SPearphone SB-7 In-Canal Monitor Review: StereoPravda and the infinity of Hi End sound

“Love walks in unintentionally…”. As always, in the spring, just before the Hi Fi Show. How else to express emotion, when your heart skips a beat, ready to stop and go again from the very first notes… I’ve been searching for years for this sound and found it in a strange-looking product – the StereoPravda SPearphone SB-7 In-Channel Monitor. I’m used to new headphones always surprising me with something, like unfamiliar blondes, but to fall so in love with the! And not only in the right and left ear, but also in the heart – it happens, but very rarely! No way, no way – Cupid’s arrow… Well, what? Don’t want to hurt your soul at the very tip of your inspiration?…

Thanks to Mikhail Kucherenko’s company for providing us with a sample for listening

StereoPravda SPearphone SB-7 in-channel monitors

Technical Specifications

• 7 balanced armature speakers/receivers per channel, speakers on one axis
• Stereolab IEM cable specially made for this monitor
• mini-jack jack, selected for its sound
• The design and technology of the monitor itself is identical to the SB-7A
• impedance: 17 Ohm
• cable length from left earphone to mini-jack connector : 1 meter.

Appearance and Package

The package box is designed in a style of “magic in black. The golden eye of Sauron looks at you from the center point. Or was I imagining? Turns out that’s the logo. It seems to scatter with sound waves “Stereo Pravda” on different infinities of the “galaxy”..

When I got inside the box, the new “Eye of Sauron” shone out of the transparent window. But then a completely different feeling arose. Two points, two sound sources, as if squeezed the all-seeing eye by the irresistible power of music. I never understood what it was: the power of design or the power of sound, which materialized in black magic..

Don’t think anything about magic, I’m not the cat Behemoth. Nothing is missing after this magical session. The headphones in ruby are there, the pouch with golden embroidery “Stereo Pravda” is also at your service, even all kinds of papers – warranty card, instruction, product description, in general the whole audiophile assortment takes its rightful place.

True, the headphones look very peculiar. Frankly speaking, they look a bit strange: something futuristic, with a piling up of small 3D rectangles, in which are sealed armature receivers. Like a parade of planets, they’re lined up on one axis. This is the main idea of the headphones. In this position the muzzle is straight, the sound waves, bypassing all the twists and turns, attack the eardrums in a straight line.

By the way, now I look at quite professional photos of headphones and I think, that they look much more attractive in live… Well, exactly, they are charged with some magic..

The end of the headphone is softened by the silicone ear-cushion cap, which is permanently fixed to the sound tube. Instead of wire we have two “ropes” from a fabric braid in black and red. It has several special conductors inside.

A little lower on the cable hangs a clothespin, able to adjust the cable length for a personalized fit. At the other end of the cable, it’s easy to find a 3.5mm mini-jack, unusually sealed in a rectangular volume in the “sideways” position.

The cable is non-removable, with a gold-plated L or R on each earpiece attachment and a brand logo. It is worth mentioning, that despite its size, number of conductors and braid, the cable is strikingly soft, comfortable and quite light.

The SB-7 is designed to fit behind the ear only. The installation, so to speak, is very similar to what the ER4 headphones from Etymotic Research show us. I repeat for an encore: open your mouth slightly, pull your ear away with one hand and with the other, try to insert the ears into the ear canal in a synchronized way. Gently release the pulled back ear and with a twisting motion comfortably sink the monitor in the auricle. The mouth can be closed.

The abbreviation “SB” itself is nothing but abbreviation of the English “Second Bend”, which means “Second Pivot” in our words. So “there, behind the corner” and kept the secret of a good fit and a true buzz in the sound of the product under discussion. A very important point: the headphones need to be placed so as not to depressurize the ear area. The silicone cap should fit tightly over the ear canal, so it does not “slip” out.

For detailed instructions on how to use the StereoPravda “SPearphone” series ear monitors, please visit: //stereopravda.com/manuals/.

So, as a deserving user of the Etymotic ER4S, nothing about the new monitors surprised me. The principle is the same, the SB-7 model is even more comfortable in terms of fit. Well, the sound, without exaggeration, is the best sound I’ve heard in in-canal headphones and not only in them! Want to check out? Then onward to the real sound!

Sound

Sounding was done with MyST DAC 1866OCU V.2, Hifiman HM-801, Lotoo paw Gold, iBasso DX200, and QLS QA-360.

With all the sources the headphones played at the appropriate level. The handwriting varies slightly depending on the equipment used, but I wouldn’t say for the worse. Each source gave the SB-7 its own unique “lighting up”. Ears are paired with Hifiman HM-801 in a cool way, but the prize of synergy gets a bunch of SB-7 and MyST DAC 1866OCU V.2. Great sound! Power and scale together with transparency and maximum neutrality is striking and makes a real spectacle of light with immersion into the world of pure melody with a temporary escape from the world of reality.

Absolute neutrality, smoothness, purity, amazing detail – all this creates a wonderful spirituality of sound images. The picture is drawn in contrast, every stroke, every image is as in the palm of your hand. The attack and nuances are great.

You can not even believe, that such sound can be realized in such nano size. Unreal cool!

The tweeters are crystal clear, transparent, crisp and accurate, without a trace of aggression. Like crystal shards, they shimmer against the general background of the music.

You can not complain about almost anything. Top-notch! The harmony of technique and music.

The midrange – I don’t even know how to describe it. Great microdetail, everything is so clear and realistic that sometimes you get to the virtual world of unreal sounds.

For example, I turn on Dire Straits “Telegraph Road” and that’s it – dissolved. It takes a while to figure out how to get back to this mortal world…

“Then came the mines, then came the ore

Then there was the hard times, then there was a war

Telegraph sang a song about the world outside

♪ Telegraph road got so deep and so wide ♪

Like a rolling river..”

The middle part is as clear as a holy well, so melodic, so detailed, you just don’t know how you can get it to sound so alive.

The musical material is presented in layers, a kind of layered presentation. Sounds have texture and pattern. The sense of presence is uncanny.

Here, Kovaks vocals are crashing down on you, just in the center, and you’re right there in the stalls. The brass explodes, it goes off on both sides as symmetrically as fireworks in the night sky.

The contrabass tugs at the soul, hiding behind the vocalist, a little to the right. And then the violins dazzle, rolling from left to right and, reaching the upper stage, they freeze..

That moment when the drummer slides the brush over the hi-hat – and it’s not just sliding, it’s sliding smoothly, so, at that moment, every sound, every rustle is tingling to the point of goosebumps.. And again the trumpet changes the landscape, the backing vocals fade in with a refrain, and again the Kovaks wave…

When the whole mosaic comes together as a single whole, when it sounds in unison, it is just a holiday of some kind! Amazing! Such emotion, it takes your breath away..

They sound so cool, you can make legends: these headphones don’t play, they sing with the live sounds.

The woofer is very focused and accurate. Quantitatively, there are exactly the right amount of them. The bass is on par with the rest of the frequency range. It’s sniping precise, bouncy and fast.

The quality of the woofer is top-notch. I’d like to mention the excellent speed characteristics, though the same can certainly be said about the other bands.

If the ears are well seated, if they are airtight, the sound will be in full range! If somebody likes music like “boom-boom” or frank humming then SB-07 will not suit – these headphones will work with maximum purity, evenness and transparency.

In terms of genres, whether it’s Yello “Touch”, Dire Straits “Love Over Gold”, David Bowie “Blackstar”, AC/DC “Back In Black”, Arcade Fire “Reflektor”, Foxy Shazam “I Like It” or Kovacs “Shades Of Black”, the ears will play it all HOWARD!

Conclusion

Well, what to say? The SPearphone SB-7 is an amazing product. In my opinion, this is the best thing that is on the market for in-ear headphones, at least from what I have heard. It’s really Hi End! Yeah, the ergonomics is definitely not in the “touch and go” tradition and the ears look pretty weird. But they sound amazing!

True, the price tag, of course, is also amazing, at least my mind. The SPearphone SB-7 is priced at $2500 on the manufacturer’s website. However, I would give “half a kingdom for a horse” without hesitation if I had the slightest chance. Nothing is too bad for that sound!

SOUND! Set, quality cable though I would have made it a little longer .

Appearance the design is clearly not for everyone and fit not everyone can be comfortable and convenient .