Navigation:
Link to : another cross A-B test with SR5 / HEXA / Blessing 2 / Variations / Bravery / Performer 5 / SA6 / N5005


Main Contents:
DTE500 extensive review and 30 hours critical listening time spent on A-B test with My Best IEMs.
-About A-B test
▶︎ I performed this analytical A-B test in a pitch dark closet with following reasons:
1: Pseudo-double blind test | Trying to minimize psychoacoustic bias in analytical / critical listening, IEMs are picked up by hands blindly and tested without much visual pre-info. (this worked to a certain degree that I thought I was listening Monarch but it was SR5 after the showdown)
2: From my experience, a pitch dark environment with no outer noise will let human to concentrate 100% on sound, there are scientific studies indicating that human skin can “see” light. So the pitch dark room (it’s located within a room, double noise insulated) will shut-off those “extra interference” . Same rationale in observing / detecting gravitational wave or neutrino.

-DTE500 tech details:
Sound Rhyme DTE500 spec:
4way crossover 3 acoustic tube
▶︎UHF/HF | 2 x Sonion EST65 powered by Empire Ears developed Voltage multiplier EIVEC
▶︎Hi-MID | 1 x High BA : Knowles ES30095
▶︎Lo-MID | 1 x Mid BA : Sonion 2300
▶︎BASS | 1 x 3-layer composite DD ( Sound like the one used on MEST MKII)


—Story with qdc tuning
Yes. I am officially a qdc tuning fan.
Of which You probably would have couple in mind. DUNU SA6, Tri Starsea, See Audio Bravery and high-end models, the qdc itself Anole series.

Nobody would expect a company had zero FR recording on western measurement database would ever be able to tune a good IEM.

Sound Rhyme, did proof their tuning skill by SR5 now, then we came up with simple question, “Are they really good or just one miracle shot?”.
Probably Sound Rhyme is a master tuner.

Here comes Sound Rhyme‘s latest 5-unit EST tribrid, DTE500 sitting in between qdc family King —qdc Anole VX —and Queen —Aur Audio Neon Pro.

Very color matched trio of
Silver / Rose Gold / Obsidian


TL;DR
DTE500 is a qdc tuned IEM with its primary focus in warm and natural bass floor, very rich overtones, and Monarch beating very clear air /finesse, meanwhile Neon Pro has more energetic treble with a bit less elevated mid compared to other two, with powerful head knocking bass. Anole VX has matured and calmer tonal balance among all three yet reserved best resolving and layering capabilities when called.

I’d see the raison d'être of DTE500 as TOTL beating EST performance yet very rich mid sounding which leaves not totally neutral but a well colored warm essence added in mid reverbs. Piano’s reverb will sound very impressive, wether it’s monitor-like natural like Monarch or not.


—As many of you already know, I set up a poll to see if head-fi community is OK with me receiving a free review unit, in reviewing this DTE500 from Penon, the feedbacks were very unanimous “just go and review it, nobody can provide an objective review, it’s subjective thing so just be honest”. So here comes the review Unit. Anyhow, please be advised to put up 10% of positive unconscious bias in this impression note. $459 is not a joking price, you have to put some serious guts in clicking “buy” button.
Here is link to Penon DTE500: https://penonaudio.com/sound-rhyme-dte500.html

▶︎DTE500 is tested with stock modulated cable with 4.4mm balanced and Feaulle H570 ear tips. I don’t think stock cable is particularly a good match to DTE500 as it has pushed 1.5khz mid gain level too forward, more than regular qdc tuning, resulting in imaging projection to be too near fielded.
[EDIT 5 hours of listening session actually had myself fit to this imaging projection It’s the immersion tuning. I’m proud of myself to not jumping to conclusions too quick, as most of commercial reviewers do, they have too many IEMs to review and give a very quick 5 sec listening on judging IEMs, which I feel that’s just a thin slice of the experience you’d get from actual users standpoint who paid the real money to the IEM]

-A/B test result of DTE500 could vary upon cable swap, I paired Linsoul’s EST cable and it immediately fixed mid-focus and improved image focus and positioning. However to be fair, I used stock cable.

▶︎Timbre Impression
Top Note: Full-bodied, Rich overtones, enveloping, warm, clear and immersive mid range
Middle Note: cutting edge resolution, Burmester style “the high-end” subtle / inoffensive, yet lifelike and extending indefinitely all the way to the skyline, Monarch EST beater.
Bottom Note: fast, tight, very very neutral but MEST MKII-like very organic bass

▶︎How is tuning of DTE500 vs SR5?

DTE500’s approach is a bit different from SR5, the treble articulation for SR5 is “vivid but pleasant“ vs DTE500 “subtle yet extremely resolving and extending all the way to horizon”.

Perceived energy amount of upper registers and lower registers will be more on SR5. At least with stock cable of DTE500 which I’m listening right now.

DTE500‘s tuning is a little bit more mid-upper mid emphasized DUNU SA6 with less bass floor. If you like qdc tuning DTE500 is very delicately tuned mid+ neutral mild U approach.

▶︎A-B Test against close tuning and composition IEMs

Left to Right


Thieaudio Monarch (2EST+6BA+1DD) : Minitor-style lean neutral with sub-bass boost
DUNU SA6 ( 6BA) : Mid-flat Neutral U
Unique Melody MEST MkII (2EST+1dBC+4BA+1DD): Warm neutral with an extra dimension of sound imaging
Aur Audio Neon Pro (10BA): mid-focused neutral + U shape
Sound Rhyme DTE500 (2EST(with Empire Ears developed voltage multiplier EIVEC) + 2BA +1DD)
qdc Anole VX (10BA): mid-focused neutral + U shape
Moondrop Variations (2EST+2BA+1DD): VDSF with sub-bass boost
See Audio Bravery (4BA) : Mid-focused Neutral U
Softears RSV (5BA) : Uppermid focused Neutral with sub-bass boost
Sound Rhyme SR5 (4BA+1DD) : Mid-boosted U
Xenns Mangird Tea (6BA+1DD) : Monitor-style warm neutral

-Fletcher Munson considered, I tried to level sound volume of each IEM at the same level based on personal listening

=============================
️Note (Dry - Thin < Rich - Fat)
Bravery < SR5 < Monarch < Neon Pro < Anole VX < DTE500 < Variations < RSV < Tea < SA6 < MEST MKII

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️Neutral Tonal Balance overall (Uncolored > Colored)
RSV > Monarch > MEST MKII > SA6 > DTE500 > Anole VX > Tea > Variations > Neon Pro > SR5 > Bravery

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️Bass Presence: overall bass range mass x transient speed (if too quick, no perceived presence)
https://tidal.com/track/272909903
Modern Drum N’ Bass with Piano and spatial spices added, Bass presence is a must.
MEST MKII > Variations > SR5 > Neon Pro (on) > Monarch < Bravery > RSV > Anole VX (1-1-0) < DTE500 < SA6 (on) < Tea

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️Bass Slam (Heavy > Light) Transient Speed x Sub Bass Mass x Carrying Energy
https://tidal.com/track/91580143
From the Intro, the bass drum slams hard with deep deep reaching Floor Tom, an easy pick for the Bass Slam test.
MEST MKII > Variations > SR5 > Neon Pro (on) > Bravery > Monarch > SA6 (on) > RSV > Anole VX (1-1-0) > Tea > DTE500


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️Bass Organic Quality (Organic > Artificial) Yes I care about bass a lot.

This is not quantity, it’s imaging texture x timbre dynamism (impulse response & inertia ) x spatial bass range resonance

https://tidal.com/track/222971111
Yo-Yo-Ma Cello x New York Phil x MQA, Bass quality performance doesn’t lie for this track.

MEST MKII > Variations > DTE500 > RSV > Neon Pro (on) > SR5 > SA6 (on) > Anole VX (1-1-0) > Tea > Monarch > Bravery

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️Mid-Bass level (Scooped vs Bleed)
https://tidal.com/track/167963393
J-POP generally has a lower tolerance floor toward mid-bass. The Bassist and other mid-bass instruments/sound needs to at least stay 5m away from the main vocalist. If Bassist is positioned localized or in front of a vocalist or interfered with, unless the original mix is intended, will be considered a mid-bass bleed.
DTE500 < Monarch < Bravery < Neon Pro (Off) < Anole VX (0-0-0) < RSV < Variations < SA6(Off) < Tea < SR5 < MEST MKII



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️Mid-Harmonics
https://tidal.com/track/134158348
Masters of harmonics, Brian Eno and Roger Eno, they speak Harmonics instead of English. This whole album is a masterpiece. Let you know by the magic of simplicity and complexity can co-exist and each track has synesthetic colors.
MEST MKII > Tea > Neon Pro (Off) > Monarch > SR5 > Anole VX (0-1-0) > SA6(Off) > RSV > DTE500 > Variations > Bravery


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️Female Vocal Presence - Eastern

Princess Mononoke Theme Song is covered by Korean Singer Dazbee, a female vocalist with a translucent and fragile beautiful voice. Not a specific FR gain spot, but more of an overall presentation. Micro detail-oriented.
Bravery > Monarch > DTE500 > Tea > Anole VX (0-1-1) > Neon Pro (Off) > SR5 > MEST MKII > RSV > SA6(Off) > Variations


️Female Vocal Presence - Western
https://tidal.com/track/64980702
Rinaldo, HWV, wider macro dynamic range.
MEST MKII > Neon Pro(Off) > Anole VX (0-1-1) > DTE500 > Monarch > Variations > SR5 > Bravery > SA6 (Off) > Tea > RSV



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️6khz Sibilance (Not painful < Painful)
https://tidal.com/track/155965268
One good example of harsh-sounding vocal tracks is order from less sibilant. One of the deal breaker factors for some. Manually leveled overall gain equally to see if 6khz stands out.
SR5 < RSV < Tea < DTE500 < SA6 (Off) < Variations < Monarch < Bravery < Neon Pro(Off) < Anole VX (0-0-0) < MEST MKII

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️Treble detail articulation
https://tidal.com/track/77611296
This Karajan x Berlin Phil x MQA x Mussorgsky is a very good test track for treble detail articulation. This will reveal IEM’s true spec when A-B is tested. No excuses because 10BA and EST drivers do outperform 2BA or Single BA, DDS.
Anole VX (0-0-1) > Neon Pro(Off) > Monarch > MEST MKII > DTE500 > Variations > SR5 > SA6 (Off) > Bravery > RSV > Tea


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️Sense of Air /Finesse (10khz+ performance)
https://tidal.com/track/108119224
Heavily layered strings and brass would need good 10khz+ articulating capability. Very hard part, it took me 5 hours to sort out the order just for this section alone…Here is the result.
Anole VX (0-0-1) > Neon Pro(Off) > Monarch > DTE500 > MEST MKII > Bravery > RSV > SR5 > Variations > SA6 (Off) > Tea


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️Imaging Focus
Thanks to @FranQL for the discovery this track, from 7:00 has an exceptionally good imaging focus section. Upper mid balance will be crucial for imaging focus and it will be very personal HRTF dependent, I have 3.1khz pinna gain peak, so this imaging focus will only be beneficial for people close to mine.
https://tidal.com/track/154520073

MEST MKII > Anole VX (0-1-0) > Monarch > RSV > Neon Pro(Off) > Tea > Variations > SA6 (Off) > DTE 500 > SR5 > Bravery

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️Sound Pressure actuation (Macro Dynamism)
https://tidal.com/track/131729675
To some people, realistic sound pressure comes to the first of all checklist, this track has a wide range of sound pressures, sub-bass to air /finesse.

MEST MKII > Tea > DTE500 > SR5 > Variations > Anole VX (1-1-1) > Neon Pro (On) > Monarch > SA6 (On) > RSV > Bravery


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️(Artificial /Colored) Diffusion Field -Size

This Mushishi SoundTrack is actually an artwork of Japanese Wabi&Sabi simplicity x complexity ; great for image diffusion field size & positioning conformity test.
track @02:01 is specially great for this test. Note that is simple size not how well the diffusion field is textured, that will be detail articulation sections above.

MEST MKII > Bravery > DTE500 > Monarch > Neon Pro (Off) > Anole VX (0-1-1) > SR5 > SA6 (Off) > Variations > RSV > Tea

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️(Artificial /Colored ) Diffusion Field -Position Conformity & Imaging Localization

track @27:00 is specially great for this test. Diffusion Field /Headroom / Sound Stage size is not an evaluation point, this is to tell how well sound image within the projection field moves smoothly and how accurate imaging localization occurs without sudden hiccups. Both tuning and hardware performance are required.

Anole VX(0-0-0) > RSV > Monarch > MEST MKII > Neon Pro (Off) > SA6(Off> Variations > SR5 > Bravery > Tea > DTE500

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️Overall Resolving Capabilities (all frequency )
https://tidal.com/track/222971113
Again, very highly demanding orchestral that has resolution requirements from sub-bass all the way to the top end.
Neon Pro (Off) > Anole VX (1-1-1) > MEST MKII > DTE500 > Monarch > Variations> SR5 > Bravery > SA6(Off) > Tea > RSV


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️Personal Pick (2023)


Anole VX > Neon Pro > Monarch > DTE500 > RSV > SR5 > SA6 > Bravery > MEST MKII > Tea > Variations

Anole VX (S) MSRP $2,600 wins 1st due to perfect balance of musical expressions and technical expressions. The full-band resolving capabilities is second to none, whether you call it vivid and more than naturally presented (when compared to Monarch), I still prefer somehow digitalized expressions of BA drivers for many occasions.
Here my take on visual expressions of EST vs BA treble expressions:

EST: Natural / Rich in overtone / Soft but extremely detailed and silky, low in contrast


BA : High contrast, vivid, not always highest and seamless analog presentation maybe a little exaggerated, however entertaining.


Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) MSRP $730 wins 2nd, another qdc family tuning, a little bit U-tuned than VX, with similar overall performance, just yet not VX level of image localization and detail articulations on very top end, just a thin slice behind it with 25% of the asking price is definitely justifiable.

Thieaudio Monarch (S-) MSRP $760 wins 3rd, very natural monitor like tuned IEM with end of the world type sub-bass. If only that bass dynamic driver is not old school one and can keep up with rest of the drivers, Monarch could score higher, so the MKII with LCP instead of regular slow transient responding DD would be definitely an endgame material to seek. If you hate mid-bass bleed and looking for overall high technical performance yet not sounding too dry Monarch is a
good choice. It doesn’t cast “female poison” spell like Bravery do for detail-oriented vocals, but if you are looking natural yet detailed, Monarch is the best performing one.

Sound Rhyme DTE500 (S-) MSRP $459 is 4th, another qdc family tuning, with “higher than normal qdc” early pinna, or mid boost. Bass is pretty natural with main weight on sub-bass region, not like Variations’ unnaturally lifted sub-bass, DTE500 is more natural one. It doesn’t have best layering , and revealed its weakness in image positioning, yet still, DTE500 beats Monarch, Variations’s EST implementation in terms of EST performance. MEST MKII’s EST is backed by dual bone conduction drivers so MKII has got a better detail articulating and layering than DTE500, but I’d day DTE500’s EST is a proper S-tier implementation. Thanks to Empire Ears’s EIVEC voltage amplifier to power that Sonion EST, you certainly can feel DTE500’s treble has got more energetic and natural expression, which is second to none at least to the A/B tested group.


Softears RSV (S-) MSRP $730 scored 5th even though it is not best technical set. What made RSV to 5th is due to non 6khz sibilant natural sound x ”almost” best image positioning. RSV is a VR-simulator, it casts whatever original mixer or recordings are intended. Timbral and Spatial accuracy magician RSV is.

SR5 (A+ / faint S-) MSRP$149 due ranked 6th due to its resolving capability and overall good performance even against S-tier rivals. Elite in both Micro detailing and Macro dynamism it will satisfy both demands.

$149 cost performance to hit solid A+ may not S-tier beater like SA6 (S-), RSV (S-), Variations(S-), but dangerously close, depending on mood, on a blind test, I would value SR5 as S-tier out of whim. That close.

I value cost to performance more than actual performance in picking favorite, so that we may all benefit in having “great sound” at an affordable price by prompting fair market competition, so this SR5 comes to first with that in mind. Truthear, Moondrop, don’t slack off, tigers are behind you.

SA6 (S-) MSRP$560 is at 7th. There are very little weaknesses of SA6, the “elite”overall performance, and hard to beat qdc neutral tuning placed SA6 a S-tier and I still love listening to SA6 even today, it is that well tuned. Looking forward for SA6 MKII that is about to come out in reflection of SA6 Ultra‘s calmer tuning.


Bravery (A) MSRP$279 a 8th ranked IEM for being colored IEM but in a good way. When paired with PWA Legend II and TRI Clarion, Bravery will generate one of a kind fragile/translucent/clairvoyant timbre.


Unique Melody MEST MKII (S-) MSRP$1,800 is at 9th. There is no doubt MEST MKII is a king in true holographic imaging and resolving capabilities its bass is one of best sounding and other technical performance aren’t behind among test group. I purchased MEST MKII for mainly rock source, but later I find it’s a bit fatigue causing due to 6khz sibilance. It can be dealt with cables and ear tips, but it will
tone down MEST’s own strengths as well. If you are not 6khz sensitive, then you can see MEST MKII basically knocks all other IEMs out of table for many imaging categories.

Variations (S-) MSRP$520 is 10th. Surely an S-tier performance, but its cost-to-performance when compared to others maybe just an average one. Imaging positioning and localization, inoffensively tuned EST, and LCP bass will be one of a great sales point, and I didn’t mentioned above that I have a best fitting experience with Blessing series shell, so Variations isn’t the exception. If you need to listen all day long, Variations would be a great companion.

Xenns Mangird Tea (A) MSRP$
260 is 11th. I’ve added Tea, an A-tier IEM besides SR5 and Bravery because they each have their own ”best” categories that can trade blows with bigger fish. That’s the reason I didn’t add Blessing 2, Dusk, N5005, HEXA, Performer 5, W80, Timeless, Wu Zetian, to this A-B test, as they have better performing upper hands.
For Tea It has best sounding midrange back by quad Sonion 2600, very high density mid harmonics you could take advantage of. But rest of performance are slightly behind others.

—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | S-
Tonality | S
Resolution | S-
Overall Coherence | A

1. Diffusion Field coherence | A-
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | B-
3. Image Focusing Coherence | B-
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | A

My other A-rated IEMs:
SeeAudio Rinko (A-) | Moondrop Droplet (A-) | LetShouer Galileo (A-) | Audiosense DT200 (A-) | Audiosense AQ4 (A-) | Simgot EA500 (A-) | DUNU Titan S (A-) | JUZEAR A41T (A-) | Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l AFUL P5 (A) | Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A-) | See Audio Bravery (A)

My higher than A-rated:
Audio Lokahi (A+) | Blessing 3 (A+) | Sound Rhyme SR5 (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | SoundRhyme DTE500 (S-) | NightOblivion W10 (S-) | Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+) | SoundRhyme SR8 (S+)

Disclosure:

In regards to the See Audio Rinko driver speculation, I was contacted by HiFiGo.

“Rinko’s 6mm driver is a newly patented planar, try it yourself, we are happy and open for a third party audit“

So I kindly accepted that third party appraisal offer.

Here we go.

Intro:
*Knock* *Knock*

—Who?


Rinkos: 「Planar and Dynamic delivery service」

Me: 「Ok, come in.」

Chapter 0.
SeeAudio Rinko controversy —the background


—About SeeAudio
Most of us would have already known who SeeAudio is, a relatively young IEM brand that initially caught public attention by Yume, Bravery, with their highend Neo, Kaguya being flagship and over the years the company has established itself firmly in the international audiophile community.

—qdc, is that you?
There is a rumor that SeeAudio was started by ex-qdc engineers and I personally get that rumor because their tuning is in qdc’s blood.

... I should also clarify that I am an avid fan of qdc tuning and rate the SeeAudio Bravery (with aftermarket re-cabling and ear tip changes) as one of the endgame IEMs for female vocals. 10BA, 14BA, EST, all couldn’t produce what I refer “fragile and translucent“ timbre that Bravery is capable of. Its tone resonates in your brain as pleasantly as the light sound made when you lightly tap your finger on a wine glass.



Anyway! My personal recommendation aside.

Chapter 1.
SeeAudio Rinko controversy —the Driver speculations

By now many of us may know there was a series of dramas surrounding Rinko‘s driver.

The driver of Rinko didn’t look like conventional Planar Magnetic Driver that we see on, say, 7Hz Timeless or Tangzu Wu Zetian.

It is referred as “6mm Micro Planar Magnetic Driver (MPMD hereunder)” and this specific driver brought a series of discussions over the internet about whether 6mm MPMD is a legitimate Planar or not.

Amidst the buzz on the Internet, Rinko seems to have attracted more attention than expected.

As we all know there's no denying that internet flame wars have an intriguing and entertaining aspect to them.

As it stands, HiFiGo's disclosure of the MPMD patent information obtained from SeeAudio's design, as well as the release of new disassembled images of several Rinko drivers, seems to have put the confusion to rest and put the situation to rest.





My understanding is that the "Micro Planar Magnetic Driver" is a new type of Planar Driver that "specializes in a specific frequency band" and I actually realized how good it is when Rinko's sound was tested.

So here comes Rinko.

Chapter 2.
SeeAudio Rinko sound, is it a dynamic or planar sound?

Before we step into the sound, I guess it is noteworthy to show this carrying case.



Wow! Looks like an engagement ring case, that’s quite a good job selecting case from various candidates, I value carrying case with significant weight in decision making because it ultimately comes to “if carrying case is bad looking it’s not worth as gift candidates especially if you are gifting to your wife or girlfriend”.

Anyway, back to sound.



—Tuning
Frequency Response Chart



Both Rinko and Tangzu x SeeAudio Encounter shares very similar take on basic tuning philosophy.

Both IEMs are tuned for the following characteristics
▶︎ Wide staging feel
▶︎ Extremely careful sibilance dip
▶︎ Emphasis on upper mids for forward projection of vocals and sound image.
▶︎12kHz and 16kHz diffusion field border articulation and air generation.

Encounter maintains a relatively neutral bass range and improves tonal balance on acoustics, while Rinko emphasizes the lower midrange and creates musical excitement in digital genres.

—A million dollar question and my main reason to be called in auditioning Rinko

️Is it Planar or Dynamic?


To my ear, Rinko’s timbre is a hybrid of Dynamic and Planar with following structure:
Bass : Dynamic
Mid : Dynamic
Treble : Planar

Certainly there is a hint of planar in Rinko's upper register, but compared to a full planar like 7Hz Timeless, I would say that 70% of the timbre is derived by dynamic and 30% by planar.

7:3 dynamic : planar

Immediately after unboxing, there was a rough texture like that of piezoelectric, but after about 8 hours of aging, the roughness was smoothed out.

As a result, compared to the piezoelectric, the sound image localization is significantly more recognizable as Planar, with a unique sound pressure and resolution.

For the tonality per se, Rinko has a strong dynamic impression overall, and the planar is effective only in articulating details and expressing a sense of air and finesse.

Thus, Rinko in a sense is “dynamic-like sounding” yet “has traits of Planar timbre in upper registers”.

This is why I mentioned above that Rinko’s "Micro Planar Magnetic Driver" is a new type of Planar Driver that "specializes in a specific frequency band". It is treble only Planar, a micro planar expression actually makes sense to me now.

Now, I think I have fulfilled my role as an inspector with the above comments.

I would like to continue with the review as usual.


—Timbre Impression : Sound Tasting
Following the manner of expression in perfumery and wine tasting, the components of the sound are described below.

Top Notes: Clarity, rounded, soft contours.

Heart Note: Densely textured, with a solid presence in the upper register

Bottom Note: Overall thickness of sound, authoritative sub-bass

— 6mm MPMD’s forte

Although Rinko's finesse expression is supposed to be the timbre of the brand-new 6mm MPMD, the fact that one can feel a clear and distinct line in the core of the sound is a melancholy that is fundamentally similar to the UE TF10Pro, which I once loved and bought four of in total.

Yes, that Triple.fi 10 Pro of Once the mighty Ultimate Ears.

—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | A-
Tonality | B+
Resolution | A
Overall Coherence | B

1. Diffusion Field coherence | B
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | B
3. Image Focusing Coherence | C+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | A

My other A-rated IEMs:
Moondrop Droplet (A-) | Audiosense DT200 (A-) | Audiosense AQ4 (A-) | Simgot EA500 (A-) | DUNU Titan S (A-) | JUZEAR A41T (A-) | Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l AFUL P5 (A) | Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A-) | See Audio Bravery (A)

My higher than A-rated:
Audio Lokahi (A+) | Blessing 3 (A+) | Sound Rhyme SR5 (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | SoundRhyme DTE500 (S) | Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+) | SoundRhyme SR8 (S+)

—Did you know Moondrop CEO is actually an Etymotic Research fanboy?

Yes, he is.

He loved ER4, but due to ear canal surgery he had when he was young, a deep insertion was no longer an option. Since then as one of Ety fan, he had looked an alternative.

Here comes Moondrop‘s answer to the question.

”What could possibly be achieved by a powerless single BA?”

—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL.

—Imprinted Instruments Timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of the United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers nor given review samples or paid for this review.

I purchased Moondrop Droplet from HiFiGo at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====

—A crossroad of generations

—Audiophile’s staple and old buddy
$350USD. It was the price I paid for legendary audiophile stationary that actually produces a sound, a very detailed high-end sound. ER4S (100ohm) since the had been one of my go-to for vocal-focused neutral reference monitor which has superb resolution and imaging capabilities, at least until 5 years ago. I’ve encountered SleekAudio SA6, Harman Kardon EP720, Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio, and many other single BAs up to very recent releases of KBEAR Neon, and Floaudio Lily. All those single BA were behind the bar that ER4 had set.

Floaudio Lily when plugged with matched source, had very close performance with ER4, but that’s after a long long ear tip / cable / source matching, at least not out of the box performance.

—Until the moment when Droplet falls from above to my ear canal


It reminded me of the movie “Arrival”

source:https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/x2FJsf1ElAgr63Y3PNPtJrcmpoe.jpg

It was really that “Arrival“ of extraterrestrial object.



— the shell
The shell is way smaller than I expected, smaller than ear tips. You can see USB-C DSP connector size vs droplet shell size, wow that’s small.


—Out of the Box Sound Impression
▶︎Long Story short, Droplet is a surprise. It actually sounds better than Lily… the diffusion field and internal echo inside the acoustic camber (blue parts) is a thing. Very nice timbre


▶︎Weirdly Droplet only comes with foam ear tips (maybe by some error or something) So I’m using the stock foam ear tips of which I’m usually not a fan of them because it basically kills sub-bass resonance. For Droplet it does match with the somehow elevated sub-bass, pretty good, of course the sub-bass imaging is blurry because of this foam tip, but the timbre itself isn’t bad at all.
After spending a week, I noticed Moondrop actually designed the timbre with foam ear tips. When I switched to aftermarket general silicone tips Droplet immediately start to sound too thin and dry, by setting default ear tips as foam one, Moondrop managed to add warmth and tuned dry timbre with some moisture.


▶︎Diffusion Magic. When you take a look at FR of Droplet, you may wonder, “heck, whats that 3khz small peak?” , it’s the same trick used for Crin’s FiiO FHE, a small 3khz peak will generate a room for notes to diffuse as well as the vocal spotlighting effect, it doesn’t work all the time, but it worked on FHE. It’s also working on Droplet. A fun factor for imaging.

Noticed something from FR? Droplet has almost neutral flat slope from pinna gain peak 3khz all the way through 14khz, that is the Diffusion Magic.

This stable slope reminds me of Softears RSV’s custom tweeter, and the tonality of Droplet’s treble and RSV oddly has some similarities. RSV has an intentional dip with high path filter for 12khz but Droplet is more easy going with that area.

Actually Droplet (with stock foam tips) is in a sense a little happier sister of Softears RSV.

Neutral? No. Colored for vocals, with Moondrop’s VDSF nicely implemented.


—Post Scripts after a week with Droplet

Droplet is worth a post script:

▶︎Timbre is extremely well balanced, not that I’d expect from sub$100 range for 2023, it certainly has Softears tuning spirit the high-end tonal approach.

▶︎Cymbal diffusion makes Droplet special, especially to side ways

▶︎As it has rolled off 16khz+, lossless and above won’t benefit much from this, Droplet is suitable for more casual listening yet high performing enough to “wow” hardcore audiophiles.

—Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, from the size & side sleeping compatibility, tonal accuracy, wide diffusing imaging illustration and widely applicable to any music genres, I found Droplet is yet another smashing hit material coming out of mighty Moondrop. You just cant imagine a single BA could do this much, even better than Floaudio Lily.


—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | A-
Tonality | S
Resolution | B+
Overall Coherence | A-

1. Diffusion Field coherence | A
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | A-
3. Image Focusing Coherence | B+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | C+

My other A-rated IEMs:
DUNU Titan S (A-) | AFUL P5 (A) | Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A-) | See Audio Bravery (A)


My higher than A-rated:
Sound Rhyme SR5 (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+)


@MOONDROP Lightning DSP is highly desirable. Western Market probably won’t need Threebody novelties, please cut the cost to $39 and release a lightning finish. It will a great gift option choice.

Note: N400 is about to face its end of product life. Akg.com and Harmanaudio.com are already out of stocks, you still may find some leftovers from third-party retailers.

This is a requiem and a lullaby for this very nice TWS set with high overall standards.

I use following 2 wireless IEMs on a daily occasion.


◦AKG N400NC for any needs for noise cancelling and on the go


◦AKG N5005 for high-res Tidal /lossless streaming

I’ve tried LDAC and Aptx Adaptive and found that I have no urgent needs for “ultimate” hi-res wireless quality especially at practical environment for using these sets such as on the flights & public transportations.

—What makes N400 my endgame as TWS?

▶︎Akg’s app that is pretty intuitive, doesn’t require your confidential personal information like latest SoundPeats app do.

▶︎EQ is fully adjustable, you can twist tuning by touch screen, very easy and intuitive.

▶︎Unlike AirPodsPro, you can fully adjust the ANC’s offset phasing, that is crucial functionality especially when you are adopting third-party ear-tips.

▶︎Although N400 isn’t latest blessed sub$100 beast like Moondrop’s LCP princess —Aria 2020—, N400’s hardware spec is par or above long time benchmarked Moondrop’s Starfield. Great enough as you want on non-LDAC or Aptx-HD/Adaptive.

—Any recommendations for the EQ?
Here are some EQ you may try with N400 w/ AZLA Xelastec.

full-time default:
Neutral with huge sub-bass boost


True-neutral for a flat presentation


V-tuned one, for fun


@tgx78 ’s MEST-OG inspired “divine” tuning: crisp and nicely tuned

AFUL Performer 8 mimic with N400

There is a hype about this Cadenza. I heard it, bought it myself, compared it with various sub$50.

Here is TL;DR.

My personal conclusion is, “Cadenza is not sub $50 king” as claimed by notable youtube reviewer. Actually it’s behind Tripowin Lea priced at $23, but not bad. If you are considering buying Tripowin Mele x HBB for $50, this is as good as Mele”

I usually do not publish any “OK, not bad” level IEMs.

The sole purpose is to provide point of view for a possible “oh..that’s it? I’ve spent my hard earned $35 on this” type disappointment.

Not all of listeners are fortunate enough to have capabilities to spend $35 on a hobby IEM.

If this is your “to be, or not to be” choice, my advice is to read following.



Not bad. Not a game changer.

If you own good $50-class single DD, it’s not worth to buy. If not, it’s a fair offer. But there will be better choice, like Tripowin’s Lea that could be found as low as $23 vs Cadenza’s $35.

Cross-comparison with Warm-Harman siblings



Technical expressions:
Aria>Lea >>Cadenza

Overall tonal balance:
Cadenza > Aria > Lea

Timbre consistency : harmonic distortion
Aria > Lea >>Cadenza

My preference: tuning x technicality

Aria > Lea ≧ Cadenza

All used stock cable, and Softears UC(L) to reveal technical performance.

*My Aria is modded (dumper filter removed)
In-depth review performed score for
Modded Aria (81/100: A-)

Random quick rating
Lea ( B+ ) ; slightly behind Aria, but fairly close. 90% Aria spec.

In-depth review performed score for
Moondrop Starfield (75/100: B)

Cadenza (B- ); Tonality-wise well balanced, driver spec is just the average or slightly above average DD

Cross-comparison with sub$50 benchmarks
Technical expressions:
Truthear Zero >> Chu > Lea > Cadenza ≧ Salnotes Zero > CRA+

Overall tonal balance:
Salnotes Zero > Cadenza >Truthear Zero > Chu > Lea > CRA+

Timbre consistency : harmonic distortion
Truthear Zero > Chu > Lea > Salnotes Zero ≧ CRA+ ≧ Cadenza

My preference: tuning x technicality

Truthear Zero > Salnotes Zero > Chu > Lea ≧ Cadenza > CRA

More details?
①| Cadenza out of box impression
②| Cadenza post burn-in notes
③| Attention calling; Conflict of Interest (collaboration (consultation) vs Unbiased Review (Audit)

Avoid don’t be faked by nice outlook, it is venomous.

—Do you know Monarch Butterfly?

Monarch pupae hatch in approximately two weeks.

Curiously, the green pupa only becomes transparent at night just before hatching.

A natural made one night only gem.

Now we have that one-night-only-gem readily available at your will.

Thieaudio Monarch hatches





—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL.

—Imprinted Instruments Timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of the United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers nor given review samples or paid for this review.

I purchased/pre-ordered Monarch from Linsoul’s Official Store at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====
—About Thieaudio
It’s a Linsoul’s private brand, which most of us may already know. It’s a big name now. Thieaudio needs no introductions.

—2 years with Monarch, Post Scripts, and Epilogues
Two years have already passed since we started a new life with Monarch day and night, and her sparkling brilliance has not diminished, at all.

You’ve probably already read about Monarch’s pros/cons, it’s almost 2 years since Monarch shocked the community with her debut.

Thus, here, I’d only like to leave my two years memoir with Monarch.
Things what I like about her.

The Cable has been changed from the original silver EST cable— it changes color by UV of sunlight, a very welcoming moment to see a different faces—


Natural L/R indicator by coincidence


To various other ones, such as LSC08,


Just like what happened to my life, dating a couple of girls, they come and go, but after all, I’m with the same old girl that I had dated before. It’s almost fate that I had to come back to the original EST cable because that made Monarch sound just about right.

Monarch’s face isn’t a fixture. It changes by ear tips and cables because she is set to neutral.

She changes appearance every time when I stare at her, dawn, daylight, afternoon, dusk, sunset, nighttime, midnight, the lighting reflecting on the face of Monarch varies time to time. Just like you and with your beloved.


For tonalities, No sibilance, No harshness, but smooth and not dark, perfect pitch.

After hundreds of ear tips, to further boost Monarch’s sub-bass rumble, yet retain balanced mid to upper registers, Softears UltraClear Tips is my current favorite add-on, aside from the original EST cable.

—Some technical talks
Cross Comparision of Thieaudio Monarch vs my other benchmarking IEMs





—Her legs aren’t very fast
Monarch of course is not god almighty.

It has two technical flaws:

① Due to the slow responding traditional DD subwoofer, the speed lag among BA/EST vs Traditional DD could cause some tracks to sound a little bit inconsistent. Which will cause the Image’s geolocation to be a bit unclear/uncertain at some occasions.

This is the main reason why some people prefer single BA(Ety) or Single Dynamic, lately Planar, as to minimize this coherence issue.

Monarch unfortunately has a pair of slow legs, which will drag her capability in Sound Image coordinate positioning coherence from the S(Flagship)-tier to the A (Great)-tier.

② Due to the same reasons above, when a sound image travels from point A to B, the slow bass reaction will cause a delay in the sound image. As if you are experiencing a jet lag between a high-frequency head to its low-frequency legs. This is what I refer to as Sound Image’s Momentum and Vector presentations coherency, of which Monarch slips from the S(Flagship)-tier to the B (Good) Tier.

The neutral tuning will bring the diffusion stage narrower, so the Diffusion Field is set well above average, a B (Good ) tier.

You can see Monarch’s by-frequency “Tech” column has two B+ due to the DD’s lack of technical capability.

However, even with this clumsiness, I still love Monarch. Hey nobody is perfect, the little clumsiness makes Monarch more humane.

I personally love Monarch’s face plate more than any other IEMs. Sorry Thieaudio, the MKII wasn’t appealing to me simply because of the outlook. People sometimes judge content by its outlook, even if we have been told not to do so. I could only imagine magma sound from the faceplate probably it’s due to my lack of imaginative drawers.

Anyway, This is more of a narrative of what Monarch is capable and not capable of. As a daily listening IEM, Monarch will be second to none in EDM, Full-orchestral, Jazz, and J-POP. Where you don’t find a significant roll in mid-bass. But for the tracks you would need the male voice to sound full and rich, Monarch’s voice is simply not capable enough to materialize those needs.

Nevertheless, here is my impression score after living with Monarch for nearly 2 years:

—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | S-
Tonality | S-
Resolution | S+
Overall Coherence | A

1. Diffusion Field coherence | B+
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | A+
3. Image Focusing Coherence | S+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | B+

—Eartip Recommdation
① Moondrop Spring Tip
▶︎Wide Bore, Good soft silicone, elastic bass response, best balance
② AZLA Xelastec
▶︎Sub-bass boost
③ Softears UC
▶︎Sub-bass boost + treble boost
*SpinFits / Spiral Dots / Sony Hybrid / Final E / UM Bluecore / Acostune AET7&8 / AZLA Crystal are not particularly good pairs for Monarch

My other A-rated IEMs:
Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A)


My higher than A-rated:
Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+)

Other Technical Charts:


—Want to try something exotic with Monarch?
Sorry this is the best SQ I cloud find. The original album is on amazon japan if anyone interested.

It’s a soundtrack from my favorite old Anime called “Mushishi” a fairy tail style modern musical and artistic set of piece made mainly for matured audiences (not a Disney or Ghibli).

A man Ginko who can see things that others can’t see, it’s his episodes of journey across ancient Japan (no samurai’s battles or sort). Highly recommendable for 30-70yo audiences. No waifu, no battles, just a nice set of piece of modern art (graphical and musical) with main concept highlighting on “what is life”.

It was presented in a form of animation simply because unless the studio is Hollywood class rich, it is impossible to render it other than Pixar/ Hollywood 3DCG. Story is completely pictured from the point of grown-ups.

—“Wu”? Who?


—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Westone| Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL


—Imprinted instruments timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of the United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers nor given review samples or paid for this review.

I purchased Wu Zetian from Tangzu Official Store at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====

—About Tangzu
Formerly known as T-Force with their Yuan-Li, a CNT driver single dynamic IEM offer. Now renamed as Tangzu, offering entry-class single DD, Wan’er S.G, besides another budget friendly single DD Li-Shinmin, to their first yet most influential 14.5mm planar, Wu Zetian.

—About Wu Zetian
Named after the one and the only Empress of ancient Chinese Dynasties, Wu Zetian.

A legendary ancient beauty, resurrected once again—


—Royal & Beautiful




The color violet —back in ancient times—was a symbol of Nobility, only high-class royals and nobles were allowed. Now we have that nobility at our door steps. Here comes Wu Zetian.

—Sound
▶︎impressive yet inoffensive, natural and organic diffusion
▶︎a slice of hints in U-shape but only few decibels away from neutral
▶︎Almost warm-neutral with slight hints in upper mid as well as treble
▶︎Sub-bass is not overly emphasized (Not L-shape), with mid-bass having a welcoming warmth.
▶︎People with 200hz sensitivity may feel it a slight “bleed” and may prefer Timeless style scooped uppper-to-mid bass,
▶︎I’m perfectly fine with this mid-bass, a matter of preference

Let me put it this way. Wu’s voice does not contain any “husky” or “Dry” characteristics, her voice is “wet” and full of “emotion”. Not too wet, like unpleasantly humid level, it’s slightly wet, as if you are seeing Wu veiled with small splashes of raindrops on her hair, at the bus stop next to you, on a rainy day, waiting for the last bus of the day to arrive.


—Personal Impression

Wu has a very musically talented tuning. I can see the big boss of Tangzu spending nights and nights adjusting it.

This tuning is not a random attempt, the tuning has his/her philosophy in it.

Wu has a higher level top-down comprehensive bird’s eye type “sound as a whole” presentation, just like someone creates instruments.

Tangzu big boss has a talent to that extent.

2022 is a year of good tuner…Salnotes Zero and Wu.

—What is musicality? Wu gently asks.

You should have your own answer. Wu will ask you about this question, what musicality means to you.

To me, what matters the most is not technicality, after all things considered for “enjoying/live with your favorite songs”.

Surely technicality is like big engines in a car, a sports-car, a hyper-car, it goes as fast as you put your feet on pedal.

But once you’ve done everything you could imagine with sports-car & hyper-car, you feel the suspension is way too firm for going over the speed bumps, and if you hit any potholes on road with high performance sports tire&suspension, it will be very unpleasant for sure.

To me I’m inclined for cars made for “comfort & luxury “. I know I’m not too young anymore.

You don’t need huge engines for the comfort. That exactly same thinking applies to the IEM/headphones.

It’s just a man’s change in “sound” preference .

Things are not static.

Yet still, Wu reminds me of what an emotionally appealing sound is, regardless to the degree of the technical aspects.

Don’t “Think”, “Feel” it.

Wu is tailored for your comfort and pure enjoyment over technical things.

“Gentlemen perishes, His fame does not”

[Tang-Dynasty] Wu Zetian, "Under the Track of the Minister - Integrity


—Tentative impression (based on my HRTF)
Overall | A+
Tonality | S+
Resolution | B+
Overall Coherence | B-

1. Diffusion Field coherence | B
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | C+
3. Image Focusing Coherence | B-
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | B-

My A-rated IEMs:
Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | Truthear HEXA (85/100 : A) | AKG N5005 (A) | See Audio Bravery (A)

My higher than A-rated:
Timeless (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) l DUNU SA6 (S-) | Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Monarch (S-) | MEST MKII (S) | Anole VX (S+)

—Looking more technical set for Warm-Neutral?
Here is Westone W80

—Looking for a crisp neutral IEM instead?
With all my 20year+ of passion &love for IEM, my full mark recommendation is Truthear HEXA. My review is here. If you have both HEXA and Wu Zetain, you have pretty much reached all you’ll need. “Musicality” Wu, and “Technicality” HEXA.

—Want to enjoy some exotic music with your Wu?
You may hear a faint soprano “harmony” —inside your head—from these deep Monks’ choir. One of a kind harmony technique that yet to be known to western music theory.


—Are you still here? This is the bottom.

Okay, I guess I’m the last very rare non-paid voluntary headphoneous spremus to leave a note for this.

I hereby would like to put a RIP word and tomb markers:

Nah…Just don’t waste your money,
Rest In Peace.
ZEX Pro , CRN 2022-2022

You know Crinacle is not a particular fan of KZ, and it was a bit of a surprise that Crin even accepted that offer. I was curious to see how that water and oil would blend, so I bought both ZEX Pro and CRN.
And this is my last KZ purchase it may become.

Crin x KZ chemistry doesn’t work on this planet Earth.

For $20 you‘d better off on Moondrop Chu / tripowin lea / 7Hz zero. This new magnetostatic tech is simply premature.

-Can’t believe this is tuned by Crin, usually it goes with pretty high standard “oh ok, great“
-Driver spec is sub-par, I can understand if it is a $6USD EDX, basically it’s EDX with little buzzer added
-Sound is incoherent and unnatural. As if you added too many layers of acoustic damper filters

What else to say? I’ve wasted my money. That’s it. No other words.

KZ, keep your own tuning, Use a IEC60318-4 coupler, and looking forward for your ZAS’s successor.

—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Westone| Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL


—Imprinted instruments timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers, nor given review sample or paid for this review.

I purchased Anole VX from MusicTeck at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====


—Out of the Box initial Impression
At the beginning I wasn’t so impressed, the sound was a bit off tone and foggy. Then I noticed it was my sealing problem & high impedance mode on the DAP. After some try&errors, here is my take:

-Non-exhausting yet sovereign technicalities , a philosophy of subtractions, I found Asian beauty within

-crazy high coherence, be it sound coordination, focusing, vector and momentum, dynamic range presentation. Layering and texturing, hard to imagine this is 10 driver package!

-out of head presentation, as far as I know only IEM could do this besides VX is Mest MKII and Softears RSV, VX handles it better

I can’t imagine how qdc managed to balance this pleasant tuning vs technicalities. Usually tonality and technicalities trades off, not the case for Anole VX.

My guess is reduced 6k concha gain and some dip on third harmonics of pinna gain around 12-13khz that makes the tonality very pleasant.

—Owner’s Impression after 2 years with VX

If you further push VX with V-tuned cable, although it will divert VX away from its neutral L shaped tuning (the DUNU Studio SA6 copied this as a mini-VX), surely VX doesn’t have latest toy Sonion EST, but it has higher layering and articulating capabilities than, say Monarch.

The bass also with stock tuning does sound rather normal BA one, but once you matched a good amp and proper cable with wide bore and bass resonating ear tips (CP360, UC, M1), you will notice BA bass can knock your head just like those LCP/Planar dynamic ones.

VS DUNU Studio SA6:
Tonality wise both are tuned almost same, VX has a tad more impact for bass than SA6.
How ever when it comes to resolution and technical aspect, VX and SA6 belongs to different domain.

I love both IEMs, and have both as my personal IEMs. But in my honest opinion, SA6 and VX are two completely different IEMs.

- SA6 is “sophisticatedly tuned great sounding IEM good for all genre daily use IEM”, if representing SA6 as a car, I would like to address it as Porsche 911 Turbo S with state of the art V6 turbo engine.

- Anole VX is “tuned by genius, harp like beautifully sounding luxurious beast, with another dimension level of detail articulation, finesse presentation, it totally scales depending on who/what drives the VX”, if I was asked to address Anole VX as a car, I would refer VX as

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (V10)​

Both IEM and their Car avatar shares similarities (not edgy, smooth, nicely designed), but at the bottom line VX and SA6 is two different ones. SA6 is a supercar, and VX is a hypercar.

Scalability:
Yes, VX’s potential is hard to reach, the better DAP/audio source, recording quality you have the better illustration VX renders, especially VX renders dynamic range very well.

I thought L&P W2 is a good enough DAC to play with most of IEMs, but VX tells “No. the imaging is flat on W2”, so whether thats good or bad,

VX is spec-hungry.
You will notice VX’s true potential on Nürburgring Nordschleife —the most toughest race track as a spec-proof ground of Sportscar, Hypercars —than on public roads.

Final Thoughts:
-best tonal balance between analytical and musical
-spec beast that requires the better and better DAP/Source, it’s highly scalable
-if you are not planning to invest in DAP/Sourcing environment, SA6 ($around 5-600USD) shall handle the job, SA6 has bass-lower mid boosting EQ switch


-if you are looking a budget option of VX, Tri Starsea(around $100USD) is a little spiced up version of VX with 2 EQ switches, a baby-VX. Or if in car, Starsea will be Subaru Imprezza with 2.0L “boxer” flat-four.
(Anole VX and Tri Starsea)

—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Westone | Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL


—Imprinted instruments timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget.

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of the United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers nor given review samples or paid for this review.

I purchased HEXA from Shenzhen Audio at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====

—About Truthear
My personal speculation about this brand, the truthear, is the Moondrop/Softears’s shell ODM, HeyGears, original house brand, like Costco’s Kirkland. So that they can save up for various fixed cost and marketing cost to produce $300-500USD competitive benchmarking IEMs of today’s market (blessing2, Dusk, and Variations) with a bare minimum contribution margin, of $80USD.

—Is TruthEar affiliated with SoftEars?
Beats me. But here is my finding.
Motto of Softears —Hear the Truth—
—The Truth Hear — | TrutHear
Interesting.

—About this HEXA
Long Story Short, Widely famous Moondrop’s Blessing 2: Dusk’s successor, with a similar clean note, nice sub-bass elevated rather L-shape with a hint of 3khz spot spotlighting. I would not be highly surprised if cr*nacle is behind the scene. It’s that close to Moondrop Dusk. To be more precise, skip to TL;DR.

This IEM is made a rather Japanese Zen spirit; a philosophy of subtraction compared to mainstream “fully added” IEMs (such as Bose, Skullcandy, V-Moda, Old KZ). Or in more native way, spirit of “wabi & sabi” —侘び寂び— : “a spirit centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection”.

The only notable addition is spotlighting the main instrument or vocal (especially female), and the bass drum’s sub-bass-focused kick. No sign of sibilance or in simple English, not too bright, not too cold, well balanced and neutrally presented expression, just like you would find from Blessing 2 series, especially Dusk and Variations.

If you are an upper-bass (male vocal) focused listener, XENNS Mangird Tea would serve the role. Else, HEXA shall work as your daily accompaniment.

—Is HEXA a wired earphone?
Yes, not wireless ones like your AirPods. If convenience is on your top priority over sound quality, you can make it Wireless and play with your iPhone/Android by following 2 methods:

1. FiiO BTR3 / BTR5 /BTR7 from $70-$150, my recommendation is BTR5, it can be used with most of the other IEMs.
2. FiiO UTW3 / UTW5 from $70-$160 (remember to choose 2pin connectors (don’t choose MMCX)). It can be also used for most other IEMs.

*You don’t need to consider Shure’s
Bluetooth earphone hook. A waste of $300 with old technology.

—Looking for a warm neutral IEM instead?
With all my 20year+ of passion &love for IEM, my full mark recommendation is Tangzu Wu Zetian. My review is here. If you have both HEXA and Wu Zetian, you have pretty much reached all you’ll need. “Musicality” Wu, and “Technicality” HEXA.

—Looking for Truthear ZERO or if you are current owner of ZERO and considering upgrade to HEXA?
Here if my walk-through of ZERO vs HEXA, ZERO vs Moondrop Kato / Aria.

—More details
The outer shell is the exactly same as Moondrops 2EST-2BA-1LCP DD IEM, named Variations ($560), which is highly regarded as one of Killbuck-class IEM challengers. A well-tuned IEM based on the latest trended Harman curve plus a little sub-bass elevation and smoother treble.

This HEXA is basically ODM’s price-cut Moondrop Variations. And I can be pretty sure 95% of purchasers would agree this is one of their best IEM purchase ever.

—HEXA and Variations A-B Test

Although HEXA’s tuning is more like Yume, a lower sub-bass shelf compared to Variations, they both sound very reminiscent. Not exactly the same, because there are differences in technicalities, and different classes one. But still, I can see B+ to A- level of good technicalities in HEXA when compared to Variations.

My guess for IEF’s rating for HEXA will be Tonality S (it’s Yume), Technicalities B+, and overall A- with ★★★.


Technicalities can’t be more than A- because that’s where he placed Softears RSV —left one next to Variations in the snapshot above— (Tone: S, Tech: A-) as A IEM. And to me, RSV’s technicalities are S tier, except the resolution part which I personally think it’s an independent factor outside of general geo-dynamic technicalities.


I tried to minimize other variables that may interfere with the A-B test, I first tested with both IEMs with their factory default cables (but with the same moondrop’s default ear tips, because ear tips alter the sound a lot)

Then I found their tuning is close enough so I plugged the left ear with Variations and the Right ear with HEXA with the same coax cable that came with Variations. (Pictures below). This is just for the coherency test, although IEM hooked on left and right is HEXA and Variations, I found it sings in unison, and resonate very well. This tells the tuning of those two pairs isn’t very far.



—Treble
Variations obviously have better resolution/layering and extend further than HEXA, Variations have the “finesse”
That HEXA is lacking. Variations EST surely is a thing that works.
HEXA’s tweeter meanwhile is not Bellsing obviously, from the way it sounds, I assume it’s customized version of low distortion Knowles equivalent unless Bellsing got new 30019s to the level of Knowles WBFK.

—Mid
Now it’s getting hard. To my ear, surely Variations got a better Softears-MID BA to have a perfect 3khz gain spotlight, but HEXA’s mid-range isn’t that indifferent. They both have exceptionally good imaging, but textures on Variations are a tad better —not miles far— when you directly compare both.

—Bass
They are both LCP DD, and I know how an LCP would sound. HEXA’s LCP DD surely overruns the ones with the Blessing 2 and Dusk’s traditional DD, HEXA’s is fast and nimble, tactile. You can easily tell the difference between nuance expressions, and pianissimo notes on Cello and Contrabass. To my impression, HEXA however is not using the exact same LCP driver that Variations use, I also feel there is a very, very small room that Variations’ LCP could breathe over the HEXA’s LCP. But the difference is now smaller than that I felt for mid-range. I think this level of technical difference could be tossed into the hands of tuning preferences.

Variations is more sub-bass elevated. HEXA’s more like See Audio Yume or Blessing 2 OG’s neutral-ish sub-bass “on-sight” slope. If you prefer neutral approch, HEXA, if you prefer more sub-bass rumbling impacts, Variations.

They both have excellent textures and low distortions, crisp bass imaging.

[Post 30 hours of burn-in bass impression for HEXA]
—HEXA’s LCP bass performance is almost par with fully burned-in Variation’s.

Per Moondrop’ guide on LCP(liquid Crystal Polymer) burn-in guidance, I also recommend burn-in HEXA for 100hours.


I’d totally forgot LCP driver needs at least 10 hours, and will get actual performance around 30hours, then fully executed after 100 hours of burn-in.
Here is my old comment from Moondrop Variations’s initial impression post.

“LCP drivers takes around 30hours to get first phase of burn-in, and gradually matures and getting speed toward 100 hours”

Here is a good and easy way to burn in: 12hours of pink-noise, use any of your tablets, iPad, etc, turn on repeat and leave it during nights. A week later it will be fully potent.
URL:

—You don’t believe in burn-in?
Try this track with HEXA right out of box then 30,60,100hours later.

If you leave a wine in glass even for half an hour, you probably will notice that it tastes different. Same to HEXA’s LCP bass, if you can taste the difference, you are about to start your career of “Sommelier of the Sound”

Note: this track isn’t a pleasant one to listen, it’s more of “speedtest.net” for your bandwidth speed test type, that contains very fast paced wide spectrum noises.


—Egh, the speedtest track is unbearable! Need something smoother to cruise out for HEXA’s speed test?
Try these three while reading the remainder of the wall-o-text.




—I have Blessing 2 or Dusk, should I even consider getting HEXA?
If you are more technically inclined into overall coherence across the spectrum, then you are probably feeling some uncomfortable areas in Blessing 2 or Dusk’s upper bass and lower-mid where DD passes to MID BA, for someone values analog sound to sound right, thenYes. I highly recommend HEXA for studio engineers and musicians over blessing 2, Dusk, Senn/
Shure/AKG/Westone’s IEMs from tonal consistency standpoint as well as neutrality.

Back to Blessing2s, HEXA has better cohesiveness. Or if you feel the bass of Blessing 2 / Dusk is simply a tad foggy and veiled, low in texture, then Yes.

Blessing 2 & Dusk users: Try these analog songs, if you see any inconsistency in lower range timbre, HEXA handles it better.

Pro tip for tasting the difference: Utilize Fletcher Munson effect; just like wine-tasting, sip a small amount of wine at the tasting, try to play sample tracks with 30% of your general playing volume.




—Need detailed cross-comparison?
vs Moondrop

vs Great benchmarking IEMs


vs High-End IEMs

*All IEMs on the chart above are my private collections, not review units or a loaner.

—Lowpass-filter match
Short delay Slow Roll Off filter or similar would bring natural expression and laid back tonality, Short Delay sharp roll off filter will bring natural & better imaging from this BA’s timbre reproductions

—For tech-lovers
HEXA’s config is following Softears RSV. RSV uses 2BA(subwoofer )+2BA(Mid)+1BA(tweeter), while HEXA replaced 2BA (subwoofer) with LCP dynamic driver which I assume is the same one you can find in Moondrop’s Variations($560), and kept Midrange and tweeter set up the same. This, is actually optimum setting for daily use IEM. The Dusk or Blessing 2 has 1 paper dome DD(subwoofer) + 2BA(mid) +2BA(knoweles TWFK), as a set up, the solid 4BA+1DD one, but the dynamic driver used for blessing2’s is rather old school and the bass transient response is slow, with rough textures.

Meanwhile HEXA and Variations maybe using the same LCP DD or the disruptively famous Moondrop’s single dynamic Aria. The LCP technologies matured, and now we are able to get LCP driver equipped IEM on much lower price range, such as Moondrop Chu, Tripowin Lea etc etc, so it’s not a surprise HEXA is LCP-backed.

—Frequency Response observations and analytics
HEXA’s FR chart


Yume Midnight and FiiO FHE


HEXA & Yume
▶︎Sub-Bass slope is very close, but HEXA’s sub bass punches very heavily unlike light touching Yume due to types of drivers used


HEXA & Moondrop Blessing 2
▶︎Mid-Bass slope is reminiscent to Blessing 2’s


HEXA & Softears RSV
▶︎Mid range and Upper-Mid range is reminiscent to TOTL tuned Softears RSV


HEXA & See Audio Bravery
▶︎HEXA and Bravery shares reminiscent Treble


—[Tech-lover+] Why Penta driver for RSV and Quasi-penta driver HEXA is great for technical aspect?
They handle the harmonic portion of the music/ complex and organic mixture of sound waves very well. Simple 1 tweeter composition for high-frequency range to reduce phase inconsistency over 10khz less evident, and make sound listening friendly.

Those harmonics handling will be much more noticeable for LCP driver when compared to the traditional driver found in blessing 2’s, especially for second and third harmonics:


You will hear fewer harmonics mismatch as a benefit of the LCP driver + simple and solid composition of 2BA for mid, and 1 BA for treble.

A highly cohesive phase matching, with harmonics handling capabilities taking into account, a well mastered acoustic music —such as newer releases from Pat Metheny—will sound very very realistic, as if you are at the live stage. And HEXA will actually render electrically mixed music better, such as EDM/PsyTrance, from my personal experience attending DJ Tiesto’s World Tour of 2020 at “Rebel” Toronto, HEXA’s capabilities to render that “Live EDM” experience is exceptionally high as well. From deep sub-bass rumbling the huge live stage to dopamine-generating high-pitch synthesizers melody.

As a drummer, I can validate HEXA will simulate drums, bass, and guitar tonality in a very realistic way; HEXA is even a capable tool for professional musicians, studio engineers, and instrument tuning professionals, you could rely on this IEM better than anything that you can purchase below $560.

—Scalability
Yes, HEXA is scalable depending on DAP. You may benefit more from a better DAP, but it doesn’t fail with iPad either. Having a High Scalability is good proof of an IEM that has very high standards and potential, as it will reveal the true potential of the playing source from its high potency.
If I pull this in simple English, HEXA on race tracks performs better with a “professional racing driver” in charge.

—Volume Scalability
Since HEXA is very neutrally designed, you may experience a difference sound signature depending on the playing sound volume. It’s called Fletcher Munson phenomenon.


—Fit
First and foremost, if you are new to IEM, you may hook your IEM the wrong way. Here is a graphical guide per e-earphone (all rights reserved) .


Roll cables around your ear


-Got it hooked right? Now back to fit.
The nozzle is rather large —blessing2, Variations size—small ear canal user may consider trying SpinFit W1 and if you feel HEXA is too vocal forward, SpinFit CP100 will tone it down. If you feel CP100 toned town vocal is slightly south of your taste CP100+, as your solution. If you like a tad more brightness and airiness Spiral Dots++, if you like rumbling sub-bass to knock your head to the Moon, Softears UC tips would serve your role. The rest of the listeners will find HEXA just like the blessing2 series, a quasi-custom private molded musician ear monitor like CIEM feeling.


—Ear Tips(Tires ) & Cables (Suspensions)

For HEXA if you want bass floors to be higher, XINHS 4 core graphene cable is what I used for similarly tuned See Audio Yume. It works great. If you want more airflow into HEXA without sacrificing bass transient “the thumps”, SpinFit W1 may work for you and will solve any fit issues you have.

If you want ultimate Sub-bass knock, Softears UC tips, or AZLA Xelastec Crystal Clear.

—TL;DR
My overall impression of HEXA is:

HEXA is a thoroughbred horse with refinement from the the best part of
❶See Audio Yume | Sub-Bass
❷Moondrop Blessing 2 | Mid-Bass
❸Softears RSV | Mid-Range and Upper-Mid
❹See Audio Bravery | Treble
in tuning,

❺situated in Variations’s cage
with a bit of cost saving in mind for its powertrains.

Or in the other words, carefully re-tuned Blessing 2 Dusk with a better LCP bass dynamic driver.

If I pull cars as an example.

Variations is Mercedes AMG C63(0-60mile: 3.8sec) and HEXA is Mercedes AMG C43 (0-60miles: 4.7sec) both cars are FAST and good for race circuits. Although C63 is “handcrafted by 1 maestro “ in Germany Affalterbach, AMG’s plant —V8 Biturbo—, while C43 uses V6 Biturbo engine which was —manufactured in Mercedes’s own factory, the same one used by non-AMG, regular Mercedes —, a bit more consumer-friendly high-performance engine.

But when we take a look at cost, $79 vs $560.
In the car world C43 costs around 80% of the C63. Which is $68k vs $85k.
Huge cost-to-performance gap we see here.

Hence,HEXA surely is one of

“a bolt from the blue”

A $68k USD high-performance vehicle sold at jaw-dropping $12kUSD vs 85k USD C63. Which never happened before in In-Ear Monitor industry.

You can see what car enthusiasts will do with that. Buy, customize, and race with Lamborghini


It’s exactly what’s happening in this IEM world. You can change the ear tips (tires), and cables (suspensions), or buy an upgraded DAP(supercharger) to buff this HEXA. It has a GREAT scalability to play around; the framework/platform is very legit, after-market customization will be very rewarding, if you are bored with the original tuning.

— My current favorite setup
◯ Cable | XINHS 4 core graphene cable

◯ EarTips | SpinFit W1 (M)
▶︎Boost imaging focus
▶︎ Improve sub-bass timbre
▶︎ Improve Image positioning
OR
◯ EarTips | Softears UC (M)
▶︎Boost image positioning
▶︎ Improve Sub-bass impact
▶︎ Improve Treble extension
OR
◯ EarTips | TRI Clarion (L)
▶︎Boost imaging focus
▶︎ Improve Sound Stage depth
▶︎ Improve Treble extension
▶︎Tone down Bass
OR
◯ EarTips | Latex M570 (M)
▶︎ Natural Sound Reference tuning
▶︎ Open up Diffusion Field
▶︎ Improve Treble extension
▶︎ Transform Bass to Holographic presentation



—Final impression (based on my HRTF)
Overall | A (85/100)
Tonality | A+
Resolution | A-
Overall Coherence | B+

1. Diffusion Field coherence B- [ Quality (A+) x Artificial Staging Size ( C ) ]
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | A+
3. Image Focusing Coherence | B+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | A-

My other A-rated IEMs:
Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A) | See Audio Bravery (A)

My higher than A-rated:
Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+)

—Wow this review is so long!
You spent time without being paid anything?
Yes, it is purely a voluntary work.
Because I believe great sound should not fully bounded to how much money you can cash out. HEXA is a game changer in that context, and it’s worth a lengthy coverage.

—Carrying pouch
I’m not a huge fan of gold color, Truthear, this gold color doesn’t match with HEXA IMHO.


—Blessing 2 (left) and HEXA (right)

—HEXA and FiiO FHE close shot

—Wanna try far-east goodies with a good recording quality that matches with HEXA?




—Are you still here? This is the bottom.

About myself:
Audio enthusiastic over 20year+ with headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by Sennheiser/AKG.

After spending a decade with full-size headphones, home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM (100+ personal inventories ) and on mobile, car audio (from Lexus’s Mark Levision system to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester System)

Means of acquisition:
I purchased Stellaris from Shenzhen Audio’s Amazon store at my own cost for my personal use. Not paid for review or given a review sample.

My motivation to buy Stellaris:
I was peacefully resting in the peace after finding my endgame IEM 7Hz Timeless, and in real life, I listen more while driving, which my AMG’s Burmester 4D system does a perfect job than previously owned Lexus’s Mark Levinson speaker system.

Until the moment I noticed my beloved audio maker, Moondrop, released a Planar.

That’s the reason I once again motivated to try out new IEMs, especially a possible new alternatives of 7Hz Timeless. Here I am.

TL;DR
Stellaris is KZ’s ZS10 in a form of Planar, if you like ZS10, it’s a buy.

Sound Impression:

• Stellaris's name 群星(lots of stars) is self-explanatory, the upper end reminds me of KZ ZEX, and works well with live music, but peaky for non-live ones
• The pinna gain area could get a bit nerfed; too vocal forward to me
• Stellaris is still 0.5 steps behind Timeless in terms of technicality, as its sound tuning is much more mid-focused with its existing VDSF tuned siblings
• For live music Stellaris turns out to be long-term listening friendly compared to sub-bass elevated flat studio monitor tuned 7Hz Timeless
• Sub-bass could use some buff, like the one tuned for Variations, Stellaris’s planar driver handles sub-bass pretty well, so eliminating the sub-bass floor is a bit disappointing to my personal preference

Softears newly developed UC clear tips:
Great job on the newly developed silicon ear-tip! I was using a similar soft silicon one for Timeless and am glad to see Moondrop coupled Stellaris with the same feeling. yes the tips work great for Planer's timbre.

I found this UC tips universally fit to many IEMs. This UC tips specialized by its unique “wide bore x soft clear silicone x long sleeves” characteristics.

A dreamed gadget for Softears RSV, See Audio Yume/Bravery, DUNU SA6. The UC tips alone cost around $25, so subtract this alone makes Stellaris a competitive Planar for live music and some vocal focused tracks.

36 ohms impedance:
The impedance per spec on box stated 36 ohms vs 14.8 ohms 7Hz Timeless. This makes Stellaris a high impedance planar among many others. Good or Bad is at your own discretion.

Final Thoughts:
As a first planer attempt from Moondrop, I'd say it’s a successful launch. It got the "Planer" realistic timbre and imaging. But still, there is a long way to catch up with 7hz timeless.
Timeless is leading in technical and neutral sounding aspect.

Overall: B
Tonality: B-
Technicality: C+
Wow Factor: C

Tuning could be better, but the planar potential is there, looking forward to Stellaris 2.0

About myself:
Audio enthusiastic over 20year+ with headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by Sennheiser/AKG.

After spending a decade with full-size headphones, home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM (100+ personal inventories ) and on mobile, car audio (from Lexus’s Mark Levision system to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester System)

Sound Impression:
At the beginning I wasn’t so impressed, the sound was a bit off tone and foggy. Then I noticed it was my sealing problem & high impedance mode on the DAP. After some try&errors, here is my take:

-Non-exhausting yet sovereign technicalities , a philosophy of subtractions, I found Asian beauty within

-crazy high coherence, be it sound coordination, focusing, vector and momentum, dynamic range presentation. Layering and texturing, hard to imagine this is 10 driver package!

-out of head presentation, as far as I know only IEM could do this besides VX is Mest MKII and Softears RSV, VX handles it better

I can’t imagine how qdc managed to balance this pleasant tuning vs technicalities. Usually tonality and technicalities trades off, not the case for Anole VX.

My guess is reduced 6k concha gain and some dip on third harmonics of pinna gain around 12-13khz that makes the tonality very pleasant.

Impression after 2 years with VX:

If you further push VX with V-tuned cable, although it will divert VX away from its neutral L shaped tuning (the DUNU Studio SA6 copied this as a mini-VX), surely VX doesn’t have latest toy Sonion EST, but it has higher layering and articulating capabilities than, say Monarch.

The bass also with stock tuning does sound rather normal BA one, but once you matched a good amp and proper cable with wide bore and bass resonating ear tips (CP360, UC, M1), you will notice BA bass can knock your head just like those LCP/Planar dynamic ones.

VS DUNU Studio SA6:
Tonality wise both are tuned almost same, VX has a tad more impact for bass than SA6.
How ever when it comes to resolution and technical aspect, VX and SA6 belongs to different domain.

I love both IEMs, and have both as my personal IEMs. But in my honest opinion, SA6 and VX are two completely different IEMs.

- SA6 is “sophisticatedly tuned great sounding IEM good for all genre daily use IEM”, if representing SA6 as a car, I would like to address it as Porsche 911 Turbo S with state of the art V6 turbo engine.

- Anole VX is “tuned by genius, harp like beautifully sounding luxurious beast, with another dimension level of detail articulation, finesse presentation, it totally scales depending on who/what drives the VX”, if I was asked to address Anole VX

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (V10)​

Both IEM and their Car avatar shares similarities (not edgy, smooth, nicely designed), but at the bottom line VX and SA6 is two different ones. SA6 is a supercar, and VX is a hypercar.

Scalability:
Yes, VX’s potential is hard to reach, the better DAP/audio source, recording quality you have the better illustration VX renders, especially VX renders dynamic range very well.

I thought L&P W2 is a good enough DAC to play with most of IEMs, but VX tells “No. the imaging is flat on W2”, so whether thats good or bad, VX is spec-hungry.

Final Thoughts:
-best tonal balance between analytical and musical
-spec beast that requires the better and better DAP/Source, it’s highly scalable
-if you are not planning to invest in DAP/Sourcing environment, SA6 ($around 5-600USD) shall handle the job, SA6 has bass-lower mid boosting EQ switch

-if you are looking a budget option of VX, Tri Starsea(around $100USD) is a little spiced up version of VX with 2 EQ switches, a baby-VX

Disclosure: This i3 Pro was provided as a review unit, I usually do not discriminate against any IEMs depending on the means of acquisition, however, you may still consider any positive bias as a result of this.

Benchmark IEMs compared:
-Softears RSV (TOTL positioning, natural timbre reference)
-GeekWold GK10 (sound stage)
-Moondrop Aria / Starfield / KXXS (direct rival at the same price range)
-See Audio Yume (direct rival at the same price range)
-TRI Starsea (different lineups of hybrids from the same brand)

Initial Impression:

• i3 Pro is scalable depending on the driving source (high gain preferred)
• With stock tips (white soft bass boost silicone) and stock tips, Chamber music sounds very vivid, but for modern pops, the upper-mid is a bit too sensitive
• Stock tuning is W shape tuning with three focus points on sub-bass, upper-mid, and treble
• Neutral or Colored? i3 Pro is IEM that will add a specific color to Acoustic instruments as well as vocals

Current setup for i3 Pro:
-PW Audio Legend II copper cable
-SpinFit CP360-L(blue core)
This setup will tone down the sub-bass, and bring 9khz up more air to breathe, retain maximum transparency for mid-range.

Post 100-hour burn-in Sound Impression:
[Post-Burn-in delta] The initial sibilance calmed down, Bass impulse response got quicker

Overall Score: 83/100 (Grade-A)

• Smooth treble, inoffensive
• Sound Image formulation has some similarities with KBEar Lark (Forward trebles, with clean-sounding mids)
• Well formulated gain spot peaks around 3kHz and 12kHz, not too much, not too less, just right
• When compared to those of EST drivers, i3 Pro may lack finesse, but it's more than necessary to sustain itself from providing clear upper registers transparency

Comprehensive wrap up:

• The mid-range, realistic and tactile, the weakness of single-DD (slow treble and lack in definition) is non-existent
• The “dynamic” and “direct” presentation of sound pressure, which does not necessarily need to be super accurate and realistic, yet very emotional and touching

The “direct sound wave in a form of a huge tsunami or tidal wave hitting you by a magnitude of a huge wall of sound “ is more engaging and immersive on some occasions where emotional presentation is the grand scheme. i3 Pro is a great amplifier of emotional presentation

-Harp tonality is the best one of all my IEMs and it reminds me of Sennheiser’s Legendary Orpheus’s ancestor, the world’s first Electrostatic headphone, Unipolar. Soft and Fragile. Beautiful tonality.

Comparisons:



i3 Pro & See Audio Yume ($170):

• i3 Pro got better scores overall except image coordinate positioning capabilities. Yume has excellent positional technicalities, both have the same resolutions or detail retrieval capacity as well as comparable upper mid/treble region: If micro-detail is the priority Yume, if macro-dynamism is the priority i3 Pro

i3 Pro & Moondrop Aria ($80), Starfield ($120), KXXS ($190):

• i3 Pro is better on midrange compared to Aria / Starfield, and pars with KXXS in terms of tonality, but has better imaging capability to all Moondrop Single dybamic three sisters. However, when positioning is on stake, i3 Pro is behind Aria / Starfield, and pars with KXXS. The modded Aria has widest diffusion field but i3 Pro has wider side duffisions.

i3 Pro & Starsea ($130):

• When compared to its little sister, Starsea, i3 Pro has slightly more technical bass, midrange, as well as momentum presentation, however, both IEMs are targeting different audiences, i3 Pro is Lively tuning and Starsea is Euphoric and laid-back tuning.

i3 Pro & Moondrop Blessing 2 ($320), Blessing 2: Dusk ($330), and Softears RSV ($730):

• Finally, when comparing with upper graded legends, Blessing2, Dusk, and Softears RSV, i3 Pro struggles in coherence technical scores, such as positioning, focusing, or resolutions, but still could trade blows with blessing 2 for midrange expressions, considering the price difference and technical compositions (4BA+1 or 5BA(extremely well-tuned) ) the difference is forgivable

Final thoughts:
Overall, the i3 Pro is an unparalleled product --with a very unique (1Planer + 1 DD +1 BA) tribrids r configuration-- which amplifies the slightest emotional expression in a very passionate way.