[Tzennn]

Yes, I do like how the AirPods are tuned. Easy on the ears. I'll take a look at the Aria.
I was considering the Moondrop Starfield as well. I'd be curious if anyone had any input on that and how close that is to being natural sounding.

Obviously perception of sound different from person to person so... For me the airpod sound somewhere between warm neutral to W shape, quite easy to listen to, mid bass is noticeably lift, with uncolored and non fatiguing mid pair with pretty darkish kind of treble; with that in mind something with an actual rumbling with that same level of mid and noticeably more air and sparkle could be the thing that you want. I haven't heard the Hexa yet so i can't say if Hexa is better than Aria or not but i still suggest Aria for the one and done upgrade over airpod!

 

[Tzennn]

Always looking for alternative opamps for the Ziku HD X 10 finally I've at home the BB OPA2227P, an opamp projected to works with a battery supplied equipments (as the AD823AN I'm waiting for).

It not only has a lesser battery consumption but show a very interesting sonic performance (after a little burn in), the HD X10 hiss with low impedance iems his far more quiet, the reproduction is neutralish with tick deep basses and full extended highs just an hint warmish, but more neutral than others BB opamps I've try, similar to the OPA2111 or OPA2607.

I only have 47amp (the one people use with grado/koss back then) with dual opa2604, using Ve odyssey hd (ALC 4042) as DAC and it sound just like tube amp without hissing/grany treble. Definitely worth a try if you like to change sound signature often

 

[Lobarkaine]

I only have 47amp (the one people use with grado/koss back then) with dual opa2604, using Ve odyssey hd (ALC 4042) as DAC and it sound just like tube amp without hissing/grany treble. Definitely worth a try if you like to change sound signature often

Interesting. 47 amp is a kit?

 

[Tzennn]

Interesting. 47 amp is a kit?

Yeah you can call it a kit. I bought this from a guy trying to implement 47 amp structure into a small amp (as china diy one tend to hiss) and it work really well! The only downside was it quite low in power. It cost 22$

It have dual unknown opamp (i still keep it but forgot the name) out of the box so i have to buy the chip separately

 

[Lobarkaine]

Yeah you can call it a kit. I bought this from a guy trying to implement 47 amp structure into a small amp (as china diy one tend to hiss) and it work really well! The only downside was it quite low in power. It cost 22$


It have dual unknown opamp (i still keep it but forgot the name) out of the box so i have to buy the chip separately

Very nice Tzenn, I will investigate 'cos there are many 47amp kits maybe there is one with a buster opamp.

 

[Carpet]

Thanks! is it the new hilidac atom 3? for the bt20s pro and other tws is it safe or degrade over time if you keep swapping to cables? Is the qudelix 5k or btr3k the better option for wireless? but i saw a review that btr3k is not that good i think compare to a ibasso dc05 or something like that. I will consider bigger dongle maybe if it is not that big and preferably simple and or low power drain on my phone. I dont use my IEM that much at home and really dont know that much about the dac/amp.

Fiio BTR3K has worked really well for me. It supports LDAC, has enough power to drive any of my IEMs on either 3.5mm SE or 2.5mm balanced (including planars). Sound quality is very good and it's small enough to fit inside an IEM case. It sees more use than my R2 or SR25. Microphone means I don't have to take my phone out to answer calls and I can do that with regular cables on IEMs. Battery life is better than BTR5 and it's cheaper to replace if I lose it. You can use it as a dongle too. I picked up a few of the Fiio micro BTR for Xmas gifts, it loses some of the functionality and SQ but is only $25 if you're on a tight budget. I'm thinking of keeping one of those as a spare!

Yes there are better options, but how much of the improvement can you actually hear over road noise etc. Since these units are tiny losing them isn't difficult, I've lost count of the number of times I've "misplaced" it.

 

[Indigo Bob]

Here is cross comparison of those you mentioned. Hope it helps.

Thank you so much! This helps a lot. These look like great options!

Obviously perception of sound different from person to person so... For me the airpod sound somewhere between warm neutral to W shape, quite easy to listen to, mid bass is noticeably lift, with uncolored and non fatiguing mid pair with pretty darkish kind of treble; with that in mind something with an actual rumbling with that same level of mid and noticeably more air and sparkle could be the thing that you want. I haven't heard the Hexa yet so i can't say if Hexa is better than Aria or not but i still suggest Aria for the one and done upgrade over airpod!

Thank you!!

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

I'm a bit overwhelmed with IEM testing so there you go for first impressions mini reviews of 4 of them.
Akoustyx S6, Shozy T1, ISN H30 and Meaoes Eagle.

 

[eect13]

Does usb dongles with dac chip improve or bypass default phone dac chip? Also where can i change the audio bitrate of my phone (or check what bitrate it is using), i heard they use UAAP player but i listen on spotify.

I just got the shuoer s12pro and i have 2 dongles one is jcally ja3 which has dac and other ugreen dongle with no dac chip but surprisingly ugreen dongle is better maybe the dac chip on my phone (huawei p30pro) is good. Regret buying another ja3, the no wire dongle look is only for the right angle termination plugs (looks not safe with s12pro) and synergy i think is real. I think the ja3 is for the cheap iems / earbuds that lacks clarity.

Also is s12pro good enough endgame? (i think it is for me for 3-5years, maybe will try hybrids or try better dongle dac), Really satisfied with my purchase (bass is enough for me which is the only dunu titan s lacks for me), i was initially disappointed with connected ja3 dongle but when i swapped it to ugreen it sounded really better. The only thing that can complain is the case which is really small and hopefully the build is not scratch magnet, i prefer the build of the dunu titan s, thanks!

 

[baskingshark]

Does usb dongles with dac chip improve or bypass default phone dac chip? Also where can i change the audio bitrate of my phone (or check what bitrate it is using), i heard they use UAAP player but i listen on spotify.

I just got the shuoer s12pro and i have 2 dongles one is jcally ja3 which has dac and other ugreen dongle with no dac chip but surprisingly ugreen dongle is better maybe the dac chip on my phone (huawei p30pro) is good. Regret buying another ja3, the no wire dongle look is only for the right angle termination plugs (looks not safe with s12pro) and synergy i think is real. I think the ja3 is for the cheap iems / earbuds that lacks clarity.

Also is s12pro good enough endgame? (i think it is for me for 3-5years, maybe will try hybrids or try better dongle dac), Really satisfied with my purchase (bass is enough for me which is the only dunu titan s lacks for me), i was initially disappointed with connected ja3 dongle but when i swapped it to ugreen it sounded really better. The only thing that can complain is the case which is really small and hopefully the build is not scratch magnet, i prefer the build of the dunu titan s, thanks!

S12 Pro is very good for the price, but there are TOTL sets that are better than the S12 Pro in timbre, technicalities and tonality. Although, you get huge diminishing returns the higher up you go the ladder. Eg you pay about 10x more for 10% improvement. In terms of price-to-performance ratio, if you are very happy with the S12 Pro, I think just stay there, unless you wanna chase that last 10 - 20% at all costs.

If u wanna bypass the phone DAC, you need to go to bitperfect mode on the phone (usually it is under OTG settings of the phone), and you need a player like Hiby or Neutron which can activate USB exclusive access/bitperfect mode to enjoy this.

 

[Surf Monkey]

S12 Pro is very good for the price, but there are TOTL sets that are better than the S12 Pro in timbre, technicalities and tonality. Although, you get huge diminishing returns the higher up you go the ladder. Eg you pay about 10x more for 10% improvement. In terms of price-to-performance ratio, if you are very happy with the S12 Pro, I think just stay there, unless you wanna chase that last 10 - 20% at all costs.

If u wanna bypass the phone DAC, you need to go to bitperfect mode on the phone (usually it is under OTG settings of the phone), and you need a player like Hiby or Neutron which can activate USB exclusive access/bitperfect mode to enjoy this.

I love the S12, but the Hook-X beats it in tuning and tonality.

 

[baskingshark]

I love the S12, but the Hook-X beats it in tuning and tonality

K thanks for the headsup, haven't tried the Hook-X but hope to get a pair to audition one day.

There's some Hook-X collab shenanigan isn't it? How is that in comparison to the original Hook-X?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

S12 Pro is very good for the price, but there are TOTL sets that are better than the S12 Pro in timbre, technicalities and tonality. Although, you get huge diminishing returns the higher up you go the ladder. Eg you pay about 10x more for 10% improvement. In terms of price-to-performance ratio, if you are very happy with the S12 Pro, I think just stay there, unless you wanna chase that last 10 - 20% at all costs.

If u wanna bypass the phone DAC, you need to go to bitperfect mode on the phone (usually it is under OTG settings of the phone), and you need a player like Hiby or Neutron which can activate USB exclusive access/bitperfect mode to enjoy this.

Well said.

@eect13
One addition I’d like to add is that, that 10-20% chase TOTL end point is not going to set in stone, as time goes by you can get better performing IEMs within the reasonably justifiable price bracket. Taking one sample as Truthear HEXA. That $79 IEM’s performance was not something you could find within $sub100 until couple of monthes ago. Closest performance one you could find was Moondrop’s Dusk ($360) and Variations ($560), well Variations with its EST driver switched to Knowles WBFK to be precise.

We may just give it a time and soon you won’t need to spend $$$$ for a great sounding performance.

For someone who has enough capital to invest for this industry, you can make a shortcut by “contributing/donating” thousands of dollars to those small boutique shops. But at the end those TOTL will depreciate, meaning losing absolute performance-to-cost value over the time. If someone can afford that lose in value, yea go ahead and enjoy, it’s a hobby after all.

However from strictly from financial planning perspective, as far as you can afford some wait time, best business practice in seeking cost-to-performance is to wait for a great product appearing at cost-focused segment.

I’ve practiced that in a car world, now I can race with couple of years old million-bucks hypercars with tiny fractions of the price.

Another good example is AKG’s flagship IEM N5005. It was $1,000 initial offer, it sticked for couple of years, and now AKG USA is price cutting N5005 to $199. At that price, N5005 is very very competitive set. Same to AKG N400. It has MRSP around $150-200, but AKG had some price cut offering N400 for $49 last year. At $49 N400 is a steal. It sounds better than Moondrop’s Starfield especially in bass region.

 

[Silver]

Obviously perception of sound different from person to person so... For me the airpod sound somewhere between warm neutral to W shape, quite easy to listen to, mid bass is noticeably lift, with uncolored and non fatiguing mid pair with pretty darkish kind of treble; with that in mind something with an actual rumbling with that same level of mid and noticeably more air and sparkle could be the thing that you want. I haven't heard the Hexa yet so i can't say if Hexa is better than Aria or not but i still suggest Aria for the one and done upgrade over airpod!

i must have stock Apple earphones that came from iPhone 4/5/6/7 sold to 3HK subscription in Hong Kong

I cannot tell if my WESTONE 2 shure 533/UM3X, Holy Trinity, HT not the HTC of taiwanese phone.

How do they stand up to some Head Fi new favourite

We are not Fiona Apple shadowboxing

 

[Tzennn]

i must have stock Apple earphones that came from iPhone 4/5/6/7 sold to 3HK subscription in Hong Kong

I cannot tell if my WESTONE 2 shure 533/UM3X, Holy Trinity, HT not the HTC of taiwanese phone.

How do they stand up to some Head Fi new favourite

We are not Fiona Apple shadowboxing

I haven't heard any of these, but well if you like it then you don't really need to change it! If you want a new experience then something like Chu, 7hz Zero or CCA CRA is a great choice to catch up with newest release and won't break your bank.