Hi everyone!

Finally, After burn in these gems and have many sessions I have decided to write my review about this Spring 1.
BQEYZ are like the dark horse from chifi world, they may not as famous as other familiar chinese IEM makers but their line up are great.
Seriously from my opinion they deserved more attention, their product sounds mature and smooth.
The BQEYZ Spring 1 are built with triple hybrid drivers per side, with 13mm DD for low end, a BA for midrange and more hi-tech 7 layers piezo electric drivers to handle upper end.
This little beauty is sold at $139 as suggested retail price but I got a special discount from BQEYZ that time. The early adopter discount has ended by now but you may
ask for a little bit discount to them.

BQEYZ official website/shop : https://bqeyz.aliexpress.com/store/4997112?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.33644c4d1QLqQE



ABOUT ME :
Im just a 36 years old fan of this ocean of audiophile hobbyist, not an audio job professional person,
starting this hobby since around 15 years ago, heard and had many iems, have been settled with Sony IER M7 currently but still getting chifis as a hobby like you do.
I'm writing this review just to share with this community, I dont have any affiliate with any certain brands, nor the BQEYZ itself.
I'm not good with fancy words and sorry in advance for my bad english, but trying my best to give an honest, non-biased review, putting
aside "new toy effect" as could as possible. Please do remember that every person can have different opinion, different taste, and different preferences, and one for sure I could be wrong to in terms of hearing, perception, or personal taste.
My favorites music genres are pop-jazz, vocal, classics, pop-rock, pop, jazz, big band, j-pop, blues, soul but sometimes also listening to other variety genres too.
My current humble sources are LG V40, Fiio M6, Shanling M2s, TRN BT20 (older one - non S version) Samsung Galaxy Note 8, with Tempotec Sonata HD, Tempotec Sonata iDSD playing some FLACs, compressed and stream from Spotify Premium.

BQEYZ SPRING 1 SPECIFICATIONS :
Driver units: 13mm Coaxial dynamic driver+7 Layers piezo electric+Balanced armature and 1 BA (triple hybrid configuration)
Impedance: 43Ω
Sensitivity: 108dB
Frequency: 7-40KHz
Cable Length: 1.2m
Pin Type: 0.78mm-2 Pin
Plug Type: 3.5mm


PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES :

Package Contents:
Spring 1 IEM x 1 set
8 Core Upgrade Silver-Plated Cable x 1
Manual x 1
Silicone Ear tips(S/M/L) x 6 Pairs
Foam Ear tips x 1 Pair
Carrying Case x 1



The Spring 1 came with Medium Box, not small enough to grab it with 1 palm, but also not too big at 132x117x55mm measured. Bigger than previous BQEYZ boxes.
A simple black colored box with BQEYZ debossed logo on top left, covered by cardboard box sleeve with Spring 1 picture and name on front and specifications on sides.
Opened it up, we got The Spring 1 themselves, cardboard on bottom part to cover the BQEYZ case (yes we got case this time! simple thing that BQEYZ finally catching up),
cable, manual, and 2 set of different eartips which are "reference" with wide bore and "Atmosphere" with medium bore dome shaped, both set in S,M,L sizes. An extra smooth foam bonus
but only came in medium size also included. The eartips set were nicely attached to brushed steel placement, the one that wowed me when unboxing this.
The cable provided with Spring 1 is great quality. A silver plated 8 core braided cable, seems like high quality one. The only downside for the cable is a rather stiff type than soft,
though they don't easily got tangled, and the preformed plastic ear guide also a bit stiff and made the cable out of ear while using. Not big issue though.

BUILD AND FIT :
Took them out from box, this full metal aluminium alloy CNC built IEM has beautiful black matte finish (also available in soft blue color option) with combination of shiny anodized gold stripe around them like Fiio flagship FH7. Very simple yet elegant, and I fell in love with their look.
The nozzle took out my attention, It is long enough and I was starting to wonder about its fit right away. Shell itself isn't big nor too small with 3 vent holes on inner side.
As usual for me with my large ear canals, founding a great fit with tips was not so easy no differences with this one. I took my box of eartips and ready with large eartips.
Before take the aftermarket tips, I did try their reference and atmosphere eartips.
So short story, I've rolling with my eartips collection, and got several tips that can fit my ears attached to the Spring 1 not only with fit, but with sound synergy between IEM and eartips, I'll write on SOUND section more about eartips.



SOUND :
Out of the box Spring 1 were up to my expectation about their smooth house signature, they are very smooth and OMG details are exceptional even out of the box, straight away without comparing, I was able
to differentiate them to their competitors on the same price bracket or even slightly higher price tag. But there is 1 thing that was bugging me, I expected more from the 13mm big driver. They just gave me
a wooly, boomy, muddy bass sound, like you're hearing a subwoofer, big with power from the next room. I hoped they will be better after burn in (I'm believer for DD, not for BAs).
After reaching 100+ hours in the next 2 weeks, I started to play with eartips rolling. And with 43 ohm impedance, they are a bit harder to drive than usual chifi.

Eartips Rolling
I have bunch collection of eartips, starting from cheapo chinese eartips, free gifts, until quite pricey like spiral dot++, regular spiral dot, azla sedna, acoustune AET07, AET08, until unusual eartips like radius deep mount, etc.
and from my tips rolling experience with Spring 1, they seems to have good pairing with wide bore - short nozzle neck eartips. The "reference" tips that comes with Spring 1 is good example because of their characteristic of big bass (yes they have big amount of bass) so the narrow bore eartips isn't best pairing with Spring 1. Sony MH eartips, final audio type E eartips despite have a good fit to my ears, they made bass more boomy even more. While wide bore do better, I have to note that spiral dot (regular and ++) also made the highs very dull and lifeless because they are already very very smooth, even too smooth. Pairing with spiral dots which have ability to smoothen sound edges, made overall signature sounded very dull and flat (Even myself that like neutral, very balanced sound signature). Im settled between Acoustune AET07 or AZLA sedna short light, although they are not the best to reducing big bass the AET07 bring out details more and clarity moreover on midrange section and the Azla Sedna Short give me the best fit among all my eartips collections.


Simple Modify
This play a very important part of the Spring 1. Don't get me wrong at the first place that the Spring 1 already a very capable IEM by their default. They have crazy good details and smooth, very very smooth presentation
with almost to none harshness. Bass section also have very good texture and fast decay by default.
So what this simple mods about? To bring the Spring 1 to another level, fully to their potential. For picky me, the bass sounded wooly and boomy (even though few user are happy with default one), But I heard like there are
so much power that can't be unleashed at the same time, so like they are bounced back inside made a boomy voices inside. I spent days to figure them out with changing eartips, and at some point I looked at the nozzle grill,
could this is be the culprit? because of too small holes on the grill? so I opened the nozzle grill (user @bui hai anh did before me) and turned out there is a cloth mesh covering the whole nozzle from the back side of the grill.
I think they are too dense that hold much of the air and sounds, blocking much of the flow from drivers. So what I did is just take out that mesh cloth, or you can change the entire grill with spare grill you could buy online (very cheap). With this hassle free mods (I'm not a handy man, you all can do this easily) the differences is like day and night. Air and sound flow from giant 13mm driver no longer blocked, they are more fully articulated and clear, texture can heard clearly, no longer boomy and wooly sounds. Mids section become very much clearer with no edgy (they still have damper on BA's opening) and highs that more to shy before become more lively.
Soundstage and imaging are still the same, but timbre and tonality become much better and much more natural, no more "underwater effect, larger than life effect, or fake surround effect".
If you're too scared for sibilance and harshness, you can put a very little cut of foam and put inside the nozzle like I did. In fact they are only a little bit shouty on high mids when I put them in very loud volume, above my comfort and usual volume level and only using silver plated cable (including the default one). When I was using copper cable and BT20 module, there are no shouty or sibilance at all even without added foams.
So I will write my review based on simple grill mods from here, and I put little comparison with default one.


Overall Signature
I will put the Spring 1 on balanced signature that good for all rounder with touch of bass. Treble slightly roll off, they are warm IEM with so much details. They are smooth all across frequency and sounded relax. Carrying their own house signature of course.
They are very airy, with great soundstage and transparency. These are not neutral or flat or monitoring signature, but balanced with a slight additional fun touch.



Bass
Low end always my nitpick area because I always craving about great quality bass, I'm not basshead but I just like to hear a very quality bass. The Spring 1 bass are come from big 13mm dynamic driver, a little bit bigger than usual hybrid IEM that normally put 9mm-11mm DDs. From written specs, I was excited but yet concern about bass decay, a bad implentation of big driver can be slow but not the case with Spring 1, They are very agile with quick bass decay. For DD category and from 13mm DD they are considered very fast, much faster than Kanas Pro, similar to TFZ no 3 & BLON BL-03 in terms of speed. They are digging to the low end until out of my hearing, definitely lower than 30hz with a very good texture and articulation.
Shape of the bass note are rendered very well, together with their speed, you will never miss a single bass note. Mid bass while a bit bigger than sub bass, they are very well controlled, there is no disturbing bleed to the mids, only touch of warmness.
Well, their bass is the part that they don't excell very well for me because of the tune that mid bass slightly bigger than sub bass. Its more to preferences actually and my nitpick concern. If I could, I would like to have sub bass bigger than midbass.
Some may describe this as sub bass slight roll off, but the sub bass is definitely there. For a jazz, rumble bass with slow rumbles, the sub bass more easily heard. But for complex bass with bass note, kick bass and other instrument slamming together, the mid bass section is the first one i heard. Kick drums feels complete and thick again with more higher bass part from mid bass to upper bass. The 80-120hz is slightly dominant here but they are very well controlled. Some maybe prefer this tuning of bass, but for me I prefer with more sub bass emphasize. But they are not bad at all, the sub bass - mid bass proportion is better than previous KB100 or BQ3 with sub bass in Spring 1 is already bigger in quantity. And for bass quality regarding texture, timbre, agility, articulation is already considered really good in this price range, again just my nitpick bad habbit about low end section.
The quantity of the low end is quiet big, not to the basshead level but quite north of neutral, listening on low or medium volume will make they are sounded like a bit bass heavy but in high volume they are much more balance. That's why i recommend to not using bass-adding tips or small nozzle tips.
With original default nozzle grill, the texture, articulation and clarity of the bass is not as good as after the simple grill mods. They will sounded boomy, wooly, as they are covered too tight like I said before, the most improvement I heard is on low end area. They are already better than those any budget IEM's bass
but if you are willing to do that simple mods, the bass quality is marginally much better.


Mids
Coming to the mids section, they aren't recessed as they have balanced presentation, with a little forwarded mids, but nicely sits on the mixed, not leaving other frequencies left behind. Mids sounded thick with good weight shaping a bodied mids without
too sounding dark. Mids never sounded thin at all times. They are warm and sweet and buttery smooth even with cloth mesh taken out. Mids are supposedly handled by their BA which I saw have dedicated damper for it. Details on mids are very amazing. Hopefully
not too biased or hyperbole, I want to say they are catching to TOTL level IEM in mids details, 1 of Spring 1 strong point here. High mids seems to be a bit emphasized with little 2 khz boost but with dip on 3khz to avoid shouty voices. But their boost are not
as much as Harman target references, not the typical Chi-fi we got like in previous years. I have no complain at all in mids section, I guess these are the area where I like the most from Spring 1. Like its name, there is Spring all the year here with trees and
many kind of flowers everywhere, nicely presents with smoothness, open space, very beautiful. Even on higher volume level I never smirk as reaction to shouty female voices like I did on many chifi, including Kanas Pro.
Instruments that can be heard on 400hz until 2khz sounded very mature, timbre is very good even though coming from BA driver, very detail and separated from one to another instruments with a little spatial cues, very good but their spatial cues isn't very special, which
are expected from this price range of IEM. Great spatial cues for me only appears on $500 IEM and above.
With original default nozzle grill, they also already have that detail but smooth presentation of mids, only with grill mods, they are more open with clarity on another level.

Trebles
Placing 7 layer piezo electric driver with new configuration (coaxial with DD driver according to BQEYZ marketing specification) to take responbility of highs made trebles sounded very smooth and details. Treble have slightly roll of but with very good extension to higher ends
Just that they aren't aggressive type of trebles. Rather relaxing sparkles with smooth presentation than energetic. Putting spiral dot tips made this highs sounded dull because they are already very smooth. With opened cloth mesh on the grill they are more lively but still far from aggressive.
There is no boost at usual 6khz or 8khz, just smooth balance treble. For treblehead maybe they will craving for more energetic highs here. Its not bad thing, again is more to the preferences. For me I like this way of trebles, very relaxing non tiring trebles yet
holding so much details with little bit of sparkles and shimmer. If they are tuned with a little bit 8khz boost I will be happier but there is no complain at all on highs from me.
Before nozzle grill mods, I found them to be very treble shy, but very smooth one and while sometimes can be a little bit tizzy.


EQing
BQEYZ Spring 1 responds very well with EQ, sensitive and very noticeable differences. I was an EQ guy but recently I didn't touch EQ at all to my IEMs, leave them naturally like how they are sounded.
If you want to play with EQ, boosting sub bass on 20-40khz will made them into deep punchy IEM, I did try and results were good, but I don't like pre amp effect, that made overall volume reduced.

Soundstage
Soundstage WOW on Spring 1, well its like Spring season on the park, smooth, beautiful, warm and airy. Spring 1 have great width, very large with more width rather than depth, with quite height also, very noticable height. They are very airy and open and natural after grill mods, before the grill mods, they also have same width but sonically they aren't as natural as after grill mods. Do you ever heard fake surround effect from stereo system? That's how I would describe the slightly artificial soundstage before grill mods. But after grill mods, the magic is here. Very wide and open airy, 1 of the best I've ever heard in this entry level midfi.

Detail Retrieval
The best part to be told of. If I were asked to mention Spring 1 in just 2 words, my asnwer would be "Detail" and "Smooth". The strongest point that they are offering is their Detail retrieval, combined with high resolution, I was blown away even straight out of the box, after did the mods everything are even better. They are very detail and can pick up even hardest detail tasks, or something unheard before. Finger scratching on guitar strings are easy effortless for Spring 1, singer lips when opened mouth, her breathing voice also
an easy job for them. They are much more capable than that, rythm guitars, keyboards, orchestra you can heard them all easily. They really crush their competitors in terms of details, really catching up to the TOTL. In fact they are not far behind my Sony IER M7 for details.
And all the details come together in very musical way and they are mature sounded, not harsh details, but very smooth on the edge so even they are very details, on the same time they are also forgiving.

Timbre
I will give the timbre as quiet natural, with nice coherence between different types of drivers, not the best timbre I ever heard but I can rate them as very good. I also quite picky about timbre usually.
One note though, before nozzle grill mods, timbre is a bit weird like I described earlier in this review. I guess again that cloth mesh made overall sound a bit weird.

Clarity
After grill mods, the clarity become superb, Not the default one sounds veiled, just with the grill mods, clarity become much better. Very transparent and lifelike, articulations are pronounced clearly.
Hand clapping, finger snapping rendered nicely with nice extension before they are gone by the wind, so clear that almost sounded real in front of me.

Separation & Imaging
Instrument Separation on Spring 1 real good, and imaging is precise like their predecessors but a little bit better, pin pointing can be easy with this IEM. On complex tracks, they handle and separate instruments nicely.
They can be described as holographic imaging with 1 instrument position will be locked precisely, not blurry, very sharp imaging.


Isolation
With having 3 vent holes I wouldn't surprised if Spring 1 quite weak on isolation. Price to be paid for having many vents for airy signature. But this can be preference base on individual also. I don't mind to have a bit leaking sound and actually
with my point of view, I sometimes prefer IEM that can be use while keep aware of my surrounding environment. But if you're going to use it in busy and noisy area, you will need to put this aspect into consideration.




COMPARISONS :
with Moondrop Kanas Pro
I choose the Kanas Pro as comparison because they are sitting on same $100-200 bracket and a lot of people have this popular Kanas Pro. The DLC coating DD are become more popular recently, Kanas Pro and regular Kanas were being the first batch of hyped this
Driver. Kanas Pro priced on $170 (currently replaced by KXXS) with Spring 1 retail price is $139. Fit wise both of them have long nozzles, so their fit isn't my best preferences but I can managed to have great fit with tips rolling. Build quality wise they are on par, built like a tank, solid aluminium metal, only I prefer finishing of Spring 1 because fingerprint magnet of the KP. Sub bass on KP rumbles more, with digging down deep but they are slow in decay compared to Spring 1. KP mid bass is really low in quantity, causing overall lower mids sounded a bit on thin side, and kick drums wont feel complete. I prefer bigger sub bass rather than mid bass but on KP they are too low on mid bass, there are no punch. While in Spring 1, I'm craving for more sub bass and bit lower of mid bass if possible, decay speed on Spring 1 is faster, attack and gone nicely, texture and articulation of the bass also better in Spring 1 with bass notes sounded with more body and shape and more details. To be frank neither have satisfied me on bass section but if I had to choose, I still prefer the Spring 1 bass more because of the texture and speed decay. Mids area are most interesting part as 2 of these IEMs are shining in mids. KP have super clarity and smooth mids, but more emphasized in high mids. I think clarity wise KP have win by slice only but overall Spring 1 mids are more balance. Details on mids the Spring 1 trumps KP, micro detail and retrieval and overall resolution on Spring 1 are hard to beat here, every articulation, every instrument details that hard to pick up on KP were much easier to be heard with Spring 1.
Highs also Spring 1 have more details without sibilances, KP are quite smooth, but Spring 1 are smoother. Soundstage wise, Spring 1 also have larger soundstage with better imaging and separation. Personally, I will choose Spring 1 over KP.

with TFZ no 3
Same reason with KP above, I put TFZ no 3 here because they are priced similarly, with No 3 being a little bit cheaper at $109 again with DLC coating DD like KP. Built quality definitely an advantage for Spring 1 being metal built IEM, with no 3 using plastic/resin.
Fit wise I prefer the no 3 for just nice shape and nozzle length to my ears, they are comfy! Bass wise the no 3 are famous for their punchy bass, tight and fast. the sub bass slam and mid bass punch together are nice for basshead, but for me they are a bit too much, particularly on mid bass section.
Decay speed on bass almost the same with Spring 1 and No. 3. Texture wise, Spring 1 have slighty better texture here. Mids area on TFZ no 3 sounded very recessed compared to Spring 1, No 3 have great resolution but Spring 1 is more than that. Clarity, details No 3 can't stand against Spring 1.
They have same treble rolled off only No 3 have boosted 8khz for sparkles, Spring 1 more smooth here but at the same time they are more detailed. Soundstage and imaging Spring 1 have bigger and better imaging by quite large margin since No.3 soundstage is just average.
Separation wise also Spring 1 clearly better here. For me, 1 goes first after 3 definitely.

with KZ ZSX
Why I put this here? Because KZ always been a benchmark and almost everyone in chifi world have at least 1 KZ. I was going to put ZS10 Pro here, but since ZSX came in just in right time and for me they are better than ZS10 Pro so I just using ZSX as comparison. ZSX technicalities is very good, their separation and
soundstage is great. Build quality, Spring 1 is better with aluminium shell once again, fit i guess both are not perfect but also not too bad. Bass section in Spring 1 much textured, faster decay and tighter, while ZSX sounded a bit uncontrolled when compared to Spring 1, Mids on SPring 1 much more detailed, ZSX sounded veiled
when compared, and Spring 1 sounded much more mature and smooth while KZ sounds edgy, harsh (they are great for budget section but Spring 1 really on different class here). Separation is better in Spring 1, soundstage while ZSX considered large, in Spring 1 they are a bit larger with extra naturalness here. Timbre is much better
in Spring 1. In other words, ZSX can't touch the Spring 1, they really sounded on different level. So what's the point? I know the feeling when I was hesitate to buy another IEM that more pricier, I was worried about how if the cheaper 1 is better. When $37 ZSX sounds like over $100 IEM yes, bad hundreds IEM or overpriced ones. But
don't forget there are IEMs that sits on $100-200 that sounded like much more above them too, and same case on upper class. So overall Spring 1 is better technicalities than ZSX, when you are ready to upgrade, you won't dissapointed.


with BLON-BL03
Exceptional $27 hyped BLON BL03 is in the house. I love how this BL03 was tuned. Kudos to the tuner and BLON for this. Compared to Spring 1, like ZSX the BLON can't touch the technicalities of Spring 1, Separation Spring 1 crush the BLON, Spring 1 have much better clarity and resolution, Spring 1 sounded more mature, Soundstage is larger in Spring 1 with better imaging also. Timbre is the aspect where Spring 1 have to give to BL03, even not by much. I like the sub bass of BL03 even a little bit too much for my taste, but mid bass section, BL03 have bigger mid bass here. Mids area are a bit forwarder in Spring 1 with much details that BLON can't catch up. Highs BL03 have boosted 8khz that made sparkles more bright, while in Spring 1 they are more smooth. They are very different IEM by nature, but Spring 1 again is on another level than highly praised BL03


with BQEYZ KB100
I was so in love with this KB100 from the first I got them, very balanced and mature and smooth sound accross all frequencies. They are ashtonising on imaging and mids and smoothness. The Spring 1 have overall similar signature like KB100. a little bit bigger mid bass than sub bass (KB100 sub bass more rolled off compared to Spring 1), forwarded mids, relaxed trebles, great imaging and airy feeling. Only in Spring 1, they are upgraded in every section. Bass more textured, sub bass extension is better, faster speed decay on lows, more clarity, more separation, much more details, larger soundstage with great imaging. They are really like a very much better reincarnation of the KB100. If you like KB100, you will like the Spring 1, they are sharing same DNA. are they worth to upgrade from $50 KB100? for me Yes, details and resolution and clarity are main aspects to be expect, with everything else as bonuses.


PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS :

BQEYZ came out with new black horse that fight with more familiar brands on entry level midfi and they are nailed it. Spring 1 really delivers a high resolution IEM, with a lot of details but retaining their smooth signature. Using triple hybrid drivers, they successfully made the sound pretty coherence and balance overall but they can be better. The Spring 1 really have a very good potential. Technicalities are very great also. They still have improvement room for the lower end, to made cleaner bass with adding sub bass while reducing mid bass a little bit. Honestly their bass isn't that bad, just they don't excell on low frequencies like mids and their highs. For price that they are offering, I think Spring really hold much value as entry level midfi. They punch above their price range and beat their competitors on same league.




Best regards,
Dynamic Ears

Hi everyone!

Finally, after waiting for ages, I've received this hyped Moondrop Kanas Pro.
Moondrop is 1 of big chi-fi name that famous for their Harman target reference tuning.
They have several iems and buds lineup and this Moondrop Kanas Pro is their only DD iems together with non pro version, the Kanas
with DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) driver as used in big names iems such as Campfire Atlas, and JVC FD01/02
This Moondrop Kanas Pro is sold at $180 as suggested retail price.
Main differences with non pro Kanas are, this pro version has less boosted bass and subbass region, make it more balance.
and they came with better cable also. Slightly different tuning with same driver.
Moondrop official website :

ABOUT ME :
I'm just a 35 years old fan of this ocean of audiophile hobbyist, not an audio job professional person,
starting this hobby since around 15 years ago, heard and had many iems but dont have any TOTL iems until now.
I'm writing this review just to share with this community, so i bought my set with my personal fund, therefore
i don't have any affiliate with any certain brands, nor the moondrop itself.
I'm not good with fancy words and sorry in advance for my bad english, but trying my best to give an honest, non-biased review, putting
aside "new toy effect" as could as possible. Please do remember that every person can have different opinion, different taste,
and different preferences, and one for sure i could be wrong to in terms of hearing, perception, or personal taste.
My favorites music genres are pop-jazz, vocal, classics, pop-rock, pop, jazz, big band, j-pop, blues, soul but sometimes also listening to other variety genres too.

MOONDROP KANAS PRO SPECIFICATIONS :
Driver: 10mm dynamic
Magnet: N48
Diaphragm material: DLC diamond carbon
Coil: 0.035mm CCAW
Cavity material: Zinc-magnesium alloy
Cavity technology: Metal injection molding, integrated casing
Impedance: 32 ohms at 1 kHz
Quality control range: < 1.5 dB
Connector: 2-pin 0.78mm
Cable: Detachable



PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES :
The Moondrop Kanas Pro comes with Medium Box, not too small but not too big either at 180x85X30mm measured.
Simple yet elegance matte plain black box with Moondrop logo right in the center. Opened it up, we got The Kanas Pro themselves,
sitting on fit cut foams with medium size translucent white tips on it (looks like an ortofon type tips), together with its nice cable.
Behind the paper cover of the cable we got standard accessories, a grey color carrying pouch, and 3 sets of spare tips
( weird combination though, i received 1 pair of larger tips, and 2 pairs of exactly same size with attached tips, so total i got 4 pairs of tips
which is 1 pair bigger tips, and 3 pairs of same sized tips, all tips are wide bore, quite nice built). That's all.
Yeah, they could just chip in nice carrying case for more benefit but i wont complain as we already got nice cable here.



BUILD AND FIT :
Took them out from box, this zinc-magnesium alloy built iem has beautiful finish and built like a tank. Just like campfire atlas, shiny mirror looks that definitely quite a looker.
They have fashionable glamour looks that really eye catching. The downside obviously they're fingerprint magnets, you have to clean it up every time, unless you're a weirdo that use gloves before putting iem on your ears.
Some users reported that the mirror finish become oxidized, to prevent this wipe it out every time you're finish using it and put silica gel on their case. A bit hassle for me though.
Don't let the picture deceive you, at first i also thought this Kanas Pro is big with long nozzle, but actually they are on medium-small category, with normal length nozzle, small neck but with big end tip.

As for me with my large ear canals, founding a great fit with tips was not so easy with a lot of iems, but it could be just for me, and no differences with this one.
Usually I use ML or L or LL size eartips (Depends on the brand). The original tips that came with Kanas Pro (ortofon like tips) were too small for me, even the large size also was not big enough for me.
I tried so many tips including foam cone shape (comply and cheap ones)and round shape which are have great fit and seal but downgrading the sound quality, muffled all highs, too much sacrifice for the fit, so I did many silicone type tips rolling
including spin fit, symbio W bore, JVC spiral dots, sony hybrids, final audio E eartips, Radius deep mount, tennmak whirlwind, and a lot of cheap chifi's eartips.
I managed to get great fit with the ML sized JVC spiral dots as usual, but spiral dots added the already very clear Kanas Pro clarity to make it overload the reveal on high mids area (at 120 hours), and became more unforgiving,
on the low side, spiral dots decrease quantity in the bass sector (usually spiral dots eliminate mid bass bleed for earphones that have mid bass bleed or muddy). i will explain this later with more detailed explanation.
then I changed the sony MH eartips round tips that came with MH750 or MH755, using a large size fit was pretty good, the bass area became bigger in quantity, the punch felt more but tightness decreased slightly and feel bloated sub bass,
high mids sector become smoother and not excessive. Quite good overall, only cons on sub bass region.
But then, I tried the weird shaped Radius Deep Mount tips L size, its Japan Domestic Market only, so maybe not so easy to get ( I got 1 box when i went to Japan last year) and I got a very good fit with this,
because its unique "mushroom" shape, it can go deeper, just nice with long nozzle of Kanas Pro, and they sounds very good too, giving a punch to the bass while keep everything remains the same (in terms of clarity, sparkles)
So this Radius deep mount is my right choice for me (do notice this eartips is like one of a kind fit, may not for everyone, but for someone maybe can get best fit with this).
Still out of curiosity, I tried Final Audio E tips, which is have shape similar to Sony MH tips, but superior in quality (again, its Japan market only but i think so many retailer have this tips imported from japan).
I have great fit also with this one and sounds good, similar to Radius Deep mount, adding more punch and dont affect mids and highs (if only maybe just a slight adding sparkles)
In the end, I prefer either Radius deep mount or Final Audio E tips which suits the Kanas Pro better for me.
Edited after few days with tips rolling again : Now I prefer JVC spiral dots again but with EQing the Kanas Pro. Since Spiral dots reduce mid bass and sub bass a little bit, but make them more clean and adding soundstage
so I decided to go with spiral dots but EQ ing the bass a bit by +3db on 31hz and +4db on 62hz. And with Spiral dots the high mids a bit too clear, too aggressive so i need to EQ down 2.5khz-3khz by -3db so i can listen on high volume.




SOUND :
Out of the box this Kanas pro sounds very very flat and dull with additional sub bass that feels like separated from the rest in a bad way.
Of course we or many of us want great sub bass without any mid bass bleed but this is really in a wrong way. 80hz until 20khz sounds very flat, just flat, but dull flat.
then the sub bass was there, boosted. Think of speakers systems that you have full range 4-5 inch, a flat one, with additional 14 inch massive sub woofer. Totally imbalance.
Definitely there is no "wow" effect at 0 hours.
But worry not, as i experienced with burn in process, I believe things would change. I'm a believer in burn in process with DD driver because internally is moving things, like our everyday shoes that
more comfort after wearing in a long time, basically to loosen up the tightness. More over this DLC type, from what i heard is really have great benefit from burning. ( I was non believer about burn in process, but results have changed me)

and then the burn in process was in progress.

at around 20 hours I were listening for a short session, and I was impressed by the burn in progress, every frequency range was starting to opened up, very different from OOTB dull sound,
sparkle is there, mid range more dynamic and clear, with that separate sub bass, but still missing something, a bridge between lower mid to sub bass, totally dull at that range.

at 50 hours, everything sounds better and better. Sub bass became more controlled, more textured and more tight and began to be heard there was a bridge between sub bass and lower mids, in a good way,
not too much mid bass but only a smooth connection to the sub bass. Mids become more alive and very clear, high mids increase smoothly and highs are heard without anything wrong,
there are no harsh peaks and sibilances.

at 70 hours, Sub bass and mid bass become more balance, still the mid bass is very low in quantity compared to big sub bass, mid become very clear and smooths, high mids are growing together with low trebles.

at 90 hours sound signature remains the same, maybe with additional air made the soundstage become wider (or just my brain that playing with me), with all those micro details.

And I was waiting to review this after past 100 hours. currently at around 150 hours+ and I dont think they will be much different from here, maybe just smoothness on certain areas.
So here everything I reviewed at 150 hours, using original Lyre acoustic cable that came with the Kanas Pro, from Shanling M2s or My PC or my phone Galaxy Note 8.
This Kanas Pros are not too easy to drive, but not that hard also, compared to this recent modern chifi around, I have to increase volume like 10-15% to achieve same loudness.
But they really low in distortion on the other side, while amping still provide better sound quality, you can directly listen from DAP with higher volumes with very low distortion in sound quality.
The review below was based on Kanas Pro with JVC spiral dots eartips, the one that i finally found great balance for the fit, and good sound and match to Kanas Pro (with a bit of EQing)
Please do take a note that this Kanas pro are really tips depending iems.



Bass
Kanas Pros have really good extension for the bass. The sub bass is digging looowww until 20hz (or maybe more) and they're big in sub bass section. Sub bass seems booster, but at just right amount quantity
or just a little bigger. Low contra bass notes can be heard clearly. Texture is good but sometimes can be a bit congested if there is a massive bass, not so bloated, good decay. On contrary, the mid bass
is not as big as the sub bass. That's why some user say they lack of bass. But quite true while the Kanas Pro have sweet and big rumble sub bass, they lack of kick and punch at 60-100 hz. Of course the
overall bass sounds clean, but kick drums dont sound complete. I can now understand why some users said the bass is big, and some said they lack in bass because of this imbalance between sub bass and mid bass.
For that jazz and classic genre, their bass will sound good enough to satisfy. But for fun type, faster tracks like EDM, you will missing the hard hitting mid bass. But luckily, Kanas Pro is responds really well
to equalizers.

Mids
Here comes the best part, the area where this Kanas Pro really shines. Very transparent mids, with very good natural timbre, a bit warm, everything is just sounds very right on mids area.
The clarity is real deal, not those old trick boosted upper mids/lower highs to perceive high clarity like on budget iems, Vocals sounds unveiled. Maybe a very good price point to really hear
how the real clarity is before jump to TOTL iems. Mids are not forward, nor recessed, just at the right place where they should be, but for me i like to be boosted by a bit, like 1 or 2db only.
High mids area is bigger in quantity, made me tired on long session because of that hump starting 2.5khz until 5khz. I guess its not Moondrop fault for this, but for me, I prefer "modified harman target"
with bringing down 2.5-3khz just like how sony tunes (EX1000, the new flagship Z1R). These will make mids more balance and you can listen on higher volume.

Trebles
Trebles are smooth all across high area, very safe from sibilance yet still detail and sparkles heard. Trebles isnt boosted, only there is a peak at around 12 khz, i think they purposely boosted this
for additional sparkles. Not much to say, they are mature trebles, not boosted, just right with some sparkles that not tiring at all.

EQing
Kanas Pro responds very well with EQ, sensitive and very noticeable differences. Basically, there is nothing wrong with Kanas Pro sound signature, really close to Harman Target.
But for me as personal preference, i like to boosting around 30hz by 3db, 62hz by 4db, 80hz by 2db as compensation for using Spiral dots tips (which are reducing bass section a bit)
and to boost up mid bass to bring more punches and kicks. And for mids area 500hz and 1khz to bring forward mids a bit and reducing that 2.5-3khz by 3db to tame down intense high mids.
Highs are pretty good already, i just want to boost 16khz by 2db for additional air feel.

Soundstage
Soundstage is great on width, keep music (especially live music) sounds out of my head, depth and high also good but not great, above average.

Detail Retrieval
Micro details are there absolutely, Kanas Pro reveal every details, and go a bit further than average iems. The next level details like guitar strings being accidentally scrubbed,
the singer non intentionally breathing sound, drum sticks that rimming to edge of the snare, etc. They all revealed. It's not the best but its already very good. But this also have bad side effects too,
a bad recording really sounds like a bad recording. Unforgiving on bad recording such as imbalance frequency, or too much on high mids / lower treble in mixing music.

Timbre
Timbre is one of the best even compared to more expensive iems. One of the Kanas Pro strong point here definitely. They produces very natural timbre, just very little bit warmness that sounds more relaxing
but definitely very natural timbre for many instruments and vocals. a cello sounds like a cello, strings sound like strings, every toms and hats, cymbals just sounds right.

Clarity
If I only allowed to say 1 word to describe Kanas Pro, i will use this word. Kanas Pro really stands for its clarity, very very clear and lifelike sound especially in mids area.
Trying not to be biased, I can say the clarity is near TOTL level.

Separation & Imaging
Instrument Separation on Kanas Pro is real good, and imaging is superb, I can easily heard different sound coming from different instruments and their position are "locked" and stay where they are.




COMPARISONS :
with Sony MDR EX1000
The reason I bought this Kanas Pro is because there are rumors that this iem can match and there are people who prefer this to Sony MDR EX1000. They're share same using single Dynamic Driver, EX1000 use
Liquid Crystal Polymer Film Diaphragm, while Kanas Pro is using Diamond-like Carbon Diaphragm, a newer technology. EX1000s are indeed 1 of the best single DD iem for years. I own this for almost 10 years.
So how is the comparison? EX1000's fit is a bit difficult, because of long nozzle and not so ergonomic design from the past, while the Kanas pro is easier to fit.
Soundwise, well Kanas Pro are really good iems for its price. They have slightly different signature, They are balanced on their own way. These two iems are not flat signatures, they are balanced but not flat, close to.
The EX1000 are more dynamic/lush/full sounding compared to Kanas Pro, They have "attack" and "punch" and the same time while keep everything balanced. On the other side Kanas pro is very mild U or maybe L signature with bigger boosted sub bass so
Kanas pro sound more relaxing, a bit flatter sound if compared to EX1000. While the sub bass area in Kanas Pro is bigger in quantity, the EX1000 sub bass is better in texture and quality, very clean and mature.
Mid area is where Kanas Pro can stand to fight with EX1000, the clarity in Kanas Pro is on par, or near same level of clarity, or sometimes i feel it clearer! And Kanas Pros sounds more natural in timbre although by a very close one.
High mids on Kanas Pros seems more boosted at 3 khz region, while EX1000 is more relaxed at that region but EX1000 got humps at 6khz and 8khz areas but still very safe for me without sibilances.
Soundstage on EX1000 is really hard to beat, that giant 16mm DD gives massive air and make the soundstage huge with a good depth, Kanas pro is considered wide but still can't be compared to EX1000.
Detail retrieval and resolution are clearly better in EX1000, its just a wonder micro details, and musical at same time. Kanas Pro's details are good but definitely can't beat the legendary iem here. On the other technical abilities like imaging and separation etc Kanas Pro are not left behind.
Maybe still lose to EX1000 but not by much.
So, in the end the EX1000 is still a technically better iem, but the Kanas Pro is catching up, not very much behind. Kanas Pro is more like relaxed version of EX1000 with slightly different balanced signature. For $180 Kanas Pro really do a great job here.
For me myself, i will listen more to Kanas Pro for daily driver, put EX1000 in audio cupboard because of the cable, EX1000 cable are fragiles, I only want to listen to EX1000 at home, at my free time. Yet i wont be missing that much
because the Kanas Pro is decent enough to satisfied my everyday listening session.

with BGVP DM6
First of all, i dont own this DM6, my friend lend me this for comparison purpose only, I was listening to them in few days on 100 hours plus unit. When first time I was listening to DM6, at that time I already know this things cant be compared to Kanas Pro
Because is really different signature here, and somemore they are very different in driver configurations, 1DD vs 5 BAs. Maybe a lot of people asking to be compared with because they are competitors in price category, along with ibasso IT01s. The DM6 is a V shaped signature iems. In bass area,
DM6 punch harder with typical BA bass although sounds great for BA bass, but still i miss the warm and rumble and feel from DD bass. Sub bass on Kanas Pro is big with good extension, but DM6 bass is punch more, faster and more fun-type. Mids sounds recessed on DM6 which is normal in my opinion
because its V shaped signature, while Kanas Pro sounds more focus on mids area with that clarity and very natural timbre.
Highs are more sparkling with DM6, and because of boosted trebles, DM6 are perceived towards a bit bright signature. Crisp details are there, but for me can be tiring for long session. Sound separation is great on DM6, maybe a little bit better than Kanas Pro because of their 5 drivers. Imaging almost on par and soundstage too. So I cant compare much about these 2 iems,
just because they are very different in sound signature. Both of them have decent technical abilities, great for the price, the rest is just a matter of signature preferences and your music genres. For me, Kanas Pros suits me better.

with Tin Audio T2
Tin Audio T2 is one of higly praised iem on $50 category for its balanced signature. Why do I put it here? because Kanas Pro and T2 have similar sound signatures and a lot of people have this budget king T2.
Both of them sharing balanced sound signature. The sound signature of Kanas Pro ressembles the one on T2 but with additional "sub woofer". Those who are craving for additional sub bass on T2 will have that answer on Kanas Pro.
Afraid not, this bass is high quality sub bass with good texture and without mid bass bleed, not even a single drop.
Kanas Pro sounds a bit warmer compared to a little bit bright T2, mids on T2 sounds a bit thin compared to Kanas Pro. Kanas Pro is like big brother of T2, that have all the pros on T2 (Natural timbre, clarity, great mids) but better than T2.
Yes, its better in every aspect, the clarity, the detail retrieval, imaging, and so much better on soundstage wise. If you like your T2, high chance you will love this one like i do.




PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS :

Moondrop delivers really great 1 DD iem with this Kanas Pros, while this one can't be called a budget one, but its really give you much value than what you've paid.
They have great technical abilities for this up to $200 tier, that can match higher price iem. Sound signature is well balanced with additional sub woofer for sub bass and open sounding sound.
Clarity and naturalness can be categorized to near TOTL level, with great soundstage and imaging that above average and great extension from end to the other end.
Using a new DLC technology as their driver, they need to be well burn in first before you get satisfaction result.
Are these iem as good as the hype story out there? YES and NO.
YES for a very great iem, value, and very clear, no cons i could really find, except for fingerprint magnets on their shell for me.
There is an improvement space a bit on bass section and high mids area (they're already good, but can be better, don't take it as cons)
what about NO? a lot of over hyped impressions about iems, especially on budget tier that often misleading as a "giant slayer". Kanas Pro either, Its very very great iem, but the TOTL iems are still have better abilities compared to them I believe.
Don't get me wrong, I love these iems very much, I just want to be as realistic as possible and not biased, but Kanas Pro is definitely on superior level than whatever those budget kings below $100.
This is one of the best up to $200 priced iems you can get right now.
Thanks for reading!

Best regards,
Dynamic Ears