Well considering Linsoul intentionally outpriced the Jupiter, the gap isn't as big as you think. But if there isn't much space between Doscinco and Jupiter, then I'd just be happy with Doscinco and not spend more money. But we are in a hobby where the dopamine hit of new shinies is real. So...

They’re not. Doesn’t matter how pedantic you get with the wording. It’s a very fine set, but anything basshead? It’s a no. That relationship is dead, as far as Akros is concerned, and it’s not coming back. He’ll (probably) never patronize them again.

They survive because they leave themselves a huge profit margin per IEM, relative to cost of parts, in a lot of cases. For example, the lowest entry cost for a regarded EST tribrid set is about $450. That isn’t their break-even cost though. So if you’re paying $1000 for a different tribrid set...

The carousel won't stop because we don't get off the ride. How many of us have gotten too many $20 IEMs (or $50, or $100 or $200 etc.), don't have time to listen to all the sets we already have, but then get seduced into trying the next hyped set or set with a graph we can't resist? We don't...

Swapping a Dunu cable is a crime against humanity, though

WiiM just dropped a firmware update with a 10 point PEQ. We’ll that’s dumb (in the best way possible).

EF499 would definitely be a downgrade. I’m less sure of the differences between 500 and 600

Welcome to the Rosefinch family!

Here is an Oriolus Isabellae back in the wild. Second owner, obtained 2/24 and independently graphed on mmagtech.squig.link Other than that, you know the drill: Awesome sounding set, but I’ve got too many IEMs and want to make sure this has a good home to be loved in. Please, no low-ball...

If you want an actual dongle dongle, then NiceHCK sells a pretty great lightning to 4.4 dongle for under $20 on AliE

They’re a young company trying to get market share and make a name, so they undercut the usual expected price. But there’s enough profit there to do the undercutting. Also, I’m not worried about some company’s profit, more than worried about them overcharging their audience because they can...

Hifiman would disagree with this, in desktop form

Scarlet Mini for K-Pop, you say? I like a rebel that blazes their own trail. Tip of the cap to you!

Serratus and Ripples for me. They are a yin and Yang to everything I can throw at them

It’s awesome you know your tastes, what works for you, and can cross something unnecessary off your list of gear that interests you. It’s helpful to not feel like you’ve gotta chase everything. So far, I feel that way after getting the 500. It’s gonna be a fun honeymoon period.

Anecdotally, when I demoed the 499/500 at CanJam, the moment I A/B’d them at the same time it was clear as day Hifiman was pushing you up to the 500. Just as a thought experiment, why would they want the 499 with the Phillips R2R dac to be on level with their in-house Himalaya mid-tier dac...

Thank you for your thoughts and impressions. You did a great job!

Aful, Kinera, and Dunu walked into a CanJam booth…🤣😂🤣😂

Where the reviews at?!? Daddy needs to buy a new amp and I wanna be talked into the EF500! 🤣😂🤣😂

Could depend on the rest of the chain. I just learned the JDS Atom+ has poor soundstage/imaging: it crushes the staging to a narrow, very deep staging. That would sound recessed to anybody.

Aurora is the one that stands out most for me

Which can make sense when you know what the frequency response they’re grading headphones/IEMs to is. I don’t go to Rtings for audio reviews cause there’s not a lot of information for me to gleam from them. TVs? I’ll go there all day, though

I used to think this was a thing but honestly, you have more questions for anyone staring into your earholes than they do for your IEM choice. That said, Kinera knows they left money on the table with Pandamon and they came to clean it up with 2.0

Yet you jumped all over my opinion because it wasn’t totally effusive. If I have a right to have my opinion, and I didn’t say anything offensive, why did you feel the need to be so defensive What was such a problem for you to react the way you did?

I mentioned it because I very rarely have issues with fit. I’ve been fine with large nozzles like Truthear Zero, short nozzles (can’t think of one off the top of my head), or weird shaped nozzles like Fan 2. Recently, I’ve found sets that are problematic in fit: at CanJam I struggled with...