Furutech ADL H128

摘要

If the Alpha Design Labs (ADL) brand is new to you, as it was to me before the arrival of the H128 for review, let me paint in a little background. Sister to Furutech, it functions as an entry-level adjunct to its more up-market sibling, with a range which encompasses earphones, headphone amplifier/DACs (portable and static) and cables as well as headphones. Priced at just below £300, the H128 is a development of the previous H118 model, which remains available. According to ADL the design goal was to retain the H118's smoothness but ally it to improved dynamics 'and recreate the same "punch" that you hear during live performances'. In most respects the H128 is a pretty conventional closed-back headphone but it does depart from the norm in the shaping of its capsules and earpads. ADL calls them, rather grandly, 'Alpha Triform Contour Earcups' - its way of saying that the cavity for your ears is triangular rather than rectangular or circular. Two justifications are offered for this: first, it improves the earpads' seal to the head, thereby assuring more consistent bass response. Second, the lack of parallel surfaces reduces standing waves within the volumes of air enclosed by each capsule.