The Audiofly AF180 is the second unit lent to me by Audiofly, and it is certainly the better of the two. Where the AF120 was a hybrid, this is a quad balanced armature design. With an impedance of 18 ohms, and 108dB/mW sensitivity, these can easily be powered from any device, and I have been using them primarily from my iPhone 6s. Priced at 500USD, these certainly do sound like their price tag, especially if you like the Eagles.

The accessories are very similar to that of their little brother, with the same three sizes of Comply tips, three sizes of standard silicone, three sizes of triple flange, quarter inch adapter, airline adapter, and cleaning tool. Where the accessories differ is the case: the case that comes with the AF180 is considerably larger, and made of leather instead of canvas. The case is still a little bit cramped, at least depth wise; while there is plenty of room in every other direction, the when I close the case, I feel like I am compressing the IEMs slightly. These are absolutely gorgeous IEMs, with a beautiful black and blue color scheme, and Audiofly’s elegantly simple logo on the side. While these are also available in clear, I personally much prefer this blue.

Build quality is quite similar to the AF120. The cables are identical; they both have a nice fabric cable up to the y-split, the same high-quality plastic split cable to each housing, the same odd chin slider, which is essentially just a small plastic tube, and unfortunately the same two inches of memory wire. Fortunately, the cable is removable with MMCX connectors. Unfortunately, there is a female notch in the cable, which matches to a male notch protruding from the housing, which leaves you unable to use any other cable than Audiofly’s. They say this is to prevent the MMCX from spinning, but 2-pin would have worked just as well. Even sticking with MMCX, they could have put the male notch on the cable, and the female notch on the housing, and prevented spinning and allowed for third party cables. This is frustrating to say the least, especially with the two inches of memory wire. The housings feel like they are made of a higher quality plastic though. The fit is also identical, being a bit iffy for my ear canals, as even the largest eartips are just slightly too small. Once they are in though, they are very comfortable, so much so that I was able to wear them for even five hours at a time with no adjustment. They are not quite as comfortable as my Pinnacle P1, but these certainly are well above average, once they actually seal properly.

The sound is why I have put this review off a bit. I love how these sound; I don’t know what these are doing, because these slightly dark IEMs are so pleasing to me, despite me often wanting more treble and upper mids. Case in point, I enjoyed the CL1, whereas many people said it was way too bright. These AF180s have some sort of magic to them, and I love it. The bass is quite a bit elevated, sharing the limelight with the midrange. Bass notes are gentle and warm in their presentation, but retain enough control to keep from being anywhere close to sloppy or overpowering. The midrange has a downward tilt to it, with the upper mids being pushed back significantly; however, unlike the AF120, they are actually present. Vocals sound spectacular with these. Some instruments can sound a little bit off in their timbre, due to the unevenness in the midrange, but not so much so as to offend.

The treble is a bit recessed, which combined with the recessed upper mids, leaves these sounding a bit dark. This would be a point against them, if it were not for the beautiful clarity, precision, and imaging contained within this recessed treble. Ordinarily, recessed treble is something I strongly dislike; but the gentle, yet recessed treble, combined with the rich midrange and big bass is just striking a chord somewhere in my soul to make me love these. The soundstage is surprisingly wide, which is always welcome, especially with their beautiful imaging. If I had to sum up these IEMs with one word, that would be gentle; these have a very calming sound to them. A more affordable IEM that does this is the Thinksound ts03, which I see these as a direct upgrade from; if you like the ts03, and want the 500USD version of that warm and cozy sound, then these are for you.

A few certain songs really stood out to me while I was listening to these, the first being Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick.” The drums in this track are simply staggering, sounding like they are being struck inside my head. The imaging is simply breathtaking, with each drum beat moving across the soundstage each being so clearly defined and sounding so natural like I have never heard before. The Eagles’ “Journey of the Sorcerer,” which is a great song by the way, sounds absolutely phenomenal on these. This song shows what these are capable of in the upper midrange and treble departments, especially the imaging and detail. I was browsing Reddit when I was giving these their first listen, and this song came on, and I just stopped in the middle of what I was doing, and just had to listen to this song all the way through twice. These bring out so much detail from those guitars, and place it so precisely; it simply sounds incredible. If you get the chance to hear these, listen to this song first, you won’t regret it. The Eagles’ “On the Border,” which is one of my favorite songs, also sounds absolutely stunning. Really, most of their work is absolutely perfect for these IEMs. In this song, the vocals sound so indescribably right, more so than on any other IEM I have listened to. The guitars again sound absolutely stunning, as do the rest of the instruments. In Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ “Fortune Teller,” Plant’s voice sounds so liquid and sweet, like auditory honey.

All in all, these are wonderful IEMs. Despite the issues with fit and the notched MMCX connectors, I love how these sound. Yes, I like these better than even my beloved Pinnacle P1. These are simply the nicest sounding IEMs I have had the opportunity to hear to date. I’m going to miss these after I send them back to their home in Australia. If I was not planning to buy a DT1990 in the near future, these would probably be my next audio purchase. Hats off to audiofly for creating such a fantastic product!

-TheOmegaCarrot