[helloh3adfi]

well Variations with its EST driver switched to Knowles WBFK to be precise.

Did the newer revisions of Variations switch from Sonion to Knowles? Sonion ESTs should be better, shouldn't they?

 

[OklahKekW]

At this price seems a no-brainer and great value

 

[Lobarkaine]

Hi all, for who is interested I have done a test on a different manufacturers NE5532 op amps in the same conditions in The OP AMP ROLLING Thread.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-op-amp-rolling-thread.146018/

 

[eect13]

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.

Thank you, I noticed that my dunu titan s sounds more natural to me but overall i think i prefer my s12pro but the difference of it is not really huge, was thinking about the aful perf 5 but cannot just buy it without trying planar first and the samsung galaxy buds 2 pro is cheaper in my country. I will try the bitperfect mode but i think it is only for local downloaded music and tidal but not spotify, would want to know if it is possible with spotify offline, thanks!

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.

Thanks! currently i just use ranking list of the youtube reviewers as my guide, some iems are not also available in my country yet like blessing dusk or not the standard price (hexa) and prefer to buy locally so i can get the best deal and just buy when sale like 12.12 and use voucher, i do not have enough iem yet so i think what i have is already good to me. My dad prefers watches over cars also because of the depreciation and safety reasons.

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

Is it the s12pro? Hook x in my country is expensive like 2x the price of s12pro maybe not worth it to me, thanks!

Thanks for comments really appreciate it, would want to know your personal rankings, currently i use tim from gizaudio ranking list as my guide. Thoughts also on / who has the best ranking list (gizaudio, precogvision, nymz, hbb, crinacle, ineargem or any suggestions)

 

[eect13]

At this price seems a no-brainer and great value

it is even cheaper in our country, i must resist the temptations haha

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Did the newer revisions of Variations switch from Sonion to Knowles? Sonion ESTs should be better, shouldn't they?

Haha, they switched from Sonion EST to Knowles WBFK (basically super tweeter BA), it's a downgrade, but price-wise, you get a drop from $560 to $79!

 

[helloh3adfi]

Haha, they switched from Sonion EST to Knowles WBFK (basically super tweeter BA), it's a downgrade, but price-wise, you get a drop from $560 to $79!

Hmm then I'm too late to the party or should hope to get a used Sonion one or just pass it. Hexa is great, so I can wait for new releases.

 

[helloh3adfi]

Did I miss your joke? Variations is $520.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Hmm then I'm too late to the party or should hope to get a used Sonion one or just pass it. Hexa is great, so I can wait for new releases.

Hopefully we see some new exciting release from Truthear, that’s for sure.

IMHO, Truthear has already earned their credit, and no longer needed “ collaboration” with any reviewers.

They should have a pride in their tuning, and as one of audio enthusiasts, I’d
rather buy Truthear’s tuning than reviewer’s target.

We buy “brand’s tuning and philosophy”.

 

[helloh3adfi]

IMHO, Truthear has already earned their credit, and no longer needed “ collaboration” with any reviewers.

They should have a pride in their tuning, and as audio enthusiasts, I’d
Rather buy Truthear’s tuning than reviewer’s target.

Well, the 7Hz Salnotes Zero was a stealth collab until Crinacle brought light into it. But yeah there's no need for collab to get great IEMs.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Well, the 7Hz Salnotes Zero was a stealth collab until Crinacle brought light into it. But yeah there's no need for collab to get great IEMs.

Was crin behind Sal Zero?
Wow, he is a good tuner except KZ CRN.

 

[helloh3adfi]

Was crin behind Sal Zero?

Yup, he made a video

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Yup, he made a video

Sneaky..
Yes I do have a certain degree of trust in his tuning and evaluation for exceptional grade items. He doesn’t pay much attention to medicore-grade, so that’s one side note when looking at his ranking list.

 

[Tzennn]

Hmm then I'm too late to the party or should hope to get a used Sonion one or just pass it. Hexa is great, so I can wait for new releases.

He mean you can buy Variation like tuning that is 500$ for 7 times less, without the est. But yeah you did miss his joke haha

 

[Surf Monkey]

Is it the s12pro? Hook x in my country is expensive like 2x the price of s12pro maybe not worth it to me, thanks!

Sorry, I should have specified. I have the original Hook-X and the original S12. I haven’t heard the HBB Hook-X or the S12 Pro.