Neo D8-LTD

Disclaimer
All of the following gears are demo units from Starspicker Audio Library (Unless otherwise stated) located in Malaysia, thanks to them because without them this review wouldn't had been made possible. I am not affiliated with Neo or any company involved in the production. The following is my un-biased amateur review, please enjoy!



Introduction
I remember when I first getting into the world of more than just your casual-earphone-bundled-with-your-phone, custom in-ear monitors A.K.A CIEM was like a luxury option that will cost a kidney and an arm, with barely any options to choose from at the local market (Malaysia) where I live at, it can only be left to be desired.

Cue to few years later, a lot has happened. Chi-fi penetrating the audiophile markets, making audio gears more affordable and friendly to it ever had been, making newbie easier to join the audio game. It has been a great scene. Not just for head-fi, but for the pro audio community as well.

Musicians monitor the gigs on the stage with the use of either speakers on the floor or personal in-ear monitors, universal models like the Westone UM1, Shure SE215 and many other models. However not everybody is able to get the perfect fitting with the necessary levels of isolation on the stage when performing due to individual unique ear canal shapes, some have to even use different sizes on both side just to get the fitting right. Artist with bigger budget will be able to look elsewhere for custom-fitted in-ear monitor from brands like Ultimate Ears, JH Audio and Westone. Unfortunately, there wasn't any models available from these brands that were asking for less than a 4-digits price tag (In Malaysia Ringgit of course.) at all. Majority of users doesn't even know how custom-fitting feels like at that time.

Today on the table, a local CIEM brand called Neo showed us that everyone can own a CIEM. Debuting their first model, the D8-LTD. A single dynamic driver CIEM priced at a wallet-friendly price of RM480(~114USD), aiming to be an alternative for models like the infamous Shure SE-215 for musicians on-stage monitoring use, but with custom fit instead.

Build and Accessories
In the box (there isn't any carrying case included to be honest, due to the low price tag, it's recommended to at least get a protective hard case for it.), it comes in with just a soft rubber coated MMCX cable with a standard length of 1.2m.

The shell is made of high quality resin, running your finger through the surface of the shell you can barely feel any edges as the finishing was well done. You can also see through the transparent shell easily to see what's inside, a striking red colour dynamic drivers, few internal wires, the MMCX sockets and the tube feeding the sound to the nozzles. It's as simple as it can get yet it brings out so many for the price you're paying for.

Design
The demo unit is equipped with a shiny red glitter based faceplate, beside glitter based design, you can also pick transparent colours or solid colours faceplate. With the Neo logo in the middle of course. The best part is that Neo doesn't charge a single cent for any of the available designs, I remember some big brands charging us almost the price of this CIEM for their glitter faceplate, while the quality being not much of a difference from each other.

Sound Analysis
I will divide the sound analysis into four sections being, the Bass, the Mid, the High and a quick comparison with the a few other in-ear monitors going for around the similar price range.

The gear I'll be using will be as following:

• Astell & Kern Kann Cube (Starspicker Demo unit): For the best scenario in the perspective of an audiophile
• Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen with Foobar 2000 on laptop (My personal home use interface): For the scenario of a content creator use
• Huawei P9 Plus with USB Audio Player Pro (Mine, Starspicker doesn't sell phone): For the scenario of an average Joe daily commute use

The reference music source and reference tracks I'l be using will be as following:

A mix of musics source from either Tidal store purchase (Yes some have MQA if that matters to you) or CDs ripped via AK CD Ripper MKii.

• Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next: A well done Pop studio album for all-rounded sonic performance
• Daft Punk - Random Access Memories: One of my all time favourite studio album for a mix of electronic dance, funk and pop genres
• Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra conducted by Yan Huichang - Terra Cotta Warriors Fantasia: You don't normally see Chinese Orchestra around here, but I had this piece here due to my background of being a player in one. This recording is for the test of coherency and dynamic performance.
• Rebecca Pidgeon - The Raven: Spanish Harlem, Spanish Harlem and Spanish Harlem. One of the song that I see a lot of people use as reference track, you can't deny how good the recording is.

Bass
The Neo D8-LTD has a very fun bass, some might find it a bit bloated on the sub bass depending on what kind of song you're listening to, bass heads will love it when listening to club mixes and rap tracks.The bass texture was fine for an entry level in-ear monitor as well. The bass was also a pleasant experience on Terra Cotta Warriors Fantasia when the percussion kicks in with the right amount of rumbling and natural thump, at the same time also bringing in a great ambient feel of as if you're in the same auditorium as the orchestra. However on recording that already has a lot of the lows, it can sound a bit heavy some times. A little bit less bass could've been a bit better.

Mid
Moving over to the mid we find ourselves a well presented vocals and pianos that are not too laid back, which is a plus for me. There is also a certain level of warmth on it while listening to vocal tracks like Spanish Harlem by Rebeca, making it a listening experience that won't make you feel fatiguing for long listening session. The vocals were definitely soothing on several tracks that I've listened to, but what I like the most are the strings session where it's silky smooth and carries your emotion through out the whole session. Not to mention the icing on the cake as well, which is the woodwind and brass family equivalent which is the Di Zi and Suo Na. They really bring the whole image to a next level, one I would call ear-gasm. I am very satisfied with the amount and quality of the mid.

High
Here is the one part that a lot of entry level in-ears suffer at, the Neo was fine with handling highs, I would not call it great but trust me, I've seen worst. On modern pop recording like Ariana's Thank U, Next, it was actually just nice, trap high hats and snares was not overdone where it might sound thin. The French Duo also used a lots of real drums in their Grammy Awarded Album - Random Access Memories, they too sounded crispy and engaging to me. The amount of high that the D8-LTD offers isn't a lot but it was definitely a healthy amount in my case, I've seen a lot of entry level in-ears trying to please consumers with a hefty amount of highs so that it would look nice when the frequency response comes out or in some case to get a shiny golden High-RES certified logo I guess. They sound great on papers but in reality it's often the opposite where some would get a false perceive of quality which to be honest is just boosted highs that kills the coherency, and ultimately making it sound unnatural . The highs does roll off a bit but not to an extend that I wouldn't call it dark at all, though I would prefer it to have a little bit more highs to widen up the sound.

Quick comparison

Neo D8-LTD (RM480/~114USD) vs Shure SE215 (RM470/~111USD)
The legendary Shure SE215 has been a no brainer choice for a lot of musicians due to it's affordability and good universal fit, however what I am confused is how this model has been around for such a long time yet there's not a single major update on it beside packaging designs and varieties, guess you don't fix things if it ain't broken. Anyway straight out of the sound you'll be getting a lesser amount on the bass, overall it's a cleaner sound but over the time the more pronounced vocals might scare some away since I do find it fatiguing after listening to a variety of tracks with vocal for a while. Classical pieces were fine and cleaner as well, but due to the lacking of low end, it wasn't as exciting as the D8-LTD and the strings session would become piercing at some point as well. It's a good alternatives for sure when comparing straight up with the D8-LTD however if you're very serious about on-stage monitoring experience, it's a good idea to get yourself a pair of custom fitted in-ears, especially at such a steal price.

Neo D8-LTD (RM480/~114USD) vs Fiio FA1 (RM459/~108USD)
Here we have another contestant from a brand that has definitely showed the world that head-fi doesn't need to be expensive to be enjoyable. It's Fiio that we'll also be comparing today, this time bringing in one of their entry level in-ears, the Fiio FA1. Inside is a single Knowless 33357 balanced armature driver, basically it's a battle of small long boi vs small red round boi balanced armature vs dynamics. There has been a debate for a long time between which one is superior over each other, but I would say it would all boil down to one personal preference. To me at least, both of them will probably work well on different occasion. Surprisingly, while the FA1 has a bigger shell than say that SE215 above, it's a very snug fitting due to the ergonomic fitting design, though not as good as the custom fitted D8-LTD. Physical appearance aside, let's talk about the sonic differences, generally balanced armature driver will sound quicker due to the fast decay sound projection, making it a more aggressive sound in some cases, however the bigger downside here is that balanced armature lacks in the range of the sound frequency that they can produce so you can find it to roll off on certain parts on the song. Comparing to the D8-LTD will sound a bit brighter, which in my opinion, some musicians would prefer not to have for on stage monitoring use. Hear me out because I do find that a lot of musicians prefer not to have a fatigue sounding in-ear on the stage, especially when the gigs is going to take a few hours time. It will definitely not be a comfortable experience overall, but for critical listening, it is quite a nice one for one to have.



Neo D8-LTD (RM480/~114USD) vs Tin Hifi T3 (RM269/~64USD) Damn that's cheap good value
Finally, a very good example of the trends and hype going around these days - Chi-Fi. For just RM269 you get the greatness of Head-Fi, it must have been a great time for newbies because I remember paying almost double the price for something that performs similar like this in-ears that I will be comparing the D8-LTD with, the Tin Hifi T3. However I have to mention first that the fitting was not the best compared to any of the one mentioned above as it took me some time to even get a good seal, do take note of that if you ever plan to use it for any sort of live use. Comparing it side by side with the D8-LTD it's a tough choice since the T3 does sound quite nice considering you only paying for around RM269 for it, though I find the T3 to sound a bit bright, it could be the not-so-good fitting or that might be how it was tuned to be. For daily use it's a very good choice, but I will stay away from using it for any sort of on stage monitoring use due to the shallow fit, it definitely won't fall out during gigs but the way it sits on my ears doesn't fit as well as it wasn't really ergonomically designed so some of the edges are touching your skin.



Conclusion
After finishing the three sections and the comparison above, you will roughly get an idea of how the Neo D8-LTD would sound like, although the alternatives above have some small margins of wins on sonic performance over the D8-LTD, I can't help myself but to look back at how good of a value it is. RM480 for a CIEM is definitely a first that I've ever seen, period. The D8-LTD perform well across all three of the gears that I've tested it with. The Kann Cube was a powerful beast with a neutral tonality, the Focusrite sounded neutral as well though it loses quite some amount of sonic performance to the Cube due to the huge price difference and hardware. Strangely, my phone sounded colourful and bright but that's OK as it actually compliments the D8-LTD well in a different way. In short, it's too hard to give any further complaints to this model due to the value it possess over other alternatives. Thus it was given a rating of 4 out of 5 by me.

The Neo D8-LTD can be purchased through Starspicker Audio Library via their Facebook Page. There'll be an additional ear impression charges of RM50(~12USD) if no ear impression was provided. I was also told that it's only limited to 20 units, hence the name D8-LTD.