[1clearhead]

Guys, any recommendations for an iem with low profile/over ear, massive soundstage and good overall balance? I have a friend who loves his tennmak pro mainly because of the wide soundstage and wants to upgrade this BF.

The new MEMT R7 (hybrid). ....Heavy duty metal housing and cables, which is much improved since the MEMT X5. Smooth, but yet clear and open and massive soundstage.

Oops! ...you mentioned "over ear". I guess you can count these out, since they're made to just hang down from the ears.

 

[1clearhead]

....but, nonetheless, the R7's are really good.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New...-c6e7-4105-92be-95ab0b5a1c76&rmStoreLevelAB=3

 

[danny93]

Hey guys, I got the EMI CI800 in the post today as a Christmas present for my sister. After a bit of a listen (couldn't resist haha) I love the mids on these things. My KZ ZS3 feels so damn bloated and veiled now, I think I need a little upgrade myself. Would the KZ Zs6 be a good shout, or the Tin Audio T2 maybe? Has anybody that has the Tin Audio 2 tried sealing up the holes to increase the bass...does it have an impact on overall clarity in the mids, this guy seems to think it doesn't? https://audiobudget.com/product/TINAudio/T2

 

[vladstef]

Hey guys, I got the EMI CI800 in the post today as a Christmas present for my sister. After a bit of a listen (couldn't resist haha) I love the mids on these things. My KZ ZS3 feels so damn bloated and veiled now, I think I need a little upgrade myself. Would the KZ Zs6 be a good shout, or the Tin Audio T2 maybe? Has anybody that has the Tin Audio 2 tried sealing up the holes to increase the bass...does it have an impact on overall clarity in the mids, this guy seems to think it doesn't? https://audiobudget.com/product/TINAudio/T2

It always impacts mid range and sometimes treble as well, sometimes reduces sound stage etc. It's there for a reason, covering it up reduces the overall quality of sound in 99% of the cases and always reduces the perception of clarity in the sound due to a bass boost. Potentially reduces the lifespan of the driver, most of the time front vent is there to reduce pressure on the driver when inserting/taking out and also reducing pressure on your eardrum. I would never cover that front vent, the trade offs are just way too significant.

 

[peter123]

Many people have reported that Monk IEs need some decent burn in before they loosen up. However, it does appear that they aren't exactly the best IEMs in the budget segment, definitely not going to win as many hearts as monk earbuds did, this is just judging from people's impressions.

I don't care much for burn in but we'll see.

They're not bad at although though and considering what you getting for $30 each i don't think anyone can be disappointed. I'd like to stress again that I've only listened to them a couple of hours and have not tried different sources etc to take these impressions with a good amount of salt

 

[vector84]

It always impacts mid range and sometimes treble as well, sometimes reduces sound stage etc. It's there for a reason, covering it up reduces the overall quality of sound in 99% of the cases and always reduces the perception of clarity in the sound due to a bass boost. Potentially reduces the lifespan of the driver, most of the time front vent is there to reduce pressure on the driver when inserting/taking out and also reducing pressure on your eardrum. I would never cover that front vent, the trade offs are just way too significant.

Those are some pretty broad and sweeping generalizations there. And ones that at least a couple serious manufacturers in the market would strongly disagree with.

 

[vladstef]

Those are some pretty broad and sweeping generalizations there. And ones that at least a couple serious manufacturers in the market would strongly disagree with.

Well it's obvious that not every IEM has a front vent, I never said that they should, but if it's there, there has to be a reason for it and the whole driver arrangement is designed to work with that vent. Back vents are a different story and making a generalization about those is not possible.
The difference between the front/back vents is that front ones are always very small but way too detrimental to the function of the IEM while back ones quite the opposite.

 

[ivo001]

Many people have reported that Monk IEs need some decent burn in before they loosen up. However, it does appear that they aren't exactly the best IEMs in the budget segment, definitely not going to win as many hearts as monk earbuds did, this is just judging from people's impressions.

The impressions I have read so far al semmed pretty positive? Looks like after 50 hours of burn-in they seem to reach their full potential. Biggies can sound better than smalls if you have some good DAC/AMP equipment. Smalls probably most practical for travelling.

 

[vector84]

Well it's obvious that not every IEM has a front vent, I never said that they should, but if it's there, there has to be a reason for it and the whole driver arrangement is designed to work with that vent. Back vents are a different story and making a generalization about those is not possible.

FLC8s says hi. CA says hi.

A little Googling turns up statements from acoustics engineers like "it creates a very basic 2nd order acoustic high pass" - ie it's a tuning element.

 

[Skullophile]

I've got faith in anyone who can tune an iem as well as the Duke. I am also looking forward to Peters inpressions of the Biggie and Smalls.

 

[vladstef]

FLC8s says hi. CA says hi.

A little Googling turns up statements from acoustics engineers like "it creates a very basic 2nd order acoustic high pass" - ie it's a tuning element.

I assume that CA is Campfire Andromeda, it doesn't have front vent due to BA drivers, I am sure that you could find TOTL IEM with dynamic drivers without front vent. FLC8 is designed from ground up to be tuned by different filters, completely different story. If you have an IEM with fixed front vent, completely shutting it off can never improve sound unless the thing has a wrong design to begin with. Talking specifically about TinAudio T2 and graphs from audiobudget, covering front vent completely gives +15db @50Hz, that is not a simple change of tonality.

 

[vladstef]

The impressions I have read so far al semmed pretty positive? Looks like after 50 hours of burn-in they seem to reach their full potential. Biggies can sound better than smalls if you have some good DAC/AMP equipment. Smalls probably most practical for travelling.

I took into account the fact that at least some of those impressions have to be biased due to a selection system that they used for early access, but no one is saying that these are game changers. We will obviously wait for some proper reviews to judge for ourselves but I wouldn't expect Monk level of impact, not even close actually. Maybe because IEM is a much more established market today than earbud market was when Monks came out.

 

[vector84]

I assume that CA is Campfire Andromeda

How would the Andromeda make sense? But I was referring to other Campfire Audio products, yes.
Your idea that that this applies only to DDs and not BAs is also flawed though - any closed housing can produce static pressure, whereas vented housings can allow the equalization of static pressure with the surrounding environment. If they relieved dynamic pressure... well that's called acoustic filtering - if pressure couldn't be produced on the eardrum you wouldn't hear anything... What does apply to DDs is exclusively is obviously driver flex.

If you have an IEM with fixed front vent, completely shutting it off can never improve sound for me unless the thing has a wrong design to begin with.

FTFY
(and you don't have to completely shut a front volume vent... changing its size [like with a piece of tape with a smaller hole poked in it, or tape covering part of the vent] will have an impact, generally without incurring flex)

Talking specifically about TinAudio T2 and graphs from audiobudget, covering front vent completely gives +15db @50Hz, that is not a simple change of tonality.

... ummm what? ... OK. How is a FR change not a change in tonality? That sure sounds like... a high pass?

Look, I'm not saying you should do it, those results don't look very pleasing to me at all given what Audiobudget's graphs normally look like, but your absolutist attitude about one specific tuning feature... amuses me. Obviously if you get crazy driver flex from covering the port that could do some damage over time if the diaphragm can't take the stress, but I feel like your blanket statements are pretty overboard.

 

[mochill]

Echobox audio explorer on sale for $329

 

[smy1]

is the lz z03a still good? I haven’t bought anything for awhile so i ordered one from gearbest.