[Animagus]

Softears Twilight First Impressions​

Received Softears Twilight a few days back. Thought I'll post some first impressions for everyone here. Also, mirrored as a quick In-a-Snapshot article on Tw6 here.

Before anything, here's a quick picture I took so that the post has a bit of eye candy too. Ha!

Twilight is the first IEM I've heard from the Moondrop and Softears camp that moves away most from the VDSF target that most of their other IEMs generally follow. But it does so mainly in one region - the lower-midrange. It is north of neutral in the region which results in a fuller presentation and makes it significantly different sounding from their previous IEMs like RS10, RSV, S8, Blessing2 and Kato, which were more neutral there. Luckily, it works really well along with the forward upper-midrange that has 9dB of pinna gain and comes across as a well done, fun take on the VDSF target. It has a 5-6dB bass boost that not only boosts the sub-bass but also the mid-bass. So, it has rumble as well as punch, which make for quite a fun listen with bass-dominant tracks, without them coming across too boomy/in your face. It has well balanced, neutral sounding lower-treble tuning and a very natural upper-treble downward slope that follows the Harman IE Target's slope almost perfectly, with it extending till 20kHz fairly well.

Frankly, as an audio engineer/musician, I'm not really a fan of fuller midrange style of tuning and like my lower-midrange till 1kHz to be extremely neutral/linear - a straight horizontal line on the graph because it otherwise makes instruments sound muddy, boomy and tonally wonky. But Softears has managed to balance the fullness with finesse and refinement that I've seldom seen done properly otherwise. What I love is that it has a fuller presentation without loosing out on the crunch, bite and definition that is absolutely necessary to keep vocals, guitars, piano and orchestral instruments sounding tonally correct. So, instruments in Twilight do have a bit more body and fullness than neutral but also the forwardness that presents them in the soundstage really well. This balance actually also makes it fairly easy to boost volume for some enthusiastic listening.

Twilight definitely targets a fun presentation more than reference. It'll attract and impress people who thought IEMs like RS10, S8, Kato were a bit too neutral or had a leaner presentation than they like, but still want the crunch and definition that proper pinna gain brings in. Basically people who like fuller sounding IEMs like Andromeda and Solaris but wish that they had proper pinna gain.



Another picture with the stock cable. Good to see Softears include a 4.4mm balanced cable with a 4.4mm to 3.5mm pigtail adapter in the package.

 

[blotmouse]

Softears Twilight First Impressions​

Received Softears Twilight a few days back. Thought I'll post some first impressions for everyone here. Also, mirrored as a quick In-a-Snapshot article on Tw6 here.

Before anything, here's a quick picture I took so that the post has a bit of eye candy too. Ha!

​

Twilight is the first IEM I've heard from the Moondrop and Softears camp that moves most away from the VDSF target that most of their other IEMs generally follow. But it does so mainly in one region - the lower-midrange. It is north of neutral in the region which results in a fuller presentation and makes it significantly different sounding from their previous IEMs like RS10, RSV, S8, Blessing2 and Kato, which were more neutral in the region. Luckily, it works really well along with the forward upper-midrange that has 9dB of pinna gain and comes across as a well done, fun take on the VDSF target. It has a 5-6dB of bass boost that not only boosts the sub-bass but also the mid-bass. So, it has rumble as well as punch that makes it quite a fun listen with bass-dominant tracks with them coming across too boomy/in your face. It has a very well balanced, neutral sounding lower-treble tuning and a very natural upper-treble presentation with a downward slope that follows the Harman IE Target's slope almost perfectly, with it extending till 20kHz fairly well.

Frankly, as an audio engineer/musician, I'm not really a fan of fuller midrange style of tuning and like my lower-midrange till 1kHz to be extremely neutral/linear - a straight horizontal line on the graph because it otherwise makes instruments sound muddy, boomy and tonally wonky. But Softears has managed to balance the fullness with finesse and refinement that I've seldom seen done properly otherwise. What I love is that it has a fuller presentation without loosing out on the crunch, bite and definition that is absolutely necessary to keep vocals, guitars, piano and orchestral instruments sound tonally correct. So, instruments in Twilight do have a bit more body and fullness than neutral but also the forwardness that presents them in the soundstage really well. This balance actually also makes it fairly easy to boost volume for some enthusiastic listening.

Twilight definitely targets a fun presentation more than reference. It'll attract and impress people who thought IEMs like RS10, S8, Kato were a bit too neutral or had a leaner presentation than they like, but still want the crunch and definition that proper pinna gain brings in. Basically people who like fuller sounding IEMs like Andromeda and Solaris but wish that they had proper pinna gain.



Another picture with the stock cable. Good to see Softears include a 4.4mm balanced cable with a 4.4mm to 3.5mm pigtail adapter in the package.

That's quite a bit different than Turii, wow. I was expecting it to be more similar.
Twilight has quite a bit more mid-bass. Turii doesn't start rolling off the treble till after 8k not at 3.5k.
Is that 8-10k peak audible at all?

Great write up!!

 

[Animagus]

That's quite a bit different than Turii, wow. I was expecting it to be more similar.
Twilight has quite a bit more mid-bass. Turii doesn't start rolling off the treble till after 8k not at 3.5k.
Is that 8-10k peak audible at all?

Great write up!!

Thank you! Oh yes, that 10kHz peak is very audible and Twilight has pretty good treble balance. I was actually surprised to see it not graph brighter! It's of course not W-shaped airy but definitely not too warm or dark at all.

 

[Animagus]

Got a couple of pings about Twilight's treble tuning and comparisons to RSV.

For Twilight's treble - Its treble will be perceived slightly differently depending on depth of insertion and snugness of fit. Same thing with measurements too. A lot of you who are aware about graph measurement setups might already know this but for those who don't - IEM's treble peaks graph a bit differently when inserted at different insertion depths in the coupler. They can move a bit left or right too with change in insertion depth.

Below is a comparison between Deep and Medium insertion depth in the coupler. I actually hear it closer to how the Medium insertion depth graphs. Should've just used that graph in the impressions post. I'd label Twilight's overall tuning as neutral-warm for now. Being a bit of a treble head, I would've been perfectly fine with more treble but as I said, the stock tuning is not dark at all.



I'll hold on to writing all the comparisons for the main review, once I've done proper A/B tests. For now, check how it measures against RSV in the graph below.

 

[Scubadevils]

My Twilight lands tomorrow, very excited to hear it and compare with existing DDs in my collection.

 

[TimmyVangtan]

My Twilight lands tomorrow, very excited to hear it and compare with existing DDs in my collection.

Sweet! Would love more impressions of these...not many owns them

 

[Fantanest]

My Twilight lands tomorrow, very excited to hear it and compare with existing DDs in my collection.

Got a couple of pings about Twilight's treble tuning and comparisons to RSV.

For Twilight's treble - Its treble will be perceived slightly differently depending on depth of insertion and snugness of fit. Same thing with measurements too. A lot of you who are aware about graph measurement setups might already know this but for those who don't - IEM's treble peaks graph a bit differently when inserted at different insertion depths in the coupler. They can move a bit left or right too with change in insertion depth.

Below is a comparison between Deep and Medium insertion depth in the coupler. I actually hear it closer to how the Medium insertion depth graphs. Should've just used that graph in the impressions post. I'd label Twilight's overall tuning as neutral-warm for now. Being a bit of a treble head, I would've been perfectly fine with more treble but as I said, the stock tuning is not dark at all.



I'll hold on to writing all the comparisons for the main review, once I've done proper A/B tests. For now, check how it measures against RSV in the graph below.

Looks pretty close to RSV, somehow an RSVMK2 lol?

 

[Animagus]

Looks pretty close to RSV, somehow an RSVMK2 lol?

No, not all! It's substantially different and the graph shows it. You're looking at the 2nd graph (Twilight vs RSV), right?

That extra mid-bass (4-5dB), 250-700Hz lower-midrange fullness of ~3dB, 2dB more pinna gain in the 1.5-5kHz and slightly more overall treble - all add on to form a substantially different sounding signature.

 

[Fantanest]

No, not all! It's substantially different and the graph shows it. You're looking at the 2nd graph (Twilight vs RSV), right?

That extra mid-bass (4-5dB), 250-700Hz lower-midrange fullness of ~3dB, 2dB more pinna gain in the 1.5-5kHz and slightly more overall treble - all add on to form a substantially different sounding signature.

Oh shoot there you go, the 1st graph is deep vs medium insertion my bad.

 

[Animagus]

Oh shoot there you go, the 1st graph is deep vs medium insertion my bad.

Lol!

 

[Fantanest]

No, not all! It's substantially different and the graph shows it. You're looking at the 2nd graph (Twilight vs RSV), right?

That extra mid-bass (4-5dB), 250-700Hz lower-midrange fullness of ~3dB, 2dB more pinna gain in the 1.5-5kHz and slightly more overall treble - all add on to form a substantially different sounding signature.

And just curious how would you compare the twilight to rs10 & cerberus?

 

[sm0rf]

No, not all! It's substantially different and the graph shows it. You're looking at the 2nd graph (Twilight vs RSV), right?
... ...

Not to forget the different setup - single dynamic driver vs 5 balanced armature or did I have a wrong understanding and that's already reflected someway in the comparsion graph ?

 

[Animagus]

And just curious how would you compare the twilight to rs10 & cerberus?

I'll cover the comparisons in detail but in short, I like RS10 most, Twilight second and Cerberus third. I as an audio engineer prefer a nice reference signature that presents all songs very cleanly, so I'd definitely choose RS10 over the rest because of its clean and neutral signature. Twilight is a nice fun signature compared to RS10, with fuller lower-midrange and more mid-bass punch and boom in comparison. I can listen to it on slightly louder volume levels because of the lower end warmth. Cerberus has a little too warm of a treble response for my taste but I love the rest of its tuning, especially its sub-bass shelf. I EQ in treble to make Cerberus sound how I like it.

If you put RSV in the equation too, then RSV would take second place with Twilight and it'd be a tough call if I have to choose one over the other.

 

[Animagus]

Not to forget the different setup - single dynamic driver vs 5 balanced armature or did I have a wrong understanding and that's already reflected someway in the comparsion graph ?

What matters first and foremost is how the IEMs are tuned - their sound signatures. RSV and Twilight are tuned too differently to compare and see how just the different drivers are making a difference. If you want to compare the effect of the driver tech only, the ideal scenario would be 2 IEMs that are tuned exactly the same so that you eliminate ever other variable, leaving only the different driver tech as the difference.

PS - With that said, it'd be really tough to choose if the multi-BA and single DD were tuned perfectly in line. Frankly, I can't say with surety if I'd be able to call them in a blind test! I'd like to believe that I'd be able to but can't know for sure unless I actually do it. Would surely be a lot of fun! We used to do such blind tests when choosing speakers for studios.

 

[Scubadevils]

Twilight landed yesterday, really enjoying it so far - works very well with my modern classical and ambient library - maybe not so much with my more energetic electronic albums. Looking forward to getting to know it better over the coming days.