The Fiio FA19 was gotten at a discounted price from Fiio. This is a 10 KNOWLES BA IEM. Very comfortable, easy to drive, with no amplification requirements. Accessories are fit for a king. It has 1 tuning switch. In stock form (with the bass switch turned off), the FA19 sounds warm...

Cadenza 4 is thinner in note weight, more sterile sounding. Dead neutral. MagicOne is thicker and lusher in the midrange. Warm neutral. Technicalities, I think the C4 is slightly better, but diminishing returns as per the price difference. Thanks for taking one for the team! I am a bit...

Using 4.4 mm (and desktop mode on KA17), the KA17 has better soundstage and layering. Micro-detailing is slightly better on the TP50 but the TP50 is more harsh/sterile. However, beyond stock tuning, the KA17 has PEQ on android app, which can actually boost the clarity and upper frequencies to...

I've seen forum reports of these 4.4 mm to 2.5 mm adapters snapping off at the 2.5 mm portion cause it is thinner. Indeed, an awkward twist or snag when using a dongle on-the-go is not unexpected. Anyway market forces will dictate everything. I suspect the 2.5 mm market is smaller than 3.5 mm...

I bought their previous E1DA 9038 series, and they were sterile and neutral but quite analytical. Not my cup of tea for music appreciation as I prefer a bit more meat on the bones, but those dongles were useful for reviewing gear so as not to colour anything in the audio chain. They also got...

When testing these at Can Jam Singapore, I found the Noir is bassier (may be for bassheads even), with some loss in resolution compared to the OG Pilgrim. I know they added some TOTL cable in the Noir packaging, but the Noir is almost double the price of the OG Pilgrim. Personally, sound-wise I...

For fans of the 9038 series dongle, there's a new E1DA 9039S incoming. Specs: ES9039Q2M DAC 2.5 mm balanced only Low output impedance Whopping 400 mW power (at 32 ohm, THD 1%) Unfortunately, seems there is no 4.4 mm or 3.5 mm port, and 2.5 mm cables aren't that popular nowadays...

BQEYZ Cloud coming soon. I tested a prototype of this at Singapore Can Jam. I think the rep was saying it was a 1 DD + 1 passive radiator setup. Not sure if that was the final tuning, but it sounded neutral bright, very technical, transparent and analytical. One for the technical junkies and...

I haven't tried the W4. Yes, Snowy Night has respectable power on high gain with 4.4 mm at 300 mW output. But that is dwarfed by some dongles like the KA13 (550 mW output desktop mode 4.4 mm) and the KA17 (650 mW output desktop mode 4.4 mm). I do like the Snowy Night in terms of sound, but it...

Ah I do have DAC/AMPs that have 2 outputs like my Chord Mojo 2. But I realize this double output port is not really usable in most day to day listening. Cause the different connected transducers have different impedance/sensitivity values, so one transducer invariably will be deafeningly loud...

The Singolo has a very short nozzle. It won't be an issue for smaller or average sized ears, but those with larger ears will have problems getting a seal or letting the IEM stay inside, short of modifying it or putting longer nozzle aftermarket eartips. The thing is, with the advent of dongle...

I've not tried the FD7. But the FA19 is warm neutral. Tonality is quite stage monitor like, not the typical Harmanish clones we see every week. DOES IT COME WITH A WAIFU? WILL THE PAINT CHIP OFF?

Yeah their previous tunings seem to be a bit shrill in the upper mids/treble. Very technical but not too musical and quite fatiguing. This FA19 is more controlled in the upper frequencies for sure. Added with a vented sub-woofer to give better bass decay and extension too, so it isn't too...

Yes the Noir is way more expensive and less resolving IMO. But the Noir version is basshead compared to the more balanced OG version, so perhaps this caters to the basshead crowd. Internal driver config is the same, just the tuning is different between the 2, but I would take the OG Pilgrim any...

Yeah I auditioned the Artha, but IIRC there are 2 versions right? There's a metal shell version which is more technical/resolving, and an acrylic or resin version which is smoother though with some slight dampening in resolution. I don't trust aural memory as I don't have the Artha physically...