7Hz x Crinacle: Salnotes Dioko Universal IEM

Love the set, honestly, Dioko is the first planar i heard. After quite a while a/b the 3 planars that i have right now, i still think Dioko remain the one that i like the most, mainly it's refrence tuning and accurate cymbal strike. Bass does an okay job, not outstanding nor goood enough to enjoy, quite detail but lack slam, lack rumble. Mid is correct with a good amount of detail, sounds alright. Vocals sound rough and cold (because of treble) but if i ignore them, organic. Treble sounds sizzing instead of sparkly, roll off treble, it squeeze a tons of detail but it sound rather rough and unfinised. Soundstage is intimate, more like studio room than a hall. Positioning and staging is foward and spread out to the side with about head level height, there's a wall of sound and you can hear it.
Bass: 4/10 (lack, lack, lack, wish have more bass)
Mid: 7/10 (organic, position/ separation is on point)
Vocal: 5.5/10 (sizzing, slight uncomfort with female vocals)
Treble: 7/10 (detail, well pronounced)
Detail: 7.5/10 (yeah it's planar)
Soundstage: 3/10 (flat soundstage)
Imaging: 7/10 (precise)
Bias: 5.5/10 (refrence tuning)
Overall: 5,8/10
For someone who like an intimate experience, safely tune with good amount detail retrieval. Sound like someone try to EQ a studio monitor.

On Feb 20th of this year, something magical happened. Linus Tech Tips with his massive 15 million subs made a video on the Dioko and the Audeze Euclid. This video has over 1.3 million views and that alone is better than almost any other video in the hobby out there. But does Linus x Crinacle x 7hz make the best iem?

I bought this iem with my own money. My opinions are my own.

You can buy this on Amazon or Linsoul. These are listed here for convenience only

Product Features
Impedance: 16 ohm
Sound pressure level: 106dB/v@1kHz
Frequency response range: 5-40000hz
THD: <0.2%/1khz

Song Choice: Tidal list here:
I listen to a wide variety of music. I pick the songs because of various reasons. But I picture myself locked away like Andy Dufresne from Shawshank blasting music and shut off from the world. It’s a blissful image.
The Marriage of Figaro -The opera song from Shawshank Redemption, terrible recording but fun and gets me in the mood to listen to music.
O mio Babino caro -This is a modern less operatic version but a song with great female vocals.
Video Rigoletto - “La donna e mobile” Sung by one of the three Tenors, great song for high-performing male vocals. Pavarotti is the greatest classic singer maybe ever. Fight me!
Iron man - The sound at the beginning is hard to make sound great, great drums, and cymbals, and if done right it feels like an old-school band.
I Will Survive (1981 recording, I like her voice, and the old vocals, the drums, and various natural instruments really make this a favorite for me.
There is a light That never goes out - Smiths ( A classic, I just love it. It’s mellow, and I can tell a lot of the tuning if this song is done right.)
Jump (I like how the sound effects are in this!)
Star Child Someone recommended this song to me, and I like how funky it sounds and has nice vocals and a mix of music and things going on.
Dicke Titten Ramstein The beginning is amazing and the bass hits hard. Great song. I love rock and metal. The German language fascinates me
Master of Puppets: Very fast song. Helps me determine if the driver can keep up.


Shell: This is a yikes for me. It’s hyuuuuuge. It’s the biggest iem that I own, but it has prepared me for a future of large iems. This is a trainer iem that can help you grow the size of your ears to prepare for the iems that come in the future with 20 drivers. Do you want to train like Rocky and put your ears through a rocky training montage to make your ears big. Then this adds value for you, if not I’d recommend something smaller for you.




Case - This 7hz is one of the better cases out there. The outside is nice with a black and Red 7. This to me is a favorite case, and I really enjoy it. While I wouldn’t necessarily take it with me to work, I do love the look and feel of it, and I find it premium, just not pocketable. It’s like an overnight stay case, that can carry a few iems and cables.



Tip Selection: It’s fun, it’s fine. They are a solid collection for a 100-dollar iem. I have no problems with it, and it meets my not-terrible bar line.


Cable: This is a fine cable. I love the color, the feel. I wouldn’t recommend replacing it with a Hola cable, and that is indeed fine praise.

Comparison: This iem is interesting as it compares to many other plannars. HBB Heyday, 7hz timeless, but this is much less expensive. It has value in that.

Quick-Fire Comparisons

In this section, I'll quickly compare the Dioko to other relevant IEMs in its price bracket.

Dioko VS. Legato
Overall Tuning: Legato
Details: Tied

Dioko VS. Hexa
Overall Tuning: Hexa
Details: Hexa

Diko VS. TINHIFI T4 Plus
Overall Tuning: TINHIFI T4 Plus
Details: Dioko

Dioko VS. Dunu Kima
Overall Tuning: Kima
Details: Kima

Value: It has a nice cable, a nice box, and is a solid iem. I’d wait personally until you can find it on sale or used. But it is a very nice value iem, with a massive base shelf added from eq it sounds a bit better. It’s very lean to me.

Graph: This graph was brought to you by Ianfann. He makes me buy a lot of audio gear. I find him very honest and kind. I also love his overall content. Check him out.

For me, the sound is good when I get a good fit. It needs a base shelf or just sounds weird.

Bass

The Diokos bass is weak and makes it feel boring. It has that planar sound where the details sound strong. The midrange is still clean, just a bit cold, and doesn’t seem to hit the right spots even with eq added.

Midrange

The midrange is smooth and natural, without a hint of shout or thinness. It’s one of the best qualities of the Dioko. The planar driver seems to do well in this range.


Treble

The treble is strong in the Dioko. It's airy, sparkly, and highlights a lot of micro-nuances but a tiny bit bland. It is really not the best. I can think of several IEMs with better treble for less.

Gifting/who is it for: Grandma or someone who really likes purple! The tuning is really eh for me. I know it’s a Crinacle iem, but it just fails to impress me even with EQ. The box, cable, and everything about the iem is fun, so I could really see many people enjoying the set especially if they like the style of it or can get past that.

Pairing: I used a Quidelix 5k and a Topping DX1 dac through a SMSL SH-8s AMP. I don’t think the pairing matters too much, but it certainly can.

Summary:

This iem is like Hawkeye for me. He’s purple, he’s boring and kinda cool but not like WOW! He's a side kick, not a daily driver. It’s a decent iem, but I wouldn’t pick it up at the current price and wait a bit. If they released it with a smaller nozzle and a better base shelf I could see it. But it just slides by as a passing iem in a sea of amazing iems. The Dioko will be forgotten soon, despite it’s fancy tuner in Crin and even fancy review of LTT.

Thanks for reading. Any feedback is welcome. I’ll be posting my preference list of iems, dacs, and headphones soon. It’s in process.

A quick disclaimer:

The 7Hz x Crinacle Salnotes Dioko (or simply Dioko henceforth), was part of a review tour organized in my country by HifiGo. The unit was a loaner for audition in exchange for my honest opinion based on my musical taste and audio gear. There has been no monetary transaction or influence (or pressure) to write anything positive (or negative) about the IEM. The views expressed in this writeup, are solely mine and are based on my usage of the IEM for a week or so as my daily driver. The IEM can be purchased from HifiGo here:

https://hifigo.com/products/salnotes-dioko


Introduction:

7Hz managed to capture the attention of Chi-Fi enthusiasts with IEMs like Timeless and Eternal. The Dioko is one of their latest offerings which incorporates their latest 14.6mm, planar magnetic driver. Keeping up with the latest fad in the budget IEM space, the Dioko has been designed in collaboration with Crinacle. Without wasting any more time, let’s have a look at what this oddly shaped IEM has to offer.



The earpieces are made of aviation-grade aluminum alloy cavities which inspires confidence. The earpieces have a layer of partially reflective glass on their faceplates, which is a good touch in terms of aesthetics. Aesthetically, it stands somewhere in between the bland “Timeless” and bold “Eternal”. The IEM’s design seems to be inspired by Thanos from the MCU (played by Josh Brolin). From the weirdly long “chin” to the purple shade, the IEM is pretty much an ode to the mad titan. For some reason, 7Hz decided to include some colorful ear tips, which I can only assume, are a stand-in for the infinity stones that Thanos “oh-so-badly” desires. The stock cable is a 0.78mm 2-pin hybrid cable with a 3.5mm SE termination. The cable is made of OCC and Silver plated OCC cores and is quite soft, supple, and free of microphonics.

The case is way too huge and given the size of it, I don’t think I can refer to it as a “carry case”. Honestly speaking, the carry case I use for my M11Plus LTD is a tad bit smaller than the case of the Dioko. If the case was something like the Etymotic ER4XR large case, which allowed me to store a variety of accessories and my DAP along with the ER4XR, I’d appreciate it. However, the huge case of the Dioko is wasteful for the most part, as it doesn’t have any extra space to include anything other than the stock cable and the earpieces, and a bunch of ear tips. I guess the Dioko likes to be seated in that huge case, like Thanos on his throne.



In terms of fit, the Dioko sits fairly comfortably in the ear, in spite of the odd shape. Personally, I didn’t get a good seal with the stock tips, hence, for the purpose of this review, I chose to go with Dekoni Mercury (memory foam) ear tips, as they seemed to be the best option of the few tips I tried with the Dioko.



Sound:

Here again, inspired by Thanos, the Dioko strives for a balanced sound signature with sufficient presence in the lows, especially sub-bass. The overall bass response is satisfactory and is in line with the overall tonality. Don’t expect a lot of boom or heft in the lows. Bassheads are definitely not going to be impressed by the Dioko’s bass response, however, most audiophiles are likely to appreciate the bass on the Dioko, especially since it is coherent with the overall tonality. There is adequate rumble here, but not much in terms of mid-bass. One would ideally expect something like this to sound rather hollow, especially since this is a planar IEM. The Dioko, however, doesn’t sound hollow. Personally, I’d love to have a little more heft in the bass.



Mids on the Dioko are a little tricky. The vocals especially male vocals tend to sound lean and lack the kind of timbre that one could find on the Timeless. Not that they sound terrible, as mentioned earlier, the overall FR is coherent, just that I personally felt that male vocals could have had more gravitas. The female vocals, however, are quite pleasant and don’t have any hint of sibilance or shoutiness. The instruments seem to sound natural for the most part. The mids are pretty much in line with the rest of the frequencies. Neither are the mids too forward nor have they been pushed far behind.

The treble too, is in line with the rest of the FR curve, providing sufficient sparkle and air, without making the Dioko sound too bright or ear-fatiguing. The notes in this region are sufficiently crisp, resulting in some good detail, which is kind of expected from a planar driver.

The Dioko has a fairly wide soundstage with good height. The imaging is decent, but not too precise. The detail retrieval and separation are very good though. The Dioko definitely benefits from amping, though it sounded great off the M11Plus LTD. The lack of details was obvious on the FiiO LC-BT2 though.




Conclusion:

If you can get past the odd shape, the Dioko is a good buy for the price tag. While it doesn’t have the kind of bass one would expect from planars, it does have excellent detail retrieval and a fairly wide and tall soundstage.