So hot, it's Crimson hot. Symphonium Audio's latest flagship earphone is also their greatest, distilling everything they've learned from Meteor to Helios into one gem of performance and fit. How Symphonium could cram all that detail and performance into something as pint-sized as Crimson is a wonder to behold. After all, parts are inexpensive, whereas labour, innovation, original R&D, resourcefulness in making the most of what's available, love and passion for engineering, aren't. By optimising the acoustic architecture around 4 balanced armature drivers – tweaking crossovers, bore lengths, and chassis layout – Crimson emerges as the Symphonium of our dreams. [See Product Desc. For More] Indeed, its flat mid-range to treble transition comes courtesy of greater pinna gain, exhibiting a frequency response you can trust, incredible detail, and hyper-realistic live dynamics. Best of all, Crimson's fit is a dream come true. As a successor, and immediate upgrade, to Helios, Crimson answers all of its predecessor's critics. A flat frequency response transition from 1Khz up to 4Khz enhances the perception of more accurate, present mids. Despite Symphonium's increased pinna compensation and the eschewing of a more diffuse, distant soundstage, Crimson suffers no shortage of spatial technicalities. It renders images with solid, tangible outlines on a vast and black background.  It's amazing how so much soundstage was crammed into such a small shell – the other improvement Symphonium are likely to be greeted with much cheer for. With a critical re-arrangement of components within Crimson's cavity not only for sonic gains through Phase Harmony Attenuation Technology (PHAT), but also wearability, the best-fitting Symphonium yet can be worn by virtually all ears. What's left is pure performance distilled from miniature high-grade T6 heat-treated AL6061 aluminium alloy shells, housing Symphonium's trademark flat impedance technology that ensures Crimson's performance remains consistent with inconsistent voltage sources. Still, it bears to juice the low impedances of Crimson well for best performance. To that end, Questyle Audio's M15 DAC/amp is a mainstay, while HiBy Music's partnership with Symphonium has been explored at length with any of the latter's discrete output stage music players. Check out the path that led to Crimson with Symphonium's first releases here, or view our other IEMs here.

SYMPHONIUM X SUBTONIC"Representing a generational leap for us, Helios was designed to disprove the stereotypes associated with multi-driver balanced armature earphones. Utilising newly developed technologies, our balanced armature subwoofers produce exceptionally clean sub-bass punch that hits hard, yet does not colour vocal presentation. Tuned for a smooth and detailed midrange, the Helios also features class-leading treble extension that pushes the limits of what balanced armature tweeters are capable of. We combined the best features of different monitors into a single product. Powered by an integrated 4-Way crossover, the Helios is sure to impress with its dynamism and vigour. We never fail to push the limits." —Symphonium Audio    

Red and white is the background story, like colours of our national flag flown high. Mirage is the entry level #inearmonitor from homegrown Symphonium Audio, tuned for keeping vocals rich, lush, undistracted housed in a neat black shell that fits most ears perfectly. Test it alongside the Aurora for perspective and you can easily tell which camp you belong to: Camp Midrange Maximum (A) or Camp Instruments Galore (B). You may discover a similar experience can be found in hearing the more familiar Shure SE215 with the SE535 because it's already great to explore, but return to base where home is. Proudly Singaporean. === / Photography by Zepp Crew===

Local born does not always mean kaya+toast. Symphonium Audio founders came to us to test how far #supportlocal goes in 2018, and we heard it and we liked what they were doing. Ergonomically one of the best-designed shells available, the Symphoniums fit almost every ear. These audiophile founders turned something they love and created Aurora, and it sits easy as one of the top choices for just under three hundred bucks. Not overly bright, effortless to drive, it's plug and play through phone or DAP. Zepp recommends this if you enjoy listening out to the instruments and layers rather than having them overly blurred out in the background like a bokeh F1.4 when you should be looking at aperture F8.0. We shot in aperture setting F1.4, in hope of relating to the text. If undistracted vocals is your preference, have a look at Mirage.    ===/ Photography by Zepp Crew