Based in Perth, Audiofly is a company that sprang to life in 2012 and like so many of the folk in the west, looked to migrate across to the other side of the country in search of great music and better coffee. Coming from a musical background, the team at Audiofly have developed their products to not only suit the needs of musicians, but also to appeal to those of you who just love listening to the quality audio reproduction of music.
You don’t have to be a hipster with a boom box and jeans that don’t reach your ankles to appreciate classic music from years gone past, and Audiofly know this. They appreciate the design and engineering that went into vintage amplifiers and instruments and know why they stand the test of time. So, with this ideal behind them, they have developed a range of products that will continue to deliver great sounding music for years to come. And, at the top of the range in their IEM headphones sits the AF1120s, which, I am happy to report, I got to use exclusively this week. And in the words of someone that I don’t know, “these buds are alright.”
FORM AND FIT
I’ve used all sorts of in-ear monitor headphones I my time and usually walk away with one complaint, the fit. There is no point having a great quality sound if it is uncomfortable or, in many cases, downright painful to wear certain earbuds for extended periods of time. The team at Audiofly seem to be cluey enough to realise this too, and went about ensuring that comfort was a key element to the AF1120s design. I often have issues getting moulded earbuds to sit right in my grotesquely oversized ears, but there didn’t seem to be any problem here. The Audiofly buds almost fell into place as they were hung over the ears and then settled nicely within the ear canal with the memory foam fittings. Best of all, the ones supplied on the earbuds out of the box hit the mark perfectly for me. There was no need to swap them over and over until I found the right ones, these were pretty much plug and play earphones. With a clever range of rubber cup fittings and memory foam ear tips, you will not only be able to find the right fit, but you will achieve comfort and excellent isolation at the same time. On top of that, the woven cable that ran down the back was incredibly flexible and offered no discomfort at all when up against the skin. These earbuds are designed for comfort all round and trust me on this one, they deliver in spades.
TAKE A LISTEN
Of course, it isn’t all about how they look and how they feel. Admittedly they do look pretty snazzy, even though you can barely see them when fitted correctly. No, the real thing to pay attention to with these earbuds is how they sound, because that is why we are here to begin with. Without boring you about the technical jargon, going on at length about the six stage armature drivers set up in a dual three way configuration, I can truly say they sound spot on. There is no room to hide with the AF1120s, as everything gets heard in these buds. The clarity is astounding, with each instrument seemingly stepping out from the mix to be heard one at a time. All you had to do was listen to one element of the music and it jumped right out at you. Finally, the guitarist won’t need to ask to be turned up in the fold-back mix. Not as often anyway. What’s more, there is no false bottom end to make them sound bigger than they really are. It seems to be that so many headphones out there strive to deliver big, powerful bass, as if that is some prerequisite to music sounding professional. Let’s face it, if the track is mixed correctly, you shouldn’t be swimming in bass to begin with, so why would you want headphones that create this illusion? The short answer is, if you really appreciate what you are listening to, you don’t want it washed out with excessive low end, and Audiofly have got that right. There is plenty of bass when the track delivers, but it still sits neatly in the mix and doesn’t overpower for the sake of big noting performance. If you truly want to hear what is going on whilst onstage, or just when listening at home, in the studio or out at the shopping centre getting a café latte after your morning workout, then you simply cannot look past the Audiofly AF1120 in-ear monitors. From me, it’s a big two thumbs up for these guys.
