SIVGA Oriole Headphone Review
SIVGA Oriole Closed-Back Headphone Review
Introduction:
SIVGA Electronic Technology Co., Ltd, is a Chinese brand located in Dongguan city of China, focuses on designing and producing high-end audio products include wooden earphones, In-Ear Monitors with multiple drivers and planar magnet headphones. All products of the company are designed and produced internally.
The Oriole is the companies latest closed back headphone that is equipped with a newly developed 50mm diameter Dynamic Driver unit that has been integrated in to a CNC machined and hand polished wooden ear cups made from rosewood material.
Disclaimer:
I would like to thank SIVGA for providing me the Oriole Closed-Back Headphone for review purposes. I am not affiliated with SIVGA beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.
Price & Availability:
The actual price of the SIVGA Oriole Closed-Back Headphone is 199.00 US$. More information’s can be found under the links below;
Package & Accessories:
The SIVGA Oriole came inside a square shaped box in black color that sports an illustration of the headphone in form of a sketch and some product related brandings on the front.
This box contains the following items;
- 1 x SIVGA Oriole Closed-Back Headphone
- 1 x Detachable Cable with Dual 2.5mm to 3.5mm Single Ended (TRS) Headphone Plug
- 1 x 3.5mm to 6.35mm Male Adaptor
- 1 x Carry Bag
The Oriole comes with a nice carry pouch that is made from fabric material with the SIVGA brand logo on the top.
Design, Build Quality, Comfort:
The SIVGA Oriole is the latest closed-back headphone of the company that comes with very esthetic and premium looking design, which is a combination of metal and rosewood material. The headphone is pretty lightweight and shows a very good craftsmanship like all products other products of the company that I have tested before.
The wooden ear cups made from rosewood material are available in two different colors, which are brown and black. My review unit came is the one with the description black that looks excellent.
The rosewood ear cups are machined with special 5 axis CNC carving process, which has than hand sanded and polished.
The surface of the wooden ear cups has a polished glossy surface and features the laser engraved SIVA brand logo on the top.
On the top of each ear cup are opening for the dynamic driver.
The headband and outer surface of the ear pads are made of skin friendly protein leather (pleather) material in black color.
The ear pads are pretty thick and are ultra soft, which makes the Oriole a pretty comfortable that you can use for longer listening periods.
The headband has stitches on the top surface that are in white color, which do have a very good craftsmanship.
The top of the headband has a pretty soft padding and offers a pretty comfortable wearing experience even after some long listening periods, thanks to the relative low clamping force.
Both the left and the right ear-cups do sport 2.5mm female headphone inputs.
The ear cup holders (brackets) are made of aluminum material that does have a gun metal finish that has a decent rotating mechanism, which can be rotated up to 180 degrees.
The headband adjusting mechanism is pretty rigid that has guides in form of small notches.
The outer surface of the headband sports Left and Right markings.
The SIVGA Oriole comes with a detachable cable that has fabric isolation in black color, which has a total length of about 180mm. The cable has two 2.5mm male connectors, one for the left and one for the right ear-cup.
Each of the connectors features a metal housing with left and right marking, while the plugs do have extra ring indicators (red for the right and green for the left channel). The 3.5mm headphone jack has a straight profiled metal housing that sport the SIVGA logo in black color. The headphone plug has also a flexible strain relief in form of a spring that offers extra durability.
The overall build quality of the SIVGA Oriole is of high quality, which shows a combination of lightweight aluminum, solid wood and ear pads with a pleather (protein leather) surface. The headphone doesn’t show any imperfections like small gaps or annoying cracks when I try to bend it.
Technical Specifications:
- Model : Oriole
- Headphone Design : Closed Back
- Driver Type : 50mm Diameter Dynamic Driver
- Frequency Response : 20-20kHz
- Impedance : 32Ω / ±15%
- Sensitivity : 108dB / ±3dB
- Cable Length : 180mm
- Headphone Plug : 3.5mm Single Ended
- Ear Cup Plugs : 2.5mm TRS
- Weight : 280grams
Drivability & Pairing:
The SIVGA Oriole is a very easy to drive/power closed-back headphone that comes with an impedance of 32 Ohms and sensitivity of approx. 108dB, which makes it highly compatible with portable sources that do have a relative weak amplification capability. It pairs best with sources that do have a mildly warm tonality, which do offer a smoother overall upper midrange and lower treble experience.
Equipment’s used for this review:
- Headphones : SIVGA Oriole
- Sources : FiiO M11 Plus ESS, iFi Audio xDSD Gryphon, Quloos MC01
Albums & tracks used for this review:
- Adele – My Little Love (Spotify)
- Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Hayley Westenra – Odyssey Album (Dezzer HiFi)
- Dionne Warwick – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Sarah McLachlan – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
- Sertap Erener – Aşk (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
- Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Payer (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Sonya Yoncheva – (Giuseppe Verdi) II Trovatore, ActI (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) – Free Love (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- George Michael – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- David Bowie – Heroes (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Elton John – Rocket Man ((Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Barry White – Just The Way You Are (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
- Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Sting – Englishman in New York – (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
- Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- B. King – Riding With The King (Tidal Hi-Fi)
- Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Tidal Hi-Fi)
- U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Bro Safari, UFO! – Drama (Deezer HiFi)
- Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Daft Punk (feat. Panda Bear) – Doin’ it Right (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Jo Blankenburg – Meraki (Spotify)
- Lorde – Royals (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
- Massive Attack – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
- Toutant – Rebirth (Deezer HiFi)
- Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Gogo Penguin – Murmuration (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Photek – The Hidden Camera (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Portishead – It Could Be Sweet (Spotify)
- Max Richter – On the Nature of Daylight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Charly Antolini – Duwadjuwandadu (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Abel Korzeniowski – Dance For Me Wallis (Deezer HiFi)
- Ferit Odman – Look, Stop & Listen (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Deezer HiFi)
- Otto Liebert & Luna Negra – The River (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
- Lunatic Soul – The Passage (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove it) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Metallica – Master of Puppets (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
- Opeth – Windowpane (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
- Muse – Hysteria (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Rush – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
- Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)
- Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
- Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles (Spotify)
The Sound:
The SIVGA Oriole can be described as a headphone that is pretty ideal for monitoring with its relative balanced sound signature that shows a slightly boost around the upper midrange and lower treble areas. It offers a decent sense of spaciousness and wideness for a closed-back headphone, especially at this price category. The general tonality is slightly warmer than neutral tonality is not overdone. The Oriole shows a pretty linear bass response, with an efficient level of decay and pretty good level of control. The midrange is transparent and spacious, while the treble area is shown with a good grade of presence and resolution.
Please note that this review was written after a burn-in period of 75 -80 hours. I have used the stock ear pads, the stock cable and have pair the headphone with sources like the FiiO M11 Plus ESS, iFi Audio xDSD Gryphon and Quloos MC01.
Bass / Midrange / Treble / Soundstage:
The SIVGA Oriole has a fairly balanced bass response with focal point in the subbass region that is shown slightly more highlighted compared to the midbass region. The subbass area is produced with an efficient level depth and extension, while the sense of rumble can be pretty entertaining when called upon while listen to songs like Daft Punk “Doin’ it Right”, Massive Attack’s “Angel” or Lorde’s “Royals”. The decay in this area is in general on a fairly good level and gets even better after some burn-in.
The midbass region shows a more linear tuning and moderate grade of intensity compared to the rest of the lower frequency region when I do listen to instruments such like bass guitars, kick drums or pianos. The general midbass presentation is pretty clean, controlled and detailed, while I would wish a tad more body and impact in this area. Songs with complex bass passages such like Charly Antolini’s “Duwadjuwandadu” or Gogo Penguin’s “Raven” and “Murmuration” are reproduced in fairly quick and controlled manner.
The midrange of the SIVGA Oriole stands out with its transparency, openness and resolution at this price point. The tonality is a bit warmer than neutral, while the body and fullness is on a moderate level. The lower midrange is produced with an average grade of depth and body when I listen to male vocals or to instruments such like an acoustic guitar or pianos. I would wish a bit more intensity and clarity in this area.
The upper midrange on the other hand is the focal point of the midrange presentation that is more highlighted and detailed compared to the lower midrange area. Female voices such like Adel, Edith Piaf and Diana Krall are represented in a quite lively, energetic and clean manner, while an audible peak around the 2 kHz region makes them sound a bit bright and saturated. Instruments on the other hand such like a woodwinds (side flute), strings (cellos, violin) or pianos are shown with a good level resolution and extension, while the bright nature of the Oriole in this area makes it a bit unforgiving for poor recorded tracks, especially at higher volumes.
The lower treble region is the focal point of the SIVAG Oriole that is more highlighted, dynamic and detailed compared to the upper register. Instruments such like hi-hats, snare drums or pianos are shown with a decent grade of presence and extension. The lower treble region shows an audible peak same like the upper midrange region, which makes it a bit sensitive for poor recorded tracks that can do sounds a bit sharp and sibilant at higher volume levels. The upper treble region has a smoother and more controlled sounding nature compared to the lower treble area, while the extension is slightly short. Instruments such like snare drums or hi-hats are shown with a sufficient sense of presence and resolution.
The SIVGA Oriole offers quite spacious soundstage atmosphere for a closed-back headphone, especially for this price level, which creates good conditions for a fairly precise placement and separation of instruments and vocals. The soundstage of the Oriole shows in general a pretty good sense of depth and wideness that meets my expectation from a product at this price level.
Conclusion:
The SVIGA Oriole is a very easy to drive headphone with an excellent built quality and a premium look & feels that offers a pretty open and spacious sound atmosphere for a headphone with a closed-back design, especially at this price range. It has a pretty linear and controlled bass response, a fairly detailed and clean midrange and treble presentation with an audible saturation in the upper midrange & lower treble register, which makes it also to a good choice for studio monitoring.
Pros & Cons:
- + Natural/Linear Bass Response
- + Transparent & Lively Midrange Tuning
- + Dynamic Upper midrange and Lower Treble Presentation
- + Spacious Atmosphere with decent sense of depth and width for a Closed-Back Headphone
- + Excellent Build Quality & Beautiful Design
- + Very Easy Power (Ideal for Portable Sources with limited Amplification Capabilities)
- – Doesn’t pairs well with Bright and Neutral Sources
- – Upper Midrange & Lower Treble region sounds a bit energetic at higher volume levels
- – The pouch offers only protection from dust and scratches
Thank you for the Read!
