[Barndoor]

Out of interest is the price rise of Beryllium driven by supply issues?
Was reading an article that demand was down due to Covid impacts causing reduced production in automotive and aerospace sectors.

 

[chickenmoon]

Price of 99% Be is currently about $1 per gram and you've got something like perhaps two milligram of it per driver at most so the price of raw Be ain't much of a factor in the cost of a pure Be driver.

In the Cayin Fantasy thread, the Cayin rep mentioned they tried pure Be drivers but couldn't get a sub kilobuck retail price for the Fantasy if using these. The Fantasy uses PVD Be and costs $600 so it would mean a pure Be driver (purchased from Materion I suppose) costs $100 at the very minimum but probably more.

 

[cappuchino]

The more I listen to the KZ DQ6, the more astounded I am by how good it sounds. I can never stop saying how important tip rolling is for this IEM. I am now using the BQEYZ stock tips which can be bought for 3 USD for 6 pairs. Never ever touch the stock tips it comes with.

The quality and control across all spectrums, man... KZ hit gold with these and I'm sure I'm not the only one that says so.

Oh, the tiny black box at the back is the Earstudio HUD100 MK2. It attaches like a jetpack on my phone with the included case. I do have to mention that the DQ6 is the only gear I have that I encounter annoying hiss with in High Power mode. In low power, crystal clear.

The KZ DQ6 is an easy to drive IEM and should be in the top 3 of the list of Best 30 USD IEMs, IMO. It's insane that it can be found for less than 16 USD if you have access to Shopee or Lazada. The cable I use is the new KZ upgrade cables for 2021. Sells for around 8 USD on Shopee.

 

[speedfiend]

I haven't heard Starsea yet, it's still on the trip from Shenzhen to USA... a long one (1month?), from my understanding, Starsea is not on the coolest sid & it has neutral tuning, that's why it caught my attention as it's basically a mini-64 audio U12t. And many reviewers said it's the best value to price for 2021. Your warm and clear sound preference reminds me of See Audio Yume although that's $169, a pretty harsh target compared to Starsea's 129(on sale 107).

The closest IEM to having the 64 Audio U12T's tune/sound would be the Dunu SA6, which is a $550 mid-fi IEM. Nothing around the $100 range has a tune that's close. I have auditioned the U12T and own both the SA6 and the Starsea and the Starsea have a very different sound from the U12T/SA6, even with all the switch options.

 

[alamnp]

The closest IEM to having the 64 Audio U12T's tune/sound would be the Dunu SA6, which is a $550 mid-fi IEM. Nothing around the $100 range has a tune that's close. I have auditioned the U12T and own both the SA6 and the Starsea and the Starsea have a very different sound from the U12T/SA6, even with all the switch options.

how does it compare to Dunu Luna?

Being said, I can’t get enough of Beryllium driver.

so far all of the Beryllium driver IEMs I owned, IMO has the best tuning of all.

 

[seanwee]

Price of 99% Be is currently about $1 per gram and you've got something like perhaps two milligram of it per driver at most so the price of raw Be ain't much of a factor in the cost of a pure Be driver.

In the Cayin Fantasy thread, the Cayin rep mentioned they tried pure Be drivers but couldn't get a sub kilobuck retail price for the Fantasy if using these. The Fantasy uses PVD Be and costs $600 so it would mean a pure Be driver (purchased from Materion I suppose) costs $100 at the very minimum but probably more.

IMO its the drivers either needing a very long manufacturing time, have a very high defect rate or both as the same time thats driving the costs up.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

The closest IEM to having the 64 Audio U12T's tune/sound would be the Dunu SA6, which is a $550 mid-fi IEM. Nothing around the $100 range has a tune that's close. I have auditioned the U12T and own both the SA6 and the Starsea and the Starsea have a very different sound from the U12T/SA6, even with all the switch options.

Ah thanks. that’s sad to see. I was thinking a benchmark for U12t. I recall crinacle
mentioned SA6 is closest to Anole VX rather than U12t, so I was thinking how U12t would sound like, wether it’s worth to try with myself having Anole VX.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Out of interest is the price rise of Beryllium driven by supply issues?
Was reading an article that demand was down due to Covid impacts causing reduced production in automotive and aerospace sectors.

I’m currently in Automotive industry, right now it’s rather due to geopolitical issues rather than covid19, we are having shortage for semiconductors, it’s mainly due to oligopoly of semiconductor manufacturing plant’s capacity, only some Korean/Taiwanese/Japanese/US firms could produce those. I’m not specialist for semiconductors but i recall due to it’s efficient conducting capability, beryllium is used as one of the raw materials. Not sure the shortage on beryllium is one of a natural/political factor though.

 

[PhonoPhi]

I’m currently in Automotive industry, right now it’s rather due to geopolitical issues rather than covid19, we are having shortage for semiconductors, it’s mainly due to oligopoly of semiconductor manufacturing plant’s capacity, only some Korean/Taiwanese/Japanese/US firms could produce those. I’m not specialist for semiconductors but i recall due to it’s efficient conducting capability, beryllium is used as one of the raw materials. Not sure the shortage on beryllium is one of a natural/political factor though.

Beryllium is not a major element used in semiconductors (if at all).
The major price of beryllium products would be related to necessary safety measures, in my understanding.
Also my impressions, in part following Dunu's efforts there - the defects and the overall yield with Be is a big issue.

The design and implementation is 95+% to me e.g. using several coils and membranes to compensate for distortions.

In this regard, I tempted to test Moondrop Aria (just good old reliable LCPs).
How does it compare to Blon 03 (my limited benchmark of DDs, I am mostly into all-BAs)?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Beryllium is not a major element used in semiconductors (if at all).
The major price of beryllium products would be related to necessary safety measures, in my understanding.
Also my impressions, in part following Dunu's efforts there - the defects and the overall yield with Be is a big issue.

The design and implementation is 95+% to me e.g. using several coils and membranes to compensate for distortions.

In this regard, I tempted to test Moondrop Aria (just good old reliable LCPs).
How does it compare to Blon 03 (my limited benchmark of DDs, I am mostly into all-BAs)?

Ah, I see, so it’s more of other issues for semiconductors, my business is dying because of that shortage

I can guarantee Aria on my set is top notch. Although they share different characteristics, I’m hard to decide which bass I’m inclined more for Aria (with it’s hex filter removed) or MEST MKII. You see I placed Aria above Monarch, because I value properly tuned Aria’s bass(especially accurate sub-bass range over Monarch.
LCP sound is fast, with dynamic full bodied impact, so it sound like a hybrid of BA+DD without distortion of combining two concurrently reproducing same frequency.

 

[IEMbiker]

how does it compare to Dunu Luna?

Being said, I can’t get enough of Beryllium driver.

so far all of the Beryllium driver IEMs I owned, IMO has the best tuning of all.

The Kinera BD005 Pro is now USD30-35 on Taobao.....grab it before is gone.

 

[lucasbatista2408]

I haven't heard Starsea yet, it's still on the trip from Shenzhen to USA... a long one (1month?), from my understanding, Starsea is not on the coolest sid & it has neutral tuning, that's why it caught my attention as it's basically a mini-64 audio U12t. And many reviewers said it's the best value to price for 2021. Your warm and clear sound preference reminds me of See Audio Yume although that's $169, a pretty harsh target compared to Starsea's 129(on sale 107).

169 is kind of a big leap to me, I was also taking a look at the QOA Adonis, but there doesn't seem to be many reviews of it.
Ive been in love with the shozy 1.1 it just sounds great so I guess I really found the sound signature I like best.

Starsea has 4 tuning signatures, so it is gonna be a bit tough to compare against the various permutations, but look forward to your review!

from what I've heard it doesn't change the sound that much, just a minor alteration

 

[lucasbatista2408]

The closest IEM to having the 64 Audio U12T's tune/sound would be the Dunu SA6, which is a $550 mid-fi IEM. Nothing around the $100 range has a tune that's close. I have auditioned the U12T and own both the SA6 and the Starsea and the Starsea have a very different sound from the U12T/SA6, even with all the switch options.

would you mind sharing your experience with the starsea?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

169 is kind of a big leap to me, I was also taking a look at the QOA Adonis, but there doesn't seem to be many reviews of it.
Ive been in love with the shozy 1.1 it just sounds great so I guess I really found the sound signature I like best.


from what I've heard it doesn't change the sound that much, just a minor alteration

Adonis chart do look good on me, especially that 3k pinna gain hit. Unfortunately we lack reviews indeed!
For Yume’s it’s pretty solid as most of all reviewers somehow agreed to its fine-tuned tonality with average technicalities.

 

[Vasarely]

New Tiandirenhe TD08 IEM from $23.88 (50% off)
(0.78Pin QDC, Huawei 1DD)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001266040592.html