Real art differs from craft by one simple factor: it is not made for the sake of money (despite the fact that, as a result, works of art can be even more expensive than handicraft articles). The master puts his soul into an authentic masterpiece, and the resulting product carries the vision of the creator, a part of his attitude. These are the headphones made in france.
For some reason it seems to me that if such headphones could appear somewhere, then it is in France. The temperamental nation, which gave the world many creators in all imaginable areas of art, and with headphones demonstrated its special approach.
How are almost any headphones made now? We are looking for a suitable OEM manufacturer among Chinese and Vietnamese factories, after which possible modifications are made, starting with the box and ending with serious internal modifications. If the customer has a lot of money, the product becomes exclusive, if not very much - then the similar product appears in others. An example of the latter is the plant’s products present in the market under dozens of brands.
Aëdle VK-1, called the creators of the Valkyrie, was born completely different. The authors of VK-1 decided to create a product that most closely matches their understanding of how stylish headphones should look and sound. For some reason, in our time, most personal audio designers follow several non-original ways. The output is either something plastic, screaming glossy colors, or strange complex angular structures made of metal and wood, sometimes causing doubts in convenience.
The developers of these headphones went the other way, part of the inspiration they took from the retro style of the 60s, part of the most modern design trends, and, mixing everything together, they got exactly the unusual fusion of old and new, which is characteristic of objects "out of time" from clothes to cars.
VK-1 uses the highest quality materials. The headband is made of magnesium-saturated steel, which gives it excellent ductility. The ear cushions and headband are covered with natural sheep leather, hand-sewn. Cases of the headphones themselves are made of aviation aluminum. Headphones are assembled entirely in France, with maximum quality control at all stages.
Of course, this could not affect the price, it is 499 dollars. This is, of course, quite a lot, but it is a payment for the very uncompromising approach that highlights really cool things.
Particularly pleased that the sound "Valkyries" turned out to be no less interesting than the appearance.
Specifications
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Total harmonic distortion: <0.5%
- Sound pressure level: 129 dB
- Maximum input power: 40 mW
- Impedance: 32Ω
- Emitters: 40 mm, neodymium magnets, titanium diaphragm
- Body: Aluminum alloy T 6066
- Headband: Hadfield steel, liquid silicone, genuine sheep leather
- Ear Pads: Genuine Sheep Leather, Protein Foam
- Cable: replaceable, reinforced with aramid fiber
- Complete cables: 1.2 m, 2.4 m, 1.2 m with headset
- Weight: 215 g
Package and Delivery
It’s hard to imagine a VK-1 box of a different color than white. A snow-white box with a minimum of inscriptions on it underlines the chosen style. To unpack, you need to remove the cardboard outer casing, then you can remove the cover. Under it are headphones, as well as all the accessories that come bundled, which are many.
The bag for carrying with thick quilted walls is made of fabric, the color of which matches the ear cushions, it closes with magnets and allows you to wear Valkyrie without any problems, without the risk of damage.
Included with the VK-1 you get as many as three cables, short by 1.2 meters, long by 2.4 meters and short with a headset for mobile devices. The cables are very high quality, reinforced with aramid fiber, which made it possible to achieve mutually exclusive qualities such as strength and softness. They are connected to the headphone near the left cup using a standard 3.5 mm plug, so there will not be the slightest replacement problem (although if you prefer, you can order a cable from the manufacturer's website).
Also in the box you will find an aluminum card with an individual serial number of the headphones, the creators promise that it will allow in the future to receive discounts on their other models.
In addition, there are standard adapters for 6.3 mm and aviation, a microfiber cloth for wiping, as well as instructions with the history of the model in different languages.
Design and wearing comfort
Headphones exist in three colors. The brown-silver Classic, silver-black Legacy and all-black Carbon, whose aluminum has been tinted black, have been to my review. All three options are good in their own way, choosing one of them is incredibly difficult.
The appearance of the headphones as simple as possible. Headband, leather trimmed, straight pins that hold aluminum cups, compact ear cushions. The cups can be slightly moved up and down, adjusting the fit, and also rotated around its axis, for maximum comfortable fit. A cable is fed to the left cup. Both cups have narrow slits of acoustic ventilation.
Headphones are made in the patch form factor, they do not cover the ears entirely, but, thanks to the excellent treatment of ear cushions, the comfort when they are worn is excellent. Sound insulation is quite good. By virtue of the form factor, they, of course, are not very suitable for the metro or airplane, but in most cases you will be protected from external noise. Sound leakage out is small, you will not disturb others.
By the way, it is worth considering that the headphones are made of genuine leather, therefore, periodically, their leather parts should be washed with a sponge dipped in warm water.
Sound
The following equipment was used for listening:
- Yulong DA8 as a DAC
- Yulong A28 as an amplifier
- Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2013 as a source
- Fidelia as a player
- HiFiMan 901 and Fiio X5 as portable players
- High-resolution recordings in Lossless-formats (Dr. Chesky The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc and others)
Before listening, the headphones were heated for 48 hours, no significant changes in sound were observed.
The sound of the headphones is pleasantly surprised by the fact that the developers did not make a typical smooth sound to please everyone as much as possible, and developed a sound to suit your taste. By this parameter in VK-1 either you fall in love immediately, or you also immediately realize that this is absolutely not your option. The overall sound of the headphones is dark, with a good dominant of the woofer, a clean, worked-out middle and a non-stressing treble. There is a small peak on the HF, which gives some recordings a metallic tint, but, despite this, the headphones listen very nicely.
The bass of these headphones - the main dominant in the sound, it is a lot of quantitative, but not at the expense of quality. It is served with good energy, very good resolution and absolutely does not creep onto the other frequencies. Due to the bass accent, the headphones are great for music using live instruments: acoustic jazz, chamber orchestras and more. Aëdle engineers were well able to get rid of the scourge of headphones of a similar form factor - internal resonance, from which most similar solutions suffer (Sennheiser Momentum One Ear, Sony MDR-1, V-Moda V-100), so the bass and lower woofers are not muddy.
“Middle”, despite the fact that it is quantitatively less represented than LF, this does not lose quality. There is no turbidity effect common to many “bass” models of overhead headphones, there is no loss of volume and detail. Despite the small volume of the cups, Valkyrie creates a good volume effect both in depth and in width. Tools retain their details and are well distinguishable.
The upper frequencies are purposely “omitted”, with the exception of a small peak around 7 KHz, this gives a very pleasant relaxed sound, and also makes the VK-1 tolerant to poor-quality records and sources. Of the minuses of such a presentation - sometimes still a little lack of lightness, but this is a common problem of dark headphones.
Genre VK-1, perhaps, are not designed for high-speed brutal styles, their relaxed style of presentation is more suitable for calm music and calm mood.
Compatibility
Headphones work very well with most sources, due to the inherent nature of the feed. Even simple sources such as smartphones with Aëdle VK-1 sound good, although they still benefit from a good path. Headphones are not very critical to the quality of records and quite a lot of “forgive”.
findings
Uncompromising, stylish, interesting in sound - all this is Aëdle VK-1. Headphones, in which the creators have put a piece of their own worldview, a real work of art, handmade, with the appropriate price tag. These are headphones for enjoying your favorite music in a cozy chair, with a glass of brandy in hand. These are headphones for listening to them on the balcony with a cup of coffee, meeting the dawn. These are headphones for working in them behind a laptop, sitting on the ocean ...
The article is based on materials .
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