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SIVGA SV021 Headphone Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 51 45.5%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 47 42.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 9 8.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 5 4.5%

  • Total voters
    112

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests, equalization and measurements of the SIVGA SV021 headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $149.
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone Review.jpg

I find the SV021 not only attractive to look at, but also touch given its luxurious fit and finish. Hard to imagine it is such a low cost headphone! Alas, the cups are a bit small for me and so not very comfortable.

Let's put the SV021 on the GRAS measurement stand and see how it performs.

SIVGA SV021 Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response measurement:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone Frequency Response Measurement.png

I usually align the response at 425 Hz. Here, that is strangely the lowest output level with both bass and treble shooting way up. I tried to get the bass to match in both channels but could not. Maybe the pads are deformed differently or the driver response is different. Relative response shows a lot of variation which may be hard to accurately EQ:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone Relative Frequency Response Measurement.png


Overall distortion is rather low but a couple of resonances stick way out:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone relative distortion THD Measurement.png


Seeing how we need to reduce the bass energy anyway, that region will look better post equalization. Here is the absolute level of distortion:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone distortion THD Measurement.png


Group delay is not revealing of much:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone Group Delay Measurement.png


Impedance is flat and low:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone Impedance Response Measurement.png


Combined with better than average sensitivity, it should be a relative easy headphone to drive:
Best headphone review 2023.png


SIVGA SV021 Headphone Listening Tests and EQ:
I started to listen to the headphone and it sounded good! It was not until I created the filter set and performed AB that I realized that the out of box "headphone showroom sound" was flawed:
SIVGA Robin SV021 Headphone equalization eq filter.png


Without the filters, the sound was closed in and just not interesting. With the filters in place, the sound nicely opened up and bass tightened. I threw in a couple of very sharp filters to reduce the resonances/distortions at the frequencies I measured. Sighted, it seemed to reduce distortion and clean things up further. With all 6 filters in place, I actually sat back and started to enjoy the sound of the SV021! Spatial effects had improved fair bit and I could "feel" the notes and resolution of the music. There was little to complain about other than slight discomfort.

Lesson for people who say: "listen before you measure." If I had done that, I would have told you that it sounded fine! The truth come out in AB testing against equalized response which required measurements.

Conclusions
While I really like the fit and finish of the SV021, the out of box tuning is clearly aimed at making a good first impression with a lot of bass and to some extent, treble. Likely this is why the average review rating on Amazon is 4.5 stars. Are yourself with frequency response measurements, develop an EQ and now the headphone becomes very nice sounding. Distortion is reduced to very low levels resulting in clean and well composed sound.

Given how bad the out of box response is, I can't recommend the SIVGA Robin SV021. If you own it though, deploy some EQ and you can get very good sound out of it.

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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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_thelaughingman

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Ugh the hideous FR of this thing is enough to never go near it.
 

juliangst

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Had them for a couple of weeks last year. Absolutely terrible. They feel cheap, sound extremly harsh and the midrange is just a huge void.
I now have HD25 light with Yaxi pads for portability and couldn't be happier.
 

Todd k

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these are my cans. I bought these on an extended vacation away from home. I only traveled with my senn 600’s and was yearning for a more closed back sound. For $150 not too bad. They look and feel way more expensive than their price. I used them with my old school iPod and topping headphone amp. I enjoyed the sound and found them very comfortable. Definitely more bass than the senns and enjoyed the closed back sound. When i returned home and compared them to some of my better headphones the price value ratio did not look all that great. That said they did sound very good on my iPod setup and they actually look very very good. Sometimes it’s nice to listen to a closed back can and shut the outside world out.
 

juliangst

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They look and feel way more expensive than their price
'look' yes but 'feel' not so much in my experience. When it comes to construction and build quality I would trust any beyerdynamic or sennheiser in that price range more than this Sivga.
shut the outside world out
I also have to disagree on this part. To me they were more like a semi opens and didn't block out much noise at all. Better than open cans but not as isolating as DT770, HD569 or even on ears like HD25
 

thewas

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GaryH

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And that's with the ridiculously squashed vertical scaling that makes every frequency response look better than it actually is.

Note I'm talking about the squashed vertical image scaling (compared to the width), which I see others have now done to the measurements from here too, another tool to massage the data to fit a narrative.
 
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thewas

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thewas

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And that's with the ridiculously squashed vertical scaling that makes every frequency response look better than it actually is.
50 dB is typically used and even recommended often in this forum, even Amir uses similar range above.
 

AdamG

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these are my cans
A big thank you from Team ASR for sending these in for testing and inclusion in the growing headphone database! :cool:
 

PeteL

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Of course not a great response but that fixed single point level alignment makes it possibly look to many eyes look worse than it is (it does at least for mine), here how it looks aligned to rather an average of the mid band:

frequency-response.png

Source of above measurement: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sivga-robin-sv021-closed-back-over-ear-headphones/4.html
OK but it's not just realigned, the scale is also doubled. Still a very large bass hump. and a very significant mid dip.
 

Tom C

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Are these the same headphones that are supposed to be just like the KLH Ultimate One? Or a different model?
 
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amirm

amirm

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Are these the same headphones that are supposed to be just like the KLH Ultimate One? Or a different model?
I don't know but do know that the company builds headphones for many other companies.
 

solderdude

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15dB difference between 150Hz and 500Hz is ... well... substantial and is quite indicative of having a 'sound signature' that deviates from 'neutral'.
10dB on Techpowerup plots it seems but this too is a bit too much to be called accurate. :)

Great looks though.

Small cups (and room for the ears in pads) has been very common lately.
It seems headphones these days are designed for kids with small ears.

Ah well.. I almost bought one second hand to test. Would probably have modified the hell out of it to improve it.
 

IAtaman

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After reading the price, I was worried they would be recommended because they are cheap.

Lesson for people who say: "listen before you measure." If I had done that, I would have told you that it sounded fine! The truth come out in AB testing against equalized response which required measurements.

I suspect there is some history or argument going on that I am not aware of, so might be stepping on a landmine here. Oh well, curiosity killed the cat. Could you please help me understand the following:
  • With this out of box tuning, you really think you would not be able to tell the tonality is crap without looking at the FR?
  • Listen before you measure made sense to me on the face of it as I have experienced myself it is very easy to hear things you expect to hear, but I do not have much insight into the counter argument. Would you mind elaborating please.
 

Robbo99999

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Wow, that's a real sh*tstorm of a frequency response! I guess they don't care if you can't relatively hear anything going on between 400-700Hz, it must be an unimportant area, lol! It's also a cluster above 2.7kHz with some crazy sharp variations going on consistently all the way up the frequency range, that's some nasty stuff! Not really effectively EQ'able, at least not to an ideal level.

@amirm , good point when you say "Lesson for people who say: "listen before you measure." If I had done that, I would have told you that it sounded fine! The truth come out in AB testing against equalized response which required measurements.". I've found that to be the case too, where I've switched to another headphone or EQ and thought yes this is definitely better - it's amazing what kind of crazy frequency responses your ears can get used to in headphones, but quickly AB'ing highlights where improvements can be made, especially if that AB'ing effect is consistent when you revisit the same situation a few days later, just to prove it wasn't a momentary quirk of your brain longing for a different aspect in the music. Eventhough our ears can get used to some crazy frequency responses, I do find & believe that finetuning to a more ideal frequency response can give you greater musical enjoyment in the long run.
 

Robbo99999

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After reading the price, I was worried they would be recommended because they are cheap.



I suspect there is some history or argument going on that I am not aware of, so might be stepping on a landmine here. Oh well, curiosity killed the cat. Could you please help me understand the following:
  • With this out of box tuning, you really think you would not be able to tell the tonality is crap without looking at the FR?
  • Listen before you measure made sense to me on the face of it as I have experienced myself it is very easy to hear things you expect to hear, but I do not have much insight into the counter argument. Would you mind elaborating please.
My opinion & experience is that you would have been able to hear it was rubbish when it deviates that much, especially true if you had been listening to a good pair of headphones before switching, or if you were listening to your reference tracks that you use for EQ or headphone comparison. But it's true your brain can quickly acclimatise to some crazy frequency responses, within reason I'd say. I'd be inclined to listen briefly to a reference set of headphones before evaluating a new headphone - to normalise your brain before commencement. The reference headphone or reference EQ would be your chosen frequency response & headphone that consistently gives you the most musical enjoyment/resolution/natural presentation that you have determined through long time consistent prior AB'ing & experience that you've had over your weeks/months/years of prior measurement based listening critique of headphones - something like that, lol!
 
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