A: Aging apparently has two dimensions, a physical dimension and a psychological dimension.
Evaluation of earphones is conducted relative to that of other products ordinarily used by the listener consumer, and so any determination of whether the product is really well suited to the person or not requires a certain period of use. This is the psychological dimension to aging.
Evidence of the physical dimension of aging can be difficult to show, but we believe the following to be true. The earphone contains several points at which moving parts have been affixed (the diaphragm and the coil, the coil to the cable output, etc.). Among those are places at which flexibility of movement in coordination with the diaphragm increase as the adhesive hardens. At those points, ease of motion increases with the passage of time, and we believe that this could in turn have an impact on sound characteristics. These changes may be quite minute, but because there is a leading and trailing impact, it could very well result in a feeling of improved sound quality.
If the above hypothesis were to be correct, then it would be best to undergo aging at the using the actual source music and sound volume level preferred by the listener. Using shoes as an example, if shoes were to be broken in by putting them on and taking them off in a more severe manner than for ordinary use, then the wrinkles and creases imparted by the process would be optimized for such forcible movement. While it may be difficult to explain scientifically, we believe that forming this image in your mind will make it easier for you to understand as you use the product. For listeners concerned about deviations caused by the source music, may we recommend pink noise, which contains the entire spectrum of audio frequencies.
Regarding this phenomenon of aging, we as well would like to conduct further analysis in order to be able to provide data-based evidence.

A: In the high-range, clear differences can be seen in regard to physical characteristics of the cable. There are significant, measurable differences between an appropriately designed and constructed cable and an ordinary cable with regard to values for speed of propagation, attenuation, etc. But, even though differences may be clear within the high-range, the overall impact on the physical characteristics of the frequency range essential to listening becomes small.
Although the impact of the physical characteristics of the cable on sound quality have not been clarified, we believe there to be many cases in which sound quality is impacted by such physical characteristics pertaining to the high-range, and our approach has been one of attempting to make various improvements to these characteristics.
In the cable market, however, it is not uncommon to see find low-precision products, misleading labeling and promotional hype based on non-scientific explanations. Yet, in the midst of all those products, there are those that stand out in terms of a feeling of superior sound quality. This stands out among the many mysterious and interesting aspects of the audio world.
Changing cables will in some way impact sound quality. Such changes in sound quality are generally perceived to be positive, so we recommend that listeners take time to evaluate them.

A: The positioning and snugness of fit of the earpiece can have a dramatic impact on sound quality in terms of sound frequency characteristics. The section entitled "About Tuning" on each Make product page contains an illustration of the impact of differences in earpiece position and tightness of fit on sound frequency characteristics, so please refer to this explanation.

MAKE1
http://snext-final.com/en/products/detail/MAKE1#free_2_5

MAKE2
http://snext-final.com/en/products/detail/MAKE2#free_2_5

MAKAE3
http://snext-final.com/en/products/detail/MAKE3#free_2_5

A: There are several factors that lead to cable breakage, and each cable maker is racking its brains to formulate countermeasures. The most frequent cause of cable breakage is a one-time application of excessive force that causes breakage near base of the connector plug.
A layer of resin has been applied to the protective coating of the cable at the base of the plug as a countermeasure to make breakage more difficult to occur. However, if excessive force is applied, slippage between the cable and the protective shield may occur, resulting in the application of force to the fixed portion of the core wire material within the cable. To prevent the wire material from becoming cut in such cases, we have taken measures to insert Kevlar and other material resistant to forceful jerking into the core of the cable material, but this does not provide complete protection.
Other conceivable measures to increase force resistance of the cable would result in an unwieldy connector that would be too large to be suitable for use this product. For that reason, the most realistic approach is to advise users to take caution not to apply excessive force that could cause breakage of the cable.

Examples of measures to prevent cable breakage:
- Take care to ensure that excessive force will not be applied to the cable when placing the product for use in a bag or pocket.
- Placing the product in a bag containing books and other materials may result in excessive force being applied to the cable without the awareness of the user, so please place the product in one of the bag's pockets.
- Do not wrap the product with audio players, etc. during storage.
- Make all efforts to place the earphones in the earphone case for storage.

A: Sound, not only while tuning but also when trial listening to a product, is a battle against delusion.
Even arming oneself with all of the knowledge prior to trial listening will not enable the listener to completely escape prejudice and delusion. However, paying attention to this information will help the listener to make a much more appropriate evaluation.
Sound volume: Generally, higher sound volume makes sound easier to hear. When evaluating sound quality, even small differences in sound volume will affect the results.
Relative comparisons: It is important to pay attention to the fact that while test listening, one cannot escape making relative comparisons to products that he or she has used in a time phased manner.
Trial listening order: When comparing products, the order by which products were subjected to trial listening has a great impact on the results, and so it is necessary to mix up the order and confirm whether this has any impact on sound impression.
External appearance: External appearance has a subconscious impact on trial listening results.
Price: Price based prejudice is tremendous. Many people feel that products sound great because of the price, whereas a person focused on cost performance may be greatly influenced by the slightly more attractive price of one product or another.
Amount of effort: The more time a listener commits to trial and error, the better he or she feels about the quality of the sound.
Focal point: If a listener is looking for richer bass or has any other specific agenda, he or she may lose ability to judge the overall balance and base the entire evaluation on the merits of a single criterion.

In order to escape from delusion and prejudice, it is important to take a few days rest from trial listening.

A: Equalizers (hereafter EQ) are convenient, but using and ordinary hardware or software EQ has a tremendous impact on the phase of the sound wave.
Changes in the phase of the sound wave are considered difficult to discern, but ultimately, they have an impact on sound coloration.
The perception of the listener is one of sound quality degradation. In order to reduce the impact of the EQ on sound quality, a sole reduction in sound pressure of approximately 3dB is considered to be an effective approach.

A: The single driver type is a format by which the entire spectrum of sound is played by one driver unit (speaker).
The multi-driver type is a format that uses multiple driver units.
The dynamic type, and also the balanced armature type, lack a network or other driver units that might impact phase characteristics, and so it is possible to produce a product that achieves high sound quality with superior time and phase response characteristics, which have a strong impact on the liveliness of sound, depending only on the driver unit. However, the degree of difficulty of design and construction on drive units becomes high.
A multi-driver unit employs multiple driver units including primarily a balanced armature (BA) driver wherein each driver unit rings out the assigned portion of the audio spectrum in order to allow for expansion of the playback range frequency response characteristic. Moreover, alignment of multiple drivers makes it possible to reduce distortion, a problem otherwise associated with BA drivers.
However, as the number of driver units increases, the network among which the full spectrum of sound has been divided impacts phase characteristics, and interference between each pair of driver units becomes a problem, making it difficult to achieve an overall balance.
Coordinated skillfully, the greater volume of information results in a feeling of superior sound quality.

A: Lately, there have been occasions when we have been asked, "Aren't high-resolution earphones required for the playback of high-resolution audio recordings?"
It is not a problem to use products that do not bear a high-resolution logo mark for the playback of high-resolution source recordings. Rather, there are many products superior from the standpoint of sound quality that do not accommodate an unnecessarily high frequency response of up to 40kHz needed to acquire the high-resolution mark.
We recommend that listeners select products by conducting their own sound trials without reference to high-resolution compatibility.
We believe that there is meaning in realizing the playback of the audio spectrum up to 40kHz, but that just expanding the playback range to incorporate higher frequencies alone does not improve sound quality. high-resolution source recordings have a higher resolution than the CD, and we believe that it is necessary to exploit this higher resolution in order to achieve greater ambience in the listening experience.
In order to exploit this high-resolution, we will engage in priority development of high-resolution products, and if they are capable of playback of sounds exceeding 40kHz by the designated measurement procedures, then we feel that would be great.