Hi @andrew, I sent you and @Torq a PM about reviewing a Tier 3 piece of gear and have received no response.
Soooo how can I participate? 
Requirements are stated in the first post in the thread.
Big updates to the gear in the tier lists. Recommend taking a look!
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There are some seriously nice additions in all tiers!
Nice to see more DACs/amps available too.
Still puzzles me why more people don’t take advantage of this program … the requirements are not that onerous … lots of people write suitable impressions without prompting!
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I know. Its a great program, but hey, that leaves more for the few of us to get our hands out without wait times. I’ve been trying to spread the word to folks I think who can really contribute well.
Thanks @taronlissimore for setting this up. You sent me more things this month than I know what to do with right now. Overwhelmed! 
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This is great news ! Looking forward to try more stuff 
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You guys absolutely rock with both the quantity and quality of gear offerings. I agree it is insane how few people are taking advantage of this program. We all need to step up and get more people into this forum!
I’ve been super busy with reviewing ZMF stuff lately, but once I finish that up I’ll get back to borrowing more gear here and writing up more reviews. There’s a lot of stuff in Tier 1 I have been interested in.
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I always look forward to your reviews.
Where are the “Trust Levels” explained? Once I achieve a certain level and meet the participation requirements do I have to apply for the program somehow?
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More, well behaved, participation automatically increases one’s trust level. You’ll see them by their colloquial names (in order) “Basic”, “Member”, “Regular”.
The specific requirements for each are not called out a) because it helps prevent people trying to game the system and b) makes it easier to change them without hassle if it ever proves necessary to do so.
They are there primarily to foster appropriate community engagement/participation, and not just for the preview program.
When you hit the requisite level (“Member” for the first tier), and have posted the required impressions/review, then you can just shoot @taronlissimore or me a message regarding what it is you want to try out.
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When and if the Community Review program gets an open back ZMF, some STAX headphones, or some pretty Radisson Design models, I’m putting in a standing request to review. I’m in a location where it’s hours to get to a place I can hear these. Also would like to hear some high quality IEMs.
I’ve learned that I can’t review mediocre closed backs.
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This!
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Having ZMF headphones in the Community Preview Program is largely dependent on Zach wanting to put them there. I’m not sure anyone has actually asked him, to be honest, so I’ll mention it the next time I connect with him. Though given the surprisingly low participation* in the program as-is, I’m not sure there’d be enough value there currently to offset the cost of dedicating headphones to it.
Though ultimately that’s a discussion for Zach, Andrew and Taron.
…
On the STAX side of things … it’s a niche of a niche at best. And realistically it’d also have to include at least one STAX amplifier, as only existing STAX owners could even potentially consider them otherwise.
So having “one” STAX headphone in the program, let alone “some”, probably isn’t sufficient in terms of demand to justify the associated cost. That’s aside from dealership-issues of course (I think headphones.com, or the CA variant, are, or were, STAX dealers at some point, no idea if that’s still the case … or if I’m just remembering things that didn’t happen).
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For the RAD-0, there’s a pair in the preview program right now. I think @TylersEclectic has them currently. And there was a pair before that, which I wound up buying (if the “Purple Rain” set had been the ones that went to @TylersEclectic I’d have half expected him to keep them …).
In the near-term I suspect the only RAD-0 you’ll find in the preview program will be the “less pretty” ones. Which shouldn’t matter for audition/review/preview purposes. But otherwise they pretty much sell out as soon as new models are available! There are, to my knowledge, just four available pairs today.
Not that it would be in anyway undesirable to have the above available. It’d be fantastic in fact. Just not sure the realties of the program/products make it feasible at present. As things evolve and grow that may well change and, again, it’s more down to Andrew, Taron, and those that want to contribute items to the program.
…
Now, on IEMs there are a number of them in the program as-is. Including some serious flagship stuff. And if it’s not on the list, and headphones.com is a dealer for the brand, it never hurts to ask Taron or Andrew if it’s viable to add (PM is the best way). I’ve done that … and it’s how I came to have the AAW Canary’s in my ears right now.
*Finally, the BEST way to get more gear into the program, especially the pricier/more niche stuff, right now is to get more people participating. Yes, it’s a bit of a chicken-end-egg situation, and participation is growing, but the bigger it gets the easier it is to commit product to the program.
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Just was making a wish list. I don’t know high end IEMs well enough to pick them off a review list. I read hear about Tia and Campfire, I see on Massdrop Zeus and Noble, but within brands I have little background to compare.
I realize that it would be necessary to have a STAX amp available for people who do not have STAX. Still, it seems that this forum has a fair number of STAX users. It would be instructive to me to listen with my present tweaked midrange amp and some newer solid state amp. Not expecting anyone to ship me a Blue Hawaii just to review.
Good to hear that there is a RAD-O in the program.
I hear so much about the ZMF, that I would like to experience them. Ditto flagship Grados, for that matter, I sure like the middle range RS1e at least as much as a middle range Sennheiser - it gets more use than my Senns.
And is there progress in active noise cancelling? Enough to have them for review?
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Hello and welcome @Arakel.
I get that it’s a wish list. As I said, I agree it’d be nice to have such things in the program. I just don’t think it’s very likely right now, partly due to the underutilization of the program combined with the costs involved. Best way to remedy that is to have more participation.
Beyond that, stuff that headphones.com sells is easier to include. If there’s an open-box item from a customer-return that’s easier still. But the more niche the product the harder it is. And there are just two preview-program qualified electrostatic users here right now, one of whom just bought a new Blue Hawaii and Voce setup.
In the short term, contacting a manufacturer directly and asking if you can borrow a unit to review (and they’ll expect you to follow through in a timely fashion) is probably the most likely way to get hold of the STAX stuff you’d like to compare against. Most manufacturers have demo gear available, and most are surprisingly willing to let people borrow it - though some will require you make a full-price deposit until you actually return the item.
That is how I got started doing this, incidentally - way back when I had maybe 200 posts on Head-Fi and no presence in the hobby at all.
On the IEM front, in no particular (beyond manufacturer grouping) order:
- 64 Audio tia Trio
- 64 Audio U12t
- Campfire Audio Comet
- Campfire Audio IO
- Campfire Audio Orion
- Campfire Audio Cascade
- Campfire Audio Polaris
- Campfire Audio Andromeda
- Campfire Audio Atlas
- Campfire Audio Solaris
- Empire Ears Bravado
- Empire Ears Legend X
- Empire Ears Valkyrie
- FiiO FH1
- iBasso IT01s
- iBasso IT04
- Meze Rai Penta
- Noble Audio Django
Best way to get started is to grab a couple (the CA Andromeda is a great starting point, since you can go up and down from there pretty easily, and they’re excellent on top of it), compare them, and review them/post impressions (doesn’t have to be a feature-length review). That’ll give you a baseline, some experience, and improve the utilization of the program.
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Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I’d like to try and participate again, and comparing a couple of IEMs might be the way to do it. I know that others have reviewed the Andromeda a lot, so sure, I’ll try that as a standard. What would you suggest as a comparison? The Meze Rai Penta looks to be in the same dollar ballpark.
Right now I’m listening to a Mark 1 hoot owl in the tree outside the window.
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I enjoy reading your posts greatly. It would be a pleasure to read any reviews you do. Though I do appreciate just how much time and effort goes into one. So no pressure.
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We are still Stax dealers. Stax is a difficult brand to add into the program for a number of reasons.
- They require the headphones and the specialized energizers to work. It leaves the possibility of a number of things to go wrong very fast.
- Stax drivers are easily damaged. Simple things like dust can effect the sound quality on Stax headphones to a point where one persons review of the headphones would differ greatly from another persons and the number of variables involved when the units are changing hands from person to person is difficult.
- Stax is very much so a special order item for us. People who buy Stax generally do so after months of research and for us, we don’t sell enough Stax to justify keeping stock. The units we send out for the Community Preview Program are either customer returns or specific things that have been requested. But at this point, aside from a few items that have been donated by Drop, it’s completely funded by us. More participation in the program could lead to manufacturers reaching out and donating gear which would increase the quantity and variety.
The RAD-0 in the program will be changed out. The headband and the pads have been updated and the RAD-0 is now actually 100 grams lighter. So we will be getting a new unit in the program in the next month or so. As @Torq said though, it most likely won’t be one of the attractive designs since we sell those very quickly.
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