[robar]

Yup. These are exactly the same shell. I both silver and black before the colored version with mat finish came out. At that time only the Chitty store has these.
Of course, NSC always has a better offer for 20-30% less. These shells are my 3rd favorite right now. 1st place share this one which I already described in the previous post and this model.
I can't decide which one is better. The second model is more suitable for boomy drivers, has a small cavity size and simulates closed-back headphones. I plan to make comparation for the same driver in shells with small, medium and large cavity sizes in the future. I probably will use beryllium 130ohm since I have 3 pairs only for these.
Try to avoid this model at all costs. I ordered the silver model. They send me a silver model with both "R" markings.
One cover is like a grid with elongated holes and second, it has round holes . MX500 cover is a bit larger than a shell. But that's not the main problem.
MMCX socket connection with the shell is great but you need to screw 10 -12 times and wires are always detached while screwing.
I spent many hours finalizing this. So forget about it. I'm interested in this "gun-metal" version.

About the DAC's. Yes. SMSL IQ can drive my 300ohm earbuds. If you are looking BT DAC then go with the BTR5, it has many great features.
Take a look at this USB DAC. This is probably the best money/value DAC right now. See the review. Similar DAC chip as SMSL IQ.
This is the thread where explain differences between ES9018K2M (Fever DAC) and ES9018Q2M (SMSL IQ)

Wow thanks for the info about the shells, I wanted to ask about some of those as well. I'm also interested in the metal 14.8mm shells, but I have to get some drivers first.
The IQ can drive 300ohm speakers unbalanced? By the specs it doesn't look very powerful in that mode (about 50-60mw at 32ohm if I remember correctly)
I've seen that noname sabre dac last year from these listings: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32868505086.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32932392383.html At that time I skipped it because of the scarce info and mixed feedback, and went with the SMSL X4 instead. I never thought it would surpass the smsl idea. The hardware is nice but I'm concerned about the implementation quality. Do you have one? It would be great even for a backup if it can drive the titanium64 well, I could sell smsl x4 for more than the 20 usd this costs.

I have a little bit similar shaped shell to one of your favorites in plastic sadly it's slightly smaller than the 15.4mm covers so I haven't used it so far. It could be a base for an interesting ultra budget build as well. i think panda built something with it once. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32903306888.html

 

[furyossa]

Wow thanks for the info about the shells, I wanted to ask about some of those as well. I'm also interested in the metal 14.8mm shells, but I have to get some drivers first.
The IQ can drive 300ohm speakers unbalanced? By the specs it doesn't look very powerful in that mode (about 50-60mw at 32ohm if I remember correctly)
I've seen that noname sabre dac last year from this listing: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32868505086.html At that time I skipped it because of the scarce info and mixed feedback, and went with the SMSL X4 instead. I never thought it would surpass the smsl idea. Do you have one? It would be great even for a backup if it can drive the titanium64 well, I could sell smsl x4 for more than the 20 usd this costs.

Sorry, I mean it can drive balanced, not sure for unbalanced with 300ohm. But 64ohm for sure. I drive graphene 400ohm on my LG G7.
Are you looking for portable DAC, or BT DAC or desktop DAC?
On 11.11 I order iBasso DC01 and Samson QH4 (4 - channel headphone amp). QH4 is a very beautiful AMP and is not expensive. IMHO for A/B comparison is the top choice.
IBasso has a balanced 2.5mm output and QH4 has 3.5mm unbalanced and two 6.35mm individual inputs for a balanced connection. It is difficult to find a cable 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm so I order the parts to make it one.
First I try iBasso with 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter cable and then I plug the AUX cable but this connection cause interference. Then I try 2.5mm to dual RCA cable with iBasoo and again the same problem. I don't know what is the problem here. When I try Hidizs Sonata HD dongle with AUX cable and Samson QH4 everting works fine, no interference and strange noise. So I decided to buy a balanced desktop DAC. iFi made a very affordable model last year
iFi Zen DAC. For a similar price as BTR5, iFi Zen DAC is an amazing device with a Burr-Brown DAC chip, plus it has MQA support.
Also, there is a BT version but with ESS chip iFi Zen Blue.
And now I have another challenge: How to make 4.4mm balanced to dual 6.35mm cable?
For 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm I make these two schemes (version#1 [no ground] and version#2 [with ground]). Which one is suitable for iBasoo DC1 and Samson QS4?

I need also a scheme for 4.4mm (TRRRS) balanced to dual 6.35mm (TRS).
I'm not an expert in this are so suggestions are welcome.

 

[robar]

Sorry, I mean it can drive balanced, not sure for unbalanced with 300ohm. But 64ohm for sure. I drive graphene 400ohm on my LG G7.
Are you looking for portable DAC, or BT DAC or desktop DAC?
On 11.11 I order iBasso DC01 and Samson QH4 (4 - channel headphone amp). QH4 is a very beautiful AMP and is not expensive. IMHO for A/B comparison is the top choice.
IBasso has a balanced 2.5mm output and QH4 has 3.5mm unbalanced and two 6.35mm individual inputs for a balanced connection. It is difficult to find a cable 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm so I order the parts to make it one.
First I try iBasso with 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter cable and then I plug the AUX cable but this connection cause interference. Then I try 2.5mm to dual RCA cable with iBasoo and again the same problem. I don't know what is the problem here. When I try Hidizs Sonata HD dongle with AUX cable and Samson QH4 everting works fine, no interference and strange noise. So I decided to buy a balanced desktop DAC. iFi made a very affordable model last year
iFi Zen DAC. For a similar price as BTR5, iFi Zen DAC is an amazing device with a Burr-Brown DAC chip, plus it has MQA support.
Also, there is a BT version but with ESS chip iFi Zen Blue.
And now I have another challenge: How to make 4.4mm balanced to dual 6.35mm cable?
For 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm I make these two schemes (version#1 [no ground] and version#2 [with ground]). Which one is suitable for iBasoo DC1 and Samson QS4?

I need also a scheme for 4.4mm (TRRRS) balanced to dual 6.35mm (TRS).
I'm not an expert in this are so suggestions are welcome.

Awesome I've never heard of the QH4 but it does look very nice. At the moment I'm just looking for a cheap but substantial upgrade from my SMSL X4 that I can use with my computers at home or on the go and can drive the 64ohm well. I thought the x4 would do that and maybe it can (specs look too good to be true on smsl site) but still the titanium sounds quite unremarkable at the moment (with any source I have atm) While the response itself looks very nice, it's dull and soft and boring/slow compared to any decent 32ohm bud I have. Interesting because takstar pro80 sounds ok to me but maybe it could be better as well . Same dullness with faaeal rosemary but much more extreme. I really hope I don't have to go balanced to make anything above 32ohm sound decent. I'll save up for something more serious later this year but now I'd rather invest in more building parts like pk2 speakers cables etc. and also I'd like to channel some money into other areas like photography etc.
(edit: I asked iiWWi on youtube about smsl x4 vs the fever dac and he said it would be a very significant upgrade, I think I'll try one for 20usd, not much to loose really.)

 

[furyossa]

Awesome I've never heard of the QH4 but it does look very nice. At the moment I'm just looking for a cheap but substantial upgrade from my SMSL X4 that I can use with my computers at home or on the go and can drive the 64ohm well. I thought the x4 would do that and maybe it can (specs look too good to be true on smsl site) but still the titanium sounds quite unremarkable at the moment (with any source I have atm) While the response itself looks very nice, it's dull and soft and boring/slow compared to any decent 32ohm bud I have. Interesting because takstar pro80 sounds ok to me but maybe it could be better as well . Same dullness with faaeal rosemary but much more extreme. I really hope I don't have to go balanced to make anything above 32ohm sound decent. I'll save up for something more serious later this year but now I'd rather invest in more building parts like pk2 speakers cables etc. and also I'd like to channel some money into other areas like photography etc.
(edit: I asked iiWWi on youtube about smsl x4 vs the fever dac and he said it would be a very significant upgrade, I think I'll try one for 20usd, not much to loose really.)

It is upgraded, he says that Fever DAC perform better then Audioquest Dragonfly Black. Also, I think that SMSL IQ is expensive because there is a better solution out there for the same price or less. I don't use BT so much right now. Sometimes I hook up this small BT receiver when I'm doing something on the move, but rarely.

 

[robar]

EDIT
@furyossa I've seen in your profile that you built an earbud with the 14.8mm 64ohm N55 speakers. How do you like it? Does it have any significant improvement over the 32ohm PK2 speakers?

Here is the work in progress state of the Faaeal Z-sound mod. The stock sound had very sharp and bright midrange above 2khz, actually there was a very sharp elevation around 2khz. The overall sound was warm, midcentric with v-shaped flavor and sharp/bright. But I saw some qualities in the earbud that motivated me to improve it by mods: 1.quite comfortable and unique shell with standard 14.8mm speaker 2. on sales the whole earbud goes for about 2.75usd with ok cable 3. the speaker is decent (bit reminds me of qian speakers) 4.the sound already had a relaxed spaciousness to it unlike qian39 which is very forward and aggressive

So my goal was to create a smoother more linear sound that is usually present with mx500 shell earbuds. To achieve this I wanted to emulate a typical tuning of mx500 buds - speaker is bare, tuning on vents, stem is open. Also I hope it could provide a good base for future upgrades if it's compatible with generic 14.8mm speakers (I haven't checked yet but seems very probable)

The mods I done so far:
1. removed strain relief - it has big effect on sound for the better or worse depending on the tuning. In my case it was necessary.
2. drilled two 1.5mm holes in the shell, one was a new hole on the side, the other was drilled on top of an existing vent. This was the number 1 reason for improvement.
3. removed horseshoe from speaker - this was the number 2 reason for smoother upper mids. This is not the first time I noticed this, most speakers that has normal thick horseshoe on them tend to be sharp in the 2-3khz area and warm in the low mids. I usually remove these for more linear sound and leave the speaker bare as I don't have very thin white cotton horseshoe yet.
4. added normal tuning foam on the vents - I'm still experimenting with this, but the basic idea works like with mx500 shells, it's just harder to place them inside this shell
5. I put in a "horseshoe middle" just as a test, I'm not sure yet if it does anything but it doesn't bother anything either so I left it in haha

The sound got much better, now it's smooth and natural. I'm still in the tuning process so I just describe the current state. Good midbass, bit warmth but otherwise naturall, with full mids/vocals. Low bass and upper treble are rolled off, but the sound is wide and spacious. Gentle soft treble but good details and separation for ultra budget earbuds. Nice casual/low fatigue character. Could be a nice alternative to stock qian39/69 etc. for example (it's more relaxed and natural, quite atmospheric), for cheaper than those at sale price. A bit like a lite version of B40 with thicker bass/mids. I really like how folk/jazz sound with these, like Wonder from The Long Bellow. With better speakers it would be especially nice, I hope pk2 or similar will snap on these to improve extension, crispiness. I'll try to tighten up the sound more with different foam configurations and report back with measurements.

 

[furyossa]

EDIT
@furyossa I've seen in your profile that you built an earbud with the 14.8mm 64ohm N55 speakers. How do you like it? Does it have any significant improvement over the 32ohm PK2 speakers?

Here is the work in progress state of the Faaeal Z-sound mod. The stock sound had very sharp and bright midrange above 2khz, actually there was a very sharp elevation around 2khz. The overall sound was warm, midcentric and sharp/bright. But I saw some qualities in the earbud that motivated me to improve it by mods: 1.quite comfortable and unique shell with standard 14.8mm speaker 2. on sales the whole earbud goes for about 2.75usd with ok cable 3. the speaker is decent (bit reminds me of stock qian69 speaker) 4.the sound already had a relaxed spaciousness to it unlike qian39 which is very forward and aggressive

So my goal was to create a smoother more linear sound that is usually present with mx500 shell earbuds. To achieve this I wanted to emulate a typical tuning of mx500 buds - speaker is bare, tuning on vents, stem is open. Also I hope it could provide a good base for future upgrades if it's compatible with generic 14.8mm speakers (I haven't checked yet but seems very probable)

The mods I done so far:
1. removed strain relief - it has big effect on sound for the better or worse depending on the tuning. In my case it was necessary.
2. drilled two 1.5mm holes in the shell, one was a new hole on the side, the other was drilled on top of an existing vent. This was the number 1 reason for improvement.
3. removed horseshoe from speaker - this was the number 2 reason for smoother upper mids. This is not the first time I noticed this, most speakers that has normal thick horseshoe on them tend to be sharp in the 2-3khz area and warm in the low mids. I usually remove these for more linear sound and leave the speaker bare as I don't have very thin white cotton horseshoe yet.
4. added normal tuning foam on the vents - I'm still experimenting with this, but the basic idea works like with mx500 shells, it's just harder to place them inside this shell
5. I put in a "horseshoe middle" just as a test, I'm not sure yet if it does anything but it doesn't bother anything either so I left it in haha

The sound got much better, now it's smooth and natural. I'm still in the tuning process so I just describe the current state. Good midbass, bit warmth but otherwise naturall, with full mids/vocals. Low bass and upper treble are rolled off, but the sound is wide and spacious. Gentle soft treble but good details and separation for ultra budget earbuds. Nice casual/low fatigue character. Could be a nice alternative to stock qian39/69 etc. for example (it's more relaxed and natural, quite atmospheric), for cheaper than those at sale price. A bit like a lite version of B40 with thicker bass/mids. I really like how folk/jazz sound with these, like Wonder from The Long Bellow. With better speakers it would be especially nice, I hope pk2 or similar will snap on these to improve extension, crispiness. I'll try to tighten up the sound more with different foam configurations and report back with measurements.

Can you show the backside of the driver? Shell is very nice, looks like K's LBB. I wish that Faaeal choose aluminum for the shell.
That 3 holes in front of the neck of the shell will always be blocked by the ear. A totally wrong decision by Faaeal. Long neck act as a vent which is good.
Are you consider to swap cable?
K's LBB is mid-centric with rolled-off bass. 14.8mm N55 same story. I try a couple of shells, change back filters, etc. and nothing. In the end, is good for slipping. I found some JVC shell and I left them like that.

When the drivers have a small opening where pass wire from the voice coil in most cases has rolled-off bass. This driver also has a small hole on the opposite side.

PK's drivers are another level from this. I was listening today my PK1 and PK2. PK2 is a bit aggressive in comparison with balanced sounding PK1.

 

[robar]

Can you show the backside of the driver? Shell is very nice, looks like K's LBB. I wish that Faaeal choose aluminum for the shell.
That 3 holes in front of the neck of the shell will always be blocked by the ear. A totally wrong decision by Faaeal. Long neck act as a vent which is good.
Are you consider to swap cable?
K's LBB is mid-centric with rolled-off bass. 14.8mm N55 same story. I try a couple of shells, change back filters, etc. and nothing. In the end, is good for slipping. I found some JVC shell and I left them like that.

When the drivers have a small opening where pass wire from the voice coil in most cases has rolled-off bass. This driver also has a small hole on the opposite side.

PK's drivers are another level from this. I was listening today my PK1 and PK2. PK2 is a bit aggressive in comparison with balanced sounding PK1.

Yep it's weird that those vents are below the stem, but I've seen other shells with that placement as well. The sound does change when I switch the foam/tape on them so they seem to do their job to some degree. I might recable it if I find a suitable upgrade for the speaker. But maybe I'll buy more of these z-sounds in the future and leave this alone for reference. At the moment this project is more about bringing out the best of a 2.75usd earbud (on sale, it usually costs double) with no additional costs. I plan to use this one outside, walking around and simple casual background listening so I'm okay with the current setup.

I'll attach pics of the speaker below. What I really hate doing is removing the preinstalled horseshoe from the speakers. It's very messy and I can't clean it up properly, glue residue can stuck into the hole and make channel imbalance etc. Do you have a good technique for this?

My biggest lesson with this mod was that it's really important to manage the ratio between clear and covered openings on the shell. There were times when the measured response was great but in actual listening session the sound was bad due to insufficient or too much venting. Interestingly, my current setup that I showed above is the complete opposite conceptually to the original tuning. Mine has tuning on the vents and free airflow at the speaker and stem. In stock tuning both the speaker and stem was covered and the vents were open.

I'm glad to hear that the PK2's are so nice, I'll definitely buy a set of 5 pairs in the close future, but I think I'll order the fever sabre dac first.

Here's the pic of the Z-sound speaker after I removed the horseshoe from it. (I know looks messy, but the holes are relatively clean and that's the only thing I care about atm haha) I haven't desoldered it yet, this is the factory state apart from the removed foam. It doesn't look like anything special by the outside, most budget earbud speakers have similar "faces". This is another pic I made earlier https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/10605796.jpg

 

[furyossa]

Now when you drill this hole you can try also smaller diameter rivets. Before detaching rivet from nail cut it because different lengths also change the sound. With sandpaper sand the cut section. I also use a shrinking tube around the rivets to secure connections between revet and shell. Maybe it can increase sub-buss a little bit.
To remove glue I bought WD-40 but I didn't try jet I will try to remove the driver from the cover or I'll use acetone.
You will be surprised by PK2. For a cheap driver, this sounds amazing. It is so close to PK1 but 150ohm flagship has better control over low, mid and treble.
Thanks for the image. Now I see the hole right below green glue is not so small. Maybe sub-bass is rolled-off but mid-bass is ok probably.
Take a look at HE150 driver. BTW I broke one driver when I tried to detach it from the shell. Damn glue. Next mount I will order another pair and Seahf 150ohm

This is the only driver that in a stock form (without any tuning foam except standard horseshoe on the shell) for me personally sounds better than
the Pro version which has a metal shell and better cable. I guess it's the same driver but metal housing and different cover (with metal mesh), in this case, don't help so much.
Sound is so clear and requires a burn-in process. Quality of sub-bass is amazing, mid-bass did not interfere with the mids, neutral treble.
Imaging and soundstage, for this price, are the best that I heard.

Today we talk about SMSL IQ and other DAC's. I stated that IQ is expensive compared to similar devices. Yes, it has great features but most of us will never use them.
At the beginning of the year, Realtek and Qualcomm produced new chips that are really cheap but show good performance on paper.
The competitors also decided to lower prices
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000171303707.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000313950363.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000477286025.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000153118593.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000560966739.html

 

[Themilkman46290]

All my 26th january orders are still in "Awaiting Shipment" for me

What store?

 

[subwoof3r]

What store?

• LuckLZ Audio Store
• okcsc Official Store
• NovelLife Store

I communicated with the sellers and it confirms that its due to this coronavirus, its been delayed, should be out for shipping in the next few days/week.
Anyway nothing hurry for those orders it can wait

 

[robar]

Now when you drill this hole you can try also smaller diameter rivets. Before detaching rivet from nail cut it because different lengths also change the sound. With sandpaper sand the cut section. I also use a shrinking tube around the rivets to secure connections between revet and shell. Maybe it can increase sub-buss a little bit.
To remove glue I bought WD-40 but I didn't try jet I will try to remove the driver from the cover or I'll use acetone.
You will be surprised by PK2. For a cheap driver, this sounds amazing. It is so close to PK1 but 150ohm flagship has better control over low, mid and treble.
Thanks for the image. Now I see the hole right below green glue is not so small. Maybe sub-bass is rolled-off but mid-bass is ok probably.
Take a look at HE150 driver. BTW I broke one driver when I tried to detach it from the shell. Damn glue. Next mount I will order another pair and Seahf 150ohm

This is the only driver that in a stock form (without any tuning foam except standard horseshoe on the shell) for me personally sounds better than
the Pro version which has a metal shell and better cable. I guess it's the same driver but metal housing and different cover (with metal mesh), in this case, don't help so much.
Sound is so clear and requires a burn-in process. Quality of sub-bass is amazing, mid-bass did not interfere with the mids, neutral treble.
Imaging and soundstage, for this price, are the best that I heard.

Today we talk about SMSL IQ and other DAC's. I stated that IQ is expensive compared to similar devices. Yes, it has great features but most of us will never use them.
At the beginning of the year, Realtek and Qualcomm produced new chips that are really cheap but show good performance on paper.
The competitors also decided to lower prices
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000171303707.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000313950363.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000477286025.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000153118593.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000560966739.html

Nice, I haven't tried he150 yet but heard good things about it. I got unlunky, the sellers removed the sale price of the sabre usb dac, maybe they heard of the hype and quickly adjusted. Now its 30usd instead of 20. I'm not a big believer in those type c dongles, I've seen a quite bad review here and I don't have type c stuff either so I'd have to use adapters. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...asurements-of-hidizs-dac-and-amp-dongle.8707/

 

[headenvelopedinsound]

Sorry, I mean it can drive balanced, not sure for unbalanced with 300ohm. But 64ohm for sure. I drive graphene 400ohm on my LG G7.
Are you looking for portable DAC, or BT DAC or desktop DAC?
On 11.11 I order iBasso DC01 and Samson QH4 (4 - channel headphone amp). QH4 is a very beautiful AMP and is not expensive. IMHO for A/B comparison is the top choice.
IBasso has a balanced 2.5mm output and QH4 has 3.5mm unbalanced and two 6.35mm individual inputs for a balanced connection. It is difficult to find a cable 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm so I order the parts to make it one.
First I try iBasso with 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter cable and then I plug the AUX cable but this connection cause interference. Then I try 2.5mm to dual RCA cable with iBasoo and again the same problem. I don't know what is the problem here. When I try Hidizs Sonata HD dongle with AUX cable and Samson QH4 everting works fine, no interference and strange noise. So I decided to buy a balanced desktop DAC. iFi made a very affordable model last year
iFi Zen DAC. For a similar price as BTR5, iFi Zen DAC is an amazing device with a Burr-Brown DAC chip, plus it has MQA support.
Also, there is a BT version but with ESS chip iFi Zen Blue.
And now I have another challenge: How to make 4.4mm balanced to dual 6.35mm cable?
For 2.5mm to dual 6.35mm I make these two schemes (version#1 [no ground] and version#2 [with ground]). Which one is suitable for iBasoo DC1 and Samson QS4?

I need also a scheme for 4.4mm (TRRRS) balanced to dual 6.35mm (TRS).
I'm not an expert in this are so suggestions are welcome.

I know you have said you aren’t the best at sound descriptions but how would you compare the 400ohm graphene and the 600ohm beryllium? Do they complement each other? I’ve got the 600ohm driver but really curious about the 400ohm. If it’s worth owning both I think that will be my next project. I have really fallen for the Smabat st-10 and M1 pro. Listen to them all day at work and depending on mood will switch off. So having similar but different buds is ok to me. Just not near identical.

 

[furyossa]

I know you have said you aren’t the best at sound descriptions but how would you compare the 400ohm graphene and the 600ohm beryllium? Do they complement each other? I’ve got the 600ohm driver but really curious about the 400ohm. If it’s worth owning both I think that will be my next project. I have really fallen for the Smabat st-10 and M1 pro. Listen to them all day at work and depending on mood will switch off. So having similar but different buds is ok to me. Just not near identical.

You already answer your question by describing ST10 and M1. Same thing with 400ohm and 600ohm.
400ohm version I can drive from LG G7, 600ohm version screams for more power
Also, you have 2 versions of 400ohm: one with plastic cover and other with a metal mesh cover. NSC Audio store sells both versions.
I prefer plastic cover more because metal mesh cover is slightly bigger and changes a sound in some way.
There is also 500ohm graphene. I think by looking frequency curve it has the same sound signature as beryllium 600ohm
If you look at the frequency curve, 400ohm and 600ohm have very similar f-curve but sounds different.
As you said: It all depends on the mood. Every Beryllium driver that I tried, 8mm 32ohm, 15.4mm 130ohm and 600ohm,
are unique and the bass is what sets them apart from other models.
Graphene is something between Titanium and Beryllium, good bass and treble and mids are not harsh and not distant, just balanced.
It's not that cheap, but in my opinion, it totally justifies its price, honestly more than beryllium 600ohm. This is certainly the only DIY driver I want to buy again.
Also because these hight impedance drivers produce more energy I will recommend metal shells
Now it all depends on your taste. If you like the sound of beryllium and you are looking for something
a little different then I think this would be a great addition to your collection.

 

[headenvelopedinsound]

Excellent, that is what I needed to know. I personally like the feel of the metal mesh grills but I get what you are saying with the feel. Its funny you and Robar have been talking about those metal shells as I was in the process of ordering those with the graphene drivers. I was actually thinking of getting the FENGRU Diy PT32 graphene headphones and just zap it with my heat gun and toss those drivers and put in the new drivers. I get impatient screwing in the MMCX and carefully pulling the leads through each turn. I do like the new version of the shells you posted though as well. I was thinking if I got those it'd wrap a bit of plumbers tape around the terminal and shove that in. $5 difference really and the leads are already good to go on the PT32 which makes things easier(sure kind of cheating too).

yuming store has the cheapest price on the 400ohm I can find right now but I got my ER4 clone shells from NSC and they were great.

 

[furyossa]

Excellent, that is what I needed to know. I personally like the feel of the metal mesh grills but I get what you are saying with the feel. Its funny you and Robar have been talking about those metal shells as I was in the process of ordering those with the graphene drivers. I was actually thinking of getting the FENGRU Diy PT32 graphene headphones and just zap it with my heat gun and toss those drivers and put in the new drivers. I get impatient screwing in the MMCX and carefully pulling the leads through each turn. I do like the new version of the shells you posted though as well. I was thinking if I got those it'd wrap a bit of plumbers tape around the terminal and shove that in. $5 difference really and the leads are already good to go on the PT32 which makes things easier(sure kind of cheating too).

yuming store has the cheapest price on the 400ohm I can find right now but I got my ER4 clone shells from NSC and they were great.

I got many drivers, shells and other parts from NSC and I didn't have any problems.
I forgot to mention one more thing. After 3-4 revisions of the shell, 400ohm graphene sounds best on "semi-large" cavity size shells like FENGRU Diy PT32
and a new one that I use for these drivers. If you have a fit issue with 15.4mm driver better skip FENGRU Diy PT32. When you put foam over the plastic cover
you get the wider size.

I plan to talk about the pros and cons of this "angled" shell which I use for Titanium 64ohm and Beryllium 130ohm.
The biggest disadvantage is that glue must be used for both the driver and the MMCX connector.