No, not Astell or Kern. I'm interested in Layla and Rosie, why are these headphones I'm holding now wearing these women's names. Of course, the sound quality of these extraordinary products interests me even more, but enough to listen to them to understand it, but will they sing me a secret about women's names? It turned out they will. As it turned out, all models of Siren headphones are wearing women's names from famous women's hits. Layla is Eric Clapton's "Layla" megaheit, and Rosie is from AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie". It will be interesting to listen to these musical works on
Astell&Kern is a separate division of Iriver Ltd for the production of premium audio components. Siren's headphone series for Astell&Kern is handcrafted by Jerry Harvey, head of Jerry Harvey Audio, and for us good sound lovers, this is the most important thing. Jerry Harvey has extensive experience in developing headphones for both studios and musicians.
the layla ii model is a very complicated product. judge for yourself: the headphones are armature-type, each has 12 (twelve!) balanced drivers, 4 at nch, count and h sub-bands. the filters of the 4th order are applied. the output channels from the stainless steel drivers are optimized in phase for coherent "exhaust". all these technologies have allowed to get a high level of undistorted sound pressure in a wide frequency range from 10 hertz to 23 kHz. developing these headphones, Jerry Harvey deliberately made them with extremely smooth sound, because they are positioned as a mO.
As Jerry Harvey himself says, "Layla II has the most sophisticated crossover circuitry ever used for an in-ear headphone. The fourth order crossovers, combined with Freqphase waveguides and new patented drivers, provide unrivalled studio sound quality. Hear exactly what the producer and band wanted you to hear.
FreqPhase's waveguide technology corrects the time and phases of multiple drivers to provide each driver with a signal within 0.01 milliseconds. With so many drivers, it is a prerequisite that the sound from each driver reaches the eardrum of the ear simultaneously, creating a coherent sound.
After trying on the ear cushions from 6 different pairs in the set, I picked the most suitable ones for me.
We once wrote that the importance of properly selected ear cushions for plug-in headphones should not be underestimated. Sound quality is influenced by everything, there are no trifles in this business, especially the ear cushions - an important component of any headphones. I have made sure that not just a manufacturer provides headphones with a whole set of ear cushions of different sizes. By the way, they differ not only in size, but also in shape and purpose. Externally, ear cushions seem to be quite a primitive part of headphones. But the whole secret is hidden inside. Soft and flexible core has
But if the ear cushions that come with the earpiece for some reason suddenly displease you, you can buy them separately, for example, from US manufacturer Complyspecializing exclusively in the manufacture of earpads. Turns out they've been manufactured for over 25 years! The diversity I saw on their website is amazing.
It should be noted that the heavy a&k plugs do not hold by themselves, but hang on the shackles, which are easily bent and have the effect of memory. i listened to the headphones both on the computer and from the external stud with the amplifier, and from the cd player marantz cd63. everywhere i clearly listened to the original sound layla ii, which could easily hear the difference between the sources and amplifiers, fully confirming its title as a monitor headphone. the sound can be characterized as clean, soft, comfortable, with a slight shift of tone balance in the area of mid-bass - lower middle. from this.
Layla II is an uncompromising headphone in every sense, and despite the fact that they are armature headphones, their sound can be easily compared with the top samples of overhead headphones with large speakers, and they can be listened to without tiring many hours in a row. However, the price is appropriate - 223 thousand rubles at the time of testing. Not everyone can afford such an expensive thing. But if you have the means and desire to have the best - you can not doubt about buying this model.
On the other hand, if you can't afford Layla II, the Astell&Kern Siren lineup has simpler reinforcement headphones, such as this season's new Rosie, which cost 75,000 rubles. It has as many as 6 drivers per channel: two for bass, two for midrange and two for treble, and the body is made of aluminum. The crossover network of headphones also consists of four 4-order filters. And the bass here can already be adjusted from 0 to +15 dB. Frequency characteristics, just like the older model starts from 10 Hz.
As you can see, almost all characteristics are similar to those of Layla II, except that only the box is completely different - round metal. However, the price is 3 times less, which already allows some people to "reach" the unique Astell&Kern headphones by Jerry Harvey.
But Rosie doesn't sound like Layla II at all, it sounds more evenly, but the overall sound is less saturated, you can see (and hear) that the number of drivers matters! And even by twisting the bass controls to the max, I couldn't get the dense and thick bass like Layla II.
the composition "whole lotta rosie" by ac/dc sounded loud and loud in a female way, and although the text of the ballad tells about a large woman from a tasmania named rosie, nothing major in the sound is observed. as if the world-famous band came to your home and performed its hit in your living room. however, this is just my subjective opinion, formed under the impression of listening to the older model. yes, the sound is not as dense and bright as that of layla ii, but it is always correct on any compositions, and such a home, at the same time, live performance of the compositions.
Test author: Felix Skacun (Felix)
