Sivga Audio is a brand from Dongguan city in China, and it was established in 2016. The new Sivga Oriole is a classic closed-back headphone with hand-crafted rosewood ear cups. Sivga Oriole features a 50mm in-house-developed dynamic driver on each side.
Sivga is known for its good craftsmanship. They have designed the Oriole with well-finished Rosewood ear cups. A five-axis CNC machining process processes the wooden ear cups. They have a glossy piano finish for the brown model and a matt finish for the black (dark brown) model. Sivga has made its brand’s logo on the ear cups using laser engraving technology. Its look is somewhat bit old-school, but relatively modern at the same time. The headphone looks more premium than the price suggests, especially for the wooden cups, which are shaped fantastically well. There’s no doubt that the design of the Oriole is unique.
Sivga Oriole offers you a super comfortable listening experience with its ergonomic shape and lightweight build. It is very comfortable with a nice weight distribution with a good and light headband design. The headphone has moderate clamping force that allows the listeners to wear the headphones for longer durations without feeling any fatigue. With their super soft memory foam earpads and soft leather headband, the Oriole provides good comfort to the listeners.
Thanks to the design and weight distribution, the Oriole sits on your head comfortably. The headband is quite well-made in that regard, and I didn’t have comfort issues. My ears touch the inside of the cups a bit, but thanks to the excellent materials, it does not cause any discomfort. But still, it has to be kept in mind.
What’s in the box
The Oriole arrives in a hard cardboard box, which stores s Sivga pouch, a 6.3mm adapter, a 3.5mm cable, and the headphone.
Features
- Newly-Developed 50mm dynamic diver.
- Handmade Rose-Wood ear cups.
- Premium Headband and soft earpads.
- Premium Build Quality With Metallic parts.
- Rotating Housing Brackets.
- Comfortable & Lightweight design.
- Replaceable Cable.
- Available in Black & Brown finish.
Technical Specs
- Impedance: 32Ω±15%.
- Sensitivity: 108dB.
- Frequency Response Range: 20Hz-20kHz.
- Weight: 280 grams.
- Price: $238
I would like to thank Sivga Audio for providing me with the review sample of Oriole.
Sound
Oriole sounds very clear, focused, detailed, and natural with a good sense of warmth and body. There’s a certain brightness and openness in the tuning. There’s good resolution and proper texture with good transparency. Oriole provides a pretty neutral sound overall with energetic mids and bright treble, together with bass warmth.
Bass
I think lows are the best part about the new Oriole, giving great slam, kick, rumble, and also recovery. In terms of bass performance, this is one of the best headphones I’ve heard for the price. The punch and speed are certainly impressive, with great pace and decay. It also doesn’t affect the other parts of the spectrum.
For quantity, it’s not extreme, especially in terms of sub-bass. I think Sivga has done a good job of giving an adequate level of bass for many genres. The bass overall is quite warm though, and it’s joyful to listen to bassy recordings. The texture of the bass is pretty good as well.
The headphone can reach quite deep with the sub-bass but also gives good midbass to present the base notes of the instruments nicely. You surely have a very impressive and high-quality bass with the Oriole.
Mids
The mid-range sounds very crisp and clear. The upper mid area is quite energetic too, whilst the whole mid-area has a very lifelike feeling. They’re also transparent and the headphone is quite resolving and detailed in the mid-range. There’s not much coloration here, though the timbre is a bit off sometimes with vocals and instruments.
That might be because of the cramped feeling of the headphone, or the overall brightness of the lower-treble area. When the treble is in the spotlight, the mid-range can be overshadowed sometimes depending on the track and I think that’s what happens here. There’s not too much air or spaciousness in the mid-range, since that is all taken away with the treble tuning.
When you focus on the mids only, the transparency, resolution, and detail are all impressive. But when you focus on the totality of the sound, the mid-range feels like it’s trapped inside a certain box and it can’t quite break that barrier. So overall, in technical performance, the mid-range is highly detailed and resolving with good definition, but the timbre is a bit thick compared to the thin and bright treble performance. The positive side here is the detail retrieval and resolution.
Treble
The treble section is articulated and transparent with a good level of detail and resolution. The character here is bright, especially in the lower-treble range, but once again the transparency and detail are excellent. There’s a good extension and articulation as well. However, the treble needs a bit more refinement, in my opinion, especially considering the brightness in the lower treble.
With all that said, the clarity and detail level are very impressive, and the treble is overall spacious and airy, opposite of the mid-range in that department.
Technical Performance
The sound stage of the Oriole is not very spacious, although it’s better than I expected for a closed headphone with this price. Yet, there’s a sense of intimacy, especially with vocals and instruments.
The best part about the Oriole is the resolution and clarity. I can also add the detail level to those. It’s a very resolving and transparent headphone overall. The instrumental separation is fairly good as well. For layering, I’ve heard better headphones, but mostly they are much pricier so it’s not all that fair.
Sum-Up
The Sivga Oriole brings an exquisite finish and good sound in a single package. It delivers a smooth, balanced and rich sound, alongside good instrument separation, and good clarity. It has a dense, enjoyable, and fun presentation. It’s not hard to drive, and it certainly has what it takes in terms of being a dependable closed-back headphone for the price.