Sivga Robin SV021 Pro V2

A $179.99 Wooden Closed-Back with a Revised Tuning

I reviewed the original Sivga Robin SV021 Pro earlier this year and liked it a lot with a little EQ, but the stock midrange needed that correction to sound its best. This V2 keeps the same 50mm dynamic driver and the same core specification, but I believe Sivga have gone back and retuned it, because the character out of the box is noticeably different from what I remember of the original.

At $179.99 it sits at the same accessible end of Sivga’s range as before, and I’ve spent the last three weeks with it alongside its Sendy Audio sibling, the Apollo Pro — an interesting contrast as they both share similar DNA but are also very different headphones.

So, a quick summary would be this has quietly become one of the best bargains I’ve reviewed this year — no major complaints about the sound signature for a closed back at this price, though I do have a few niggles I will get to in the review, but overall I feel this is a very impressive revision of this classic model from Sivga.

But first, let’s take a look at what’s in the box.

Unboxing and Build Quality

The packaging is unchanged, and still carries the same “Robin • SV021 PRO” name as the original — nothing on the box tells you this is the V2:

Opening the box, the headphone sits in a shaped foam insert with the cable and accessories tucked into the headband opening:

The box includes: the SV021 Pro V2 headphone, a dual 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable, a hemp storage bag, and a 3.5mm-to-6.35mm adapter.

The cable and adapter ship together, with the hemp bag doubling as their storage pouch:

The cable itself is a nicer braided affair than the plain description on the box suggests, colour-matched to the beechwood finish with clearly marked L/R connectors and a 6.35mm adapter:

It’s a decent-looking cable, and being dual 3.5mm it opens the door to plenty of aftermarket alternatives, but in daily use I found it a little stiff and noticeably microphonic — cable noise transmits up into the earcups more than I’d like when it brushes against clothing. It also only ships in single-ended 3.5mm form; there’s no balanced option in the box, so anyone wanting balanced output has to source one themselves. I’d recommend budgeting for a third-party replacement either way, but make sure whatever you pick is actually compatible with Sivga’s dual 3.5mm connectors — the stock cable that ships with the Sendy Audio Apollo Pro, for one, works well here.

The earcups themselves are the highlight. This unit is finished in the lighter beechwood option, with the Sivga logo set into a glossy wood cap:

Closer up, the wood grain and finish quality are impressive for the price:

Placed next to another wood-finished Sivga from my collection, the lighter beech finish is easy to distinguish:

The yoke and headband connection point is the same precision-machined hardware as the original, with clear L/R channel markings:

Fit and Comfort

At 289g on the spec sheet and 290g on my own kitchen scale, the weight is essentially unchanged from the original SV021 Pro, and the comfort story is largely the same too — genuinely excellent earpads, let down slightly by the headband:

The pads themselves remain deep and plush, easily accommodating larger ears without the driver ever touching them:

Sivga publish an informative diagram of the pad dimensions: a 95×107mm oval with a 65×73mm opening and 20mm of cushion depth, and the side profile shows a deliberate angle to that cushion rather than a flat slab:

That angled shape is exactly the same underlying philosophy Sivga use on the Luan — one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve tested at any price — and it’s a big part of why the SV021 Pro V2’s pads feel so good despite sitting on a much smaller headphone.

The one genuine fit caveat, and it’s worth being upfront about it, is the headband: it doesn’t swivel much, and the overall band is on the smaller side, so anyone with a larger head should try before buying if at all possible. It’s a similar story to the original — decent rather than exceptional padding on the band itself, in a package where the earpads are doing most of the comfort work. The pads do have some give to them, which gives smaller heads a bit of adjustment leeway that the fixed headband itself doesn’t provide — but with less overall adjustment range than most headphones offer, this is one I’d genuinely recommend trying on in person first if you can, rather than assuming it’ll fit.

Identifying the V2 Sample

I use “V2” here to distinguish this sample from the earlier SV021 Pro I reviewed. The packaging still says SV021 Pro, so the name alone will not identify it at a retailer. I have not opened the headphones to verify the internal changes. My evidence for the changed tuning is the listening comparison and the response overlay below; confirm the revision with the seller if that difference is the reason you are buying.

Sound Impressions

I’ve been listening to the SV021 Pro V2 for three weeks, largely in rotation with the Sendy Audio Apollo Pro. At 45Ω and 106dB it is easy to drive, so most of that time was straight out of an iPhone with the Apple dongle or a MacBook Pro, though I also ran it from desktop amplifiers including the Topping DX5 II, which is my current work-from-home favourite. The headline is straightforward: this sounds decent straight out of the box, which was not something I could say about the original without reaching for EQ first.

Bass

The bass carries real depth without losing control — a proper closed-back low end that has weight without ever turning boomy or one-note. On “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin, the bass line has good texture and grip, sitting underneath the mix rather than fighting for attention over it.

Midrange

The midrange is where I hear the retune most clearly compared to the original — smoother vocals, with none of the hollow, pulled-back quality that made the first SV021 Pro need correction. On “Come Down in Time” by Elton John, the vocal sits naturally in the mix with proper body, rather than sounding distant.

Treble

Treble is where most of my reservations sit. It sounds better controlled than the original, but I still would not choose this headphone for treble refinement. On “Her Majesty” (2019 mix) by The Beatles, it has enough air and clarity without sounding harsh to me; brighter recordings can be less forgiving. The peaks and dips below suggest an uneven response, but they do not prove that reflections are smearing detail.

Soundstage and Imaging

As a closed-back, the stage is understandably more contained than an open design, but imaging within that space is precise, and instruments hold their positions well. On “Roads” by Portishead, the vocal and the surrounding instrumentation stay clearly separated even in a fairly atmospheric, layered mix.

Comparisons

Here are three Sivga models together. The light beech V2 is on the left; the photo illustrates why colour alone is a poor guide to the revision:

The most obvious comparison is the original Sivga Robin SV021 Pro, and the two are close relatives with a genuinely different personality. Physically they’re near-identical — same 50mm driver, same 289g weight, same earcup shape, just a different wood finish here. Sonically, the V1 needed two or three EQ filters in the midrange and one in the treble to sound its best; this V2 doesn’t ask for that homework, with a smoother midrange and a more controlled treble straight out of the box. If you already own the original and are happy with your EQ settings, there’s no urgent need to upgrade — but for anyone buying fresh, the V2 is the easier recommendation. I’ve now reviewed three headphones in this “Robin SV021” family — the naming across the lineup gets confusing, and I’d forgive anyone for losing track of which is which — but of the three, this V2 is the one I’d point people toward.

Against FiiO’s FT1, the two land at roughly the same price. The SV021 Pro V2 is arguably the better-looking headphone of the pair, and its earpads are more comfortable, but the FT1 has the better bass of the two. Treble on both isn’t great — neither is a headphone I’d point to for treble refinement.

I preferred the Sennheiser HD480 Pro for its treble. Whether that is worth its higher price depends on how much this region bothers you. Here are the HD480 Pro, SV021 Pro V2 and FiiO FT1, with their pads shown alongside:

Against its Sendy Audio sibling, the Apollo Pro, the family relationship is obvious in the build quality and comfort philosophy, but the two occupy very different tiers. The Apollo Pro’s open-back planar driver gives it a spacious, airy presentation the closed-back SV021 Pro V2 was never going to match, and it costs more than double. What the SV021 Pro V2 does is bring a decent slice of that same Sivga comfort and finish quality down to $179.99, in a closed-back format that makes sense for anyone who needs isolation.

Against the Sivga Luan, the comfort comparison is the interesting one. The Luan’s earpads and headband remain the more complete comfort package in the Sivga family, with a headband mechanism that’s simply more accommodating than the SV021 Pro V2’s smaller, less flexible band. Sonically the two are different enough — the Luan’s open-back dynamic driver against this closed-back — that the choice really comes down to whether isolation matters to you.

Here is the wider Sivga and Sendy Audio collection, showing the different headband and earcup designs discussed above:

Specifications and Measurements

It reached the volume I needed from the Apple dongle and MacBook Pro used above. The published 106dB sensitivity lacks a power or voltage reference here, so I would base that conclusion on the sources tried rather than the number alone.

All measurements below were taken on my KB501X Soft Ear/Pinna with a 711 clone coupler, and are compensated against the KB501X diffuse-field target with a −1dB/octave tilt. Channel matching is tight between left and right:

Here is the V2 sample against my earlier SV021 Pro and the original Robin. The V2 has better bass than the earlier Pro, especially in the sub-bass, where it sits a few dB higher below 200Hz, and a much shallower presence-region dip. This supports the audible difference between my samples; it does not identify the internal modification responsible:

Against FiiO’s FT1, a headphone at roughly the same price:

The FT1 carries noticeably more bass than the SV021 Pro V2 through the sub-bass and mid-bass, which lines up with the fuller low end I heard from it. Neither headphone has a treble response I’d call a strength — both show the same kind of ragged behaviour above 5kHz rather than a clean, controlled top end.

Against the Sennheiser HD480 Pro, a considerably more expensive headphone:

The HD480 Pro has a less prominent upper-treble peak in this placement, consistent with my preference in listening. Exact peak heights above roughly 8kHz vary with position and ear geometry, so I would not use this single overlay as a ranking of treble resolution.

And a broader closed-back roundup against the HD480 Pro, the Meze 99 Classics V2, and the ZMF Bokeh Closed Caldera Hybrid, to put the SV021 Pro V2’s shape in context against other closed designs I’ve measured:

Distortion is a non-issue. Driven to roughly 100dB SPL, the second harmonic stays around 45–50dB below the fundamental across the range:

The percentage plot shows low harmonic distortion through most of the band, with small rises in the bass and treble. That supports trying modest EQ at similar levels, but it does not guarantee unlimited boost. Keep the suggested negative preamp and check for audible strain as you raise volume.

EQ Recommendation

The V2 does not need EQ the way the original did, but it still responds well to a light touch — mostly filling the dip through the presence region and taking some heat out of the top end. This is the stock response against the same profile with these filters applied:

Preamp: -3.9 dB
Filter 1: ON PK  Fc 210 Hz   Gain -3.5 dB  Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK  Fc 280 Hz   Gain  4.6 dB  Q 1.300
Filter 3: ON PK  Fc 1000 Hz  Gain -1.6 dB  Q 2.000
Filter 4: ON PK  Fc 2400 Hz  Gain  3.9 dB  Q 1.500
Filter 5: ON HSC Fc 9000 Hz  Gain -5.4 dB  Q 1.000

Filter 4 is doing most of the audible work, lifting the 2.4kHz region that the stock tuning leaves recessed, and the 9kHz high shelf pulls down the ragged top end rather than trying to correct each peak individually. That is deliberate: as with any closed back, those upper-treble peaks move around depending on how the headphone sits on your head, so a gentle shelf travels between listeners in a way that narrow notches copied from my measurements would not.

Rating Explanation

The Pragmatic Rating of 4 reflects a headphone that fixes the one real complaint I had about the original — the stock tuning — while keeping everything that made the SV021 Pro worth recommending in the first place: excellent earpad comfort, attractive wood finishes, and a closed-back design that’s easy to drive from anything. It’s marked down from a 5 for two things that both come back to fit and cabling: the headband and the cable. The Price Rating of 5 is straightforward at $179.99 for this level of finish and sound.

The Features Rating of 4 reflects two real, if minor, caveats: the stock cable is a little stiff and microphonic in daily use, and the headband doesn’t swivel much and runs on the smaller side, which matters if you have a larger head.

The Measurements Rating of 4 reflects what the graphs actually show: the retune has clearly worked through the midrange, but the treble still carries the peaks and dips that a better-controlled headphone like the HD480 Pro avoids, and that is what keeps it off a 5. The broader trend still counts for something — Sivga’s recent headphones are being tuned progressively better and this second pass is a clear example. I did suggest some optional EQ in the review but other than the treble being too bright, I feel this headphone’s stock tuning will suit many listeners.

This one is for anyone shopping around $180 for a closed-back with genuine wooden earcups and excellent comfort, provided the headband actually fits — it’s a genuine bargain if it does, and worth trying in person first if you have any doubt.

Conclusion

The Sivga Robin SV021 Pro V2 is an excellent bargain if the headband fits your head. Between the naming across this family being genuinely confusing and the “Robin” name reused across three different headphones, it’s easy to lose track of which is which — but having now reviewed all three, this V2 is, after a few attempts, the one where Sivga have finally landed on a genuinely nice-sounding closed-back.

The retune Sivga have applied since the original addresses the midrange issues that held that headphone back, and what’s left is a very decent sound signature, excellent comfort, and attractive wooden finishes — at $179.99, it’s hard to ask for much more.