Sivga Robin headphones

The first review of the new year and we start with a new company, Sivga, and their Sivga Robin headphones. China based, they are developing a range of products that should attract positive attention in 2022. The range includes in-ear monitors and planar magnetic models as well as these dynamic full range Sivga Robin headphones.

Design

These are Sivga Audio’s Robin portable closed back around-ear headphones featuring a wooden external finish, giving them a distinctive look. The logo is laser etched into the wood finish (main picture) leaving an understated look that I appreciate.

The Sivga Robin feature a single 50mm full range driver made of an in-house polycarbonate and fibre combination with decent frequency response. As such they are easy to drive with a 32 Ohm impedance. There is little weight to the headphones at 275g and I would class these as light.

In the box, there is a canvas style carry bag and a long braided cable terminated with a 3.5mm standard jack. The cable is a split cable to each ear cup. Left and right are well labelled on the outside yolk.

Quality

These headphones are rather comfortable and, as portable headphones, their weight works well.

There is a steel ratchet for adjusting the yolk to your head that feels long serving. The headband itself is not overly padded and has a stitched look to the finish. The earpads have a leather feel, and they feel particularly soft, the website suggests they are memory foam but that is not my experience.

All in all, these feel like they may last longer than your standard plastic fashion headphones beginning with ‘b’ and the replaceable ear pads and options to upgrade the cables, should you wish, makes these a good quality proposition to build on.

The external cup has a wood finish completing the closed back design. I’m unclear why they use wood but they are hand finished and they are different, in a good way.

I have a 2m long cable (measured) and my review pair in black are rather cool to look at and I like the understated logo on the backs that shows I am discerning, not ‘beats’. There is a pale brown finish available as well that I would steer away from myself.

Performance

Review Equipment

I’ve had the headphones for a good few weeks now with mainly the portable Pioneer XDP-100 streaming Qobuz and Tidal MQA. I also have had a play with these Sivga Robin with a Chord Hugo 2 with the 2go module and, slightly ridiculously, with the ‘Outstanding’ T+A HA200.

Physically

I have found the headphones to be physically very quiet, the cable is not noisy in any way, and this is a very positive feature. My cable may be a fraction long for portable use as I am tucking it into my pocket to ensure I don’t trip over it.

I am finding the Sivga Robin a little loose for me in motion, I would say I have a medium sized head, at the most. Am finding I’m having to keep my chin up a bit and the cursory reviewer’s check with a head shake often finds the earpads all over the shop but more often than not returning to the ears. There is no doubt however, these are very comfortable and soft headphones to wear. In a reclined or sitting position, they are as fine as you would like.

Sonic Performance

The resolution is decent, it is precise at times. I have really noticed with these headphones the difference the amplification source makes. These headphones are perfectly acceptable with my portable device and with my Pixel phone with the Audioquest dragonfly, they are fine. But with a proper headphone amplifier, like the six thousand pounds T+A HA200, they show they have the capability to be really special. The same occurs with the Chord Hugo 2 which has been a winner over the Christmas period with the 2go, allowing me to wander off in a corner in a quiet moment to chill or listen to a podcast, or review headphones.

The Sivga Robin present a good head stage, there are occasions where I have been searching for detail but on the move that is going to happen anyway. I find them easy listening and the presentation is broadly soft in my view not harsh, leaving extended sessions or long walks a comfortable venture.

In terms of tone, I find the treble to be acceptable and the midrange feels open to my ears, there is plenty of space and the experience is in no way cramped. There is a good punchy low end, for example with The Weeknd’s Save Your Tears (Tidal 44.1kHz, 16 bit) and if you’re looking for bass there is enough with the right source, for example, Benson Boone’s fantastic track GHOST TOWN (Tidal Master 44.1kHz, 24 bit). I found that I needed the iFi Pro iDSD or the HA 200 to extract the full bass and really, I was quite surprised how poor the Pioneer was at extracting this bass. The key thing is that the Sivga Robin have the potential to deliver. I’ve found little distortion across the range implying the headphones are fairly clean in delivery.

Overall

They are good value and that deserves a recommendation for sure

These Sivga Robin feel like they are pretty good value and as an early product there is good research here and Sivga know what they are doing, it seems. Sonically, they’re fine, the headphones themselves feel long lasting compared to some we could mention, and I feel the lack of functionality, for example, wireless, noise-cancelling, etc, is more than made up for by the old school value and classic design delivered by these Sivga Robin headphones. They are good value and that deserves a recommendation for sure, a good start to the year.

Specification

Full details are on the company’s site