate good music with good vocals, I recommend you to try this out.

Recommended.

Review: dbE Acoustics HP30 Fullsized headphone

It was started when a post started on our local audiophile forum about a loaner program for locally branded headphone. Without wasting times I signed myself in, and fortunately chosen. Now, after several weeks listening and comparing to my other headphone, I would like to give my though about it.

The Package.
dbE HP30 headphone comes with a big cardboard box. You could see from the photo I took how it compared to my Goldring DR150 box I apologize, it seems the photo is missing... will update with new photos. Photo added. The box itself looked nice. Opening it, I found another box which contain the headphone. The inside box is nice and sturdy, but I don't like how the outer cardboard felt, it's felt flimsy.

Open the inside box, and you will find the headphone nestled on cloth covered hollow. It also include a 6.3mm adapter jack and an extension cable, and some papers of course. Overall packages is quite nice, the cloth covered headphone placement help creating expensive impression. I just wish the outer cardboard is as good as inside box. Or ditch the outer box entirely, and print the label and what-not directly to the inside box surface.

The Build.
The headphone holder is made from machined aluminum with brushed finish. It's an open headphone, and you can see the metal mesh with a metal plate printed with the company name. The headphone back is made from some hard plastic, half painted silver inline with the silver holder and metal mesh, while the other half is black.


On top, the headband is covered with a smooth pleather (or what I guess is). It has some padding on it, which felt nice on my head. Maybe the material used didn't had that expensive feeling, especially the material holding the two side of pleather together (and the one hold the velvet pad), but for the price I think it's good enough.

I really like the velvet pad used on dbE HP30, it soft and very, very nice on my skin. It actually smoother and denser than the velvet pad used on my Goldring DR150. The cup is wide and deep, my quite large ears had no problem going inside at all.

At first I though this headphone would press my head like a gripping machine, but when I bend the headband a little bit to place it on my head, I quite surprised how easily it bend. And it the clamp is very nice, not too strong, and not too weak. It just... right. My DR150 had stronger grip than HP30. This headphone bit heavy, on the same scale as my DR150, I think. Wearing my AudioTechnica SJ33 after HP30 or DR150 is like wearing nothing at all, because it's so light, and the clamping force is even lighter than HP30.

Overall, dbE HP30 looked and felt nice. Maybe some would say it looked similar to another headphone from Germany brand, but I had no idea how similar since I don't have the mentioned headphone on hand for comparison. HP30 did look expensive, though.

The Sound.
This headphone is a loaner from dbE Acoustics, so it already burned in. How does it sounded? I think its a neutral one. Comparing it to my AudioTechnica SJ33 and Goldring DR150, dbE HP30 placed right on the middle, maybe little bit on SJ33 side. So middle ground leaning to bright side I think.

While I said leaning on bright side, the treble isn't that bright. My SJ33 is brighter than HP30. The treble is smooth, well extended, with some roll off on highest frequencies. Nothing too glaring, but not too roll of like my DR150 either. Very polite. The treble is pretty nimble, better than my DR150 I think. But then maybe that because DR150 treble is rolled off earlier than HP30. Listening to HP30 after DR150 is like going to a room with lot of open windows and light after a dark, damp and warm sauna room. The treble is just free, airy, and nimble.

Vocal is brighter than my DR150, bit on lean side. But not bright like my SJ33 does. Really, it just like on middle ground between SJ33 and DR150, with HP30 located bit on SJ33 side. Vocals has this airy sound, much more than my DR150. On some vocals (especially on high female vocals), this contribute to nice, and airy vocals, but on heavier vocals (like baritone males, contralto females), this take away those nice chest sound. The King's Singers baritone part on 'Scarborough Fair' sounded leaner, and brighter than on my DR150, which has dark, meaty sound on it. On the other side, HP30 render light vocals of Celtic Woman sopranos better: airier, and nimbler.

Bass is leaner than both my DR150 and SJ33. HP30 sub-bass is pretty rolled off, while the mid-bass is quite polite. Punchy, but nothing like my DR150. My SJ33 has much more sub-bass than HP30. Bass on HP30 is tad looser too. Comparatively, mid-bass HP30 is tad leaner than SJ33. The detail is quite good, almost as good as SJ33 but nothing compared to DR150 (which understandable, seeing the price bracket). HP30 mid-bass is quite good actually, it can hold it's own compared to SJ33 which marketed as portable DJ headphone.

HP30 has a forward presentation, which combined with the airy sound, make vocals quite nice. Guitars sounded crisp, although not as meaty or thick as DR150 but, crispier. The bite is not on SJ33 level though, since SJ33 has this peaky treble which help give more bite to guitars. Strings also had more bite and air to it, compared to DR150, just as flute had. Listening to same song with flute and strings on it, it's like DR150 took dark and mournful side while HP30 take on keening and airy side. SJ33 take cut-your-skin approach.

For musical genre, I think HP30 very good at acoustic with not too many instrument on it. The separation is pretty good, little bit better than my SJ33 because HP30 has more depth to it sound. The depth isn't that detail however, compared to my DR150, but for the price I think it's pretty good. As I said before, SJ33 place all instrument on same distance. HP30 had more 3D sound than my SJ33, but positioning is quite vague, again compared to my DR150 which priced much higher, but much better than my SJ33 which place almost everything left and right.

Heavy metal, speed metal, trash, and those fast paced metals are no go. HP30 relaxed sound just didn't render those speed correctly. But for slow rock, acoustic rock, or folk-rock I think HP30 manage alright.
Fast club song, vocals club song also no go. The sub-bass just isn't enough. Amr Diab 'Maak Bartaah' from his last album 'Banadeek Taala' sounded so lean, the bass just isn't satisfying. At all. For this kind of musics (club, dance and metals), I think my SJ33 is much better choice. Faster pace, satisfying bass (and sub-bass), forward vocals, and more treble to convey the energy.

Classical piece is alright, if you don't mind how HP30 presented all the instruments forwarder than the usual. If you think DR150 turn classical piece into rock concert, HP30 will turn classical piece into LIVE rock concert. It's too forward for instrumental classical piece I think. For this price range, I still think Superlux HD668B as the best headphone for instrumental classical musics.

HP30 is quite forgiving for badly recorded musics and or low quality musics, just like my SJ33. It's quite musical, listening to HP30 you won't focus on individual sound, but to the music itself. Not like HD668B which dissect music so every flaw apparent.


The Verdict.
dbE Acoustics first full-sized headphone HP30 is a nice headphone. The packaging and build looks very expensive. Open design allowing open and airy sound, forward vocals, punchy bass (although rather lean on sub-bass), and moderate to slow pace make it great headphone for pop, jazz, slow musics, vocals, and acoustics. But if you want headphone for fast paced music, or deep, meaty, satisfying bass, you better look else where.

Recommended, if your music taste is right.


PS: it's priced about IDR400.000,00 if I'm not wrong. I use a FiiO E10 DAC on my review.
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Thank you for dbE Acoustics for supplying the loaner unit. It's very nice experience!!!

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Review: Goldring DR150 FullSized Headphone

It's been several weeks since I got my Goldring DR150 from Jaben. Now it's time to write a review about it. Actually, you can found my first impression on a fully burned DR150 on Jaben here, but I don't fell right if not wrote a full review of it.

The Package.
Goldring DR150 come in cardboard box with transparent window so you could see the headphone itself. The chosen colors, the letters, and the design are very attractive. It reflect the above USD100 price tag of it. Inside are the headphone it self, 3m detachable silver plated 99.999% oxygen free copper cable (or so it said on the package), golden plated 3.5mm to 6.3mm plug adapter, and Jaben pins. Ops, the Jaben pin isn't included by default. Sorry, my bad.

The Build.
The headphone made from plastic with metal mesh on the back. The pad is from velour, and so do the pad on the headband. It's much heavier than my AudioTechnica SJ33, but still lighter than Shure SRH440 (again, read my previous impression). The plastic is okay, though Shure SRH440 got better build: sturdier, nicer to touch, but heavier. Maybe it's because DR150 is for more home use, while SRH440 is for studio use, so it had to able to stand some rough handling. However, I think DR150 build is good enough for someone careless like me.

I could see some ripple on headband plastics, so the build is not as  good as Shure, which really good. The finishing touch too, could be better. There are some edge which could be smoother, etc.
The headphone look is okay. It look little ugly at first sight, but it has grown on me and now I think it look quite nice. From color perspective, I liked DR100 gray-black color combination much more than DR150 gray-silver. The silver accent on the rim of the metal mesh look nicer on gray-black combination than on gray-silver.

The detachable cable is nice. I don't know if the 99.999% oxygen free claim is true, so no comment on it. It has this rubbery finish which very pleasant to touch. It snap into 3.5mm jack on left side of the headphone quite strongly, so you don't have to fear it detached easily when pulled accidentally. Those detachable cable also mean it's easy to find cable replacement if the bundled one break, or mod the sound by using different cable materials (if you believe or could hear the differences).

The headphone itself is quite comfortable, the grip is rather hard on the first, but it lessened over the time. The headband is adjustable with several clicks which lock the headband on place. The velour pads is definitely comfortable and felt nice to touch.

The Sound.
This is my first open backed headphone so I quite surprised by how the sound-stage and positioning (layering) rendered. It's much better than my SJ33, which closed backed. Of course, price-wise, SJ33 is cheaper, but DR150 is simply at another level compared to it. DR150 sound-stage is wide, with very good separation and layer rendering. Listening to SJ33 after DR150, I could easily hear how SJ33 sound-stage is wide but flat, all instrument just placed at same level, while DR150 render the position beautifully. The dept is just very good on DR150.

The high is smooth, with enough sparkle to make it shine, but not bright. Definitely not bright. For comparison, listening to DR150 after SRH440, DR150 sounded like there is a veil over the sound. Cymbal is pretty crisp, although not as bright as SRH440, or MS1i. None of those sibilance, though, so it's easy on ears. Listening to DR150 after SRH440, it felt like going into a large and warm sauna room after a closed room with air cooler. MS1i, on the other side, felt like an open room with lot of air flow.
DR150 smooth and natural treble make my SJ33 sounded steely, cold and with lot of peak. DR150 also had some air to the sound which made my SJ33 sounded boxed. Not as airy as Alessandro MS1i, but enough to give breath on vocals and instruments. It's really refreshing after listening to SJ33

The mid is smooth and warm, with neutral presentation. It's neither forward nor laid back, actually it's quite versatile, when the recording is forward, the DR150 will sounded forward and vice versa. The vocal is luscious, and very, very nice. SJ33 sounded dry compared to DR150.
Male and female vocals rendered equally good. It's doesn't matter what kind vocals I threw at it, DR150 render them both good, Scotty McCreery low voice is as good as Andrea Bochelli tenor. High female vocal, like Sarah Brightman soprano is rendered beautifully, just like Amy Winehouse sultry contralto voice is.

The bass is thick, meaty and warm. It has bigger bass, both in quantity and quality than my SJ33. The bass is so detailed, SJ33 sounded like one big blob of bass. The mid bass is pretty good, detailed and punchy. None of the bass bleed to mid. I think DR150 bass is mostly on mid-bass though, while SJ33 had lot of sub bass. Tone down 200-100Hz (via equalizer), and the bass will loose lot of it punch.

Detail and micro-detail, Goldring DR150 absolutely murder my AudioTechnica SJ33. It's really no contest. I just can ear all those tiny sound, like when a player put down something or turn a page, or how the guitar string twanged against the wood board, how the singer open her mouth before singing, how the piano keys make those little click sound when they pressed... It's mesmerizing.
Goldring DR150 is pretty unforgiving, I can easily hear how bad is Glee record or how 128kbps mp3's sounded much like Lady GaGa second album (yup, it's that bad). Garbage in garbage out. On the other side, SJ33 is much more FUN, especially with mainstream music and or bad recorded music like GaGa, Madonna, Glee, Katy Perry etc.

Isolation is none at all, since it's open headphone. DR150 also leak sound from the grill/mesh on the back, although not very bad. The metal mesh on the back is actually lined with a piece of cloth inside, so you can't see the driver from outside like you do Sennheiser HD600/HD650 or Shure new SRH1440. I'm wondering how would DR150 sounded if I remove the cloth covering the mesh, will I get more airy sound? Will the sound-stage and layering increase? Hm... intriguing. I had to try that sometime in the future.

A bit nitpick, sometimes I felt the sound is not as coherent than, say MS1i or SRH440. It's like there is something which resonating along with the driver causing the sound, like, breaking or diffused or something. Is this the plastic color described by Heafonia review of DR150?! I don't know. It's not that bad, though, since this only apparent when I listening very closely. When I just sit and enjoying the music, I didn't notice it. My SJ33 also exhibit the same problem, at much bigger scale.

The Verdict.
For the price (about USD100-130) I think Godlring DR150 is a very good headphone. The sound definitely is, although I wish the build quality could bit better. It has this dark and luscious sound, meaty bass with punch and some nice treble sparkle on top. If the sound is a food, I say Goldring DR150 is a cake made from dark chocolate, filled with crunchy milk chocolates goodness and sprinkle of vanilla on top. Warm from the oven. Hmmm yummy!
Recommended.

Rant #3: Jaben Jakarta

Last Saturday I'm turned 25 years old, so I though I will go and treat myself a nice new full-sized headphone. Jaben got this birthday special offer, so I'm going to use that. Jaben Jakarta is located at Senayan Trade Center, very easy for me to reach just about 30 minutes by public bus (not counting traffic jam). I got to Jaben Jakarta store at 6.30 PM, give or take.

Jaben Jakarta store is rather small, but very cozy. They welcomed me warmly, and after I told them that I was looking for open full-sized headphone, they offer me to listen to some of their demo headphones. I tried an Alessandro MS1i. I rather excited because this is my first time listening to Alessandro, my one-time experience with Grado SR60i didn't impress me much, I found SR60i too bright for me. So gingerly, I put the MS1i, dial the volume pot on my FiiO E10 to zero, play a song and carefully set the volume up. Boy, how I supprised.

MS1i didn't sounded like what I remember SR60i back then. The treble is crystal clear, the vocal is forward and the bass is punchy. Both male and female vocals are so airy and so free that listening to my Audio-Technica SJ33 I felt boxed. Guitar sounded so crisp, and the vocal is forward, just how I liked it.
The sound-stage (or head-stage if you like) is way bigger than the SR60i on my memory. I don't know the pad they used, but it's different to the one SR60i has. Comfortable enough, the headphone just sit on my head. But I don't like how the pad touched my ears. It got rather itchy after several songs lol.

Next I asked for another open headphone to listen to and they gave me Goldring DR150. So, this is the headphone called poor-man's Sennheiser HD650, I thought. I put it on my head, put some song to play, and Holy Sh*t!!! I never knew Fatoumata Diawara's Kanou has those nice bass! And her vocals...so nice!!! Not as airy as MS1i, but with enough breath to it. Compared to MS1i, DR150 is less airy, but also less sibilant. DR150 bass also way bigger than MS1i bass. DR150 made MS1i sounded thin. Not that MS1i is bad, but generally I prefer darker sound-signature myself. I like my male vocals a touch of dark and heavy, and my female vocal to be as clean as possible. Looking from other side, MS1i vocals is sounded much more effortless, while DR150 is rather heavy.

It's a mantra to audiophile and music lovers crowd that before you buy an equipment, try as much as possible to listen other equipments, so I asked for another headphone. Jaben folk told me that the other headphone on my price range that they have are closed back, but I told them I don't mind, so they gave me Shure 440 to listen. OMG! Such high-class customer service!!! Really love Jaben....

How Shure 440 sounded? As a closed back, it doesn't has nice air or breath than Goldring and Alessandro has, but Shure has this nice clear vocal. Vocal is forwarder than MS1i (really, what pad they put on those MS1i?) and very, very clear. I can hear Adele breath when she sang Someone Like You, Live at The Royal Albert Hall. But the sound-stage isn't as nice as neither MS1i nor DR150. Both MS1i and DR150 got better layering, and better 3 dimensional space. The bass is rather weak, tad weaker than MS1i, but much clearer. I think that because of less mid-bass. And also very clean, making DR150 sounded like it had a veil on it.

So, after trading and comparing one to another, I put my choice on Goldring DR150. I want a headphone with good sound-stage and layering, and smoother sound, both are things that my Audio-Technica SJ33 lack. Not that my Audio-Technica bad, actually it's very good and very fun to listen to. I just want more refined sound, and more comfortable for home listening.

Because it's my birthday, Jaben give me some discount. Actually they as me to choose: price discount or gift (it's an Sony Jienna IEM and Jaben headphone stand), but I choose price discount. Why? because those money could go to Brainwavz HM5 when they came here fufufufufufu......

 For you who want to buy or try a nice set of headphone, go to Jaben. They are very friendly, and very warm, and they let you try almost all headphones and amplifiers that they had. They got some very nice offering (like birthday specials, bundle specials), even starting bundle special (they let you pay 60% first, then the 40% twice on two month schedule), and sometime a lucky draw (where they give out a headphone or IEM to a lucky guest).
They even offering me to try the Shure 1440, the newest Shure open headphone (which very expensive), and I had to swallow my saliva and politely reject the offer. After paying my headphone, I rather hurriedly haul my ass out before they offers me another scary headphone to try on. No, my wallet can't suffer those price.

All my rant above actually just an impression, because I only listen them for some time, and don't treat them as a review. I only write my review if I can get my paw on those headphone long enough, maybe several weeks. Right now I'm burning my new Goldring DR150, and I plan to write a review on them after they got enough time to settle to their sound. Thanks for reading this rant of me, lets meet again on the next post!

Review: dbE PR10 earphone

To be honest, I actually rather dislike earphone because my rather special (yes, I'm special. Get over it) ear shape which causing discomfort after wearing earphone for several minutes. Those shape also make wearing earphone a hassle because it fall out easily. But I got stuck to earphone because when I'm at work and want to listen to music, I can't wear my trusted AudioTechnica SJ33 headphone because its pretty big (it's supra-aural after all), while my MEElectronic M6 isolate too much noise so I can't hear if the phone ringing or if someone call me. So I get this cheap earphone which from our local audiophile forum said great (for the price).
Warning: as I said before, I haven't got many experience with earphone/earbud as I rather dislike them. Take this review with grain and salt.

The Package.
This earphone come with a thin cardboard box. Inside is the earphone itself, a pair of foam, a cloth pounch (which is great, I even used it to store my cellphone sometimes lol), and some papers.

The box. Simple and elegant.

  
The Build.
The build is pretty decent, the construction is much better than those cheap earphone which come with your cellphone, your portable music player or buy at those electronic store. Not as good as my MEElectronic M6 (which priced higher) but I think it can stand some rough handling (yes, I'm clumsy). The cable is on the thin side. Better than those cheap earphone, though, and made from some rubber which nice to touch. Again, not as good as M6 cable (which very good, and very nice to look at).

The earphone and the cloth pouch included.

Another view.

The Sound.
This earphone got about 100 hours usage, so I'm pretty sure the sound wouldn't changed again (burned in, so to speak). So, how the sound? To state it simply: bright.

This earphone got those nice sparkle on high register, making guitar bite, and female vocal sounded nice and forward, just the way I like it. BUT, high male vocal just neither as nice nor as forward the way female vocal is. Not recessed, just not as forward as female vocal. I tried this earphone with wide range of male vocals, from Il Divo, Sam Sparrow, Il Volo (this trio young classical crossover is GREAT!!!), Joe Jonas, Gregorian to Scotty McCreery, it's always the high male vocals which bit strange while low male vocal are pretty nice and forward.

Mid-tone are pretty nice, again, with sparkle to it, while low are tight and punchy. Drum sounded so nice and punchy on this. Compared to M6, PR10 low are mostly centered around mid-bass. I can hear it clearly on Joe Jonas 'See No More' both on vocal version and instrumental version. The dark, sultry cello on the song didn't as clear as on M6. Sub-bass is almost non-existent, but then maybe because it didn't isolate at all, so the sub-bass tone got loss dunno where (dimanaa~~ dimanaa~~ Ayu Ting-Ting, anyone?)

Sound-stage (or head-stage) is pretty cramped, creating on-stage and in-your-face feeling. Instrument separation is so-so, again, my M6 is better. On simple arrangements like on solos or acoustic sessions this isn't seen, but move to more complex, many layered piece, like Florence + The Machine or some Mozart classical piece, and you can hear how the instrument just smashed together.

Isolation, like I said before, is practically non-existed. None. At. All. So, if you plan to listen to music on the public transportation, please use IEM instead. Save your ear and hearing by not blasting LOUD music to it, IEM will isolate noise so you don't have to BLAST your music volume. Also, IEM will good to your karma, or sin-level, or whatever you call it, as you won't disturb fellow passenger with those tiny-tiny sound from your earphone just because you BLAST is to the MAX. Please, use IEM (In Ear Monitor) instead.

What this earphone do better from my M6 is how the high and mid sounded so airy and... free. No more cramped and boxed sound, everything is just has this nice breath to it. M6, because of its IEM nature, just didn't have the same airy feeling.
Also, PR10 gave me this feeling how the sound frequency is whole, while M6 sounded like it got some drop on mid then peak on high-tone. Okay, maybe male vocal isn't very good, but it's not that bad. Vocal on M6 sounded rather thin compared on the PR10. On PR10, vocal is thicker with sparkle on it, not thin and boxed like M6 is.


The Verdict.
For about USD 11 (it's priced IDR 100.000 locally), I think this earphone is great. Maybe not as good as MEElectronic M6, but then M6 is priced higher (about USD 15-18). And yes, my AudioTechica SJ33 absolutely murder both on sound-quality. But then my SJ33 is priced at USD45-58, which 5 times PR10 price. So, if you still stuck with those cheap earphone from your portable media player or cellphone, or any others, try this earphone from dbE acoustic. It's really bargain for the price: cheap but good.

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Thank you, Arif, for the photos, they are great!!! :D

Review: Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

Note: this is my first review on English, so I apologize for any wrong grammar. English isn't my mother language.

This album Born To Die is an album by Lana Del Rey. For you who doesn't know her (yet), she also known as Lizzy Grant. In fact, she has already release an album (or mini-album or EP) before, using Lizzy Grant alias, but all trace of her persona were deleted when Lizzy (or Lana) sign to her current label. In fact, her management make sure ALL trace of Lizzy Grant was deleted, including her EP, website, etc. This "persona killing" is kind of make internet-crowd rather... unhappy. Yes that big italic-bold font I used there.

Anyway, regardless to what internet-crowd said, I would like to make a review (to stretch it a bit) for Lana Del Rey debut album. This album, released January 30th, titled 'Born To Die', composed of 12 tracks (mine is the Special Edition, which included 3 bonus tracks).

The album tracks list:

1.     Born to Die  
2.     Off to the Races  
3.     Blue Jeans  
4.     Video Games  
5.     Diet Mountain Dew  
6.     National Anthem  
7.     Dark Paradise  
8.     Radio  
9.     Carmen  
10.     Million Dollar Man  
11.     Summertime Sadness  
12.     This Is What Makes Us Girls

while the Special Edition bonus tracks are:

13.     Without You 
14.     Lolita 
15.     Lucky Ones   

Del Rey vocal is rather unique. Her voice reminds me to those old songs, when stereo record haven't invented yet. Low, dark, and sultry. Her voice really make 'Born to Die' shine. This dark song, with touch of orchestra, really nice to listen to. Third track 'Video Games' (which gone viral several months ago) also has the same nice tone because Del Reys vocal. And, yes, I'm kind of partial to low and dark voice.

Pity Del Rey didn't use the same voice on the other songs. Yes, she still maintain the same breathy low voice, but the high tone is more like..... bitchy, pardon for the french. Her high on the other song lost the dark and mature voice 'Born to Die' and 'Video Games' has, instead, she sounded whiny.
Don't take me wrong, on some song, this bitchy sound kind of in line with the song, like on the 2nd track, 'Off to the Races', and 'Dark Paradise' (which my 3rd favorite track), but I wish Del Rey go for dark and mature version of her voice.

From lyrical side, I have to point that Del Rey album didn't has the best lyric. It, more or less, has the same tone of 'good girl gone bad' or 'good girl fall for bad boy' etc, but some are rather nice, like when she sang Now my life is sweet like cinnamon / Like a fucking dream I'm living in / Baby love me cause I'm playing on the radio / How do you like me now? on 'Radio'. Or how she sang Money is the anthem of success / So put on mascara, and your party dress on 'National Anthem'. It's all about love, money, party, sex and fame.

So, after listening to this album several days, my opinion is rather mixed. On one side, this album has this dark atmosphere, which I kinda liked, and unique sound to it. Some of the songs has this nice beat, which make me tap my feet. But on the other side, the tone of the songs are kind of similar. This similarity made the album felt whole. BUT, it also could make it dull. Which one is this album lay, I'll let you decide it by yourself.
And we're off to the races, places / Ready, set the gate is down and now we're goin' in / To Las Vegas chaos, Casino Oasis, honey it is time to spin