7Hz Impressions & Discussion
May 21, 2022 at 12:56 PM Post #2,866 of 4,257
My first impressions with the 7HZ Timeless, the stock cable gives the Timeless that "Wow!" factor that is diluted with 8-core and 16-core Silver plated OCC KB EAR cables. There is far too much information not coalesced by the 3rd-party cables I've tried, and the difference is immediate and clear.

I think the thrilling impact and specialness of the 7HZ Timeless is lost without the stock cable, at least to my ears.

I think the 7HZ Timeless cable is ingenuously engineered to bring out the best features of the drivers in the Timeless, which the diffuse non-impactful sound shown by the 3rd party cables I've tried clearly demonstrate.

I'm a big proponent of cables fit to purpose to garner the most of an IEM, and I've used those same cables many times to enhance the sound of new IEMs - often making tolerable the sound lost by the stock cables - where the 7HZ Timeless is not at all improved upon by those same cables.

My joy from listening to the 7HZ Timeless with the stock cable was totally lost when I switched to a "better" cable.

The impact, clarity, focus the stock 7HZ Timeless cable brings may be uniquely designed to compliment the IEM, and I haven't had enough time with it yet to know if the 7HZ Timeless stock cable helps other IEM's.

For those of you that have found clearly superior cables to the stock 7HZ Timeless cable, what are the specific cables you are using that you hear improve the impact and dynamic clarity of the 7hz Timeless IEM, over the surprisingly well matched stock cable?
Not looking to argue, merely share my first impressions of trying different cables with the 7HZ Timeless. :beerchug:
When I purchased my DK2001 I ordered the full set of switchable ends with my DK2001 come with it, and mine came with the 3.5mm SE + 6.35mm Dunu adapter + 4.4mm + 2.5mm, the only one I didn't receive was the 3.5mm Pro - but I've personally not run into a need for that connector - so far.

Hifigo.com still sells the "ends", and their product listing dropdown menu lists the Balanced 2.5mm, 4.4mm, 3.5mm Pro, and 3.5mm SE, USB C and Apple Lightning, but I've not seen that low profile Dunu 6.35 adapter since - does it come with every 3.5mm SE end?, or perhaps it was only included with the DK2001?

DUNU Quick-switch plug 3.5 mm / 2.5 mm / 4.4 mm/ Type C / Lightning
https://hifigo.com/products/dunu-patented-quick-switch-modular-plug-3-5-mm-2-5-mm-4-4-mm-connector

Thanks for that! I've got some Comply Foams around somewhere to try....that shocking Bass sounds awesome!

Right now I have solid slamming Bass with the Dunu DUW-02 + AZLA XELASTEC tips.
I finally got around to ordering my own 7HZ Timeless from Hifigo.com, this time with a 3.5mm cable as I already have that 4.4mm Dunu DK2001 DUW-02 MMCX cable to swap.

Right out of the box the 7HZ Timeless + 3.5mm cable sounds great, but it doesn't have that same "Spine-tingling Wow!" factor I heard on the Hifigo.com Tour + 4.4mm pair with many hours already on them, while listening to the same tracks.

I can tell the bones are there, but it is a bit restrained sounding with sharp edges when cranked up loud, when right out of the box.

More later after 50, 100, 200 hours burn-in. :)
 
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May 21, 2022 at 1:49 PM Post #2,867 of 4,257
Timeless does not like to be "cranked up loud". Try lowering the volume to a "medium" level, or even less, and give it a long listen. I think you'll be impressed with the increase in spatial sense and layering. The planar element is fast and precise, but not powerful. It doesn't move a lot of air. Play to its strengths, not its weakness, and you'll find it responds better.
 
May 21, 2022 at 5:55 PM Post #2,868 of 4,257
Timeless does not like to be "cranked up loud". Try lowering the volume to a "medium" level, or even less, and give it a long listen. I think you'll be impressed with the increase in spatial sense and layering. The planar element is fast and precise, but not powerful. It doesn't move a lot of air. Play to its strengths, not its weakness, and you'll find it responds better.
Well, my "loud" isn't actually so loud as would cause it to buckle under the load, the new Timeless just needs a little burn-in to mellow a bit. :beerchug:

I listened at the same levels to a Hifigo.com Tour sample of the 7hz Timeless that had already been Toured for a couple of months before it got to me, so it had plenty of hours on it by the time I listened to it, and it was a magical spine-tinglingly awesome listen - without any sharp edges, so I know with burn-in my 7hz Timeless will come out the same.

I'm not sure where the burn-in sweet spot is, and it probably varies by unit, so I'll try to keep track of the hours it is run in parallel - a TA-20 (XLR) and TA-26 (RCA) out of the same Topping D90 MQA, and I'll switch over to the 7hz Timeless as primary listen after the sharp edges are gone.

I do enjoy planar headphones as well, and have the Sendyaudio Aiva, Hifiman Ananda, and Hifiman HE6SE V2, and they are all great headphones to my ears!

I would like to try more Planar IEM's, starting with the Tinhifi P1 - which also took 2 weeks of burn-in before it tamed down, the Tinhifi P2 was simply too expensive for me to try, and so I tried the BQEYZ SPRING 2 which also took a couple of weeks of burn-in, but I really have enjoyed them after burn-in.

So I expect the same for the brand new out of the box 7hz Timeless, it just takes a little patience and setting up a parallel burn-in rig to not chew up my ears while it is breaking in.

Any recommendations for other recent planar IEM's? After the 7hz Timeless came out there was a slew of planars that were reviewed against the 7hz Timeless, and nothing else seemed better, so have any other planar IEM contenders come out since to compete with the 7hz Timeless?
 
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May 21, 2022 at 6:04 PM Post #2,869 of 4,257
I have 3 Timeless. I compared the second and third ones to my first one (with 200+ hours of use) and initially I could hear a difference. But after around 10 hours on the new ones, I could not hear a difference anymore. So, in my experience with the Timeless, I do not believe a burn-in of 50/100/200/300 hours is necessary. There can always be variation in each unit produced, but all of mine have sounded virtually identical after 10 hours or so of burn-in.

I tried the Shuoer S12 and I found it was too bright for my ears without enough bass to balance it out. Very detailed and energetic, though. But the level of detail worked against it when it came to soundstage and depth. Everything sounded so close up and sharp, I couldn't get much ambience out of the S12. So it didn't fit my listening preferences. I have read reviews of other planars (P1, Raptgo Hook-X) and I do not think they would suit my listening preferences either, so I haven't really even tried them.

I have thousands of dollars invested in good DACs and amps to drive the Timeless and I'm still hearing improvements with every step up I take, so I haven't even exploited the Timeless to its fullest potential yet. Just another reason why I have no real interest in other planar IEMs.
 
May 21, 2022 at 6:19 PM Post #2,870 of 4,257
I have 3 Timeless. I compared the second and third ones to my first one (with 200+ hours of use) and initially I could hear a difference. But after around 10 hours on the new ones, I could not hear a difference anymore. So, in my experience with the Timeless, I do not believe a burn-in of 50/100/200/300 hours is necessary. There can always be variation in each unit produced, but all of mine have sounded virtually identical after 10 hours or so of burn-in.
That is great news! I just unboxed mine this morning and plugged it in about an hour before I posted my first impressions, so within the day - at least by tomorrow - my 7hz Timeless should be mellow enough to listen to?, that's great!:)

I usually run them for 10 hours/day so 50 hours is a 5 day week, 100 hours is just shy of 1.5 weeks, and 200 hours is shy of 3 weeks, unless I leave them on outside of my listening time, which I did for the Tinhifi P1 and Blon BL-05, they were for me too sharp for quite a while.

I usually error on the side of recommending 1.5x-2x longer burn-in for others than for me because my ears are a bit older now and I'm not so sensitive to the sharp edges others might give up quickly and return the IEM without giving them enough time.

If I say 10 hours, and they are still unhappy - with more sensitive ears - I would feel bad sending them off on the wrong track. So I usually recommend at least 50 hours burn-in and listening time combined before giving up and returning them. I think our brains need some time to assimilate the new sound as well - a little burn-in for our brains :)

I know my Sendyaudio Aiva's sent my brain bouncing for at least a couple of weeks before it settled in, right off it sounded pretty "weird" to me, a fun and enjoyable "weird", but it might send others packing up the headphones before their brains work it all out and the Aiva's sounded "normal" to them as they eventually did for me.

In general early on I think a lot of people return IEM's / Headphones / Audio Gear too soon without taking advantage of their full 14-30 day return window, so I like to encourage giving a new listen a chance before giving up too quickly. :)
 
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May 21, 2022 at 6:39 PM Post #2,871 of 4,257
Unless you have multiple units to compare each one against, on a timed basis, then burn-in is a subjective impression of your memory only. If someone doesn't like what they hear after 50 hours, and lets the IEM burn in another 150 hours, and then after 200 hours they like what they hear, then in my opinion that's just subjective preference and not real change in the IEM itself. To me, that's more of a brain burn-in than anything else. You have become accustomed to the IEM's signature, which is fine, but that doesn't mean that its sound signature has changed in the last 100 hours....

I made very careful and deliberate observations of the sound signature of each of my 3 Timeless units as I burned them in. And around 10 hours for both of the new ones, I could not distinguish the sound from my original older one that had 200+ hours.

YMMV, but unless you do some sort of controlled experiment as I have, I would seriously question whether or not there was any REAL change made to the sound after such a long burn-in.

As another anecdote, I recently engaged in a cable review where I had to use my multiple Timeless IEMs to compare cables back to back against each other. One of the Timeless had well over 500 hours on it, and the other had less than 100 on it. But during the review, after I had characterized the cables on each Timeless separately, I swapped the cables and re-ran my review. I came to the exact same conclusions and heard the exact same results after swapping cables between the "old" and the "new" Timeless units. So, again, I do not feel that anything longer than 10 hours (20 hours max) will result in any audible changes.

Good luck.
 
May 21, 2022 at 6:52 PM Post #2,873 of 4,257
Ok, as long as I'm on the forum, I might as well post another impression of the Timeless. I've spent the last 2 hours listening to a couple of albums, progressing from my headphones, first my Denon AH-D9200 to my Kennerton Magni to my Timeless with copper/graphene cable, to my Timeless with Effect Audio prototype 37 cable. In each case, I could clearly hear different signatures of the various 'phones and could compare the variation in sound quality and technicalities among all of them. I am actually shocked at how good the Magni is for its price. Really dynamic and engaging headphone with an above-average soundstage and sense of space. The D9200 is a solid "workhorse" of a headphone that doesn't do anything wrong at all, with a consistent and balanced frequency response and solid bass output. Super smooth. But once I put the Timeless in my ears, things went to the next level. The copper/graphene cable is also quite dynamic and engaging, but the Effect Audio prototype 37 just brings everything to another level entirely. I can honestly say that EVERYTHING got better. Tonality and timbre is the best I've ever heard on the Timeless, and the frequency response is extremely well balanced, the best of any of the other 'phones I listened to tonight. So trust me when I say there is more out there that the Timeless has to offer. It really is a unicorn IEM when driven by the right components upstream and when used with the proper tips and cable. Once Effect Audio publicly announces these new cables, I will be sure to promote them 110% as a great match for the Timeless. Best I've ever heard, and I've tried around a dozen cables so far with these IEMs.

I enjoy doing this type of experiment where I progress from one headphone to another, then to my IEMs, and then possibly even to my tower speakers, to compare the sounds. Such a fun hobby and when you do these listening tests back to back to back, you can really hear the differences clearly. Again, good listening and good luck.
 
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May 21, 2022 at 6:55 PM Post #2,874 of 4,257
timeless fanboy here (love it so much I got a backup pair) wondering if anyone knows how many revisions there have been (I know there are at least 2 as my backup pair has different packaging than my first)
I think there was one revision, but not to the internals. I think the very first ones had a slightly different screen mesh on them. But those were very early. I bought mine pretty early and also two others at a later date and all three of them have the same screens. So I'm guessing the IEMs themselves are the same, despite the new packaging.
 
May 21, 2022 at 7:13 PM Post #2,875 of 4,257
timeless fanboy here (love it so much I got a backup pair) wondering if anyone knows how many revisions there have been (I know there are at least 2 as my backup pair has different packaging than my first)
Yup, I know how you feel, I like having backup's of my favorite IEM's / tubes / DAC Amps's, well, you know :wink:

The Tour pair of 7hz Timeless from Feb '22 had the same box as I received yesterday, and checking google image search I don't see a variant box cover - except B&W images of the same state.

This 7hz Timeless Hifigo.com video from September '21 shows the same front/back box images as I received both times - mostly lettered in Hanzi, with a little English. The insides of this box were also the same, packed a bit different as the first one I received had been pulled apart for photo's several times during the Tour.

What differences are there in the box/packaging of your 7hz Timeless's?
 
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May 21, 2022 at 8:19 PM Post #2,877 of 4,257
Well, my "loud" isn't actually so loud as would cause it to buckle under the load, the new Timeless just needs a little burn-in to mellow a bit. :beerchug:

I listened at the same levels to a Hifigo.com Tour sample of the 7hz Timeless that had already been Toured for a couple of months before it got to me, so it had plenty of hours on it by the time I listened to it, and it was a magical spine-tinglingly awesome listen - without any sharp edges, so I know with burn-in my 7hz Timeless will come out the same.

I'm not sure where the burn-in sweet spot is, and it probably varies by unit, so I'll try to keep track of the hours it is run in parallel - a TA-20 (XLR) and TA-26 (RCA) out of the same Topping D90 MQA, and I'll switch over to the 7hz Timeless as primary listen after the sharp edges are gone.

I do enjoy planar headphones as well, and have the Sendyaudio Aiva, Hifiman Ananda, and Hifiman HE6SE V2, and they are all great headphones to my ears!

I would like to try more Planar IEM's, starting with the Tinhifi P1 - which also took 2 weeks of burn-in before it tamed down, the Tinhifi P2 was simply too expensive for me to try, and so I tried the BQEYZ SPRING 2 which also took a couple of weeks of burn-in, but I really have enjoyed them after burn-in.

So I expect the same for the brand new out of the box 7hz Timeless, it just takes a little patience and setting up a parallel burn-in rig to not chew up my ears while it is breaking in.

Any recommendations for other recent planar IEM's? After the 7hz Timeless came out there was a slew of planars that were reviewed against the 7hz Timeless, and nothing else seemed better, so have any other planar IEM contenders come out since to compete with the 7hz Timeless?
Both the Raptgo Hook-X and the Tinhifi P1 Max seem to be reviewing very well:

 
May 21, 2022 at 9:00 PM Post #2,878 of 4,257
@quicklytoo4 - @logiatype - @samandhi - I think you all gave me a good reason to try to find a "backup" V1 7hz Timeless - and so I asked Hifigo.com if any of their open-box (or new) 7hz Timeless are the original V1 version, and I explained the "black" / "white" filter difference, and provided an indexed link to that 7hz Timeless V1 / V2 comparison video

I also looked in the box again as I noticed there were replacement screens in a tiny ziploc baggie, and sure enough they are "black" on one side and silver on the other. I wonder if the difference might be down to a preference change in their manufacturing to swap the "stock" screen to have the "white" look installed? Or, is there an actual throat filter behind the screen?, it's hard to see in the video, and not much easier in person. :ksc75smile:
I did see that "Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews" video before, and I was/am interested in the "Raptgo Hook X", perhaps after the "backup 7hz Timeless V1" :beerchug:
 
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May 21, 2022 at 9:18 PM Post #2,879 of 4,257
@quicklytoo4 - @logiatype - @samandhi - I think you all gave me a good reason to try to find a "backup" V1 7hz Timeless - and so I asked Hifigo.com to ask if any of their open-box (or new) 7hz Timeless are the original V1 version, and I explained the filter difference.

I also looked in the box again as I noticed there were replacement screens in a tiny ziploc baggie, and sure enough they are "black" on one side and silver on the other. I wonder if the difference might be down to a preference change in their manufacturing to swap the "stock" screen to have the "white" look installed? Or, is there an actual throat filter behind the screen?, it's hard to see in the video, and not much easier in person. :ksc75smile:
I did see that "Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews" video before, and I was/am interested in the "Raptgo Hook X", perhaps after the "backup 7hz Timeless V1" :beerchug:
I could be wrong about this, but I had heard that the screen is just that; that it doesn't act as a filter at all (leastways not for sound). I think the big difference is that one is a cheaper medium type than the other. But again, don't take my word for it, it has been a while since I THINK I remember seeing that somewhere.

Congratz on your upcoming (second) Timeless. :)
 
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May 21, 2022 at 10:22 PM Post #2,880 of 4,257
Any recommendations for other recent planar IEM's? After the 7hz Timeless came out there was a slew of planars that were reviewed against the 7hz Timeless, and nothing else seemed better, so have any other planar IEM contenders come out since to compete with the 7hz Timeless?
I am hearing good things about the Raptgo Hook-X. Have one incoming and will report back once had a chance to hear them.
 

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