Audio speaker in the form of a skull.

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Review of HiFiBoy OS V3 headphones is not a boy's model, but a husband

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Getting acquainted with unknown Chinese brands at times resembles a hobby of the type of fishing: you never know what the "catch" will be. This time, the almost completely random bait brought me a very interesting result, the hybrid headphones OS V3 from the company that took the name HiFi Boy (do you feel the irony?).

If you try to evaluate these headphones from the point of view of the "theory" - there are no super technologies in them, the usual hybrids performed according to the "1 + 2" scheme, that is, the speaker for LF and the beginning of the MF range, plus a pair of reinforcing radiators for MF and HF, body made of acrylic ... In general, everything is very traditional, but the developers got a surprisingly good sound, which combined with a pleasant price (only $ 160 for PenonAudio) and a good design immediately made this model interesting.

Specifications

  • Emitters: 7 mm dynamic + 2 × with balanced armature
  • Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
  • Impedance: 19Ω
  • Sensitivity: 109 dB
  • Cable: removable, 1.2 m. Silver-plated copper with two-pin 0.78 mm connectors
  • Plug: 3.5 mm TRS, straight

Packing and delivery kit

Here without any frills: an external "cover" with a good polygraphy, an inner box of solid cardboard. Inside - adapters (6.3 mm and "aviation") and a fairly large cover on the snake, inside which are headphones, cable and 3 pairs of single-flange silicone attachments of different "caliber". In general, the set of accessories is traditional, but what prevented from splashing more different baits - a mystery. Although, of course, buy on the same "Penon" or even somewhere else - it costs a penny.

Design and comfortable wearing

That's what designers have uniquely succeeded in, so it's design. Black, almost opaque plastic is perfectly combined with the design in the "universal version of CIEM" style, there are even all the details like an "anatomical" protrusion in the upper part of the case. The build quality also turned out for a long time, joints are almost invisible, flaws are absent, the chrome logo on the faceplates is made at a level worthy of the brands of the first echelon. For fans of efficiency, there is another option in blue and red, but, in my opinion, this is a bust of beauty.

OS V3, like most modern high-quality headphones, is designed for the breech landing, the shape of their bodies, compact enough dimensions and the sound guide running out at right angles contribute to comfort in wearing and provide soundproofing just above average.

The wires are made interchangeable, and then the HiFi Boy went "against the current," the first versions of their headphones were equipped with MMCX connectors, but then (reasonably) they stated the low reliability of such connectors and replaced them with 0.78 mm two-pin plugs. I do not know what they had with MMCX, but the updated connectors do their job well, fixing the cable securely. According to the developers, the complete wire is silvered copper of high purification, I do not know how much it corresponds to reality, but the cable is very nice and tactful. Throughout the length it is made 4-stranded and neatly woven from top to bottom. It is very soft, does not harden in the cold, is weakly inclined to tangling and practically does not make noise from rubbing against clothes. Near the connectors made zaushiny without memory effect, but since they are soft enough, then "adjustment" occurs, we can say, automatically.

Sound

The following equipment was used for listening.

Before listening to the headphones were warmed for 72 hours.

In general, unknown laborers from HiFi Boy tried to do their utmost to squeeze out the maximum sound from the three available radiators: a quality wire, a special coating on the inner surface of the headphones, separate soundtracks for LF and MF / HF emitters ... And we have to admit that they managed to make the model not only quite good in sound, but even in something that has its own, unique handwriting. Among other things, the coherence of the emitters is noteworthy at once for their price - their "joints" are hardly noticeable, although this is usually one of the biggest problems of inexpensive hybrid models.

LF here is very elastic, fairly biting, with a small, quite appropriate accent. Their overall balance is slightly shifted towards speed, which provides a very decent resolution for inexpensive headphones and a quality transmission of textures. The bass goes very deep, and, importantly, the deep LFs are normally monitored and do not attempt to undermine the rest of the range.

The lower midrange have a slight bias in the heat, which gives the flow a pleasing shade, although, like any accent, this one is not always appropriate (but almost always spectacular). This tint adds physicality to the instruments and emphasizes the expressiveness of the singers, especially with low voices. The upper MF is typically reinforced, with good resolution and neutral feed, but without a slope in sharpness and excessive emphasis on microcontrasts. The imaginary scene is more average in width and somewhere medium in depth, but the separation of instruments and plans with headphones is not bad.

The high-frequency range of this model I especially liked. OS V3, of course, is not for HF fobs, because they do not try to mask HF or smooth their attacks, but there are no sharp peaks and artificial accents. Attacks and attenuation of RFs are average, but the "top" has good details, a good segment for this segment, and even try to demonstrate the high-frequency separation characteristic of expensive models (however, it turns out not super, but not so bad).

Of course, to compare this model with all existing competitors in the price segment is not possible, so I chose some of the most representative representatives.

Ostry KC09. The difference here is due to the constructive, the Ostry is slightly darker overall, has less pronounced HF, but is slightly worse in resolution, especially on the upper half of the audio range.

Whizzer A15 Pro. These headphones sound a little sharper in the area of ​​high frequency and high frequency, but at the same time "colder" in the overall feed, especially in the lower midrange, and generally tend to more pronounced neutrality.

Ibasso IT01. The reverse situation, headphones with a more pronounced V-shape AFC, more accented LF and HF, more reserved in the background MF, the sound is more "spectacular" than neutral.

FiiO F9 Pro. With the overall parity of the MF (the difference is only in the colder MF in FiiO), the bass in F9 is less emphasized, and the HF, on the contrary, is slightly more accentuated.

Compatibility

In principle, these headphones can also be listened to with a mobile phone, there is no rejection of such a bundle, but for the full disclosure of their strengths, it is better to use an average price player, choosing the source of supply to their tastes.

Genre model is also very neutral, without pronounced preferences, although music with good bass sounds with them sounds very impressive. To the quality of the record, they are moderately tolerant, according to the conditional 10-point scale of their "pickiness", you can estimate the score by 6, although much depends primarily on the quality of the high-frequency range recording.

The review, of course, will be incomplete without a few examples

Audioslave - Revelations. Traditionally for "supergroups" Audioslave is pleased with a beautiful, rather unorganized material. Of course, it's impossible to call such a track very difficult, but the same guitar solo with an unexpected finish in the 2:20 area is not so easy to play. A successful combination of powerful low frequencies and detailed HF allows HiFi Boy OS V 3 to show itself from the best side by presenting the track in detail and driving.

Sam Jones - This Here. Well, yes, well, who can demonstrate the merits of hybrid headphones with fast LFs better than a jazz bass player? Unless a jazz bass player and a few other great musicians. I have long rummaged through the archives in search of a suitable track and, I hope, after listening to it, you will also understand that these searches were not in vain. OS V3 surprisingly well wins here and the bass part, and other instruments, revealing this track if not completely, then at a very good level.

Erykah Badu - Appletree. Well, one more track to demonstrate all the advantages of hybrid technology, on the one hand, massaging the ears of the audiophile LF, and on the other - to please with small nuances of the main melody that the heroes of this review is quite successful. I once already included in the selection of the remix of this track, but now it's time for the original.

conclusions

Once again, Chinese manufacturers have proved that a company that emerged from nowhere is capable of immediately issuing a very decent product to the mountain, offering not only high-quality performance and design, but also a very decent sound with specific interesting features. In general, to say that HiFi Boy turned out to be "the best of the best" will be an exaggeration, but that they are quite capable to compete with the best representatives of their segment - certainly.

Buy HiFi Boy OS V3

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