Reviews by hokagoteatimereviews
Introduction :-
EA1000 you probably might have heard about it if you are in the hobby. This is the new hyped up iem from SIMGOT in 2023. Is it that good? Well ya! SIMGOT has been on a roll this year with all their product launched this year being universally praised and for all the right reasons.
This is my second SIMGOT product so I am really excited for these! Lets find out!
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Would like to say a big thanks to SIMGOT for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build, Comfort and Accessories:-
- They come in a great packaging where in you are greeted by this opening mechanism and a message from the CEO and also about the fermat theorem. Oh this iem has some maths in its name.
- They retail for the price of $220
- They have a case, two pairs of same tips, a gorgeous cable, replaceable nozzle rings, three different types of filters with one being applied to the iem out of the box and the IEM.
- Sadly the cable isnt a modular one and at this price range I would have expected it to have one. But the cable is absolutely fantastic and gorgeous and it is so malleable for daily use. Fantastic cable from simgot.
- The iems are built like a tank and they look absolutely gorgeous and also they have this gorgeous glass faceplate. Generally I am not a fan of logo or names on faceplate but this simgot logo I think looks really good here
- The case is really basic, I would have liked a better case with a zipper for better security when chucking it in the bag
- The tips aren't ok, but they should have provided with more tips than usual and whats weird is that they have the same type of tips twice. A pair of foam tips would have been nice.
- They are really comfortable to wear although a bit weighty on the ear, but your fit might vary depending on the tips. For me the stock tips didn’t fit at all I had to resort to KZ foam tips
- Depending on the size of the foam tips I wore the isolation was ranging above average to some of the best
- These have driver flex (atleast for me) specially on the right side
- The nozzle length is quite small and it causes some fit issues hence the reason I wear foam tips
- These have one 10mm Dynamic driver and one Passive Radiator
Sound Impressions:-
- Well It follows the harman sound signature with a variance on the upper mids and treble depending on the filter and also the PR makes a difference as to how the bass is heard.
- There are three nozzle I will be using the red nozzle for entire sound impressions.
- Black Nozzle has the brightest tuning this is for trebleheads
- Gold Nozzle has very sharp upper mids but the treble is a bit tamed this could be for someone loves very sharp female vocals
- Red Nozzle brings down the upper mids a bit below than usual and this improves the treble extension while maintaining the overall beautiful treble of the iem.
- These have fantastic timbre as expected form a DD!
- I used the Fiio BTR5, Hiby FC6, Muse HIFI M4, Razer USB-C dongle dac, My smartphone
- It pairs very well with a warm source like the Hiby FC6. They make a fantastic pair
- They are very easy to drive although they do scale well with more power.
Bass-
- The sub-bass is ok, for songs like “Waltz By Sunny” I would like a bit of more punch and rumble in this region. But this is by no means to say that sub-bass isn't enough for me to enjoy. I personally would have enjoyed a bit of more sub-bass
- These are a bit mid-bass focused hence it shines over here. When listening to “Waltz by Sunny” or “Crack Crack Crackle By Classy” it shines over here. There is no mid-bass bleed
- The bass is very well textured and the quality of the bass is very nice.
- Instruments from song like “Galactic Funk” and “Looking Up” the 1985 live edition By Casiopea sounds very good. Specially Tetsuo Sakurai’s Bass sound just right over here. And if you listen to it with even larger foam tips the experience is even more elevated here.
Mids-
- The overall mids is on the back seat as expected as it follows the harman tuning. But it is not that far behind that you wouldn't enjoy the vocals
- The male vocals Like Chris Cornell, Bill Wither and Leonard Cohen sounds really good and their thick voice comes across really well but it does sound a tad bit behind the instruments
- The female vocals as expected sound absolutely fantastic! Hako Yamasaki’s “Ano yume Ni” sounds really good but this fantastic vocals could be a bit much for some even with the red filter. I am absolutely fine with it.
Treble-
- The treble is really good! They have fantastic quality and details in this region with the black this could be a treblehead iem.
- Treble here sounds really detailed, but for some this could be a bit sharp in this region specially at higher volumes
- It has fantastic treble extension, probably even beats my 7hz Timeless AE which is a planar iem
Technalities:-
These are fantastic here, when listening to 1985 live album these are a class leader in my opinion at the $200 price point.
Soundstage:-
These have fantastic soundstage when listening to soundtracks from the same 1985 live album form casiopea it feels so immersive. They have great depth and also width for the soundstage.
Imaging:-
When listening to yumeji by Nano.Ripe it has this great starting instrument section playing on the behind of your left side and the same thing a bit near on the right side and it sounds just so good and right. Exceptional!
Gaming Test:-
- Due to the fantastic soundstage and imagine these sound really good and I think they make a great gaming IEM.
- The situational awareness and the hearing your enemies around the corner is really great with these. But when there is a lot of gunshots happening it could be shouty for many and cause ear fatigue for the treble region.
Recommendation:-
- SIMGOT has been doing some awesome stuff in 2023 the EA1000 is an example of that. They have done a great job here with overall iem here
- Although I can somewhat understand the lack of modular cable but providing duplicate eartips while not supplying foam tips and some double flanged tips was a bit weird. But once you get a good fit these do sound awesome.
- If worn with a foam tip and paired with a warm source these do sound really really good. A quality bass with wide soundstage and great imaging and excellent treble extension.
- It does a great job of sounding clear overall while having a fun signature and letting me enjoy the songs on my playlist.
- These are a must buy in my opinion if you are shopping at the $200 or even $300 range or atleast they need to be on the top of your shopping list if you are shopping in this range.
Again a big thanks to SIMGOT for making this review possible. They have had no inputs in this review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction:-
The Only Fan you will ever need!
Today I will review the Penon Fan 2. I have heard a lot of Penon as a company and as to how they make some of the amazing IEM at their respective price range. Penon started as a cable manufacturer and then they started making IEM’s. The Penon Serial, The Penon Globe, Penon 10th anniversary and most of their IEM’s have a separate fan base including today’s star of the show the Fan 2.
When I got the opportunity to review the Fan 2 I was giddy and I was very excited for this review and glad to say that excitement only increased when I heard it more and more.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Would like to say a big thanks to Penon for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
You can buy the Penon Fan 2 here (Unaffiliated Link)
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Lets get started!
Build Quality, Comfort, Accessories:-
1. They come in a simple yellow box which has the big protective case which has cutouts for the iem and the cable.
2. It also comes with 3 sets of tips among which includes 2 pairs of foam tips, a shirt clip, cable tie and a cleaning tool
3. These added accessories are really great, I wish more companies did it.
4. The case although big and impractical for pocketing it daily, it is great for carrying the iem around in the bag. The cut-out can be removed from the case.
5. The cable that it comes with is the Penon OS133 which retails for around $40 and is a fantastic cable! It doesn’t have any ear hooks but they are top notch when it comes to quality. But at this price range they should have come with a modular cable. I have the 3.5mm, but you can choose between 2.5mm, 3.5mm or 4.4mm
6. Beware of the reverse polarity when using the cable as there are no ear hooks you might use it wrong with the fan 2
7. They retail for around $279
8. The face plates of the Iem looks really good! They are so photogenic.
9. One big issue is the nozzle length they are quite big and many might have issues with it, I didn’t have issues with it that much. But for greater comfort I started using the wide bore tips from the geek wold gk20 and they opened the treble a bit and they offer better comfort too. I highly suggest going a size or 2 down than you normally wear because of their fit.
10. After some tip rolling these fit like a glove to me almost feels like a custom IEM for my ears now. The isolation is really really good, probably the best I have had.
11. Although they are comfortable and I tip rolled I can wear them for maybe an hour or two after which I would have to take them out. Which even generally is a good idea to do.
12. The Fan 2 has 4 drivers
2 x 6mm DDs for the lows
1 x Sonion BA for midrange
1 x Knowles BA for treble
13. They are really really easy to drive
14. They don’t have any driver flex
Sound Impressions:-
1. Overall they sound mildly W shape with a tinge of bass boost. But yet they are overall very neutral
2. In the sea of Harman tuned iems the fan 2 is a breath of fresh air
3. They are probably the most coherent iem I have ever listened to, its just so good! The bass, mids and the treble all lie in the same plane and it is so refreshing to hear that.
4. I paired the fan 2 with the Fiio Btr5, Muse Hifi M4, Hiby FC6, Razer USB-C Dongle Dac, My smartphone
5. With the fc6 and fan 2 paired together I cannot take them out of my ears! They sound so good. The warmness and sound signature of the fc6 and the coherency of the fan 2 matches so well. This setup sounds so analogue and it reminds of the old speakers I heard as a kid.
6. The analogue nature of the FC6 and the Fan 2 are a match made in heaven.
7.The sound the Fan 2 produces is very very very tip dependent. So it can defer for others specially depending on your ears anatomy.
8. Has a slight BA timbre
9. The overall tonality of the IEM is perfect!
Bass-
- The overall bass is just shy of neutral
- In tracks like “Waltz by Sunny” or “Crack Crack Crackle by Classy”. But that doesn’t mean the bass isn't good, the bass has fantastic quality the texture of the bass is absolutely fantastic and it hits really cleanly but it lacks that punch and thump I personally would like for these songs.
- The sub-bass is hear lacks that punch and thump but has that great quality I talked about previously
- The mid-bass is also very good here, it has that good overall texture continued over here. They have more of a mid-bass than the sub-bass. So if you like a good mid-bass than the sub-bass this is the iem for you.
- The overall bass although lacks that punch and thump I am generally accustomed too, but I am never wanting for more in the fan 2. Both the sub-bass and mid-bass has that great analogue speaker like texture which I really love. This isn't a basshead iem.
- When listening to the 1985 Live Album By Casiopea it had amazing instrument textures specially the bass played.
Mids-
- They have really good mids overall
- But when listening to Chris Cornell, Bill Withers although it sounds good and their rich voice has really good texture present, I personally would have liked it a bit more presence here.
- Female vocals surprisingly sound ok here, but I am someone who likes their female vocals to be borderline shrilly. For example Hako Yamasaki “Ano yume Ni” although her voice sounds good it doesn’t have that richness over in the fan 2 another song I would like to say is “Happy End Princess” by Sumire Uesaka (Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari OP)
- But this controlled upper mids is also a boon to those people who are very sensitive to upper mids like most chi-fi iems out there. This allows them to enjoy the
- But the overall coherency of the vocals with the other parts of the song is really good be it male vocals or female vocals. It sounds very controlled, maybe thats a trade off here.
Treble-
- It has quite a good of openness here and sparkle here without being too much in the face
- It is not the most airy iem out there
- Although I wouldn’t call it a dark treble but it has an overall very smooth treble. This is a boon to people who don’t like sibilant treble found in most chi-fi iems
- The treble extension in my opinion is not the best out there. This isn’t a treblehead iem
Technicalities:-
They are quite average when it comes to technicalities. It does struggle with songs when they get too busy, but overall they are bang on average
Soundstage:-
- It is a bit weird over here. That is it has no width for the soundstage but the depth of the soundstage is very very good and it is evident when I am listening to “Asayake 1985 live by Caisopea”.
- But then again this is a boon for those people who like narrow soundstage for iem’s as there are many who likes that in an iem. I am someone who loves a big and wide soundstage and this doesn’t have that, it has a cramped soundstage.
Imaging:-
The imaging and the layering of the sound is fantastic in my opinion. The “1985 live album by Casiopea” sounds amazing here because of it very good imaging.
Gaming Test:-
They are quite average when gaming, for the occasional sessions they are quite ok I wouldn’t suggest buying them for that.
Recommendation:-
1, The Fan 2 are a fantastic iem, they are the most coherent iem I have ever heard.
2. They don’t offend anyone in any way but also is really enjoyable. It sounds really analogue and pairs really well the a warm sounding source like the Hiby FC6 . Although not the best female vocals out there but there I still keep them in my ears, there is just something about them.
3. I think so you should definitely try to buy the Fan 2 or atleast keep them on the top of the list when shopping for an iem at this price range. In the sea of harman tuned iems the Fan 2 stands out by being something different which is awesome. While it might not suite certain genres like modern day J-pop or some female vocals that much it still sound very coherent and is an excellent iem for easy listening daily.
Again a big thanks to Penon for making this review possible. They have had no inputs in this review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have a great day ahead
hokagoteatimereviews
True. But using a wide bore tip like I did, does help quite a bit.
Introduction:-
Hello guys, today I will be reviewing the newly launched dac from Muse Hifi the Muse Hifi M4. Muse Hifi is a new hifi brand who has launched quite a few dongle dacs in the past and also launched a few iems. Their last dongle dac the M3 was rated quite high by other reviewers.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
I am a small reviewer, I would really appreciate if you could support me via YouTube
The M4 looks absolutely stunning in its transparent cover. Its an eye catcher for sure!
The front and back are made of glass and the entire chassis is made out of aluminium
This review will be a bit different from my usual reviews and it won be following in particular format rather I will talk about the specs and physical appearance a bit and then talk about the dac in general and how it sounds. I will be showing the relative pictures on the screen when talking about some the controls etc.
Before I start I would like to say a big thanks to Hifigo for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
You can buy the Muse Hifi M4 below (unaffiliated links) :-
Hifigo Web :- https://hifigo.com/products/muse-hifi-m4
Amazon USA :- https://www.amazon.com/HiFiGo-M4-Headphone-ES9038Q2M-Amplifiers/dp/B0CLRPTP71
So lets start with the review!
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Review:-
1. Inside the box there is the M4, a guide and a C-A cable, Sadly there isn't a case or clip on case nor a c-c cable inside the box. These all are additional purchase, while I can understand the case being an additional purchase its really weird that the c-c cable isn't inside the box. I would have liked it if they had provided me a clip on case like the fiio btr5, c-c cable and c-a plug for PC rather than a single usb c-a cable.
2. What makes M4 more exciting is it just has all the all the terminations that is 2.5, 3.5, 4.4. Below the terminations is the omnidirectional mic works in bluetooth mode and not in wired mode. Also the M4 supports headset controls and also supports the mic of the headset, that is when a mic enabled iem is connected to it the mic of the iem is prioritised over the M4’s (If you want to listen to the microphone test it is given on my YouTube video, please do check it out)
3. Also it has the Qualcomm QCC5125 Chipset which supports BT 5.1. The codec support is LDAC, APTXHD, aptx, aptxLL, aptx adaptive, aac, sbc. I would have preffered Bt 5.4 or atleast Bt 5.3 in 2023 as qualcomm has already launched the relative bluetooth chip for them in the market.
4. It has “SCC” Intelligent Smart Switching architecture. Basically meaning that the M4 tries to match the same output when in bluetooth as in wired mode. I personally found the gap to be a lot less apparent when compared to my Fiio Btr5, I do think it works as intended but there is still a difference in sound.
5. It has the ESS ES9038Q2M dac and the amp used is ES9603Q and it supports upto 384k sampling mode, DSD256 and upto MQA 8x unfolding in Usb c dac mode.
6. The power output is about 160mw in 3.5 and 320mw in 4.4 and 2.5
7. It weighs around 73 grams
8. In the front it has 2 blinking LED’s on left and right which blinks during the boot to show the volume level and there is a memory for the volume level. Those 2 led’s turns blue when switching to high gain mode and they stay red when in normal gain.
9. Also when switching the filters these LED’s blinks 1 time for the first filters and 2 times for second filters and so and so forth when you cycle between its seven filters.
10. The bluetooth shaped light blinks when the device is connected and nothing is playing and it stops blinking when something is palying
11. On the back it has a NFC which can be used to pair the device. Granted you have a NFC capable device
12. On the bottom there are two usb c ports where in one is meant for charging and other is meant for using it in wired mode. When in wired mode the M4 to conserve battery pulls 20% of its power from the device and 80% of its power from the its internal battery rated at 1100mah. Although I personally love this option what I would also like if additional to this there was an option to charge the smartphone I am connected to and use the M4 or use the M4 in wired mode without using its internal battery at all. Sadly it doesn’t support that.
13. Above the two usb c ports is the charging indicator which is lit red when charging and lit blue when fully charged.
14. In the wired mode for some reason any c-c cable I had didn’t work I had to use the cable supplied in the box and also use an OTG adapter for it work.
15. I can charge the M4 separately when its connected in wired mode.
16. On the left side there is sampling rate light which lights as shown In the screen now. The sampling lights are only shown in wired mode and not in Bluetooth mode.
17. Below the sampling led, the power button functions as play/pause button and also accept and reject call by single press but these don’t work when connected in wired mode as I said before.
18. There is also a gain switch below the power button. It has 60 volume steps.
19. on the right side there is a reset button which can be used using a sim ejector pin
20. below that is the next and previous button which doesn’t support fast forward or rewind. Also in wired mode the play/pause, next and previous track controls doesn’t work but the filter change and the mute button works.
21. Below it is the volume up and down button. Long pressing the volume up button mutes it and long pressing the volume down button toggles between the 7 filters. And yes these functions do work in wired mode too along with bluetooth.
22. I personally didn’t find any difference between the 7 existing filters, but I did feel that the 4th filter sounded a bit good with vocals and sounded a tad bit warm. Maybe a placebo effect? and my entire testing was done with the 4th filter.
23. While it is hard to tell how a dac sounds but when A-b-ing it with other sources I find the M4 to be clean and neutral with a pinch of warmness on it which sounds really good.
24. I paired my entire collection with the M4, what surprised me was the KZ Castor with a 4.4mm cable it sounded really good and rounded and that KZ castor bass hit really hard.
25. Pairing it with the Penon fan 2 was really good it had the same cohrence I love from fan 2 and the soundstage seemed quite apt here.
26. With the 7hz timeless AE it sounded really good and it kept that planar bass which I love and also the planar shimmer I love. It had ample power to drive it even in 3.5mm.
26. I got around 7 hours of battery life when using a moondrop chu 2 via 3.5mm in bluetooth mode and the volume being around 30%
27. There are no audible noise floor I have come across weather in BT or wired mode. It has a signal to noise ratio of 118db via the 3.5mm and 115 via the 2.5 & 4.4
28. The M4 although really pocketable a bit large than it competitor like the fiio btr5. Also I would have liked a shirt clip inside the box with it so that I could use it when out and about something like the fiio has.
29. The transparent glass front though looks fantastic makes me a bit scared handling it daily specially when any type of case is not included.
30. A small screen to let me know the which filters I have selected and which volume level I am at would be nice as all these things are done by blinking of the Led’s which is a bit hard.
31. I think so the overall the M4 is really nice device and is like a swiss army knife of Dongle dac’s. I really like the features it has and the sound it produces. If it could fix and add some features I mentioned it would probably make it even better. Don't get me wrong even with its few flaws this is still my pick for under $100 specially if you want bluetooth.
32. So yeah that was my review of the M4, I hope you liked my review. I am exactly someone who would use this device on the go daily. I really love the versatility it offers. Just hoped there was a shirt clip and a usb c-c cable was inlcuded in the box rather than a separate purchase.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day ahead! Bye!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Hifigo for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction:-
Hello guys today I will be sharing my review on the Hiby M300.
You might know Hiby from their different types of DAP and also dongle dac’s. So Hiby opened a new company called “Hiby Digital” for making stuff for Gen Z or younger generations. I am a Gen Z’er
, so lets see how this Dap is.I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
This review will be a bit different from my usual reviews and i won't be following in particular format rather I will talk about the specs and physical appearance a bit and then talk about the dap in general and how it sounds
The M300 is a very unique dap as it is a compact android dap at a sort of an affordable price of $199 and it as the same processor used in the more expensive android dap’s which is the Qualcomm Snaprdragon 665, 3gb ram, 32gb internal storage expandable via micro SD card upto 2tb and android 13.
The M300 reminds me of the Fiio M6, which was released about 6 years ago I guess and it ran android 6. I always wanted a compact android dap which can play my audiobooks, podcast and music. And the hiby does that with m300 over here. This goes one step beyond and adds some other features too which I will talk about later in this review.
You can buy the Hiby M300 here
Would like to say a big thanks to Hiby for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Review:-
1. It has a glass display on which a screen protector is already applied, which is awesome. Generally its hard to find a screen protector for a new device like this, so its nice its included in the box.
2. The overall frame is made out of aluminium and the back is glass too, although it feels a bit cheap to hold when compared to holding a smartphone but remember the price point and it is a dap.
3. It has lanyard hole and also a FN button which you can customise in the software. For example disabling all the physical buttons except the power button or immediately starting a voice recording.
4. It has power button, volume up and down, play and pause, next and fast forward but no previous track button or rewind button which is very odd.
5. Also the button positioning is very weird as there are two buttons the top one being play/pause and the down button is fast forward/next. Generally it is 3 buttons with the top button being previous/rewind, middle button being play/pause and the down button being fast forward/next.
6. Hiby supports SRC, and rather than me talking about it I will leave a detailed reply form hiby about SRC below
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hib...discussion-thread.970428/page-2#post-17816663
7. The player is very pocketable as it is only about 113 mm tall and only 15mm wide and it weighs about 136gms. The screen is only 4 inch and the resolution is 640x1280. It has only a 3.5mm jack which outputs about 103mw ( I will be coming back to this later) and has a CS43131 dac. It supports playback upto DSD 256 and PCM 32bit.
8. Although I cannot find differences in sound that much but A-B ing with various sources which I have it does feel like it has a warm sound signature a mild v shape. Quite analogue sounding and listening to it is very enjoyable, now this is very good as this is made for people when they are out and I want something fun sounding when out and about.
9. The battery capacity is 2000mah and the battery life Is claimed to be about 29 hours on a single charge by Hiby, I did some test and I got around 34 hours with some mods I applied which I will talk about in a future video when I share some tips and tricks about it and 22 hours when using it in stock mode. I played the music at around 35% volume and screen was off, also the iem used for testing was the moondrop chu 2
10. The player has a microphone for voice recording which is quite good, I will play a small sample one from me talking to it like a mic and other keeping it on the table.
11. This also has a speaker but sadly, the speaker in my unit isn't working and hiby was kind enough to replace it and give me a new unit. But due to the high shipping cost and the lengthy process required I skipped it. Hiby assured me that since this was a pre-production unit hence the issue, production unit won’t be having it and they are already working on rectifying the problem in the manufacturing process if there were any.
12. It also has FM radio and it supports FM recording
13. I know many people don’t like the idea of an android daps, specially one which has FM radio, speaker and a mic. But I love this idea, if this isn't something you like you can look at an alternate model called the hiby r3 ii
14. the stock hiby music app is quite good, and it is ok for everything I do. Although it doesn’t support play all the albums of an artist. But then again it doesn’t matter you can use any music player of your choice, I personally used UAPP during the testing and it worked flawlessly. You can also use poweramp
15. The USB port is USB 3.2 Gen 2, which Is awesome it’s something you don’t see on $1000+ smartphones. Here it makes more sense as we can transfer huge amount of data easily from your pc.
16. It has BT 5.0 and it supports aac, ldac, sbc and Aptx support will be added via an update as of this review it doesn’t support aptx. I tried using aac and ldac and the range was standard and I was quite happy with it.
17. Talking about the power when connected via the headphone jack, it has OK power in my opinion. It drove all my iems quite well and I had no issues iems like the BGVP P05, 7hz Timeless AE and the Tanchjim Kara had to be pushed a little hard. Also if you buy this, its is very important that you remember this that they are two volumes one is master volume and other is a listening volume. I made a mistake first where my listening volume was full and I thought it wasn't supplying enough power to my iems. But you have to max out the master volume and then use the listening volume accordingly. The master volume is of 15 steps and the listening volume there is 100 steps.
When using the bluetooth devices the listening volume stops working and only the master volume works. So be careful when using it.
18. I personally have been using this device a lot to listen to audiobooks and podcasts and also some occasional music and it has worked great. It not having sim slot or camera has kept me quite without any distraction when listening to my audiobook or podcast and working.
19. I know many work places doesn’t allow smartphone but people need something for music or their audiobooks or podcasts. This is a great device specially if pair it with a bluetooth earbuds.
20. Thats my review of the Hiby M300, I personally really like this device. I am exactly the target audience for this, but I do understand as to what some hardcore enthusiasts would want probably more power and a 4.4mm. The dap itself is not powerful (Although it drove my iems without any issues) , but in my opinion thats ok. Because it isn't trying to be the best sounding device out there it is trying to balance portability along with a decent audio output. Now if you want something like that this is great if not the Hiby R3 ii is where you should look at the same price point or probably an more expensive android DAP.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Hiby for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction:-
Hi guys, Today I will be reviewing the Gizaudio X Binary Chopin. This is collab between Timmy from Gizaudio and Binary. Binary is very unknown company but this is their first launch outside their home market. They decided the first iem would be a collab, honestly that could be a quite a good idea.
Lets find out more about this iem!
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Before I start the review I would like to say a big thanks to HIFIGO for sending me this loaner unit. After the review it goes back to them. Hifigo.com could be your one stop hub for most of the desktop amps, dacs and any iems of your choice. They have everything you need for the budding audiophile or for the most season audiophile out there at every range. A big thanks to them and please check them out in the unaffiliated links given below the like button.
Hifigo Website - https://hifigo.com/products/gizaudio-binary-chopin
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/HiFiGo-Gizaudio-Chopin-Monitors-Distinction/dp/B0CLVGXXQM?th=1
But rest be assured all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own and they had no input for this review, nor are they having a copy of approval for this review.
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Accessories, Build Quality and Comfort:-
- The case provided is very good and sturdy but impractical for everyday use. Although good for protecting the iem if you keep it in a bag
- Lack of tips at this price range, pre-order gets the divinus velvet tips and after that normal users get the softears UC tips. Would have been nice if there were at least foam tips included with that.
- No Modular cable, at this price point I expect a modular cable. The Cable has a chin cinch
- The IEM is very sturdily built and the weird shape is very comfortable to wear
- The overall shell is quite small and very lightweight
- The nozzle although quite deep but the diameter is small and hence ok for people with smaller ears.
- The chopin has 4 drivers
An 8 mm ceramic diaphragm DD for the bass.
A custom-tailored BA for the midrange.
A pair of customized BA drivers harmonize the treble frequencies.
They are held together via a dedicated 3 frequency RC filter band.
Sound Signature:-
- I have used the stock tips and the Moondrop Chu 2 cable as I had gotten a 4.4mm termination cable and I don’t have a 4.4mm source as of now.
- I used the Fiio btr5 for my source which is a very neutral source.
- These are not hard to drive but nor are they easy to drive, a decent dongle would be needed for its full potential to shine.
- The overall sound signature of the iem is U shape with an overall very natural tone and timbre
- There is a slight BA timbre which I have noticed.
Bass -
- It has a slight mid bass tuck and sub bass is a bit more prominent
- I personally found the sub bass to be quite good and it has that rumble and kick.
- Due to the mid bass tuck the overall bass regions lacks a bit of punch and oomph when I need it.
- But this smooth mid bass has an advantage where in it doesn’t bleed into the mids and does mess up the mids that much. For me personally I would like a bit of mid bass, but for those who don’t this is a good match
Midrange -
- The midrange is recessed, but because the mid-bass is recessed it does come forward.
- Instruments sounds very good in these and I could pick out all the instruments played in a song and enjoy them to the fullest. For example playing “Galactic Funk” By casiopea was a treat to listen. The iem is very good for classical music, I was very happy while listening to classical music from vivaldi, chopin, edward greig, beethoven, mozart etc.
- The Male vocals gives me the depthness and the great texture of Chris Cornells and Bill Withers voice, But sometimes in certain songs it feels like the vocals are set behind and I don’t enjoy it to the fullest.
- I like my female vocals to be forward and shimmery but this doesn’t do that. Now for some this could be a good thing as many people are not so tuned with the super forward upper mids and love a laid back listen. For example when I am listening to “Ano Yume Ni” by Hako Yamasaki her superb voice wasn't really captured quite well here and it let me longing for more.
- Depending on the type of female vocals you like this could be purely down to personal choice
Treble -
- Treble is very smooth and dark
- The treble overall isn't that shimmery and lacks that spicyness I generally want and that is good thing for many out there who are affected by that spicy or shimmery treble.
- I personally would have liked a bit more from here as many instruments sound a bit laid back in this region and sound a bit dampened.
- Again depending on the type of treble you want this could be a very good thing, as many out there prefer this darker shade of treble
- The treble isn't that airy and there is a bit of lack of treble extension, a bit of treble extension in my opinion would have helped it a lot.
Technicalities -
They are very good when it comes to this. The overall resolution was quite good although not as good as a planar iem, although in some very hard to play songs when a lot was happening it felt a bit too much and it felt a bit lost again this a nitpick for the price range but it deserves a small mention.
Soundstage -
Soundstage is quite ok, although it has a good height in soundstage the depthness and the overall width was quite lacking. Again this is purely a matter of choice as many prefer this intimate soundstage when wearing an iem. I personally prefer a very wide and spacious soundstage.
Imaging -
The imaging is very good for this price range. It was great for listening to live songs and also when watching any media like action movies etc. it was really engaging.
Gaming Test -
For gaming I would say these perform really good as the darker treble and the great imaging plays a big hand for its awesome gaming chops. When playing FPS games I was very happy with the footsteps and having an idea of the surroundings. Also In busy sequences it didn’t feel piercy and was great in handling those. Pairing it with a boom mic cable from Kinera will make this a great gaming iem.
Comparisons & Recommendation:-
- V/S Truthear Nova – I personally prefer the nova because of its female vocals. But in a perfect world I would generally have both as chopin is great for certain genres like classical and it also makes a very good gaming iem paired with a boom mic cable.
- V/S Kara – The Kara has better female vocals but the overall bass in kara leaves a lot to be desired when compared to the chopin.
- Overall the chopin does certain genre like classical and rock very well for me, but the dark female vocals and treble leaves a lot to be desired for me.
- Now again this could be the only iem for those who likes an overall darker signature in terms of upper mids and treble.
- Please do keep the negatives and positives in mind when making a choice, as no iem is one choice fits for all.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Hifigo for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Attachments
Introduction:-
Hello Guys, today I am going to review the GeekWold GK20. You might not have heard of the name of GeekWold. Their previous IEM the GK10 was highly regarded as being one of the best IEM under $200 in terms of technicalities. The GK10 costs around $99. There were very few people who had reviewed it. Also recently there was a GK100 which launched at around $200 after that there were two more launches one is the elder sibling of the GK100 the GK200 which is $350 and another one the elder sibling and updated version of the GK10 the GK20. Which is what we have here.
I just wanted to give a brief info as many might not have heard of GeekWold.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Thanks to Geek Wold for sharing this review unit. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
You can buy one for yourself here (Unaffiliated Links) :-
https://hifigo.com/products/geek-wold-gk20
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories:-
1. The packaging of the box is quite nice and it looks like a smartphone packaging.
2. The iem themselves are very comfortable.
3. I could wear them for 3-4 hours without any issues.
4. Has no driver flex.
5. Although the nozzle of the iem is quite short and you have to tip roll a lot to get a decent fit.
6. The cable is quite supple and is good 4 core cable which terminated to 4.4mm
7. When I first got the gk20 was only available in 4.4 but geekwold told me that they will soon launch a 3.5mm version too.
8. Also I want to say that the cable didn’t fit into the IEM hence I am using the moondrop chu 2 cable with it. Also the IEM had some issues specially with the left iem where in most cable like the $70 7hz thunderbird cable, and quite a few others the pins didn’t fit for the left iem. Only two cable fit it one was a kinera cable and other was chu 2 cable. Now geekwold told me this was a one of production issue and I had that as it was a pre-production unit and customer units wont be having such issues.
9. The case provided is quit big and very good, although a tad bit impractical for carrying it around in your pocket. Although in my unboxing video I did say that the case is the best. I was wrong I still prefer the BGVP P05 case which is perfect in size and great for pocketing it daily.
10. About the tips provided, this is the first time that has happened that a stock tip didn’t fit me at all. Also the tips quality is not really that good, they feel a bit cheap. I had to tip roll and i settled on a pair of foam tips from and the double flange tips form Truthear. In my testing the foam tips were the best.
11. The GK20 has 3BA + 2DD + 2PZT
- The 8mm DD is responsible for the low frequencies
- Another DD is resposnsible for the medium frequencies
- The 3BA are responsible for high frequencies
- The 2 PZT are responsible for ultra high frequencies
Sound Impressions:-
1. As said above due to the stock cable not working and the stock tips not fitting me at all. I had to use a third party cable and foam tips.
2. So talking about the sound I would say it overall a V signature but with emphasis on the mid to high frequencies.
3. The vocals are absolutely fantastic over here and so is the treble.
4. The overall sound is very clean.
5. The timbre of the iem is a bit off and a bit metalicy sometimes.
Bass -
- The bass although not the main star of the show here is very tactile and very clean
- The bass may not have the same rumble as many other iems, but it is a very detailed bass
- Mid bass is pronounced than the sub-bass.
- Listening to Waltz By sunny fruit although wasn't that dynamic bass wise, it felt really good to listen to it here. The bass presentation was really nicely laid and there was no muddyness here.
- I personally would have liked a bit more bass, that would have made it really go well in tandem with fantastic treble.
Mids -
- The vocals are really good
- When listening to male vocals I was really happy with this, but there wasnt that oomph I generally want from the male vocals.
- Chris Cornell & Bill withers Voice although sounded quite good the richness and warmness of their voice didn’t really come across that well.
- Now I wouldn’t say that it bad, but rather I would say it is slight above average.
- Male vocals certainly do take the back seat when compared to the female vocals.
- The female vocals is this where it shines!
- The female vocals are lush, smooth and detailed. As someone who listens to quite a few female vocals this is awesome.
- Listening to ikkimonogakari or Naoko Isamu was really rewarding and I hit repeat a lot of times.
- This fantastic female vocals could be a bit to much for many as at higher volumes or even at medium volumes many might find it too much to handle and shrilly.
- The instruments sounds really good here, although the timbre is a bit off sometimes.
- During busy tracks it got a bit claustrophobic, this is a nitpick for this price point.
Treble -
- The treble is really awesome over here! If you are a treblehead this is an iem for you.
- The treble is very clean and well controlled.
- For me personally it never got too much and stayed very pleasing to me.
- The extension is where it suffers a bit, a bit more of it would have helped it a lot.
- This very forward treble might be bit too much for some as it is quite into your face in certain situations on some songs.
Technicalities :-
It is very good at that, it doesn’t muddy up when it comes to that. I would say it competes or even bests iem twice that price. If you want a really good technical sounding iem this is it!
Soundstage :-
It is very good and quite wide. There is very good width and the height of the soundstage is a bit average. While listening to “Galactic Funk” 1985 Live edition it was very good at it but the sense of height was a bit average.
Imaging :-
The imaging is fantastic! It was really good in imaging transition too. Watching media was really good on this.
Gaming Test :-
- I had a good sense of awareness of surrounding when playing games.
- The imaging in the game was really good when gaming
- During parts of the game when there was too much happening the treble was too much to handle and it got too piercy.
Recommendation :-
- Overall I would recommend this IEMS, but the sound signature not for everyone
- It is bit heavy on the upper mids and treble and people sensitive might be a bit turned off by it.
- Treblehead will love this iem. Although a bit more treble extension would have been nice.
- I personally would have loved a bit more bass as that would make it even more palatable to my sound signature, the bass here is really clean a bit more would have really helped it.
- The overall timbre of the iem is a bit metallic sometimes, this is a bit of nitpick for the price.
- In terms of technicalities this beats iems twice the price if you want a technical iem with great female vocals this is the iem to go for.
- Please do keep in mind of the shortcomings I have mentioned about IEM in terms of sound
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Geek Wold for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
hokagoteatimereviews
I don't listen to much of metal, but from the few i listen to i would suggest against it as some metal could sound a bit piercy at higher volumes and the bass doesnt complement it well enough. Hope this helps
hokagoteatimereviews
Your Welcome
Introduction :-
The KZ Castor is an iem from KZ. Now there are two versions of these available one is the black colour (bass edition) and another is the silver colour (harman edition)
The one I am going to review today is the black colour bass edition.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
A big thanks to KZ for sending me this iem. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
You can buy them here (Unaffiliateed Link) :-
https://www.kztws.com/products/kz-castor
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
- These come in the usual KZ box.
- The packaging is very simple you get the IEM, cable with mic, KZ starline tips and a sim ejector tool for changing the toggling the switches.
- They MSRP for them is $15 but they can be bought from $10 or $12 too depending on where you buy them from and what sales re going on.
- The iems might be tad big for many
- The nozzles also might a tad big for someone with small ears
- The cable is quite good for the price.
Sound signature :-
- Well all I can say is BASSS!!
- If you are a basshead you will love this iem!
- There are 4 switches the first two switches controls the bass that is toggling the first switch gives a bass boost and toggling the second one gives another bass boost. The 3rd and 4th switch gives you a boost on the mids and treble a bit.
- I used the configuration UUDD for the review that is maximum bass while keeping the mids and treble stock. The reason I didn’t mess with the mid and treble switch because I find them to be quite satisfying in stock setting.
- surprisingly the switches works quite well specially the bass switch which works really well.
- The basic tuning it follows is the harman curve and the UUDD configuration gives it a huge bass boost as you can see from the graph.
- All I can say is that everyone needs this as the bass in these are just fantastic for the price.
- Every time I listen to this I grin because of the stupid amount of bass these has. It is just so enjoyable.
- Even if you are someone who isn't a basshead or doesnt enjoy bass the sheer ridiculousness of the bass here will make you smile.
- Not only is the bass ridiculous here what surprising is it is very well controlled and all the other frequencies works well in tandem.
- This is great for EDM, Rap, Hip – Hop it is an absolute treat to listen to bass heavy songs with these.
- Talking about the mids they are quite ok for the tuning and the price.
- Male vocals are in the background while female vocals are quite good.
- Treble is quite good for the price but they get shouty at higher volumes.
- One of the reason I don’t use the last two switches is because the stock treble I find it to be quite ok and goes well with the bass.
- The treble does lack extension and would have love to see that extension on the treble region a bit, again these are severe nitpicks for the price and sound it is targetiing
- the soundstage is below average although it does improve if you toggle off the bass switches to DD position.
- the imaging is ok for the price nothing great. Its bang average
Gaming -
These do perform average for gaming. For the average sessions these are ok but I wouldnt suggest them for gaming use along
Recommendation:-
- I think everyone should have them. I know bit of overstatement, but the bass on these just made me grin all the time. Its ridiculous and these are awesome at that. Even if aren't a basshead (which I am not) and you don’t like bass the sheer absurdity of it is quite an awesome experience.
- The super low price point of $12-15 is quite attainable for most and I highly suggest any audiophille getting them and try it out. For the basshead out there this is a must buy.
- Although this is a good Iem, Many wont try it because of KZ's reputation. KZ needs to work in their marketing overall, like labelling a $12 iem as a $1000 killer and make a show of it.
Or just comparing iems directly head on and saying ours is better.
They need to rather make a good iem and let it speak for it, like the castor bass is a good iem for the price. But many will avoid it as it is from them and they have had a bad reputation from those marketing.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to KZ for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Ferdze
with the budget iem market overyly saturated, there's really no reason i should get a KZ and the reasons are just as you said.
FiGuY1017
I don't think they need to, seems pretty on point to me. I have the standard version and they lit up my Jh Lola and several other 1k sets. My Castors are simply better than several 1k plus items I've heard imo
Introduction :-
Wyvern pro is an iem by Celest. Celest is a sister company to Kinera. Kinera and their companies make beautiful looking iems. This is the pro version which has the boom mic the non-pro version comes without the boom mic.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
A big thanks to Kinera for sending the review unit to me. They are not reading this before you guys do and are having no review input on this. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
As of this review they are down to $21 as opposed to the regular price of $29 for the boom mic version so have a look at them here (Unaffiliated Link) - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805195443307.html
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
- Very comfortable to wear, I personally can wear them for longer periods of time.
- Very good isolation while wearing the iem
- Shells might be too big for some
- There is some driver flex present
- The cable is quite nice, but sadly no chin cinch. (this my personal pet peeve I like to have one, your opinion might vary here). In terms of cable quality I expect nothing less from Kinera
- Excellent overall accessories for the price of $29, a removable boom mic (which is of cardioid pattern) at this price.
- Absolutely fantastic packaging at this price.
- The included metal bookmark is nice touch, I quite like it.
- The connectors are 2 pin for the iem but the mic has a notched mmcx connector.
- They are easy to drive with your smartphone and laptop.
- The nozzle is quite short and some could have fit issues so you might have to tip roll. I got lucky with the included tips.
- I personally love the lore Celest includes with their iem along with their iem. I know it might seem tacky but it does add a character to to the iem in my personal opinion.
- It has a single 10mm diameter LCP (liquid crystal diaphragm) dynamic driver for all the frequencies
Sound Signature :-
- The overall sound signature of the Wyvern pro is that it follows the Harman 2019 curve to the T.
- The White Celest 221 tips boost treble and air, expanding soundstage and the coloured Celest C-07 tips increase bass, though with some compression in staging.
- I have used the white Celest tips for my testing and all the sound impressions are using that.
Bass :-
- Subbass here is good, nothing to great nothing which lacks here. The sub-bass is quite good and average for the price and the songs like waltz by sunny has good enough thump and punch for this region. It has enough punch for rumble for Rap. Hip – Hop and I can enjoy these genre with these iems.
- Mid-bass is also quite balanced and it doesn’t bleed into. I didn’t find them to be that detailed over here but for the price it is quite good.
- One good thing about the entire bass region is that it doesn’t feel blunt and bloated and it has the dynamic-ness I search for in bass. The bass isn't on the basshead territory
Mids :-
- The mids are a bit recessed here.
- The vocals are quite forward and female vocals sound quite good here! I particularly enjoy listening to my test tracks (Like sakura and hanawa sakura from ikkimonogakri and also hako yamasaki’s ano yumi ni)
- The male vocals are bit recessed and for some songs.
- Was surprised to see the female vocals work particularly well here.
Treble :-
- They have a very average treble (with the white tips) they are more recessed when wearing the coloured tips. With the white tips they seem ok
- They are quite good for people who are sensitive to treble. As they don’t get too piercy or shouty when wearing them for long times.
Technicalities :-
They are very average on technicalities very average for the price. Instrument separation isn't that good then again its a nitpick for this price.
Soundstage :-
The soundstage is very good! As expected from a sort of a gaming oriented iem. It has very good depth, width and height for its price range
Imaging :-
It is quite good for the price and it works really well in movies and games
Microphone Impression :-
I have shared a mic demo on my YouTube video, so please do watch that if possible.
- Very good for gaming and have had no issues when playing games with my friends.
- During my online video calls other side had no issue
Gaming Test :-
- The soundstage as I said is very holographic and for gaming purposes these are very good. Due to their darker treble when there is a lot happening in terms of shooting I don’t feel overwhelmed with treble fatigue.
- The footsteps of enemies are quite holographically for the price
- When playing games like racing games I can pin point the where the car behind is coming from.
- The great imaging works really well for the games.
Recommendation :-
- Do I recommend these ? Yes. If you are in the market for a gaming iem and also want something to listen to music this is quite good. If you don’t to game and want something closer to the Harman 2019 target this is a good iem. Be wary of the average treble it has (with the white tips)
- If you don't want a gaming iem, but rather want an iem for office environment with a mic this is quite good for that too
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Kinera /Celest for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction :-
Today I will be reviewing the Truthear Nova. Truthear whose all the new iems have been very popular like the Hola, Zero. Zero X Red ( a collab with Crinacle) and the Hexa. This is their first IEM from Truthear above the $100 price point and also my first time reviewing a Truthear iem so I am really excited.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Before I start the review I would like to say a big thanks to ShenzhenAudio for sending me this review unit. Shenzhen Audio could be your one stop hub for most of the desktop amps, dacs and any iems of your choice. Also if you want to buy this Truthear product or any other Truthear product Shenzhen Audio is the exclusive retailer. I have shared an unaffiliated link below.
Check out the Nova here :- Truthear Nova
All the thoughts and opinions you are about to read are my own and Shenzhen Audio has had no input for this review, nor are they having a copy of approval for this review.
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
- The packaging is really good!
- The amount of eartips provided is quite good and very good to get anyone started.
- I quite like the case/pouch , although I was bit skeptical about them. But I have grown to like them. If the pouch was a bit large it would have been nice then I could have fit my dac and carry it properly for everyday use.
- Although I wouldn't say that the pouch will protect your iem that much unlike a hard shell case.
- I think so Truthear should try to sell the case separately I think some people might like it for carrying their iems around.
- The cable is really good! I love the cloth cable and it is longer than average iem cables. I actually roughly measured the cable and the length came to be around 145cm or around 1.45m from the jack to the iem.
- The cloth cable also could be a negative on the long run as I would think if not taken care of they might catch dirt quite easily.
- To be honest the cable is quite good and its own could easily cost $20-30
- The cable isn’t modular although some might say this might be too much to ask but I expect a modular cable at this price point as the Letshouer S12 pro offers one at this price point or even at a cheaper price when it is on sale. Many people have different sources would have been helpful for them. This could be seen as a nitpick but I still thought of mentioning it.
- There are two types of double flange tips, a normal set of tips and a foam tips.
- There is no driver flex as they have ample amount of vent holes
- They are quite easy to power and worked well with my smartphone although a bit more power does help them a bit in overall sound.
- The overall shell of the IEM is larger than average in my opinion. People with smaller than average ears might have some issues
- The nozzle is also quite larger than average and people with small ear might have some fit issues. I personally was fine with it.
- The Nova has 1 DD/4 BA driver configuration here with a 10 mm liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) diaphragm dynamic driver with a polyurethane (PU) suspension and N52 magnets handling the bass. If I am not wrong it is the same driver in the Zero, Zero Red and Hexa. There are 2 Custom BA which handles the mids and another Custom BA for the high frequencies
Sound Signature :-
- I am using the stock black tips for the sound impressions
- The overall sound signature of the nova follows the Harman 2019v2 target but with a slight emphasis on the bass.
- Now for some this might turn off as many don’t like the Harman target because of it shouty upper mids and find the bass to be much. I personally do agree on the shouty upper mids part as it can sometimes be a bit too spicy even for me, I am someone who listens to lot of female vocals and even i have had some issues with it.
- And if you are someone who loves the Harman target then rejoice! This will be a fantastic iem for you.
- There is a slight BA timbre I have found. Although nothing so apparent to hinder my overall experience
Bass -
- I would say the bass is really punchy and has the dynamicness I yearn for.
- The sub bass is more dominant over the mid-bass and it is something I prefer personally
- Although that doesn’t mean that the mid-bass is bad neither does it muddy up when listening to songs. There is slight bass tuck here which can sound a bit off in songs like “Galactic Funk” or “Asayake” by Casiopea where in lot of instruments are playing and you don’t get that same tactile feeling of the instruments.
- a tad bit more mid bass would have been nice, again a nitpick.
- Although it fails my Hollow (16 bit remix) bass test. That is it doesn’t give the skull rumbling bass at around the 23 seconds mark of this song. You can see this as a nitpick as this is quite hard to pull off at this price range. But I still thought of mentioning it.
- For other songs the overall bass presentation was good and was really over enjoyable. And the bass is very clean
Midrange -
- Well this iem shines when it comes to ACG Music. ACG means Anime, Comics and Games music. This generally means song with female vocals and pop song.
- If your playlist contains of Idol songs, ACG music, j-pop and k-pop and you are in the market for a new iem at this price range you can stop reading this review and buy this now!
- The female vocals here are fantastic here again listening to my test tracks of female vocals it sounded so good that I was repeating my favourite songs.
- But this fantastic female vocals does come at a cost where in some people might find this region to be too shouty or piercy and find it unbearable which is something akin to the harman target which I spoke about before.
- Male vocals are quite OK nothing to write home about as they quite decent over here. Male vocals does lack specially when listening to someone like Bill Withers or Leonard Cohen and the depthness of their voice doesn’t come across that well. I would again say this is something of a nitpick as following the harman target does generally does have this outcome. But still mentioning it
Treble -
- The treble is really good for the price point and if I dare, I could say that it punches well above its price point.
- The treble also has a decent extension too, although I personally would have loved a bit more here.
- The overall treble is very smooth and enjoying.
- For some the treble could be a bit shouty at higher volumes.
Technicalities -
There is good separation between the instruments. And the overall the technicalities is really good for the price. If I dare say they do punch above the price point in terms of technicalities.
Soundstage -
It has good soundstage for this price point. The soundstage is quite deep and has a good width too.
Imaging -
The imagine is really good! Punches well above the price point. This excellent imaging does help a lot when watching media and also for gaming.
Gaming test -
- These are really good for gaming! The excellent imaging and the good soundstage works well in its favours.
- I had a good idea of the footsteps and also enemies when playing FPS games.
- While playing other games I was very aware of my surroundings and the spatial awareness was very good with these.
- The shouty upper mids could cause some issues when there is a lot of things happening in the game and it might become a bit too much for some.
Recommendations :-
- Do I recommend this IEM? Well if you want a good overall iem, this is the iem to go for. It does overall nothing too fantastic (Except the Female Vocals) but it doesnt do anything very bad either.
- This might irk many, but i think an IEM which does everything well while not being bad at anything is very good. Its specially very good for beginners too. If you listen to a lot of ACG music or J-pop or K-pop or idol songs. Just buy it! This is fantastic at that.
- As usual it does everything really well and it punches way above its price point in some aspects. The overall sound for me is very clean. These are also quite good for general media consumption like movies, tv shows.
- Again do keep some of the negatives in mind like the iem being shouty or piercy at higher volumes, this could cause some issues for you if you are sensitive to that. Also the shells and nozzle are a bit big and could cause some problems for people with smaller ears.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Shenzhen Audio for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction :-
Today I will be reviewing the Simgot EW100P Dsp, this is the dsp version of the regular EW100P iem. This is my first Simgot iem and also my first DSP iem. Simgot was found in 2015 in China.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, like or subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
I want to say a big thanks to SIMGOT for sending me this iem, All the thoughts and opinions you are about to read are my own and Simgot has had no input for this review, nor are they having a copy of approval for this review.
You can check them out here
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
- They come in the small shiny silver looking box and they have this cute shark artwork which I quite liked.
- Packaging is very minimal and they have the iem which has in-removable cable and a pair of tips
- These cost $25
- These are a DSP iem and this is my first time using a DSP iem. DSP means a digital signal processing chip which is basically a chip where you can digitally tune the sound baring the driver produces them accurately. Here this iem follows the Harman 2019 curve to the T.
- They are very lightweight and are really comfortable to wear for a long periods of time.
- Although I like the cable for them being very light I am a bit scared as I might break them If it gets tugged a bit hard.
- There is no usb c to usb a included in the box, so if you plan to use them on a computer or laptop without usb c you might have to purchase that separately. Although most people will probably use these with their usb c phone.
- Very bare bones packaging
- No driver flex here
- Love the transparent design. Very calming and unique design.
Sound signature :-
- As mentioned earlier these follow the Harman 2019 curve to the T but with a slight bass tuck
- From the graph it looks like they have a bit more bass than its 3.5mm counterpart. You can check the graph here
- The bass is really good, they have a good rumble.
- It is more of a sub-bass focused than mid-bass focused sound.
- The mids are a bit recessed.
- The male vocals in these sit a bit on the background and lack that forward-ness, although then again this is expected of the tuning and quite a nitpick for the price range.
- While female vocals sounds surprisingly good and enjoyable, My test tracks sounds quite good here and I was quite surprised as to how good they sound. This could be a setback for some as that also gives that shouty-ness in the upper mid range.
- The treble is quite good again overall, i am very happy with how these turn out. Very sparkly and very crisp here for the price range. I found the treble to be a tad bit better than the Moondrop Chu 2's
- The treble isn't that well extended, which does short stop in some songs. But then again these are $25 and you could put it as a nitpick for this price.
- a little bit more of airiness of the treble would have made them a bit more nice.
- Again keeping the price in mind, the technicalities is quite good. It has decent instrument separation for the price.
- The soundstage is surprisingly wide and deep. Again a big surprise for me as I am someone who enjoys a big soundstage so I quite liked it. I really enjoyed listening to the "Galactic Funk - 1985 Live" By Caisopea. It was surprisingly good!
- Imaging is quite decent too and nothing out of the ordinary. The transitions here were average.
- Technicalities are quite good for the price and busy tracks with a lot of instruments sounded really well and i could discern the different instruments played.
- Some people in the hobby might be a bit put off by the fact that the iem is harman tuned as there are many who find harman to be quite shouty.
Gaming Test :- These do quite well for the gaming with it quite good soundstage and average imaging. I was moderately happy with them. And for me they didn’t get piercy or shouty when there was lot happening in the scene with gunshots and everything else.
Mic Test :- I have done the mic test on my YouTube video and shared a small sample there. For calls and zoom calls they are quite good and the other side has had no issues whatsoever during a call
Recommendation & Final Thoughts :-
- Overall I would say these does everything really well while not being good at that one particular thing, now some might see that as a bad thing. I personally don’t because if someone is getting first into the hobby and want an all rounder iem and want a dsp iem and cant afford a 3.5mm iem and a dongle (Thank you apple for removing the jack and all companies following suite with it) These will be a great buy.
- Also I quite enjoy watching YouTube videos, some movies with these work quite well for that. They are very small and great for everyday carry too. I suggest getting a cheap $1-2 case from Aliexpress or Amazon and use that to carry these around.
- I would say even If you have 3,5mm iems daps etc these make a great purchase for everyday use with your phones.
- As my first DSP Iem I am really impressed. Hope to see more from this tech going forward.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to SIMGOT for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Pros: 1. They look gorgeous!
2. Great packaging for the price. Overall great accessory for the price.
3. Great V shape sound signature. A great fun sounding iem overall
4. Hard hitting bass and very nice treble.
5. Very good female vocals
6. A fantastic iem for low volume listening (which I do a lot)
7. Really good imaging for the price.
8. Bonus Pro? :- I got complemented on the looks of the iem 3-4 times when I was outside. People were curious about the looks of the iem and complemented on it.
2. Great packaging for the price. Overall great accessory for the price.
3. Great V shape sound signature. A great fun sounding iem overall
4. Hard hitting bass and very nice treble.
5. Very good female vocals
6. A fantastic iem for low volume listening (which I do a lot)
7. Really good imaging for the price.
8. Bonus Pro? :- I got complemented on the looks of the iem 3-4 times when I was outside. People were curious about the looks of the iem and complemented on it.
Introduction :-
Phoenixcall is an iem by Celest. Celest is a sister company to Kinera. Kinera and their may companies make beautiful looking iems.
I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, like or subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
Although I haven't reviewed many iems, but the moment I saw phoenixcall I fell in love with the design of their iem. I am so glad I am getting to review them. And I want to give a big thanks to HIFIGO for sending this review unit. You can check HIFIGO out as they have everything for you audio needs.
You can buy the Phoenixcall at these places -
Hifigo Website
Amazon US
Aliexpress
All the thoughts and opinions you are about to read are my own and Hifigo has had no input for this review, nor are they having a copy of approval for this review.
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
- Absolutely stunningly beautiful!! Love the look of the iem!
- Has two fantastic design one is this purple and pink and other one is transparent.
- The cable is a bit stiff and might have kinks over the period of use
- The shells are a big in size but they are quite comfortable to wear. I will suggest wearing tips below one size than you generally wear for better fit.
- The nozzle size is a bit large and people with smaller ears will have issues.
- Great compact case! Although not much space to put a dongle dac. The case included with the BGVP P05 still stays the best iem case I have tried overall.
- Modular cable would have been nice. A nitpick obviously for the price
- Quite easy to drive although more power does benefit them so a small dongle dac is recommended
- The tips included in the box could be a bit anemic for the price. A pair for foam tips would have been nice as many people have had issues with silicon tips in general and also with the phoenixcall. I personally was fine with the included white tips.
- The name phoenixcall is derived from the Chinese myth “Shan-hai Jing” or also known as “Classic of mountain of seas” the plot involves detailed descriptions of locations in the cardinal directions of the Mountains, Regions Beyond Seas, Regions Within Seas, and Wilderness. The descriptions are usually of medicines, animals, and geological features.
In the above book there is a story about the phoenixcall from which the name has been taken.
- I personally love the lore Celest includes with their iem along with their iem. I know it might seem tacky but it does add a character to to the iem in my personal opinion.
- Love the phoenixcall bookmark they included fantastic touch!
- Fantastic packaging! Could be a packaging for $300-500 iems
- Great build quality of the iems, they feel very solid for daily use. Although be a bit careful as that beautiful faceplate might get scratched easily.
- They have a 1DD – 2BA – 2FPD configuration.
It has a 7mm DD for the low frequencies, a customised BA driver for the mid frequencies another customised BA driver for the mid-high frequencies and finally 2 FPD (Flat planar driver) for the ultra high frequencies.
Sound Signature :-
- The overall sound signature of the well musical. The iem is fantastic when I talk it in terms of musicality. It just lets you enjoy the music!
- A fantastic iem for low volume listening, as someone who loves to listen on low volumes I love this iem!
- To be more precise the overall sound signature is very v-shaped.
- There is slight BA timbre I hear, but its nothing glaringly obvious which will hinder
My overall sound impressions are based on the white tips provided inside the box.
Bass -
- The bass is very punchy and dynamic. I love the sub bass it gives out.
- It does fail my hollow (16 bit remix) by Bjork test. When the bass drops I don’t feel the same skull shaking rumble as I would like. But then again this is a nitpick as this is a very hard thing to do. And only few expensive iems has given this sensation and rather budget iems failing at this.
- I wouldn't describe the bass as bass head nor bass lacking, it is very happy middle ground where everyone will enjoy the bass.
- Baring my hollow test in every other song the sub bass was fantastic and I loved it! It has the dynamic ness I was searching for and also the detail in the bass region I want.
- Mid bass isn't muddy either and it works well in tandem with the sub bass
- It does a great job in the rap. Hip-hop genre
- The bass doesn't feel muddy and has very good tactility
Midrange -
- The midrange is bit scooped out.
- Surprisingly the male vocals sound quite good for the price despite of the scooped midrange.
- Although Chris Cornell’s and Bill Withers vocals don’t sound as velvety I would have liked here but they sound good. Again this mid range scoop is expected because of the v-shape tuning and also the price of $130.
- The female vocals is where this iems shine at! I absolutely adore Kiyoe Yoshioka’s Vocal in hanawa skaura and sakura by Ikkimonogakari and Hano Yamasaki’s Ano yumi ni. They sound like you are at private jazz bar and they are performing for you.
- For the folks who are sensitive to piercy vocals and shouty vocals this might get a bit shouty for you at higher volumes.
Treble -
- The treble is really good
- Might be a tad shouty for some folks.
- The treble extension is quite decent too.
- A bit smoother lower treble and a good treble extension would have made these really good at these price range, this is probably a nitpick for the price.
- The timbre of the treble is a bit of where in it does sound a bit artificial sometimes when there is lot of happening in the song. Again for the price I would consider these as nitpick.
Technicalities :- They are very good for the technicalities for the price. Instrument separation is quite good and I really like them. Despite of them being a V-shape iem they technicalities are quite good.
Soundstage :- The soundstage is quite average for this price. It isn't congested neither it is expansive, it has average height of the soundstage and average width of the soundstage too.
Imaging :- The imaging I would say is really good, sometimes it fascinated me as to how good the imaging was. This is more apparent when watching some media like a movie or tv show. Sometimes the transitioning from left to right or vice versa was a bit too much for the driver but then again this is nitpicking.
Gaming Test :-
- These are quite good for gaming
- The average soundstage and the good imaging really works in its favour.
- although when there is lot happening in the game or there are lot of gunshots it might become too much to handle treble wise
Recommendation & Final Thoughts :-
- To be utterly honest even if you don’t like the sound signature of the phoenixcall and have the extra money to burn I highly suggest getting them just for the looks as they are that beautiful. I am in love with how the look!
- Jokes apart if you like a v-sounding iem and want a really good imaging and an iem which looks good I don’t think so you can go wrong with it.
- Even if you are not a basshead or not a fan of V shape iems you will enjoy them musicality this iem offers.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to HIFIGO for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
Introduction :-
Always wanted to review the kara. As they seemed like a really beautiful iem.
But the not so stellar reviews from some had left me a bit skeptical, but after I got it for review I was really happy as to how it turned out.
I have shared a video review on YouTube here. If you prefer to watch it than read, a like and a subscribe will be appreciated if you so wish to.
This was a review unit from Grave Audio Aliexpress Store, all the thoughts and opinions are my own.
You can check Grave Audio Store here
Also you can buy the Tanchjim Kara here
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
1. Very Solid build yet the shell is very lightweight
2. Absolutely fantastic looking shells
3. Fantastic cable, very supple and great for everyday use
4. Sadly the cable is not modular, specially at the near $200 mark or even at the $150 mark during a sale.
5. Case is inlined with velvet which is great for the iems, Overall the shell is hardcase which will protect the iem
6. But the above point also brings in another point where in the case although very posh and nice makes it too big for everyday use.
7. No driver flex on the iem, the tanchjim tips for me have worked really well.
8. Very comfortable to wear for long sessions
9. These have 2 sonion 2389D BA for midrange and treble, 2 Custom BA for upper treble and A single DD for bass.
10. BA's are inside the shell which leads to less shout, many iems shove the BA on the nozzle which causes that shout no such issues here.
11. Although very well accessorized I would have to love to see a pair of foam tips at least, as many have reported that for them foam tips have worked really well.
Music Used :-
I listen to varying genre of music, all my music are local flac files played via uapp android app in the bit perfect mode.
I have used the 2019 fiio btr5 as my source of power for the kara, and it worked out perfectly. You will find out later in the review as to why.
Sound :-
I will be giving the sound impression in terms of points so that it will be easier for you the reader to stay focused on the review rather than writing long paragraphs. This is something i was taught during my uni days for writing the exam just wanted to try it here
. Lemme know how you feel about it, if you find it a bit jarring i will try to change the format.
1. Well talking about the overall sound I would say that these are very mid-range focused. I would call them the mid range champion as these does that very well.
2. Absolutely fantastic for vocals! Both Male and female vocals sound really good here. (More details on later points)
3. I have found no BA timbre here, if you gave me this iem and told me this had a BA i would have had a hard time noticing it. I generally am susceptible to the BA timbre but not here.
4. The coherency between the drivers are really good.
5. Fantastic imaging, I was really happy watching movies and tv shows specially action scenes wearing these iems.
6. A bit of a gaming test as i am trying to include them more in in my reviews as many use their iems for gaming too. For gaming these have been really good too the overall non-offensive tuning worked out really well and the gunshots weren't too piercy when they were fired in successive rounds. Also the great imaging was really nice for footsteps on a shooter game.
7. Great soundstage over here for this iem, one of the songs i use to test out the soundsage is "Galactic Funk By Casiopea" the live version of the song from the 1985 Tokyo Ryogukan. Listenting to that song makes you feel like you were almost on the top balcony of the show and the fans cheering feels so realistic and instruments positioning is really good too.
8. Talking about the bass I would say these do lack a bass in quite a few songs, although you will be completely fine in most songs. But in many songs you will lack that dynamicness and that overall bite from the bass. For example - Hollow (16 bit remix) by Bjork i do feel the bass to be quite lacking at around the 20 seconds mark. In Crack Crack crackle by classy i feel the bass to be ok and the transition from the bass to the other instruments feels a bit blunt. While it doesnt stop me from enjoying the song at all, it does feel a bit odd. Again this is to say that in no shape or form did the bass feel lacking in most songs but in some songs it was a bit more apparent.
9. The vocals in this iem is absolutely fantastic! The male vocals are really good where in both chris cornell and bill withers sound really good. Female vocals is specially where this shines. Sakura and Hanawa Sakura by ikkimonogakari is a song i always test for female vocals and these passed them with flying colours it was an absolute treat for me to listen to them with these iems.
10. Talking about treble, these are quite dark when it comes to that. If you are treble lover or a treble head stay away from this iem. Although for me it never stopped me enjoying in most songs. But i did feel the lacking details to be quite apparent in some songs. But then again this could be a boon for some as this plays ot very safe for those are allergic to even a bit of sharp or piercy-ness.
11. Not the most resolving iem out there as i have mentioned in the previous comment.
12. I will talk about the btr5 pairing and as to why it is good. Well you see this iem does require a bit of amping to sounds its best because if plug them directly to your smartphone then these will sound pillowy in the bass region and vocals will sound even more dull. Remember how i told that the trbele is a bit dark? well with the pairing of btr5 which has a bright neutral signature it actually turned out to be quite good and the treble did improve significantly. So if you do get this iem and are unsatisfied with the dark treble i highly suggest pairing it with something bright neutral.
13. The kara are very tip dependant. So please do try as much as tips possible before you give your judgement. For example i did read many loved the iem with the foam tips, quite a few used sring tips. Although i got lucky and i was ok with the stock tips. There are two types of tip provided. Wide Bore - Treble and Soundstage ; Narrow Bore - Boosts the bass and bit smaller soundstage.
My entire testing of the iem was done using the wide bore tanchjim apb tips included inside the box.
Reccomendation ?
Do i reccomend these iems? Well yes these are great for a chill listen and i personally really use them a lot for that. These are also very light weight and very comfortable too. Although treble heads stay away from this iem as these are not for you. I highly suggest keeping the small negatives in mind i have mentioned throughout my entire review if you do get them.
Thank you for reading my review! If you have any questions please feel free to comment. And big thanks again to Grave audio store for the review unit, you can check them out if you want to buy to your net audio product.
Always wanted to review the kara. As they seemed like a really beautiful iem.
But the not so stellar reviews from some had left me a bit skeptical, but after I got it for review I was really happy as to how it turned out.
I have shared a video review on YouTube here. If you prefer to watch it than read, a like and a subscribe will be appreciated if you so wish to.
This was a review unit from Grave Audio Aliexpress Store, all the thoughts and opinions are my own.
You can check Grave Audio Store here
Also you can buy the Tanchjim Kara here
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories :-
1. Very Solid build yet the shell is very lightweight
2. Absolutely fantastic looking shells
3. Fantastic cable, very supple and great for everyday use
4. Sadly the cable is not modular, specially at the near $200 mark or even at the $150 mark during a sale.
5. Case is inlined with velvet which is great for the iems, Overall the shell is hardcase which will protect the iem
6. But the above point also brings in another point where in the case although very posh and nice makes it too big for everyday use.
7. No driver flex on the iem, the tanchjim tips for me have worked really well.
8. Very comfortable to wear for long sessions
9. These have 2 sonion 2389D BA for midrange and treble, 2 Custom BA for upper treble and A single DD for bass.
10. BA's are inside the shell which leads to less shout, many iems shove the BA on the nozzle which causes that shout no such issues here.
11. Although very well accessorized I would have to love to see a pair of foam tips at least, as many have reported that for them foam tips have worked really well.
Music Used :-
I listen to varying genre of music, all my music are local flac files played via uapp android app in the bit perfect mode.
I have used the 2019 fiio btr5 as my source of power for the kara, and it worked out perfectly. You will find out later in the review as to why.
Sound :-
I will be giving the sound impression in terms of points so that it will be easier for you the reader to stay focused on the review rather than writing long paragraphs. This is something i was taught during my uni days for writing the exam just wanted to try it here
. Lemme know how you feel about it, if you find it a bit jarring i will try to change the format.1. Well talking about the overall sound I would say that these are very mid-range focused. I would call them the mid range champion as these does that very well.
2. Absolutely fantastic for vocals! Both Male and female vocals sound really good here. (More details on later points)
3. I have found no BA timbre here, if you gave me this iem and told me this had a BA i would have had a hard time noticing it. I generally am susceptible to the BA timbre but not here.
4. The coherency between the drivers are really good.
5. Fantastic imaging, I was really happy watching movies and tv shows specially action scenes wearing these iems.
6. A bit of a gaming test as i am trying to include them more in in my reviews as many use their iems for gaming too. For gaming these have been really good too the overall non-offensive tuning worked out really well and the gunshots weren't too piercy when they were fired in successive rounds. Also the great imaging was really nice for footsteps on a shooter game.
7. Great soundstage over here for this iem, one of the songs i use to test out the soundsage is "Galactic Funk By Casiopea" the live version of the song from the 1985 Tokyo Ryogukan. Listenting to that song makes you feel like you were almost on the top balcony of the show and the fans cheering feels so realistic and instruments positioning is really good too.
8. Talking about the bass I would say these do lack a bass in quite a few songs, although you will be completely fine in most songs. But in many songs you will lack that dynamicness and that overall bite from the bass. For example - Hollow (16 bit remix) by Bjork i do feel the bass to be quite lacking at around the 20 seconds mark. In Crack Crack crackle by classy i feel the bass to be ok and the transition from the bass to the other instruments feels a bit blunt. While it doesnt stop me from enjoying the song at all, it does feel a bit odd. Again this is to say that in no shape or form did the bass feel lacking in most songs but in some songs it was a bit more apparent.
9. The vocals in this iem is absolutely fantastic! The male vocals are really good where in both chris cornell and bill withers sound really good. Female vocals is specially where this shines. Sakura and Hanawa Sakura by ikkimonogakari is a song i always test for female vocals and these passed them with flying colours it was an absolute treat for me to listen to them with these iems.
10. Talking about treble, these are quite dark when it comes to that. If you are treble lover or a treble head stay away from this iem. Although for me it never stopped me enjoying in most songs. But i did feel the lacking details to be quite apparent in some songs. But then again this could be a boon for some as this plays ot very safe for those are allergic to even a bit of sharp or piercy-ness.
11. Not the most resolving iem out there as i have mentioned in the previous comment.
12. I will talk about the btr5 pairing and as to why it is good. Well you see this iem does require a bit of amping to sounds its best because if plug them directly to your smartphone then these will sound pillowy in the bass region and vocals will sound even more dull. Remember how i told that the trbele is a bit dark? well with the pairing of btr5 which has a bright neutral signature it actually turned out to be quite good and the treble did improve significantly. So if you do get this iem and are unsatisfied with the dark treble i highly suggest pairing it with something bright neutral.
13. The kara are very tip dependant. So please do try as much as tips possible before you give your judgement. For example i did read many loved the iem with the foam tips, quite a few used sring tips. Although i got lucky and i was ok with the stock tips. There are two types of tip provided. Wide Bore - Treble and Soundstage ; Narrow Bore - Boosts the bass and bit smaller soundstage.
My entire testing of the iem was done using the wide bore tanchjim apb tips included inside the box.
Reccomendation ?
Do i reccomend these iems? Well yes these are great for a chill listen and i personally really use them a lot for that. These are also very light weight and very comfortable too. Although treble heads stay away from this iem as these are not for you. I highly suggest keeping the small negatives in mind i have mentioned throughout my entire review if you do get them.
Thank you for reading my review! If you have any questions please feel free to comment. And big thanks again to Grave audio store for the review unit, you can check them out if you want to buy to your net audio product.
Today i will be reviewing the Kb Ear BT5, it is a bluetooth dongle from Kb ear which turns your wired IEM to bluetooth at an affordable price. You can find it on sale for $15 but it is generally available for $18-20. I have also made a YouTube review of these on my channel. If you prefer a video review you can watch that there.
Before I start the review I want to thank Wo Easy earphones form Aliexpress for providing the review sample. All the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
Wo easy Earphones
Get your Kb Ear BT5 here
Fit, Comfort & Build Quality :-
1. The build quality is very plasticy and cheap. To be honest it is something I expect at this price but I still mention it because it might be offputing for some.
2. The ear hooks are very soft and they don't cause me any pain while trying it with different pair of iems.
3. Fit has been fine too and causes no issues whatsoever, but there is a drawback which I will talk about in my next point
4. While walking fast or even running you almost cant wear them because the dongle on both side of the neck bounce around a lot and they jump around which in turn causes the ear hooks to loose their grip and the iem falls of the ear. So I don't suggest using them for any sport activity or any high octane sport while wearing these.
5. I personally prefer the neckband style because that way i can hang the iems around my neck when I am not using them and I don't need a case to carry these has been great for that.
Bluetooth & Battery :-
These have bluetooth 5.1 and they support the AAC and SBC codec, sadly no support for aptx or ldac. Although I do get that these are quite cheap. Kb Ear claims a battery of 6 hours with their 110 mah battery but I got around 5.5 hours at 50% volume driving the Moondrop chu 2. The battery life will vary depending on the iem you are using, any iem requiring more power will suck out more battery. For me it was my planar iem like the 7hz timeless ae.
Sound :-
Talking about sound these are surprisingly good, they don't color the sound in any way. I was quite happy to see that. What surprised me the most that it drove my planars very well which caught me off guard!
I was happily able to listen to my timeless ae with these at comfortable volumes, although the battery life did take a hit when I did that. I even tested my tanchjim kara with these and it was very good.
What would have sweetened the deal if it had LDAC, but sadly these don't. Then again seeing the price I get it why.
Verdict :-
Do I recommend these ? YES! Because I don't think for the price you can go wrong, these are really great for what they offer at that price. If you don't want to spend the big bucks for for the likes of moondrop little white at $89 or similar price for KZ AZ 20 (which is an earhook style bluetooth dongle) or even the $400 iFi Audio GoPod. These are a great thing to buy or atleast test out the grounds of bluetooth dongle realm. Obviously keep the negatives in mind when you buy them because they aren't perfect.
What I would like to see is Kb Ear make a $40-$50 version of these which will have a proper neckband and support for LDAC and aptx, that would something I would happily buy as someone who likes neckbands.
Thank You for reading my review
I hope you have a great day ahead.
Introdction & Disclaimer :-
Today i will be reviewing the BGVP P05. Its a self tuning iem which comes under the price of under $50 (its already at sale for $44 at the time of writing this review). The review unit was kindly provided by Hifigo , I really appreciate the opportunity provided to me By Hifigo. But rest assured that there was no exchange of money between and Hifigo for favourable opinion neither was my review influenced by any other means. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. I have also shared an YouTube video if you prefer watching a review.
You can buy the BGVP P05 here :-
Amazon US
Amazon JP
Hifigo Website
Hifigo Aliexpress
Music :-
I tested this device with FLAC local files, Some Gmaing and watching movies and Tv shows. I do test it with a lot of songs but I mention the only few standard ones during my review too keep a good guage for all my reviews.
Fit, Comfort and Build Quality :-
1. Very good fit as they are very small and the shells reminded me of the tin hifi iems like the T2 and T4. They cause me no fatigue on any part of my ear while I wear them.
2. They have a very good build quality as they are build completely out of metal.
3. Quite comfortable to wear because of the mmcx (can rotate them around for the best fit), also very good for side sleeping. I know that many sleep while wearing their iems, hence this would be an advantage to to them. A Similar disadvantage could be taken for some as these use MMCX and many dont like it and they would have preferred a 2 pin instead. Also the MMCX used here or atleast in my case were too tight and they were very hard to connect and I was quite scared that maybe I have broken them, but its just that they have a super tight fit and you will clear a click when you connect them. So be careful if you get them and try to connect them for the first time, I generally don't remove my cable everyday from my iem so for me it has been fine after the initial setup.
4. The iems can be worn wire down or wire up. I personally really appreciate the dual approach taken here as I am someone who wears the IEM wire down when out and about. Best part is since the cable is quite thin the iems don't fall off from my ears when wearing wire down.
5. A con with this cable is that although i like the thinness of it, the cable is quite memory prone if you chuck them inside your pockets or just keep it without winding your cable properly. So i highly suggest using included case while traveling and also wind your cable properly after each to avoid the tangle.
6. The iems are open back, hence there is no pressure and i personally loved that there was no moisture built up when wearing the iem for long time. My ear canals get quite moist when wearing an iem with no vent like moondrop quarks etc. but this doesn't happen over here.
7. Fantastic Case! It is the right size as it isn't too big nor too small. There is a mesh inside the case which stores my bluetooth dongle dac Fiio BTR5, you can store your dongle dac or a small dap shanling m0 pro. You can have a great little portable setup inside the case and still have small space left inside for extra ear tips or the filters if you wish to change them on the fly.
8. Great Tip selection by BGVP. I personally liked the vocal tip as that's the one i used along with the Gold Nozzle and the Silver filter. You can also try the bass tips or the foam tips for better isolation and more bass. The 3 types of tip selection gives you quite a bit of control over the tuning of the IEM along with the 4 combinations of the filter and nozzles. ( Left to Right :- Bass tips (it has a soft core), Vocal Tips ( a bit longer and has a hard core), Foam tips)
9. The neck cinch is brilliant! I have used quite a few iems which don't have them and even they have it doesn't work. My almost $300 timeless AE has an useless neck cinch. Sorry for going on about a neck cinch, as I use them personally a every time for better fit. As the cinch is to tight, be careful when using it for the first time grip the cable away from the joints and pull it slowly otherwise you might tear the cable at the splitter section.
Sound :-
Now coming to the meat and potatoes of the review the sound.
In general they follow the Harman curve and you can tune it a bit with the supplied filters a bit. I will be showing you the graphs here form Ian Fann, thanks to him for supplying the graphs. You can check his YouTube channel here
As you can see from the above graph that there are 4 possibilities.
Gold Nozzle & Red Filter - Which is what comes as stock and many will like this tuning, but I felt the bass a bit lacking over here for my persona taste.
Gold Nozzle & Silver Filter- This is the one i used throughout my use along with the vocal tips as they offered me the right amount of bass for my playlist. In my opinion these offered the right bit of bass punch and also the good treble. As to why i didn't use the other combination I will tell that as I go on.
Silver Nozzle & Red Filter - This filter is someone who wants a very mild v sound. As here the treble is tamed quite a lot and so is the bass because of the red filter. Although this is something i might have enjoyed but for some songs which have quite dynamic bass section on the song or a lot of things are happening at once these lack that punch sadly. But if you get these I highly suggest trying this combination if you need a mild v iem and are sensitive to treble.
Silver Nozzle & Silver Filter - This combo offers the most bassy signature and here the treble is very on the background, I would say that the iem is quite bassy with this combination and might be something your inner bass-head might like.
Now All my impressions about the iem will be with the Gold Nozzle & Silver Filter along with the Vocal Tips (M Size). You could also change the sound and fit even further by using the different tips supplied.
Also before i talk about sound I want to quickly mention that these do need quite a bit of power to run, although they ran completely fine in my smartphone but they were nowhere near as good with my Fiio Btr5. These do require some power and do scale up quite well.
Bass :-
It has great punch bass and both the sub bass and mid bass are something I enjoy listening too. In the song Crack Crack Crackly by Classy the bass is very good the transients of the bass is very good. In Slam Dunk movie theme song the bass doesn't get mushed up along with the entire song. In the song Hollow (16 bit remix) By Bjork the sub-bass around the 18 second mark isn't produced at all by some iems or speaker but the p05 does produce it and gives me that rumbly inside the head feeling. Waltz by Sunny Fruit is a song I test for mid bass and I am happy to say that it comes of very good in this iem.
Overall the bass produced is very good and I am quite happy with it. For the price of $49 or $44 (as there is a sale going on hifigo as of writing this article) I cant complain at all!
Many people might find the bass to be lacking, for them i would suggest using the different filter and use the foam tips to get even more bass.
Vocals :-
The Vocals are a section where it might turn of many, specially male vocals. The male vocals of these iems aren't great but they aren't bad either. They are just between the road in my opinion.
When listening to male vocals like Chris Cornell from the Song Like a stone by Audioslave or Ain't No Sunshine By Bill Withers I miss that feeling of their voice It is something I could define as drinking a cup of thick Italian hot chocolate on a rainy day, but I miss that over here. Although its nothing bad but they arent that good and is probably the only thing lacking for the IEM in my opinion.
Konna Yuki By Remioromen & Aloha Heja He By Achim Richel are something which sound just fine and nothing exceptional.
Again to reiterate I would say that the male vocals arent bad but rather just middle of the road. Again this could be sorta expected for the price of $49 or $44.
Coming to female vocals, I though it would be the same case as Male vocals here. But I am quite happy to report that the female vocals are surprisingly good!
Sakura and Hanawa Sakura By Ikkimongakari when Kiyoe Yoshioka sings i can feel here voice during her high pitched solo all while not being shouty! I can listen to these songs at high volume which is generally not the case for many iems.
Some other songs I attest too are Summer song by Yui and Nervous No naranaide de By Naoko Isamu where in i loved the female vocals and they don't get shouty or piercy even at higher volumes.
Treble, Instrument Separation, Soundstage and Imagining :-
The treble is very inoffensive over here. Many people who have treble fatigue or cant handle the typical treble heavy signature most chi-fi iems has I highly suggest looking at this iem. If you find the treble to me still peircy you can change the nozzle to the silver one and tame the treble even more. Changing to foam tips will also help. For some people the air region might lack a bit.
Talking about instrument separation, they are good for the price. I don't face any issues when listening to a song which has lots of instruments playing at once or a section of song playing a lot of instruments at once.
Due to them being open back, the soundstage is quite good! I enjoy a good sounstage! In live songs from many casiopea concerts I was very happy with soundstage.
Also while playing games i was quite happy with it it wasn't all mushed up in a single plane.
Imaging while watching movies and playing games was also good. I could make out where my opponent was and gauge a direction in the game.
Verdict :-
Do I recommend these iems? I would say yes! if you like a good inoffensive tuning this is the iem for you. It is a very safe recommendation to anyone in my opinion. Also the fact that it comes filters and the filters work unlike most iems so you can tweak it according to your own need along with the various tips. Yes it does lack that punch in male vocals and treble heads might not like it that much.
I think so it makes a great everyday iem for most people, for people who wants a safe tuning this is great! Also I guess the case alone is worth $5-6 atleast and that's an awesome thing included in the box.
I think so it is an upgrade over the $20 iems like moondrop chu 2 which I like very much for its price. Also this is alredy on sale for a price of $44 at hifigo.
Small Note :- I am a very new reviewer. This is just my second review on headfi, i hope i was able to convey my feelings of what i felt using the iems. I also have a youtube channel where in i share my thoughts too. I apreciate the oppurtunity provided to me here and most importanly you reading it.
This is my first review over at headfi. I hope I do a decent job on explaining my thoughts. I have also released an YouTube video -
Here
The review unit was kindly provided by Shenzen Audio and i thank Cloris from Shenzen Audio for providing me this unit. I am really humbled and thankful for this opportunity.
But all the thoughts you will read here or hear on my youtube video are my own.
The Moondrop Chu 2 could be brought here
Visit bShenzen Audio here :- https://shenzhenaudio.com/
Build :-
Fantastic metal build, love them! The cable is really supple and malleable and they can be really winded down and they don't tangle easily. The cable is easily pocketable for daily use.
It also has a screen on/of nozzle which is interesting in this price range, hoping we see cheap nozzle to change the sound a bit.
Fit & Comfort :-
They have great fit, personally they fit great on my ears. These have already become my go to sleep iem. And since they are so small, I can easily sideways! Which is big plus for me.
Sound Signature :-
The Sound signature is a V-shape with emphasis on mid bass rather than sub bass. I am someone who likes the sub bass thump, but there are many who prefers mid bass over sub bass. The bass lacks a bit dimension and could use more dynamics (nitpicking for the price)
The female vocals are lovely! I am surprised at how good they are. The treble is very good too, but for some could get piercy for some song.
Even as someone who is OK with a bit hot treble, for some song at higher volumes it got piercy and had to lower the volume.
Technicalities :-
Good technicalties for the price.
Songs like - Edge By Real (Rurouni kenshin 2023 ED)
Here I sense good separation, the sub bass although lacking a bit. Female vocals sounds really good!
Resolution :-
Decent for the price, some hard to play live songs like
Galactic Funk (1985 live) by Casiopea
Here the background isn't heard that well (but then again this a nitpick). The instruments played by the band has good resolution for the price.
Technicalities :-
Good for the price for classical songs and some Japanese folk songs I tested. In the YouTube video I havent stated the classical songs and Japanese folk songs.
But I have heard songs from Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven etc to Japanese folk songs and songs composed with shamisen which also include other prefectural folk songs.
Soundstage :-
Surprisingly good soundstage for the price! Was a bit surprised when I first heard.
Imaging :-
The imaging is decent where the left to right & vice versa transition is quite good for the price.
Some Songs I tested the iem on :-
There were many other songs too, but these are the ones I am mentioning here.
Dai Zeron Kan by 10-Feet (The First Slam Dunk theme song)
Here the sub bass lacks a bit of punch, while everything else is good for the price.
Crack Crack Carckle By Class:y (Undead girl farce OP)
The female vocal sounds really good! But the bass line which goes along with the entire song feels a bit limp because of the meh bass.
Anata No Soba ni by Riria (Watashi no Shiawase no kekkon OP), Sakura by ikkimonogakari , Hanawa Sakura by ikkimonogakari
As said in the previous song the female vocals are really good for these songs. But when the there are lot of things happening in the song alongn with the female vocal details get lost and also treble gets a bit piercy.
Waltz by Sunny Fruit
The mid bass here sounds really good, but the sub bass which takes a back seat feels a bit off.
Final Thoughts & Conclusion :-
As you might have read throughout my review, that the sub bass lacks a bit and mid bass is really good. The female vocals are really good, and the male vocals are surprisingly decent too.
Treble is good (this is coming from someone who is OK with bit piercy treble) but for some it could get a piercy. Even for me at higher volumes in some tracks its too piercy.
I also tested it with some podcasts and one movie. It was really good, I slept sideways while listening to the podcast and it was very comfortable even better than my quarks.
The fit for some could be too deep specially those with smaller ear holes. The shell though is quite small and very ergonomic.
The cable is very malleable and supple for daily use.
Conclusion :- Buy it as a daily use iem and you can use this rather than your expensive iem. For someone diping their toes in the iem world this is a good iem too. But if you listen to bass heavy tracks and aren't OK with the thumpy bass and are not OK with the lack of bass dynamics then maybe look elsewhere. But IMO for most people this will be a great iem.
Disclaimer :- As I said this was my second review, first written review on headfi. So I am sorry if my written review was a bit iffy when compared to the myriads of awesome reviews here please pardon me. Also I wrote this entire review on my browser of my smartphone which made it a bit harder to format and type.
If you have any suggestion for me, please feel to drop some suggestion and meanwhile why not check my YouTube video too. I have shared the link one the first few lines of this post.
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