[Scubadevils]

This is one of the best and most slept on "budget" cables on the market. Absolutely beautifully built, compliant, and excellent sound qualities. Monochrystalline Copper. Just bought two more, so now I have 5. Did some musical chair cable rolling, so now most of my favorite IEM's have these on them, and it freed up the Oriveti modular cable for the incoming Hydro. Tripowin Altea MCC.

Cheers!

I’ve been meaning to buy another from Tripowin - I have ‘Granvia’ for my Denon headphones and find it a beautiful cable of really high quality, I think it was about €50.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I’ve been meaning to buy another from Tripowin - I have ‘Granvia’ for my Denon headphones and find it a beautiful cable of really high quality, I think it was about €50.

That is a beautiful cable indeed. Yeah, Tripowin makes fantastic cables.

 

[Singaravelan]

Bro from the Can Jam Singapore pre-production Performer 3 (as it was called back then, and now the name has evolved to "Explorer"), I can tell you this IEM doesn't sound similar in note weight or the lush midrange as the Magic One.

It was a bit more balanced, more technical too, but not veering to sterility. But their rep said the tuning wasn't finalized at the show, and so who knows how the actual production unit will sound like?

Now that you have heard em, has the final tuning varied from canjam? Wrt lushness.


And what about ba timbre. More i hear dds, be it the wondrous Miroak-ii or even cheapie analogue Cca Trio, ba timbre nags me a touch even on good sets like P8. Takes a while to get used to. Not saying it's not natural etc, could be just what my ears like tonally.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Sadly, the Sennheiser IE800 is actually better than the IE600 sonically. Too bad the cable, like the Sony MH1C, is notoriously CRAP! Almost unuseable, and the bullet type ceramic shell, though tiny, basically works with the bad cable to make the overall ergonomics suck. But when I just lay there still and listen....WOW!!! Puts quite a few newer single DD to shame.

 

[Singaravelan]

Volare is out. Can't remember what exactly the detail was, but watching two videos, there was mention of something that would be a no go with me. Maybe @activatorfly remembers what I told him?

May be you told him that subconsciously you realised penon voltage will be far superior and worth every penny of its cost and you didn't want that sinking feeling after purchasing Volare?!!

Peace and out, and all that..!

 

[fidgeraldo]

This man (Lachlan, of course) got all my interest in these.
US--->$320
EU--->480€ (Aliexpress)

How to swallow that difference?

Cheers!

 

[activatorfly]

Volare is out. Can't remember what exactly the detail was, but watching two videos, there was mention of something that would be a no go with me. Maybe @activatorfly remembers what I told him?

^ Can't remember if you expended upon exactly what put you off in those videos tbf ??.....Pilgrim certainly doesn't appear to have similar issues whatsoever. As I pointed out earlier the build quality of the Volare, shells, fit, accessories & packaging are all excellent. However the deal-breaker for me is summed up (NB ******) in this review:

Pros:

• Impressive value even at $600
• Extremely competent tuning that works well with a lot of music genres
• Controlled treble that remains detailed and extended without being fatiguing
• Dynamic bass with good contrast between tones
• Accurate imaging throughout
• Great channel matching
• Comfortable with a secure fit for me
• Lots of silicone and foam ear tips included
• Modular cable that feels very premium
• Flagship-style unboxing experience

Cons:

• Initial impressions may be tame
• Timbre, especially for brass instruments, feels slightly off
• Recessed mids combined with elevated lower treble can be annoying ******
• Large nozzle can be uncomfortable

 

[DynamicEars]

If you guys had to make a blind urgent purchase and get either DaVinci or Pilgrim:NOIR, which one would it be?

Not sure why the option isn't on similar price range, they can be good on their own class, but I would put Pilgrim OG in between them. The price is between those two, but the tuning for me is better than those two.

The Davinci trapped in 6khz too deep valley, as lot of "anti sibilance" cut like HBB collabs. The anti sibilance cut is needed but should be on 7khz and not affecting 6khz too much. The 6 khz should be around +4db until +6db to to have nice balance between "not too dull" or "not to bright", just nice amount with lower treble sparkles with little fun bite. The treble extension also ok but not great (someone mentioned it as Hype 4 without treble extension and I think I can agree with this)
Davinci also have mid bass bleed seeing from +8db on 100hz, mid bass will take lead on overall presentation.

The Pilgrim Noir is darker tuning, with big bass, but more forward upper mids but fall in treble region, the extension of the treble is like lot of budget / previous years midfi tuning, rolled off. Unless you personally prefer this tuning (little bit niche, darker, bass tilted tuning with minimum sparkles) I wouldn't bet on such a price. The Pilgrim Noir will go head to head with Symphonium Meteor with similar niche tuning.

the Pilgrim OG on other hand have balance and great tuning. I really like it as they are very close to my personal target tuning but I have 1 concern with little shouty bright that I perceived at the first listening and turned out that is the 5khz peak, not to be worried about actually, more just a nitpick feedback from me and definitely not a deal breaker. The Pilgrim OG tuning is nice

Your VE buds are much cheaper and thin sounding than your new rw2000, the models more similar in sounding full is something in the line of Zen 3.0 or Asura 3.0 FE. Or the new SMG that goes past the two mentioned.

Plenty of good earbuds, your rw-2000 one of them. Only downside being it's a little dark sounding, but again show how good mid bass the best earbuds can deliver.

A good entry for people who want to try a warm earbud is Yincrow X6, only around $15.

+1 for yincrow X6, nice budget earbud set along with their bigger brother yincrow RW-9 for $20ish

First and foremost, and anyone else with a Sony, feel free to back me up, the Sony "house sound" is creamy smooth, musical, and still packs excitement, just in a "mature" sort of way. It's not a bright or strident sound, or disjointed, but very harmonious, smooth, and musical as I mentioned. Not the biggest stage, but also not narrow. It does provide adequate width, depth, and height if it's there, but rarely is it exaggerated like some (i.e. my Cowon Plenue J). It places you right into the groove of the music. It's might not be the most technical or transparent listen, but that's not why you get a Sony dap for. It's for that musical experience only a Sony DAP can give you. Others, feel free to corroborate or add to that description?

Didn’t @RikudouGoku or someone found that the FR of Sony DAP is not actually flat but all over the place to make that sound signature

Sony house DAP is warm smooth with details that please lot of people and fans. It is musical tuned DAP with effort towards analog style from the team with very good technicalities too but technicalities aren't their first strength point. Compared to other neutral and technical DAPs like Fiio or ibasso, detail retrieval, soundstage and imaging is slightly behind them (depend on the dap class also) But even the WM1A / WM1Z also behind M17 for technicalities. I couldn't get similar wide and deep soundstage as from M17 when I'm using my Mr Walkman WM1Z tuned modded WM1A. Don't get me wrong the Sony still have very good width and depth though. And power also not on the strongest category, just sufficient enough for most IEMs, even planars or Z1R.
I would say its kinda "unique" style instead only "warm" tuning. Not like hiby's warmness also. Not the smooth as A&K Ultima series DAPs where trebles and extensions are like filtered from sharp attack to crispy but smooth (in good way, just imagine like BA treble extension become EST smoothness in A&K magic), but Sony house tune is like "uniquely thick with details" that made vocals are rich and thick.

As for FR of the DAP, they are kinda flat, but their processing is yes its more like tuned with EQ, like their vynil processor is turned out actually using this kind of EQ preset :
Sony WM1A measurement without any processing :

it is quite flat will little rolled off on both end to end extensions (watch on 20hz-16khz human hearing capability)

and then, here the vynil processing on WM1A (its not that extreme, the graph is stretched on Y axis to show clearly the differences, but actually the tuning plays are less than 1db EQ :



And DC phase linearizer / bass processing (direct means no post processing applied), there are little differences from 200hz below :



*note : shout out to our new member @Alex-D for all his hard work capturing these measurements.

and I believe other enhancements also made using similar way.
but the richness and house tuning I believe its more complex tuning with those capacitors , their s-masters chipset etc that beyond my knowledge so far.

I enjoy Sony house so much but at some point when I'm not at home, I kinda miss the soundstage and imaging presentation from my M17, I wish the WM1A or WM1Z have that or close to at least.

KZ ZS10 pro 2 arriving tomorrow. Let's see if @PhonoPhi 's strong review of them holds up? Merga and Hydro right behind, and should be here by end of week.

TRN Conch is TRN's best selling IEM. Even more so that the ST7, which surprises me, but in a way, with all the accessories that come with the Conch, and tuning nozzles, it's the better deal pricewise. Still, me love my ST7!

Recent TRN IEMs are unbelievably good. And no, I’m not a TRN employee; I’m just very enthusiastic about their products because, at least for now, I haven’t found a single TRN IEM that I didn’t fall in love with. Currently, I own the Orca, the Conch, and the ST7, and I’m quite fond of all of them. It also helps that, aside from their really solid sound quality, their design is quite enjoyable and unique too. Yes, I’m looking at you, KZ/CCA, with your standardized “black coffin”. I don't know, it actually feels like I'm actually buying different products with TRN!

Changing the subject, in about a week (I suspect they’ll release it during the first week of June), I’ll definitely buy the Medusa too (which, I have to admit, looks stunning). And speaking of the devil, TRN has released some more “natural” photos of the Medusa, so while I’m at it, here you go:

As for the Conch, based on what I was able to gather from X, in Japan many people seem to prefer it over the ST7, even in terms of tuning (yes, it’s that good). I personally love them both for different reasons, I believe they’re very distinct sounding but equally excellent IEMs... Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about the Conch!

Just got the Conch in today and was floored by the sound quality, not even burnt in. It has those exciting highs that will likely spell the end of the D-fi in my collection, as good as it is.

I keep hearing about the highs being amazing on this set! Y'all are killin' me! Though TRN ships fast, it's still not going to be fast enough for my curiosity. LOL

This was posted on Jays Audio channel.

To tell you all, actually the Conch driver is really really good

here the RAW driver measurement I did few months back :


Only Few and Conch driver have this kind of treble extension that doesn't roll off among hundreds of DD on budget and midfi class, even Simgot's (I also have the measurements actually) that's why the Conch driver is special. See the treble extension until 15khz.

The drawback of course the original Conch always sounded tizzy no matter what filter are used, because the nylon filter on 3 filters taming high mids region only but don't affecting treble extension at all, that is too much, and here the magic with your wife face cotton :

cotton materials absorb trebles and extension so much, so this cotton only can be use with peaky treble extension depends on the amount of the cotton.
just ditch the original nylon filter (I suggest using the transparency filter since you won't use it anyway) and replace it with metal grill for earwax protection and better looks :



then use this cotton damper :
Cut small rectangle cotton roughly 7mm x 10mm and tape it on back side so it won't wooly and then roll it with small stick like watch tools or tiny screwdrivers or even toothpick will work


Push in slowly with help of tweezer, make sure the center part still have hole that go through (this is important for clean non smeared, tactile bass)
It will be looked like this :

You can open up the centre hole with tweezer also

And thats it voila!

Best if you have measurement rig for mod to ensure your damper amount and balance channel.

Here the result, the green one is the modded one, extension looked tamed, but actually very detail and extended because this is dampened from that peaky raw extension.


And measurement of the final mods L and R unit, with my target tuning reference, not the best but close and I can say this is one of the best single DD I've ever heard and made something like Kato, Hana, EA500 etc obsolete practically.



great impact bass while very tactile, minimum bleed mid bass (can't help it) thick yet detailed mids, nice sparkles, great treble extension and superb technicalities with sharp imaging. All for $30 + 1 layer of your wife face cotton. Oh yeah, not an advertisement as always as I bought them with full price and I don't have any relation with TRN.

 

[activatorfly]

Sadly, the Sennheiser IE800 is actually better than the IE600 sonically. Too bad the cable, like the Sony MH1C, is notoriously CRAP! Almost unuseable, and the bullet type ceramic shell, though tiny, basically works with the bad cable to make the overall ergonomics suck. But when I just lay there still and listen....WOW!!! Puts quite a few newer single DD to shame.

In this instance I can only add one word tbh...."DELCI" !!

 

[o0genesis0o]

Not sure why the option isn't on similar price range, they can be good on their own class, but I would put Pilgrim OG in between them. The price is between those two, but the tuning for me is better than those two.

The Davinci trapped in 6khz too deep valley, as lot of "anti sibilance" cut like HBB collabs. The anti sibilance cut is needed but should be on 7khz and not affecting 6khz too much. The 6 khz should be around +4db until +6db to to have nice balance between "not too dull" or "not to bright", just nice amount with lower treble sparkles with little fun bite. The treble extension also ok but not great (someone mentioned it as Hype 4 without treble extension and I think I can agree with this)
Davinci also have mid bass bleed seeing from +8db on 100hz, mid bass will take lead on overall presentation.

The Pilgrim Noir is darker tuning, with big bass, but more forward upper mids but fall in treble region, the extension of the treble is like lot of budget / previous years midfi tuning, rolled off. Unless you personally prefer this tuning (little bit niche, darker, bass tilted tuning with minimum sparkles) I wouldn't bet on such a price. The Pilgrim Noir will go head to head with Symphonium Meteor with similar niche tuning.

the Pilgrim OG on other hand have balance and great tuning. I really like it as they are very close to my personal target tuning but I have 1 concern with little shouty bright that I perceived at the first listening and turned out that is the 5khz peak, not to be worried about actually, more just a nitpick feedback from me and definitely not a deal breaker. The Pilgrim OG tuning is nice




+1 for yincrow X6, nice budget earbud set along with their bigger brother yincrow RW-9 for $20ish





Sony house DAP is warm smooth with details that please lot of people and fans. It is musical tuned DAP with effort towards analog style from the team with very good technicalities too but technicalities aren't their first strength point. Compared to other neutral and technical DAPs like Fiio or ibasso, detail retrieval, soundstage and imaging is slightly behind them (depend on the dap class also) But even the WM1A / WM1Z also behind M17 for technicalities. I couldn't get similar wide and deep soundstage as from M17 when I'm using my Mr Walkman WM1Z tuned modded WM1A. Don't get me wrong the Sony still have very good width and depth though. And power also not on the strongest category, just sufficient enough for most IEMs, even planars or Z1R.
I would say its kinda "unique" style instead only "warm" tuning. Not like hiby's warmness also. Not the smooth as A&K Ultima series DAPs where trebles and extensions are like filtered from sharp attack to crispy but smooth (in good way, just imagine like BA treble extension become EST smoothness in A&K magic), but Sony house tune is like "uniquely thick with details" that made vocals are rich and thick.

As for FR of the DAP, they are kinda flat, but their processing is yes its more like tuned with EQ, like their vynil processor is turned out actually using this kind of EQ preset :
Sony WM1A measurement without any processing :

it is quite flat will little rolled off on both end to end extensions (watch on 20hz-16khz human hearing capability)

and then, here the vynil processing on WM1A (its not that extreme, the graph is stretched on Y axis to show clearly the differences, but actually the tuning plays are less than 1db EQ :



And DC phase linearizer / bass processing (direct means no post processing applied), there are little differences from 200hz below :



*note : shout out to our new member @Alex-D for all his hard work capturing these measurements.

and I believe other enhancements also made using similar way.
but the richness and house tuning I believe its more complex tuning with those capacitors , their s-masters chipset etc that beyond my knowledge so far.

I enjoy Sony house so much but at some point when I'm not at home, I kinda miss the soundstage and imaging presentation from my M17, I wish the WM1A or WM1Z have that or close to at least.












To tell you all, actually the Conch driver is really really good

here the RAW driver measurement I did few months back :


Only Few and Conch driver have this kind of treble extension that doesn't roll off among hundreds of DD on budget and midfi class, even Simgot's (I also have the measurements actually) that's why the Conch driver is special. See the treble extension until 15khz.

The drawback of course the original Conch always sounded tizzy no matter what filter are used, because the nylon filter on 3 filters taming high mids region only but don't affecting treble extension at all, that is too much, and here the magic with your wife face cotton :

cotton materials absorb trebles and extension so much, so this cotton only can be use with peaky treble extension depends on the amount of the cotton.
just ditch the original nylon filter (I suggest using the transparency filter since you won't use it anyway) and replace it with metal grill for earwax protection and better looks :



then use this cotton damper :
Cut small rectangle cotton roughly 7mm x 10mm and tape it on back side so it won't wooly and then roll it with small stick like watch tools or tiny screwdrivers or even toothpick will work


Push in slowly with help of tweezer, make sure the center part still have hole that go through (this is important for clean non smeared, tactile bass)
It will be looked like this :

You can open up the centre hole with tweezer also

And thats it voila!

Best if you have measurement rig for mod to ensure your damper amount and balance channel.

Here the result, the green one is the modded one, extension looked tamed, but actually very detail and extended because this is dampened from that peaky raw extension.


And measurement of the final mods L and R unit, with my target tuning reference, not the best but close and I can say this is one of the best single DD I've ever heard and made something like Kato, Hana, EA500 etc obsolete practically.



great impact bass while very tactile, minimum bleed mid bass (can't help it) thick yet detailed mids, nice sparkles, great treble extension and superb technicalities with sharp imaging. All for $30 + 1 layer of your wife face cotton. Oh yeah, not an advertisement as always as I bought them with full price and I don't have any relation with TRN.

Dayum, the man appears and drops a ton of knowledge and dip

Agree about the tuning of Pilgrim OG. Its midrange and overall balance is masterworks, IMHO.

 

[Leonarfd]

Cross share here also, been not that active sharing about AüR Audio Aehta.

Still super impressed, it's quite a technical sounding AüR. With tight deep bass and clean mids and highs, suprisingly clean BAs making Mega5est sounds a little veiled and smooth in comparison.

Delayed my review so I get more time with it, and I have some other promised reviews now.

Been playing more with the switches, for my taste I preffer using 103. Get good amount of bass (12dB) but also some good treble to back it up, a good second is actually all switches off 000 for a more neutral and easy listen.

Third favorite is going full bass mode with 100, gets more L shaped when both mids and treble is more relaxed. Actually think its the same bass amount as 103 but since the treble is not so forward it sounds more bassy. Quite fun on electronica or hip hop.

Switch 1 is directed at the bass, 2 for the upper mids and last 3 for the treble. Works with enough change so it's noticable, but still sound similar as being Aehta underneath.

I would still not call this basshead set, but more of a audiophile bassy IEM. If that make any sense, since quantity is not taking over all the sound. It's also quite fast and punchy, not slow and don't muddy up the mids for me.

But I know some other owners are not a bass lover as me, and they prefer to use it in 023 to get the least amount of warmth. And that is a strength of Aehta giving you the choice of how warm or bright you want the tuning.

 

[Singaravelan]

Your VE buds are much cheaper and thin sounding than your new rw2000, the models more similar in sounding full is something in the line of Zen 3.0 or Asura 3.0 FE. Or the new SMG that goes past the two mentioned on the technical side, tuning still depend as all are a little different.

Plenty of good earbuds, your rw-2000 is one of them. Only downside being it's a little dark sounding, but again show how good mid bass the best earbuds can deliver.

A good entry for people who want to try a warm earbud is Yincrow X6, only around $15.

Hmm just saw this post after linked by dynamic ears.

That yincrow X6 tempting, for that price. And it's available where I live.

Here we go... To the things one gets after not even in mind 2 mins back!

Should get em, na Leo?!

 

[droid23]

I’ve been meaning to buy another from Tripowin - I have ‘Granvia’ for my Denon headphones and find it a beautiful cable of really high quality, I think it was about €50.

A well rounded budget combo > KZ ZS10 Pro 2 (AZLA Xelastec tips) with Tripowin Noire cable:

 

[o0genesis0o]

Out of nowhere, a banger dropped. Intuaura Splendor II

Impression:

• Single 10mm DD, no further info available
• This is the first time I see an IEM with a dongle in the box. And the dongle actually sounds decent.
• The sound signature can be described as L shaped. Its bassline is masculine and powerful.
• Soundstage, particularly the depth and height are surprisingly good. The presentation reminds me of Noble Audio Spartacus with dense, thick midrange at the phantom center of the stage, and background elements sitting further at the back and wrapping around.

My conclusion so far

 

[Leonarfd]

Hmm just saw this post after linked by dynamic ears.

That yincrow X6 tempting, for that price. And it's available where I live.

Here we go... To the things one gets after not even in mind 2 mins back!

Should get em, na Leo?!

Go for it, good entry to see if earbuds are for you or not.