SIVGA ANSER: The Amalgamation of Audio Technology and Woodwork

SIVGA also known as Dongguan SIVGA Electronic Co. Ltd. is an audio company based in Guangdong, China that was established around 2016, and it is an extensive audio industry that possesses a product and a R&D department  with strong customer support. Their goal and core values as a company is to become one of the well-established audio brands in their domestic market and to pursue passion, pride and persistence as these are the keys to be a successful enterprise.

They are actually one of the most interesting audio companies that I have encountered last year as one of their products truly amazed me in both build quality, inclusion of quality accessories and the tonal profile in which that I'm not that usually fond of, but surprisingly, it has that charm that really captures my ears that it became part of my weekly rotation of audio gears, and Im talking about the SIVGA QUE, their first IEM line-up. And this product review, this is rather special as this is my very first product review on a headphone, not just a headphone but an opened-back one.

Presenting their latest entry-level open-back headphone, The SIVGA ANSER, there will be some questions regarding the origin of the name model’s origin. I can assure that It doesn't have anything to do with the term “Answer” but rather to a water fowl species, the greylag goose and its taxonomic rank, Anser. Well it looks that SIGVA have strong fascination with avians as their previous model that I've done a review has something to do with magpie along with other offerings like NIGHTINGALE, ROBIN, ORIOLE and the LUAN or Luanniao which is a folklore bird species similar to pheasants or peacock.

The ANSER has a huge 50mm dynamic driver consisting of many components, a titanium-plated on its diaphragm, a dome made of carbon-fibre polymer and a coil which is made up of copper-cladded aluminium alloy and with combination of these parts they will deliver a well-regulated vibration for the clarity of sound and better transmission for accurate  sound reproduction with a support from a large, high grade Neodymium magnet circuit for natural with better resolution, quality. The drivers are developed and designed proprietarily by SIVGA themselves and it will show their capability as competent industrial technicians  and possesses a strong supply chain of these materials and components.

The drivers were encased in a hard and solid wood (probably a maple or walnut wood) frame that were well-polished, treated with paint and other coating agents, then air dried  which takes a long procedure to achieve that sturdy built and smooth texture on its surface.

The on-ear cushions are made of fine leather (either its a goatskin or lambskin) in the rim part with a velvety fabric on its earcap which is quite supple with velvety texture.

It has a headband made of metal with a combination of velvet fabric at the bottom and a stitched leather at the top as its headband cover that provides an ergonomic fitting comfortable wear with a very flexible headband which will not use that tight clamp. It also has a headband base which is very tactile and a rotatable one as we will feel that clicky sound whenever we adjust it for our fitting preferences.

The can has a detachable cable feature and it employs a 2.5mm plug as its interlocking mechanism with a gold-plated 3.5mm single-ended on its termination plug. The cable structure is a braided 2-core copper wiring with a nylon fibre sheathing as its insulator coating. The cable seems to be sturdy and flexible but it is susceptible to microphonics whenever there's a contact on the upper area of the cable after the the metal splitter part

Overall, it has a balanced weight on it for a wood and metal structured can, better wearability as it doesn't give us that tight clamp that might cause us some discomfort. But since this is an open-back design, don't expect good passive noise isolation that if we use this one outdoors, we hear some external noises from the outside surroundings.

As for product packaging, it has a rather large packaging box with some basic inclusions inside of it.

Here are the following contents inside of its packaging box:

• Pair of SIVGA headpieces
• Stock cable
• A sackcloth carrying bag
• 6.5mm adapter

On its amplification scaling, this one’s resistance level was rated at 38Ω with a 105dB sensitivity that makes it easy to drive for a headphone but in my testing when I connected it to my phones, all of them are LG phones, you need to crank up the volume level around 80% to achieve that optimal sound quality but if I pair it with better sources like headphone amp dongles, DAPs and Desktop DAC/Amp, this can will deliver that full and vivid sound quality.

The sound profile of this one is a U-shaped with balanced-warmish tonality which makes it a more coloured tuning as it has more elevation on the low frequency and high frequency.

LOWS/BASS:

It seems that it has a more sub bass-focus on overall bass quality but it still retains some of its mid bass composition. The overall bass response of this one has a punchy, tangible, precise with good depth reverberating sound that retains some sense of segregation apart from other frequency regions.

The sub bass presence of this one is clearly perceived as I really felt the physicality of the rumble and reverberation that were generated from certain instruments like synthesisers, drum machines and some string instruments that were low-toned like bass guitars and double-basses. The mid bass section of this one has a satisfying note weight enough for volume and texture on treble-clef instruments and deep male vocals. Bass guitars have an enough weight and resonant sound on every fretting and slapping on its note strings while double- basses have a broad and rasping sound on them and bass kick drums have a nice thudding and eerily sound on every stroke on its drum head. And then, on male vocals, both basses and bass-baritones have a good resonating depth on their vocals but it has less dark tonal colour on them but at least it has a dusky and decent dense sound from their voices.

MIDRANGE:

The midrange of this one is relatively notched on its presentation across its overall frequency response but it has sufficient warmth and balance to sound rich, smooth with some energetic quality on it. Both male and female vocals will sound clear and natural on this one but there are some slight timbre discrepancies on some certain types of vocals and also on some instruments especially on percussive sand strings.

On male vocals, baritones have that plush, rich and smooth but in on kavelierbariton and  dramatic baritone types, while they have that steely and warm tone, it does feel a bit hollow or sometimes a bit too harsh, tenors have bright and brassy sound which are ideal on tracking some leggero and lyric tenors but on spinto and dramatic they have that inadequate power and heft on their voices, and then, countertenors have a tender voice it has an added incisive and intense sound on them. As for female vocals, contraltos have that rich, smoky and rounded sound from their chesty vocals, mezzo-sopranos have a sleek vocalisation but sometimes it a bit perfervid in my liking and sopranos have a creamy and gleaming with a  little presence of a tinny sound that makes them an all rounder from dramatic up to coloratura.

Regarding instruments, there’s a good sense of clarity and somehow an organic sound on them but as I mentioned a while ago, there are some slight inconsistent timbre quality on a small number of instruments, nevertheless I still find it acceptable. The string instruments   with the likes of guitars, cellos and violins, in corresponding order, the former has crisp sound and loaded with some bloom and overtones on it  while the next instrument has mellow, sustaining and sweet sound on them and then the last one has more vivid, metallic and glassy sound on every bowstrokes. Subsequently, on the woodwinds on how they sound, concert flute have rich and filigree sound while piccolos sound light with a hint screechiness on them, clarinets have a round sound and yet, it has some paleness on them  and then, saxophones have these mild, penetrating and reedy sounds that typical pitch and tone character of this individual. On brasses like trumpets, trombones and horns, they sound brilliant, overpowering and very intense respectively. Furthermore, on the percussive instruments, snare drums sound hard and clattering, tom-toms have that warm, incisive and resonant sound, field drums sound clear yet mellow and lastly, the kettledrum sound velvety and deep.

The pianos seem to have an even and balanced sound as they have a sweet, clear and rich tone from their note keys.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble quality of this one has a sufficient radiance, crisp and smoothness as it gives some spotlight on definition and clarity on attack on percussive and rhythmic instruments along with the precise articulation on its vocal quality. Occasionally, there are some occurrences like metallic, shrilly and mild piercing sound on this one but at least the sibilance was kept under control.

In reference with its brilliance section, despite of its opened back design, the airy extension of this one is rather moderate but it has a notable intensity on its sparkle to give some crisp and clarity on some treble-pivoting instruments like cymbals, hi-hats, glockenspiel and celestas. Cymbals have these rather lustrous and undulating sounds on them while hi-hats have that glossy but less crisp sound. On the keyboard instruments, glockenspiels sound lustrous and a bit thin while celestas have mellow and wafting sound on them, and then pianos appears to have a well-balanced tonal colour as it has warm, rich and sweet sound that makes them pleasant to listen.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND TECHNICALITIES:

The perceived sound/speaker stage size of this one is rather average despite its open-back design as compared to some cans with similar design features that I've tested before. But somehow, this one projects a moderately wide on its lateral span, good height reach and excellent depth within my head stage that I can rate it as fairly sizable.

Stereo imaging of this one displays a concave-like presentation in which I can pan out the placements  of instruments and vocals in full and adequately layered soundscape with acceptable means of separation. On its resolution capability, it has a solid and tensive macro-dynamics that clearly highlighted the varying degree of volume and loudness between weight and heterogeneity of instrumental lines and chorale passage which is in contrast with its micro-dynamics as  it was able to extract an acceptable amount of details, grains and nuances from a played audio track like vocals ends, reverb tails and notational attacks on instruments.

The driver coherency of this one is pretty excellent as it was able to perform a good transient response for faster definition on bass lines and grooves while having a clear and consistent delivery of audio quality to other frequencies without any distortion issues or phasing issues.

PEER COMPARISONS:

MEZE 99 CLASSIC (DEMO)

• Like the ANSER, this one is also well-built too and also has wooden housing for its dynamic driver.
• This one has a closed-back design that encases a 40mm dynamic driver.
• It also has a 2.5mm connector as its interlocking mechanism.
• This one is quite a bit lighter in terms of weight as it is just a few grams heftier to my Audio-Technica cans, M30X and M40X.
• This one has a more coloured tuning which is a warm V-shaped sound as it has a strong and boomy bass response, a more recessed but warm and smooth midrange and a dark and a bit veiled treble response with lacking of airy extension.
• Technical performance of this one is pretty mediocre in my opinion, congested head stage, decent layering and less resolving on micro-dynamics.

SENNHEISER  HD598 (DEMO)

• This one is also an open-back design like the ANSER but its transducer’s housing is made of polymer material with some wooden outer ring accents on the metal mesh part  and a wood lining at the upper part of the headband base section.
• It utilises a smaller size of dynamic driver as far as I remembered.
• It also uses a 2.5mm connector as its interlocking mechanism.
• This one is also lighter than the ANSER due to its structural design in which some parts are made of plastic.
• This one has a more neutral sound profile as it has tighter and clean bass response, a more neutral, well-balance with sufficient energy on its midrange and smooth and glossy treble response with moderate amount of airy extension.
• On its overall technical performance, this one really excels as it has wider sound/speaker stage projection with an atmospheric stereo imaging with a well-layered soundscape and better detail retrieval.

AKG K240 MK.II (DEMO)

• This one has a semi-open back design and its housing transducers are made of high quality plastic with metal head band and leatherette head rest which share similar designs with its more expensive models.
• It houses a smaller 30mm dynamic driver but it has their patented diaphragm design.
• It uses a mini-XLR connector as its interlocking mechanism.
• This one weighs more lighter than the ANSER.
• The sound profile of this one is a balanced-neutral with a more midcentric tuning as it has ample punchy and yet rumbly bass response, a neutral, smooth, rich and natural sounding midrange, and a sufficiently shimmering and airy treble response.
• When it comes to technical performance, compared to ANSER, it has wider and spacious sound/speaker size, an atmospheric stereo imaging presentation but somehow it has a very similar layering presentation which is one of my main cons on this one.

As I conclude this product assessment, it just shows how competent SIVGA is as an audio company as they deliver a well-crafted, well-built product with just simply an enjoyable fun tuning at a reasonable price. I will surely recommend this headphone to other fellow audio enthusiasts looking for a premium-looking, solidly constructed and a coloured tuning that would be a good all-rounder headphone. There is still some polishing to be done that I mentioned a while ago but if those issues that I addressed and if ever SIVGA will make some improvements out of it, it will make this headphone even more compelling and possibly punch above its price in terms of tonal and technical performance.

But one thing to be sure about this product, this is indeed an excellent headphone in terms of price to performance ratio that will be one of my main recommendations on entry-level headphones.

SIVGA ANSER is now available to all e-commerce vendors online, I just provided some links below, non-affiliated ones guaranteed.

SIVGA OFFICIAL STORE:

https://www.sivgaaudio.com/product_d?id=22

HIFIGO:

https://hifigo.com/products/sivga-anser

LINSOUL:

https://www.linsoul.com/products/sivga-anser

And also, check out my previous review of another product from SIVGA.

◼ SIVGA QUE

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: SIVGA ANSER

IMPEDANCE: 38Ω

SENSITIVITY: 108dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 20KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2m

PIN TYPE: 2.5mm CONNECTOR

PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm

DRIVER UNIT(S):  50mm DYNAMIC DRIVER

PROS:

● Solidly-built with a hardwood transducer chassis and metal alloy headband.

● Well-crafted wooden transducers as it was treated and underwent some extensive process to achieve that fine, smooth with unique wood grain patterns.

● Very flexible headband with a rotatable headband that can swivel at 180 degrees.

● Smooth ear cushions made of composite materials.

● Snappy adjustable headband base.

● It has a detachable cable feature.

● Good quality nylon-woven detachable cable.

● A warmish-balance tonality for fun and engaging sound quality.

● Precise, tactual and impactful bass response.

● Somewhat clean and delineating bass lines and grooves.

● Warm, smooth, lush and a tad energetic midrange.

● Quite versatile on vocal tracking for both male and female voice types.

● Smooth and satiny treble response

● Fairly tonal colour on some treble-clef percussives

● A well-rounded macro-dynamics.

CONS:

● Most likely will be a bit coloured sounding for an audio enthusiast that adheres towards a clean and neutral sound profile.

● Wishing for better headphone storage.

● Noticeably recessed midrange

● Some timbral inconsistencies on vocals and instruments.

● Despite its open back profile, it doesn't have that spacious soundstage compared to the majority of the open back cans that I've tested.

● Instances of a very mild metallic and shrill sound.

TRACKS TESTED: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**

Suzanne Vega – Luka **

Lauren Christy – Steep *

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *

Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*

Type O Negative - Black No.1 *

Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **

Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *

Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to SIGVA nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to Mr. Collin Yang for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate his generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.