AAW x Shozy Pola and Pola 39 Tour
Nov 23, 2019 at 11:40 PM Post #76 of 93
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Nov 27, 2019 at 9:46 AM Post #77 of 93
I spent most of my time with the Pola 39, which was clearly a better match for me in terms of sound and fit. The Pola seemed more v-shaped to me and needed quite a bit more power. It did sound very good with the volume turned up, but I do prefer listening at more moderate levels.

The Pola 39, on the other hand was more neutral and smoother in the treble. Surprising levels of detail and a sound that grows on you the more you listen. The Pola 39 is quite a bit easier to drive, I was able to get decent performance out of my phone (Xperia XZ1), but just barely.

For me the Pola 39 is definitely a winner. The only qualm I have about it is the fit. It was ok for me in the short term, but I would need to find the right tips for long-term use and didn't have the right ones in my current collection. The Final E series were the best I had at hand. Everything else was exceptional and it would be worth searching for the best match.
 
Dec 8, 2019 at 9:10 PM Post #79 of 93
Dec 13, 2019 at 3:23 PM Post #80 of 93
I am in possession of the tour kit.
 
Jan 2, 2020 at 6:20 AM Post #81 of 93
My short impressions of the O.G. Polas...
Very nice package. Nice 3.5mm aftermarket cable, and leather box. Great build and finish on the iems themselves. Good fit even though iems are on the bigger side. Very good isolation for a vented design. For reference, I found the small foam tips had the best fit for me so that's what I used. I don't think I would call the Pola hard to drive but it definitely needs quite a bit on the volume dial to get things going.

Most of my listening impressions were done with my desktop rig which currently consists of a Chord 2Qute and a THX AAA 789. I do not claim to be an expert in describing sound so please do take my impressions with a big ass grain of salt!

The overall sound to me sounds a bit thick. I wouldn't exactly call it lush or romantic but it does have good body overall.
I find the Pola very good for extended listening sessions as I would say it is non fatiguing. The overall tuning I'd say is more on the natural side rather than say neutral.

Lower bass is somewhat emphasized.Though I wouldn't say it hits particularly hard so maybe big bass but with softer, rounder impact.
Midbass is ok and I felt a few times I could've used a tiny bit more quantity, but that's just me.

The lower mids again have good body, vocals sound good although I felt they lacked in the transparency department. Sorta like looking through a slightly dirty window vs an open window if that makes sense.
Upper mids are relaxed and could definitely use more bite for my taste. I was missing some energy, edge and grunt in some electric guitars for sure in more energetic tracks.

As far as treble goes, I thought it was excellent for the most part. I found it quite resolving and also had good body. Listening to cymbals was very pleasing for a change as they were not smeared but rather well defined.

I felt for an iem the Pola had a pretty wide soundstage, still a small image of course but plenty of room for instruments and vocals on the stage. The depth was good but nothing out of the norm, height was not very good and that to me was what kept the image seem smaller than it had to be, IMO of course.

A few random tracks from my playlist for reference:
Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Charles Mingus - Better Git It In Your Soul
Radiohead - Reckoner
John Mayer - Gravity
Cafe Tacvba - 24 Horas
The Who - Baba O'Riley
Frank Sinatra,Count Basie - Fly me to the Moon
AC/DC - Thunderstruck
Rush - YYZ
Black Sabbath - Supernaut
Bela Fleck - Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Fiona Apple - Daredevil
Norah Jones - Back To Manhattan
Tracy Chapman - Behind the Wall
Van Morrison - I Just Want to Make Love to You (Live)

Thank you @TSAVAlan for putting together this tour and allowing me to check out the Polas in my own home, it was fun!
 
Jan 28, 2020 at 12:56 AM Post #82 of 93
I've been listening to the Pola-1 for the last two days. My sources are AK kann cube and SP1000M. I use amazon music paid CD quality and Qobuz for my music.
For reference, I have listened to both my AK players with 64 u12t, 64 trio, 64 forte, sony IER-Z1r, qdc anole vx, Fir Audio M4, few Emprire Ears IEMs. So I have a fairly good idea how my DAPs should sound like. The Kann Cube has a coherent sound with some air to the treble, good well bodied bass and AK house sound in the mids. It does have tons of power and can also drive Audeze LCD-4 on high gain.
Pola-1 are not easy to drive. Not by any means. I usually listen to level 15-35 at high gain on my Kann Cube, based on how quite or loud i want it to be. For Pola 1 i had to crank it up all the way to 150 and still it felt like i could not get it loud. This is with the 3.5 mm unbalanced connection. I do not have the 3.5mm to 2.5mm balanced adapter. So I actually brought up my Magni 2 desktop amp to drive these with Kann Cube as source.
Here are my impressions of the sound - The sound stage on these are extremely congested. Even with Magni 2 as Amp the sound stage is very very narrow. Surprisingly though there was no hiss with Magni 2. The mids are very recessed on these. The electrost tweeters are not doing the job, there is no air in the top end. The bass also does not seem to have the dynamic driver charecteristics. There is hardly any dynamics, no slam in the bass. Both the top end and bottom end extension on these seem very rolled off. Resolution power on these are ok.
 
Feb 27, 2020 at 12:28 PM Post #83 of 93
Just recieved the tour pair. Was completely surprised because I had no prior notification that it was on the way.

Thank you and will post up my impressions once I get some listening time
 
Mar 3, 2020 at 3:45 PM Post #85 of 93
I still have one tour kit - waiting on instructions on who gets them next. :)
 
Mar 4, 2020 at 7:53 AM Post #87 of 93
Hey Will, been slammed last few days but just waiting on a response back from another user.

No worries, as long as nobody thinks I ran off with them, we are all good.
W
 
Mar 14, 2020 at 8:49 PM Post #88 of 93
Hi all. Just got the tour kit, thoroughly cleaned the IEMs and tips I'll be using and started listening to POLA out of Shanling M6 using UAPP. Put on Rush's Moving Pictures 2015 remaster with extended dynamic range which usually has very good soundstage and am feeling underwhelmed so far. POLA has very linear L-R soundstage with very little depth or height which I usually get from this album. Low end is fine if a little smeary. Low mids are warm. Mids are nasally. Upper mids are overly restrained. Treble is quite rolled off, making cymbals hard for me to hear. Not sure I'll be listening to these much...
 
Mar 14, 2020 at 8:56 PM Post #89 of 93
Hi all. Just got the tour kit, thoroughly cleaned the IEMs and tips I'll be using and started listening to POLA out of Shanling M6 using UAPP. Put on Rush's Moving Pictures 2015 remaster with extended dynamic range which usually has very good soundstage and am feeling underwhelmed so far. POLA has very linear L-R soundstage with very little depth or height which I usually get from this album. Low end is fine if a little smeary. Low mids are warm. Mids are nasally. Upper mids are overly restrained. Treble is quite rolled off, making cymbals hard for me to hear. Not sure I'll be listening to these much...

Yeah. The POLA is too warm for my taste as well. The POLA 39 is much, much better.
 
Mar 25, 2020 at 7:22 AM Post #90 of 93
Its funny cause I actually prefer the Pola for some albums. The slightly recessed but even male/female vocals. Also the Bass and string texture I really like.
Downside on some recordings the the lower trebble did show some sharpness and rolled off sooner than the Pola39.

Another note. The cables is great and I'm most likely getting one with mmcx. I took my budget cost VE Biggies and swapped the SPC balanced cable with the Symphonym cable. Despite becoming SE 3.5mm, the sound stage was larger and more detailed without changing the overall signature.
 

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