weexisttocease
Headphoneus Supremus
Actually the build is quite good for a DIY set. Fit is perfect at least for me.
Audio Lokahi IEM impressions and reviews thread
- Thread starter tgx78
- Start date
Exacly. And the weight is also perfect.
Audio Lokahi First Impressions
This little fellas suprised me, in a good way, the second I putted them on. Was expecting something else or maybe something I wouldn't like with them. That wasn't the case. It's also my first entry into Full BA sets, so there's that. Going from Teas, to Variations to Lokahi has been a rollercoaster.
Fit and confort are great for me. Any tip worked for me and their fit is close to Teas for good measure, which is deep without hotspots. Remind me of FH3 fit but ligther, since FH3 body is made of metal and Lokahi seems to be made of Resin/PVC, weighting nothing. I ended up with Final E tips to try to enhance bass and tame treble, which will be obvious above.
Now lets just get this out of the way:
So, given that, how's the Sound on Lokahi?
Lokahi was the first IEM that instantly reminded me of my beloved Teas as soon as I put them on, which is a feat by itself already. But curiously enough, they are unidentical twins, since Teas are balanced with sub-bass focus and dark treble, while Lokahi is slight U-Shaped, having less sub-bass but brighter treble. Let me explain you why, without getting lost in the sauce:
So, how to they really sound?
They have some BA timbre to it. It's a bit dry and metallic, but I've heard much worse, even on hibrids. Lokahi is coherent and fast, but lacks some detail. Like there's some tiny pieces missing here and there on tracks. Soundstage is ok with nice imaging.
The big elephant in the room is of course the lack of DD bass. Surprisingly enough, mid bass is pretty good and has a nice kick to it, that can get a bit muddy on very busy tracks. This kick will help you with the driver main problem, the lackage of real sub-bass. The texture is good, even for a BA. When hearing albuns like Daftpunk - Homework, I slight missed the typical DD rumble, but the kick compensated some of it. I trully liked the bass on these, even if it's not perfect.
Mids are very well presented to my preferences, and are their best trait in my opinion. Could use a little more detail, but overall fine.
Treble is a tricky one. It has good extention, but can get a little bit spicy. I'm ok with it having energy, but sometimes they get slighly hotter than it should. Also, all this elevation don't seem to bring as much air into the table as I would expect, again, leaving some micro details to be left out.
So, as first conclusions: I really like these. If they were at their original price, around 140$, I'd say grab them, it's a rec based on tunning. At 240$ it's hard for me to say the same thing, as you are 60$ away from the 300$ range, where the usual suspects step over these. It's a nice entry to people that want to try full BA setups.
None the less, they surpised me in a good way and I hope to spend some more time with them in a near future, before taking some final conclusions. I'm trying to downsize my collection, but I have some love for these. Maybe they'll stay, time will tell.
This little fellas suprised me, in a good way, the second I putted them on. Was expecting something else or maybe something I wouldn't like with them. That wasn't the case. It's also my first entry into Full BA sets, so there's that. Going from Teas, to Variations to Lokahi has been a rollercoaster.
Fit and confort are great for me. Any tip worked for me and their fit is close to Teas for good measure, which is deep without hotspots. Remind me of FH3 fit but ligther, since FH3 body is made of metal and Lokahi seems to be made of Resin/PVC, weighting nothing. I ended up with Final E tips to try to enhance bass and tame treble, which will be obvious above.
Now lets just get this out of the way:
- If you despise BA timbre, these are not for you.
- You might get some inner-ear suction. I'm not getting much/none, but as always YMMV and you've been warned.
- If your library resolves around heavy subbass, I'd not pick these since they don't have a Dynamic Driver.
So, given that, how's the Sound on Lokahi?
Lokahi was the first IEM that instantly reminded me of my beloved Teas as soon as I put them on, which is a feat by itself already. But curiously enough, they are unidentical twins, since Teas are balanced with sub-bass focus and dark treble, while Lokahi is slight U-Shaped, having less sub-bass but brighter treble. Let me explain you why, without getting lost in the sauce:
- Lokahi mid bass is elevated to perform a resemblance to a DD driver. BAs don't have the physical "thump" that DDs makes you feel, so a smart tuning detail is to elevate the mid-bass so you feel more kick to compensate the rumble you aren't having. And this *kind* of works.
- Lokahi Treble is elevated to balance the signature out with this mid-bass elevation, giving it more energy and air.
- Mids are pretty flat, giving them a nice presentation without leting mid-bass bleed and has an ok transition to upper (could be slight better imo, but big deal).
So, how to they really sound?
They have some BA timbre to it. It's a bit dry and metallic, but I've heard much worse, even on hibrids. Lokahi is coherent and fast, but lacks some detail. Like there's some tiny pieces missing here and there on tracks. Soundstage is ok with nice imaging.
The big elephant in the room is of course the lack of DD bass. Surprisingly enough, mid bass is pretty good and has a nice kick to it, that can get a bit muddy on very busy tracks. This kick will help you with the driver main problem, the lackage of real sub-bass. The texture is good, even for a BA. When hearing albuns like Daftpunk - Homework, I slight missed the typical DD rumble, but the kick compensated some of it. I trully liked the bass on these, even if it's not perfect.
Mids are very well presented to my preferences, and are their best trait in my opinion. Could use a little more detail, but overall fine.
Treble is a tricky one. It has good extention, but can get a little bit spicy. I'm ok with it having energy, but sometimes they get slighly hotter than it should. Also, all this elevation don't seem to bring as much air into the table as I would expect, again, leaving some micro details to be left out.
So, as first conclusions: I really like these. If they were at their original price, around 140$, I'd say grab them, it's a rec based on tunning. At 240$ it's hard for me to say the same thing, as you are 60$ away from the 300$ range, where the usual suspects step over these. It's a nice entry to people that want to try full BA setups.
None the less, they surpised me in a good way and I hope to spend some more time with them in a near future, before taking some final conclusions. I'm trying to downsize my collection, but I have some love for these. Maybe they'll stay, time will tell.
I get good result with cable swap... The stock cable is decent but deducted capability from the Lokahi.
The stock cable holds these back a lot. In my case at least. These sounded like whole new iem after changing the cable. Like radical change in sound. Not exaggerating.
I was half worried I wi get shot down for suggesting cable change... Nice that I have someone second my opinion. Question next is how far are we willing to pay for a good cable for Lokahi. Mine was 120usd haha and I wonder if that's necessary at all.
weexisttocease
Headphoneus Supremus
What type of cable you recommend?
I just grabbed another cable I had lying around. It's from my tin p1. I don't think you need to spend a lot on a cable; I think you just need to not use the stock cable. There's something wrong with it.
rattlingblanketwoman
100+ Head-Fier
Just for counterpoint /counting opinions, I found stock cable vs other cables made zero difference to sound.
Lamim Rashid
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I want the nimbus but I couldnt figure out how to buy it from taobao for the life of me. I was also curious what other iems he makes
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weexisttocease
Headphoneus Supremus
It's available now at Linsoul: Audio Hekili.
Lamim Rashid
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I'm really interested in these, the FR graph by bggr for these look amazing. On the other hand linsoul has marked these up by a ton compared to what the original guy was selling these for. Not to mention they don't even list what ba drivers are being used. Makes me wonder why I should bother instead of just getting something like the mangird tea or gt12x which we at least know for sure are good value iems over what's possibly just a cheap bellsing iem that's been tuned really well. Considering the original lokahi was $140 (if bought directly from him) I'm almost certain that at least some clone or "custom" drivers were used. I'm also interested when they'll finally put the 8+1 iem on sale. Seems like they're staggering the releases to make people want to upgrade whenever there is a new "audio" iem.
weexisttocease
Headphoneus Supremus
I also bought the Lokahi directly from the seller, 140$. 299$ seems a bit too much.
Lamim Rashid
100+ Head-Fier
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That's why I want someone to teach me how to buy it directly
. Would be so much cheaper
rattlingblanketwoman
100+ Head-Fier
Especially as even though their price is highly marked up, they haven't put the Hekili on sale whatsoever during 11.11 – all and any help from a Taobao guru would be hugely appreciated. I loved my Lokahis, I'm very keen to hear the same with a DD for bass.
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