SIVGA M260 USB-C Wired Earphones Review: Lossless Audio Made Simple
There's a moment I keep coming back to. I'm sitting at my desk, the SIVGA M260 earphones plugged into my iPhone via USB-C, and I'm listening to a track I've heard a hundred times(from Moby). Except it doesn't sound like a track I've heard a hundred times. It sounds like the first time. No compression artefacts smoothing over the edges. No Bluetooth connection quietly making decisions on my behalf about what I need to hear. Just the music, exactly as it was recorded, arriving without anything in the way.
But before I even got to the sound, something else happened. I put them in, the music started, and I just... stopped. No notifications pulling at the corner of my attention. No battery percentage to monitor. No algorithm deciding what comes next. Just me and whatever I'd chosen to play. It's a feeling I hadn't realised I'd been missing.
I've spent over twenty years working in the entertainment industry with audio at the centre of it. I've reviewed headphones for thirteen years. I own an Audio-Technica turntable that I've never stopped using because something about a stylus in a groove feels irreplaceable. And yet somewhere between true wireless earbuds, ANC modes and subscription streaming, I stopped actually listening to music. I started consuming it. There's a difference, and I'd forgotten what it was.
The M260 reminded me.
Why wired feels different in 2026
I know how that sounds. Nostalgic. Maybe a little contrarian. But there's real substance underneath the sentiment.
When you stream via Bluetooth, your audio goes through a compression codec — even the better ones like LDAC or aptX Lossless introduce a layer of processing between the recording and your ears. Your wireless earbuds also make constant micro-decisions: adjusting EQ curves, managing battery, maintaining a connection. All of this happens transparently and mostly well, but it's still a chain of interventions standing between you and the original recording.
Wired removes the chain. You get the signal as it comes. And when that wired connection includes a built-in DAC — a digital-to-analogue converter — specifically engineered for high-resolution audio, what arrives at your ears can be genuinely extraordinary.
The USB-C version of the M260 includes a built-in Realtek ALC5686 DAC supporting up to 32-bit/384kHz Hi-Res audio. What that means in practice is this: plug the M260 into a modern iPhone via USB-C and you're listening to Apple Lossless — true lossless, not a compressed approximation — decoded properly, without needing a separate dongle or DAC amp sitting in your bag. The phone, the cable and the earphones do the whole job. Cleanly, quietly, without fuss.
That simplicity is, I think, exactly the point.
The design: when something looks the way it sounds
The M260 arrived and I spent a moment just looking at it before I even plugged in. That sounds odd, but stay with me.
The build quality stopped me. For £45 this is an exceptionally well-crafted object. The metallic finish has a solidity to it that you don't expect at this price point — no plasticky flex, no lightweight feel that makes you quietly worry about longevity. It feels like something made by people who care about what they're making, which — given that SIVGA designs and builds everything in-house — turns out to be exactly the case.
The SIVGA M260 has a classic flat earbud design with a silver cable and black foam covers.
The flat earbud shape immediately took me back to the white earphones that came in the box with an early iPod. That slightly clinical, purely purposeful design. No driver housing shaped like a spaceship. No aggressive silicone tip trying to create a seal deep in your ear canal. Just two small, beautifully finished flat discs on the end of a cable, sitting in your ear exactly as nature intended.
And here's something I didn't expect: I can wear them for hours without any discomfort whatsoever. That's not something I can say about most of my wireless earbuds, where the silicone tips start to create pressure and irritation after an extended session. The flat design distributes the contact differently and your ear simply doesn't fatigue. I've put the M260 in for an afternoon of work and genuinely forgotten they were there — in the best possible way.
The carry case that comes in the box deserves a mention too. It's a small Oxford fabric pouch, compact enough to slip into a jacket pocket, and genuinely cute in a way that feels considered rather than an afterthought. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to take the earphones out with you. Little details like that tell you a lot about a brand.
The cable itself is a 4N silver-plated OFC cable — high-purity oxygen-free copper with a silver plating that ensures clean signal transmission. The MMCX connectors are detachable, meaning if the cable ever wears out you can replace it without replacing the earphones. In an era of designed obsolescence, that's a quiet act of respect for the person buying them.
The gold and silver finish gives the M260 a distinctive look, especially for a wired earphone at this price.
How they actually sound
At the heart of the M260 is a 14.2mm dynamic driver with a copper-ring composite bio-diaphragm, a CCAW voice coil for faster transient response, and an N50 neodymium magnet for precise control across the full frequency range. The spec sheet reads impressively. The reality is better.
The sound is balanced without being clinical, warm without being soft, and spacious in a way that flat earbuds genuinely shouldn't be able to achieve. Vocals sit forward and clear — particularly noticeable on acoustic recordings and anything with real dynamic range. Bass is present and controlled rather than exaggerated for effect. It's the kind of tuning that rewards better source material, which is precisely what you want from something sitting at the end of a lossless audio chain.
Frequency response runs from 20Hz to 20kHz with 118dB sensitivity and 16Ω impedance, which means it drives easily from any modern phone without any need for additional amplification. No DAC amp on your desk. No dongle stack. Just the phone, the cable, the earphones — and music that sounds like the people who made it intended it to sound.
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Check price on Amazon →The turntable in the corner
I mentioned my Audio-Technica turntable and I want to come back to it, because it's the real context for why the M260 landed the way it did.
I never stopped using it because vinyl listening is deliberate. You choose a record. You take it out of the sleeve. You place the needle. You sit down. The whole ritual is incompatible with multitasking, which is — I've come to understand — precisely why I kept going back to it even as my listening elsewhere became entirely wireless and algorithmically driven.
The M260 gives me something similar in earphone form. Not the ritual of the record, but the intentionality of the wire. Plugging in is a small decision. A quiet declaration that you're about to listen rather than just have music on. There's no battery to check, no pairing sequence, no notification asking whether you'd like to switch devices. You plug in and the music starts. That's the whole transaction.
I'm not going to tell you wireless audio has no place — my review history speaks for itself on that front. But I'll tell you that I've been more present in the music I've listened to since the M260 arrived than I have been in years. And that, from someone who spent two decades making sure other people heard sound properly, means something.
The M260 earbuds are compact, lightweight and easy to identify thanks to the clear left and right markings.
Who Should Buy the SIVGA M260 USB-C?
This is ideal if you use an iPhone 15, iPhone 16, USB-C iPad, MacBook or Android phone and want better sound without buying a separate DAC. It also makes sense if you miss the simplicity of wired earphones and want something better built than the cheap USB-C earphones usually sold online.
It Might Not Be For You If…
The SIVGA M260 USB-C is a wired earphone, and that is both its strength and its limitation. If you want active noise cancelling, transparency mode, app controls, multipoint Bluetooth, or the freedom to walk around without a cable, this is not the product for you.
The flat earbud design also means you do not get the same level of passive noise isolation as you would from silicone in-ear tips. I personally find this design more comfortable for long listening sessions, but if you mainly listen on busy trains, planes, or noisy streets, you may prefer something that seals more deeply in the ear.
And of course, there is the wire. I actually like that deliberate, plugged-in feeling, but I know some people will find it less convenient after years of true wireless earbuds.
The inline remote gives you simple physical controls without needing to touch your phone.
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The SIVGA M260 is available in two versions: a 3.5mm version at £39.90 and the USB-C version I've been using at £45.00. Both come with four pairs of ear tips and that lovely little Oxford fabric carry case.
The USB-C version is the one I'd point you to without hesitation. The built-in Realtek DAC alone justifies the small price difference, and if you're on a modern iPhone or current Android device, you're getting genuine hi-res lossless audio from your pocket without buying anything else alongside it.
The USB-C version of the SIVGA M260 plugs directly into modern iPhones, iPads and Android phones.
Conclusion
The SIVGA M260 USB-C is not trying to replace every wireless earbud in your life. That is not the point. What it does is remind you how good simple wired listening can feel when the design, comfort and sound are handled properly. For $45/ £45, it feels considered, well made and genuinely enjoyable. More importantly, it made me want to sit down and listen again. That is probably the best compliment I can give it.
Jerome.
The SIVGA M260 wired earphones deliver true hi-res lossless audio on any modern iPhone via USB-C — no dongle, no fuss. A former entertainment audio professional shares why this $45/£45 purchase changed how he listens to music.