Symphonium Audio Titan

Disclaimer:
I'd like to thank AudioGeek for including me in this tour of the Symphonium Audio Titan IEM. I was given a chance to audition the Titan and share my honest feedback about the IEM. The impressions shared in this write-up are based on my usage of the IEM over a couple of days.

Introduction:
The Titan is a 999 USD IEM from Symphonium Audio with a Hybrid BA + Custom Tuned DD featuring Symphonium Audio's CORE and PHAT technologies and a TrueX 3-way crossover. As per Symphonium Audio, Titan is their answer to the question, "What makes a Great Basshead IEM?"



In terms of looks, size, and shape, the Titan is similar to the Crimson, the only difference being perhaps that the Titan has a blue frame on the faceplate while the Crimson has a red frame. The earpieces have a simple design that's aesthetically pleasing. Just like the Crimson, the Titan too has earpieces made of anodised AL6061 aluminium shells with forged carbon composite faceplates.

The IEM I received was unboxed and came with a metal carry case, cleaning cloth, a soft pouch for the earpieces, 4.4mm balanced cable, and the earpieces. Hence, I will not be able to comment on the unboxing experience or the accessories that come with the retail unit.

The cable this time around is a 4 wire 25.5 AWG Type 2 Litz Pure OCC Copper Cable from Altalune Audio christened Neptune. The cable comes with interchangeable 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm BAL plugs from OEAudio. Personally, I felt the cable looked quite delicate, and unless it is Kevlar reinforced or something (which it isn't), it doesn't inspire confidence in terms of longevity. Sonically, however, the cable complements the Titan quite well.



The Titan is somewhat hard to drive, and just like the Crimson, it opens up significantly when amped. I tried the Titan with the stock cable, Azla SednaEarfit Vivid eartips, and FiiO M23 (on high gain). I also tried it with Sony WM1AM2 and Aroma A100TB, but I felt the Titan sounded more lively with the Khadas Tone 2 Pro when compared to the FiiO M23 and Sony WM1AM2. Maybe it just pairs better with ESS.

Sound:
The bass response is easily the highlight of the Titan. The subbass is elevated to create a dark background upon which it delivers powerful slams. The Midbass too is elevated but is super clean. It doesn't sound muddy, nor does it interfere with the mids. I guess the pressure relief/venting and overall design of the earpieces (CORE tech) does a good job at seperating the bass from the mids.

Titan's mids, while natural for the most part, sound slightly lean in comparison. Vocals sound natural, but nuance is missing. This is perhaps because of the elevated subbass that the detail in the mids, especially vocals, is inaudible/missing. The emotion in the artist's voice is missing. Not that the vocals are bad, they just lack nuance.



The treble on Titan is smooth. Given the bass heavy signature, there's a fairly good amount of sparkle. Those who like warmer-sounding IEMs will take a liking to Titan, as the treble is pretty tame and fairly well done.

The soundstage is intimate but has a good sense of depth to it. The imaging is very good, and separation too is excellent. The detail retrieval is very good. Overall, technically, the IEMs performance is on par with IEMs in this price range.



Conclusion:
Titan has explosive bass with very good detail. The stage is intimate but has good depth and excellent separation and imaging. The elevated bass comes at the cost of nuance in the vocals.

Battle of Basshead Midfi: Fatfreq Scarlett Mini vs Maestro Mini vs Symphonium Titan

Big thanks to @Damz87 for organising Fatfreq Scarlett Mini tour and @tfaduh for loaning his personal Fatfreq Maestro Mini as part of the same tour. Symphonium Titan is my personal iem.
Scarlett has the upgraded cable, Maestro Mini has 3rd party cable from XinHS (Aliexpress) and Titan uses stock cable.


Fatfreq Scarlett Mini

To say Scarlett is a bassy IEM is a gross understatement. It’s simply a bass monster. I’m not sure why it is called Scarlett “Mini”; it definitely does not refer to the bass. The tuning is L-shaped, with the deepest and most amount of bass among all IEMs that I have tried and you can buy. Scarlett is capable of slamming bass very deep, weighty, and rumbling with natural decay. Despite its quantity, the bass is well controlled with no distortion I could notice, not bloated, and has very good texture. Unfortunately, that’s all Scarlett delivers.

The mids are recessed and hollow, with vocals feeling quite detached from the music. The female vocals simply sound unnatural. The treble also suffers from roll-off, with not enough sparkle. Indeed, Scarlett is a dark IEM that reminds me of my old Audeze LCD-X. In terms of space, the music sounds as if it comes from a far distance and from one point. This makes imaging very compressed and inaccurate.


Fatfreq Maestro Mini

Maestro Mini is a more balanced IEM, although it would still be categorized as a bassy IEM. The tuning is W-shaped and quite energetic. It has deep subbass and a full midbass punch, although to a lesser degree compared to Scarlett. Like Scarlett, the bass has good natural decay, albeit faster. The lower mids are lifted to add volume and warmth to the vocals. The lower treble is capable of adding sparkle to the music. In most tracks, the treble is well controlled with no sibilance, although some people may find it too energetic. Maestro Mini provides a good sense of space in the music. It has a wide soundstage but is relatively flat.

Symphonium Titan

Titan is also more balanced than Scarlett Mini. The tuning is U-shaped. The bass focuses more on subbass instead of midbass. Therefore, despite how deep the bass hits, it feels like it lacks weight. The vocals sound clean but recessed and lean. The treble is quite smooth and non-peaky, with just enough sparkle. Titan has an intimate soundstage where you feel surrounded by music.

Comparison:


Price

• Fatfreq Scarlett Mini: USD 639 (or 798 with upgraded cable)
• Fatfreq Maestro Mini: USD 479 (or 599 with upgraded cable)
• Symphonium Titan: USD 999

As a side note, it is interesting that Fatfreq’s upgraded cable and connector seem to be identical to Titan’s stock cable and connector. See below.


Bass
All three IEMs—Scarlett, Maestro Mini, and Titan—have outstanding bass quality but with different presentations. Scarlett has the deepest, most rumbling subbass, followed by Titan and Maestro Mini. In terms of midbass, Scarlett again has the heaviest and weightiest punch, followed by Maestro and then Titan. These IEMs have natural bass decay, with Scarlett seeming to have the longest decay, followed by Maestro Mini and then Titan.

• Subbass: Scarlett > Titan > Maestro Mini
• Midbass: Scarlett > Maestro Mini > Titan

Midrange
Maestro Mini has enjoyable, thick, warm vocals. It has good lower mids and upper mids, making it great for both male and female vocals. Titan's vocals are more neutral, leaner, drier, and lack richness in comparison. In my opinion, Scarlett's mids are too recessed and unfortunately muffled. It is hard to recommend Scarlett if you care about vocals.

• Midrange: Maestro Mini > Titan >> Scarlett

Treble
Maestro Mini has the most treble energy. The treble can be quite coarse and grainy. In several tracks, it can be peaky and piercing. Luckily, this does not happen often. At the extreme opposite, Scarlett almost has no treble energy. In my opinion, Titan has the best treble among these three. It strikes an excellent balance: it has enough sparkle but still sounds smooth.

• Treble: Titan > Maestro Mini >> Scarlett

Space and Imaging
In terms of soundstage, Titan is the most intimate, followed by Maestro Mini and Scarlett. Titan and Maestro Mini have very good imaging, while Scarlett's imaging is quite poor. With Scarlett, the music seems to come from a very distant singular point, making instrument positioning a mess.

• Imaging: Titan = Maestro >> Scarlett

Detail Retrieval
In terms of technicality, all three IEMs are roughly on a similar level. Titan has slightly better instrument separation, followed by Scarlett and lastly Maestro Mini.

• Detail: Titan > Scarlett > Maestro Mini (difference is minimal)

Conclusion
To sum up, each of the Scarlett Mini, Maestro Mini, and Symphonium Titan have their own appeal. Scarlett Mini is for bassheads who only care about bass and want the deepest and biggest bass among all IEMs in the market—and don’t really care about mids or treble. Maestro Mini is for those who enjoy an energetic IEM with punchy midbass and warm vocals—at the expense of slightly more elevated treble. Titan would be suitable for those who love rumbling subbass, a more neutral sound, and smoother treble—at the expense of a lack of vocal warmth.

It is well known I’m a fan of Symphonium’s IEM line up and since the Helios, I've been a fan like many others when it comes to Symphonium’s wonderful tuning and their recent designs that are stunning to the eye. As a fan of the Triton which sounded like a fun tuned IEM compared to the Helios, I was excited to see a bass focused IEM in the same price bracket as their Helios. The Titan is a Hybrid BA and DD design. Not much info is given on the driver setup of the Titan. It comes in at $999.00.

Quick shoutout to my friend @tamtrum for letting me borrow his unit to check out and review. While I always appreciate the chance to test and review products sent in from manufacturers or dealers or in this case, Sir Tam. It never affects the rating of my reviews.

The Symphonium Titan can be pickup below:
https://www.symphoniumaudio.com/products/titan

Onto the review of the Symphonium Titan! My personal preference is a hybrid/tribrid IEM where I get good hitting bass and have a detailed treble with decent mids. When it comes to an over ear headphone I prefer a spacious sound with a deep low end, the mids to be more forward and the highs to be a little bright with some sparkle. I listen to a lot of genres but I hover in the classic rock, blues and edm music with some rap here and there.

Gear Used​

IPhone 14 Pro Max with headphone adapter, iPad Pro M4 w/ Moondrop Moonriver 2 Ti, I/O Audio VOLARE, THIEAUDIO Monarch MKII, Eversolo DAC-Z7/SMSL SP400 desktop stack.

Looks and fit​

Since Symphonium started moving away from their industry style Helios bland shell design to the new designs like the Crimson, I’ve been a huge fan of these new color schemes and slightly smaller shell designs. The Titan has a black shell with an outer blue ring on the faceplate. The faceplate has a middle carbon fiber insert like the Crimson but with a gold flake instead of the red one the Crimson used. The shells are lightweight for an all metal design and I find they can be comfortable when paired with the right tips for my ears. I want to mention that I’ve always had issues with Symphonium’s shell and nozzle/stem angles. The helios and Triton either had a super seal that caused me discomfort or I had to run larger tips to get a partial seal. The Crimson was the first of their products I could obtain a normal-ish seal with the W1 and Omni tips from Spinfit without the over pressue issues I had with their older designs. The stock tips on both the Crimson and this Titan cause my ears to lose a longterm seal due to the angle of the nozzles when in my ears. With my preferred tips however, I have no issues using the Titan for long listening sessions.

Isolation and sound leakage​

The Titan has good passive Isolation and it blocks out a good amount of outside noise. It also doesn’t leak much sound so you can get away with higher volumes in quiet areas which is nice given their unique location of the vent slot which is right under the 2 pin connectors.

Packaging and accessories​

Since this was a loaner, I only got the carrying case, the stock tips in two nice cases and finally the little double bag to protect the shells. The case is made out of metal and it's actually a good size but it’s quite heavy and I probably wouldn’t carry in the stock case these outside of my sling/backpack. Being realistic though, I don’t daily carry expensive IEMs in my pockets. I’ll usually keep the nice stuff in my sling bag so a small and heavy case like this one is totally fine for how I would transport the Titan to and from my home. I know they provide a good amount of accessories and the presentation is good on their normal packaging so you might need to look at other reviews to find pictures of the packaging and included accessories.

Sound(Overall)​

These final impressions were done off the Eversolo DAC-Z8 connected to the SMSL SP400. This desktop stack is what I use for the main sound impressions for all my reviews. I use this in combination with Audirvana. The SMSL SP400 has been in use since 01/2021 and the DAC-Z8 since 04/2023. These impressions are what the Titan sounded like to my ears. This was also using the Spinfit Omni tips. Things like ear tip selection and DAC/amp selection will produce different results and impressions vs what my ears hear on my specific gear.

The Titan goes for a bass heavy tuning but with less of the downsides I’ve heard from other competing basshead IEMs. The sub-bass is boosted quite high which results in super strong impact and slam. I will say it’s not nearly as boosted as say something like the FatFreq Scarlet Mini. The mid-bass is strong and while I find it extremely detailed for how thick it sounds, it doesn’t bleed into the mids nearly as much as I expected. The bass bleed doesn’t even sound muddy or dull. It sounds like they put effort in trying to keep the mids and bass as separated as possible to avoid the typical basshead bass to mid bleed issues. The mids are on the slightly warmer side and vocals, while pretty coherent, also exhibit a slight softness in the details. Which is perfectly fine and I prefer this for a bass heavy IEM tuning. The upper mids are pretty tame to my ears and the lower treble has a little extra energy but still sounds more balanced out and tame compared to the bass. The treble speed is slower and the sharpness is a little more dull sounding. Once again, I prefer more neutral sounding mids/treble like this with bass heavy IEMs since a big treble boost would make these sounds super splashy and a mess tuning wise. I do want to mention I did find the detail retrieval and resolution pretty good given the bass head tuning. This still retains a Symphonium house sound to my ears and I’m happy they didn’t do something wacky tuning wise. Basshead level IEMs are very easy to mess up tuning wise so good job to the Symphonium team.

Soundstage/Imaging​

I found the soundstage pretty narrow width wise but it has really good depth. This has a “listening to sound from down a hall” type of staging to my ears. This could be due to the specific tips that I’m using as Symphonium strongly recommends their stock tips which are custom picked for their products and their specific tuning. Imaging was about average for something in the $1k range but I was mostly able to pick out specific sounds in busy tracks. I was even able to pick out most of the sounds I look for in specific tracks that were on the bass heavy side.

Sensitivity/Drivability​

The Titan is a little harder to drive than normal for IEMs. Still easy enough to run high volume on most devices but it likes power for sure. The Titan has no sensitivity issues as most modern IEMs are free of floor noise on balanced outputs.

Stock cable​

The stock cable is their standard ear guideless cable but in a really light blue color which goes well with the blue and black shell. It’s a lightweight 4 weave cable and works well with the slightly taller IEM shells. It has a QD plug system that is easy to use and pretty standard these days. I have no complaints with their stock cable and I wouldn’t change it.

Gripes with the Titan?​

I really don’t have any important complaints about the Titan and things like driver/channel matching were spot on. Given that the unit I’m using was a production unit bought by a friend, this is very impressive. I did however want to vent a little when it comes to the driver configuration info provided by Symphonium.

I was rather irritated when I was told the Crimson drivers and configuration weren't public info and while the Titan does list it’s a hybrid BA/DD design, it still doesn’t say how many drivers and what types of drivers are being used. Is it important info? Maybe not but if I didn’t know about the team from other audiophiles and this was a possible first experience with them, I would absolutely avoid buying from them for not disclosing more info. To me, it’s like being told the car I’m looking at to purchase is a car. It has an engine, don’t worry about the details and just trust us. Gas mileage? It consumes gas and that info isn’t public. Symphonium IEMs aren’t cheap so it’s kind of a downer to have everything kept private info wise.

On the flip side! They’re keeping their secret black magic tuning and designs a secret for a good reason. Nothing really sounds as special as Symphonium IEMs. Literally ask anyone who has demoed, reviewed or paid money for Symphonium IEMs and there’s an extremely high chance they will have nothing but high praise to give. So it’s not my preference but I also understand the reason they do what they do.

IEM comparisons​

I don’t have any super bass heavy IEMs in the ~$1k range so I’m going with IEMS +/- ~$400 to give comparisons to what I do have that hang out in the warm/bass boosted IEM range.

I/O Audio VOLARE​

The Volare comes in at $599 but it is a great example of a bass boosted IEM that acts well as an all rounder. The bass is obviously way stronger on the Titan but the Titan is able to show that you can have strong bass levels without ruining the rest of the frequencies. I can almost guarantee if I EQ boosted the bass to the same levels as the Titan, the VOLARE will start clipping. The mids are clearer on the VOLARE and the Vocals sound more detailed on the VOLARE as well. The Titan doesn’t fall behind however and the focus is just more bass oriented. The upper mids and treble are once again brighter sounding on the VOLARE in comparison to the Titan but the Titan still manages to pull in details just as well as the VOLARE if not a little better. Staging is better balanced on the VOLARE but the narrow staging of Titan sounds way more unique and fun to my ears.

THIEAUDIO V16 Divinity​

The V16, while old, was a $1499 IEM that was a great example of a nice warm IEM that had great bass performance and a sweet and relaxed sounding mids/highs. This feels like a great comparison since the Titan has a similar yet stronger bass performance. The Titan has a substantially stronger sub-bass and mid-bass thump over the V16. The V16 is no slouch as a bassy IEM but the Titan really shows off its strong impact/slam. The mids on both are warmer but the V16 has the better balance. The vocals sound a little softer on the Titan and the upper mids sound a hair more detailed on the V16. Treble on both is relaxed but the BA drivers in the V16 do seem to pull in better detail when A/B testing. Now keep in mind it’s hard for me to subjectively focus at times on upper treble details with the Titans since the bass takes centerstage. Both exhibit good staging but the V16 is wide and depth is average while the Titan had a narrow and deep stage. I consider the V16 one of my favorite IEMs and the Titan takes it a step further in a fun tuning direction.

Amping Combinations​

Moondrop MoonRiver 2 Ti​

I love the little warmer sounding MR2 Ti dongle since it provides enough power for most IEM usage. I would like to mention that on first use with the MR2 Ti, I noticed what sounded like the faintest clipping at the end of bass hits with the MR2 Ti attached to a brand new iPad Pro M4. After that one session, I never heard that little faint clipping ever again so I’m gonna blame the brand new iPad for not sending enough power initially to the MR2 Ti. Now! When it comes to the pairing, I will say it compliments the Titan pretty well. The bass is still powerful and normally the MR2 Ti adds a little warmth but I didn’t notice it here. The mids are still warm and the vocals have an added softness which makes them sound a little more neutral. The upper mids sound relaxed and the treble is a little brighter than my reference desktop stack but not enough that it makes a dramatic difference. The staging is a tiny bit wider with the Titan so it adds a very light echo to the narrow/intimate stage.

iFi Diablo II​

The Diablo II is quite the high volume output transport device. On the lowest gain, it normally is too loud for most IEMs. The Titan, like most Symphonium IEMs, can handle more power without breaking a sweat. I was able to get the Diablo II to run in both normal gain and their turbo gain no problems and the Titan had no issues with either being too loud or the common floor noise issues on their high output gains. The Titan’s bass performance sounded like it exhibited a cleaner and tighter performance compared to the dongle above and I found the mids and treble cleaned up nicely and sounded a little closer to desktop stack performance. The staging stayed about the same as the desktop stack so a narrow but deep stage.

Eversolo DAC-Z8/SMSL SP400​

As mentioned in my sound impressions, this is the main stack I used for my overall impressions of the Titan. I did get the best performance with this pairing but I don’t quite think the Titan needs a desktop stack to sound it’s best. I think something warm like the Moondrop MR2 Ti dongle or anything else that is warm or neutral sounding that has decent power output will do just fine with the Titan.

Overall thoughts​

I like bass but tend to shy away from basshead level IEM tunings at prices ~$1k since I listen to a variety of genres and personally prefer a balanced tuning for the higher end IEMs. What it really comes down to is that I can’t justify specific genre headphones/IEMs at prices higher than $700 since I just don’t make enough money to bump up my price ceiling for specific genre IEMs. Does that mean I don’t like the Titan? Nope! I love the tuning of the Titan and they really nailed a good basshead level tuning without ruining the overall sound which can be hard to do. The real question is whether or not I recommend the Titan. WHICH I absolutely recommend! With a big caveat however. I think this is great for those who know they want a high end bass boosted IEM for everyday use or someone who has the money to drop on something they’re likely to only use for specific genres and listening sessions. I don’t think the Titan does well as an all rounded as much so I recommend really thinking about this or maybe something like the company's Helios/Crimson if you’re hunting a “do it all” IEM. Those with the money, go for it and enjoy another awesome offering from Symphonium that will make all the big thump thumps while still sounding competent! As always, great job to the Symphonium team and I look forward to what they come out with next. Thanks for reading!!!