- Affordable audiophile brand Sivga just unveiled new in-ear monitors
- Lyrebird use four drivers for versatile sound
- Sony’s recently-released Pro rivals now have tough competition
Sivga, a Chinese head-fi brand which has wowed us in the past with wood-design headphones, including the Sivga Robin and Sivga Oriole, has a new pair of wired earbuds it wants you to hear.
The Sivga Lyrebird are its new in-ear monitors (IEMs), and they’ve just been released for $149 / £149 (about AU$300). This isn’t the cheapest price we’ve ever seen on this kind wired offering (Sivga itself has also released cheaper, more EarPods-style earbuds called the M260), but since audiophile-adjacent IEMs can sometimes costs thousands, it’s still fairly affordable.
Not sure what IEMs are? They’re wired earbuds, but aimed at professionals or audiophiles focused on detailed and natural sound. They often house an intricate array of drivers within their headshells — so they’re often more expensive than your average wired buds as a result.
With the continued resurgence of wired earbuds, IEMs are seeing a boost in profile. Just last week, Sony unveiled its own IER-M500 Pro option, for a little less than the Lyrebird. When you look at the specs, though, Sivga’s new option could blow Sony‘s Pro IEMs out of the water, on paper at least, with larger and more plentiful drivers.
And this lyrebird you cannot change
Sivga has packed its Lyrebirds with four drivers (the Sonys have a single 5mm one). This is to offer a wide soundstage, while also allowing each driver to focus on a certain part of the frequency spectrum.
For the low-end there’s a 10mm polymer composite dynamic driver, and it’s joined by a balanced armature driver for vocals, micro planar for treble and 9.2mm piezoelectric ceramic driver for the higher frequencies.
The earbuds connect using a 120cm cable, which has silver- and gold-plated copper connectors and ends in a 4.4mm jack.
Sivga has continued its wooden design aesthetic with the Lyrebird, as you can see from the pictures. The earpieces are handcrafted, and coated in resin to ensure they’re durable.
The announcement of the Sivga Lyrebirds coincides with CanJam London, which is bringing plenty of other audio announcements. So before the day is through, we may see many other IEMs to enjoy.
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tom.bedford@hotmail.co.uk (Tom Bedford)
