[cqtek]

Hello everybody.

Here you have my humble opinion about the Hidizs MS2, the new Hidizs IEMS that are due to be released this month.
I must tell you that I liked them very much, as an analytical sound lover.



https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/hidizs-ms2.24969/reviews#item-review-25316

Edit: It seems that they will finally be released at the beginning of March...

 

[G777]

Anyone tried the MT300? How does it compare to other ~$100 IEMs?

 

[JEHL]

Wonder what's the closes a sub 100 does to neither emphasize nor recess nor rolloff any part of the audible frequency range. Technical power largely irrelevant for this question.

I wonder if the answer is still either Tinhifi T2, Final E500, or ER2XR.

 

[baskingshark]

Wonder what's the closes a sub 100 does to neither emphasize nor recess nor rolloff any part of the audible frequency range. Technical power largely irrelevant for this question.

I wonder if the answer is still either Tinhifi T2, Final E500, or ER2XR.

The regular Tin T2 is not the answer for sure, it is rather anemic in the bass for me.

I just bought a final E500 for the Final E tips. It has yet to arrive, stuck somewhere in LAX for the past week sigh. I bought it for the Final E tips actually, since the tips themselves go for $15 USD, and the E500 goes for $20, it is kinda getting the IEM for $5 LOL. Will let u know once (if) I ever get my E500 delivered.

 

[Nimweth]

Anyone tried the MT300? How does it compare to other ~$100 IEMs?

The MT300, especially when run balanced, is serious competition to such IEMs in my collection as TRI i3, TRI Starsea and KBEAR Believe. If you can get it for around 60GBP as I did, it's a no-brainer.

 

[cqtek]

Uhmmmm. I've been reading the impressions of the Smabat X1 from our mate @unifutomaki and after that I was a bit worried about the sound and about the result of the switch.
Well, today I got the Smabat X1 and I've only been using it for a couple of hours. First I tried them with the switch in the H (down) position and the sound lacks bass. It's as if the bass driver doesn't work. Then I switched the driver to the upper position and now the bass is quite emphasized. And for me, a bass lover, to say so.... Besides, coming from recently analysing IEMS TFZ it's not easy to scare me.
But really, the X1 (by the way, X1 is perhaps the most recurrent model name in portable audio) has a lot of energy in the mid-bass and a very softened treble start, as if it were an old V-bass IEM, a very classic tuning. There is a tendency to darkness because its high-mids are below the lows, which prevents it from being more detailed and clear.
The mid-bass gets most of the energy, in my opinion too much, which makes the sound more fatiguing. Perhaps it is a matter of turning up the volume to bring the voices, especially the female voices, and the mids closer together, but when the bass comes in, it is too powerful. It is not a muddy sound and there is separation and transparency, but so much presence in the bass, with a sound that is also not very smooth in that low area, but has a certain roughness that detracts from its definition, produces an initial impression that is not very pleasant.
I will need a good brain break-in and also another one for the IEMS, with the intention of softening the bass, extracting more details and getting into its darkness...
In the bassless position, I am not able to hear it. Sorry, I consider myself useless to describe that tuning. Just to say that it's the model with the lowest bass I've been able to listen to and I don't want to try it too much... But I'll give it a try. In this position the bass is unreal, totally incomplete. Voices become shriller and there is a clear sibilance. The sound lacks body and not by removing bass the treble appears or the separation or the details improve. The timbre in this position is wrong, it does not match reality. I'm sure that in the other position it's not the most normal thing in the world either, but many can live with more bass than necessary. In fact, there are IEMS with more bass... and it's just a bit dark, not too dark...
Anyway, I find it difficult to understand that they have configured a switch with such a difference between the two profiles. The sound should not be so polarised, at either end. At 20Hz, the difference is almost 30dB and at 40 almost 25dB. You could live with 10-15dB or reduce the bass curve in the bass position and you'd be close to a Tin HiFi T1 Plus...
Well, here are some graphs...

 

[JEHL]

So I guess there is no such thing as an AKG K612 Pro in IEM form then.

 

[unifutomaki]

Uhmmmm. I've been reading the impressions of the Smabat X1 from our mate @unifutomaki and after that I was a bit worried about the sound and about the result of the switch.
Well, today I got the Smabat X1 and I've only been using it for a couple of hours. First I tried them with the switch in the H (down) position and the sound lacks bass. It's as if the bass driver doesn't work. Then I switched the driver to the upper position and now the bass is quite emphasized. And for me, a bass lover, to say so.... Besides, coming from recently analysing IEMS TFZ it's not easy to scare me.
But really, the X1 (by the way, X1 is perhaps the most recurrent model name in portable audio) has a lot of energy in the mid-bass and a very softened treble start, as if it were an old V-bass IEM, a very classic tuning. There is a tendency to darkness because its high-mids are below the lows, which prevents it from being more detailed and clear.
The mid-bass gets most of the energy, in my opinion too much, which makes the sound more fatiguing. Perhaps it is a matter of turning up the volume to bring the voices, especially the female voices, and the mids closer together, but when the bass comes in, it is too powerful. It is not a muddy sound and there is separation and transparency, but so much presence in the bass, with a sound that is also not very smooth in that low area, but has a certain roughness that detracts from its definition, produces an initial impression that is not very pleasant.
I will need a good brain break-in and also another one for the IEMS, with the intention of softening the bass, extracting more details and getting into its darkness...
In the bassless position, I am not able to hear it. Sorry, I consider myself useless to describe that tuning. Just to say that it's the model with the lowest bass I've been able to listen to and I don't want to try it too much... But I'll give it a try. In this position the bass is unreal, totally incomplete. Voices become shriller and there is a clear sibilance. The sound lacks body and not by removing bass the treble appears or the separation or the details improve. The timbre in this position is wrong, it does not match reality. I'm sure that in the other position it's not the most normal thing in the world either, but many can live with more bass than necessary. In fact, there are IEMS with more bass... and it's just a bit dark, not too dark...
Anyway, I find it difficult to understand that they have configured a switch with such a difference between the two profiles. The sound should not be so polarised, at either end. At 20Hz, the difference is almost 30dB and at 40 almost 25dB. You could live with 10-15dB or reduce the bass curve in the bass position and you'd be close to a Tin HiFi T1 Plus...
Well, here are some graphs...

Thanks for the graphs and impressions! I think we complement each other in terms of our personal sound signature preferences, so you managed to get more out of the configuration that I found to be practically unlistenable. It also looks like my ear-based assessment of the SSR being more bassy than the X1 in switch-down mode was an accurate one.

Ultimately if I were to be giving buying advice, I would consider the X1 to be a pretty darn niche proposition and would probably steer people towards the SSR/SSP duo first. For me personally, however, I'm listening with the X1 right now and it hits the spot (after EQ) where mids and vocals are concerned.

I guess it's over to @baskingshark now

 

[baskingshark]

Thanks for the graphs and impressions! I think we complement each other in terms of our personal sound signature preferences, so you managed to get more out of the configuration that I found to be practically unlistenable. It also looks like my ear-based assessment of the SSR being more bassy than the X1 in switch-down mode was an accurate one.

Ultimately if I were to be giving buying advice, I would consider the X1 to be a pretty darn niche proposition and would probably steer people towards the SSR/SSP duo first. For me personally, however, I'm listening with the X1 right now and it hits the spot (after EQ) where mids and vocals are concerned.

I guess it's over to @baskingshark now

Yeah agree with you folks, the tunings are rather extreme in the switches for the X1, from a basshead L shaped default switch, which is quite muddy and veiled due to the overly copious midbass amounts/bloat, to a midcentric tuning which lacks bass.

Midcentric tunings are very niche as we agree, the lack of bass may be offputting for users who listen to bass forward music, but it shines with vocals and acoustic type genres.

This is just my conjecture, but I have a feeling that the midcentric switch just uses one driver, whereas the basshead L shaped switch kicks the second driver in (which is responsible for the bass). This is from reading their store page info, where it seems the dual DD config is used in the basshead setting. So it makes sense that when in the midcentric switch, the bass driver doesn't work and hence the bass frequencies appear missing as it is only the higher frequency driver in play.





I really quite like the midcentric switch as there are very few budget midcentric type IEMs, they are really vocal specialists. I hardly use the basshead setting cause of the midbass bloat. But EQ can lower the bass or one can use wide bore eartips to try to tame the bass amounts a bit.

 

[chifihead]

Wonder what's the closes a sub 100 does to neither emphasize nor recess nor rolloff any part of the audible frequency range. Technical power largely irrelevant for this question.

I wonder if the answer is still either Tinhifi T2, Final E500, or ER2XR.

How much does the Nfaudio NM2 (not the plus) go for these days?

 

[cappuchino]

How much does the Nfaudio NM2 (not the plus) go for these days?

I see them for as cheap as 90 USD on Shopee and Lazada

 

[unifutomaki]

This is just my conjecture, but I have a feeling that the midcentric switch just uses one driver, whereas the basshead L shaped switch kicks the second driver in (which is responsible for the bass). This is from reading their store page info, where it seems the dual DD config is used in the basshead setting. So it makes sense that when in the midcentric switch, the bass driver doesn't work and hence the bass frequencies appear missing as it is only the higher frequency driver in play.

That is very interesting. You might just be right, because there is a significant drop in volume when switching between the modes. It also creates the possibility of setting the X1 to the basshead mode while EQ-ing down the bass to achieve a similar linear tuning but with both drivers involved. I'll give that a go this afternoon and report back!

 

[baskingshark]

That is very interesting. You might just be right, because there is a significant drop in volume when switching between the modes. It also creates the possibility of setting the X1 to the basshead mode while EQ-ing down the bass to achieve a similar linear tuning but with both drivers involved. I'll give that a go this afternoon and report back!

Yep agreed, there is quite a big difference in drivability once the switch goes to the midcentric tuning. That setting really needs amping, whereas the default switch for basshead setting is very drivable from lower powered sources.

 

[unifutomaki]

Mid-centric Smabat X1 with switches up

​

It's not that I hate bass, I promise...

31Hz	62Hz	125Hz	250Hz	500Hz	1KHz	2KHz	4KHz	8KHz	16KHz
-6	-8	-5.5	-2	+1.5	+3	+2	+0.5	+4	0

 

[cqtek]

@unifutomaki @baskingshark I agree with your comments. I think the Switch disables the bass driver, but both tunings are very polarizing. I think some tuning with the EQ is necessary in both. Although, as you can see, there are tastes for everyone. If the drivers respond well to the EQ, a different tuning would improve the whole. Reducing the mid-bass, smoothing it with the sub-bass, extending the first treble and something else, would improve the bass tuning. In the mid-center position, a more linear bass, I think, would be necessary. I have the Faaeal Hibiscus and it is an example of a mid-centric model with a more linear bass.
In general, I would try to bring both tunings closer together, so that there is not so much difference between the two curves, not so much polarization, smoothing both modes.
I also agree that with the tuning without bass, more power is needed.
Are we talking about a second X1 version when the first one just came out?