Apart from the manual and some papers, there’s also the Bluemini R2R module sitting in the box, and it is one of two big updates compared to the original Deva, but more on this later. The original Deva was one of the most open sounding headphones in the market but the Pro takes it even higher further improving the performance. Perhaps the most interesting part of the Bluetooth receiver's design is that it attaches outside of the cup.

So far every iteration has been an improvement both on physical and acoustic design level and also in tuning, fixing timbre and balance issues in one sweep. Background details are easily identified, with placement and layering being what I have come to expect as a minimum from the brand.Just listen to the Messa da Requiem by Verdi with the huge instrumental and choral forces to get a feeling of the soundstaging capabilities of the Deva Pro. And in this latter sense, the Deva’s timbral character comes across as a bit dry to me - almost reminiscent of the older HiFiMAN headphones (think again the HE-400i). However, what distinguishes them is that in addition to the possibility of a wired connection with a classic cable, a great bletooth adapter based on the R2R bluemini architecture with the original HIFIMAN chip is included. And so maybe the ‘open character’ is simply correlated with the additional benefits that are gained from the fact that it’s an open-back headphone.

This is not the end of the world but personally I like to be able to control volume on BT devices as the whole point of wireless is freedom from the source, so removing your phone (for example) from your pocket to change volume or track sort of defeats the object in my opinion. However, we must remember that these are planar headphones with an open design and while they sound phenomenal with the bluemini, they require a proper amplifier and a high-quality DAC. In the deva pro model dedicated for portable use, care was taken to put a rather rich set in a beautiful black cardboard box on a satin material. For obvious reasons, I used bluemini as a source for my assessment, but also the xduoo mu602 stationary amplifier with the MT602 DAC and the iBasso DX170 file player.The frequency response ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz which enables you to hear your music in its full glory down to the tiniest details.