I have had quite an intimate time with the SHIVR 3D headphones, almost a month to be exact and while it isn’t the final production unit, I have used it extensively to see the capability it had in terms of build quality and wired audio usage with emphasis on the 3D feature which on my initial impressions with it was at 50% complete which at this moment has urged in me the need to further support or refute after the time I had with the SHIVR.

The SHIVR headphones which you can check out at SHIVR Kickstarter, build wise has a minor dust attracting surface which after letting it sit on my desktop uncovered only got minor dust settling on its surfaces when I came back after a weeks’ vacation trip. The comfort it provides is still great especially that the clamping force being more snug and relaxing now, the headband cushioning is indeed great. The stock earpads showed no issues despite being a bit dashed with occasional sweat and doing no wipes, they still give great cushion and passive noise cancelling ambiance. The buttons are still intact and had no rattling to them, I have clicked all the buttons repeatedly (average around 20 clicks/day) even when not in use to check if they would break or loosen up and nothing disappointing happened so far. The foldable features of the earcups for easy storage was indeed a nice addition and the joints are still secure as well as the headband adjusting tensions. The SHIVR weighed in at roughly 110g, I would however defer to someone with a digital scale. They sit true over the ears and doesn’t put much weight at all, enough for a movie or two with an hour of casual music listening. I wasn’t able to try the mic functions though since there was no BT yet on this and the 3.5 AUX-in cable had no mics too.

The ANC feature still worked average as usual and was a great escape from my opened back cans. The battery life using ANC now ran roughly 21-22 hours, I hope they address since this was achieved while BT5.0 isn’t present. The most notable observation that I had was regarding the 3D immersive feature, the soundstage and imaging aspect of the SHIVR that I have experienced on the initial impression is most likely the result of this 3D feature, I should have caught that at first really although initial impressions are indeed like that, initial. I have pumped 16/44 FLAC files mainly from the Jazz genre (Tony Guerrero, Grant Geissman, Patti Austin and Michael Lington) to it via the Zorloo ZuperDAC-S and Foobar2000 v1.4 off my MSI GF62 8RE laptop and the dynamics are indeed spectacular, I’m hating myself now for saying the 3D immersive feature was at 50%, the underwhelming head tracking feature should have taken the blame for all this. I’m now excited more than ever to finally get a hold of the production unit which in turn led me to get in touch with the SHIVR group.

The SHIVR group has confirmed to me that all features are 100% COMPLETED which at this moment of writing are the following:

• 3D Immersive Audio
• Patented ANC Technology
• Built-in Gyroscope
• Head Tracking Technology
• Low Latency aptX Hi-Fi sound
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Ambient Sound Mode
• LED Logo switch

Let me clarify this that the SHIVR staff guaranteed this to me and that I have not received nor actually tried and used the production unit at the moment of writing. I am now eager to check out the final production unit which is identical to all the backers that supported this SHIVR 3d headphone campaign. The SHIVR headphone is indeed promising and with a staff that communicated well, I really hope they hit jackpot with the official release and that all backers are rewarded for their trust.

John Real