Author: Sword of Damocles
Although Kuulokenurkka has been a bit quieter than usual at the end of the year due to other commitments, it's still appropriate at this point to briefly reflect on what remained of 2023 as a whole. First, the site turned 2 years old in August, so of the 3 years I originally paid for in advance (web hosting, domain, etc.), only 8 months remain. Despite the upcoming additional financial investment, operations are likely to continue, as we've only just begun, and Finnish-language reviews seem to interest readers.
This year, we tested a wide variety of products from different price ranges, from 15 euros all the way up to 7000 euros. A total of 46 reviews and other articles were eventually produced, including this one. In addition to headphones, we covered more and more different headphone amplifiers and D/A converters. There will be plenty to write about for 2024 as well, as we have many article ideas from the past couple of months about various headphones and devices.
Our headphone frequency response measurements have become even more precise during 2023 with hardware updates, and we offer them openly and easily discoverable on the international Squiglink-website. Kuulokenurkka's database currently contains measurements for 75 headphone models. Recently, our measurement results were also added as baseline data to the application developed by Jaakko Pasanen, called AutoEQ-application.
The year 2023 also included a visit to the Helsinki Hi-Fi Fair, which offered the opportunity to hear many new headphones. Some of these have already made it onto the acquisition list with a review in mind, as the fairs are a way for me to pre-survey products I would like to test more thoroughly. This year, in addition to the Hi-Fi Fair, many smaller hi-fi events were also delightfully organized across Finland. I personally visited the Kuva ja Ääni Headphone Weeks in Joensuu and Hifi.fi's Good Sound Days. I hope to see similar events in the future.
In addition to events and new partners, Hifitalo's unfortunate bankruptcy remains in memory from 2023. The company acted as an importer for several interesting brands, such as Feliks Audio, Matrix Audio, and ZMF, so at least for now, products from these manufacturers can no longer be purchased in Finland. Since we borrowed products for review from Hifitalo, the bankruptcy also destroyed this opportunity. Most of all, however, I am concerned about consumers' potential financial losses. I also have one personal story related to the bankruptcy to share, but I will return to it in 2024.
Information on readership
Kuulokenurkka is currently read by 2500–3000 people monthly. Monthly visits to the site are approximately 4500, and page loads are around 8000. November was the busiest month due to Black Friday sales, as Kuulokenurkka had 3800 unique visitors and over 10,000 page loads then. By all metrics, there has been steady growth compared to 2022, taking into account that previously, for example, page loads were calculated slightly differently when using Google Analytics tracking. Since summer 2023, Kuulokenurkka has utilized the Matomo tool for visitor statistics, which complies with EU data protection regulations, ensuring that data is not transmitted for use or sale by any commercial company. It should be noted that I myself do not get any sensitive or individually interesting information about site visitors, but the number of visitors and article reads are useful information for developing operations.
Kuulokenurkka's 10 most read articles over approximately half a year were:
- Valco VMK25
- Bose QuietComfort SE
- Valco VMK20
- Sony WH-1000XM5
- Sennheiser HD 660S2
- Hifiman Sundara Closed
- Qudelix 5K: the world's most versatile mobile amplifier
- Excellent summer headphones: Koss Porta Pro
- Focal bathys
- Sennheiser HD 600
The list of most-read articles emphasizes Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones, which are, as expected, a more interesting product category among the general population than high-end headphones costing several thousands of euros. These are also certainly actively Googled for more information, for example, during sales. Especially in the case of the Hifiman Sundara Closed model, a significant price reduction from 500 euros to about 150 euros boosted readership surprisingly high, even though the model didn't interest many a year ago. The situation was similar for the Edifier WH950NB, which ranked 11th on the list. It is quite difficult to predict the appeal of a certain product and review in advance, so we will continue to write articles on a wide range of topics. If Kuulokenurkka were a commercial site, based on the data, it would clearly be most sensible to limit content to noise-cancelling headphones – many other sites have surely noticed this too. However, we greatly enjoy being impartial and being able to choose the products we test completely freely.
In addition to noise-cancelling headphones, Finns were clearly interested in Sennheiser's traditional HD 600 series. Outside the Top 10 list, popular reviews also included Hifiman Sundara and SASH Tres, so many might be pleased to hear that we will continue to review wired hi-fi headphones in the 300–500 euro price range. I was most surprised by the interest received by the Qudelix 5K mobile amplifier. This could indicate the popularity of compact devices, so perhaps we could explore this product category more closely in the future. Among device articles, the second most read was Topping L30 II, followed by iFi Zen DAC V2 – a good price-quality ratio likely makes both interesting.
Towards the New Year
The year 2024 will kick off with several headphone reviews, and we are also getting some interesting products on loan, which we dare not yet speak about aloud. For me, the year will change while listening to Meze Audio Empyrean 2 and ZMF Bokeh. I once promised some kind of headphone terminology/glossary to support the understanding of our reviews, so I might even outline it further at the same time. In any case, the matter has not been forgotten, and the glossary will hopefully see the light of day during 2024.
Finally, we would like to thank Kuulokenurkka's readers for the past year. Thank you for all your feedback and pleasant communication. Special thanks also go to those enthusiasts who have lent us products they own. Equally, we thank once again all the companies that have acted as our partners, who have either given or lent us products for review. Together, we have been able to produce a lot of new and interesting content about headphones. We'll be back in 2024.
Happy New Year to everyone!
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