QKZ x HBB Hades Review
Redcarmoose Labs March 19th, 2024
As such we find a collaboration between HBB and QKZ. The YouTube luminary is sporting his tuning abilities and marketing power to use once again. HBB is a Youtube personality continuing to empower his sound ideas, and build an IEM for his personal library. Maybe much like a guy in the backroom at QKZ, only this HBB is more noticeable and exists as a high-profile entity which puts a name and a face onto the IEM tune. And not only the tune but HBB may have a say on how the Hades was named and/or designed to look. After a few HBB collaboration efforts I do regard them to share a common sound profile, regardless of the builder. Really this collaboration stuff I am “OK” with, meaning sure it is maybe overused, but at times the sound designer brings personality to the table, and brings forth a particular sound that is both understandable and unique.
Hades
So here we find something slightly different, as the Hades is put together with X2 9mm LCP diaphragms, only each driver gets a signal passed through by the crossover. As such this crossover splits the signal into 2 parts and gives 1 9MM the lows and one the highs. Now here’s the thing…….normally I get fairly good ideas as to the playback character straight out of the box. And I did a box opening set of photographs and interpretations. Only this time I thought the Hades was good and did some secret sauce tricks that contained a big stage as well as filled that stage with a ton of sonics. Meaning sure the Hades out-of-the-box was good, but I wasn’t sure about the pace it offered? I actually couldn’t exactly recommend it at first. A few weeks later after a couple other reviews and leaving the Hades on the burn-in bench for a week and what do you know…………what ever that pace issue it wasn’t totally gone but improved upon....in fact the Hades was alive………….
Hades
While sure, look at the graph. This is an oddball style of tune none-the-less. But it does two very important things right off…….maybe these are the most important things? The Hades has reverberations and note weight. Yep, these two components when added to the rest of the qualities make an IEM often musical. And that’s what we have. Great timbre too. I mean right off……..studying the graph will alienate 1/2 of Head-Fi. And that’s an accepted part of life. Where many put confidence on reading graphs only and have a set of parameters which delegate where their money gets spent. Even if they have been doing this IEM hobby thing for only 6 months, they think they know themselves and the ropes around here. Sure there is nothing wrong with thinking that way, only you have to realize graphs are only a squiggly line on paper………and don’t make a sound at all. Sure that may be representative of how the Hades graphs out……….but once again I wouldn’t read too much into the graph. Why? Well you may overthink yourself straight out of getting a low-cost and enjoyable IEM. What the Hades is is fun, but more than fun……there is a reason for this fun. Now just so you don’t think I’m part of this conspiracy to talk purely sales talk and somehow make you buy something you are not going to like……………buy something that maybe I don’t even like, but sound like I do......I’m going to list the last five review scores I have done.........
1) 4.5
2) 5.0
3) 3.0
4) 3.0
5) 5.0
Do you see those 3.0 star reviews? That was partially due to lack of note weight and lack of reverberations. And the reason I’m giving the Hades a better score is because I really think burn-in did something…….that or it was just me getting my first impressions off, or incomplete or something? Because in a nutshell the Hades has great timbre, actually fairly OK pace, considering the amount of bass going on. It has an insane stage, with super cool imaging……….and more musicality than two IEMs. Yep, I really like it and think it is a value for the $49.99 asked. In fact this review was one of the easy ones to write. As that is kinda how it goes down when you groove with the style of playback you’re writing about………..the words flow out and onto the paper, and at the end of the day everyone is happy.
Equipment rolls:
Here we investigate how Hades does with different ideas of playback.
The HiBy R3 II in 3.1 TypeC file player mode to the ifi GO bar.
I used four different cables in today's testing yet one I’m not going to talk about the included cable. While not bad if you had to use it, it is one of the most tangly cables I have ever received with an IEM? The other three cables include the 4.4mm NiceHCK Himalaya cable, the SIMGOT AUDIO LC7 in 4.4mm and the Penon ASOS Plus in 4.4mm. To simplify things here is the HiBy R3 II and LC7 hooked up to the Hades out of the GO bar in 4.4mm.
Tested using the Batman v Superman OST:
I’m still learning a lot. As this is not the most treble boosted tone, but gets its definition from pure resolution, opening the stage to glorious imaging and spacial clues. Of course I have the volume pumped as such a relaxed yet authoritative display would get you the personal freedom to do. Yet again the staging is the value here, as I’m not so sure I have ever heard under $50.00 be so grand in size? But while maybe not the most detailed pace, this theme that I’m listening to is fully acceptable and even going the extra mile to proclaim bass details, it is just there is an added furry texture and deep harmonic richness that is really the opposite of what I normally listen to? Yet I’m listening and the highs are still there and separated and playing back representing their desired frequency response though of an amber color and not bright yellow. Still the winning presentation comes from correct timbre and 2 9MM DDs kicking some butt.
The HiBy R3 II by itself:
A fast change out to the HiBy R3 II in less than 0.5 of a second showed slightly less detail yet this style of DAP works. I mean it is not always that you want to walk around with this Frankenstein’s Monster of a set up. At home you are fine, but out and about I would probably take the convenience of just the Hades hooked up to the LC7 in 4.4mm to the HiBy R3 II in great form? Here we are given a slightly less detailed rendition of the events than the GO bar yet still very thick and authoritative. The stage is incredibly eventful and fun, and I truly don’t have a want for more. This M signature HiBy R3 II does just seem to work here?
The WM1A and ASOS Plus Cable with the Hades:
Some may find this set-up ridiculous as the ASOS Plus is $215.00? Yet combined with the mid centric powered WM1A we are now witnessing a grand enhancement of character. Yep, the ASOS Plus is cleaning up the floor and placing everything on shelfs here, there is a faster pace and an all out charm to the music. Even the harmonics of real instruments somehow get closer to real life. This is true, only finally at the end of the tunnel we still capture the deep lower midrange energy the Hades does 24/7………you can’t escape this tone, yet all around it is a cleaner and faster positioning of musical excitement.
Music tests:
Here right off I’m going to get down and dirty into my perception of music playback. No better way to describe an IEM. Also later in the review I’m going to do side-by-side tests against 2 other IEMs, yet don’t you think the music tests should come first? Reason being is you want to get to know the IEM before you start to compare playback character.
Kaveh Cohen, Michael Nielsen
Forza Motorsport OST
Forza Motorsport 2023
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
This song is the opener of this soundtrack. And while I’m more specialized at using other choices in this OST, the song just happened to come-up when I was writing and by chance I thought it would be a different style of song to use here. First off it is the opener, so a song that seems to have a little more pace than some of the more moody pieces. Laughably nothing is really that moody here. As such this is the style of music meant as a backdrop for the gaming experience, a racing game experience. I mean I have never even played this game, yet I can almost feel the cars traveling across the track when this song is played? Of course that could all be simple suggestion too. Where you think a song is a tool for a racing gaming soundtrack and all-of-a-sudden feel like you’re playing a racing game. Here as with all the music tests I’m using the Sony WM1A with MrWalkman’s firmware, the NiceHCK Himalaya cable and my regular wide-bore ear-tips. As such the WM1A is very mid-centric and has ample bass pace, typically sculpturing the bass and making the midrange be the star of the show. The wide-bore ear-tips also add to such style of clarity and add soundstage into presenting itself the widest it can be. I cheated here, yep I skipped ahead to the song I normally use as I just wanted to make sure that I got this character, the Hades character in full clarity of perception.
Brotherhood:
And later I will go back to the opening. But here we have a tremendous amount of bass, it is this room response as I like to call it. What happens is sound energy reflects off the inside walls of the speakers, then travels out to the back walls of the listening room, and reflects off the side walls adding to the tone coming from the front of the speakers. This single phenomenon is one of the major differences from speakers to headphones. This room response is also responsible for adding note-weight and authority to everything it touches. Big fluid bass though what counteracts it is the 2.5 kHz to 4.2 kHz peaks. Yep it is the presence of this form of contrast that allows the clarity to form regardless of the lower realm trying to cloud it up. Though a side reaction is in a way you don’t totally hear into the sonics, there is an amount of detail which gets subdued and replaced with this warm inviting musicality and thick imaging. This imaging is so very big into the stage that even the lower midrange is somehow pushed out into this soft but slowly moving authority that never lets up. Drums where this downbeat is heard makes a quite opposite statement in that with other IEMs it can be a slap, yet here that slap is only the iceberg sticking out of this fully low-end submerged aspect that is there, below the water level. Yet due to this sonic repositioning I can almost hear this as complementary to how I normally hear this song, it showing the darker half, and while truly entertaining, it is not something I have to get used to to enjoy………as it sounds strangely correct right off, only I know there are other playbacks which offer a different window into playback.
Forza Motorsport 2023
Here we are supplied really with the same song theme as “Brotherhood” , my regular test song. Yet here the pace seems a little sped-up and saying hello for the introduction. Where there are the regularly used piano notes, yet here we are provided with a deeper tone, holding the underworld of sonics, still correct, yet very very different from how I normally listen to this. There is less fatigue for this listener, and I don’t seem to ever get bass fatigue either? I’m not sure if this makes sense but I seem to like the Hades more with songs I’ve only known for a week. Yep, the newer styles of files that have less stigma attached to how my mind demands they get heard have better luck. Is this a back-handed compliment, it may be?
E-Mantra
Expedition Frozen Taiga
When Darkness Comes
44.1 kHz- 24 bit
As such this song somehow totally works here…………to about 95% it works. The drums at the start and the echoes they contain adds to the mood. I mean the whole trick here is to somehow start to fool yourself that this is completely and totally correct, when I’m not so sure that it is…….but it is not bad? I mean this exists because the makers of the Hades know they could never make a thrilling IEM that only did upper-end details and bring it to market for under $50.00. So what they can do (and get away with) is introduce a bass heavy IEM that has thrills from the low-end details, then get HBB to sign off on the thing.
As such this seasoned listener can’t be totally fooled into believing this is 100% of playback………it just can’t be? Now maybe people who have less experience, or bass heads will say this is totally perfect, but the Hades gets 1/2 star less, because how can you ever rate anything like this as 5 star? That’s its role in life, to be controversial and different, I mean they understood this when they were making it, I’m sure. In a way it is marketing, because in a way nothing exactly like the Hades ever existed before now. As such……”When Darkness Comes” has a lot of digital reverb in its creation. The opening drums the keys……….really this style of music would be at least 90% different if reverb was not used. With that said The QKZ x HBB Hades grabs hold of the reverberations and doesn’t let go of them. As such they (the reverbs) are drawn out to the ultimate length here. See that’s the thing, DD drives can have many different sounds, maybe even more than applied characters to BA devices or Planar devices? DDs can be bright and with lesser reverbs, or long and extended in reverb performance. I have to guess these reverbs though are also connected to how this IEM is tuned. Make the diaphragm rigid and watch the reverb times get a cut. But no, here we are going for it, all of it. As such if you do take a walk into the town of Hades make sure you get a few days of burn-in going and play with your brighter sources and cables, maybe looking for a little balance, unless you are from the dark side…………….you know the bass head side. Then I don’t know what to tell you, you are obviously in an under $50.00 paradise. Here after the beat and after the bass drops we are greeting a style of echo which takes position way outside the stage. Why didn’t I talk of the obvious here…….you know the bass and the drums…….? I mean surely those are the front and center statements in music like this? It’s just that yes, when the drums hit they bring about an accent until the bass kicks in at 00:54….then you realize the entire groove of the song. And what’s memorable is the extra reverb continuation…….off to the sides, both sides……that sounds like one of those infinity reverbs, like it will never end…….and it is so far gone we can’t find the original sound that started it. When in reality it must be a sampler Hrrrrrrrr. At 01:20 when the brushes hit we find that finally there is a range going on here and it blends as much as the Hades will allow. That in-fact there are many levels of emphasis to the brush strokes. And sure as each element of the song is introduced we are grateful and entertained. As this style of music is dependent on introductions to push the interest forward and to the next part. That it is the variations that are of interest, not the actual sounds themselves, partially. At 01:48 there is a big splash of treble…….well treble for this song anyway. Though with-in a seconds time we realize this was the departure of the beat. Yes, more intros and exits than previously guessed, could or would even take place here. Where even as soon as the 02:02 mark there is the resulting break-down. Then back to full elements as scheduled, only once more a bright and wavy introduction of treble………this travels from side to side and reassures us to the extent of stage width at 02:16. You see they know just how much new information to add……running from any chance of boredom. In music like this from the 1990s at this point they may even add a spoken word snippet? But possibly we are now way farther away from any taking life forms? At 02:44 the keys are once again added, yet they are not too dark or too anything…….just right. At a place like this in a 06:11 song we are satisfied, satisfied that there is a warm groove below us with additives on-top and no fear of (this song) getting stale, as by now it has earned our respect.
Then maybe it comes some talk, but not really of an understandable language, a vocoder saying something that I can’t make out, this vocoder may have been through-out the song so far, as it is these realizations that add mystery and magic.
E-Mantra
Neverending Story
Neverending Story
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Really slightly more uplifting than the last song, Oh……..those drums? Lucky the mind goes and starts to somehow place those beats into the rear focus, the mental focus. But wait, the use of starting and stopping of the beat keeps it at the forefront. Then we drill into the texture, the message…….the message is there is a heavy, super heavy bass here………I mean this is a bass track. In fact I’m embracing the bass……it’s taking me away. Eventually the song begins to end, but it just started. It is this time machine aspect of good IEMs where you literally lose 4 minutes into the song…….being preoccupied by the pure tone of it all and that’s the value. This phenomenon goes by (and time passes unnoticed) and is therefore pretty much indescribable……..but that is the way of escapism entertainment.
Deep Forrest
Deep Forrest
Sweet Lullaby
44.1 kHz - 16 bit
Here is a song very representative of the new musical culture of the times. A window into musicology and cultural anthropology. Here we can witness a very organic and spellbinding fusion of old dialect from 1970 mixed with samplers of the era. Interwoven we experience the warmness of the Beagu lullaby mixed with a stark vibe of the samplers, drum machines and synthesizers. The bass laden beats push this forward, but more than that the vocal samples make it through……..and while sure I have heard this song played from the opposite end of the spectrum, capturing the airiness and spacial size that comes with a more flagrant midrange……..of course. Yet this still works and better than just work, it is an alternative way to hear the song…….traveling to a different region of emotion and pace. Literally everything is slightly toned down, yet being brought forth due to the 2.5 kHz to 4.2 kHz peaks. I mean sure this take on what is right playback or wrong is truly subjective in the end, yet a song like Sweet Lullaby simply works. At least it works for me with the set-up I’m using currently? This song also uses a plateau of stimulus organization where more and more audio information is added upon each other to introduce a kind of extra effect. Later (after the break) a chorus of singing takes and makes this song go to the next level. It may be simply the texture of the drums and bass in both this song and the last that makes all this work so well. I really don’t think the original samples were stereo……that a background chorus was then recorded to add to the luster of the song. And each sample was panned from right to left to kind of add an amount of energy to such a mix. Though when it comes down to it, it is the warm vibe of the drums and the exquisite deep lower midrange energy (almost analogue) that makes this (somewhat sleepy) song gain the added points to work in replay.
Gdanian
Induction
Sheild Emitter (feat. Tineidae)
44.1 kHz - 24 bit
Well, I can’t do this review and not include this song. In fact this kinda means I have to include a few more test songs than I normally do just to go to the deep place (in bass) that we have on offer. Here we are visiting a deep ambient bass track filled with real depth and deep energy. In fact the bass here is almost effortless and holding a physical and visceral charm……that only a source like this one could possibly provide. Now while going for it and getting it here, there are other headphones which provide a better separation and layering especially at the 01:31 mark. But the Hades is more rudimentary here, more primal and even stupid. Yet at the price of admission and for the entertainment it provides, all is forgiven. Where here the bass is actually physical, it is crossing those boundaries and becoming a force to deal with. While other more balanced IEM players will take this song apart into striations of bass, here we are greeted with a cohesive one, with extra deep attachments that pull on our emotion like a new thrill. I mean I have used this song so much (for review) that I know it……….and there are even up-top elements like breathing and chimes that are not even heard…………so they don’t exist in the music with the Hades. It’s truly funny how one IEM can take apart one level of song aspects and other go the opposite route, and neither are really wrong at what they do, only very different. I mean sure this song is almost like only sound effects………so there are many different ways to hear it. With the extra bass it was fun, but probably my favorite way to hear it is more neutral with treble separations to include those chimes…….yet this was a cool and different experience.
Ghost
Phantomime
Phantom Of The Opera (Iron Maiden cover)
48 kHz - 24 bit
For many readers this will be the only song that holds any value in the group. Reason being it is one that is not based on synthesis. Yep the rest of the songs (except for Sweet Lullaby…..which has vocals) have very little “live” instruments used, and therefore are direct to board recordings, which put a different style of demands and overall sound response in IEMs. And out of necessity I placed this here at the end. And sure many more discoveries resulted, as guessed due to actual real-life timbre and room echoes etc…etc. Also too, this is after spending a full day with the Hades in my ears. So there is a style of acceptability that is brought forth, mainly because it is to the IEM you are reviewing causing listening issues, but the one before and the one before that one. So much of the time it is mental acclimation which decides what is good or bad in reviews. It is the reviewers responsibility not to be sidetracked by such memories. Here really the Hades are the floor standers here. The speakers in the room let the deep harmonics flourish and take form. The opening guitar parts are done with some type of octave multiplier effect that lets the strings play a down-tuned note along with the upper guitar register note. Such an effect is used often in rock to expand the guitar and add harmonics. And here it is to sound like multiple guitars playing and in fact it could be both used? This is called double leads in the music world, and Iron Maiden have made such things their trademark. Note only that but the bass is also going along for the ride here…….mirroring the note events. All I can say is the Hades is somehow unearthing the whole gambit of information here…….every part. The sound is full, harmonically rich……and big……….and we are only 00:10 seconds in!
At 00:20 seconds we are now face to face with these room reverbs and just as guested…….yep, the Hades is going full-tilt to go right along with what is demanded of it. At 00:27 the guitar chords hit and once again we are brought new tones to try and discover if they are correct or not. The best part of the 00:34 segment is the fact that the guitars are dueling it out and taking different images into stage presence. And while an after effect of such density becomes a burden on pace……..you started to expect that. It is this giving up of pace as a trade for excitement that becomes the guilty pleasure in the end. The fact that you can’t have this much bass energy and expect the pace to not be affected, it is just a fact of sonic life. Still I can hear the cymbal crashes and while not in any way forward, they are still separated and doing their thing in the outskirts of the stage. The vocals here……..listen I don’t want to make the Hades be any more or less than it is…….except this is not a vocal centric IEM in any form or fashion. As such Tobias Forge is simply there, not too far back but questionable if this is truly a correct way to interpret him. Yes, of course other IEMs push these vocals are forward……yet we can still hear him, just not all of his expression and luster.
Packaging:
While the cable is nothin to write home about, it works. Though maybe the most tangly I have ever come across?
Build:
While often disregarded as cheaper to make an IEM from 3D printed resin, many may prefer the idea, offering a more comfortable temperature in cold weather. Here we are greeted with a single vent off the bottom with an additive unusual rectangular vent off the back as seen (both) in the above picture. Here the nozzle looks to be shorter than it really is, with no bevel to hold tips on, my favorite ear-tips seemed to work flawlessly, and I don't know why? A inset screen gets out of the way and seems to function without notice.
Side-by-sides:
Here we try the Hades against its contemporaries.
The BLON X HBB Z300 (Middle position)
$39.99
https://www.linsoul.com/products/blon-x-hbb-z300
The TINHIFI C2
$29.00
https://www.linsoul.com/products/tinhifi-c2
Sure, ask me how or why I chose these IEMs to compare and I will tell you. For starters the Z300 had a place in being the very first HBB collaboration I was familiar with. Then the C2 was the odd-man-out, meaning there was a chance here that the TINHIFI C2 could show us the differences by contrast of why we may want something else to use. Yep, I’m not all about just glorifying the Hades experience, yet while it does offer thrills, it is not everything. Word on the street says I like Crins collaborations better, and that may be true? Why, well this Hades is so over the top, it exists as a great departure from your regular listens (in my humble opinion)……….though to be using it all the time………well you could be forced into a style Hades?
The BLON X HBB Z300 v The Hades:
Here we are giving the extra benefit of using the ASOS Plus and WM1A as a way to trim the authority and as revealed right before add an extra ounce of pace to our test subjects. Laughably this Z300 is the Hades off the steroids. Yep less density and power, less stage and faster more nimble pace. A pushed up midrange not lurking in the depths, we are now gifted with a less dramatic and less bass powered example of IEM art. Yet somehow (and don’t ask me how) the Z300 is not as involving…..the stage is not as big and I can see the limits of the Z300’s performance. Where we just came from a huge auditorium and now we are witnessing a smaller club with a slight glare that the Hades does away with 100% of the time. Which would I choose here………the Hades confusingly? Where the Hades was like (all-of-a-sudden) a longed for girl that just got on the bus. Yep, a need for just what the Hades did in absence of its twisted charms.
The TINHIFI C2 v The Hades:
So call me a risk taker………..sure this is budget…..but only 1/4 less money. But in hindsight this was the perfect IEM response to end our side by sides. Why? True there could have been other “perfects” but the C2 offers a very straight forward (while still warm) example of balance. The balance is everything the Hades lacks, and we do get benefits of such even Steven. Yet, it isn’t all sunshine and ice-cream cones for the C2. Nope that while there is a more forward vocal rendition, even stuff like vocal reverbs get more notice as they are near the same vocal frequency in generation……..but? The Hades has a bigger footprint, a more dramatic and cinematic vividness regardless of what gets covered-up in the fallout. While TINHIFI has made a truly great IEM with the C2, it is not really boring, but at the same time it is not doing the sinful excesses of the Hades, it is not walking to the dark side of town, and going to those dark bars where after a few drinks what is wrong becomes right. Yep, in my days of listening the Hades it has slowly enticed me over to the darker realm of life.
$49.99 without microphone
$50.99 with microphone
https://www.linsoul.com/products/qkz-x-hbb-hades
Disclaimer:
I would like to thank Kareena from Linsoul for the love and the QKZ x HBB Hades review sample.
Linsoul website: https://www.linsoul.com/
Linsoul Aliexpress Store: https://ddaudio.aliexpress.com/store/2894006
Linsoul USA Amazon Store link: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=merchant-items&me=A267P2DT104U3C
Equipment Used:
Sony WM1Z Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Sony WM1A Walkman DAP MrWalkman Firmware 4.4mm and 3.5mm
Samsung Phone 3.5mm
HiBy R3 II 3.5mm/4.4mm output and 3.1 USB Type-C output
GO bar Dongle