I had the chance to spend three weeks with the 7hz Legato, and four other IEMs, in return for my honest impressions. Thanks to @Damz87 as always for organising.

The 7hz Legato I received didn’t come in its full retail package, however did have the leather case which is quite nice. I can’t comment on the tips, packaging etc. (which is sufficiently covered in other reviews) however the case is quite nice (if not a little on the large size) and the IEM feels well built. The cable isn’t anything special but no complaints here. The IEM is a dual dynamic driver, retailing for $109 USD.

I tested these using Final E tips, driven through my FiiO Q7, with a wide variety of music tried out.

I don’t generally read through reviews before writing mine however I had to with the Legato, my initial thoughts after listening for a couple of hours were not good. Seeing that they have an average of four out of five stars on head-fi had me scratching my head.

I listened to many of the tracks that others called out, and could pick out some of what they were getting at, but they’re such a one trick pony, with that trick being average, that I still don’t understand the rating.

Onto the breakdown:

Bass: Average (C+). The one highlight, the texture and detail isn’t great, but you get some impact and slam on certain tracks which can sound nice. It has decent weight, and feel. For bass focussed tracks I could see why you may consider these. Sub-bass was my favourite part, however mid-bass was not too bad either.

Mids: Below average (D-). Due to the elevated bass anything that exists in the region sounds dull and lifeless if bass is present. Where there isn’t much bass it can sound nice, guitar focussed tracks in particular were decent. Vocals sounded OK but quite shallow.

Treble: Below average (D-). They have a dark feel, which I don’t mind, however they clearly haven’t been tuned with treble in mind. Overall very soft.

Technicalities: Below average (D). This isn’t designed to be technical at all, it’s a bass focussed IEM.

Personal Preference: Bad (E). Not for me at all. I didn’t mind some post-rock tracks, along with guitar only music, however it’s worth noting that none of it sounded like it actually should. It’s an extremely coloured IEM.

Overall: None preference score (Below Average – D+), Overall Rating (Below Average D-). This are not the IEM for me, and I don’t think they’d be the IEM for most people. If you have some IEM’s already, and are after something bassy and not too expensive, maybe. They don't get a recommendation from me.

My rating table for this IEM:



Edit: As Head-Fi works on 1-5 I've updated my rating sheet, and subsequently this review, to fit.

My rating system:

7th Acoustics Supernova

Intro
Thanks for 7th Acoustics and @Damz87 for the Australian Tour of these. All thoughts are my own and not influenced in anyway. Rating is based on similar IEM's around the same price point (or in this case + 50%).

I’ve been running from one review/impression to the next in the past few months and really had no idea what these were prior to receiving them. After not being blown away by some mid-fi IEM’s recently I was being to wonder if I’d fallen into TOTL territory where nothing under $2k would ever really do it for me. Thankfully, this wonderful IEM from Indonesia made its way into my hands to renew my enthusiasm for mid-fi market.

7th Acoustics operate from their Facebook page as far as I can tell, it only has a small following, but these guys certainly deserve the praise that it seems they have started to get. Without further ado let’s get into my thoughts.

Packaging

The full retail packaging came along for the tour which was nice! For it’s price the packaging is very nice, after opening the box you’re greeted by the (very pretty) IEM’s, underneath that there is a metal case which contains the braided cable (2 pin, terminated in 4.4mm balanced), the cable is a little stiff but gets the job done They've also includes two sets of tips, one set being the Final E tips, and the other BGVP silicone tips (apparently, I don't know these). Final E are my go to so big thumbs up here. There is also a card to prove authenticity, nicely labelled ‘Aus Demo’ for this set.

Build and Specs

The build on the IEM’s themselves are quite nice, the shells are feel solid but light, the faceplate is very nice, and I had no issues with the nozzle. The tips do sit on the end of the nozzle, I was worried that they might slip off but I didn’t have an issue. The 2 pin was a little finicky to get the cable in but no issues once connected.

Specs:

- 6BA
- Dual Sonion vented bass balanced armature
- Sonion mid + uppermid balanced armature
- Knowles treble + upper treble balanced armature
- Impedance: 15 0 01kHz
- Frequency response: 5-24kHz
- Socket: 2pin 0.78m

Sound impressions

Bass

The bass here is nice, it’s about the right amount that I like (which I think it is a little lower than some like). It has an overall relaxed feel to it, quite pleasant, you would be forgiven for forgetting that it’s a BA at times, and is implemented better than some of the DD’s I’ve heard. Speed is great, good texture to it, hits decently. All around very good and no real complaints from me.

Mids

Smoothish, warm, presentation. Vocals sound great, but on bass heavy tracks you don’t have enough separation between bass and lower mids and lose the ability to completely make everything out on the track, this is the exception though, not the rule. The level of detail is also little lacking, on par with some IEMs in the bracket below. That aside, it’s extremely lovely to listen to, and while it isn’t a detail monster for the most part it’s enough. Male vocals are particularly great to me ears, with deeper vocalists really standing out with magnificent weight behind their voice, it reminds me of my Meze Advar with regards to this, and often surpasses. Superb timbre.

Treble

Very nice, sparkles when it should, no sibilance. Good feeling of air. Went really well against my treble test tracks. Overall, very pleasing to my ears, nothing more to say really.

Soundstage and Imaging

Decent, not the widest or deepest but large enough so nothing feels like it’s getting in the way. Not completely 3D, circle starts somewhere in my head then projects out in front in a circle. Imaging is decent, not pinpoint but I don’t think that’s what they are going for. Taken with the rest of the sound signature here it suits it well.

Subjective thoughts

Subjectively, I absolutely adore these. They’re extremely balanced across the board and everything I throw at them sounds great. Sure, I would prefer more detail for some music, but for 95% of what I listen to these were wonderful and more than enough.

I’d take these over quite a few IEM’s which sit above them in terms of price. Once they’re in my ears I just want too keep listening to music, not so much to experience what it sounds like on these IEMs (which I sometimes do with TOTL pairs), just because I know it’ll sound like what my brain remembers it sounding like, which to be honest is quite an achievement. They’re not going to blow you away, but they will make you enjoy your music the way you remember it, and that to me is the highest praise I think I could give them.

Overall

A magnificent IEM for the price. Enjoyment / musicality is very high, I never wanted to take these off. In terms of what you get for the money my only slight complaint is the cable, otherwise everything else is great. If I didn’t have two new IEMs on the way I’d be buying them right now, and I imagine that I will absolutely buy a pair in the not too distant future - my Meze Advar (daily driver’s) may finally have a challenger. A very strong recommendation for a blind buy for anyone remotely interested.

Edit: after another day of listening I am ordering one, I need these in my collection.

Disclaimer:

I had the opportunity to spend two weeks with these in return for my honest opinion, this hasn't influenced the rating or thoughts at all. Thanks to @Damz87 for organising!



My iPhone doesn't take great close photo's, this was the best I could get, but there are plenty of photo's out there of these beauties.

Design and technical specs:

When you first see these IEM's you're taken aback by their look. Absolutely beautiful faceplate with a cable to match. I'm used to heavier IEM's of this size (FIR Audio / Sony IER-Z1R) but these are also extremely light. The tour package didn't include the retail box but from looking at pictures this is also extremely nice.

Some specs (lifted from effectaudio):

Technical Specifications (IEM)

• 5 Drivers Hybrid In Ear Monitor (1 Dynamic Driver & 4 Balanced Armatures)
• 4-Ways Crossover system (1 DD x Low, 1 BA x Low-Mid, 1 BA x Mid-High, 2 BA x High )
• DiVe Pass II Dual Ventilation Technology*
• Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20KHz
• Impedance: 10 ohm @ 1khz
• Sensitivity: 102db/100mV @ 1khz
• THD ≤ 1%
• Proprietary mix for Internal wiring and custom cable by Effect Audio
• Aesthetics (Stabilized wood for faceplate and cable accessories)
• In Package Accessories: Microfiber Polyurethane case, Spin fit W1 Medical Grade Silicone eartips (Multisize: S/M/L), Cleaning Tool and Cloth
  • This second generation of the DiVe Pass technology eliminates reverberation of the back chamber and provides optimal pressure relief in the front chamber thus reducing driver-flex issues from diaphragm compression. Full bass potential of the dynamic driver is unleashed due to better movement of the diaphragm.

Technical Specifications (Effect Audio Custom Cable)

• Selected Premium UP-OCC Copper Litz
• Selected Premium UP-OCC Silver Plated Copper Litz
• Proprietary Dual Geometric Design
• EPO* 24 AWG 4 Wires
• EA Ultra Flexi™ Insulation
• ConX ™ Ready with Pentaconn Ear Interchangeable Connector
• Rhodium Plated Brass Straight Type Plug

So 5 drivers, 1 DD with 4 BA. The tips included are very comfy (I had them already) and top quality. They do change a little with tip rolling but I mainly stuck to stock. The tour kit came terminated in 4.4mm however you can select the 2.5mm/3.5mm/4.4mm when purchasing. The cable, while looking fantastic, also felt nice and I had no concerns throughout my time with them.

Equipment used:

• Sony Walkman NW-ZX507
• Sony TA-ZH1ES
• Topping D90/A90

Comfort and tips:

They fit my ears well and stayed in. As mentioned earlier they are very light and I kept them in for hours with no issues. Tip wise the included ones are great (Spinfit W1), the nozzle is quite large so other tips need to stretched quite a bit to fit. Default tuning (which I will talk about below) is a little bright, I did try with Final E tips and it took a little bit of the brightness away but my impressions will be based around the default package.

Sound:

TL;DR - U Shaped sound and well tuned across the board with great presentation

Bass:

The low end is nice. Slightly elevated (sub bass focus), with a bit of rumble but not too much. Nicely textured. Overall I enjoyed the bass but there are other options if you're a bass head. For everyone else you won't have anything to complain about.

Mids:

Clear, detailed, neutral (i.e. not warm) for the most part, lower mids perhaps a little lean. Doesn't suit all genres but for the rock and electronic music I listened to with these it worked really well. Vocal's a good, male were perfectly nice but not a standout, female vocals were very nice with some real highlight moments for me.

Highs:

Overall I found them to be fine, a little bright on some tracks, but for the most part they were just about right. No sibilance for my ears but I don't think I'm overly sensitive to it based on what I like.

Soundstage / Imaging:

Great. Quite a decent circle/ball, quite wide but also sufficient depth/height. Instrument placement was also great for an IEM. Good 3D presentation as well, had a few behind the head experiences with these on.

Source:

This worked well from my three sources, I preferred it from the Sonys as I think it toned the brightness down a little. Very easy to drive as well using 4.4mm balanced, would have no issues using 3.5mm from most sources I would imagine. No noticeable differences between my portable Sony and the TA-ZH1ES, it also sounded fine from both desktop setups with no audible hiss. On the desktop ones I used a 4.4mm extension (silver) cable which made no difference to the sound.

Overall:

I really enjoyed my time with the Gaea. For someone looking to upgrade to an IEM which suits modern Rock/Pop/Electronic music this would work really well. They look great, sound great, and are decently priced for the quality you're getting here. I was never left wanting when listening to them.

Personally, I have a decent collection of IEM's that covers what the Gaea offers so won't be adding them, but they'll certainly be on my recommendation list to others for this price point.

Disclaimer: I have the iFi audio ZEN air CAN on loan in return for my honest impressions. This has not influenced my opinion. Thank you to @Rowan94 and @iFi audio for the opportunity

The iFi audio ZEN Air DAC is an entry level DAC/AMP which accepts many formats, and can output via RCA or directly through a built in amp with a SE 6.5mm output.

In the box you get the ZEN Air DAC, a USB B to A cable and some quick start guides. You'll need your own RCA interconnects to link it to your amp if you so desire. The cable is extremely short so unless you're right next to your PC you'll need an extension/longer cable.

Box:


Front:



Price point in Australia is $149.

The unit is well built and pretty tiny, made of plastic but looks nice enough. The back as a USB B input, DC 5v input (optional if your USB source doesn't provide enough power) and 1 x RCA output. I used this by itself and coupled with the Air CAN amp. On the front you have a power match button (seem to do some auto gain), volume control (controls RCA and 6.5mm output volume) and a XBass button.

Specs:


DAC:

No complaints with the DAC, I'm someone who can't tell a difference between most DACs (FPGA / R2R aside) and the same is true here. It does the conversion just as well as my Topping D90. From the above you can see it covers most of what you would want and anyone looking at this should easily be covered.

RCA:

I would have preferred a clean RCA output however whatever settings you have (volume, power match, XBass) influence the output to your amp. For the price point it's understandable, and not a big deal as you can set and forget if you're using an amp (plus you can use XBass if you so wish), but a clean toggle would have been nice.

AMP:

Comparing the output here to the CAN it seems a little muddier. I did a fair bit of volume matched switching and the CAN was certainly superior, with everything just sounding cleaner and all around better. If your budget is limited this would be a good starting point and you could add the CAN in down the track. You can also double stack XBass with the DAC and CAN which was an interesting experience

By itself it sounds perfectly fine, and comparing it to my laptops 3.5mm out it's a massive step up in clarity and punchiness. I found it struggled with some hard to drive cans, I could get an acceptable level of volume on my Liric's however they didn't sound great. Moving towards my entry level and easier to drive cans/IEMS these powered them without an issue, the Rode NTH-100, Grado SR325x, Sennheiser IE300 all sounded great through the DAC.

Bringing it all together:

As a DAC it's great, if you want RCA output and don't mind the points I mentioned above I'd recommend. As an amp I think it lacks a little however as an entry point I'd still recommend it as you can easily add a different amp to your chain down the road. iFi have done a great job with the Air series and they certainly punch above their weight.

Disclaimer: I have the iFi audio ZEN air CAN on loan in return for my honest impressions. This has not influenced my opinion. Thank you to @Rowan94 and the @iFi audio for the opportunity

The iFi audio ZEN air CAN, other than being a mouthful, is a great little amp which for my ears is a great entry point (coupled with a streamer / DAC) for anyone wanting to see what the fuss is about, or a great secondary setup for others of us that are already deep in the head-fi hole.

In the box you get the ZEN Air CAN, a DC to USB cable and some quick start guides. You'll need your own RCA interconnects and/or 3.5mm cable to link up your DAC/Source.

Box:



Front view (Power, Input Selector (3.5mm, RCA 1, RCA 2), Gain, Volume, 6.5mm output, 4.4mm output, XBass / XSpace button):



Back (The iFi Audio Zen Air Blue is on top - 3.5mm to the left of the connected RCA, RCA 1, RCA 2, 5V DC input):


Price point in Australia is $149.

Build quality is great, the unit looks nice, it's plastic but once you're setup it's not like that matters. Setup is super simple, plug in a source, plug in some headphones and you're off.

Switching between sources is simple, click the button and it's pretty much instant. The gain setting works in a similar way and delivers plenty of power at full gain. Specs:


I mainly used this coupled with the Blue, and tried it across a range of headphones and IEM's ranging from entry level to TOTL.

It managed to drive everything I threw at it (most power hungry in my collection being the HD800S and Meze Liric), volume was fine throughout and didn't end up needing to use max gain (9db for HD800S and Liric's - dial at about 75%). The pleasing part for me was that I could drive my Meze Advar IEM's without any noise (using the 4.4mm output). Through my other powered amps there was always a bit of noise on the Advar's, nothing at all through this!

Sound quality across the board was great, making me double guess why I spend much more on other equipment at numerous points through the trial. Does it sound as good as a $3k amp? No, but it's not a million miles away, and while I was listening I wasn't really wanting for anything else. Given it's small form factor and ease to power, I found myself using this (and the Zen air DAC) a lot during the review period. As I had these setup in different places to my main audio setup I listened to more music than I generally would over the two weeks I've had with them.

The XBass/XSpace features are interesting, XBass is great for headphones which have a bass rolloff, a tap of the button and you get a decent bump in the lower frequencies, I had it off most of the time however was fun to play around with. XSpace expands out the soundstage, it does what it says but I generally had it off. You can either of those settings on b themselves, or both on/off.

Would I recommend this to someone? Absolutely, and I have (coupled with the Blue). It's a fantastic entry level product and I wish something like this was around when I started getting into the hobby. I'd also recommend to anyone wanting a secondary setup (at work desk / bedside etc.).

Disclaimer: I have the iFi audio ZEN air on loan in return for my honest impressions. This has not influenced my opinion. Thank you to @Rowan94 and the @iFi audio for the opportunity

The iFi audio ZEN Air Blue is a bluetooth receiver which can be added to your setup easily to enable you to stream music in from a Bluetooth sender (in my case my iPhone 13).

In the box you get the ZEN Air Blue, a DC to USB cable and some quick start guides. You'll need your own RCA interconnects to link it to your amp.

Box:



Unit (with iFi audio Zen Air CAN Headphone Amplifier below, review on that to come):



Price point in Australia is $149.

The unit is plastic but solidly made, and looks nice enough Standard iFi shape. The iFi logo on the front changes depending on the codec you're using.

Setup is super simple, plug in to a USB source (I was using a powered port on my monitor), hold down the button on the right until the blue light blinks, then pair on your device. It immediately showed up on my iPhone:



I also paired it with my Creative BT-W3 (adapter which provides different bluetooth codecs) and it was just as simple.

When you have headphones connected via an amp the device also tells you which codec is being used when connecting to a source, cycling through connections from my Creative BT-W3 worked as expected and very quickly changed between apxt LL, aptx HD, aptx, and SBC. I mainly used aptx HD via this device and AAC directly from my iPhone.

Codecs supported:

• SBC
• aptX, aptX HD, aptxLL and aptX Adaptive
• AAC
• LDAC
• LHDC

You have one connection option to the rest of your system which is via RCA. I tested using the ZEN Air Can, to my Sony TA-ZH1ES and Topping A90, all worked fine. It has a built in DAC (ESS Sabre Hyperstream DAC) and uses quality internals (Texas Instruments low-noise ICs and TDK C0G capacitors).

Performance wise it does exactly what it should, I click play on my device and music comes out. I didn't have one connection issue while using this and you pretty much forget it's there! I mainly used aptX HD as it sounded better than AAC. No issues with sound quality in the slightest. Volume control is handled by the amp, the Blue seems to just output (which I think it a positive), only variance to that is if you go to zero on the source it will mute.

My main use during my review period was actually at my work desk (which was unexpected), I've generally not had a setup close to my work desk (due to power etc.) and use portable solutions, given the small footprint of these devices, and that they are USB powered, I could easily use this setup and enjoy my wired cans

For the price point I think this is a fantastic product, if you need connection options other than RCA you'll obviously need to step up in price however if RCA suits your needs for your main setup and you're looking to add in a Bluetooth receiver, or you're looking for a little setup for your work desk (which I wasn't, but now kind of am after using this), you should definitely give this a look!

Meze Advar



Disclaimer:

First off, thanks to Meze Audio and @Andykong for giving me the opportunity to review these on the South Africa/Australia tour. While the review unit was loaned at no cost all opinions are mine and not influenced whatsoever.

About me:

I'm a middle aged guy from Australia. I have a stupidly large headphone collection and spend as much of my free time as possible listening to music.

Technical Specs:

• Driver: 10.2mm Dynamic driver
• Frequency Range: 10 Hz - 30 kHz
• Impedance: 31 Ω
• SPL: 111dB/mW
• Distortion: <1% at 1kHz

• Stock cable: braided cable made of SPC (silver plated copper) custom wires ending in gold plated 3.5mm
• Upgrade cables (available separately):
  • MMCX SPC cable to balanced 2.5 mm gold plated
  • MMCX SPC cable to balanced 4.4 mm gold plated (provided to audition)

• Materials: Solid stainless steel chassis produced by metal injection molding, with CNC finishing
• Finish: High-gloss Black Chrome plating on main shell

Equipment used:

• Sony Walkman NW-ZX507
• Sony Walkman NW-ZX300
• Mojo2 connected to iPhone 13 through Apple Camera Connector
• Apple Dongle

Unboxing:

The unboxing experience was top notch and reminiscent of the Sony IER-Z1R. It has a very premium look and feel, the outer package gives way to a black on black printed box with the same pattern. From mezeaudio.com:

The outer circles are similar to our representation of the “hora”, a traditional dance that carries a cosmic symbolism to Romanians – the circle of people united in hand represents a dance of the planets around the Sun, a magical union of the tangible with the spiritual. In the center of the circle, the Sun itself. Protector against darkness, a source of light that enables all things to thrive and grow.

This hallmark that accompanies Advar is placed here to reveal a piece of the one thing that makes us most unique - our Maramures-born soul.

Groovy.

Contents:

The package contains nearly everything you could want. The included case and Final Audio Type-E ear tips are both top quality. The MMCX removal tool is a particularly nice touch and removes some of the anxiety that always exists with these connectors. For their price, and what's included from competitors (Sennhesier IE600), the inclusion of a 4.4mm balanced cable would have been nice.

Comfort and Fit:

I found that the L sized Final Audio Type-E tips fit me perfectly. The buds themselves are quite small and I found that I could wear them for hours without any issue. They would have to be some of the most comfortable buds that I've ever worn and the Final Audio ear tips didn't irritate my ears at all. I did try tip rolling with some of my other favourite tips however could not get any of them to sound like the provided ones, I am partial to the foam tips included with the Sony IER-Z1R and using these on the Advar destroyed their sound. If you couldn't get a good fit with the included tips I could see this being a problem.

Sound:

Bass:

The bass on these is simply wonderful, and while I think they are fantastic overall the bass is probably the highlight of the show. The sub-bass feels lifted and adds a lovely rumble to songs where it's present. Listening to Tool - Opiate² you have a fantastic rumble at the start of song which is easily missed on other IEM's and headphones. Bass is well controlled and fills the soundstage, listening to The National - Trouble Will Find Me (Full album, one of my favourites) the vocals are presented on top of beautiful warm lower frequencies. It also does not creep into the mids thankfully which this type of bass often can. This did change based on the equipment used a little, my personal favourite was through the Mojo2 or the ZX-NW507 (balanced). Through the Apple dongle it was a similar experience however some of the depth was removed/absent.

Mids:

Male vocals are magical on these, Matt Berninger (The National) has never sounded better on an IEM to me. Nice warm sound to the mids overall, a little relaxed but lends itself to long listening sessions. Not a lot to say other than they are very enjoyable, slightly coloured however that's not a bad thing.

Treble:

I've seen the other reviews stating that they are spicy (and graphs to back up that position), perhaps I'm lucky but I didn't really notice anything, those peaks would usually lead to a fatiguing listen for me and I didn't experience any while listening to these. I found them very detailed, picking up everything I would expect. I listened to 3 of Mahler's Symphonies today and it was a wonderful experience, plenty of air around everything to be able to place instruments and listen in, but then take a step back and enjoy the whole piece.

Soundstage and imaging:

Soundstage was out of the head by a bit however still intimate, with instrument placement along the whole length, not just L-C-R. Height and depth were also excellent, best when paired with the Mojo2.

Source pairing:

Worked well straight from the apple dongle, better experience from the Walkman's. I predominantly used the balanced cable with the Walkman and found it the be a better experience, however I've also only ever really used the 4.4mm jack's on those so the caps may not be burned in as well on the 3.5mm jacks. Best experience was with the Mojo2, it lifted the experience up from a 4.5 to a 5 for me.

Genres:

I extensively tested across multiple and genre's and these performed extremely well across the board.

Overall:

I adore these little IEM's. I have the IE600's, which would be a direct competitor, and while I think the IE600 may be technically more 'correct' I prefer these in head to head comparisons for most genre's as they are a lot of fun to listen to, always making me listen to just one more track. I've based the overall ranking at the price point, I don't think you'll get much better than this.

While this was a loan set I’ve ordered my own pair (and accompanying 4.4mm cable) - my ears will be happy long into the future now

#MezeAdvar