Shuoer Tape Pro

Specs:
Drive unit: Composite Electrostatic Dynamic Driver Frequency response range: frequency response 20Hz-20kHz
Impedance: 16Ω
Sensitivity: 105dB/mW
Earphone pin: 2-pin interface
Length:1.2 meters
Plug: 2.5 mm (3.5 mm adapter included)


Lets stare with the packaging simple and effective and typical of LetShuoer. inside is the Tape pro a IEM designed to look like a cassette tape. Unfortunately, while it looks cool it translates into a possible uncomfortable shape with hot spots on the inside of the ear. The case is good but a little small, this is the standard LetSuoer case for most of their line. Inside is a very nice quality cable and some decent tips as well as filters and nozzle caps and a tool.

The sound of the Tape is a subject of much infamy, I admit it's by far the least favorite of my collection and perhaps lesser than the OG tape in many ways. BUT! with certain music it can be an enjoyable surprise.

Bass:
is deep and impactful with a more emphasized sub-bass and some decent speed and warmth.
Midrange:
presents with a back placement and despite the Bass presence it doesn't have a warm thick presentation, rather its distant and thinner sounding. this IEM is defiantly not for vocal lovers.
Treble:
The highs are slightly subdued but sound average in details and have okay energy in the lower highs.

In conclusion. Yes the tape is not for most types of music, listening to dubstep some classic rock and Edm I found it not as bad as most say. Would I pick this over say the BQEYZ Spring, no but it's not the worst IEM I've heard. At the very least it's a Bass driven, slightly congested but fun IEM that goes with a few types of music.

Every once in a while, an IEM's reputation precedes it, and indeed, the Tape Pro is a prime example. With an accolade of 1-star reviews on Head-Fi (no easy feat, mind you) and no shortage of my fellow reviewers raving about how horrible it sounds, I knew I had to get my hands on one. Thanks to @antdroid for making it happen, although funnily enough, I was likewise thanked for "taking out the trash". So let's find out then: Just how bad is the Tape Pro?

To ease you in, let's start with the bass which is arguably the least offensive part of the Tape Pro's tuning. It's considerably mid-bass emphasized, and it's the epitome of everything wrong with mid-bass: bloat, smeared transient attack, you name it. But it's not unlistenable. No, no, unlistenable is the Tape Pro's midrange. It's a sibilant, sucked-out mess. Male vocalists sound nasal likely due to the unnatural ear gain. The 4kHz peak lends female vocalists to an unpleasant forwardness, occasionally managing to subvert outright sibilance because, well, it dips straight after. Cymbals have virtually zero impact, and treble is generally emphasized in all the wrong places. I don't know what to say. The Tape Pro has some of the worst timbre I've heard, and it's almost completely by virtue of how poor the tuning is.

Technicalities? No doubt, the standout here is the Tape Pro's dynamic range. The Tape Pro sounds incredibly compressed because of the 4kHz roll-off; it doesn't seem to scale swings at all. In all seriousness, though, I'd say the Tape Pro's imaging is acceptable. It certainly feels a tad more open than some other IEMs I've heard; however, that might be more attributable to all the unnatural peaks in the tuning. Outside of this, yeah, the Tape Pro doesn't really have any redeeming qualities, and it resolves more like your bog-standard $30 IEM.

In all fairness - and credit where credit is due - the Tape Pro is a challenge of preconceptions and of my experience as a reviewer. Like so, it might be one of the best "worst IEMs" I've heard, in that I can't help but admire how something went this wrong. At the same time, though, I don't think it's quite to the level of bad that other IEMs I've given a 1/10 have exhibited. Those IEMs had more latent meme factor - be it the trashy marketing or absurd pricing - and for that reason I think the Tape Pro can squeak by ever-so-slightly higher on the bias scale.

Shuoer Tape Pro Review

The Shuoer Tape Pro was sent to me for free for the purpose of me sharing my honest thoughts about them.

They can be purchased here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

About me:

Introduction:

The Shuoer Tape Pro uses Composite Electrostatic Dynamic Driver and retails for $129.

The Tape Pro is my first experience with Shouer sp, unfortunately, I ‘ll not be able to compare it to the original Tape. On the positive side I’ve got plenty of other IEM’s that priced roughly the same (Titan 6, NM2+, I3, MT300 and Spring 2 to mention a few) so I’ll be able to give my subjective opinion on how they perform against some of its main competitors.

The package they arrive in is pretty standard. A couple of pictures says more than a thousand words:



I’d say that the accessories are good for the price. Especially the included cable is really nice in my opinion and has a 2.5 mm termination in my case. There’s also a basic 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm adapter included which I’ve never experienced before and I really appreciate this. It has 2-pin connectors and the housings are made of high quality aluminum which makes them feel very solid without being heavy. You also get a couple of extra tuning screws, two extra filters for the nozzle, a cleaning toll, a tool to change filters, six pairs of silicone eartips and a nice carrying case. Overall build quality seem very good.



The Tape Pro are quite easy to drive. For the this review I’ve used them with the Quedelix 5K and the Radsone ES100 since they’re my preferred sources for portable listening these days but I’ve tried them with a very wide number of other sources as well. I suppose many people would prefer them with a warm source and I suggest avoiding bright or thin sounding sources with it.

The specs:
Drive unit: Composite Electrostatic Dynamic Driver Frequency response range: frequency response 20Hz-20kHz
Impedance: 16Ω
Sensitivity: 105dB/mW
Earphone pin: 2-pin interface

Length:1.2 meters
Plug: 2.5 mm (3.5 mm adapter included)

Ergonomics:
Despite its sharp edges on the housing the Tape Pro is very comfortable to me because the edges doesn’t touch my ears. The stem seems well proportioned and the included transparent tips with black stem is a great fit for me (I use the smallest size). As always with fitting a big YMMV has to be included as we all have different ear shape and size. One thing to note about the Tape Pro is that the lip that holds the tips in place is a bit oversized making it hard to fit some third parties tips on them. Overall fit and ergonomics are good for me and I don’t mind wearing the Tape Pro for a couple of hours without any break.

As for looks I enjoy the industrial all metal design on the Tape Pro and would consider it a good looking pair of IEM’s. They use a 0.78 mm 2-pin connection that I generally prefer over MMCX. As already mentioned the included cable has great quality and I see no obvious reason to change it for something else. Then again I’m one of those persons who doesn’t notice any difference in sound between different cables as long as they’re properly made. My main reason to use third party cables is looks, ergonomics or the wish for different termination but neither is valid for the stock cable in this case.

Sound:
The overall sound of the Tape Pro is actually quite hard for me to describe. The reason for this is that I find it to be a bit strange in overall balance. As the bass on the Tape Pro is tuneble I’d like to mention a couple of things about this before going any further into the description of the sound. The black and red screws on the housing are actually tuning filters for the bass. Switching position on them gives a bit more bass presence, especially sub bass (more about this in the description of the bass performance below). I typically never use tunable IEM’s in their most bass focused setting but the Tape Pro turned out to be an exception so the rest of the sound description in this review is with the bass screws in the non-stock configuration. Back to the overall sound I’d say that it’s a bit weird. The bass is quite good while there’s an overall lack of soul to the whole presentation as the overall tonallity is strange to my ears. I think the best way to describe the sound of the Tape Pro is to brake it down to the three standard parts: bass, midrange and treble.

Bass:
The Tape Pro has more subbass than midbass focus in its tuning. The subbass reaches fairly low and have good impact but even in the configuration with most bass presence I wouldn’t say they’ve got basshead level. The toned down midbass contributes even more to this conclusion and makes the Tape Pro lack a bit of drive with some electronic music. The quality of the bass is pretty good without being really great. It’s quite engaging and has an ok speed and overall quality. As already mentioned the midbass is toned downed quite a bit but still have some bloom to the higher frequencies but this is actually a welcome feature to me in this specific case as it gives some extra warmth to the lower midrange. This is a good thing as the midrange lacks a bit of soul in these IEM’s.

Midrange:
The midrange on the Tape Pro is, unfortunately, it’s biggest weakness in my opinion. Being a midrange and, especially vocal lover, this is normally the single most important part of any IEM’s for me. To start with the midrange is a bit recessed on the Tape Pro. I’m normally fine with this if the midrange quality is good but this is where the Tape Pro misses the target with quite a bit for me, especially in the vocal reproduction. Male vocals are a bit too thin and nasal sounding, using the bass enhanced tuning helps out with this to some extend but it’s still a bit off for me. Female vocals on the other hand can occasionally be a bit shouty sounding due to the lifted upper midrange. Neither of these two issues are terrible but on top of this I find the whole midrange presentation to be a bit boxy and hollow sounding. It’s really har for me not only to describe this issue in words but also to find the explanation for it. I think that it may be that depth in the presentation is severely lacking, add to this a timbre that sounds far from natural and I think this may explain why I find the midrange to be ripped from the soul of the music. Because of their poor vocal performance I think that the Tape pro perform a lot better with instrumental music than with other music. Unfortunately my main music is acoustic music with vocals and the Tape pro just don’t live up to my expectations on this point.

Just to add to the confusion on what goes on here I find them to sound quite good with some songs (Patricia Barber’s Regular Pleasure for example). Unfortunately this is quiet rare and does not seem to be because of the genre but rather the specific recording. Call me puzzled……

Treble:
The treble on the Tape Pro has more focus on the lower than the upper part of the frequencies and extension in the top is average. Despite this I don’t really hear any sibilance here, the exception being recordings that has this clearly present. In total I’d say that the overall impression of the treble is ok and a bit below average in the price range.

Stage and separation:
The Tape Pro has an average performance in soundstage in all directions, this does not need to be all bad as many IEM’s manage to deliver an intimate and seductive sound despite not being great in soundstage but I don’t find this to be the case with the Tape Pro. They come across as quite two dimensional sounding in comparison to IEM’s with more presence in the upper bass region and an overall warmer sound. Separation is also just ok and the Tape Pro loses out here compared to many other offerings in the same price range. On the positive side microdetails and resolution are quite good without sounding clinical. In all I’m sorry to say that I find the Tape Pro to be more boring sounding than correct and balanced.

Comparison:

NF Audio NM2+ ($169)
The NM2+ are my favorite single dynamics.

The NM2+ are also very comfortable for me and for people that get contact to their outer ear with the housing of the Tape Pro I’d imagine that the NM2+ will be more comfortable. For me the two are about equal in comfort. Isolation is also quite similar on both. Although the overall description of these two would be quite similar: more midbass than subbass, recessed midrang, boosted upper midrange/lower treble the NM2+ sounds a lot more natural and engaging to me. The subbass on the NM2+ do reach deeper and is drier and tighter. The midrange on the Tape Pro is more recessed. The quality of the midrange on the NM2+ better and sounds a lot more tonally correct and natural with good details and transparency. The treble on the NM2+ has better extension and air. The NM2+ has a noticeable wider presentation. They’re both easy to drive.

Tri I3 ($169)
The Tri I3 are a dynamic, planar and BA hybrid that hits way beyond its price. They’re one of my all-time favorite value for money IEM offerings.

The I3 is heavier and bulkier compared to the Tape Pro. Despite this I do actually get a similar great fit with them even with my smallish ears. They’re equally comfortable but the I3 align better with my ears and, probably because of this, isolate better. The I3 has a lot more bass impact, especially midbass. The bass quality is quite similar on both. The midrange on the I3 is thick and lush while the Tape Pro is more hollow and unnatural sounding. Both have a bit treble roll off but the I3 treble mixes in much better with the rest of its sound. Both male and female vocals are more enjoyable to me on the I3. The I3 has a wider stage and better instrument separation, it’s also considerably more 3D sounding. The I3 needs quite a bit more power.

BQEYZ Spring 2 ($169)

The Spring 2 are another pair of triple hybrid IEM’s (dynamic, BA and Piezoelectric drivers) that is next in line for me to review.

Much of what I said about the NM2+ in comparison to the Tape Pro will also be true for the Spring 2 both when it comes to ergonomics but also in sound. For me the Spring 2 and Tape Pro are about equal in comfort but the Spring 2 has a more rounded body and would probably be more comfortable for some users. Isolation is also quite similar on both. The overall sound of the Spring 2 is a bit thicker and more dense compared to the Tape Pro. The subbass on the Spring 2 do reach deeper and has slightly more impact. The bass on the spring 2 does also feel better integrated with the rest of the frequencies and midbass has more presence which helps giving them a overall more natural sound and noticeable better depth. The midrange on the Tape Pro is more recessed. The quality of the midrange on the Spring 2 is better and sounds a lot more tonally correct and natural with more weight. The treble on the Spring 2 has better extension and air but can also be a touch splashy with the wrong recording. The Spring 2 does also has a quite intimate presentation but has better depth and height making the overall sound much more enjoyable. They’re both easy to drive

Conclusion:
After having spent a month with the Shuoer Tape Pro I still can’t get into the music with them and I honestly think that I’ve tried hard to do so. I’ve used them with different tips, sources and music to get there but I still find them to be a bit weird and unnatural sounding. Although they’re not a bad pair of IEM’s per se they do lose out in being musical and engaging compared to most other IEM’s I’ve heard in the price range the last couple of years. Even more importantly they do not excel in any single area but rather come across as average as best. I’m afraid that they’ll be hard to recommend to people looking for the best value in this price range no matter of music, preferences and usage they’ve got as there’s so many other offerings that overperform around the same price. The fact that they’re the second try for Shuoer with this particular model makes me a bit sad, that being said lets hope that the third time is a charm (if it ever happens) as the build quality, cable and ergonomics offer a great base for a future success.