Closer Examination

The cable that comes with the Sivga Oriole looks better than it feels in person. It's nothing to scoff at, but also clearly a place of cost-cutting since Sivga doesn't even go into any detail about it. I can also now confirm that the other finish gets a black-colored version as seen before with the Sivga Robin. It starts with a 3.5 mm connector with a larger, knurled housing to better distinguish it from the two used on the other end, with the Sivga logo on it and metal coils to add to the durability at the point where the housing goes to the cable itself. I suspect this is a standard copper cable inside the braided fabric sleeve which feels thick and durable, but is somewhat prone to kinking and resistant to re-shaping. There were no microphonics except when rustling the cable along on a desk quickly. Sivga has a large splitter in use with more metal hardware employed, and it leads to two thinner wires headed to the headphone channels with their own knurled housings in the same silver finish. These are respectively marked L and R for the left and right channels and we see Sivga is using 2.5 mm TS connectors with a single ring (green for left, red for right). All the metal plugs are gold-plated for oxidation resistance.


Tell you what—I am glad I chose this color over black for the Oriole. My main reason was to see how the other version looks, given I had the Robin in black but even so, I am a fan. The Oriole in this brown Rosewood finish will either look cheap to you or extremely expensive, and I personally dig the aesthetics with the tanned brown pads and headband contrasting with the rich Rosewood cups. The ability to lay the ear cups flat is always a big benefit over the Robin! The headband uses protein leather, aka not real leather, but looks and feels decent quality down to the stitching done. Foam filling helps with comfort although the headband is still relatively thin, and I do prefer thicker bands, if not suspension-style headband assemblies. The headband terminates on either side to a native steel frame which comes with L or R markings on the outside and is itself two parts screwed together to clamp the headband closed inside.


A steel band inside the headband helps with sizing and provides structural integrity and clamp force. Several notches are cut into the steel band that is a part of the frame, which is how you adjust where the headband will sit on your head vertically. Sizing options are plenty and the headband flexible enough to where these should fit head sizes small and large alike.


The frame now yields to the newly designed yokes that have an articulation point, allowing the ear cups to have plenty of horizontal swivel, this alone is a reason to get the Oriole over the Robin and many other such headphones in this price range that go with a fixed frame and no cup swivel. The cups also are held in place the traditional manner via the C-shaped clamp support to where they can also rotate quite a bit, as seen above. Overall I am happy to say the Sivga Oriole gets all the basics right in making a set of headphones that can move in all three axes to better fit your head and ears alike. I will also point out the tiny vents in the ear cups on the top of the cups which are more tastefully realized when compared to a few other such solutions I have seen recently.


At first glance, the ear cups are the primary selling point for the Sivga Oriole, using real wood in an open-pore or filled-pore finish based on which version you pick. This one is certainly attention-grabbing and you may want to consider the black version for a more subtle finish compared to this rich, glossy look here. The cups are machined and finished/polished by hand by craftsmen that Sivga partners with, to where you can expect to see all Sivga headphones use some form of wood these days. The Sivga logo is engraved on the outside for branding and a look from the side also shows the ear pads are clearly not contoured as with the SV023 we saw before. These pads are also different in shape and installation mechanism compared to the Robin, with Sivga going the more traditional route of a sleeve that fits between plastic sections on the ear cups. Removing them is easier than putting them back together and provides a closer look at the headphone driver Sivga uses.


The ear pads used on the Oriole have a different color to the faux leather exterior depending on which version you go with, and it will match the headband either way. These are oval-shaped and filled with medium-density memory foam while also having a fabric cover separating your ears and external contamination from the driver. There is no contouring as previously mentioned and this is another budget constraint no doubt.


There is a separate mesh grille over the 50 mm dynamic drivers used here with Sivga claiming that most of the driver components to have been in-house developed. Four Phillips head screws hold the driver assembly in place on the wooden ear cups, removing which confirms the nature of the machined wood. Two wires go from the cable connection point to the driver PCB, with the wires far thicker than usual, which should appeal to those complaining about internal wiring in headphones being too thin and delicate. The solder job could have been better, but won't impact the functionality of these headphones.


On the bottom of the ear cups, towards the middle, is where we find small cutouts for the cable connectors itself. Once again we see the use of 2.5 mm TS connectors, whereas I would have rather seen 3.5 mm TRS to have increased compatibility with aftermarket cables should the stock one not meet your expectations. Sivga claims there isn't enough space inside the ear cups for all its headphones although this is a poor excuse that would just be limiting the company from ever changing things for the better. The stock cable plugs in easily enough and falls straight down as opposed to shifting away from your neck if the cable connectors were placed closer to the front. The cable is also 1.6 m in length to where it ends up arguably too long for portable use and on the shorter side for desktop use! The svelte nature of the headband makes it easy to fit the Sivga Oriole on less expensive headphone stands such as the HiFiGo plastic/aluminium alloy stand I have here.