REVIEWS
New for 2023
SJY Starry Night V1 Headphone Review.
This is my new favorite headphone.
February 2023
I recently received these gorgeous stabilized wood cupped SJY Starry Night (SN) closed back planar headphones after backing the Indigogo Campaign. Though not fully funded, Jeffrey Yin the maker, still crafted a complete product for every backer and then some, which are available directly through his site.
TLDR: These slap! Best all around Headphone, for any genre, vibrant and visceral. Get it if you have a beast of an amp.
What's in the box? Nothin, just Headphones and a cable, it's all you need.
BUILD: The SN have a original planar driver designed by Jeffrey himself. The stabilized wood cups are custom made for him by an impressive fabricator, and boy are they are real nice. Each Headphone cup are each individually unique. The headband is cushy and soft, I didn't get any hot spots. The yolks can swivel to lay the headphone flat on a desk. The only issue I had was the clamp force was a bit weak and I had to manipulate the spring steel band, bending it around to increase the lateral pressure. I love the thicc and smooshy Audeze sized pads, they're perfect. The cable is a 3.5mm on all ends, wrapped in a rubbery 4 wire twist that's very nicely done, looks and feels like a weave. This was a good choice as other third-party cables I tried, Periapt or even Hart sound overly microphonic when rubbed or knocked. The SN cable does not.
AMP CHOICE: This is important due to an interesting technical aspects of the SN. It's a 10ohm headphone, this is below a regular headphone amps normal thread hold to make that efficient. In this case the headphone impedance can cause the amp itself to distort or even shut off at higher volumes.
Testing all the amps I currently own, starting from smallest to largest, using a Geshelli J2 DAC for desktop amps set at full gain output:
Apple USB-C Dongle - from phone, too quiet at full volume - very faint pops, which I guess is probably distortion.
DDhifi TC35B USB-C Dongle - from phone, max volume, acceptable listening volume, no distortion, but still may not be loud enough for some, impressive for its size.
Fiio BTR5 - balanced output, can max volume, no distortion, probably loud enough.
Khadas Tea - max device volume, acceptable listening volume, distortion at max volume, but still not loud as I'd like.
Douk Audio U4 with Burson stock Op-Amp installed - distorts at 1-2 o'clock, not loud enough.
Schiit Fulla 2 - at 3 o'clock the volume cuts out completely and, but the amp is still active, and volume returns when turned back down.
Schiit Fulla 4 - totally shuts off at 12 o'clock.
Schiit Audio Magni Heresy - high gain, no distortion, plenty loud. A cheap Win!
Geshelli E2 - on high gain at 3 o'clock distorts, but at that point is way too loud for me anyway.
Burson Funk with Vivid Op-Amps installed - works perfectly, no distortion, no issues at all. Sounds phenomenal (unlocks the magic) the max I listen at is around 1-2 o'clock, 100% would recommend. It's suggested by a few SN owners to just tap the speaker out on an speaker amp with an adapter, I have yet to try this on my Funk (no adapter yet...)
USER EXPERIENCE WITH AMPS: from Reddit
u/But4n3 Impressions
Headamp GS-X Mini with Audiolab M-DAC+ - Solid Choice.
u/kachoo_ Amp excerpts from full review.
A90D "even running balanced on high gain, there are times where on some tracks where I still wish I had more power"
Schiit HEL 2E "would power off if you turned the nob more than two thirds of the way up. It was loud enough to be listenable, but not fully enjoyed."
Fiio BTR7 - Same story "It was loud enough to be listenable, but not fully enjoyed."
Apple Dongle - poor...
But how does it sound? it's complicated but we worked through it.
Firstly out of the box these used to be sibilant AF. I am very sensitive to sibilance. It's my one major gripe with any headphone, if it's too spicy up top it's a no go from me. These had a 10K peak which caused all 'S' sounds to be very sharp, male or female vocals, didn't matter, they just cut me deep. I then messed around with a little pad swapping and dampening in from of the driver. This did help but slightly blunted the dynamics and detail. I let Jeffrey know what I was doing. And he started to experiment more himself with 'internal' cotton dampening and was able to measure an excellent reduction in the 10K peak. He advised me on the mod and I went at it myself, 4 screws later and I'm inside. Again my spice tolerance is very low, so I personally additionally added a thin layer of black felt to the inside of the cup, the added the cotton stuffing as recommended and lastly one more small layer of the thin black felt, which I call the "Double-Stuffed Oreo Mod" No dampening over the outside of driver. I put the driver and ear pad back on and haven't stopped listening since. No need for EQ. Literal magic.
Going forward Jeffrey will be adding the internal cotton dampening to all newly purchased headphones. And he will continue to experiment and improve the (imo now nearly perfect) frequency response.
Sound impressions: Post modding, all listening done through a Burson Funk headphone output.
These are a very balanced headphone, an overall flat response, but is in no way flat sounding. The dynamics on these are anything but boring or flat. It feels like each major frequency range is fighting to be the best at any given moment. Compared to the headphones I currently have I can only really compare to my Audeze LCD-X (2021), and I am very familiar with them. I did a quick test with my Sennheiser 660s and comparatively the 660s felt immediately thinner and lacking in all frequencies. The SN are much closer to my LCD-X than anything else I have.
SN bass is excellent, thunderous and tight, but doesn't quite have the same bass clarity as the LCD-X. LCD-X is more holographic, Deftones RX Queen (Salva Remix) painted that picture clearly, though quality bass is a strong point of the LCD-X it excels in being crisp clean and deep bass region. SN drum representation is outstanding, a band like Tool has never sounded better to me, Chocolate Chip Trip was specifically heart racing with these. Alternatively heavy Synthwave such as Carpenter Bruts Leather Teeth was aggressive in the best way possible, it's such a banger.
Though these are closed back, they don't sound closed at all, I'm constantly forgetting they're not open. Agnes Obel's The Curse is a great example, the sounds were all over the place and more naturally placed vocals than the LCD-X. SN ability to 'hear the room' is enhanced over the LCD-X.
Imaging wise it's as good as LCD-X, Yosi Horikawa's Letter is always a good example, and the SN nails it, imaging is a strong point for the LCD-X and they are very comparable. Lord's Still Sane matched the LCD-X with her voice panning side to side. Identifying instrument placement is also very similar.
Vocals whether it be male or female are just perfect, nuff said.
SN detail is fantastic, this surprised me in my misconception that a single person couldn't design a driver that retrieves such a great amount of detail. Even over the LCD-X in most cases, especially in the treble region. I'm hearing things in recordings I know that I never noticed before, even with the LCD-X... Damn.
Jeffrey has created an absurd monster of a headphone, it's vivid and visceral. A very complete sounding headphone. Nothing offensive (post mod, or new, as of now), and no need for EQ, I don't want to change a thing. Closed back but open sounding. Competes way WAY above its price point in all sonic aspects and beauty.
Mod it, if it's spicy. Just enjoy if buying new, and make sure your amp is compatible to the headphone specs.
Chris OCW
The Starry Night can be purchased through their site at SJY Audio