Reviews by cadences
Bought these secondhand and re-cabled (see picture below).
They are subjectively my very favourite out of my collection of earphones, and the ones that I will have the hardest time parting with. But they have some issues that have brought them down to 3.5 stars. Let's see why:
DAC/AMPs: Apple Dongle, Questyle M12
Source: iPhone 11 Pro, Macbook Pro (2020)
Streaming from: Apple Music (Lossless)
Cable: The model I bought had been re-cabled with a Noble Audio cable
Fit, Soundstage & Timbre
Fit - These are deep-insertion IEMs (as you can see from the picture). They are fairly comfortable in that they go in well, but moving around with them, especially walking, is very uncomfortable even if they are worn over the ear because of the weird angle. They are also thicker (circumference wise) than the newer Final Audio E line, so the deep insertion is not all pleasant.
Soundstage - Unusually wide for the price (though perhaps much less impressive than when it was first released), and even for price points above it (eg compared to the Shure Aonic 5). Imaging is also surprisingly fantastic and separation is clear. Placement of each instrument is well defined. The soundstage is not that deep, but I hadn't expected it for this price and it isn't shabby at all either.
Timbre - Gentle, comfortable, and musical - I can and have listened for hours without noticing. But the timbre is thinner than say the BLON BL-03. It's not a bass cannon and does not behave as such. What it does is give a really natural rendering of the recording, and sometimes it's as if I'm in the room with the performer(s). You can see from the graph below how the entire lower and middle frequency is given a boost, and it really shows in its performance.
Source
Sound
Bass, Mids, Highs
Bass - For a single BA, it's good, clean, and doesn't have a BA timbre. However, it is weaker than the well-tuned single DDs (eg Penon Fan). However, the bass is still articulate and well-balanced. There does seem to be to my ears a slight mid-bass emphasis, but there's nothing overwhelming. While not at all for bassheads, the just-about-right bass also complements:
Mids - The perfect mids. I have gone through lots and lots of IEMs, and even headphones, but there is something about the Heaven IV's mids that I suspect can only be replicated or bested by the higher-end FAD Heaven models. It's warm, natural, vocals and strings are replicated with perfect clarity and gentleness, and this even extends to more electronic-based pop like Stay (Justin Bieber). I just can't tell you a single thing wrong with the mids, and in my opinion they are even edging out the mids boasted by the high-end Moondrop line.
Treble - Here lies one of the bigger "issues". Because the Heaven IV is tuned to be sibilance-free, there is a slight weakness in treble extension and definition. Mids will take over on songs where they are more present and present a slightly compressed frequency range. It's not severe (definitely not like the BLON BL-03), but treble-heads and even fans of neutrality will feel it.
Technicalities - Here, too, there is a little bit of clarity that suffers - because of the BA, there is actually not that much of a loss in clarity. However, decay is not perfect, and there is sometimes a little slowness in the bass and treble that one can notice where you're listening carefully and even a level of incoherence on more complex tracks.
TL;DR: For lovers of vocals and strings, these are for you. For bassheads, treble heads, and even lovers of neutrality, this may not be the pair for you, but I'd still say give it a try and see if these will surprise you. Enjoy and thanks for reading
They are subjectively my very favourite out of my collection of earphones, and the ones that I will have the hardest time parting with. But they have some issues that have brought them down to 3.5 stars. Let's see why:
DAC/AMPs: Apple Dongle, Questyle M12
Source: iPhone 11 Pro, Macbook Pro (2020)
Streaming from: Apple Music (Lossless)
Cable: The model I bought had been re-cabled with a Noble Audio cable
Fit, Soundstage & Timbre
Fit - These are deep-insertion IEMs (as you can see from the picture). They are fairly comfortable in that they go in well, but moving around with them, especially walking, is very uncomfortable even if they are worn over the ear because of the weird angle. They are also thicker (circumference wise) than the newer Final Audio E line, so the deep insertion is not all pleasant.
Soundstage - Unusually wide for the price (though perhaps much less impressive than when it was first released), and even for price points above it (eg compared to the Shure Aonic 5). Imaging is also surprisingly fantastic and separation is clear. Placement of each instrument is well defined. The soundstage is not that deep, but I hadn't expected it for this price and it isn't shabby at all either.
Timbre - Gentle, comfortable, and musical - I can and have listened for hours without noticing. But the timbre is thinner than say the BLON BL-03. It's not a bass cannon and does not behave as such. What it does is give a really natural rendering of the recording, and sometimes it's as if I'm in the room with the performer(s). You can see from the graph below how the entire lower and middle frequency is given a boost, and it really shows in its performance.
Source
Sound
Bass, Mids, Highs
Bass - For a single BA, it's good, clean, and doesn't have a BA timbre. However, it is weaker than the well-tuned single DDs (eg Penon Fan). However, the bass is still articulate and well-balanced. There does seem to be to my ears a slight mid-bass emphasis, but there's nothing overwhelming. While not at all for bassheads, the just-about-right bass also complements:
Mids - The perfect mids. I have gone through lots and lots of IEMs, and even headphones, but there is something about the Heaven IV's mids that I suspect can only be replicated or bested by the higher-end FAD Heaven models. It's warm, natural, vocals and strings are replicated with perfect clarity and gentleness, and this even extends to more electronic-based pop like Stay (Justin Bieber). I just can't tell you a single thing wrong with the mids, and in my opinion they are even edging out the mids boasted by the high-end Moondrop line.
Treble - Here lies one of the bigger "issues". Because the Heaven IV is tuned to be sibilance-free, there is a slight weakness in treble extension and definition. Mids will take over on songs where they are more present and present a slightly compressed frequency range. It's not severe (definitely not like the BLON BL-03), but treble-heads and even fans of neutrality will feel it.
Technicalities - Here, too, there is a little bit of clarity that suffers - because of the BA, there is actually not that much of a loss in clarity. However, decay is not perfect, and there is sometimes a little slowness in the bass and treble that one can notice where you're listening carefully and even a level of incoherence on more complex tracks.
TL;DR: For lovers of vocals and strings, these are for you. For bassheads, treble heads, and even lovers of neutrality, this may not be the pair for you, but I'd still say give it a try and see if these will surprise you. Enjoy and thanks for reading
Got the Acoustune HS1650CU second hand for a very good price, and couldn't believe my luck. As this is my own purchase, I have no incentive to gas up these little earphones. But there is so much to be impressed by and gush about
As most reviewers have already covered the packaging and so on, I'll jump straight into the fit and sound.
DAC/AMPs: Apple Dongle, Questyle M12
Source: iPhone 11 Pro, Macbook Pro (2020)
Streaming from: Apple Music (Lossless)
Fit, Soundstage & Timbre
Fit - A quick word on fit, these were some of the easiest IEMs to get into my ears. They're quite small because of the one DD, and very ergonomic - the grooves on the inside mould right into your ears. The Acoustune tips are excellent and do what they say on the tin (increase or smooth out treble, open up the bass etc, but not so much that they change the sound altogether).
Soundstage - It's fairly wide and outside of the head (left and right), though I find that it's not as proficient at going deep. It doesn't interfere so much with the enjoyment though. Where the recording calls for it, vocals are intimate and breathy. By way of comparison, it's wider than the Moondrop Variations, but narrower than the Inear StageDiver series.
Timbre - Incredibly natural, almost too warm sometimes. Strings and vocals are warm and smooth and pop out well. Drums are realistic. I didn't find any issues of hollow or artificial sounds.
Source
Sound
Bass, Mids, Highs
Bass - Absolutely perfect. I don't mean to overstate it, only that it's tight, exciting, with both excellent quality and quantity. The bass in So Sick (Ne-Yo) pops without overwhelming the rest of the instruments and vocals. Another example would be the well-defined beats in Nandemonaiya (Your Name soundtrack), which pop out at you in just the right amount and rhythm. It's also well-balanced, so that I find that it doesn't have the problem in the IER-M7, where I felt like the sub-bass was overpowering the mid-bass by just a tad.
Mids - Ah, vocal heaven. While still not as beautiful as the strings and vocals in the Final Audio Heaven series, it does have the bass that the Final Audio Heaven series does not. Mids on the HS1650CU are warm and enveloping, but not muddy. Just lovely. Wish I had more words to describe how it felt listening to the mids, but the other reviewers have done a great job of the same.
Treble - Perhaps the HS1650CU's "weakness", treble is not as extended as it could be. As someone who prefers warmer tuning, this isn't an issue for me, but treble-heads may feel slightly dissatisfied. Where it is there, though, the treble is sweet and easy listening - the high strings in Cowboy Take Me Away (The Chicks) were lovely and well-rendered.
Technicalities - The sound is very coherent because of the single DD. Imaging is nice and it's easy to place the instruments. For example, the opening instrumentation on With Or Without You (U2) is very well separated. The decay is also very good, and there is a clear sense of momentum no matter what song you're listening to. However, there is a slight lack of clarity in the general frequency range for the HS1650CU. There is less clarity compared to, for example, the QDC 5SH, where each note is very clearly defined. It's up to the listener to decide whether they would want a little more clarity at the cost of a bit more musicality, and I for one am not too fussed about it.
TL;DR: A warm, musical little pair of earphones that are in my opinion some of the most musical I've heard, but do sacrifice a little on the clarity front. Well worth a grab in the secondhand market, though the retail price may be intimidating.
As most reviewers have already covered the packaging and so on, I'll jump straight into the fit and sound.
DAC/AMPs: Apple Dongle, Questyle M12
Source: iPhone 11 Pro, Macbook Pro (2020)
Streaming from: Apple Music (Lossless)
Fit, Soundstage & Timbre
Fit - A quick word on fit, these were some of the easiest IEMs to get into my ears. They're quite small because of the one DD, and very ergonomic - the grooves on the inside mould right into your ears. The Acoustune tips are excellent and do what they say on the tin (increase or smooth out treble, open up the bass etc, but not so much that they change the sound altogether).
Soundstage - It's fairly wide and outside of the head (left and right), though I find that it's not as proficient at going deep. It doesn't interfere so much with the enjoyment though. Where the recording calls for it, vocals are intimate and breathy. By way of comparison, it's wider than the Moondrop Variations, but narrower than the Inear StageDiver series.
Timbre - Incredibly natural, almost too warm sometimes. Strings and vocals are warm and smooth and pop out well. Drums are realistic. I didn't find any issues of hollow or artificial sounds.
Source
Sound
Bass, Mids, Highs
Bass - Absolutely perfect. I don't mean to overstate it, only that it's tight, exciting, with both excellent quality and quantity. The bass in So Sick (Ne-Yo) pops without overwhelming the rest of the instruments and vocals. Another example would be the well-defined beats in Nandemonaiya (Your Name soundtrack), which pop out at you in just the right amount and rhythm. It's also well-balanced, so that I find that it doesn't have the problem in the IER-M7, where I felt like the sub-bass was overpowering the mid-bass by just a tad.
Mids - Ah, vocal heaven. While still not as beautiful as the strings and vocals in the Final Audio Heaven series, it does have the bass that the Final Audio Heaven series does not. Mids on the HS1650CU are warm and enveloping, but not muddy. Just lovely. Wish I had more words to describe how it felt listening to the mids, but the other reviewers have done a great job of the same.
Treble - Perhaps the HS1650CU's "weakness", treble is not as extended as it could be. As someone who prefers warmer tuning, this isn't an issue for me, but treble-heads may feel slightly dissatisfied. Where it is there, though, the treble is sweet and easy listening - the high strings in Cowboy Take Me Away (The Chicks) were lovely and well-rendered.
Technicalities - The sound is very coherent because of the single DD. Imaging is nice and it's easy to place the instruments. For example, the opening instrumentation on With Or Without You (U2) is very well separated. The decay is also very good, and there is a clear sense of momentum no matter what song you're listening to. However, there is a slight lack of clarity in the general frequency range for the HS1650CU. There is less clarity compared to, for example, the QDC 5SH, where each note is very clearly defined. It's up to the listener to decide whether they would want a little more clarity at the cost of a bit more musicality, and I for one am not too fussed about it.
TL;DR: A warm, musical little pair of earphones that are in my opinion some of the most musical I've heard, but do sacrifice a little on the clarity front. Well worth a grab in the secondhand market, though the retail price may be intimidating.
Purchased with my own money (SGD 450). Listening was done on my MacBook Pro 3.35mm headphone jack, apple dongle on iPhone 11, and sometimes on the FiiO BTR3K (where the soundstage seemed to my ears a little wider but the sound a little muddier). I used Apple Music & Youtube Music depending but honestly my ears aren't so refined that lossless audio makes a big difference to me. I listen on lower volumes and mostly enjoy acoustic, pop, alt-rock, and jazz.
Packaging & Fit
Earlier reviewers have covered what comes with the packaging, so I will not belabour the point except to add that I had no issues with the cables and liked how easy they were to connect to the housings. I also appreciate that this is one IEM that I never have to worry about stepping on in the middle of the night. On the other hand, the case that was given is not that easy to use and store the IEMS + slightly bulky cable in.
As for fit, I had no issues with the housing and the greater struggle was with finding the correct tips. My ear canals are somewhere between M and L, and M while comfortable often resulted in a non-sealing fit and diluted the sound. I eventually managed to find a good fit/positioning and there were no comfort issues after that (aside from a slight suctiony feeling you get with all IEMs, you just have to pop them out and re-insert). It's a fairly shallow fit compared to other deep-nozzle fits, which can be either a pro or a con depending on your preference but definitely isn't great for passive isolation (can't listen to anything on the train without blowing out my ears).
Sound
Soundstage and Imaging
To get it out of the way, these don't have the widest soundstage and are bested (within what I have on hand) by the far less expensive and far more dated Final Audio Heaven IV. It's not suitable for enjoying classical music because you're not going to get any of the spread required to place all the instruments. That is not to say that the soundstage is wall-of-sound narrow, as there is still good imaging and placement of instruments, only that it will struggle with tracks that are meant to be enjoyed with a wide soundstage eg Jupiter (Holst). However, there is no issue with imaging and I think the separation of instruments is good albeit within the slightly smaller soundstage, and for more intimate recordings eg Fields of Gold (Eva Cassidy), it sounds lovely.
Lows, Mids & Highs
As a general comment, what stood out to me about this IEM and why I eventually made the purchase was that there was nothing that sounded even mildly metallic in instruments, vocals, etc, even on tracks where there were lots of strings and other IEMs struggled to render them without giving them a slightly metallic timbre. While the Final Audio Heaven IV also has this warm, natural timbre, it is often much muddier than the HS1300SS even on good recordings (I A/Bed them to see) and has a much looser bass response. Instrument separation on the HS1300SS is also much cleaner.
Lows: The bass on this is really nice, carefully detailed without being clinical. They sound great in Save Room For Us (Tinashe) - the mids and highs are not overpowered and the vocals sit slightly forward in the mix so it feels like you're being propelled alongside the song. Same in Sunflower (Post Malone). OTOH, they can sound slightly bloated in low synth-led songs like Is It You (Cassie), which may have more to do with the mixing than the HS1300SS but I can't be sure - it happens sometimes, but rarely enough that it seems more like a bug than a feature. Even in this case, the vocals and piano are still very discernible over the slightly bloated bass and aren't totally overpowered, especially when the higher synths kick in at around 0:55. To round this section off, I just tested Limit To Your Love (James Blake) with these, and I can confirm that you will feel the sub-bass if there is even a hint of it.
Mids: Really lovely. Each string pluck has its own weight, each vocal turn and phrase is given its due. Everything jumps out at you in Old Pine (Ben Howard), but particularly starting from 3:50 in the bridge, where your heart will start to feel like it's swelling out of your chest. Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez) is also a lovely experience on the HS1300SS. I love the mids on this and when they come together with the right song it's a wonderful experience. This also works with the little chorale portions of songs, like in I Remember (Zhao Lei), Should Have Known Better (Sufjan Stevens), or straight up choral-pop performances like Supermarket Flowers (Stellenbosch University Choir). Goes without saying that it goes well with any Ed Sheeran song from his man with a guitar phase. I put on a little In Your Atmosphere (John Mayer), which also sounded great. However, I want to point out that the HS1300SS have the tendency on some songs to either push the vocals a little too far forward or too far back. I'd wager that this has nothing to do with the other instruments which stay in their place, but some sort of trick in the tuning where certain vocals are picked up and moved foward/backward in the mix.
Highs: The highs are never sibilant but can be a little spicy. In Want You Back (HAIM), there's several high distorted electric guitar sounds that the HS1300SS has no problems handling. On High Hopes (PATD), no sibilance is present and everything is rendered clearly, including several higher pitched wind instruments like the trumpet. However, this is not a treble-shy IEM (like, for eg, the QDC Neptune) and I experienced fatigue if it was song after song where highs were present in a major way. To put this in perspective, I had no issues with Ditto (NEWJEANS), which I consider a song that's vocally and instrument-wise pitched on the higher end of the frequency range. Acoustune also provide tips that are bass-heavy and treble-light (including foam tips) if you're not such a fan of treble. They work fairly well for me. In general, when listening to songs that aren't so high-centric, the highs are well rounded, detailed, and complement the rest of the lows and mids - for eg Comeback (Carly Rae Jepsen).
Etc
The charm in the HS1300SS is that it's warm but still detailed, mid-centric but with a definite note of sparkle and air at the higher end. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you listen to lots of acoustic and pop music with little else (I think this can also accommodate rock fairly well), it will be a nice little treat. I hope I've managed to remain fairly objective after spending a good chunk of cash on these little guys, and that this helps a little in your decision to get it/pass on it.
