▲ Dafeng carton packaging
Players familiar with Japanese independent earphone brands should be familiar with tuning fork music, an independent earphone brand founded by former Sony earphone engineer Ryu Yamashore. Mr. Yamaan transferred the technology of sound tea music and "Dongguli" earphone structure technology to TTR Co., Ltd., and at the same time launched a sub-brand tea music musician; In 20 17, TTR launched another sub-brand, Ar:tio, which was later renamed as Artio. This time, we will introduce Artio's initial works CU 1 and RK 0 1.
▲ Simple but quite textured design
Before introducing two kinds of headphones, we have to start with Artio's unique packaging and accessories. Although there are many Japanese earphone brands with exquisite packaging on the market, the author thinks that the packaging of Artio's products should be said to be "exquisite". Although they are all made of cartons, they are quite special except for the minimalist design.
▲ The carton of Cu1consists of a single piece of black cardboard and a double-layer jewelry box, which is used for rotary storage.
▲ The accessories of Rk01are located on the lower floor.
The packaging design of CU 1 is a jewelry box. Although Artio is not the first to use this two-story jewelry box structure, careful observation reveals that the bottom of the box of CU 1 is a piece of cardboard, instead of other brands using multiple cartons to form a box and a drawer respectively, and headphones, accompanying bags and accessories are placed on the upper and lower floors respectively. As for the packaging of RK0 1, it is quite simple. After opening, it is the left and right monomer of RK0 1, and the storage bag below is equipped with accessories and wires.
▲ CU 1 Japanese handmade leather storage box
▲ triangular storage bag
▲ RK0 1 coin purse leather storage box
At the same time, both headphones are equipped with leather travel bags made in Japan, which are unique in shape, just like handicrafts. CU 1 is a small travel bag folded into a triangle, while the leather travel bag of RK0 1 is like a small coin purse. However, I think both the leather travel bag of CU 1 and RK0 1 will be a little reluctant to use, but it also makes people feel that Artio is carried out from the inside out.
▲ Central transparent CU 1
CU 1 is an open and transparent product. Its design adopts a horizontal single configuration similar to Sony's early EX90 series headphones. The direction of the monomer is not directed at the ear, but the sound is transmitted to the ear through reflection. The materials used are mixed with stainless steel, polycarbonate, ABS and other materials. Stainless steel and black ABS are used as the two sides of the shell, and polycarbonate is the transparent material in the middle.
▲ The mystery of A.I.M is hidden in stainless steel components.
In-ear headphones with single lateral configuration are not a new concept, but CU 1 has its unique technology in single structure and cavity design. Artio called this technology a.i.m. Artio boasted that with A.I.M. technology, CU 1 can emit sound field characteristics similar to earmuffs. A.i.m forms a special cavity through the shape and internal structure of the shell, and absorbs the 6kHz frequency that vibrates with the ear canal in the form of Helmholtz vibration cavity, which not only makes the sound more natural, but also reduces the fatigue of listening.
▲ Stainless steel components have unique shapes.
▲ CU 1 adopts 10mm monomer.
The internal design of CU 1 can be vaguely seen from the transparent shell. Its 10mm moving coil monomer is covered with a metal tuning plate, and the opposite stainless steel shell is the core of a.i.m technology. The design of thick stainless steel block and central protrusion should be the key to absorb 6kHz.
▲ The wire changing mechanism adopts a 2.5mm quadrupole.
Although CU 1 has the design of interchangeable wire, the interchangeable wire is not in the earphone cavity, but is replaced by a 2.5mm quadrupole at the branch line like IE800 of Sennheiser. Personally, I don't like this design. First of all, the wires connected to the cavity cannot avoid possible damage. Secondly, the male and female seats of 2.5mm terminals will increase the downward weight of the wires worn on the earphone ears, which is not good for wearing comfort.
▲ There is interference between the wiring and the author's ear shape. ...
Perhaps because of the design of the connection between the frame and the wire, I won't feel loose easily when wearing CU 1, but no matter which size of earplug I choose, I will feel interference when wearing it. In addition to being uncomfortable to wear, the sound of CU 1 belongs to the bright sound of medium and high frequency, which is quite lively and light, and its spatial positioning is quite unique. Instead of sound stage retreating, it is outside the earphone like an open earmuff earphone.
▲ a.i.m's sense of space outside the ear is quite unique.
Of course, it is not the first time for me to listen to earphone products focusing on external ear positioning, but some external ear positioning only sets the whole sound backwards, and the positioning point is still limited to the single * * * position of the earphone, but CU 1 does have the illusion that the sound source comes from a position other than the single body, and the earphone with earmuffs is arranged in a further single body.
RK0 1 with telepresence and rich wires ▲ Rk0 1 with titanium alloy shell.
RK0 1 is an earphone product released by Artio after CU 1, and its design adopts a typical ear wrap. However, it can be seen from the inside of the frame that CU 1 should adopt a monomer parallel to the ear, and isolate the pin from the cavity through the outer frame to provide an ear-wrapped product.
▲ mainstream MMCX terminal
RK0 1 and CU 1 are quite different in appearance and structure, but they all adopt simple design. CU 1 uses titanium alloy with better vibration suppression effect as the shell to further reduce redundant vibration. In addition, the mainstream MMCX terminal in the market provides players with flexible playability, which is more convenient than the company's 2.5mm quadrupole CU 1.
▲ Provide three homogeneous lines with different interfaces.
▲ 4.4mm balance, 3.5mm single-ended balance and 2.5mm balance.
▲ The wires in the left and right ears are different.
Furthermore, RK0 1 provides three kinds of standard products with the same wire body and different terminals, including 3.5mm three-pole single-ended, 2.5mm four-pole balance and 4.4mm five-pole balance. It can be said that it is a surprise of RK0 1, and there will be light red and light blue on the left and right sides of its wires, which can be distinguished even without looking at MMCX terminals. Of course, players may choose other MMCX terminals, but RK0 1 provides three lines with the same conditions, which also gives consumers a better standard basis when choosing players.
▲ Use sna and SkIS technologies according to the monomer configuration.
RK0 1 and CU 1 both use 10mm moving coil monomer to create headphones that emphasize the sense of space and suppress 6kHz. However, due to the structural differences, RK0 1 adopts two different a.i.m technologies from CU 1, including sna technology, which adds a fine-tuning mechanism to the catheter to balance the sense of space and channel in the timeline. ?
▲ sna is to add a tuning mechanism to the catheter.
Sna reminds me that the sound conduit of music and tea is to add a tuning mechanism to the sound transmission conduit to make it present the spatial positioning of the target and the balance between the left and right channels; As for the snowboard, an outer frame is added behind the single body to suppress the air vibration behind the diaphragm as a vibration suppression mechanism when the single body emits 6kHz frequency, thus reducing the 6kHz * * vibration.
RK0 1 Although the weight of 13.5g wire and monomer is deducted, it is quite weighty to hold in your hand, but it will not feel heavy to wear because of the design of the ear bag. Compared with the lightness of CU 1, RK0 1 has a richer sense of energy, a more majestic sense of presentation at low frequencies, and a deeper and clearer sound. It is speculated that titanium alloy frame has played a significant role in using vibration suppression effect.
▲ The sound anchor point of Rk01is also from outside the monomer.
Although the technology used by RK0 1 is different from that of CU 1, it also presents a sense of vastness similar to earmuffs and headphones in spatial positioning. Obviously, Artio's tuning engineers are quite devoted to how to realize the external positioning of the monomer. At the same time, when connecting the 4.4mm balanced terminal with the ZX300 in my hand, not only the driving volume is reduced a lot, but also there is a greater sense of sound stage and separation. In this case, the author strongly recommends that consumers who use Sony's new generation Walkman use the balanced interface to connect RK0 1.
Artio continues to develop.
▲ CU 1 and RK0 1 can be said to be the origins of Artio's pursuit of monomer lateral positioning technology.
CU 1 and RK0 1 belong to the initial products of Artio brand, but they are quite distinctive in design and adjustment, and also establish the characteristics of Artio products, and further extend the characteristics of paying attention to space to the subsequent new product series. The next CR series will further evolve the ear-pressed headphones made by in-ear headphones into products similar to speakers.