[seamon]

These or 750 pairs of $2 Daiso earphones?

Can Solaris give you the sound of 750 $2 Daiso earphones combined and amped properly? Yea I didn't think so. Solaris trash!!!

 

[BeerNuts]

Phew this thread is way more active than the other one at cant be named. Just ordered my pair, current Andro owner but I am always chasing new toys and new to IEMs. These better be as good as you all say they are lol

 

[bvng3540]

Phew this thread is way more active than the other one at cant be named. Just ordered my pair, current Andro owner but I am always chasing new toys and new to IEMs. These better be as good as you all say they are lol

They certainly do, if you have the ears for it

 

[davidmolliere]

The first negative impressions are in!!! Check out the place which must not be named.
TBH, I think something's wrong especially vis-a-vis the Imaging performance. Solaris is a God at Imaging and said person said Imaging performance was lower than Andro

Well... to be fair....I kinda got what the problem was a few lines in... "Once again I only used my S8 (Snapdragon variant) to drive them. "

How do you reach any kind of conclusion with a source that is bound to have huge limitations... especially say that the Solaris is bassy is quite understandable since the source is... bassy and not in a good way (I should know, I owned a S8 for over a year there is a huge boost in the mid bass and lower mids what a mess). The S8 is not a V30/35/40, i.e not a phone that can compare to even mid tier DAPs. Probably doesn't compare to lower tier DAPs and tier aside the tuning is much too warm and bloated.

Why take a source that is all but neutral and make conclusions about the frequency range? "an emphasis at 3kHz" and "the midrange reminded me more of the Vega tuning" is nothing but accurate IMHO they couldn't be more different. Luckily the conclusion is a bit reassuring "Could be that the Solaris would need a much better source than the S8 to truly show its imaging capabilites, but the UERM doesn't and it still scales like crazy with better gear." I don't know the UERM but some IEMs do fare well with even cheaper smartphones and usually those are rather pure neutral or brighter in nature as most phone are very warm tuned. And it's not only affecting imaging but the whole restitution of sound is totally messed up. I wouldn't even dream of testing the Solaris or any IEM with S8 as source other than curiosity knowing in advance it won't be good. No to mention the output impedance on the S8 is around 3 ohms so that will skew the FR.

And sibilance? None for me with the Solaris at least neither from 1Z and Mojo and with the tips I used.
I could maybe imagine this could happen with the Final E tips as I think those should be avoided as any tips who as a stem narrower than the bore size.

My two cents...

You can be surprised with some sources though, out of my MacBook Pro 15" I was really pleasantly surprised at the result. In fact, I found it was a better pairing than Mojo (yes, I know...) but thousands of miles away from the magic of 1Z/Solaris. I didn't try out of iPhone X dongle but will do out of curiosity.

airpods >>> solaris

Out of a galaxy S8 that's probably very true!

 

[seamon]

Well... to be fair....I kinda got what the problem was a few lines in... "Once again I only used my S8 (Snapdragon variant) to drive them. "

How do you reach any kind of conclusion with a source that is bound to have huge limitations... especially say that the Solaris is bassy is quite understandable since the source is... bassy and not in a good way (I should know, I owned a S8 for over a year there is a huge boost in the mid bass and lower mids what a mess). The S8 is not a V30/35/40, i.e not a phone that can compare to even mid tier DAPs. Probably doesn't compare to lower tier DAPs and tier aside the tuning is much too warm and bloated.

Why take a source that is all but neutral and make conclusions about the frequency range? "an emphasis at 3kHz" and "the midrange reminded me more of the Vega tuning" is nothing but accurate IMHO they couldn't be more different. Luckily the conclusion is a bit reassuring "Could be that the Solaris would need a much better source than the S8 to truly show its imaging capabilites, but the UERM doesn't and it still scales like crazy with better gear." I don't know the UERM but some IEMs do fare well with even cheaper smartphones and usually those are rather pure neutral or brighter in nature as most phone are very warm tuned. And it's not only affecting imaging but the whole restitution of sound is totally messed up. I wouldn't even dream of testing the Solaris or any IEM with S8 as source other than curiosity knowing in advance it won't be good.

And sibilance? None for me with the Solaris at least neither from 1Z and Mojo and with the tips I used.
I could maybe imagine this could happen with the Final E tips as I think those should be avoided as any tips who as a stem narrower than the bore size.

My two cents...

You can be surprised with some sources though, out of my MacBook Pro 15" I was really pleasantly surprised at the result. In fact, I found it was a better pairing than Mojo (yes, I know...) but thousands of miles away from the magic of 1Z/Solaris. I didn't try out of iPhone X dongle but will do out of curiosity.



Out of a galaxy S8 that's probably very true!

You can post it there too you know I am sure those guys will appreciate this a lot. You are right it doesn't make sense. Solaris midrange is as far away from a Vega as it can be.

 

[davidmolliere]

You can post it there too you know I am sure those guys will appreciate this a lot. You are right it doesn't make sense. Solaris midrange is as far away from a Vega as it can be.

Well, I have been a silent observer - the must read before your first post disclaimer and dislike system certainly doesn't encourage posting - but I might.
The detailed impressions you've posted there are really great by the way

 

[davidmolliere]

And... surprise suprise... my Solaris review is up
I enjoyed doing some pun intended titling (yes the hype train is there ! )

A Smooth Exciting Ride Into Hyperspace!

 

[cytoSiN]

Out of a galaxy S8 that's probably very true!

I don't see how anyone can seriously review a TOTL IEM using the DAC in a Samsung phone. The DAC in my Note8 is awful. I wouldn't review the Samsung earbuds that came with the phone using that DAC.

 

[Mike-WI]

And... surprise suprise... my Solaris review is up
I enjoyed doing some pun intended titling (yes the hype train is there ! )

A Smooth Exciting Ride Into Hyperspace!

I just started reading review, but love this...
"Maybe what’s less known is that Ken Ball was running a lab as a plant pathologist for the US Department of Agriculture when he decided it was time for a change (recommended read : From plants to Campfire Audio : the story of Ken Ball)."

Reminds me of a very famous physician I know that start off with an Ag degree.
Also, my brothers have degrees in forestry and wildlife management.

 

[nevrsumr]

I don't see how anyone can seriously review a TOTL IEM using the DAC in a Samsung phone. The DAC in my Note8 is awful. I wouldn't review the Samsung earbuds that came with the phone using that DAC.

I guess that depends on what the alternative is especially with sensitive IEMs. I run my Andro's off my iphone 10 (1 ohm) and I think it sounds amazing. I plug my Andro's into my pioneer elite THX certified receiver and it starts hissing, the treble amplifies to screeching levels, mids go thin, bass drops because treble is so bad and sibilant I can't turn it up any. I wouldn't pay $10 for the Andromeda's if that's what they sound like coming from a source that makes them sound like that. If every source that causes hiss in these sensitive IEMs make them sound like they did on my receiver, I could see why people wouldn't like them. I guess some people would refuse to believe an expensive DAP could possibly sound worse than a phone.

 

[cytoSiN]

I guess that depends on what the alternative is especially with sensitive IEMs. I run my Andro's off my iphone 10 (1 ohm) and I think it sounds amazing. I plug my Andro's into my pioneer elite THX certified receiver and it starts hissing, the treble amplifies to screeching levels, mids go thin, bass drops because treble is so bad and sibilant I can't turn it up any. I wouldn't pay $10 for the Andromeda's if that's what they sound like coming from a source that makes them sound like that. If every source that causes hiss in these sensitive IEMs make them sound like they did on my receiver, I could see why people wouldn't like them. I guess some people would refuse to believe an expensive DAP could possibly sound worse than a phone.

Fair enough. I'm coming from Etymotic ER4XR, which are oddly somewhat hard to drive. I have to max the volume on my Note8 to enjoy music at moderately high volumes, and the SQ isn't great at any volume. But there's no hiss. Thankfully I carry a bag around for work so I can stash a portable DAP to use when commuting.

 

[davidmolliere]

I guess that depends on what the alternative is especially with sensitive IEMs. I run my Andro's off my iphone 10 (1 ohm) and I think it sounds amazing. I plug my Andro's into my pioneer elite THX certified receiver and it starts hissing, the treble amplifies to screeching levels, mids go thin, bass drops because treble is so bad and sibilant I can't turn it up any. I wouldn't pay $10 for the Andromeda's if that's what they sound like coming from a source that makes them sound like that. If every source that causes hiss in these sensitive IEMs make them sound like they did on my receiver, I could see why people wouldn't like them. I guess some people would refuse to believe an expensive DAP could possibly sound worse than a phone.

I do get the hissing issue with amps, especially desktop amps meant for full sized heaphones, but running low gain I don't see hissing being an issue with most top tier DAPs. YMMV.
I didn't experience any hissing with either the 1Z and Mojo but I am a low volume listener and never use high gain.

Don't forget low impedance IEMs are tricky, because it's easy to have enough power to drive them loud but hard to feed them proper current and lower impedance will mean it needs a quality source to be driven with authority and control. To make things a bit more complex, output impedance will indeed skew the frequency range if it's too high. Top tier DAPs today rarely if ever are above 1 ohm and most are now under 0,5ohm thus shouldn't be performing worst than a smartphone.

As I said something like Andro will sound good on smartphone because it won't be a bad pairing with a more neutral/brighter IEM while it will not be a good pairing with the Solaris (same reason I found the MacBook pro headphone jack to be a better pairing than Mojo). I still have to test Solaris with iPhone X, didn't know the dongle had a 1ohm OI good to know.

 

[nevrsumr]

I still have to test Solaris with iPhone X, didn't know the dongle had a 1ohm OI good to know.

LMK how it goes. That would probably determine whether or not I get them at some point. I mostly just do spotify premium.

 

[candlejack]

I don't see how anyone can seriously review a TOTL IEM using the DAC in a Samsung phone.

I use the Andromeda almost exclusively with a Galaxy S8 phone and I'm very happy with the sound. I've tried the Sansa Clip, the Fiio X53, the Opus#2 and 3, the AK70 and AK1000, the Mojo and the iDSD Micro BL and while some of these were a good match for the Andro and sounded a bit more energetic, I couldn't find a significant difference with the S8. And until I can see some measurements proving the opposite, I will continue trusting my ears.

Regarding the review part, as long as they clearly state what source they're using, I think it's useful information.

 

[cytoSiN]

I use the Andromeda almost exclusively with a Galaxy S8 phone and I'm very happy with the sound. I've tried the Sansa Clip, the Fiio X53, the Opus#2 and 3, the AK70 and AK1000, the Mojo and the iDSD Micro BL and while some of these were a good match for the Andro and sounded a bit more energetic, I couldn't find a significant difference with the S8. And until I can see some measurements proving the opposite, I will continue trusting my ears.

Regarding the review part, as long as they clearly state what source they're using, I think it's useful information.

To each their own, right? Even with measurements, we can certainly agree that "trust your ears" is the most important thing. If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters!