DISCLAIMER:
I would like to thank TangZu for including me in this review tour which is held in my country. No sort of financial assistance has been provided to me for this review.

INTRODUCTION:

Tangzu, the brand which needs no introduction is a relatively new brand based in China, they have been quite popular in recent times given their previous Yuan Li & Shimin Li iems. Today we take a look at their high end Nezha iem.

SPECIFICATIONS:

IMPEDANCE: 16Ω
SENSITIVITY: 106dB.
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 10Hz - 20KHz.
CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M.
PIN TYPE: 0.78mm 2-PIN CONNECTOR.
PLUG TYPE: MODULAR 3.5mm, 4.4mm.
DRIVER UNIT(S): (6) BALANCED ARMATURE DRIVER(S) + (1) ELECTRET DRIVER.

Tangzu nezha overview:

the body of the nezha is on the bigger side but i found no issue in comfort. the outer face plate looks beautiful and classy and the red color is very flashy. Sound wise it offers a smooth and very detailed sound reproduction that I enjoy very much. There is no harshness in the sound even though the upper treble region is very extended.

Sound Analysis:

Bass Section:
1) The bass is strong and punchy, the mid bass is more punchy than the subbass.
2) Subbass extension is good and captures plenty of detail.
3) Midbass provides warmth and fullness to the sound.
4) Bass rumble is present but it can be better.

Mid Section:
1) The mid section is the star attraction of Nezha's sound. It is detailed and very full bodied sounding.
2) Male and female vocals sound lush and full bodied, with nice tone.
3) Mids are more on the forward side but it is not too much.
4) Timbre of vocals is good and realistic, providing a realistic experience overall.

Treble Section:
1) Treble is smoothly extended to upper treble but it is not harsh at all
2) Very resolving treble which adds to overall resolution.
3) Cymbal hits are sharp but not fatiguing so it leads to a comfortable listening experience.

Technicalities:
The soundstage is wide and the layering is very good. Imaging is also spot on. Resolution is high because of the extended upper treble. Details are not forced so it is a relaxing listen. Tone and timbre overall I feel is smooth and neutral.

Verdict:
The Nezha is a high end iem with a high end sound. The included accessories and case are premium quality and the overall sound profile is neutral and smooth.

CVJ FREEDOM INTRODUCTION:​

CVJ, the brand based out in China is an emerging brand and a team which never fears to introduce new innovations to their product, likely the KONOKA. They are continuously learning and evolving where their latest new launches speak for this statement. Today in our hands is the CVJ FREEDOM, the midrange offering from the brand prices around 80 USD. Let’s check out in detail about the sound and its character in the following sections.

CVJ FREEDOM SPECIFICATIONS:​

>Five-Driver Hybrid Configuration.

>Brand New Nanophase Ceramic Vibrating Colorful Diaphragm Dynamic Driver.

>Four High-Performance Customized Balanced Armature Drivers.

>Four Tuning Modes with Two Tuning Switches.

>High-Purity OFC Stock Cable.

>Impedance: 22Ω±15%.

>Sensitivity: 113dB±3dB.

>Frequency Response: 20hz-20kHz.

>Connector Type: 0.75mm 2-pin Connectors.

>Termination Plugs: 2.5mm+3.5mm+4.4mm.

CVJ FREEDOM OVERVIEW:​

Freedom adopts a hybrid configuration that accompanies a Single Nanophase Ceramic Vibrating Colorful Diaphragm Dynamic Driver and four custom tuned balanced armature drivers. The drivers are embedded in a strong acrylic resin with an aluminum faceplate. The drivers are interconnected by a frequency board and tuning switches to modify the tone according to the user’s preference. The provided stock cable is of high grade SPC that comes with interchangeable termination ends.

CVJ FREEDOM SOUND ANALYSIS:​

The Freedom has a V shaped tuning with very forward stage presence. The overall tone leans towards the dark side with artificial BA timbre presence to it. Though there’s the presence of tuning switches, they merely do the work and the variation is negligible to observe. Technical aspects appear average with poor track separation. Let’s talk in detail about the sound through the following sections.

The whole sound analysis was made using the 1 DD + 4 BA mode.

BASS SECTION:​

1. The reach in the bass is on the moderate side with poor separation between the sub and mid bass section.
2. The quantity is on the precise side yet due to the poor track separation leads to perceived improper attack and decay.
3. The sub bass provides subtle rumbles only when called upon and it needs a bit more reach to provide a proper resonance.
4. The kick drums and the bass guitars get lost in the presentation if the track gets busier. The impact delivered by them appears average.

MID SECTION:​

1. The mid section is presented in a very forward manner leading to a cramped up stage.
2. The tone appears darker with metallic timbre giving the presentation a robotic taste.
3. Lower mid section has adequate warmth and fullness carried along from the mid bass section. Male vocals get the proper attention but the tone made it worse.
4. Upper mid section feels slightly elevated yet the sibilance is kept under control. Female vocals feel lively and energetic with an engaging presence.

TREBLE:​

1. The extension in the treble is elevated noticeably thus giving adequate brightness to the overall presentation.
2. The cymbal crashes and the trumpets have that metallic BA taste which makes the tone worse. The attack and decay appears good enough with no noticeable longer delays.
3. Detail retrieval is on the average side with poor separation leading to a cramped up treble section.

TECHNICALITIES:​

STAGING AND IMAGING: Due to its very forward presentation the staging feels cramped up with no adequate space for the notes. The closer stage leads to poor layering with average imaging capability. The channel sweep appears smoother with no noticeable stutters.

DETAIL RETRIEVAL: The treble has poor separation leading to average detail retrieval and when compared to the competitors in this price range the Freedom don’t stand out.

TONE AND TIMBRE: Freedom has a warm and darker tone with a metallic timbre.

VERDICT:​

Freedom, one of the mid range offerings from the house of CVJ comes with a mediocre sound enclosed in a solid package. The Freedom adopts a hybrid configuration accompanying a Single Nanophase Ceramic Vibrating Colorful Diaphragm Dynamic Driver and four custom tuned balanced armature drivers. The build appears sturdy enough with stronger resin and an aluminum faceplate and the package includes a nice premium SPC cable that comes with interchangeable terminations.

The Freedom has a V shaped signature with a darker background. The presentation is delivered pretty forwards creating a sense of engagement while making the stage very intimate.

The bass section has precise quantity but the quality is average representing poor track separation and the impact. Though the speed appears precise, the clustered separation made the presentation worse.

The mid section is delivered in an engaging way with forward presentation. The lower mid section has adequate warmth carried along from the mid bass thickness. The upper mid section has decent extension with vivid female vocal presence thus delivering an engaging experience.

The treble section has a decent extension providing adequate brightness throughout the presentation. The percussion instruments however have a weird metallic tone which makes the presentation artificial. Due to the intimate staging and poor track separation, the detail retrieval and layering appears mediocre.

The CVJ Freedom is a NECESSITOUS product in the arena it’s trying to play. This is priced around 80USD and for that category there comes the competitor like Truthear Hexa with a premium sound than the Freedom. A big tweak need to be done in making the hybrid configuration to sound coherent. Considering the CVJ’s rise, I hope the next iteration would make itself a name in this category.

DISCLAIMER:​

Hifigo sent me this unit in exchange for my honest opinion of the product CVJ Freedom. The whole views are based on my observations and sources thus it might vary from person to person.

If interested about purchase and to know more details : Here!

INTRODOUCTION:

Tanchjim, the brand which needs no introduction is based out in China with a well reputed name in the ChiFi audio market. Their products have a unique in house sound signature which mostly feels neutral, smoother and engaging. Their predecessor Zero had a wonderful neutral signature and to carry out its legacy the One is introduced with a warmer neutral presentation to conquer the budget arena.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Driver Unit: 10mm Dynamic Driver
Sensitivity: 126dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Frequency Range: 7Hz-45kHz
Connector: 0.78mm 2 Pin
Jack: 3.5mm/Type-C (DSP Variant)

TANCHJIM ONE OVERVIEW:

Tanchjim One adopts a single dynamic driver that consists of a PU+PEEK composite diaphragm. The whole body is made out of resin except the faceplate now being an alloy. The One is now available with a detachable cable for versatility where the brand sells this in two variants namely the DSP and 3.5mm version.

Tanchjim One delivers a warm neutral presentation which highly aligns with the tuning of Zero which had a flat neutral presentation. The One retains the same natural tone and the neutral signature while adding the bass presence to the overall presentation making One a beefier version of the Zero.

SOUND ANALYSIS:
The whole analysis is done using the DSP version

BASS PROFILE:

1. Has equal presence of sub and mid bass sections with clear distinction between the frequencies.
2. The sub bass has a good reach providing satisfying rumbles when the track calls.
3. The mid bass has adequate warmth providing fullness and body to the presentation.
4. Kick drums and the guitar strings sound with precise weight and tone.
5. Bass in the One has realistic speed and attack with slight delay in the decay in bass dominant tracks.
6. The bass presentation has good control and separation giving a detailed bass response.

MID SECTION:

1. The mid section has an intermediate positioning with equal presence to the vocals and instrumentals.
2. Lower mid section has adequate fullness carried along from the warmer mid bass giving the male vocals a lush presentation.
3. The upper mid section has a smooth elevation giving the female vocals a life while keeping the sibilance under control.
4. The instrumentals take a nice stage presence with proper timbre response giving a realistic experience.

TREBLE:

1. Treble has a smoother presentation with not a lot of detail out yet gives a pleasing listen.
2. Cymbal crashes have a precise attack and decay giving a realistic presentation.
3. Percussion instruments get the proper attention making them appear vivid.
4. One has adequate brightness for a crispier listen yet it has less airiness compared to the Tanchjim Zero due to the warmer presentation.
5. No piercing sharp notes are observed thus allowing a pleasing listen.

TECHNICALITIES:

TONE AND TIMBRE: One has a neutral tone and timbre with a hint of warmth which feels natural and realistic throughout the presentation.

STAGING AND IMAGING: The stage has adequate width and height presenting enough space for the notes to spread across the presentation. The bigger bass also gives a sensation of depth to the stage. Imaging feels easier in the One with precise placement of the instruments even across the busy tracks.

DETAIL RETRIEVAL: This has moderate detail retrieval and this aspect has not been the strongest aspect of One. The single dynamic driver delivers the essential nuances but can't expect more than that.

LAYERING: The One demonstrates a well layered presentation where notes with different weights are laid out in a proper manner providing a realistic experience.

TANCHJIM ONE VERDICT:

One, from the house of Tanchjim is the answer for your gripes with their predecessor Zero thus gets its name as BEEFED UP ZERO!. Tanchjim One adopts a single 10 mm dynamic driver which has PU+PEEK composite diaphragm. The driver has a patented technology namely the DMT 4 which is the same as the Zero.

The One now comes with the detachable cable that can be swapped with either the 3.5mm or the DSP. Now the One gets the alloy faceplate with a resin body and the DSP cable feels thicker compared to the 3.5mm which gives a sturdy touch.

The One has a Warm Neutral signature with decent technical aspects which very much aligns with the Tanchjim Zero. The gripe that most had with the Zero is a neutral bass profile and the Tanchjim heard you! The One now gets a meatier bass profile while retaining the same neutral signature! The quality of the bass appears controlled though its meatier giving a realistic bass experience.

The Midrange now gets the same attention as one with neutral tone and timbre. Vocals are placed upfront with precise placement of the instruments and proper attention to them. Treble has the same extension with adequate nuances. Technical aspects feel the same with good layering, imaging and stage presence.

Since the One has a warmer neutral presentation, this might not sound exactly like the Zero. Zero has a bit of extended airiness and brightness which gives an open sounding nature to it while the One has less airiness and brightness compared to the Zero due to the warmer bass presence making its background appear a touch darker. Apart from that the sound aligns pretty much with the Zero.

So who should pick the One? Well, due to its tuning now everyone can enjoy the Zero’s tone and smoother neutral presentation with added warmth from the One cause now this is the BEEFED UP ZERO!



DISCLAIMER:

Conceptkart provided me with this unit in exchange for my honest opinion. The whole views are based on my observations with the One hence it might differ from person to person.

Here! : Unaffiliated Purchase Link

DISCLAIMER:


This unit has been provided to me by the brand CVJ. The whole views are based on my observations with this product hence it might differ from person to person. No sort of financial assistance has been provided to me for this review.




SOUND:


The TXS is equipped with a switchable tuning with micro switches for enabling the users to enjoy the earphones in all the three modes namely HiFi, Game and Phone. The earphone consists of a 10mm Dual Magnetic Dynamic Driver with a sensitivity of around 115db and Impedance around 22 ohms which makes this earphone quite easily driveable with all the sources.


The switches do provide the differences quite noticeable in between all the three modes and in the following section will discuss the sound in detail.




PHONE AND GAME MODE:

• The differences between both the modes are very negligible and subtle hence the impressions are more or less same for both the modes.
• Sound Signature: V shaped profile with accentuated bass and treble section.
• The bass here has more quantity and adequate quality with adequate slam. The sub bass presence is subtle making the rumbles sound softer.
• The mid bass section sounds adequately fuller yet providing a nice cleaner presentation. In complex tracks though they struggle for the separation.
• The Mid section is recessed with intimate vocals and a pushed back instrumental section.
• The vocals sounds fantastic with organic tone and timbre
• The instruments however are pushed back making them sound more duller thus the piano notes and the snare drum hits doesnt sound sharper.
• The treble section extended well but with slight harshness in the upper mid section causing sibilance occasionally.
• Cymbal crashes attack and decay seems to be good with organic timbre.
• Detail retrieval and technical aspects are on the average side with nothing big to complain considering the price.

HIFI MODE:

• Sound Signature: Warm Neutral profile with smoother treble section and controlled bass section.
• The bass here in the HiFi mode is more on the softer side with less impact and attack.
• The people who likes neutral bass response will definitely like this low end with softer attack and blunt notes edges.
• The bass feels controlled than the bass that felt in the other two modes which sounded more meatier than in the HiFi mode.
• The mid section feels lighter and cleaner making the vocals come upfront while still the instruments are pushed back.
• The tone and timbre felt natural with a hint of brightness for added clarity.
• The treble section feels pretty relaxed and smoother compared to the other two modes.
• The brightness is adequate but the brilliance factor is not felt in this mode.
• The detail retrieval is good but needs a bit more extension and brilliance factor to make them shine.

TECHNICALITIES:


STAGING AND IMAGING: The staging has adequate width and height for the instruments to play around thus paving the way for imaging and layering to be spot on. But during some complex tracks playback the technical aspects struggle to deliver a well separated sound. The depth sensation is not felt since the low end’s impact is not that big in this earphone.


Detail retrieval is on the average side with decent technical aspects.





VERDICT:


TXS, the latest offering from the house of CVJ is a well executed package from the brand. Previously their products were mediocre with lots of miss hits in delivering the pleasing and consumer oriented sound but after several launches the TXS proves to be a worthy competitor from the brand to enter the ultra budget segment with a strong stand.


The first ultra budget IEM priced around 10-12 USD comes with the tuning switches is one hell of a move from the brand. They provide three different modes namely the HiFi, Game and Phone. Even though the differences between the modes are quite subtle, the implementation does provide a slight sonic change.


In HiFi mode the iem acts as Warm Neutral while in the game and phone mode the IEM acts as a V shaped profile. The differences in the graphs are too subtle to notice but in reality they do show the shift in the sound. The low end overall in this earphone is great in quantity but leans towards the softer attack. The mid section is nicely tuned with engaging and natural vocals making this a good earphone for listening to podcasts meanwhile the instruments are pushed back. The treble section feels controlled with less sibilance and great presence. Though the technical aspects are on the average side, for the price there's nothing big to complain about. A little more dynamism would have brought even more life to this product.


Overall the TXS is a value for money proposition since you are getting an earphone with tuning switches with good overall sound that leans towards a warm and neutral profile. This SPLIT PERSONALITY of this earphone makes this a unique competitor in this segment.

INTRODUCTION:

KZ, an underdog brand based out of China is a well established brand among the audiophiles known for their extensive collection of earphones in the ultra budget category. Though they tend to have some midrange priced earphones, their budget category always ruled the market for some time. To freshen up their budget lineup the Linlong has been released with a new mature tuning and in this review let's check out them in detail.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Driver: XUN-6 Dynamic Driver

Impedance: 25±3Ω

Earphone Sensitivity: 103±3dB/mW

Frequency Range: 20-40000 Hz

Connector Type: 0.75mm 2 Pin

Plug Type: 3.5mm Straight Plug

Microphone: Yes

Cable: OFC Oxygen-free copper cable

DESIGN AND FIT:

Construction: Metal housing with fixed cable and comes with a functional open back design.

Fit: Bullet shaped hence the fit is snug and comfortable.

DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been purchased by me hence the whole views are based on my observations with this product and not influenced by the brand to manipulate this review. The views might differ from person to person based on the sources and pairings along with the product.

SOUND:

The sound profile of the Linlong based on the graph does follow a nice W shaped curve but in reality they sound pretty balanced overall. The tone and timbre is kept pretty natural and organic as possible thus no colouration had been seen making them a very different KZ. A very transparent, dynamic and open sound making them one of a blind buy in this segment and will discuss about the sound in detail through the following sections.

BASS:

The Linlong has been tuned to produce more sub bass over the mid bass to make them appear more clean, open and well separated.

The sub bass is pronounced well with marker elevation making their reach one of the best in the segment. It does provide those subtle rumbles in the low end providing a nice ethereal environment. Even the bass heads would get satisfied by the sub bass presence in the Linlong. A clean and controlled sub bass has been presented in the Linlong.

The mid bass section is made cleaner by reducing their warmth. The fullness is adequate but definitely the bass heads would appreciate a little more presence. The bass can be termed here as mature and controlled. The kick drums are clearly separated out and this handles the complex bass tracks without any issues.



MID SECTION:

The mid section even though appears recessed on the graph, in reality they sound nice and engaging with pleasing placement in the staging. The placement of the vocals are neither laidback nor too forward; rather , it's in a very appropriate position making them more engaging.

The lower mid section is presented very clean since the mid bass is not that overly warm. The bleed is negligible making them sound more cleaner and well separated. The male vocals do have a nice body to it and the engaging placement of them made it even more charming.

The upper mid section is elevated in a controlled fashion yet keeping the sibilance out of subject. Unlike other KZ’s, the linlong has a beautiful upper mid presentation making the female vocals sound smoother yet crisp enough.

The instruments in the background are neatly brought out without any congestion and thanks to the bigger staging of the Linlong due to its semi-open back nature. The notes are widely spaced out making them to provide a nice grand presentation.

TREBLE:

The treble in the Linlong has been tuned masterfully which sounds very open and airy. Due to its semi open back nature the treble seems to contain vast amounts of air making them sound more transparent and open. The shimmer and brilliance in the top end is pretty great for the price and no sort of congestion or crushing of the notes has been observed.

The cymbal crashes and the trumpets sounds natural and has that hint of organic timbre. The attack and decay of the percussion instruments are precise and don't leave that after the splash effect.

The detail retrieval in the treble section is really above average for the price where most of the nuanced notes and instruments are brought out well with adequate brightness. The sibilance is kept under control hence making them a good pair for longer listening sessions.



TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The biggest star show of this IEM is the staging where this feels very wide due to its open back nature. The back vent is actually functional since closing them made the staging a bit closed during listening. The wider staging helped in providing a grand presentation with immense space for the placement of the instruments and the vocals. The height is adequate and the depth sensation is made deep enough since the sub bass is on the deeper side.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: Since the staging is wider the imaging felt effortless where the placement of the notes are precise enough. The layering is pretty good in the Linlong due to a very open and transparent sound. Notes of different depths and weights are neatly differentiated out without any disturbances.

VERDICT:

Linlong, the ultra budget offering from the house of KZ is an excellent all rounder in this price segment. KZ really nailed this time with the Linlong even starting from the package where instead of giving a conventional type of cardboard boxes for the contents, they provided a nice hard case storage box in which all the contents are packed. This is definitely a praise worthy act from the KZ and hope they continue it in their next releases too. The earphone itself is completely made out of metal which makes them premium and sturdier, however the cable is fixed.

The Linlong adopts a XUN-6 Dynamic Driver in it thus sounding open and transparent which is pretty unusual from the KZ but they did it this time in a well fashioned way. The timbre and tone is organic making them sound more natural and realistic. The more concentration here is towards the sub bass which sounds fantastic for the price and in fact it's one of the cleanest bass responses I have seen in this price segment. The mid bass has warmth but not overly done making them sound more clean and well separated.

The mid range has an engaging presence with a good amount of detail retrieval. Both the upper and lower mid section are concentrated equally. The vocals are placed in a pleasing position and the organic tone makes them sound richer. The sibilance is kept under control and even while playing harsh tracks the earphones tend to smoothen them out elegantly.

The treble feels open, airy and detailed enough, thanks to the open back design. Has adequate brightness hence the percussion instruments to sound upfront and clear. The technical aspects are above average for the price and the staging and layering tends to be the superior aspects.

Overall, the Linlong is a solid earphone and a blind recommendation to anyone looking for an absolute value for money earphone in the budget range. After seeing tons of earphones with KZ’s usual V shaped sibilant prone tuning the Linlong feels like a fresh new package with a mature tuning overall. An UNEXPECTED WONDER from the house of KZ indeed!

INTRODUCTION:

Tin Hifi, the brand based out of China is a well known brand among audiophiles and even a new person who entered this hobby would know their infamous T2. Tin products are very peculiar and they do have a good reputation in the market since most of their products never cease to amaze the consumers. The T3 Plus being my most favourite, the brand recently launched a new IEM with a configuration of Square planar driver and a balanced armature in a budget segment which looks pretty interesting on the papers. In this review let’s check out how good this is against the competition.



SPECIFICATIONS:


Driver Unit: Planar & BA Drivers

Interface: Gold-plated 2Pin 0.78mm connector

Cable: 1.25m Silver Plated Copper Cable

Impedance: 9Ω±15%

Max Power: 5mW

Frequency: 10-20000 Hz

Sensitivity: 101±3dB@1kHz 0.126V

Microphone: No


DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me by the team Tin HiFi in exchange for my honest opinions about the product. The whole views are based on my observations with this product hence it might differ from person to person.



SOUND:

The sound profile of the C5 follows a nice balanced signature. This IEM adopts a hybrid driver configuration where there’s a 10x10 Square Planar Driver and a customised balanced armature driver. These two drivers have a nice coherence thus delivering a pleasant filled beautiful balanced sound.

BASS:

Even though they lack the dynamic driver the SPD driver does the magic here. The planar low end is something where that's more addictive and much more controlled, mature compared to the dynamic driver’s low end. The same planar characteristics can be observed here in this C5 where the bass is very nicely controlled and mature. The quantity is on the precise side delivering adequate thump and rumble to the needed tracks. The quantity is much enough in giving enough warmth and fullness to the tracks.

The sub bass digs deeper and provides those subtle rumbles when the tracks call for it. The mid bass is mature and tighter thus no sort of bleeding is seen in the mid section. These characters of the bass in the C5 helped in delivering a nice cleaner bass rather than a bloated response. The C5 is unforgiving for poorly mastered tracks hence it shows the low end roughness in those tracks upfront.

Overall the bass in the C5 may not be a bass head certified but this bass is really addictive in the long run due to its quality rich, less fatiguing, smoother, and controlled and a mature bass response. Bass kicks in when the track calls and doesn't compromise on the overall cleanliness of the track.

MID SECTION:

The mid section is melodious and smoother. No harsh unwanted spikes thus making the longer listening a peaceful and fatigue free session. Talking about the tone and timbre they are surprisingly neutral. Despite the usage of a BA driver the tone is kept as neutral as possible. No metallic or dry sense is observed due to the presence of BA.

The vocals are nicely kept in the front stage thus the podcasts listeners and the vocalists would love this IEM a lot. The instruments in the background are nicely represented without any congestion. The hybrid configuration helped in taking off each frequency separately making the imaging and layering an easy task.

The lower midrange is kept as clean as possible yet having that adequate warmth and the fullness. The male vocals sound sublime with a pleasant enough tone to them. The upper mid section is controlled yet has that nice elevation making the female vocals breathe some air and making the instruments shine.

TREBLE:

The treble section is neatly carried out by the BA presence delivering some impressive details out of the track. The treble is nicely extended so no early roll off is seen. The brightness in the top end is adequate enough to provide a nice open sound. The shimmer and brilliance is present and is good enough. The cymbal crashes and the trumpets do sound nice since the timbre is neutral and not affected by the presence of the BA.

The detail retrieval is adequately nice and when enough power is feeded to the C5 the abilities to retrieve the details gets much improved. The electric guitar strings shine well with that neutral tone without any colouration. The treble section has enough room for air hence the sound the C5 produces is more open and transparent and more importantly an uncoloured presentation.



TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging is pretty wide in the C5 thus paved the way for the instrument placements which never felt congested. The height is pretty adequate with enough headroom. The depth sensation in the staging is present and not overly done.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: Since the staging is wide and has a cleaner presentation overall the imaging felt no difficulties. These instruments are neatly layered out with precise placements of the instruments in the presentation. The transient response felt smoother and staging is pretty holographic.

VERDICT:

The C5, latest offering from the house of Tin Hifi is a value for money package with an interesting hybrid combination of Square planar driver and a balanced armature driver. The tuning is done well with an excellent balanced profile and the construction is no slouch at all where it is fully made out of aluminium shells, it comes with 2 pin connector and a nice SPC stock cable.

The sound is balanced with cleaner presentation overall. Talking about each frequency response, the bass here is adequate, much more controlled and mature compared to competitors in this price segment. Cleaner bass yet has that needed fun out of the tracks.

The mid section is melodious and smoother with engaging vocals since it takes a nice front stage. The upper mid section is neatly elevated without any unwanted spikes making the female vocals shine. The podcasts listeners and vocalists will definitely love this IEM for sure. Has no bloat in the mid section making them appear cleaner overall.

The treble section is nicely tuned with a precise amount of brightness to extract the details out of the track. The cymbal crashes have precise timing of attack and decay. The shimmer and brilliance are on spot making the C5 to sound more open and transparent. The micro details are neatly extracted out without showing any hindrance.

Overall the Tin HiFi C5 has a mature tuning with excellent coherency between the drivers making them more controlled, coherent and dynamic enough. The C5 is definitely a “PLEASANT FILLER” among the competitors in this segment and it's going to be my primary pick under 80USD.

INTRODUCTION:

KBEar, the brand based out of China is a well established brand in the market. Their previous releases did make a presence in the market and the Believe was the favourite product of mine from the house of KBEar. They do have a variety of in-ear monitors ranging in budget to mid range segments and in this review the IEM that we are going to see comes under the ultra budget category and does deliver some impressive sound named ROSEFINCH and let's dive into it!



SPECIFICATIONS:

Driver: 10mm Biological Diaphragm

Impedance: 16Ω

Sensitivity: 103±3DB

FR Range: 20HZ-20KHZ

Cable: 4-core OFC (18*0.05)

Interface: TFZ

Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated jack

DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me by the team KEEP HIFI in exchange for my honest opinion and review about this product. I have not been paid hence the whole views are based on my experience and pairings with this product hence it might differ from person to person. If you are interested in purchasing this product then please feel free to proceed ahead via this unaffiliated link: https://keephifi.com/products/kbear-rosefinch

SOUND:

The sound profile of the Rosefinch follows a nicely tuned L shaped curve. The tone is pretty natural with warmth added to it. The technical aspects are pretty decent for the price and do deliver some nice resolution. The Bass being the star show here delivers one of the best sub and mid bass in this price range. The other frequencies are taken care of too and in the following section will discuss them in detail.

The single DD with Silicon composite biological diaphragm indeed delivered some nice tighter and fun sound overall



BASS:

The bass in the Rosefinch is one of the best aspects and the star show. Both the sub and the mid bass section have enough presence. The sub bass digs deeper with great reach thus providing those nice rumbles when the bass drops. The mid bass is plenty in quantity and makes the whole presentation fuller and warm enough. Even with higher quantities the quality hasn't been compromised. The bass does have control and adequate separation thus making them clean. The kick drums and the bass guitars have a nice natural tone to it with added warmth for the pleasing appeal.

Overall the bass here is rich in quantity and yet has mastered the quality too with nice control and separation.

MID SECTION:

The sound signature being a L shaped curve the mid section is pretty neutral. There is no noticeable recession thus making the vocals and the instruments shine. The presentation is pretty forward and sits in a comfortable position. The vocals get the adequate fullness and warmth from the mid bass presence. The fuller presentation never interrupted the clean sounding aspect of the Rosefinch. The piano notes and the snare drums do sound pretty clean with a natural and warm timbre.

Both the male and the female vocals get adequate presence with enough upper mid emphasis. There are no upper mid spikes seen thus making the listening experience very pleasing in the longer run.



TREBLE:

The treble section when seen in the graph shows the evident roll off and the same applies in reality. Even though the treble has an early roll off they are definitely not that bad in terms of delivering some essential details out of the track. The shimmer however cant be expected because of the roll off but the needed instrumental presence can be observed. The electric guitar strings, cymbal crashes and the trumpets do sound and have good presence but the lack of added brightness led to a relaxed treble.

Since the brilliance is lacking in this set the percussion instruments do struggle to shine but the presence can be felt in a smoother and a calmer way. The notes are made calmer and soothing rather than attacking and vivid. This tuning can never be considered as a mistake since it does please those who love the relaxed treble section.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging has enough width and height to represent a grand presentation. The width is slightly more than the height making the imaging an easier thing while the bigger bass also helps in providing a nice deeper sensation in the staging.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: The imaging and layering is pretty neat where the channel sweep and the transient response felt smoother and no stutters were observed. Even in the busier tracks the placement of the instruments can be pointed out precisely enough.

The detail retrieval is good for the price where it does deliver some essentials out of the track. The ultra high resolution can't be expected at this price point and especially in this kind of tuning the details it delivers is something that needs to be praised.

VERDICT:

The Rosefinch, the latest offering from the house of KBEAR is a well furnished and neatly tuned package. The L shaped curve fits well for this IEM giving enough bass pleasure to the consumers and at the same time enough details are delivered. Pricing is made great thus this package is definitely the star show in the year 2023 under 20 usd.

The build is pretty usual with resin mould and a Zinc alloy faceplate giving a touch of premium feel. The fit is excellent, providing a neat isolation. The cable is a TFZ 2 pin type and the quality seems to be average and for the price it can't be complained about.

The sound is just sublime for this price and targeted audience. As a general consumer and as a bass lover would find this Rosefinch a great BOON! while the audience with more treble needs will get slight disappointment. The bass is elevated a lot making the sub bass shine a lot and extracts those subtle rumbles from the track. The mid bass warmth makes the whole presentation fuller and deeper with great control. The mid section feels neutral with a warmer tone and no noticeable recession making the vocals and instruments take a front seat giving an engaging experience. The treble takes the early roll off hence the shimmer and brilliance gets lacking but yet never compromised on delivering some essentials out of the track.

The technical aspects are pretty good since it has good enough staging making the imaging and layering to be on point. Since the bass is bigger, it does even give a nice deeper stage sensation throughout the presentation.

Overall, the Rosefinch is a well tuned package with a thick and juicy sound and is definitely my pick under 20usd in the year 2023 since its “FUN”TASTIC!

Intro
Tangzu audio has collaborated with HBB to come up with the Heyday edition of Zetian Wu iem which is a special edition of their regular Zetian Wu iem. The unit has been sent to me as a part of a review tour but all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Build
The iem is quite big in size and the associated accessories feel really premium and high quality. The carrying case is quite big and luxurious and so is the included modular cable. overall the build quality is really good and feels very premium


Sound quality
The sound of zetian wu heyday is a stand out among the rest of the iem market, so let's get into it with more detail


Bass
The planar driver here has a lot of detail and resolution but not the deepest slam and punch as found from some dynamic driver iems. but it does have more detail than most of the dd iems i have heard. This is usually expected of planar iems and is no surprise here.

The bass hits deep and hard when called for and it never bleeds into the mids. the overall quantity is sufficient for many except maybe the hardcore bassheads. but there is no denying the amount of detail and quality in this range.


Mids
The midrange is really uncolored and it has a neutral presentation and the amount of detail here is really something worth noting. The driver quality inside is really good as the entire midrange is totally grain free and very clean, bringing out even the smallest micro details. i would say that the upper midrange area associated with female vocals are a bit laid back and polite so the tone is inoffensive and non fatiguing.


Treble
I would characterize the iem as warm sounding and it is due to the laid back presentation of the treble. but the remarkable thing is that it still has tremendous amounts of natural resolution and detail in this region. I have heard details in the very high end that I have not heard before with other iems that are often even brighter than the heyday.

This goes to show that the heyday has lots of natural resolution, thanks to the excellent planar driver inside.


Conclusion
The zetian wu heyday is an amazing iem with loads of detail and resolution that is simply not usually heard of in this price range. The best part is it does all this with a non fatiguing and relaxing sound.

Intro
Seeaudio is a rising brand in china who have come up with some great iems like Bravery, Yume Midnight etc. Now they have come up with the Yume 2. This unit has been sent to me as a part of a review but all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Build
The shells are really pretty and they look quite premium. i do feel they are finger print mangnets however and the polished plate may show up scratches later on with rough use. the cable is soft and supple and it is a 6N OFC Silver-Plated Copper Cable.
the carry case is also beautiful and feels like a jewellery box.

Sound Quality
The sound of the yume 2 is simply brilliant, it reminds me of a few other iems mixed together so let's get into it.

Bass
The bass is rich and has very good punch to it. there is a slight rounded character to the bass that reminds me heavily of Tnachjim Oxygen. The bass is fast and it doesn't bleed into the mids. The bass will satisfy even the bassheads out there but it also has substance to back it up
with its clean attack and detail in this region. trying out different genres and i always felt the bass to be really high quality and satisfying.

Mids
The midrange is a bit on the forward side but it is not grainy at all and the overall tone and timbre is very realistic. male and female vocals have a hint of smoothness to them that makes the sound very satisfying for midrange lovers. there is sufficient detail in this region and the overall presentation is quite musical indeed.
Harsh female vocals and the bitiness of the upper midrange is reflected very nicely. if the recording is poor quality and harsh, the yume 2 does smooth things out a bit but not too much, just enough to make the experience very enjoyable.

Treble
The treble is perfect for me. it feels very natural and extended but it has the perfect presentation for me which makes the final sound very non fatiguing and relaxing. there is enough detail in the treble region but it does lose out to the raw resolution that some planars bring.

Conclusion
The yume 2 has a very satisfying and enjoyable sound signature which will suit a wide variety of listeners' taste and I highly recommend it

INTRODUCTION:

Tin HiFi, the brand based out of Shenzhen, China is a well established brand among the audiophiles. They do have a separate fan base for their unique sound signature and lately to acquire even more audience they have turned towards a different signature led to massive success like the T3 Plus. To continue that growth they did release a new product to the product namely C2! And in this review let’s check out how well they executed this package.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Custom-developed 10mm Dual-Cavity Dynamic Driver.

Newly-Developed PU+LCP Composite Diaphragm.

CNC machined aviation-grade 6063 Aluminum alloy ear shells.

2-pin 0.78mm connectors.

Impedance: 32Ω±15%.

Sensitivity: 104±3dB.

Frequency Response: 10Hz-20kHz.

Rated Power: 3mW.

DESIGN AND FIT:

The design is pretty industrious with a great aluminum build. The screws on the faceplate do add a touch mechanical personality to the IEM. The ergonomics are pretty good too where no pain had been experienced even after longer listening sessions. The stock cable is pretty good with a nice texture and an outer sheath that prevents the frequent tangling of the cables.

The stock ear tips are however on the average side which needs more time to find a perfect seal. After finding a good seal with those tips if you try to change the position of the iem the seal tends to go away which is quite irritating. Tin should have provided the T3 Plus ear tips for a complete package.



DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me by Tin HiFi in exchange for my honest review on this product. The whole views are based on my observations and pairings with this product hence it might differ from person to person.

If you are interested in purchasing this product, please go ahead via this unaffiliated link: https://www.tinhifi.com/products/tinhifi-c2

SOUND:

The sound profile of the C2 follows a pretty U shaped curve. The bass here is nicely elevated with controlled presence thus not making the track too dark or muffled out. The Midrange is kept as natural as possible with excellent layering and positioning of the instruments. The treble is done extremely well for the price with excellent detail retrieval. Each and every note is brought out well with natural tone and timbre. The technical aspects are stellar in the C2 for the quoted price. Let’s check out in detail about the sound in the following sections.

BASS:

As a Tin product they usually stick with their in-house signature which is more of a neutral to bright sound but in recent days the brand is trying out different signatures as we saw in the T3 Plus and it even worked out well. The same thing happened with the C2 too!

SUB BASS – The sub bass here is tastefully done with nice reach and depth. They do provide that satisfying rumble in the low end without interrupting the mid bass section. Even though it's not a bass head approved it will still satisfy them with its controlled and attacking bass section.

MID BASS – The mid bass is controlled and comes to the stage whenever they are called by the track. As a common term I can tell the bass here is CLEAN. Those kick drums and the bass instruments are brought out really well without any congestion. No hindrance of the notes are observed, rather everything is very transparent enough without darkening the background too much. The bass body is adequate thus providing a nice adequate fuller sounding experience but many might find this to be pretty lean due to its open sounding nature.

Overall the bass in the C2 is pretty satisfying with excellent control and cleaner presentation. In this budget segment this is the character very difficult to find but the Tin HiFi has done a great job here! Definitely the bass here will please everyone out there.

MID RANGE:

The mid range here is presented well with proper positioning of the vocals and the instruments. Even though it’s a U shaped presentation the mid range however felt nice and engaging.

LOWER MID – The lower mid section nicely carried the body presence from the bass section thus they sounded warm enough.

UPPER MID – The upper mid section has a nice elevation which is never disturbed in the longer listening sessions. The upper mid presence made the female vocals and the percussion instruments sound bright enough. The listening experience is engaging and the tonality is kept natural with a nice smoother touch.

The vocals are placed in an appropriate position providing a nice engaging listen. The staging being on the wider side the layering is done impressively here. Different depths of notes are nicely layered out thus representing a richer experience.

Overall the mid range does sound richer, engaging and well layered. Being placed in this budget segment this kind of tuning makes me go AWE!



TREBLE:

The treble section is masterfully tuned with a nice extension in the top end. The upper end is not restrict where this C2 allows the instruments to breathe the air freely making the overall sound to appear bright enough and detailed.

The cymbal crashes and the trumpets sound natural and vivid. The attack and decay of the instruments appears precise. The timbre of the instruments are pretty natural and realistic. Most of the budget IEMs does have that colder timbre to represent a fuller tone but this one being natural realistic preserved the original taste of the track.

The shimmer and brilliance in the top end is executed very well where there is more than enough room for the notes to breathe making them appear more lively and engaging.

TECHNICALITIES:

LAYERING AND IMAGING: The star aspect of the C2! The different depth of notes are nicely layered out without any congestion and difficulty. The placement of the instruments are done exceptionally well where one can easily spot out the placement even in a busy track.

STAGING: The staging is wide enough with above average in height. The spacious staging also led to a grand presentation of the music. Along with that well extended treble the whole experience felt lively and engaging.

The channel transition felt pretty smooth with no stutters. The detail retrieval and the track separation are just stellar in this C2 considering the price segment this is placed. The resolution that this C2 brings on to the table is pretty impressive.

VERDICT:

C2, the latest offering from the house of Tin HiFi is an awesomely well executed package and most importantly they priced it right on spot!. Tin HiFi from their recent launches of products they never disappointed the consumers and the same follows to the C2! Sounds extremely good ! The 10mm Single Dynamic Driver with PU + LCP Composite Diaphragm does magic in the sound department.

The sound of the C2 follows a U shaped curve thus having an upper hand to the bass and the treble section. Thought that mid range will get dampened but thankfully it's beautifully tuned! The bass here is well controlled and bodied. Has good reach yet providing that cleaner presentation and track separation. The mid section is nicely placed in the presentation where each and every note is brought up forward giving an adequate emphasis. The resolution that this 30 usd set brings to the table is very impressive!

The layering being the star aspect and the staging being on the wider side the whole presentation felt grand enough, engaging and lively. The treble section is well extended allowing the instruments in the top end to breathe freely making them sound richer and bright enough. The tonality and the timbre of the instruments is pretty natural and realistic with a touch of brightness to add sparkle to the listen.

The design is very industrial as Tin HiFi says it in their own term “MECHANICAL ''. Those aluminum built with the screws on the face plate really look very mechanical and robotic. The provided stock cable is of great quality too which doesn’t get tangled for the most part. The ear tips however could have been improved since they are not that excellent in providing a nice seal.

Overall, the C2 is just stellar in my opinion. Under 30 USD I usually don’t recommend products since mostly they do sound more or less same with darker or more brighter signature but the C2 sets itself apart in this price segment! A cleaner sounding and a highly resolving gem yet providing that required fun for engaging listen making itself a CLASS APART from the competitors!

INTRODUCTION:

Shuoer, the brand based out of China is started by an audio engineer who previously worked in the MNC’s like Panasonic. He later decided to use his creative ideas to innovate his own product by his own company. That's how the brand got its establishment. The brand is well expertise in the audio field and has launched many high end audiophile IEMs. The D13 is their latest mid tier offering equipped with a 13mm DD and in this review let’s check out how good it is.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Sensitivity: 105±1 db

Impedance: 160

Connector: 0.78 2pin

Frequency response: 20-20kHz

Jack: 3.5mm/4.4mm

Diaphragm material: DLC 1 Diamond- Like Carbon

Driver diameter: 13mm

Filters: Swappable treble tuning nozzles

Stock cable: 0.0Smm l 216 strands of high purity copper

DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review circle organised by the team HiFiGo. The whole views are based on my observations and pairing with it hence it might differ from person to person.

If you are interested in purchasing this item then please go ahead with this unaffiliated link: D13

DESIGN AND FIT:

The D13 adopts a circular design profile with interchangeable screw filters. They are available in blue and grey colour which is matt finished providing a premium look. The design is ergonomic enough to provide a secure fit and seal to the ears.

The stock cable is pretty good and does have that supple texture to it. It has good weight thus providing a nice premium feel on the hands. The stock tips do provide great isolation from the surrounding noises. They also provide a nice faux leather case which feels compact and has precise space for storing the IEM and the tips.



SOUND:

The sound profile of the D13 is more on the U shaped profile with more emphasis over the bass section. The mid range feels slightly neglected but the vocals however are presented well forward enough. The treble feels tamed out but done in a good manner and the sound changes after filter treatment. The technical aspects however are just average in my testing and will be discussed in detail in the following sections.

FILTERS:

The whole impressions are based on the Gold Filters which seemed to be much better when compared to the Stock Silver Filter. The gold filter presents more detailed sound with enhanced separation, better treble response and even better low end separation.

BASS:

The bass in the D13 is the prominent aspect where the sub bass has been given more importance over the mid bass section making some prominent rumbles in the low end section. The sub bass does dig deeper producing some nice satisfying rumbles while also maintaining a clear distinction from the mid bass thus not overlapping each other. The mid bass is on the right quantity too but I felt a little more mid bass presence thus making the whole presentation fuller and bodied and thankfully the D13 does respond to the EQ pretty well and with my Q3 bass boost option they do sound fuller.

The technical aspects in the bass section are pretty neat with clean and nice separation overall. The sub bass and mid bass have clear distinction thus the overall presentation felt pretty clean. The bass texture is on point with realistic timbre to the kick drums and bass guitars.

MID RANGE:

The mid range in the D13 is recessed while the vocals are made to appear upfront thus representing a forward presentation. The instruments however take the back stage making the percussion instruments and the piano notes to sound duller and thinner in terms of texture. The lower mid section has a nice body while it could have been better if the mid bass is thicker. The male vocals sound with a realistic tone and give the presentation a prime focus. The upper mid section is the same as the lower mids where the female vocals are made to appear upfront and sometimes too much forward nature causes a slight fatigue while the instruments are pushed back. However the tone and the instrument timbre appeared to be realistic and natural. The track separation and the detail retrieval in the mid section are average. The sense of space and the layering is done well.



TREBLE:

The treble in the D13 is tuned to be modest where the extension is pretty limited thus the detail retrieval is not going to be the superior aspect while the overall presentation is better. They sound smoother but yet have that rich engaging factor. The brilliance is made to appear pretty clean and presentable. The brightness is adequate making the presentation more vivid and open.

The cymbal crashes have pretty precise attack and decay thus the notes don’t appear thinner or lacking in terms of splash. The timbre appears to be realistic thus giving a nice realistic experience. The presence of air in the treble section is pretty good thus representing an average sense of space and good separation overall. The sibilance is kept under control making the longer listening sessions a peaceful one. If the extension has been not limited the treble section could have been even better by delivering some impressive details.



TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging in the D13 is on the average side where both the width and the height seems to be pretty restricted. The depth sensation however feels slightly bigger due to that bigger sub bass. The overall presentation felt pretty good but could have been big enough for representing a grandeur presentation.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: These aspects also seem to be on the average side. Since the staging is not on the bigger side the imaging tends to be slightly average when it comes to busy tracks while the clear distinction between different depth of notes seems to be clustered out making the layering to be on the average side. The transient response felt good with nice dynamic transitions.

VERDICT:

D13, the latest offering from the house of Shuoer is a well executed package which inclines towards delivering impressive dynamic range and a realistic experience. The D13 is equipped with a 13mm DLC coated diaphragm Dynamic Driver delivering some impressive bass response, realistic mid section and a non fatiguing treble.

The design is pretty great with a circular profile. Adopting screw type interchangeable filters to deliver different sound profiles gives this IEM an edge in this price segment. The 2 pin connection is a big boon for this D13 since MMCX is always problematic.

Coming to the sound, they are pretty great in terms of bass response with more sub bass emphasis thus providing some nice rumbles in the low end. Has a clear distinction between the sub and mid bass section making the clarity and separation superior while the texture too feels pretty nice. The mid section feels recessed but the vocals are made upfront providing a sensation of forwardness. The treble being modest provides a nice soothing listen overall with adequate brightness and open nature to the sound. The tonality being natural and timbre being realistic they provide a solid sound for the price however the staging and the detail retrieval are average for the price. The staging is not expansive making the presentation slightly constricted and the details are not that impressive.

Overall as a package this D13 does make a great impact in the market. Solid dynamic sound with great accessories makes this IEM one of the value for money products in this segment and the DYNAMICS SPEAKS for the existence of this D13 in the market.

INTRODUCTION:

7Hz, the brand based out of China is a newly established brand and got a nice reputation in a short period of time among the audiophiles and consumers. The brands last offering under 200USD is the Timeless which had the same Planar Diaphragm driver and it sounded the best for the price. This time the brand released the IEM named DIOKO in collaboration with well known audio reviewer CRINACLE and priced it even more aggressively with 100USD! In this review let’s check out how good this is.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Driver: 14.6mm planar

Impedance: 16 ohm

SPL: 106dB/v@1kHz

THD: ≤0.2%/1khz

Frequency response: 5-40000hz

Cable: OCC copper and silver-plated OCC copper

Connector: 0.78mm 2pin

DISCLAIMER :

This unit had been provided to me as a part of review circle organised by the team Hifigo. The whole views are based on my observations and pairings with this product hence it might differ from person to person

If you are interested in purchasing this product feel free to go ahead via this unaffiliated link: Dioko

DESIGN AND FIT:

The whole construction is made out of aluminium with glass faceplate which changes its colour based on the angle of light strike. The design language is conventional with nice ergonomics. As an added stability they have engraved a two step design in the inner aspect of the earpiece to create a snug fit in the ear canal which is pretty helpful in providing excellent fit and isolation.

The provided stock tips do provide a nice seal and the stock cable feels pretty premium on the hands where it has a nice supple nature with malleable ear guides for easy adaptability.



SOUND:

The whole sound signature of the Dioko is more on the balanced side and follows the Crinicle’s Harman curve which is more of a sub bass emphasized balanced sound profile. The Dioko follows that curve with more emphasis on the technical aspects which are just mid blowing in this IEM which we’ll talk about in the following sections. From the tonality aspect to rendering each frequency in a precise scale everything is done well and sweet in the Dioko. The special mentionable aspects are the transient response and the layering which feels very premium for the price they quote for this Dioko.

BASS:

The low end in the Dioko is more mature and audiophile grade rather than being too fun and joy riding. The sub bass has given more importance in the Dioko when compared to the Mid bass section thus the subtle rumbles can be heard while the mid bass punch gets lacking. The quality of the bass here is more concentrated over the quantity. Since the mid bass has lesser body and thickness the track especially if you are listening to rock and metal this would sound less fuller. The best thing about this lean mid bass is that it doesn't interfere with the mid range making them sound more cleaner.

The technical aspects like the control and separation in the bass region is just on point. The attack and decay rate in the bass section felt more precise with better control thus making the low end section sound more cleaner and well separated. The kick drums sound tighter and clean making the whole track appear controlled. The bass could have been even better if the mid bass has added thickness and body.



MID RANGE:

The mid range in the Dioko is well tuned with precise placement of the instruments and the vocals. The vocal placement is at a pleasing location where it's neither on the face nor too laidback. The tonality of this ITEM is pretty natural with a neutral presence and the timbre appears slightly on the brighter side but after some several listening hours they get used to my ears.

The lower mid range feels leaner but at the same time they felt more clean and detailed. The added body could have made the lower mid section even more pleasing but as of now even though they feel lighter they are pretty great.

The upper mid section has nice elevation making the instruments and the female vocals shine. The female vocals feel more engaging and the instruments feel more vibrant because of this nice elevation without sacrificing the pleasing tone. The harshness is not seen thus the longer listening sessions are a pleasing one with this Dioko.

The track separation and the clarity feels pretty amazing making this one of the best mid range IEM in this price range. The staging being bigger in all the aspects gave this IEM a big advantage in executing a nice grand presentation without causing any constrict nature in the mid range.



TREBLE:

The treble out of the Dioko is well tuned and it met the requirements of how a planar would sound. The planar inside them really nailed this area by delivering some impressive detail retrieval and nice presence of air. The brilliance and shimmer in the top end is just top class and it's one of the best under 100USD. The adequate amount of air in the Dioko helped in portraying a nice spacious and grand presentation. The percussion instruments sound open and well extended thus making the whole listening experience an engaging and enjoyable one.

The cymbal crashes and the trumpets do sound sparkly with precise attack and decay. The electric guitar strings have that nice natural strike over the strings producing a natural tone with no artificial timbre. Initially the timbre appeared to be slightly on the metallic side but after several listens they got used to me.

Overall the treble sounded well detailed enough with more air presence and they sounded open for providing engaging enough sound. The attack and decay of the instruments felt precise enough and the sibilance is kept under control for fatigue free listening sessions.



TECHNICALITIES:

TRANSIENT RESPONSE: It's the star aspect of this Dioko! The dynamic range is just clearly depicted out without any sort of distortion or compression. Every single note is clearly portrayed without any congestion making this ITEM as one of the best clean and well separated sounds in this price range.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: The imaging felt precise with this IEM where the placement of the notes are accurate and can be easily pointed out even in busy tracks. The different note depths are nicely identified and portrayed out very well making the layering aspect a big hit in this Dioko.

STAGING: The staging is pretty wide and has an adequate amount of height too. The depth sensation is not created that much since the bass is not that big. Overall the stage is big enough to represent a grand presentation.

Detail retrieval and the track separation are stellar in this Dioko where the treble is tuned to the peak with nice extension without compromising on the sibilance and air presence. The attack and decay of the instruments felt precise with great tone and timbre overall.

VERDICT:

The Salnotes Dioko, the latest offering from the house of 7Hz is an excellent deal for the sound and driver it offers. The Dioko comes with a 14.6mm Dual Cavity Planar Diaphragm Driver for just 99USD! The planar driver really stood up to the sound and overall this is just a blind purchase from my side!

The build is excellent where it accommodates an in ear design with an interesting inner ear design language where a two step design is adopted to give a natural ergonomics to the earpiece. The faceplate has a glass piece which changes its colour based on the angle of light strike. The whole construction is made out of aluminium and feels pretty premium on the hands. It adopts a 2 Pin connection which made this IEM a whole lot of blind deal!

The sound out of this is incorporated with Crinacle’s Curve and is tuned in collaboration with Crinacle. The sound is more on the balanced side with sub bass focus. Along with the impressive frequency response the technical aspects tend to be superior in this Dioko considering its price which makes this a best technical IEM. The transient response felt impressive with one of the best imaging, layering and staging. The detail retrieval is on point since the treble is extended well with precise amounts of air and brightness. Giving a boost to the upper mid section even made the Dioko more engaging to listen to.

Overall, the Dioko is a piece of TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE that can be easily recommended to the consumers devoid of their personal audio taste!

INTRODUCTION:
KBear, the brand based out of China is a well established brand and got a good reputation among the Audiophiles out there. The brand has placed its presence both on the budget and the mid tier category and is known for their impressive audio. The Believe was one of my favourite IEM from the brand and sad to know that it got discontinued due to the scarcity in sourcing the beryllium. The Little Q is their new offering in the ultra budget category and in this review let’s check out how good this is against the competitors.



SPECIFICATIONS:
Impedance: 32Ω
FR Range: 20-20KHz
Sensitivity: 118dB
Driver unit: 6mm Composite Diaphragm
Color: Black/Gun/Blue
Shell Material: Aluminum Alloy
Microphone: With mic/No mic
Plug type: 3.5mm Straight

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me by the KeepHiFi in exchange for my honest opinion on the product. I have not been influenced by the brand nor an individual person to manipulate the review hence the whole review is based on my observations. The views might differ from person to person and it's based on the sources and pairings with the given product.

If you are interested in purchasing this product please go ahead via this unaffiliated link: Little Q

DESIGN AND FIT:
The whole construction is made out of Metal thus provides a nice sturdy and premium feel on the hands. The cable is however on the fixed side thus one can easily swap them unless you mod them to be. The cable does provide microphonics sound hence it might disturb one when they scratch your shirts.

The provided stock tips do provide great isolation and seal to the ears. Though a vent is provided on the faceplate, the isolation is still great and thanks to the design and the provided tips.



SOUND:
The sound profile of the Q is more on the V shaped side. The bass here is elevated quite a bit with equal sub and mid bass presence while the mid section is recessed a bit providing a laid back experience. The treble is tuned to sound smoother with limited extension providing a fatigue free listening. The tonality is warm and lush generating a pleasing experience. The technical aspects are above average for the price with enough width in staging and pretty good layering effects. Let’s check out in detail about the sound in the following sections.

BASS:
The bass in the Little Q is warm and thicker with equal emphasis over the sub bass and mid bass sections. The bass accompanied with that warmer tonality gave an overall thicker and lush presentation.

The sub bass in the Q is nice and deeper providing that satisfying rumble hence Zimmer’s tracks sounds absolutely beautiful. The mid bass is also great in terms of quantity thus providing that fullness to the overall presentation. The mid bass however feels slightly excessive in some tracks making the sub and mid bass indistinguishable sometimes. They tend to overlap each other thus the bass sounds more thicker and slightly uncontrolled.

The speed of the bass in the Q is moderate where it's neither too fast nor too slow. The bass here is more on the slam side rather than attacking. The lush bass presence gives a nice enjoyable experience to bass lovers out there where the kick drums sound nice and tighter. The separation in the bass segment is good and the overall bass presence is great but it could have been excellent if the mid bass is less in terms of quantity and more emphasis was given to sub bass thus making the attack and the separation a notch upper.

MID RANGE:
The mid range in the Q is more in the recessed side but thankfully that does provide relaxing and laidback signature. The vocals however placed at an appropriate position hence the engaging factor is present here. The instruments in the background however are slightly pushed back thus some of the small percussion and stringed instruments would get lost in some complex tracks.

The tonality is warm and lush making the mid range more pleasing to listen to. The lower mid section has that nice fullness carried along from the mid bass presence. This made the male vocals sound nice and thicker. The upper mid section is tuned in a tamed out fashion rather than elevated which made the female vocals sound fatigue free and smoother. The female vocals even though they don’t sound that sparkle enough they do provide that nice engaging smoother tone which is the strong aspect of the Q.

The separation in the mid section is pretty good with nice wide stage presence while sometimes they do seem to be congested especially with complex tracks. The detail retrieval is decent and don’t expect it to be a better performer since their presence is laidback.

TREBLE:
The treble in the Q is tamed out in a good way that it correlates with a nice longer fatigue free listen. They have adequate brightness to deliver some high hats in a nice fashion. The shimmer and the brilliance in the top end is pretty neat and is tuned to deliver smoother notes rather than aggressive and more sparkly. The extension in the top end is limited but since it focuses on smoother listen they do really match up the limited extension.
The cymbal crashes do sound natural with nice attack and decay. The trumpets and the guitar strings have subtle brightness which is pretty good but if you expect it to be more upfront and splashy it's not the case here. The detail retrieval in the top end is pretty good even though they are not in the top tier level. The presence of air is nice thus it helps in bringing out enough details out of the track. The sibilance is kept under control making the longer listening sessions a fatigue free experience.

Though this has a v shaped signature the extension is kept limited to certain points to deliver a smoother sound thus for casual yet engaging listening sessions this would really go well.

TECHNICALITIES:
STAGING: The staging is wide enough representing a grand enough presentation. The height however is on the average side with a bigger depth sensation and thanks to that bass response.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: These aspects are tuned to be good with nice positioning of instruments. The different depths of notes are neatly laid out without any congestion and does have that clustered out feel in the complex tracks. The channel sweep felt smoother and doesn't feel like a 2D imaging.

Overall the Macro dynamics are portrayed out well while having some compromises over the micro dynamics which is expected in this price range. As for the price, the technical aspects are pretty good.

VERDICT:
Little Q, the latest budget offering from the house of KBEar is an excellent package for the price. The “Q” reminds me of James Bond’s Tech Guy called the Quartermaster who packs and makes all the tech stuff for the infamous agent. The Little Q here does the same thing for a cheaper bucks.
Little Q has a very sturdy construction where it is fully constructed out of metal and adopts a bullet shaped design language thus it will fit most of the ears. The cables are fixed though and that's the only bummer considering the design aspects.

The Q adopts a 6mm Composite Diaphragm Dynamic Driver which does really deliver an impressive sound for the price. The tonality is warm and natural as one would normally expect from a Dynamic driver and the Q doesnt mess up in this aspect. The overall sound is relying on the V shaped aspect but not in a bad way where the treble usually tends to be sharper in most of the V shaped but in the Q its tuned to be smoother and non fatiguing yet deliver some nice brightness and details.
The bass here is the main show here with nice sub bass reach and rumble while the mid range has that engaging vocals with lush instrument presence. Though they are slightly recessed, the overall presentation does match up that. A lush and warm presentation indeed!

The technical aspects are pretty good for the price though they are not in the top tier league and one shouldn’t expect that from an ultra budget product ☺. The staging is wide enough with clean imaging and layering aspects. On a positive note this does come with mic hence frequent mobile diallers would love this added bonus.
Overall, the Little Q is the “QUARTERMASTER” in the ultra budget category as it possesses a nice and unique warm, pleasing and lush sound to go well with most of the ears and their unique tastes.

INTRODUCTION:
BQEYZ (Best Quality Earphones For You), the brand based out of China is a well known brand among the Audiophiles does have some great collections of IEM in their catalogue. They don’t launch the products frequently but if they do launch they execute in a perfect fashion. The Spring, Summer and Autumn being their flagship models, Topaz is their latest mid range offering adopting a hybrid driver mechanism combining a DD and a Piezoelectric Driver.



SPECIFICATIONS:
Driver configuration:13mm dynamic driver 9 layers of piezoelectric ceramic driver
Impedance: 32ohm
Sensitivity: 108dB
Frequency range: 5-40KHz
Cable length: 1.2m
Plug type: 3.5mm/2.5mm/4.4mm
DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me by BQEYZ Audio at a deal price in exchange for my honest opinion towards the product. The whole views are based on my observations and pairings with it hence it might differ from person to person.

DESIGN AND FIT:
The design of the Topaz is pretty usual in ear type enclosed partly metal and partly resin. The faceplate adopts the metal which has a subtle branding over it. The resin part has fins that fit snugly in the ears. The 2 pin slot is nicely tucked inside the resin body and the overall finish does feel sturdy.
The provided stock cable is pretty good in terms of feel and texture. It has a nice supple nature to it and the braiding is done in a proper fashion. The provided stock tips are nothing special and do provide a decent seal. The fit however is on the verge of not being perfect and it does affect the seal and isolation. The vent on the faceplate does affect the isolation but still it could have been better.


SOUND:
The sound profile of the Topaz is more on the U shaped side with more emphasis over the bass. The bass here is thicker and full bodied while the mid range is kept at a neutral presence with lush presentation and the treble is tuned to be smoother and tamed which is unusual for a Piezo driver yet they deliver some impressive micro details. The technical aspects are not the strongest aspects in this IEM which we will discuss in the following sections.

BASS:

Positives:
The bass in the Topaz is well textured with equal emphasis over the sub and the mid bass section. The sub bass does dig deeper with enough reach thus providing adequate rumble. The mid bass quantity is on the right side with adequate fullness this gives a nice body to the overall presentation. The sub and the mid bass section can be distinguished clearly and has a nice sense of demarcation between them. Haven’t noticed that much of mid bass bleeds, it’s there slightly but does a good job in providing the mid range a very lush experience.

Negatives:
Though the bass is on the right quantity with great texture, fullness and sub bass reach the quality however is on the middling side. The speed is on the verge of being too slow thus the separation gets the hit. They are not that noticeable but can be observed in some complex tracks. The mid bass body is good but lacks the slam thus making them powerless at times.

MID RANGE:

Positives:
The Mid Range in the Topaz is sided over the neutral aspect with one of the best tonality and timbre in this price range even after having the Piezo drivers in it which is a rare thing to master. The presentation is just on the precise staging where it's neither too laid back nor too forward. The vocals are slightly placed forward compared to the instruments.

The lower mid section carries that nice fullness from the mid bass section thus delivering some impressive notes. Each note carries a nice body and weight making the whole lower mid bass section fuller and pleasing. The male vocals are beautiful to listen to since it has that natural tone and fullness. The Upper mid section is neatly elevated a bit to give that sparkle and life to the percussion instruments. It also gave the female vocals a nice presentation making the listen more engaging. The Piano notes and the guitar strings got that natural tone making them appear more lively. The micro details in the mid section are captured out neatly without any sort of issues.

Negatives:
The negatives are much less in the Topaz but here's anyways, the transient response however felt not that great in the Topaz where the notes edges are pretty smoothened out hence they don’t have that but in each notes decay. The notes tend to be softer and calm rather than giving that aggressive and engaging bite in the end. The separation as I stated in the bass section here too feels slightly off but that can be only observed in some specific cases of complex tracks.


TREBLE:

Positives:
The treble in the Topaz is tuned pretty nicely where this is the first IEM that I heard without any fatiguing high notes even with a Piezo driver in it. The Piezo in this IEM is tuned meticulously, making them deliver impressive treble notes that are pretty pleasing to the ears. The extension in the top end is pretty nice with linear elevation. No sort of harsh spikes or uneven notes are observed. The detail retrieval is moderate with a nice sense of air and space.
The timbre of the instruments appears pretty natural despite the use of the Piezo in this. The cymbal crashes and the trumpets do sound neat and bright enough. The attack and decay of the percussion instruments appears to be precise in terms of timing. They do deliver some enough shimmer and brilliance in the top end.

Negatives:
The negatives are such as when it comes to detail retrieval the Topaz is not the best. It's neither too bad nor too good, rather they are average for the price. Since the treble is made to sound more smoother and pleasing the extension is kept limited hence the detail retrieval is not a strong aspect of this IEM.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging is intermediate between being too wide and too narrow. Adequate space is present in between the notes thus representing a grand enough presentation. However the height seems to be moderate in space but shows some good depth sensation, thanks to the proper bass response.

TRANSIENT RESPONSE AND LAYERING: These are not the best aspects of the Topaz. The transient response and the layering feels fuzzier where the note edges are dampened and smoothened out rather than providing a crisp bite.


IMAGING: They feel pretty good with nice 3d positioning of the instruments but still shows its blurriness when the complex tracks are played out.

Detail retrieval, as I stated in the above sections, feels moderate at best and can be improved in the next iteration.

VERDICT:
Topaz, the latest offering from the house of BQEYZ ( Best Quality Earphone For You ) is a well executed package that delivers an impressive sound as well as a great build at an attractive price. The Topaz is equipped with a hybrid driver mechanism where it has a 13mm Coaxial Dual Cavity Dynamic Driver + 9 layers Piezoelectric Driver both nicely feels coherent with each other making the sound to appear more linear and organic. The bass in the topaz feels now more authoritative compared to the previous versions with more sub bass presence to make you feel the subtle rumbles. The mid range is pretty lush with melodious presentation providing equal weight to each note. The treble is tuned smoother and does deliver a unique treble output compared to the other Piezo IEM’s without causing any usual Piezo after sensation.

It does have some quirks in the sound where those technical aspects (especially the transient response and the layering) are not the best and needs some improvements which will certainly be rectified in the next iteration of Topaz. The negatives can be easily compensated by the natural tonality and the neutral timbre despite the Piezoelectric driver in this Topaz. The build is top notch since they are partly metal and partly resin. The faceplate is made of metal giving the IEM a premium look and feel while the medical grade resin provides nice comfort and isolation to the ears, however the isolation could have been better.

Overall, the TOPAZ is a well tuned IEM that goes well with any sort of genre and does provide you that relaxing and smoother overall listen. This is indeed a SMOOTH SLAYER in this price range and can be an easy buy for anyone and should be in everyone’s collection.

INTRODUCTION:
Tangzu, previously known as the TForce, is a brand based out of China. It's well known among the audiophiles out there even though they are a newly launched brand due to their high quality audio products. The Yuan Li is a perfect example for their impressive quality which does really sound great. The Shimin Li is their new product in the budget lineup even though the product doesn't look cheaper! A single dynamic driver, full aviation grade aluminium build, great stock cable with wide selection of ear tips! All just for 35USD! Let’s check out in this review how good this is.

SPECIFICATIONS:
>Driver spec: 10mm.
>Distortion: <0.5%.
>Sensitivity: 109dB.
>Impedance: 18Ω.
>Channel difference: 1dB.
>Frequency response range: 20Hz-20kHz
>Single dynamic driver configuration.
>High-performance dual-cavity dynamic driver unit.
>Neodymium N52 magnetic architecture.
>Aviation-grade aluminum ear cavities.

DESIGN AND FIT:
The construction is the best aspect of this IEM where for this 35USD price range no earphones provide this premium feel on the hands. The whole construction is made out of aviation grade aluminium which feels extra premium on the hands and does provide that nice heft on the hands. A nice design language is presented on the faceplate with a single vent. The 2 pin connector area is nicely flushed within the body. The ergonomics of the IEM is pretty nice thus the isolation and the fit is great.
The included stock cable is pretty good in terms of quality even though they feel sticky on the hands due to that rubber coating. The termination and the splitter area are metal while the connector area is plastic. Overall for the price the stock cable is above average. They also provide a variety of ear tips to choose from which does provide an excellent seal in the ears.

SOUND:
The sound profile of the Shimin Li is more on the balanced side with more emphasis over the mid section. In simple, the mid section takes the centre stage while keeping the bass and treble in the backstage. The tonality is exceptional here with fatigue free upper mid emphasis too which leads to impressive detail retrieval and liveliness. Let’s check out the sound section in detail.

BASS:
Even though this contains a single dynamic driver the bass delivered by this is mediocre. Expected a lot from this set but the bass is just disappointing in this.
SUB BASS: The sub bass extension is very poor where the rumble is not that evident even in some bass prone tracks. The reach is quite shallow hence the satisfying vibrations are null in the Shimin Li.

MID BASS: The mid bass is average where this lacks the impact and weight. The bass is warm enough but lacks the body and attack. Every bass note appears lacklustre and impacts less. The bass notes sound to be very loose and the tight bass presence is not noticed here.
Apart from those negatives, the bass does have good control and speed thus the bleed into the mid section is very negligible and done a good job in that aspect. Due to this even the track separation appeared to be pretty nice with a good sense of space in between the instruments.

MID RANGE:
The mid range is the sweet aspect here as well as the star show. The tonality especially is very natural and transparent. It's very pleasing and realistic thus it gives a nice engaging experience overall. The whole mid range presentation is done in a forward manner thus each instrument in the background and the vocals are placed well and forward giving a lively experience.

LOWER MIDS: The lower mid section has a nice bodied sound with adequate fullness. The fullness is neither too crowded nor completely left out. The male vocals especially have that thicker nature along with that richness. The piano notes and the kick drums have a good attack and nothing feels on the thin side.

UPPER MIDS: The upper mid section is nicely elevated without causing any fatigue in the longer listening sessions. The female vocals are nicely stretched out without any constriction in the extension. The river female vocal leads to that lively feel overall throughout the track. The percussion instruments and the acoustic strings had that natural strike thus making everything to appear realistic and natural.

The detail retrieval and the track separation is very impressive in the mid section and thanks to that wider stage presence. Every single instrument in the background is not made to be lost and brought out front in very good fashion.

TREBLE:
The treble here is tuned to deliver a smoother sound overall without compromising on the details. The extension in the top end is above average and does retrieve some good amount of details.

BRIGHTNESS: They do have an adequate amount of brightness in the top end thus delivering some nice sparkly sound. The brightness does help in delivering an open sound overall thus no sort of closed feeling is sensed out.

SHIMMER AND BRILLIANCE: They are above average even though they are not the best out of this. Considering the other competitors in this price range these aspects are nicely done here. They are comparable to that of the Year Mirror.

CYMBAL CRASHES: The cymbal strikes are pretty nice with precise attack and decay. They do provide a good amount of splash thus the lively feel of the instruments are preserved. The timbre of the instruments in the Shimin Li appears to be neutral and no sense of metallic taste is observed.
The trumpets and the other percussion instruments do have that natural tone and the precise attack thus overall the treble is tuned as good as the mid section.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging is wide enough and the height seems to be correlating with that. The depth sensation is pretty average due to that shallow bass response. The wider stage led to impressive track separation and nice presence of air in the mid and treble section.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: Both these aspects are done excellently in this Shimin Li. The transient response felt pretty smooth with precise placement of the instruments. One can easily spot out the instrument even in a complex track without any confusion since the separation and staging are stellar in this.

Varying depth of notes are nicely presented out hence the layering felt pretty impressive in this. The channel sweep felt smoother and non stutter.

VERDICT:
Shimin Li, the latest budget offering from the house of Tangzu (Previously TForce) is a well executed Mid centric in ear monitor. The brand is well known for their Yuan Li model which got good response from the consumers and as a brand they are one of the few who actually listens to customers and tunes the sound based on that. The Shimin Li being their first budget IEM they have done some impressive work in it.
Coming to the build and design these are just marvelous. For 35USD the build and packaging they provide is stellar. Full aviation grade aluminium build which feels much premium on the hands and one would never believe this is a budget one without seeing the price tag of it. The stock cable is pretty nice with a wide selection of tips.

Coming to the sound, this is a mid centric tuning with more emphasis over the vocals and instruments. The bass is the weakest aspect here and if you are here with more interest towards bass then this is a no go. The mid section is tuned well with equal emphasis over the lower and upper mid section. Forwardly presented thus the experience while listening is more engaging and lively. The treble section feels more open and airy making the instruments sound more natural. The presence of air is not restricted and the extension in the top end is not limited too. The technical aspects like the staging and the layering are extremely done well for the price.
Overall the Shimin Li is not just an IEM at this price, but rather an equipment that delivers a PLEASANT experience to one’s ears. The mid range beauty can be experienced by one after listening to this.

INTRODUCTION:
Tin HiFi, the brand based out of China is a well known brand among the Audiophiles for their exquisite sound signature. The Planar drivers earphones being their flagship series, the P1, P2 already got their own place in the market for delivering impressive sound but the con is that they need demanding power. To correct that, the P1 Max has been developed to run in a more efficient way and in this review let’s check out the impressions out of this product.

SPECIFICATIONS:
Driver Unit: Φ14.2mm Planar Magnetic driver
Sensitivity: 98±3dB @1kHz 0.126V
Frequency Response: 10-20kHz
Impedance: 16Ω±15%
Rated Power: 5mW
Max Power: 10mW
Max Distortion: 3% @1kHz 0.126V
Interface: Gold-plated 2P connector
Plug: 3.5mm gold plated plug carbon fibre tube

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me as a part of review circle organised by HiFiGo. The whole views are based on my source and pairings hence it might differ from person to person.

If you are interested in purchasing this unit, feel free to go ahead via this unaffiliated link: HiFiGo
Amazon

DESIGN AND FIT:
The whole construction is made out of resin rather than the aluminium used in the predecessors. However the construction felt more premium in the hands and felt sturdy enough. The 2 pin connector area is nicely flushed within the body. The fit and the isolation that these provide is excellent and the stock tips do go hand on hand with it.
The stock cable is well shielded and constructed with nice metallic coverings over the connector, splitter and termination area. They do give that premium feel on the hand.

SOUND:
The sound profile of the Max is now more mature and at the same time this provides the adequate fun that most of us expected from a planar IEM. The sound is more on the balanced aspect with natural and smooth tonality. The bass is warm enough with bodied mid range and smoother treble yet bringing out those essential details. In the following sections let’s discuss in detail.

BASS:
The planar bass is always a special one since they have that nice sub bass reach without intermingling with the mid bass region. Difficult to attain it from a dynamic driver which is being attained in this planar. The sub bass reach here is good and does provide that nice satisfying rumble in the low end. The mid bass is pretty warm enough and full bodied making the kick drums and bass guitars sound more fuller and thicker.

The separation and the control of bass in the Max is nicely done with adequate speed. The attack and decay of the bass notes appears pretty precise enough. The mid bass region feels well separated out from the clustered instruments thus the dynamic range feels wider. The mid bass being pretty warm and bodied enough the sub bass sometimes gets lost. For the most part people wont complain about its sub bass rumble but as per my taste they felt slightly lacking in some tracks where the mid bass takes the centre stage.

Overall the bass is just as precise as a planar driver would deliver. The control, speed, separation and the warmth at a very sweet spot while the sub bass reach alone is slightly lacking as per my taste. The rumble is quite present but its not that evident is some tracks. But as an overall package the bass is presented well here

MID RANGE:
The mid range is good as well with nice natural tonality with smoother and forward vocals. The tonality felt natural with the nice realistic timbre of the instruments. The vocals are presented well and forward thus the vocals felt more engaging. The lower mid range felt nice and thick due to that warm and bodied mid bass section. The male vocals felt nice and fuller making the tracks to be more engaging. The upper mid section is nicely extended without any sibilance making the female vocals sound more crispier and lively enough.

The detail retrieval in the mid section is good enough bringing out all the essential minute instruments. The acoustic guitar strings and the piano notes felt nice and fuller with natural timbre, thus no sort of metallic taste was observed. The separation felt much better in the Max where there was a good amount of space in between each layer. Due to this nice spacing the presentation felt wider and big enough allowing the staging to be pretty grandeur.

Overall the mid range is more natural in terms of tonality, fuller vocals thus a nice engaging experience. Well separated instruments with great layering. The detail retrieval looked much nicer, the staging felt big enough to make the presentation look grandeur.

TREBLE:
The treble section in the Max is more on the smoother and non fatiguing side rather than being more shouty. The treble felt much more mature with nice cymbal strikes and detail retrieval. The cymbal crashes felt livelier with more precise attack and decay. The trumpets sounded well with nice richness and crispness. The sibilance is kept under control thus providing a nice longer listening session without causing any fatigue.

The treble also felt smoother rather than being grainy hence the instruments sounded very pleasing. The separation in the treble end felt much better with more presence of air in the top end. The staging being wide enough the presentation felt nicer and bigger.

The shimmer and brilliance in the top end felt great with a good amount of brightness to the whole presentation. They never appeared dark nor too bright; rather the adequate brightness helped the Max to deliver an impressive treble response.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging is quite good here with a nice sense of width and height overall. The depth presentation is done well too due to that nice engaging bass response. It could have been better if the sub bass reach was even deeper. Due to this bigger stage presence the separation felt much nicer here and this presented a nice sense of spacing in between depth of layers.

IMAGING: The imaging is quite nice here with precise placement of the instruments in the background. The layering is done well with great separation in between each layer. The transient response felt pretty smooth and neat.
Detail retrieval and the track separation felt nice with above average technical abilities. The 14.2mm planar driver really delivered some impressive technical aspects here without causing any fatigue in the longer listening sessions.

VERDICT:
P1 Max, the latest offering from the House of Tin HiFi is the successor to the already well known P1 and the P1 Plus. The Max is developed in order to make this more efficient in terms of driving them. The P1 Max surprisingly can be driven easily via smartphone and generally that's not recommended since if you want to unleash the full dynamic potential it's better to switch to a separate dac amp or DAP.

Design wide they are pretty neatly done now with resin construction overall rather than the CNC machined aluminium in their predecessors to reduce the cost. The construction is very sturdy despite the use of resin here. The 2 pin connector area is provided here for easy cable swap and the fit this provides is very good. They provide very good isolation and the stock ear tips do provide nice stability in the ears. The stock cable is pretty good with a copper coloured accent. The connector area and the termination end are stainless steel and overall they feel very premium on the hands.

Coming to the sound, they just deliver what the planar should do. The bass here is nice and thick with adequate warmth. They are full bodied, well separated, precise speed etc.. The sub bass is good and provides that satisfying rumble but could have been better. The Mid range is nice with natural tonality, great separation, nice and forward vocals, adequate stage presence. The treble section is more mature with null sibilance, above average detail retrieval and a smoother presentation with precise amount of brightness and shimmer in the top end. The 14.2mm Planar did deliver some impressive technical ability in terms of imaging and staging.

Overall, the P1 Max is a well executed Planar package. Has a great design and sound and now in a very affordable price range with easy driveability. People out there interested in trying out “THE REAL PLANAR EXPERIENCE” in the budget range? Then this is the one to get!

INTRODUCTION:

Tin HiFi, the brand based out of China is a well renowned brand among the audiophiles for its amazing audio products. The team has their In House sound signature which one can hear via the older products like the T2, T4 etc.. The planar driver earphones still follow their in house curve while the budget products from Tin HiFi are turning towards general consumer oriented sound signature to capture the budget market. The T3 Plus is an example for the success and to continue their strike in the budget market they have launched this T1S as a successor to the T1 Plus and in this review let’s check out how good this is in the current times.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Configuration: Beryllium Plated Diaphragm dynamic driver

Pin Type: 0.78mm 2 PIN

Colors: White, pink, black, and green

DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me by Tin HiFi to review out. The whole views are based on my observations with this product and it might differ from person to person based on their pairing and sources.

If you are interested in purchasing this product then please go ahead with this unaffiliated link: Here

DESIGN AND FIT:

The whole construction is made out of plastic but well built with nice sturdy finish overall. The body is transparent which allows the components to be seen via the naked eye while the faceplate is coloured to give a style to the IEM.

The QDC connector feels sturdy but can feel the tightness while inserting the cable. The stock cable is good and it's a silver plated cable. The braiding feels good but definitely not to the level of premium. The cable feels neither soft nor hard on hands, rather it's ok in terms of supple nature.

The provided stock tips does provide nice seal and isolation overall hence the after market tips are not required for the most part.



SOUND:

The sound profile of this product is more on the balanced side which is pretty interesting since most of the budget products do have that traditional V shaped sound. Initially I thought that this product was going to have that mediocre v shaped sound with a more warmish tone but the T1S really surprised me in that aspect.

The overall tonality of this product is pretty smooth and balanced accompanying the overall signature too. The bass is on the heavier side while the midrange and the treble are on the balanced aspect. Technicalities being on the above average side, this really brings up some heat to this budget competition. Let’s discuss the sound in detail in the following sections.

BASS:

The bass in the T1S is pretty prominent and the most instantly striking feature during your initial listening periods. The amount of the bass here in the T1S is more on the pronounced side. The mid bass takes up the center stage hence the sub bass might feel weaker in presence. The quality is pretty good too and I will see in detail.

SUB BASS: It’s good but due to that bigger mid bass presence the sub bass gets lost in the background most of the time. The bass being bigger, lost its track on the control aspect. The sub bass reaches deep enough and creates some good rumbles but their presence gets masked by the mid bass.

MID BASS: The mid bass section is bigger and thicker but lacks the impact. The mid bass feels loose hence the impact it creates is pretty small. The loose mid bass also lead to that noticeable mid bass bleed hence they sound not that great in terms of separation. The bass does sound good in the simpler tracks but when the tracks get complicated with more background bass drops they struggle in terms of separation.

Despite the usage of the Beryllium coated diaphragm the bass they delivered is of mediocre quality. The beryllium bass usually tends to be more precise with more tightness while the T1s is not that great in terms of above mentioned aspects. The speed is on the slower side thus helps in those nice sub bass rumbles.

Overall the bass is thicker, bigger and bodied while lacking on the technical aspects like the control, separation and impact. The beryllium can be used to reach its full potential but here they have failed as per my testing.



MID RANGE:

The mid range is the more positive aspect in this T1s especially the tonality. Despite that bigger bass presence the tonality felt more balanced and smooth, more pleasing to listen to in simple terms.

The lower mid range has that nice full bodied sound that got carried along from the bigger bass presence. The lower mid section feels fuller and the male vocals have that nice richness. The piano notes and the kick drums have a nice fuller sound but lacks the impact though.

The upper midrange section feels very pleasing to listen to. They are not that accentuated but still able to deliver that soothing sound overall. The harshness is avoided at all costs in the upper mid section hence the guitar strings do sound absolutely fantastic.

The tonality is pretty balanced with smoother edges. The timbre of the instruments felt natural and that's expected from a single dynamic driver. The instrument separation in the mid section felt nice and wide since the staging is pretty big in terms of both the dimensions.

The detail retrieval in the mid section is brought out well and felt above average. The minute background instruments are brought out nicely without any congestion or hindrance. The vocals are placed at an appropriate position which never felt too forward nor very backward.



TREBLE:

The treble section is inoffensive here where they are controlled in all aspects and even in extension. The extension that they possess in the treble section is moderate hence the detail retrieval in the treble section cant be expected that much but the overall presentation felt clean and smoother.

The cymbal crashes, electric guitar strings and the trumpets do sound good but lacks the splash and shimmer. The attack and decay are pretty precise in terms of timing but lack the brightness factor. The bigger mid bass section and the smoother mid section made the treble to sound less brighter hence the instruments in this section got hindered behind the darkness.

The brilliance and the shimmer in the top end is pretty restricted thus the brightness is much reduced with a darker background. The sibilance is kept under control hence no sort of harshness is observed during my testing.



TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging is pretty big in terms of width and has a good sense of depth since the bass is bigger. The whole presentation felt pretty grandeur without any noticeable constriction. The instruments are nicely placed with a good amount of space in between them thus the presence of air felt nice.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: Imaging is done pretty neat with nice transient response over the channels. The instruments are neatly laid out hence one can easily spot out the instruments without any confusion. The notes at different depths are captured out precisely and the instruments behind them are layered out very well.

The detail retrieval and the separation are above average in this price range. The treble is not that extended hence the details are moderate at best while in the mid section the separation felt neat and clean. The separation in the bass section however felt congested due to that uncontrolled mid bass section.

VERDICT:

T1S, the latest budget offering from the house of Tin HiFi is a well made product with a very good intention of bringing out a nice balanced sounding one. The brand has a well expertise in the audio industry and has their own line of successful products like the T3 Plus etc. When comes to budget offering only few brands are able to catch up the competition since the people’s demands are expensive to meet within a single budget product. The T3 Plus is one of the rare gem which was able to meet the requirements. If you ask about the T1S, does it meet the criteria? Well it's a yes/no situation here.

First of all, the build is great with a nice transparent body and a coloured faceplate. They feel pretty lightweight and comfortable to wear. The QDC connector is a downside though but despite that the connection feels sturdier. The stock cable is fine but could have been better. The stock tips do provide nice isolation and seal.

Second, when coming to the sound aspect they do tick most of the boxes but misses out on some, especially like the bass region. They have mastered the tonality, smoothness and an overall pleasing listen in the budget range via this T1S and a very good upgrade over the T1. The midrange felt lively and engaging while the treble felt smoother yet detailed enough. The worry aspect is the bass where the impact is lacking. Despite the use of beryllium they haven’t unlocked the full potential of it seems. Their bass quantity is bigger and bodied while the control, impact and the separation is pretty mediocre.

The brightness is another factor which is lacking in the T1S due to that bigger bass. The whole presentation is presented in a darker background which is good for bedtime listening but it would have been better if the brightness was there.

Overall the T1S is a very good product with one of the best tonal packages, smoother signature and bigger bass. This is a perfect choice if you already fell in love with products like iBasso IT00 etc. Person who loves the darker background with smoother sound will love the T1S for sure since this is one of the best “TONAL PACKAGE” with smoother sound presentation.

INTRODUCTION:

7Hz, a newly established brand based out of China, got a good reputation among the Audiophiles. They are well expertise in the production of high end IEMs since the Timeless IEM is a testimony for that. The Timeless, a planar driver IEM got a raving response among the consumers for its spectacular sound hence the price to performance ratio was solid with that product. To celebrate their anniversary they launched this single dynamic driver IEM named Eternal and in this review let’s check out how this fares against the current competition.



SPECIFICATIONS:

Resistance - 30 ohm

Sound pressure level - 109db/1 khz

Frequency response range - 10-20000hz

Driver - 14.5mm moving coil

14.5mm LCP Dynamic Driver-Laboratory level

CNC Aluminum Cavity Sapphire Optical Glass Faceplate

OCC+Single Crystal Silver Cable

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review circle organized by team HiFiGo. The whole views are based on my sources and pairings with this product hence it might differ from person to person

If you are interested in purchasing this product please do via this unaffiliated link:

Amazon: Here!
HiFiGo: Here!

DESIGN AND FIT:

The design language is same as that of the Timeless but with some minor changes like the sapphire glass faceplate instead of the usual aluminium faceplate. The use of expensive sapphire glass does help in avoiding the scratches and the breakages. The circular shell does help in providing a nice isolated fit with good comfort.

They adopted the MMCX connection and as per my usage the connection felt secure and easy to remove. The provided stock cable is an OCC cable with copper and silver cables. The braiding is done sturdier and does have the outer sheath to provide uninterrupted connection. They are available in different terminations varying from 2.5, 3.5, and 4.4mm.



The provided case is well built enclosing a full metal construction. They are very satisfying to open and close with a nice felt lining inside. The case colour is very attractive where its bronze metallic colour matches the colour of the IEM making this look like an expensive jewellery!

SOUND:

The sound profile of the Eternal is more on the balanced side with more emphasis over the mid range section. The bass is present but it's very much subdued out while the treble is kept at a pleasing rate. The mid range is where the show starts by displaying its natural tone and lush timbre. Being a dynamic driver they could have done even better but hope in the next iteration that just changes and improves. Let’s dive into the full dissection of the audio.

LOW END:

The bass here in the Eternal is more mature than fun organised. The quality is where the eternal excels while misses out a lot on the quantity side. The balance between the quality and the quantity is missed out. The sub bass especially is not that great in terms of reach, rumble and presence. Even in the sub bass prominent tracks the sub bass notes appear to be subtle.

The mid bass is present but it too requires the quantity to make it sound fuller overall. The punch and the slam is missing out here and the attack is not that authoritative. The quality however is kept nicely where the control and the speed is admirable here. The bass is pretty fast here hence the separation in the low end is pretty good in the eternal. The clarity and the texture in the low end is kept nicely without any sort of distortion or excess bloom.

Overall the bass is focussed more on the quality side over the quantity side. The slam, attack and the weight is missed out while the separation, control and the speed are kept at a steady rate. The fullness factor is not present here due to that weightless bass response and being a single dynamic driver thought that the bass is going to be pretty fuller but the reality is kind of opposite even after the utilisation of the LCP diaphragm which is known for its impressive bass response.



MID RANGE:

The mid range is the perfect star show with excellent tonality and timbre representation which we usually see from a dynamic driver IEMs. First the vocals, where even though they are tuned to be presented in the forward position, they still sound pretty comfortable for the longer listening sessions without causing any harshness in the long run. The vocals are presented well articulated with natural sound reproduction without making them too smoother and muffled. The natural tonality is displayed out everywhere making this a very good vocals centric IEM.

The instrument has a nice warm timbre giving a nice engaging experience for the listener. The piano notes and the acoustic guitar strings have a nice note weight thus they sounded very much fuller. The detail retrieval in the mid section also appears pretty good hence the minute instruments are brought out really very well hence the separation aspect is a thumbs up in this eternal.

Both the upper and the lower midrange are tuned well with equal emphasis. The whole midrange section appeared pretty fuller yet clean with no noticeable distortion. The tonality is kept natural with a nice warm and lush timbre producing a nice thick overall sound. The detail retrieval in the mid range is pretty good and does bring out minute instrument notes even in the busy tracks.

TREBLE:

The treble is kept in a silent manner where the sibilance is kept under control. The extension in the top end is pretty good providing some great amount of airiness in the top end. The overall signature is neither too dark nor too bright; rather , they are safely tuned to provide an adequate amount of brilliance and shimmer in the top end.

The cymbal crashes sounds pretty good with nice attack and decay but still they appear to be slightly recessed and subdued. The splash in the instruments is kept quieter to provide a pleasing and non fatiguing listen in the long run.

The detail retrieval is kept at a good pace since the extension in the top end tuned great. The adequate amount of brightness gave the Eternal a great amount of separation in the top end thus the instruments never sounded congested and appeared pretty spaced out.



TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging in the Eternal is pretty good. It’s wide enough and above average for the price but it’s definitely not that big enough in terms of depth and height. The nice wide staging helped in bringing out a nice grandeur presentation. The layering is made well to where the varying depth in the notes is brought out really well. The vocals and the instruments are layered out very well with nice positioning. The depth in the stage is not that great since the bass response in the Eternal is pretty much subdued.

IMAGING: The imaging is pretty good here with nice precise placement of the instruments where the listener can easily spot out the instruments even when the busy tracks are replayed out. The channel sweep and the transient response felt pretty smoother. Since the staging is wide enough nothing felt constricted out thus the placement felt pretty much precise.



VERDICT:

Eternal, the latest offering from the House of 7Hz is a solid package for the consumers who love the mid range a lot. The Eternal is equipped with a 14.5mm LCP Diaphragm Dynamic Driver producing a nice balanced mid range focused sound. The Timeless is their previously launched product, being a planar product it produced a fantastic sound for the price and that’s my primary recommendation for the price. The Eternal is not their direct successor since the driver is a Dynamic Driver.

The sound out of the Eternal is pretty balanced with more emphasis over the midrange. The bass being on the weaker side with subtle quantity lacks the impact. The treble section is tuned out offensively with adequate brightness in the top end providing a nice pleasing overall listen. The mid range has that natural tonality with warm and lush timbre providing a nice full and thicker sound.

Technical aspects like the staging are pretty wide enough, depth being on the shallow side due to that impact less bass response. The imaging and the layering are spot on with precise placement of instruments and representing every varying depth notes accurately. The detail retrieval is good enough but definitely not the best out of the competition.

The design language is pretty unique and follows the same pattern as that of the Timeless having a disc shaped shell providing nice comfort and isolation. Instead of the usual aluminium faceplate the eternal equips the sapphire glass which is pretty much seen in the luxury wrist watches to avoid scratches and breaks. They do tend to show scattered effects when the light strikes on them.

Overall, the Eternal being a single dynamic driver produces a well matured mid centric sound with excellent design choice. That unique dynamic driver tonality and timbre is so addictive, providing a nice pleasing listen overall. The bass is the weaker aspect and could have been improved considering the LCP material that they have used. This is surely a MID”PHILIC” iem that every audiophile out there should have in their collection if you do love the mid range that much. If i have to pick one, then i would go with the Timeless as my option since that sounds better to my ears.

INTRODUCTION:

IKKO, the brand based out of China is a well established brand among the audiophiles and the major hit for the brand is the OH10, the IEM that revolutionized the Bass frequency among the audiophiles. The brand has a very few catalogs of products but everything has a great amount of response among the consumers. The Ikko is known for their CRAFTSMANSHIP AND VALUE since from the materials they used to manufacture till the way they deliver the product everything feels premium and in that regards they have launched this innovative product into the market named Breezy IT01 and in this review let’s check out how innovative does this appears among the crowd.



SPECIFICATIONS:

>Latest Bluetooth V5.3 connectivity.
>Bone conduction sound driver.
>Directional sound transmission.
> IPX6 waterproof rating.
>Dual operating modes, Game & Music.
>Standby time: >30 Hours.
>Battery life: up to 6.5Hours.
>Charging time: ≤2H.
>Charging dock: 350mAh, adds up to 10 hours of battery life

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review circle organised by the Team HiFiGo. The review is completely based on my observations with this product hence its neither influenced by the brand nor the team. The observations might differ from person to person since it depends on the source and pairings with this product.

If you are interested in purchasing this product then please go ahead with this unaffiliated link: Ikko Breezy ITG01
DESIGN:
The design is different out of all the products out there in the market. The ChiFi are usually known for their in-ears while Ikko released this product with an interesting design aspect. The zero isolation open back design looks interesting but when it comes to pure sound experience they definitely fall short.

The whole construction is made out of CNC aluminium. The headband is non adjustable which is a bummer while the earpieces are oval in shape with a single button on either side acting as a multifunction button. There is a light indicator on either side for indicating the status and the speaker grill is situated in the sides of the earpiece.

In the inner aspect of the earpiece is where the bone conduction system is incorporated which provides that nice tickle sensation to the ears. The rubberised material has been incorporated on the ear hook side for maximum comfort.



SOUND:

The sound profile of the Breezy is more on a natural side with neutral midrange, smoothed out treble section while the bass region has been accentuated a bit but not excessively. In simple terms we can conclude that it's more of a Balanced sound. As an initial thought I wondered how it's going to sound since they have zero isolation but surprisingly the sound out of these little open ear buds is above average. Things could have been better if some aspects had been improved and hope this would be done in the future models for the superior sound response. Let’s check out in detail about the sound in the following sections:

BASS:

Considering the design it adopts, I definitely thought that the bass is the first thing that this Breezy is going to get lost on the track but surprisingly the bass here is above average. Even though they don’t compete with that of the complete in ear design bass, still the response here is very good. That added Bone Conduction system tickles your ear ossicles whenever the bass drops get lower giving that nice satisfying subtle vibrations in the ears.

When coming to the frequency response, the sub bass here is pretty great when compared to the mid bass section. The sub bass reach is good providing some nice rumble even though they are not that bass head level since the design it adopts is the culprit here. The mid bass section is good too but it's more on the lighter side thus providing more details over the quantity. The slam and the attack gets missed out while the separation, clarity and control in the bass section is preserved.

Overall the bass here is good but it can be even better if the design has been improved. The headband here is non adjustable hence the earpiece area doesn't get settled comfortably in the desired position thus the sound response varies. In stock it has a cleaner, controlled, well separated bass response with adequate sub bass presence which is great considering its zero isolation design but it could have been better if the headband was adjustable which would definitely improve the overall sound out of it.

MID RANGE:

The mid range here is more on a neutral side with nice rich vocals and a laidback presentation since it's a part of open back design. The tonality in the Breezy is neutral with slight warmness to the package. The timbre of the instruments appears to be slightly brighter which gives the rich sensation overall.

The vocals are laid back hence the staging appears pretty big with a good amount of space for the overall presentation. Both the male and the female vocals have that rich tone making them appear more natural and engaging. The instruments in the background are replayed out very well with good separation and tone. The piano notes and the kick drums have a nice tone while the attack could have been better if the design has been improved which we discussed in the previous section.

The layering and imaging are pretty above average and since the staging is bigger they don’t have much difficulties to be faced in the technicalities. Overall the midrange is pretty great with neutral response, bigger staging, better separation and pleasing upper mid section. The lower mid section feels slightly on the thin side due to that relaxed mid bass response and that's the con in the mid range.



TREBLE:

Treble feels it has been tuned on the safer side with a very pleasing listen. The extension is good but definitely not the best when compared to that of the in ear designs. The detail retrieval from the treble section is above average and the overall presentation feels a bit brighter. The cymbal crashes and the trumpets do sound slightly brighter and it may be due to that zero isolation.

The separation and the clarity in the treble section is very good since the space and the air available here is on the bigger side. No sorts of noticeable congestion are seen around hence the overall presentation felt much grandeur. The tone in the treble section feels brighter thus giving that splash and shimmer on the top end. The sibilance is kept under control and even during the prolonged listening the treble never felt harsh or unlistenable.

Overall the treble section has been tuned pleasingly with above average detail presence, clarity rich and smoother presentation. The treble section is rich enough in terms of tone and engaging factor and if the fit was better the sound could have been even better.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: It’s pretty big in the Breezy where both in terms of width and height they feel big enough. The whole presentation felt nice and big where the laidback presentation helped in the bigger stage presence. Due to this bigger staging the whole separation and clarity aspect felt much improved and better.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: These aspects do sound better in the Breezy. The instruments are placed at a precise position while even the transitioning from one instrument to the other felt pretty smooth. The complex tracks are replayed out well too without any noticeable constriction.

The detail retrieval and the track separation felt pretty neat and clean and above average considering the design aspect that it accommodated.



CHARGING AND BLUETOOTH:

The earphones are charged via a provided dock which will give the battery life of 6.5 hrs and along with the dock the usage hours gets improved to 10 hours.

The Bluetooth version they have used here is the 5.3 hence the connection speed and the stability pretty much feels improved over the previous versions.

It’s IPX6 water resistant hence it can easily survive from the water splashes and the sweats that you get out of your gym sessions.

There is no app for configuring the controls or adjusting the settings hence the stock option sound is the only way to use them.

The mics are pretty good enough indoors and do struggle a bit in the noisy surroundings and that's the case with most of the budget oriented Bluetooth earphones.

VERDICT:

Breezy ITG01, the latest offering from the house of IKKO is an innovative package overall implementing some futuristic tech options like the bone conduction along with a nice open back earphones with much versatility and practical usage.

The Breezy has a bone conduction coil along with the directional vocal technology hence the sound out of the Breezy feels open and provides a new experience if you are a regular in ear design user. The design is the striking aspect here where it's completely versatile in terms of usage. They adopt a nice earpiece design which never enters your ear canal rather it sits near the ear with a support of a metal headband. The head band is fixed though hence the fit is a major con here. The earpiece has a small opening for the speaker which delivers the sound and the bone conduction system is resided near the speaker giving a nice tickle to the ears.

The overall sound is neutral with more emphasis over the vocals. The bass here is weaker but considering the design it adopts they are above average with more quality over the quantity. The midrange adopts a neutral side. The tone appears slightly warmer with a nice pleasing upper mid section. The treble section felt smoother yet providing some good amount of details with a good amount of brilliance in the top end. The staging felt superior and thanks to that laidback presentation. Technical aspects like the imaging and the layering felt good too.

Overall the Breezy IT01 is a well thought product with good sound but could have executed better in terms of design. The headband especially is the major con for this product which is non adjustable hence its not a universal fit. Definitely this is a NEW THING TO EXPERIENCE out of all the crowded products out there and it would have made its spot clear if the execution was made correct.

INTRODUCTION:

Muse HiFi, the brand based out of China is a newly established brand concentrating on the IEM market has released its new product POWER, a planar based IEM with an attractive pricing of 199 USD makes a nice place in the IEM Planar market. In this review let's check out if this really gives a tough competition in the sub 200 USD planar market since the 7Hz Timeless already took its place.



SPECIFICATIONS:

>New flat-diaphragm 14.5mm planar magnetic driver.
>Impedance: 32Ω.
>Driver Module: 14.5mm nanometer flat diaphragm planar magnetic driver.
>Frequency response range: 10Hz-40kHz.
>Plug Type: 3.5mm single-ended.
>Sensitivity: 106dB.
>High-purity single-crystal copper+Silver-Plated Hybrid cable.

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review circle and the whole views are based on my observations, sources and pairings hence the views might differ from person to person.

DESIGN AND FIT:

The design is pretty standard for an IEM with a gold trimmed faceplate and a sturdy resin body. For the price the body could have been a metal but it's not the case here. The provided stock cable is of good quality where they are completely cloth braided and the metal parts are used in the termination and splitter areas. The ear guides are slightly thicker making the fit a bit resistant.

The fit is pretty good and the isolation it provides is decent enough and one can easily find a good fit since they provide a nice selection of various ear tips in the package. The provided case is nice faux leather wrapped with magnetic closure and the branding over the case looks subtle and neat.



SOUND:

The sound of the Power is more transparent and open as told in the description of the earphone but lacks the qualities of the planar earphones that usually has. The driver that they have used here is og high quality (14.5mm nanometer flat diaphragm) but the quality that they deliver here is of very limited quality.

The sound overall is more open and transparent but needs more mature tuning and definition. The staging is a pretty impressive aspect of this earphone but the dynamism is the lacking factor here that the planar usually has in them. Let’s check out each frequency in detail in the following sections of this review.

BASS:

The bass in this Power unit is pretty subtle in terms of both sub bass and the mid bass. The mid bass is slightly better than the sub bass presence but still they need more improvement in that area. The sub bass feels pretty null in terms of presence where even with some sub bass heavy tracks the rumble and the reach in the low end is very subtle to experience.

The mid bass is less in terms of quantity but good in terms of quality however. The mid bass has less bleed into the midrange hence the midrange felt pretty cleaner. The mid bass attack and slam is pretty weak making the bass impact very dull and powerless.

Overall the bass in the Power is pretty average in terms of quantity but good in terms of texture and clarity. The impact could have been better and misses on that planar bass quality where they would feel more impactful and powerful. The bass speed could have been reduced a bit to make the bass more fuller and presentable and I hope in the next iteration of the product they would change the negatives.

MID RANGE:

The mid range in the Power is a pretty neat aspect of this IEM. The lower mids are slightly recessed out while the upper mids are exaggerated a bit hence you will definitely notice that slight sibilant for the letters “S” in the upper midrange section.

The tonality of this IEM is on the neutral side where it's neither too warm nor too cold. The transparency that this IEM possesses is the main aspect here with its nice open sound. The staging is bigger and that's one of the aspects that I like in the Planar setups. The bigger stage helped the Power in establishing the nice sense of space in between the instruments and the overall presentation felt much grander and open.

The vocals are presented in a well established position where they are slightly a bit forward too. The upper mid emphasis makes some sibilant prone letters to sound a little bit more harsh. The lower mids recession makes the male vocals sound slightly recessed. The timbre of the instruments are good and neutral too hence no metallic taste is observed.

The piano notes and the acoustic guitar strings have a nice tone in the Power while the kick drums lack the impact and weight in the lower midrange section.

Overall the midrange is pretty neat when compared to the other frequency response but needs a bit more improvement in the lower midrange fullness and the upper midrange emphasis reduction. The presentation feels overall grandeur and made the sound more open.



TREBLE:

The treble in the Power is another well established frequency in the Power where the detail retrieval and the clarity in the top end is really nice and well tuned. The instrument notes are neatly brought out with a good amount of details in the background.

The cymbal crashes and the trumpets sound really nice with great tonality representing the natural tone of the instruments. The electric guitar strings have that natural strike and tone delivering some impressive tonal aspect. The treble section has been tuned nice and smooth with no fatigue in the longer listening sessions.

The upper end also feels more open and the presence of air is more than adequate. No congestion in the top end has been observed, making the treble section sound nice and open without putting out any restrictions on them.

Overall the treble section in the Power is well detailed, clarity rich and open sounding. A smoother and safer tuning in the treble section but still this managed to bring out all the essential qualities of the top end.

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging in the Power is pretty nice and wide with more than adequate width and height. The sense of depth is average since the low end in the Power is just average. The sense of width gave that nice grandeur presentation. The instruments and vocals had a great sense of space in between them making the separation felt better.

IMAGING: The imaging aspect of the power is nice since the staging is nice and wide. The spatial cues and the instrument positioning feels more or less accurate. The channel sweep and the transition from one channel to the other feels smooth. The notes of each instrument can be easily spotted even in the busy tracks and thanks to that nice spacious staging and great separation of the Power.

Overall the separation and detail retrieval of this Power IEM is pretty satisfactory and meets the quality of a Planar driver. The technicalities aspect from this planar driver is extracted to the fullest.



VERDICT:

The Power, the latest offering from the house of Muse HiFi is a Planar driver based IEM with the size of 14.5mm nanometer flat diaphragm is a well tuned package but also has a room for quite a bit of improvement to be done in several aspects.

The design aspect of this IEM is pretty gorgeous with a nice gold trimmed faceplate with a nice resin sturdy body. The 2 pin connection feels nice and tight with some great stock cable in the market. The fit is good and the isolation it provides is great since they provide great options of tips to find the best fit for the user.

The sound aspect is the area that needs more improvement especially in the Dynamism. The planar is known for its impactful sound, especially that dynamic factor! The bass in the planar usually sounds tighter, punchier and has a good amount of reach and rumble but in the Power the quality just lacks rather the quantity like the texture and clarity feels nice. The upper midrange feels more emphasized hence the sibilant sounds are much more prone here while the lower mids fullness is absent thus the kick drums lack the impact in the sound. The treble section is the positive aspect of this Power where the detail retrieval and the separation is above average. Frankly I would choose the 7Hz Timeless over this Power for its impressive sound quality!

Overall a safely tuned IEM with much more improvements can be done in terms of sound if the drivers full potential has been extracted and i hope the UNTAPPED POTENTIAL would be re-established in the next iteration of product from the house of Muse HiFi.