Background
I first came across Rhapsodio, a boutique IEM maker based in Hong Kong, back in May 2013. I purchased their RDB+ v1 hybrid then, which is rather fun-sounding. After a year or so, I thought I needed a more neutral-sounding pair of IEM, so I contacted Sammy again to check out his offerings. Lo’ and behold, the great customer service from Sammy and the great experience with RDB+ v1 convinced me to purchase the Reference One Titanium (RTi1; single DD).
I felt that it suited most of my listening needs (e.g., covering genres like classical, some pop, some jazz) very well, except for one drawback… the bass. The sub-bass was underwhelming in my opinion, even though it may not seem so from the frequency response graph. But for its plus points (e.g., overall neutral sound signature with a slight hint of warmth, energetic presentation, heavenly vocals), I was very happy with the purchase and stuck with it for another 1.5 years.
Forward to early 2016, that’s when the upgraditis hit me again, and I felt like I needed an IEM that deals with the sub-bass issue of the RTi1. Of course, I contacted Sammy again because we have very similar listening tastes and I thought that he might have something new. This is where I found the Galaxy!
This is my first formal product review, and it is simply because I am so impressed with the Galaxy that I decided that I should share the love. I hope the review below makes sense and will be helpful to people interested in the Galaxy.
Fit and feel
If you would refer to the Galaxy review by San Man, you will be able to see nice images of the packaging, round metal case, and the IEMs themselves. So I will not touch on this here.
The Galaxy are very light in hand, and have a nice solid feel to it. They came with the flagship silver-gold SG2.98 (98% silver, 2% gold) cable that costs USD380, which is great in terms of flexibility, microphonics, and looks. (Flinkenick has a great review on this cable.) But due to personal sound preferences, I have switched out the cable (moving this SG 2.98 to the RTi1 because it really enhances the sub-bass) and I am using a custom cable made with SoundPlus silver-copper hybrid wires instead.
They came with spin-tips in a variety of sizes. Initially, I thought these tips were doing a decent job in fit and sound isolation, until I saw comments in the forum about JVC Spiral Dot tips working even better. Since I have the JVC tips, I gave them a shot and the secured fit is now instant with sound isolation that compares very well with my customs (maybe 90% of the isolation). So do give them a try if you are having the Galaxy.
Sound
Yes, the most important part… But please note that I am just an enthusiast and can’t describe sound as well as other reviewers; so I hope I can convey my thoughts sufficiently here. I am using the Galaxy with the Chord Mojo, fed by UAPP app on a Samsung Galaxy S3 on flight mode through a custom short silver-plated copper wire USB OTG cable.
The biggest improvement of the Galaxy as compared to the RTi1 was the accuracy, impact, and quantity of the bass; this was done without compromising on the treble and mids. I do note that I do not like a lot of bass, so please take this with a pinch of salt and refer to the comparisons below. I am now very satisfied with the Galaxy, and I am very sure (at least for the present moment in time) that this is my end-game IEM, if such a notion ever exists.
As I am a believer of cables, I will be writing with the two sets of IEM cables. Of course, I am not able to do an A/B-type of comparison with the different cables, but I am confident of my findings because I have listened to both sets for extended period repeatedly.
SG 2.98: The sound of the Galaxy with this cable is smooth and definitely non-fatiguing. The treble energy is slightly subdued as compared with my other cables, but it is not significantly rolled-off in any way. I thought that the mids were largely untouched when switching the cables; but the bass was emphasized with the SG 2.98 and it is now closer to the bass quantity of the JVC FX-850 (or maybe a little more). The soundstage was wide and deep, very spacious indeed. Coupled with the immense level of details presented by the single DD, I feel that this combination is excellent for a relaxing evening of smooth jazz on the couch or even some exciting EDM. Sammy, like me, also thought that the SG 2.98 gives the Galaxy substantial bass; he feels that a cable without gold (e.g., pure silver) will be more suitable for the likes of us. For people who like lots of quality bass, this cable will be the one to get.
Custom silver-copper hybrid cable: As I preferred a more neutral-type of signature, I tried out this cable. The treble energy is higher now (which is my preference, coming from the Fischer Audio DBA-02) and that plays well with the violin pieces and vocal tracks I listen to; this part is rather similar to the RTi1. Additionally, the bass quantity is reduced and I prefer this balanced amount of tight impactful bass. There didn’t seem to be a huge change in the soundstaging too as compared to the SG 2.98. The balanced sound I am hearing reminds me of IEMs like the Dita series, but the Dita series present music more like a 2.0 speaker setup while the Galaxy has the typical around-the-head presentation of headphones/IEMs.
Drawbacks: The Galaxy has excellent clarity with immense levels of details. As such, it reveals flaws in recordings and can be perceived as unforgiving. For myself, I pay attention to the recording, so my files are of pretty good standard to begin with. Of course, the Mojo provides an excellent source to this detail monster. Initially, I was concerned that it will be too analytical with a detailed source, but the synergy proved to be out-of-the-world!
Overall
The Galaxy is very musical while being analytical (not in a bad sense). Personally, I look out for a pair of coherent-sounding and balanced IEMs; I am less particular about things like soundstaging. To sum up, I value the toe-tapping head-banging sensation from good IEMS, and I get that immensely from the Rhapsodio Galaxy. For that, I highly recommend the Galaxy.
A consistent thing that you will see in the forum and reviews is that Sammy is always very responsive and helpful; this is both when communicating with him before purchasing and after-sales customer service. So if you are on the fence about this Galaxy, do contact Sammy and have a chat with him.
I first came across Rhapsodio, a boutique IEM maker based in Hong Kong, back in May 2013. I purchased their RDB+ v1 hybrid then, which is rather fun-sounding. After a year or so, I thought I needed a more neutral-sounding pair of IEM, so I contacted Sammy again to check out his offerings. Lo’ and behold, the great customer service from Sammy and the great experience with RDB+ v1 convinced me to purchase the Reference One Titanium (RTi1; single DD).
I felt that it suited most of my listening needs (e.g., covering genres like classical, some pop, some jazz) very well, except for one drawback… the bass. The sub-bass was underwhelming in my opinion, even though it may not seem so from the frequency response graph. But for its plus points (e.g., overall neutral sound signature with a slight hint of warmth, energetic presentation, heavenly vocals), I was very happy with the purchase and stuck with it for another 1.5 years.
Forward to early 2016, that’s when the upgraditis hit me again, and I felt like I needed an IEM that deals with the sub-bass issue of the RTi1. Of course, I contacted Sammy again because we have very similar listening tastes and I thought that he might have something new. This is where I found the Galaxy!
This is my first formal product review, and it is simply because I am so impressed with the Galaxy that I decided that I should share the love. I hope the review below makes sense and will be helpful to people interested in the Galaxy.
Fit and feel
If you would refer to the Galaxy review by San Man, you will be able to see nice images of the packaging, round metal case, and the IEMs themselves. So I will not touch on this here.
The Galaxy are very light in hand, and have a nice solid feel to it. They came with the flagship silver-gold SG2.98 (98% silver, 2% gold) cable that costs USD380, which is great in terms of flexibility, microphonics, and looks. (Flinkenick has a great review on this cable.) But due to personal sound preferences, I have switched out the cable (moving this SG 2.98 to the RTi1 because it really enhances the sub-bass) and I am using a custom cable made with SoundPlus silver-copper hybrid wires instead.
They came with spin-tips in a variety of sizes. Initially, I thought these tips were doing a decent job in fit and sound isolation, until I saw comments in the forum about JVC Spiral Dot tips working even better. Since I have the JVC tips, I gave them a shot and the secured fit is now instant with sound isolation that compares very well with my customs (maybe 90% of the isolation). So do give them a try if you are having the Galaxy.
Sound
Yes, the most important part… But please note that I am just an enthusiast and can’t describe sound as well as other reviewers; so I hope I can convey my thoughts sufficiently here. I am using the Galaxy with the Chord Mojo, fed by UAPP app on a Samsung Galaxy S3 on flight mode through a custom short silver-plated copper wire USB OTG cable.
The biggest improvement of the Galaxy as compared to the RTi1 was the accuracy, impact, and quantity of the bass; this was done without compromising on the treble and mids. I do note that I do not like a lot of bass, so please take this with a pinch of salt and refer to the comparisons below. I am now very satisfied with the Galaxy, and I am very sure (at least for the present moment in time) that this is my end-game IEM, if such a notion ever exists.
As I am a believer of cables, I will be writing with the two sets of IEM cables. Of course, I am not able to do an A/B-type of comparison with the different cables, but I am confident of my findings because I have listened to both sets for extended period repeatedly.
SG 2.98: The sound of the Galaxy with this cable is smooth and definitely non-fatiguing. The treble energy is slightly subdued as compared with my other cables, but it is not significantly rolled-off in any way. I thought that the mids were largely untouched when switching the cables; but the bass was emphasized with the SG 2.98 and it is now closer to the bass quantity of the JVC FX-850 (or maybe a little more). The soundstage was wide and deep, very spacious indeed. Coupled with the immense level of details presented by the single DD, I feel that this combination is excellent for a relaxing evening of smooth jazz on the couch or even some exciting EDM. Sammy, like me, also thought that the SG 2.98 gives the Galaxy substantial bass; he feels that a cable without gold (e.g., pure silver) will be more suitable for the likes of us. For people who like lots of quality bass, this cable will be the one to get.
Custom silver-copper hybrid cable: As I preferred a more neutral-type of signature, I tried out this cable. The treble energy is higher now (which is my preference, coming from the Fischer Audio DBA-02) and that plays well with the violin pieces and vocal tracks I listen to; this part is rather similar to the RTi1. Additionally, the bass quantity is reduced and I prefer this balanced amount of tight impactful bass. There didn’t seem to be a huge change in the soundstaging too as compared to the SG 2.98. The balanced sound I am hearing reminds me of IEMs like the Dita series, but the Dita series present music more like a 2.0 speaker setup while the Galaxy has the typical around-the-head presentation of headphones/IEMs.
Drawbacks: The Galaxy has excellent clarity with immense levels of details. As such, it reveals flaws in recordings and can be perceived as unforgiving. For myself, I pay attention to the recording, so my files are of pretty good standard to begin with. Of course, the Mojo provides an excellent source to this detail monster. Initially, I was concerned that it will be too analytical with a detailed source, but the synergy proved to be out-of-the-world!
Overall
The Galaxy is very musical while being analytical (not in a bad sense). Personally, I look out for a pair of coherent-sounding and balanced IEMs; I am less particular about things like soundstaging. To sum up, I value the toe-tapping head-banging sensation from good IEMS, and I get that immensely from the Rhapsodio Galaxy. For that, I highly recommend the Galaxy.
A consistent thing that you will see in the forum and reviews is that Sammy is always very responsive and helpful; this is both when communicating with him before purchasing and after-sales customer service. So if you are on the fence about this Galaxy, do contact Sammy and have a chat with him.