Ira Delphic
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Earbuds Round-Up
- Thread starter ClieOS
- Start date
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- akg akg-k-319-in-ear-bud-headphone-dark-charcoal audio-technica-ath-cm707 baldoor-earbell-e100 bang-olufsen-a8-earphones blox-anv3 blox-m2c blox-tm7 blue-ever-blue-328r creative-aurvana-air-headphones-over-the-ear crossroads-hr1 dunu-alpha-1-hybrid-earbuds-dynamic-balanced-armature-high-fidelity-headphones earbuds hifiman-electronics-es100-vintage-style-earbud-with-15mm-driver-blue rose sennheiser sennheiser-mx-580-stereo-headphones-with-intergrated-volume-control sennheiser-mx-581-stereo-stereo-headphones-with-intergrated-volume-control sennheiser-mx-760 sennheiser-mx-90-style-series-in-ear-headphone-with-volume-control sunrise-audio sunrise-audio-charm venture-electronics-ve-zen yuin-pk1-earphones yuin-pk3-earphones
vapman
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Oh whoops, I thought he meant overall quality and not just bass. Well, it's cheap enough to be worth taking a risk on...
tinkertailor
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where do you order that?
vapman
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I'm assuming Nice HCK...
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/N-K-s-Earphone-64-ohm-Balanced-High-Impedance-In-Ear-Earphone-Earbud-64-ohms-Earbud/1825606_32757568153.html
$8 with head fi discount.
mochill
Headphoneus Supremus
+1 , just message them that you are from headfi 
K 64 ohm looks like it use kz cable ? If it really is man that's one messy sticky cable
vapman
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looks like the KZ cable except for the 3.5mm connector but otherwise yeah, i thought it looked like KZ cable...
the white one seems to have a different (silver?) cable
Ira Delphic
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It get's less sticky over time and the 3.5mm connector looks good. I just ordered the silver.
Danneq
Headphoneus Supremus
Now to tease @music4mhell a bit...
Today I received this:
Inside this little chap was hiding:
The QFreds came with normal thickness foams on them (white on right and dark gray on left):
I quickly changed to thin Monk+ foams...
Blox TM7 greets its new friend QFred.
Out of the box I noticed that QFred is not bass heavy and that mids are in focus. I did not notice much deep sub bass and with regular foams I felt like there was a slight mid bass bump that I was not too crazy about. In a way that reminded me of Zen 2 where mid bass and mids are forward but there's not much deep bass.
Anyway, I listened to them more closely with Monk+ foams and they have definite potential to make it to my top 5 list. I think they would make @ClieOS champions list without any problems.
They might change a bit after 60-100 hours of use, which is the recommended burn in time, but out of the box I sort of see them as a person child of Blox TM7 and AuGlamour RX-1. If you take the excellent presentation and instrument placement and separation of Blox TM7 and put it together with the forward mids of RX-1 you might get a picture of the sound (though much better bass than RX-1). Shozy Cygnus might also be a good comparison but with a slightly less warm sound but much much better 3D soundstage and treble extension.
Music genres such as metal can become a bit too forward with the focus on mids but more calm music like pop sounds great on QFred. Right now I'm listening to old Kate Bush and it sounds very very good.
Are they worth $200? Well, fresh out of the box I like them more than Celsus Gramo One, which cost $249. If QFred were manifactured in greater numbers perhaps around $150 would be a resonable price.
I'm definitely considering getting CampFred as well!
Ah! And the cable will oxidize in time just as the one on Cygnus. However this was included:
Today I received this:
Inside this little chap was hiding:
The QFreds came with normal thickness foams on them (white on right and dark gray on left):
I quickly changed to thin Monk+ foams...
Blox TM7 greets its new friend QFred.
Out of the box I noticed that QFred is not bass heavy and that mids are in focus. I did not notice much deep sub bass and with regular foams I felt like there was a slight mid bass bump that I was not too crazy about. In a way that reminded me of Zen 2 where mid bass and mids are forward but there's not much deep bass.
Anyway, I listened to them more closely with Monk+ foams and they have definite potential to make it to my top 5 list. I think they would make @ClieOS champions list without any problems.
They might change a bit after 60-100 hours of use, which is the recommended burn in time, but out of the box I sort of see them as a person child of Blox TM7 and AuGlamour RX-1. If you take the excellent presentation and instrument placement and separation of Blox TM7 and put it together with the forward mids of RX-1 you might get a picture of the sound (though much better bass than RX-1). Shozy Cygnus might also be a good comparison but with a slightly less warm sound but much much better 3D soundstage and treble extension.
Music genres such as metal can become a bit too forward with the focus on mids but more calm music like pop sounds great on QFred. Right now I'm listening to old Kate Bush and it sounds very very good.
Are they worth $200? Well, fresh out of the box I like them more than Celsus Gramo One, which cost $249. If QFred were manifactured in greater numbers perhaps around $150 would be a resonable price.
I'm definitely considering getting CampFred as well!
Ah! And the cable will oxidize in time just as the one on Cygnus. However this was included:
vapman
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@Danneq What kind of crazy shenanigans did you have to go through to buy those QFreds? I wanna try the other Freds too...
Danneq
Headphoneus Supremus
I just had to get hold of Herry of Cypherus Audio X. That could be done by contacting him on the Cypherus Facebook page. The big problem was getting $240 but I got around that sum from selling my old Audio Technica buds. Those babies needed a new owner anyway since I wasn't using them much anymore.
BTW, now I tried connecting my iRiver H140 to my Cayin C5 and well... Right said QFred! Amplification opens the soundstage up more and gives them more sub bass.
Ira Delphic
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By the way... when you get a new earbud (or IEM, headphone, etc.) there's a very quick way to uncover potential driver problems. See my signature - the tone generator (I am not affiliated with it in any way).
I had a recent PM conversation with a forum member, suggesting that he try it with his issue, this is what he said:
Dang! This test is ruthless. Just found that one of the driver of my original Monk too rattles at a lower frequency than the RX1 (around 80) but it still listenable for normal music. The Monk Plus is fine even to very low frequencies. Now I'm afraid to test my other earbuds. Like you said this tool is great for testing new purchases.
After months of using a headphone I tried a bunch of things to pin down an exact problem with the driver. The seller replaced it reluctantly and I had pretty substantial proof.
Try one channel at a time and test the entire spectrum. Also a hearing test to lol!
Give it a try. I may start a thread on this elsewhere.
I had a recent PM conversation with a forum member, suggesting that he try it with his issue, this is what he said:
Dang! This test is ruthless. Just found that one of the driver of my original Monk too rattles at a lower frequency than the RX1 (around 80) but it still listenable for normal music. The Monk Plus is fine even to very low frequencies. Now I'm afraid to test my other earbuds. Like you said this tool is great for testing new purchases.
After months of using a headphone I tried a bunch of things to pin down an exact problem with the driver. The seller replaced it reluctantly and I had pretty substantial proof.
Try one channel at a time and test the entire spectrum. Also a hearing test to lol!
Give it a try. I may start a thread on this elsewhere.
