bhazard
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2013
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Joker posted quick impressions of the Fidue in-ears. They sound like winners.
Great news on my Moxpad's, they've reached Norway according to the tracking. Now I only need to wait for custom clearance.......
From my own personal experience with some of these ear/headphones, a lot of these chinese companies products have poor build quality/engineering when compared to the likes of Sennheiser, Denon, Audio-technica, FAD, Fostex, Stax. But I guess the low pricing makes it acceptable?
You could say there are poor build quality American brands as well. Lower end Skullcandy sets come to mind. They are built in China anyway.
Yes, there are plenty of poor quality Chinese products, yet there are many excellent ones as well. Do you deny that VSonic makes excellent iems?
Stax is now owned by Edifier (a Chinese company). Edifier makes a very nice headphone, the H850, that is unavailable in the US. I have one though, and it is a >$50 gem. Is anything Stax a poor product because it is Chinese owned now?
We only know of VSonic because of the community and their experiences with it. There just happens to be a lot of unknown quality chinese audio pieces out there, and it would be awesome to know all the good stuff from the bad.
The Ostry, Moe, Moxpad, and the Havi are all very good iems I've tried. Joker mentioned Fidue in his latest impressions as well, and they seem like a great new up and comer.
Regarding the topic of this thread, I think many of these Chinese products would be more successful here if they advertised more/featured more in NA and have beneficial connections with local headphone stores. And they should bump up their design/material/manufacturing quality even if it means more premium prices.
My kz a1 arrived in Norway yesterday. I should get it next week along with the Moxpad's. Also got the Phrodi Pod201, Havi's and the new Piston's on the way. Will arrange a shootout when I get them all
I chewed through this thread today in ONE GO - after searching for smartphone and as collateral damage finding XIAOMI IEMs. I am specially intrigued by the new Piston version with beryllium diaphragm.
Havi M3 Pro version is also something of interest - as I really need IEM monitoring of live recordings and fun and V and U signatures are to be avoided at all costs. On its way to me is a pair of Superlux 381Fs - something that might fit the bill, in fact my way of trying the physical outline of such design and compatibility with intended application, as I am eying Philips Fidelio S1 or better yet, S2, which share the general physical outline with 381Fs, size, semi open, etc.
I will probably start a new thread on monitoring with IEMs - as I do it always under the mufflers and I have found very little if anything on head-fi in this direction. Please note I record classical/vocal/ACOUSTIC music and any studio type experience is perhaps contraproductive. Preferred "cans" I own and use are AKG K 1000 and Stax Lambda, but these are useless for monitoring live in the same acoustical space with performers ( concert hall, church, etc ). Isolation is paramount, that is why I use OVER IEMs mufflers, to get the overall isolation ( combination of IEMs and mufflers ) of the order of approx 60 dB :
http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/OccSafety/Home/Products/ProductCatalogue/?PC_Z7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECFTDQKKT1000000_nid=QBQP479KLXbeN8MT32R3VMgl
My current IEMs also fit into this thread - XKDUN CKM-700 http://www.head-fi.org/t/579727/mysterious-focalprice-iems-amazing-impressions-and-comparisons-inside ; they are nice as long as good midrange is the only requirement, but suffer on loud bass and treble leaves too much to be desired. I had high hopes for Sennheiser IE800, but these seem to be too much fun and too litlle precision oriented, even if one disregards ludicrous price.
Your comments on everything you are expecting would be more than welcome. But PLEASE - do give all of them a decent burn in time - out of the box, most headphones/IEMs do not show their true characters. I am most interested in Xiaomi new Pistons.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
@Bhazard : THANK YOU for this great thread. Please see the post above this one.
Since you are familiar with JVC HA-S500, which I also own and use, I would be most interested in your impression of Havi M3s Professional and XIAOMI Pistons you have in the pipeline.
Have a great holliday season !
Sorry to say, but I have the Superlux 381 and 386 as well, and neither will work for monitoring purposes. I wasn't a fan of either one. The Havi however is one of the more accurate iems I have heard. Only a frequency response graph would verify it, as I could be wrong.
The review of the Pistons also shows a V signature, but a good one. We'll see.
I would like to see a monitoring thread. People don't really know how well a flat response with low distortion makes a ton of difference. The Sony V6 is the only truly trusted monitoring headphone out there, and there has never been any mention of a monitoring IEM anywhere to my knowledge.
The S500 is another U signature headphone I ended up not liking. Too much sparkle in the treble.
I'll let you know how the Havi and Piston compare.
I am also not a proponent of burn-in. A driver's signature and characteristic will not change from hour 1 to hour 100. It may possibly "tighten" up over that time, but there is no evidence it will do so. Your perception can vary greatly from every listening session, to every different song though. The Havi has been the same from hour 1 to hour 40 as of now, and I loved it since the first listen. It has not changed since.
I may just keep one or two other iems along with the Havi, as I feel I don't need to spend much more money having the HE-500, the Havi, and an exceptional DIY speaker setup.
Got a ton of the newest KZ earphones in today.
Burning the first one in. KZ CKW Pro. Typical AT house sound. Boosted bass, boosted treble. I've come to realize I'm not a fan of the AT sound unless they put out more balanced sets (like the IM50).
Very nice for $30. It easily matches some $100 sets, but the Havi is better and more accurate at $10 more.
Did you get the second pair of a1 from Taobao?
KZ has another winner that they just released:
"KZ-professional 5.8MM extreme micro ring ear headphones HD audio enthusiast penetrating vocals"
that's quite a name for just a $10 phone. reminds me of some company...