This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sivga Phoenix open-back headphone. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $255 on Amazon including Prime shipping.
I must say, this is one attractive looking headphone!
The padding and soft surfaces feel luxurious as well. Reminds me of the inside of an Audi automobile!
I absolutely love the fact that they indicate the channel designation both in large letters inside and on the sides:
On some headphones it literally takes me a minute or two to find the darn designation.
The headphone is also fairly light at just 300 grams. Cups are round as you see with a diameter of 58 mm. The depth is variable and at the shallowest end is 17 mm which is not a lot. If you have your ears poking out, it may touch dust cover.
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. I searched for any and all measurements I could find online. Alas while a number of them are close to mine, none are using the exact fixture down to coupler and pinna. As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests.
Getting a good fit was super easy with both channels matching each other at my two targets on the first install.
Sivgo Phoenix Measurements
There is nothing more important than frequency response of a headphone as each is seemingly different and that difference leaves a very distinct character:
We almost have a match for our target between 100 and 500 Hz but above and below that range we have a shortfall. The higher frequency loss will likely translate into a dull sounding headphone. There is however enough bass for it to not sound light in that department.
Relative chart may be easier for some to understand even though it conveys the same information as above:
Basic emphasis here then is the region between 200 and 300 Hz.
Relative distortion shows what we see from typical headphones in bass but there is also some disturbance in 3 to 6 kHz:
Fortunately since we have good bit of upper bass energy, we won't be boosting that so what we see is what we get:
Group delay is not revealing:
Impedance is variable but low which means typical portable devices should be able to drive it:
That is especially so since the Phoenix is the most sensitive headphone I have measured so far:
Sivga Phoenix Listening Tests
First impression was not positive: the sound is dull with most emphasis in lower frequencies. I had to pull up the parametric EQ right away to get it to be more correct. This is a quick and dirty attempt at fixing the gross problems:
Broad corrections will probably benefit from mathematical correction than my manual one. Still, the improvement was dramatic in both balanced sound and better spatial imaging. Female vocals that were lost before now came out front and center as they should.
Conclusions
The measured performance of Phoenix headphone shows broad deviations from out preference target. Subjective listening tests confirmed the same resulting in strong amount of EQ. The outcome was positive but not super exciting.
While I like the look and feel of the Sivga Phoenix, the overall performance is not good enough for me to recommend it. If you own it, I highly recommend using equalization to get better fidelity.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I must say, this is one attractive looking headphone!
The padding and soft surfaces feel luxurious as well. Reminds me of the inside of an Audi automobile!
I absolutely love the fact that they indicate the channel designation both in large letters inside and on the sides:
On some headphones it literally takes me a minute or two to find the darn designation.
The headphone is also fairly light at just 300 grams. Cups are round as you see with a diameter of 58 mm. The depth is variable and at the shallowest end is 17 mm which is not a lot. If you have your ears poking out, it may touch dust cover.
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. I searched for any and all measurements I could find online. Alas while a number of them are close to mine, none are using the exact fixture down to coupler and pinna. As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests.
Getting a good fit was super easy with both channels matching each other at my two targets on the first install.
Sivgo Phoenix Measurements
There is nothing more important than frequency response of a headphone as each is seemingly different and that difference leaves a very distinct character:
We almost have a match for our target between 100 and 500 Hz but above and below that range we have a shortfall. The higher frequency loss will likely translate into a dull sounding headphone. There is however enough bass for it to not sound light in that department.
Relative chart may be easier for some to understand even though it conveys the same information as above:
Basic emphasis here then is the region between 200 and 300 Hz.
Relative distortion shows what we see from typical headphones in bass but there is also some disturbance in 3 to 6 kHz:
Fortunately since we have good bit of upper bass energy, we won't be boosting that so what we see is what we get:
Group delay is not revealing:
Impedance is variable but low which means typical portable devices should be able to drive it:
That is especially so since the Phoenix is the most sensitive headphone I have measured so far:
Sivga Phoenix Listening Tests
First impression was not positive: the sound is dull with most emphasis in lower frequencies. I had to pull up the parametric EQ right away to get it to be more correct. This is a quick and dirty attempt at fixing the gross problems:
Broad corrections will probably benefit from mathematical correction than my manual one. Still, the improvement was dramatic in both balanced sound and better spatial imaging. Female vocals that were lost before now came out front and center as they should.
Conclusions
The measured performance of Phoenix headphone shows broad deviations from out preference target. Subjective listening tests confirmed the same resulting in strong amount of EQ. The outcome was positive but not super exciting.
While I like the look and feel of the Sivga Phoenix, the overall performance is not good enough for me to recommend it. If you own it, I highly recommend using equalization to get better fidelity.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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